The Masked Ball

Myself, Norma Jean, Hugo the Strongman, Ariadne, Xavier and Matilda flying over the moon.


Myself, resplendent on the way to the Ball.

Well. Xavier came over to my place and we got ready together. He was very nervous (he gets that way before social events). I took Ariadne at her word (the more the merrier) and invited Norma Jean to come along to the Ball too when I picked up my outfit on Friday. So, masked and dressed, Xavier and I set off into a magical evening to collect Norma Jean.
We rang on the door bell and waited a few minutes, the door swung open and this vision stepped out to greet us. It turns out that as well as hair replacement specialist, stylist and psychic, Norma Jean is also a Marilyn Monroe impersonator. She gave Xavier and I quite a start. She is a mysterious person that Norma Jean.

So the three of us climbed into a very well kept taxi and were driven by a taciturn fellow (called Charon would you believe!) to the venue. A beautiful moon rose in the sky and there was a lightness in the air. We arrived at a field overlooking water and a marquee, lit from within, a great blue and yellow beacon in the night.

We entered to live swing music, the dancing had already begun (they are not shy these circus folk), the aroma of incense, the warm light from a hundred red lanterns. There were costumes of gold, silver and every colour, feathers, eyes outlined with the darkest kohl, a fire eater performing in the corner, a table spread with divine nibblies and all topped with a cornucopia of fruits, pomegranate, watermelon, peaches, cherries, pears of every colour, chocolate covered strawberries. As we arrived a great pop resonated and a tower of glasses were filled with champagne flowing like a great waterfall. This spectacle being enacted by Hugo the Strongman, an ebullient fellow who was pouring the champagne with one hand, holding up a bar bell with the other and belting out the showtune "Shall we Dance parum pum pum, on a bright cloud of music shall we fly parum pum pum..."

Ariadne came bustling over, beaming, and introductions were made all round. She and Xavier hit it off immediately. She was oblivious to his social discomfort, seized him by the hand and pulled him off to dance as Matilda capered about their feet.
Hugo, having finished his rendition, took Norma Jean and I around the marquee to look at all the little performances people were giving, ranging from silent poetry reading, indoor hang-gliding and chair balancing to colour manifestation and a butterfly ballet. It was fascinating and Hugo complimented me by suggesting I make some kind of art performance next time, to which I heartily agreed.
Hugo also explained these marvelous events are subsidized by a generous but anonymous patron, hence the lavish and almost overwhelming largesse of the whole affair.

We danced, we sang, we wet our feet in the moonlit water, we whirled and capered and ate and sipped our champagne and laughed our heads off. It was a splendid splendid splendid night and I am so very glad I stopped to speak to Ariadne all that time ago on my morning walk. I think Xavier is even more glad than I and I could barely get three words out of him on the way home. He stared dreamily out of the taxi window and wafted into his abode with barely a good night!