Drowse - First Season - Finished

Chapter 59 - I always loved you and did not know / Penultimate chapter

POV Helena

Finally twenty-four of December of 1975. Christmas Eve. I've already finished painting his picture, it will be one of my Christmas presents for him. I already bought another gift for him, but, I think he will like it a lot too. It is nine in the morning and I finish drinking coffee. My mother and I began to prepare the Christmas dinner for the evening. As we all go to Queen's performance tonight at Hammersmith Odeon, we have to get everything ready, early. Mrs. Winifred, Clare, Veronica, Sarah, Vanessa and Mary are preparing some sweet and savory dishes in their own homes and will bring in late afternoon. Meanwhile, my father is accompanying, alongside Les, Tim and Louis, the boys rehearsal for the evening show. They had already bought all the necessary drinks for the Christmas dinner the night before. I prepared baked cod (which Roger loves), eggplant antepaste, palm heart pie (which Bri loves), oven rice and strawberry pie. My mother prepared a roasted turkey with orange juice, plus a passion fruit mousse with chocolate. In the late afternoon, Winifred brought out a farofa with many ingredients, Clare prepared mayonnaise salad and a condensed milk pudding, Vanessa prepared vinaigrette and a salty panettone, Sarah brought caramelized banana cake, coconut delicacy and a panettone. Veronica took a chester roast and Mary took french toast and fruit punch. I thanked them all so much for doing things too. Our Christmas dinner will be perfect. It was about six in the afternoon when they arrived and I went to take a shower. I took a bath, I quickly dried my hair with the dryer and as we are in winter and the night is very cold, I put on a dark blue dress with long sleeve, round, suitable for cold, the dress arrives to the height of my knee. I put under my dress, a thin sock and a long-barreled boot that reaches almost towards the knee. I put a scarf around my neck, a red cap on my head, and I still grabbed a big cool coat and threw it over my dress. Then we all headed towards the Hammersmith Odeon in the band van which was being run by Tim.

The show at Hammersmith Odeon began at eight-thirty in the evening, without delays, and it was until ten-thirty in the evening. Freddie toasted with a glass of champagne the fans who attended the show and wished to all of them a Merry Christmas of much light and peace. After the show ended, Freddie, Bri, John, and Rog quickly went into the dressing room. Then I got into Rog's car with Bri, Freddie and Mary and Veronica with the little Robert went to John's car with Clare and Louis. The others returned to the apartment in the van.

We arrived at my apartment around eleven-thirty in the evening. Everyone was already hungry, but by midnight I gathered everyone in the living room and said smiling.

"It's midnight, and we could, before supper, make our thanks for this year that is ending, and many requests for the year to come."

"Excellent idea, dear Helena. So start with you, please. Freddie smiled.

I thanked her for the wonderful year I had as Miss Universe, for having met many places in the world, incredible people, besides my studies in the Masters, my paintings and I asked for much success next year in the matter of art. Then one by one was talking, until it was midnight on time and we greeted each other and then we made a toast with champagne for a Merry Christmas and we started to supper. The boys were very happy, everyone is happy. New Year's Eve we will all be in London, too, in a pub, which the boys have already closed, especially for us, where they will have food and drink. The pub is close to Big Ben watching the fireworks.

On the twenty-fifth of December, on Thursday, Christmas, everyone had lunch at my apartment and after lunch we exchanged Christmas presents. I won from Bri a ring of brilliant and Rog a pair of brilliant earrings. I smiled excitedly and said they did not have to spend that much. For Bri, I bought another new guitar. I know Bri even with his Red Special, he loves new guitars and I bought it. For Rog I bought a beautiful guitar as well, because besides the drums, his passion is guitar.