Page 206 of The Silent Appeal

Escalation Note made by Urvi Patel, travel booking assistant at TUI in Little Fowey on June 2, 2025:

At around 11:40 a.m. today I saw a lady looking to reserve a one-way, connecting flight to Jakarta that she said she’d pay for later this week. When availability to Bangkok came up low, she asked me to look at Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, or Manila. In the end we placed a hold on a seat to Hyderabad via Riyadh with Etihad and Air India.

I’m escalating this reservation because the lady said that she’d be paying for the ticket later this week in cash. She asked a few questions about our Forex bureau and I told her we can only accept pounds sterling in cash, not other currencies.

Her name was Sarah-Jane MacDonald and she gave an address in Lower Lockwood.

Reviewed by: Clare

Note: Don’t see the problem? It’s just a reservation.

Closed by: Grace

Note: Agreed. Not our place to judge customers’ finances or reason for travel.

Escalation Note closed at 5:12 p.m.

To: Denise Malcolm

Cc: Joel Halliday, Nicky-Rose Dearing

From: Kevin MacDonald

Date: June 2, 2025

Subject: Bang bang, you’re dead!

Good afternoon, tech team extraordinaire,

Ahead of tonight’s technical, I want to check we have the starter pistol from Denise’s friend and that we go into tonight’s rehearsal aware of potential glitches in advance. For instance, Joel, is the new light working properly? I spotted a noticeable dark spot rear stage right that I’d like you to look into.

Also, the telephone: Can we rig up the old phone and make it ring on cue, or is it easier for this SFX to be played digitally over the speaker from the lighting box? The former looks and sounds more authentic, the latter is easier and less likely to result in a typical amateur drama moment—that extra ring after the actor has picked up the phone.

Blood. I’ve splashed out on a gallon of all-purpose washable stage blood. I want to see a realistic bleed from the bullet wound; the NADA judge will be in the front row and so does she. However, a professional stage-grade pneumatic squib costs over £600. A sandwich bag of blood, tied tightly enough to stay closed before the hit, but loose enough so that when the victim slams their hand over their chest, it bursts, is the best we can do. Denise, you and Marianne are responsible for bagging up the blood. We’ll go through the gunshot scene as many times tonight as we need. Perfection is all I ask.

Kevin MacDonald, Committee cochair and director

To: Kevin MacDonald

Cc: Joel Halliday, Nicky-Rose Dearing

From: Denise Malcolm

Date: June 2, 2025

Subject: Re: Bang bang, you’re dead!

Dear Kevin,

My friend gave me his starter pistol. He says it’s an 8-shot cylinder revolver, and that we’ll need “.22 short blanks” and although he doesn’t recommend pointing it at anyone and pulling the trigger, he says if you do, it’ll probably be all right because it doesn’t actually fire anything, just makes a noise.

He’ll need it back Sunday morning for junior park run.

We’ve had blood onstage before. Marianne and I are old hands at washing it out and drying the costume before the next night’s performance. However, getting it out of the stage floorboards isn’t so easy because it soaks in, so perhaps we can try to avoid that this time? See you tonight! Denise

To: Kevin MacDonald

Cc: Denise Malcolm, Nicky-Rose Dearing