I’m going to be a star.
My Nana said not to fidget on stage. I know I fidget because Miss Johnson says I do. Miss Johnson says if I learn not to fidget, then I can practise Megan Clutterbuck’s lines in case she can’t attend the show. Megan Clutterbuck is waiting for an operation. Her nose keeps getting blocked.
Nana says to be a proper star you’ve got to be noticed. She said that if I hold my head high and pretend Teddy, Ken and Flopsy are the people watching from the seats in the Kirk Theatre, then, they will notice my sparkle.
That, Nana says, is what makes a star. I bet Megan Clutterbuck isn’t sparkling. I bet she isn’t sat at her Nana’s dressing table, pretending the audience is just through the mirror.
Nana is expecting friends to come to tea. I promised to keep out of the way. She is setting the table in the garden. She says the girls, her friends, like the sunshine and the smell of roses. Nana must really like the girls, because she brought her best china tea set out of the top cupboard. She talks about the girls a lot.
When you practise being a star, you have to stretch your toes, like this, and pull your arms out as far as you can, so they are really long. Miss Johnson says if I practise a lot, I will learn to stop fidgeting. Whoops, sorry Teddy, there you are, see how stretchy my arms are. I wonder what Nana keeps in these little drawers? I could just take a little peep. Is she still in the garden? Oh no, some old ladies have called by, hope they go before the girls arrive. Poor Nana, and her best tea set too. Mmm, like the smell of this drawer, why does Nana put old envelopes here? Mmm, they smell like Nana and oh my, they’re tied with ribbon.
Laughter from outside – perhaps the girls have arrived, no – just the ladies. Nana’s so kind – she’s giving them sandwiches, letting them use her special plates. Wonder what’s in this drawer? Wow – a tiara – bet Megan Clutterbuck’s not got a tiara.
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, who is the Fairest of us all? Is it of us all or of them all? Would it matter? Miss Johnson says practise makes perfect. I could dazzle as well as sparkle in this tiara, then I’d be a star. Wonder if Nana will lend it to me? Bet she would if I asked her nicely. I can hear her laughing – wonder what happened to the girls? Perhaps they saw the ladies and didn’t like to butt in.
Being a Queen’s okay but our pantomime one’s not nice – don’t think I want to be wicked, rather be like Nana who’s kind, even with those old ladies. Anyway, being a star is better, I can stretch my toes, my fingers and shimmer and twinkle and even if I fidget just a little bit, maybe, must maybe, I’ll sparkle even more.
(c) 2024 Pat Barnett.
