Alice-Miranda in China

by Jacqueline Harvey

  ‘Really?’ Jacinta gasped. ‘There are acrobats?’

  ‘Oh, Jacinta, you’ll love it,’ Lawrence said with his mouth full. ‘These guys are the best in the world.’

  ‘I saw the advertising signs on one of the buildings on the way into the city,’ Millie said.

  Livinia Reedy looked at her watch. ‘We’d better not dally. The show starts at eight and it’s just on seven now.’

  Ophelia Grimm turned to her colleague, impressed that the woman was finally paying more attention to their schedule.

  ‘This is going to be amazing,’ Jacinta fizzed.

  ‘I quite agree, Jacinta,’ Miss Grimm said with a nod. ‘Eat up, everyone!’

  Millie walked ahead of Alice-Miranda as the young usher guided them to their seats just a few rows from the stage.

  In the middle of the square platform was a solitary oversized bed, which looked as if it were made of glass. Jacinta nudged Alice-Miranda and pointed towards the ceiling, where a giant rig contained an overhead pulley system with ropes and harnesses. In the shadows of the shimmering gold backdrop, the children watched in wonder as figures, dressed head to toe in black, scampered up rope ladders and positioned themselves on the various spotlights that were dotted around another square metal frame. A few minutes later, in the darkened auditorium, several more silhouettes could be seen ascending the pre carious scaffolding.

  ‘I think they must be some of the performers,’ Alice-Miranda said, unable to take her eyes off them.

  ‘This is really different to any circus I’ve ever been to before,’ Sloane commented loudly. ‘I thought there’d be a big top and a ringmaster.’

  ‘At least there are no revolting animal smells,’ Caprice said. ‘When Mummy and Daddy took me to the circus, an elephant did a wee the size of a lake right in front of us. It was disgusting.’

  ‘Stop exaggerating, Caprice,’ Venetia tutted. ‘I’d have said it only qualified as a paddling pool.’

  Jacinta felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to find Lucas offering her a program. ‘I bought this for you,’ he said quietly. ‘I thought you might like to know about the performers – especially the gymnasts.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Jacinta squeaked. Flushing bright red, she took it and turned back around. She’d wanted to tell him that she couldn’t wait to read about the circus and the profiles of each of the acrobats, but nothing came out. Jacinta cringed in her seat, hoping the ground would open up and swallow her right there and then. Lucas had just done something really kind, but from her reaction anyone would have thought he’d handed her a rattlesnake.

  Alice-Miranda smiled at her friend. ‘That was very thoughtful of him.’

  Jacinta glanced down, dumbly, at the program in her hands. It had been the perfect opportunity to talk to him, she berated herself, and now the moment was lost, again.

  ‘Is everything all right with you two?’ Lawrence whispered to his son.

  Lucas shrugged and shook his head. ‘I don’t know. I’m so confused.’

  The houselights dimmed and a drum rolled. Lucas looked at Jacinta in front of him and recalled how he’d hated her the first few times they’d met, ages ago at Alice-Miranda’s house. But it hadn’t taken long for them to realise they had a lot more in common than he could ever have imagined. She’d been so fragile and angry at the time and so had he. They’d bonded over absent parents and feelings of abandonment and in the past couple of years they’d become good friends. She was the girl who made his heart race and his palms sweat, but best of all she made him laugh – she was his closest friend apart from Sep.

  A bright light shone on the bed, where a girl dressed in long pyjamas lay curled into a tight ball. She didn’t move for quite some time. Then, all of a sudden, she began to toss and turn as if in the throes of a fever. She sat up just as three enormous dragons burst onto the stage, dipping and dancing around her. She clutched at her hair and face and stood up, gazing to the heavens.

  ‘What do you think that’s about?’ Millie whispered.

  ‘Maybe she’s having a dream,’ Alice-Miranda said.

  The dragons disappeared and were replaced by silver angels overhead, suspended from gigantic lengths of sheer ribbon. Their gossamer wings glistened as they twirled and spun in the air.

  One of them swooped down low and plucked the little girl from the bed, carrying her high above the audience, where they put her onto a trapeze swing.

  Jacinta’s heart was in her mouth. ‘Oh my goodness, she’s hanging from her toes!’

  The swing began to move, arcing higher and higher. The child spun upwards and flipped to grab the rail with one hand, then just by a pinky finger.

  ‘I can’t look!’ Millie said, covering her eyes.

  The child mesmerised the crowd with her incredible strength and agility. At one point the swing she was perched on rose so high it disappeared into the rafters of the building, the girl along with it. She reappeared wrapped in a length of red satin. Without warning, she plunged to the floor, the satin ribbon rapidly unfurling from around her. The audience gasped and a few women screamed in horror. The girl pulled up mere centimetres from the deck and couldn’t resist looking into the audience with a mischievous grin.

  The show continued with clowns on unicycles, followed by acrobats dressed as strong men, hurling barbells and medicine balls as they sprang from high towers and catapulted from trampolines. There were death-defying trapeze artists, tightrope walkers and even a group of skipping chickens. The children had never seen anything like it before and spent almost the entire show with their mouths agape.

  Jacinta’s eyes were everywhere as she tried to take it all in. She watched yet another group of tumblers flip across the stage and marvelled at the way they made tricks that had taken her years to learn seem effortless. In that moment, Jacinta knew exactly what she wanted to do. She wasn’t going to give up all those years of gymnastics at all. She was going to become an acrobat! Having finally made a decision about something that had been bothering her for months, an overwhelming sense of calm settled upon the girl despite the fervent activity around her.

  Her eyes turned upwards as an eagle soared overhead. The girl fell from its back, tumbling and spinning, before landing onto the bed. She curled into a ball as the haunting strains of a lone flautist beckoned her to sleep. The lights went out and a final drumbeat echoed through the stadium.

  Figgy was on his feet cheering before anyone else. ‘Woohoo!’ he crowed.

  Soon the entire audience was up, clapping and cheering as the cast made their way onto the stage. The loudest applause was reserved for the tiny girl who had played the lead role. She looked up into the audience and waved. Jacinta waved back, in awe of the child’s extraordinary athleticism and courage. Her heart felt as if it were about to burst through her chest. ‘She was astonishing!’ Jacinta gushed, and turned to Lucas. ‘I wish I could meet her.’

  Lucas grinned and leaned in to speak to his father. ‘Dad, did you hear that?’ he yelled over the noise. ‘Jacinta said she’d love to meet the lead acrobat. Do you think you could pull a few strings?’

  ‘You barely recognised me,’ Lawrence said, laughing. ‘How am I supposed to get anyone else to realise it’s me? Besides, I think Miss Grimm might go into meltdown if I put the word out that I’m here.’

  ‘You don’t have to tell everyone – just the stage manager – and see if they can arrange for Jacinta to speak with the girl, that’s all,’ the boy said.

  ‘What I do for you.’ Lawrence winked and stood up. ‘I’d better take Alice-Miranda too.’

  He couldn’t believe he was about to do this. A few weeks ago he’d mocked his friend George mercilessly when the man had used his star power to get them a table at an exclusive restaurant. It wasn’t Lawrence’s style at all and his wife, Charlotte, would have been mortified – she hated all that Hollywood ‘who’s who’ nonsense.

  Lawrence tapped Jacinta on the shoulder and the girl sprang into the air. ‘Sorry,’ he said as she spun arou
nd. ‘Can you and Alice-Miranda come with me?’

  ‘Okay, but where are we going?’ Jacinta asked warily.

  ‘Maybe nowhere, but I’d like to give it a go,’ he said with a cheeky grin. He turned to Lucas. ‘Tell Miss Grimm we won’t be long.’

  Alice-Miranda and Jacinta followed Lawrence Ridley as they dashed through the building and down a long flight of steps. He had an overwhelming urge to stop at the ice-cream cart up ahead of them but decided they didn’t have time.

  ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this,’ Jacinta said as they neared the stage door.

  ‘Well, you can thank Lucas if it works out,’ the man said.

  Jacinta bit her lip and shot Alice-Miranda a guilty look. She felt so silly for avoiding Lucas, even sillier after he’d bought her the program, but it was as if every time he came near her, her tongue got tied in knots and she didn’t know what to say.

  ‘Excuse me,’ Lawrence said to a stocky security guard dressed in a black suit. ‘Would I be able to have a word with the stage manager?’

  The man frowned and shrugged his shoulders.

  Lawrence looked at the girls apologetically. ‘This might be a bit trickier than I thought. I don’t think this fellow speaks English.’ Lawrence had another idea. ‘Do you have the program with you?’ he asked Jacinta.

  Jacinta nodded and pulled it from her daypack.

  Lawrence quickly flicked through the pages and found one of the child star sitting in the middle of the giant bed. He walked back to the security guard and showed him the photograph. ‘We’d like to meet this girl.’

  The burly fellow shook his head.

  ‘Look, I’m not sure if you know me but –’ Lawrence grimaced – ‘I’m an actor. You might have heard of me? Lawrence Ridley?’ He looked at the guard hopefully.

  At the mention of the name, the man tilted his head and considered Lawrence. He squinted, then took a step back and laughed.

  Lawrence sighed, his shoulders slumping. At least Miss Grimm would be pleased to know that no one recognised him. He turned away and walked back to the girls. ‘Sorry, Jacinta. I’m embarrassed to say I even pulled the celebrity card and it didn’t cut any sway with that guy.’

  Jacinta smiled and took back her program. ‘That’s okay, Lawrence. Thank you for trying.’

  The trio was about to leave when the stage door opened and a short, rotund man in a pinstriped suit walked out, flanked by two tall chaps dressed identically in black.

  ‘He must be important,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘They look like bodyguards.’

  Lawrence glanced over and his face lit up. ‘Benny!’ he exclaimed, rushing towards the man.

  The beefy guards set upon Lawrence in a split second, kicking his legs from beneath him, spinning him like a top before pinning him to the ground.

  ‘Ow!’ Lawrence groaned as one of the men kneed him in the back.

  ‘Stop that!’ Alice-Miranda yelled, and rushed over with Jacinta right behind her. ‘Let go of him!’

  ‘Benny, it’s me – Lawrence Ridley,’ the man said into the cement.

  The rotund chap squinted over the top of his stylish red glasses. ‘Ridley? What are you doing here? And why do you look like a fat hobo in a rich man’s clothes?’ The man tutted, then gestured for his bodyguards to help the fallen star. ‘Get him up! Up! Don’t you realise who this is?’

  ‘It’s okay, Benny. I’d rather not make a fuss,’ Lawrence said sheepishly, as people around them began to stare.

  ‘My gosh, Lawrence,’ Benny said, then turned to his guards. ‘You are sacked and you are sacked,’ he said, pointing at them one by one. He shook his head. ‘Idiots.’

  ‘But, boss …’ one of the men protested.

  ‘Just get out of my sight,’ Benny said, shooing them away with a wave of his large paw. He turned back to Lawrence. ‘Why are you in Hong Kong? Are you shooting a movie? What movie? Why don’t you make movies with my studio anymore?’

  Lawrence was beginning to regret calling out to the man. ‘No, I’m not working,’ he assured him. ‘It’s a long story. Anyway, let me introduce you to my niece, Alice-Miranda, and her very good friend Jacinta.’

  ‘It’s lovely to meet you, Mr Choo.’ Alice-Miranda held out her hand, which the man shook gently. She couldn’t help noticing the trickles of sweat tracking down his temples and the dark patches under his arms. Alice-Miranda discreetly pulled a tissue from her pocket to wipe the moisture from her palm.

  Jacinta simply nodded at the man and said hello.

  ‘We were hoping to meet that phenomenal little gymnast who played the lead role. I think I saw her name is Summer,’ Lawrence explained. ‘You see, Jacinta’s a gymnast herself and would love to chat with her. You don’t happen to know someone who can get us in, do you?’

  ‘Of course I do,’ Benny said, puffing out his chest. ‘That would be me, the owner of the circus.’

  ‘How exciting!’ Alice-Miranda exclaimed. ‘I’ve never met anyone who owns a circus before.’

  ‘Wow,’ Lawrence said. He had only known Benny Choo as the owner of Beluga Studios, a big Hollywood production company. Lawrence had worked for him quite a few years back on a hugely successful franchise called The Lobster movies. The blockbuster films followed a group of down-and-out cat burglars who pull off the biggest heists in history. Since then, though, Benny had invested in a bunch of massive flops and word on the street was that the studio was struggling. ‘So you’re diversifying your interests then,’ Lawrence said. ‘This is quite some operation, the Circus of Golden Destiny.’

  ‘Something like that,’ Benny said. ‘Right then. Shall I take you to meet the star of the show?’

  Alice-Miranda and Jacinta nodded eagerly. ‘Yes, please,’ they said in unison.

  ‘Come.’ Benny turned around and walked back up the stairs to the stage door. This time the guard stepped aside immediately and Benny led the group into a long corridor, where they had to dodge jugglers and tumblers, spinning plates and batons.

  ‘I thought the show was over,’ Lawrence said as he spun around, narrowly avoiding a collision with a unicyclist.

  Jacinta’s eyes were on stalks as she took it all in. Her head was instantly filled with images of herself performing in the Circus of Golden Destiny. Alice-Miranda ducked to avoid being hit in the head by a plate hurtling through the air.

  ‘Oh, it is never over.’ Benny chortled knowingly. ‘The only way to be the best in the world is to practise and practise and then, when you’re fed up, you must practise some more.’

  ‘That reminds me of how we had to rehearse for months on end for The Lobster movies. Benny actually set up some robberies we thought were real,’ Lawrence said. ‘Do you remember that time we were in Denmark and you had to come and bail us out after the Danish police thought we were trying to rob the Amalienborg Palace?’

  ‘But why would you do that?’ Alice-Miranda was shocked to hear it; Uncle Lawrence was one of the most honourable people she knew. Although, Jacinta had been recalling the time at Alice-Miranda’s house when Lawrence had snuck about in the garden and she thought he was up to no good. He had proven her wrong in the end, but there was no doubting the man’s abilities as an actor.

  ‘It’s called method acting, my dear,’ Benny said, ‘and your uncle is one of the best at it.’

  ‘Why are they called The Lobster movies, anyway?’ Jacinta asked.

  ‘You can ask Lawrence to explain them to you later. They sound ridiculous but, trust me, it all makes sense in the end,’ Benny said with a wriggle of his eyebrows. ‘Here we are.’

  He stopped at one of the many doors that lined the hallway and rapped on it sharply. A small voice answered and Benny pushed the door open. He then spoke quickly in a language Alice-Miranda assumed was Cantonese as it definitely wasn’t Mandarin.

  Benny turned to them and smiled. ‘Miss Tan is happy to receive guests, but I’m afraid she speaks very little English, so you will just have to be patient,’ he warned them.

  Jacinta grinned
upon hearing Summer’s surname. She hadn’t noticed it before when she skimmed the program.

  Benny raised his eyebrows. ‘I know – Summer Tan – funny name, hey?’

  ‘I think it’s sweet,’ Alice-Miranda said, and Jacinta nodded. ‘Are you coming in with us?’

  The man shook his head. ‘No, I want to speak with your uncle for a minute.’

  ‘Of course,’ Alice-Miranda replied.

  ‘We can’t be long or Miss Grimm will be wondering where we are,’ Lawrence said.

  Alice-Miranda thought Jacinta was looking a little pale. ‘Are you all right?’

  The girl nodded. ‘I can’t believe we’re going to meet her. She’s the most astonishing gymnast I’ve ever seen.’

  Alice-Miranda took Jacinta’s hand and the girls walked into the room.

  Typical of dressing rooms the world over, there was a small vanity table and a mirror surrounded by naked light globes. But unlike most other dressing rooms, there was a balance beam on the opposite wall and a long satin ribbon hanging from the middle of the ceiling.

  ‘Ni hao.’ Alice-Miranda gave a wave and hoped that the Cantonese greeting for ‘hello’ was similar to that in Mandarin. ‘I’m Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones, it’s a pleasure to meet you.’ She turned to her starstruck friend. ‘And this is Jacinta Headlington-Bear.’

  Jacinta rushed forward. ‘You’re amazing,’ she gushed, clenching the girl’s hand in a vice-like grip. ‘I’ve never seen anyone do the things you do. I can’t believe it.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Summer said softly, attempting to manoeuvre her hand back, and bowed.

  ‘Sorry! I’m crushing you, aren’t I?’ Jacinta relinquished her hold on the girl. ‘How embarrassing.’

  Summer was even more petite up close. It was hard to tell her age, but Alice-Miranda thought she was probably around twelve or thirteen at a pinch.

  ‘We loved your show,’ Alice-Miranda said, with some accompanying hand gestures.