The Slightly True Story of Cedar B. Hartley

by Martine Murray

  or becoming longer like a track across the desert,

  (I jump down and fall forwards in a straight line as Kite falls backwards. I hold his ankles and Caramella holds mine. Then, one by one, we twist over.)

  or moving faster and faster towards conclusions.

  (At this point, Kite and I roll backwards and press up into handstands. Caramella slides forward on her belly, and we dive roll in time over her from one side to the other, as if she is trapped. We’re going faster and faster and the audience is laughing. I’m feeling great. Positively bionic.)

  So this show is a small homage to roundness. In the manner of a circle, it spins around, and like a seed on a windy day, it circles around the places of wonder and slowly comes to settle in the school playground where there are no endings, only beginnings . . .

  (I am cartwheeling, cartwheeling, up onto Kite’s shoulders, a perfect helicopter. He lets me down gently and Oscar blows his whistle . . . the playground fun begins.)

  First there is the tug of war . . . And then it goes on and on and I don’t forget or fall and people are clapping and Oscar is speaking and Kite is flying through the air and people are clapping and there is the handspring and I am feeling high and heavenly and now people are laughing and the whistle blows and Oscar speaks and on and on, I wobble in that balance, but I don’t fall, and again Kite is on the trapeze and soaring through the air until it’s already the last bit, the best lift, the knee-and-shoulder spring, now me flying and a good landing and more clapping and it’s finished and we’re all taking a bow and Ruben comes on with us and I can see Oscar’s mother and she has tears in her eyes and Ricci is jumping up and down and Barnaby is smiling at me and we’re all still holding hands in a line, me and Kite and Oscar and Caramella and Ruben, and I scan through the audience to see who I recognise, and I see Mum, and Barn who has Stinky on his lap, and Tophy Sutton from school, and Hoody Mott and also Hailey and the Lebbos, and Patrick and Aileen Shelby, and Marnie Aitkin who is staring wide-eyed and gobsmacked, and there are the boys, Robert in his lilac shirt and Pablo de la Renta, and there is Harold Barton with his shades on and next to him are his parents, Mr and Mrs Barton, and they are both clapping and I am imagining how I will explain very politely to Mr Barton how we found the skateboard and then how Mr Barton will be embarrassed and sorry for accusing Barnaby and making judgments and he will have to punish his son Harold for lying and causing trouble and Harold will be made to apologise to Barnaby who will just shrug it off anyway and Harold will feel like a real loser for a little while, but I won’t gloat, well maybe just quietly to myself . . . And now people are coming onto the stage and I see my mum and she is shaking hands with Ruben and Ruben doesn’t seem shy at all, he seems strong, and my mum is smiling and being friendly to him, and then she’s giving me a hug and then she’s even hugging Kite and he’s blushing and Barnaby is ruffling my hair and I don’t even care, and I wonder if we made enough money for Ricci’s dog Bambi, and Mr and Mrs Zito have their hands flying about and Caramella looks like an angel and Oscar’s mother is dabbing at her eyes with a Kleenex and Oscar is sitting down on a chair and she has her hand on his head and people are talking to him and he looks as if he is holding court and Barnaby is introducing me to Mrs Mozart (the truck driver’s wife) and she is gushing on and holding her kid’s hand saying what a show, amazing, wish Ed could have seen it too, and does anyone give lessons because her children wanted to learn, and before I can answer, Kite is standing right in front of me and Stinky is between us wagging his tail and letting off little barks, and we smile, and we are standing very close to each other and I feel this enormous funny feeling, the funny feeling, and my skin is getting zapped by it and I am thinking, I know what is about to happen. I rock up onto my toes and a thought flies through me, just a red ribbon of thought going—Cedar, as soon as you think you know how things will go, life is liable to scribble a little detour right over the path you thought you were on, and lo and behold, there could be one hundred low flying albatrosses about to swoop in and take Kite flying away to Siberia with them, just when you think he is about to kiss you.

  So I am quickly pretending I don’t know what is about to happen.

  And I am letting my eyes close and Kite is leaning down towards me and I am balancing on my toes and I don’t see one single albatross for miles.

  AcroBRATS save Bambi

  Last week a group of four young performers gave a benefit debut performance (Volatile) which not only impressed audiences but succeeded in raising enough money to pay for a neighbour’s dog’s operation. The group, directed by Ruben Freeman, formerly of Circus Berzerkus, is thrilled with the response and plans to keep training and developing skills. Ruben claims that the young performers themselves came up with the material and he simply ‘pulled it into shape’. He will be also conducting classes in circus skills for all ages and all levels of experience. For enquiries please call soon as classes are filling up quickly. 9380 4785.