Alice-Miranda Takes the Lead

by Jacqueline Harvey

  Millie found her voice. ‘Why can’t we ride the whole way?’

  ‘I think it’s safer to tie them up here than somewhere near the house. This is where I left Bony yesterday,’ Alice-Miranda replied. ‘I don’t want him getting any more ideas about that vegetable patch. It’s perfectly safe.’

  Millie hopped down from the saddle and followed Alice-Miranda into the outside stall. Both girls looped their reins through the bridles so the ponies could move freely around the yard. A heavy overnight downpour had half-filled a smooth stone water trough in the corner that Bonaparte rushed straight for.

  ‘Are you sure they’ll be all right?’ Millie followed Alice-Miranda out of the enclosure.

  ‘Positive,’ her friend nodded, checking the latch. ‘It’s not too far to the main house. Just wait until you see it, Millie – it’s amazing.’

  Millie was not convinced. So far, the stables and the gardens looked like a picture from one of her old Grimm’s fairytale books. She seemed to recall that the owner of that house had some rather nasty magical powers.

  Alice-Miranda took off up the drive with Millie in tow. This time, the cats from the stables seemed happy to stay where they were, lolling about in the sunshine, keeping one eye on their equine friends.

  As the girls reached the second set of gates, Alice-Miranda noticed that the ivy she’d pulled from the gatepost only the day before had already begun to reattach itself to the brass nameplate.

  ‘Caledonia Manor, more like Creepy Manor if you ask me,’ Millie muttered under her breath as she looked around at the fossilised garden urns and enormous derelict fountain overgrown with weeds. She half-expected a giant or troll or some other fairytale creature to emerge from the thicket beside them at any moment.

  The girls rounded the final bend and there in all its tumbledown splendour was Caledonia Manor. Millie gasped as Alice-Miranda had done the day before. ‘It’s huge,’ she breathed.

  ‘Yes, it’s amazing, isn’t it?’ Alice-Miranda replied. ‘Such a lovely house.’

  ‘Lovely?’ Millie questioned. ‘I can think of some other words that would better describe this place.’

  ‘Oh, I know it’s far from perfect,’ Alice-Miranda began, ‘but if you look past the flaky paint and the grubby windowpanes, there’s a real beauty underneath.’

  Millie was not so sure. The house was enormous, that was true. But as for beautiful, she was not at all convinced.

  ‘Come on,’ Alice-Miranda called, as she ran towards one side of the building.

  Millie gasped again when the girls emerged from the tangled undergrowth and onto the open lawn at the rear of the house.

  Alice-Miranda continued on her way, jogging up the stone steps with their zigzag balustrade. ‘Hurry up,’ she called. Millie’s heart hammered in her chest. Her mouth was dry, as if she’d eaten a bucket of rocks.

  Alice-Miranda reached the back porch and waited for Millie to catch up.

  Five black cats lazed in various positions along the terrace. Millie hesitated when she saw them. She was quite convinced their eyes were following her every move.

  ‘I might wait here,’ Millie gulped.

  ‘Oh, all right, if you’re sure.’ Alice-Miranda tapped on the glass panel of the kitchen door. There was no answer. ‘But I might be a little while.’

  ‘Wait, I’ll come.’ Millie ran to stand beside her friend.

  Alice-Miranda knocked again, then turned the handle and walked into the kitchen.

  ‘Helloooo?’ she called. ‘Are you here, Miss Hephzibah? It’s me, Alice-Miranda. I’ve come to visit and I’ve brought a friend.’

  The door to the room off the kitchen, which Alice-Miranda thought of as the playroom, was closed. There was a rustling sound coming from within. The tiny child knocked gently and called again. Then she opened the door and poked her head inside.

  Millie stood on the other side of the kitchen. In spite of the warmth of the day, she shivered beside the lit stove.

  ‘Hello Miss Hephzibah,’ Alice-Miranda spoke. ‘I’m going to put the pot on and I’ve brought some lovely cake for your morning tea.’

  Millie tried to see inside the room but her feet seemed set in concrete.

  ‘If you’d rather take your tea in here,’ Alice-Miranda continued, ‘I can bring it in for you in a minute.’

  From where she stood, Millie heard no reply. Alice-Miranda closed the door and walked back across the kitchen where she busied herself filling a battered copper kettle, which she placed on the stove top.

  Millie hadn’t moved an inch. ‘Is she … is she in there?’ Millie whispered.

  ‘Oh yes. I think she’s feeling a little tired so I said that I would take the tea in for her,’ Alice-Miranda smiled. ‘Are you all right? You look a bit pale.’

  Millie’s freckly face had drained of colour. Her red hair looked like firelight against her porcelain skin.

  ‘Are you really going in there?’ Millie pointed at the closed door.

  ‘Of course. Will you come with me?’ Alice-Miranda asked, as she removed three china cups and saucers from the pine sideboard.

  Millie shook her head.

  ‘That’s all right. You can stay here if you’d prefer.’

  Millie’s eyes darted all over the place as she took in the kitchen and its ancient contents. There was another doorway to her left and a further entrance-way at the opposite end of the room.

  ‘There’s a back staircase just through that door beside you.’ Alice-Miranda filled the teapot with boiling water. ‘I went upstairs yesterday, but I haven’t had a proper look around because I heard a clatter down here and that’s when I found Miss Hephzibah. I was rather hoping we might be able to explore properly sometime.’

  Millie peered at the doorway. Her mind raced. Perhaps it was safer to join Alice-Miranda in the other room. She didn’t fancy being alone in the cavernous kitchen with its creaks and groans and doors to who-knows-where.

  ‘I’ll come,’ Millie blurted.

  ‘That’s lovely. But you mustn’t be frightened. Other than me yesterday, I don’t think Miss Hephzibah has seen anyone for a long time and she’s very shy.’ Alice-Miranda poured three cups of black tea. From her backpack she produced a container of milk and three large slices of butter cake. When she’d asked Mrs Smith for three pieces this morning, the cook had automatically assumed that Millie and Alice-Miranda were taking one of the other girls with them on their ride. Alice-Miranda hadn’t corrected her.

  ‘Is that a tray over there?’ Alice-Miranda pointed at a cabinet next to where Millie was still rooted to the spot.

  Millie spun around, moving for the first time since the girls had entered the kitchen. She bent down and retrieved an ornate timber tray, its faded decoration hinting at the once grand house’s glory days. She handed it to Alice-Miranda, who loaded it up with the three cups and plates.

  ‘Can you open the door for me, please?’ Alice-Miranda picked up the tray and walked towards the playroom door.

  ‘Oh.’ Millie swallowed hard. ‘Okay.’ She walked forwards slowly as if at any moment she might turn and flee.

  ‘It’s all right, really it is,’ Alice-Miranda reassured, as Millie reached up and turned the handle.

  That afternoon, Millie, Jacinta and Alice-Miranda milled about outside the assembly hall, waiting for their turn to audition. Millie and Alice-Miranda couldn’t help exchange knowing glances as they recalled their morning’s adventure. Fortunately, Jacinta was far too engrossed in reading over her lines to notice their strange looks. Ashima emerged from the building.

  ‘How did you go?’ Alice-Miranda asked.

  ‘Okay, I think. You can go in now, Alice-Miranda. Miss Reedy asked for you. Good luck.’

  ‘Thanks!’ Alice-Miranda bounced into the hall.

  ‘Hello there, young lady,’ Miss Reedy smiled. ‘I see you’re auditioning for two parts this afternoon. May I introduce Mr Lipp?’ Miss Reedy nodded at the gentleman sitting beside her. They each had a pile of papers in front of them.
Mr Lipp was dressed in a very dapper mustard-coloured suit with a multi-coloured cravat. His handlebar moustache was neatly groomed, however his eyebrows resembled two hairy caterpillars crawling across his brow.

  ‘Hello Mr Lipp.’ Alice-Miranda walked towards him and held out her hand across the table. ‘My name is Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones and I’m very pleased to meet you, sir.’

  Mr Lipp peered over the top of his spectacles and gently shook Alice-Miranda’s tiny hand. ‘Pleased to meet you too, young lady.’

  ‘Now, where shall we start?’ Miss Reedy glanced at the list in front of her.

  ‘If I may, Miss Reedy, I’d like to read for Snow White first.’ Alice-Miranda walked up the side steps and onto the stage.

  ‘Very well,’ Miss Reedy agreed. ‘Why don’t you commence from the part where the huntsman is taking Snow White into the forest with the intention of killing her. That should give you a bit of dramatic scope.’

  Alice-Miranda stood in the middle of the stage and gathered her thoughts. She imagined that the assembly hall was now a dark forest and that the hunter was standing right in front of her.

  ‘Please, sir, don’t kill me. If you let me go, I promise I’ll tell no one. I will find somewhere to live and I won’t ever return to the palace,’ Alice-Miranda pleaded with her imaginary foe.

  Miss Reedy read the part of the huntsman. ‘But I … I have a job to do. The Queen will …’

  ‘Sir!’ Alice-Miranda interrupted before letting out a heart-wrenching sob. ‘I beg you.’ The tiny child fell to her knees.

  ‘Then go. Go far away and never return. I will take the Queen the heart of a boar and make her believe that it was yours,’ Miss Reedy read passionately.

  Alice-Miranda looked up slowly. ‘Thank you, kind sir. Thank you with all my heart. Your generosity will never be forgotten.’ And with that, Alice-Miranda fled into the wings.

  Mr Lipp brushed his eye and sniffed. Miss Reedy threw him a curious glance and he at once protested, ‘Dust, I think. Yes, very dusty in here.’ He stuck his finger in his eye as if to remove the off ending object.

  Alice-Miranda returned to the stage where both Mr Lipp and Miss Reedy clapped vigorously.

  ‘Well done, my dear, that was wonderful,’ Miss Reedy enthused.

  ‘Thank you.’ Alice-Miranda smiled and gave a little bow. ‘May I read for the part of the narrator now?’ she asked.

  Mr Lipp and Miss Reedy lowered their voices.

  ‘No, I don’t think so,’ said Mr Lipp finally.

  ‘But Mr Lipp, I’d like to give myself a chance as the narrator.’

  ‘Alice-Miranda, there’s no need. You’re the final girl auditioning for the part of Snow White and we’ve decided that the role shall be yours,’ Miss Reedy announced. ‘But if you would please keep that to yourself until the cast is announced on Wednesday, we’d greatly appreciate it.’ She raised her eyebrows and then paused, thinking. ‘Unless of course, Mr Lipp, you have any boys who have put their names down for that role? I’d almost forgotten. We still have to see the Fayle boys tomorrow afternoon.’

  ‘Ahem,’ Mr Lipp cleared his throat. ‘No, I don’t know of any boys who have expressed a desire to play the role of Snow White,’ he grinned. ‘Although, last year when we were flying solo on the school play, one of the lads did a very good job of Maid Marian in Robin Hood.’

  Alice-Miranda giggled. Miss Reedy did too.

  ‘It looks like the part’s yours, young lady,’ Miss Reedy nodded her head. ‘But –’ the teacher raised her forefinger to her lip – ‘until Wednesday.’

  ‘Of course, Miss Reedy. Thank you so much. I promise I won’t let you down.’ Alice-Miranda skipped out of the hall and raced off to meet Millie and Jacinta, who were waiting outside.

  ‘I am a complete failure,’ Jacinta wailed. ‘Mr Lipp didn’t appreciate my improvisations of Happy turning cartwheels at all. He said that, as far as he knew, dwarfs weren’t renowned for their gymnastic abilities.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Jacinta. I’m sure you did just fine,’ Alice-Miranda comforted her friend. ‘And you auditioned for the role of the narrator as well, didn’t you?’

  ‘Yes,’ Jacinta pouted. ‘I couldn’t even tell what Miss Reedy and Mr Lipp thought about that.’

  ‘There’s always stage crew,’ Millie added.

  ‘Stage crew – for losers who couldn’t get a proper part in the play,’ Jacinta moaned.

  ‘No, that’s not true, Jacinta. The stage crew is very important. If there weren’t a stage crew, then the actors would have to slip in and out of character as they carried trees and buildings and magic mirrors and things on and off the stage. Just imagine – the Evil Queen finishes her lines and then has to pick up the mirror and struggle off with it – that would be terribly silly,’ Alice-Miranda grinned.

  ‘I suppose you’re right.’ Jacinta managed a half-smile. ‘Hopefully I’ll get a part, but if I don’t, stage crew will have to do.’

  ‘What about you, Millie, did your audition go well?’ Alice-Miranda asked.

  ‘I think so. I’m not sure which part I’d prefer though. Doc’s pretty funny, but I love that the Magic Mirror gets to give it to the Queen,’ Millie replied. ‘How do you think you went, Alice-Miranda?’

  ‘Okay, I think,’ she replied.

  The girls were on their way to the front of the school to meet Charlotte and Lawrence, who had phoned to say they would be at Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale in time for afternoon tea. Sloane was stalking about in the garden.

  ‘Oh, hello Sloane,’ Alice-Miranda called when she spotted her lurking behind the rose bushes. ‘What are you doing over there?’

  Sloane looked up. ‘I was just, um, waiting for my mother,’ she replied. ‘She’s coming to visit.’

  ‘That’s convenient,’ Millie whispered to Jacinta. ‘More likely she told her that Lawrence was stopping by. She’d better not cause a scene.’

  ‘Why don’t you come over here and wait with us?’ Alice-Miranda asked.

  Millie and Jacinta huffed.

  Sloane walked over to the group.

  ‘Did you enjoy your audition?’ Alice-Miranda asked.

  ‘I suppose so,’ Sloane replied.

  ‘What did you try out for?’ Jacinta asked.

  ‘The only role worth having, of course,’ she scoffed.

  Alice-Miranda felt a flurry of butterflies in her tummy. Sloane would be very disappointed when she missed out on the part of Snow White.

  ‘So you tried out for Snow White, then?’ Millie pressed.

  ‘Good grief, no,’ Sloane replied. ‘Who’d want to be that sappy little do-gooder? I’m going to be the Evil Queen. That’s the only part that’s any good in this pathetic little fairytale.’

  Alice-Miranda exhaled softly. Her butterflies flapped their wings and flew right away.

  In the distance, the girls could hear the low rumble of a sports car engine. A shiny silver vehicle entered the driveway.

  ‘They’re here!’ Alice-Miranda ran down the steps of Winchesterfield Manor to greet her beloved aunt and soon-to-be uncle.

  ‘Oh my gosh, it’s really him!’ Sloane gasped.

  ‘Of course it is,’ Jacinta replied. ‘Did you think Alice-Miranda was making it up?’

  ‘No,’ Sloane spat. ‘I believed her.’

  The car grumbled to a halt in one of the recently added visitor parking spaces. Only a matter of months ago, parents and other family members were strictly forbidden from visiting the school at any time other than to drop off and pick up their daughters at the beginning and end of term. But, of course, that had all changed now and Miss Grimm had come to see the importance of family dropping in whenever possible.

  ‘Hello.’ Alice-Miranda launched herself at her Aunt Charlotte as soon as she was out of the car.

  Charlotte scooped the little child into her arms and peppered her face with kisses – cheeks, forehead and, lastly, the tip of Alice-Miranda’s nose. It had been done that way for as long as either of them c
ould remember. Alice-Miranda hugged her tightly.

  ‘And how is my favourite niece?’ Charlotte set the child down. Lawrence emerged from the rear of the car and snuck up behind Alice-Miranda, tickling her wildly before twirling her over his shoulder and depositing her back on the ground.

  She squealed with delight. ‘I’m … very … well … thank … you,’ Alice-Miranda gasped between giggles.

  Millie chuckled and Jacinta almost fainted.

  ‘Hello Millie and Jacinta.’ Charlotte ran up the steps and kissed both girls on the cheek. Lawrence followed, with Alice-Miranda holding tight to his left hand.

  ‘And how are my favourite adopted nieces?’ He leaned down and hugged Millie then Jacinta. Jacinta’s legs turned to jelly.

  ‘Great thanks, Mr Ridley,’ Millie replied. Jacinta said nothing but stood looking rather goggle-eyed. A quick jab to the ribs from Millie seemed to bring her back around.

  ‘Well, very, thank you.’ Jacinta shook her head. ‘I mean, very well, thank you.’

  Sloane had remained a few steps away from the group, taking it all in. She wished she really had phoned her mother to come and see this. In fact, she knew she’d be in huge trouble for not telling her. It was just that her mother had a way of making it all about her, and this was Sloane’s opportunity to meet a real live movie star without her mother being in the way.

  ‘And who do we have here?’ Lawrence turned his hypnotic smile to Sloane.

  ‘Excuse me for being so rude.’ Alice-Miranda grabbed Sloane and brought her closer to the group.

  ‘This is Sloane Sykes. Sloane, this is my Aunt Charlotte and soon-to-be uncle, Lawrence Ridley.’

  ‘How do you do, Miss Sykes?’ Lawrence bowed his head.

  ‘It’s lovely to meet you, Sloane,’ Charlotte nodded.

  ‘Gosh, you’re gorgeous!’ Sloane had clearly fallen for Lawrence’s charm. ‘I mean, it’s a pleasure to meet you too, Lawrence.’

  Sloane ignored Charlotte altogether as she stood mesmerised by the movie star.

  ‘You’re just in time for afternoon tea,’ Alice-Miranda informed them. ‘Mrs Smith was so excited when I told her that you were coming, I think she’s cooked enough to feed a small army.’