Bryony Bell Tops the Bill by Franzeska G. Ewart, Kelly Waldek Page A

flack.’
    â€˜OK, Dad,’ Bryony had whispered at last, cradling the skates. ‘I’ll give it my all.’
    * * *
    The blue velvet stage curtains twitched open to reveal a very small boy wearing a shiny grey suit and red bow tie. Jeremy, who had fallen off the log so often that his mother had filed an official complaint, had had his frog suit taken from him and been given the important job of Master of Ceremonies and Narrator.
    â€˜Good evening, ladies, gentlemen and children,’ he announced carefully, ‘and welcome to our show. It’s called
The Ugly Duckling
and …’ He looked down desperately.
    â€˜We hope you …’ came Mrs Quigg’s stage-whisper.
    â€˜We hope you will enjoy it,’ Jeremy finished with a sigh of relief. Then he side-stepped off with his right arm outstretched, and as he did the curtains swished open to reveal the first scene where the farmyard animals were telling each other about the strange egg that was about to crack.
    Next came the part by the lake and the frogs’ log. Mrs Quigg played the opening bars of the Frogs’ Chorus with gusto, and they all began to sing. And when Bryony made her entrance as the Ugly Duckling and the frogs bounced up and down and laughed at her, there was no risk of anyone falling off the log, for Abid had been persuaded to donJeremy’s green Lycra and sit at the end, acting as balast.
    This part, as hoped, brought the house down, and when it was over the audience applauded with vigour. There were a number of other songs as the Ugly Duckling was made to feel more and more miserable, and at last it was time for the winter scene. The lights dimmed and a big white sheet, cunningly concealed behind the log, was carefully unrolled and draped over everything to create the impression of snow. Two little girls dressed as snowflakes tiptoed on and scattered white glitter, and above it all Jeremy’s voice told how the Ugly Duckling had hidden itself away, unable to bear the constant humiliation. It was all very poignant.
    â€˜But when the spring came, and the snow melted …’ Jeremy went on, pausing to let the snowflakes skip back in and remove the sheet, ‘… something very strange, and very wonderful, happened …’
    One by one all the frogs except Abid hopped back onstage and repositioned themselves on the log. Then the lights came on, bathing everyone in a beautiful rosy light. Mrs Quigg glanced up to make sure the stage was set, then played the rippling introduction to
The Swan Song
.
    And then, like a smoothly shimmering dream, Bryony Bell made her entrance.
    Never, as Clarissa said afterwards, was an entrance so entrancing! The whole hall seemed to take a big breath and hold it as the swan glided in balanced on one leg with the other held out behind her, straight as a die. The huge swan costume had been well and truly redesigned by Abid’s mother who, happily accepting the challenge, had removed its feathers and had attached them to a sparkling-white bodice onto which she had sewn a silver-sequined swan. The sleeves were long and tight-fitting and culminated in white feathery cuffs that wafted delicately about as Bryony sped across the stage; and in her hair there nestled a feathery silver-and-white tiara, which glistened under the lights.
    More gracefully and silently than ever a swan swam, Bryony floated round the stage and past the frog log, where she stopped, turned on one foot, and rotated faster and faster with her head flung back.
    Then, skating backwards to the edge of the stage so fast that everyone in the front row gasped and lifted their feet onto their chairs, she went into a spin dangerously near Mrs Quigg’s head, to finish with both arms in the air, as still as a statue. Practising the routine in Abid’smarble hall with her old skates had been wonderful — but being on a wooden stage with the Vipers was quite out of this world. There was no resistance at