The Sequin Star by Belinda Murrell Page B

glanced at Claire, then turned her eyes back on the road. She stroked Lula’s head.
    â€˜Yes, we do, but the townies have a funny attitude to us. They love the excitement of the show, but they don’t always like us . They don’t think we’re very respectable. I can’t tell you how many times a local minister has complained about the indecency of the circus women showing their legs.’
    Claire laughed in disbelief. ‘Do you mean like the costumes you wore last night?’ she asked.
    â€˜The very same,’ Rosina grinned. ‘Ab-so-lutely shocking!’
    The cavalcade progressed slowly over rough country roads, churning up clouds of red dust. Through the front windscreen there was little to see except the grey rump of one of the elephants in the lorry in front, and the dry bush on either side of the road.
    Occasionally, they would pass a small group of men tramping west along the road. They carried billies and a few meagre belongings wrapped in a swag or blanket.
    â€˜Swaggies,’ Rosina said. ‘The poor men walk hundreds of miles, looking for a spot of work. There are more on the roads now than ever before.’
    Claire stared at the thin men with grubby clothes and boots. They didn’t look like the jolly swagmen she had seen in picture books with corks hanging from their broad-brimmed hats.
    At first Claire felt nervous sitting up high in the big horse truck, with no seatbelts, driven by a girl not much older than herself. However, Rosina drove well and she soon relaxed.
    The girls continued chatting about their lives. Claire found herself telling Rosina about her grandmother and her parents.
    â€˜I’m an only child,’ Claire explained. ‘My mum had me when she was quite a bit older. My parents are strict and won’t let me do lots of things the other girls are allowed to do. My friend Amy has parents who aren’t around all that much, so she goes out whenever she likes, stays up late, wears make-up and hangs out at the shops.’
    The thought of Amy’s freedom always made Claire feel frustrated with her own parents. Amy’s mother was fashionable, gorgeous and carelessly indulged the girls. Claire loved spending time at Amy’s house, where they could do pretty much whatever they liked.
    â€˜My mum is always nagging me to do my homework and tidy my room,’ Claire continued. ‘She fusses about me. She’d have a fit if she knew I was driving with you now.’
    Rosina stared ahead through the dusty windscreen. She chewed her lip, then smiled. ‘They sound like they love you very much. You’re very lucky.’
    â€˜Yes, but –’ Claire began. Then she remembered that Rosina was an orphan. She felt petty complaining about her own parents and their silly rules. She lapsed into silence.
    The circus convoy trundled through a number of small country towns that looked poor and neglected. Shops were boarded up and empty. Passers-by stopped to stare at the passing procession. The country people looked thin and grey.
    Claire smiled when she saw a couple of housewives pointing and gossiping about Rosina driving the truck. Lula waved at them out the window.
    â€˜I see what you mean,’ Claire observed. ‘They don’t know what to make of you at all.’
    â€˜It’s all part of the act,’ Rosina said flippantly.

    In the mid-afternoon, after eight hours and a packed lunch on juddering roads, they pulled into the outskirts of Sydney. The cavalcade of trucks and lorries slowed down. There was a lot more traffic on the road – old-fashioned Model T Fords, vans and even the odd horsedrawn sulky. Claire stared around, noting the quaint, drab clothes. This Sydney seemed nothing like the Sydney that she knew from her own time. Everything looked foreign and strange.
    At last the convoy pulled over onto the side of the road. Drivers jumped down from their vehicles and stretched, chatting and laughing. Alf