Witi Ihimaera - Sky Dancer

The vestibule was in a state of bedlam. The ticket booth was thronged with people trying to buy tickets. Bella and Hoki found Mitch and Francis. Mitch spotted Skylark and mimed a bird coming out of the sky towards her. Skylark ducked and Mitch roared with laughter. In a corner Flora Cornish had swapped her apron as proprietress of the Tuapa Diner for an apron as chairwoman of the Tuapa College Parents Association. She was presiding over the refreshments area, dispensing Coke, lemonade, coffee and tea with soggy biscuits to the masses. No wonder there was so much bad skin in Tuapa. Not that that seemed to matter to a group of Korean sailors, who were taking an inordinate interest in a group of sixth formers in uniform. Were they schoolgirls? When Skylark took a second look she realised they were girls from the massage parlour.

“Excuse me,” Skylark said as she walked through the crowd. Her badge was doing wonders. People parted before her like the Red Sea.

Right in the middle of the crowd was Lucas. He had a young woman with him, and he didn’t seem too happy about it. “Hello, Lucas,” Skylark said. “Is this your sister?”

“His sister?” the young woman asked. “I’m Melissa, his fiancée, though he —” and she kicked Lucas in the shins — “seems to have forgotten it.”

“Oops,” Skylark said.

“Melissa’s just come back to Tuapa for the weekend,” Lucas said. He hustled Skylark aside, speaking in a hurried whisper. “She’s been hanging around my neck like a smelly possum and I haven’t had a chance to explain to Cora. Will you tell her that —”

Skylark stopped him. “Tell her what! That you’ve got another girlfriend? Sort it out yourself, Lucas.” She turned, and pushed and jostled her way back through the crowd.

“We’re right behind you, dear,” Hoki said as she and Bella rejoined her.

“Am I a tug?” Skylark asked herself.

Across the vestibule she saw Ronnie, waving their tickets in his hands, and made for him.

“Did you see the ‘Sold Out’ sign?” he exclaimed. “We’ve never had such a crowd at a college production ever. And just to think that Lottie —” he pointed to the music teacher — “didn’t think I’d pull it off, the cow.”

An excited student came rushing towards him. “Sir, the headmaster has asked if we can put more seats into the auditorium. Sir?”

“More? They want more?” Ron was ecstatic. “Then give my audience more!” He turned to Skylark. “It’s all due to your wonderful mother! Now will you all follow me? You have special VIP seats with me right at the front.”

“Oh no,” said Skylark and Bella in unison.

Hoki laughed. “Just as well you wore your lovely dress,” she said.

“How did she persuade you to get into it?” Skylark asked Bella.

“We compromised,” Bella said, pursing her lips and pulling up her hem ever so slightly. Underneath she was wearing gumboots.

“Now —” Ron hesitated. “There’s just one more of your mother’s guests to come and we’re all set. Meanwhile, I’d better get backstage where I’m wanted. Do enjoy the show!”

Before Skylark could ask who the other guest was, Ron had disappeared backstage. Skylark stared afer him and saw Cora signalling her from the stage door. Her mother had on her blonde wig and her eyes were sparkling. She looked like a colour facsimile of Madonna herself. “Skylark, honey —”

Members of the crowd saw Cora and a great gasp of admiration went up. “There she is! Cora Edwards!” Cora laughed and, briefly, waved. She looked so gorgeous. Bursting with beauty. But Skylark knew there was something wrong. Her mother was too gorgeous. Her eyes were too sparkling. Something shifted behind Cora — and Skylark realised why her mother’s manner was too animated.

All the ills and spites of the day came crashing down at her feet.

“Zac,” Skylark whispered. Her first instinct was to protect her mother. She shoved through the crowd. “Get out of my way. Coming through.” When she was close enough to Cora, she pushed her through the stage door and shut it. She turned to Zac. “You lowlife, how did you find us?”

“Skylark, honey! Be careful!” Cora laughed and, giddy, fell against Zac. “You’ll mess me up and it’s taken a whole day to look like this.” Her arms went around Zac’s neck and she sighed dreamily.

“I asked you, you sicko,” Skylark raged, “how did you know we were here?”

Zac gave Skylark a mocking glance. “You always did have a mouth on you, didn’t you, girlie.” He kissed Cora but kept his eyes on Skylark, taunting her. “Have you ever heard of caller ID? When you called me from the phone box, it was oh so easy to trace the call.”

Skylark felt the blood leave her face. She stepped back, angry with herself for being so stupid. She heard Cora laugh again. Up close, her mother did not look gorgeous at all. The wig was really bad and her face was absolutely caked with makeup. Where Zac had kissed her, the lipstick had smeared.

“Oh, Mum,” Skylark said. “Of all the things I’ve ever lost, I miss my mind the most. Why did I ever let this happen to you?”

She had seen that beneath the false eyelashes Cora’s eyes were unnaturally wide. She pulled at her mother’s left arm. Found bruised skin. Punctures as if a snake had bitten it. Needle tracks.

“What are you doing, Skylark? Keep her away from me, Zac,” Cora whimpered.

“How much have you given her, you loser?” Skylark screamed at Zac. “When will it kick in?”

It was too late. Skylark heard the overture starting up.

Of course Cora insisted on going on. The show must, mustn’t it? Hadn’t all of Tuapa turned up because she was starring? A star never let down her public, did she? And even though the two people she loved in the whole world turned her dressing room into a boxing ring for most of the performance, let nobody ever doubt that Cora Edwards was a professional.

“What’s Zac made you do?” Skylark shouted. “Have you signed anything? You know I’m your guardian so anything you’ve signed won’t stand up in court. Why do you need him, Mum? Why —”

“Why?” Zac interrupted. “Because I give her what you can’t. You want some of it too, girlie? You want some of Zac’s action?”

“Keep away from me, you creep. Go back to the swamp where you came from and do everybody a favour and die.”

Cora kept smiling and smiling through it all. Family squabbles? Boring, boring, boring. The stuff Zac had given her was just great. It was like feeling something bubbling under you like champagne, keeping you afloat. It made you want to spread your arms and flyyy —

Skylark and Zac were so busy arguing they didn’t know Cora had left the room until they heard her entrance music. “Onstage Miss Edwards, take your position please.”

“Mum?” Skylark called.

Cora wasn’t there. “Mum, no. ” Skylark pushed past Zac and ran towards the wings. It was dark, she tripped, and there were so many people in the way. “Let me through,” she called. Her heart leapt with hope when she realised Cora had missed her cue. The curtain was still down. There was still time to stop her. But the entrance music had started again.

“Cue Miss Edwards.”

“Where is she!” Ronnie asked. He had been backstage, stage managing the amateurs. It hadn’t occurred to him that the famous Cora Edwards would miss a cue and he was tearing his hair out.

There was a nervous rustle in the audience. Hoki and Bella looked at each other, puzzled. “What’s going on?” Flora Cornish recalled the awful scene that had finished Cora’s television career. Arnie, standing with Francis at the back of the hall, remembered what Skylark had told him about her mother: I have to be strong for her. All we have in the world is each other. Lucas was on tenterhooks. As for Melissa, she was hoping Cora would trip on her entrance and fall flat on her face.