Clementine Rose and the Ballet Break-In 8 Read online

  Lady Clarissa frowned. ‘You mean Angus’s mother?’

  ‘Yes,’ Clementine said.

  ‘May I ask why?’

  ‘Clementine has a plan,’ Aunt Violet said as she placed the glass of chocolate milk in front of the child.

  ‘A plan?’ Lady Clarissa looked at Clementine, wondering what her daughter was up to this time.

  ‘We have to get Angus to come to the concert on Sunday,’ Clementine said. ‘We need him. The other hunters aren’t very good on their own.’

  ‘Yes, having watched the dress rehearsal, I can vouch for that.’ Aunt Violet’s lip curled. ‘And while you’re rustling up performers, you’d do well to find a more reliable wolf too.’

  Clementine nodded. ‘Maybe Uncle Digby could do it.’

  The kitchen door swung open and the old man walked through balancing a silver tray. ‘What could I do?’ he asked.

  ‘Show your fangs and snarl a lot,’ Aunt Violet said, taking a sip of tea. ‘Nothing you don’t do on a daily basis.’

  ‘Aunt Violet!’ Clementine smiled. ‘No, he doesn’t.’

  Uncle Digby growled loudly and snapped his teeth.

  Clementine giggled. ‘Maybe a little bit.’

  Aunt Violet’s lips twitched as she tried very hard not to smile.

  On Sunday morning Clementine and her mother arrived at the village hall right on eleven. The little girl’s hair was pulled back into a bun and held in place with half a can of hairspray and a packet of bobby pins. She wore her red tutu with a white cardigan, white tights and beige ballet slippers.

  Uncle Digby and Aunt Violet were coming later and Uncle Digby promised to bring Lavender in her tutu too.

  Ana was there to meet them. ‘You look wonderful, Clementine,’ she said. ‘Would you like to come with me and get your make-up done?’

  Clementine nodded and shivered involuntarily.

  ‘Are you cold, darling?’ her mother asked.

  The child shook her head. ‘No, I’m excited.’

  They followed Ana inside and were shocked by the hall’s transformation.

  ‘It’s lovely,’ Clementine exclaimed.

  Bunting in pretty patterns of red, white and blue was strung diagonally across the room, and thick black curtains hid the stage. There were rows of new seats and a shiny black piano in the corner that had only been delivered the afternoon before. Basil Hobbs was standing at the back positioning a huge video camera on a tripod. He looked up and gave a wave.

  An exhibition from Mrs Mogg’s quilting group was hung up around the room. Off to the side of the main hall was the servery with the kitchen behind. In another smaller area, the afternoon tea was being set up by Mrs Tribble. Father Bob was busy arranging a huge bunch of roses from his garden to fill the vase in the centre of the long table.

  Mrs Mogg gave Lady Clarissa and Clementine a wave from the kitchen.

  ‘If you don’t mind, Ana, I think I should give Mrs Mogg a hand,’ Lady Clarissa said.

  ‘Yes, of course,’ Ana replied. ‘It won’t take long to get the children ready – there are only a few props and Mintie’s made a start on the make-up.’

  Sophie and Poppy arrived and headed off with Clementine. Teddy and Tilda were already out the back with their sister.

  Soon the little room was full of excited children. When Clementine’s make-up was finished she stood by the door watching and waiting and, most of all, hoping.

  All of a sudden she rushed out into the hall. ‘Angus!’ she cried, throwing her arms around the boy.

  Angus’s freckles exploded into crimson confetti.

  ‘I’m so glad you came,’ Clementine said. ‘I knew you’d listen to Sean when you came over to play yesterday.’

  The boy smiled. ‘Well, he was a pretty good soccer player and if he can play soccer and do ballet, so can I,’ he said.

  Over Angus’s shoulder, Clementine spotted Joshua Tribble arrive with his father. She didn’t want Angus to see him, so she grabbed the lad by the hand and quickly dragged him out the back to get ready.

  ‘Mrs Mogg made you a little hat and you have a rifle too,’ she explained on the way. ‘They’re in the room behind the stage. But Mintie’s doing make-up first.’

  Angus flinched. ‘I’m not wearing make-up!’

  He reluctantly followed Clementine into the room, where he was greeted with great enthusiasm.

  ‘I’m very glad to see you, young man,’ Ana said with a smile. ‘The girls were a bit lost without their lead hunter.’

  ‘We thought you were sick,’ Poppy said.

  Angus shrugged.

  Ana hadn’t been able to get hold of Angus’s mother but Sean McCrae had told her that she should expect the boy.

  Ana gave Clementine a wink and mouthed ‘thank you’.

  Clementine beamed.

  ‘Well, come on, everyone,’ Ana said. ‘Time to get the rest of your costumes on.’

  The children followed their teacher to the storage room.

  ‘Oh no!’ Ana gasped. ‘What on earth has happened in here?’

  The children gasped too. Their lovely costumes were strewn all over the floor. Clementine picked up her duck bill, which was now flattened and torn. One of her wings was broken and half the feathers were missing too.

  ‘Look at my hat,’ Tilda moaned. It was crumpled and, on closer inspection, looked as if it had bite marks on it.

  ‘Who could have done this?’ Araminta said.

  ‘Someone must have broken into the hall,’ Teddy said, holding up his waistcoat. It was missing a pocket and all of its buttons. ‘We have to catch them.’

  Ana looked around. ‘We’ll have to worry about that later. I’m afraid there’s no time to fix anything before the concert.’

  The children heard the hall’s speakers crackle to life.

  ‘Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the official opening of the Penberthy Floss Village Hall,’ came Father Bob’s voice. ‘It’s lovely to see so many of you here this afternoon. There’s a range of wonderful entertainment for us all today, followed by a delicious afternoon tea.’

  ‘You have to go on in a few minutes,’ Ana whispered to the children.

  ‘Where’s my wolf head and tail?’ Gareth grouched.

  While the rest of the cast still had bits and pieces of their costumes, Gareth’s seemed to have disappeared altogether.

  ‘That was the best costume,’ Sophie said unhappily. ‘It must have been stolen.’

  Ana sighed.

  Clementine looked around. Her throat felt funny, like there was a big lump of disappointment stuck inside. It wasn’t fair that their lovely costumes were ruined. But then she remembered something she’d learned at the ballet.

  Suddenly, Clementine smiled. ‘It doesn’t matter about the costumes,’ she said loudly. ‘The show must go on.’

  ‘You’re absolutely right, Clementine.’ Ana nodded decisively. ‘Okay, everyone, let’s get up onstage. I’ll tell Mrs Mogg what happened to her beautiful costumes later. I hope she’s not too upset.’

  Gareth sat down in the corner. ‘I’m not going,’ he said. ‘I want my wolf head!’

  ‘Come on, Gareth, you’ll be a great wolf without it,’ Ana coaxed the boy.

  ‘No!’ He shook his head stubbornly. ‘I’m not doing it!’

  Ana bit her lip.

  ‘We’d like to welcome to the stage our very first performance of the day,’ Father Bob continued. ‘You may have heard that we now have the pleasure of a world-renowned prima ballerina living in our village. Ana Hobbs has only been teaching ballet in the hall for a few short weeks but we are about to have a very special treat. Her junior class is going to present an abridged version of the classic tale of Peter and the Wolf.’

  The audience burst into applause and someone whistled.

  ‘Come along, everyone.’ Ana bustled her ragtag cast onto the stage.

  Gareth refused to budge. Araminta zipped across to the far side to take her place at the microphone, which was positioned in fr
ont of the curtains.

  Clementine glanced at the little house and the woods and realised that the chimney was half gone and the trees were all chewed around the edges.

  ‘Look, Ana,’ Clementine whispered and pointed.

  ‘Oh dear, how did that happen?’ Ana frowned. This truly was bizarre. ‘Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now.’

  She pressed ‘play’ to start the music and pulled on the cords to open the curtains. Ana looked across at Araminta and nodded.

  ‘This is the story of Peter and the Wolf,’ the girl began. ‘Each character in the tale is represented by a different instrument in the orchestra. For instance, the bird will be played by the flute, like this …’

  Sophie fluttered across the stage. Her broken beak looked as if she’d flown off-course and into a glass door. The feathers on her left arm were falling like snowflakes but she fluttered as well as ever.

  ‘What’s happened to Sophie’s costume?’ Aunt Violet whispered, arching an eye brow. ‘Godfathers, look at Clementine. That duck bill looks as if it’s been under a steamroller.’

  A murmur ran through the audience.

  ‘What’s wrong with that chimney?’ a man in a brown checked suit said loudly.

  Uncle Felix frowned. ‘That’s not how I made it,’ he said.

  But the children continued as if nothing was wrong at all. When Araminta got to the part where she was to introduce the wolf, Gareth was nowhere to be seen. So she left him out and hoped he’d appear later on. It seemed silly to be doing a performance of Peter and the Wolf without the wolf.

  ‘Are the children’s costumes meant to be some sort of modern statement?’ Mr Mogg asked loudly.

  His wife elbowed him in the ribs. ‘No, Clyde. Something must have happened to them,’ she said through gritted teeth.

  Mr Mogg chuckled. ‘They look like they’ve been chewed by a goat if you ask me.’

  At the mention of the word ‘goat’, Mrs Tribble gulped and stiffened in her seat.

  ‘Angus looks stupid,’ Joshua said.

  His father gave him a glare that would freeze fire. ‘You keep quiet, young man. I think Angus is doing a very good job up there,’ Mr Tribble hissed. ‘He looks like a brave hunter to me. If you’d been a bit braver, we might not have lost Herbert.’

  Joshua folded his arms and pouted. It wasn’t his fault that the beast chased him through the open gate.

  Despite their scrappy costumes and the chewed set, the children were doing a marvellous job.

  Everyone was keeping time with the music, which had just reached the point where the wolf was to appear. Ana hoped that Gareth had changed his mind and had decided to join in when she spotted something completely unexpected.

  ‘Oh no,’ she gasped. ‘What is that?’

  ‘No sooner had Peter gone than a big grey wolf came out of the forest,’ Araminta continued.

  From the corner of the stage, a four-legged creature with the head of a wolf wobbled onto the stage. Except it wasn’t grey. It was cream-coloured with patches of brown.

  ‘That’s not Gareth!’ Tilda whispered loudly. The dancers spun around and faced the beast.

  ‘Look, it’s a real wolf!’ someone in the audience shouted.

  ‘No, it’s not – there are horns poking out of those ears,’ Uncle Digby called. Lavender, who was sitting on his lap, grunted in agreement.

  There was a roar of laughter, which startled the beast and sent it skittering across the stage.

  ‘Watch out!’ Angus cried as the creature crashed into the forest. The trees swayed, and Teddy and Poppy just managed to catch them before they fell over.

  The little girls who were playing the other hunters dropped their rifles and ran offstage, squealing.

  ‘Joshua Tribble,’ Father Bob yelled above the ruckus, ‘is that your missing Herbert?’

  The creature bleated loudly. ‘Baaaaa!’

  ‘It’s a goat!’ Clementine called.

  Clyde Mogg nudged his wife. ‘See, I told you it looked like those costumes had been chewed by a goat.’

  ‘Well, don’t just sit there.’ Aunt Violet glared at the people around her. ‘Somebody catch it!’

  ‘Why don’t you catch it!’ the old man in the checked suit snorted.

  Onstage the music was still playing but by now the children had completely lost their place.

  ‘I’ll get him.’ Angus, the brave hunter, launched himself at the goat. Herbert began to buck and bleat and for a moment it looked as though he and Angus were both heading for Aunt Violet’s lap.

  ‘Get it away from me!’ the old woman yelped.

  Lavender leapt down from Uncle Digby’s knees and trotted under everyone’s chairs and up the stairs onto the stage. She pranced around the goat as if she were trying to round him up.

  ‘Don’t just sit there, son,’ Mr Tribble roared. ‘He’s your goat!’

  Joshua gulped and raced onto the stage. ‘Give me that!’ he yelled, pointing at the rope slung over Teddy’s shoulder. Joshua did his best to make a lasso.

  Poor Angus was holding on for dear life as Herbert dragged him around the stage with Lavender snuffling at his feet. All of a sudden the beast changed course and was heading straight for Clementine.

  ‘Look out, Clementine!’ Angus yelled, but the girl was having none of it. No silly goat was going to ruin her first ballet performance.

  ‘Stop!’ Clementine scolded Herbert, holding up her hand. The audience gasped as the creature screeched to a halt. She eyeballed the wolf head.

  ‘Careful, Clementine, he’s got a good set of horns,’ Uncle Digby called out.

  ‘Oh dear,’ Lady Clarissa whispered as her heart skipped a beat.

  Joshua had just enough time to slip the rope over the goat’s neck.

  ‘Bravo, Clementine! Bravo, Lavender and Angus!’ Aunt Violet cheered. Uncle Digby clapped loudly and so did the rest of the audience.

  Ana sighed. ‘Well done, children.’

  ‘And I’ve got it all on tape,’ Basil piped up from the back of the room and grinned widely.

  The hall erupted into laughter.

  Despite the commotion, the music continued to play and had just reached the part where the hunters and Peter were taking the wolf off to the village so it could be put into the zoo.

  Joshua held tight to the rope while Angus had his arm around its neck. Clementine looked out into the audience and spotted Sean and his family. He gave her a big thumbs up.

  Clementine beckoned for Sophie, Poppy, Tilda and Teddy to join her, and even the two little Kindergarten girls came back onstage.

  ‘Remember,’ Clementine whispered loudly, ‘the show must go on.’ She turned and nodded at Araminta.

  The girl frowned then realised what Clementine wanted her to do. She quickly resumed her position at the microphone.

  The audience members smiled as the children danced and pranced in a line in front of Herbert and his captors, keeping far enough away from his horns. Clementine waddled and quacked even though she was supposed to be in the wolf’s tummy, and Sophie fluttered her wings as Araminta read the final lines. Lavender walked along with them too.

  ‘Above them flew Birdie, chirping merrily. “My, what brave fellows we are, Peter and I! Look what we have caught!”’

  The audience went wild. Clementine and the children who weren’t holding onto Herbert curtseyed and bowed just as Ana had taught them.

  Herbert looked out into the audience and bleated loudly. ‘Baaaaa!’

  ‘Well done, Angus! Good work, Joshua!’ a voice called. Clementine was surprised to see it was Mr Smee.

  Joshua grinned. He looked over at Angus. ‘Sorry about what I said,’ the boy whispered. ‘And for what happened at soccer.’

  ‘It’s okay.’ Angus shrugged. ‘I’m quitting anyway.’

  Clementine spun around. ‘No, you can’t. We need you,’ she said.

  Joshua nodded. ‘You should keep doing ballet.’

  ‘But you’ll just tease me,’ Angus said. �
��And you won’t be my friend anymore.’

  Joshua shook his head. ‘No, I won’t. We’ll always be friends.’

  Clementine hoped that was true.

  In the back room Gareth heard the clapping and cheering and finally decided to come out. He crept onto the side of the stage, following a trail of brown pebbles.

  ‘Who dropped the chocolates?’ The boy leaned down and picked one up. He was just about to pop it into his mouth when the audience gasped.

  ‘No!’ they all called at once.

  ‘Hey, that’s my wolf head!’ the little boy cried out, spying Herbert. The dropping fell out of his hand and back onto the floor.

  Everyone roared with laughter.

  ‘I think someone found your costume out the back last night. Poor goat’s probably starving if it’s had that thing on its head for a while,’ Mr Mogg said.

  Father Bob stepped up to the microphone. ‘Thank you, children. That’s certainly one performance we’ll never forget. It was unexpected but absolutely marvellous. And well done, Clementine – who knew that on top of being a wonderful waddler and twirler you are also a goat whisperer too. We’ll give the children time to exit the stage and then I believe next on the program we have an Irish dancing demonstration. Mr Tribble, I wonder if you’d be so kind as to take Herbert off Joshua’s hands?’

  Angus and Clementine looked at the lad.

  ‘I need to change my shoes,’ Joshua mumbled sheepishly.

  ‘What for?’ Angus asked.

  ‘Come on, Joshua,’ a pretty blonde woman called. ‘Hurry backstage, the rest of the group is waiting for you.’

  Clementine’s eyes widened. ‘Do you do Irish dancing?’ she asked.

  Joshua nodded.

  ‘So that’s what you were doing in the locker room at school the other day.’

  ‘He’s a champion in the making,’ Mrs Tribble said proudly.

  Joshua’s face went bright red. ‘Muuuum, stop it, you’re embarrassing me,’ he said through gritted teeth.

  ‘Go on,’ Mrs Tribble said to the boy.

  Joshua scurried offstage.

  Clementine smiled, and Angus did too.

  Mr Smee looked up from the audience and gave them both a wink.