Sidelines by Karen Viggers

Author:Karen Viggers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2023-11-06T00:00:00+00:00

When her mother picks her up after school, Audrey can’t hold back her tears. She coils herself up in the passenger seat, and weeps. It’s as if something is breaking inside her. All that possibility and now nothing.

Her mother wraps warm arms around her and holds her close. ‘Oh darling, what’s wrong?’

Audrey can’t speak because all the words are jammed in her throat.

‘Did someone die?’ her mother asks tentatively. ‘Somebody’s mother or grandmother?’

‘No, Mum, not that.’ Audrey almost chokes on a sob. How does her mother always manage to make her feel so much worse? ‘I got the lead in the school play but then they changed rehearsal times and now it clashes with football so I can’t do it anymore.’

‘Do what, sweetie? Soccer?’

‘No, Mum. The school play!’

‘I didn’t even know you were auditioning.’

‘That’s because I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think I’d get in. But I got the lead. I was so excited when I found out. I thought you and Dad would be so proud of me. And now it’s not happening.’

‘We are proud of you, sweetheart. You’re such a good little soccer player and you try so hard. And that’s amazing that you got the lead role. It would have been wonderful.’

‘They’re doing Shrek the Musical and I was going to be Fiona, the ogre.’ She leans against her mother’s shoulder and weeps.

Then she realises her mother is shaking. Is she crying too? No. Her mother is laughing.

‘That’s so not funny, Mum,’ she wails. ‘How can you be laughing?’

Her mother covers her face with her hands, vibrating with laughter. ‘I’m sorry, Audrey, but when you said you were going to be an ogre, it got to me, because you look like one right now! We all do when we’re crying.’

Audrey sobs. How can her mother be so mean?

Her mother dabs at Audrey’s face with a handkerchief to wipe the tears away. ‘I’m so sorry, darling. That was an awful thing to say. I really do feel bad for you. Perhaps you can try out again next year. You’re already busy enough this year with soccer.’

Audrey sniffs and withdraws, pushes all her emotions back inside. ‘It’s football, Mum. Not soccer. When will you ever learn?’

‘I always get it wrong, don’t I?’ her mother says. ‘Let’s go and do something nice together. Shall we go and get an ice cream?’

‘That’d be great,’ Audrey says. But an ice cream won’t fix it.

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