High Society: Part 6

MELODY

In retrospect, choosing the Cinderella umbrella was probably her first mistake considering what happened when the clock struck midnight in that particular fairytale- gallant horses turned back into mice and glittering white coaches turned back into pumpkins. 

“That’s what I am, a pumpkin. Or I’m about to be.” thought Melody who, a week before, had spent what was left of her paltry life savings on a series of injections meant to give her face some lift and some plump. “I’m letting a doctor squirt plastic into my face,” she mused at the time. “Is this normal, I wonder?”  

Whether something is normal isn’t really the point when that something is necessary, and Melody – an actress of a certain age – thought the injections quite necessary at this point in her career.  Casting directors concurred. But the injections would only last three months – after that, the plumpness they provided would disappear, and Melody would turn back into a pumpkin. 

So before that happened, she had to land a part. And she needed to do it quickly. Even living on the outskirts of a dream was costly, especially for an actress. There is upkeep, not to mention rent. So, armed with a mission and a Cinderella umbrella, Melody stepped out into the world and into the rain wearing heels that were a bit too high, a dress that was a bit too pink and hair that was a bit too some else’s – a lucky wig she wore on her very first audition.  Since then it had become a companion and she’d even named it: Suzanne.

Fiercely clutching her copy of “The Stage” like it was a roadmap to her future and future stardom, Melody grabbed a nectarine and black coffee from Tooting Market before hopping on the train and finding a seat.  The day’s route was laid out for her in “The Stage”, contained within the pink circles she drew with her pink pen: Three auditions, all within a three-mile radius. She’d be cutting it close, but she could pull it off if the train kept its promise to leave on time.

It didn’t, and Melody’s heart began to climb up her throat as the train, not sharing her tight schedule, slid to a causal stop at the station. She was the first to rise from her seat, but was quickly swallowed up by the enormous, egressing crowd and was jostled to the back of the carriage despite her very best efforts to run toward the front. 

So Melody did what any late-running, high-heeled actress would do: she drove her high heel hard into the muddy boot of the man pushing his way in front of her. In fact, she stepped with such force that the pink heel snapped clean off just as the rude and impaled stranger began to scream, setting off what would be described later in the newspapers as a “chain reaction of pedestrian violence not seen since Tottenham”.

A tempest on a train. Melody fought valiantly, wielding her umbrella like Excalibur, which was ultimately not a good idea since Cinderella umbrellas it turns out, are not as stalwart as medieval metallurgy. The umbrella broke. But not before popping itself open wide and grabbing the wig from Melody’s unsuspecting head as she was helplessly jostled toward the front of the train and out its open door. Spit out onto the platform. A hairless hairball.

The rains resumed. And the train began to roll – on time this time. Melody ran after it, hobbling the whole way on one heel, howling: “Suzanne!”  But the train, not knowing her secrets or sharing her dreams, kept going, taking with it Suzanne, a broken Cinderella umbrella and a pink-circled copy of “The Stage.”  Melody stared in silence as the train disappeared around a misty grey corner and the clock in the tower clock began to chime…

Written by Tinsel Townsend

Twitter: @TinselsTown

Tumblr: http://tinselstown.tumblr.com/

 

Next Wednesday: Marion

 

Part 1- Charlie Malbery

Part 2– Albert

Part 3- Ernest Malbery

Part 4– Ingrid

Part 5– Dalton