I snatch frantically at the empty air around me, my hands outstretched and beating at nothing, like featherless wings.
I am falling, falling, falling . . .
All of a sudden, the terror is over. The fear is gone. Somehow I am safely held by unseen ropes and fastenings. I will not fall.
And now I am flying, high above the stage in the beam of a glowing golden light. Backwards and forwards I fly, weaving and soaring through the heavy scented air and the cloud of happy murmuring voices. All that had held me down is gone.
Far below me, where the lanterns play across the boards of the stage, stands a girl, and at once I see it is Kitty. Her arms are open, her face alive to an unseen audience.
I know she is speaking her lines, though I cannot hear her laughing words. I discover I am mouthing the words along with her, but what they are I cannot be sure.
Now Kitty is not alone. The little girls are there, circling and dancing around her, scattering flowers. Somewhere, I know, Adnam and all the other actors are standing in the shadows, about to enter. Even the ponies wait, with their breath like sweet hay, for this moment.
The music is calling, calling . . . and all are ready to step into their chosen places. They do not look up. They do not see me, do not need me, but I do not mind.
I soar, I fly above them, and I dream. I know that all is well with them, these dear friends, these happy shadows of delight, this sweet company.
All is well with the Dream.
And all is very well with me, very well indeed.
.
THE END
.
Dramatis Personae
A BOY CALLED MOUSE
Proudly Presents – In Order of Appearance:
MOUSE
Our Hero, A Boy Unafraid of Heights
HANNY
A Kind and Resourceful Nursery Maid
SCROPE
A Man Misguided by Debt and Envy
OLD EPSILON
A Firm Paternalist and Sulker
MR BUTTON
A Person Who Makes Use of Secrets
ISAAC
A Kindly Son of the Soil
BULLOUGHBY
Unwilling Headmaster and Frequent Snuff-Taker
MADAM CLAUDINE
Originator of an Interesting Educational System
NIDDLE AND PYEBERRY
A Pair of Cheering Chums
GRINDLE
Definitely Bulloughby’s Son
JARVEY
A Man of Great Education and Unfortunate Debts
SHANKBONE
A Kitchen Cook, Much Misunderstood
WAYLAND
A Mysterious Tramping Man
CHARLIE PUNCHMAN
Good Sort and Puppet-Master, and
HIS AMAZING DOG TOBY
KITTY
Our Heroine, Whom We Find in Difficult Circumstances
FLORA AND DORA
Her Small But Insistent Sisters
AUNT INDIGO AND AUNT VIOLET
Two Strong-Minded Seamstresses and Washerwomen
NICK TICK
A Minute But Clever Clockmaker
SMUDGE
MISS TILDY
Dancing Teacher of Great Neatness
HUGO ADNAM
A Person For Whom the Theatre Is Everything
PETER
Adnam’s Dresser
VANYA
The Power Behind the Albion
BELLINA LANDER
A Woman Who Shows That Beauty Is Not Everything
MR SPANGLE
Owner of a Renowned Emporium
CAPTAIN MARRINER
A Naval Gentleman, With Ship
ALBERT AND ADELINE
A Pair of Passionate Botanists
SERGEANT TRUGEWELL
A Stalwart and Cheery Officer of the Law
.
PLUS ASSORTED COACHMEN, NEEDLEWOMEN, ACTORS, STAGEHANDS, STREET CRIERS, WEARY CONSTABLES, FAIRY HORSE AND MONKEYS.
.
AUTHOR’S NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This novel, A Boy Called M.O.U.S.E., is a historical fairy tale peopled by fictional characters and almost fictional settings.
My theatre research took in a variety of books, including novels, biographies, autobiographies and books on theatrical history, not all about Victorian theatre – a patchwork of studies to costume my tale.
Three theatres helped, indirectly, with the writing of this novel. My thanks to the West Yorkshire Playhouse for their production of Peter Pan, complete with stunning flying sequences; to Harrogate Theatre for giving a home for a while to a play-writing group and new writing festival; and to York Theatre Royal for an almost individual backstage tour. None of these became Adnam’s beloved Albion, though I may have borrowed some small shadows and dark corners.
Thanks also to the many people who have helped me with my writing, even if they have not always known it at the time: to Dennis Hamley, for the writing courses that started me back on my writing path, to many members of the Scattered Authors Society – especially the Charney Manor gang – for their friendship and support, and to the writers and tutors of the Harrogate Theatre play-writing group.
At a very practical level, my grateful thanks to Pat White, Claire Wilson and Catherine Pelegrino of Rogers Coleridge & White Literary Agency, who encouraged my ‘Mouse’ project. Thanks also to my editor Emma Matthewson, and to Talya Baker, who between them spotted all the words I’d repeated, and to all at Bloomsbury Publishing.
Finally, thanks to all my family – Colin, Eleanor, Tom, Vicky, Daisy and Milo – and most especially to Jim.
.
Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Berlin, New York and Sydney
First published in Great Britain in October 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
36 Soho Square, London, W1D 3QY
Text copyright © Penny Dolan 2010
Illustrations copyright © Peter Bailey 2010
The moral right of the author has been asserted
This electronic edition published in October 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
All rights reserved.
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise
make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means
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publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 4088 1325 6
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