Read The House of Memories for Free Online Page B

age. I’ve been doing all the right classes for years. I’ve been in youth theater since I was a little kid and done every performance class possible, tap and mime and singing and even interpretative dance. I’d been offered a couple of professional chorus roles in the past few months but I’d turned them down. They would have meant giving up work on Mum’s show and what was the point? To do a six-week run in Melbourne or Sydney or Adelaide or Canberra, backwaters as far as musical theater is concerned. The West End (and Broadway of course!!) is where it’s at. I have an EU passport courtesy of my German dad, so it makes sense to go to Europe—or, more specifically, London—first. That’s how I always put my argument. But Mum and Dad kept saying I was too young, it was too soon, blah blah blah, you’d be there on your own, in a big strange city. I wouldn’t be on my own. As soon as I get a role, the theater company would be my family.
    “Why now?” I asked when we were on our way home. “What changed your minds?”
    “Because we won’t be far away ourselves,” Mum said.
    And I said, “You’re coming to London too?” To be honest, Diary, the idea of it appalled me!! How would I get to live my dream if I had to be home early each night to stop Mum and Dad from worrying? On the bright side, if they were there in London too, they’d be paying for all my food and rent, so I quickly hid my dismay and saw the sunny side of it (another of my positive personality traits, according to Mum). “Great!” I said, using my best acting skills. “We can all live together.”
    “Oh, aren’t you a sweetie,” Mum said. “I thought you’d hate it if we were there too.”
    That will teach me to wear my feelings on my face!
    Before I had to deny it, she went on. It turned out she meant that she and Dad would be near me in Europe, not London, and not the whole time, just for a few weeks, and not until later in the year. They’d got word that the cable channel had given the green light to a new series of
MerryMakers
. Basically it would be Mum wisecracking her way around Europe, cooking national dishes, but on the ground rather than in a studio. She was really excited about it, and started listing off all the places they’d be going: Spain, France, Italy. . . . “We’ll only ever be a few hours from you, darling, and if you’re not working yourself, you can fly in to us for your cameos as well. Isn’t it perfect!”
    I was only half listening by that stage, to tell you the truth. I’d already taken out my iPhone and started Googling info on the current season of West End musicals and any calls for auditions. Also, of COURSE I’d be working by then and I’d hardly give up a season on the West End to play a cameo on Mum’s series, even though it was very nice of her to offer, of course.
    “You’ll give me the money I need to set myself up, won’t you?” I suddenly asked. It came out a bit bluntly, I know, but the fact was that even though I still lived at home and got paid to do Mum’s show (pretty well too!!!), I didn’t have any savings, and one thing I had heard many times from my singing and dance teachers was that London is very expensive.
    “Of course, darling,” Dad said. “We will be your devils.”
    It took a while to work out he meant my angels, as in my theatrical sponsors. Dad’s English is very good (apart from his problem with the letter
r
, which he says as
v
sometimes, but that’s a kind of speech-impediment thing, not because of his being German, and I think it’s cute anyway) but it does let him down sometimes. So we had a great chat for the rest of the drive home about all the ways he and Mum could support me. It’s SO exciting!! I’m going to leave as soon as I can, I’ve decided. No point hanging around wasting time in Australia when the real theater world awaits in London.
    So, what a great day! In a few weeks’ time (maybe more, maybe less, it will depend on flight