The group left on the bus an hour ago. This was the young folk dancers’ third trip abroad. They had already been to Italy and Austria; this time, they were to perform in Warsaw, Poland. The road led through a tunnel so it suddenly became dark. Esther was afraid of the dark and clutched at her chest nervously. Instinctively, she would reach for her dragonfly pendant, which he used to clutch in such situations: it always calmed her. This time, however, she searched in vain for the pendant for she had not brought it. On the trip to Vienna the previous year, it had disappeared once and she had spent hours looking for it. In the end, of course, it turned out that she had left it at the dance house. She vowed not to bring it with her on these trips. It was the very last gift she received from Dad, and it was her most precious treasure in all the world. “But she also knew that the dragonfly was in good hands with Lucy. She wouldn’t have trusted anyone with it but her mother and Lucy. She and Lucy trusted each other much more than other siblings. She smiled at the emotional, yet determined look on her little sister’s face as she handed her the pendant to keep it safe.
“I will take good care of it!” Lucy said at goodbyes, holding the pendant close to her heart.
Esther had no doubt that Lucy would take good care of it: she would rather give someone her favourite cuddly elephant or doll’s house than her sister’s dragonfly necklace. She knew how important she was to her sister.
It had only been a few hours since she said goodbye to her Mum and sister, but she already missed them very much.
“Only four days,” she kept telling herself. She turned to the window and stared at the clouds until she fell asleep. In her dream, the golden dragonfly medallion grew to the size of a bus and flew the ensemble all the way to Warsaw. Lucy came with them and shouted cheerfully:
“We are flying on the dragonfly! Nothing can happen to us!”” “In the hotel that evening, Esther stared sleeplessly at the ceiling. She was exhausted after all the travelling, but she couldn’t sleep. She stumbled towards her roommate’s bed, who had been snoring loudly for an hour.
“I’ll be dead tired at the dance rehearsal tomorrow,” she thought.
Then, bored out of her mind, she reached for her phone, which was on the bedside table. Her friend Chrissy had messaged her. She was a childhood friend and a next-door neighbour.
“Did you leave your dragonfly necklace at home?” the message read.
“How do you know I left it at home?” Esther asked.
“I stopped by at yours today to pick up a sweater that I had left behind over the weekend. Your sister tried to hide it quickly when I went into your room, but I noticed. When are you coming home?”
“Friday”.
“Then your sister lied. She said you’d come on Wednesday”.
Esther got really angry now.
“She had just remembered wrong. Lucy would never lie!”
The latter was not just a throwaway comment: Lucy really never lied, even when she broke or lost something. ” ““Let’s make a bet” wrote Chrissy.
“On what?”
“I bet your sister will lie to you, and I’ll prove it”.
“She would never do that. You are a complete idiot. Let’s go to sleep, it’s late” Esther said, slamming the phone on the bedside table and turning to the wall, but she tossed and turned for another two hours. How could Chrissy prove that her little sister would lie? Best of luck with that one. She couldn’t understand what Chrissy had against Lucy. She was always so mean to her, so patronising, even though Lucy adored her. At fourteen, one could act a little more grown up.
The next day Esther was indeed very tired at the rehearsal, but she knew the routine so well that she could have danced it flawlessly even half asleep. Of course, tomorrow would be quite different. They would have to dance in front of a bunch of strange foreigners, and their piece would be the last act. Mum and Dad wouldn’t be in the auditorium either, or the dragonfly to bring her luck.” “The dressing room was a madhouse.
“Where is my apron?”
“Have you seen my petticoat?”
“These are not my pantyhose, who stole them?!”
Esther wanted to leave. She wanted peace and fresh air, not the company of nine nervous girls. She went to the bathroom to check if her outfit was in order. She definitely looked beautiful, with her braided hair and the big red bow in it. She looked four or five years older this way, and she liked that. At home, she had a photograph of her mother only a few years older than Esther now, all dressed up in folk costume. Since she was a little girl, whenever she went home in her costume after a performance, Esther would take this photo and sit down like her Mum in the picture to compare the two of them. Although the photo was not there now, she felt that she was really beginning to resemble her.
“We’re on!” Someone shouted, and the buzz was suddenly replaced by excited whispers.
Esther ran back to the others.
“Onto the stage, the boys are waiting!” Miss Timi, the dance teacher called out encouragingly, opening the dressing room door for the ten girls.”