As a dancer I’ve always had an element of
grace. Whether it was natural or taught in the hours spent next to the ballet barre
its something I realised I’ve relied upon. No matter how fat or ugly or dishevelled
I happened to feel, I could sweep into a room with my head held high, gracefully.
My knee surgery removed that feeling of late. I’ve been waddling from room to
room without my crutches, and using them the moment I left our home. There are
stairs and uneven surfaces out there in the world.
On Tuesday something wonderful happened. As
I walked out of the front door to go to the physio (the only place I’ve been
leaving the house for of late) I realised that I wasn’t putting
weight on the crutch i was using to walk up the incline to the car.
“I’m not using my crutch”
“Then leave it at home”
And as simply as that I was off my
crutches.
Just in time for my Thursday theatre
audition. Not being allowed to drive was driving me insane, and feeling like a burden
to my husband he was taking me everywhere wasn’t helping my general demeanour. On Thursday morning I received
a call from my agency:
“A lot of the actors auditioning today have
cancelled. The director wants to move your audition up from 15:30 to 12:00”
I had to phone Mauritz to hear if it was possible as we had
already planned my audition around his meetings:
“We can make it, but I have a meeting on
13:00”
“The audition slots are all scheduled for
30 minutes so I’ll go in at 12:00, finish at 12:30 and you can be back for your
meeting at 13:00”
We arrived a few minutes early for my slot. At 12:05 the
director told me he was running late and asked if I could please wait…
“Go. You can pick me up afterwards, I’ll just
wait here. Or I’ll take an uber home”
Then I heard my friend’s voice from within
the audition venue. Suné also worked at our agency which wasn’t too far from
where I lived. She could drop me off at home after my audition before returning to the office.
“Go. I don’t want you to be late for your
meeting”
Mauritz was off at 12:20 and I was in to
audition. And as the fates would have it, Suné and I auditioned together. How
the audition itself went is a post for another day. The fact that the director
recognised me is a bonus. The fact that he said he liked my interpretation and
the way I played the character is another bonus. His notes on my voice work
were not so much, but all in all it was a satisfactory audition. And Suné and I
were off to my house. And in the gate. And by my front door before I realised
that my house keys were still in Mauritz’s car.
“Chandré I can’t just leave you here”
“I’ll be fine. I promise. It’s a safe complex
and I’ll find a way in”
“Really Chandré. I feel to bad to leave you
here”
I also knew that she needed to get back to
the office for a busy day.
“We have a new neighbour. For the first
time in a year. Her balcony is right next to mine. I can hop over from her
balcony to mine and go in through the glass door on the balcony.”
I didn’t mention that it is almost a 2 story
drop from the balcony to grounds below despite our front door being on ground
floor as the flat is built of up the side of a mountain. The 2 story drop also
means that we rarely locked the glass sliding door on the balcony.
“I guess I’ll have to introduce myself to
my new neighbour now”
Suné went back to the office.
“Hi I’m Chandré, we haven’t officially met
but I live next door. I’ve left my keys in husband’s car and a friend dropped
me off. Would you mind if I climbed over your balcony to get into my flat”
The woman looked at me, slightly stumped.
Perhaps because the only time she had seen me before was while she was busy moving
in and I was on crutches.
“If you're sure. I just can’t look while
you are climbing over.”
I climbed over the balcony with my shoes in
my handbag, a bum knee and a short black dress hoping that someone in the
street below wasn’t looking up. About 30 seconds later I was in my flat
thankful that the neighbour whose name I now knew had moved in 5 days earlier.
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