Little Swan Read Online Free PDF Page A

said Miss Matting. “Sit down and listen. Children, this is a friend and neighbour of the Blairs’. Her name is Nina Posnansky, and she has a very interesting story to tell.”
    I hardly recognized Mrs Posnansky. She usually wore dark, shapeless clothes, but she had put on her best outfit for Weezer’s show. It was a purple silk dress. She had a sequinned scarf around her neck. She smiled at us. In her hand she held a paper shopping bag.
    “Good evening, girls,” she said. “My English is so bad, but you forgive. I come from Russia. My mother was a ballet dancer long ago. Her name was Natasha Arlosorovska. Before I am born, she dances in Paris. She dances
Swan Lake
in corps de ballet.This I already tell Weezer and Annie.”
    Weezer nodded. “That’s right. I’m going to Mrs Posnansky’s house to look at her photo albums.”
    “I bring here one picture,” said Mrs Posnansky. She took a photograph in a silver frame out of her paper bag. “This is my mama. She does the Dance of the Little Swans. Is second from right.”
    The girls passed the photograph from hand to hand. Four beautiful dancers stood in front of a backcloth painted with dark trees and a moonlit lake. Their dresses were old-fashioned, but you could see exactly what they were meant to be.
    “Imagine!” said Miss Matting. “This photo was taken eighty-four years ago, and yet the dancers look just like our own Little Swans.”
    “They’re beautiful,” said Weezer, going up to Mrs Posnansky and giving her back the photo. “Your mother is the prettiest.”
    “Wait,” said Mrs Posnansky. “I have for you something very special. You come to see me. You offer me ticket. After you go home, I think. I think a lot. I remember suitcase of Mama. Is under bed. I pull out suitcase. I think, maybe is still there, the special surprise.I look, I look. Is much old clothes, old shoes. Is jewels and scarves. Then I find . . .” She reached into the paper bag. “The headdress of my mother. This is what I seek for Weezer. This is what I wish to give a new Little Swan.”

    Weezer’s eyes were shining. “Oh, my goodness!” she breathed. “Real feathers! Is this the one your mother is wearing in the picture?”
    “Oh, yes, same one,” said Mrs Posnansky.
    “And you’ll let me wear it for the show?”
    “Yes, for the show,” said Mrs Posnansky. “But you keep forever. For gift. Is good luck for the ballet. Come. I put it on.”
    Weezer ran to Mrs Posnansky. She flung her arms around her. She hugged her. Weezer hardly ever hugs anybody.
    “It’s the best present ever,” she said. Mrs Posnansky arranged the white feathered headdress on Weezer’s head. Everyone started clapping. Weezer blushed and smiled.
    “Well,” said Miss Matting. “I’ve been putting on shows for years, but I’ve never been so thrilled. Thank you so much, Mrs Posnansky.”
    “Yes, thank you!” everyone else called out. Mrs Posnansky turned to leave the room.
    “I wish you all wonderful dance,” she said, and closed the door behind her.
    “I’ve got to go now, too,” I told Weezer. “I have to get to my place before the show starts. Good luck, Weezer. You look just like a proper ballerina.”
    “That’s what I feel like,” she said, pointing her toe and lifting her arms gracefully into the air. “A really, truly, proper one.”

THE THEATRE OF Fairvale High was full. The parents and families of all the dancers had crowded in to see the show. Mum and Mrs Posnansky had listened to Weezer. They’d arrived early and found seats in the front row. Mrs Posnansky’s sequined scarf glittered and sparkled. She and Mum were studying the programme when I came to sit down.
    “Weezer is so happy with your present,” I said to Mrs Posnansky. “She was nervous before you came, but she’s fine now. She says she feels like a real dancer.”
    “
I’m
not fine,” said Mum. “I’m nervous for her. She’s so hard on herself – just imagine if she does something