The Luster of Stars in Moscow
⁇ 2
Program number 31: Marionette…
The young man who received the wreath was stunned and thought hard without taking his eyes off the piece of paper tucked away on the wreath.
The middle-aged man had risked his life to give this bouquet to his daughter.
"It's important to him…"
I better hurry, he said in his heart. After believing the middle-aged man had left the wreath safe in the care of paramedics and was taken into an ambulance, the man immediately ran up the stairs and asked anyone he passed. "Do you know of Marionette's program?"
"His performance is underway in the auditorium" a woman dressed in ballet replied, pointing out the direction.
"Thank you!"
.
.
.
Marionette is a dance title performed in pairs between marionette dolls and her mastermind—Cheri Dutchskova and Nina Vavolka.
While being controlled by the mastermind, marionette suddenly moves at will until the mastermind is made to panic and confusion.
The marionette moved freely and circled around with overflowing excitement and over time the marionette turned around urging the mastermind and toying with him.
"The marionette dancer is like a real doll" commented one of the spectators near the entrance.
The man carrying the wreath stood in front of the entrance and listened as he watched the show.
"The game is very important. The girl lived her role in earnest," another audience commented.
The man had not blinked and had not shifted a bit from his place since he entered the auditorium. Just froze in the doorway and was glued to watch the show.
In the middle of the show, an unexpected incident suddenly occurred. The dancer who plays the mastermind slips and falls face down.
"Milina!" Cheri gave a frantic shriek and looked at his friend.
"Ouch!" Their teacher, a middle-aged woman in formal attire, patted her on the forehead. "He's talking on stage" he said.
Nina could not get up, Cheri sat in a huff. Was his head hit?
"Bas stupid," Nina growled in annoyance. "Can't pretend not to know" he told Cheri. Then move on and slip away from the show.
"Milina!" Cheri began to be confused.
How'this?
Everything's messed up.
"Come, Cheri! You're down too!" Their dance teacher gave a gesture from the side of the stage.
No, wait! Instantly Cheri got the idea. If I were a real marionette…
Cheri rotated in a slow, rigid motion, facing the audience and moving his hands up and down mimicking the motion of the wooden puppet without control, then swing one hand to the side and stretch it like a wooden cross, then slowly tilt his body until a slightly tilted standing position resembling a wooden puppet hanging half-collapsed and swayed, then no longer move.
The spectators gasped and held their breath.
"He's going to fall?" Audience wonders.
"No, look at that! He was silent in such a position!"
"Absolutely not moving like a real wooden doll!"
I am just a wooden doll, Cheri said in his heart. Trying to concentrate. If my ingenuity dumps me, I am nothing more than a pile of wood.
The wreath-carrying man was still frozen, fascinated by the drooping figure of the dancer resembling a real wooden doll. Just two or three moves, he thought. But he managed to win the hearts of the spectators.
Just incredible!
But rather than her being a ballerina, she was more suited to be…
The man then rushed backstage and broke through the guards of the organizers.
"Hey!" Someone shouted.
Cheri was bowing in front of the dressing table with a look of despair. Father must be disappointed, he thought sadly while imagining his father's scathing comments.
"If your dance is like that, I won't let you go to Moscow!"
"Dad really didn't come" his sister lamented on the bleachers.
"Father was just late" said her mother.
"Pity Brother Cheri" said his other sister.
"Mrs Dutchskova" a thirty-year-old man approached them.
"Yes?" Cheri's mother turned her head with a puzzled look. He knew the man as a government official who served in the town hall. But he never had any business with government officials.
"I represent the organizing committee wanting to notify," the man said a little cautiously. "There should be someone contacting us, she said your husband fell in the lobby. Now an ambulance has been taken to the Palms of Pasadena hospital!"
"What?" Cheri's mother and two younger sisters screamed at the same time as they moved from their seats.
"Cherry!" Two girls from the organizing committee rushed to the dressing room, but the presence of a foreign man at the venue made them stop at the door.
"Who is he?" ask one of them.
"I don't know" replied the other girl. "But judging from her upbringing, it seems like she's used to being on stage."
"If the two people were highlighted by lights, they really looked like dolls" commented a dancer who wanted to get out of the locker room and cross paths with the two organizers.
Cherie is not aware of the situation around her. His heart and mind were still agitated at the thought of his father's reaction.
"Are you waiting for this bouquet?" The foreign man's question jerked Cheri from his reverie.
The man offered the gardenia wreath that his father had left in the lobby.
Cheri froze staring at the wreath with an expression of disbelief. But as soon as he looked up at the face of the man who was thrusting at him, he gasped and palpitated.
Although foreign, he still remembers the face that looks like the result of the sculpture of a maestro with a strong bone structure and an awesome facial line. The man in the corridor earlier, his mind was delighted.
Found the man standing before him with a wreath proffered at him, not good to make his heart flowery.
For a moment it felt like a romantic scene of lovers. But the man's words next made Cheri's heart crack suddenly.
"Your father asked me to give this to you" he said. And the next words again made Cheri feel stabbed in the mouth of his heart. "So your father fell in the lobby. The paramedics have handled it and now your father has been taken to the Palms of Pasadena hospital."
Cheri was stunned with a nanar look. His consciousness seemed to arise and sink at the same time. His body suddenly felt light as if his soul was trying to float out.
"This must be because of me," he hissed half unconscious. "Because of me. Dad forced himself…"
"Hey! Are you okay?" The tall man caught both of his shoulders as Cheri's body nearly slipped backwards.
"Ma-sorry," Cheri stuttered and realized, then broke away and ran out without looking back.
The man looked at her with a concerned look on his face. Then follow him out. But not chasing him. He rushed to the parking area and pulled his phone out of his coat pocket and contacted someone. "Find out the information about the Dutchkovich family in St Petersburg" he ordered, then ended the call after the person in his phone line said something.
He slipped his cell phone back into his pocket, then slipped into his car and rushed out of town hall.
At the Palms of Pasadena hospital…
Mrs Dutchkovich was sitting limp with her face face down and huffing at the edge of the gurney, on the side of her husband's motionless body.
His two daughters stood behind him sobbing and hugging.
BRUISES!
The door of the room slammed open, Cheri burst in with a gasp of breath, then stuck with a pale face. The scene before him explained the situation he had not expected.