‘Thankyou, Oscar. For reuniting us… and tell them I er…’ Walter gestured to his old, deadbody and Oscar looked down at him lying in a pool of his own blood, revolver in hand.
‘I think… I think it might be quite obvious, mate,’ Oscar said.
‘Yeah – I suppose you’re right.’
‘Right, Walter, it’s time.’ Fawn came and stood with Walter and just like they’d never been apart, his arms found her waist and she placed his hat back on his head. ‘I’ve waited a long time todo this again…’ Fawn barely let him take a breath before she pushed her lips against his and pulled him in as tight as she could. When she pulled away, Walter smiled wider than he had in years. ‘Me too.’
‘Before we go, my lady, I think it’s time you took the bow you never got for the performance of a lifetime.’
‘Really?’ Fawn’s eyes burned a little brighter for a moment.
‘You deserve it,’ Oscar said.
‘Well, only if you’ll bow with me? I’ve never bowed without the rest of the cast before!’ she shouted up to the couple on the fly floor. And so Olive and Oscar climbed down the ladder and walked from the wings to join the ghosts of Fawn and Walter on centre stage.
‘It’s been a pleasure knowing you,’ Olive said to Walter.
‘The pleasure was all mine.’He smiled back. ‘Now, ladies and gentlemen!’ Walter addressed the empty seats. ‘You’ve all been waiting sixty-six years for the actress who —’
‘She’s here?’ called a voice that broke the deathly silence of the auditorium.
‘Fawn Burrows?’ Another voice shouted from the dress circle.
‘Erm… yes… that’s me.’ Fawn said and suddenly, the auditorium was abuzz with noise and chatter.In every seat, a ghost faded into view, men in bow ties, women in their evening gowns still clutching their handkerchiefs.
‘Oh… oh my goodness.’ Fawn couldn’t believe it. Nearly every member of the audience the night she had died had returned to see her curtain call. The few empty seats belonged to those who were lucky enough to still be living.
‘We’ve been waiting just as long asyou have to see you take the bow you deserve,’ said a lady in the front row, whose hat was so large it was blocking the view of at least six people.
‘No one likes unfinished business,’ laughed another voice from the back of the stalls.
‘Well, then, in that case… ladies and gentlemen,’ said Walter, ‘it is my honour and my privilege to present to you the actress who loved her workso much she died for it, wrongfully robbed of a long and beautiful life… and the girl who stole my heart from the moment I heard her laugh. I give you: Fawn Burrows.’
The audience burst into an applause so rapturous that both Oscar and Olive knew they would never hear anything like it again in their lifetimes. The crowd roared and cheered and Fawn looked out on an ocean of a thousand pairsof hands shimmering, a sight she never thought she’d get to see again. Fawn took Walter’s hand and stepped forward.
‘Take a bow too, Walter. You deserve it just as much as she does,’ Olive said and then clapped and cheered arguably louder than anyone else.
Fawn and Walter grinned at each other at the prospect of finally having the life they’d dreamed of in a world hereafter. Thenas the audience rose to their feet, the ghosts of the rising starlet of 1952 and her stage door man bowed together… and disappeared.
