First go the sleeves, then the skirt and then the bodice. The dress underneath is sheer bronze-gold mesh that shows the most remarkable shape and is the most sensual outfit to have been worn on stage tonight, even more so than Vivicious’ leather Grace-Jones-on-meth outfit and TwinkiBelle’s porntastic red latex body suit. As the song ends on a filthy joke about Tog Hill, she pulls off her wig to reveal a smaller, sleek dark brunette wig that flutters down her back and gold mesh that falls down over her face.
The audience lets out a collective long slow ‘woah’, the lights go down, smoke rises from the stage again and a spotlight picks out Dan on the piano. There is silence on the stage, matched by the audience, who are now open-mouthed waiting for the final part of her act. Dan starts to play ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ and I am standing there holding my breath as Jinx begins the song, on a stage now darkened and free from frills, her voice so pure that I could cry.
I hear a sigh similar in intensity to mine and as I turn my head I see the Huangs standing there. She is stood in front of him, him with his hand on her shoulder – a small but meaningful gesture from this man – and they both watch their son at his most fabulous, most camp best.
I should have known from their determination to be involved with Pride that they would have found a way to this event tonight. Flyers were everywhere.
I’m not sure if they are aware it is their son but they would have to be blind not to. For me Jinx and Kevin are inseparable; it is no different seeing him as Jinx than it is for me to change from a blue dress to a green dress – I am still me and Kevin is always Kevin – so surely they recognise their child?
Whether they know or not is not of huge importance to me in this moment, I am far more worried that Jinx will catch sight of them and it will throw her off balance. I consider escorting them out but can’t bear to miss Jinx’s finale. She’ll never forgive me. There is very little I can do but stand here and smile and pray they don’t suddenly explode as they recognise their son. In which case Iwillmiss Jinx’s finale and be kidnapping the pair of them, wrapping them both up in gaffer tape and leaving them in the loos. As charming as the little velvet seats, the perfumes and the mints are, that is not a place they would want to be for long. I know some of the things that happen there.
Shu-feng asks Chih-hao a question, he smiles and nods and she turns to me.
‘Is Kevin singing this for Dan?’ My legs wobble and I let out a gasp before asking her to repeat the question.
She does so and I have not misheard. My relief is overwhelming and a huge breath releases across my lips. She knows and seems fine with it; they both seem fine with it. I don’t really know what to say, other than the truth.
‘I hope so. I think so.’
They exchange a look, their eyes gleaming, and look as proud as proud can be.
Under the spotlight, Jinx hits the end of the song, singing ‘your face’ and holding the note perfectly as she looks across at Dan. Then she turns back, makes eye contact with the audience and pats the side of her wig and raises her brows.
Jinx walks across the stage, the spotlight seconds behind her, clearly unaware that she was going to do this, and she gives Dan the biggest smacker on the lips.
Scanning the crowd, she nods her thanks to the choir, gives them a side clap and then freezes for a millisecond as she takes in all of us bouncing in excitement in front of her. Her eyes find me in the crowd as we move up and down in waves, chanting her name. Jay and Cass are next to me jumping up and down and screaming. Jinx looks happier than I have ever seen her but then she sees her parents on the other side of me and her eyes widen in horror and she looks as if her world has collapsed. Then they both stretch out their arms and give their child a double thumbs-up. Jinx still looks confused, as if she can’t fully compute what she is seeing, but after the thumbs-up her mother shapes her fingers into a heart and the love shining from her face can’t be mistaken. I see Jinx’s lips wobble but meanwhile Phyllis steps up the stairs onto the stage, walks to the mic stand and addresses the crowd, calming them down with her hands before she asks, ‘And the judge’s scores for our very own High Jinx?’
The whole bar watches, rapt, as the judges hold up scores of ten, ten and nine and Jinx bursts into tears, trying to stop them by batting her eyes rapidly and holding her fingers just below her lower lids, almost forcing the tears back inside her eyes.
‘I can’t let all this run,’ she says, sniffling and laughing all at the same time. ‘I’m never going to manage to create these cheekbones again.’
‘That gives us a clear winner tonight. Thank you, judges.’ Phyllis nods at them. ‘And I am as proud as proud can be that our wonderful, most audacious, truly original High Jinx is the Official Queen of the Southwest.’ She raps her cane on the floor and Barry and Gary march on with the most preposterous crown covered in cherubim and apples and trumpets, along with a sceptre which looks suspiciously like Phyllis’ old cane with lots of diamanté glued to it.
Phyllis takes the crown and motions to High Jinx to kneel in front of her, and then, as she bends one knee, Phyllis crowns my best friend in the world and the crowd roars.
Phyllis motions at the mic and leaves the stage and Jinx, still sniffing and trying hard to force back the tears, takes a deep breath and then fixes us all with the smile I know she has been perfecting in front of the mirror for years.
And boy, is it worth it.
She opens her mouth to speak... and pauses, keeping her audience in the palm of her hand. The whooping starts again and she waves her hand to get everyone to shut up.
‘Right, I want to keep this brief because I know even in my moment of shining glory that you all want to get back to the bar and knock back at least one bottle of voddy to celebrate my very –’ she pauses again, playing with us all ‘–verywell-deserved victory. But before you do that, I do have to say a few thank yous. A thank you of course goes to Phyllis, for being a haven as well as a maven when I was looking to find my people. You supplied me with a safe space that allowed me to develop my wings, made of diamanté and tulle obviously, and to learn to fly. Phyllis, you are like a second mother to me and to practically every girl here with us tonight, certainly those of us who have been here up on the stage. So thank you.’ She clasps her hands and bows her head and Phyllis twitches her cane to suggest that High Jinx gets a move on, but everyone standing close can see the tears pricking in the corner of her eyes.
Jinx takes another deep breath. ‘And that brings me to my real mother, who is standing down there with my father at what I imagine may be their very first drag show, watching their son be the most exquisite, talented woman that they could ever have imagined. I have been worried about telling them the truth of the whole of me for a long time and yet by the look of them now, and their presence tonight, I realise that I have made assumptions that were false and forgot to remind myself that they have always been there for me. They even bought me my very first Kylie album when I was not much more than yay-high.’ She holds her hand down low, toddler height. ‘I am sorry for doubting you, for allowing my insecurities to shape my fears. Having you here tonight is really special and I cannot thank you enough.’ Jinx blows kisses at them with a double-handed gesture and then angles herself to take in the piano.
‘Then there’s Dan. Dan helped me with everything that came together tonight. He has spent days and days, no, weeks and weeks, helping me train my voice and get pitch perfect. He and our friend Jay are responsible for the inclusion of this fabulous community choir –’ she sweeps her hand at the choir in the audience ‘– and he helped sew these costumes and gather and build my mini-forest-on-a-stage here. Dan, I think you may be the love of my life.’ Jinx blows him a kiss to rapturous applause.
‘There is one outstanding thing left to do before I let you all go back to the bar, and the love-of-my-life takes his place behind the decks to make sure this evening continues being fabulous. But first I must do this, because this is going to be the best way to say thank you to my oldest...not oldest, ouch, longest-standing friend.’
She grins at me and I grin back. What has she planned?
‘As I am now officially Queen of the Southwest, I believe my word is law now, so you, yes, you, madam, get your sassy arse up here with me.’ She marches over to the steps and reaches out her finger and beckons me.
‘I think she means you,’ I say to Shu-feng hopefully.
‘No, she means you,’ Jay, Cassie, Chih-hao and Shu-feng say in tandem.
‘Yep. No, I’m not coming up there. This is your day,’ I shout up at the stage.
