My Chance to Shine | 1001 Stories

#167 Emma My Chance to Shine

I was determined to do it and kept going even though the water was freezing cold and I was getting tired.

Emma

My father had four daughters.

Liz, the eldest was his very favourite with Kathy, my twin sister, being his second. Lorraine, the youngest, was always ‘the baby’, and then there was me. He liked to set us challenges.

One Sunday at a local stretch of water he asked if any of us could swim a mile with him?
Before anyone else could get in there my hand shot up and I said “I can do it, I can do it!”
This was my chance to shine.

Kathy watched on and smiled. My eldest sister continued to read. I rushed to the water’s edge.
We entered the water and swam along, I swam breaststroke and dad swam by my side.
I was determined to do it and kept going even though the water was freezing cold and I was getting tired.
On getting out of the water my father said “Well done Emma”.

He then turned to Kathy and said “Now come on Kathy I’m quite sure you can do this easily.”
I watched her running down into the water and swim with ease, she didn’t even wait for Dad.
She had nothing to prove.

Precis

The beauty of being in a company of older performers is the kaleidoscopic range of real-life experiences that they bring to the table. These experiences cover everything from the vivid and strange world of childhood, to the unexpected late awakenings of old age. Take our newest batch of anecdotes, for example. These new stories are delightfully diverse: from the earthly, sensual joy of baking bread, to the cosmic dreams of outer space; from an unnerving encounter with a poltergeist, to the risqué glories of adult pleasure products and burlesque. Running as a rich theme throughout, is the possibility of love, and the simple wonder of human connection. As one writer tells us, in her story of funeral rites and flirting, “Amidst death, life goes on”, and indeed it does, delightfully so.

Edited by Barney Bardsley

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#167 Emma My Chance to Shine

Precis