"Lost On A Winding Road"

A more confident Doris Schwartz leaves the auditorium and is greeted by a hive of activity in the school lobby. Most of the students are holding a copy of the school newspaper “The Masquer”.

Dwight stands handing out the papers : "One at a time, one per person.”

Doris sees a discarded newspaper on the floor and picks it up. She used to be the editor of the paper and was always very proud of it. The headline reads:

“First year students’ concert starring Cleo Hewitt, Fails to impress”.

Doris remembers in her final year, how Chris Donlon’s review upset quite a few people. She notices a very upset Cleo approaching Lydia.

Cleo: “Miss Grant I’m so sorry to let you down”.

As Cleo rushes down the steps to the school exit, Doris notices something strange. Julie Miller is coming up the steps carrying her cello. She pauses by Dwight and picks up a copy of the newspaper. Doris realises that Cleo and Julie were never at the school at the same time so is confused by what she is seeing.

Julie has now moved to the bench next to the lobby staircase and has sat down. She has a puzzled expression on her face as she studies the front page of the paper. Julie doesn’t recognise the names mentioned and has no recollection of the school show that is being reviewed. She also didn’t know the school even had a newspaper. She sees Montgomery passing and stops him to show him the article. He too is confused and shakes his head.

Again Doris knows that Montgomery didn’t attend the school at the same time as Cleo either. She ponders how people from different time periods could be interacting together.

At that moment the school bell sounds and the students quickly disperse to their classes.

Leroy has been watching the events in the Lobby too and He and Doris are now virtually alone.

Leroy calls: “Excuse Me, over the last few years I’ve kept seeing you hanging around the school but I don’t know who you are. What’s weird is that strange things sometimes happen like just now when two students who left the school over 2 years ago are suddenly back in the halls with no explanation. What’s even weirder is that I’ve noticed that when anything strange happens, you are always nearby.”

Doris meets his eye contact but is uncertain of what to say.

Leroy becomes impatient: “Well? Don’t you have anything to say?”

Doris is about to speak but just at that moment the lighting starts to change and there are slight differences to the corridors like different posters advertising different shows. Doris is relieved to discover that she has moved in time again. She is so grateful that moving in time can be helpful in getting her out of difficult situations.

Doris hears music coming from the dance class room, then the unmistakeable voice of an angry Lydia Grant: “That was the laziest, sloppiest performance I have ever seen!”

Doris moves over to the doorway and looks through the window. She smiles to herself as she remembers how passionate about dance and performance Lydia could be. She notices her teenage self and the young runaway she befriended, Tracy, watching the class. She was always so proud that she’d managed to help Tracy turn her life around and get off the streets. She’d never heard from Tracy again after that and had often wondered how her life had turned out.

Soon the music from the dance class starts again and Lydia and the students perform, “Life is a Celebration.”

“I was lost on a winding road

I thought that life had nothing left to give

Then you came and showed me that just to live

Was the greatest gift of all

And you showed me

Life is a celebration

And Lord, I'm gonna celebrate

Don't you know that life is a celebration

So come on now and celebrate, celebrate

Life is a celebration

Look it's a revelation

So celebrate now, celebrate life, yeah

Celebrate now, celebrate life, yeah

How could I have been so blind?

Just to think that we were living to die

Then you came along and I was no longer alone

And you lead me to the light

And you showed me

Life is a celebration

And Lord, I'm gonna celebrate

Don't you know that life is a celebration

So come on now and celebrate, celebrate

Life is a celebration

Look it's a revelation

So celebrate now, celebrate life, yeah

Celebrate now, celebrate life, yeah

And you showed me life is a celebration

And Lord, I'm gonna celebrate

Don't you know that life is a celebration

So come on now and celebrate, celebrate

Life is a celebration

Look it's a revelation

So celebrate now, celebrate life, yeah

Celebrate now, celebrate life, yeah

Celebrate, celebrate, celebrate, celebrate

Celebrate, celebrate life!”

Doris smiles as she watches the wonder in Tracy’s eyes. She’d always loved the sentiment of the song herself and credited it with inspiring Tracy into turning her life around.

Just then Doris hears a sarcastic female voice behind her: “Ah shucks, ain’t it just so sweet!”

Doris turns and sees a woman with long dark hair. She has a black eye, a cut lip, with bruises over her face and arms. Doris guesses the woman is around 25 years old. She looks at the woman’s brown eyes then looks back into the classroom at Tracy.

Doris is surprised: “Tracy, is that you?”

Tracy: “It sure is Doris. It’s been a long time hasn’t it. I bet you’ve forgotten all about me?”

Doris shakes her head: “Of course I haven’t forgotten you. Actually I was just thinking about you. What are you doing here?”

Tracy: “I’m just like you Doris and doing the same thing. I’m just hanging around the school corridors as it was the only place I was ever truly happy.”

Doris is concerned by Tracy’s statement: “What happened to you, Tracy?”

Tracy laughs: "Oh Doris, what does it matter? It was all so long ago!”

Doris: “But Tracy, you’ve just told me you are unhappy. Maybe there’s something I can do to help?”

Tracy laughs even harder: “Help me! Oh dear Doris, no one can help me now, I’m beyond redemption. Besides you didn’t help last time!”

Doris is confused: “What do you mean I didn’t help? I got you off the streets didn’t I?”

Tracy: “Oh Doris, you were always so innocent about life. You think a song and a dance can solve any problem. Well I’m sorry to say it can’t! Yes I was off the streets for a couple of months but nothing had really changed. The problems I had at home hadn’t changed. My parents hadn’t changed and weren’t willing to change so all the issues that caused me to leave in the first place were still unresolved. The only thing that was different was that I was more optimistic about my future but it didn’t take long for that to be knocked out of me again and I was back in exactly the same awful situation. Why do you think people run away from their families for a life on the streets in the first place? It’s not because it glamorous or because you can make loads of money. People do it because they have no choice. Sometimes, life on the streets, as hard as it can be, is better than the alternative of staying at home!”

Tracy holds up her arm to show the bruises then continues: “Even these and the dreadful thing that happened to me on the streets was probably better that staying at home with my parents.”

Doris is sympathetic: “Oh Tracy, I’m really sorry things didn’t work out for you. I’m even more sorry that someone has attacked you just because you work on the streets, it’s a horrible thing to happen. Some people are just sick.”

Tracy: “You don’t know the half of it!”

Doris sighs: “Why didn’t you call me? Why didn’t you get in contact? Maybe I could have helped and we could have worked something else out for you. I’m sure my parents would have let you stay with us.”

Tracy: “Oh Doris, I had to solve my own problems. I was never going to be a star. I was never going to be talented enough to even get into this school. Coming back to you would have only shown me more of what I could never have. My life was on the streets, not in someone else’s home, living someone else’s dream. Besides from what I can see, all those big dreams and all that talent didn’t mean your life turned out the way you planned either, did it?”

Doris is a little taken aback: “Well, maybe... maybe I didn’t become a famous actress or a singer or a star but I think for the most part my life is okay. I have two wonderful children, who I’m really proud of ....”

Tracy interrupts: “But Doris, were you happy?”

Doris swallows hard as she processes the question: “I.... erm... I....”

Tracy: “Doris be honest, if you were happy you wouldn’t be here now. We’re more alike than you think.”

Doris is silent as she contemplates Tracy’s words. Only the school bell breaks the silence, as students start to flood into the corridor. Doris becomes concerned that her younger self and the younger Tracy coming out of the dance class, will see them so she grabs Tracy’s arm and pulls her into the nearby store room.

Tracy: “Doris, what are you doing?”

Doris: “I just don’t want people to see us and start asking questions.”

Tracy laughs again as she opens the store room door and walks back into the corridor.

Tracy: “Oh Doris, no one can see me! I’m not even really here!”

Tracy walks through the crowds and suddenly disappears.

Doris watches in amazement. Left on the floor where Tracy had been standing is a newspaper clipping. Doris reaches and picks it up. The headline reads “Prostitute Murdered By Client”.

Doris reads the article and is shocked to read how Tracy was brutally attacked and then killed by a client. A tear rolls down her cheek as she is overwhelmed by sadness.

Doris murmurs to herself: “What a horrible way to die”.

Suddenly Doris goes cold as she notices the date of the newspaper clipping is 2nd August 1992 and from the approximate age she believed Tracy to be, and from the cuts and bruises, Doris realises that she wasn’t talking to a younger version of Tracy. She had been talking to Tracy after she had died.

Doris: “Oh My God, Tracy was a ghost!”

When she was younger after seeing a ghost in the school, Doris believed she was a spirit centre and that she could actually see and speak to ghosts.

However Doris had an odd feeling about this experience as if Tracy had been trying to tell her something. Doris’ mind kept replaying something Tracy had said:

“I’m just like you Doris, and doing the same thing. I’m just hanging around the school corridors as it was the only place I was ever truly happy.”

“I’m just like you Doris...”

A stunned Doris wonders aloud to herself.

“Am I dead too? Is that what this is all about? Am I a ghost?”

To Be Continued......