Rewriting the Stars

A Flair for Show Business

As a child, Tina had enjoyed being in the air; whether she was climbing trees or jumping from furniture, she loved the feeling of being off the ground. It had made her feel like she could fly, that she was free, if only for a single second. Queenie had followed her sister's example, much to the amusement of their parents: where Tina went, Queenie would follow, and they did almost everything together. It was a good life, and while their family wasn't rich by any means, they had a home and were happy.

But then their father had gotten sick, some mysterious illness that no doctor could cure, and their mother followed shortly after: the disease claimed them both within a week – and the girls were left orphaned.

They had had no other family to take them in, and so they were alone in the word – nothing but each other. They were forced onto the streets, resorting to stealing just so they could eat, and they struggled to survive. As the oldest, Tina knew she had to step up and take care Queenie – had to make sure she was protected, that she survived. She was in charge of her baby sister now, and she wanted to take care of her as best as possible – for their parents.

And then, one afternoon in December, whilst they were trying to escape a hiding from one of the store keepers they had stolen food from, they ran into Percival Graves.

He was an upper-class gentleman from a respectable family, one of the most eligible bachelors in New York – but he took one look at the two orphaned girls, at their dirty faces and torn clothes, and immediately took them in. They had been wary, particularly Tina (smart girl, he had thought to himself) to follow him, but when he prepared them a large dinner and offered them his bed, they seemed to warm to him.

"Where are your parents?" He had asked the following morning over breakfast as both of the girls dug in eagerly.

"Dead," Queenie informed him, and she frowned sadly. "Just me and Teen."

It took him only a fleeting second to make up his mind: two little girls wouldn't survive on the streets, especially not in this weather, and he couldn't have that. Once they'd finished eating, he informed them that they were welcome to stay for as long as they needed to; he took the day off from his father's business, using it to go out and buy new clothes for the girls as well as fresh blankets. There were two beds in the guest room, so he made them up and offered them to the girls.

A part of him was, truthfully, thrilled when they didn't leave. They weren't a family, not quite, but he had grown fond of them fast despite himself – and, unwittingly, the Goldstein sisters had grown fond of Percival Graves too.

As he soon found out, his family didn't approve of him taking in two orphaned girls, deeming them 'sewer rats' and disowning Percival completely; he no longer had a job in his father's business, no inheritance, nothing. He knew needed a way to provide for the two girls after this, a way to give them a good life, but word spread quickly among the upper-classes and businesses – it was near impossible for him to find a long-term job. With the rest of his earnings that were left over from his time in his father's business, he had bought an old closed down museum; all that was left were dusty stuffed animals and artefacts, but he was desperate. He racked his brain for ideas on what he could do with the place, how he could start his own business, something that people would enjoy and pay good money to see.

It had been Queenie who'd given him the idea when she and Tina came with him to the abandoned museum, peering around curiously and looking at a tall giraffe model. "I wish it was alive," The blonde girl had said thoughtfully. "I wish everything was alive, like real elephants and lions and...and mermaids!"

Tina gave her sister a look. "Mermaids aren't real."

"They might be – maybe they're hiding underwater and explorers haven't seen 'em yet." She took Percival's hand, beaming happily. "You should get alive animals, Percival, and get people to look after them...and maybe people to dance and do shows, I think people would like that!"