XX

Anne was up at the crack of dawn.

As the fiery ball of yellow and orange popped up from behind the tall buildings layering the streets of New York, Anne awoke to the sound of her brother scraping around in the kitchen.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Anne left the warm covers of her pallet before tip-toeing past the still sleeping form of her grandmother.

Shivering at the cool gust of air blowing in from the crack beneath the front door, Anne hurried over to the kitchen stove. As she warmed her hands up next to the smouldering embers, she tilted her dark, curly head back and studied the tall, muscular frame of W.D.

"Good morning," she whispered as she straightened up.

W.D turned to glance at her. "Good morning. I have some porridge here. You should probably eat something before you go to practice."

Swallowing, Anne nodded and accepted the bowl of steaming oatmeal from her brother's outstretched hand. "Thank you."

As the two of them settled down at the table, W.D motioned to the poster lying near Anne's seat. A sharp intake of breath escaped her lips when she realised that she'd forgotten to dispose of it previously.

"You're going there? Alone?" he queried, his eyebrows raised distrustfully.

"No," Anne shook her head. "Deng Yan is coming with me. We're going after practice."

"And what exactly are you planning to do once you get to the museum?" W.D asked, concerned. "You're not going to sign up for this nonsensical act are you?"

Anne hesitated. "Well...I'm not planning on it..."

"Anne!" her brother reproved.

"I'm only going to see what all the fuss is about!" she protested. "This man has been all over the papers of New York. Aren't you even a bit curious as to why?"

W.D rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Very well. I'll accompany you. My shift at the blacksmith's doesn't finish until later this afternoon. I can meet up with you and Deng Yan afterwards."

"Sounds like a plan," Anne agreed.

Quietly, so as not to disturb their grandmother, Anne and W.D cleared away the breakfast dishes, donned their coats and slipped from the apartment.

As the two dark-skinned siblings left the alley, they parted ways; W.D to the smith shop on the south side of town and Anne to the gymnasium situated on the north side.

As she hefted her bag, containing her gymnast outfit, through the double glass doors, she was greeted by a crowd of preppy rich girls decorated with swirls of colourful glitter and bright-coloured leotards.

Anne tried to ignore them as she handed her admittance card to the receptionist. As the woman stamped the box etched onto the thick plastic, one of the girls nearest to Anne purposefully bumped her shoulder as she passed.

"Oops!" she chortled. "I didn't see you standing there, dirtbag."

The other girls laughed outright at this, pointing and whispering as Anne retrieved her card and hurried across the floor towards the restrooms so she could change.

Heaving a frustrated sigh, Anne slipped on a pale peachy shirt with sleeveless arms and paper-thin material. After tugging on her stockings and bright red shorts, trimmed with a row of cream-coloured lace, Anne wrestled her hair into a tight-fitting bun before exiting the restroom.

"Fräulein Patterson [Miss Patterson]?" she called out when she entered the gymnasium. The air encompassing her was hollow from emptiness and dusty from the chalk powdered bars.

"Anne!" a smiling, round-faced woman, who looked to be in her late forties, emerged from a far corner of the room. Pulling her student into a warm, fond embrace, Miss Patterson murmured, "Es ist so schön, dich wiederzusehen [It's so good to see you again]."

Anne smiled as she pulled away. "Schön dich auch zu sehen. Es ist eine Weile her [It's good to see you too. It's been a while]."

"Ich bin froh, dass ich aus meinem Urlaub zurück bin. Ich habe meinen Lieblingsschüler vermisst [I'm glad that I'm back from my holiday. I've missed my favourite student]," Miss Patterson nodded towards a coil of thick rope lying on the floor nearby. "Lasst und ihren Trapezunterricht beginning, sollen wir [Let's start your trapeze lesson, shall we]?"

For the next several hours, Anne pushed herself to the limit. She used her flexibility to progress during exercises on the beams and bars. She showed her teacher how she had improved with her air-borne twists and turns. She practiced climbing the ropes to stretch her inner core.

By the time Anne left the gymnasium, she was tired and sore all over. However, she was happy with her growing progress in the art of trapeze.

Ever since she was a little girl, Anne had been intrigued by the sport. She used to sneak out of the house and watch the performers in the gymnasium from afar. One day, she was not as light on her feet as usual and she was caught, red-handed, by Miss Patterson, the principal teacher of the gymnasium.

Instead of scolding the poor, ragged girl, though, the kindly woman invited her in to take a closer look. That's how it all began: an eight-year-old Anne, with big, eager eyes and a heart yearning for her passion, watching the gymnasts perform their routines and prep for show-downs every day.

When she turned nine, Miss Patterson set some time apart after the regular gymnasts went home and began teaching Anne some basic first steps, free-of-charge.

By the time she was eleven, Anne was flipping from bars and rolling through hoops like she had been doing it her entire life.

Having a keen and sharp eye for talent, Miss Patterson knew that Anne was a naturally-gifted gymnast. As the years passed, the woman ran out of things to teach the girl and therefore decided to try another tactic.

Fortunately, Anne took to the ropes very well. She was seventeen years of age when she qualified as an experienced and well-developed gymnast and trapeze artist. If she had had the money, she could've gone to receive scholarships and sponsors and attended the fanciest schools and highest-ranking colleges like her peers.

Instead, Anne decided to quit trapeze to look after her sickly mother who was down with a severe case of pneumonia. Nine months later and Anne and her brother were parentless and homeless.

Grandmother Wheeler, after hearing of the children's demise, took them in. The apartment was small and cramped and there wasn't enough food to go around. So W.D, after months of looking for work, landed a job at the blacksmith's to provide for his family. Anne wasn't so lucky though. Apart from the occasional request for a house-cleaning or a spot of gardening, she was without work.

Reluctantly, she returned to the gymnasium and asked for a cleaner's job in return for more free trapeze lessons. Miss Patterson assented without a moment's hesitation. Although Anne was still skilled with the art, she was quite rusty from over a year of non-practice.

She was starting again: from the bottom to the top.

It was the only way to get her back on her feet again.

As she pushed through the glass doors lining the entrance into the exotic, airy building, Anne felt around in her pocket and allowed her fingers to drift across the rough surface of the poster within.

It was time to see what this mysterious museum was all about.

Gif: Anne during her trapeze lesson.

Question of the update: Do you do gymnastics or have you met anyone who does?

XX