Little Sister

The year was 1984, the place was VFL park in Waverly, a suburb to the south-east of Melbourne. The park was actually an Aussie Rules football stadium. David Bowie, a rock singer of some repute, had come to town; his concert attracting thousands of people young and old who filled the stadium. The lucky ones had tickets for the grass area nearest the stage, which was set up near the middle of the ground. The less fortunate punters sat on the mostly wooden seating in the stadium and saw Bowie, when he finally came on, as a speck in the distance.

"About bloody time!" said a large bearded man in this second group as the stadium erupted with cheers, clapping and whistling. A brutal wall of noise engulfed the stadium as Bowie and his band went straight into a song called Look Back In Anger. Most of the crowd in the stadium sat down again, intent on enjoying the concert, even if the view wasn't that good and the seating was too hard.

"I should have brought a cushion," said a woman sitting in front of the bearded man. Very visibly pregnant, she looked elegant in her white maternity frock and impeccably groomed blonde hair.

The man next to her, less elegant in his multi-coloured jumper and slightly unkempt curly reddish hair, regarded the woman affectionately and took off his jumper for her to sit on. "Here honey, try this," he said.

"You can have my cushion if you like, love," offered the large bearded man sitting behind her. "I think you'll need it more than I will!" he added smiling, regarding the woman's very prominent stomach.

"Thank you," said the woman gratefully.

"Thanks mate, good on ya," said her husband, taking back his jumper and offering his hand to the bearded samaritan. "Name's James."

"Hi, I'm Patrick," said the big man, surprised but willing to take the offered hand.

"Thanks again," said James as he resumed his seat and watched the concert.

It had seemed like a good idea three months ago - buying the tickets for the concert - thought James as he regarded the spectacle in front of him. Neither he or his wife, Donna, had seen Bowie before - and who knew when he would come this way again? But he should have thought more about the pregnancy. It was far too close to her time.

"How do you feel, honey - are you okay?" James asked a little nervously.

"I'm fine," said Donna calmly, enjoying the concert. "Don't worry, James, I'll tell you if something's happening."

He had been a nervous expectant father the first time around when she had Steven, remembered Donna. He was just as bad this time, she thought. Silly, wonderful man. She turned her attention to the stage and focused on Bowie, the small figure in the yellowy suit and the white pompadour hair. Standing in the spotlight...She had had a crush on him long ago, during his disco phase. Now she wondered what effect his music was having on her as yet unborn baby girl, who felt so large and so alive inside her. Would she remember this and grow up to have an inexplicable fondness for Bowie? She laughed to herself.

The crowd roared as the first number finished and Bowie briefly thanked his audience. All through the first song the stage lighting had been dark with occasional muted bursts of white light flashing out in time to the music; but with the next song the stage was suddenly lit up in all its glory. The four huge columns of transparent curtain behind the band glowed eerily like the beams from some UFO hovering above the stage, and the rest of the stage, including the players, was bathed in colours that were warm, soft and exotic.

The people near the front of the stage gasped.

A few more numbers later, when the crowd had become a little too settled, Bowie pulled out one of his many trump cards - he played his latest hit, China Girl. With the opening bars the concert came alive again and at least half of the crowd got to its feet and started dancing. In the stadium, Donna stood up and put her large frame into precarious motion.

"Careful, hon', you don't want to fall over or something," said James, holding onto her hand for balance.

"Ah, shuddup and dance," said Donna recklessly, enjoying herself.

After that the show really kicked in, as the crowd, including James and Donna, sang and danced along to a string of some of Bowie's best songs. To add to the fun, during Young Americans a huge air-filled ball was floated out to the crowd, who proceeded to play a kind of beach volleyball with it. James and Donna watched from their stadium perch as the ball went back and forth across the sea of hands, adding an extra spectacle to the light show and the music.

James was really enjoying himself now. He reflected that this had to be one of the best concerts he'd ever been to. His misgivings about getting the tickets were long forgotten. All he could think about was how brilliantly the song sounded and how he wished he could be in that crowd in front of him pushing that ball around. He watched as the ball was suddenly pushed high up into the air right in front of Bowie, just as the song got to the bit where it stopped and Bowie sang, "Ain't there one damn song that can make me..." The ball reached the top of its arc and hovered. James was spellbound: it was such a perfect, dramatic moment. The whole world seemed to stand still then.

Donna watched too, almost as transfixed as James. Just as Bowie finished his line, "...break down and cry-y", the ball came back down and actually exploded on top of the crowd who had sent it up. A huge peel of elation came up from the crowd on the grass, and Bowie and his band kept playing, singing, "Aaalllnight!". The show couldn't have gotten any better. But Donna, watching it all, felt something else. All she knew was, at that moment, she had either peed herself, or her water had begun to break.

"Uh, James," she said almost matter of factly, "I think something's happening..."

It seemed to take hours before he got her down to the carpark. It didn't help that he couldn't find their parking spot at first. He ran up and down the rows of cars looking for the green Ford, while Donna waited where he had left her, at the spot where he thought he had parked the car. What was the number of that parking space? he thought. G12? He was frantic.

Sitting on the wooden rail under the lights, she was calm. She looked around to see if she could spot the car. She felt reasonably comfortable now that she'd been able to change her smalls and put the pad on. She was glad she had thought to bring them. Whilst in the toilet she had been able to confirm it was the baby coming. No mistaking that smell. Looking up she saw car headlights coming towards her. Green car, familiar number plate. Familiar face sticking his head out the window.

"Don't worry, I've found the car, honey," he said excitedly, and unnecessarily.

As they drove away the last thing she heard from the stadium was the faint sound of Bowie singing Life On Mars. "Damn, I really wanted to hear that one," she whispered quietly.