A/N: I apologize to my faithful readers who have been waiting so long for a new chapter. I've had a lot of stuff going on lately, including health problems and a lot of schoolwork. But I've always been excited to get back to this story, so thanks for being patient. Enjoy!
Parents' Night at Hollywood Arts had always been sort of a mixed bag. There were usually a few stand-out performances – one year it had been a cello duel, another year it was a group of "ethnic mimes" – but for the most part, year after year, it was ensembles of musicians or stage performers, followed by a big musical, followed by a walk through a visual arts show. It was only this year, when Sikowitz and Miss Santiago had changed the format that anyone realized how dull and flat Parents' Night had been.
Sikowitz was onstage to introduce the first art-drama fusion group – Andre and Patrick Evans. The teacher was wearing a striped button-down and a pair of loose-fitting orange trousers. He also had a brightly colored silk scarf tied around his neck jauntily. In his hand he had a stack of index cards prepared by the performers; he would read them to give the audience a little information about the performers' ideas for the fusion.
"Up first we have Andre Harris and Patrick Evans," Sikowitz said. "These two intrepid young scholars were inspired by the Pottery of Many Nations exhibits at the Hooper Museum. They have chosen to present their passion for pottery through the following dialogue. Ladies and gentlemen, Andre and Patrick!"
There was a loud round of applause from the parents seated in the auditorium. Tori, standing in the wings, could see Patrick and Andre in their places behind the closed curtains. They were wearing some of Patrick's Guatemalan clothing, and both boys looked pretty sharp. Andre stood to stage left, while Patrick sat at stage right behind a pottery wheel, a bucket of clay to his right and a small plastic shelving unit to his left.
The curtains parted to reveal both guys, and there was another round of applause.
"Hey, Andre!" Patrick said brightly.
"Oh, hey, Patrick," Andre said, sounding a little glum.
"What's the matter, my friend?"
"I'm just having a hard time with this assignment for Social Studies," Andre said, holding up a copy of the Social Studies textbook. "I think I'm going to fail."
"Man, that's rough. What's the assignment?"
"I have to learn about the indigenous peoples of South America and their arts," Andre said. He flipped open the textbook and held it up to show the audience. He had doctored the pages to show large question marks.
"Well, no worries, my friend!" Patrick said. "I've got the perfect way to help you!"
"Really?" Andre asked with false hope. "Oh, man that would be sweet!"
"Let's get started!" Patrick grabbed a hunk of clay out of the bucket and started the pottery wheel spinning. "Okay, what's the first country?"
"Guatemala."
"Sensational! Guatemala starts with a g – and here's what you can learn about their arts – their pottery was often shaped like gourds!" Patrick spun the hunk of clay on the wheel and pinched it into a gourd shape. "See?"
The two went on for fifteen minutes, with Andre naming South American countries and Patrick spinning small pots. When they finished, there was a row of bright red clay pots on the shelving unit. Patrick and Andre took their bows to a vigorous round of applause.
The rest of the fusions went on in much the same manner. Jade and Duncan Sundquist presented their dance-and-spin-art act. Beck and Claire Lathrop performed a rousing series of "movement arts" to the tune of recited Psalms. There was a pair who moved furniture and rearranged magnets on a white board. Cat and her partner used their skills to act out the steps used for baking muffins.
Finally it was time for Tori and Evie to present their fusion. Miss Santiago came backstage to help Evie move the large canvases out to the stage. Tori followed behind with the cart of paint jars. She had changed into her first costume, the one from the 1920's play. She took her spot on the stage as Miss Santiago and Evie prepared the paints and canvases.
When the pair was ready, Miss Santiago slipped outside the curtains and read their index card: "Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce Tori Vega and Evie West. They were inspired by the art-to-drama fusion at the Hooper Museum, and have chosen to reverse that idea to present a drama-to-art fusion. Their performance will encompass many of the performances from here at Hollywood Arts, so you may remember some parts. And now, Tori and Evie."
The curtains parted, and there was Tori in her dress, and Evie on her painting stool.
Tori took a deep breath. "Dear Arnold, I know you wanted us to take a ship to meet your mother, but I cannot acquiesce. I am too scared of ship travel, and I fear that such a large ship would only increase this fear. It does not do my heart good to know that we shall be apart for such a juncture – indeed, I would rather have you here, with me, my love."
On the other side of the stage, Evie took up one of the jars of paint, a gray-blue, and began to limn out a boat shape.
"It has been many weeks since we have been parted, and it is my only wish that you may return to me in time for my birthday."
Evie grabbed another brush, this one a watery pink color, and painted an abstract birthday cake shape in the other corner of the canvas.
"I apologize that I could not travel with you. My heart will be weary as you are gone. Please return to me safely, my love, it is all I desire."
Evie painted a big bright heart in red.
Tori paused and looked down to the ground dramatically before continuing. "Dear Arnold, it is only now that I have heard the news of the ship Titanic – she has run aground of an iceberg and you were tragically her passenger. This letter I will never be able to mail to you, my love, because you are at the bottom of the ocean. I fear you have taken my heart with you."
Evie took up a jar of yellow and began adding small windows of light to the large boat shape. She picked up the jar of black and painted an iceberg at the far right of the canvas, smashing into the boat shape's prow.
"Dearest Arnold, tell me only one thing – was it the threat of losing my love that drove you to take the earlier ship home? I will never know the answer and I will never be satisfied with my thoughts, because there I feel that I could have stopped you. I could have changed your mind. But I will never know."
Evie painted a shimmery question mark in silver paint, and the light went down on Tori. Miss Santiago appeared from the wings to help Evie get the big canvas off the stage while Tori scrambled into her next costume – a rainbow tie-dyed union suit, for the environmental monologue.
The lights came back up, and there was a moment of awkward laughter as the audience realized Tori was standing onstage in what basically amounted to a pair of pajamas. Then she spoke: "The name the establishment gave me was Susan Anderson, but I won't answer to that anymore. Those who wish to reach me may call me by my true name – Wind Spirit."
Evie began to paint trees in a very Bob Ross sort of way; they seemed to spring up out of nowhere. She added a river, and some clouds, and boulders in the river.
"I have left behind what some would call a successful life. I am no longer a corporate drone in a government pencil-pushing facility, or a wife stuck in the suburbs."
On the other side of the canvas Evie painted a small yellow house and a tall gray skyscraper. In between the urban scene and the rural scene she painted a dirt road.
"Now I make my home in the trees. My co-workers are the deer and the rabbits, my family the birds and the sunshine. Instead of dedicating my life to money and the chase of success, I have made it my life's work to protect this forest."
Evie painted bright yellow earth-moving equipment and what looked like a crowd of picketers with signs.
"I am not unhappy, I am not alone. I hear my name in every breeze and I know I am doing what is right, what is just."
Evie quickly painted a rainbow-clothed figure near the base of one of the tallest trees.
"Some say that I am crazy, that I should go back to my home, to my husband and children, to my job."
Evie drew a man and some children with blurred faces.
"But they can speak for themselves – and the forest cannot."
The lights went down again. Miss Santiago bounded up to help Evie move the canvas and Tori quickly threw on her "Mary Poppins"-esque outfit from "An Afternoon to Remember."
Somehow they got through the final two scenes, with Evie's painting and Tori's recitation. The sheep got a big laugh from the audience, just as Tori had predicted. She saw Andre in the audience beaming at the sheep, leaning over to tell Patrick, "That's my sheep up there!"
Sikowitz and Miss Santiago appeared onstage as soon as Evie and Tori had finished. "There will be a short intermission while we prepare for our feature presentation," Miss Santiago announced.
"There are beverages and food items available for sale in the lobby," Sikowitz added.
"All sales support the Hollywood Arts Booster Club," Miss Santiago said.
"Please, go and buy things!" Sikowitz urged.
"The cast and orchestra for 'An Afternoon to Remember' should meet in the green room backstage once they have located their costumes, props, or instruments," Miss Santiago said. "Tech crew and scene crew will be meeting stage left."
"We thank you for your dedicated attendance and appreciation of our Parents' Night," Sikowitz said.
Santiago and Sikowitz bowed with flourishes, and the curtains closed.
"You guys were awesome," Andre said as he bounded backstage. He clapped Tori on the back, hurrying off to the men's dressing room.
In the ladies' dressing room, Tori yanked off her amazing Technicolor dream coat and hung it on a rack. "I wish we'd done Joseph before the Afternoon sketch, so I'd be in the right costume," she grumbled.
The door banged open and Jade appeared, already dressed in her nun's costume. "Where's Evie?" she barked at Tori.
"I don't know," Tori said. "I got swept up in the massive crew pileup backstage."
Jade frowned, and swept through the dressing room and into the attached bathroom. "Evie?" she called.
The door to the dressing room opened and closed as the cast of "An Afternoon to Remember" went in and out, searching for props, putting on their costumes, and applying makeup in front of the mirrors. Tori managed to get back into her uncomfortable gray dress and black overcoat before Cat came in, squealing and in a panic about a missing hat.
"It's on the rack over there," Tori said to Cat.
"Oh, good!" Cat exclaimed. "Oh, gotta pee!"
She banged through the door to the bathroom. A second later a scream resonated through the room.
"Cat? Your hat's still out here," Tori said.
The door swung open again and Cat reappeared, looking ashen and shaken.
"What's the deal?" Tori asked. "Your hat's right there."
From inside the bathroom came Jade's voice, a little shaky but still confident and snotty: "Vega, call 911."
"The hat's right here," Tori said, still not understanding what the problem was.
"Don't be a moron," Jade's voice said, now a lot shakier. "My sister passed out, and unless you want Sikowitz in here doing that mouth-to-mouth he's so damn proud of, we might as well get some professionals."
Tori leapt out of her seat, grabbing her purse from the table. The makeup stool went over with a clatter as she rushed into the bathroom.
Evie was sprawled on the floor in one of the stalls. Her oxygen bag was next to her and Jade was rapidly adjusting the dial on the top, having already replaced the thin cannula with a larger mask. Evie's lips were a bluish-gray color, and Tori couldn't help but think of the color of the painted Titanic on their canvas.
"Is she…?" Tori asked, not really knowing what she was trying to ask.
"She's still hanging in there," Jade said, ripping off her nun's wimple. "It's a good thing she's so damn stubborn."
Tori pulled her phone from her bag and hurriedly punched in the magic digits – 9-1-1. Somehow she managed to give the operator the information they needed. Her eyes stayed locked on Evie's gray-blue lips, on the tiny blue veins in Evie's eyelids, in the gaspy breaths that jerked Evie's chest, and on Jade, diligently watching over her sister.
It seemed an eternity before they heard the sirens and footsteps and shouting, but in that eternity there was an unspoken bond between Tori and Jade, a sense that there was something happening that was bigger than the both of them.
Everything that mattered was right there, between them, crumpled on the hideous orange bathroom floor tile, taking little tiny gaspy breaths.