Anna's mother sewed an orange dress for Anna and an orange shirt for Dasan.
Anna's dress had a full skirt and ruffles on the sleeves. When she tried it on, she swirled around and around to make the skirt billow out.
Her mother wrapped the shirt for Dasan in plain brown wrapping paper and gave it to Anna to take to school with her.
When she walked into the classroom, she saw Dasan and a few others were already there. She walked up to him and handed him the package.
"This is the shirt my Mommy made for you."
"Thank you," Dasan whispered.
Every day, the class practiced the play for half an hour. Anna and the others all memorized the lyrics to 'Zippity Doo Da."
At last, the morning of the play arrived. Anna was super excited as she bounced into the kitchen for breakfast.
"Both of you are coming to my play, right?"
"Of course we will, dear," said her mother.
"And you too, Daddy?"
He set the morning newspaper aside.
"I said I will come, Anna. My nurse knows I will not open my office until this afternoon."
"Hurray!"
Anna gobbled up her breakfast in record time, put on her orange dress, and left the house. She soon met up with Mary Lou in her girl rabbit costume, which consisted of a white dress with a head band with pink-and-white rabbit ears.
"You look cute!" Anna told her.
"Thanks," Mary Lou replied. "You look cute, too."
"Thanks. Are both of your parents coming to the play?"
Mary Lou nodded.
"They're closing up the ice cream parlor this morning."
"Good. My parents are coming too, and I guess they'll bring Simon."
"Mine are bringing Marlene and Martha. Marjorie will be there with her class." The other grades would be coming to the cafeteria to watch the first grade play.
The girls arrived in class to find all the other students in their white, orange, light green, dark green, or purple shirts or dresses - all except Roy as Mr. McGregor. He wore a white shirt underneath blue jean overalls.
Everyone was too excited to pay much attention to their morning lessons. At last it was time to line up and walk to the cafeteria. Anna got in line right behind Dasan, who wore brown slacks with his orange shirt. Anna thought the combination matched his dark skin very nicely.
Miss Barlow announced the play, and then the curtain opened on the Rabbit family - Ellen, Gene, Mary Lou, Susie, and Betty - having breakfast. Ellen warned her 'children' not to go into Mr. McGregor's garden. After that, the curtain closed for a few minutes while Miss Barlow frantically got all the 'vegetables' into position. Luckily, the carrots were in front, so Anna could look out into the audience to make sure everyone was there.
When everything was ready, the curtains parted, and the children began to sing their song,. Anna's eyes scanned the audience, quickly finding her family. Simon sat between her parents, and on her mother's other side sat - Aunt Sarah!
She came! Anna wanted to shout for joy. She'd told her aunt about the play, and Aunt Sarah had said she'd try to be there, but she couldn't promise.
All too soon the play was over, and all the children bowed as the audience applauded.
It was an early dismissal day, so after the play, the children were allowed to go home with their parents. Anna found her family and joined them.
"Did you like my play?" she asked.
"It was wonderful!" said her mother.
"You all did a lovely job," her father added.
"You'll be a professional actress someday," said Aunt Sarah. "We'll go to Hollywood together!"
"Would you like to go someplace nice for lunch to celebrate?" asked Anna's father.
"Yes!" Anna suddenly realized she was starving.
Her father took his family to the sofa fountain inside the drug store they used. Anna had a hamburger with mustard, ketchup, and pickles. She also had French fries smothered with ketchup and salted, just the way she liked them.
"Mommy, what's Hollywood?" she asked as they were eating.
"That's where they make movies," her mother told her.
Anna picked up a French fry and watched the ketchup drip from its tip onto the plate.
"Is Aunt Sarah an actress?"
"No, but she wants to be someday."
Anna crammed the French fry, ketchup and all, into her mouth. Then she wiped the excess ketchup from her chin with the back of her hand.
"Anna, you know you should use a napkin for that." Her father wiped her chin and hand with a napkin.
"Sorry, I forgot," said Anna. "I hope Aunt Sarah gets to be an actress in Hollywood someday."
"I hope so, too," said her mother.
For dessert, she had a strawberry sundae.
"Simon wants a toy," said Simon.
"You can't have a toy every time you go somewhere," said his mother.
"He can have something small," said his father.
"What about me?" asked Anna.
Her father chuckled.
"You can have something as well. You worked hard on the play, and you deserve it."
He bought a spinning top for Simon and a slinky for Anna.
The children played with their new toys for the rest of the day.