Chapter 15
We occupied ourselves with tic-tac-toe and Mel came back with Racetrack at noon. They had bonded over Racetrack losing money at the stables. The doctor arrived shortly thereafter and pronounced Amanda and Mel well. Ooh that rhymes. "Alright then! Lets get going. We gotta buy a paper to see if Denton kept his side of the promise. We have to find Lily and Sniffles and get our costumes together. We have to practice the dance on the stage and get ready for Friday. Then we're having dinner at Tibby's," I read off my 3 by 5 card. "Are we ready?"
"Let's go." We trooped off to the main square. We bought a paper off of one of the newsies from the New York Sun. I opened it and we searched for Denton's article. "It's not in here," said Amanda, grabbing it and flipping through the pages.
"You know why it's not in there?" asked Melanie. Amanda and I looked at her with questioning glances. She pointed to the front page. "It's on the front!" she screamed and started dancing.
We turned to the front page. And there it was in 50 point font. Amanda and I started screaming and jumping up and down. We ran to go find Lily and Sniffles. We found them with Kid Blink and Mush at a pretzel vendor and eagerly showed them the article. They started jumping and screaming too. Lily turned to Sniffles and stated, "We should go tell the factory girls and show them. They would definitely strike now knowing that someone's behind their efforts." They grabbed Kid Blink and Mush and rushed off with the paper.
"Meet us at Medda's!" we called after them. I think they nodded. We set off for Medda's
We pushed open the stage door at the back and peered into the darkness. "Hello?" but no one answered and the lights were dark. We stepped inside like adventurers who were not afraid, but it was spooky. We heard footsteps but with the great acoustics we couldn't place where they were coming from. We continued on until Mel was tapped on the shoulder. She screamed.
"Chill. It's just me."
"Me is who?" I asked although the voice sounded faintly familiar.
"Ellyn." A lighted match appeared and I could see Ellyn's face in the shadows. "Follow me." So we did. "You guys came to give me your costume patterns right?" We nodded but of course she couldn't see. "The light are off because its so hot. Medda doesn't want to burn up when she takes the stage. Especially in those heavy costumes of hers. I'm working on getting her into lighter type of fabric, but for you guys-" she flipped a switch and lights illuminated rows upon rows of dresses.
There were all types. From summer day dresses to fancy ball gowns. I think I even spotted a wedding dress. There were all colors of the rainbow and every muted shade in between. We gasped in awe. Ellyn went down a row and we followed her like zombies. She added over her shoulder, "I made most of these myself. I have the license to do whatever I want here. I love it. What I'm hoping is that you guys can find something in all of this that you like so I don't have to sew new ones. I pulled out a few that might be easier to dance in over there." She gestured and continued talking, "There's even some pantaloons modified for stage. But if worse comes to worse, I'll throw together your ideas by Friday." She turned and left. We could only nod in reply as stunned as we were. Then we spread out to look for dresses.
Ellyn stuck her head back in soon after. "Your friends are here. Show them around; I gotta finish these undergarments." She held up some cow print fabric and giggled mischievously.
Lily and Sniffles stuck their heads in. "Wow, you guys. This is so cool." Sniffles breathed. She must have picked it up from Amanda, Mel or I. Mel explained what was happening.
They began to search also.
Two hours later, Ellyn came back as promised. "Are these for the dance or the ball afterwards?"
"Well," said Lily cautiously, "the dance is going to be real hard in these, at leas the dance we've been practicing." She looked at Melanie for confirmation.
Mel added, "We're gonna need to modify." She dropped her dresses on the concrete floor with ours and sat Indian style next to Ellyn. Ellyn was thinking. "All your dresses are widely different colors from each other." We looked around and found it was true. My picks were black, Amanda's were mostly lavender, and Mel's selections all had a blue hue. Tina had several different shades of red from pink to cherry red. Laura was slightly different; she had some yellow and some greens mostly olive and forest shades. "That's good," continued Ellyn, "We can shock the world and make them shorter or we can make matching bottoms of pantaloons."
"Let's vary for effect. Shorts, skirts, pants, capris, etc" I said. Melanie brought sketches out of her backpack. Stuff like this."
Ellyn switched subjects and left us in the dust. "Have you practiced on the stage yet?" We shook our heads. "Let's do that and I'll make recommendations and well go from there."
"It's gonna take us two or three times to even look decent," said Sniffles
"Especially me," piped in Amanda. Everybody laughed.
"We haven't even practiced with the bar yet," Mel pointed out.
"That we can handle, Mel," said Ellyn, "I'll go get Toby because he knows where he put it."
"We'll get ready." Everybody nodded and went to go get ready. The afternoon passed quickly and we got all the costumes done.
"Let's go through it one more time," called a voice from the seats. Medda stepped into view. "I love it girls. It'll be a showstopper. Maybe you should go after me, instead of the other way around. But do it again to make sure I've seen it all."
We started the music up again. We were halfway through when we heard clapping. We froze and peered out into the darkness. The music continued without us. "That was fabulous!" a male voice announced, "Medda, are they performing on Friday?"
"Yes they are, Denton. I'm actually proud of them."
The horrified looks on our faces must've shown through the lights. "Denton! You can't tell!" called Mel anxiously.
"I won't. Your surprise is safe with me. But it looks good. Did you see the paper today girls?"
We all moved over to the end of the stage and sat with our feet dangling. I answered him. "Yes we did."
Sniffles added, "We went and told the factory girls too. The word is spreading Denton, They'll strike tomorrow. Just wait and see."
Denton leaned on the stage. "I'm glad to hear it. So what's this thing all about anyway?" We quickly began telling our plans, interrupting each other and spilling over our words. I think we amused him.
We occupied ourselves with tic-tac-toe and Mel came back with Racetrack at noon. They had bonded over Racetrack losing money at the stables. The doctor arrived shortly thereafter and pronounced Amanda and Mel well. Ooh that rhymes. "Alright then! Lets get going. We gotta buy a paper to see if Denton kept his side of the promise. We have to find Lily and Sniffles and get our costumes together. We have to practice the dance on the stage and get ready for Friday. Then we're having dinner at Tibby's," I read off my 3 by 5 card. "Are we ready?"
"Let's go." We trooped off to the main square. We bought a paper off of one of the newsies from the New York Sun. I opened it and we searched for Denton's article. "It's not in here," said Amanda, grabbing it and flipping through the pages.
"You know why it's not in there?" asked Melanie. Amanda and I looked at her with questioning glances. She pointed to the front page. "It's on the front!" she screamed and started dancing.
We turned to the front page. And there it was in 50 point font. Amanda and I started screaming and jumping up and down. We ran to go find Lily and Sniffles. We found them with Kid Blink and Mush at a pretzel vendor and eagerly showed them the article. They started jumping and screaming too. Lily turned to Sniffles and stated, "We should go tell the factory girls and show them. They would definitely strike now knowing that someone's behind their efforts." They grabbed Kid Blink and Mush and rushed off with the paper.
"Meet us at Medda's!" we called after them. I think they nodded. We set off for Medda's
We pushed open the stage door at the back and peered into the darkness. "Hello?" but no one answered and the lights were dark. We stepped inside like adventurers who were not afraid, but it was spooky. We heard footsteps but with the great acoustics we couldn't place where they were coming from. We continued on until Mel was tapped on the shoulder. She screamed.
"Chill. It's just me."
"Me is who?" I asked although the voice sounded faintly familiar.
"Ellyn." A lighted match appeared and I could see Ellyn's face in the shadows. "Follow me." So we did. "You guys came to give me your costume patterns right?" We nodded but of course she couldn't see. "The light are off because its so hot. Medda doesn't want to burn up when she takes the stage. Especially in those heavy costumes of hers. I'm working on getting her into lighter type of fabric, but for you guys-" she flipped a switch and lights illuminated rows upon rows of dresses.
There were all types. From summer day dresses to fancy ball gowns. I think I even spotted a wedding dress. There were all colors of the rainbow and every muted shade in between. We gasped in awe. Ellyn went down a row and we followed her like zombies. She added over her shoulder, "I made most of these myself. I have the license to do whatever I want here. I love it. What I'm hoping is that you guys can find something in all of this that you like so I don't have to sew new ones. I pulled out a few that might be easier to dance in over there." She gestured and continued talking, "There's even some pantaloons modified for stage. But if worse comes to worse, I'll throw together your ideas by Friday." She turned and left. We could only nod in reply as stunned as we were. Then we spread out to look for dresses.
Ellyn stuck her head back in soon after. "Your friends are here. Show them around; I gotta finish these undergarments." She held up some cow print fabric and giggled mischievously.
Lily and Sniffles stuck their heads in. "Wow, you guys. This is so cool." Sniffles breathed. She must have picked it up from Amanda, Mel or I. Mel explained what was happening.
They began to search also.
Two hours later, Ellyn came back as promised. "Are these for the dance or the ball afterwards?"
"Well," said Lily cautiously, "the dance is going to be real hard in these, at leas the dance we've been practicing." She looked at Melanie for confirmation.
Mel added, "We're gonna need to modify." She dropped her dresses on the concrete floor with ours and sat Indian style next to Ellyn. Ellyn was thinking. "All your dresses are widely different colors from each other." We looked around and found it was true. My picks were black, Amanda's were mostly lavender, and Mel's selections all had a blue hue. Tina had several different shades of red from pink to cherry red. Laura was slightly different; she had some yellow and some greens mostly olive and forest shades. "That's good," continued Ellyn, "We can shock the world and make them shorter or we can make matching bottoms of pantaloons."
"Let's vary for effect. Shorts, skirts, pants, capris, etc" I said. Melanie brought sketches out of her backpack. Stuff like this."
Ellyn switched subjects and left us in the dust. "Have you practiced on the stage yet?" We shook our heads. "Let's do that and I'll make recommendations and well go from there."
"It's gonna take us two or three times to even look decent," said Sniffles
"Especially me," piped in Amanda. Everybody laughed.
"We haven't even practiced with the bar yet," Mel pointed out.
"That we can handle, Mel," said Ellyn, "I'll go get Toby because he knows where he put it."
"We'll get ready." Everybody nodded and went to go get ready. The afternoon passed quickly and we got all the costumes done.
"Let's go through it one more time," called a voice from the seats. Medda stepped into view. "I love it girls. It'll be a showstopper. Maybe you should go after me, instead of the other way around. But do it again to make sure I've seen it all."
We started the music up again. We were halfway through when we heard clapping. We froze and peered out into the darkness. The music continued without us. "That was fabulous!" a male voice announced, "Medda, are they performing on Friday?"
"Yes they are, Denton. I'm actually proud of them."
The horrified looks on our faces must've shown through the lights. "Denton! You can't tell!" called Mel anxiously.
"I won't. Your surprise is safe with me. But it looks good. Did you see the paper today girls?"
We all moved over to the end of the stage and sat with our feet dangling. I answered him. "Yes we did."
Sniffles added, "We went and told the factory girls too. The word is spreading Denton, They'll strike tomorrow. Just wait and see."
Denton leaned on the stage. "I'm glad to hear it. So what's this thing all about anyway?" We quickly began telling our plans, interrupting each other and spilling over our words. I think we amused him.