CHAPTER 17: Stacey

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Walker,

Hi, you guys! How have you been? I've been doing all right. How are things going with your art show? I remember you telling me it was just around the corner last time I heard from you. Hope it's a good one.

Hey, guess what? My school's production of Carnival opens tonight. It's going to be such a fun show. Oh, remember that weekend you took Dad and me to see it at the Biltmore Theatre off-Broadway? The one thing I remember saying to you is, "Someday, we'll be doing that show in Stoneybrook." And lo and behold!

Anyway, I wish you could see it. I'm guessing the people at the Fitzroy didn't plan on your show being the same weekend either, did they? Oh, well, that's life, I guess. The next time I come to New York, which will be when we have our spring break, I'll bring my copy of the video for Henry and Grace to watch...

It was now Friday morning. Our final dress rehearsal would be at 1:00 that afternoon, and we'd be performing in the auditorium at SES.

The day before, we'd been told to bring our lunches, and everyone involved with the show would eat during the sixth-grade lunch period. Besides school assemblies, that would be the only time the entire BSC would be together. Normally, each grade has a different lunch period, and we don't get to see each other.

I know this is going to sound totally cliché, but I'll say it anyway: the worst had already happened. Now, things can only get better.

At 11:30 on the dot, we were all backstage getting into our costumes. My first costume was a royal-purple knee-length dress with black fishnet tights—which I had a horrible time trying to put on—and black character shoes. And you know, as crowded and noisy as it was backstage, I was surprised that I could still keep my train of thought.

In the make-up room, I found a seat beside Sam as Kristy was helping him with his. As she was finishing, I overheard him saying, "Okay, let's go over the midlife crisis checklist. I've got the sports car collection, the yacht, the botox, the Members Only jacket, the Grey Poupon, the sushi bar, the half-million dollars' worth of bling, the lifetime subscription to Penthouse...hmm, what else?"

"You forgot the Just For Men," Kristy laughed.

"Yeah, that, too," Sam agreed.

After Kristy finished, she went to one of the couches to take a break. "Okay, Stace, how do I look?" Sam asked. "I can take it."

I looked. Kristy had done a great job making those age lines, because Sam really did look 30 years older than he really was. And kudos on the white hairspray at the temples. "You look great!" I exclaimed.

"Thanks, babe," he smiled. "So do you."

Oh, brother. Well, at least he didn't call me "Rosalie darling".

When I came out of the make-up room, I saw Mary Anne talking to Jackie, reminding him not to ad-lib or change his lines, or do anything similar to what he'd done during the final dress rehearsal for Peter Pan. You see, what he'd done was throw foam rocks at Pete Black in the crocodile costume and shout "Cowabunga!" and "Crocabunga!", which got him lectures from both Mr. Cheney and Mary Anne. And—I am dead serious—I actually heard her say to him, "This is not Burger King, and you can't have it your way."

I couldn't have said it any better myself, I thought. I really hoped Jackie would listen to her, because the last thing we needed was another conniption from Mr. Cheney.

The next thing I saw was Pamela Harding running frantically all over the place. I could tell she'd lost something. "What are you looking for, honey?" I asked.

"My headband," she answered. "I can't find it anywhere."

"Well, where do you think you last saw it?"

"The bathroom."

"Okay, let's start there." We looked all over the girls' room, but had no results. Just as we were heading toward the make-up room, Abby had just come out of there, and she had the headband with her.

"Here it is," she announced, holding it up. Then she sniffed at it and said, "It's no big deal." Fortunately, I grabbed it away from her before she could pretend to take a bite out of it.

As I handed the headband to a giggling Pamela, I thought, Girl, you've seen Caddyshack WAY too many times!

The dress rehearsal started off pretty well. When I made my first entrance, after Charlie shouted, "Where's Rosalie?", I saw what Karen's costume looked like. It was a red and white jumpsuit with three pink Koosh balls sewn down the front, a red puffy collar, pink ballet slippers, and a red beret. What really grabbed me, though, was her make-up. Her face was painted white, her lips were bright red, and there was a black star over her right eye. You know, like Paul Staney from KISS. I assumed Jason had done her make-up, with him being a KISS fan and all.

Well, I couldn't look at Karen for much longer, because I had to, as Charlie said, "let them know that B.F. Schlegl's Grand Imperial Cirque de Paris had come to town," so that's just what I did. I sang the opening lines of "Direct From Vienna" in the same sarcastic tone of voice I'd always used. And when the others joined in, they sang it the same way I was singing it. When we got to the line that goes, "Come on, mortgage your house or sell your cow...," I happened to look downstage and see Jeff Atkinson pretending to smoke a candy cigarette. Right away, I knew it was fake, because Claudia sometimes has those at our meetings. I just hope the audience knew that, and also that Mr. Cheney wouldn't have any objections.

We didn't have any mishaps until "Sword, Rose & Cape". I was offstage in the wings, getting ready for my scene with Natalie Springer, and watching the number when it happened: Jackie was whooping it up with the other Roustabouts, and just having a ball, when all of a sudden, he tripped over his own foot. He put his hands out in an attempt to regain his balance, accidentally slapped Logan in the mouth, and landed right on his face.

Oh, shit, I thought in chagrin as I hid my face behind my hand. But then, he just bounced right back up like a tennis ball. I don't think he even noticed that his chin was bleeding, but I sure did. Even Stevie Wonder could've noticed that! Luckily, it wasn't a very bad cut.

When we got to "Magic, Magic", I was literally praying that Dawn would be able to keep a straight face. I think Dawn was, too, because when she wasn't saying her lines, she was looking straight at Sam and me, and had a huge, dorky grin on her face. Then I heard a voice in the front row whispering, "This is Bob. Bob is going to kill whoever invented this product if he ever finds him. Side-effects may include grinning like an idiot 24 hours a day."

"Shh!" I heard another voice whisper. I immediately recognized the voice as Charlotte's, and when I looked out into the audience, I caught a glimpse of her sitting in the front row on the left side of the auditorium, giving me the thumbs-up sign, along with her signature dimpled smile.

While the Bluebird Girls were out in front of the curtain doing "Kommen" (and the rest of us were getting ready for the "Carnival Ballet"), I'm not too sure, but I think I heard Jessi whisper fiercely to Linny, "Don't spin me too hard!" After what happened a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't really blame her

Well, we got through the first act, and there was no sign of Mr. Cheney coming backstage to give anyone a tongue-lashing, so, except for Jackie's fall (I found out that he'd lost another baby tooth), it must have gone pretty well.

The only perk in Act Two was when Bart was playing Dr. Glass. It started with David Michael playing a bluesy rendition of the I Love Lucy theme on his harmonica. (Oh, I don't mean to get off the subject here, but Mom once told me that she and Dad liked the episode where Lucy poses as the Maharincess of Franistan.)

Anyway, all was going well until David Michael said the "Aaay, Rosalie!" line. Needless to say, it got a lot of laughs, especially from the little kids.

Stay in character, David Michael, I silently pleaded. Whatever you do, you stay in character!

Apparently, my telepathy, if there is such a thing, worked, because David Michael just sucked it up and pressed on.

Finally, we got to "Always, Always You". In this number, Rosalie is encased in a wooden box, and Marco is putting swords through the box—which I'd never seen, nor heard of, until I saw the show in New York. Thankfully, we're using plastic swords, and for the first time ever, I wasn't scared to death. In fact, I was so used to it by now, I didn't even close my eyes. Go figure!

After the rehearsal ended, Mr. Cheney asked us to assemble in front of the stage to greet the kids. I saw Margo Pike and another girl I didn't know swooning over Jackie and David Michael, even though both of them clearly had their signature "Ewwww, girls!" looks on their faces.

I would've started razzing them, but I never got the chance, because the next thing I knew, Charlotte had run up and thrown her arms around my waist, which is what Karen always does to Jason. The only difference is, Charlotte isn't strong enough to knock me over.

"You were great, Stacey!" she cried. "I loved your Cockney accent, too! Oh, and Mom borrowed Mary Poppins from the library for me, so I know what you're talking about now."

I smiled. In case you're wondering, Mary Poppins has always been one of my favorite movies. And yes, I've seen it more times than necessary.

"Thanks, kiddo," I said. "And thanks for telling that one kid to be quiet."

"Oh, you mean Jerry Haney?" Charlotte asked. "Or, as I like to call him, Jerry the Jerk."

Even though we Baby-sitters have always told our charges that it isn't nice to call other people names, even I had to laugh at that.

Well, to make a long story short (okay, all together now: "TOO LATE!"), the rest of that dress rehearsal was great, and I couldn't wait for the real thing. I'm sure everybody else felt the same way.

I passed Karen on my way to the dressing room. "Hi, Stacey!" she grinned. "You were great!"

"Thanks. You did a good job, too. Oh, and I loved your costume."

"I liked yours, too," she said. "Mommy had a hard time sewing the balls on, though, so I helped her."

"That was really nice of you," I commented. "Oh, did Jason do your make-up?"

She nodded. "How did you know?"

"Just a lucky guess. Well, I'd better go change. See you tonight."

"You, too," Karen nodded. And she ran off as I headed upstairs to change out of my costume.

I couldn't wait to get home and tell Mom how it went, and I was definitely going to call Dad and remind him about the show. If I know him, he's never broken a promise, so I was all right.

Well, I should be getting ready to go back to the school for opening night. Best of luck with your show, say hi to Henry and Grace for me, and I'll see you over spring break.

Yours truly,

Stacey