CHAPTER 7: March—Abby
It was the first Friday in March. I woke to the sound of Aretha Franklin's "Respect" blaring from my radio. As I got dressed, I started singing along. Aretha Franklin happens to be one of my favorite singers. The only downside is, when I sing, I make William Hung sound like Pavarotti. I'm also surprised the radio didn't tell me to shut up, just like that one scene in Scary Movie 2.
I was still singing as I came down the hall. "Would somebody please let that cat out of the basement?" Anna asked.
I opened the door and peeked inside. "Here, kitty," I called. We don't really have a cat, mostly because I'm allergic to cat litter, but not cats.
The next thing I did was sit down at the kitchen table and lay my chin in my hands. "Somebody stole my cat!" I moaned, which sent Mom and Anna into a laughing fit. In case you're wondering, a couple of years ago, the all-school play had been M.A.S.H., which is more like the movie than the TV show. Since I was an usher, I got to see the show both nights.
What's the connection between that and my routine, you ask? Well, in Act One, there's a scene where Hawkeye and Duke are organizing a plot to have Burns ousted, so they enlist the help of the Korean houseboy, Ho-Jon, who puts a dead cat—supplied by a Korean worker—in Burns' footlocker. When Burns finds it, as you'd expect, he's furious, and when he's running off to tell everybody, Ho-Jon sneaks back in and takes the cat away. When Burns comes back with Father Mulcahy, Sgt. Devine, and one of the nurses, the cat's gone, and Burns basically acts like a little kid about it.
I also recently told Rick Chow, who'd played Ho-Jon that in one of the earlier scenes, he reminded me of a pimp, and I was almost expecting him to say, "Go now, make my money!" I told that play's director about it, and she told me not to encourage him.
"See you later, Mom," Anna said a few minutes later as we got ready to leave.
"'Bye, girls," Mom said. "Have a nice day."
In the past, Mom would've already been gone by the time Anna and I left for school. But this year, she decided to work at home, because she got tired of the commute. Nowadays, she only does it when she has to go for meetings, and she still leaves before we do.
"We will," I answered.
Just as we got outside, Kristy's car pulled up. Mary Anne was sitting in the front seat, so Anna and I got in the back. "How are Inherit the Wind rehearsals going?" I asked Kristy.
"Great," she answered. "Jason's picking up on the Southern accent really fast, too. Oh, did I ever tell you about Sam's DVD collection of The State?"
"I don't know," Anna answered.
"Well, anyway," Kristy continued, "Mom and Watson had gotten the complete series off Amazon last Christmas, and he took it to NYU with him. Hopefully, he's enjoying it."
"Good," I said.
When we arrived at school, we went to our lockers, got out our books for our morning classes, and went to homeroom.
I just knew today was going to be a great day.
That night after the BSC meeting, Kristy, Claud, Mary Anne, Stacey, Logan, Jason, Anna, Jessi, Mal, and I went to the Gathering Place at Stoneybrook University. That's a spot where the high school and college kids hang out on the weekends.
It was also karaoke night. Of all of us, the only ones with decent singing voices are Jason, Kristy, and Stacey. They looked through the karaoke book to see what they wanted to sing, took the little slips of paper out of the book, wrote down their songs, and handed them to the deejay.
The first one up was Jason, who sang "Colour My World" by Chicago. During the long intro, Jason could tell that the audience was getting bored. "Don't worry, I'll start singing soon," he assured them. Also, I could be wrong, but I think I saw Mal and Ben dancing during the song. I also remembered a couple of things while he was singing. First, I remembered when Karen Brewer, Kristy's little stepsister, told me about him singing to Danny Dawes, Nancy's little brother, and when he'd played the male lead in Carnival at SMS.
The next one up was Kristy, who sang "Coal Miner's Daughter" by Loretta Lynn. Anna and I had gotten the DVD from Gram Elsie and Grandpa Morris last Chanukah, and when we get older and out on our own, we may have to flip a coin to see who'd get to keep it. Normally, I hate the sound quality of country music, but that was a song I could tolerate.
A few minutes, and two singers later, it was Stacey's turn. She sang "A Moment Like This" by Kelly Clarkson. I don't know about the others, but I was having a hard time trying not to laugh, because I was remembering a couple more things.
First, I remembered when Mom, Anna, and I had seen One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest at the Civic Center last month. The guy who'd played Harding actually did the Miss Congeniality bit when he said the "Oh, damn, why do I always cry?" line. The other thing I remembered was when I saw the Season One finale of American Idol (we own the DVD), and Kelly Clarkson was fanning herself while she was singing. Mom told me Kelly was so overwhelmed from winning that it caused her to sweat, but I don't believe that for two seconds.
As we got in our cars to return home, I knew it had been a great evening.
