May 3rd 2022
Chapter 123
Our Development of a Workshop
In the months since they had learned of Cara's pregnancy, as they had watched her belly slowly grow, and grow, Maya couldn't say that she or Lucas or Sam or anyone close to her in the family had been able to stop feeling that jolt. It was still one of the most striking things, to think of their little Cara as a mother, which was no sleight on her at all, no, only nostalgia rearing its head once again. When she came by the Friar house on Wednesday evening, as requested, she'd barely swept through the door, hugging her big sister with that now familiar grin as their two bellies would meet, bringing the future cousins together, that she swept off again. She had to go to the bathroom.
"I mean, it doesn't make sense sometimes, how many times I have to go lately," she breathed as she reappeared. Even as she said this, she was just smiling. Aside from that queasy honeymoon she and Mateo had had, after discovering their expecting status, Cara had loved being pregnant and continued to do so. The way she went around, she might have been content to continue this way for as long as she could. Time would tell how she felt when she was coming up on the very end of it and the delivery, but for now she was happy, and no one would ever dream of making her otherwise.
"Yeah, been there," Maya bit back a laugh before remembering what she meant to say. "Hey, listen, before Sam gets here, I need to ask you something."
"Yeah? What's up?" Cara asked as they went and sat on the couch.
"So, Lucas and I took Marianne and her friend to visit Kelsey's mother on Monday afternoon…" At the mention, Cara had a bittersweet smile, glad to hear of the visit but sad to recall the reason. "Kelsey mentioned that you went and saw them, too." Cara nodded. "And she said you brought her something…"
"Yeah, just a few playlists, I… I didn't explain it to her that way, but when Dad was in the hospital near the end, they sort of helped me to sit there and not freak out too much, you know? Not that her mother…"
"No, I get it, I keep thinking about Dad, too," Maya assured her, stalling her before she could go any further. So, it was as she'd guessed. "Listen, the thing is… That's not what you gave her."
"What do you mean?" Cara asked. Maya sighed.
"You gave her the musical… the MSC…" she revealed, entertaining a brief notion that their three initials in this way spelled out 'music' without the vowels. It was a good notion, so for now she'd just store it away. Meanwhile, Cara looked shocked. She clearly hadn't meant to do that.
"And she listened to it?"
"Yeah, she loved it," Maya smiled. "By now she's probably listened to it many times."
"Maya, I'm so sorry, I wasn't…"
"No, hey, it's fine, really. You did what you set out to do. You gave her something to keep her mind off worrying for her mother too much. She's been back in school the last couple of days and… obviously, she's still thinking about her mother, but she's there, and she's doing okay." As for her mother, Haruna Farrell was still in the hospital, but there was some hope that she'd be able to go home again before long. "This might have been an accident, but it did something good, two good things, really."
"What's the other thing?" Cara wondered.
"Well, Kelsey and I talked about it, that day at the hospital. She won't tell anyone about our musical, but beyond that, we got to talking about this workshop we've been meaning to do. She'd like to be a part of it, and that's why I called you guys here tonight, you and Sam, so we could figure things out and set it all up."
As sorry as she'd been a moment ago, now Cara was excited. She'd been so looking forward to the workshop! When Sam arrived, he had something of that jolt that Maya had done, seeing his kid sister, though almost doubly comical for how he found himself sandwiched between not one but two pregnant sisters. He'd already shown his prowess as Uncle Sam to Marianne and the triplets, and he couldn't wait to add to his 'arsenal.' He'd gotten very good at having nieces, and he couldn't wait to try his 'skills' with his very first nephew.
Maya and Cara had agreed together not to tell Sam about the slip-up and instead simply advance the idea of getting the workshop started. Like Cara, he looked forward to it and was immediately pumped at the idea. He didn't understand why his sisters kept looking at each other with that weird little grin; maybe it was a pregnant thing between them. Either way, they started talking things over.
They had a few things to figure out, the 'when and where' being most important. It wasn't just about when the three of them would be available, and for how long; they had to think of the kids they'd be recruiting, too. Most of them would be in high school, with classes and other activities to consider. Some of them would be in college… Oh, there was no way they were going to get away with mounting this workshop and not pull Lea in from Houston for it. She might actually never speak to them again if she learned they had been doing this without her.
As to the where, they had two options: the school or the theater. Maya had sufficient pull with both of them that she'd be able to secure either one, but here again there would be a matter of timing, and on top of that, and more importantly, they had the secrecy of it all. Whoever they brought into this would have to be people they trusted to keep everything to themselves. If word got out, there'd be no putting it back into hiding, and they were not ready for that.
Before they'd ever manage to settle any of those details down, it really felt more sensible to focus themselves on the who. How many people were they going to bring in and which ones? This was about more than just grabbing people at random. The best way this would go, they all felt, would be for them to treat this like they were casting their musical. They wouldn't need to audition anyone, not when it was all for the sake of the project, and they were already familiar with the players. They made a list of the parts to cast and, one by one, they filled in the open slots. Fully aware that just because they wanted these people to be those roles didn't mean that their choices would be available, they went through this process with a plan. Each person they would bring on to the table, once they had an idea of who they wanted them to play, Maya would then reach out to them over the phone.
Kelsey had already shown her desire to be a part of this, but Maya still wanted to take the time and ask her, as she might not have been thinking about this workshop as something that would happen so soon. Unexpectedly prompt as it was, Kelsey jumped at the chance. After that, what she wanted to know was who else would be involved. They were still working on this, but there were at least a few names that Maya could share as far as being prospective workshop members.
Her bandmates from We Are Sisters, for instance, were the very next people that Maya called up. Olivia and Nika had their parts assigned, and when they were read in both on the secret of the musical and Kelsey's involvement in getting the workshop rolling, there was no question for either of them except 'where do you want us and when?' After them, if they were looking for anyone else who would rally around the call of Kelsey, they needed to look no further than Ava Nash. Oh, she still couldn't sing or act to save her life, but she had plenty more to provide to the effort. They were going to need skilled participants both on stage and backstage, and who better could they have to lead them than the former champ of the eyeroll brigade? Maya was glad to see that even before she mentioned Kelsey's involvement, Ava already had one foot inside the door.
After they'd been seen to, the next easy leap was to call the house out in Houston and see to Lea Sullivan-Reyes. Oh, she absolutely lost her mind when she heard about the musical, and when she was asked to be in the workshop, she sounded like she might have tapped into some speedster powers and run right back to Austin if she could. She was ready, and she would be available whenever they needed her; she would move her schedule around if she had to. Once they had her, well, Maya wasn't about to leave out her daughter, so she asked Ella if she might want to participate as part of their crew. Like with Lea, if from a different perspective, she barely had to ask. Of course, she would do it.
From there, they'd tried to concentrate on anybody else from outside the 'high school scene' they might want to turn to. Maya considered others of her graduated students, especially those with previous experience in their school musicals… those at least who were still in Texas. She knew that Taylor would have jumped at the chance, but then he was all the way in Indiana… That counted him out, but it did count in the likes of Bodhi Thompson, Khalil Russell, and Stella Buckley. Through each of those three, Maya found herself considering other avenues, other possibilities.
Through Stella, she thought to reach out to François Lejeune. The singer otherwise known as The Young Frank may never have been her student, but they couldn't discount a singer of his caliber when he was available. Plus, Maya knew him enough by now to think this would be just the kind of thing he'd want to do in this period of rediscovery in his life, and she was correct. He was on board along with his girlfriend. As much through Stella as through Khalil, they also snatched up Phoebe Munroe as part of their crew.
Again, through Khalil – though reasonably Maya was sure she would have ended up there eventually – they racked up several of the freshmen, from Khalil's little sister to Maya's little sisters and a couple of their friends. Nellie and Gracie both jumped in at once when their big sister asked them. Even as she was asking those two, she snatched up the pad from the table and scribbled two more names in a couple of the unassigned slots, asking Sam and Cara with a look. They both nodded, and just like that, Maya soon had the younger little Hunters, MJ and Haley, as part of their cast. While she had the twins on the line, Maya also floated the question as to whether they'd be able to get both the Davis twins. Ethan was doing the school's musical this year, so it was possible he'd say yes, but Maya would not have wanted to leave out Bobby, so… The girls requested to be the ones to talk to the boys and promised to get back to her with an answer before long.
By the end of the night, they would have their answer: they were in. By then, Maya had already secured Stevie Brett, Cade Foster, Henry and Maggie Hillard, Lara Sullivan-Reyes, Anton Day, and XC Johnny Talbot. The last two pulls were those inspired by Bodhi. She was by no means suggesting that anyone do anything if they weren't up to it, but she believed it would be a good thing to put Echo in Bodhi's path. From there, it would be entirely up to her to do something or not. So, she asked her and Carina if they would like to be part of their crew. The girls both accepted, and just like that, the MSC workshop had a compliment of twenty-two performers and five crew members. Now, they had to figure out the rest…
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
