Lark Takes a Bow

by Natasha Deen

  Text copyright © 2018 Natasha Deen

  Illustrations copyright © 2018 Marcus Cutler

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Deen, Natasha, author

  Lark takes a bow / Natasha Deen ; illustrated by Marcus Cutler.

  (Orca echoes)

  Issued in print and electronic formats.

  ISBN 978-1-4598-1715-9 (softcover).—ISBN 978-1-4598-1717-6 (PDF).—ISBN 978-1-4598-1717-3 (EPUB)

  I. Cutler, Marcus, illustrator II. Title. III. Series: Orca echoes

  PS8607.E444L39 2018 jC813'.6 C2017-907694-9

  C2017-907695-7

  First published in the United States, 2018

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018933736

  Summary: In this early chapter book, amateur detectives Lark and Connor Ba figure out which of their follow actors is playing pranks on the local theater company.

  Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

  Edited by Liz Kemp

  Cover artwork and interior illustrations by Marcus Cutler

  Author photo by Richard Jervis

  ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS

  orcabook.com

  21 20 19 18 • 4 3 2 1

  Orca Book Publishers is proud of the hard work our authors do and of the important stories they create. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it or did not check it out from a library provider, then the author has not received royalties for this book. The ebook you are reading is licensed for single use only and may not be copied, printed, resold or given away. If you are interested in using this book in a classroom setting, we have digital subscriptions that feature multi user, simultaneous access to our books that are easy for your students to read. For more information, please contact digital@orcabook.com.

  http://ivaluecanadianstories.ca/

  For Conner, Austin and Ethan

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  The Words Lark Loves

  Acknowledgments

  An Excerpt from “Lark Holds the Key”

  Chapter One

  My name is Lark Ba, and I have my head in the clouds. Well, not really. If I had my head in the clouds, I’d be as big as a giant! That would be neat, though, because I’d finally be taller than my brother, Connor. He’s my little brother, and he’s way younger than me.

  Having my head in the clouds is something my halmoni—that’s Korean for grandmother—says when I start daydreaming and get distrackTed, distracktid, distracted. I am trying hard to concentrate, only it is difficult because Connor and I are in a play, and I’m so excited!

  The kmunity, cahmounity, community theater is doing Alice in Wonderland, and both Connor and I got parts! He gets to be a tree and the White Rabbit. I get to be the Caterpillar and one of the flowers. Plus, we each have talking parts. Pluser, I get to do more talking than Connor. That part is the bestest!

  Being in a play means practicing very, very hard to memorize our lines. Connor and I were in the basement of our house. We had to be very, very quiet because it was early in the morning and we’d get in trouble if we woke up Mom, Dad or Halmoni. I sat on the couch with Max, our dog. Connor stood in front of us. “Connor, you’re doing it wrong,” I said.

  He scowled. “No, I’m not.”

  Ugh. Little brothers. “Yes, you are. You’re just standing there!”

  “Lark, I’m a tree. I’m being a very good tree.” To prove it, he stood with his feet wide apart and lifted his hands to the sky. “See? That’s a tree.”

  “That’s a stump with some branches. You’re a tree! You have to look like it!”

  He dropped his hands and backed away. “No! No way! You’re not painting my face green with that sticky makeup again! I still have some behind my ears, and it’s been two days.”

  I sighed. “I’m not talking about face paint. I’m talking about being a tree. They don’t just stand there. They move if there’s a breeze. Look at me.” I stood with my feet wide apart and raised my arms. Then I wiggled my fingers and swayed my arms from side to side. “Like this.”

  “But there’s nothing in the script about a breeze,” he said.

  “You’re an actor. You’re supposed to use your imagination and pretend big things. You should listen to me. After all, I’m older—”

  “You are not!”

  “—much older—”

  “Twins, Lark, we’re twins! And you’re only older by ten minutes!”

  “You should still listen to me because it’s a good idea.”

  Connor folded his arms. “Okay. I can wave my hands around and pretend there’s a breeze. But I need a break. Let’s practice your part.”

  “I was practicing all last night, in bed.”

  “I know,” said Connor. “I have the bunk underneath yours. And you’re loud, even when you’re trying to be quiet.”

  I decided to ignore what he said and to be patient, because I’m a very good big sister. I know I am. So does Connor, because I tell him that all the time.

  “Let’s take it from the top,” he said.

  That was the same thing Mr. Folopoulos, the play director, said when he started a rehearsal. It means we have to start at the first lines of the play. I clapped my hands. “Wow! You sound just like a real director.”

  Connor looked happy when I said that.

  See what I mean about being a very good big sister?

  “Let’s start at the part where Alice is chasing the White Rabbit.”

  “Okay,” I said. “You pretend to be Alice.”

  He nodded. “Oh, flower, did you see a White Rabbit?”

  “I did!” I pretended my arms were leaves and waved them excitedly.

  Connor frowned. “Lark, you’re a flower. They’re soft, so you should be too. You should whisper your line instead of shouting it. And I don’t think you should wave your arms so much. You look like you’re in a hurricane or something.”

  Hmm, he had a good point. “Okay, I won’t wave my arms so much, but I have to be loud. If I’m not, the audience won’t hear me.”

  “Yes, they will. You are very loud even when you’re trying to be quiet.”

  “Connor!”

  “See? Very loud.”

  Ugh. Little brothers. “Anyway, I decided I’m a Venus flytrap. They’re carniv—carnival—” I couldn’t remember the word. “They’re plants that hunt bugs and eat them. So I don’t have to be soft.”

  He shrugged. “Okay. Let’s try again. Oh, flower, did you see a White Rabbit?”

  “He went to the left!” Dramatically, I pointed to the left. Only I may have been a little too dramatic. My hand hit the lamp, and it crashed to the floor. That scared Max. He jumped off the couch and ran away. Only he caught his paw in the lamp cord and dragged it along with him. The cord got wrapped around the table leg, and everything went crashing to the ground. Thump! Boom! Smash!

  Connor and I looked at each other. A few
seconds later we heard the creak of a bedroom door opening, then the sound of footsteps on the stairs.

  I held my breath.

  So did Connor.

  Mom and Dad can be kind of grumpy in the morning.

  The footsteps got closer, and closer, and closer. It was Halmoni! She’s never grumpy with us. Which is amazing, because Connor can really bring out the grumps!

  She looked at us and smiled. “It’s time to take a break for breakfast. What do you think?”

  Halmoni is Dad’s mom. Babu—that’s Swahili for grandfather—is Mom’s dad. He is in Kenya, counting elephants. Halmoni let us video-chat with him while we had breakfast. Babu ate mandazi and we ate apple cinnamon pancakes, and we talked about elephants.

  Connor and I also told Babu about our mystery-solving adventures. This summer we had already solved two cases! That made us private investigators, or P.I.s. Our detective agency had a name and everything. Lark and Connor Ba’s Detective Agency. We even had a mascot. It was an alligator because I love them. Plus, alligator rhymes with investigator, and I really like that!

  Babu was very proud of us.

  I was proud of us too.

  We finished our breakfast, then helped Halmoni clean up the kitchen.

  Then it was time for us to go to the playhouse.

  “I’m getting more and more excited. I’ve never been in a play before!” I said.

  Halmoni laughed. “I can see—you’re beside yourself!”

  I frowned. It was impossible for me to be beside myself. Plus, it was Connor who was beside me, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to hurt Halmoni’s feelings.

  Halmoni locked the door, and then we were off to the rehearsals. We walked and talked, and in no time at all we were at the playhouse.

  I grabbed Halmoni’s hand. “This is so exciting. I have butterflies in my stomach!”

  She squeezed my fingers. “Me too. Come on. Let’s go inside and see what’s happening.”

  We walked past the ticket booth and through the main doors. Miss Balza stood in front of us. I like her a lot! She has curly hair and it’s the color of a sunset. I think she’s very lucky because she has freckls, freakills, freckles. Today she didn’t seem very lucky. Today she seemed very unlucky because her face was all frowny and sad. I did not like that at all. Nope, nope, nope.

  “Miss Balza,” I asked, “are you okay? You don’t look very happy.”

  “I don’t feel very happy,” she said, “but now you and Connor are here, and that makes me feel better. I heard about how the two of you helped Mrs. Robinson find the lost library. And how you helped Mr. and Mrs. Lee find out who stole the diamond earrings from their store.” She bent down in front of us. “I’d like to hire the two of you.”

  I squeezed Connor’s hands. This was so exciting—our third case. “Sure thing,” I said. “What’s the problem?”

  “Someone has been playing pranks on the theater,” she said. “I need you to help me find the culprit.”

  A culprit is someone who is responsible for doing something naughty. I liked that word a lot, but now wasn’t the time to say that to Miss Balza.

  “We can help,” said Connor.

  “Thank you so much!” She smiled a big, cheery smile.

  One of the things I have learned about being a detective and solving a mystery is to get all the facts of the crime. “Miss Balza, could you please tell us what happened?”

  “The first day of rehearsals, everything was fine. The trouble began on day two. Some of the props for the set were moved. And on day three, someone stapled the curtains shut. Yesterday the lightbulbs for the makeup table went missing. And today I found that someone had cut all the buttons off the costumes.” She sighed a heavy sigh. “It gets worse. Mr. Folopoulos said if we can’t stop the pranks, he’s going to shut down the play.”

  “That’s terrible,” said Halmoni. “Everyone’s working so hard.”

  “Can you think of anyone who would want to play these pranks?” asked Connor.

  That was a good question, and it leads to the second thing I’ve learned about being a P.I. A person needs a motive. That’s a reason for doing what they did.

  Miss Balza shook her head. “No. Everyone here is so nice and helpful.”

  “Not everyone,” I said. “Someone here is playing pranks.”

  “We should start with a list of everyone who is part of the play,” said Connor.

  “We can check the master list in the office. It has everyone’s names and their jobs.” Miss Balza looked at Connor and said, “Oh my goodness! Connor, I’m so sorry! You need to be on stage in five minutes, not helping me.” Miss Balza looked at her clipboard. “Lark, you’re not onstage until this afternoon.”

  “That’s good,” I said. “That means I have all morning to investigate.”

  “I can investigate too,” Connor said. “I can watch from the stage and see if anyone is acting strange. Lark, when you’re done talking to Miss Balza, you can check around the theater for anything that seems suspicious.”

  “That’s a great plan,” I told him. “Good luck with rehearsal!”

  “Thanks,” he said and headed up to the stage.

  Miss Balza and I went to her office to find her papers. We walked past my friends Franklin and Kate. They were with Loi. She babysits us when Mom, Dad and Halmoni go out. I really like her. She’s a teenager and in junior high, and she’s great at everything! Franklin, Kate and Loi were sitting in a circle, practicing their lines. I noticed they were making notes on their scripts with different-colored pens, like pink, purple, green, blue, red and black. What a great idea! When I saw Connor, I was going to tell him that was something we should do too.

  I went into the office and said to Miss Balza, “Maybe someone is mad because they didn’t get a part. Do you have anything like that in your notes?”

  “Hmm. Do you know Sophie?” she asked.

  I nodded. Sophie is in my class. We are best friends—she just doesn’t know it yet.

  “She tried out for the part of Alice, but Loi got it instead. Mrs. Wiedman auditioned for the role of the White Rabbit, but that went to Connor. Mr. Lee auditioned for the role of the Mad Hatter, but that went to Liam. Mrs. Wiedman, Mr. Lee and Sophie are the understudies,” said Miss Balza. “That means if Loi, Liam or Connor can’t perform, Sophie, Mr. Lee and Mrs. Wiedman would get to play those roles.”

  “That’s a good motive for getting rid of Loi and Liam and Connor,” I said, “but not such a good motive for pranks.”

  “That’s a good point.” She sighed.

  “I should still double-check,” I said. I took out my detective notebook and wrote down their names. I have dyslexia. Which means letters and numbers can get mixed up in my head. Writing takes me a little longer, but I know if I’m patient I can do it.

  Miss Balza’s phone beeped—and kept beeping. “Oh! That’s my alarm. Mr. Lee is bringing our morning snack, and he’s bringing hot dogs for lunch. I have to go or I’ll be late!”

  She ran to find Mr. Lee and help with the food. Miss Balza had a job to do, and so did I. It was time to find the prankster.

  After Miss Balza left I went to the side of the stage so I could watch the actors rehearse and keep an eye on the people backstage. Connor did a great job of being the rabbit. Franklin did an equally great job of playing a mulberry bush. And the other person onstage was Loi. She had a lot of lines. She forgot some of them and got some of her words mixed up, but I thought she did great too.

  I took out my detective notebook and wrote down everything I saw. Which wasn’t a lot.

  Halmoni left her lighting group to talk to Principal Robinson, who was one of the set builders.

  Miss Balza and Mr. Lee put trays of fruits and pastries on a table.

  Loi asked if she could get a drink of water from the fountain.

  Mrs. Wiedman asked Franklin to try on a vest she was making for his costume.

  Mr. Folopoulos called a break for a snack.

  Connor saw me a
nd waved me over. “Did you notice anything?” he asked.

  I shook my head no. “Did you?”

  He shook his head. “Me neither. Maybe we’ll think better after a snack,” he said. “I can’t believe we don’t have any suspects.”

  “We kind of do.” I told him about Mrs. Wiedman and Sophie and Mr. Lee.

  “That’s a good list,” said Connor, “and I’m not surprised Sophie’s on it. I bet she’s the culprit. She’s always in trouble for something.”

  “We shouldn’t jump to conclusions,” I said. That meant we shouldn’t make decisions about who was guilty before we had all the evidence.

  “I guess, but I still think Sophie’s involved. Come on. Let’s go get our snack.”

  When we got to the table, we saw Franklin and Kate. Franklin handed me a cup of juice. “This acting thing is challenging.”

  “And it makes your throat dry,” added Kate.

  “Is that why you’re holding two cups of juice?” I asked as I pointed at her hands.

  She laughed. “No. Loi went to the bathroom. I’m holding her juice until she comes back.” Then she looked at her fingers. “I’m going to have to go and wash my hands too. We were using her pens to make notes on our scripts, but they leak.”

  “I saw you making notes,” I told her. “You should do that too, Connor. It will help you be a better actor.”

  He sighed and took a sip of his juice.

  “I’m having lots of fun,” said Franklin. “You were standing all by yourself, Lark. Are you bored?”

  “Not even a little bit! It’s fun to watch everyone practice. Not just the actors either. It’s cool watching how the lights change and stuff. Plus, Connor, I was paying lots of attention to you. I have all kinds of ideas for you to make your part better.”

  He sighed louder and took another sip of his juice.

  A couple of seconds later Loi joined our group. “Thanks for holding my juice,” she said to Kate. “But on second thought, I better not have any. I heard sugar can be bad for your voice. Maybe I should stick to water.” She lifted her water bottle, and her charm bracelet jingled.