“Uh-huunh,” said Cora, looking like she was picturing every detail. “Or you could wear my long white nightgown with Miss Tibbs’s red Christmas apron on top. That’s probably the way to go. In fact, it is the only way to go. Miss Tibbs already decided.”
“I don’t want to wear Miss Tibbs’s creepy Christmas apron! She probably wears it to boil bat wings and frog eyeballs.”
“Well, you could wear my mom’s Hanukkah apron, but it’s blue and it just won’t match,” Cora said as she wrapped the measuring tape around my neck.
“Ahhh, help! I’m choking!” I yelped. “Why are you measuring my neck?”
Cora shrugged. “To tell you the truth, I don’t exactly know what I’m supposed to measure. Miss Tibbs figured I already knew how to do it, and I didn’t correct her.”
“Cora Klein,” I said, wagging my finger at her. “Sometimes you are just too polite. You don’t have to be perfectly perfect all the time, you know!”
“I know.” She sighed and then she said, “You know, I may be able to make you a cloak. I found some shiny red fabric in the storage room, and I think it’s big enough.”
I threw my arms around her.
“You’re the best friend and costume designer a girl could have!” I gushed.
“Tell me this: How do you feel about sequins?”
“I feel very good about them.” I nodded. “I feel like they are absolutely necessary.”
Just then, Liv ran over. She was so happy, she was doing little ballet leaps.
“Ginger wasn’t upset at all! She just said she wished I’d told her sooner,” she chirped. “I told her about the audition—how you whispered the lines to me—and guess what? That is actually a real job in the theater! It’s called being a prompter! And Ginger is going to be standing in the wings during our play in case we need her to do that!”
I was pretty proud that I’d done a real theater job without even knowing it.
Liv also said that Ginger loved Ezra’s idea of recording the lines on his laptop. In fact, she said we could spend the rest of rehearsal doing that while she worked on some cat choreography with the Cheshire Cat and Minnie’s piano playing.
“I’ll ask Miss Tibbs if we can use her microphone,” said Cora. “She has one on her desk to make announcements on the loudspeaker.”
Miss Tibbs could not say no to her favorite redhead. So a few minutes later, all of us—Liv, Cora, Jude, Ezra, and me—walked over to Miss Tibbs’s desk.
Miss Tibbs has an enormous metal desk in the back corner of the main office. Usually, I try to stay far away from it. The desk is very neat, with just a few stopwatches and whistles on top. Most of her stuff is in the drawers—and those all have locks. Who knows what she keeps in there? Maybe torture devices.
“Here you go,” said Miss Tibbs as she took the microphone out of a drawer and locked it right back up. Then she turned to me and said, “I know the precise location of all the items on this desk, and I expect to find them all exactly as I left them. Is that clear?”
“Clear!” I said. Then I gave her a salute like soldiers do. My uncle Eddy is in the navy, and he taught me how to do it. I thought Miss Tibbs would like that, but she just frowned a lot and walked away.
I read all the Alice lines and all the Queen of Hearts lines. Ezra and Jude and Cora divided up the rest of the parts. The script really wasn’t very long, so we were done even before our parents came to pick us up. Just as we were finishing, Ginger walked in.
“Miss Tibbs caught Matthew Sawyer mucking around with the curtains so she’s taking the last few minutes of rehearsal to give the cast a lesson on curtain safety,” she said. “I reckon she forgot about you, lucky ducks that you are.”
She set down a big thermos and stack of cups on Miss Tibbs’s desk.
“How about some hot tea on a cold afternoon?”
To go with the tea, Ginger brought biscuits! Sure, that doesn’t sound that exciting, but what you need to know is that in England, biscuits means “cookies”!
Ginger’s biscuits were called shortbread. They were very buttery and delicious and absolutely perfect for dunking in tea. Could they have used a little whipped cream or Marshmallow Fluff? Of course. But they were pretty good just the way they were.
During teatime, we asked Ginger a million questions.
“Have you ever met the queen of England?” Liv asked.
“’Fraid not,” said Ginger. “But a friend of a friend of a friend is her corgis’ dog groomer. How d’you fancy that?”
“Oh, I fancy it,” I said. “I fancy it a lot. When I grow up, I want to open a dog-grooming business!”
“Do you have a dog?” Liv asked her.
She shook her head.
“Guinea pigs?” Ezra asked. I could tell he was hoping to find a friend for Ziggy.
“No guinea pigs, either. But I’ve got a tabby cat, Ophelia. She’s terribly fussy, but I adore her anyway.”
“Is it hard to get your hair in all those twists?” Cora asked. “Do you need a machine?”
It was clear she was thinking of trying the hairstyle on Camille the next time she gave her a makeover.
“They’re dreadlocks, love,” Ginger replied. “I had them done in a salon. It takes ages, but once they’re done, they stay put till you want to be rid of them.”
I was a little nervous to ask my question, because I wasn’t sure if it was rude or not, but I figured it was now or never: “Is Ginger Frost your real name?”
She sipped her tea and smiled a big Cheshire Cat smile.
“One of the names is real and one is not. I can’t tell you which. I must retain my air of mystery, after all.”
“I know! I know! The real one is Ginger!” I guessed.
“No, the real one is Frost,” argued Jude. “Definitely.”
Ginger just smiled mysteriously. “All I can say is, one of you is right.”
“It’s probably Jude,” I grumbled. “Because Jude’s always right.”
Jude grinned wide then and said, “You’re right about that, at least.”
Chapter 13
The next two weeks whizzed by faster than a bloodhound chasing a squirrel. As the day of the show got closer, everyone got busier and busier.
Ezra’s lights were amazing! He had a lot of help from Dad, who is a pro at electrical stuff because he’s a super in the big apartment building where Ezra lives. Dad even helped Ezra set up a cool spotlight.
Cora was making costumes with Miss Tibbs every day after school and even some days at lunch. She spent a lot of time gluing sequins on stuff. She got a little carried away. When Miss Tibbs caught her putting sequins on the caterpillar’s pipe, she took away her hot-glue gun.
Jude got pretty carried away with the sets, too. He designed them to be so complicated that he couldn’t possibly paint them all himself. So, the week before the show, other kids came to help out, even a few of our old Fix-It clients like Noah and Maya.
It turned out that Liv really did have a smashing memory. At home, she listened to Ezra’s recording over and over again, and during our rehearsal breaks, I quizzed her on her lines. After only a week, she had learned them all by heart. Then she offered to quiz me on my lines.
“Thanks, but I don’t need any help,” I said. “I know my lines.”
“Are you sure?” Liv asked. “Because sometimes you think you know, but when it’s showtime and the bright lights are on you, then it’s easy to get stage fright and freeze up. It’s happened to me at my ballet performances.”
“That happens to me sometimes at my piano recitals,” Minnie piped up. “The first time, I didn’t know what to do. I was frozen stiff like an ice statue, and my fingers would not move a muscle. But you know what my trick is?”
“What?” I asked.
“I just imagine the audience in their underwear!” giggled Minnie. “Especially polka-dot underwear. It makes me smile and then I feel relaxed.”
“That’s nice, but I don’t get stage fright, trust me,” I said. “Hey
, listen to the British accent I’m going to use for the Queen of Hearts. I learned it by copying Ginger.”
They all loved my accent. Except one person. Guess who did not love it?
Jude, of course. At breakfast, when I asked him to “please be a love and paaaass the maple syrup,” he yelled, “MOM! Make her stop! She’s driving me to the brink!”
And when I said, “Oh, what rubbish! I’m not driving anyone to the brink! I’m far too young to drive!” he said, “DAAAAAAAD! Do something! She’s torturing me!”
After Liv learned her lines, we spent our rehearsal breaks practicing death scenes. By the time we put on the show, we had nailed down our Poisoned-by-an-Apple scene and Death-by-Whipped-Cream, which was my favorite.
* * *
Finally, it was the day of the show. I was so excited that I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and ran straight into my parents’ room.
“Today is the day! Today is the day!” I chanted as I threw myself in between Mom and Dad. “Only ten more hours till SHOWTIME!”
“It’s not day yet,” mumbled Dad as he opened one eye. “It’s still dark outside.”
“Uhhuuuuuh,” moaned Mom as she pulled the covers up over her head. She is not a morning person, but I love her anyway.
“But I’m too excited to sleep!” I said, in my best English accent. “I’m full of beans!”
Ginger taught us that expression. It means “jumpy and bursting with energy.”
“Make your beans much quieter,” grumbled Dad. “And get back to bed.”
Chapter 14
I was full of beans all day at school, too. We all were! Cora and I were so nervous that we did our secret handshake about ten times. Minnie chewed on her braids so much, the ends were soggy all day. When I saw Liv at lunch, we threw our arms around each other and screeched, “Opa! Opa!” until Miss Tibbs scolded us.
At recess, Jude walked over to where I was playing with my tag gang.
“Here, for the show,” he said in an embarrassed way. Then he shoved something small and cold into my hand.
At first, I thought he was pulling a prank on me—like he was going to give me a medal that said WORLD’S BIGGEST PEST or an exploding pen or something. But when I opened my hand, I found a silver chain with a red, sparkly heart attached! A necklace!
My eyes nearly popped right out of my head. There were almost eyeballs rolling around the playground! I wasn’t just surprised; I was shocked. I wasn’t just shocked; I was flabbergasted!
“Jude!” I gasped. “I love, love, love, love it!”
He said, “It’s not a big deal or anything. I saw it at the toy store with Mom, and it was on sale for practically nothing.”
“Not a big deal? NOT A BIG DEAL?” I threw my arms around him and squeezed. “You’re the best!”
He shoved me off but I didn’t care. I yelled at the top of my lungs, “HEAR YE! HEAR YE! JUDE CONTI IS THE BEST BROTHER IN THE WORLD!!!”
“Why do I do anything nice for you when you are so embarrassing?” Jude said as he walked away, but I thought he looked kind of happy.
I kept rubbing my heart necklace all afternoon and staring at the clock, wishing school was already over. At exactly 3:00, I jumped out of my seat, grabbed my jacket and backpack, and flew out of the room. Cora was right behind me, carrying a bunch of costumes.
I couldn’t wait to see Ginger and tell her to “break a leg”! She told us that it’s actually bad luck to wish someone good luck before a play! It’s an old theater superstition. You’re supposed to say “break a leg” instead!
But when I got to the auditorium, I was in for a shock. Because Ginger was not there.
Yep, that’s right.
Ginger!
Was!
Not!
There!
Do you know who was there?
Right in the middle of the stage?
Miss Tibbs.
“Ummm,” I said. “Do you know where Ginger is?”
I held my breath and hoped with all my might that Miss Tibbs would say, “Oh, she’s just running a little late” or “She’s in the bathroom.” But instead, Miss Tibbs said four terrible words: “She has the flu.”
I gasped. I could not believe my ears. Then Miss Tibbs said more terrible words: “I’ll be filling in for her.”
I gasped again. I couldn’t help it! It just slipped out.
“You appear to be troubled, Miss Conti,” said Miss Tibbs. “Are you all right?”
I nodded really fast.
“Then quickly get into your costume,” ordered Miss Tibbs. “Guests will be arriving in thirty minutes.”
Chapter 15
I grabbed my Queen of Hearts costume, and Cora and I dashed into the bathroom to change. A second later, Liv walked in, carrying her Alice costume.
“Did you see Miss Tibbs?” she asked. “Can you believe our rotten luck?”
“Our luck’s so rotten, it’s got a worm crawling in it!” I exclaimed.
“What if I forget my lines?” said Liv. “Ginger was going to be the prompter.”
“You won’t,” Cora said. “You’re so prepared!”
Then Cora tied the sash on Liv’s dress and spun her around.
“You look fantastic!” squeaked Cora.
Liv was wearing one of Cora’s dresses, which was light blue with poofy short sleeves. On her head was a blue silky headband that exactly matched her eyes. She wore black ballet slippers on her feet. She had changed her earrings to little blue gemstones that glittered in the light.
Then Cora frowned and tugged on one of her curls. “But where’s the apron I made for you?”
Liv looked down and said, “Oh yeah. Well, the thing is, my mom washed it, and it got all torn up in the machine. I’m sorry about that.”
Oooooh, I knew she was lying! The reason I knew that is, I had thought of telling the exact same lie to Cora about the cloak she’d made for me.
It turns out that even though Cora is great at nearly everything, she is not very good at sewing. That’s putting it nicely. The truth is, she is horrendous! If you blindfolded Pearl and tied one arm behind her back, she would still do a better job sewing than Cora. My friend might know a lot about fashion, but one thing she does not know is how to make it.
I saw the apron that Cora made for Liv before it went missing. The top part was so short that Liv had to tie the belt right under her armpits. Not only that, but the bottom part was much too long, way longer than the blue dress underneath.
But even though the apron was terrible, it was a hundred times better than my cloak. My cloak had too many problems to list. Here are just a few:
1. The neck was so tight, I could hardly swallow.
2. It dragged on the floor—which would have been cool, except it dragged on only one side.
3. The other side was even shorter than my knees.
4. She used black thread instead of red thread, so you could see all the stitches, which were big and crooked. It looked like a Franken-cloak.
5. There were a billion red sequins but only on one side because when she was halfway through with it, Miss Tibbs took away her hot-glue gun.
Nana could have fixed the cloak on her sewing machine in about two minutes because Nana used to be a professional seamstress. But Cora was so proud of her work, and I knew her feelings would be hurt if I changed it or if I lied that a pigeon had swooped down and grabbed it out of my hands. So I wore that Franken-cloak on show day.
The rest of my costume looked great. Cora’s white nightgown with Miss Tibbs’s red apron looked nice (after Mom washed it twice to get rid of witch germs). Nana had bought me a plastic crown, and it fit perfectly. And of course, I had my supremely amazing showstopping necklace that my BBF (best brother forever) got for me.
Liv, Cora, and I rushed back to the auditorium and checked out everybody else’s costumes.
This is what Camille wore as the White Rabbit:
1. White sweatpants with a big white furball pinned to her butt.
2. A headband wit
h furry bunny ears sticking up.
3. A white T-shirt with white furry sleeves sewed on by Cora. One sleeve reached to her elbow, and the other sleeve reached past her wrist. They were both hanging on by just a thread.
Minnie looked lovely in the outfit she always wears to recitals—a silky white shirt, black velvet pants, and a white headband with her hair in two braids. The ends were still wet, but you couldn’t really notice.
Then I saw Matthew Sawyer and my mouth dropped open. This was what he wore as the Cheshire Cat:
1. A striped shirt, as usual, but this one had light purple and dark purple stripes.
2. Purple sweatpants.
3. Lavender face paint with a big clownish smile painted on in dark purple.
4. My friend Maya’s pink kitty hat from Tokyo, with adorable pink kitty ears sticking up.
In the middle of his huge face-painted smile, his real mouth was in a big frown. I couldn’t help but giggle. I’m only human, after all!
When Matthew Sawyer heard me laugh, he got furious.
“Oh, just zip it,” he hissed. “Haven’t you ever seen a kid dressed like a cat before?”
“Sure, but never one in such an adorable hat!” I teased.
“Forget it!” he exclaimed. “I’m not listening to any more of this.”
Then he turned around to storm off. And when he did, I saw that a long purple tail was swinging from his butt.
That did it. I burst out into huge chortles.
“Miss Conti, if you’re done with your laughing fit, maybe you’d like to get into your place in the wings?” Miss Tibbs asked. “The doors are opening now for our guests.”
The red curtain was supposed to be closed so we could open it when the show started like in a real theater, but Matthew Sawyer had broken it by mucking around and it didn’t close anymore. So I had to stand in the wings and peek out to see the audience. Absolutely everyone was there! Jude was sitting right in the front row, and next to him were Mom and Nana and Nonno and Dad, with Pearl on his lap. Ezra was not sitting with them, because he had to sit in the back of the auditorium to control the lights, but his mom, Principal Powell, was there, at the end of the row.
The Fix-It Friends--The Show Must Go On Page 4
