Just Grace, Star on Stage

by Charise Mericle Harper

  Ms. Perry is not a person who wastes time. As soon as I was in the room, she closed the door and said, “Grace, I want you to answer this question honestly.” I nodded my head. Marta was looking at the floor. People look at the floor when bad things have happened or are about to happen. Knowing this made me even more nervous. “Have you told anyone that you are hoping Marta gets sick so that you can have her part?” I put my hands up to my mouth. Suddenly I was super glad that I had never mentioned anything about my old wish to anybody, not even Mimi. It was a relief to be truthful and not get into trouble.

  Ms. Perry smiled. She patted me on the shoulder and said, “Okay, Grace. You can go, and please don’t say anything to anybody.” I walked out the door, but then turned around before she could close it again. “I really like my part,” I said. “I know,” said Ms. Perry. “I can tell.”

  After about five minutes Marta and Ms. Perry came out of the room. Marta didn’t look 100 percent happy, but later that afternoon she smiled at me. It was the first smile I had ever gotten from the fairy queen.

  UNUSUAL THING NUMBER TWO

  On Friday, Sammy surprised everyone.

  WHAT SAMMY IS SUPPOSED TO DO

  WHAT SAMMY DID

  We all thought it was great, but Ms. Perry said she had to ask the principal if Sammy could really use the slingshot on stage. Sammy said he had been practicing at home. Of course every single boy who saw him do it was super impressed. This whole acting thing was really changing Sammy’s life. Now everyone wanted to be his friend.

  THE PLAY INVITATION

  On Friday we all got play invitations to take home. I couldn’t believe how good they were. Grace F. made them; she is a real artist.

  THE WEEKEND

  This Saturday and Sunday was a lot like last week’s Saturday and Sunday, except that it was raining. Mimi and Robert came over, and Robert couldn’t wait to show me what he had. It was a real baseball mitt. I don’t know anything about baseball, but it seemed like it was not going to be so easy for him to catch stuff with that big glove on his hand. I was pretty much right about that.

  WHAT HAD NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE

  Mimi and I could not wait for the weekend to be over and for school to start. I wrote it down in my notebook, because I was pretty sure that kind of thing was probably never going to happen again.

  I CAN’T WAIT TO GO TO

  SCHOOL. THIS WILL PROBABLY

  BE A ONE-TIME-ONLY FEELING.

  MONDAY MORNING

  Right away I could tell that everyone was like me: excited to be at school. This was the week of our big play. How could we not be filled with joy? Even Miss Lois seemed happy. I could tell this because she said we were skipping math and could work on our plant maps instead.

  MY PLANT MAP

  The only annoying thing was that I sit in front of Owen 1, and somehow Ms. Perry had made the big mistake of picking him to be the pooping bear in the play. Now he thought he was the king of every poop joke in the world. All he could talk about were poop jokes. I could tell that even Sammy was getting annoyed, and he loves poop!

  MONDAY’S PLAY REHEARSAL

  Miss Lois told us that tomorrow was going to be an exciting day. She said, “All the scenery for the play is going to go up, and it’s marvelous!” If she was excited about it, I’m sure we would be too.

  THE GOOD THING FOR SAMMY

  Sammy gets to use the slingshot in the play. Ms. Perry was super happy about this. I think she wanted to give Sammy a reward for working so hard. Even though it was only Monday, he knew almost all of his lines by heart. Marta was happy about that too. She did a lot of smiling.

  WHY IT’S SAFE FOR SAMMY TO USE THE SLINGSHOT

  THE ONE THING I WAS KNOWING

  Our play was going to be a super success!

  WHAT HAPPENED ON THE WAY HOME

  I know most of Sammy’s lines, so I can tell if he is making a mistake, and today he was almost perfect. We did a bit of practicing on the way home, but really he didn’t need to. I was the one who needed to practice Marta’s part. For some reason her lines were kind of hard to remember. But I was watching her today, and she looked really healthy, so I probably didn’t have much to worry about.

  WHAT HAPPENED AFTER DINNER

  Robert and Mimi came over because Robert wanted to show me his new ball. It’s a special ball to use with his new glove. Mimi said Robert is finally letting their dad play catch with him. We played catch a little bit, but I liked it when we did it without the glove better. After they left I made myself go upstairs and look over the fairy queen lines one more time, just to be safe. I had a new secret wish.

  MY NEW WISH

  TUESDAY

  It was really hard to concentrate on math this morning. I was hoping that Miss Lois would let us do fun stuff again, but she didn’t. After lunch we worked on our plant projects. Almost everyone has finished a plant map, so what mostly everyone is working on now is the seed stories. We have to pretend to be a seed and write a story about how we got from our parent plant to the ground, where we will grow as a new seedling. Of course the boys are being seeds that are eaten by animals and then pooped out. I was surprised that Miss Lois was okay with this, but I guess it is true nature so she can’t do much about it. It was nice to have something creative to work on. It made the afternoon go by faster, which was good because I could hardly wait to get to the auditorium to see the new scenery.

  THE FIRST THING I SAID WHEN I SAW THE STAGE

  Our whole practice seemed really different from normal. I think having the scenery changed everything. When Marta and I were standing at the side watching the talking trees I said, “I almost feel like a real actress.” “Me too!” said Marta. It was amazing!

  WHAT I TOLD MOM WHEN I GOT HOME

  “I think this play is going to be the best thing I have ever done.” Mom came over and gave me a hug. “I can’t wait to see it,” she said. “I’m really good at my part,” I said. “A-bouquet-of-flowers-after-the-show good?” asked Mom. “YES!” I said. “Yes, yes, yes!”

  WHAT IS SUPER HARD TO DO

  Wait for a day that you know is going to be great. Tomorrow we were going to see our costumes. Even though Mimi said mine wasn’t super excellent, I still couldn’t wait.

  WEDNESDAY

  This was a big day for Mimi. Finally she was going to be able to show everyone what she had been working on. When we were halfway to school she said, “I’m so excited, I couldn’t eat breakfast.” I knew exactly how she felt. “I bet I won’t be able to eat breakfast tomorrow,” I said.

  Miss Lois let us work on our seed stories all morning. I just had the picture part of mine to do, but a lot of people were still doing the writing parts. There were a lot of boys laughing, so I think Miss Lois should have looked more worried than she did.

  I picked a maple tree seed for my story, because I like how they spin around like mini helicopters when they fall to the ground, plus they are fun to put on your nose.

  LUNCHTIME

  At lunchtime Mimi said she was super excited, but she ate her sandwich anyway, because she said she was also super starving. Marta came up to us and said, “I can’t wait to see my costume.” “I think you’re going to like it,” said Mimi, and then she gave me a funny look. At first I didn’t understand what she was doing, and then I did.

  WHAT I WAS KNOWING

  Even though Mimi didn’t say anything, I knew she was still thinking about me being a little bit sad about not getting the fairy queen part. She was worried about me seeing Marta’s costume, but I wasn’t going to be jealous. I just knew it. Sometimes you know stuff about yourself, and sometimes you don’t. This was a knowing thing!

  FINALLY

  When we got to the auditorium, Ms. Perry made everyone sit in the audience seats. Usually we stand around on stage. Mimi and Grace F. and some other people were waiting on the stage. “When I call you by name, you can come up and get your costume,” said Ms. Perry. I couldn’t believe it! For once I was first.

 
MY COSTUME

  It was better than Mimi said it would be. My favorite part was the glasses; they had real glass in them. I’ve always wanted to wear glasses, so getting to wear even just pretend glasses was super fun.

  Marta’s costume was great. It took a while for her to put it on, but it was worth it—it was really beautiful. It’s too bad that she couldn’t fly on one of those wire things, because if she was up in the air, she would have for sure looked like a real fairy.

  THE SURPRISE GOOD COSTUME AWARD GOES TO...

  Sammy’s costume!

  When Sammy put his costume on, he hardly even looked like Sammy. It was like he was a real king, not a boy pretending to be a king. It was amazing.

  THE SECOND SURPRISE GOOD COSTUME AWARD GOES TO...

  Owen 1’s costume!

  He looked so cute. I couldn’t believe I was thinking about Owen 1 and cute in the same sentence. It was a shock for my brain!

  WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

  We hardly had time to practice the play. Even though it’s only twenty minutes long, we only got through the first half of it. Ms. Perry said not to worry. She was smiling, so I decided to believe her.

  WALKING HOME

  Everyone stayed late today, so Mimi and Max got to walk home with me and Sammy. Mimi said her favorite costume is Sammy’s. “It’s mine too!” I said. Sammy just smiled. He seemed kind of quiet. I guess he wasn’t used to all the extra attention.

  AT NIGHT

  Mimi and I made up a new flash code just for tonight. It’s thirty-one flashes, which for us is a world record. We did one flash for each letter in I LOVE THE PLAY IT IS GOING TO BE GREAT! That was a lot of flashing. I’m glad we didn’t do that every night.

  PLAY DAY

  Today was a double play day. We were having a play, and Miss Lois let us play instead of doing work.

  After lunch we went to the auditorium like usual. After the practice Ms. Perry said, “You are ready!” This was good to hear. I think it made everyone feel less nervous. The only person who still seemed really nervous was Sammy. He was super quiet, which was not normal. Ms. Perry noticed too, because she gave him a special little talk. I saw him laugh, so I guessed she fixed whatever was wrong with him.

  WALKING HOME

  I walked home with Mimi and Max. We waited for Sammy, but he didn’t show up. “Maybe he had to try on his costume one more time, because it’s so awesome!” I said. Mimi laughed. “It’s good, isn’t it?” “It’s my favorite one,” said Max, and then he looked at me and said, “No offense—yours is good too.” “That’s okay,” I said. “Sammy’s is my favorite one too!” “I can’t wait for my mom and dad to see it!” said Mimi. “I pretty much made the whole thing all by myself.” She was as excited as me, and I was really, really, really excited!

  WHAT HAPPENED AT HOME

  I told Mom I was too nervous to eat, so she let me have yogurt for dinner. I had to be back at school by six o’clock, even though the show didn’t start until seven. Ms. Perry said we needed the extra time just in case. The more I thought about the audience, the more nervous I started to feel. Maybe that was the just-in-case part Ms. Perry was talking about. I was hoping she had some tricks to help us.

  WHAT HAPPENED BACK AT SCHOOL

  Ms. Perry was all dressed up fancy. She looked great. We were putting on our costumes, but she said, “Put on costumes, everyone!” about ten times anyway. I think she was nervous too.

  THE JUST IN CASE

  I was helping Marta with her wings when all of a sudden Ms. Perry came rushing into the room. “ATTENTION! ATTENTION!” she shouted. “Gather around, everyone. Quick! Quick!” This was not a good way to calm everyone down. She sounded upset. Two seconds later we all knew why. Sammy was sick! Throwing-up sick! Throwing-up-with-a-fever sick, and he couldn’t be in the play. “IT’S A TOTAL DISASTER!” shouted Owen 1, and he threw his bear hat onto the ground. Now he wasn’t looking so cute. I gave him a mean look. “NO, IT’S NOT!” said Ms. Perry. “Pick up your hat, Owen 1! It’s unfortunate and sad, but it’s not a disaster.” Owen 1 put his hat on his head. “Sorry,” he said. He was cute again.

  “These kinds of things happen in the theater all the time, and that’s why we prepare for them,” said Ms. Perry. She looked around until she found Owen 2. “Owen 2, you’re Sammy’s understudy, can you do Sammy’s part?” Owen 2 looked shocked. He was wearing his knight’s uniform, and he held up his shield in front of his body and shook his head. “I don’t know it,” he said. “Sammy was so good at it, so I thought I didn’t have to do it.” “That’s okay,” said Ms. Perry, but I could tell from her face that on her insides she was thinking something different.

  THE BAD IDEA TO FIX IT

  “Well,” said Ms. Perry, “I’ll just be the king. We can make it work.” She walked over to the costume area and came back wearing Sammy’s crown. “So, everything will go as planned, except that now I’m the king. Do you all understand?” Everyone nodded yes, except for me. “You can’t be the king!” I said. “You’re too big for the costume!” “Grace,” said Ms. Perry. “I know it’s not what we planned, but I think everyone will understand who I am if I wear this crown. Plus we can make an announcement to explain the situation.”

  I shook my head. Ms. Perry was not understanding me! The king costume needed to be in the play! It was the best costume, and the whole reason Mimi was even excited about the play It was super important! My empathy feelings were working at 100 percent power!

  THE GOOD IDEA TO FIX IT

  I felt like I might cry, but then suddenly I had an idea. I shouted it out loud. “Ms. Perry, let me be the king! I fit the costume, and I know all the lines. I really do! I practiced them with Sammy! PLEASE, CAN I DO IT? PLEASE!” It was the perfect and only way to fix everything. I had to do it. Ms. Perry was surprised, and not just a little surprised, but super surprised. “Are you sure?” she asked. “She can do it,” said Marta. “I saw her helping Sammy. Plus it’s my birthday, and I want Grace to be the king.” Now I was surprised. Ms. Perry looked at me. I gave her my sad please eyes. Sad please eyes are hard to say no to. Slowly she nodded her head. “YAY!” Marta and I jumped up and down together. “Okay girls, that’s enough,” said Ms. Perry. She gave me Sammy’s crown and pointed to the costume area. “Go get dressed and give me your hat and stick.” It was the only part of my outfit that Ms. Perry was going to be able to wear.

  While I was getting dressed, Marta came over to see me. “Thank you for doing Sammy’s part,” she said. “If Ms. Perry was the king I think that would make me super nervous—plus she’s too tall.” I gave her a smile and then Ms. Perry interrupted us. She had some last-minute instructions for me.

  MS. PERRY’S INSTRUCTIONS

  If you forget something, look at me and I’ll help you.

  Don’t worry too much about where you are standing. What you are saying is more important.

  When you throw the seed out to the audience, throw it to a grownup in the first row. That way, when I say the wind blew it back, they’ll know to throw it back.

  Don’t try to use the slingshot for real. Just pretend to use it. We’ll make the bell ring for you.

  Then Ms. Perry looked me right in the face and said, “Are you sure about this?” When I nodded she hugged me, just a little, because of course she didn’t want to mess up my costume.

  WHAT WAS HARD TO BELIEVE

  That I was really doing this.

  THE SHOW

  Right before the show started Ms. Perry went on stage and talked to the audience. She told them how happy she was to be there and how hard we had all worked, and then she said, “Tonight we have a special surprise performance. Unfortunately one of our actors is sick, so tonight the part of the king will be played by Grace Stewart. Thank you, Grace. I will be taking Grace’s part of the narrator. And then, at the end of the play we have a special birthday song to sing, so please stay in your seats. Okay, on with the show.” After that there was a ton of clapping. It was the kind of clapping that meant every sin
gle seat in the whole auditorium had someone in it. That was a lot of people!