“No, but oh well,” she said. “Are you ready?”
It had been a long two weeks. I was ready to go back to my version of normal life. And it was waiting for me just as soon as I completely embarrassed myself onstage in front of a bunch of people I didn't know.
I put my arm around my daughter. “I am so ready.”
THE END
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Here's the first chapter of the next book in the Moose River mystery series, FOUL PLAY, coming in January of 2015!
ONE
“Guess what, Mom?” Grace said, bursting through the kitchen door. “I'm gonna be a star!”
I was sitting at the table with her older siblings, having been coerced into playing a game with Will and Sophie. Emily, our usually anti-social teen, had decided to sit in with us and we were currently in the middle of a hotly contested round of Taboo.
“No one cares,” Will growled at her. “Emily, your turn.”
Emily smiled at her brother, who she was currently beating the pants off of. “Are you sure you don't want to listen? You could probably use the break and maybe get back in the game.”
“It's your turn!” he yelled, staring at the ceiling. “Just go.”
Sophie stared at him, then started laughing. “You really might have a heart attack.”
“Oh my God!” he growled again. “Both of you, shut up!”
Both girls giggled and then high-fived one another.
I focused on Grace. “Why are you going to be a star?”
She climbed into my lap and held a bright yellow piece of paper an inch from my eyes. “Because of this.”
I grabbed the paper and held it out in front of me. It was an advertisement for the Moose River Youth Theater Company. They were casting for Snow White and looking for kids of all ages to try out. I squinted, trying to read the fine print. The fees looked reasonable and the practices and performances were at Moose River High School, which was just down the street from our house.
“Well, maybe,” I told her, not wanting to commit until I could get more details. We'd already had one experience with local community theater and I wasn't sure I was interested in a second helping.
“Mom!” she cried. “Jake already said I could!”
“I already said you could do what?” Jake hollered from the kitchen, kicking the door shut behind him, his arms loaded with grocery bags.
“Snow White!” Grace yelled back.
Will cleared his throat loudly. “Is anyone gonna play? Because if not, I quit.”
“If you quit, you still lose,” Emily said, grinning at him.
Sophia made an L-shape with her thumb and forefinger. “Lose.”
“L is for Lame. Which both of you are!” he said, shoving himself away from the table and stomping up the stairs toward his room.
The girls high-fived again.
Jake set the bags on the kitchen counter. “Oh, yeah. I might've said that.”
“You said what?” Sophie asked, whipping her head in her dad's direction.
“See?” Grace said, squirming in my lap. “He said yes!”
“He sometimes opens his mouth before he should,” I told her.
“I've never done that,” Jake said, kissing my cheek and sliding into the seat previously occupied by Will.
Emily began tossing game pieces back into the box.“What are you even talking about?”
“Were you not here for the last five minutes?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I was more interested in torturing Will.”
“Grace wants to be in a play,” Sophie informed her. Her long bangs were clipped back with a barrette, her huge blue eyes wide with excitement. “Snow White.”
Emily's hand froze over the game box and she looked at Grace. “Wait. The one at Moose River High? The new theater company?”
“Again, if you'd been listening, you would already know this,” I explained. “And now why are you so interested?”
“No reason,” she said quickly. She smashed the lid on the box and sprinted to her room, slamming the door behind her.
“'No reason' usually means there's totally a reason,” Jake correctly observed.
“Maybe she wants to be in the play, too,” Sophie offered helpfully.
“No!” Grace yelled, a scowl on her face. “It's my play!”
“It is not your play,” I reminded her. “And trust me, Emily will not be stepping on your toes on stage. It's not her thing.”
We all knew that. After her three minute lip-sync performance at the Prism Talent Show, I was convinced she'd never step foot on a stage again.
“I looked at the practice times,” Jake said, yawning and stretching. “No conflicts. And she's always wanting to do plays, so when I saw it on the board at the store, I just grabbed it.”
I nodded. If any of the kids had a proclivity for the dramatic, it was definitely Grace. She was expressive, effusive and loud. She also had an uncanny knack for turning the tiniest things into monumental obstacles. The previous week, she'd lost a shoe and had run around the house, crying and screaming about how she was never going to find the shoe and it was her favorite shoe and she'd never wear another shoe out of deference to the lost shoe.
Sophie had found it five minutes later, shoved behind the couch.
“And it's not expensive,” Jake said. “At the least, she can try out.”
“And it's not North Town Community Theater and Connie Evener, “ I added, referring to one of the local gossips who always seemed to have her nose in other people's business.
Jake made a face. “Yeah, I'm not doing that again.”
Grace had participated in one play before and the production of the Wizard of Oz had turned out fine. It was the gossip we'd encountered there – mostly amongst the parents and the less than congenial director - that had prevented us from signing her up for another play.
I read further down the flyer. “Says parents have to volunteer.”
He shrugged. “So? We can do that.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Since when are you so willing to volunteer? If I remember correctly, you were the first one to complain about the volunteer hours we had to do at Prism.”
“Well, yeah,” he said, grinning. “But that little talent show you put on a month ago took care of our volunteer hours for the next three years there. So, with that out of the way, volunteering for a little play doesn't sound so bad...”
“My 'little' talent show?” I folded my arms across my chest and stared at him. “Little?”
“You know what I mean,” he said. He reached across the table and squeezed my arm. “Besides, we don't even know what volunteering at this theater entails. It's probably something simple like taking tickets or running concessions.”
“Or painting massive, detailed sets,” I said, remembering the pieces we'd had to paint for the Wizard of Oz as part of our volunteer commitment there.
“Could I do it, too?” Sophie asked. “Since I didn't get to do the other play Grace was in?”
I felt a twinge of guilt. Sophie had mentioned half-heartedly that she'd wanted to be in The Wizard of Oz but neither Jake nor I had taken her seriously.
“Yeah!” Grace said. “We could be those dwarves! Since Mommy and Jake wouldn't let us be Munchkins together!”
The twinge turned in to full-blown guilty conscience.
“Of course you can.” I set the flyer on the table. “I'll bet they need boys, too.”
Jake smiled. “I'll bet.”
“You mean for Will?” Sophie asked.
I nodded.
“Oh my gosh,” she said, giggling. She turned to look at Jake. “He probably won't like that.”
“Yeah, well, he doesn't like a lot of things,” I told her. “Until he actually does them.”
The more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be good for all three of them. Something local, something regular, something fun. I was always looking for something different to expose them to, something they hadn't done before, and something where they might make a new friend or two. Our first theater experience hadn't gone so smoothly, but a new group and a fresh outlook might benefit everyone. I thought this play just might fit that bill.
“So, wait,” Grace said, staring at me intently, her hazel eyes bright with anticipation. “Are you saying yes we can do it then?”
Sophie and Jake joined her in staring at me.
I finally nodded. “Yes, you can be a star.”
FOUL PLAY, the fourth book in the Moose River mysteries, will be available in January of 2015!