“What are we talking about?” Tamara asked, pulling up a chair.
“Boys, naturally,” Kira said.
“I’m in love with Josh,” Candace admitted, blushing as she did so.
“I’m glad you finally figured that out,” Tamara said.
“You knew?”
“Of course I knew. James knows. Your parents know. Anyone who knows you and has half a brain knows.”
“Well, how come no one ever told me?”
“Because it would have ruined the surprise,” Tamara said with a smile.
Candace smiled back. “What a nice surprise it turned out to be.”
“All right, people, gather around,” Mr. Bailey said, standing in the middle of the room.
Everyone pulled up a chair and sat down.
“Okay, people. Tonight is the night all your hard work pays off. I’m proud of all of you. I’ve never seen a group work harder. You’re going to be great. Just relax and have fun. We’ve got a full house out there so enjoy it and break a leg!”
Candace joined in the round of applause. Her butterflies came back in full force. Keith looked a little better than he had a few minutes before. Maybe they would all make it through in one piece. Candace hoped so. She did know, though, that whatever happened it wouldn’t change the fact that she was in love with a wonderful guy.
“Okay, we go on in five. Everyone take your places,” Mr. Bailey said.
“Moment of truth,” Tamara said, jumping to her feet.
“I wish I could be as calm about it as you are,” Candace said.
“Calm, are you kidding? My mom threatened to call a vet and get a horse tranquilizer before I left the house.”
Candace laughed. “So, you’re saying all the energy is because you’re totally neurotic?”
“Exactly. I haven’t been able to remember a single one of my lines for the last two hours,” Tamara admitted.
Candace stared at her. “What are you going to do?”
“No clue. That’s okay, though. I’m hoping that if I choke, someone else can think of something.”
“Don’t look at me,” Kira said. “I started grilling Candace about her love life just so I wouldn’t have to go to the bathroom and throw up . . . again.”
Candace stared from one to the other. “You two are unbelievable. Both of you seem to have it totally together, and now I find out that I’m actually the mellow one in this group?”
“Can you spell irony?” Kira asked.
“I get it,” Candace said.
“No, seriously, can you spell it? I just realized I’m so paralyzed with fear I’m losing basic cognitive abilities.”
Candace turned to Tamara. “Call your mom and tell her we need two horse tranquilizers.”
“She invited everyone she could to this thing, including our family doctor. It’s possible he has a valium sample on him,” Tamara joked.
“Let’s go find him and ask,” Kira said.
“Thanks, you two, you’ve really helped me out,” Candace said.
“Yeah, how?” Tamara asked.
“I realized that I’m in great shape compared to everyone else here.”
“Lucky you,” Keith groaned as he walked by her.
“All right, let’s get where we have to go,” Candace said.
They scattered. When Candace made it to her spot, she found Mr. Bailey waiting for her.
“Any final direction?” she asked.
“Candace, the stage is yours. Remember that. It doesn’t belong to the audience, it belongs to you. Take them by the hand and tell them the story you want to tell them. Don’t let them dictate the story to you. Can you do that?”
“I’m not sure, but I hope so,” she admitted.
“Acting is life; life is acting. All the world’s a stage, and we just play our parts. I really believe that. It’s up to everyone to understand the part they’re playing and to communicate it effectively to friends, family, strangers, and even enemies. Do you understand?”
“Are you telling me that I have to make my own choices, not let others choose for me?”
“Exactly, because ultimately it is up to you how your life plays out. The audience can try to bully you into thinking they’re right, but they’re not. God is the ultimate theater critic. Just like any theater critic, he will judge you, the actor, on the choices you make. He won’t blame or praise the audience on your behalf.”
“Wow. That’s profound.”
“That’s life. That’s theater. Fate may be the playwright who sets events in motion and peoples your life with characters. It is entirely up to you to provide the deeper meaning, the subtext.”
“But what if I don’t like the play?”
“Then you have the power to change it. The words are just words. They’re empty without the emotion behind them. Most circumstances can be comedic, just as most can be tragic. A great actor can make
Romeo and Juliet a farce and mold Much Ado About Nothing
into a tragedy.”
“I’m not that great an actor,” Candace said.
“No, you’re not. However, you are that great a person. Make your life what you want of it, and don’t be afraid to find your own meaning. In your life you should be the star, not the supporting actress.”
He walked away, and a moment later the curtain went up. Tamara messed up her first line but then recovered and went on to perform brilliantly. Keith pulled it together right before he went on stage, and Candace had never heard him sing so powerfully or mournfully as then.
Candace threw herself wholeheartedly into the story and tried to live it moment by moment, not anticipating the future, but living the present reality for the character. She felt like she brought Aldonza’s story to life, and somehow it was also her story.
When the final curtain fell, she was trembling from exhaustion and had sweated away half her makeup, but she felt completely alive. The curtains rose again for people to take their bows. The cheers of the crowd were deafening as they echoed throughout the auditorium.
Candace watched as Tamara and two others took their bows. James and Tamara’s father came forward out of the audience and each handed Tamara a bouquet of roses.
When it was finally her turn, Candace ran out onto the stage and took a bow. Keith handed her a bouquet of flowers, and she bowed again. On the floor a couple of people had approached the foot of the stage. Her father, Josh, Gib, and Pete all handed her flowers as well.
Her arms full, she stepped back and let Keith stride to center stage. He bowed and then motioned for the rest of the cast to join him. They linked hands as best they could and bowed as one. Then Keith pointed toward Mr. Bailey in the front row, and he stood up and took a bow.
Candace looked out and saw that the crowd was on its feet. She felt the excitement of the moment washing over her. She was living her life in the limelight, and for the first time she realized that she didn’t want it any other way.
Candace woke up the next morning with butterflies in her stomach.
Showtime,
she thought to herself as she got out of bed. She had made it through the school play, now it was time to take on Talent Show.
I can do this, she told herself. Just relax and breathe.
She got dressed in black jeans and a black T-shirt. She braided her hair so that it would be back and out of her way. She had several hours to kill, but she had already decided to spend them in the park.
When she got to The Zone, she could tell by the number of cars in the referee parking lot that she wasn’t the only one with that idea. She parked and entered the park, walking slowly, taking in the sights and sounds. She came across the train just as it was pulling into the station, and Pete motioned to her.
“What’s up?” she asked after walking over.
He opened the door to the engine. “Hop up,” he said.
“Really?” She didn’t think Pete ever let anyone ride in the engine.
“Yup.”
He lent her a hand as she climbed in and then motioned to the other seat. She sat down gently, staring around with interest. A minute later they were pulling out of the station.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
“Nervous,” she admitted.
“Me too.”
“I like it up here,” she said after a minute. “I can see why you love this job.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t change it for any in the world. Candace, I wanted to thank you.”
“For what?”
“For making me one of your groupies,” he said wryly.
“Groupie?”
“Yeah. I’m not sure you realize just how popular you are here. Everyone loves you. You’ve helped a lot of us out too. I appreciate the fact that I actually had a team that chose me for Talent Show this year. Every year I’m usually the last pick for any of the big activities, and people are unhappy to have me at that.”
“I was freaked out when I found out you were on my scavenger hunt team over the summer,” she admitted.
“I know, but that didn’t stop you from being nice. I appreciate being included.”
“I’m glad, but things like that are going to make it that much harder to leave.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m going to be fine, better than fine. Besides, I figure Sue and I can keep each other out of trouble while you’re off in Florida.”
“I’ll have to check in on you two on my breaks, though.”
“You better, or else,” he said.
“Else what?”
“I’ll start trying to run you over again.”
She threw back her head and laughed.
A couple hours later she was standing in the crowd watching as team after team demonstrated their talent. Her group was slated as one of the last. Waiting was just making her more nervous.
“And now put your hands together for the Kowabunga Krew!”
Candace clapped and shouted. Josh, Mark, and the others ran up onto the stage with instruments and surfboards. Within seconds they were set up. The musicians set up on the left of the stage. On the right a couple of guys jumped on surfboards and were hoisted into the air by their comrades. The guitarist played an opening chord, and then they began to sing Surfin’ Safari with Josh singing the lead.
Candace screamed and cheered. The guys holding the surfboards lifted them up and down and teetered them so it looked like the guys riding them were actually surfing. It was awesome-looking. They sounded great too.
At the end of the song, the two surfers tumbled off their boards in a simulated wipeout. The Krew took their bows and then hustled offstage to make room for the next group.
Up next was one of the teams who worked in the Kids Zone. After them, it would be their turn, so Candace made her way to the side of the stage where the rest of her team had already gathered.
She arrived just in time to see Corinne freak out.
“I don’t think we should do Stonehenge. I can’t remember it!” Corinne said, her voice panicked. “Can’t we make a model of one of the rides? What about the Sky Tower?”
Pete grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “Pull yourself together, woman, that’s at Sea World!”
“We’re going to do Stonehenge. There’s no turning back now,” Traci said. “No matter how scared you are.” She glanced at Candace.
Candace nodded encouragingly. “We can do this. We’ve practiced for it, and we’re ready.”
“We’re all in this together,” Sue added.
Candace had no clue what the team on the stage was doing. She just focused on her teammates and picked up her set of cups. “We know we’re better than the Kowabunga Krew,” she said. “They were good. We’re better. That’s all we need.”
There was a round of applause. The moment of truth. Candace took a deep breath.
“Thank you. And now . . . Candy and the Apples!”
Candace jerked. “Okay, who do I kill?” she asked her team.
Sue burst out laughing, and then so did everyone else, including Corinne. The tension eased, and they turned and ran onto the stage. They took their places to start with Stonehenge. In the middle of the stage, Pete knelt down and began to pound out a rhythm with the cups. Then methodically and to the rhythm, the other four began to build Stonehenge. When Candace and Sue finished their parts, they took over drumming out the beat while Pete built the center and Corinne and Traci finished their parts. When they were done, people cheered. They stood for a moment, then they took down the structures at twice the speed they put them up.
They paused, then started on the Eiffel Tower, moving much faster than they had on Stonehenge. It went up smoothly, and when it was finished they all stood and moved back for a moment. The crowd cheered. They moved back in and took it down even faster, splitting the cups between them.
Then they took their places for the three pyramids. Pete started it off by beating the rhythm impossibly fast. On the fifth beat, they all began, putting the pyramids up lightning fast to cheers and whistles from the crowd. They finished simultaneously, took a step back, then a step forward and slammed it all down into the ground in five stacks.
They stood up and bowed as the crowd went wild. “We did it!” Corinne gasped. “I don’t believe it.”
“We rock,” Candace confirmed.
They took a final bow then grabbed their cups and ran off the stage. Next to the stage Candace ran into Becca who grabbed her arm. Candace looked at her friend and saw fear in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Candace asked.
“I need sugar.”
“Excuse me?”
“For the dance. I can’t do that dance without sugar. I had some stashed so I could eat it right before we go on, but someone’s found it and taken it. I went to my backup stash and it was gone too. All the carts are empty and locked. What am I going to do?”
“Hold tight,” Candace said, turning and pushing through the crowd as fast as she could. She finally broke into the clear and ran toward the Candy Counter. She made it inside and snatched up a candy apple then turned and raced back.
“And now, the Muffin Mansion presents
The Lady of the Dance!
”
“I need sugar!” she heard Becca shriek as she got close to the stage.
She saw someone with a pack of gum, and another person with a candy bar try to give them to Becca only to be blocked by people in the crowd.
Becca was standing in the middle of the stage, a look of terror on her face. The rest of the Muffin Mansion team was in line behind her, ready to begin. The music started. The rest of the dancers began their routine. Candace tried to push through the crowd, but her way was blocked.