Mary Anne And Camp Bsc Part 9

I didn't say anything except, "Have fun, you guys."

But Alicia stopped and turned anyway. "I was missing all the fun," she said. "Everyone was having a good time without me."

"I'm glad you're going to the park, Alicia. Have a wonderful time."

Alicia smiled. "I will," she said happily, and ran to join Claire and her group.

I stood there and watched the members of Camp BSC disappear down the street.

And tried to think. Something Alicia had said was making a bell go off in my head: everyone was having a good time without me.

Everyone. Sharon and Dawn. Just like Alicia, I'd been missing out on all the fun. I missed my father. But then so did Sharon. And Dawn.

Missing him wasn't going to kill me. But acting like a baby - like a four-year-old - wasn't going to help me, or anyone else either.

What I should have done was make the best of the situation. It might not have helped the time pa.s.s faster, or my father come back any sooner, but it certainly would make things easier.

I could hardly wait to tell Mrs. Gianelli about Alicia's giant step forward.

But there was someone else I needed to talk to, just as soon as Sharon came home from work that day.

"So I'm sorry. I should have talked to you a week and a half ago and told you how I was feeling. Instead I just acted like a baby."

Sharon smiled. "I'm glad you talked to me now, Mary Anne. And I don't think you are being a baby because you miss your father. I miss him, too. Sometimes I feel like having a tantrum and demanding that he come back." She paused and added, "And I expect that he feels the same way sometimes, too. That he wishes he could do something to make us join him instantly."

The idea of Sharon pitching a tantrum, Claire Pike-style, was pretty funny. The idea of my father doing something like that was impossible to imagine.

It made me smile.

"It's nice to see you smile, sweetheart."

"It feels pretty good," I said.

"Well, you've been through a lot these last couple of weeks. And it's true. Dawn and I have been, well, over-indulging in messiness."

"It's not so bad," I said, and I realized that it wasn't really. I mean, it wasn't as if things were going to stay that way. It was more as if the house were on a vacation from being neat.

And that was fine. Things would return to boring old normal soon enough.

Vacations were what made the normal stuff nice. And vice versa.

I leaned over and gave Sharon a hug.

A moment later, Dawn bounced into my room. "Hey, listen to this! You know that drive-in movie? Well, it's changed features and it's got a new, new, totally super double feature playing ..." totally super double feature playing ..."

Her voice trailed off. "Do you think you might like to come along, Mary Anne? I mean, I know your leg is hurting and all, but you could sit in the backseat and stretch it out."

"Sound good? It sounds great, in fact," I said. And I realized that it did. I suddenly wanted to laugh. But I didn't. I looked from Sharon to Dawn and said solemnly, "Do you think we can get take-out food delivered to the drive-in?"

Chapter 13.

If the dress rehearsal is a disaster, that means that the show is going to be a success.

I hoped, by the end of Thursday, that that saying included circuses. Because the Camp BSC circus rehearsal wasn't just a disaster, it was a mega-disaster.

Maybe we should have seen it coming. But with so many kids doing so many different things, we just weren't prepared for the fact that the kids who'd been to the "real" circus camp weren't prepared themselves.

During most of the rehearsals, they'd been standing around watching, not practicing. Even the "real" animal act, involving Carrot, Shannon, Pow, and Noodle had, well, gone to the dogs.

Things started off innocently enough. Kristy had announced the dress rehearsal the day before. So Vanessa came prepared in her ring- master's costume. She wore white jeans tucked into black rain boots, an old red jacket of her mother's with the sleeves rolled up and a white s.h.i.+rt she'd made with Claudia's help that said Ringmaster Ringmaster in sequined script across the chest. She also wore a "top hat" fas.h.i.+oned from painted black cardboard. Vanessa made a great introduction, calling the circus ring a "big top" and only lapsing into poetry occasionally (for instance, when she concluded her speech with,- "No matter how things go, I know that you will like our show!"). in sequined script across the chest. She also wore a "top hat" fas.h.i.+oned from painted black cardboard. Vanessa made a great introduction, calling the circus ring a "big top" and only lapsing into poetry occasionally (for instance, when she concluded her speech with,- "No matter how things go, I know that you will like our show!").

We all applauded vigorously, and then the first act began. Nicky and Marilyn came out as wild animal trainers. Nicky was carrying a chair and wearing a T-s.h.i.+rt that said Because I'm the boss, that's why, Because I'm the boss, that's why, and blue sweatpants with a white stripe down the side. Marilyn was wearing blue sweatpants, too. Her T-s.h.i.+rt said and blue sweatpants with a white stripe down the side. Marilyn was wearing blue sweatpants, too. Her T-s.h.i.+rt said I Brake for Chocolate. I Brake for Chocolate. She was carrying a big bag labeled She was carrying a big bag labeled Treats. Treats.

The wild animals came out and they looked adorable. Claire and Andrew were wearing lion manes made of felt and yarn. Andrew wore a T-s.h.i.+rt painted orange and black with an orange and black striped face. They roared and meowed like cats and switched their tails and stroked their painted-on cat whiskers and furry ears attached to headbands. And if Alicia didn't look exactly like a camel, she still made a very impressive wild animal.

The animal trainers put the wild animals through their paces with only minimal mishaps: Claire tripped as she jumped through a hoop of fire (a hula hoop with red, orange, and yellow crepe paper glued to it) and Andrew crashed into her from behind. They recovered nicely and roared at each other until Nicky approached them with the chair and commanded them to go back to their places. They returned to their perches (bales of hay with colorful old tablecloths on top) and roared some more. Meanwhile Jamie pretended to do a tiger dance on his hind legs and Alicia jumped over some special hurdles.

We all applauded, and Nicky and Marilyn bowed, and Marilyn handed treats to the wild animals.

Then the animal dancers came on and the disaster began. Jessi had ch.o.r.eographed a simple dance that incorporated things that the kids could already do (such as Margo's terrific cartwheels and Becca's ability to walk on her hands). And clearly Becca, who'd chosen to be a goat (after her rhino head didn't quite work) and Margo, who'd chosen to be a bird, had practiced their parts. But Ricky and Hannie didn't seem to know what they were doing at all. When Ricky lost his place in the animal dance line for the fifth time, he scowled and said, "Well, animals don't dance in real circuses, either," and stopped altogether. Hannie stopped, too, which left Becca and Margo spinning in a void.

, Then Becca and Margo stopped. "We're all supposed to be touching our right hands together in the center and turning around in an animal wheel," said Becca.

"No real animal in a real circus would ever do that."

"This is our our circus," Margo said indignantly. "We can do what we want." circus," Margo said indignantly. "We can do what we want."

"It's dumb/,' said Ricky.

"Oh, yeah?" Margo put her hands on her hips and looked very threatening (at least, very threatening for a bird).

"Curtain, curtain, curtain!" said Vanessa. She jumped to the middle of the ring.

"Don't you know any of the steps?" asked Becca, her voice sounding a little wobbly. "Jessi made this dance up for four animals. We can't do it with only two!"

"Curtain," said Vanessa. said Vanessa. "Bring on the clowns." "Bring on the clowns." Kristy dropped a new ca.s.sette into the tape deck and the clowns - David Michael, Matt, Carolyn, and Natalie - came tumbling into the ring, waving squirt guns and Kristy dropped a new ca.s.sette into the tape deck and the clowns - David Michael, Matt, Carolyn, and Natalie - came tumbling into the ring, waving squirt guns and wearing big red noses made of Ping-Pong b.a.l.l.s, and funny faces that they'd painted on themselves - all except Natalie.

"Natalie, where's your costume?"- asked Kristy, stopping the music with a slam of her hand. Her voice echoed loudly in the silence.- Natalie said, "It didn't look like a real clown costume. So I just never finished it."

"Our costumes look real," real," said David Michael. "Our costumes look great!" said David Michael. "Our costumes look great!"

"Natalie, go stand over there with Mary Anne. We'll talk about the costume later."

The downs went on with the show.

"The water's making the clowns' makeup run," said Natalie loudly. "That's because it's not real down makeup."

David Michael ran toward the audience with what looked like a big bucket of water. He threw the bucket - on Natalie.

Natalie gave a little scream before she realized that the bucket was filled with oatmeal.

"That's a real down trick," said David Michael angrily.

"Clowns, stay in character. I mean, keep on being funny, not angry, okay?" Kristy called out.

The clowns finished their act - with more than one furious look in Natalie's direction.

"And now for our specialty acts, beginning with sawing the lady in half," said Vanessa.

This was the secret act that Karen and Nancy had been working on.

"This would be better if we were a real circus camp with real props," Karen announced in her biggest, loudest "outdoor" voice. "But we had to make our own. We hope the audience will understand."

"Hey, I'm supposed to make the announcements," said Vanessa, brandis.h.i.+ng her baton. "I'm the ringmaster."

"Then why are you holding a baton?" said Karen scornfully. "You look like a bandleader in a parade, not a real ringmaster."

Vanessa's eyes flashed. But she was never at a loss for words and this time proved no exception. "Cut it out, you two! Or you will soon be through!" through!"

Karen rolled her eyes. Then she motioned to Nancy to crawl into a big cardboard box that said Under the counter storage system Under the counter storage system on one side and on one side and This side up This side up on the other. They'd put the box on the bale of hay and cut a door in the top, which Karen ceremoniously raised for Nancy to climb through. There was a hole in one end of the box for Nancy's head and two holes at the other end for her feet. After a moment of thumping and b.u.mping, Nancy's on the other. They'd put the box on the bale of hay and cut a door in the top, which Karen ceremoniously raised for Nancy to climb through. There was a hole in one end of the box for Nancy's head and two holes at the other end for her feet. After a moment of thumping and b.u.mping, Nancy's head popped out of one end. A moment later, a strange and lumpy looking "leg" emerged from the other end. Then another "leg" emerged.

Beside me, Logan started to snicker. "What is that?"

I peered at the "legs." "They look like stockings stuffed with... toilet paper?"

"I will now saw Nancy in half. Nancy, please wiggle your legs to demonstrate that is really you in the box."

The two lumpy legs wiggled. Oddly.

Karen produced a small saw and held it high in the air.

Every single sitter there jumped forward at once, saying, "Stop! Hold it right there! What are you doing?"

Karen stopped, looking surprised and a little sheepish.

"Where did you get that saw?" demanded Kristy, who had reached Karen first.

"F-from the barn." Seeing my friends and me converge on her at once had shaken Karen's confidence. '

"And what were you going to do with it?"

"Pretend to saw people in half. Kristy! This is a real saw because you need real things if you are going to have a real circus!"

"Karen." Kristy ran her hands through her hair so it stood up every which way. "I'm glad you and your friends went to circus camp. But that doesn't mean you know everything about circuses. And let me tell you, a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing."

Karen frowned.

Kristy frowned.

I said, "Everyone who was at the circus camp learned things. But true performers always do what they are supposed to do. And you guys haven't done that. Now it looks like the circus might not go on."

Karen's eyes grew huge behind her gla.s.ses. Nancy sniffed. Then she wriggled, trying to get out of the box - and one of the stuffed legs fell off!

Well, that did it. The tension was broken. We all started laughing.

At least all us sitters did. The kids were silent. Awesomely silent.

Then Karen said in a small voice, "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," Nancy wailed. "Get me out of here."

"What are we going to do?" Vanessa asked.

"We keep practicing," said Kristy. "We run through the show and then we see what we can do to fix it up. Karen, we'll talk later."

Things didn't exactly improve after that. The high-board act that Bobby and Chris performed didn't involve any real saws. It also didn't involve any interesting tricks. Clearly, Bobby and Chris hadn't been practicing either.

And the dog show was almost a real dog.

Hannie and Linny had tried to teach Noodle a whole bunch of new tricks. As a result, Noodle was thoroughly confused. Whenever they said anything, he looked around. Most of the time he just sat. Or raised his paw to shake hands.

"A real circus dog," Linny began to say in frustration, then stopped himself and looked around, "... um, takes a long, long time to train, I guess."

"I guess," said Vanessa.

"Carrot can still say his prayers," said Charlotte.

"Shannon speaks when you tell her to," said David Michael.

"Pow will lie down on his side when you tell him to nap," said Margo.

"Noodle will go fetch whatever you point to," volunteered Hannie. "That's his best trick."

"What are we going to do?" asked Vanessa again.

"We're going to re-edit our show," said Dawn. "We'll start from the beginning. But everybody has to cooperate."

"We've got a lot of work to do between now and tomorrow," Shannon said.

"Emergency meeting of the BSC," added Kristy. "Right over here." She pointed to one side of the ring.

"Okay, you guys, get your buddy from this morning and go sit over there." Logan pointed to the other side of the ring.