Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing the Piano (But She Does Love Being in Recitals)

by Peggy Gifford

  “Sure,” said Sam.

  Sam knew how to play “Heart and Soul.” He had learned it in case Moxy needed help.

  “What if Mom comes down?” said Pansy.

  But Moxy had already gone out to the porch.

  As soon as Sam started playing Moxy’s part of “Heart and Soul,” Ajax drifted out from his office to see what was up. He’d never heard Moxy play her part so well.

  chapter 57

  In Which We See

  Mrs. Maxwell on the

  Top Step with Her

  Head Against the

  Wall and Her Eyes

  Closed, Listening to

  “Heart and Soul”

  “A Study of a Sleeping Mother,” by Mark Maxwell.

  chapter 58

  In Which Moxy

  Comes Back into

  the House but

  Without the Capes

  “The capes are almost ready,” announced Moxy as she came in from the porch. “You’re doing a very good job playing my part of ‘Heart and Soul,’ Sam,” she added. She listened for a few seconds to see if she could figure out how Sam was going to finish it.

  “The crowns!” cried Moxy suddenly. “I almost forgot about the crowns. We can’t have a real dress rehearsal without them.”

  Sam didn’t stop playing Moxy’s part of “Heart and Soul,” though he did nod in the direction of the stairs. “But your mom is up there,” he said.

  “But she’s in the bathroom talking to Aunt Susan Standish,” said Moxy.

  “Don’t forget our silver tap shoes!” Pansy called out as Moxy started up the stairs.

  chapter 59

  Dark at the Top of

  the Stairs

  Most people would have stopped if they had seen their mother sitting slumped against the hall wall at the top of the stairs. But Moxy felt it was probably very good for her mother to have a little nap, so she carefully stepped around her.

  chapter 60

  Dark at the Top of

  the Stairs—Part II

  Unfortunately, it was not quite dark enough at the top of the stairs, because just as Moxy was walking by, Mrs. Maxwell opened her eyes and looked at Moxy in surprise.

  At first Mrs. Maxwell was confused. She could hear Moxy playing her part of “Heart and Soul” downstairs. Yet there was Moxy standing in front of her.

  “Who,” said Mrs. Maxwell, “is playing your part of ‘Heart and Soul’?”

  chapter 61

  In Which Aunt Susan

  Standish Enters in

  What Is Known as

  the Nick of Time

  “You were playing the piano beautifully,” Aunt Susan Standish said to Moxy. “But who is playing it now?”

  “Sam,” said Moxy quietly.

  Mrs. Maxwell was quite calm.

  The fact that her mother was quite calm worried Moxy a great deal, I don’t mind telling you.

  Then Mrs. Maxwell stood up (with the assistance of the railing and her sister) and said to Aunt Susan Standish, “Would you care to join me? I’m going downstairs to hear Moxy play her part of ‘Heart and Soul.’ ”

  Aunt Susan Standish said she’d be delighted. And the three walked down the dark stairs.

  chapter 62

  Whose Title Is “As

  Soon As Moxy Sat

  Down at the Piano”

  “Fear!” shouted Ajax as soon as Moxy sat down at the piano. Ajax got up from his chair. “Fear! Fear! Fear!” he cried.

  Everyone looked over at him—except for Granny George, who was still out on the porch finishing the capes.

  “Dear,” said Mrs. Maxwell, going over to her husband, “are you okay?”

  “Of course!” said Ajax, thumping his forehead with his hand. “Why didn’t I see it before? FEAR! It’s the perfect word to rhyme with ‘spear.’

  “I must write it down,” he said. He practically ran from the room.

  As soon as Ajax practically ran from the room, Mudd started to bark. (Mudd always barked when Moxy sat down to play the piano. That was because Moxy played her part so loudly.)

  As soon as Mudd started to bark, Moxy got up, walked slowly over to the porch door, and let him out.

  As soon as Moxy let Mudd out, she sat back down at the piano.

  As soon as Moxy sat back down at the piano, her mother sat down next to her. Moxy looked up at her mother. “Mother,” she said, “would you please move over? Your hip is practically touching my shoulder.”

  Mrs. Maxwell moved her hip one inch.

  “Begin,” said Mrs. Maxwell.

  Pansy began to play.

  But when Moxy didn’t join in, Pansy stopped.

  As soon as Pansy stopped, Granny George hurried in from the porch. The capes were in her arms.

  “Wait!” called out Granny George.

  Then she draped one cape over Moxy’s shoulders and the other over Pansy’s. “Sorry to interrupt,” she added. She crept over to the sofa and sat down next to her daughter (who was also Aunt Susan Standish).

  “Continue,” said Mrs. Maxwell.

  “Now we have to start all over,” sighed Moxy. “Play it again, Pansy.”

  chapter 63

  In Which “Heart

  and Soul” Begins and Ends

  Reader, I wish a CD came with this book. That way you could hear for yourself what Mark and Sam and Mrs. Maxwell and Aunt Susan Standish and Granny George heard when Moxy played her part of “Heart and Soul.” But it’s probably just as well.

  Moxy’s song went on so long that finally Mrs. Maxwell had to tap her on the shoulder.

  “You can stop now,” said Mrs. Maxwell.

  As soon as Mrs. Maxwell said she could stop, Moxy and Pansy got up and walked to the middle of the living room. Then they held their hands together in the air the way heavyweight champions do and bowed and bowed. It was Moxy’s favorite part of the whole show. She and Pansy had rehearsed it at least a hundred times last week.

  “You may clap now,” said Moxy.

  Everyone clapped.

  chapter 64

  In Which

  Mrs. Maxwell Makes

  a Comment or Two

  About the Song

  “How very …,” said Mrs. Maxwell-she paused to think about it—“long. And what was all that pounding about?”

  “That was the sound of the heart,” said Moxy.

  “It was pretty loud,” noted Mrs. Maxwell. “And it never stopped,” she added.

  “Well, a heart’s not supposed to stop,” said Moxy. “Unless of course it’s dead, and my heart isn’t.”

  “No,” said Mrs. Maxwell quietly, “it isn’t.”

  Moxy sat down in the rocking chair. She was tired. Playing “Heart and Soul” was hard work.

  “Moxy,” said Mrs. Maxwell, “will you promise to stop playing ‘Heart and Soul’ tonight when you get to the end?”

  “Of course,” said Moxy. “I mean, I can’t play all night. Other people have to play after me.”

  “People like me,” said Mark, who was now sitting at the piano bench.

  “Maybe Mark should practice while I go upstairs and warm up my voice. Ms. Killingher still might ask me to sing tonight,” said Moxy.

  But Mrs. Maxwell was not convinced that Moxy would stop playing the piano.

  “Pansy,” said Mrs. Maxwell, “can you stop playing the piano when your part is through?”

  Pansy nodded.

  “Moxy, will you promise to stop when Pansy stops?”

  “But that will make it so short,” said Moxy.

  “Promise?” said Mrs. Maxwell.

  Moxy really thought about it. “I’ll do my best,” she said.

  It was all Mrs. Maxwell could ask—all anyone can ask of anyone.

  chapter 65

  In Which Mark Plays

  “The Flight of the

  Bumblebee” Perfectly

  and We Learn a Little

  About Stage Makeup

  While Mark practiced, Moxy, Sam, and Pansy went upstairs to fi
nish getting ready. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to steam up her bathroom so Moxy could warm up her voice in case someone asked her to sing tonight. Instead, she sang “La la la la la la la la” over and over while she put on her stage makeup.

  Moxy had stage makeup left over from when she played the part of Cottage Cheese last year in the Food Group play.

  Stage makeup is very different from regular makeup. It is quite thick. And Moxy put on a little extra. Then she put some on Pansy. Then she put more on Pansy. But Moxy couldn’t cover up the black ermine dots.

  Before Moxy and Pansy could even practice walking with their capes and crowns and tap shoes on (all at the same time), Mrs. Maxwell called from downstairs to say it was time to go.

  Walking down stairs in slippery, silvery, somewhat high, high-heeled tap shoes while wearing a crown that keeps falling down in front of your face with every step you take is not as easy as it may sound.

  By the time Moxy and Pansy reached the downstairs hall, everyone was already waiting for them out in the car.

  “But we can’t go yet,” Moxy called out from the porch.

  Mrs. Maxwell turned on the ignition in reply.

  “Mark still has to take the picture of me standing in front of the trees with my cape and crown on!” shouted Moxy. “It’s for my Christmas card. I’m sending out my own this year.”

  When Mrs. Maxwell still didn’t turn off the car, Moxy wobbled down the porch steps and over to her mother’s side of the car. Mrs. Maxwell rolled down the window.

  “I’m going to look just like Great-great-granny Moxy in that picture of her in the Miss America cape,” said Moxy.

  Mrs. Maxwell turned off the ignition.

  Here is the picture Mark took of Moxy wearing her own ermine, towel-trimmed cape. You can hardly see the cardboard box she’s standing on. She looks a lot like Great-great-granny Moxy, don’t you think?

  chapter 66

  In Which

  Mrs. Maxwell Drives

  Their 1989 Volvo DL

  Station Wagon to

  the Palace Theater

  Everyone piled into the car. Granny George was in the front seat. She was sitting between Mrs. Maxwell and Ajax. Ajax was reciting the second verse of his poem aloud. He was very proud and not a little relieved to have found the perfect word to rhyme with “spear.”

  “Claws as sharp as razor blades

  Beak like a broad-head spear

  The Elephant Bird, the Elephant Bird

  Had nobody else to fear!”

  Ajax put a little extra emphasis on the word “fear” at the very end, and Granny George started to applaud.

  “No applause yet,” said Ajax. “I still have to finish the last verse.” Then he began to mutter something about sixty million years.

  Sam and Mark were in the way backseat. They were watching the front tires spatter slush from the melting snow. They were saying things like “neat” and “cool” and “nice one” whenever a big bunch of brown slush smacked the side of the car.

  Aunt Susan Standish was sitting beside Pansy in the middle row of seats. Pansy’s tap shoes were off: She was wearing them over her hands like gloves. When Ajax had finished his poem, Pansy had tapped her hands together for a very long time.

  Moxy was on the other side of Pansy.

  Before Ajax began his poem, she had been singing “La la la la la la la la la” to warm up her voice. And although she was happy that Ajax had found the perfect rhyme for “spear,” she was not quite happy enough to applaud when he finally shouted out “fear!” at the end. Her stomach suddenly felt a little funny.

  chapter 67

  In Which Moxy Has

  a Heart Attack

  Mrs. Maxwell was just pulling into the parking lot of the Palace Theater in their 1989 Volvo DL station wagon when Moxy noticed that she was having a heart attack.

  “Mother, I’m having a heart attack,” said Moxy.

  Moxy’s mother said, “It’s probably just nerves.”

  “What are nerves?” asked Moxy.

  “It’s like stage fright,” said Granny George.

  “Why would I be afraid of the stage?” said Moxy. “I love the stage.”

  After Mrs. Maxwell parked the car, she gave Mark and Moxy and Pansy a good-luck kiss. Then she and Ajax and Granny George and Aunt Susan Standish and Sam went into the main entrance of the Palace Theater.

  Ms. Killingher had said that everyone performing in the recital should meet backstage. So Pansy and Mark and Moxy headed toward the back of the Palace Theater. Pansy was so excited she was running.

  “Look, Moxy,” called out Pansy. “It says STAGE next to the door. Just like you said it would!”

  Even Mark was excited. Moxy could tell because he stopped and took a picture of the sign that said STAGE next to the door.

  The Stage Door.

  Moxy didn’t seem to be as excited as Mark and Pansy. For one thing, she was not walking very quickly. In fact, when Mark was taking this picture of the stage door, Moxy was still back in the parking lot. Her stomach felt like it was purple inside.

  “Moxy!” Pansy called out. “Hurry up!”

  Slowly, Moxy hurried up—even though she didn’t feel like it. As she watched her silver shoes tap across the parking lot, she wondered what made people do things they didn’t want to do when there wasn’t a mother around telling them to do it. Still, she was moving.

  chapter 68

  Backstage

  As soon as they got backstage and checked in with Ms. Killingher, Mark and Moxy pulled the big curtain back so they could see the audience. Aunt Susan Standish and their mother were standing together down in the front.

  Everyone was admiring Aunt Susan Standish. She was wearing black kid gloves that reached all the way to her elbows and black very-high heels and sunglasses and a bright red swing coat with bell sleeves. Every time she turned to say hello to someone her coat moved in the opposite direction.

  Mark took out the new super-duper-extra-extra-extra-strong telescopic lens that Aunt Susan Standish had brought him from Africa last Christmas. She said it was the kind of lens that real photographers used when they wanted to take a picture of the eye of a tiger out in the jungle. He screwed it onto his camera and took this very close close-up picture of Aunt Susan Standish from backstage.

  “Aunt Susan Standish Looking Très Élégante,” by Mark Maxwell.

  The lens really worked. It got so close to Aunt Susan Standish that you could have counted her teeth if her mouth had been open.

  Ajax and Sam were already sitting down. Granny George was between them.

  Ajax was joyfully muttering to himself. He was working on the third and final verse of his elephant bird poem.

  chapter 69

  In Which the Average

  Reader Might Guess

  That Moxy Was

  Disappointed to

  Discover That

  Instead of the 2,400

  People She Was

  Expecting to Be in the

  Audience, There Were

  Only 23

  The average reader might guess that Moxy was disappointed to discover that instead of the 2,400 people she was expecting to be in the audience, there were only 23.

  But Moxy wasn’t all that disappointed. Her stomach felt purple. (If that’s the word for it.)

  Ms. Killingher told everyone backstage to gather round. She had an announcement. “People,” said Ms. Killingher, “can I have your attention, please?”

  Moxy and Pansy went tapping over. Mark followed.

  “What are those?” said Ms. Killingher. She was pointing at the capes Moxy and Pansy were wearing.

  “Our recital capes,” said Pansy. “They match our crowns.” Pansy put her crown on.

  “Oh,” said Ms. Killingher.

  Then Ms. Killingher made her announcement. “The Curtain Person is having trouble remembering when the curtain is supposed to go up and when it’s supposed to go down, so some of you may have to duck a little when yo
u go out onstage.” She looked at Moxy and Pansy’s crowns. “Maybe you should leave them back here,” she suggested. “They could fall off.”

  You might have expected Moxy to protest. The crowns were, after all, an important part of the fabulous look that she had put together for tonight. But Moxy just put her crown carefully down on a nearby chair. Then she peeked through the curtain at the audience again. It looked like there were at least thirty people out there now. Her stomach still felt purple. And now her heart was beating hard.

  Moxy had been sure there would be a vase with approximately 100 long-stemmed roses on top of the piano. But there was not. There was a goldfish bowl with one pink carnation floating around. She wasn’t very upset, though. She was beginning to sweat in the place where her cape was tied around her neck.

  chapter 70

  In Which Elinor Hills

  plays “Twinkle, Twinkle,

  Little Star”

  Ms. Killingher lined everyone up according to the order they were going to play in. Then she crossed her lips with her finger to remind everyone to be quiet. And the lights went down in the audience. And the lights came up on the stage. And Ms. Killingher walked out.

  There was a lot of applause. Moxy thought it sounded like a lot more than thirty people were out there now. She grabbed Pansy’s hand.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Ms. Killingher said into the microphone, “welcome to the Killingher School of Piano and Bass’s first annual recital.”

  Since Moxy and Pansy were third in line to go on, they were standing close to the stage. And they could see Ms. Killingher from the side. She looked very calm.

  Moxy cleared her throat. She had hoped Ms. Killingher would ask her to sing tonight. Now she was hoping Ms. Killingher wouldn’t. How could she sing when she could hardly swallow?