Puppet

by Ed Kightlinger

  As Mister Darling walks off stage, Wendy, John, and Michael get into their separate beds. Missus Darling tucks them in and kisses their foreheads. Then she lights three candles – one on the bureau next to Wendy’s bed and one each on the bureaus next to John and Michael’s beds. Michael asks if anything can harm them after his mother lights the candles. Missus Darling bends over to move the blanket close to Michael’s neck.

  “Nothing will harm you. The candles are loving fairy lights that a mother leaves behind to protect her three darlings from harm.”

  The curtain slowly draws to a close.

  After the curtain closes, a freshman named Billy walks back and forth across the stage. He is carrying a large placard. It reads, “Standby for Act Two. Applaud if you believe in fairies!” The audience applauds loudly to the delight of the troupe behind the curtain.

  Lindsey and Jay rush over to Chloe once she is offstage. She is trembling and guzzling a glass of water to calm her nerves. Brenae joins them. She has the coil of twine in her hand.

  Lindsey says, “Chloe, are you okay?” Chloe nods her head, and then she manages a pretend smile.

  Lindsey glares at the coil of twine Brenae is holding in her hand. She asks in a disgusted tone, “How in the world did that coil of twine get into the drawer?”

  Brenae shrugs. “Beats me.”

  Now the other Darling family actors, Steven, Nancy, Dale, and Roger, are standing beside Chloe and the others.

  Steven says in an incredulous tone, “Goodness, Chloe. I have no idea how that coil of twine got into the drawer. I glanced inside the drawer a few minutes before the play began to ensure the tie was there. It was right where it was supposed to be so Cassandra could retrieve it. I did not see a coil of twine in the drawer!

  “What is more, and even crazier, when I looked in the drawer a few seconds ago, I still did not see the tie! What is going on here is absurd!” He glances with disgust at the coil of twine.

  “Furthermore, if I am not mistaken, that coil of twine looks exactly like coils that Puppet had handed out around town. It cannot be his. He is dead!”

  “I have no idea how the coil of twine got into the drawer as well,” Nancy says. “Still, I must say this, Chloe. You performed remarkably well. I would have been tongue-tied for the remainder of the play.” She looks at Steven. “You recovered very well too. Owing to your ad-libbing, I am certain the audience had no clue what was happening.”

  Brenae says, “As far as this detestable coil of twine is concerned, I seriously doubt if the audience thought it was something abnormal. Some of the people in the audience laughed when Cassandra dropped it onto the floor.”

  Chloe whispers, “I am very sorry by the way I reacted. Seeing that coil of twine when Cassandra was supposed to fetch a tie caught me completely off-guard.” She says to Steven, “As Nancy said, I cannot believe you ad-libbed the way that you did. When you yelled, ‘You are naughty, Nana! I told you to fetch my tie not a stupid coil of twine!’ you immediately brought me to my senses. Had you not yelled those exact words, I would have lost it completely. I would have fainted on the spot.’”

  Diana Jane, Colette, and Sophia are now standing next to their team members. In their typical team spirit, it is only natural they are drawn to their friends in their time of need. This fact is especially true, considering what they have visualized, seen, and heard, to include the chilling voice of Robert as he confessed to his murders.

  Mister Jones rushes over to the assemblage. That he is smiling puts everyone at ease. He says, “I must say the five of you performed admirably. No one seems to know how that detestable coil of twine got into the drawer, or where the tie disappeared to, but I must say this.” He looks at Chloe, Steven, and Nancy one at a time.

  “The three of you did terrifically. I have to admit, at first, I was aghast when I saw Cassandra with the coil of twine, but I was the proudest drama teacher on the planet given your superb recovery. Well done! Besides, the audience thought it was part of the play! How cool is that?” He glances over at James who is motioning to him. James and Lindsey are standing next to their equipment. James holds one finger high in the air.

  Mister Jones says, “Okay, act two begins in less than one minute. Places everyone and good luck!”

  Brenae walks to where James and Lindsey are standing. She still is holding the coil of twine in her hand.

  “Something tells me this is not over.” She glances over her shoulder. “I may be mistaken, and I hope to God that I am, but my instinct tells me Robert, or even Puppet’s ghost, if he is capable of having one, is here. One or both of them intend to mess with our minds. On the other hand, maybe Sorrie is somewhere around here. You two stay on your toes, okay? Keep a sharp lookout for anything unusual, anything weird, especially if someone you do not recognize arrives backstage. You got it?”

  James and Lindsey nod their heads, and then they depart to reassume their duties. The curtain goes up a few seconds later. Act two has begun.

  Seeing as Claymore’s play is a rendition of J. M. Barrie’s novel Peter and Wendy, there are many variations in the plot that deviate from the novel. Despite this, there are some scenes in the play that are familiar to anyone who has read Barrie’s book.

  Mister and Missus Darling are offscreen. They supposedly are a few dozen feet away in apartment number 27 attending a party. Missus Darling had accompanied her husband reluctantly. She feels something terrible is about to happen in the nursery. Be that as it may, Mister Darling had assured her that everything would be okay.

  Wendy, John, and Michael are sound asleep in the darkened nursery. Other than the nightlights lit by Missus Darling, the only illumination in the room comes from the thousands of twinkling stars on the other side of the window. They project on the wide-screen at the back of the stage.

  Suddenly, the remote-controlled nightlights in the nursery go out one by one. Just as the last nightlight goes out, the background scene springs to life dazzlingly. The window of the third story nursery suddenly flies open. In flies Peter Pan, the adventurous, free-spirited boy who refuses to grow up. Peter Pan is accompanied by a two-inch, powerfully strong, flashing bright light that zooms diagonally across the stage. The glow represents Peter Pan’s best friend, the fairy, Tinker Bell. Next, just as the lights on the stage begin to brighten, the scene projected on the wide-screen changes to reflect the background of the nursery.

  Peter Pan, acted by Diana Jane, is on his hands and knees. He is busily peeking beneath the children’s beds. Peter Pan gets to his feet and dashes to the wardrobe. He maladroitly pulls clothes out of the closet and tosses them hither and yon onto the floor. He rushes to the bureau. He pulls clothes out of the drawers in the same inelegant manner. He places his hands on his hips and frowns.

  Meanwhile, Tinker Bell, at least the tiny Tinker Bell represented by the bright light in this portion of the play, is flitting here and there in the nursery. Colette is acting as Tinker Bell. In spite of this, Tinker Bell will not appear in her real-life form until later in the play. For now, Colette is offstage ringing the tiny bell that represents Tinker Bell’s voice as the fairy talks to Peter Pan. James and his crew are operating the sophisticated light that serves as Tinker Bell in this scene.

  As we know all too well from Barrie’s novel, Peter and Wendy, Peter Pan and Tinker Bell are looking for Peter Pan’s shadow. Peter Pan had left his shadow behind when visiting the nursery a week before. He had leaped out of the window in a rush when Missus Darling discovered him. Unfortunately, Nana had latched onto Peter Pan’s shadow before it could follow him out the window.

  After examining the shadow, Missus Darling had rolled it up and put it away in a drawer. Ironically, it is the same drawer that contained the coil of twine that, by some means, was switched for the tie that Nana was supposed to fetch for Mister Darling.

  Peter Pan says in a whisper, “Have you found it, Tink?” Tinker Bell’s reply is a faint tinkling of a bell.

  Peter Pan, this time in a much louder voice say
s, “I am sorry, Tink, but I did not understand you. Have you found my shadow?”

  The faint tinkling of bell chimes once more, this time noticeably louder. All of a sudden, the bright light representing Tinker Bell flies through the air and stops mere inches from Peter’s nose. Tinker Bell is holding Peter Pan’s shadow! She hands the rolled up shadow to him, and then she flies to Wendy’s bed and hovers above it. Without warning, the light representing Tinker Bell extinguishes.

  Peter Pan yells excitedly, “You found it, Tink! You found it! Thank you!”

  Peter Pan looks out at the audience expectantly. He begins to clap his hands slowly as he says in a loud voice, “That is why I believe in fairies, and I always will!” He points to the audience. “How about you? Do you believe in fairies?”

  The audience responds to his cue and begins to clap loudly. In response to the clapping, Tinker Bell’s flashing light slowly comes to life. Tinker Bell flies from Wendy’s bed. She wildly zigzags across the nursery. All the while Colette is behind the scenes excitedly ringing the bell that represents Tinker Bell’s voice.

  After a few more seconds of clapping, Peter Pan rushes offstage briefly. When he reappears, he is holding a moistened bar of soap in one hand and his rolled-up shadow in the other. He bends over and tries to attach his shadow to his foot with the bar of soap. After a few unsuccessful attempts, he collapses to the floor and begins to cry.

  Wendy, having been awakened by Peter Pan’s crying, whispers in a tender voice, “Boy, why are you crying?” Peter Pan replies that he is not crying. He says he is upset because he has lost something.

  “I am sorry you have lost something,” Wendy says in an understanding tone. She glances around the room. “In spite of this, I seriously doubt you could have lost something in here. After all, this is my nursery.” With a bright smile, she says, “What is your name?”

  Peter Pan stands and places his hands on his hips. When he replies to Wendy’s question, his voice is loud and proud.

  “I am Peter Pan, Captain of the Lost Boys of the Enchanted Land, Neverland. My enchanted land is second to the right and then straight on till morning! What is your name?”

  “I am Wendy, Wendy Moira Angela Darling.” She points to her sleeping brothers one by one. “These are my brothers. John is the oldest, and Michael is the youngest.”

  Peter Pan says, “I am glad to make your acquaintance, Wendy Moira Angela Darling.”

  Wendy announces enthusiastically, “I likewise am glad to make your acquaintance, Peter Pan, Captain of the Lost Boys of the Enchanted Land, Neverland. Goodness! Your Neverland sounds very exciting! Nonetheless, please tell me why you look distraught. What is bothering you?” She looks at Peter Pan’s rolled up shadow. “What is that you are holding in your hand?”

  “It is my shadow,” Peter Pan replies in a sad tone. “I cannot get it to stick to me.”

  Wendy laughs. “Peter, you cannot make anything stick with soap. I want to help you reattach it. Would that be okay?” Peter Pan nods his head.

  Wendy says, “First, I would like to give you a kiss.” She motions for Peter Pan to sit in the chair beside her bed.

  Peter Pan says, “What is a kiss?”

  Since Peter Pan does not know what a kiss is, Wendy does not want to embarrass him. Instead of kissing him, she reaches into the pocket of her pajamas and hands him a thimble.

  “Oh, so this is what a kiss is like,” Peter Pan says as he accepts Wendy’s gift. “I will give you a kiss as well. Please allow me to place something in your hand.”

  Peter Pan thrusts his hand into his pocket. He drops what he thinks is a kiss into the palm of Wendy’s hand. As we know from the original Peter Pan novel, Peter Pan’s kiss is supposed to be an acorn button. In spite of this, he unwittingly has deposited a small coil of twine the size of an acorn into Wendy’s hand.

  Chloe, acting as Wendy, winces as she stares at the palm of her hand. She begins to tremble, this time more noticeably than she had during the first act when she saw the first coil of puppety twine.

  Her thoughts are screaming, Oh, my God! This is the second coil of twine that I have seen in less than fifteen minutes! Does Robert intend to frighten me throughout the play? If he does, I cannot go on!

  Diana Jane, in Peter Pan’s stage voice, begins to improvise.

  “Oh, my goodness, Wendy, I am very sorry. My kiss is nowhere as nice as yours.” She snatches the small coil of twine from Chloe’s hand. She shoves it into her pocket. Continuing to ad-lib, she says, “Hello Wendy Moira Angela Darling, are you in there? Why are you staring at your empty hand? I have taken back my kiss. There is nothing for you to look at anymore! Are you going to help me with my shadow or not?”

  Chloe, who has been staring emotionless at the palm of her empty hand, slowly shakes her head. She replies in Wendy’s stage voice, “Oh, yes, Peter Pan. The shadow.” Chloe improvises. “I was fascinated with your kiss, but I am saddened you have taken it back from me.” She starts to recite her lines once more. “Please give your shadow to me. I will sew it on properly.” Peter Pan hands his rolled up shadow to her.

  Chloe says in her roleplay voice, “Please excuse me. I must fetch my sewing basket.” She attempts to get to her feet, but she is too unsteady because of what she has experienced. She pretends faintness for a few seconds as she fans her face with the palm of her hand. She ad-libs once more.

  “Oh, my goodness, Peter Pan, I am still thinking about the lovely kiss that you had placed in my hand.” Finally, with Diana Jane’s assistance, Chloe manages to get to her feet and departs offstage.

  Unbeknownst to the audience, Chloe has to gulp down a full glass of water while she is backstage. Brenae is rubbing her shoulders as she quietly whispers words of encouragement into Chloe’s ear.

  Chloe returns onstage fifteen or twenty seconds later. She is clutching a small wicker basket decorated with brightly colored flowers made of green and red fabric. She sits on the edge of her bed and opens the basket. She peers inside.

  Chloe says in her confident, playacting Wendy tone, “Let us see here. I will need a needle and…”

  Before she can say anything further, Wendy’s performing voice returns to one that is easily recognizable as Chloe’s. It is unsteady. She slowly removes an item from the basket.

  “Goodness! It is one more coil of twine!”

  Diana Jane stares at the full-sized coil of twine that her friend is holding in her hand. Her initial reaction is to cry out, “It’s Puppet’s third coil of twine!” Surprisingly, she keeps her composure. She abruptly grabs the coil of twine from her friend and heaves it to her left. It falls silently offstage.

  Diana Jane glances at James. He is watching from the wings. She nods her head slightly. In reply, James reaches around and lowers the volume on her and Chloe’s microphones. He nods his head. Diana Jane looks Chloe squarely in the eye. Her face is mere inches from Chloe’s when she whispers.

  “Chloe Alexandria Brown, we cannot allow Robert to win! If you recall, he had said, ‘It’s not over until it’s over.’ Irrespective of his words, we have to prove to him that we will perform our play according to our script, not his! Besides, our play will not be over until we say it’s over! We got this, Chloe, do you understand me?’”

  It takes Chloe a few seconds to grasp what her friend is saying. She slowly nods her head. Diana Jane looks at James. She nods her head slightly. James increases the volume of the actors’ microphones.

  In her playacting Wendy voice, Chloe suddenly shouts as she ad-libs, “Oh, you are correct, Peter Pan. I am sorry! That huge coil of the thick thread will not do at all. Thank you for throwing it away! It truly was disgusting!” The audience laughs. Once more, they are oblivious to the actual drama that is occurring on stage.

  Chloe pretends to rummage in the wicker basket. She removes a small spool of black thread and a sewing needle. She flashes a bright smile as she continues to improvise.

  “Yes, we need something more delicate for attaching a cantankerous shadow
to a fearless Peter Pan!” As tears continue to flow from her eyes freely, Chloe drops to her knees. She pretends to sew Peter Pan’s shadow to his foot.

  Once the shadow looks like it is attached to his foot, Peter Pan begins to dance around the stage. He is laughing and crying out over and over, “I fixed my shadow! I am clever! I fixed my shadow! I am clever!”

  The nursery scenery is supposed to show fleeting images of Tinker Bell’s intense, flashing light zigzagging across the screen as the fairy shares in Peter Pan’s triumph. In its place, an assortment of iridescent strands of twine slowly come into view on the wide-screen. Next, seven phantasmagorias of puppety teenagers, six females and one male, become visible at the ends of the strands of twine. The strands of twine are attached to the teenagers’ shoulders, arms, wrists, and feet. Next, familiar faces slowly appear on each of the phantasmagorias.

  The faces are the seven members of the Septet.

  Without warning, the seven shimmering phantasmagorias, still hanging from strands of twine, begin to spiral one after the other until they are swallowed up by separate whirlwinds.

  Brenae rushes over to where Lindsey is standing wide-eyed and awestricken as she stares up at the whirling phantasmagorias displayed on the wide-screen.

  Lindsey whispers, “Bre, I do not know how this could have happened. I checked the entire videotape from the beginning to the end!”

  Brenae reaches behind Lindsey and yanks the cord that powers the videotape system from the wall. James immediately lowers the curtain.

  It is the end of Act Two.

  EPILOGUE

  “I will call on your children’s children’s, children!”

  There were no more puppety glitches after the first two acts of the final performance of Peter Pan.

  The four performances were absolute successes, notwithstanding the coils of twine and the puppety images that had appeared on the wide-screen. That Channel 6 had broadcast the final production of the play throughout the Nashville viewing area added to the cast and supporting crew’s triumphs.