by Mo O'Hara
This was a Code Orange situation at least. I turned to Pradeep to shoot him a look that said, “We’re in big trouble because Mark is here and definitely out to get us.” But for the first time since we came up with our code of looks, Pradeep was not looking back at me.
It was no good. Pradeep was too wrapped up in the show to notice that we were in danger. It was all up to me now. I was just about to sneak offstage to see what Mark was up to when Mrs. Flushcowski called out, “Places!”
I’d learned that when she says that she means it’s time to get to where you are meant to be at the start of the show. It was theater code, I guessed.
As we were rushing to our places, I peeked under the closing curtain and saw Mrs. Kumar motion for Sami to come and sit next to her in the front row. Sami walked slowly over to the seat, carrying my backpack with Frankie in it. Then I saw it. She was looking at the stage and up her mom’s left nostril.
Sami had the Frankie zombie goldfish stare!
CHAPTER 5
SWISHY FISHY FACE
“Ready?” Mrs. Flushcowski called out from her director’s chair right in front of the stage. She placed her script and a cup of tea on the table in front of her. “Curtain up … now!” she declared.
The lights went down and the curtain rose. In the darkness I could see two little green glowing points coming from the unzipped backpack on Sami’s lap. Frankie must have heard Mark’s voice! I could imagine him going all zombie thrash fish inside the bag, his eyes blazing a brilliant revenge green.
Without her mom noticing, Sami quietly got up and moved to the side of the stage. She lifted up the backpack and I could see Frankie roll his plastic bag out and toward stage left. Then the green glow disappeared.
“Thank goodness someone put out those green lights. Action!” Mrs. Flushcowski called.
So now the dress rehearsal was starting, Mark was in charge of the smoke machine offstage right and Frankie was rolling around in his bag offstage left! I needed to stop the two of them from bumping into each other behind the scenes and bumping each other off (well, off the stage at least!).
From my starting place in the crowd of supporting cast members, I waved at Pradeep to try to tell him what was going on, but he just looked ahead, concentrating on his ACTING. I had to get his attention somehow.
In the first scene he had to rob some rich travelers and then give the money to the poor.
As the travelers rode onto the stage, I tried our “Look at me! There is something important I need to tell you!” yawn, but got nothing.
Then, when Pradeep was jumping out at the travelers to rob them I tried our “There’s danger here!” pretend coughing fit. Still, nothing.
If I thought that anyone else would believe that my Evil Scientist big brother was about to undertake some kind of evil plot, then I would have yelled it from center stage. But I only knew one person who would understand what was happening, and that was the one person who wasn’t talking to me.
As a last resort, I tried our “random owl calls in a place where there wouldn’t be owls to show that something’s wrong” noise, but unfortunately I did it right before Pradeep’s line about sending a bird with a message to Maid Marian.
Mrs. Flushcowski shouted, “Brilliant bird noise. That’s your talent, Tom. Well done!”
Nothing was working!
That was when I saw it. Mark had climbed up onto the metal rigging above the stage where the curtains were hung. He was hooking what looked like a small garbage bag to a pole right next to the rope that Pradeep was meant to swing from in the next scene. The weird thing was, the bag was wriggling.
Whatever Mark was doing, it had evil plan written all over it.
Then I saw Sami on the opposite side of the stage, just out of sight of Mrs. Flushcowski. She was waving and trying to get Pradeep’s attention too, but he was turned out to the audience, saying his big speech about how he wouldn’t rest until he had stopped the Sheriff of Nottingham and his evil ways. I couldn’t help thinking that some real-life evil ways needed sorting out first!
I owl-hooted to get Sami’s attention.
“No more birds in this scene, Tom, thank you, darling,” Mrs. Flushcowski bellowed.
But it had worked. Sami looked over at me. She didn’t look zombified anymore. But she did look very worried.
I shot her a look to ask what was wrong. Now this was risky, as I had never tried communicating in looks with Sami before, and I had no idea if it would work.
She looked scared. Then she looked up at the bag Mark had hung above the stage.
After that she did a pretty good impression of a goldfish face, looked up at the bag again, did a silent “Mwhahahaha” Evil Scientist laugh, and then looked over at Pradeep.
Sami was telling me that Frankie was in the bag above the stage. Mark had put him there as part of his evil plan, and Pradeep was in danger. You could tell Sami was Pradeep’s sister. He had taught her well.
As I looked up at the bag, I could see the faint glimmer of two tiny green dots shining through the dark plastic.
I had to do something to save Frankie and warn Pradeep. But what?
CHAPTER 6
PRE-PLAY PANDEMONIUM
Finally the lights and the curtain went down and everyone got ready for the next scene, which opened with Pradeep hanging on to the rope above the stage, pretending to swing while the scenery moved past him. This was apparently safer than having him swing across the stage, but with Mark’s evil plan in action, nothing was safe.
My job was to carry a tree past Pradeep as he hung there. Lady-in-Waiting Number Three had a cardboard horse, Guard Number Three had a small cottage, and Merry Man Number Two had another tree.
All the other supporting cast kids had big pieces of cardboard offstage that they were fanning up and down to make lots of wind as Pradeep “whooshed” along.
Kids were running all over the place, trying to get to their places. It was so dark, you could hardly see a thing.
I ran over to Pradeep. “You can’t swing on the rope. It might be rigged!”
“Of course it’s rigged. That’s the safety thing. I don’t swing on it, remember. It’s fine, Tom,” he whispered.
“No, it’s a trick—” I started to say, but he cut me off.
“Not now. I gotta do the scene.”
“But Frankie…” I started to say, but the curtain was already rising. As the lights came up, Pradeep grabbed ahold of the rope.
There was no time for me to try to climb up and stop Mark. Besides, Pradeep would listen to me about something this important, right?
As I ran behind Pradeep with my cardboard tree, I hissed, “Let go of the rope!”
Then Lady-in-Waiting Three ran by carrying her cardboard horse.
I looked up and could see Mark trying to hold on to the black bag, but at the same time fiddling with the rope that Pradeep was hanging from.
I raced around the back of the stage while Merry Man Two was running past with the other tree, and got to Guard Three just in time to snatch the cardboard cottage from him and dash past Pradeep again, “I’m serious, Pradeep. You have to let go!”
“Tom, you’re ruining this for me. Leave me alone!”
Just as he said it, the rope dropped from the rigging and Pradeep fell onto the stage. At the same time, the black bag slipped out of Mark’s hands. It was too late! I could see Frankie’s eyes glowing inside the dark bag as it tumbled toward the hard stage. Pradeep looked up and saw the green glow too.…
“Frankie?” he yelled. He held out his green cape to try to catch the bag as it fell, but the bag bounced off and into the cardboard cutout of the cottage that I was carrying. I was knocked backward, falling into the tree and the horse and the kids that were holding them. All the cardboard scenery toppled over like a row of dominoes. Someone fell into the curtains and started to pull them down. As the rest of the cast ducked for cover, the bag with Frankie in it once again hurtled toward the floor.…
Leaping forward, Prade
ep stretched out his cape again to try to break Frankie’s fall, but the green fabric acted like a trampoline and bounced the bag straight at Mrs. Flushcowski.
There was nothing we could do!
It splatted on the table right in front of her, soaking her with water. Everyone in the hall went quiet for what was probably a second but seemed like hours. I tried to see Frankie, but I couldn’t spot him from the stage.
Mrs. Flushcowski turned bright red and shouted, “Mr. Kumar! I suppose you think that’s funny?”
I think at first when Mrs. Flushcowski said “Mr. Kumar,” Pradeep was genuinely looking around for his dad, but she was just doing that “I’m being a very serious teacher now” thing where they call you by your last name.
“Oh, me? Right. I don’t think it’s funny, well, not much, I mean…” Pradeep said, looking confused. “I don’t know what happened!”
“I’ll tell you what happened, Mr. Kumar: You have ruined my dress rehearsal and…” She did another of her really long, dramatic pauses as she took a deep breath and picked up her cup of tea from the table in front of her. “You have lost yourself the role of Robin Hood!”
There was a gasp from the other kids.
“But—” Pradeep started to say.
“Never, in all my years in theater, has one of my cast members, especially not the leading ACTOR, thrown a water bomb at me!”
Suddenly, at the same time, Pradeep and I spotted Frankie.
“You may think a prank like that is funny, young man,” she went on, lifting her tea to her lips.
“Mrs. Flushcowski…” Pradeep tried to interrupt her again.
“But it will not be tolerated at this sch—” she started to say and then spluttered out her tea with a shriek.
Frankie leaped out of her mouth and back into the teacup!
Mrs. Flushcowski fell back into her chair and fainted.
CHAPTER 7
SECOND IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Pradeep and I both raced off the stage. Mrs. Kumar ran over from her seat and Sami appeared from the side of the stage, carrying her little lidded drinking cup filled with water. We pulled off the lid, scooped Frankie out of the tea, and dropped him into the sippy cup.
Some of the supporting cast kids fanned Mrs. Flushcowski with their pieces of cardboard while Mrs. Kumar ran off to get the school nurse.
Finally Mrs. Flushcowski opened her eyes. She looked at Pradeep and shook her head. “I was wondering why you had a goldfish in a bag at rehearsal. Now I see that you have been planning this prank all along.” Then she bellowed, “Give me your HAT.”
Pradeep bent down and Mrs. Flushcowski snatched the green Robin Hood cap with the long perfectly tilted feather from Pradeep’s head. I’ve never seen Pradeep look so sad.
I stepped forward. “Mrs. Flushcowski, it wasn’t Pradeep’s fault…” I started to say, but then she leaned over and put the hat on my head.
“It’s noble of you to stand up for your friend, Tom, but actions have consequences.” I think she could tell that I didn’t really get what that meant, so she added, “People have to pay for what they do.”
“But what if they didn’t do…” I began, as she took Pradeep’s bow and quiver of arrows from him and handed them to me. Suddenly all the words in my head dried up. Normally there is an ocean of words in there, but now there wasn’t a drop. All I could think was that I could be Robin Hood.
“I can’t…” A few words dribbled out of my dry brain.
“You are the only one who can, Tom. All the rest of the cast have important … I mean, more vocal roles, and you are the only one who knows all the lines, from practicing them with Pradeep,” Mrs. Flushcowski said.
She was right. I did know the lines. I knew the fighting with the sticks, I knew the hanging on the rope, and I definitely knew the shooting of the arrows. I could do this part. I could be Robin Hood. OK, so it wasn’t actually Pradeep’s fault that the bag fell on Mrs. Flushcowski, but maybe he could have stopped it from happening if he had even looked at me once when I was trying to warn him. Maybe this was payment for what he did.
Pradeep walked over to me. He took off the green tunic his mom had made him and handed it to me. “I … um … won’t give you the tights, um.… Mom has a spare pair,” he mumbled.
Sami stood next to him with Frankie in the sippy cup. I gave Sami a look that said, “Maybe we should get Frankie out of here?” She understood right away. She put Frankie behind her back and ran over to her mom, who was just coming back into the hall with the school nurse. The nurse headed straight over to Mrs. Flushcowski while Mrs. Kumar took Pradeep and Sami out to the dressing room. I heard her saying, “Why on earth did you bring that goldfish onstage? I’m so disappointed in you. What were you thinking, Pradeep?”
The nurse gave Mrs. Flushcowski a fresh (fish-free) cup of tea with sugar in it and in a couple of minutes, she was back in director mode.
“Let’s take it from the top. Reset for Act One.”
While we mopped up the mess, propped up the cardboard scenery, and got ready to start again, Mrs. Flushcowski sent all the high-school boys off for a break until the real show that evening. I saw Mark breeze out of the back door. He didn’t look at all upset, which got me thinking. If his evil plan was to ruin the play, it had failed (even though it ruined things for Pradeep). If it was to bump off Frankie, then that had failed too. So why wasn’t he angry? I didn’t have time to think about it now though. I was Robin Hood, after all.
We ran the dress rehearsal without stopping. I remembered every line, every move, and I started to notice that people were looking at me differently. And by “looking at me differently” I mean they were actually looking at me, not through me like they usually did. Guards One, Two, and Three didn’t push past me as if I wasn’t there. OK, so they still pushed past me, but now at least they looked at me first. Ladies-in-Waiting One, Two, and Three giggled when I walked by, but in a good way, not a laughing-at-you kind of way. And Merry Men One, Two, and Three actually looked merry when I told them a joke. Best of all, when Katie Plefka sang “Greensleeves,” she looked right at me. I didn’t like the song as much as Frankie did, but no one had sung to me since I was, like, three years old. I liked this feeling.
Because we had to start over, the dress rehearsal finished late and we barely had time to get fixed up again before the actual performance started. Sami ran over and gave me her sippy cup, which still had Frankie safe inside. Then I went to the dressing room and put on the full Robin Hood outfit for the first time. I looked at myself in the mirror. I was Robin Hood. Frankie even gave me a little zombie goldfish smile. I knew he’d like the outfit ’cause it was green.
But there was something not right.
A funny feeling in my stomach. As if a load of millipedes were having a fight scene of their own in there.
CHAPTER 8
LIGHTS, CURTAIN, ZOMBIE!
People were starting to come into the hall and take their seats for the show.
I could see Mom at the back as I peeked through the curtain. She waved in that bigger than necessary, embarrassing way that only parents can do. Mrs. Kumar and Sami were there too. But not Pradeep. I guess he couldn’t face coming.
I still had Frankie in the sippy cup. There was no sign of Mark now, but I knew he’d be back soon to run the special effects. I had to find a safe place to put Frankie. I looked around and saw that there were lots of red fire buckets full of sand backstage. I could dump the sand and fill one with water for Frankie. And if there was a fire, I could always scoop Frankie out and use the bucket to put out the fire. So technically it would still be a fire bucket. I put Frankie in a bucket and waited backstage to go on in my first-ever starring role. Everything was good.
So why couldn’t I shake the millipedes kickboxing in my guts?
I peeked out from behind the curtain one more time and saw Pradeep slide into a seat next to Sami. He immediately looked up and shot me a look that said, “I’ve been a jerk. I’m really sorry. All the attention
went to my head. This isn’t your fault. Good luck as Robin Hood—you’ll be great.” Then he gave me a double thumbs-up and added, “Oh yeah, and watch the arrows in Scene Three—they can be a bit tricky.” That was the biggest look-message Pradeep had ever shot me and I understood every single word.
Then I got it.
I stood in the dark backstage and thought, I know what that millipede feeling is. It’s my conscience saying that I’m a terrible friend.
Pradeep was my best friend. He had got the role of Robin Hood fair and square. I understood how he felt when everyone made him feel special, because it had just happened to me. My head had started to get a little bit big too.
I had to find a way to get Pradeep back onstage, and fast.
The lights went down and the opening music started. Then I heard two sounds that I never expected to hear together. I heard the sound of “Mwhahahaha, sucker!” coming from right above my head, and the sound of a fire bucket filled with water bumping across the floor.
Frankie had heard Mark’s laugh and was after him to get revenge!
CHAPTER 9
ROBIN HOOD AND HIS ZOMBIE FISH
The audience started clapping and I could see the curtain swish as Mrs. Flushcowski walked in front of it to center stage.
“Thank you, everyone, for that spontaneous eruption of applause,” she said.
I shook the image away. I had to concentrate. Mark and Frankie were both backstage somewhere, which meant only one thing. Trouble!
“I would like to announce that we have an esteemed guest with us this evening. From the hit television show Talent or No Talent, judge and creator Solomon Caldwell!”
The audience applauded again and I could hear a voice from the audience mumbling, “Thank you, thank you. It’s a pleasure.”