by Betsy Haynes
"Oh, no!" Laura wailed as she frantically looked through the prop cabinet. "It's gone!"
"What's gone?" asked Molly.
Laura turned to Beth. "You! You did it again! You stole my tiara!"
"I didn't steal your tiara!" Beth spat back at her.
"Then where is it?" Laura said angrily, her hands on her hips.
"How should I know?" Beth threw back.
"It's the curse," Molly said with a horrified look on her face. She started frantically searching through the prop box and then behind it.
Beth heard Dekeisha onstage:
"And so right now without a pause, we present our final skit, The Wizard of Oz."
"That's our cue," Beth said, grabbing Laura's arm. "Let's go."
Laura yanked her arm away and glared at Beth. "Not without my tiara!"
"You've got to!" Molly said. "You're on!"
Suddenly Laura spotted the huge wart sitting squarely on the end of Beth's nose, and she let out an exasperated cry and stormed onstage. My secret weapon, Beth thought triumphantly, and followed Laura onto the stage.
All during the skit, while she was supposed to be acting cheerful and gracious as Glinda, the good witch, Laura glowered at the audience. Most of all, though, she glared daggers at Beth.
At the end of the open dress rehearsal, there was an enormous round of applause for the actors as they took their final bows. Laura stalked offstage and disappeared.
Keith came backstage to congratulate Beth and the rest of the cast. He hugged her, teasing quietly that he'd save the kiss for when she took off her makeup.
"Hey, what's with Laura, anyway?" he asked. "She stomped all over the stage as if she were mad or something."
Beth rolled her eyes. "She lost her tiara, and once again, blamed me for it."
Keith shook his head in disgust. Then he grinned. "Well, good job. I'll talk to you later. Your public is demanding to see you."
Sure enough, they were surrounded by Wakeman kids, teachers, and parents. Beth didn't know where to look next as everyone crushed in around her to tell her how good she'd been. It was wonderful.
Beth didn't see Laura again that night, but the kids in the cast were all talking the next day at school about Laura's missing tiara.
"But we were doing all the right things," complained Melanie. "Nothing bad should have happened. No one whistled in the theater, we all wore squeaky shoes . . ."
"You forgot," Molly said solemnly. "I wished everybody luck before the show. It's all my fault."
"Oh, Molly," Beth said, "Laura's tiara's being missing isn't your fault."
"Then it was the witches' curse!"
"Baloney!" Beth replied.
"What are we going to do?" asked Melanie. "Our first performance at Copper Beach Elementary is right after school."
"It'll be fine," answered Beth.
But it wasn't fine. Right in the middle of the witches' opening speech on the Copper Beach stage, there was the thud of something dropping backstage. Then the apple that was going to be used in the Snow White skit mysteriously bounced across the stage.
The little kids in the audience loved it. They laughed and clapped their hands, and Beth heard them all asking, "What's that apple doing? How come that apple's up there?"
The kids didn't hear any of the witches' speech and didn't pay attention until Paul Smoke brought out his bat. They oohed and aahed over the bat and watched the rest of the performance.
Everyone in the cast and crew crowded around Mr. Levine after the show.
"What's going on?" Molly asked. "How could an apple jump off the prop box and roll across the stage the same way Chet's head did? This is getting creepy!" Then she paused and asked in a small voice, "It's the curse, isn't it?"
Everyone held their breath, waiting for Mr. Levine's reply.
"I don't know," the director admitted. "In all my years in the theater, I've never seen so much bad luck with a production." He scratched his head. "I guess I shouldn't have used those words from Mac . . ."—he stopped himself just in time—"er . . . from that Scottish play."
The students grimly picked up their props and costumes and loaded them into the school bus that had brought them.
Two more performances left, thought Beth. Even she was beginning to believe in the curse. Just the same, she wondered, what could possibly happen next?
CHAPTER 15
"No one can figure it out," Beth said to the rest of The Fabulous Five the next morning at their meeting place by the fence. She'd explained what had happened at the Copper Beach performance, with the apple rolling across the stage.
"Well, at least Laura couldn't blame you for the apple incident," Jana said. "You were onstage with her when it happened, just as you were when the head rolled out during rehearsal."
"I know," Beth said, "but knowing Laura, she'll probably accuse me of rolling them by remote control! She still thinks I stole her wand and her tiara. Can you believe that?"
"Sure," said Christie. "I can believe anything you tell me about Laura McCall. She thinks she's the center of the universe."
Beth opened her eyes wide, pretending to be shocked, and grabbed Christie's arm. "You mean she isn't the center of the universe?"
The girls laughed.
"I just wish I could find out what's going on," Beth said. "I wouldn't be surprised if Laura had something to do with the disappearance of those props."
"But why would she steal her own props?" Melanie asked.
"So she could blame me for it," Beth said.
"Mmm, I don't know," said Jana. "According to what you told me, she loved all that glittery stuff that made her look glamorous."
"Yes," Katie agreed. "That doesn't really add up."
"Okay, so you tell me what's going on," Beth said.
"It's got to be the curse," Melanie said. "Mr. Levine thinks so."
"What!" cried Christie. "Mr. Levine seems so intelligent. Why would he believe in superstitious stuff like that?"
Melanie shrugged. "Can you come up with a better explanation?"
Christie shook her head. "No," she admitted, "I can't."
Beth sighed. "If only there was a way we could find out what was going on once and for all."
Melanie's eyes got big. "Maybe we can," she said.
"What do you mean?" Beth asked.
"How about a stakeout?" asked Melanie.
"Like in the movies?" Beth asked.
"Right," said Melanie. "Usually, if Molly and I aren't involved with running the show, we sit where we can see what's going on onstage. But for the last two performances, why don't we hide behind the costume rack backstage? If someone is trying to sabotage the show, we'll catch them red-handed."
Jana nodded. "I think that's a super idea," she said. "What do you think, Beth?"
Beth put a hand up on Melanie's shoulder and grinned at the others. "As of this moment, her name ceases to be Melanie," she said dramatically. "Just call her Sherlock!"
"All set?" Beth whispered to Melanie and Molly. They could hear the chatter of the Riverfield Elementary students who were waiting for the show to begin.
"Ready," Molly whispered back. "This is fun. I like this cloak-and-dagger stuff."
"Just keep yourselves hidden," Beth said. "Can you see what's going on from behind the costume rack?"
"No prob, B.B.," Molly assured her. "We'll peek out between the clothes. No one will see us."
"Okay," Beth said, glancing over her shoulder. "No one is around. You'd better get in your places now. We're about ready to begin."
The girls nodded and stepped behind the clothes rack.
"Stand by," Mr. Levine said, peeking around one of the side curtains. "Witches, get ready."
Beth hurried to the side of the stage and waited with Laura and Dekeisha for their cue to start the show with the three witches' speech.
"I don't get it," Molly wailed after the show. "The one day we're ready, nothing bad happened."
Molly was huddled with Beth and Melanie at the ba
ck of the school bus taking the kids back to Wakeman after their performance.
"I wonder if the person doing all of those things found out we were hiding behind the clothes rack?" said Melanie.
"Yeah, and we scared them off," Molly grumbled.
"We should be glad nothing bad happened," Beth said. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was listening. The rest of the kids were chattering noisily and not paying any attention to them.
"Yeah, that's right," Melanie said.
Molly nodded. "I guess so, too." Her voice was heavy with disappointment.
"We'll stand guard again tomorrow for the last performance at Mark Twain," said Melanie. "Maybe the guilty person will be too scared to pull another trick, and we'll have a great show—like we did today."
"And we'll never find out who caused all the trouble," Molly said.
"Or why," Beth said.
"Maybe we need a new hiding place," suggested Melanie.
Beth's eyes widened and she smiled slyly. "I have an idea," she said.
Molly and Melanie leaned in to hear.
"This is it," Beth said. She and Paul were standing backstage the next afternoon at Mark Twain Elementary. "Our final performance."
Paul smiled. "Are you nervous about performing at your old school?"
"A little," Beth admitted. "I just peeked through the curtain, and all my old teachers are out there." She grinned. "And some kids I remember from younger classes."
"We'll have to make this a good performance," Paul said.
Over Paul's shoulder, a figure caught Beth's attention. The man was short and had a stubbly-whiskered face. He wore dark brown overalls, a work hat, and he shuffled toward them in big work shoes. As he passed them, he looked up and winked at Beth.
Beth gasped. She started to laugh, but stopped herself just in time. The man was really Molly dressed up as the school custodian.
"Uh, excuse me," Beth said to Paul.
She followed Molly until she turned a corner and they were alone. "You look absolutely terrific!" Beth cried.
"Don't I though?" Molly said, grinning. "Melanie looks just as great. Here she comes now."
Beth followed Molly's gaze and burst out laughing. "Melanie! I would never know you!"
Melanie wore a pair of denim overalls and a cap like Molly's with her hair pushed up inside. She had a fake mustache glued over her lip and held an old brown cigar in one corner of her mouth.
"Just don't smoke that stinky old thing," Beth warned.
"Are you kidding?" Melanie said from behind her mustache.
"This is neat," Molly said. "In these disguises, we can walk around freely backstage. It's kind of dark back here, and no one will pay much attention to us. But we'll see everything."
"Okay, folks." Mr. Levine's voice could be heard from around the corner. "Ready to go?"
"We're going to start now," Beth said.
"Right," Molly said. "Hey, good—I mean, break a leg."
"Yeah," Melanie chimed in. "Break a leg."
"Hey, thanks, guys," Beth said.
She hurried back around the corner and got into place at the side of the stage with Dekeisha and Laura.
And the show began.
CHAPTER 16
"Double, double, toil and trouble," the witches chanted. "Fire burn and caldron bubble."
Beth looked out to the audience. "Cool it with a baboon's blood; then the charm is firm and good."
She saw two of her former teachers lean toward each other to point her out. They must have recognized her under all the makeup. Some of the fifth- and sixth-graders looked at one another and grinned and mouthed, "Beth Barry." Beth felt pleased. She hoped the rest of the show would go as well as the opening speech.
But she wanted, more than anything, to find out who was behind all the mysterious happenings. She hoped Melanie and Molly, in their custodian disguises, could catch the guilty person at work . . . before anything bad happened.
Dekeisha's and Lisa Snow's Snow White skit went very well, and then it was time for Chet's Headless Horseman act.
"Way to go, Dekeisha," Beth whispered as her friend moved to the prop box backstage.
"Thanks," Dekeisha said, grinning. "It's really a great audience." She set the apple from her skit on the top of the prop box.
"Yes, they are," agreed Beth.
They heard laughter coming from the auditorium. Apparently the kids liked Chet's juggling heads.
One of the "janitors" was strolling by the prop box. It was dimly lit back there, though, and Beth couldn't see whether it was Molly or Melanie.
The janitor waved as she walked by.
Must be Molly, Beth thought.
It was time then for the witches to return to the stage to introduce Paul Smoke's act.
Paul was exceptionally good with his performance, Beth thought, as she watched him from behind the side curtain. His movements were quicker and smoother than usual, and he left the kids oohing and aahing over his tricks.
At the end of his act, when he pulled Robin out of his hat, the kids gasped and then clapped enthusiastically. Beth could hear a voice saying, "A bat! Ooh, a bat!"
It was almost time for the final act, The Wizard of Oz. Beth felt ready for it.
"Seen anything suspicious?" Beth asked Melanie when she came by.
"Nope," replied Melanie. She adjusted her phony mustache and shrugged. "Not yet, anyway."
"Well, the show is just about over," said Beth. "It looks like we might make it all the way through without something happening this time."
Melanie gave Beth a pat on the back and a gentle shove toward the stage. "Break a leg," she said.
Things went well all the way up to the scene where Laura and Shelly Bramlett, who played Dorothy, were supposed to melt the wicked witch. The two actresses managed to spill the water very neatly on Beth.
Beth began to melt slowly away, bending her knees, holding her hands over her face, and screaming.
"Oh, you wicked girl, look what you've done! Oh, what a world, what a world!"
A shriek from backstage startled Beth, but she stayed in character. The kids in the audience apparently hadn't heard the sound. They applauded loudly as the lights dimmed and Beth sank to the floor.
Beth jumped up and joined hands with the other actors as they prepared for the curtain call. As the lights came back up, something black streaked through the air, and the audience clapped even louder. Kids started pointing to the ceiling.
Beth looked up, and her mouth fell open. It was Robin! He was flying all around the auditorium, swooping and diving. Beth saw a flash of red.
As Robin turned and flew back toward the stage, he dropped the red object, and it landed squarely on Laura McCall's head. She yelped as the apple took one big bounce and then dribbled across the stage. A janitor in dark brown overalls stepped out onto the stage and scooped up the apple.
The audience went crazy, yelling and cheering for the bat and the janitor.
Molly grinned and waved the apple at the audience. Then she ducked back behind the curtain.
Robin continued to flutter and spin through the air while the kids in the audience cheered, applauded, and pointed.
The cast, laughing, too, began to applaud their fellow actor who just happened to be a bat.
Then, as if he had gotten a cue, Robin flew once around the stage and disappeared behind the curtain backstage.
Beth shook her head. "What a ham," she said, laughing.
"So there wasn't a curse after all," Molly said, looking relieved.
"No," Paul answered. "I'm afraid it was Robin all along."
The cast was crowded around the bat cage backstage where Robin had returned after his surprise performance.
"The latch is loose and I've found the cage door open a few times lately," Paul said. He shot his sister a stern look. "Shirley and I have been trying to be careful and make sure it was locked."
Beth remembered when she had overheard Paul and Shirley's argument. It must have
been about the latch.
"Robin eats fruit," Paul explained. "He saw the apple and stole it for a snack. It was probably too heavy for him to carry very long, and he dropped it on the stage. The same thing must have happened with Chet's head. Robin may have thought it was a piece of fruit until he picked it up and tried to take a bite."
"But what about my wand?" Laura asked. "And my tiara," she said as she rubbed the spot on her head where the apple had hit her. "Robin couldn't eat those."
"No," Paul agreed. "He was probably attracted to them because they were shiny, and then knocked them off the prop box when he tried to investigate them. I bet if we look around carefully we'll find them behind the boxes and the other stuff that's stored back at Wakeman."
"And the broken mirror!" Melanie said. "He probably moved it just enough to knock it off the counter."
"The reflection may have attracted him to it," said Paul. "He loves to play with things."
"Well," said Mr. Levine, looking relieved, "I'm just a hit red-faced. I couldn't understand what could be causing all those strange things to happen."
Beth turned to Laura. "I guess I was wrong, too. I thought you'd stolen your own things so you could blame me."
"What!" Laura said angrily. "That's the dumbest, stupidest thing I ever heard . . ."
"And you blamed Beth," Molly said, stepping forward. "I'd say you both owe each other an apology."
Beth and Laura glared at each other.
"Okay, how about a handshake?" Molly asked.
Beth sighed loudly, rolled her eyes, and stuck out her hand. Laura glowered at Beth, but took her hand with the tips of her fingers for a tiny second.
"There," said Molly enthusiastically. "That didn't hurt, did it?"
Neither Beth nor Laura said a word.
"See?" said Molly. "You're practically buddies."
Everyone laughed at the idea of Beth and Laura's being buddies.
Beth gazed at Laura and then started to grin. Then Laura cracked a smile and soon both girls were laughing with the others.
"Come on," Beth said to Melanie and Molly. "I'll help you load the props on the bus."
"Everyone, help!" called out Mr. Levine.