Sing for Their Supper - 58

 

 

Vin leaned close to ask Roma quietly, "Are you all right?"

 

"Sure. Why?"

 

"You look unhappy."

 

Roma smiled. "I'm not, not really. I was remembering all the times when I would have given anything to be part of a group like this. I never thought it would happen."

 

"I get that. We, all of us—" Vin looked at the teens "—lived very lonely lives until Tuck came along. Now, maybe, that's changed."

 

"You don't think it will last?"

 

"I pray it does, but—" He was interrupted when the waitress asked for his order.

 

"It will," Roma told him when the woman left. "We're family now."

 

Vin smiled, lifted his glass of water and said "To our new family!"

 

*****

 

"To family," Sam replied, clicking his glass with Vin's just as a well-dressed couple approached their table.

 

The man walked over to Evie, saying sharply, "Evangeline."

 

Evie's eyes widened in shock. "What are you doing here?"

 

"Taking you home where you belong, young lady," the man replied. "When we decided to see if a new theater we saw an advertisement for was any good, we did not expect to find our daughter flaunting herself on its stage."

 

"I was not flaunting," Evie spat out. "I was acting, not that you give a damn, but doing that makes me happy."

 

Her father scowled. "Watch your language, young lady."

 

"Sir," DJ said, getting to his feet. "Please leave. You're spoiling our celebration."

 

"Not without my daughter."

 

"Evie is old enough—and smart enough—to make her own decisions. If she wants to stay, she will."

 

"Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?"

 

Stretching to his full five-foot-six, DJ replied, "Her boyfriend and—" he looked at Evie and smiled, "—maybe more sometime in the future."

 

"Over my dead body," Evie's father said. "No daughter of mine is going to be involved with some kid who lived on the streets."

 

"I lived on the streets, too," Evie retorted tightly, "to get away from you and…and everything you did to me."

 

Her father sputtered, avoiding his wife's look of dismay. "I never did anything to you, Evangeline."

 

Tuck was on his feet by then. "Sir, I suggest you leave. Now." He put his hand on Evie's shoulder. "She is staying here, where she's safe."

 

"Or what?" Evie's father said.

 

"Or we call the police and Evie can explain to them why she left home."

 

"Thomas," Evie's mother said, gripping his arm, "don't cause a scene."

 

Evie's father looked as if he was going to anyway, then obviously thought better of it. He turned, stalking out of the restaurant with his wife trailing behind him.

Sing for Their Supper - 57

 

The applause was still ringing in the actors' ears as the curtain fell for the final time on opening night.

 

As the cast came off stage, Tuck stood in the wings, listening to their reactions.

 

"We did it!" Evie exclaimed, throwing her arms around DJ's neck to kiss him enthusiastically.

 

"Mmph," he managed to get out, giving her an equally spirited kiss in return.

 

Not to be outdone, Tuck thought, Ricky kissed Sam. He got a bit of Fagin's beard in his mouth in the process, pulled away, then smoothed it down and tried again. "Better," he said with a grin. "No beards for you in real life."

 

"But, but… I was thinking of growing one just like this."

 

"Uh-huh. Hadn't better or" —Ricky made a production of whispering— "you're cut off."

 

"I don't know what Ricky said," Tuck heard Dena tell Jolie. "But it sure had Sam turning red."

 

Mace, who was right behind them, put his arms around the girls, saying, "Three guesses and the first two don't count."

 

Tuck whistled to get everyone's attention. "Ladies. Gentlemen. Let me be the first to say congratulations on a job well done. Feel like celebrating?" From the cheer that went up, he knew the answer to that. "Then go get out of costume and makeup. I'm taking everyone out to dinner." He glanced at Andy and Norm. "That is, if the two of you are going to be available to help drive the natives to the restaurant."

 

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Norm said, to which Andy added, "Me and Fran, either."

 

A while later, several cars—Peg's and Archie's among them—pulled into the lot of a restaurant a couple of miles from the theater. The still-elated cast members piled out, following Tuck and the other adults inside.

 

The host took one look at them then said to Tuck, "You must be Mr. Williams. Your table is ready." He took them to a long one in the middle of the room.

 

After everyone was seated, two waitresses took drink orders and passed menus around.

 

"We're the center of attention," Sam said, watching the other restaurant customers watching them.

 

"Maybe we should sing 'Food, Glorious Food'," Jolie told him. "It would be appropriate."

 

"Um, no?" Mace replied.

 

"No singing for our supper," Tuck said sternly. Then he grinned. "Well, maybe after we eat."

 

Drinks arrived—sodas or coffee, as the adults tacitly decided not to imbibe in alcohol.

 

Tuck stood, raising his cup. "To the best group of actors it's ever been my pleasure to work with," he toasted. All of them clinked glasses and cups.

 

Then Brent said, "To health and happiness and many more productions," and everyone cheered.

 

"We'll drink to that," a man at a nearby table called out. "We saw your show. You kids did a fantastic job."

 

"Thank you, sir," DJ replied, his words echoed by the rest of the cast.

 

The waitresses returned to take the group's dinner orders. Laughter and teasing ensued as the younger contingent debated what to eat.

 

Sing for Their Supper - 56

 

"Breathe, Sam," Ricky said, resting his hands on Sam's shoulders while Sam studied himself in the mirror above the makeup tables.

 

"Breathing is highly overrated," Sam muttered.

 

"Hard to sing if you don't," Andy pointed out.

 

"There is that." Sam adjusted the beard then shook his head to make the long hair of his wig look less tamed.

 

"Do you want some help with your makeup?" Andy asked DJ.

 

"No thanks. I have a handle on it, I think. How do women do this every day?"

 

"Practice, my boy, practice," Andy replied. "Fran's got it down to an art form."

 

Mace was pacing nervously up and down the room whispering, "I can do this. I can."

 

"Of course you can," Sam said. "If I can, you can. Just do what Ricky said. Breathe."

 

*****

 

"We're sold out," Brent said when Tuck came into the box office. "Just got rid of the last ticket for tonight's show ten minutes ago."

 

"Thank God. There were a couple of days there, after the ad went in, when I was beginning to wonder if we'd have to pack the house with ringers so the kids wouldn't feel like failures."

 

"It just took getting the word out, because we waited so long. You're TV interview was the turning point. Since then, the phones have been ringing off the hooks. Ask them." He nodded toward the women who were now handing out tickets to the patrons as they came to the box office windows.

 

One of the women turned to look at Tuck, rolling her eyes. "I've got telephone ear," she stage-whispered before going back to what she was doing.

 

Tuck checked the clock on the wall behind them. "I'd better move it. It's time to get everyone in the first scene on stage." Now that his directing chores were over, he was acting as stage manager for the production. Two minutes later, he opened the guys' dressing room door and announced, "Places, please." Then he went down the hall to do the same at the girls' dressing room, after knocking first.

 

"Don't you look snazzy," Tuck said to Vin, as the pianist walked by him.

 

"Thanks. I think." Vin was wearing a full-sleeved period shirt with a high collar, and a neck cloth that Tuck suspected was supposed to be tied around the collar. Instead, it was hanging loose. He also wore striped trousers and suspenders, all necessary, since the piano was on the right side of the stage, not down in front of it. "The things I do for my art," Vin grumbled.

 

Tuck laughed then headed to the wings to make certain that everyone in the first scene was in place before the curtain rose.

 

On the dot of eight, the curtain went up as the workhouse boys began singing "Food, Glorious Food", and the show was underway.

 

Sing for Their Supper - 55

 

The next week was non-stop as the cast and crew got ready for opening night. The man Norm had found to do the lighting was already settled in at a nearby motel.

 

His name was Archie—"not the boxer"—Moore. When he told the kids that, he got puzzled looks in return and had to spend ten minutes telling them about Archie Moore, who had been the longest reigning Light Heavyweight world champion of all time. As soon as he'd finished, he got to work checking out the lights Norm had borrowed from a local theater. After he'd watched a rehearsal, he began setting up the lighting for the show.

 

The tech rehearsal—lighting and all—went fairly smoothly, since the cast had already been working with the bridge-slash-Brownlow-house interior for the last several days.

 

Peg's assistants had their hands full during the costume rehearsal as they taught the girls how to change from one outfit to another when they went from workhouse boys to Charlotte or Mrs. Sowerberry to members of Fagin's gang. DJ and Evie got Peg's exclusive attention with their changes until she knew they had them down cold. As Roma only had one costume, she had nothing to worry about.

 

Starting in the middle of the afternoon, they ran through the show a second time while Peg took notes on minor alterations that needed to be done. It was well after eight that evening when everyone was let go; with Tuck's order to the cast that they were to eat supper then get to bed.

 

"I want you alert and ready for the next two days. The final, full-out rehearsals with all the bells and whistles."

 

Those happened, and with the exception of a few minor problems that were easily solved, went perfectly.

 

Then it was opening night.

 

*****

 

"I'm scared," Evie said as she put the finishing touches on her makeup. "I just know I'm going to screw up and ruin the whole show."

 

"No you are not," Roma replied firmly, patting her shoulder. "That's my job." She winked at the girls.

 

"You? Never," Evie protested. "You're the best person in the show. Well, other than DJ."

 

"I sense a bit of partiality there," Jolie said.

 

"Maybe?" Evie took a deep breath. "We're all great and this is going to be fantastic."

 

"You better believe it," Peg told her as she finished helping Roma do her hair. She'd volunteered to do that and assist with makeup for opening night. "After that," she'd warned them, "you're on your own."

 

Roma rubbed her hands together, studying herself in the mirror. She almost wished she'd let Peg add a row of lace to the low-cut bodice of her costume. What had been fine during rehearsals now seemed almost risqué when she thought about facing a live audience. It's not. It really isn't. It's just nerves. I should know better than to be uptight. I faced people every day on the piano plaza, but then I was a lot more covered up.

 

As if sensing her worry, Fran said, "You look beautiful and sexy and you're the perfect Nancy."

 

"Thank you." Roma smiled, looking at the girls. "We're all beautiful. Well, not sure beautiful works when you all look like grungy, hungry boys, but…"

 

Everyone laughed and their tensions eased—somewhat.

 

 

Sing for Their Supper - 54

  

A few moments later, Roma smiled again. The kids don't realize I'm close enough to listen. What she heard this time, with some amusement, was Ricky softly saying to Sam, "Good thing it's cold or I might be in trouble."

 

"What do you mean, might be? Get your mind on swimming, not what comes afterward."

 

"That place in the trees?" Ricky asked, looking innocently at Sam.

 

"You have to ask?"

 

Roma was quite certain they had been there before, which didn't bother her in the least. They're adults, or nearly so. What they do is nobody's business but their own.

 

*****

 

DJ heard Sam and Ricky, too, and he was having the same thoughts about Evie, although he didn't voice them. He wanted to, but he was afraid of how she'd reply.

 

"You're supposed to be swimming, not staring at me," Evie said, getting out of the water.

 

"I like watching you. You're beautiful."

 

"Am not," she replied self-consciously.

 

"You are to me."

 

"DJ…"

 

"Well, you are." He wrapped his arms around her. "You're also freezing."

 

"The water's cold." She looked at him, smiling. "And you're nice and warm because you haven't gone in, yet."

 

He gazed at her then kissed her softly. "To warm you up," he whispered against her lips.

 

"It did that," she murmured, kissing him back. When the kiss ended, she grinned widely. "Delbert Jarvis and Evangeline, kissing in a tree…"

 

"I think it's sitting in a tree, which we aren't."

 

"But we are kissing. I like that." She did it again, blushing when Roma laughed as she said "Get a room, you two," from behind them.

 

DJ turned red, muttering, "Nosy woman."

 

"Me?" Roma replied innocently.

 

"Yeah. You. Come on, Evie, let's swim before she broadcasts this to the whole world."

 

"I think they already know," Roma said, waving her hand toward the group in the water. Everyone was looking at them.

 

"Oh, God," DJ whispered, then defiantly told them, "So, I like Evie. Deal."

 

"We can tell," Ricky called out, giving a thumbs-up. "Not a damned thing wrong with that."

 

"No, there isn't," Evie said as she and DJ walked into the lake. "Not one damned thing."

 

Sing for Their Supper - 53

 

"How did it go?" Evie asked DJ an hour or so later when he joined the rest of the cast in their favorite spot by the lake.

 

He grinned. "The back of my head is going to be famous." After everyone laughed, he told them, "Roma looked fantastic and Sam was right. No one will recognize him."

 

"I hope my mother doesn't decide she wants to see the show," Dena said. "I never… I've been so excited about being a part of this that I never even thought about the fact we'd have a real audience someday. Crazy, huh?"

 

Jolie hugged her. "I know just what you mean—about the audience part. Up here"—she tapped her forehead—"I knew. But it didn't really sink in until today."

 

"Dena," Fran said, "I don't think you have anything to worry about. As Mrs. Sowerberry, you'll be in makeup to age you. The rest of the time you're playing boys."

 

"I guess." Dena thought a moment then smiled. "You're right. As long as they don't put our names in the program, we're okay."

 

"We're not going to," Tuck said as he joined them. "Believe me. We're well aware your safety is paramount. As I said, there will be no names, no photos of any of you as yourselves." He looked at them, shaking his head. "And what did I tell you about not talking or thinking about the show?"

 

"What did I tell you about elephant?" Evie retorted, laughing.

 

"Touché," Tuck said. "Okay. Brent and I are leaving. He has to rework the ad and get it to the papers first thing in the morning."

 

"So are we," Andy said. "By the way, we found a third woman for you to work in the box office, starting the day after tomorrow."

 

"Great. Thank you. Lord willing and the creek don't rise, they'll be so busy taking ticket orders we'll need a fourth one."

 

"What creek?" Mace asked. "It's a lake."

 

Tuck laughed. "It's an old saying meaning with good luck and no major problems, we'll be successful."

 

"We will be," Sam said emphatically, dropping down beside Ricky. "We've worked too hard not to be."

 

"That you have," Tuck agreed. "This might not be Broadway, but from the energy and enthusiasm you all have put into the show, who knows? Maybe someday we'll be going to New York to see some of you starring on the Great White Way."

 

"My name up in lights," Ricky said, miming looking up at a marquee.

 

"Hey, it could happen," Sam told him. "For any of us, if we want it to."

 

"Never doubt that it could," Tuck replied. He saluted them, and then headed back up to the parking lot with Fran and Andy.

 

"We're supposed to be relaxing and doing something fun," Jolie said.

 

"Like what?" Mace asked.

 

"Well…" She looked at the lake. "Swimming? It's still light enough."

 

"I don't think any of us have swimsuits," he pointed out.

 

"And?"

 

"I am not skinny dipping!" Mace replied emphatically.

 

"Silly boy. Go get some shorts, all of you. I know you own them. I've seen you wearing them. Us, too," Jolie added, looking at the other girls. "Shorts and a T-shirt and we're good to go. Last one back is a monkey's uncle, as my grandpa used to say." For a moment her expression darkened before she dashed off. Everyone else followed and within ten minutes they were back, dressed for swimming.

 

Roma smiled to herself when she overheard Dena whisper to Jolie, "Would you look at Mace. Wow."

 

"Not bad, huh?"

 

"Not bad? He's sex on a stick."

 

Jolie grinned. "So go lick him?"

 

Dena blushed. "Uh-huh. Not. Come on. We're supposed to be swimming."

 

Sing for Their Supper – 52

  

The cast sat on the edge of the stage while Tuck gave them his notes on the rehearsal.

 

"Mace, remember to swagger. Sikes is a tough, evil man and he knows it," Tuck said. "You want everyone to be afraid of you."

 

"You were almost perfect, Sam, with 'Reviewing the Situation'. You're finally convincing me that Fagin wants to give up his life of crime."

 

Sam preened a bit at that, until Tuck added, "You sometimes forget you have to let the audience see your face. Play to them, not the wings."

 

Tuck continued on, critiquing each actor's performance, giving praise when it was warranted but letting them know where they still needed to improve. Finally, he closed his notepad, set it down on the edge of the stage and looked at them. He smiled slowly.

 

"I know you've been wondering when we're going to open. How do you feel about a week from Friday? That will give us four more days before tech and dress rehearsals. We'll end with two complete rehearsals with everything that involves."

 

Everyone cheered. Then DJ asked, "Do you really think we'll be ready?"

 

"Absolutely. You've all worked very hard and everything is coming together just the way it should."

 

"There's going to be advertising, isn't there?" Jolie asked.

 

"Yes. It starts tomorrow with a story in the papers' entertainment sections about the theater. Then ads for the show."

 

She looked worried. "With our names? I mean…" she chewed her lip.

 

"No. I realize some of your families may live in the area or have friends here, so Brent and I decided we're not going to publicize who the cast is or use your photos in the ads."

 

Sam's hand shot up. "You can use my photo, as Fagin, if it helps. No one could recognize me under all the makeup and the beard." He knew that because Tuck had worked with him on creating Fagin's look, since it was as much a part of the character as the coat. He'd even worn the beard for the last two rehearsals to get used to it.

 

"Mine, too," Roma said. "I came here from halfway across the country. That was over ten years ago. There's no way the bastard could find me, even if he was still looking."

 

Tuck glanced at Brent, who had come into the auditorium a few minutes previously and was watching from the back. "How hard would it be to change the ad to add their pictures?"

 

"If I take some photos as soon as you're finished…" Brent tapped his lips. "And DJ's, but from behind, watching them."

 

"That's okay with me," DJ said before Tuck could ask.

 

"All right. The three of you go get into costume and make-up," Tuck told them. "Peg's still here. She can help you."

 

"I'll get my camera from the office," Brent said. "Meet me back here when you're ready."

 

Roma, Sam, and DJ hurried off, while Tuck told the others they were free to leave. "Relax. Have some fun. Don't think about the show again until tomorrow. It's going to be intense for the next week."

 

"That's like saying, don't think about the word elephant," Evie replied with a grin.

 

Tuck chuckled. "True. Now get out of here. All of you."

 

 

Sing for Their Supper - 51

Over the next three days, Gloria worked hard with the cast on the dances.

 

"Jolie, you're the horse. Prance, holding your hands up like this." Gloria demonstrated. "Ricky, Roma, you're riding in the imaginary carriage she's pulling. Dena, Bet, twirl the umbrellas as if they're coach wheels. Got it?"

 

Everyone did as she asked, dancing around the stage as they sang "I'd Do Anything".

 

"Again."

 

After three more tries, Gloria called out, "Perfect. Now do it again."

 

"If it's perfect," Ricky whispered to Roma, "why the hell—"

 

"Shush and do it, or we'll be here all morning on just this one song."

 

That afternoon it was, "Sam, you're trying to play keep-away while the boys are picking your pockets." Gloria demonstrated. "This is a game, but a very serious one. Ricky, dart in. Sam, spin away, in time to the music. The rest of you, do your in-and-out dance moves as you try to get the handkerchiefs out of his pockets. Understand?"

 

They did, and after they'd gone through the whole sequence four times, she was satisfied.

 

"Sam, your solo dance is next." She meant "Reviewing the Situation". She'd taught him the steps late yesterday afternoon, then Ricky had worked with him that evening, so Sam had them down perfectly. Much to his obvious relief, he only had to do the song and dance twice for her—and earned her praise when he finished the second time.

 

*****

 

"Turn," Peg said. "Lift your arms. Reach forward."

 

Andy did, telling her, "It's a bit tight across the shoulders."

 

"I see." She had him take the tailcoat off then handed it to one of her assistants so she could let the back out. "Fran, how does the dress feel?"

 

"Like it was made for me," Fran replied.

 

Peg laughed. "Maybe because this one was, unlike the others. Okay, Roma, come out and let me see you."

 

Roma stepped out of the dressing room, tugging at the neckline of the red dress. "It's awfully low."

 

Andy whistled, which did nothing for her composure.

 

"Are you really uncomfortable with it?" Peg asked her.

 

"Well…" Roma went over to the full-length mirror. "It is kind of sexy, the way it should be for Nancy. I'm just not used to exposing quite so much."

 

"I can add a bit of lace, if it would help," Peg said.

 

Roma shook her head. "No. I'll be fine. I just have to think Nancy, not me." She spun around, making the three-quarter length skirt swirl out, revealing the purple petticoat underneath. Holding up one side of the skirt, she did a few of the dance steps from one of her songs, watching in the mirror. Slowly, she smiled. "It works, even when I bend over." Grinning, she added, "They didn't fall out, which is good."

 

Sing for Their Supper - 50

 

"DJ, you're scared and hungry and lost. Ricky, you know that and see him as a prime candidate to join Fagin's gang. Stop circling each other like dogs looking for a fight," Tuck said.

 

DJ looked startled, then laughed. "I guess we were, weren't we?"

 

"Yep. Now try again."

 

It was the beginning of the third week of rehearsals. No scripts were allowed on stage now, although Vin prompted them from the piano if one of them got totally lost.

 

Gloria was due to be there the next day to continue working on the choreography, having warned them it would be more difficult.

 

In the scene shop, Norm and his crew were putting the finishing touches on the bridge-slash-up-and-down stairs of Brownlow's house. They'd moved things around to clear one wall and hung the first of the backdrops on it, after Norm had roughly outlined what he wanted. Now two young men he'd coerced into working for him for the experience were painting the scene.

 

Mace had shown up in the shop a couple of times when he'd had free time. When he did, Norm had put him to work helping to build the bridge. Norm had the feeling, from watching Mace, that the young man would have been just as happy working with him as being on stage, something he filed away for future reference when they moved on to whatever show would come next—if one did. He was fairly certain that would happen.

 

Peg and her girls were in the costume shop, slaving away—as one of the girls had put it—making the costumes for the workhouse boys and Fagin's gang. The costumes Peg had borrowed from the theater—coats for Andy, and some dresses for Fran that Peg had chosen at the last minute—hung on a rack at one end of the room, waiting to be fitted to the actors. Peg was putting the finishing touches on Fagin's coat so it could be used for rehearsals starting the next morning.

 

Brent was in the ticket office, which had become his temporary office at the theater, thinking about how to publicize the show, now that things were pulling together enough that he could do so. The opening date hadn't been finalized yet. The moment it was, he had to be ready.

 

There would be programs that needed printing, ads for the newspaper, and stories he needed to write about how the theater had come about and who was involved with it.

 

Therein lay his first major problem. As he'd said to Tuck the previous evening, "The kids are the story, but I don't think we should use their pictures."

 

"We absolutely cannot," Tuck had replied adamantly. "The last thing they need is to be worrying that they'll be found by their families, since you can bet that they don't want to be. Some of their stories…" He shook his head sadly.

 

They'll stay anonymous until opening night. Then what? Brent wondered. If there are reviewers that night, with photographers, how do I make it clear they're not to use names or pictures on the reviews? Be honest about why and hope they get it?

 

"That starts with the press releases I send to the entertainment editors," he said aloud as he turned on the computer. "I don't want them to be all 'look at what we're doing for homeless teens'. This has to be about what they're doing for themselves with our help."

 

He spent the next hour coming up with, then tossing, one idea after another. Eventually, he ended up with what he hoped would work.

 

 

 

Children of the street. Homeless adults. You've walked by them. You might even have tossed a few coins in their cups. But have you ever thought about why they're there? Have you ever wondered about their hopes and dreams? Has it ever occurred to you that they want to escape living on the streets and make a better life for themselves?

 

Nine homeless teens and adults are doing exactly that at the new Vale Lake Theater. Nine singers, dancers and musicians, ranging in age from sixteen to fifty, have combined their talents, under the direction of well-known actor Tucker Williams, to bring the musical Oliver! to the stage.

 

Why Oliver!? The story is a reflection of their personal lives on the street. Based on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, it follows one young boy as he moves from his miserable existence in a workhouse to the streets of London, in search of someone who will love him. Along the way, he forges friendships with others facing the same plight—just as the cast of Oliver! at Vale Lake Theater is doing.

 

With the help of two noted local actors, Fran and Andy Rogers, scene designer Norm Howell, costumer Peg Quinlan, and choreographer Gloria Ford, Tucker Williams and his cast have turned Oliver! into a personal anthem of endurance and the will to survive despite the odds.

 

As a footnote, it had been decided not to list the names of the actors, or release their pictures, as they have left their old lives behind to escape untenable personal situations.

 

 

 

"And I hope to hell that's not too hokey," Brent murmured as he hit Save, emailed a copy to himself to show Tuck that evening, then shut off the computer.

 

*****

 

"Looks good to me," Tuck told Brent. "Maybe, change untenable to intolerable. Not all newspaper readers are as erudite as you."

 

"Well, damn." Brent made the change, saved then printed out a copy of the press release. "What are the plans for tomorrow," he asked his husband.

 

Tuck put a finger to Brent's lips. "From now until breakfast, we are not going to talk theater. I need some downtime with the man in my life."

 

Without missing a beat, Brent asked, "When will you be back?"

 

That rated him a swat on the ass, a kiss that curled his toes, and the suggestion from Tuck that they go to bed, "Before I have my wicked way with you in the middle of the living room floor."

 

They went, Tuck succeeded in being very wicked—then they slept.

 

Sing for Their Supper - 49

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