Tuck and his group returned to the theater late that afternoon with three extra kids, Ira, Zeke, and Callie—a rather plain girl with a remarkable voice.
The company was quick to make them all feel at home, the girls helping Callie get settled in with Dena. The guys decided it would be easier on Zeke and Ira if they shared rooms with DJ and Mace. "That way, you'll get to know at least one of us before the madness sets in," Ricky told them.
The group decided to eat supper down by the lake, so everyone pitched in to make sandwiches and a salad.
"This is…nice," Callie said to Dena as they sat together on the shore.
Dena smiled. "You don't sound sure."
"I keep thinking I'll wake up and find myself in some alley, like always."
"Yeah. That's no fun. But this is real. Honest. So relax. Okay?"
"I'm trying to. Will we get to see the show tonight?"
"I'm sure they'll squeeze you in somewhere," Ricky said.
"Even looking like this?" Callie gestured to her worn shirt and pants.
"I've got something you can borrow until Peg brings in another load of donated clothes," Jolie told her.
"Peg?"
Jolie and the others went on to tell the new kids who else was involved with the theater. By the time they finished doing that and eating, it was time to get ready for the night's performance. When they got back to the cabins, Keith was there. He told the newcomers they could stand with him at the rear of the auditorium to watch the show—which they did.
*****
When it was over and everyone was back at the cabins, Zeke seemed downhearted.
"What's wrong," Mace asked.
"I'll never be as good as you guys, so I'm going to end up back where they found me."
"Naw. Trust me. If they can keep me around, they'll keep you, too, unless you can't sing." Mace smiled at Zeke. "And you can, or we wouldn't have picked you in the first place."
"But what if I can't act?"
"That's what I thought when I first started," Mace told him. "If Keith's anything like Tuck, he'll show you how to feel the character, as it were, even if you're only in the chorus."
"And that's where I'll be right now, I bet."
"Undoubtedly," Sam said. "You, Callie, Ira, and whoever we find tomorrow. Trust me. There's nothing wrong with that. It'll let you get your feet wet before we move on to whatever show we do after Peter Pan."
"Feel better now?" Mace asked.
"Yeah. I do. Thanks."
"No problem." Mace yawned. "Bedtime, I think, at least for me."
"For all of you," Vin told them. "Snap, snap."
"Yes, Daddy," Ricky replied, grinning.
"He's not really, is he?" Ira asked Sam.
"Anyone's dad? Nope," Vin replied before Sam could. "Leastways not that I know of."
"You'd make a good one," DJ told him.
"I'm trying, with you guys. But that's neither here nor there. Get. To. Bed. Now."
And they did.
*****
The next morning, Tuck took Evie, DJ, Ricky, and Dena into the city while Keith worked with the others, including the three new additions to the company. That afternoon, two other kids became new members of the theater—Birdie, as she called herself, an eighteen-year-old who had been on the streets for three years, and Shade—"Because I'm hiding in the shade so my old man don't find me". That was all he'd tell them about himself, which was no problem as far as the others were concerned. As Ricky put it, "We totally get it, man. We're good."
And so the Vale Lake Theater added five more actors to the roster, and a permanent director, because Keith decided to stay on.
Keith was right when he'd told everyone, "There will be growing pains, but the joys of being one large family working together will more than make up for the small problems that we'll face from time to time."
*****
As Tuck said to Brent late one night while they got ready for bed, "We might never have kids of our own, but it really doesn't matter now. We've got a theatre full of them."
"And we love each and every one. So, yeah, they may not be ours by adoption, but damned if they aren't ours in every other way that counts."
The End
Awwweeeee! I loved it. Thank you so much for sharing
ReplyDeleteYou are quite welcome. I like sharing.
Delete