Fabulous Five 020 - The Witches of Wakeman (7 page)

Backstage was a flurry of activity and the air was tinged
with the excitement of opening night.

Mr. Levine held up his hand. "Remember, this is a dress
rehearsal, but because it's open to friends and family, you must be extra alert
at all times. Concentrate, everyone, concentrate."

"And good luck to everybody!" Molly shouted.

The director looked as if someone had hit him. "
No,
Molly. Don't
ever
say 'good luck' in the theater."

"Why?" she asked.

"It's bad luck."

Molly turned pale. "You mean, I've just jinxed this
performance?"

"Oh, no, I'm sure you haven't," he answered, but he
had a doubtful look on his face. "In the theater you say things like, 'Break
a leg,' for luck."

Molly turned to Beth and said seriously, "I hope you
break your leg, Beth."

Everyone laughed.

Beth, her face slick with grayish-green makeup, turned and
grinned slyly. "I hope you fall over your feet."

Paul laughed and shouted, "I hope you all barf all over
yourselves!"

The other kids howled with laughter.

"I hope you slip off the stage and fall into someone's
lap in the audience!" Lisa Snow shouted.

Chet Miller yelled, "I hope a storm comes up and a tree
falls on the school and crushes you!"

"I hope a bumble bee gets in the auditorium and flies
up your nose!" Shelly Bramlett shouted.

Soon it was time for the show to start. Beth paced nervously
back and forth, studying Laura out of the corner of her eye. She
was
beautiful in her shimmering gown, just as Beth had known she would be, and Beth
was glad when Laura pulled her black emcee costume on over it for the opening
of the show. But remembering Keith's words, "You're prettier than she'll
ever be," warmed Beth's heart and made her feel good all over.

The performance went smoothly through the witches' opening
speech, the
Snow White
skit, Chet's Headless Horseman act, and Paul's
magic act. Then it was time for the
Wizard of Oz
skit. Onstage, Dekeisha
handled the introduction by herself while Beth and Laura got ready for the
scenes.

"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?

"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 back 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.

"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.

Miss Wiggins, who had been Beth's sixth-grade teacher when
she was at Mark Twain Elementary, came up onstage along with Christie's mother,
who was the principal of the school. Both told Beth they had loved the
performance. It almost made Beth cry to be back at her old elementary school.
Everyone seemed to believe that Robin's flight was planned, and no one told
them otherwise.

"So, it's finally over," Beth said, collapsing
onto a bus seat next to Molly.

"And you were sensational," said Molly. "Your
wicked witch act was inspired."

"You
were
great, Beth," Melanie agreed from
the seat behind them.

"Thanks, guys," said Beth, her cheeks turning
pink.

She gave a sigh and snuggled into the corner to look out the
window. It had turned out well, she thought. She had stretched herself as an
actress in the demanding role of a witch. Maybe she would become a female Jack
Nicholson and play all kinds of great weird parts, like the Joker in
Batman.
She had also learned that she didn't have to be big-chested to be a successful
actress, and best of all, she saw that she could count on Keith, her new friend
Molly, and as always, The Fabulous Five. What more could she ask for?

Not a glamorous gown like Laura's. That was certain.
Something with character, she thought. Something outrageous.

Beth pulled the ugly wart out of her pocket and studied it
for a moment. I know what else I could ask for, she thought, and giggled to
herself. A lo-o-ong black hair growing right out of the center of my wart. It
would be sensational! Then she stuck the wart on the end of her nose and, with
a satisfied smile, settled down for the ride back to school.