Curtain Up (24 page)

Austin frowned. “That's kind of a bummer. Sam's a great kid. And good actor.”

“I know. I was pretty sad when I got the e-mail. But I understand that baseball means a lot to him too.” I indicated the last line of the e-mail, which Austin read aloud.

“ ‘I'll def be back for the third show,' ” Austin read.

This resulted in a shiver of excitement along my spine. “Third show!” I repeated. “Sam's counting on there being a
third
show. That's encouraging.”

Austin beamed. “Yeah, it is.”

My excitement subsided as I clicked on the second e-mail. “Uh-oh . . . Sam's not the only one who's ‘bowing' out. . . . No pun intended.”

Austin cracked a smile. “Please say Sophia's decided to opt out.”

“We should be so lucky!” I rolled my eyes. “But no, as far as I know, Sophia the Diva will be back for the second show. It's Mia and Eddie who won't be able to do it. Family vacation. They'll be gone for two weeks.”

“That's a
serious
bummer,” grumbled Austin. “A double whammy! What are we gonna do without Mia's vocal talent and Eddie's comedic timing?”

“We'll just have to work around it,” I said with more confidence than I actually felt. “And remember, a lot of our cast has improved a ton since we started.”

“That's very true.”

“And don't forget the new recruits. Those three kids we met at the pool yesterday, Julie, Brady, and Joey . . . They've got great potential. And Susan's been fielding tweets and texts all morning from kids wanting to sign up.”

“So . . . you're saying our cast might actually increase?” Austin looked thoughtful. “That's going to be a huge factor in deciding on the next show. We're going to need something with lots of roles.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him if he thought he might be able to finish his big musical, when . . .

I was interrupted by the jangling of the bell on the door. Looking up, I saw Susan come skidding into the coffeehouse, looking frantic.

“Anya! You have to come to the theater. Now!”

“Why? What's wrong?”

“I'm not really sure,” she said, her eyes wide and her face pale. “All I know is that Mr. Healy's pickup is parked on the lawn. There are orange cones blocking off half the street, and the whole clubhouse is surrounded by fire trucks and police cruisers!”

Police cruisers?
Fire trucks?

Heart racing, I looked at Austin. He looked at me.

We both dropped our snacks and sprung up from our chairs.

And we ran!

LISA FIEDLER

Lisa Fiedler is a lifelong fan of musical theater. She saw her first Broadway play at age seven and has been badly belting out show tunes ever since! Her books for children and young adults include the Mouseheart trilogy;
Romeo's Ex: Rosaline's Story
; and
Dating Hamlet: Ophelia's Story.
She and her family divide their time between their home in Connecticut and their cottage on the Rhode Island seashore.

ANYA WALLACH

Anya Wallach is the real-life creator of the Random Farms Kids' Theater, a not-for-profit organization she started in her parents' basement when she was a teenager. Today the Random Farms kids can be regularly seen on Broadway and in film and television. Anya also created the theater's extensive outreach program, with a focus on bullying prevention. In conjunction with Random Farms, Anya has been featured in the
New York Times
and on Fox News and
Teen Kids News
, and was recognized by the
Huffington Post
for her work as a young social entrepreneur. She lives in New York City, where she runs Random Farms full-time. Visit
randomfarms.com
for more information.