Phantom of the Auditorium (11 page)

BAD BROTHER
SPRINGER OPERA HOUSE
COLUMBUS, GEORGIA

This beautiful home of song and drama is known for the famous people who have graced its stage in life and the afterlife. In the first category we have people such as Oscar Wilde, Will Rogers, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Edwin Booth. In the second category, we have … Edwin Booth! Quite famous in his day for his acting abilities, Edwin is now known for his family shame. It was Edwin’s brother, John Wilkes Booth, who shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Now Edwin is said to
HAUNT
the Springer Opera House in a merry manner, playing backstage with the wardrobe and props.

Complete these questions to find out if
your school auditorium is haunted.

At the end of every school year, the drama teacher …

A)
is given a bouquet of roses by the graduating class.

B)
quits because the acting students are such divas.

C)
mysteriously disappears.

The star of the spring play …

A)
offers to give you pointers on how to get over your own stage fright.

B)
wears sunglasses inside and is always offering to sign your lunch bag.

C)
comes to class every Monday with a new bandage on a different part of her body.

When a new play is announced, the librarian, who’s been at the school for 50 years, suddenly …

A)
displays books that have to do with the theater and buys two tickets to the performance right away.

B)
starts talking in a different accent every day: British on Mondays, Russian on Tuesdays, etc.

C)
exits the school on the side opposite from the auditorium and takes a long vacation.

When you look up the name of your school on the Internet, you find …

A)
a photo of the winning touchdown from last night’s football game.

B)
a gossipy article about the art teacher’s hairdo.

C)
pointers on performing exorcisms.

One afternoon, while snooping around backstage, you find …

A)
a set of yearbooks from the year your uncle attended the same school.

B)
a meeting going on behind a locked door with a sign that says, NO LOSERS ALLOWED.

C)
a bucket of what looks like blood and a strange chalk pattern on the floor.

BONUS QUESTION:
Does R.L. Stine go to your school, is he the principal, or is the school named after him?

If you answered mostly …

A’s:
Sorry, you are going to a completely normal school with well-adjusted teachers and students.
Boring!
B’s:
Call a reality specialist—your school has been taken over by fans of celebrity TV shows.
C’s:
Yup, your school is haunted. You might want to consider going out for the cross-country team and leaving the acting to someone else!

Don’t worry—this mask isn’t haunted. The only scream will come from your parents if you don’t get their permission before making this mask and forget to clean up afterward! This mask takes two days to make.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN, GATHER:

• aluminum foil

• plastic wrap

• masking tape

• 1 cup flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• water

• large bowl

• newspaper

• poster or acrylic paint

• 3 feet of string

GET GOING:

1)
Ask your parents to help you gather the ingredients and find a good place for you to make your haunted mask. You probably want to wear clothes you don’t mind getting a little dirty.

2)
Make a mold: Gently press a large piece of aluminum foil over your face.

3)
Use extra foil to add details to your face mold. Pay special attention to making a revolting-looking nose, chin, and eyebrows. Maybe your mask will have warts, uneven eyebrows, or an extra eyeball!

4)
Cover the foil mold with plastic wrap so the wrap clings to the foil. Use masking tape to secure the plastic wrap under the foil.

5)
Make the papier-mâché: Mix the flour and salt in a bowl, adding enough water to make a thin paste. You don’t want a watery paste or a goopy paste that is hard to stir.

6)
Tear newspaper into ¼-inch strips. Dip the strips one at a time into the paste. Place each strip onto the foil-and-plastic-wrap mold, making sure to completely cover the mold with strips, overlapping the strips as necessary. Make two layers of newspaper strips.

7)
Let the mask dry overnight. It needs to be hard and dry before you paint.

8)
If your mask is dry and hard, use poster or acrylic paint to bring your hideous creation to life. Add lots of gory details like blood, oozing cuts, scars, and anything else you can think of.

9)
Once your paint dries, separate the paper mask from the foil-and-plastic-wrap mold.

10)
On each side of your haunted mask in the location of your ears, poke holes about ¼-inch in diameter. Cut the string in half. Tie a knot on one end of each string and run one piece through each hole.

11)
Put on your mask, tie the string behind your head, and show off your creation!

Everyone knows you are supposed to say “break a leg” instead of “good luck” to someone about to go onstage, but did you know about these other strange superstitions and traditions?

NEVER SAY THE NAME OF SHAKESPEARE’S
MACBETH
.
INSTEAD, ACTORS CALL IT “THE SCOTTISH PLAY.”

NEVER KEEP A THEATER OPEN ALL SEVEN DAYS
IN A WEEK—THE GHOSTS NEED A DAY TO
PERFORM THEIR OWN PLAYS!

NEVER USE REAL MONEY—OR WEAR
REAL JEWELRY—ONSTAGE.

NEVER HAVE A MIRROR ONSTAGE—
BROKEN OR OTHERWISE!

NEVER ALLOW A CAT ONSTAGE DURING
A PERFORMANCE, BUT KEEP ONE TO
HANG AROUND DURING OTHER TIMES.

NEVER GIVE AN ACTOR FLOWERS BEFORE A SHOW.
AND WHEN YOU DO GIVE THEM, MAKE SURE
THEY ARE FROM A GRAVEYARD.

NEVER WEAR GREEN OR YELLOW.
AND ONLY WEAR BLUE IF YOU ARE
ALSO WEARING SILVER.

NEVER WEAR BRAND-NEW MAKEUP
ON OPENING NIGHT.

NEVER SPEAK THE LAST LINE OF A PLAY
BEFORE OPENING NIGHT.

AN ACTOR MUST NEVER WHISTLE—
ONSTAGE OR OFF.

ALWAYS KEEP AT LEAST ONE LIGHT ON
IN AN EMPTY THEATER TO GIVE GHOSTS
ENOUGH LIGHT TO SEE BY—AND KEEP THEM
FROM LASHING OUT IN ANGER!

ALWAYS EXIT THE DRESSING ROOM
WITH YOUR LEFT FOOT FIRST.

My brother, Peter, tightened the belt around his white karate uniform. “Monica,” he said, “if you get more Snickers bars than me, can we trade?”

He didn’t wait for me to answer.

“Mom, are we allowed to eat unwrapped candy?” he shouted. Mom was downstairs. How did he expect her to hear him?

He did a little dance and gave me a hard karate chop on the shoulder.

“Ow.
Stop it, Peter,” I groaned. I rubbed my shoulder.

He laughed. “You’re such a wimp.” He pretended to chop me again. I ducked away.

“Can you get dizzy from eating chocolate?” Peter asked. “Freddy Milner says if you eat enough chocolate, you get so dizzy, you can’t walk straight.”

“Don’t try it tonight,” I said.

He staggered around the room till he crashed into the wall. Then he leaped in the air and did a high karate kick. “Look out!” I screamed. He almost kicked my laptop off the desk.

“Why don’t you get out of my room and wait downstairs?” I said.

“Why don’t you make me?” he said. He grinned his toothy grin as he raised both fists.

Peter thinks he’s cute, but he isn’t. For one thing, he’s too tall to be cute. He’s ten — two years younger than me — but he’s nearly a foot taller than I am. He has stringy blond hair and a long, bent nose and funny teeth. He’s my brother but let’s face facts — he’s a beast.

He picked up a postage stamp from my desk. Licked it — and stuck it to my forehead. Then he collapsed laughing on my bed.

“Why did you do that?” I growled.

He shrugged. “Why not?”

Guess you can understand why I spell Peter’s name P-A-I-N.

He talks too much. He can’t stand still. He’s always dancing and chopping and kicking. And he thinks he’s funny, but he isn’t.

My friends can’t stand him.

Some kids take pills to slow them down to normal speed. But my parents make excuses for Peter. They say he’s just high energy.

Like I’m some kind of lazy slob. I’m only captain of the gymnastics team and star sprinter of the Hillcrest Middle School track team.

“What kind of costume is that?” Peter asked with a sneer. “A pair of black shorts over purple tights?”

“It’s my gymnastics uniform,” I said.

He laughed. “You look like a freak.”

“Mom!” I shouted down the stairs. “Do I have to take him?”

I heard her footsteps on the stairs. I stepped out into the hall. She stopped halfway up and leaned on the banister.

“Monica, are you still complaining?” She blew back a strand of her curly copper-colored hair.

She and I have the same color hair. Actually, we kind of look like sisters. We’re both small and thin. Unlike Peter and Dad, who are both gangly hulks.

I sighed. “I just want to meet up with Caroline and Regina and hang out with them.”

“Well, you can’t,” Mom said. “You have to take Peter trick-or-treating.”

I rolled my eyes. “But, Mom, all he does is practice karate on us till we’re black-and-blue.”

That made Peter laugh. Behind me in my room, he picked up one of my stuffed pandas and gave it some hard chops.

“You girls can defend yourselves,” Mom said. “Kick him back.”

Peter dropped the panda to the floor. “Huh?”

“Besides, he’ll be too busy collecting candy,”

Mom said. “You know he’s a total candy nut. He won’t have time to pester you and your friends.”

She shouted to Peter. “Am I right?”

“Whatever,” Peter replied.

I sighed again. “Okay, let’s get it over with,” I said.

I returned to my room and pulled a silvery mask over my eyes. Maybe people wouldn’t recognize me. The elastic band caught in my hair. As if being with my brother wasn’t enough pain.

I turned and saw Peter pull a black mask down over his eyes. It matched the black belt around his uniform. Peter is nowhere near a black belt. But he wears one anyway.

A few seconds later, we stepped out the front door. Peter hopped down the steps and went running to the street.

It was a dark October night. A half-moon hung low over the houses across the street. The wind gusted, making dead leaves swirl in circles in the front yard.

I shivered. Maybe my shorts and tights and sleeveless T-shirt were a mistake. Maybe I needed a jacket.

But as I followed Peter away from the light of the house into the blue-black darkness, I realized I wasn’t shivering from the wind.

Normally, I’m not a fraidy cat. But I just had a feeling …

… A very bad feeling about this Halloween.

Caroline wore a top hat, a ragged man’s overcoat, big floppy shoes, and a bumpy rubber nose. She spoke in a high, creaky voice and said she was a Munchkin from
The Wizard of Oz.

Regina wore gray spandex workout clothes. She had black whiskers painted on her cheeks. She said she was Catwoman. With her olive-colored eyes, she looked like a cat even without the whiskers.