The Sea-Quel (11 page)

As I looked up at the bag, I could see the faint glimmer of two tiny green dots shining through the dark plastic.

I had to do something to save Frankie and warn Pradeep. But what?

CHAPTER 6

PRE-PLAY PANDEMONIUM

Finally the lights and the curtain went down and everyone got ready for the next scene, which opened with Pradeep hanging on to the rope above the stage, pretending to swing while the scenery moved past him. This was apparently safer than having him swing across the stage, but with Mark's evil plan in action, nothing was safe.

My job was to carry a tree past Pradeep as he hung there. Lady-in-Waiting Number Three had a cardboard horse, Guard Number Three had a small cottage, and Merry Man Number Two had another tree.

All the other supporting cast kids had big pieces of cardboard offstage that they were fanning up and down to make lots of wind as Pradeep “whooshed” along.

Kids were running all over the place, trying to get to their places. It was so dark, you could hardly see a thing.

I ran over to Pradeep. “You can't swing on the rope. It might be rigged!”

“Of course it's rigged. That's the safety thing. I don't swing on it, remember. It's fine, Tom,” he whispered.

“No, it's a trick—” I started to say, but he cut me off.

“Not now. I gotta do the scene.”

“But Frankie…” I started to say, but the curtain was already rising. As the lights came up, Pradeep grabbed ahold of the rope.

There was no time for me to try to climb up and stop Mark. Besides, Pradeep
would
listen to me about something this important, right?

As I ran behind Pradeep with my cardboard tree, I hissed, “Let go of the rope!”

Then Lady-in-Waiting Three ran by carrying her cardboard horse.

I looked up and could see Mark trying to hold on to the black bag, but at the same time fiddling with the rope that Pradeep was hanging from.

I raced around the back of the stage while Merry Man Two was running past with the other tree, and got to Guard Three just in time to snatch the cardboard cottage from him and dash past Pradeep again, “I'm serious, Pradeep. You have to let go!”

“Tom, you're ruining this for me. Leave me alone!”

Just as he said it, the rope dropped from the rigging and Pradeep fell onto the stage. At the same time, the black bag slipped out of Mark's hands. It was too late! I could see Frankie's eyes glowing inside the dark bag as it tumbled toward the hard stage. Pradeep looked up and saw the green glow too.…

“Frankie?” he yelled. He held out his green cape to try to catch the bag as it fell, but the bag bounced off and into the cardboard cutout of the cottage that I was carrying. I was knocked backward, falling into the tree and the horse and the kids that were holding them. All the cardboard scenery toppled over like a row of dominoes. Someone fell into the curtains and started to pull them down. As the rest of the cast ducked for cover, the bag with Frankie in it once again hurtled toward the floor.…

Leaping forward, Pradeep stretched out his cape again to try to break Frankie's fall, but the green fabric acted like a trampoline and bounced the bag straight at Mrs. Flushcowski.

There was nothing we could do!

It splatted on the table right in front of her, soaking her with water. Everyone in the hall went quiet for what was probably a second but seemed like hours. I tried to see Frankie, but I couldn't spot him from the stage.

Mrs. Flushcowski turned bright red and shouted, “Mr. Kumar! I suppose you think that's funny?”

I think at first when Mrs. Flushcowski said “Mr. Kumar,” Pradeep was genuinely looking around for his dad, but she was just doing that “I'm being a very serious teacher now” thing where they call you by your last name.

“Oh, me? Right. I don't think it's funny, well, not much, I mean…” Pradeep said, looking confused. “I don't know what happened!”

“I'll tell you what happened, Mr. Kumar: You have ruined my dress rehearsal and…” She did another of her really long, dramatic pauses as she took a deep breath and picked up her cup of tea from the table in front of her. “You have lost yourself the role of Robin Hood!”

There was a gasp from the other kids.

“But—” Pradeep started to say.

“Never, in all my years in theater, has one of my cast members, especially not the leading
ACTOR
, thrown a water bomb at me!”

Suddenly, at the same time, Pradeep and I spotted Frankie.

“You may think a prank like that is funny, young man,” she went on, lifting her tea to her lips.

“Mrs. Flushcowski…” Pradeep tried to interrupt her again.

“But it will not be tolerated at this sch—” she started to say and then spluttered out her tea with a shriek.

Frankie leaped out of her mouth and back into the teacup!

Mrs. Flushcowski fell back into her chair and fainted.

CHAPTER 7

SECOND IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Pradeep and I both raced off the stage. Mrs. Kumar ran over from her seat and Sami appeared from the side of the stage, carrying her little lidded drinking cup filled with water. We pulled off the lid, scooped Frankie out of the tea, and dropped him into the sippy cup.

Some of the supporting cast kids fanned Mrs. Flushcowski with their pieces of cardboard while Mrs. Kumar ran off to get the school nurse.

Finally Mrs. Flushcowski opened her eyes. She looked at Pradeep and shook her head. “I was wondering why you had a goldfish in a bag at rehearsal. Now I see that you have been planning this prank all along.” Then she bellowed, “Give me your
HAT
.”

Pradeep bent down and Mrs. Flushcowski snatched the green Robin Hood cap with the long perfectly tilted feather from Pradeep's head. I've never seen Pradeep look so sad.

I stepped forward. “Mrs. Flushcowski, it wasn't Pradeep's fault…” I started to say, but then she leaned over and put the hat on
my
head.

“It's noble of you to stand up for your friend, Tom, but actions have consequences.” I think she could tell that I didn't really get what that meant, so she added, “People have to pay for what they do.”

“But what if they didn't do…” I began, as she took Pradeep's bow and quiver of arrows from him and handed them to me. Suddenly all the words in my head dried up. Normally there is an ocean of words in there, but now there wasn't a drop. All I could think was that
I
could be Robin Hood.

“I can't…” A few words dribbled out of my dry brain.

“You are the only one who
can
, Tom. All the rest of the cast have important … I mean,
more vocal
roles, and you are the only one who knows all the lines, from practicing them with Pradeep,” Mrs. Flushcowski said.

She was right. I did know the lines. I knew the fighting with the sticks, I knew the hanging on the rope, and I definitely knew the shooting of the arrows. I could do this part. I could
be
Robin Hood. OK, so it wasn't actually Pradeep's fault that the bag fell on Mrs. Flushcowski, but maybe he could have stopped it from happening if he had even
looked
at me once when I was trying to warn him. Maybe this was
payment
for what he did.

Pradeep walked over to me. He took off the green tunic his mom had made him and handed it to me. “I … um … won't give you the tights, um.… Mom has a spare pair,” he mumbled.

Sami stood next to him with Frankie in the sippy cup. I gave Sami a look that said, “Maybe we should get Frankie out of here?” She understood right away. She put Frankie behind her back and ran over to her mom, who was just coming back into the hall with the school nurse. The nurse headed straight over to Mrs. Flushcowski while Mrs. Kumar took Pradeep and Sami out to the dressing room. I heard her saying, “Why on earth did you bring that goldfish onstage? I'm so disappointed in you. What were you thinking, Pradeep?”

The nurse gave Mrs. Flushcowski a fresh (fish-free) cup of tea with sugar in it and in a couple of minutes, she was back in director mode.

“Let's take it from the top. Reset for Act One.”

While we mopped up the mess, propped up the cardboard scenery, and got ready to start again, Mrs. Flushcowski sent all the high-school boys off for a break until the real show that evening. I saw Mark breeze out of the back door. He didn't look at all upset, which got me thinking. If his evil plan was to ruin the play, it had failed (even though it ruined things for Pradeep). If it was to bump off Frankie, then that had failed too. So why wasn't he angry? I didn't have time to think about it now though. I was Robin Hood, after all.

We ran the dress rehearsal without stopping. I remembered every line, every move, and I started to notice that people were looking at me differently. And by “looking at me differently” I mean they were actually looking
at
me, not through me like they usually did. Guards One, Two, and Three didn't push past me as if I wasn't there. OK, so they still pushed past me, but now at least they looked at me first. Ladies-in-Waiting One, Two, and Three giggled when I walked by, but in a good way, not a laughing-at-you kind of way. And Merry Men One, Two, and Three actually looked merry when I told them a joke. Best of all, when Katie Plefka sang “Greensleeves,” she looked right at me. I didn't like the song as much as Frankie did, but no one had sung to me since I was, like, three years old. I liked this feeling.

Because we had to start over, the dress rehearsal finished late and we barely had time to get fixed up again before the actual performance started. Sami ran over and gave me her sippy cup, which still had Frankie safe inside. Then I went to the dressing room and put on the full Robin Hood outfit for the first time. I looked at myself in the mirror. I
was
Robin Hood. Frankie even gave me a little zombie goldfish smile. I knew he'd like the outfit 'cause it was green.