Stage Frightened
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YEARLING BOOKS are designed especially to entertain and enlighten young people. Patricia Reilly Giff, consultant to this series, received her bachelor’s degree from Marymount College and a master’s degree in history from St. John’s University. She holds a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University. She was a teacher and reading consultant for many years, and is the author of numerous books for young readers.
Published by
Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers
a division of
Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
1540 Broadway
New York, New York 10036
Text copyright © 1997 by Judy Delton
Illustrations copyright © 1997 by Alan Tiegreen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.
The trademarks Yearling® and Dell® are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.
eISBN: 978-0-307-80004-6
v3.1
For Courtney Haefner, and her friends
Jessica, Amanda, and Shannon
Contents
Cover
Other Yearling Books You Will Enjoy
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
1 Double Good News
2 No-Talent Molly
3 Help Wanted
4 Molly Finds a Talent (Too Late)
5 Pee Wees Onstage
6 Encore! Encore!
7 All Aboard for Minnesota Magic!
8 Scared Stiff
9 A Surprise for Molly
10 Badges for All
CHAPTER
1
Double Good News
“Mrs. Peters,” shouted Rachel Myers, “baby Nick is eating dirt!”
The Pee Wee Scouts were in their leader’s backyard. It was a sunny day and all the Pee Wees except Roger White were playing croquet. Roger was digging up angleworms and putting them in Sonny Stone’s Kool-Aid glass.
“Cut it out,” shouted Sonny, chasing Roger with his croquet mallet.
“Nick is going to get tapeworm disease,” said Mary Beth Kelly, who was Molly Duff’s best friend. “My mom says you get tapeworms from eating dirt. Or playing in a dirty sandbox.”
“Then if Sonny drinks his Kool-Aid, he’ll get it too,” said Molly. “Angleworms live in dirt.”
Mrs. Peters ran over to Nick and brushed him off. She wiped the dirt off his face with a Handi Wipe. Then she set him in his stroller, where he couldn’t reach dirt.
Mrs. Stone, who was assistant troop leader, shook her finger at Roger and dumped out the glass with the worms.
Mrs. Peters clapped her hands. “It’s time for our snack now,” she said. “And then I have big news. News all of you will like!”
The Pee Wees hurried to pull up the croquet wickets and gather the mallets and balls. They liked snack time. And they liked good news.
“I hope this really is good news,” said Tracy Barnes. “Sometimes Mrs. Peters thinks stuff is good news, but it’s boring.”
Tracy was right, thought Molly. Mrs. Peters often didn’t know what was good news and what was bad news. Like the time she told them about earning a badge for writing to pen pals. Even though it had turned out all right, writing was too much like school to be fun.
“That library badge was a downer,” said Tim Noon.
“It was not,” said Kevin Moe, who liked to read. “Besides, you learned to read better when Molly helped you with words you didn’t know.”
“If it’s a badge, I hope it’s one where we go on a trip,” said Patty Baker. She had a twin brother named Kenny.
“That last badge was fun!” said Jody George, remembering the trip to Center City, to the museum. Jody was Molly’s favorite Pee Wee. He was smart and friendly, and he used a wheelchair.
In Center City the Pee Wees had played detective and identified the wrong man in their hotel as a criminal. It was embarrassing, but the train ride and hotel were lots of fun.
“Let’s have our snack on the back deck today,” said Mrs. Peters.
The Pee Wees sat at the picnic table. Mrs. Stone came out of the kitchen with glasses of cold milk and a big plate of cupcakes. Roger grabbed the biggest one and stuffed it into his mouth in two bites.
Ashley rolled her eyes. “He’s disgusting,” she said. “People in California have better manners than people in Minnesota.” Ashley was Kenny and Patty’s cousin from California. She was a temporary Pee Wee Scout.
Molly felt cross with Ashley. Just because Roger was rude didn’t mean everyone in the state was. She was sure that people in California did rude things too. Her dad said they were fast drivers.
“Now for our good news,” said Mrs. Peters, tying a bib around Nick’s neck. “Actually it’s double good news, and here is what it is.”
CHAPTER
2
No-Talent Molly
“Is it a new badge?” asked Lisa Ronning. “Is that the good news?”
“It’s part of it,” said Mrs. Peters mysteriously.
The Pee Wees clapped and whistled and shouted. They all loved badges. They had lots of them. But they couldn’t have too many, thought Molly. A badge was shiny and bright and colorful. It stood for something the Pee Wees had done together to have fun and help someone.
“Before I tell you what it is,” said their leader, “I have to tell you the other part of the news. I think you all heard about the new amusement park that just opened outside of town. It’s called Minnesota Magic.”
The Pee Wees cheered again. Mr. Duff had told Molly it was one of the biggest parks in the state. There were lots and lots of rides.
Rachel was waving her hand impatiently.
“Mrs. Peters! Mrs. Peters! I was there already. I went with my aunt.”
Mary Beth groaned. “It figures,” she said. “She goes to everything before anyone else.”
“Well I thought it would be a nice trip for Troop Twenty-three,” continued Mrs. Peters. “We could go and come back in one day, and ride on the rides, and have our lunch, and take in all the sights. They say the roller coaster is as high as the sky.”
The Pee Wees really cheered now.
“It can’t really be that high,” said Kevin. “They just say that to get people to ride on it.”
“It’s high,” said Rachel. “My aunt said it was too high for us to go on. We went on the Ferris wheel instead.”
“It might not touch the sky,” said Mrs. Peters, “but it is high, and it is fun. The park is just right for a day’s outing. There is only one problem—it costs money. Since we just got back from a trip to Center City, we have no money left to use. So I thought we could earn money to go to Minnesota Magic. And while we’re earning money, we can be earning our new badge at the same time!”
This time the
Pee Wees didn’t cheer. They waited to see if there was a catch. The park sounded fine, but what did their leader have in mind to earn money? And how could they earn money and a badge at the same time?
“We aren’t selling doughnuts again, are we?” asked Tracy. “The powdered sugar makes me sneeze.” Tracy had allergies.
“Is it a rummage sale?” asked Tim. “My mom says she has no more old stuff to donate.”
“It’s not rummage or doughnuts,” said Mrs. Peters. “It’s a talent show! I thought each Pee Wee could use his or her own talent to entertain others. We’d have a show and charge admission. We could all get a badge for doing what we do best, and the money from the audience will pay for the trip to the amusement park.”
Molly felt her arms get covered with goose bumps. She hated the word talent. Every time it came up it reminded her that she had no talent.
Rachel waved her hand and shouted, “Mrs. Peters, I have a problem.”
Can it be that Rachel has no talent either? thought Molly.
“My problem is that I have so many talents I don’t know which one to use,” Rachel said.
The Pee Wees groaned.
“I could tap dance or do ballet, or I could sing or play the piano or the violin—how can I make up my mind which?”
Rachel looks more upset than she would if she had no talent, thought Molly.
“Big deal,” muttered Tracy. “That doesn’t sound like a problem to me.”
“I’ll leave that up to you,” their leader said to Rachel. “I think there is plenty of talent in this group for each of you to entertain us for ten minutes. And there will be a wonderful reward at the end! A badge and a trip to the amusement park!”
Mrs. Peters held up a big calendar and circled one of the days in red.
“A Sunday would be a good day for the show,” she said. “If we plan for the twenty-eighth of the month, it will give us plenty of time to choose what to do, and practice and perfect our acts. Then we’ll put on the show at the elementary school.”
All the Pee Wees began to talk at once.
“I’m glad I’ve been taking guitar lessons,” said Jody. “I’m not very good, but I can play the same song I played in the recital.”
“I’ve got a million talents,” said Roger. “But my ventriloquist act will bring the house down. I don’t even move my lips. It looks just like the dummy is talking.”
“The dummy is talking,” said Mary Beth to Molly. Roger heard her and threw a paper plate at her. Mary Beth ducked and it hit baby Nick, who began to cry. Mrs. Peters took Roger aside and spoke to him.
It seemed to Molly that everyone had a talent. Even Tim talked about showing everyone how to make tree ornaments out of old lightbulbs.
Molly didn’t want everyone to know she had no talent. So after the meeting, she whispered it to Mrs. Peters.
“Don’t worry, Molly,” said their leader, “everyone has something they can do well. It can be any little thing. It doesn’t have to be professional. You can just sing a little song or recite a poem.”
But Molly couldn’t carry a tune. Her dad always teased her about singing off-key. It was one thing to sing off-key at a birthday party, but another thing to sing off-key on a big stage when people were actually paying money to hear her sing! No, singing was not a possibility.
And reciting a poem was for someone who had absolutely no real talent. Well, that’s me, thought Molly, but I don’t want to advertise it.
On the way home, everyone talked about their talents. Everyone except Molly.
“I’m going to do magic tricks,” said Sonny. “I can pull a rabbit out of a hat and get out of handcuffs in five minutes. I can do some card tricks too.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” said Lisa, rolling her eyes at Sonny. “Magic stuff takes years to learn.”
“It didn’t take me years,” said Sonny.
Rat’s knees, thought Molly, kicking a rock along the sidewalk. Even Sonny had a talent. Other people took lessons. Why didn’t she? Her mother often suggested she learn to play the piano. And when the new ballet studio opened in town, her dad had said Molly would look fine in a tutu. Molly should have listened to them. Now she was left out again. Everyone had thought ahead to this day when talent would be called upon to earn a badge. Except Molly.
And now it was too late.
CHAPTER
3
Help Wanted
All week Molly looked for her talent. One by one, all the other Pee Wees decided what to do. Sonny practiced pulling scarves out of sleeves and tried to get a rabbit to come out of a hat.
Roger practiced talking without moving his lips.
Jody sat in his wheelchair and strummed his guitar whenever the Pee Wees got together.
Tim collected burned-out lightbulbs, and Lisa had decided to do Japanese paper folding.
“My uncle lived in Japan,” she said. “He showed me how.”
Why didn’t one of Molly’s relatives live in Japan? Her relatives lived in Minnesota. Who could learn paper folding in Minnesota?
At the next Pee Wee meeting Mrs. Peters asked to hear the talent show plans. Everyone talked at once. Everyone except Molly.
“Kenny and Ashley and I are going to do a dance together,” said Patty. “It’s a sailor’s hornpipe, and we even have costumes.”
“I can’t wait to see it!” said Mrs. Peters.
Molly was hoping Mary Beth would ask her to be in an act with her, since they were best friends. But Mary Beth didn’t mention her plans, and Molly didn’t want to ask.
Mrs. Peters had a pile of flyers to hand out. “Each of you take ten of these and pass them out to your relatives and friends,” she said. “We want as many as possible to attend.”
“My mom is going to put one up in her office,” said Tracy.
“I think we should hang one in the drugstore and one in the bank,” said Kevin, who had a businesslike mind.
“That’s a good idea,” said their leader.
Molly hoped no one she knew would see the flyer and come. They’d come to see her talent, and instead they’d see her do nothing. Zero. Zilch.
“I’m going to show everyone how to do different hairstyles,” said Tracy. “My mom says I have a talent for working with hair.”
Hair didn’t sound like much of a talent to Molly, but it was surely better than no talent.
After the Pee Wees sang their song and said their pledge, Molly saw Roger walk up to Mrs. Peters’s bulletin board and tack up a piece of paper. The writing was large. It said HELP WANTED. VENTRILOQUIST NEEDS A DUMMY. MUST SIT ON KNEE AND MOVE MOUTH. CALL ROGER WHITE.
Molly poked Mary Beth. “Look,” she said. “Roger wants someone to be his dummy!”
“Who would do it?” said Mary Beth. “No one will answer that ad! But if they do, then they really are a dummy.”
When Tracy saw Roger’s note on the bulletin board, she scribbled something on a piece of paper and put it up beside his.
HELP WANTED, it Said. HAIRSTYLIST NEEDS SOMEONE’S HAIR TO FIX. CAN’T HAVE STAGE FRIGHT. CALL TRACY BARNES.
When Roger read this, he got up and added something to his note. He added, DUMMY MUST NOT HAVE STAGE FRIGHT.
“I hate people fixing my hair,” said Ashley. “Who would want those jobs? No one’s going to apply.”
Just then Sonny got up and ripped Roger’s note down and said, “I’ll take this job. How much does it pay?”
“It doesn’t pay, dummy,” said Roger. “You get to be onstage twice, that’s your pay. Anyway, I have to interview all the guys that apply and then I decide.”
“I wonder if I should take Tracy’s job,” said Mary Beth. “I like to get my hair fixed new ways.”
Molly was thinking the same thing. It wouldn’t be the same as a talent of her own. But it would be a way of being on-stage. And maybe if she took both jobs, no one would notice that she had no talent!
“I’ll take the job!” shouted Molly. “Both jobs!”
Everyone stared a
t Molly. This was the mark of a desperate Pee Wee! No one who could do anything on their own would do this. No one with an ounce of talent would sit on Roger’s lap.
“You’ll have to take a test,” said Roger to Molly. “You and Sonny. To see who can move their mouth the best.”
“I don’t want a job that doesn’t pay anything,” said Sonny in disgust.
“I guess the job is yours,” grumbled Roger to Molly. “I hope you can move your mouth fast and you aren’t too heavy. I don’t want my knee to get sore.”
“You don’t have to take a test for my job,” said Tracy kindly. “I’ll fix your hair in some great new way.” Tracy looked at Molly’s hair. She frowned. “Your hair is kind of wiry, isn’t it?” she said. “I may have to use some mousse on it. That’s what my aunt does.”
Molly wasn’t sure she wanted mousse on her hair. And she knew she didn’t want to sit on Roger’s lap. What had she got herself into?
CHAPTER
4
Molly Finds a
Talent (Too Late)
On the way home Mary Beth said, “I can’t believe you’re Roger’s dummy!”
“I can’t either,” said Molly. “But I have no talent of my own!”
Mary Beth stared at her best friend. “You have lots of talent,” she said.
“Name one thing,” said Molly.
Mary Beth thought. “You make good lists,” she said. “You’re really good at planning things.”
“Pooh,” said Molly. “That’s no talent. I can’t stand on the stage and plan things.”
“Well, it’s writing talent,” said Mary Beth. “You can make up rhymes and stories just like that!” Mary Beth snapped her fingers.
Mary Beth was right. Molly did like to write. Lists were only one of the things she wrote well.
“You could write a funny rhyme and read it,” said Mary Beth.
“It’s too late. I told Roger and Tracy I’d help them,” said Molly. “I have to do it.”
“Tell them you changed your mind,” said Mary Beth.