Found (8 page)

“In the checkout line at the grocery store.” She stood, glancing at the clock that hung over the double doors. “Come on, Katy. The kids are coming in.”

“We have a minute.” She rose and held her notepad to her side. “‘Cause here’s what I’m thinking. If Dayne and Kelly are having a baby and if they’re back together, then how come there’s nothing in the magazines?”

“Katy, let it go.” Rhonda stopped and looked at her.

“And how come they keep showing pictures of Kelly with Hawk Daniels?”

The concern in Rhonda’s eyes bordered on worry. “It doesn’t matter. You know the truth.”

Katy looked down at her low-heeled shoes. Rhonda was right, but why’d it still have to hurt so badly a month after she’d returned from LA? Hadn’t she convinced herself a year ago that nothing could ever come of her friendship with Dayne Matthews? Of course he was going to be a father, and why not? He and Kelly Parker had lived together after all. If Dayne could have asked Kelly to move in with him, then he never could’ve been interested in some drama instructor from Bloomington, anyway.

She could hear the kids in the sanctuary, hear them singing and squealing and talking at once as they waited for her. Al and Nancy were warming up on the piano, and the excitement was something she could feel even a room away. She looked at Rhonda. “It’s so hard.”

“I know.” Rhonda came closer and gave her a hug. “We can talk about it later, okay?”

56

“I have to wait until Robin Hoods finished, remember?”

“Silly.” Rhonda took a few steps toward the door. Her eyes held a special knowing sort of compassion. “Rules like that are made to be broken. I’m here whenever you need to talk.”

“Thanks.” Katy fell in beside her. “We’re painting sets tonight. Maybe we can talk then.”

“With Ashley here?” Rhonda sounded doubtful. “You don’t mind talking about this around her?”

“Not really. She already knows about Dayne and me.” Katy gave Rhonda a crooked grin. “He even gave Ashley a ride home one night after Annie practice.”

“What?” Rhonda’s voice was suddenly twice as loud. “You should’ve invited him back when I was here.”

“I know. I know.” Katy pointed toward the roar of kids in the sanctuary. “Let’s go. We can’t be late.”

“Fine.” Rhonda giggled as they ran through the doors and into the other room. “I know where I stand.”

They needed to finish two scenes today-the archery contest and the sword fight.

Katy took her spot at the front of the kids and studied the faces of the fifty-three kids cast in the show. God, I need to be at my best today. Please help me stay focused.

For the first time that afternoon, Katy couldn’t feel herself standing in a parking lot at Malibu Beach with Dayne Matthews’ arms around her. Instead her mind filled with all they had to accomplish in the next few hours. She did the special CKT clap, and around the room the kids stopped talking as they clapped out the beat in return.

“Okay, you’ve all read the rehearsal schedule.”

In the middle of the room, Bailey Flanigas-and her brother Connor were among the first to nod. They were the kids from the family Katy lived with, and though she was careful not to show favoritism, she loved them dearly. They were like family to her, and they were also some of the best behaved and most talented members of the cast.

57

Katy paced in front of the group, looking into the eyes of each boy and girl she passed. “We have to be at the top of our game today, guys.” The words were for her as much as for them. “The fight scene and the archery contest, both in one practice.”

She gave directions to the various groups and released them to their assigned places. The sword fighters would take the fellowship hall, where Rhonda would try and complete choreography for a scene that would need to look intense while still somehow safe.

“The key,” Rhonda told them before they headed into the next room, “is to treat it like a dance. That way no one will get hurt.”

Katy was in charge of the archery contest. The scene would have Kaspar challenge Robin Hood to a competition to win a golden arrow and a kiss from Maid Marian.

The main characters would stand upstage on the left side, shooting their arrows across diagonally to the hand-painted target backstage on the right side.

The magic would happen this way. The actors would only pretend to shoot arrows.

Instead, they’d grab hold of a thick black-painted rubber tubing attached to the bow. When they drew back, the tubing would take on the appearance of an arrow.

Because the actors would look at the target as they released the bow, the audience had the very realistic sensation that an arrow had actually flown across the stage.

Meanwhile, stationed behind the oversized target was a crew member who would quickly pop an arrow out from a predetermined spot behind the target. The black circles on the target were netting, so the boy had a clear view of when Robin Hood released his supposed arrow. If the timing was right on, the eyes of everyone in the audience would be tricked to believe that an arrow had not only been released but that it had landed sharply somewhere near the center of the target.

From the beginning the scene had serious trouble.

Bryan Smythe, a teenager with one of the best voices in CKT, was Robin. He was first to shoot, and he pretended to be lost in 58

the intensity of the moment as he drew back what looked like an arrow. Only as he released it, the target remained completely void of any sign of an arrow.

After eight or nine seconds of silence, the crew member stood up and scratched his head. “Which arrow goes first, the center one or the ones off center?”

“Robin Hood wins the contest.” Katy sprinted up the stage steps and hurried to the place behind the target. She took a pen from her pocket and numbered the arrows. “There.” She smiled at the crew member. “That’ll make it easier.”

She returned to her place in the aisle. “Let’s try it again.”

Bryan lined up, made a keen eye toward the target, and pulled back his rubber tubing. But before he even made a move to release it, an arrow proudly appeared near the bull’s-eye. Bryan let his bow fall to his side. He looked at Katy and shrugged.

“Wow …” Katy jogged up the stairs again. “Robin’s better than we thought.”

A round of chuckles came from the older kids positioned around the stage, the ones playing townspeople in the scene.

Bryan grinned at them and took a bow.

Katy moved behind the target and came face-to-face with the boy responsible for the special effect. “Okay, now listen.” She took hold of his shoulders. “Timing here is everything. You can see Bryan, right? Through the netting?”

The boy’s face was red. “Actually I can only see his knees.” He scratched his neck. “I have to sort of guess when he releases the bow.”

Katy put her hands on her hips. There had to be a solution. They couldn’t have arrows disappearing across*he stage, and it wouldn’t work to have arrows appearing long before the archer released his bow. She looked at Al and Nancy Helmes, and in a flash an idea came to her.

She snapped her fingers and headed in their direction. “Can you play some sort of edge-of-your-seat-type music? You know, 59

just as Robin Hood and Kaspar are loading their bows and pulling back?”

“Of course.” Al grinned at her and rattled off a series of piano notes that was perfect for the moment.

Nancy was sitting beside him on the piano bench. “When they release their bows, Al can play a dissonant chord.” She nudged him. “Go ahead.”

“Something like this?” Al played a chord that somehow sounded like an arrow whizzing through the air.

“Perfect!” Katy raised her fist in the air. This was the part she loved, watching theater magic come to life. The victory wasn’t enough to release her heart of the weight it carried, but she welcomed the distraction. She pointed at the crew member. “Understand what we’re doing?”

The boy nodded. “Mr. Helmes plays the buildup music, and then he hits that chord. When he hits it-“

“You pop the arrow through.” Katy clapped. “It’ll work for sure.”

They ran through the scene a few times before the timing was right, but it was the fix she’d been looking for.

After an hour of working the lines and getting the blocking down for the entire scene, Katy was satisfied. She had someone send for Rhonda. “We need to see the sword fight.”

This was the scene that worried Katy the most. The swords weren’t real, of course. They were cut from wood and painted to look like swords. But they were heavy wooden clubs all the same. If the choreography wasn’t right on, boys would be lunging and missing and hitting air, perhaps falling to the stage and landing on their swords, or worse-getting a direct blow from one of the other sword fighters.

The boys filed in, Connor Flanigan among them.

Katy smiled to herself at the picture they made as they took the stage. Each with a sword in his hand, the boys looked like 60

proud, young warriors. The scene would be breathtaking if they could pull it off without injury.

When the clanking of swords had settled down, Katy addressed them. “This will be the part in the play that people talk about an hour after they’ve seen the show.” She kept her tone serious. As much fun as it was to swing a sword at another cast mate, the kids had to realize the potential danger in the scene.

“We have to be safe. But if we get this part right, we get the entire show right.”

The boys looked even prouder than before.

Katy stifled a grin as she looked them over. “Okay, let’s see what you’ve got.”

The fighting was between Robin Hood’s men and the men who belonged with the sheriff of Nottingham. When the show was performed, half the boys would be dressed like merry men, in raggedy forest-type costumes. The other half would be in regal attire. The boys knew which were which, and they formed twelve pairs, facing and circling each other with an intensity that was already ominous.

“Good!” Katy stood back and crossed her arms. “I like the emotion.”

“Ready?” Rhonda took the spot on the floor near center stage. “Five, six, seven, eight! One, two, three, four …” She kept counting as the boys launched into a routine of raising their swords and clanging them against the ones belonging to their opponents, first one way, then another.

Not until the third set of eight counts did three boys move their swords the wrong way. As they did, their face-off partners each brought swords down squarely against the Srms of the boys who had messed up.

One boy fell to the floor and grabbed his arm, his face twisted in pain. Another one bent in half and hugged his arm to his middle. The third stood, frowning, and brushed himself off.

“Oh, dear.” Katy rushed onto the stage. She looked over her 61

shoulder at Rhonda, a few steps behind her. “You told them not to go full force, right?”

“Right.” Rhonda went to the boy on the floor and helped him to his feet. By then the other two were already looking ready to try again. “Everyone okay?”

A round of nods came from the boys.

“All right, listen.” Katy raised her voice so they could all hear her. “We have to remember this is acting, not fighting.”

Rhonda exchanged a look with Katy. They had to bite their lips to keep from smiling. “Did everyone hear Katy?” Rhonda took the sword from the nearest boy.

“When you swing your sword, you have to look like you’re swinging it with all your might.” She demonstrated by making a face. “But if you really swing that hard and if someone’s out of place-” she gestured to the boys who’d been hit-“someone’s going to get hurt.”

Katy raised her brow. “Everyone got that?”

The group nodded again.

“Okay, follow Rhonda.” Katy descended the stairs and took her place to the side.

Rhonda did the same, staying in the middle so she could direct. “Take your places.”

Rhonda slowed her count the next time, while Al and Nancy Helmes moved the townspeople into the lobby to finish the opening musical number.

By the time the parents began arriving, Katy was ready to declare her sword-fight scene an abysmal mistake. They had five broken swords, one bloody gash on the lower calf of a ten-year- old boy, and one bruised forehead.

When all the kids had been picked up and the last sword injury had been detailed and discussed with each parent, Katy flopped into a folding chair and stared at the ceiling.

“All right, then.” A few feet away, Rhonda leaned against the nearest wall and laughed. “Any other bright ideas?”

62

Katy sat up. “Helmets.” She jabbed her pointer finger at the air above her head.

“Plastic swords and helmets.”

The door at the back of the room opened, and a very pregnant Ashley Baxter Blake walked in. She had her hand on a cart full of paint cans and supplies. “Landon says 1 can’t carry heavy boxes anymore.” She placed her hand on her abdomen and grinned. “Dr. Baxter agrees. But that’s because he’s my dad.”

Katy and Rhonda went to meet Ashley, and the trio crossed the hall. They were using the lobby to paint sets tonight.

When they reached their work spot, Katy gave Ashley a wary look. “You really think that baby’s staying in there until April?”

“I know. I’m huge.” Ashley stopped and pressed her fist to her lower back. “It was this way with Cole too. I look like I’m carrying triplets.”

“Yeah, but you’re one of those girls who doesn’t look pregnant anywhere else.”

Rhonda patted her thighs. “I doubt I’ll be that lucky when it’s my turn.”

The group laughed, but a bit of sadness pierced Katy’s heart. When would it be time for either her or Rhonda to have children? When would God bring men into their lives who fit the bill of all they were praying for in a husband? Dayne’s face filled her mind. Kelly Parker would soon look like Ashley-bursting with life and love and glowing from all her body was going through. And Dayne would be right there beside her.

“Be right back.” Rhonda headed for one of the prop-committee dads. “Hey, could you please help me get the backdrop in from Ashley’s car … ?”

Katy felt the sting of tears. She wasn’t ready for this. Just being near Ashley made her feel lonely and left out. As if her time for love and new life might never come. She set the paint cans on one of the tables.