Authors: Bonnie Bryant
Carole (17 page)
The Willow Creek Gazette
THEATER REVIEW
A
NNIE
A
SINGING
SUCCESS
!
The Willow Creek Community Theater has done it again! After the warm reception to last season’s
My Fair Lady
, they have returned stronger than ever with their latest production,
Annie
. Held as usual in the high school auditorium, the musical drew a full house every night of its two-weekend run, and the audiences seemed to feel that they were getting their money’s worth.
“I love all their shows,” gushed local painter and theater fan Reginald Jarvis. “But this was one of the best.”
This reviewer has to agree with Mr. Jarvis. The direction, by WCCT veteran Ellen Spitz, was brisk and well paced. Newcomer Lisa Atwood, a student at Willow Creek Junior High, won the role as Little Orphan Annie. She displayed a strong, flexible singing voice and a natural command of the part, making the young heroine come to life for the audience. George Ryan’s portrayal of Daddy Warbucks was also particularly strong, which will surprise no one who witnessed his fine performance in the lead role of
The King and I
several years back. Other standouts in the cast included Margaret French as Miss Hannigan and Hollie Bright as the head of the orphan chorus.
Congratulations to the whole cast and crew for a job well done!
THE FENTON HALL SENTINEL
THEATER REVIEW
LOOK OUT, BROADWAY—LISA ATWOOD SHINES IN STARRING ROLE!
By Stevie Lake
Those of us who attended the Willow Creek Community Theater’s production of
Annie
last weekend were treated to a wonderful show. More importantly, we also witnessed the birth of a star—the most talented, most wonderful star ever to grace the stage in this town, or maybe anywhere! Miss Lisa Atwood, perhaps the finest actress ever to memorize a line, gave an earth-shatteringly brilliant performance in the lead role. Even though she had never acted onstage before (except for a few elementary-school pageants and stuff like that), Miss Atwood seemed born to bring Little Orphan Annie to life. Her voice was sweeter than the singing of angels, and her dancing was so graceful that it was hard to believe if you didn’t know that she’s also a terrific horseback rider, which helps your balance a lot. Anyway, watching her play Annie was truly amazing.
At the few moments when it was possible to tear my eyes away from Miss Atwood’s spellbinding performance, this reviewer also noticed that Miss Hollie Bright was also very good as the head orphan. Most of the other actors were fine, too, which had the effect of making the play’s wonderful star seem even better.
I just stuck those two newspaper articles in here, even though they aren’t about riding, because I wanted to make sure I didn’t lose them. I meant to paste in that blurb they printed in the
Gazette
about how well our team did at the dressage rally, too, but I think Snowball must have eaten it or something because I can’t find it anywhere. Oh well. Anyway, I definitely always want to remember how great Lisa was in her play, and I figured a couple of glowing reviews would help remind me—especially Stevie’s. Actually, hers is really only a first draft of the review she wrote for her school paper. When she turned it in, for some strange reason, the editor insisted that she rewrite it so it focused just a
tad
less on Lisa. Ha ha! But I decided I liked her first draft better, so I asked her if I could keep it.
Speaking of Stevie, she’s all excited about this new horse that’s staying temporarily in Phil’s family’s stable. Stevie got to ride her when she went over there for dinner. The horse is a light bay mare, part Arabian and part Saddlebred. She has four white socks, an upside-down exclamation point on her face, and, according to Stevie, a real sense of humor. The horse actually started dancing in place when Stevie and Phil were about to kiss! The only problem is, the mare has allergies—she broke out in hives during Stevie’s ride. Nobody seems to know what she’s allergic to, though, not even Judy Barker. But Stevie wants to try to figure it out. The horse doesn’t have a name as far as anyone knows (she’s part of a bulk lot that Phil’s riding instructor, Mr. Baker, just bought), so Stevie started calling her No-Name. Sounds like a typical Stevie idea!
By the way, Lisa’s friend Hollie from the play came riding with us today. She seems really nice. She used to take riding lessons a few years ago, but she hadn’t gone riding lately, and I think she had a good time. It’s always great to see someone discover—or
re
discover—how wonderful riding is!
| FROM : | | Steviethegreat |
| TO : | | HorseGal |
| TO : | | LAtwood |
| SUBJECT : | | No-Name’s allergies |
| MESSAGE : | | |
I’ve been lying in bed for hours thinking about what could be causing those hives. I really, really, really want to figure it out. It’s not fair that such a great, friendly, happy horse should have to deal with stupid old hives. Since I couldn’t sleep anyway, I figured I’d drop you two a note in case you had any brilliant insights about it in the morning (or whenever you read this).
Okay, so here’s what I’ve thought of to check so far:
food
fly spray
bedding (straw)
saddle soap
paint in stall
Phil (ha ha!)
???
Dear Diary:
I haven’t written in here in a while because I’ve been so busy lately! I’m trying to stick to my plan to help Mom by doing everything I can to make her happy and keep her spirits up. I’m almost dizzy with everything we’ve been doing together lately. Last weekend we went on a picnic in the state park on Saturday, and on Sunday Dad took us out to that nice Italian restaurant Mom loves so much. The week before that, Mom was feeling pretty strong, so we drove into Washington and went to all our favorite museums—the National Air and Space Museum for Dad, the National Gallery of Art for Mom, and for me, of course, the Museum of Natural History. I could tell Mom was kind of tired by the end (she slept the whole way home in the car), but I think she had fun
.
Dear Diary:
Still busy. I’m supposed to be downstairs right now making popcorn
. Casablanca
is on TV tonight, and since that’s one of Mom’s favorites (mine and Dad’s, too), I thought it would be nice for the three of us to watch together. Anyway, I just had to write down what happened this afternoon. We went on a trail ride! That’s right. I actually convinced Mom to climb in the saddle. She rode Patch, and I rode Delilah as usual. We didn’t go very far, since Mom was afraid of getting tired, just to the edge of the woods and back. But I think that still may have been a little too much for her, because she was kind of shaky by the time we dismounted. I was pretty
worried, especially since it was Red’s day off. I knew I had to take care of the horses, but I also knew I should stay with Mom until Dad got there to pick us up. Luckily Stevie happened by just then, on her way out after a trail ride or something. When I explained things to her, she joked about sitting with my mom while I scrubbed tack, but then she just took Patch’s and Delilah’s leads and headed off. I was really grateful—I was hoping she might help me with one of the horses, but instead she insisted on taking care of them both! It was really nice of her to help me out like that
.
Dear Diary:
Casablanca
ended a few minutes ago. Mom was tired afterward, so she went straight to bed. I’m sitting in my room now writing this and trying to be quiet so she can sleep
.
Maybe watching that particular movie wasn’t such a hot idea—the ending always makes us all cry, even Dad. And afterward, when I asked Mom if she’d like to come to Pine Hollow with me tomorrow after school, she just sort of smiled a little and rubbed my back. “Thanks for the offer, sweetie,” she said. “But I think I’ll stay here tomorrow and do a little weeding if the weather’s nice.”
“Okay,” I said quickly. “I can stay and help.” I was thinking that if we got all the weeding done, maybe we could do something fun afterward
.
But Mom shook her head. “You don’t have to do that,” she said. “You can go riding just like you planned. I’m sure your friends at the stable will be glad to see you.”
I started to insist that I like weeding just as much as riding, trying my best to sound like I meant it. But Mom can be stubborn when she wants to be, and she was being stubborn then. For some reason she really, really thinks I should go to Pine Hollow tomorrow without her. And finally Dad stepped in and agreed with her, giving me one of his famous no-nonsense looks to stop me from arguing. So I stopped, and Mom went to bed, and here I am, wondering if maybe my plan isn’t working well enough. I thought Mom was having fun doing all the stuff we’ve been doing lately, like going to museums and on trail rides and all that. But maybe not
.
So maybe I need to try a little harder. I keep thinking about that list I made before of all the important things Mom and I might not get to share: high school graduation, getting my own horse, getting married
.
I know I was just being stupid and silly and worried for no reason. I mean, she keeps telling me that the doctors are really happy with her latest treatments. It’s not as if she’s really going to miss out on any of those things on my list. Still, I can tell Mom feels tired most of the time, and pretty sick sometimes, too. Maybe if something really important were happening, she’d think about that less and feel better. Something important like the stuff on that list. Obviously there’s no way I can graduate from high school in the near future. (With all these extra movie nights and things, I’ll be lucky to make it to junior high! Ha!) And, of course, the horse thing isn’t too likely right now, either. And that’s okay, really. Then there’s the getting married thing—even less likely than the other two, since I’m only—
Wait a minute, though. I just had an idea. Maybe there’s no way I’ll be getting engaged anytime soon. But maybe I could at least find a boyfriend. Seeing my first love is something that would be sure to distract Mom a whole lot—I mean, Dad was just teasing her again tonight, when she was crying during the movie, about how she’s so crazy about sappy love stories
.
I think I may be onto something here! So here’s my new vow: Starting tomorrow, I’m going to go out there and find myself a boyfriend!
Dear Diary:
I figured the best place to find a cool boyfriend was at Pine Hollow. So today I checked out all the possibilities. At first the most likely person seemed to be Adam Levine, this boy from my school who just joined our class last month. He’s a pretty good rider (he took lessons at a different stable before), he’s around my age, and I guess he’s sort of cute
.
Our regular lesson was today, so I figured that would give me a chance to get to know him better. I went over to Tecumseh’s stall while Adam was tacking him up
.
“Hi,” I said. Brilliant, huh?
He looked at me. I’m not sure, but I think he was sort of surprised that I was talking to him. I guess that’s not so strange, since I think it was the first time ever
.
“Hi,” he said back
.
I wasn’t sure what to say next. “Um, so how do you like Tecumseh?”
This time he gave me a really weird look
. “
I wouldn’t marry him or anything,” he said, kind of sarcastically. “Why? Do you want to ride him today or something?”
“Um, no,” I said. Things weren’t going the way I’d planned at all so far. But I wasn’t willing to give up yet. “So what else do you like to do besides riding?”
“Pick my nose,” Adam said, sticking his finger toward my face. “Want to see my collection?” He laughed so hard he started to snort
.
I wrinkled my nose and backed away. That just made him
laugh
harder. He wriggled his finger at me and stepped closer
.
I decided it was time to make my escape and move on. Besides, I was going to be late if I didn’t tack up Delilah soon. I rushed around the corner of the aisle. Luckily
,
Adam couldn’t follow me because of Tecumseh. Otherwise I’m sure he would have chased me all over the stable with his stupid nose-picking finger joke. Who knew he could be so immature?
My next choice was Joe Novick. He’s kind of a goof-off, but a lot of the girls are always talking about how cute he is, so I figured Mom would like him
.
He was out in front of the stable, waiting for his ride, with his friend Roger. I was happy about that, since Roger was next on my list. Actually, he was last on my list, too, since there are only three boys in our riding class right now
.
But I didn’t have much more luck with Joe and Roger than I did with Adam. When I found them, they were in the middle of some kind of martial arts battle. At least that’s
what they called it. To me, it looked more like they were just running around in circles, trying to kick each other in the knee
.
“Hi, you guys!” I said brightly, raising my voice so they could hear me over their own yells
.
They stopped in mid-kick and looked over at me. “What do you want?” Roger asked
.
I shrugged. “Nothing. I just came over to say hi.” I was starting to wish I’d paid a little more attention to the love scenes in all those old romantic movies Mom likes. What did the women in them say to get the men to like them? All I could remember was that they usually either gave the men compliments or insulted them. Both methods always seemed to make Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart or whoever fall madly in love sooner or later. “Um, I like those shirts you guys are wearing,” I said uncertainly. “But you look ridiculous kicking each other like that.”
“Oh yeah?” Joe said, smirking at me. “Well, you look ridiculous
all
the time.”
Gritting my teeth, I thought of Mom and how happy she would be if I brought home a cute boy like Joe. “That’s not very nice,” I told him. “I just gave you a compliment. Didn’t you hear what I said about your shirt?”
“Carole and Joe, sittin’ in a tree …,” Roger sang out
.
Joe turned and punched him in the shoulder. “Shut up, jerkface. There’s no way I like Carole. She smells like a horse.”
“You do too like her, lamebrain,” Roger said, punching him back. “You
love
her!”
“Do not,” Joe insisted, punching him harder
. “You
love her, you weenie.”
“Do
not
!” Roger tackled Joe, pinning him to the ground. “Take it back, and admit you’re the one who wants to marry her.”
I sighed and turned away as the two of them started to scuffle in the dirt. So much for my brilliant plan to find true love in my riding class. All the boys I know are way too immature to take me seriously. So I guess there’s only one solution. I just have to figure out where to meet some older men!
I’m not giving up on this. I know that when Mom finds out I have a boyfriend, she’ll be so happy that she’ll have to get better
.
