This Place Has No Atmosphere (14 page)

“B
reak a leg!” Tolin sticks his head into the green room and smiles at the cast before going back to the prop room.

“How come he said that?” Karlena asks. “I thought he liked us.”

“It’s an old theater tradition,” I tell her.

“Break an ankle!” Someone yells out.

“A fingernail!”

“A toenail!”

“An armpit!”

“A pimple!”

“That’s gross!”

“Break a gross!”

The cast is definitely getting hysterical.

The play begins in less than an hour.

It’s our first performance.

Tomorrow we do a matinee, so that the little kids can see it without staying up too late, and then we have a final performance tomorrow night. That way, everyone on the moon who wants to can see the play.

I look around the room.

Tucker and Starr are going over their lines again and again.

She’s biting her fingernails so much that soon she’ll have to start on Tucker’s fingernails.

Karlena is looking very nervous, taking in little gulps of air.

Kael brings her a glass of water, and then they kiss for a very long time.

I’m surprised that she can breathe at all after that.

Watching them makes me feel lonely.

People are pacing around the room.

I sit in my chair, trying to be calm and centered.

It’s not easy.

Vern walks in and says, “There are eighty billion people out there.”

Either he’s exaggerating or a lot of aliens from other planets have just rocketed in for their first Off-Off-Off-Off-Off-Off-Off-Broadway play.

Hal comes over and kneels down in front of me. “Do you want company or do you want to be alone? Since I’m already in this position, would you like me to propose to you?”

I look at him. “Just hold my hand for a minute.”

He does, and it helps calm me down.

“Thanks.” I smile at him. “And how are you doing?”

“Fine, since I don’t have to act. Aurora, about the cast party tomorrow night: I know we’ll both be there, but do you want to go as my date?”

I think about it for a minute.

He starts to joke. “If you don’t want to go as my date, you can go as my fig . . . or as my raisin. I mean, after the play you won’t be Mrs. Gibbs anymore, so going out with me wouldn’t be bigamy or whatever it’s called.” He’s definitely not in practice asking for
a date. “Or we could go separately. Listen, maybe this wasn’t the right time to ask you.”

I look at him and smile. “Yes. I’d love to be your date. It gives me a raisin to really look forward to the cast party. Then the thought of having a great time won’t be a
figment
of my imagination.”

He groans at my puns and grins at the same time.

Mr. Wilcox arrives. “Please. Everyone out but my actors.”

Hal kisses my cheek. “See you later.”

Everyone but the cast leaves, and Mr. Wilcox looks at us. “All right. In just a few minutes, you’ll be having a great time.”

“Why? Did someone call off the play?” Tucker asks.

There’s nervous laughter.

Mr. Wilcox says softly, “You’ve done the hardest work already. Now I want you to take a deep breath and get into character.”

Inhaling deeply, I try to get centered.

I become Mrs. Gibbs. I think about waiting for my husband, Dr. Gibbs, who has gone out to deliver a baby. I think about having to wake my two kids up soon and about preparing breakfast for everyone.

I think about being in 1901, not 2057.

“Take your places,” Mr. Wilcox calls out. “And don’t look at the audience.”

We take our places.

I try not to look at the audience.

Our Town
begins.

T
he audience applauds like crazy for the second night in a row. We are a hit! There are six curtain calls. Everyone thinks we’re great.

Mr. Wilcox was right, even though I hate to admit it. Mrs. Gibbs was the right part for me.

After the last curtain call, Kael steps forward to speak for the cast and crew. “We want to thank Mr. Wilcox and April Brown for all their help in putting this play on and want to give them a token of our appreciation.”

Hal comes on stage, carrying a director’s chair with Mr. Wilcox’s name printed on it in moon-day-glow colors.

Starr hands April a neon necklace with a silvery moon part and a red sparkling heart.

Everyone in the cast and crew chipped in. We had the presents sent up on the space shuttle.

April looks happy and says, “Thanks. This has really been one of the best experiences of my life.”

The audience applauds and cheers April, and Tolin whistles loudly.

It’s Mr. Wilcox’s turn next.

He talks about how proud he is of everyone. Then he says, “I want to take this opportunity to especially thank the two young people who had the idea, got the funds, and have worked very hard in different areas to make this production a success. Let’s have a special hand for Hal Brenner and Aurora Williams.”

Hal and I look at each other.

He takes my hand in his and says, “This really is a very special hand.”

We step forward and there’s a lot of applause.

I’m so happy and proud.

Mr. Wilcox says, “I’m probably crazy to let myself in for all this work again, but I can’t let the director’s
chair go to waste. So let’s start an official acting company and put on more productions.”

The crowd goes wild.

So do the cast and crew. We hug and kiss each other as the audience begins to leave.

Then it’s all over. All those months of work, and in two days it’s over.

I feel a little empty.

“Cast party,” Mr. Wilcox calls out. “Strike the set. Get out of costume and be in the rec room in twenty minutes.”

We take the set down and apart. Soon there is no more Grover’s Corners and
Our Town
. It’s back to the twenty-first century and “Our Moon.”

Heading to the costume room, Karlena and I smile at each other.

“You were great,” I say, meaning it.

“You too.” She hugs me. “Thanks for all the help. I’m so glad that we’ve become friends.”

“Me too.” If I were back on earth, I think that I’d be homesick for her and the other kids on the moon. I wish that it was the future and that someone had invented a way to be in two places at the same time.

Starr comes running up. “Firstly, I want to know
when we begin the next play, and twoly, I want to know if you think I’m good enough to get a part in it.”

“I don’t know when we start, but I do know that you’re getting better. It’ll just depend on what the play is,” I tell her. “And Starr,
twoly
is not a word and I’m not sure that
firstly
is either.”

“Now it is,” she says, and begins to sing “I love you twoly.”

Being in the play has definitely gone to Starr’s brain.

We go to the costume room and change.

Emily Doowinkle recites:

I wish we’d taken up a collection to send her to poetry school.

When I go back to the stage area, Mr. Wilcox and Hal are talking.

As I join them, Hal hands me a rose.

“Thanks,” I say. “I bet this cost you a whole month’s allowance.”

He shakes his head. “I promised Mr. Conway I would help him to fertilize the greenhouse.”

I cross my eyes and ask, “How?”

He grins. “We’re using
chemical
fertilizers, silly.”

Mr. Wilcox changes the subject. “Aurora, before the cast party starts, I want you to know that I think that you’ve grown tremendously, and not just as an actress.”

“Thanks,” I say softly, knowing what he means.

He continues. “You’ve also done a great job at school with the Eaglettes. They really love you.”

“I love them too.” I smile.

“That makes me want to be an Eaglette again,” Hal says.

“All this praise makes me sound like a Goody Two-shoes,” I tell them.

Both of them say, “NO!”

Mr. Wilcox says, “Maybe when you stop mentioning earth every five minutes.”

“She used to say it every three minutes, so she’s improving,” Hal says. “What drives me nuts is hearing the name Matthew uttered constantly.”

I ask, “What if I say ‘ER THanks for the compliment, but I need assistance with MATH. YOU will help me, won’t you?’ Is that allowed?”

“She said MATH YOU again.” Hal slaps his hand on his forehead.

Mr. Wilcox shakes his head. “And ER THe. I guess she’s not quite turned into Ms. Two-shoes yet.”

Mr. Wilcox leaves us and Hal touches my hair. I kiss him on the cheek.

“I thought this was a date,” he says.

I kiss him on the lips.

“That’s more like it,” he says, when we stop to breathe.

We kiss again.

“Aurora.” It’s my father’s voice.

Hal and I jump apart.

Both of our faces are the color of my rose.

My parents and his are standing there.

How embarrassing, but what fun.

My mother smiles. “I’m very proud of you.”

“Me too,” my father says.

“We are too,” the Brenners agree. “You were terrific, both of you.”

Hal laughs. “Did you notice that the chairs were always in the right place? My job.”

His father says, “I also noticed all the nights that you were up late working on the play.”

Hal looks pleased.

“We have to go to the cast party,” Hal reminds them.

We say good-bye to our parents and leave.

As Hal and I walk along, I think about how things have changed since I came to the moon. I know I’m going to have to make some important decisions soon.

But not tonight.

Tonight’s a celebration.