FIVE

The first day of Wizard of Oz rehearsal we were given a schedule.

We’ll be practicing Monday through Friday in the afternoons at two p.m. and then on Saturday in the morning at ten a.m. We will get Sunday off.

So this is like having a real job!

But not getting paid.

I think that makes it an unpaid internship.

I once heard Echo Freeman say that internships are important to help get into college. She’s two years older than me and I have no idea what she was talking about. I would have asked her but since her name is Echo, I know she doesn’t like to repeat herself.

I take the schedule that’s been pinned up to the bulletin board by the back door, and I glue it into my scrapbook. We have two of these pieces of paper since Randy is also in the play. I put the schedule on the page right after the tooth.

At our first play practice we also got pages with the words of the songs we will perform. These are the lyrics. “Lyric” is a great word. It sounds happy.

Shawn Barr says he’s also going to teach us to move. Of course all of us know how to get from one place to another, but that’s not what he was talking about.

He said: “Movement is critical in acting. A performance is shaped in the curve of a baby finger. It can be seen in the angle of your shoulder.”

Up until Shawn told us this important fact, I had never once thought about how I hold my fingers or aim my shoulders. Shawn went on to explain: “Your body is your instrument.”

I’ve had trouble with musical instruments in the past but I love the way this sounds. Later when I went to the bathroom during break, I repeated it to a woman who was in there washing her hands, and she let me know that it was a famous quote.

So Shawn Barr didn’t make it up—big deal. He’s the first person who said it to me, and that’s what matters.

I’m thinking now that what’s holding us together, and by “us” I mean the forty Munchkins, is our bodies. We are all small people. Olive and Quincy and Larry will always be that way. The rest of us are kids, so the thinking is we will grow.

Shawn Barr says that the way we move tells the world who we are.

We are small people but we will not move small. I’m not sure what he means, but we have a lot of rehearsal ahead of us, so we can figure it out.

So far he hasn’t used the word “short” even once. He tells us that many comics have a signature walk. He then shows us how someone named Charlie Chaplin moved. It’s something to see.

I’ve decided to really pay attention to how people are moving now that Shawn Barr has taught us that it’s important. I will be watching what’s called body language in everyone around me, especially my mom and dad.

I think my mom moves in a way that says she’s always looking. Even when she’s doing a lot of nothing, she sees all kinds of things. This isn’t just because she’s in charge of the garden stuff at Home Depot and so she has a lot in front of her. She looks around even when she’s in a parking lot.

This makes me realize that my dad moves in a much more controlled way than my mom. He sort of marches from one place to another, looking straight ahead the whole time. His ankles make a clicking sound when he walks. It’s not what I would call a crack, but it’s close. His walking tells me that he’s not as big of a dreamer.

Dad works in insurance at the medical center. It’s an important job, but I wouldn’t want to do it. He says the word “coverage” a lot. Also, he can’t help but talk about risks. He has to settle tons of claims, so he knows what’s dangerous, which turns out to be just about everything.

My big brother Tim’s body language says he’s got ants in his pants. He’s always jiggling something. Even his eyebrows can sometimes go up and down for no reason. When he’s sitting, his feet move in a way that’s close to a twitch. His hands move too. If he’s watching TV or eating a cheese sandwich with spicy mustard, he usually has a pen in his hands and he’s drawing. His pictures are of people with ears like elephants and eyes with stars in the center.

I heard Grandma Mittens say that Tim is an original thinker. He’s her favorite because he’s firstborn, so I’m guessing she believes his being fidgety is special.

Randy is still a little kid, so I don’t think his movement counts for that much, no matter what Shawn Barr tells us.

Randy once jumped off the garage when Marla Weiss came over to the house. He said he could fly and she then called him a liar. Randy shouted, “I’m not a liar!” I was minding my own business at the backyard picnic table, but I heard the whole thing. Of course Randy’s shouting was a dead giveaway that he was lying, but he got a ladder and climbed to the roof of the garage.

I only looked up because Ramon started barking. He was our first responder, but a lot of times it was only to say a squirrel was on the grass.

Before I could do anything, Randy flung himself off the edge of the roof and out into the air. He was flapping his arms, but they didn’t do anything. He fell straight to the ground. He landed hard and screamed in a really scary way.

Right after he hit the dirt he looked up at Marla, tears just spilling out everywhere, and he said, “See! I told you I could fly.”

Ramon was really barking at that point.

This all happened on a weekend, so my parents were home from work. Dad put ice on Randy’s leg and my mom got him a bowl of ice cream. Marla and me were also given ice cream, because it wouldn’t be fair to have us just stare at him while he ate. Then later he was allowed to watch a lot of daytime TV, which Mom and Dad say is bad for you if you’re not sick.

On Monday he was still hopping around on one foot and being all whimpery, so Mom took him to the doctor. That’s when they found out he had a fractured ankle. Once that happened I got yelled at for not stopping him from going up the ladder, but I’ve never been able to control what he does.

I’m thinking that Randy’s movements are sort of like a noodle. He bends in different directions and doesn’t care if people are watching. He seems sure of himself. It’s possible there’s some magical thinking going on inside, which is why Mom says that Grandma Mittens has to hear the Dodgers play on the radio.

If she’s not listening, they can’t win.

She says it’s a real burden.

I think I move always hoping I don’t leave footprints.