Shawn Barr tells the other featured performers they’re done for the day except Olive and me.
My brother Randy says he’ll wait outside in the front circle. Larry and Quincy look like they want to stay, but Shawn Barr waves them off.
Two college guys, who we’ve seen around doing jobs like carrying things and moving lights, suddenly show up, and there is a new guy with them. He must be the boss, because Shawn Barr only speaks to him.
His name is Gianni. No one says his last name. Shawn Barr explains that Gianni is in charge of the technical parts of the play.
Gianni looks us over. He smiles as he says, “Nice to meet you, girls. How much do you weigh?”
I stare at Gianni but I don’t answer his question.
I actually have no idea how many pounds I am, because I don’t get on the scale very often. I haven’t really grown in a while, so I guess I weigh whatever I weighed the last time I checked. Only now I don’t remember what that was.
Numbers are fuzzy to me. They come and they go.
Olive is my size, but she has more curves. Maybe I should just say I weigh whatever she says minus a few pounds for a difference in body type?
But Olive also stays silent. We don’t answer. We just look at this new guy.
Gianni has what’s called a man-bun.
He has a red elastic that’s holding back his thick hair. Maybe my staring at the man-bun makes him think about it, because suddenly he takes the elastic out and frees his long, wavy curls.
I like his hair down in this style, but I don’t tell him because we just met. He says, “I think for today we should just start by seeing if the harnesses fit.”
Since Olive and I didn’t answer the weight question, maybe he decided it was rude and that he should move on.
The next thing I know, the other two guys bring over what look like a bunch of seat belts with straps attached.
Gianni turns to me and says, “Let’s start with Baby.”
Now here is the really weird thing: I don’t get mad that he calls me Baby. I like it. I say, “Baby is ready!”
Olive smiles.
Shawn Barr then glances up from the picnic table and calls out: “Baby is ready!” I can see that they are all sharing looks, and somehow I know that I’m always going to be Baby to them now.
Gianni holds the seat belts and points for me to step into two areas. He’s looking at Shawn Barr as he says, “We’ll need to make allowances for the weight of her costume, and then once we have the suspension angle we can discuss deceleration and choreography. I’m guessing she weighs less than one-quarter of maximum load.”
I have no idea what Gianni is talking about, but it’s really professional.
After I’ve got my legs through the belts, Gianni pulls another strap and that attaches to a clamp I can’t see between my shoulder blades. Two more of the belts go under my armpits. They also hook in the back.
Gianni says, “How’s it feel, Baby?”
I don’t know if I should tell the truth, which is that I feel like a fly trapped in a spiderweb. Even though I can move my arms and legs, I’m all wrapped up.
I just smile big and say, “Baby feels great!”
Gianni turns his attention to Olive, and she gets clipped into her own tangle of straps. Gianni sounds different when he talks to Olive. I can hear it in his voice. “These harnesses will have more padding once we’re able to set your size.”
Olive nods. Her whole face is happy, most especially her eyes.
I’m thinking that if we weren’t both so small we wouldn’t have this amazing chance to be in the play. And also we wouldn’t be working with Gianni, and from the look on Olive’s face, that’s really amazing too.
After we are all clipped into what Gianni calls our single-point harnesses, the other two guys come over and they attach wires to the hooks that we each now have on our backs.
Shawn Barr has his head on his pillow, and he gets a thought that makes his face wrinkle up. “Baby’s a minor. Did her parents sign a release?”
Charisse starts to look through papers on her clipboard.
I shout, “I brought back all of the forms the first day. My mom printed them out and she signed everything.”
This seems to be enough.
I’m thinking that because Shawn fell off the ladder, he’s more worried about an accident. But Gianni leans close and he says, “Don’t worry, little ladies, you are in good hands. I supervised the backstage crew of Peter Pan in San Francisco for a three-month run.”
I smile. I can’t imagine why people would run for three months, especially dressed up like Peter Pan. But if he was in charge of that group, he has to have skills.
Next Gianni, with just one hand, lifts me up by the hook on my back. All the straps tighten, and I have to fight my natural instinct to scream WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!
I also have to keep from shouting WOW! YOU ARE STRONG!
I send my arms out wide like airplane wings, and I tilt my body left, then right.
It goes over great.
Shawn Barr is propped up on an elbow, and he says, “Baby was born to fly.”
Gianni then clips a wire to the hook, and I watch as the other two guys step forward. They both have on gloves, and they are holding the other end of the wire, which loops into something up high that I can’t see.
Gianni says, “There are counterweights up above, Baby. It’s the catwalk where the technical stuff happens.”
I wonder if they call it a catwalk because the first time they made it a cat ran across, or maybe because you have to be as good at climbing as a cat to go up there.
I decide not to ask. I know there are no stupid questions, but this feels like a bad time to get into the exact meaning of new theater vocabulary.
Right overhead the man in the cat’s area does something, and I hear his voice:
“Line set. Single purchase.”
The two guys on the stage look up. One of them says, “Hold.”
Gianni nods and says, “I’m not going to set a tag line. It’s just a raise.”
The two guys understand. Olive is watching, and I see she’s not blinking, which means she doesn’t want to miss any of the action.
Gianni’s voice is calm in my ear. “Baby, I’m releasing.” He then says, “Ready for trust.”
I can feel his hand let go of the hook, but I stay suspended in the air, and then I rise up a few more feet. It’s not exactly flying. It feels more like dangling, and for a second I see myself as a fish. Somebody put a worm on a hook, and I swallowed the whole thing. But I’m not being pulled through water toward a man in a boat with a wooden club: I’m swaying in the air.
I keep my arms wide, and then I shout down, “I’m a flying monkey!”
Shawn Barr shouts back at me, “Baby, the monkeys don’t speak!”
I surprise myself and yell back, “This one does!”
I’ve got a view of everyone below me, and they are laughing. I realize that this is the first time I’ve seen the world this way.
Everyone is looking up at me.
Grandma Mittens says that life is all about learning lessons, and that if you aren’t properly taught the first time, the next test on the same subject will be harder.
I’m learning a big lesson right now, which is that the same thing can be rotten one day and then amazing the next.
Here I was worried that I’d have to dance, and instead, I’m learning to fly.
Of course I won’t be able to do this around my neighborhood, but I feel like I’ll probably dream forever about being suspended by wires and moving in the air.
I’m not going to need anything for my scrapbook to remember today.
After Olive and I have both been lifted up in the harnesses a few different ways, everyone has an idea of how this will all work. We don’t show fear or throw up or do anything unprofessional when we are doing the fly work.
I have no idea how long it all takes, because I’m so excited about what’s happening it makes the clock inside my head stop. But at some point, Shawn Barr says, “Let’s wrap it up for the day! We’ve kept the girls too long.”
Olive and I are lowered to the floor of the stage, and I think they all agree we’ve had a good first flying monkey rehearsal.
We take off the gear, and Gianni says that we looked very comfortable with “wire work.” Next we get the news that we will be going to the night rehearsals, which are separate from the Munchkins. I have to tell my mother I will need to stay later than Randy.
I’m two years older than him and can handle this extra stuff.
I can’t wait to let Piper and Kaylee know, even though so far I haven’t sent one letter to Piper at camp and Kaylee is still on her baseball stadium tour.
Once Gianni stops talking, Olive whispers to me, “We can now put this on our résumé. It’s pretty impressive.”
I nod, but I don’t have a résumé.
When I do get a résumé it will go in my scrapbook. Maybe I’ll glue Olive’s in there too. And the man and woman who work up in the catwalk. We’ve been told they are named Flynn and Toby. The names Flynn and Toby sound like dogs. I already like both of them.
Before we are excused, Gianni uses a measuring tape to figure out how long my back and legs are. It’s the first time I notice that Olive has pretty short arms and legs. We are exactly the same height, but my arms and legs are longer than the ones she has. Then I realize this is what makes her look different. It’s not just that she’s four feet nine inches. I guess I could see this before, but now it’s been pointed out by the facts of the measuring tape. I miss a lot of obvious things.
Gianni writes down everything he needs, and then he says, “Thank you, ladies. That was a great first day.”
I answer, “Thank you, Gianni. We feel safe in your hands.”
This makes everyone laugh, but I was being serious and also I was trying to sound adult.
I don’t tell them the truth, which is: That was super-exciting but also super-scary, and the rig is not what I would call comfortable. Plus, I wish someone had asked if I needed to use the bathroom before you put me in the air.