We had our first rehearsal that afternoon.
Mrs. Quaid asked us to sit in a circle
with our scripts
on the stage in the auditorium.
I sat on the smooth wooden floor next to Katie
and tried not to look out
on the rows and rows of audience seats.
I tried not to think about parents and kids
filling those seats
and watching me.
I focused on Mrs. Quaid instead.
She was sitting across the circle,
between Nicholas and Adam.
“I brought us a snack,” Mrs. Quaid said.
“Carrot sticks and carrot juice.
Rabbity favorites!”
I don’t like carrot sticks,
and I would never drink carrot juice—
it smells disgusting!
So I just waited,
and wished that rabbits loved brookies,
while other kids ate and drank.
When they’d finally finished, Mrs. Quaid said,
“For this first rehearsal,
we’ll read through the script.
Pay no attention to the songs, for now.
Just read your lines
loudly and clearly.”
She put on her glasses and opened her script.
Then she looked at me and asked,
“Ready to start us off?”
I nodded
and cleared my throat
and started to read.
In the first scene,
I, Mama Rabbit, get arrested
and thrown in the bunny dungeon
because the Hop Cops think—
wrongly!—
that I’ve robbed a Hare Salon.
I read the lines in that scene loudly and clearly.
Because they’re not embarrassing at all.
Nicholas gave me a big thumbs-up
at the end of the scene.
Which was nice of him.
But after that,
I got quieter and quieter,
and I mumbled more and more.
Because my other lines
were ridiculous.
I call Nicholas
(my bunny son)
“Honey Bunny”
and “Sweet Honey Bun”
and “Oh, Angel Mine.”
I say things like,
“Without me to care for you,
how will you survive?”
And
“Your sweet honey bun fur
is as soft as marshmallow Peeps.”
I couldn’t look at Nicholas after those lines.
Or anywhere near him.
But I was pretty certain
he didn’t give them a thumbs-up.
Other kids giggled.
Someone made smooching sounds.
And all I wanted
was to crawl behind the curtains
at the back of the stage.
Katie said,
“Eleanor? Are you blushing?”
And freckly Ben said,
“Yes! She’s practically purple!”
And Nicholas said,
“Leave her alone.”
That should’ve been a good thing.
Nicholas was being so nice.
But
for some reason,
it made me blush more.
Which made me feel worse.
came the most embarrassing moment of all.
The moment when the script says
I have to hug Nicholas.
Ben sang out,
“Eleanor and Nicholas,
sitting in a tree,
K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”
Mrs. Quaid made him stop
before he could start the “first comes love” part.
“I expect more from you,” she said
to all the laughing kids.
But everyone kept laughing.
I wanted to crawl behind the curtains and
pull them down on top of me.
I guess I’m not mature, I thought.
And then I thought,
I can’t stand another second of this.
Luckily, I didn’t have to.
With that hug, we’d finished the script.
“See you Wednesday!” Mrs. Quaid said.
I leapt off the stage then
and ran up an aisle of the auditorium
and out the door.