The next week flew by.
Rehearsals lasted longer and longer,
and Ainsley and Pearl both started teasing me.
Because I kept humming bunny tunes during class,
and pretending to be one of the Beatles,
and muttering my lines.
But then,
Friday came.
The day of the show.
The only thing I muttered that day was,
“I feel sick.”
I wasn’t going to be able to do my solo.
I knew I wasn’t!
I couldn’t pretend to be a Beatle!
They were men! And they were ancient!
Some of them were even dead!
That idea had been ridiculous.
I felt even sicker and shakier after school,
as the cast got ready for the show.
Nicholas burped a few lines of my solo for me.
I knew he was trying to make me laugh,
so I’d be less scared.
But still. It was disgusting.
So it made me feel worse.
And I couldn’t eat one of the delicious
golden vanilla cupcakes
decorated with bunny faces
that Mrs. Quaid gave us, as a pre-show treat.
Maybe if they’d been brookie cupcakes—
which I’d never gotten to try—
I could’ve overcome my feelings of sickness.
But they weren’t.
So I wrapped my bunny cupcake in napkins
and set it on a table backstage, for later.
I did not save
the carrot juice
that Mrs. Quaid also handed out.
“What drink could be better for rabbits?”
she kept saying.
And I thought,
Who would want carrot juice
anywhere near
a yummy cupcake?
What if it spills?
That would be a tragedy!
After snack time, I zipped into my bunny suit.
Which made me sweaty and shaky.
And then Mrs. Quaid said, “Everyone, backstage!”
So,
wearing our furry costumes,
we all crammed into the little space
behind the curtains at the back of the stage.
It was crowded and loud back there.
Mrs. Quaid kept shouting things like,
“Check the props table!
Make sure you have what you need!”
Finally she checked her watch and shouted,
“Quiet down! It’s time!”
We all rushed to peek through the curtains.
Kids and parents were filling up every seat
in every row!
Suddenly, I had to pee.
But there was no time!
Mrs. Quaid was calling,
And then she said,
“Where’s Eleanor?”
I raised my hand and said, “Here.”
“The audience lights will go down in a second,”
she told me.
“And then you’ll step onstage.
Don’t forget your carrot!
Do you have your carrot?”
I didn’t have my carrot!
I had to shove my way to the props table then,
saying, “Excuse me!
Carrot emergency!”
as I pushed other bunnies aside.
Then I shoved my way back to Mrs. Quaid.
And before I could tell her anything about peeing,
she said,
“Remember: loudly and clearly!”
She opened the curtain for me.
And I had to step onto the stage.
I heard Mrs. Quaid say, “Shhhh!” behind me.
And then I was standing in silence.
I blinked a few times.
It was hard to see
with the stage lights bright in my eyes
and the houselights off.
But then, right in the middle of the third row,
I saw Pearl and Ainsley grinning up at me.
And my parents, grinning, too.
Pearl started waving and waving,
and I almost waved back!
Then someone coughed, and I realized
I had to act.
I stood a little straighter and said,
not very loudly or clearly,
“It was the best of carrots,
it was the worst of carrots.”
My voice was shaking.
But still,
I heard grown-ups laugh.
Then Nicholas came onstage.
I think he gave me a thumbs-up,
but it was hard to tell,
because his hands were covered with furry paws.
I spoke louder and clearer after that.
And
for some reason,
my early scenes with Nicholas
But whenever I was offstage, I kept thinking,
Solo, solo, solo, solo.
My heart was beating to that sound!
Finally,
when that solo was thirty seconds away,
I pushed my way to Mrs. Quaid
and I said,
“Can Nicholas sing with me?
Like at our audition?
I can’t do it by myself!”
She put her hands on my shoulders
and looked in my eyes
and said,
“You can do it.
You’ve worked so hard.
Just remember—do not be Eleanor!
Now, go!”
And she practically pushed me onto the stage.
I thought,
I can’t breathe!
And then I thought,
I’m going to sound like a garbage truck!
I missed my cue from the piano—
I was supposed to be singing.
But instead I was thinking,
Garbage truck!
Then I knew what to do!
The piano started the song again.
I imagined holding a boom box high in the air,
and when I heard my cue the second time around,
I sang my solo right to my mom.
I just pretended I was my dad
outside her window.
As soon as I finished,
Pearl leapt to her feet
Ainsley jumped up, too, clapping and clapping,
and so did both my parents.
I bowed a tiny bit to them.
And then I hurried as fast as I could,
in my furry suit,
off the stage.
The next time I went on,
I had to hug Nicholas.
I’m a rabbit, I’m a rabbit, I’m a rabbit,
I told myself.
And then I hugged him as fast as I could
and stepped back.
Mrs. Quaid shouted out from backstage,
“The end!”
And the whole audience cheered and cheered.
Every bunny in the play came onstage.
Nicholas stood on one side of me
We took one another’s paws,
and we all bowed together.
Then I heard someone yell, “Eleanor!”
I looked out at my row of fans,
and my dad started tossing flowers on the stage.
That was almost as embarrassing
as hugging Nicholas!
Still,
even with those flowers at my feet,
I was glad I hadn’t quit that play.
