Curtain Up by Lisa Fiedler Read Free Book Online

invited any and all prospective thespians (Austin’s word . . . and I loved it!) to join us there onSunday morning for our first informational meeting. Then she posted the same message to Twitter.
    â€œDone,” said Susan, hitting send with a flourish.
    â€œNow what?” asked Austin.
    â€œNow we go home and enjoy our first afternoon of summer vacation,” I explained, “because beginning tomorrow, we’ve got work to do!”
    We agreed to meet the next day for more planning. Then Austin left to go home and write, and Susan and I ambled back to our house. I felt a little shiver of excitement, thinking of how incredibly different this summer was going to be from all those that had come before.
    Because this was going to be The Summer of the Random Farms Kids’ Theater.
    And I couldn’t wait to get started.

    The first thing I did when I woke up on Saturday was text Becky. She’d texted me the night before (long after I’d fallen asleep to visions of the shady Billy Flynn character from Chicago singing “Razzle Dazzle”) to tell me her coach had put her in the one-hundred-meter butterfly event for Sunday’s swim meet. It would be her first time swimming that race,and she couldn’t sleep because she was nervous about it.
    I typed: U will totally win! I know U can do it.
    She texted back: Thnx, Anya. Hope the theater meeting goes gr8 tomorrow!! Will try to swing by if the meet ends early enough. :)
    Then I got up and dragged my sister out of bed. She followed me downstairs, where I popped two bagels into the toaster oven.
    â€œI’m going to make a list of the cleaning supplies we’ll need to take to the clubhouse,” I said. “We’ll have to use whatever Mom has here, but we’re going to promise to replace them as soon as we have the dues money.”
    â€œI’ll go out to the garage and take an inventory of yard tools,” said Susan, opening the fridge and grabbing a tub of cream cheese, which she placed in front of me on the breakfast bar. “Did you get a look at those flower boxes under the clubhouse windows? Nightmare!” Then she marched out of the kitchen, calling, “Don’t burn my breakfast!” over her shoulder.

    I was halfway through my everything bagel and a quarter way through my list of cleaning products when the doorbellrang at ten fifteen. I was so caught up in making my list that I just went and answered the door without thinking about what I was wearing. It wasn’t until I saw the weird look on Austin’s face that I remembered I was still wearing my pink polka dot pajama bottoms and a ratty old New York Giants T-shirt. Was it my imagination or was he blushing slightly at seeing me in my pj’s? I’m sure I was blushing, and way more than slightly.
    â€œUm, come on in,” I said, feeling like a total dork. “I’ll . . . be right back.”
    Then I bolted upstairs, quickly changed into cutoff shorts and a Mama Mia T-shirt, and whipped my hair into a high ponytail. I brushed my teeth and hurried back down to the living room, where Susan had joined Austin. They were seated on the sofa, looking at her phone and all the theater-related texts and tweets.
    My sister grinned at me. “Austin here was just telling me he never knew you were a Giants fan.”
    I would have slugged her, but that would have meant I’d be out one media specialist, so I let it slide.
    Austin held out a neatly bound stack of papers. “Here’s the script.”
    My eyes scanned the cover page.
    Â 
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    RANDOM ACTS OF BROADWAY
    Produced and Directed by
    ANYA WALLACH
    Written by
    Austin Weatherly
    Presented by
    The Random Farms Kids’ Theater
    ----
    Â 
    Talk about chills! Just seeing that phrase in print— Directed by Anya Wallach —literally gave me goose bumps. The first page was a list of the performance selections:
    Â 
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    RANDOM ACTS OF BROADWAY
    OPENING