Read Online Ella of All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Sydney Taylor
Ads: Link
of the girls. Save expenses that way. You’ll make out all right. You don’t strike me as one of those silly kids that’ll blow all her dough.”
He turned to Mama. “Mother, you gotta look at it this way. This year will be a training period. If she works hard and sticks by me, I promise that she’ll go far. Very far.”
A little while of silence and then Mama spoke. “Please, Mr. Woods, could we take the contract home with us? I’d like to talk it over with my husband.”
“Sure, sure.” He folded the contract, slipped it into an envelope, and handed it to Mama. “Rehearsals will not begin for another week anyway. So you’ve got time to make up your mind.” He pushed back his chair and stood up. “Let me know just as soon as you decide.”
That night, after the rest of the family had gone to bed, Ella sat in the kitchen with Mama and Papa, talking it over.
“You’ve got to think about this very carefully,” Papa was saying. “Make sure it’s what you want so you won’t haveany regrets afterward.” He paused. “You realize, Ella, this will change your whole life.”
“I know, Papa. That’s what scares me.” She bit her lips and lapsed into troubled silence.
“You don’t have to make up your mind this minute,” Mama said.
Ella gripped her hands together. “I don’t know what to do. If I give this up, I’ll never again get such a chance. It’s what I’ve dreamed about all my life,” she cried out. “When I think about being on a stage singing before an audience, I could burst with happiness. But,” her voice quavered, “a five-year contract! It’s like signing my life away! Away from home and family. No time for anyone or anything.… And what about Jules?” His name trembled on her lips. A whole year away from New York! What would he say?
She reached out pleadingly. “Tell me what I should do.”
Papa shook his head. “No Ella, in this case you’ve got to make up your own mind. You’re not a child anymore.” He stood up and paced restlessly back and forth. “It’s your life and you’ll have to live it, not us. Take your time. Don’t rush. Think it over in your mind.” His voice softened. “You know that whatever you decide, we’ll stand by you and help all we can.”
For a little while nothing more was said. Then Papa spoke again. “Before we do anything definite, I think we ought to have somebody who knows about such things look over the contract. After all, what do we know about show business and such things?”
“How about your cousins, the Timbergs?” suggested Mama. “They’ve been in vaudeville for years.”
“You mean Herman Timberg?” Ella exclaimed. “Whyhe’s a headliner! He’s even appeared at the Palace Theatre on Broadway. How is it you’ve never mentioned they were our relatives?”
Papa shrugged. “Somehow we’ve never had much to do with them. Their lives have been so different from ours. I don’t know. We just never kept in touch. Actually Herman is a first cousin to me. I’ll call up tomorrow and ask his advice.”
And that’s the way it was left.
The next night Papa came home all in a dither. “Luckily the Timberg family was in town. When I showed Herman the contract and he saw Mr. Woods’s name on it, did he get excited. He said show people wait years for a chance to even get to see this man! He said Ella must really be something for him to take such an interest. When I began bringing up all sorts of objections, and how you couldn’t make up your mind, he got very annoyed with me. What kind of nonsense was I talking? he said. And that I ought to thank God that Mr. Woods was giving Ella such a chance. His last words to me were ‘It’s a lucky break. Sign by all means!’ ”
8
Decision
Outwardly the rest of the momentous week flowed along as usual. Ella’s relationship with the family, her singing lessons, her job seemed untouched. But underneath her composed manner, the need for coming to a decision kept gnawing
He turned to Mama. “Mother, you gotta look at it this way. This year will be a training period. If she works hard and sticks by me, I promise that she’ll go far. Very far.”
A little while of silence and then Mama spoke. “Please, Mr. Woods, could we take the contract home with us? I’d like to talk it over with my husband.”
“Sure, sure.” He folded the contract, slipped it into an envelope, and handed it to Mama. “Rehearsals will not begin for another week anyway. So you’ve got time to make up your mind.” He pushed back his chair and stood up. “Let me know just as soon as you decide.”
That night, after the rest of the family had gone to bed, Ella sat in the kitchen with Mama and Papa, talking it over.
“You’ve got to think about this very carefully,” Papa was saying. “Make sure it’s what you want so you won’t haveany regrets afterward.” He paused. “You realize, Ella, this will change your whole life.”
“I know, Papa. That’s what scares me.” She bit her lips and lapsed into troubled silence.
“You don’t have to make up your mind this minute,” Mama said.
Ella gripped her hands together. “I don’t know what to do. If I give this up, I’ll never again get such a chance. It’s what I’ve dreamed about all my life,” she cried out. “When I think about being on a stage singing before an audience, I could burst with happiness. But,” her voice quavered, “a five-year contract! It’s like signing my life away! Away from home and family. No time for anyone or anything.… And what about Jules?” His name trembled on her lips. A whole year away from New York! What would he say?
She reached out pleadingly. “Tell me what I should do.”
Papa shook his head. “No Ella, in this case you’ve got to make up your own mind. You’re not a child anymore.” He stood up and paced restlessly back and forth. “It’s your life and you’ll have to live it, not us. Take your time. Don’t rush. Think it over in your mind.” His voice softened. “You know that whatever you decide, we’ll stand by you and help all we can.”
For a little while nothing more was said. Then Papa spoke again. “Before we do anything definite, I think we ought to have somebody who knows about such things look over the contract. After all, what do we know about show business and such things?”
“How about your cousins, the Timbergs?” suggested Mama. “They’ve been in vaudeville for years.”
“You mean Herman Timberg?” Ella exclaimed. “Whyhe’s a headliner! He’s even appeared at the Palace Theatre on Broadway. How is it you’ve never mentioned they were our relatives?”
Papa shrugged. “Somehow we’ve never had much to do with them. Their lives have been so different from ours. I don’t know. We just never kept in touch. Actually Herman is a first cousin to me. I’ll call up tomorrow and ask his advice.”
And that’s the way it was left.
The next night Papa came home all in a dither. “Luckily the Timberg family was in town. When I showed Herman the contract and he saw Mr. Woods’s name on it, did he get excited. He said show people wait years for a chance to even get to see this man! He said Ella must really be something for him to take such an interest. When I began bringing up all sorts of objections, and how you couldn’t make up your mind, he got very annoyed with me. What kind of nonsense was I talking? he said. And that I ought to thank God that Mr. Woods was giving Ella such a chance. His last words to me were ‘It’s a lucky break. Sign by all means!’ ”
8
Decision
Outwardly the rest of the momentous week flowed along as usual. Ella’s relationship with the family, her singing lessons, her job seemed untouched. But underneath her composed manner, the need for coming to a decision kept gnawing
Similar Books
