Read Online Mystery on Stage by Gertrude Chandler Warner - Free Book Online

hasn’t been in the dressing room at all,” Violet said.
    Mrs. Adams came in wearing her long ivory gown. “Oh, you look beautiful,” Jessie and Violet said at once.
    â€œYou know, I’m worried about Sarah. She’s the only performer who hasn’t changed yet. Her costume is still hanging in the costume room,” Mrs. Adams said.
    Half an hour later, Sarah was still missing.
    â€œI’ve tried to call her at home, and there’s no answer,” Jim said, pacing up and down the backstage area. “We’ll have to start without her. Melody, you read Sarah’s lines in the first scene.”
    â€œShould I change into her costume?” Melody asked hopefully.
    â€œNo!” Jim almost shouted. “Now, please, get on stage.”
    At that moment, Sarah rushed through the backstage door. Her eyes were red, and she looked like she’d been crying. The cast and crew stared at her in silence. No one dared say a word.
    â€œTake your place on stage immediately,” Jim said quietly to Sarah. “We’ll discuss your tardiness later.”
    Jim turned to the crew. “All right, get ready to raise the curtain.”
    Henry took his place by the lighting board. During the tornado scene, he dimmed the lights so the stage went black. Then he lit the scenery to make it seem as if dark clouds were moving across the landscape.
    Backstage, several crew members, including Benny, rattled a big sheet of aluminum to create the sound of wind. “Tonight, I’m shaking it harder than usual,” Benny whispered to Soo Lee. “There’s so much wind in a tornado.”
    Other crew members positioned themselves behind the farmhouse on stage. When Nancy gave the cue, they slowly shook Dorothy’s house while the cast screamed and went running for cover.
    â€œI love this scene,” Soo Lee whispered to Benny. “It’s so exciting.”
    Benny nodded and rattled the aluminum sheet even harder. “Not so hard there,” a crew member said smiling. “It’s a tornado, not an earthquake.” Benny obediently shook the sheet a little less enthusiastically.
    By now the cast was backstage. “Whew, that scene is hard work,” Mrs. McGregor confided to Benny and Soo Lee. But she smiled as she said so. The children could tell she was really enjoying her part as Aunt Em.
    Sarah and the actors playing the three farmhands were the last to leave the stage. They circled it once more, stomping their feet as they headed into the wings. Henry began to dim the lights to show the scene had ended.
    When everyone was off the stage, suddenly, out of nowhere, a large standing spotlight toppled onto the stage, smashing the bulb.

CHAPTER 9
    The Show Must Go On
    M elody shrieked. Sarah, who was in the wings when the light crashed, turned pale.
    Jim jumped onto the stage. “How did this happen?” he demanded, turning to Henry and Stuart.
    Both boys gave him a blank look.
    Nancy came out of the wings onto the stage. “Do you think someone pushed it over?”
    Jim put his hands in front of his face. “I just can’t believe someone would do that. What is going on here!” he yelled. By now, some of the cast and crew had come onto the stage.
    Richard stepped to the front of the stage and folded his hands across his chest. “ What is going on here? I could have been killed!”
    â€œBelieve me, Richard, I did not arrange this on purpose,” Jim said dryly. “Where are we going to get another spotlight in time for the show tomorrow night?” he added with a sigh.
    â€œOh, I hadn’t even thought of that.” Nancy sounded discouraged. She stepped out of the way so the crew members could clear the stage of broken glass.
    Once the stage was swept clean, the cast resumed their rehearsal. No one showed much enthusiasm. Many people missed their cues, and even Sarah flubbed her lines in more than one scene.
    â€œSarah, you