Read Online One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street by Joanne Rocklin - Free Book Online Page B

perfect ones that were hanging from its topmost, southerly branches.” And then she added, “Personally picked by me. This old body can still scamper up a ladder when it wants to!”
    After they’d gone, Ms. Snoops watched the two of them from her window. Ali looked up at her and blew a kiss. Robert hifflesnuffled behind Ali, off to his meeting with Manny.
    â€œThis has been my lucky day,” said Ms. Snoops. “Two guests!”

obert sat down beside Manny on the front steps to Ali’s house.
    â€œWhat’s in the shoebox?” Manny asked.
    â€œNothing,” said Robert. And there wouldn’t be, not today anyway, because his secret mission hadn’t worked out as he’d planned. He let out a long sigh, but it was a satisfied one. Ali wasn’t home, but it still felt good to be there. Just like old times, long ago. Well, not so long ago, maybe two or three years back. They used to sit on those same stairs and count the seconds between the lightning and the thunder, to calculate how far away the storm was (five seconds = one mile), not even caring if they got soaked. Or they’d cheer on the L.A. Marathon. Small stuff, babyish stuff even. But satisfying.
    â€œSo. What’s on your mind, Rob-o?” asked Manny.
    He actually did feel like a Rob-o, sitting there, talking one-on-one with Manny. “I’m into magic, as you may or may not know. Like yourself.”
    â€œGood stuff,” said Manny.
    â€œAnd, well, I was wondering if you’d give me a pointer or two. Basically, not to put too fine a point on it, I mean, for starters—” Robert pulled up one of his socks, then another, waiting for the right words to come to mind.
    â€œGo on,” Manny said. The great thing about Manny was that he listened. He
really
listened. His brown eyes never once left your face.
    â€œLike how do you do it?” Robert asked. “No, I don’t mean that, exactly. What I mean is, how do you
wow
them? I haven’t had much success . . . yet.”
    Actually, he’d mostly failed in the wowing department. Except for that one trick he’d performed, for his mom. But moms, in general, were incredibly easy to wow.
    Manny continued to stare.
    â€œHow do you do it?” Robert repeated.
    â€œYeah, Rob-o, I heard you,” said Manny, slowly. “I’m thinking hard right now. It’s an important question and I want to come up with the best answer.”
    Suddenly Manny straddled the railing of the porch, then landed gracefully on the front lawn. “As a matter of fact, your question is so important, I think it calls for some
po-eh-tree
! Listen carefully, now!”
    He did a pretty good moonwalk, some more fancy footwork, some power moves, and then began waving his finger and moving his head to the rhythm of his words:
    Â 
    â€œYou find a doozy of a trick and you do it for a crowd,
    Be choosy ’bout the trick if you want them to be WOWED
    You gotta find it
    Hear me? FIND it!
    Â 
    â€œYou repeat that trick ’til you see it in your sleep
    You gotta beat that trick ’fore you take it to the STREET
    That means practice
    Hear me? PRACTICE!
    Â 
    â€œWhen you’re set for the show, you gotta stay in the NOW
    Just forget about Rob-o! Yes! That’s how,
    Just forget him
    Y’hear? FORGET HIM!
    Yeah!”
    Â 
    Manny leaped onto the stairs again. “That’s my answer,” he said.
    â€œIt is?” asked Robert.
    â€œLighten up, man! And think about your audience.”
    â€œI
do
think about my audience. All the time, every single second!” cried Robert, suddenly feeling very un-Rob-o-ish. “My audience is a great big hundred-pound gorilla that’s ready to tear my head off!”
    Manny stared at him again, and he looked as if he were about to come up with some more answers (maybe some answers Robert
understood
, for mackerel’s sake!) when there was a soft, plaintive wail from inside the