Read Online Ripple Effect by Sylvia Taekema - Free Book Online Page A

She was still thinking while she brushed her teeth and hair. Laying down the brush, she stared hard at herself in the mirror. Suddenly, she knew exactly what she should do. She had her regular Saturday chores to do, and then she was going to finish watching that DVD .

Seventeen
    ON MONDAY MORNING Mr. B. led everyone to the auditorium. Anyone who wanted to be part of the crew was asked to write his or her name, along with a job title, on a piece of paper. Anyone who wanted to try out for the cast was asked to sit in the front row. Dana scanned the chairs. Just as she’d hoped, there was an empty one beside Janelle. She was chatting with Gina. Dana took a deep breath and walked over.
    Before Dana could even sit down, Julia was there. “What are you doing?” she asked.
    “I was just going to sit here, beside Nel—beside Janelle.”
    “But that’s my seat. I was saving it. See, I left my sweater on it.”
    Dana saw a light-blue sweater hung over the back of the chair. “Oh.” She backed away. “Sorry.”
    “So you are trying out for the part then?” Julia asked.
    “Yes, well, I—”
    “Good luck. I still think Janelle’s got it though.”
    “Are you trying out too?”
    “I have a role in mind. But I’m mostly here for moral support. For Janelle.” Julia smiled quickly and then sat down. Dana looked for another empty seat in the front row. The only one open was on the end, next to Mickey. So far things were not going according to plan.
    “Dana?” called Mr. B. Apparently, sitting on the end also meant she had to go first. She plodded up the steps to the stage.
    The tryouts did not turn out to be at all what Dana had expected. She had practiced several lines from the play, but she wasn’t asked to say any of them. Instead, Mr. B. handed Dana a slip of paper with four lines on it. Mary had a little lamb/Little lamb, little lamb/Mary had a little lamb/Its fleece was white as snow. He asked her to read them in a loud, clear voice. She did, although she felt a little silly.
    “Thank you, Dana,” said Mr. Bartholomew. “Stay put up there a minute, if you would. Now, here’s how the auditions will go. Dana, be our guinea pig, would you? Read those lines again, but this time say them like you think a cowboy would.”
    A cowboy? Why would a cowboy say the lines to a preschool rhyme? Dana looked out at her classmates. Everyone was waiting for her to do something. So Dana pretended to pull down her hat, slipped her thumbs in the belt loops of her jeans and said the lines in a deep, slow voice.
    “Excellent. That’s the idea. Now, how do you think a three-year-old would say them?” asked Mr. B.
    A three-year-old? Was he serious? She thought about her little cousin, Lily, who had come over with Uncle Paul and Aunt Darlene for Thanksgiving. Dana turned all the l ’s and r ’s into w ’s. Using a high, singsongy voice, she tried again.
    “Mawy had a wittle wamb, wittle wamb, wittle wamb. Mawy had a wittle wamb, its fweece was white as snow.” Not knowing exactly what to do when she was finished, Dana stuck her thumb in her mouth, and everyone laughed and clapped. She felt her cheeks start to heat up, but Mr. B. grinned and thanked her and told her that was all. She could sit down.
    Mickey was next. He had to read the same lines, first with a British accent, then with a southern drawl.
    “How might a gorilla say them?” Mr. B. asked Amber.
    “What about if you were a spy, Allie?”
    Everyone laughed at Jason’s dinosaur delivery. He stomped and roared, and his eyes were wide and a little wild.
    “Trey, pretend you’re a king,” said Mr. B.
    “Can you be a rock star, Neta?” he asked.
    “You’re an alien from outer space, Gina.”
    “Say them as if you were ninety,” Mr. Bartholomew told Janelle. Her eyes lit up, and she hunched over and quivered and quavered her way through the four lines.
    And finally, “How about a mad scientist, Julia?”
    “Me? Oh no, I’m really just here to—”
    “Give