14 Slip Sliding Away

CHAPTER FOURTEEN SLIP SLIDING AWAY Vapor (noun). A gas formed by boiling a liquid. Like if you boil water and watch the steam hover above the pot. THE ACTORS SAT IN THE FIRST two rows of the auditorium waiting for me to tell them the schedule. Only I couldn't help them. Not when all the information had been crossed out! I didn't have time to figure out who had played this joke on me. The neurons in my brain had to fire speedy quick to find a solution. "Kate!" said Avery. "Everyone's ready." "Hold on one second!" I called out. "Just have to get something!" Mrs. Hansberry had written the schedule with a ballpoint pen in her elegant cursive handwriting. As quickly as possible, I ran a pencil over the back of the page to get the raised letters to appear. Then I pulled out a little mirror that I had in my bag. When I looked in the mirror, the letters faced in the right direction.

Yes, I could read the schedule now! Victory! Sprinting up front, I began explaining what was happening when. "The main dragon roles should go over their lines in the green room." I paused, searching around the auditorium for a green room. The seats were brown. The walls were beige. There was nothing green in sight. "Um, what's the green room?" "You don't know what a green room is?" asked Jeremy in a shocked voice. I bit my lip. Everyone could definitely tell I didn't know what I was doing. "A green room is where actors hang out before a show," explained Avery. "At my dads' theater, it's large with a snack machine." "Um, okay." My stomach twisted. How could I help direct if I didn't even know the basics? "So the main unicorns should go over their lines in the back rows, while the dragon and the unicorn dance teams will work on their choreography onstage. And if you're playing a bunch of smaller roles, go meet in the prop room." As everyone started to leave, Avery held up her hand. "There's something important I've got to do." She opened her bag and rummaged around inside. Then she grabbed a bottle of glue with one hand and lifted it out so she could get to something

underneath. A bag of Starbursts. "Catch!" she said, tossing out dozens of candies. "You can do that anytime," said Jeremy, snagging four or five fruit chews, and Avery smiled widely. Some of the actors who didn't get any looked bummed. Especially Birdie. "Next time, maybe you should hand them out," I said. "So everyone gets one." My eyes met Birdie's. "It was just for fun," said Phoenix. "Why are you making such a big deal about it?" "It's good to be fair," said Birdie quietly. Wow. I never thought being assistant director would be this hard. While dragons and unicorns ran through dance steps, I sat in the front row, figuring out how to get the dragons to breathe smoke. I wanted it to look as if the smoke curled right out the dragons' mouths. But how? Up onstage, thumping feet echoed through the theater. "Shake your foot in the air," said Avery who was taking her role as dance captain seriously. Maybe a little too seriously. Her voice sounded irritated. "And now slap your foot on the floor even harder. That's the first part of the box step."

A few of the boys stomped so hard, some kids jumped back in surprise. Groaning dramatically, Avery threw up her hands in exasperation. "The dancing shouldn't scare people." Hmm, the fake smoke should at least be a little scary and surprising, but not dangerous. Jogging up and down the aisle, I pretended to dribble a soccer ball. Somehow I needed to jumpstart my brain. Avery continued with her directions. "Remember the weight is on the right leg," she said. "Shake the left foot." Jeremy started singing "The Hokey Pokey" and some of the kids giggled. "That's not such a bad idea," said Julia, who was one of the lead dragons. "It's not part of the choreography," said Avery in a tight voice. A group of boys wiggled their arms Hokey Pokey–style, and Avery frowned. "Save the Hokey Pokey. Otherwise, exit stage right," I called out. "It's stage left," said Avery. I suddenly remembered just now that stage directions were from the actors' point of view. Not the audience's. Mrs. Hansberry had explained this to us yesterday.

"And I've got it under control." Avery put her hands on her hips. "I don't need your help." "Of course," I said, trying to sound like Mrs. Hansberry. After a few more tries, Avery was finally able to show everyone how to cross over their right foot. Which didn't seem that hard but was very challenging to Rory and Jeremy, who kept messing up and crossing their left. After I came back from checking on how the actors were doing in the green room (better than the dance team), I sat down in the back of the auditorium to do some thinking. I was itching for my dad's phone so I could watch Dr. Caroline and get some ideas for dragon smoke. The shriveled balloon demo came to mind. Then I remembered Dr. Caroline's special smoking Cheetos that had been dipped in liquid nitrogen. When she chomped on one, it looked like smoke shot right out of her mouth and nose. Only it was just a cloud of the water vaporizing.

But there was one big problem. If liquid nitrogen was used incorrectly, it could burn someone's throat or mouth. Sort of like frostbite, only without being in the cold. Still, liquid nitrogen was the most awesome thing ever. It was powerful. It made balloons shrink. It could be used to freeze off warts (yuck!). And yes, it would make the absolutely perfect pretend smoke. Bouncing in my seat, I imagined all of the amazing vapor that formed as the liquid nitrogen became a gas. That always happens at its boiling point. Just like water becomes steam. But how could I make it safe enough for Mrs. Hansberry to say it would be okay to use? Maybe we could use sticks to spear the Cheetos. The dragons could blow on them to encourage the nitrogen to evaporate. That way they wouldn't have any of their skin or body parts touching the liquid nitrogen. To be extra safe, I would need those special blue cryogenic gloves that Dr. Caroline used. Somehow, I had to convince Mom and Dad to get me gloves as a very, very early birthday present. As I pushed out of my seat, I stepped on a piece of watermelon-scented chewing gum. "Ugh!" I moaned.