Stagestruck Showstopper We’ll just have to work around it I said with more confidence than I actually felt And remember a lot of our cast has improved a ton since we started That’s very true And don’t forget the new recruits Those three kids we met at the pool yesterday Nora Brady and Joey they’ve got great potential And Susan’s been fielding tweets and texts all morning from kids wanting to sign up So you’re saying our cast might actually increase Austin looked thoughtful That’s going to be a huge factor in deciding on the next show We’re going to need something with lots of roles It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him if he thought he might be able to finish his big musical the work in progress that had given me the idea to start the theater in the first place in time to start rehearsing it a week from now But after the theme song disaster I’d learned my lesson about messing with a writer’s creative flow So instead I said Annie Austin sipped his iced tea Annie who Not Annie who I said and laughed Annie the musical Wouldn’t it be awesome to do a full-length musical this time Austin mulled it over Could be cool Extremely cool I took a bite of my cupcake being careful to avoid getting icing up my nose Ya see I was 4
Chapter One thinking we could use my script from I was interrupted by the jangling of the bell on the coffee shop door Looking up I saw a frantic Susan come skidding in Anya You have to come to the theater Now Why What’s wrong I’m not really sure Her eyes were wide her face pale and her tone was positively freaked All I know is that Mr Healy’s pickup is parked on the lawn There are orange cones blocking off half the street and the whole clubhouse is surrounded by fire trucks and police cruisers Police cruisers Fire trucks I looked at Austin He looked at me We dropped our snacks and sprung up from our chairs And we ran The sprint from the coffee shop back to Random Farms Circle felt like a million miles All I could think was that one of us had left something plugged in we shouldn’t have and the clubhouse had gone up in smoke Austin Susan and I were breathless when we barreled around the corner of our street Red-and-blue lights flashed 5
Stagestruck Showstopper and I could hear the crackling of walkie-talkie radios as the first responders communicated with one another What these first responders were actually responding to I couldn’t tell I gaped at the scene feeling helpless As I tried to make sense of what the policemen and firefighters were saying I noticed a strange sound a kind of squishing noise inter spersed with muddy splats Looking down I saw that the clubhouse lawn which had been so lush and pristine just the day before was now a mucky swamp The firefighters were having trouble walking across it their heavy boots were being sucked into the wet grass Why is the lawn so muddy Susan asked Maybe from the fire hoses I guessed But I didn’t smell smoke and there were no flames shooting out of the windows That was an indescribable relief but it didn’t explain why the grass was so soggy We weren’t the only people who’d come to find out what was going on Several neighbors had turned out to watch the emergency personnel in action A policeman was posted by the curb making announcements over his cruiser’s loudspeaker cautioning the spectators to keep a safe distance When I saw Spencer Maddie and Jane watching from the other side of the street I grabbed Susan’s hand and ran to them 6
Chapter One What happened I asked Was it a fire No said Spencer I heard one of the policemen saying an underground water main burst a couple of hours ago It was only then I noticed the steady stream of muddy water rushing along the curb Because I had headed out in the opposite direction on Random Farms Circle when I’d left for the coffee shop I’d completely missed the commotion I let out a long grateful breath and smiled Well that doesn’t sound so bad I mean how hard can it be to fix one little busted pipe It’s a bit more complicated than that came a gruff voice from behind me I turned to see Mr Healy our neighborhood’s grounds keeper approaching a glum expression on his face His denim work coveralls were soaked all the way up to his chest and he was holding a heavy-duty flashlight Just came from the clubhouse basement Mr Healy explained Flooded Water’s as high as the electrical panel I’m afraid Even deeper in some places Uh-oh said Austin That doesn’t sound good I had to agree I didn’t know much about building mainte nance but I did know under any circumstances water and electricity were never a good combination Luckily there wasn’t much of anything stored down 7
