Part 10 (1/2)

She was awful.

But she smiled a lot and the judges seemed to like her.

At long last it was Margo's turn. She padded onto the stage, banana in hand, sat down, and peeled the banana with her feet.

I heard snickering in the audience. It was the triplets.

Margo professionally ignored them. She launched into ”This Is the House That Jack Built.” Since the stanzas of the poem get longer and longer, her performance went on for quite some time. In all honesty, I'm not sure that everyone understood just what she was doing with the banana, but they appreciated all her memorizing. Margo didn't miss a beat or a word. She left the stage with applause ringing in her ears.

(Another thumbs-up from Kristy.) All you have to know about the rest of the talent show is that there were four more contestants including Charlotte, and none of them was much good - especially not Charlotte, who completely forgot this pa.s.sage from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which she'd tried to memorize. She ran off the stage in tears. In fact, she refused to go on the stage again at all, and began crying so hard that Claudia had to go into the auditorium and find her parents so they could take her home.

Claudia looked crushed but decided to stay around to see what happened.

”b.u.mmer,” I said.

”Yeah,” agreed Claudia. ”Well, now I'll just have to root for Claire and Margo and Karen and Myriah. No playing favorites.”

The beauty parade came next, and I'm ashamed to say that by this time, the contestants were growing good and wary of each other. It was every little miss for herself. I heard Margo tell Claire to break a leg (and she really meant it), and I heard Claire reply, ”I hope you fall off the stage.”

But n.o.body fell off the stage.

The contestants, wearing their third outfits, filed across the stage in age order. I was beginning to feel like a real stage mother.

”Smile,” I reminded each Pike girl as they were about to walk onto the stage.

They smiled like Ches.h.i.+re cats.

It was time for the questions. My heart began to beat faster. I'd been uncertain about the talent show because I didn't know how the audience would react to the girls - but at least I'd known what the girls were going to do. The questions were a different story. Would Claire talk about Cabbage Patch dolls and fire extinguishers? Would Margo be asked to explain what she meant by global peace?

”I'm more nervous about this than anything else,” I said to Mary Anne, and she nodded in agreement, frowning worriedly.

The youngest little miss was called onto the stage, and Mrs. Peabody regarded her thoughtfully. ”What,” she began, ”do you like best about Stoneybrook?”

Whoa! What was that? A trick question?

The little girl frowned. ”The ice-cream store,” she replied.

The audience laughed gently.

I knew the kid had blown it.

The next girl didn't do much better.

Myriah's turn. She walked confidently onto the stage.

”If you could change one thing about this world, what would it be?” Mrs. Peabody asked her.

”It would be wars,” Myriah replied seriously. ”I would stop them. I would say to the people who were making the wars, 'Now you stop that. You settle this problem yourselves like grown-ups. Our children want peace.' That's what I'd change.”

The audience applauded solemnly.

”Good job!” I whispered to Mary Anne. ”Myriah was great. The audience loves her. I think she's really got a chance at the crown!”

”You do?” Mary Anne replied hopefully.

”Definitely. She's the most talented contestant here - you heard the audience cheering - and she's doing great in everything else.”

”Hey, Dawn,” Mary Anne replied. ”It's Claire's turn.”

I whirled around.

Ms. Bunting had just prodded Claire onto the stage. Claire walked to Mrs. Peabody.

”Claire,” said the judge, ”what do you hope for most of all?”

I held my breath.

”Santa Claus,” whispered Claire, looking terrified. ”I hope he's real.”

The audience laughed. I groaned.

”Too bad,” Mary Anne said. ”She got nervous. Just like Charlotte. I don't blame her.”

”Thanks,” I said.

Karen Brewer's question was the one about the house on fire.

”She's prepared,” I heard Kristy mutter, but she leaned around me and watched Karen anxiously.

You could almost see the wheels turning in Karen's head. She wanted to say the ”right” thing-what Kristy had told her to say-but she simply couldn't bear to be dishonest. She answered, ”I'd rescue Moosie my stuffed cat, and Tickly my blanket, and as many toys as I could carry. Oh, could I rescue a fourth thing? If I could, it would be my brother Andrew. Or maybe my pen that writes in three colors.”

Another blown answer. Karen could kiss the crown good-bye.

It was too bad that Sabrina Bouvier went on before Margo because she used up the ”global peace” answer in response to her question. So when Margo was asked what she would most wish to happen in the year 2010, she froze. She didn't want to look like a copycat, and I guess she couldn't think of anything else that was nice. After about thirty seconds of dead silence, Mrs. Peabody gently directed her off the stage. The audience clapped politely.

I put my head in my hands. Neither Claire nor Margo was going to win.

”Hey,” said Claudia, ”don't feel too bad. At least your contestants stuck it out.”

”I wanted one of them to win something, though. I wanted to prove how good I could be with kids.”

”You did!?” exclaimed Kristy. ”So did I. I guess we all did. Maybe we learned something, though. Even the best baby-sitter can't change a kid.”

”Yeah,” agreed Mary Anne. ”And I'd rather have a kid like any one of ours than like Sabrina Bouvier.”

We agreed wholeheartedly with that. Then we fell silent. The contestants were filing onto the stage once again. It was time for the winners to be announced.