The Dramatic Life of Azaleah Lane Read online

  Nia stared at me and leaned forward. “Do you think it was foul play?”

  “What’s foul play?” Tiana and I asked at the same time.

  Daddy chuckled. “That means someone is up to no good,” he said.

  I wasn’t sure if it was foul play or not—yet.

  “Nia, why would someone sabotage your rehearsal?” asked Daddy.

  “I don’t know,” Nia said.

  “You shouldn’t make assumptions without proof,” Daddy said. “You know that, Nia.”

  Nia didn’t answer. Daddy finished his dinner and took Tiana upstairs for her bath. But even though Daddy had left the room, his words didn’t leave my brain.

  Was it a coincidence? I wondered. Or is Nia right?

  Since we were alone, I asked Daddy’s question again. “Nia, why would someone try to ruin rehearsal?”

  Nia thought for a while. “All I know is batteries don’t just disappear. And that bubble machine was full yesterday.”

  “Were there problems before today?” I asked.

  “Rehearsals always have problems,” Nia explained. “We’ve been practicing for more than two weeks. But none of the rehearsals were this bad. The show has gotten worse instead of better.”

  I still didn’t see why anyone would want to mess up Nia’s musical. But then I remembered Owen and all of his laughing.

  I frowned. “Nia, who is Owen?” I asked.

  Before Nia could answer, Daddy came back downstairs. “Nia, can you help me with Tiana?” he asked. “She’s ready to get in the tub, but I just remembered I need to call my client before it gets too late.”

  “OK,” Nia said. She picked up her plate and put it in the dishwasher. On her way past, she whispered, “I’ll tell you about Owen later.”

  I cleaned up my plate too. Then I followed Nia up the stairs. She went into the bathroom, and I went to my room.

  I had planned to work on the decorations for Nia’s surprise party, but now I had a bigger job. I had a mystery to investigate.

  I packed some things in my backpack to take to tomorrow’s rehearsal:

  binoculars (so I could see the stage—and suspects)

  a sewing kit (in case of more costume problems)

  a notebook and a pencil (so I could write down anything suspicious)

  batteries from my circuit kit (in case there were more disappearing batteries)

  Then I ran downstairs and got one more thing: three of Mama’s delicious chocolate chip cookies. I put them in a baggie so I’d have a snack tomorrow.

  Now I was ready for rehearsal. I loved a challenge, and I was good at solving mysteries. I was not going to let anyone—ghost or person—ruin Willa Wonka.

  CHAPTER 4

  UNDERSTUDY (NOT A BUDDY)

  I woke up bright and early the next morning and went downstairs. Daddy was already at the kitchen table in his robe working on his laptop. Mama was making waffles.

  “Good morning,” said Mama. She gave me a kiss on my forehead.

  “Hi, Mama,” I said. “Why are you up so early? It’s Lazy Saturday.”

  Mama worked late on Friday nights, so she usually slept in on Saturdays. Daddy and I were the early birds. We always ate cereal and watched cartoons together.

  Mama smiled. “I took tomorrow off so I can see Nia’s show. I have to work early today so I can prep the food.”

  “Is Nia up yet?” I asked.

  Daddy shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

  Just then, Nia walked in. Most of the time, my big sister pretended to be a character in a play, even when she was at home. But today she just looked sad.

  Mama looked worried. “Do you feel OK?”

  Nia sat at the table with Daddy. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m just dreading rehearsal today.”

  Mama looked even more worried. “Why?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

  “Yesterday’s rehearsal was the worst,” Nia said. She gave Mama all the details.

  “Well, I’m sure things will be better today,” Mama said.

  “I doubt it,” said Nia. “Especially if someone is doing this on purpose.”

  “Who would do that?” Mama looked shocked.

  I had been waiting to ask Nia the same exact thing. So far, my only suspect was the ghost of Thespis. And I was pretty sure it wasn’t him.

  “I think it could be Mike or Andrea… or Owen.” Nia frowned.

  Daddy looked up from his laptop. “Nia, what did I say yesterday? Let’s not jump to conclusions,” he said. “It could be a coincidence.”

  I did not think this was a coincidence. It didn’t make sense for the show to get worse. But Daddy was right. We shouldn’t blame anyone yet. Not until I investigated.

  I knew Mike was the guy with the remote. I’d seen him at rehearsal yesterday.

  “Who is Andrea?” I asked.

  “She’s on the stage crew with Mike. She makes a lot of the props. She thinks it’s funny to play jokes on people,” said Nia.

  If it was Andrea, her jokes were definitely not funny.

  “What about Mike?” I asked. “Why would he take the batteries out of his own remote?”

  “Because!” Nia was getting upset again. “He’s Owen’s best friend.”

  “But why is Owen even there?” I asked. I just didn’t understand.

  Nia let out a huge puff of air. “Owen is the understudy,” she said. “He gets to play Willy Wonka if I get sick or something.”

  “So he wants your part in the show?” I asked.

  Nia nodded. “Owen thinks a boy should play Willy Wonka,” she said. “And that boy should be him. If he and Mike make me mess up, Mr. Guidi will think I’m not practicing. He might give Owen my part.”

  That was very interesting information. “What will Owen be if he doesn’t get your part?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” said Nia. “Right now he just sits there and watches.”

  And laughs, I thought. Maybe Owen had played tricks during the rehearsal to make Nia mess up. Maybe Mike had helped him.

  I knew I had to tell Nia about what I’d seen.

  “Owen was sitting by me during rehearsal,” I said. “I saw him laughing.”

  Nia’s eyes got big. “You did?”

  I nodded. “He laughed a lot.”

  “That’s it. It must be Owen,” said Nia. “It has to be.”

  Mama said, “Maybe you should talk to Mr. Guidi.”

  “No,” said Daddy. “You can’t accuse anyone unless you’re sure. You need to prove it.”

  It’s a good thing I’m going to the rehearsal today, I thought. I have a lot of evidence to collect.

  If Owen was the culprit, I would tell Mr. Guidi. I couldn’t let Owen ruin the whole show and embarrass my sister.

  Since we had time before the dress rehearsal, I went up to my room. I wanted to make a Congratulations sign for Nia’s party. I decided I would draw flowers and candy around the border. They would look just like the ones on the stage.

  The party was going to be fantastic. Mama and I had planned it together. We had to keep it a secret from Nia and Tiana. Tiana was horrible at keeping secrets.

  Mama had even planned a special menu of sweet treats. Nia’s show was about a candy factory, after all. Auntie Sam was coming too. I couldn’t wait!

  It took me a whole hour to finish my sign. It looked really good. But the whole time I worked, my mind was on something else—my investigation.

  I put my sign away and opened my backpack. I took out my notebook and pencil. I made a list of all of the problems from yesterday. They were the clues.

  remote batteries missing

  lollipops fell over

  microphones stopped working

  flower petals fell off

  curtain strings broke

 
bubble machine was empty

  Somebody had been very busy causing problems yesterday. But now somebody would be looking for that person, and that somebody was me.

  CHAPTER 5

  SNEAKY DETECTIVE

  A few hours later, Nia came downstairs. She looked completely different. Her hair was in five big cornrows, so it would fit under the Willa Wonka hat. She had on eye makeup and lipstick too. The only thing missing was her costume.

  “Ooooooo! You look so pretty,” Tiana said.

  Nia smiled and bowed. “Thank you.”

  “My triple threat!” Daddy clapped for Nia.

  “Where’s your costume?” Tiana asked.

  “It’s in the dressing room at the theater,” Nia explained. “Mr. Guidi doesn’t let us bring them home. He says they’re safer backstage.”

  Daddy, Nia, Tiana, and I got into the car. He was taking us to rehearsal today because Mama needed to be at the restaurant. Saturday nights were busy, plus she was taking tomorrow off for Nia’s show.

  When we got to the theater, Tiana said, “Azaleah gets to stay? I want to stay too.”

  “No,” said Daddy. “You and I are going to the park.”

  Tiana cheered. The park was her favorite place.

  I followed Nia inside. Owen was in the front row. Chris, the reporter, was sitting a few rows back, talking to Mr. Guidi.

  “Can you tell me more about the ghost of Thespis?” I heard him ask. “It might help with my story.”

  I smiled. Chris was curious, just like me.

  “Come backstage with me,” Nia whispered. “Maybe you can get an inside look at what’s going on back there.”

  That was the perfect place for me. I would be able to see it all: backstage, onstage, and the audience.

  “Am I allowed back there?” I asked. I didn’t want to get into trouble.

  Nia smiled and took my hand. “Mr. Guidi let Chris look around back there yesterday. It’ll be OK.” Then she said, “I’m glad you’re here.”

  Nia led me to the stage. A girl dressed in black walked onto the stage and checked all the props.

  “Who is that?” I asked Nia.

  “That’s Andrea,” Nia whispered.

  Even though Nia had said Andrea liked to play jokes on people, she looked very serious. I watched her check every single thing on the stage.

  “I have to go get changed,” Nia said. “Are you OK here?”

  I nodded, and Nia rushed off to the dressing room. I hid in a corner behind one of the curtains. I could see everything, and I was out of the way. I put my backpack with my detective equipment on the floor next to me.

  Pretty soon, the cast came onto the stage. Nia looked really good in her purple coat and top hat. She carried a walking stick that was also part of her costume.

  I peeked around the curtain. Mr. Guidi stood on the floor in front of the stage. Chris, the reporter, stood there with him. Mr. Guidi clapped his hands, and everyone looked at him.

  “Chris has asked to interview the lead characters after the show tomorrow,” he said. “We’ll have a photographer from the paper here too. Let’s make this our best show yet. We want to give Chris something to write about.”

  Nia glanced at me. She looked worried. Mr. Guidi looked a little worried too. He kept rubbing his hands together like he was putting on invisible lotion.

  Chris watched Mr. Guidi for a second. Then he wrote something down in his notebook.

  I need to solve this mystery as fast as I can, I thought. We wanted to give Chris something good to write about.

  The lights went out and the rehearsal started. I took out my binoculars. I wanted to see each person’s face clearly. Andrea pulled the curtains open and the music started.

  The dress rehearsal was really good—at first. It was just like watching a real show.

  In the beginning, the characters were trying to find golden tickets. The tickets were hidden in chocolate bars at the candy store. A boy named Charlie found one, so he got to go on a special visit to Willa Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

  In the next part, Charlie and the other kids who’d found tickets all went to the factory. They were super-excited to meet Willa Wonka. That’s when Nia came onstage. Willa Wonka led them into the candy factory.

  But when Nia’s imagination song started, the lights on her coat went crazy. First they were on, and then they were off. Then they went out of control and started blinking.

  I spied through my binoculars. Across the stage, Andrea was peeking out from behind the curtain. She had a big frown on her face.

  Next, I spied on Mike. He was standing near the curtain strings. He shook the remote and tapped it against his hand. It looked like he was trying to make the lights work right.

  Finally I pointed my binoculars at the audience. Owen was laughing.

  I wished Mr. Guidi could stop the rehearsal. I wished he would at least turn around and catch Owen laughing at my sister. But Mr. Guidi was focused on the stage.

  Nia’s eyes looked upset, but she was a professional. She kept right on singing like nothing was wrong.

  Pretty soon it was intermission. Tomorrow, during the real show, that would be when the audience got a break. Mr. Guidi, Chris, and the people on the crew clapped. Owen did not.

  Nia smiled, even though I knew she wasn’t very happy. Mr. Guidi climbed up onto the stage and stood next to her. Mike came out and joined them.

  “Mike, what’s wrong with the remote now?” asked Mr. Guidi.

  Mike shrugged. “I don’t know. The batteries are new. We just replaced them yesterday. Maybe it’s the coat.”

  Mr. Guidi yelled, “Benjamin!”

  A boy ran out carrying an Oompa Loompa costume. “Yes, Mr. Guidi?”

  “You’re in charge of wardrobe. What’s going on with this coat?”

  Benjamin looked embarrassed. “I don’t know, Mr. Guidi. I tested it after yesterday’s rehearsal. It was fine.”

  Mr. Guidi let out a gigantic sigh. “The show is tomorrow. There’s no time to buy a new coat. We’ll have to use it with no effects.”

  “But Mr. Guidi,” said Benjamin, “the special effects are important. Nia is singing about imagination. The coat lights make the song feel magical.”

  Mr. Guidi hung his head. “We don’t have a choice. The show must go on.”

  CHAPTER 6

  INTERMISSION

  Nia started to cry. Andrea ran over to her. “It’s OK, Nia,” she said. “Nobody will even know the coat is supposed to light up.”

  Mike patted Nia’s back. “I’m really sorry. Your singing is so beautiful you don’t even need the lights,” he said.

  I took out my notebook and wrote: Mike and Andrea were nice to Nia. Probably not the culprits.

  Then I added: Unless they are faking it. Also, Owen did not clap.

  Andrea walked away to close the curtains. Everyone left the stage to get ready for the next scene. Only Nia stood in the middle of the stage. She took off her hat and hung her head.

  I stared at my sister and tried to figure out how to help. Finally, I got an idea. We needed to have what Daddy called a sidebar. Lawyers and judges had those in court when they wanted to talk privately.

  I went over to Nia and took her hand. Then I walked her back to my hiding spot. She sat with me and put her face in her hands. She cried and cried.

  “Nia,” I said. “It’s going to be OK. You did a really good job. Did you see the cast clapping for you?”

  Nia looked up. “They clapped?”

  “You didn’t notice?” I asked.

  “No,” said Nia. “I was too upset.”

  “People really liked your performance.” I smiled at her. “They seemed impressed by the way you kept going. I was really proud of you.”

  Nia smiled—a real smile this time. “Thanks, Azaleah. You’re
a good sister.” She stood up and looked down at me. “I’m going to go take a break before intermission is over.”

  “Break a leg,” I said.

  In the theater, it was bad luck to say, “Good luck.” You had to say “Break a leg” instead.

  I watched Nia hurry away. I was the only one left on the stage now. The curtains were closed. It was the perfect time for an investigation.

  I crept over and studied the lollipops. I wanted to see how they were made. Then maybe I could figure out why they had fallen. I noticed that each lollipop stick screwed into a big wooden stand at the bottom.

  I thought back to yesterday. The stand hadn’t fallen over with the lollipops. The lollipops must not have been screwed in tight.

  Just then the theater lights flickered. That meant the show was about to start again.

  I hurried to the flowers to inspect the petals. If the petals were glued on, maybe they’d just fallen off.

  But when I checked the flowers, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The petals were attached with screws. There was only one way they could have come off.

  Someone must have unscrewed them, I thought.

  The actors hadn’t come back yet, so I ran to inspect the curtain strings. I was looking at the knot somebody had tied to fix the problem when I heard a voice behind me.

  “What are you doing?”

  I turned around. It was Andrea.

  “I was looking at this knot,” I said. “Do these strings usually break?”

  Andrea leaned close to me. “They never break,” she said. “Look how thick they are.” She had a very angry look on her face.

  Andrea was right. The strings were more like rope. It didn’t seem like they would just break.

  “I think someone did this on purpose,” she added.

  I was convinced. This was no coincidence. This was foul play. And Andrea was furious about it. She was definitely not the one ruining the show. There was no way she’d mess up her own props.

  Before I could say anything else, the actors came back out to the stage. I decided to sit in the audience for the rest of the rehearsal. Maybe I would notice something different from there.