Franklin won the draw. We were ready. The costumes had been made, the scenery was in place, and we'd learned our lines. Bubba had agreed to be stage manager and, to my surprise, had engineered a fantastic set. He'd chosen his own workers, and they had nailed, painted, sanded, and built the best backdrops I'd ever seen. Everyone in our class told him over and over how great everything looked. Mr. Sims was as proud as a peacock about all our hard work. I think he was so caught up in the spirit of the festival that he wanted to win the trophy as badly as our class did. He jumped around like a flea, asking each one of us a million times, “Is everything proceeding according to our plans? Do you need anything? How's it going?” Gram had come to most of our rehearsals. She'd never interfered in what I was doing or the directions I gave the kids. She let me make my own decisions and my own mistakes. When something really turned out good, I'd look in the back of the auditorium and she'd give me a thumbs-up.
What do You think about Puppet Pandemonium (2006)?
