Suzie’s House 316 : The Highlight of Emma’s Life

Emma could feel the excitement in the air right from the first notes of Bitter Harvest. It was like a balloon hanging all flaccid one minute and ready to pop the nest.

She stood at the back of the gym, watching her band mates play and feeling pretty full of herself, thanks to the lacy black mask Bruce had given her, like she was the phantom of the opera or something.

She waited patiently through the intro, and was totally ready for it when it was time to sing. Her voice rang out right on time, perfect pitch and volume. Everything was great. Except for what happened next.

It felt like the entire room turned into a big electric grid. As soon as she started to sing, everyone was electrified. She could see the kids around her holding their breath. Everyone’s head turned toward her, eyes wide and jaws hanging.

But it really was more than the fact everyone was looking at her. The air itself felt charged. If it weren’t for the mask she might have passed out.

The shock of so much energy swirling around her made her screw up the next line of the song. Then she froze because she was afraid Tracy and Bruce would be mad at her for messing it up and the band kept right on playing like they thought she was agile enough to catch up and she could hardly breathe, let along sing.

But Gene played the intro thing again like they were giving her a second chance, and this time she was really, really ready.

She pretended the electric field wasn’t really swirling around her. She imagined herself a mermaid, a siren, singing as she swam through the warm water of everyone’s admiration. She walked slowly toward the stage, singing the whole way.

And it was working. She raised her hand like a diva, and some people even cheered. It was like living out one of her fantasies.

By the time she got there and turned around, the song was just about over. She only had one more chorus. And then they were all taking bows.

Everyone in the audience stood up and clapped. It was a standing ovation. She was ready to do another one, but they hadn’t decided which one it would be, and when she looked at Tracy to find out what to do, a teacher came up on stage.

The teacher was clapping, but you could tell she meant to take over, probably to make some sort of announcement. It wasn’t until then that Emma remembered it wasn’t a concert, just a talent show.

Some of the kids were yelling “encore” while they clapped, but they stopped when they saw the teacher. A bunch of them sat down.

“Who are you,” someone in the audience yelled.

“Yeah, you announced everyone else, but not yourself.”

They were talking about her. Emma might have tried to ignore them, but more people yelled, and they even started to chant.

“Me? I’m… Emm… uh… M. M. As in the Masked Mystery.” She grinned.

And then the teacher was taking the microphone away from her, and Emma breathed out a really big sigh of relief. This show was probably the greatest moment of her life, but she was glad it was over. Well. Kind of. One more song would have been fun.

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