Page 111 of The Lookback

“I think the weather wasn’t really the best for them,” Abby says. “The Post Office thinks maybe they froze while they waited. I guess their heater kind of couldn’t keep up with the temperature drop.”

“Or they threw them in the warehouse.” I bare my teeth, but I manage to keep from growling.

“Don’t worry,” Abby says. “I brought you something better.” She winks as she hands me a tin.

The smell hits me before I can even open it. Lemon sugar cookies, Emery’s favorite. “Thank you.” I hug Abby. It’s not a diamond necklace, but I know Emery will love them. “But wait, what about you?”

“I got her flowers,” Abby says. “Izzy’s taking floral design, remember?” She gestures back at the auditorium. “I’d have offered you those, but Emery saw Izzy making them, so she’d know they came from us.”

As if she won’t know the lemon cookies are from Abby. “It’s great,” I say. “Thank you.”

Moments later, with Abby’s arm through mine so she and David will stop fussing, I shuffle through the doors and find my way to the seats Ethan’s shamelessly saving. With Beth, Donna, Will, Aiden, most of Abby’s kids, Amanda, Eddy, and Dolores Jenkins, we take up the majority of the second and third rows. Only Scrooge’s family is in front of us, and they’re all pretty short.

Just before the curtain opens, Tommy comes out front and introduces himself.

“My name is Thomas Collins, and I’m delighted to be filling in for Mr. Hammerly to help your kids bring you this year’s Christmas play,A Christmas Carol,” he says. “I haven’t lived in Manila for more than sixty years, but the kindness you have all shown me upon my return reminds me why I loved it here in my childhood. I hope you will enjoy your kids’ production of this play even half as much as I enjoyed helping them put it together.” With that, he bows.

And we all cheer.

I love seeing how much everyone else loves the man I love.

And the play itself, well. It’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. I know a lot of about what happened behind the scenes, like Scrooge getting appendicitis ten days ago and being replaced. . .with a third grader.

Tommy told me they had two choices. He could step in and play Scrooge, but he would be the one old man in a children’s play. I knew he’d do a flawless, believable job, but I also know his delight is in producing and directing, not in acting. His second option was to use Gabe, whose speech delay was still a struggle, but who had a mind like a steel trap. He memorized lines without a second thought, and he’s a natural up in front of people.

I told Tommy that everyone loved Gabe, and of course I was biased, but I thought a third grade lead would make it even more endearing than ever before.

Boy, was I right.

The audiencelovesGabe.

I’ve never seen a kid with a better sense of comedic timing. Things that weren’t even supposed to be funny are hilarious when he says them, and you can tell Gabe means for them to be. He scowls, harumphs, and stomps around with complete skill and utterly precious audacity.

The scene with him watching as Emery dances with a ‘younger’ Scrooge is belly-splittingly funny.

I’ve never seen this play performed as a comedy, but it was a stroke of genius, and the audience loves it. Then, somehow, at the end, Gabe manages to bring it down a level, and play things entirely seriously. I’m so proud of him when, at the very end, he focuses hard and actually articulates most of his r’s.

“I don’t know what to do,” Gabe says at the end. “I’m as light as a feather, as happy as an angel, and as merry as a school boy.” Then he winks.

We can’t help laughing, all of us with lighter hearts.

“I’d also be as giddy as a drunken man.” He mutters under his breath. “If only I could find some cherries.”

The audience roars over that, most of them having heard the story of the cordial cherries from Thanksgiving last.

“A merry Christmas to everybody, and a happy new year to the world.” When Gabe bows, the audience stands up and claps and claps.

I may have struggled with delivery on the flowers for Emery, but I’m confident that I’ll win with Gabe. I robbed the pile of Christmas gifts I’ve been hoarding, ordering something new to replenish it, so I could give Gabe the Charizard Lego kit I know he wants.

I did check with Abby to make sure they weren’t planning to get that for him. I can’t stand people who wreck other people’s plans. I’m hoping my overexaggerated distress about Emery’s flowers distracted Helen, because I really want to beat her for once, and she didn’t even mention a gift for Gabe. Maybe she didn’t realize he was even in the play. He was a late addition.

After the curtain closes, I grip either side of my seat so I can get up and move down the row faster than Helen, but the lights in the auditorium don’t turn on. Instead the curtain opens again, only the kids aren’t wearing their Christmas Carol costumes, so it’s not an encore.

They’re wearing what looks an awful lot like. . .The King and Icostumes instead. And Maren’s standing at the front.

When she starts to singShall We Dance,my jaw drops nearly to the floor, and as Ethan comes out wearing King Mongkut’s clothing, I can barely believe my eyes.

“Some of you may know that when I lived here last,” Tommy’s saying from the corner of the stage, “this very same group, the Manila High School theater program, performed a musical calledThe King and I. Amanda Saddler played Anna Leonowens, and through a bizarre stroke of luck, I played King Mongkut.” Then Tommy drops down, with some difficulty, to one knee. “That’s when I fell in love with her for the first time, I think.” He’s beaming. “I was too stupid to do anything about it then, but now I’m older, and I’m also a great deal smarter.” He pulls a box out of his pocket and flips up the lid. “I want to ask Amanda Saddler if she will marry me. I thought this would be a good time to do it, with all her family here, and with some of them featuring spectacularly in a Christmas production.” He’s beaming.

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