Anne looked like she was about to burst. “We’ve got tickets to see Parsimonious and the Proper Wizard tonight. Mr. Gherring got them for us.”
All three girls started jumping around, while Rayna and Antonio chuckled.
“Something tells me you’re a little excited about this,” said Rayna.
Anne explained, “We weren’t planning to see anything really popular. We were just going to see what we could get on the cheap tomorrow. But all three of us were dying to see Parsimonious. Mr. Gherring surprised me with the tickets and let me off early.”
“Hmmm,” said Charlie teasingly. “That was suspiciously nice of him. What did you do for him?”
Everyone laughed but Anne, who felt her cheeks heating. “Charlie, stop it. You’re going to make Rayna and Antonio think bad things about me.”
“Oh Mom,” chuckled Emily. “You still haven’t learned to take a joke.”
“I can’t believe how much you guys look alike—all three of you,” said Rayna. “Your hair is different, but your faces…”
“Yes, you obviously inherited your beauty from your mom,” said Antonio. “I was trying to get her to go out with me when she got here. That’s why she hooked me up with Rayna. She was trying to get rid of me.” He winked at Anne.
“I’m hoping I still look that good when I’m Mom’s age.” Charlie turned to her mom. “Not that you’re old or anything—”
“Too late—you already called me old. But we’ll see tomorrow who’s old when I out-climb you at the gym.”
Charlie rolled her eyes. “Mom, I hate to tell you, but you aren’t going to out-climb me.”
“You guys should go get ready if you’re going to a seven o’clock play. It’s five fifteen already,” said Antonio.
Anne headed up the elevator with the girls and their luggage. The girls exclaimed over the cute apartment and the view from the window. Charlie walked around looking at the photographs.
“Mom, you have seven pictures of Emily and only six of me.”
“You can just give me a new framed picture for Christmas to even it out.”
“I think the pictures are fine just the way they are. You shouldn’t change a thing,” Emily declared, surveying the pictures for herself. “Hey you turned one of mine backwards.”
“I was just making it fair.”
After downing some tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, the girls got dressed for the play. “Should we dress up?” asked Charlie.
“I’ve been told you’ll see all kinds of clothes at the play—the whole gamut, from jeans to cocktail dresses. I say wear something nice and warm, but not a dress. We’ll take the subway, so we’ll do some walking.”
“Are you sure you know where to go? Which subway to take?” asked Emily.
“None of us can navigate worth a flip, so I vote we just leave early and plan on getting lost,” laughed Charlie.
“My plan exactly,” Anne agreed.
“I, however, planned ahead,” said Emily. “I already downloaded a subway app for my phone.”
“Ha!” said Charlie. “You’ll probably get us more lost with the app than without it.”
They found the theater easily, stopping strangers to ask for directions and only making one wrong turn. Parsimonious did not disappoint.
“Didn’t you just love the costumes?” asked Anne.
“I liked the wooden puppet,” said Charlie. “I don’t know how they made his legs look like that.”
Anne said, “I liked the part where they flew above the audience.”
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