Pretty Baby novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: The Pageant
The spring pageant at Mabel's school was held in a hall with the Hartwell name on a brass plaque by the door.
I read it on the way in, and Stefan read it too, and neither of us said a word.
We sat in the third row, with a program and a camera and a packet of tissues in my purse.
The curtain was blue velvet, and behind it I could hear thirty six-year-olds breathing and whispering.
"She was sick twice at breakfast," Stefan murmured.
"She was nervous."
"I had not known you could be sick from nervousness."
"I'm about to be," I said.
He took my hand and held it on his knee in front of every parent in the room.
The children came out in paper bridges and cardboard rivers, and the principal read a poem about crossing over.
Mabel was the fourth from the left, in a gray vest and a crown of paper arches, with her braid tied in a ribbon.
She found us immediately.
She waved with her whole arm, and a teacher hissed at her.
Then the piano began, and thirty children sang a song about bridges, off-key and delighted.
When it ended, the other kids bowed.
Mabel did not.
She stepped forward to the edge of the stage, where a microphone stood on a stand.
She tipped it down to her own height with both hands.
"I have a song too," she said.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Pretty Baby are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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