by Kevin J. Doyle –
“Sing? I can’t sing! What… this… I won’t… there’s no way! Sing? I can’t!” Ella threw her arms in the air, waving them about as if she were trying to swat an imaginary bee. Then she clasped her hands together and hurriedly paced back and forth across the cabin’s rough wooden floor. Finally, Ella collapsed onto her bed, buried her face in her pillow, and wished she could simply disappear.
“Be cool, Ella. It’s all good, feel no worries!” Her friend Marley tried to be comforting with her calm, easy-going voice.
The girls were on Ella’s bunk bed in Mack-Mack cabin at Mackersnacker Summer Camp. It was the end of their two weeks of fun and the big Mack-Snack Skills Attack talent show was to take place that evening. It featured twelve campers who had qualified to perform based on how many points they’d earned in each skill learned during camp. Ella and the other eleven show participants had been announced earlier that morning during a special all-camp breakfast. During the ceremony, they’d each stepped up to the ancient “Snacker Barrel” and pulled out a random ping pong ball. Written on the ball was the name of the skill they’d demonstrate during the show. When it was Ella’s turn to choose her fate, she’d picked out what might as well have been a live wiggling snake. Her ping pong ball had one terrifying word on it—SINGING.
“Any of the other skills and I’d rock!” Ella said. “I must have scored the least points in singing. I could be demonstrating way cool things like how to make bead necklaces or paint art rocks. But NOOOOO, I have to stand on the stage all alone like a loser and sing a boring old song.”
“It doesn’t have to be boring. It could be the most rockin’ night ever!” Marley said.
Ella knew her friend was only trying to help but what did SHE know? She didn’t have to sing, even though she was awesome at it. Ella knew Marley could definitely have been one of the top camp performers if she’d have tried. Instead, Marley had cruised through the weeks by turning each of the skills they had learned into quirky, weird art performances. There was never any doubt, though, Marley was very talented at everything.
Just then, Ella remembered she had wanted to ask her friend where she’d been for several hours earlier in the afternoon and what the strangely familiar song was she’d come back humming. However, before she could, Marley hopped off Ella’s bunk and dissolved into her funky dance walking moves as she headed toward the door. Marley spun, bobbed, and weaved while waving her arms back and forth and twirling her hands around her head. Her random steps mixed between long and short in a lazy zigzag. This usually made Ella smile and wish she had the guts to dance walk. This time, it only made her jealous of her friend’s constantly relaxed mood.
“Dance walking helps stir up good vibes!” Marley said.
“You just do it to make people stare,” Ella snapped back.
“No I don’t,” Marley replied. “And you shouldn’t knock it. Dance walking is what you do when you are truly alive!”
Ella only scowled and pressed her arms tightly around her stomach, unfazed by her friend’s positivity.
Marley bounced back to Ella’s side, hugged her friend, and whispered, “After you’ve changed into your performance outfit, light this candle, say a prayer, and then blow out the flame. All will be well!”
She handed a small purple candle and book of matches to Ella before finally dance walking out the door. Ella put the candle and matches on her window ledge and looked at the crazy colorful get-up Marley had picked out for her. It was a combination of both their clothes and was supposed to ‘bring her inner star out.’ She reluctantly changed while quietly practicing the camp song she was doomed to perform.
Next, Ella lit the little candle and stood at her cabin’s window. She was so hoping the butterflies in her stomach would escape and flutter away on the cool early evening breeze. Ella took a deep breath, gazed desperately into the sky, and said a quick prayer for help with her sure-to-be disastrous singing performance. Then she blew out the candle and watched the smoke shimmer away. Her eyes nearly popped off her face and her heart lifted as she realized the twisting, spinning, zigzagging smoke looked exactly like Marley’s dance walking.
Feeling a small surge of confidence, Ella set her mind on her task ahead and jogged to the Mackersnacker Master Hall. As soon as she entered, she crossed her fingers and went directly to check the show list. Maybe, just maybe, there would be a correction or substitution in the lineup and she’d be off the hook.
Unfortunately, she had no such luck. Ella’s shoulders fell, her smile jumped in a lake, and her head drooped low as she saw she was still on the list AND performing last. Her prayer and Marley’s good vibes hadn’t helped at all. Still nervous yet determined to do her best, Ella gave a good effort in the run-through and tried to work on some dance steps to make her performance better. However, she felt as small as a speck when the show started and her countdown to humiliation began.
All too quickly, the other eleven parts of the Mack-Snack Skill Attack were over. Mrs. Everton, the Camp Guide running the show, announced it was time to close out the evening with the singing performance. There was nowhere to turn and no place to hide, so Ella took her spot at the microphone in front of the band.
“Campers and camp guides,” Mrs. Everton said. “Please give a warm welcome to our show closers. Camp Mackersnacker’s singers—Ella… and Marley!”
Ella was so shocked to hear both names called and to see Marley run in and slide across the back of the Master Hall on her knees, she had to grab the microphone stand to keep from falling forward on her face! Marley was wearing a wildly colorful outfit that complemented Ella’s perfectly. Ella watched in disbelief as Marley happily moved all over the main floor of the hall, getting the crowd pumped for the singing performance by pulling them from their seats and into the aisles. The band started thumping out a tight groovy jam, and Ella slowly started catching the good vibes.
“Ready to rock, Ella?” Marley shouted as she leaped to the stage and grabbed an extra microphone.
Their eyes met and from the smile on Marley’s face, Ella knew where her best friend had been hiding out earlier. Marley must have been here at the Master Hall, arranging with Mrs. Everton for the two of them to sing together and persuading the band to play a livelier version of the camp song. Right then, Ella’s love for her best friend, the energetic music, and the crowd’s enthusiasm all combined together to burst her inner star right out of its shell!
In an instant, Ella transformed from a scared singer to a super sensation as she yelled, “Yeah Marley – let’s roll!”
And rock’n’roll they did! The girls put on the most crowd-moving, wall-shaking, roof-jumping singing performance the Mack-Snack Skills Attack talent show had ever seen. The two best friends smoothly spun around each other and moved all over the stage with near perfect dance steps. They looked as if they had rehearsed for months and weren’t just making everything up on the spot! The girls finished the show with synchronized, rock singer style scissor leg jumps with air guitar arm swings. Once it was all over, they hugged each other tight and joyfully jumped up and down as the waves of applause washed over them.
“Folks, we’ve never done this before,” announced Mrs. Everton. “But tonight, we are going to award TWO ‘Top Macker’ awards to this summer’s best pair of campers. They are our spectacular singing starlets Ella and Marley!”
The girls laughed, bowed and waved as the crowd cheered loudly in response. After the clapping ended, the two rock stars slowly made their way out of the Master Hall while hugging all their friends along the way.
When they were finally outside, Ella looked up at the glorious night sky and thanked God for helping her through her performance. Millions of tiny lights twinkled back at her and she clearly heard each of them chiming, “You’re welcome.”
Right then, Ella felt so blessed and so alive she could barely contain herself! Without even thinking about it, she began bobbing, spinning, twisting, and weaving along the path while waving her arms all around her body. Ella was dance walking for the first time ever!
Marley squealed with delight and joined right in with Ella. Together, the two friends hopped, stomped, and grooved all the way back to their cabins. And everyone who saw them thought the girls looked like two wisps of candle smoke shimmering away into the night.
the end.
Question Time
- Why was Ella upset?
- What could her friend Marley do that she couldn’t?
- What happened at the talent show?
- What was Ella finally able to do at the end?
- How about you – can you ‘feel the vibes’ and DANCE WALK?!
