“You help me—I’m Judith—defeat the bad guys. I seduce the enemy and chop off his head.”
“Do I get to chop off someone’s head?” David asked.
“No. You get to be very bad at military defense. That’s whyJudith needs to step up, because the men suck at getting anything done.”
David took his script, looking resigned.
Iris waved her arms once more for attention. “Tonight, we’ll do a read through. There’re two story lines—Judith, who beheads General Holofernes, and the Maccabean Revolt. They’re both about fighting imperial conquest, set hundreds of years apart. We start with a joint monologue between the kings, while behind them everyone acts out the bad stuff, like a statue of Zeus being put up and pigs slaughtered in the Temple.” She nodded at six-year-old Jack, five-year-old Connor, and four-year-old Eva, who were currently squabbling over a pair of stuffed bears. “They’ll be the pigs.”
I blinked and tried to exchange a skeptical glance with Noah, but he was busy exchanging a skeptical glance with Abby.
“To be clear,” Noah said, “you’re going to dress the littles up as pigs and pretend to slaughter them?”
Iris nodded. “Yes.”
Noah’s mouth twitched. “Just checking.”
“Theywilllook pretty cute in pig outfits,” Abby murmured.
“David, you’ll be the statue of Zeus in this scene, so you need to work on a toga situation.”
David and I began shaking with silent, unstoppable laughter. The triplets gave us icy stares.
“As the narrator, I start,” Iris said. Stately as an orator inancient Greece, she began to speak. “After twelve years of rule, Alexander the Great died, and his officers crowned themselves rulers in his place, and from them came many great and terrible evils...”
At ten thirty, I called rehearsal. The littles had already gone to sleep, and the middles were drooping. “We’ll practice more tomorrow,” I assured the triplets, and hustled everyone off to bed.
I headed to my room alongside Miriam and Noah’s girlfriend. When Abby left to brush her teeth, Miriam and I regarded the air mattress skeptically. “What do you think the plan is?” Miriam asked. “Think she’ll stay here or sneak into Noah’s room?”
“I don’t know. Noah’s sharing with Ethan.” The rooms the Danzigers would stay in were currently empty.
Which reminded me. “Are we going to do this play in front of theDanzigers?” In front of Isaac? I felt sick. Isaac was adult, so polished—would he think a kids’ play was fun and charming? Wait. Yes. Of course he would—itwasfun and charming. Surely Isaac would agree.
“I guess. Uncle Arnold’s bringing his assistant, right? The hot one?”
A jolt of competition shot through me, but I tried to sound casual. “Isaac?”
“Yeah. Him.” Miriam giggled. “He’s gorgeous.”
“I guess.” I reminded myself Miriam was fourteen, and Isaac was nineteen. Right. Calm down, self.I’dbe lucky to get Isaac’s attention—he wasn’t going to hit on a fourteen-year-old.
The door opened, and we both flinched as Abby entered, looking slightly nervous. “Hey, guys.”
“Hey.”
“Hope you guys don’t mind me crashing with you.” She sat on her neatly made air mattress.
“Course not,” I said. “Though we won’t tattle or whatever if you go off with Noah.”
Miriam clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle laughter.
Abby flushed, but she met my gaze, her own steady and evaluating. “Oh?”
Surprisingly, I wanted to end up in her good standing. “No. I mean, our parents might pop in to check on us since it’s the first night, so wait until after then. But we’re not going to be weird about it.”
“Okay.” She nodded slowly. “Thanks.”
My mom and Miriam’s did pop their heads in, making sure we were settled and wishing us good night. Soon after, Abby slipped away, leaving Miriam snuffling lightly on the other side of the bed. I closed my eyes, feeling warm and cozy and sated by the presence of so much family, like I’d been wrapped in a blanket.
