Okay for Now

Spring in Marysville was bustling and bursting with green. Doug had Lil join him one day for the delivery to Mrs. Windermere. She had a guest for the first time ever, Mr. Gregory, the producer of the play she had just written about Jane Eyre. He had a huge car, a clear distaste for Mrs. Windermere’s pickiness, and a love for raspberry sherbet. Doug thought he was probably “a good guy” (294). Mrs. Windermere asked if Lil was Doug’s girlfriend, causing him to momentarily freak out, he quickly affirmed that this was the case.

They all sat down and ate sherbet, while Mr. Gregory and Mrs. Windermere discussed the issues with the upcoming production. Mr. Gregory was having a hard time finding the right cast. Though Lil resisted, they all decided Lil would make a great actress and should be in the play. Lil tried to deflect from this discussion by asking if Doug could be in the play, too. Only if he can “shriek like an insane woman” was Mrs. Windermere’s response. Lil assured her that Doug could; she witnessed him making just those sounds many times before. Doug could see that this was going to lead to a quarrel, so he excused himself and Lil from the table and started to head out. As they were leaving, Mrs. Windermere turned to Mr. Gregory and asked him what he planned to do with the drawing of the Snowy Heron. When it was clear he planned to do nothing with it, she offered it in trade to Lil and Doug for participating in her play. Doug was sold, but Lil needed some convincing.

A few days later, Doug got her to agree to be in the play by agreeing to do the work for one of the projects they were supposed to be partners for. Once their teacher found out about the play, however, he reduced their assignment so they could spend more time preparing for the production. Almost all of their teachers made special concessions so they could dedicate the bulk of their time to the play. In English class, Miss Cowper, to Doug’s endless joy, even ended the poetry unit early so they could study drama instead. In light of their role in the play, Mr. Powell showed them Audubon’s drawing of The Great Esquimaux Curlew, because he said that type of bird was an “actor if there ever was one” (301). Three times a week, Mr. Spicer drove Lil and Doug to New York City to the Rose Theatre to practice their parts. On the drive down, Doug always helped Lil practice her lines, though she never asked him to practice shrieking.

He decided to practice on his own in the bathroom at home, but that scared Lucas, so he decided to practice in empty fields. Doug got so good at shrieking that the first time he performed in practice everyone applauded. Mrs. Windermere and Mr. Gregory asked him to “tone it down” a bit, however, because the agony of the screams was a bit too real (305). Lil forgot her lines a lot, but Doug loved watching her on stage, and she loved him watching her as well.

While Doug was practicing, Lucas started working. Unfortunately, every job turned out to be a dead end. First, he got a job pumping gas, but the owner quickly found that people were too disturbed by Lucas’s presence, so he fired him. Second, he got a job at the A & P, but they fired him as well after he ruined a bunch of oranges. Then, he got a job as a teller at a bank, but one of the customers complained that he shouldn’t be working there since she believed that those who fought in Vietnam were “so drug-addled” they “couldn’t take proper directions” (307). Lucas left before the boss could fire him, already sure of what was coming. After that, he came home and cried silently in the dark while a John Wayne movie played in the background.

The week before the play, Lil was a mess, feeling sick, unable to concentrate on her school, and chewing through an alarming amount of pencils. When the Friday of the play came, Mr. Ferris told Lil and Doug how close the astronauts were to landing on the moon, and how they were able to see Earth. Because of the way light and distance work, the astronauts were seeing Earth’s future. He then explained to an extremely nervous Lil that that meant “you two have already succeeded,” which seemed to calm her down a lot (310).

Doug was overwhelmed by how beautiful his mother looked on the way to play. He practiced Lil’s lines with her on the way into New York City, and she got every single one of them right. When they arrived, Mr. Gregory bustled Lil off to get her costume and makeup on, so Doug did schoolwork while he waited for the show to begin. His mother and the Spicers left to stroll around Times Square, trying to find some way to expel their nervous energy.

Mr. Gregory arrived looking worried, but a pearl-necklaced Mrs. Windermere whisked Mr. Gregory away, assuring Doug there was nothing to vex over. While Doug waited, he watched the theatre fill up with rich and famous people, including, to his utter horror, Joe Pepitone. He could not bear the thought of his idol realizing he was playing the part of a girl. 

Worry was clouding his face, when his mom, the Spicers, Mrs. Windermere, and Mr. Gregory came and found him. Lil was sick to her stomach, possibly from lead poisoning, and was not going to be able to perform on stage. Lil and the adults decided that Doug would take her place. He vehemently refused, mentioning that Joe Pepitone was in the audience. They continued their pressure and their plans to dress him up like a girl. Before he knew it, Mrs. Windermere was tying his hair in a bun, going over the stage directions with him, and even deigning to call him Doug instead of “Skinny Delivery Boy” (316). Doug told Mrs. Windermere that now that Lil wasn’t part of the deal, that the deal needed to be amended to include her copy of the Red-Throated Divers. She refused, but Mr. Gregory stepped in on the grounds that this was his “theater,” “production,” “reputation,” and “money,” and he agreed to give Doug both drawings if he played Lil’s part (318).

 After the play was over, Doug knew he had done a “killer” job (318). Mr. Gregory “hugged” and “twirled” Doug around the moment he saw him (319). Doug did an even better job shrieking, then spent the rest of the play working on homework and dreaming about returning the two bird drawings to the library the following day. It took forever to get home because Mrs. Windermere wanted to hang around and let everyone lavish praise on her, but Doug was too excited about the future and too happy that Mrs. Windermere was treating his mother like her “best friend” too care about the loss of sleep (319).

Just as they were about to leave, Joe Pepitone came backstage and told Doug how amazing was in the play. He remembered throwing ball with him the previous year, and he wanted Doug to sign his program. Doug signed it “Thanks” which confused Joe Pepitone a bit, but Doug clarified saying he had “everything” to thank Joe Pepitone for (322).

Mrs. Windermere, Doug, and his mom sang and laughed the whole way home. When they got home, Lucas and Christopher were waiting up for them. They asked Doug how it went, and he told them all the juicy details, overwhelmed by the joy of it. Lucas explained that Mrs. Spicer called earlier, and when Doug asked about Lil’s stomachache, Lucas let him know it was much worse than they thought.