Oh My, I Messed Up the Story

Abby's actors were horribly unskilled and it took about a week for them to memorize what few lines they had. For the most part she was narrating as much of the story as she could. She finally deemed it fit for public consumption when the kids were able to make it through two run-throughs in a row without forgetting their lines.

They decided to surprise Katie at the library after secretly setting the sign out front from "open" to "closed." While she was putting some returned books back where they belonged, they snuck in and moved some of the furniture around to clear a space for a stage.

Then they set up one particular couch with as many pillows as they could find and a soft wool blanket. A big bowl of the potato chips Sia made was set next to it.

Jasper, Nyla's oldest child who was playing the role of Frodo Baggins, went over to fetch Katie under the pretense of asking for help so the show could begin. Al even left his duties for a while so he could play the role of Gandalf.

Katie was led to the couch and was thoroughly confused when she saw all of the children in costumes peeking out from between the bookshelves but tears appeared in the corner of her eyes when she caught sight of the potato chips. That was when she started to catch on.

The tears were flowing freely as she grinned up at her sister once the narration began. Abby dramatically recited, "Long ago in the land of Middle Earth there were twenty rings of power divided between the different races. Three to the elves, seven to the dwarves, nine to the world of men, and one to the Dark Lord Sauron…"

She tried using as many direct quotes and scenes from the movies as she could remember. All things considered, she did a fairly good job. She hadn't watched them all the way through six or seven times for nothing.

There was a lot of condensing but she made sure to include important thematic music by singing it with "da da das," "doo doo doos," and "dun dun duns." Singing instrumental music was hard and she felt ridiculous but the look on Katie's face was totally worth it.

Each of the three movies was condensed into approximately twenty minutes of acting and narration, trying to keep the most important parts in, so the whole play was only an hour long. But Katie looked every bit as enthralled as she would have watching the real thing.

She laughed at some of the kids' over-the-top acting and Al's ridiculous paper wizard hat. And when the Balrog, a seven-year-old girl named Sidi who was only recognizable by the sign around her neck with the label "Balrog" on it, pulled Al off of a table to mimic being pulled down the cliff as he said the iconic line "fly, you fools."

That part really got to her. She howled with glee and clapped extra hard as the scene changed and they dragged the table away.

Katie loved the kids' valiant attempts at recreating Helm's Deep out of tables and using tiny wood bows with pointless arrows to attack each other during the battle too. She watched them go as Abby sang the dramatic battle music as best she could.

Most of the kids played multiple characters because there weren't enough of them involved. Only the Hobbits, Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, and Gimli didn't play multiple people because they were in so many scenes.

Sidi wasn't the only one who wore a sign around her neck as a costume. The rotating cast of non-main characters frequently did that to avoid confusion.

The play was silly, had cost less than five copper pieces to put together, and moved Katie to tears. Abby considered that a major win. At the end she gave everyone a standing ovation as she continued to laugh and cry at the same time. Her bowl of potato chips was completely empty and she couldn't keep the grin off of her face.

"Oh, I love you guys! Come here," she beckoned with her arms out.

All of the younger children ran at her though most of the older ones were too embarrassed to do so. Katie gave each of them a tight hug and told them how wonderful they were, thanking them fervently for the surprise.

"Katie…could we put the play on again once the snow has melted? Outside, so everyone can see it," one of the older teenage boys suggested nervously.

She agreed vehemently. "That sounds like a great idea! I shouldn't be the only one to enjoy this masterpiece."

The older kids were relieved and whispered excitedly among themselves. Originally Abby had been surprised that they even wanted to be involved since it was so childish and they were technically considered adults in this world.

But high schools had drama programs for a reason. Some teenagers really loved this sort of thing.

Would it be possible to do this sort of thing again with other popular movies from their world for entertainment? The kids all had so much fun doing it. It would be worth a try. Maybe they could do Harry Potter once it got warmer since there was more space outside.

Abby didn't realize it then but she had started a phenomenon that would later result in building an amphitheater with a proper stage and more elaborate props. For generations to come the Kanta would put on plays based on strange stories passed down from a former clan leader's family.

Looking back, she would laugh at how much of an impact she had made on the Kanta's cultural affairs. All she had wanted to do was make her sister happy for a little while but she had accidentally done so much more than that.