Read The Lutheran Ladies' Circle: Plucking One String for Free Online Page B

“Hey Micki, are you gals done? We need to set up in here.” Behind her, one of Kay’s teenage sons twisted right and left, trying to hold onto a screaming, stomping four-year-old boy.
    “Is that kiddo all right?” Micki asked.
    “Yeah.” Nan glanced at the tantrum. “His mom volunteered him to be in the Christmas play. Say, do you think you could help us?” she said as children filed in and sat in pews. “We kind of have our hands full here.”
    *
    Nan had decided to do The Best Christmas Pageant Ever , a multi-generational play about a rowdy group of unchurched kids who accidentally deliver the true meaning of Christmas. She looked at the actors in front of her.
    “All right, all right, listen up.” The five-and six-year-olds had dropped to the floor and were belly-crawling under pews, something they never got to do when sitting with parents. Several teenagers had been lured to the practice by the promise of pizza. Kevin, sixteen and Marcus, fourteen—Kay’s sons—were plugged into their ipods, waiting for the pizza to be served. Three girls had their heads close together, whispering. The adult actors stood at the back of sanctuary, chatting.
    “Kevin. Marcus. Get those kids out from under the pews,” Nan ordered, but the boys sat with their eyes closed, listening to their music. She walked over to the teens. The girls stopped chatting as she pulled an ear-bud out of Kevin’s ear.
    “What?” he said with a surprised look. “I’m not doin’ nothin’.”
    “Would you and Marcus please get those kids out from under the pews?” She returned to the front of the sanctuary to make announcements. “Now, practices will be…”
    Kevin yanked both ear buds from his younger brother’s head.
    Marcus whipped a knuckle into his brother’s arm. “What, Jerk Face?”
    Nan ignored them. “Look at home for costume materials…”
    “We gotta get the rug-rats from under the pews.” Kevin pointed downward. The little ones had wormed all the way to the back of the church, giggling and laughing. The brothers looked at each other then dove for the carpet.
    Nan continued, “I expect you to have your lines memorized by—”
    “EEEEEEEEEEE!” high pitched squeals came from the last row.
    “Gotcha!” More squeals were interrupted with lots of thumping on the underside of the pews.
    “All right. That’s enough!” yelled Nan, striding to the back of the church. “You all sound like a herd of pigs. Come out of there.”
    Marcus made a snorting sound. The five- and six-year-olds began snorting, too. Kevin’s long legs stuck out in the aisle; Nan nudged them—not too gently—with her foot.
    “Stop it. Stop it now. Get out here, all of you.” Slowly they arose, one by one, and filed to their seats. “Because you love playing with the children, you both can sit with them and keep things under control,” Nan said.
    With the reading of each scene, Nan had to stop and find the actors or quiet the set. Kevin and Marcus traded punches with the little kids when it wasn’t their scene. Mary, mother of Jesus, played by Micki’s teenage girl, was outside on her cell phone when it was time for her part. When Nan discovered the adults had gone to the Fellowship Hall for coffee, she threw a manuscript at a pew, telling everyone to go home.
    What had she been thinking? Vera had told her to organize the pageant which meant she could’ve delegated this job to the Sunday school teachers. It was that empty-nest-syndrome. Right after her youngest had left for college, she’d felt the void and decided to direct this pageant of slackers and rebels. She looked at Ray, her husband, as he restored the sanctuary to a normal order after the rehearsal. He had wisely taken up golf to fill his empty-nest time.
    In the following weeks, adults came to help, but rehearsals birthed new dramas. Mother Mary had a meltdown when her sparkling neck warmer was deemed an inappropriate head piece. She had talked her mother into buying it for