Practicing to Walk Like a Heron

Another Puppet Show

137 Another Puppet Show Tell the audience the show is about to begin. Cue the quiet. Cue the curtain. Enter Rabbit. He moves slowly across the stage. Pauses. Looks out at the audience. Does a double take. (Wait for laughter.) “Well! Hi there! You here for the show?” “Rabbit?” Rabbit looks down. “What?” “I can’t get the anvil up on to the stage.” “You can’t get the anvil up on to the stage?” “No. Can’t. Give me a hand, would you?” Rabbit shakes his head at the audience, looks down. “Oh my. Yes, it is big, isn’t it!” “Yes. And heavy. Help me with it.” “What will we do with it once we get it up here?” “We’ll juggle it.” “We’ll what?” 138 “We’ll juggle it.” “Just it?” “Well, no, not just it. I have a few other things to mix in.” “Like what?” “Well, here, take this feather.” Feather comes up from below. Rabbit takes it, waves it a bit, sets it down. “What else?” “Here. This map of Ohio.” Map comes up. Rabbit sets it beside the feather. “That it?” “No. One more thing: this.” “What?” “This.” “What’s this?” “This.” “I don’t see a thing.” “It’s last Wednesday. Take it. 139 Careful. It’s awkward. You’ll have to pull it.” Rabbit pulls. “Keep pulling. Good. There’s a lot more of it.” Rabbit pulls some more, says, “We’re going to juggle a feather, a map of Ohio, last Wednesday, and an anvil?” “Right.” “I don’t think we can.” “We can.” “I don’t think we can.” “We can.” “I don’t think so.” “We can. Keep pulling.” “We may need some help.” “Keep pulling. Uh oh.” “What?” “I can’t find the anvil.” 140 “You can’t find the anvil.” “Right. I can’t find the anvil. It was right here a minute ago. Keep pulling.” Rabbit keeps pulling. Everything gets quiet. Rabbit looks around. “Hey!” Silence. “Where’s . . .” Silence. Rabbit looks at audience. Curtain. ...