"The kids are going to think this is the greatest," said Mallory. "It'll be a chance to get together and show off their pets. But where should we have it? We need lots of room," "I was thinking it could be in Dawn and Mary Anne's backyard," said Kristy. "It's one of the biggest yards, and their house is pretty close to a lot of the kids' houses." "Sounds great!" said Dawn. "I'm sure my mom won't mind." "How are we going to let everyone know about this?" asked Stacey. "It's going to take a lot of planning." "I'll make invitations," said Claudia. "We'll send them out to all our clients to let them know the time and place. We'd better pick a date a few weeks away, though - everybody's going to need time to get ready for this." "We're also going to need prize ribbons, refreshments, and all kinds of other stuff," said Mary Anne. You could practically see the gears turning as she considered the details. She's a great organizer.

    We worked on plans for the pet show for the rest of the meeting (between phone calls, that is). And I got so caught up in the whole thing that I almost forgot about my horrible rehearsal.

    Almost, Chapter 5.

    When the time came for the second rehearsal of The Sleeping Beauty, Princess Aurora was Princess Prepared. As I unpacked my dance bag in the dressing room, I almost had to laugh. I'd brought not just my spare toe shoes, but a spare dance outfit. The entire thing.

    Two pairs of pink tights. Two black leotards. Two hair-ties (it wouldn't do to have my hairtie disappear and have to dance with my hair in my face - Mme Noelle would be furious). Two pairs of leg warmers (one white, one purple) and two baggy old gray sweat shirts, for warm-ups. I wasn't taking any chances.