On Friday, when the first performance was only a week away and the ticket committee reported a near sellout, Miss Talor made her annual speech:

"I want every member of the cast and orchestra and stage crew to keep every afternoon free for rehearsals next week. We will run through the whole show, every afternoon, with full orchestra and all scene shifts and costume changes. So remember, every afternoon, and no excuses will be accepted."

The last crazy week of rehearsals was the most fun of all, thought Jinny. It almost made up for being only in the chorus, just to be in on the excitement and confusion. Brother! She had left her books in the auditorium again!

She dashed back an bumped into Elena at the door. "Oops, sorry," she gasped; but Elena walked right past her. All right, thought Jinny, don't speak.

Miss Taylor looked up from the piano, "Oh, Jinny!" she called. "You're just the girl I'm looking for. Do you know the part you're understudying?"

Jinny's heart gave a leap. "Oh, yes, of course. I have it all memorized."

"Dear me, what ails the girl?"

"Who? Me?"

"No, no—Elena. She says she cannot come to any rehearsals next week. Just like that. What a pity, with that voice—still, a voice isn't everything, and I had to tell her....all her costumes will need altering..." Miss Taylor paused and went on more coherently. "Jinny, I know I can count on you for a good performance. Have you marked your part with all the cuts and changes?"

"No, I haven't." confessed Jinny.

"Then borrow Elena's copy and study it over the week end."

"She's just left—maybe I can catch her."

When Jinny darted out of the building, there was Elena's tall figure, two blocks away. Jinny ran after her, and as she ran some of her elation began to vanish. It was going to be sort of rough, walking up to somebody she hardly knew and saying—what would she say? Jinny slowed down. Well, it's her own fault, she thought. She can't blame it on me.

Elena turned into the highway that ran through the town and Jinny glimpsed her as she disappeared into a store. Jinny looked up at the sign over the doorway. "PARTHENON QUICK LUNCH. OPEN ALL NIGHT." I'll have a coke with her, Jinny thought, and it'll be easier to talk.

A girl and a man in a white jacket stook behind the soda fountain. Jinny slid onto a stool, looking around for Elena. "Small coke," she said to the girl behind the counter and then she raised her head and gasped. The girl was Elena.

"Oh, hello, Elena. Imagine meeting you here," Jinny said inanely.

"Hello, Jinny," Elena replied uncertainly. "It is Jinny, isn't it?"

The man in the white jacket said something that Jinny didn't understand, and Elena replied, "This is Jinny Barnes, from school, Jinny, my father."

Mr. Nicholas smiled and nodded at Jinny. "Elena, I run along now," he said, and disappeared through a doorway at the rear of the shoop.

Jinny stirred nervously at her coke, "Elena—" she began, "do you—do you work here every day?"

"Yes, and I live here too." Elena nodded stiffly toward the door at the back.

"Oh, how nice," said Jinny too brightly. "I mean—how—how convenient." She poked at the ice in her drink, trying to plan what to say. A slight sound made her look up.

Elena was crying quietly, with her head against the cash register.

"Oh, pleas, Elena—please don't cry." Jinny was distressed.

"Go away," was the muffled reply. "Just go away and leave me alone."

Jinny was amazed to find herself walking around behind the counter. She filled a glass with water and handed it to Elena. "Here, have a drink. Now tell me about it."

Elena drand the water and dabbed at her eyes. "It's nothing," she said, but she allowed Jinny to lead her over to one of the tables.

"Look, Elena, is it about not being able to come to rehearsals?"

"No. Yes. I never should have tried out in the first place," Elena answered drearily. "But I thought all the rehearsals would be during school hours. They were at first, and nobody told me. I thought there wasn't any harm in it, and my parents wouldn't find out till the last minute—"

"Wait a second. You mean your father and mother don't even know you're in the show?"

"Oh, no. It's not Dad so much, but he listens to everything Mother says, and she—well, she thinks it's terrible, the way high school girls make so much noise and wear lipstick and—and everything."

"Look, would you like me to talk to your mother?"

Elena shook her head. "It wouldn't do any good. She doesn't speak English very well. In the family, we speak Greek."

While Elena waited on a customer, Jinny sat with her chin on her hand. How did I get into this, she thought. I could borrow Miss Taylor's copy of the part and I could walk out of here right now with a clear conscience. She looked around at the cluttered little shop, at Elena's set, expressionless face. She's shut up tight inside, thought Jinny. She tried to get out this time, but she won't again. She'll just give up.

When the door closed behind the customer, Jinny jumped up. "Listen," she cried excitedly, "I'll talk to your father and explain—"

"He's asleep now," said Elena. "He keeps open all night for the truckers, so he sleeps afternoons, when I'm home from school. Never mind. Miss Taylor says there's an understudy who can take the part."

She doesn't even know I'm it, thought Jinny in amazement. She doesn't know anything, except how to sing, and this is her last chance. Jinny banged her fist on the table. "Now you just listen to me!" she burst out. "You were going to tell your parents some time. All right, tell them now, this evening, when your father wakes up. And tell them you're going to rehearsal every afternoon next week, and that I'll come after school and take your job. I jerked sodas for a while last summer. Understand?"

"Oh, I couldn't," protested Elena. "You couldn't—you have to be at rehearsals, too."

"It doesn't matter about the chorus," said Jinny untruthfully. "And quit arguing with me, will you? I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. So let's get going. Because if I'm going to work here next week, you'd better start showing me where everything is."