Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty-Five

"Nat! Wake up. It's Halloween!"

Natalie groaned and resisted the urge to pull the sheet over her head. It was bad enough the pipes had been fixed and the cast were back sleeping at the theater. She didn't need a ghost waking her up when she'd finally fallen into a deep sleep.

"Gabe," she groaned. "You're like a kid on Christmas morning, I swear. It's just Halloween."

"Which is the big holiday in the ghost community. You know this." He let out a huff.

"Yes. I know. I'm getting up. I promise."

"Why are you talking?" Harper moaned from the next bed over.

"Because Gabe is talking to me."

Harper groaned. "I think I liked it better when you hid you could talk to them."

"Somebody's cranky this morning," Gabe commented, which luckily Harper couldn't hear. "This might help—tell her the caterers just delivered breakfast and brewed a giant urn of fresh coffee. Everyone's over there sniffing it now."

Natalie smiled, knowing that by everyone Gabe meant the ghosts, who truly embraced their ability to smell since they'd lost the ability to eat.

"Gabe says there's breakfast and fresh coffee," Natalie repeated temptingly.

"I'm up. I'm up," Alice said, swinging her feet over the edge of the bed while rubbing her eyes.

"Fine. I'll get up," Harper said. "What time is it?"

Natalie glanced at Gabe. "Eleven a.m.," he supplied.

"Eleven," Natalie repeated.

"Nooo! Why?" Harper laid back down and covered her face with the sheet. "We don't film the live episode until eight tonight."

"But the ghosts are putting on their show for us at noon," Natalie said, talking to Harper through the sheet.

"Putting on a show for you , you mean. I won't be able to see or hear it," Harper grumbled.

"Actually, Bobby says people can hear Clara sing and play the piano. It's one of the ways she enjoys freaking out the livings," Gabe supplied.

Natalie's eyes widened. "Ooo, really? That is interesting."

"What's interesting?" Harper asked, flipping the covers back down.

"You might be able to hear the little girl ghost."

"Ooo, really?" Harper sat up, looking more interested.

"I think we got her attention." Gabe smiled.

"Looks like. Now go away. I need to get dressed," Natalie said, shooing Gabe out of the room.

Besides, Alice had just shuffled into the bathroom and Gabe definitely didn't want to be in the vicinity for that.

"All right. I'm going. But don't be late. And Bobby said to tell you to wear something nice. This is a classy theater . His words," Gabe relayed.

Natalie rolled her eyes. "I'll see what I can do."

An hour later, she was dressed, fed and ready for the show. Liam was there too, having driven over from the hotel. He'd threatened and bull dozed his way past the unfortunate crew member who'd dared to think he should try to block Liam's entrance into the Stanley.

As they waited to be seated, Harper and Alice stood alongside Natalie and Liam, looking skeptical.

Finally Alice asked, "What are we waiting for? Do we have assigned seats? Do I need a ticket?"

Natalie smiled. "No Alice, no ticket. We're just waiting for the usher to seat us."

Horace, who still took his job as usher at the Stanley very seriously, was currently leading a group of local Utica spirits to their seats.

There was a queue of more ghosts—who'd mostly ignored Natalie and the rest of the livings—waiting to be seated behind them, but her group was next in line to be seated.

Alice glanced around them then leaned in and whispered, "A ghost usher?"

"Yes, Alice. His name is Horace. He's been an usher here since the year the theater opened right about the time the Great Depression started."

"Do her answers about ghosts always come with a history lesson?" Alice asked Liam.

Liam nodded. "Pretty much, but it's usually accompanied by some century old murder evidence."

"That reminds me!" Natalie spun to face Liam. "We still have to talk about Evie and Vinny's murders. There should be something written about it in the local paper's archives, right? Even if it was almost a hundred years ago."

"See what I mean?" Liam said to Alice. Meanwhile Harper had whipped out a notebook and pen and begun scribbling rapidly, no doubt taking notes on the conversation for her book.

"It's amazing you've lasted with her this long," Alice mumbled to Liam, hooking a thumb in Natalie's direction..

Natalie didn't have time to deal with the insult because Horace was back.

It was time to take their seats.

"Horace, do you know where my friends are? The ghosts from Mudville."

"Yes, ma'am. They're seated up front. Please, follow me," Horace said with the sweep of one arm.

How formal. She kind of loved it.

"Okay." Natalie smiled and glanced back at the others. "Follow him."

Harper lowered her notebook and raised her brows at that command but they all followed Natalie as she followed Horace.

Walking into the theater, dressed in the best outfit she had with her, and seeing the rows filled with people, even if they were ghosts, Natalie could imagine the theater back in its glory days in the years following its opening. When stars like Evie and Vinny walked the red carpet. When patrons donned their best clothing, gathered their saved pennies and splurged on a night out at the theater in an attempt to forget, if only for a couple of hours, the devastating economic depression that was crippling the country.

Horace paused by a half empty row down near the front and extended on arm.

Natalie turned to the others. "These are our seats," she said.

"All righty. So glad there was room for us," Alice said snarkily.

To Alice, the theater looked empty. But to Natalie, it looked like it was going to be a near sellout crowd after Horace finished seating all those in the line in the lobby.

"All right." Liam nodded and started into the row.

When he reached the fourth seat in, Natalie said, "Stop!"

He glanced back, brow raised.

"Don't go any farther. You can sit right there. One seat over and you'll be sitting in Ricky's lap."

Liam shook his head but settled into the seat she'd indicated, before saying in the vicinity of the seat to his left, "Hello, Ricky."

"Hey, man," Ricky replied even though Liam wouldn't hear him.

Natalie smiled, knowing being with her wasn't easy for Liam, but also knowing it certainly wasn't boring.

She followed Liam into the row, and Harper slid in behind her, no doubt leaving Alice purposely with the aisle seat. After this week, they all knew she'd be up at least once to use the restroom during the show.

Once they were all settled, Natalie leaned in front of Liam. "Hi, Ricky. Hi, Harriet. Where are Millie and Gabe?"

Harriet leaned forward to say, "It's a surprise."

A surprise?

"Okay," Natalie said, leaning back. What in the world could they have planned?

"I hope you're going to tell me what's happening on stage since I can't see or hear anything," Harper commented.

"You might be surprised," Ricky said to Natalie, leaning forward to shoot her a grin.

"I will," Natalie told Harper as she wondered what the ghosts had in store for them all.

The lights went down and the heavy red curtains opened to reveal the movie screen.

"What is this?" Liam asked.

"I have no idea," Natalie whispered.

They didn't have long to wait as a flickering light lit the screen and the opening credits of a black and white film appeared.

Natalie gasped, surprised and delighted as she read the credits. "It's Evie and Vinny's film," she whispered.

But that wasn't the only surprise as Gabe and Millie, holding hands, walked to center stage. "Good afternoon and happy Halloween!" Gabe said, loud and clear as the theater exploded into ghostly applause.

Liam drew back. "That was unexpected."

"No kidding," she whispered as she joined in the applause.

Harper and Alice, still new at being able to hear Gabe, followed Natalie's lead and clapped along as well, even as they looked slightly terrified.

When the applause died down, Natalie stopped clapping. Harper did as well, but good old Alice kept going. A few ghosts chuckled nearby as Natalie reached over and stilled Alice's hands with her own.

"I'm Gabe. This lovely lady next to me is Millie, and we're your hosts for today's show."

Another spattering of ghostly applause erupted. This time Natalie did not participate, not wanting to send Alice into another round of uncontrolled applause.

"You might have noticed we've been joined by some livings today." Gabe indicated Natalie's row, but then swept an arm upward toward the mezzanine.

Natalie twisted and looked up to see the entire cast and crew, including Sam, seated in the front row of the mezzanine level. Yet another surprise.

"Today, we'll be treated to snippets of a classic film starring the Stanley Theater's very own Evie Hartwell and Vincent Carlisle." The two actors ran onto the stage with a curtsey and a bow to renewed applause.

When it died down, Gabe continued, "While the film plays, the actors themselves will perform along in front of the big screen. A little something for both the living and the dead to watch. Enjoy!"

Gabe led Millie off to the side, but Evie and Vinny remained.

Movie music swelled, filling the theater as the film, which had been edited to something like a highlight reel, switched to a dramatic scene between Evie and Vinny.

In the film they were enemies, fighting in an emotional scene that culminated in the end with a movie worthy kiss between them. As the movie showed them larger than life on the big screen, the actors performed the scene exactly on the stage, right down to the kiss at the end.

They both took a bow as the scene ended and the applause erupted.

The film switched to a scene where a band played. On the stage, Vinny extended his hand to Evie just as he did on the screen. Then the two began to dance to the music, performing a beautiful ballroom routine. The couple on stage mirrored the on-screen couple step-by-step to perfection.

At the conclusion of the dance, closing credits ran on the screen as the actors received a standing ovation from the audience. This time, Natalie did join in, standing along with the rest.

Then Gabe was back with Millie. "Thank you, Evie and Vinny. What an amazing performance, but you haven't seen anything yet. There's a lot more show left, folks. Next up, please welcome the Stanley's own writer in residence. Playwright Harold Ludlow will do a dramatic reading of one of his original works, which will be captioned on the screen behind me for the livings to be able to read and follow along. Harold Ludlow."

Words appeared on the screen as Harold took the stage. His original work turned out to be an exceptionally lengthy soliloquy which had Liam fidgeting in his seat next to her and Alice snoring on the aisle.

Finally the piece ended and the screen went dark as Harold took a bow.

Next to Natalie, Liam mumbled, "Thank God."

The polite applause from the livings woke Alice, as Gabe and Millie reappeared on stage. "Thank you, Harold, for that moving piece. Now for our next performer, please welcome to the stage child prodigy Clara Delaney."

Clara skipping onto the stage and settled on the bench of the piano revealed when the movie screen rose into the ceiling and out of site.

She was so small, her feet barely reached the pedals of the grand piano. But when she set her fingers to the keys and began to play, beautiful music filled the theater.

Next to her Harper gasped and Liam squeezed her hand. Natalie glanced at him as he turned to look at her.

"What?" she asked.

"I can hear the music," he said.

"Me too," Harper whispered.

Amazed, Natalie smiled. "I'm so glad."

Meanwhile, Clara performed beautifully, a true professional in spite of her age. She finished the song on the piano and then stood, moving to center stage to tap dance while singing acapella.

Liam gripped Natalie's hand even tighter.

"You hear singing and tap?" Natalie guessed.

He nodded staring at what to him would appear to be an empty stage.

Poor Liam. He was getting a lot of new ghostly experience thrown at him this trip. Harper too. Meanwhile, Alice seemed to be enjoying every moment. As if this was any old normal show.

Clara finished, took a bow, stuck her tongue out at Natalie, then ran off stage.

"Kids will be kids, am I right? But wasn't she talented, folks?" Gabe asked, really getting into his role as host.

When the applause died down, Gabe visibly sobered. "Before we move on to the final act of the show, I did want to acknowledge some people who've made this all possible. First and foremost, Sam and the crew from the Paranormal Channel. When they heard we wanted to put on a show for the livings as well as the spirit community, they went above and beyond, using their technological resources to bring you this amazing event."

Mixed feeling about Sam and her show aside, Natalie had to give credit where credit was due. She stood and turned to face Sam and the crew in the mezzanine while applauding as loudly as she could.

When she turned back to face the front, Gabe said, "Stay standing, Natalie."

She froze, eyes wide. "Um, why?"

"Because we'd all would like to thank you." Gabe waved to someone in the wings.

Suddenly the stage was crowded with the Stanley ghosts she'd come to know and love. Bobby, Evie, Vinny, even Clara and the ghost priest came to stand next to Gabe and Millie.

"Natalie Chase, you and your power to communicate with us has affected every one of us. And that is why we'd all like to dedicate this final number to you." Gabe glanced at Clara who scampered back to the piano.

She set her little hands on the keys but the first notes came not from the piano, but from Millie, who began to sing,

"Now won't you listen, honey, while I say. How could you tell me that you're going away…"

"Wow. Millie can really sing," Natalie whispered.

"What is this song? I love it," Harper asked.

" After You've Gone , Marion Harris, nineteen eighteen," Harriet supplied from a few seats down.

Natalie passed that information on to Harper.

"Don't say we must part. Don't break your baby's heart…" Millie continued while Clara joined in with the piano.

By the end of the song everyone on stage was singing along. Even Bobby, Gabe and the priest.

And when the first song ended they rolled right into a rousing group rendition of Ain't We Got Fun .

"Everyone, sing along," Gabe encouraged. "You know the words!"

Alice didn't need to be told twice. She was clapping and singing—only slightly off key—as loud as she could. Even Liam sang a verse.

When the song ended the joint living and spirit applause was nearly deafening.

Natalie could swear she felt it vibrating the building. But that was okay, because she'd never felt such a positive energy surrounding her. As intense as the negative energy had been from the entity, only this was all light and love and happiness.

She glanced up at the mezzanine. Even Letisha was smiling.

Natalie caught Sam's eye and tipped her head to acknowledge the woman's contribution to this amazing event.

Finally, after the performers had left the stage after taking two curtain calls, Alice turned and said, "That was the best show I've seen in a long time. We need to do this every year."

Natalie laughed but it wasn't such a bad idea.