Ever since that rather joyous event, Mrs. Fraumeni was friendlier to the children and the staff of St. Marys school. It was almost like when Ebenezer Scrooge discovered that it was still Christmas day in ‘The Muppets Christmas Carol’. Of course, she still retained her rules of the school, with the exception of the uniforms and the other ridiculous rules made during her time of anger. For example. At one point during November, a former, stupid, St. Mary student named Shauna Graf stupidly wanted to come on bus #17 because she had been so stupid as to miss her own bus. Mrs. Fraumeni quickly put a stop to that operation in hopes that, that stupid, stupid, stupid girl would learn to be on time. . .stupid girl.

The grade eights had learned the play that they would be doing, and it wasn’t anything they expected it to be.

"Now grade eights, I know you have been waiting in anticipation for the play that you will be doing" Brenda was saying on a rather cold day, in mid-December. "And, although I’m not really supposed to tell you, I’m going to. The play that you will be doing is. . .The Sound of Music!" This announcement was met with a joyous cry from Shannah, and some ‘Yay’-ing by the others.

"I can’t believe it! THIS IS THE BESTEST THING EVER!!!!!! I CAN’T WAIT!" Shannah shouted with a rather silly grin upon her face. So, the auditions started. They were to sing the song "The Sound of Music" seeing as they all knew it. Because of that factor, auditions went very well. Although the auditions went fast, it wasn’t till the final day that they learned that they wouldn’t find out who got what parts till after the holidays. But on the bright side, they got the scripts.

"We’re very sorry about the time it takes, but you are all too good and we need more time. I believe you’ll learn who gets what when we decide." Ms. Friedrich informed them. And so the Christmas holidays started. The teachers and students of St. Marys school had a glorious time, away from each other, but the holidays came and went, and as always, they had to go back.

But it wasn’t that bad this year. They had Mrs. Zadorsky as a vocal teacher, and Mrs. Fraumeni wasn’t being as cruel as usual. When the students arrived at school on Monday, January 3^rd, Mrs. Fraumeni was there to greet them, with Ms. Zadorsky at her side.

Then, the bell rang and the children went to their separate classes. The grade eights were gathered together period 2 for double vocal, when Mrs. Fraumeni walked into the class room.

"Children, we have an announcement to make" Mrs. Fraumeni said, smiling. At this comment, the children straightened in their chair, ready to hear who got what part. "Today is the day that you will hear who got the parts in this play." Ms. Friedrich walked in.

"May I?" She asked. Mrs. Fraumeni nodded. "Well, children, all of you were excellent in your auditions, and it was a very hard choice between you all. Some of you may be disappointed, but I hope that you will realize the sum is greater then all its parts." With this comment, she took out a piece of paper with the names of all the children on it. "Lesil will be played by Evita, Friedrich will be played by Paul, Louisa will be played by Katie Cornelius, Kurt will be played by Ryan, Brigitta will be played by Hannah, Marta will be Gabby, and Gretl will be played by Dominica. Lets all give a round of applause for the seven children. You were all wonderful!"

Everyone cheered for the seven chosen to be the children. "Now for the nuns." Announced Ms. Friedrich. "Sister Margaretta will be played by Kathleen Harding, Sister Berthe will be played by Christine, Sister Sophia will be played by Hannah, Sister Augusta will be Christina, Sister Bernice will be Kayla, and Sister Catherine will be Mimma. The Reverend Mother will be played by Brendan, Herr Zeller will be played by Eric, Karl will be played by Karl, the Baroness will be played by Jessica Ducharme, and Uncle Max will be played by Patrick. Well done to those people."

Again the students applauded and cheered for their friends. "Now for the last two parts." Brenda said, holding her hands up to silence the children. "The part of the Captain will be played by Joe, and the part of Maria will be played by-" Her words were cut off by the bell, and the halls filled with so much noise, that no one could hear anyone else. Mrs. Fraumeni left the room to shush the students responsible for making so much noise. When she returned, Brenda continued.

"And the part of Maria will be played by Shannah." With this announcement, the rehearsals for the play began. Another day, after many successful rehearsals, the children and teachers in the cast of The Sound of Music gathered in the once deserted room with a stage in it called the gym. It was lit up, and cleaned, very different for the first time Brenda had seen it.

Ms. Crickard (who had a free 45 minutes) and Officer Black (who was, as always, lingering at St. Marys in between V.I.P. classes) were sitting in front of the stage. It had a puppet theater on it. Mrs. Fraumeni peeked backstage, then joined Ms. Crickard and Officer Black. All three applauded as Brenda stepped out to begin conducting the scene. Then, all the children who were in the scene ready to be shown come on stage and took their places.

"Today you will be seeing the Lonely Goatherd scene, which we have all worked very hard on" Brenda declared. With this, the music began, and they started doing what they had learned in rehearsal.

"High on a hill was a lonely goatherd lay-ee-odl, lay-ee-odl lay-ee-hoo. . ." If you were to look at those students faces right then and there, you would see complete joy upon their faces, as they made their puppets prance around the miniature stage. They recited the song perfectly in character. "Ho-dil lay-ee, ho-dil lay-ee, ho-dil lay-ee, Ode lay-ee odl lee-e odl lay! HOO!" At the end of the scene, the audience members, along with Joe, Eric, and Jessica (who were in their characters) applauded and laughed. The 8 students playing the parts of the seven children and Maria jumped out from behind the stage to bow and curtsy.

Brenda emerged from the conductor’s pit and leant against the stage, exhausted, as the children continued their endless chatter about how good the play was going to be, and such.

"Attention! Attention, everyone! I have an announcement to make!" Officer Black said over the hustle and bustle. "Surprise, surprise. Today, after a long and desperate search, I have finally found a most exciting entry for the Kiwanis Music festival!"

Mrs. Fraumeni eyed Officer Black cautiously. She knew perfectly well what he had in mind, so she said, with sarcasm, "Congratulations, Max. Who will you be exploiting this time?" Officer Black laughed triumphantly, raising his eyebrows.

"The Gerald Fagan Choir?" Miss. Crickard guessed.

"Guess again!"

"Um ... let me see now, uh ...Musica?" Mrs. Fraumeni asked.

"No, no, no, no, no." Max said, shaking his head.

"Tell us." Hannah cried.

Officer Black decided to make is rather obvious. "A singing group all at one school. You'll never guess, Kathy."

"What a charming idea! Uh, what school?" Mrs. Fraumeni asked.

Officer Black laughed. "Yours! They'll be the talk of the festival." Mrs. Fraumeni studied Officer Black with an amused grin and laughed. "Well, now, what's so funny?"

"You are, Max. You're expensive ... but very funny." The children laughed.

"But you heard them. They'll be a sensation." Officer Black pleaded.

"No, Max." They children’s happy faces soon turned down when their principal denied the offer.

"It's a wonderful idea! Fresh, original ..." Officer Black said with a gleam in his eye.

"Max, my students do not sing in public." Mrs. Fraumeni told him, while sitting down on a seat in row C of the audience.

Officer Black turned to Hannah, and winked at her. "Well, you can't blame me for trying."

Brenda walked over to the group with her guitar. "Children, who shall we hear from next?" she asked. The grade 8's huddled around Brenda as Andrea leaned forward and whispered something in her ear. "Who?" Brenda asked, surprised. Andrea told the rest of her classmates her idea.

"Yes!" They all agreed. Brenda picked up her guitar and looked uncertainly at the children who nodded happily. "Come on!" They pleaded, while Mrs. Fraumeni, Officer Black, and Mrs. Crickard looked suspiciously at the group.

Brenda cleared her throat and walked over to Mrs. Fraumeni and held the guitar out to her.
"The vote is unanimous . . . You, Major."

"Me?" asked a bewildered Mrs. Fraumeni, while Officer Black laughed. "I. . .I don't understand."

"Please?" Brenda and the children pleaded. Brenda held out the guitar to Mrs. Fraumeni again, while she (Mrs. Fraumeni) looked at the children, realizing what they were up to.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." she said, walking away.

"I'm told that a long time ago you were quite good." Brenda said.

"Well, that was a very, very, very long time ago." Mrs Fraumeni protested turning towards the group of people she had just walked away from.

"It wasn’t that long ago!"

"Only four years!" The children contradicted. Brenda held out the guitar to Mrs. Fraumeni yet again.

"Play us something we know." Karl asked.

"Oh, please, Mrs. Fraumeni." They begged. Mrs. Fraumeni smiled at the children, looking at the hopeful gleams in their eyes.

"Well ..." She said, taking the guitar from Brenda, and strumming a few chords. She sat on the bib of the stage as the children settled on the floor in front of her. The three other adults sat in the front seats before the stage.

After the first couple of chords, Mrs. Fraumeni began to sing softly. "Edelweiss, edelweiss,
Every morning you greet me, Small and white, clean and bright You look happy to meet me . . ." As the first verse ended, she nodded at the children to begin to sing. Those who knew the song sang the second part of the song.

"Edelweiss, (edelweiss) edelweiss (edelweiss) Every morning you greet me Small and white (small and white), clean and bright (clean and bright) You look happy to meet me." At this point, the children stopped singing in second voice, and left Mrs. Fraumeni to sing by herself.

"Blossom of snow, may you bloom and grow, Bloom and grow forever, Edelweiss, edelweiss Bless my homeland forever" The last note was resounding, and as it faded, Mrs. Fraumeni looked around, at the children’s faces, smiled, and shrugged modestly. Officer Black looked around and said with ease, "Any time you say the word, Kathy, you can be part of my new act ..." Mrs. Fraumeni chuckled. " ... the St. Mary Choir."

"We’re already the choir school! You can’t just say you made that up!" The students giggled.

"Well, I didn’t say that I made it up. I was just stating the name. There’s no need to huff and putt about it." Officer Black winked. The group laughed at this statement. Brenda looked around. She couldn’t believe that when this year began, these charming children were marching about the playground in uniforms, acting like zombies, and their principal was as strict as a board. She was sure that Mrs. Fraumeni would never have done this two months ago.

"Kathy, I know what will really fill this school up with music." Mrs. Crickard said, getting up from her chair. "A cabaret." The children gasped with delight.

"A Cabaret?" Mrs. Fraumeni said thoughtfully.

"Yes, yes, Mrs. Fraumeni, please!

"Oh, Mrs. Fraumeni, please." The children begged.

"Shhh." Brenda hushed, standing from her seat.

Miss. Crickard spoke above all the pleas, and hushing. "Yes, I think it's high time the rest of the students here at St. Mary school learned what talent all of the students here had. Don't you agree?"

Mrs. Fraumeni thought for a moment, as a smile played at her lips. "I see what you mean."

"Oh, please. Please! Please!"

Brenda walked over to the children. "Children! It's time to go back to class! Come now."

A disappointed look crossed the faces of the children. "Ohhh ..." They stood up, and made their way to the door. As they were leaving, Matthew turned to Luke and said rather loudly, "It will be my first cabaret ever!" And ran out the door. Brenda followed, and the three adults left in the room smiled as they got up to go about their daily routines.