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‘Let’s hope it was an accident and a one off,’ Tomasz said as we checked that there was no other way into the hall.

‘Yes, probably was,’ Claire agreed as we shut the lights off and locked the hall, checking it more than once. Aleksy and Tomasz went off to their house, and Claire carried me as she and Connie went back to Edgar Road with a new mystery to solve.

Chapter Twenty

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It was time for our first proper rehearsal of the Nativity. The stage wasn’t yet ready so, in the meantime, a space had been set up at the back of the hall for rehearsals, as per my suggestion. George had been working us quite hard, leaving very little time for trying to solve the paint mystery, seeing my friends, or anything not sheep related. I had managed to steal abit of alone time with Snowball, and also a few short visits with Elvis, Nellie, and Rocky – and sometimes Oliver and Salmon – but really, our time was taken up with learning how to be sheep.

When we first got given the part I was indignant because I was pretty sure that it was too easy– not to add beneath me – but actually, according to director George, doing it properly was a lot harder than I ever thought it would be. He was a strict taskmaster.

‘Try to be more convincing,’ he kept shouting at us. ‘Call yourself a sheep?’ was another of his favourite phrases. Even Hana, who was the sweetest cat ever, lost her temper a couple of times. When faced with rebellion, George would just say: ‘It’s show business, deal with it.’ Half the time I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Aleksy put all the shepherds together first and then got us to stand in front.

‘Can I just make a suggestion?’ Peter – the man who had been a terrible juggler but was now a shepherd along with Magic Marvin and Dolly – said. I looked at his feet, they were big, possibly about the right size for the yellow paint intruder. I made a mental note.

‘Sure, what is it?’ Claire asked. Franceska was with us today too.

‘How about I juggle the sheep?’

‘Yowl!’ I shouted, no way. George, Hana, and Snowball backed away.

‘Not the cat sheep, but stuffed ones.’

Franceska looked at Claire, who looked at Aleksy, who looked at Connie.

‘If we get some toy sheep we can try it, maybe,’ Connie said, with her face scrunched up. That seemed to be good enough for Peter.

‘Right, action,’ Aleksy shouted.

As the shepherds watched us fondly, we began to frolic. George was going for it, bounding around like an overactive lamb, and we all jumped a bit, shuffled and Snowball and I did a good impression of eating grass.

‘Brilliant, cats,’ Connie said, as she gave the cue for the song. As the music started and the shepherds started singing it wasn’t terrible. Tomasz and Matt, who were shepherds, looked a little embarrassed as they seemed to mumble rather than sing, but thankfully the other four shepherds werepretty good, so it didn’t matter.

Sienna the angel couldn’t make it today because she had a dance class, so, in the meantime, Claire read her part. Before we knew it, we were finished. The next scene was the wise men, and so we went to rest while they did their bit. Barbara, who seemed to think she was leading the wise men, spoke very loudly, and when they sang their song ‘We Three Kings’, she drowned out the other voices. And not in a good way.

‘It hurts my ears,’ George said.

‘That was great,’ Claire said, as they finished. ‘Um, we couldn’t hear Steve and Cath very well. Perhaps you guys could sing a bit louder,’ she suggested. I could tell she didn’t dare tell Barbara to sing more quietly.

‘Or, maybe this is a better idea, you each have a verse of your own and sing the chorus together,’ Aleksy said. The kid was a genius. It was a very fair idea.

‘But, perhaps you need my expertise to carry the song,’ Barbara said. Cath shot her a dirty look.

‘I think it’s much nicer for everyone to have a part and then join together in the chorus, as Aleksy said,’ Claire said diplomatically. Barbara first looked as if she was going to argue, but she then seemed to change her mind.

‘Of course. I’ll do the first verse,’ she said, quickly. I saw Cath and Steve – two people from our road – smile at each other. Barbara was one of those difficult people, she seemed to think she was an expert on all things to do with the show. She had a lot in common with George, in that respect.

The rehearsals finally came to an end. We didn’t have the Mary and Joseph scene today, as Aleksy had said we would rehearse each part before putting it all together, so the weekend would be the first full run through of the Nativity. It really felt as if it was all coming together. Now I could see the reality of the show and I felt as if I would burst with excitement. I just hoped the stage would be finished so we could rehearse properly soon.

‘Great work everyone,’ Aleksy said, sounding happy.

‘It’s really going very well,’ Connie said. ‘And you are all doing such amazing jobs.’

‘Right, see you all at the weekend,’ Claire said with a massive smile on her face.