“It’s fine with me, too. Is everything set up on stage, Hannah?”
“Yes. Edna’s taking care of that.” Hannah glanced at her watch. “Ross and P.K. should be here any moment. Before he left this morning, he told me that they were going to set up their equipment early. Ross said that if they hurry back to the station to edit and do whatever else they have to do, they can get us on the five o’clock news and the evening news. And he promised to do a voiceover with a bumper card that tells people when the Thanksgiving play opens and how they can get tickets to the performances.”
“That’s great advertising for us!” Michelle looked very pleased. “I’ll tell the cast before we start the contest so they’ll be sure to watch the KCOW news. And I’ll pass out tickets to the play for them to sell at dress rehearsal tomorrow.”
“Isn’t it early for a dress rehearsal?”
“Yes. The main concern with the cast seems to be their costumes so Trudi asked me to do an early run-through. She said that way, if there’s anything about a costume that doesn’t work well, she’ll have time to fix it before opening night.”
*
“You all know that in most pie eating contests, the contestants have their hands tied behind their backs, don’t you?”
There was a roar of laughter from the audience and Edna clapped her hands. “That’s right! But this contest is different. You don’t really want to see our esteemed mayor go facedown in one of Hannah’s Banana Cream Pies, do you?”
There were several shots of “Yes, we do!”
Edna laughed. “When Michelle Swensen, the interim director of the Lake Eden Players, asked Mayor Bascomb to be a contestant, she promised him that the contestants could use spoons.”
There were several shouts of “boo!” coming from the audience, but then Edna held up her hand for silence.
Hannah came very close to laughing out loud when the audience quieted immediately. There was no doubt in her mind that Edna must have been the head cook in the Jordan High lunchroom when they were in school, too.
“Don’t worry,” Edna told them. “Just wait until you see the spoons we’re going to give them! Hannah? Please pass out the spoons. But first, hold them up high, so everybody can see them!”
Hannah held up the huge red spoons and there was another roar of laughter from the audience.
Edna let it continue for a moment and then she held up her hand for silence again. “To prevent public embarrassment—and a massive dry cleaning bill—Bertie Straub, from the Cut ‘n Curl beauty shop right here in Lake Eden, has donated three of her best capes which Michelle will now drape over our contestants.”
While Michelle was draping the capes and Hannah was passing out the spoons, Edna motioned toward the table of judges. “I’ve already introduced you to our judges and most of you probably know that Stephanie Bascomb is our mayor’s wife. Your husband looks pretty dapper today, Judge Bascomb. Is that a really expensive suit he’s wearing?”
Stephanie laughed. “Of course it is, Edna. The mayor wouldn’t be caught dead in a cheap suit!”
There was another roar of laughter from the audience, and Hannah noticed that while Ross was capturing footage of the contestants and the judges, P.K. was documenting the audience reaction and panning their faces. It was a great maneuver to have one camera trained on the audience. Everyone who was here at the contest would watch the news programs tonight to see if they would be on KCOW television.
Once Hannah and Michelle had delivered the pies, the timer was set for ninety seconds and the contest started. There was uproarious laughter coming from the audience continually, as the contestants did their best to try to lick pie from the bowl of the huge spoons. Hannah found herself hoping that Ross was getting plenty of footage of Mayor Bascomb dribbling whipped cream down his cape and tipping the spoon this way and that to try to get the pie filling into his mouth.
By the time the klaxon on the timer sounded and the contest had ended, Bertie’s capes were covered with banana slices, whipped cream, and pie filling. The contestant table was also a mess and Hannah was glad that Edna had thought to use a disposable tablecloth.
Michelle and Hannah donned the bright yellow kitchen gloves Edna had provided from the school kitchen and brought the pie plates to the judging table. Ross got a good shot of the pie plates they placed there, along with the little stand-up card with each individual contestant’s name. Mayor Bascomb had eaten his first pie, and had started in on the second. Al Percy had almost finished his first pie, but his second was untouched. And Rose McDermott had gotten more pie on her cape than she had in her mouth.
When Hannah and Michelle had delivered the pies to the judging table, they removed the capes from the contestants, collected the big red spoons, and took off the disposable tablecloth. Then they were free to watch the judging while Edna continued to speak.
“Well? What do you judges think?” Edna asked the three judges huddled together to deliberate.
This was an obvious setup between Edna and the judges, Hannah thought to herself, but it was a good one. And Edna had obviously cued Ross in on it because Hannah noticed that his camera was pointed directly at Stephanie again.
“It’s clear to me, and the other two judges agree, that my husband, the mayor, won this pie eating contest.” Stephanie paused and smiled sweetly, directly at Ross’s camera. “I always said that Richard had a big mouth!”
Norman, who had taken over stagehand duties, pulled the curtain to a huge roar of laughter. Even Mayor Bascomb was laughing right along with every else, although Hannah suspected that his laughter was forced so that he could prove he was a good sport. She highly doubted that Mayor Bascomb thought his wife’s quip was really funny.