Page 34 of The Dreidl Disaster

Liv had absolutely no idea what was going on as they left the stage and walked into the backstage hallway; the man was a mystery. Which meant she had to actuallyaskthe question. “You called for the break,” she said as she stopped in front of the bank of lockers. “What’s up?”

“Give me a second,” he replied, throwing up his hand, palm out.

“Okay,” she said.

He closed his eyes, as if he was gathering his thoughts.

Liv nodded, took a deep breath. Her anxiety, her concern wasn’t meant to be his issue and she wasn’t going to break the silence he clearly needed.

When he opened his eyes, the focus she saw almost scared her. “I think we’re going to need a second meeting.”

What?

Why?

But letting the thoughts run through and around her brain like mice in a maze wasn’t going to do her any good. She had to use her words. “What’s your reasoning here?”

“It’s very obvious that the temperature of the meeting has gotten closer to boiling as we continued on,” he began.

“Which means we need to stop. I don’t want angry pitchforks.”

“And,” he said with a smile that melted her knees, “I’ve already decided I don’t want to feel like the inside of a smore.”

“So we’re in agreement,” she said as she prepared to head back through the door to the stage.

“No,” he said, before she felt his fingers close around her wrist. “Wait…”

She stopped and turned as quickly as she could toward him. “Waiting. What’s going on?”

“They’re going to need to let this all out before they can give productive suggestions,” he said. “And we’ve already told them we’re looking for their suggestions.”

“Okay…?”

He looked at her, as if he believed she’d lost her mind.

“What did you think this was going to be? Did you believe me when I said I’d let myself be covered in lattes or tomatoes or anything?”

“I expected you’d deliver some kind of alternative plan. I mean you were talking already about the stage set up by the sculpture…”

He shook his head. “No,” he said. “I mean yes I had ideas, and I’m continuing to have ideas. But I can’t deliver an alternative project for a bunch of different reasons, the first of which is that you can’t randomly come into a place and assume you know what the people want.”

“You can’t,” she said, nodding her head before looking back up at him. “You’re right. But then why a second meeting?”

“Let them talk today,” he replied. “Then let them step away long enough to give us the constructive suggestions that we can use as a basis to create something that will make them happy.”

“So, you’re making them plan this event?”

He shook his head. “No. I’m asking their opinion as to what they want. Nobody’s coming to a festival or event or exhibition where they have no part in it. They want hands and hearts and voices in it, not some random thing made by and for someone who is not them.”

She nodded. “I like this,” she said. “They’ll let out some steam and then make suggestions, and then we’ll use the suggestions to plan the event as best we can.”

“Exactly,” he said, and the breath she let out sounded like the end of a hot-air balloon.

“Okay then. We go back out there, let them finish the list, before setting a date for another meeting.”

“Sounds good,” he said. “I like this plan.”

“Also,” she said, deciding to push things a little. “You and I need to strategize and figure out things and the comments before we take any strategic steps.”

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