Page 29 of For the Birds

I had no idea how Neely Kate had that particular information stored in her head, but I was sure she was right.

“That’s not the point!” Anita said, stomping her foot. “The point is that my lifelong dream is about to be fulfilled! I got on the show!” She looked around again. “Where’s the camera?”

“Anita,” I said. “There is no camera.”

“Oh, I get it! There’s a hidden camera.” She walked out on her concrete porch with an umbrella in her hand. “Hit it, Floyd!”

I glanced up and saw a long-haired man leaning out the upstairs window, giving us a thumbs-up and a huge smile.

“Am I gonna be on TV too?” he asked.

“Just shut up and hit it!” Anita shouted up tohim.

The music started mid-song and she immediately belted out the lyrics. “You have my heart, and we’ll never be worlds apart.” She took exaggerated steps down the stairs, stomping the concrete to the beat of hersong.

Neely Kate and I took several stepsback.

“Oh, my word,” Neely Kate said. “This is her music video.”

“What?”

Anita continued singing, gyrating her hips and arms to the beat—only slightly off—as she made her way across her frontlawn.

“She’s singing Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella.’” Neely Kate’s eyes widened. “It’s because she thinks she’s on that show!” she said, getting excited. “Memphis Superstar!”

I gave her a blanklook.

“People send in audition tapes of their own live-action versions of popular music videos. Then they have to reenact everything when one of the producers shows up at their door. This must behers.”

Anita was singing and dancing her heart out, although very off-key. “Now that it’s raining more than ever.” She turned on the garden hose and started spraying water into the air, only she’d forgotten to open her umbrella, which she hastily did now. She sang something about being under an umbrella while mascara ran down her cheeks.

“We have to stop her, Neely Kate,” I whispered.

“Are you kiddin’ me? This is amazin’!”

I let her move on to the next verse as she sidled up to a tree and spun her umbrella around in front of her, moving it up and down and side to side as though she was playing a complicated game of peekaboo.

“I have to stop this,” I said to Neely Kate, then turned to face the spinning umbrella. “Anita.”

Neely Kate lightly slapped my arm. “What are you doin’? She’s almost done. You’re gonna hurt her feelin’s more if you stop her than if you let her goon.”

“She’s gonna be embarrassed when she finds out we aren’t who she thinks weare.”

“No, she won’t.” The song ended and Neely Kate gave me a serious look. “Let me handlethis.”

Better her than me. Anita was on the ground on her knees with the umbrella in both hands, her arms straight over herhead.

Neely Kate gave Anita a slow clap. “That was amazing! Wasn’t that amazing, BethAnn?”

It was the alias she’d created for me while we were looking for the necklace weeks ago, so I decided to use hers. “I’ll say, Nancy.” What was she upto?

Neely Kate motioned for Anita to get up. “I’m not gonna lie to you, Anita. Competition’s stiff, but you’re definitely in the running.”

Disappointment covered Anita’s face. “You’re not here to give me a plane ticket to Memphis?”

“Not yet. But we would like to do a personal interview while we’re here . . . if that’sokay.”

She lifted a shoulder into a shrug. “Sure.”

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