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Katy wrote as much on her notepad.
    In the next group of ten, two girls sang “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid. Katy was pretty sure this last girl in the group was also going to sing the same song. She stood and took small steps toward the stage. She was wearing a skintight, ankle
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    FORGIVEN
    length spandex skirt covered in scalelike sequins. She looked more like a mermaid than Ariel ever did.
    The girl was tall and gangly with a mouthful of braces. As she made her way up onto the platform, the skirt kept her from taking the last step. Unable to get her foot all the way up, she toppled like a felled tree and landed on her elbows, sprawled on the stage.
    A gasp came from the crowd, and Katy was on her feet, sprinting to the girl.
    Because of the skirt, there was no way the poor thing could get up gracefully.
    She could barely manage to get herself halfway into a sitting position.
    “Oh, boy,” Katy muttered under her breath. She was too short to help the girl, so she motioned for one of the dads sitting a few rows back. The man ran up, but still there seemed no easy way to get the girl on her feet.
    “I can’t believe this.” Tears splashed onto the girl’s cheeks. “I told my mother this would happen.” Her voice was low, mortified. She closed her eyes as if maybe she would open them and the whole thing would be a bad dream.
    “Honey, how about if you ease your legs behind you.” Katy tried to push the girl’s feet back, but because of the slippery spandex, the move sent her sprawling onto her stomach. She landed with a splat. “Oooh, sorry.” Katy held her hands out and gave a wide-eyed look to the father. “I’m not sure how…”
    Meanwhile nearly everyone in the room was silent, shocked in a way that made the drama onstage that much more horrible. Only a few kids in the back of the room were stifling a low round of giggles.
    “Let’s see.” The dad scratched his head. “She needs her feet in front of her.
    Let’s roll her over.” He helped move her feet back around so they were now sticking straight out. This allowed her to sit up partway, though she kept sliding forward. “How ‘bout I lift her.” He stuck his hands beneath her arms and nodded at Katy. “Don’t let her feet slide forward.”
    Katy acted as a brace for the girl’s feet, and in a move not un 19
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    like the raising of a barn wall, he pushed her up and onto her feet. Once she was standing, Katy thanked the father, who hurried back to his seat. The audience was still silent.
    “I’m going home.” The girl’s voice was pinched, her cheeks still wet.
    “Now wait.” Katy put her hands on the girl’s shoulders. “You worked hard on your song, didn’t you?”
    The girl dragged the backs of her hands across her cheeks. “Yes. I… I wanted to look the part, but I told my mother the skirt was too tight.”
    “Okay, now listen.” Katy kept her voice low. “I say you leave everyone with a different memory than the one they just watched.” She forced herself to sound calm. ‘I’ll go back to the table, and you give me the best song you’ve ever sung.”
    “Really?” The girl sniffed. She straightened her skirt and adjusted her shirt.
    “Yes, really.” Katy smiled. “These things happen.” She motioned to the crowd.
    “Everyone here knows that.”
    The girl’s eyes looked a little better. She held Katy’s gaze and slowly nodded.
    “Okay. You’re right. I want them to remember my song.”
    “All right, then.” Katy gave the girl’s shoulders a gentle squeeze. Their voices were still hushed, too quiet for the others to hear. “Good girl. I’m proud of you.” Katy turned and nodded at the crowd; then she returned to her seat.
    Rhonda stared at the girl and gave a slow shake of her head. In a voice that was barely audible, she said, “I didn’t just see that.”
    “Me, either,” Katy whispered. Her heart was still racing. She wanted to lead the girl off the stage and help her