Rob and I took a break from work to see Finding Neverland at the St. John’s Dome close to where my studio is. I loved it. The performances were uniformly strong, the film was beautifully crafted and I wept like a baby at all the places the director wanted me to.

Besides running errands for my next project, I also went to a meeting for the Historic Irvington Home Tour. I’ve done the layout for the program book for the past several years. Last night I took the poster and tabletents (those little information cards that stand on the tables in restaurants) in for approval. They liked them.

Afterwards, Eve and I went to McMennamin’s on Broadway for a frosty adult beverage and conversation. This was much nicer than the meeting.

The puppet has left the building. Thank heavens.

We finished the puppets today! The only thing left to do is wait for the truck tomorrow. Well, I’m also updating the packing instructions with photos. This is my friend Lance posing like one of those models from the 1950 instruction manuals. It amuses me a great deal that he’s pretending to read the instructions printed on the box. Of course the accidental placement of the branches and his left hand are also highly entertaining. Needless to say, this photo is not one that goes in the instruction kit.

I had to run out to the studio tonight to pin together a piece for Martha to stitch tomorrow. When I got there, I turned on the florescent lights and immediately heard a crackling sound followed by a burning smell. Yikes. I turned them off and turned on the flashlight that Rob had brought from the Boeing Surplus Store for me. No flames, no smoke. The smell continued to be bad. I called the building manager while the smell proceeded to get worse. He didn’t answer his cell phone, so I finally called the non-emergency fire department number to ask for advice.

They said that the only way to make certain that had not started an electrical fire was to send a team out to check. Moments later–I mean really, I had time to walk to the front of the building–a fire truck pulled up and four members of the fire department trooped inside.

One of them said, “Looks like Little Shop of Horrors,” and then, “Does it always smell like this?”

The consensus was that it was a light ballast gone bad, but that I’d done the right thing by calling to be certain. Whew.

We celebrated by doing very little.

Martha and I spent the day cheerfully working on the puppets. I say cheerful because we are almost finished with them. I am so very, very relieved. I’ll pack them on Monday and ship them on Tuesday. Hurrah!

I’ve been so wrapped up in the puppets that I nearly forgot Koren’s Birthday is today. Happy Birthday!

This is a photo of Maggie’s repair. She is lying on her back in Rob’s arms. It was the only way we could get her to hold still long enough to take a photo.

These are the puppets from Little Shop of Horrors which I am repairing.

This is what Pod #3 looks like without skin.

Thanks to the wonder of Craig’s list I now have two assistants, one of which has built a set of Audrey II’s before. We had a very productive day and I’m feeling like we might actually finish all of the parts ontime. I’m not out of the woods yet, but I’m starting to feel like I might be in nothing bigger than an Icelandic Forest.

Teddi called me this morning half an hour before she was supposed to be at work and announced that she didn’t think she was the right person for the job. She quit because of the commute. I’m scrambling to find someone else.

I spent the day at the studio with my new employee, Teddi, working on repairing the grabbing branches of Audrey II. They were pretty mangled, but are functional again, and might even look nice. We’ll see.

I don’t think I’m going to have the Finale branches repaired by Monday, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll just have to offer the schools a reduced rental. I don’t want to do a haphazard repair and just repeat the same trouble that we have.

I also put my story in the mail today. I’ll hear back by May 23rd, they say.

I spent most of the day editing a short story today, trying to cut 800 words out of it. Why 800?

• It was close to 9000 words, which I thought was too long.
• I had often heard the advice to cut 10% of a story and thought I would try it, to see what happened.

It seems better this way. I’ve sent it off to two of my favorite readers, Mr. Radley and Mr. Fisher, to see what they have to say. The market I want to send it to has a March 21st deadline, which is Monday, but if anyone else wants to read it I’m happy to send it over. Here’s the first thirteen lines.

The Bound Man
by Mary Robinette Kowal

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Light dappled through the trees in the family courtyard, painting shadows on the paving stones. Li Reiko knelt by her son to look at his scraped knee.
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp “I just scratched it.” Nawi squirmed under her hands.
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp “Maybe Mama will show you her armor after she heals you.” Her daughter, Aya, leaned over her shoulder studying the healing.
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Nawi stopped wiggling. “Really?”
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Reiko shot her daughter a warning look. But her little boy’s dark eyes shone with excitement. She smiled. “Really.” What did tradition matter? “Now let me heal your knee.” She laid her hand on the shallow wound.

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