"Annie," I heard my theater teacher say to me yesterday from on the stage. "Come here for a second."

While everyone else was practicing their partner scenes, I walked up the stairs and up to Mrs. Hunt.

"Jenna Stanley is supposed to be in my 4th hour Theater III play. The problem is that she hasn't been showing up for practice or class for that matter and no one knows where she is." Mrs. Hunt's hair seemed almost gray for an instant. "We need a replacement. It's 40 cues, and we have a matinee tomorrow. You're allowed to say no...but will you be Polly?"

I stood there in shock. 40 cues? To memorize overnight? What was she thinking? I had 40 cues as Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and it took me a week to memorize them all.

Finally I broke free of my dumbfounded stare. "Sure!" I said smiling. "I'll be at rehearsal tonight."

So I pounded those 40 cues into my head. Over and over I practiced. I even had a friend come over and helped me ingrain them. Around 11:30 I was pretty sure I had them all rather comfortable, so I decided to get some sleep.

I arrived in the theater at 7:45. I practiced my cues and blocking to see what I needed to work on. Just in case, I kept a script in my basket.

Two shows passed...without a hitch.

Two more shows to go!