Just Grace and the Terrible Tutu by Charise Mericle Harper

like crazy that she was going to remember it. "The one with the made-up words?" asked Mimi. Yay! She remembered. "Yes, that's it," I said. "When you see the hands, teach it to Lily." Of course Mimi didn't know what I was talking about, but I was hoping she would understand when she saw the show.
    I was glad to see that her room was super cleaned up and organized. Mimi had two little chairs sitting in front of the bedroom window. I looked across at my window and suddenly my ears started to get hot. This only happens to me when I get nervous or when I am embarrassed. It is not a good feeling.

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    I couldn't wait around. I had to leave. "Mimi, don't open these until you see the signs in the window." I handed her four brown bags with big numbers on them, and then ran down the stairs. "Be careful," shouted Mimi's mom, but I was too filled with nervousness to slow down.

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    THE UNFORTUNATE PART OF THE PLAN
    The only bad thing about my plan was that there was no way for me to know what was going on in Mimi's room. I wouldn't be able to tell if Mimi and Lily were having a fun time or a terrible time. Once I started the show I would just have to keep going until the end, hoping everything would work out.
    THE SHOW
    This is what Mimi and Lily saw looking out Mimi's window over to my window.

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    It was fun to do the dolphin swimming up and down. Dolphins are one of my favorite animals, so I worked extra hard to make it look good.

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    When Mimi opened this bag there was a note inside that said, "Tell Lily about how your dad pretends to be a dolphin and how it feels to ride on his back, because Lily likes mermaids and a dolphin swimming probably feels just like a mermaid swimming."
    Now it was time for Lily's favorite thing to do: twirling.

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    This one was really easy to do because I just had to spin the princess puppet around and it was going to look super good.

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    Of course Lily couldn't read this, but I was pretty sure that as soon as Mimi told her what it said Lily would twirl. Lily was an expert twirler and it was one of her favorite things to do.

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    Then I put up the Mimi twirl sign, and in my imagination I could just see them both twirling around Mimi's room like crazy. Even though I couldn't see them, just thinking about it made me smile and feel happy.

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    This is the one I had to ask Mimi's mom about, because in bag number two were some jelly doughnuts and lemonade juice boxes. Lily was for sure going to make a mess with the doughnuts, so it was nice that Mimi's mom was ready for that and was not going to be getting mad about a food mess in Mimi's room.
    I had to wait for a while now and do nothing. This was the hard part, trying to imagine how long it would take them to finish the doughnuts and lemonade. When enough time had passed I started with the show again.

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    I was sure hoping that Mimi was going to remember what we had talked about in her bedroom.

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    I said the clapping poem in my head as I moved the shadow hands back and forth.
    Now it was time for bag number three. This was one of my favorites.

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    Inside bag three were two dishtowels, two clothes pegs, and some yellow tape that Mom said I could have. The note inside said for Mimi to make two capes, one for her and one for Lily, and then wind up her favorite music box and jump on the bed until the music stopped. I didn't ask Mimi's mom about this one, which was probably good because I was pretty sure she would have said no. Mimi's mom is not a you-can-jump-on-the-bed kind of mom. I put these drawings inside the bag so Mimi could better understand what she was supposed to do.

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    Mimi is excellent at making stuff and super good at sewing, so I bet she didn't have any trouble at all. I really wish I could have been seeing this part. I made a little superhero guy to fly around in the window. Mostly so I would have something to do while they were bouncing up and down.

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    Bag four was filled with light sticks, the