Natalia Takes the Lead

Chapter Five

Sunday morning, Natalia and Zoe head over to Seaview House to meet the others for breakfast. They find Uncle Brian, Emma’s dad, busy at work in the kitchen making breakfast. He’s making tons of food, with special made to order eggs. He says he’s okay staying in the kitchen all day—he was a chef at a nice restaurant in Seattle before he took over at Seaview House.

Natalia bounces around the dining room talking to all the guests. When she gets to the table of the two couples, they ask if the girls can take Daisy and Jasper for an extra long walk in the evening, meaning somebody will have to take those two dogs for three walks that day. Natalia optimistically agrees.

Later that morning, Zoe, Natalia, and Emma are watching the dogs chase balls and sticks. Natalia mentions Daisy is behaving like Toto in The Wizard of Oz. Emma asks if she can hear one of their audition scenes. Zoe says she knows the Wicked Witch’s scene, too, so they can run that one.

Dramatically, Natalia picks up Daisy, curls her fingers into claws, and cackles evilly. The scene starts out fine, but she begins to stumble on the lines halfway through. Zoe gives her a couple hints, but Natalia doesn’t want a hint. Instead, she makes up her lines in order to try to finish the scene.

It seems Natalia has a lot of tasks to do that evening, with going through her lines again, catching up on homework, and taking the dogs for additional walks.