“I need you,” Scarlett said, physically yanking him down.

“What?” he said, when Scarlett got him into a corner of the dining room. “What’s wrong?”

“They’re coming.”

“They aren’t supposed to be here for two hours!”

“It’s raining,” Scarlett said. “They are on their way.”

“Like, now?”

“We may have ten minutes.”

Spencer wheeled around and looked at the stage, the ramps, the piles of props.

“We can’t move any of this in ten minutes,” he said.

“I know. Just…get everyone in here and tell them what’s going on. Don’t let them go upstairs.”

Mrs. Amberson had done a fairly good job of expediting the evacuation of the last of the guests. She had not resorted to physical violence, but she was pressing the last three lingerers out with a decided firmness. Scarlett was left alone in the lobby for a moment, her head swirling. There was a small trail of water where the melting ice book had been dragged away. There were obvious skid marks on the floor from where the unicycles had gone off the mats. She grabbed a champagne glass that was hiding under one of the chairs and a champagne bottle that must have just been set down. What else was lurking around? There was evidence everywhere.

“I have them all,” Spencer said, coming in from the dining room. “Now what?”

“Now we…get them out?”

“And hope Mom and Dad just ignore the set?” he asked.

“First things first! First we get the cast away from here, and we…”

Scarlett had no idea what came after that. She spun around, as if the answer was hiding behind the front desk. There was no answer there, but there was another champagne glass. She shoved it into the file cabinet.

“I don’t think we have to worry,” Spencer said, while she was doing this.

“What? Why?”

“Because Chip’s Mercedes just pulled up. And everyone is getting out. I believe the phrase ‘game over’ applies.”

Scarlett wasn’t giving up just yet, though. She flung herself at the dining room door.

“Everybody!” she screamed. “Turn off the lights, keep quiet, and don’t move!”

She slammed the doors shut and threw herself against them just as her parents came into the lobby.

“Hi,” she said, brushing the curls back from her eyes. “Nice ride?”

THE GREATEST SHOW THAT NEVER WAS

Lola was much paler than usual, and Scarlett got the impression that she had thrown up more than once during her day. She looked around at the deserted lobby warily.

“It was fine until it started to rain,” her dad said.

Spencer came over and joined Scarlett in her door-leaning.

“You came home in your costume,” her mom said, taking in the sight of his baggy, shortened suit. “And half your makeup.”

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Long day, so I thought…thought I’d just come home. You get a better seat on the subway this way.”

He reached up and rubbed some of the white makeup off his face with his fingers, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.