Day 12: The Play

At the fifth meeting, Gabu and Mei were amazed to find that attendance had more than doubled since the day before. Mei counted about fifteen new faces, consisting of birds, squirrels, mice, rabbits and other small mammals. No one was quite sure what had prompted the sudden increase in popularity.

Many of the newcomers hadn’t been at the very first meeting, and so had heard only rumours of Gabu and Mei until now. It was Greta who suggested that they should spend today’s meeting retelling Gabu and Mei’s story for the benefit of those who hadn’t heard it, and it was Takkan who suggested that this retelling should be a re-enactment.

“A re-enactment?” Gabu said. “You mean we should act out the story as we’re telling it?”

“That’s right,” Takkan said. “You two will play yourselves, of course, and those of us who already know the story can play supporting roles.”

“That does sound like it might be fun,” Mei said.

“All right, let’s give it a go,” Gabu said.

After about an hour of assigning roles and making sure everyone remembered the story, the fifteen or so newcomers arranged themselves in a large circle around the actors. Greta narrated the opening scene, and the play began.

Aside from acting as the narrator, Greta played Mei’s grandmother, the kind, elderly goat who wanted what was best for Mei and worried about him constantly, but who refused to side with Mei over his friendship with Gabu.

Mei had specifically asked Sagi to play Tapu, refusing to explain to the rabbit why he kept laughing at the idea of Sagi playing the overconfident goat from Mei’s herd who believed he could repel a wolf attack single-handedly.

Janice and Frank played Zack and Beach, two other wolves from Gabu’s pack. Throughout the course of the play, those two got up to all sorts of shenanigans on their own that Gabu was absolutely sure had never actually happened.

Takkan played none other than Giro, the leader of the Baku Baku wolf pack himself, portraying him as a scheming mastermind who orchestrated devious plots against the Sawa Sawa goat herd. At one point, when Giro was laying out his plan to attack Poro Poro Hill, the fox actually started singing, apparently making up a song on the spot, which the audience loved and the rest of the cast joined in with once Takkan repeated it.

Giro’s Plan (“Be Prepared” from The Lion King)

I see you are all here assembled
To hear what your leader shall say
If the goats were here now they would tremble
As for some this will be their last day

The winter shall soon be upon us
And the prey will be harder to find
Therefore we must now fill our stomachs
Lest to graves we shall all be consigned

So prepare to secure us a lifeline
Be prepared for all that we must do
This cause for elation
Will be our salvation
(But where are we hunting?)
In the hills that are crumbling

The goats they believe
That they’ve found a reprieve
But the Crumbling Hills shall spell doom
For any whom we shall find there

Be prepared!

Mei had never had more fun in his life. It was a relief not to have to worry about putting his story into words and instead relive the events as they had happened, surrounded by people he trusted and cared for greatly.

As soon as the play was over, the audience started cheering immediately.

“Not bad,” Takkan said. “Give me a little more time to prepare and I’ll have a full musical for us to perform.”

“I didn’t know you could sing or write songs,” Gabu said.

“They are but two of my many talents,” the fox said. “Poetry, philosophy, dance, debate...”

“Boasting,” Mei added with a smile.

“And boasting,” Takkan agreed. “Not many would consider it a talent but, you must admit, I do it fabulously.” Mei rolled his eyes. “You want to know the secret of how I performed that song with only an hour’s notice?”

“I was wondering that,” Greta said.

“The clue’s in the song: be prepared. I figured the whole thing out days ago. All it took was the right opportunity to use it.”

“Wait, is that the only reason you suggested we put on a play?” Sagi asked.

Takkan shrugged. “Sometimes a fox has got to make his own luck.”