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Every year, Mrs. Wickon plans and throws a grand Masked
Ball for all the citizens of Pleasantville.
"This year's ball is going to be the best yet!" She said to Cristal
on the morning of the party. "Just as long as nothing goes wrong!"
This year, Mrs. Wickon decided to hire three of the Parkington's
maids to help out in the kitchen and to serve all the food to the guests.
To their displeasure, they were all
required to come up with masks.
The maids and Mrs. Wickon spent nearly an entire day cooking
up the food for the great banquet, and when they finished the spicy food could be smelled all the way down at the Larson's
farm.
Meanwhile, Nancy Merriman was up on the stage practicing
the Bach Toccata for Organ that she was going to play during the dessert course of dinner.
Sonja was in the garden, arranging the place tags and plates
on the long banquet table.
...And Cristal was setting up the silent auction- grouping
together items and making price lists for them. She giggled to herself as she imagined how much money they were going
to make.
John Wickon and his dog were setting up the raffle.
John couldn't find anything to keep the tickets in, so he brought down three of his top hats to do the job for him.
Then it was time to get dressed for the party.
Suzanne was going as Marie Antoinette....
...Cristal decided to be Cleopatra, but later decided her
costume looked more like an Egyptian fish...
...And Sonja dressed as a very glamorous Little Bo Peep,
with Cristal's little sisters Vera and Katharine as her lost sheep.
"Oh darling! We will WIN this costume contest!" Suzanne
giggled, delighted with her reflection and her new, towering hairstyle.
Everywhere in Pleasantville, people were getting in their
costumes.
The entire Montoya family spent several hours glueing and sewing together all eight of their costumes.
William decided to go as his hero, Wolfgang Mozart.
He begged his mother all morning, and she finally allowed him to wear his new red waistcoat and a fake white wig to complete
his outfit.
He proudly surveyed himself in the mirror.
Mr. Larson spent his last peaceful hours at home with Peder,
looking up at his little mobile and listening to him giggle with delight whenever he looked at a carrot.
Angelica was all ready to go in her witch costume as she
jumped around in the leaves dropped by a tree in town square.
After closing up their general store for the day, the Merriman
family were all ready to head up to the party.
As soon as the sun set and it grew dark in the garden lit
by sparkling lights, the guests began to arrive.
Mrs. Montoya arrived, wearing her nightgown and making "OoOOoooOOO"
noises. Everyone assumed she was trying to be a ghost, but no one was quite sure.
Francisca and Josefina arrived after Mrs. Montoya, Francisca
strutting and tossing her head, showing off her amazing new yellow dress. She sewed the entire dress by hand, following
a pattern sent to her by Tia Magdalena in Mexico City.
It was the latest in Regency fashion.
"Mrs. Montoya, what exactly are you supposed to be?" asked
a cautious Cristal Purr, looking highly disapproving of the strange, scary costume.
"Y soi Maria!!" Mrs. Montoya
answered, "I haunt el rio and capture little children who are out too late at night."
"Oh, I see." Said Cristal,
positively frightened now. (She obviously has never read this traditional Spanish fairy tale.)
The Parkington twins arrived next, sporting beautiful masks
and gowns that they had made themselves out of the godeys ladies book.
Teresa came as a mermaid, which you could tell from her
mask and hair, which were adorned with seashells.
Alexandra Chen came as a Sun, wearing a dress that she bought
in China and which radiated with gold.
"Oh my, her mask is too small!" giggled Sonja to Cristal.
Then Elizabeth showed up in her costume and caused everyone
to fall on the floor laughing.
She had decided to come as a dinner table.
As Rachel and William sat down by the pond, the bell for
dinner rang loudly over the garden.
The guests flocked to the long dining table and quickly ate all five delicious
courses.
The pile of dishes after this banquet was enough to make
even Elsa let out a cry of despair.
"I guess we'd better do them, since we're getting paid," said Sunny, and they started
washing.
Afterwards, they collapsed from exhaustion and fell asleep
to the strains of the orchestra tuning up for the ball.
As Sunny let out a little snore, a Strauss waltz began in the
garden.
Time for the dance to begin!
In Pleasantville, the famous "mix-up" dance is the most
popular at balls and parties.
All of the boys line up on one side of the garden, and the girls on the other side.
They pick a random order, and each enter the garden one at a time.
It's always a surprise which boy and girl
end up dancing with each other!
The first two were Clara (a crow) and Juan.
(el diablo.)
Suzanna (sailor angel) and Teresa (a mermaid.)
Mei Mei (Soy Sauce Bottle) and John Wickon (Scottish Highlander.)
Mrs. Larson (Miss Fox) and Rebecca Montoya (El
Jardin, the Garden)
Samantha (a gypsy) and Laura (a cat.)
Rachel (a peacock) and KT (a sheep.)
Megan (a Snow Queen) and Celine (a Mummy.)
Felicity (a Bluebird) and Rebecca (a gypsy.)
After they'd finished dancing, Felicity and Angelica went
on a search to find the bathroom. They snuck into the Parkington's house and ran up and down the hallways trying to
find the bathroom.
Luckily, they found two of them just in time on the second floor.
And still the dancing continued in the garden.
Britta
(a flower fairy) danced with William (Mozart) as the orchestra began to play "Artist's Life."
Mrs. Wickon was shocked by her surprise partner. Heather
Windmill, dressed as a horrible green ghoul!
Heather Heaven (a chicken) was very honored to find out
that she got to dance with Governor Merriman!
Sonja got to dance with one of her sheep, Vera.
But
Vera didn't feel like dancing, so somehow she managed to get Sonja stuck atop a tree.
And no one is exactly sure
how she did it.
"Help!" Sonja squeeled, holding on to the swaying branches.
Watch out Francisca! That's Count Dracula that you're
standing next to!
Elinor (country music star) and Josefina (a bee.)
Alexandra (the sun) and Mr. Larson (Mr. Fox.)
Finally the ball was over around midnight, but Rebecca and
Samantha kept dancing, even in their nightgowns!
Before bed, Elizabeth spent quite a bit giggling to herself
about the $200 that she earned by winning both the "Funniest" and "Most Creative" costume prizes.
Samantha slowly brushed out her hair and put it in a braid
while humming Strauss waltzes.
"What a wonderful ball! It was so much more fun than even last year's ball!"
"Aha,"
said Suzanne, across town. "I was right."
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