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Michael trots in at the side of Eileen, who is dressed in a maroon winter jacket and a black ski cap, from which her hair sticks out like loose hay from a bale. They take seats on the side, as Michael throws down his red school bag bearing the words BOOKS, BOOKS. Maria enters, looking sour. She has come to this performance at Geraldine's invitation, but protests that she is bored, and proceeds to search the room for kids her own age, sidling past Doug Heilman, the Lutheran minister, who sits flanked by the boys he takes care of. The auditorium is full now, loud with squeals from backstage and neighbors greeting one another. Geraldine cannot sit still, has a welcome for everyone. Julie, the theater leader, is here, as is Anita Cleary, who has come hoping to see Rose and the kids, but Rose could not make it. A woman sits down at the baby grand and begins to play background tunes. Eileen sings White Christmas to herself in a soft, pure voice.
Before the show, awards are presented to the seven groups in the after-school program by John Kixmiller and by other staff members and volunteers. To the stage march children in their party best, hair ribboned or slicked flat, to receive certificates for the "most improved" or for the "greatest contribution." Every child is applauded vigorously, not wildly. Eileen claps enthusiastically. Michael does not clap, but watches. From time to time he puts his face close to his mother's; she gives him a playful poke; he yanks at her cap. As the Nutcracker opens, the smallest children mount the stage in nightcaps and pajamas and face the audience like a UNICEF poster: white, black, Asian, Hispanic. On the faces of the audience the weariness of the workday transforms to eagerness. Maria complains to Geraldine that this show is for babies.
"They started to dream," Diana Hart-Johnson narrates on a loudspeaker. "And in their dreams they saw the most wonderful things; things you would never see when you are awake."
Groups of children appear one after the other, each with its own dances and bright costumes. Toy soldiers in blue hats; snake charmers in yellow turbans with paper emeralds on the front. At the Waltz of the Flowers, the two fathers in Alpine hats snap to their feet simultaneously and flash pictures of their girls. The stage goes dark, and the boys representing the Spirit of Winter Dreams beckon the little children to them, make a circle about them, then / stroll in a circle, casting beams with their flashlights on the children at the center and on the audience as well. One beam catches Michael, who stares back blank-faced at the light.
Diana reads, "The children clapped and cheered. Then everything became very quiet. The Spirit of Winter Dreams was calling the children deeper into their dream."