Monday was the first rehearsal with an attempt at a complete beginning to end performance. Conductor Frances and Stage Director Evans would make slight adjustments after each run through, to make sure everything was perfect. After rehearsal, Cindy and Sammie went to the Tri-City Children's Museum.

Tuesday was different. It was a full dress rehearsal, with everyone wearing their concert outfits. Just before they started, the girls changed into their pretty new dresses. After the performance they had to change back into their regular clothes before going to lunch. The process was repeated after lunch, but this time, there was an audience. Each member of the Orchestra was allowed to have up to four family or friends come watch. Hannah didn’t usually allow that many at a dress rehearsal, but she thought it would be good for the kids to practice in front of an audience.

“Okay girls,” stagehand Laura said as Sammie and Cindy stood just off stage. “This is the first time with the audience being more than just your parents. I know it is going to be hard not to look out and wave at the audience, but you need to focus on your roles in the performance. You’ve practiced this and you know what to do. Both of you are amazing musicians, so go out there and show everyone.”

Sammie stood up tall with a big smile on her little eight-year-old face, “We’ve got this. No problem.”

Cindy, being two years older than Sammie, knew she should not be scared or worried if Sammie wasn’t, but she was. She peaked out at the audience, seeing lots of adults and kids out there. She looked for her dad and Holly, even though she knew neither would be there. To her surprise, she did see Holly, but it wasn’t Dad with her. It was Grandma and Grandpa.

Cindy was disappointed Dad wasn’t there, but excited her grandparents were. Before she could figure out these confusing and contradictory emotions, Laura directed Cindy to a location where the audience couldn’t see her. The three of them looked out onto the stage where conductor Frances was. He looked at the audience, bowed, and then turned back to the Orchestra. Suddenly, the lights on the stage dimmed.

Laura softly said, “Wait for the audience to go completely silent . . . and . . . now, go.”

Cindy and Sammie made their way across the stage with eyes focused on the lit-up Christmas tree. There was a spotlight on each girl as they walked slowly across the stage in awe at the big tree.

About halfway across the stage, they heard a kid’s voice call out, “It’s the Christmas Angels.”

A lot of clapping and hollering came from the audience.

Sammie instantly looked, but quickly returned her gaze to the tree when Cindy softly said, “Don’t look. Don’t look.”

But, not looking became harder for both girls as the audience started clapping. Smiles spread across each of the girls’ faces as they worked hard to do as they had been trained; ignore the audience and focus on your job.

Rolling around in both girl’s heads were the instructions, “Stop in front of tree, slowly count to ten, then open the presents. Show love for a new present and then start playing.”

As they started to play White Christmas on their instruments, Sammie and Cindy could hear several parents telling their kids to be quiet.

The two girls played and twirled around in the lights giving the image of falling snow on their dresses. Mr. Frances had the orchestra start softly and slowly built up the volume as the music piece progressed. By the end, the girls were just part of the whole symphony orchestra. When the last note played, the girls looked down to make sure they were in position, before looking at each other on opposite sides of the conductor’s podium and smiling.

The Tri-City Symphony Hall Christmas Concert dress rehearsal went almost perfectly. At least, until the end. Once the concert was over, the audience full of family and friends of the performers threw a twist into things. There was the traditional standing and clapping, but then everybody in the audience that was less than 20 years old started chanting: Christmas Angels, Christmas Angels.

Conductor Frances directed Cindy, Sammie, and Jessica to get up and take a bow. But that wasn’t enough for the audience, there were scream outs for Marcus and George too. Once all five kids were front and center on the stage, the whole place filled with kids screaming ‘Christmas Angels’, whistling, and lots of clapping.

“How in the world did we become a Christmas Angel,” Marcus asked George. “I thought that was only the girls from the viral video. Angels are girls. Being known as a Christmas Angel is not going to look good for my rep as a rock ‘n’ roll star.”

George chuckled, “In the Bible there are male angels. Stop worrying about image Marcus, and just enjoy an audience loving our performance.”

After a few minutes, the lights flickered on and off and the audience quieted down.

Over the speakers came Stage Director Hannah Evan’s voice from the control room, “Okay, Christmas Angels, the audience apparently liked what you did. Let’s give them one last piece with just the five of you. All adults leave the stage. Jessica, you’re conducting the piece you wrote this summer for the group. Positions everyone.”

The Christmas Angels all looked at each other. They had played the piece a few times during rehearsal, but it had been cut from the concert when Hannah offered them a choice between that or another Trans-Siberian type of piece. All the kids had decided to stick with all Christmas Music for the concert.

George looked at the others, “You heard her, let’s get into positions. Jessica, you’re the conductor now. Let’s show this audience what we can do without the adult Symphony Orchestra backing us up.”

“Just one thing though,” Marcus said before heading for the piano. “We’re doing more than one song. Cindy, it’s because of you we are all here. When we finish Jessica’s piece, walk out to the center of the stage and start playing anything you want. The four of us will back you up like it is a jam session.”

The group smiled at each other, looked at the audience, and then up at the control room.

“Larry,” Hannah said as she saw the five kids look up. “They’re up to something. I don’t know what they are planning, but did you see the look on their faces? Be prepared for anything and roll with it.”

Larry sat at the controls and adjusted the lights to draw attention to the five musicians on stage. Cindy with her flute and Sammie with her violin went to their designated spots. Marcus went to the piano, and George grabbed his French Horn. Jessica at the conductor podium, tapped the baton and started the piece she wrote for the five of them.

Jessica’s piece was played, and the audience started clapping, but they quickly quieted down when Cindy stepped off her mini-stage and walked to the front center of the large Symphony Hall stage. While she was doing that, Jessica went to the piano, while Marcus left the piano and grabbed his electric guitar.

Cindy put her lips up to her flute, and suddenly her brain went blank. She couldn’t think of any Christmas music to play. Looking out at the audience she was frozen. She found her older sister in the audience and her advice over the last few months rang in her head. Whenever Cindy was having a hard day or in an emotional mess, Holly would tell her to play her favorite piece on the flute. So that is what Cindy did. Her mind cleared as she worked her way through one of Friedrich Kuhlau’s flute solos.

Sammie was going to join in, but Jessica stopped her and indicated for the others not to join either. She quietly said, “Not with that piece. That’s a solo piece to calm herself down. Let her play alone. When she’s done, we’ll jam to a piece Sammie picks. Sammie, while Cindy’s playing, think of something to play.”

When Cindy finished her piece, the audience started to clap, but Sammie started playing almost immediately, so they sat back down.

“Larry,” Hannah said looking down at the stage. “Let them play this last piece and when they are done, cut the lights to the stage and bring up the lights on the audience.”

Hannah tapped the controls to limit her words to the earpieces of the stagehands and Jim Frances, the conductor, “I am shutting off the kids' microphones after this piece and cutting lights to the stage. Bring the rest of the orchestra onto the stage for final bows. Jim, I want you center front stage, standing behind Cindy and Sammie with the rest of the angels around the three of you.”

Hannah’s display screen suddenly had three lights flashing two times. That was Jim and her two primary stagehands sending acknowledgement.

After the applause and the audience had sat back down, Hannah had Larry slowly bring up the lights on the stage. A few people were still getting into position, but not too bad for an unplanned and unrehearsed step done in the dark. Thanks were given, bows were done and then everyone left the stage. Hannah helped Larry reset a few controls before heading down to the stage to talk with everyone.

“. . . Marcus, you did a great job transitioning into that section, but we need to be careful that you don’t drain out the other instruments too much. I’ll talk with Hannah to see if they can control that with the mics or if you need to adjust your intensity during that section. We could also move you to a different location. I’ll put that piece first for practice tomorrow morning,” Mr. Frances was saying as Hannah joined everyone backstage.

“I’ll also check the videos and recordings from our test locations in the audience,” Hannah said, coming up to the group. “First impressions though, from the control room everything looked and sounded fine.”

“Good,” Mr. Frances stated as he turned back to the musicians. “Now, let’s talk about . . .”

“Ummm, not yet Jim,” Hannah interrupted while listening to Larry in her earpiece try to explain something. “Miranda’s having a problem.”

Everyone looked at Hannah in confusion. She tapped her earpiece, “Larry, connect me directly with Miranda . . . I’m here Miranda, what is going on? What do you need the Angels for?”

The kids all looked at each other.

“Whose Miranda,” Sammie asked?

Lisa, who was standing right behind Sammie, bent down and quietly said, “She’s one of the people who runs everything here. Hannah and Jim handle the Orchestra, but Miranda deals with everything else.”

“There is no way I am sending the three girls out there without each having a handler,” Hannah said into her mic. “And the two older boys should have handlers too. We don’t have the people in place today. This was a dress rehearsal for the adult concerts, not the children’s concert. I could maybe come up with two handlers, but not five.”

“Hannah,” Marcus interjected. “We might be able to provide protection for the three girls.”

“Hold on a minute Miranda,” Hannah looked at Marcus approaching her. “What do you have in mind?”

“My dad was in the audience with two of the people who are my bodyguards during my rock concerts. If this Miranda person stops them before they leave, they could protect the girls. They should be easy to spot. All three are over six feet tall, with the tallest being six feet, ten inches tall. The two with my dad today are the ones who protected Cindy and Sammie during the summer concert at camp. I’m sure they’d be willing to do the same today if needed.”

“Luke and Penelope are here,” Cindy and Sammie said together as they went up and looked at Marcus.

Marcus smiled down at the girls, “They wouldn’t have missed a chance to see the two of you perform. When they heard I had four tickets to a dress rehearsal of your performance, they insisted on coming to see the two of you.”

Mr. Frances came up to Hannah, “The summer camp hired them this summer to protect the kids. They passed the background checks back then the camp did before hiring them. If the parents of the kids agree, I don’t see why we can’t hire them today to help.”

“Miranda,” Hannah said into her mic. “There should be someone six foot-ten leaving Symphony Hall with two other large individuals. One of them is Marcus’ dad. Stop them. They work as bodyguards at Marcus’ rock concerts. See if you can hire them for the next few hours to protect the girls. If they will, have them meet us at door F. I’ll get Philip and Laura to be the last two handlers.”

Hannah then turned to the five Christmas Angels, “Okay, I need you all to go get your phones and tell whoever brought you today to meet Miranda in the Lobby at door F.”

As the kids went to the room where they had their backpacks, Mr. Frances got the attention of the other Orchestra performers, “If I am piecing this together right. Something is going on in the lobby, and Miranda needs the Angels to address the issue. We have talked about Children’s Performances and the efforts we put in after the performance for the kids to meet some Orchestra members and their instruments. This is done to promote and encourage music to the next generation. I know the kids out there are either your own kids or relatives of yours, but the mission is still the same. They may know your instruments but not the others. And if the Angels are sparking an interest in them, it is our job to encourage it. View it as rehearsal for the Children’s performance in a few days.”

Hannah gave a few more directions into her mic before turning to the Orchestra, “Quick version, there is a little seven- or eight-year-old girl named Ciara out there who has rallied a bunch of other kids to refuse to leave until they get to meet the Angels.”

“My niece,” Lisa questioned?

Sammie started to giggle as she returned with her phone, “Way to go Ciara.”

“No, not way to go,” Lisa interjected. “My sister taught her better than to start a public protest.”

“Is this the Ciara that lent Cindy the dress for the concert at the end of camp,” Jessica asked?

“Yup, that’s the one,” Sammie said before turning to look at the Oboe player behind her. “Lisa here is her aunt.”

Jessica looked right at Lisa, “Ciara most definitely is a good kid. She stood up to support Cindy this summer when others wouldn’t.”

Hannah interrupted, “Regardless of whether she is a good kid or not, her actions have led to an issue that we now need to deal with. Although Miranda could easily just get the guardians out there to get the kids to leave, she feels that, this time, it might be best to bend to the demands. I agree with her, for it will be good practice for you Angels in preparation for the Children’s Concert.”

“So, what do we have to do,” Cindy asked?

Hannah looked at Conductor Frances before looking at the Angels, “Just go out and greet some of the people. Answer a few questions while being the nice and friendly kids you are. I saw the videos of you three girls interacting with the crowds at the mall. This should be easier because you won’t be playing any instruments, and all the kids out there are friends or relatives of the Orchestra members. There should be no issues, but if you are uncomfortable, or want to stop, just tell the adult with you. They will get you away from the crowds. The Angels won’t carry any instruments, but we will have a few Orchestra members with instruments out in the lobby for the kids to see.”

“And based on past experiences,” Mr. Frances added. “We need to have the Angels and Orchestra members with instruments spread throughout the lobby. Musicians, if you are not displaying an instrument, and you had kids in the audience, please go out and help with those kids. We’ll plan for thirty minutes but expect it to last forty-five. After which, we will all meet back here.”

It was sixty minutes before everyone was backstage. At which time, the day was over for the kids. Once everyone had changed back into their regular clothes, the three girls headed off to the big fancy playground in the city.