The Pageant Handoff

This flow follows the transfer of responsibility from the injured Helen Armstrong to the narrator’s mother and the difficult transformation of a routine annual production.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

Helen’s Fall

The Usual Director Is Injured

A Reluctant Successor

Taking on the Pageant

Tradition Meets Change

A Familiar Script Under New Direction

Pressure from Helen

Advice from the Hospital Bed

A Pageant of Her Own

The New Director Stands Firm

Two weeks before Thanksgiving

The days after Helen’s fall

At the first casting meeting

During the weeks of preparation

After the church complaints and before Christmas