When I was Mary

It’s not easy when you’ve just moved to a new place. Everything is different. The girl das to be glad just to be playing a sheep in the nativity play. A black sheep. How dearly she’d like to be Mary! But Brigitte, of all people, is Mary. Brigitte, who makes fun of her, but who walks her to school every day nonetheless. Of course it makes sense that Brigitte should be Mary, with her long hair poking out from under the headscarf. A dark-skinned Mary with short hair – that’s not really on. The class has been rehearsing for a long time, and finally the big day has arrived. But today Brigitte isn’t waiting at the corner of the street – instead there’s an agitated teacher. "You'll have to play Mary. Brigitte is ill!" That’s no problem for the girl: she knows Mary’s lines off by heart! And at the end, there’s thunderous applause.