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The Herdmans are famous (or if you will, infamous)
around the community they live in. Among other things, they lie, steal,
hit people, ignore and/or cuss at their teachers and other people in
authority (parents, the Police, etc), set fire to things, and, in
general, cause trouble. All six also smoke cigars. The kids'
parents were often unseen. Their mother, Mrs. Herdman, worked double
shifts at the town's shoe factory although she would be seen around town
walking their pet cat (a mean one-eyed cat) on a double length of chain;
and Mr. Herdman deserted the family when Gladys, the youngest and
meanest of all of them, was only two years old. The kids and their
mother live over a garage at the bottom of Sproul Hill, in town.
The story is narrated by Beth Bradley, a girl of the
same age as the second oldest Herdman, Imogene. In some ways, Imogene
sees Beth as perhaps the only person that she can trust, even though
Beth often tries to avoid Imogene. Beth's brother, Charlie, had,
unwisely, told Leroy Herdman, the same age as he, that they received
snacks at Church, and, because of that, they all came to the church for
the first time.
Beth's mother, Grace, had been put in charge of the
pageant when the original leader, Mrs. Helen Armstrong, fell and broke
her leg. It was at that point, when the Herdmans came, and were cast in
the Christmas play. This didn't sit well with most of the other
members of the church, most especially, Mrs. Wendleken, the mother of
Beth's prissy, arrogant, stuck-up friend, Alice. Alice, like her
mother, didn't like the Herdmans, and sometimes didn't really like
others either. She feels that she is above everyone else, and her mother
is extremely prudish. Beth likes her, but she could get fed up with her
and her sanctimony as well.
After various travails, including an incident where
everything seemed to go completely topsy-turvy (being called the one
great big sinful thing Alice Wendleken had hoped for, which allowed her
mother to call everyone on the phone to have the Herdmans forcibly
removed), the show goes on, and it turns out to be one of the most
memorable Christmas plays ever, since the Herdmans mainly do what comes
naturally. |
