Chapter 3

I put her down, quite reluctantly. She straightened out her clothes and we picked up our scripts and minus tracks and jumped into my ragtop classic VW bug.

After we were in the car, and putting on our seat belts, I leaned over to her, and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

“Not in the car, Rann. Wait, until we get to your apartment.”

As I drove along in the car, I ‘Seussed’:

“I cannot kiss you in the car
I cannot kiss you near or far
I cannot kiss you on the lips
I cannot kiss you on the nips.”

“You’re so silly, Rann,” she giggled.

“Silly in love,” I replied as I peeled out from being parked in front of the house.

I had commuted from living at my folks’ house to Santa Fe University my first year there. It got boring and costly, sometimes going back and forth three times in a day. So, between my freshman and sophomore years, Dad helped me get into a nice two-bedroom apartment.

From that point on, school, and my life, slowed down to a less frenetic pace. I carried a good full load of classes, and a total of five very busy years later at SFU, ending up with my Double BA’s in Theatre Performance and Theatre Design.

My apartment was about a mile south of SFU and was about twenty miles north of our folk’s home in La Cienega. I now work for the University in the Performance Arts Department, basically: Whatever they need.

I was making good enough money to pay all my own bills, including my rent ... that made Dad happy and proud. The few times he gave me money, he didn’t want me to worry about paying him back, ever. He and Mom insisted.

I had the task of doing ‘something’ for every production put on in the Greer Garson Theatre, a 513 seat beautifully appointed house with a professionally equipped stage, with a four-story tall flydeck.

I would, and did, design and build sets, stage-manage, be musical director, or whatever else was needed, although I hadn’t yet directed a show. I was allowed to act in plays from time to time. When ... was up to me!

Because of this ongoing connection to the University, I had kept the subject of SFU in my beautiful sister’s ear, so she might just decide to go there for college. Now, with our relationship ‘blossoming’, I wanted her to go after the same degree program I did, Theatre Performance, although a new degree program had been instituted since I first started there, the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Musical Theatre.

“So, Carol ... have you thought any more on where you want to go to college?”

“Rann, my choices have come down to Southern Utah University, in Cedar City, Utah or Santa Fe University. I know where you want me to go.”

“Don’t you have to decide rather soon?”

“Yeah – I know you went to SFU, but SUU has that big Shakespearean Festival every year and you know how much I love Shakespeare. Although, SFU does a good amount of it in their other theatre.”

“Well – Carol, if you asked me, and you haven’t, I’d love for you to go to SFU, but, for rather selfish reasons.”

She blushed, “There you go again—you said that word again, Rann ... love?”

I pulled over and stopped the car. It’s time to make my final pitch.

“OK, hear me out, C ... I have multiple reasons for this opinion. First, I went there, and now I get paid to help put on shows there. Second, Mom and Dad would love it if you stayed closer to home than Utah. Third, and so would I. Aaaannnd ... Fourth, you could stay with me to cut down on your commute and keep from putting all those miles on your car.”

A smile had slowly come upon her face and she asked, “Did you just ask me to live with you, Rann?”

“Just a minute ... and Fifth, you could come live with me.”

“Just a minute, Rann.” There was suddenly a bit of tension in the car. I could feel it as well as hear it, my heart beating. She got this wonderfully wicked smile on her face. “I’ve made up my mind, Rann ... my final choice is Santa Fe University.”

We hugged and kissed, and kissed and hugged like nobody’s business. I started back up the car, along with my heart. That was the most thrilling sixty seconds of my life, but now I couldn’t keep from smiling. We were now, only about two miles from the apartment.

Suddenly, my phone rang. I looked at it and saw it was Mom calling. “I got to take this, Carol. It’s Mom.”

“Hey Mom, how are you?”
“What?”
“Where’s Carol?”
“Didn’t you see the message we left for you?”

“Oh. Well, Carol and I are headed up to my apartment to rehearse our scenes and songs for WEST SIDE STORY. Oh ... Sorry. I guess nobody ever told you. The young man playing Tony ... his parents were in a serious boating accident while vacationing in Rome ... He decided to leave the show and be with them.”

“Yeah, that is sad, but the show must go on! If we waited for him, they would have to push the opening weekend back a week or more ... So, I volunteered to take over the role, until he gets back. So, now, I am playing Tony, and Carol is playing Maria and we need to rehearse together, and we didn’t want to bother you and Dad.”

“Yeah – That is exciting, isn’t. Ha-ha. You said it Mom, ‘both of your beautiful children’ are in WEST SIDE STORY together. I’ll feed her and bring her home later. Is that all right with you? Sure, here’s Carol.”