Chapter 10: The Following Week

Compared to last week, this week was a bit anticlimactic.

Beth continued to gain confidence in herself and her lunchtime following grew. What had started out as just a small group of maybe a dozen theater and music geeks had grown into a group of about twenty-five—most of the new members consisting of the shy, mousy girls that always seem to spend their time hiding in corners, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. It finally dawned on me what was going on—the mice had seen the change in Beth and were looking to her for advice and for some reason she thought I should help.

"Tommy, what am I supposed to tell them? I guess I could sic them on you. After all, you're the one who did this to me!"

"Me! I just convinced you to see who you really are! Besides, are you sure you want me to give your mice the same treatment I gave you?"

"Oh, wait a minute, I've got to think about that—NO! TOMMY RANDAHL, DON'T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!"

I just grinned, "Don't worry, Beth, I'm all yours."

"I just don't know where to start ... I mean with you leading me, it all seemed so simple, but trying to teach somebody else..." Beth started gnawing on her bottom lip, a sign I'd seen before and an indication of just how nervous she was. "I don't want to give them false hopes, but they seem so desperate."

"You want me to grab your Nikon and try the camera trick?"

"You mean get them into skimpy bikinis and take their pictures? Oh, yeah, I can just see how that would work! Maybe if I took them to the mall and had them try on some new clothes..." She mused.

"Sure, then take them back to your place and show them the magic mirror," I suggested. Beth had a far-away look in her eye—whether planning for her mice or remembering her own experience with that selfsame mirror I didn't know.

I could see this was going to take some misdirection. "Did you hear what the one-act play is going to be?"

Mr. Franks, the drama teacher, had announced Dark of the Moon as the Fall one-act play. He had most of the cast set, but was looking for some people to help the leads rehearse their lines, and I had suggested Beth as a possibility. I wanted to try to get her involved in the theater if I could. I knew she wasn't sure enough of herself to audition to actually be on stage, but there's always a need for more back-stage worker-bees.

"Yeah, and Mr. Franks already asked me to help out. You don't know anything about that, do you?"

"Well ... maybe I mentioned something to him..."

"Oh, thanks. Next thing you're going to talk me into acting." She accused.

"Hey, I know better than that. I just figured if you were involved we'd get to spend more time together."

"Well," She looked at me. "I guess since it's for a good cause..."

"Did he mention who you'd be working with?" I asked.

"Yeah, Julie Cooper. She's playing the star, Barbra Allen but it's her first show and she's really worried about learning her part."

"Actually, in amateur theater it's 'lead' not 'star.' " I explained.

"Well, whatever. We're going to start after school tonight."

"Great, Mrs. Anderson's designing the sets so Greg and I are going to start working with her to get some ideas for lighting. So I'll meet you and give you the grand back stage tour."

By that time we'd reached her next class, so I gave her a quick kiss and headed down the hall to mine.

Beth met me at my locker and we walked through the covered walkway that led to the theater building. The school's theater was a basic proscenium stage with stairs on either side leading down into the audience. The stairs weren't used much during performances but they were handy for graduation ceremonies and such.