I drove over to Charlie’s Truck Stop this past week to pick up a few things and to fill up with a tank of gas. The Reverend Johnson was sitting on one of the benches that are positioned on either side of the front door at Charlie’s. My friend Bob Havershold was sitting there beside him and Bob’s daughter, Cheriee, was entertaining the both of them with a tale she was obviously very excited about. She was dancing about and waving her arms to illustrate the story she was telling. I parked in front of the new gas pumps and climbed out of my car. I could hear Cheriee’s high clear voice as she described some exotic and fanciful plant that sounded like a cross between kudzu and something concocted from a cheap sci-fi movie.
Jake came bouncing out the front door and I told him to fill ‘er up, then I moved over closer to hear what Cheriee was so excited about. When Bob noticed me, he stood and stuck his hand in my direction. We exchanged grips and Bob told me his daughter had become involved with the local community theatre in Corinth. He said she has the bug bad and is spending most of her free time there of late. Cheriee is a pretty child just before coming into her teen years and Bob is right proud of her. She smiled to see me and I bent down so she could run up and give me a hug. As I came back to my full height, Cheriee began to tell me all about the strange and exotic plant she had been describing. It seems the plant is the central attraction in a play currently in production at Corinth Theatre-Arts. Cheriee had come to hear about the local theatre from one of her teachers at school and had badgered her mother to take her to the theatre building on Fulton Drive to check it out. Gracie had been favorably disposed to having Cheriee develop an interest in the theatre. Gracie had been in a couple of school plays when she was growing up and thought the experience might be good for the child.
The play in production was something called “Little Shop of Horrors”, a comedy of sorts about a plant in a florist shop that eats people. Cheriee had visions of walking in and getting a feature role in the play and becoming an international star overnight. Unfortunately, the show had already been cast and, in any event, there was not really a part in the play that was right for her. The director had explained there were other plays coming up in the new season and that Cheriee could come back and audition for one of those. In the mean time, there was plenty of back stage work that needed to be done and Cheriee could get a taste of what theatre life was all about by working with sets and props and watching the actors rehearse for the show that was scheduled to open in a few short weeks.
Cheriee was heartbroken her career on the stage had been delayed, but she decided working back stage was a good way to get a feel for her new career, so she dived right into the work and was soon helping with the painting and putting the set together. Gracie stayed with her daughter at the theatre to begin with, but soon decided she would have to drop the child off in the evening and come back around nine-thirty to pick her up, else she would never have time to get any housework done. As for Cheriee, she discovered there was more work involved in acting on stage than she had first thought. There were all those lines to memorize and all the instructions from the director to remember. Cheriee decided working with painting and props was a good idea until the part that was right for her came along. After a few nights of watching rehearsals, she decided a small part might be best for her first time on stage.
The perfect part was certain to be available in the upcoming production of “West Side Story” that is scheduled for the first weekend in August with auditions in mid June. Cheriee has always liked the movie, which the Haversholds have in tape, so she went looking through the boxes of stored tapes at home until she found what she was looking for. Unfortunately, the tape player at the Havershold house had broken down last year and Bob had replaced it with a DVD player. Cheriee was sure there was a DVD of “West Side Story”, and Gracie decided to stop by Sam Goody’s, a store in Corinth where CD’s and DVD’s are for sale. Bob had thought it was good enough to just go rent the movie, but Gracie said they would be wanting to watch it any number of times over the next few weeks, especially if it should happen that Cheriee actually landed a part in the local production.
Both Bob and Gracie came to regret that decision. As soon as Gracie came through the front door with the movie, Cheriee dropped the disk into the player and sat down to watch. Whenever Cheriee was not watching or just playing about the house listening to “West Side Story”, she could be hears singing “Maria” in her high pitched, off key voice. The only relief came when Cheriee was at the theatre helping with the set or just watching rehearsals. Then blessed silence reigned in the Havershold house for a few hours. Bob threatened to destroy the DVD and tell Cheriee it had happened by accident, but Gracie said that would only result in having to return to Sam Goody for another copy. Bob thought he could convince the lady who runs the store to claim the DVD was no longer available, but there were other stores where the movie could be had and Bob and Gracie decided to suffer through with stoic reserve. Listening to repeat playings of a movie and listening to a child sing off key is a cheap price to pay for something in which Cheriee had developed such an interest. Things could be so much worse. Cheriee could have been consumed by an interest in some young man of questionable virtue. Gracie advised Bob to hold his satisfaction in reserve. Gracie had seen there were young boys at the theatre and Cheriee would eventually notice them, if that had not happened already. And it was almost inevitable that, no matter how nice the young man happened to be, he would fail to measure up to Bob’s demands. Bob had thought about that and agreed Gracie was probably right. Then he went to put “West Side Story” on the player.
END
