practicing my lines whenever I have the chance and psyching myself up for the big audition.
It will be the first acting role I will have played in years, that is if I am cast for it. I landed an insurance commercial a few weeks before Charlee was
conceived and ever since I was pregnant, I haven’t acted. I am extremely nervous and worried that I will be rusty once I get on the stage. Knowing my mother
and Charlee are going to be out there only makes it worse. If I don’t let my mom in, she would just find a way to sneak in, so telling her no is more trouble than
it is worth.
Leonard’s meetings are running long, and I am supposed to wait for them to end so I can clean up the conference rooms and schedule any other meetings
for him. I look at my watch and see that the time is cutting close to my audition time, and I really need to leave. But it does not look like they will be wrapping
up anytime soon.
What makes it worse is that it does not even look like they are talking about business. I can’t miss my audition because these guys are in there catching up
on each other’s lives. Leonard is the one who told me to do this in the first place. Has he forgotten about it already?
Who am I kidding? Of course, he has. Why would the date of my audition even matter to him? I start packing my things to leave before it will be too late to
make it at all. When I stand from my chair and throw my bag around my shoulder Leonard looks at me with an apologetic face and waves at me to leave. I give
him a halfhearted smile and call the elevator to take me down.
Thankfully, the audition location isn’t too far from work. It only takes me about twenty minutes to get there. Mom and Charlee are already waiting in the
lobby of the theatre by the time I arrive. I run over to give Charlee a quick hug before I explain to her, I have to leave again and go on stage.
She cries when I walk away from her and it breaks my heart. I consider just walking away and heading home with her and Mom, but my mother convinces
me to continue the audition.
Ever since Charlee was born, she has spent almost every hour of every day with me. Aside from a few times, I went to the grocery store without her, we
have always been together. I did worry that my work would come as a bit of a shock to her when I first started, but the time she spent with my mom seemed to
have distracted her. But walking away from her and seeing the hurt on her face as if I am too busy for her makes me want everything to go back to how it was.
I sit in a row of seats next to three other women who I assume are also auditioning for the lead role. We chat while the rest of the auditionees file in and fill
the seats. There are a lot more people here than I thought there would be. Part of me expected to see some of my old classmates and drama club buddies
there, but I am kind of relieved to see they aren’t.
My name is called, and I walk out onto the stage and stand in the center, the light shining in my face and obscuring the faces of the audience.
“My name is Rayne Stevens and I’m auditioning for Carol Bratter,” I say, looking forward and projecting my voice as best as I can.
“I’m ready when you are,” a male voice calls from the darkness surrounding the stage lights.
I take a deep breath and nod my head before I read my lines. It feels good, as soon as the first words pass my lips, almost natural. The rush of being on
stage overtakes me and I slip right into character – forgetting everything that has happened with Leonard, all of the troubles with Reece – it is just me and the stage.
“Thank you very much,” the director calls to me when I finish the scene. His voice is flat, but I don’t let it bother me because I know it has to be. He could
spotted the next Meryl Streep and be forced to maintain a stoic expression.