There was a bigger turnout than I’d expected. A lot of jocks milled about in torn T-shirts, trying to ramp themselves up into Stanley-screaming-“Stella” mode. Several girls going out for the Blanche DuBois role had overdone their makeup and set their hair in wild curls. You couldn’t get away from the movie.
I saw Dale off stage right, practicing lines with some other girl. I couldn’t tell if she was doing Stella or Blanche. A flood of warm pride filled my chest. She looked lovely, assertive, and in command.
I went to take a seat and noticed someone in back waving at me. I squinted and saw it was mywasl out tk mother.
“Ma?”
“Terrier, come sit.”
“What are you doing here?”
“What do you think? I’m waiting to watch my baby perform onstage.”
I sat beside her. “It’s an audition.”
“That’s still a performance.”
“Does Dale know you’re here?”
“No, of course not, she’d throw a fit.”
My mother had come prepared. She had a little pillow for her back and a thermos of hot tea with her. She poured a cup and offered it to me. I shook my head.
“Prepare yourself,” she said. “It could be a while before she gets called on. It takes forever in the beginning, but then the group thins out pretty quickly after that. The real nervous nellies will turn green and bow out in the first ten minutes. Once they’re gone, the talented kids really let fly.”
“I can see you’ve attended these before.”
She beamed. My mother’s smile was infectious. I returned it. “Third one this year.”
“So how does she do?”
“She’s amazing. Really quite accomplished. I don’t know where she gets it from.”
“Grifting is just putting on a show,” I said.
“She doesn’t grift.”
“It’s in the blood.”
My mother made an exasperated noise. “Stop it, you. I just wish she wouldn’t always play the smaller secondary roles. I wish she’d go out for the bigger parts.”
It had been years since I’d read or watched
“No, which is why I’m so excited. I think she’s finally going for the lead.” She sipped and stared at me through wisps of steam rising from her tea. “So what brings you here?”
“I wanted to talk to her about Butch again.”
We watched the first Stanley take the stage. He muffed his first line and asked if he could start again.
“So is he real trouble?” my mother asked. “Butch?”
“Semi-real trouble. You were right.”
“So I should be worried.”
“You should relax. She’s smart. She’ll kick him loose soon enough.”
“And until then?”
“Until then I’ll make sure nothing happens.”
She had the presence of mind not to bother smiling. “You’re a good boy.”
“No, I’m not. That’s why you asked me to check up on him. But if I wasn’t here, the way I hadn’t been for all these years, what would you have done?”
“Your father would have paid him a visit,” my mother said. “If it was necessary.”
“Sometimes you scare me, Ma.”
We watched more kids foul their lines and nail thalieir lines. A couple of them had real potential. Most of them didn’t. A few of them knew it and were just there to have a little fun. The drama-coach-turned-director tried to move them along as quickly as possible. My mother had been right about that too. The group had thinned considerably already.
Finally it was Dale’s turn. Unlike others, who’d read from their script pages, she’d memorized her lines. She was going out for Blanche. She and one of the Stanleys were doing the impending rape scene. One part of me was glad she wasn’t doing the “I’ve always relied on the kindness of strangers” bit, which several other girls had already covered. She also wasn’t playing Blanche with much of a southern accent. Another smart move, I thought.
My mother gripped my hand tightly, showing fierce pride. Instead of playing Blanche as a weak-willed naive woman accidentally pushing the brutish Stanley over the edge, Dale characterized Blanche as a kind of seductress purposefully pushing the guy’s buttons. Even when she defended herself and struggled against him, it seemed only another level of foreplay. When Stanley shouted, “We’ve had this date with each other from the beginning!” and leaped at her, I almost shot to my feet.
“She’s so good,” Ma said.
“Yes.”
“What’s the matter then? Your face is drawn.”
“Isn’t
“Maybe for my generation. But hers?” She packed up her items and stowed them away in her handbag. “I need to run.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want her to see me. You should go too. She’ll get embarrassed and then overreact, trust me. Just go.”
“I think I should talk to her.”
“Okay, but be prepared.” She kissed me on the cheek and went out through the side doors.
I followed a couple of minutes later. JFK was sitting beneath the flagpole. I’d only closed the window halfway and he’d shrugged himself through. I stood next to him and we waited. Dale and a couple of her friends came out about ten minutes later. I tossed the butt aside and stepped up to my sister.
She had the same reaction now that she’d had last night. Before she could snap at me, I said, “Relax. No lectures. I just thought I’d pick you up, maybe we could go out for a bite to eat or something. We could talk some more.” Her friends shored up behind her, took her body language as a cue. “Bring your posse along with you if you like. My treat.”
I watched the irritation drain from her face, replaced by that quaint smile she’d given everyone else. “I don’t think I can today, Terry. We’re all going over to Mary’s to work on a science project together.”
To their credit, no one broke into a grin, despite the obvious lie. A distant thrum of thunder broke across the sky and gurgled toward us.
“Hey, Dale, save that shit for Mom and Dad, right?”
She took a careful breath. “I’m busy, Terry. I’ll see you at home.”
“I want to talk to you.”
She wagged her chin toward the auditorium door. “Did you see me in there?”
“Yes, you were good. Wonderful, really. Did you get the part?”
“We won’t know until next week.”
“We can talk about that too.”
I met Dale’s eyes. I tried to let her see that I wasn’t being pushy for no reason. I wasn’t trying to come down on her. I didn’t mean to be a pain in the ass in front of her clique. JFK barked once. It broke the spell. Dale turned to her friends and told them that she’d meet up with them later on. They gave me disapproving glances and drifted off.
It started to sprinkle again. I went back and forth from loving the rain to hating it. I lit another cigarette, and before I could put the pack back in my pocket Dale reached in and grabbed one and waited for me to light her up. I did.
I searched my sister’s face for the little girl I’d recognized last night at the lake. I didn’t see her anymore. She appeared harder to me today, more adult. Maybe she always would, now that I’d seen her turn Blanche DuBois into a wild temptress.
She opened the car door, and JFK jumped into the passenger seat and refused to move. She shoved him into
