Exit Stage Left
By Chris James
Chapter Four
The tall golden trophy stood solemnly in the glass case beside the office doors. Lynch smiled every time he came to work, the vision put a spring in his step. The trophy stood for hundreds of hours the students had worked to make Romeo and Juliet a winner in the state competition. It gave Cabot distinction. Hell, it gave them all distinction.
The judges had come, not on opening night, but the following evening. Lynch had known when they would arrive, but he did not tell the students. The performance on opening night was perfect, a classic rendition of Shakespeare's play that in the end brought the audience to its feet during the curtain call.
The students were over the top in their enthusiasm during the opening show, and at the cast parties which followed. It would not have been a good night to be judged; the actors tried a bit too hard. They didn't need to, the work they had put into it spoke for itself. But they were young, to be envied of course, but still young, Lynch thought.
Rhonda's parents had thrown the first cast party at their country club, it looked like Juliet's sweet sixteen party. The club and Mrs. Marx had decorated the ballroom. Dennis decided it was all a bit much, much too much. But hell, their daughter had another year at the school... if she didn't get pregnant along the way.
Rhonda and Steve were an item now; Adam had taken up with a freshman girl. And Richard, the show's biggest Romeo, was trying to help several girls live out the fantasy. Dennis had watched Richard leave the theatre with two girls that evening, and it took them almost two hours to arrive at the club. One look at Richard's face told the story; he was flush with sexual excitement.
Dennis managed an hour of socializing before Bobby pulled him off into the darkness of the golf course for a private party. They drank from the neck of a champagne bottle and made passionate love on the ninth green. It was fun, and it was sad, but Dennis did it all to please Bobby. Their goodbye was still several weeks away, time enough to cry and be upset after the show was over.
But because the band was old and the punch wasn't spiked, the party began to dissolve after a few hours. Dennis and Bobby walked back in off the golf course to find half the students had left. Marsha slid up next to Dennis.
"Hmm, someone looks happy?" She said.
Dennis blushed and she laughed. "We did good tonight, I'm just excited," Dennis said.
"Good boy," Marsha said, patting him on the butt. "This is lame, I am so outta here."
"Me too," Dennis said. "I seem to recall I have a bed somewhere in a house... oh yeah, I still live with my parents."
"Go sleep, baby boy," Marsha said, "You earned it." And then she kissed him.
Bobby was jacked up, the adrenalin rush from the show would last him for hours. They all left together and Bobby was off to another party, Dennis decided to head home... well maybe not. He turned into the parking lot of the Pancake Platter and found Katherine sitting in a booth all alone.
"Hi, Boss," Dennis said. "Want some company?"
She smiled. "Sure, anything for you. How was the party?"
"Gross, I think the band got its start in the disco era," Dennis said.
"Yeah, about what I figured."
There was a coffee cup on the table, a half eaten sandwich. Dennis figured she'd been here for hours. "What's up, K?"
She sighed. "Just didn't want to go home... I need to think."
Dennis said nothing, just ordered a coffee when the waitress came by. K smiled and began to talk.
"My mother is leaving, divorcing my dad. He was going to pay for my college, but now that's out the window... the bastard. Seems he's been bonking this little bitch up in Sacramento behind mom's back. She'll get half his money and half the bills... not enough for me to get educated."
She paused. "Sorry, sweetie, don't mean to lay this downer at your feet."
"You had to tell someone," Dennis said.
K sighed. "So I work this summer. I applied at Spring Grove for a box office position. Summer job, doesn't pay much. You ought to apply there."
"Me? I though that place was union," Dennis said.
"My cousin worked the concession stand last summer, she says the union only holds the light and sound positions, the theatre hires local students for the crew."
"OK, didn't know that," Dennis said.
"Well go put yourself on the list, I'm sure the Cabot name will mean something to them," Katherine said.
"You just can't stand to be away from me," Dennis said.
"Maybe... or maybe you'll need something to keep you busy when Bobby leaves."
"Uh... yeah, Bobby... "
Katherine grinned. "I told you, my spies are everywhere. He's too old for you anyway. That young man is going places, and we both know it. In a few years he won't remember any of us... his loss."
They talked until almost four in the morning and K looked at her watch. "OK, let's call it a wrap. Go get some sleep, crew call is at four this afternoon and you have to be on time."
Dennis walked her out to the parking lot, and then drove himself home. He let himself in the back door and slipped up to his room. He stopped at the white board tacked to his door. "Wake me at noon" he wrote, and then shut the door behind him.
The ringing sound persisted, cutting through Dennis' sleep. He reached a hand across the pillow and grabbed the phone. "Hello," he croaked.
"Its noon, I'm at the beauty parlor," His mother said.
"Thank you... I need to get up," Dennis said.
"You came in late, mister... everything go well after we left? It was a wonderful performance, I've been telling everyone here how my son runs the show."
Dennis smiled. "That's not true, Mom... I'm just the assistant."
"Well you worked so hard, you ought to be in charge."
"I will be, Mom... maybe next school year," Dennis said.
"Fine, dear... you have a good day, try and come home earlier this time."
"I will, Mom... thanks for calling," Dennis said, and then he hung up.
He took a shower and dressed in a fresh set of black clothing. He looked positively Goth, except he was missing the chains and leather. No, today he wore the black jeans, a black button down shirt and a black tie, crew class they called it. He was driving out to Spring Grove.
Spending the summer working in a theatre would be a dream job, even if it was only summer stock madness. The Grove was a road house full tilt, small road companies of old musicals, Las Vegas night club acts, comedians... anything that would sell. Only bad thing, Dennis had never been inside the building before.
There were a few cars in the lot out front, a door propped open. Dennis walked in and up to the box office window.
"Good afternoon, how may I help you?" The girl inside said.
"I'm here to see the manager about a job," Dennis said.
She smiled. "Crew by the looks of you, I'll buzz you into the lobby. I don't know where Tony is, go have a seat and I'll find him."
One of the glass doors to the lobby buzzed and Dennis opened it. The lobby of a theatre was a special place, at intermissions it was the avenue to the concession stand, the bathrooms and the outside for the smokers. Spring Grove's lobby was huge, all done up in gold and green. The concession stand was off to one side, the bathrooms took the other.
The office door was marked and there were couches and chairs where he could sit, but Dennis chose to prowl. Old show posters and photos were hung in frames on the walls by the office, and some of them were very old. Spring Grove had been in business for forty years; Dennis didn't recognize some of the entertainers.
"That's Red Foxx in the photo. He used to open the season here every year," A man said as he walked out of the office. "Tony Vincentia," he said, holding out his hand.
"Dennis King, I'd like to apply for a crew job."
"I can see that, part of the black squad, huh?" Tony said.
"Um, not really... I'm working a production at Cabot tonight."
"Romeo and Juliet... I'm coming to see it next weekend," Tony said.
Dennis smiled. "Good, I hope you like it."
Tony laughed. "I do theatre for a living; it's my wife who drags me off to these things. I suppose a little Shakespeare I can handle, we don't do that here. You on the crew there?"
"Assistant Stage Manager, and I worked on the set."
"Ah, so you're going places. Most of the students I get here are from the regular high schools, but Kenny handles them, he's the crew chief," Tony said.
Tony seemed to like him from the outset, and Dennis was thrilled. The man explained their operation.
"Normally it's a week long show, seven or eight performances, matinee Saturday and Sunday. Monday is dark, changeover day, and that could mean anything. I've had the same union guys on lights and sound for three years, they know their stuff. Kenny has been here just as long, but this will be his last summer. The crew strength varies; sometimes three is enough, more often it's six or eight. You ever work a theatre in the round before?"
"No, I imagine that's quite different," Dennis said.
"Come on, I'll show you. Brian is out in the house working on seats, always a broken one here and there in such an old place," Tony said.
They walked across the lobby to the double doors into the theatre. Tony opened the door and motioned Dennis to go ahead. He'd never considered a round theatre before, but that's what he saw. A huge dome arched overhead, the stage sitting dead center beneath it at the bottom of a deep sloping floor.
"Three thousand seats... well, almost," Tony said. "Seven aisles, two of which lead backstage over there. The stage is a turntable controlled from the booth over our heads, thirty feet across. The musical shows come with scenery, more props than anything else, which the crew moves up and down the aisles. That's Brian out there; he's the head of maintenance and the cleaning crew."
They walked around the circumference. Dennis saw lights hung at the top aimed down at the stage, huge spotlights to throw the light a hundred feet. About twenty feet over the stage was a curtained ring containing a grid hung with more lighting, a sound system, and microphones. The cables went up a tube into the center of the dome, and probably back to the control booth which appeared as three black windows up in the rafters below the ceiling.
The theatre was carpeted, even down the aisles to the ramps that led up on stage. The only hard surface was below the seats, row after row that made rings around the stage. Dennis understood, the acoustics would be strange beneath that dome.
"Kenny won't be in until four, but you have a show tonight, am I right?" Tony asked.
"Yes, sir... seven more to go, this weekend and next. When do you open?"
"We're already running. Night club acts always open the season, two comedians and then a couple of singers. We won't have our first real crew show until Camelot rolls in here end of the month."
"Not the George Briggs show?" Dennis asked.
"No... thank goodness, I guess you saw that fiasco."
"My mother is a fan of his; I had to sit through it."
"This is Clarence Connolly, the English actor, he can sing up a storm. Anyways, that's the first real crew show, and then it rolls all summer. How about you come by after your final curtain tonight? You can meet Kenny and we'll talk."
"I'd like that," Dennis said.
Tony escorted him back out to the lobby and they shook hands. Tony went back to his office and Dennis drove on to school. Katherine was right; this might be a fun place to work for the summer. Cabot taught them about one side of the business, there were other facets of theatre that needed to be explored.
Dennis knew he could go on to college, get a degree or two and teach. Or he could get involved with scenic design, maybe hook up with a professional theatre company for a while... and then end up teaching. Two roads led the same place. He could also attend college and work out of the local stagehands union, if he could get in.
Brady had given them the bare facts. Union work in theatre was a trade, a blue collar job. The man was not in favor of unions, they were a soaring cost in production. But Corky and Neil had a different take; the union brought a standard to backstage work.
Just as the old European guilds built the trades through apprenticeship, the union was supposed to do the same. The reality was that the union was a good old boy network where sons were bought in by their fathers. The pay was high, that made the jobs attractive. But some sons didn't have the skills, others didn't bother to learn.
Neil was the harshest critic, he knew a couple of union members, and yet said he would join in a heartbeat.
"It's a foot in the door," Neil explained. "I eventually want to be in the film industry, the stagehand's union is a good place to start. I'll coil cables on a set if that's all I can get. But I think union stage work is about as interesting as being a plumber or a brick layer, I won't stay there."
Dennis didn't know about all that, but at Spring Grove he would be around union men and get to make his own evaluation. And then it occurred to him, he didn't even ask how much it paid. He walked into the school at three, and headed straight to the costume shop. Marsha and Denise were there, several others as well.
"Oh goody... a mannequin," Marsha said. "Step this way, sweetie."
Dennis found himself clothed in Lord Montague's coat, standing on a pedestal as Marsha pinned up the hem. "You do this very well, you ever want a career as a dummy just let me know," She laughed.
Dennis smiled. "I already aced that subject. I think I'm about to get hired at Spring Grove for the summer, I'll find out tonight after the show."
"That would be fun," Marsha said. "It's almost like real theatre."
The play ran well that evening, no glaring errors. Even Tybalt managed to stay on his bier between scenes, he really had no choice. Corky had duct taped his feet together under the shroud. After the final curtain Lynch came backstage to tell them the judges had been present, it was only fair that they know. If anything Dennis was relieved as he headed out the door towards Spring Grove.
The parking lot was a sea of cars and he drove around to the backstage entrance to find a parking spot. The show would probably end any minute so he rushed around the building to the main entrance and slipped into the lobby. He was just approaching the office doors when he heard applause and detoured to the house entrance, he wanted to see what it looked like with an audience.
He opened the door and walked in under the control booth and stood at the back of the circle. The house was only half full, maybe two thirds. On stage Buddy Hammond, the comedian, and several others were taking their final bows. The audience applause slowly died down as the performers made their way up an aisle. Dennis noticed the aisle was lit from overhead spotlights and the house lights remained off until Hammond had gone through the backstage doors.
"Hi," A voice said.
Dennis turned to see a boy about his age dressed in a gold and green usher's outfit.
"Hello," Dennis replied.
"Are you on the crew?" The boy asked.
"Not yet," Dennis said.
"Oh, this is my first night here, I'm Ted Cavanaugh."
"Dennis King."
At that point the house lights started to come up and the audience rose. "Excuse me," Ted said, and he walked over to prop open the lobby doors.
Dennis stood and watched the audience filling the aisles and heading for the exits, it was time to go find Tony. As he walked under the control booth he heard footsteps pounding down steps beyond the wall and as Dennis stepped into the lobby he saw a door open and two guys stepped out. The door had a no admittance sign on it; these were probably the union crew.
Both appeared to be in their late twenties. One had long hair swept back in a pony tail, the other a brush cut, almost military. Dennis watched them head for the office and pull open the glass doors, he followed along. They were standing just inside the door talking to Tony who looked up as he came thru the door.
"Ah... Dennis, just a minute," Tony said and Dennis nodded.
The guy with the short hair was doing all the talking. "We have to get that cable replaced, Tony... we have some serious weight coming in here next month and it takes two weeks for them to make one."
"OK, Mike... if you must then order it," Tony said.
"Good, I'll call them tomorrow, we should have replaced it at the end of last season," Mike said.
Tony shrugged. "New season, new budget... you know how that works. How about you, Pat?"
"I'm good, there won't be any sound problems until the first band gets here," Pat said.
"What an optimist," Tony said. "OK, let me take Dennis backstage before Kenny slides out the door."
The two union men gave Dennis the once over and smiled as they left the office. Tony picked some paperwork up off the secretary's desk and handed a sheet to Dennis.
"Fill that out before you go, we'll need your contact information," Tony said. He pushed through the office door and Dennis followed.
People still milled about the lobby as they walked into the house. Dennis could see the ushers on the far side working their way around the circle, checking the exit doors and encouraging the few remaining audience members to leave. By one of the backstage doors a large man and several young ladies stood with sweepers and brooms, the cleaning crew.
Tony led him a quarter of the way around the circle to the only set of doors that didn't have an exit sign over it. An usher stood there guarding the door and Dennis recognized Ted. Tony pushed through the door ignoring the boy, but Dennis smiled and said hello, Ted smiled back.
The backstage area was a large rectangle of open space. Immediately on the left was a door with a star pinned to it, the lead dressing room. Straight ahead were two doors marked Men and Women, the cast dressing rooms. To the right were several other doors and a huge roll up loading door.
Laughter could be heard from the star dressing room and the ones in back. A girl walked by wearing black and Tony stopped her.
"Gina, where's Kenny?"
"Back porch, keeping the fans in order," She said.
"OK, thanks," Tony replied.
Gina turned for the cast dressing rooms, but not before giving Dennis a look of exasperation and then a smile. Tony headed for the loading dock doors and Dennis saw one marked. 'Keep closed at all times.' It was propped open.
They stepped out back onto a large concrete patio and Tony pushed the door shut. A set of steps led down to the driveway beside the truck dock, another followed the wall of the dressing rooms down to a lower parking lot with a gate across the entrance. Kenny was standing at the top of the driveway steps before a dozen people who stood there waiting.
It was obvious these were fans waiting for Buddy Hammond to leave the theatre and sign their programs. They knew he would leave this way because a long stretch limo sat idling in the truck dock. Kenny was dressed much like Dennis except he had on a black baseball hat which he wore backwards.
"Kenny... this is Dennis King," Tony said.
Kenny stood back from the steps and shook Dennis' hand. "Looking for a crew job?" He asked.
"Yes I am," Dennis replied.
Tony had gone down the steps and was talking to several of the fans. Kenny looked at them and smiled.
"Regulars, some of them come to every show and collect autographs," He said. "You have any experience?"
"I go to Cabot... " Dennis began.
"OK, that's all I need to know, you're hired," Kenny said.
"Oh... thanks," Dennis said.
Kenny smiled and looked back at Tony chatting with the fans. "This isn't like real theatre, Dennis. We're babysitters most of the time. We get to play host to the rich and famous, spoiled and temperamental performers who used to be really tops in the business and now do summer tours."
"You're not a theatre student?" Dennis asked.
"Nope, I'm going to college for a business degree," Kenny said. "My sister suggested this when I was in tenth grade, it was a job I could do. The technical requirements are handled by Mike; he's been in the union for thirty years."
"Thirty? He doesn't look that old."
"He's almost fifty, wouldn't know it by looking at him," Kenny said. "He's still a kid at heart, but a damn fine technical man, one of the best the union has. Come winter he'll be over at the ARCO Arena setting up rock concerts, he comes here to rest up."
"Wow, a busy man," Dennis said.
Kenny nodded. "Sure is, but I'm sure a theatre guy like you will enjoy working with him. We don't touch the lights or microphones unless asked; the union has some pretty strict rules. But Mike is flexible."
"He just said something to Tony about replacing a cable," Dennis said.
"Yeah, for the turntable, it's cable driven. Steel cable lasts about two years then it stretches out and starts to slip. We can only ratchet it down so far before it needs to get replaced. We have rock shows scheduled this summer, that's a lot of equipment weight to spin around. If the cable fails then the crew has to push it a bit, I don't want to go there."
The back stage door opened and Buddy Hammond made an appearance. The fans at the bottom of the steps started making noise. Hammond walked over and waved at the fans, taking the steps down to their level. The limo driver got out of the car and opened the rear door.
Hammond stopped to talk to the fans for a few minutes, signing their programs and autograph books. Then he ducked into the back of the limo and was gone. Tony mounted the steps as the fans walked back to the parking lot.
"That was easy," Tony said.
"If you want them all that easy then cancel Steve Milner," Kenny laughed.
Tony laughed too. "I wish, that will be a monster. Everything OK with you two?"
"He's hired, we don't get too many Cabot guys applying for work," Kenny said.
"Good, welcome aboard the Titanic," Tony said, and then he laughed as he headed back inside.
"Titanic?" Dennis said.
"Yeah, every year Tony figures will be our last. This is forty acres of valuable property; the owner could make a killing if he sold it for an office building. But it won't happen yet, Mr. Pierce runs the company that owns this place, he enjoys seeing the shows. Let's go back inside and lock up," Kenny said.
Dennis went inside and was given a copy of the summer schedule. Tentative schedule, Kenny told him, nothing was ever that permanent. Hammond was followed by week of young country music stars led by K.D. Lang, then another comedian Dennis had never heard of. But by then R and J would be done, struck down and finished. All he would need to do was give Corky a few mornings on the directing set and he was done for the semester.
Jeez, he hadn't said anything to his parents about working at Spring Grove. But Dennis smiled. His mother would flip out when she saw the list of performers for the summer.
"Do we get any kind of discount on tickets?" Dennis asked.
Kenny nodded. "Sure, go ask Charlie, he runs the box office. He always hands out freebies to us." At that point the girl Gina walked in the office followed by the maintenance man.
"Gina... Brian, this is Dennis... he'll be joining us," Kenny said.
Romeo and Juliet ran its course through the weekend, and went dark for three days. A welcome rest for the cast and crew, it left them four performances until they closed. Weeks was unsure how the time off would effect the cast and so he had Forester appear on Wednesday evening and called in the swordfighters for a one hour brush up.
Dennis sat and watched the three separate battles. The first skirmish that opened the show last only a minute or two, followed by the major event with Mercutio's death. Then on to the duel with Tybalt and Romeo, another death, and the final duel between Romeo and Paris.
The boys had it all down by now and Forester cautioned them to do the warm up exercises before every show. The dancers already knew this; no one wanted a pulled muscle while someone was trying to stab you. Katherine didn't attend; she really didn't need to be there.
Thursday night they opened for the second weekend and Miss K warned Dennis to be on his toes, she was afraid of flubs and miscues... but that would have been too easy. What happened was far worse.
Lord Montague dropped a line in the party scene; Lady Montague picked it right up and kept rolling. The balcony scene was flawless and Dennis heard Katherine sigh over the headset. Then they got to the scene where Mercutio gets killed, the battle royal. Tybalt did a flawless job and Mercutio dropped to the ground on one knee.
It was here that Tybalt exits to seek his friends and Mercutio accuses Romeo of causing his death. In the script Benvolio was supposed to take Mercutio off stage where he dies, Weeks changed all that. He felt it caused a lag in the action and so in this version Mercutio dies in Romeo's arms while Benvolio watches.
No sooner has Mercutio died then Tybalt returns with his companions and the fight to the death ensues with Romeo winning. Tybalt is carried off by his companions and Romeo grieves over Mercutio's body as he screams about what fate has done to him. Only not tonight.
The duel between Romeo and Tybalt was always fierce and yet the choreography controlled. Benvolio stood to one side, Tybalt's companions to the other and poor Mercutio lay just off center stage. Tonight Mercutio had fallen in the wrong spot.
Romeo almost tripped over the body and Tybalt missed a sword move because of it. Instead of a thrust the sword was whipped away from Romeo, low... too low. Dennis was watching and saw Mercutio move a little, what had happened? He rose up on the rungs of his stool to get a better view; Mercutio was bleeding... this time for real.
"Damn... K , Adam was struck, he's bleeding over his left eye," Dennis said.
"What?" K responded, and Dennis heard her ask someone to go find Corky. Then she was back on. "He didn't move, you mean he got hit and didn't move?"
"We're talking Adam here, he'd rather die than step out of character, he won't move until the blackout."
"Corky, go call an ambulance... Adam is hurt," Dennis heard her say. "OK, I have an ambulance coming... I can't see it from here, damn it... how much blood?"
"Not a great deal, but he'll need stitches... I can't see the wound," Dennis said. "He's in the wrong place on stage and... you got a cue coming... "
"Uh... Lights, cue sixty-four... go," Katherine said. "Go Dennis."
He didn't hear that, he was already behind the near column and sprinted out on stage when the blackout occurred. Dennis and Benvolio helped Mercutio to his feet and walked him off stage right into the waiting arms of Marsha who had the first aid kit. The set was cleared, the scene changed and the show went on.
"Lights, cue sixty-five... go," Katherine said.
The ambulance crew bandaged the cut on Adam's forehead, filled out a report and left. Dennis had called the boy's parents, they drove him to the hospital for stitches... he was absent for curtain call. Weeks didn't have a clue, nothing could be done... it was an accident. Tomorrow they would be more careful and Adam would wear a bandage.
Dennis was waiting for Tony Vincentia in the lobby the following night and met his wife. Whereas Tony was the dark Italian, she was the Nordic blonde, an attractive lady. She babbled on about how the play was just so wonderful. Dennis thanked them for coming and Tony smiled, they would see each other again the following week.
The play closed on Sunday night and it took the crew and cast three hours to strike the set. The cloth floor covering was peeled off and the platforms unbolted for storage. Corky had built a small template frame and spent fifteen minutes cutting the floor covering into small eighteen inch squares. He rolled them up and presented one to each of the cast members, a memento of the show. Adam was given a special piece from the spot where he was wounded.
At one-thirty in the morning Corky called a halt, by then the stage was cleared off and only a few pieces remained hanging overhead. As tradition dictated for the last production of the year, several things occurred. The first was that the seniors gathered offstage. Uncorking bottles of carbonated grape juice they passed glasses around and toasted the coming season. Dennis heard some of the words and thought it a fine speech.
For some of the seniors like Bobby this was the end of their tenure at Cabot, and for them there was a virgin show poster to be signed and hung in the lobby for the following year. Corky would also be leaving after his directing scene was presented; it was a time to turn over the shop to Vince who had been his assistant all year.
The shop had a sign hanging above the tool cage that proudly proclaimed that they had constructed ninety-two productions. Corky had painted over the two that afternoon, and now he was up on a ladder changing it to a three. He then took a marking pen and signed his name on the board beside the seven other's already there.
It was late, but tomorrow was Monday and Lynch knew full well this bunch would skip school for the day; they all headed for the Pancake Platter. Dennis had Katherine on one arm and Bobby on the other as they headed into the restaurant. She was happy for several reasons and had babbled it all in Dennis' ear before the final show.
"My Dad put thirty-five thousand dollars in an account for my college education and I got the box office job at The Grove. Life is back to normal, at least for me and my mom. I'm going to be a theatre major at UCLA, there's nothing normal about this life."
Dennis was happy for her, sad that Bobby was leaving in five days. The semester at Cabot didn't come to an end, it just seemed to deflate. Students left at different points, some to jobs, and some to other towns. They didn't hold a senior prom, but there would be a graduation for those who wished to attend. Bobby would be gone before then.
In the end Dennis decided he was meant to be in theatre, it had affected his thinking. The demise of one production always signaled the beginning of another, he was treating the end of his relationship with Bobby in the same way. He had moments of sadness, but then there was all that past glory to think about.
He helped Bobby pack a trunk of necessities for his trip to San Francisco. The poor boy would be on the road for three months with the dance company touring the mid-West and small town America. He was excited and scared, worried that he wouldn't match up to the others in the company.
Dennis held Bobby in his arms and gave comfort. "If they bully you just ask for a sword," He said. "I know there won't be a single bully left standing when you're done."
"I'll miss you," Bobby said.
"And I'll miss you," Dennis replied, but it wasn't as bad as he thought.
He stood at the end of the driveway and watched the Jeep speed away down the street. Bobby would miss him... for a while. At sixteen, Dennis realized he couldn't be all the things Bobby needed. They had shared love and most of it was physical. Dancers were very physical creatures, Dennis was glad for the experience.
But nothing could ease the sorrow of parting like a little work; he was ready for that now. He sat through Corky's directing scene, a half hour of Death of a Salesman, and applauded when it was done. Corky would move on to bigger and better things.
All these seniors leaving, the cream of the crop. Dennis had followed their guidance this past year, and now he would return a junior. A batch of newbies would come through the door, fresh and eager to do theatre, and now Dennis could smile. If anyone questioned his reasons for being at Cabot he could point to the trophy in the lobby, he owned a piece of it.
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