Jamie turned. “Yes, Miss Garber?”
“I think we’re about ready for you.” Miss Garber was motioning with her hand.
“I’ve got to go,” she said to me.
“I know.”
“Break a leg?” I said. Wishing someone luck before a play is supposed to be bad
luck. That’s why everyone tells you to “break a leg.”
I let go of her hand. “We both will. I promise.”
After that, we had to get ready, and we went our separate ways. I headed toward the
men’s dressing room. The Playhouse was fairly sophisticated, considering that it was
located in Beaufort, with separate dressing rooms that made us feel as if we were actual
actors, as opposed to students.
My costume, which was kept at the Playhouse, was already in the dressing room.
Earlier in the rehearsals we’d had our measurements taken so that they could be altered,
and I was getting dressed when Eric walked in the door unannounced. Eddie was still in
the dressing room, putting on his mute bum’s costume, and when he saw Eric he got a
look of terror in his eyes. At least once a week Eric gave him a wedgie, and Eddie kind of
hightailed it out of there as fast as he could, pulling one leg up on his costume on the way
out the door. Eric ignored him and sat on the dressing table in front of the mirror.
“So,” Eric said with a mischievous grin on his face, “what are you going to do?”
I looked at him curiously. “What do you mean?” I asked.
“About the play, stupid. You gonna flub up your lines or something?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“You gonna knock the props over?” Everyone knew about the props.
“I hadn’t planned on it,” I answered stoically.
“You mean you’re going to do this thing straight up?”
I nodded. Thinking otherwise hadn’t even occurred to me.
He looked at me for a long time, as if he were seeing someone he’d never seen
before.
“I guess you’re finally growing up, Landon,” he said at last. Coming from Eric, I
wasn’t sure whether it was intended as a compliment.
Either way, though, I knew he was right.
In the play, Tom Thornton is amazed when he first sees the angel, which is why he
goes around helping her as she shares Christmas with those less fortunate. The first words
out of Tom’s mouth are, “You’re beautiful,” and I was supposed to say them as if I meant
them from the bottom of my heart. This was the pivotal moment in the entire play, and it
sets the tone for everything else that happens afterward. The problem, however, was that I