My Life Would Suck Without You

by Krystal George

  ~*~

  Jillian expected a mob of people answering the ad for actors and actresses. Seeing no one in the hall of the Community Center, she heard muffled voices and followed paper signs leading to the gym. Peeking in the door, she did a quick survey. Besides three people sitting at a table, there was a small group off to the side that seemed to know each other and a few others sitting in random chairs along the wall. Nearby was an old upright piano.

  She consulted the folded newspaper notice from the ‘What to do this summer’ section again.

  This must be it. Hmmm, those four over there look as nervous as I feel.

  A woman at the table spotted Jillian at the door. She rose and gestured for her to enter.

  She saw me. No turning back now. Jillian took a deep breath and walked in.

  “Hi. I’m Vicki, Jake’s wife,” She thumbed to the young guy at the table. “Are you answering the ad?”

  Jillian held up the newspaper. “Yes.”

  “Fantastic. We need more bodies.” She laughed.

  Is this for a murder mystery? The ad didn’t specify. “Bodies?”

  Vicki chuckled. “Bodies… You know, more people.” She grabbed a paper from the table and led Jillian to the waiting area.

  Jake stood and called out a name. “Steve Valentine?” One of the waiting men walked to the table.

  Vicki handed the sheet to Jillian. “Would you mind filling this out?”

  “How detailed do you want it?”

  Vicki looked at her. “Oh, girlfriend, this is small town theater. If you have that much experience, this may not be for you. We do this for fun.”

  Jillian apologized. “Oh no,” she began, “it’s more the opposite.”

  Vicki laughed again. “Then this is the place for you. When you’re finished, set it on the side of the table. We’ll call you when you’re up.”

  Jillian sat, dropping her backpack on the floor as she read over the questions. Name… address… phone… experience. She sighed, filling in the few blanks. Wonder if singing in the shower counts as experience? Shrugging, she walked the paper to the table. On her way back, she was intercepted by a young girl.

  “Hi. I’m Sam.” She thrust her hand out.

  “Sam?” Jillian shook her hand. “Let me guess. Short for Samantha?”

  “Nope. My mother named me Margaret, but Margaret is so boring and I don’t like the proper nicknames like Peg or Margie so I decided I wanted to call myself Sam. I fancy the name.”

  “Okay. Sam it is.”

  The girl brightened.

  “I’m Jillian. Jillian DeRosa. Are you already part of this group Sam, or are you auditioning?”

  “I’m already in the group. Actually Jake and Vicki and—“ she looked around. “And those two girls over there. They’re twins and their names are Terry and Alexis. We’re all neighbors and we live up on the hill above the river. That’s Molly over there and the redhead is Brian. We play act for fun. Jake is looking for some new people because Terry and Alexis’ older sister, Tammy, and my brother Bill, graduate from high school this year and will be going off to college and they’ll be so busy with their college life they won’t have time for us country folk anymore.”

  She talked so fast, Jillian wasn’t sure she caught everything. “Are they in the group too?”

  “Who?”

  “Their older sister and your brother.”

  “Oh yeah. Sometimes.”

  Jillian laughed. She heard her name called and swallowed the chuckle.

  “Don’t be nervous, Jillian. You’ll be a shoe-in. Come on.” Sam walked her over to the table. “Be nice to her, Jake.”

  “Me?” he feigned shock. “I’m nice to everybody.”

  Sam stifled a giggle. “He is nice.” She ran back over to the bleachers, leaving Jillian standing alone.

  “Looks like Sam has given you her seal of approval. I’m Jake Hillard and this is my wife, Vicki. I’m the manager of this group as well as a director, choreographer, playwright, singer, dancer, actor, gopher, and anything else we need. Vicki is our costume designer, seamstress and piano player.”

  “You don’t perform?” Jillian asked her.

  “Nah. One ham in the family is more than enough.”

  “Okay. Enough about me. Grab a seat and tell us all about you.”

  Feeling more relaxed, Jillian pushed her glasses higher on her nose and began. “I’m Jillian DeRosa—“

  He furrowed his brow as he glanced at her interview resume form. “DeRosa?”

  “Yes. I’m cousin to the guy who owns the car dealerships. Everyone eventually gets around to asking that, so I get it out of the way up front.”

  “That’s smart. Have you performed before?”

  Jillian began slowly, “do plays in grade school count? I still remember my lines from the Thanksgiving play.”

  Jake chuckled. “It’s all experience. What else?”

  “I taught myself to play the guitar.”

  “Then you sing?”

  She nodded. “I do. It’s funny, though… in grade school, I was one of about ten kids who didn’t make the school choir. We couldn’t carry a tune if our lives depended on it. But now, I do okay.” She pulled some battered sheet music from her backpack. “I brought this in case you wanted me to audition for a singing part.”

  “We don’t really have any performances lined up. I only have a few more people to interview. Let me finish with them and I’ll explain exactly what we do. What about dancing?”

  “I have three left feet.”

  “I used to have four. I see here you write? That’s awesome. I write too. What have you penned?”

  “A lot of poetry.”

  He looked up. “Anything we could set to music? We’re always looking for original music.”

  Jillian shrugged. “Don’t know. Never gave it any thought.” She stretched her neck, but couldn’t see what Jake wrote on the paper. “I also wrote a few short stories and tried my hand at a couple of plays.”

  “Cool! We’ll definitely take a look at those. I see you’ll be a senior in high school this fall.”

  She nodded. “Amen to that. My last year at Central.” She looked at Jake and Vicki. They didn’t seem much older. “What about you two? High school? College?”

  “We both graduated last May.”

  Jillian pursed her brow. “I was a sophomore then, but I don’t remember seeing you around school.”

  “We didn’t go to Central. We attended the Catholic school.” Vicki chimed in. “Do you have any other questions for us?”

  Jillian shrugged. “Not yet. I’ll wait to see what you have to say after the rest of the interviews.” She watched him write something else on her paper. “So…?”

  “Uh—so what?” He looked up.

  “Am I in?”

  “Of course. We’re taking everyone. We need bodies.”

  That word again, bodies. Guess that’s all I’ll be—just another body. “Oh.”

  “Don’t be disappointed. You have a lot to contribute to the group. I know you’ll be a big asset.”

  Jillian shoved the sheet music in her backpack and relinquished the chair. Back at the bleachers, Sam looked up.

  Jillian pointed both thumbs up.

  “I knew it!” she beamed.

  The last three interviews lasted a total of twenty minutes. Gesturing to the old members, Jake and Vicki followed the last actor back to the chairs. Vicki and the others sat, while Jake addressed them all, introducing the new members to the old.

  “First, new old-business. We’re still able to rehearse here on Tuesday evenings for the nominal fee of ten dollars to cover electricity.”

  Jillian raised her eyebrows—a gesture Jake caught.

  “Don’t worry. No money comes from you guys. We earn it from our performances, donations, and the occasional bake sale. We’ll continue rehearsing on Tuesdays and perform on Saturdays. So far, we have the same line up as last year. I am working on drumming up some new contacts.” />
  He consulted his clipboard. “Every second Saturday at three-o’clock, we perform for the Riverboat Rapids.” He explained for the newbies. “It’s a group of people who love boats and anything dealing with the river. And,” he added, “since they’re an older group, they like older music.”

  “Every third Saturday we are booked for the Chamber of Commerce. The same schedule for July, and August, but, since the fifth Saturday in August is a lead in for Labor Day weekend, I thought maybe a bake sale. They’re having sidewalk sales along First Avenue. The bank will let us set up there again in the front plaza.”

  “Are we performing, too?” Sam asked.

  Jake nodded. “Any questions?” He looked around, “No? Okay, it’s still early. How about an impromptu rehearsal?”

  “Yeah!”

  The original members ran to the side of the gym and lined up behind Jake. Vicki took her place at the piano and started playing.

  Hearing the song’s intro, everyone knew what was coming. Following Jake’s lead, they started belting out the Broadway staples.

  Jillian laughed and clapped along with the other new members, and by the end of the evening, she and the others were right up there singing.