I was an aspiring actress. I was currently in an amateur group, doing plays. No remuneration naturally. If anything it was a negative remuneration as we all had to contribute to keep our little group going.
I'd hooked up with this group in school when I was sixteen and was now pushing nineteen. The number of scouts that had seen one of our performances? Possibly one or two a year. The number of offers to try out for an audition? A nice round number - zero. Still, hope springs eternal, etc.
I might mention that I did have a proper job. I was a programmer, and a good one. My firm was pleased with my performance.
We were currently practising for our next play. We'd chosen one of the classics, Romeo and Juliet, with yours truly being Juliet. We were allowed to rehearse in a hall in back of the local church, which was fair enough as the church also used our shows for a bit of fund raising.
On this particular night we were having our rehearsal and things were a mess. Brian, our director (self appointed), was giving contradicting instructions and things were going from bad to worse. He finally lost it, called us rude names, and told us to take fifteen minutes to get ourselves back in the mood. (It was Romeo kissing Juliet that finished him off. We totally stuffed up that kiss. I just couldn't see Andy as my Romeo.)
To take a breather I wandered into the actual church. I like looking at stained glass windows. If they're well done they look fantastic. The church had had a real craftsman make them.
"Juliet, my Juliet, wherefore art thou my Juliet?"
"Right here Andy and stop pinching my lines."
Andy laughed. "Tell me, how the hell do you blow a simple kiss scene?"
"My fault," I admitted. "I was just having trouble seeing you as my Romeo."
"I'm hurt. Deeply, deeply hurt. A knife to the heart would hurt less."
"True. You'd be dead so fast there'd be no pain. Anyway, you were laughing too."
"Only because you were. Still, we'd better get our act together or Brian will have a stroke."
"True," I admitted.