RUNAWAY ROSE
Chapter Ten
Rose rushed through the streets, heading back
towards the theater. She ate her sandwich as she traveled, stuffing huge bites into
her mouth. If my mother could see me now, she thought, she would be
appalled.
Rose was brushing crumbs off her dress when
she reached the theater. Not certain of where she was supposed to enter, she
headed for the back door again. Yanking on it, she discovered it was open, and
slipped inside.
She was greeted by utter chaos. Actors and
stagehands were running around, yelling, singing, reciting lines, and
practicing dance steps. As Rose looked around for someone who might know where
she was supposed to go, a woman in a bright yellow dress and an enormous
feathered hat rushed through a dressing room door, shouting for someone named
Charlie. She collided with Rose and both landed in a heap.
The woman's hat flew off and her red hair
spilled across her face. The hat landed a few feet away, minus three of the
feathers.
"Excuse me. Sorry. Where's my hat?"
The woman jumped to her feet, nearly stepping on her skirt, and grabbed the
hat.
Rose got to her feet, holding a now broken
feather. "Uh…Ma'am? Here's one of your feathers."
The owner of the feather grabbed it, looked
at in disgust, and grumbled, "If he'd sewn it on properly in the first
place, this wouldn't have happened. Have you seen that damned Charlie?"
Rose had no idea who Charlie was, and her
face showed her confusion.
The woman had picked up another feather.
"You must be new here. What are you supposed to be doing?"
"Working the ticket office. Where is
it?"
"Down that hall and around the corner.
Norman's waiting for you. You're Rose, right?"
"Right."
"Norman already told everyone that he'd
finally found a ticket seller. He was practically clicking his heels." A
short man with three costumes flung over his arm approached them. "That's
Charlie. He's the costume designer and tailor. By the way, I'm Alice Cane, the
star of the show."
"Don't you wish, Alice."
"Shut up, Charlie. This is Rose, the new
ticket seller."
"Wonderful. When she takes your place,
send her my way. What did you want?"
Rose interrupted them. "Excuse me. I've
got be going. What time is it?"
"2:46," Alice told her, holding the
offending hat and feathers out to Charlie.
She was late. Rose mumbled good-bye, then
rushed down the hall Alice had indicated. She could Alice and Charlie arguing
about the hat all the way down the hall.
Theater people certainly are a lively
group, she reflected as she hurried towards
the ticket office. She might well fit in here.
Norman was tapping his foot when she found
the office and rushed inside. "You're late, Rose. You don't have much time
to learn this, and I'm opening the show this afternoon and tonight, so I can't
help you."
"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know quite
where to go, so I wound up backstage."
"Call me Norman, Rose. Sir is something
you call a knight, and I haven't played one of those in years."
"Yes, Norman."
"Relax, young lady. I'm not going to
bite, and neither will the actors, the stagehands, or the audience. They might
throw rotten tomatoes, but they won't bite."
Rose laughed at the idea. Norman grinned and
pointed to a list of ticket prices on the wall.
"Tickets are twenty-five cents for the
matinees, thirty-five cents for the early evening shows, and fifty cents for
the 9:30 shows. No children are allowed, unless they are at least thirteen years
old, and then only to the matinees. The first show is at four o'clock, and we
sell tickets for it until 4:30. Second show is at seven, tickets on sale until
7:30. Third show is at 9:30, tickets sell until ten. You may leave after that.
If you don't feel comfortable on the streets at night, you can stay until
11:30, when the show ends. Most of the actors live around here, and they'll be
walking home. Where do you live?"
"The boarding house at 3660 Fast
Street."
Norman nodded. "Two of the performers,
Alice Cane and Robert Calvert, also live there. Alice has red hair, looks a lot
like you. You should be able to find her."
Rose nodded. "Yes. We collided
backstage."
Norman raised an eyebrow, then shook his
head. "I don't want to know."
Rose told him anyway. "She was yelling
for Charlie..."
"Ah…yes, the costumer. He and Alice have
been at each other's throats for the past two months. Just ignore them.
Everyone's in a fit right now. Opening night does that." He checked his
pocket watch. "It's time to open, Rose. Do you think you can handle
this?"
"I can handle it." She drew back
the curtain covering the window. A boy of about fifteen stood there, his hands
in his pockets. When he saw Rose, he grinned and looked her over.
Norman gave him a severe look. "First in
line again, Gabe?"
"Yeah." His pimply face split in a
wide grin. "Is she gonna be onstage?" he asked, indicating Rose.
"Not right now, kid."
"She should be. She looks just like
Alice, only prettier."
"I'll tell Alice you said that,
Gabe."
"No, no, no, don't tell her that. She'll
probably toss me in the outhouse."
Rose couldn't help it. She laughed. Gabe
looked offended.
"What's so funny?"
"You. How do you know Alice?"
"I'm her brother. I live in the same
boarding house as her."
"You'd better watch out, then. I live
there, too."
"Oh, no," he moaned in mock fear.
"Two Alices."
"Are you gonna buy a ticket or
not?" Norman interrupted.
"I'm buying, I'm buying." He dug
two dimes and a nickel out of his pocket. Norman showed Rose how to operate the
cash register, watching to make sure she had it right. Gabe stood at the
window, ogling Rose. Rose glared at him as she handed him his ticket.
"Watch it, kid," she said,
imitating Norman. "Remember, I know where you live."
Gabe looked at her in mock horror. "I'll
behave."
"Come back next year, kid, and I'll put
you to work," Norman told him. "Now, stop holding up the line and let
the other customers through."
Norman watched for about fifteen minutes,
until he was sure that Rose knew what she was doing.
"I'm going to open the show," he
told her, heading for the door. "If you need any help, I'll be back in my
office by 4:30, or the stage manager, Pete, can help you."
"Pete?" Rose asked, wishing that
she knew who all these people were.
"The gentleman you met when you applied
here earlier." He hurried out.
Wonderful, Rose thought. The bad-tempered boor with five
thousand things to do was supposed to help her.
Rose counted herself as fortunate that she
didn't need any help. When Norman came to check on her after the first show,
she showed him that she had had no problems, besides the cash register jamming
twice.
"That happens pretty often. Just smack
it. It'll usually unjam. Sometimes a few choice words can help, too."
Rose stared at him.
"Under your breath, of course.”
He checked the amount of money in the
register, comparing it with the number of tickets sold. The amounts matched.
"I think I'll leave you to your work,
young lady," he told her. "Just yell if there's any problems. You're
doing a good job."
The rest of the evening was uneventful. Rose
sold tickets and listened to the show being performed on stage. It was a rowdy
show, with singing, jokes, and plenty of response from the audience.
When the ticket office closed at ten, Rose
wandered backstage. She watched for short time from the wings, intending to
wait until the show was over so she wouldn't have to walk home alone.
The vaudeville show was fascinating, with
high energy dancing, songs, and humor. She stifled an embarrassed laugh at some
particularly bawdy songs and jokes.
By eleven o'clock, Rose had had enough.
Interesting as the show was, she was tired, both physically and emotionally,
and decided to leave. She kept a close eye out for danger as she slipped into
the alley behind the theater and headed for the boarding house.
A few people were around, some leaving the
theaters and heading for home, others looking for more entertainment. One drunk
whistled and took a few staggering steps after her, but gave up when Rose
darted around a corner and disappeared.
Rose reached the boarding house at 11:30. A
few people were around, sitting in the kitchen or the parlor, but most were
either asleep or still at work. Rose made her way up the stairs, greeting
Frances near the top where she was talking to a boarder.
Frances nodded to her, then resumed her
conversation. Rose slipped into her room, closing the door behind her with a
bang. She had never felt so tired.
Stripping off her silk dress, now much the
worse for wear, Rose hung it over the rack in the corner. Unhooking her corset,
she took the Heart of the Ocean and tucked it under the mattress for
safe-keeping, then crawled into bed.
She slept soundly for the first time in
weeks.