26 Quite an Evening
Everyone came down for the play. Caleb had offered, several times, to come to rehearsal, but he was always refused, “My dear chap,” Craig said, “You are perfectly free to practice on your own. It is a free country, and a liberated one. None of us will stop you. But you have already proven such a natural for the part that there is no reason wasting the rest of our time watching you. And besides, I am jealous. She was supposed be my girl, you know. And here I won’t even get a kiss out of it.”
I leaned forward and stuck out my cheek, which Craig laughingly pecked at.
So, anyway, it was only the week before that he even got his costume, and saw where he was to stand and all. He beckoned me over, but some of the cast, laughing, held me back.
“And so, my deah,” Psmith said, “Could I ask you for the honor of a kiss in celebration?”
“Very well,” I said, and he walked off the stage and, just as if he had come around the corner himself, I saw Caleb walking toward his mark behind the curtain, and the lights dimmed. I walked forward, and we kissed, and the crowd cheered, and cheered. Our lights went out, and the cast went forward but, as we had planned, we stayed kissing. The lights, including our flood, went back up, and the crowd cheered and laughed simultaneously. We did three curtain calls, and for each I leaned farther and father back, until at the last I felt I was going to fall on the ground.
“Oh, my dear Alice, and my dear Caleb, that was simply wonderful! Psmith had such a wonderful idea. I am going to publish it, you know, as an alternate ending. I have already talked to the publisher, and I will send them our video. Oh, you were too marvelous.”
Jenny came up next, “Ooooh, Bobbi, that was great! I so loved it. I just adored Psmith. You will have to introduce me.”
“I have a fan?” a fake British voice said from behind Jenny… who squealed, then turned totally red.
“Jenny, this is Craig. Craig, this is my sister, Jenny.”
Jenny managed to turn around, “I, uhhh…” but Craig ignored her stuttering and took her hand, bending over in an old world fashion, taking her hand, and kissing it.
“Enchanted,” he said. “And what year are you in?”
“I, ummm, I’m still in high school!” she squeaked out.
“Ah, what a loss!” Craig said, and then bowed again and left.
“I… he… He will tell everyone and laugh at me and….”
“No, no he won’t,” I said. “Craig is very nice. Where is Ralph, by the way?’
“I think he is over there, by the refreshments. He was going to get me some punch, but I think he go caught up with those little drummettes. He’s always hungry, Ralph is.”
“And he stays so skinny!” We both laughed. And then he showed up around this really fat lady, carrying two plates of drummettes and two drinks and we laughed again… causing the poor boy to look very confused.
“Thanks for coming!” I said to him, giving him a kiss on the cheek and causing him to turn beet red.
—
“Well, that was quite an evening,” I said, hours later, tiring hours later, as Caleb and I finally made it back to my room. “I need a shower.” I announced to the world. “I have to get the rest of this makeup off, and I simply dripped under the floodlights. Do you want to come watch, Caleb?” I asked.
“Yes, I think I will,” he said, and the other girls and Stan all laughed, and River whistled.
He did watch, too, and more than watch, never really leaving me alone in the shower but ‘helping’ me with the soap and shampoo. If he was going to make a habit of ‘helping’ I was going to have to leave more time for showers. Of course, he was going back to town in the morning, and I had finals all next well, so I probably wouldn’t see him much.
I chattered on and on about the play. It had been so wonderful. Everyone was wonderful. I had no idea how many people knew now. The government hadn’t arrested anyone new in weeks.
“Thank you so much for staying,” I said to him as we walked back. “It would have ruined the evening if you had had to go back with Jenny and the folks.”
“I quite agree,” he said, as I opened the door and stepped into an empty room.
“Where is everyone?” I asked, and felt his hands taking my robe off.
“They wanted to watch,” he said, “but I bribed them to find somewhere else to sleep.”
“But finals!” I said, as he started taking his clothes off. Now that the moment had actually arrived I was suddenly very reluctant.
“Finals only affect your grade, not what you’ve learned. Since you are dropping out of college and coming to live with me,” He said, bringing me up close against him, “I don’t care about your grades.”