Thoughts While Having Sex by Stephanie Lehmann

Author:Stephanie Lehmann [Lehmann, Stephanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-12-30T05:00:00+00:00

Things were finally becoming real. That is, the illusion was becoming real. A guy named Felix was hanging the lights. A sound person was hired to record the few sound cues we needed and some music for intermission. The construction of the set was almost finished, and the flats were being painted to look like the shoddy walls of a run-down studio walk-up. We were having a small problem with the fake window that kept spontaneously sliding shut (when my sister's ghost was coming in and out?). And Lucas, the prop master, was starting to bring things in to make the apartment look real and lived in. He actually lugged, with Peter's help, an incredibly heavy iron radiator from the flea market a few blocks away. After they set it up against the wall, the whole apartment seemed authentic.

We still had to find the right bedspread for the bed, and Lucas asked me what kind of pictures Melanie would have on her wall. I considered telling him I could bring something from home—I had a Matisse print of a young girl that seemed perfect. But then I realized it would be creepy to see my own things on the set, so I told him to check out the posters at the gift shop at the Museum of Modern Art.

Annie and Kelly could now muddle their way through the play without scripts in hand. Carol sat in the front row only occasionally giving a missed cue. I sat in my usual spot in the back row staying out of the way as much as possible. It was like I was a child who needed to be on my best behavior while they did the hard work of keeping the marriage together until opening night.

Later that week, Peter took me out for a drink after rehearsal. I wanted him to be happy with how things were going, but he looked tired and worried.

"It's going well," I said. Now he was the one needing reassurance.

"Do you think so?"

"Yes, it’s going great."

"Something's not right. I feel a definite tension in the air."

"But that's good. That's to be expected. Annie is finally coming around with her part, don't you think?"

"Yes. It's Julia—Kelly—that I'm worried about. I'm getting some kind of bad vibe from her, but I can't put my finger on it. I gave her a few directions today that she ignored. It's not like her. Now she seems intent on doing her own thing."

"I do like what she's doing in general."

"But haven't you noticed she has this air of defiance now? I tell her to move upstage and she moves downstage. I tell her to pause before a certain line and she repeatedly skips the pause."

"I did notice.” Now I wondered if something had transpired between the two of them. Maybe he'd rejected her and she was going to take it out on all of us.

"They're small things," Peter said, "but they add up."

"Has she said anything to you? Approached you about any concerns?"

"No."

I noticed he didn't mention that she'd asked him out the previous weekend.

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