Theresa — Chapter 46

The Story So Far (TGF subscribers can read earlier installments. Search the Library for “Theresa.”): After the Tuesday night opening performance of Shrew, Terence/Terri is approached by Martin Kovak, a reporter and sometime theatre critic. He seems to be greatly interested in Terence’s background – did he ever play Juliet, for instance. Terence stonewalls him as politely as he can. The next night, after the second performance of R&J, Kovak approaches Elizabeth/Terri with more questions, in a seeming attempt to link her to Terence. Elizabeth essentially tells him nothing. On Friday morning, Bob Squires calls Terri to tell her about an article by Kovak in the previous day’s Post, in which he mentions a rumor that one actor is playing both Juliet and Petruchio. The article is accompanied by photos in which he recognizes Terri in both roles. When Terri tells him that the Norrises read the Post, Squires observes that they will probably go to court that day to request custody of Jessie.

The icing on the cake is Rudy’s announcement that the Berkshire Players will spend five more days in New York, polishing their two plays and performing both of them at Scyros College.

As planned, Romeo and Juliet opened Tuesday night at Scyros College. The theater, which was large enough to hold all the students and staff and a sizable percentage of the townies, was sold out, including the standing room spaces. (What else was there to do on a Tuesday night in Scyros?) It would be filled again for the Shrew performance (there’s even less to do on a Scyros Wednesday night).

After the performance, we (the cast and crew) made our way to the theater lobby to meet and mingle with our audience. I wondered if I’d see anyone I knew. None of my student friends, I thought, since all of them would have graduated by now. A few of my professors would probably be somewhere in the crowd. Phil might be there too, but I didn’t see him as I entered the lobby. That wasn’t surprising – the room was so packed that it was nearly impossible to distinguish individuals.

Even if I couldn’t see faces, I could hear voices – especially when they were well-trained theatrical voices. Dr. Hauser, for example. I could hear her voice projecting itself from the group that surrounded her. I followed the sound to its source and stood quietly next to Dr. Hauser until she glanced my way, executed a classic double take, and trampled two or three of her friends as she hastened to hug me.

“Barbara!” she exclaimed. “I thought that was you playing Juliet at Syracuse last week. I’m sorry I couldn’t stay to talk to you after the show, but I thought I’d see you here this week.” She put her arm around my shoulders and turned me to face her friends. “Everyone, this is Barbara Sayers. She was one of my students – only one year, 1968-69, but she made a huge impression on our drama department while she was here. I’m still expecting her to be starring on Broadway soon.”

I could feel myself blushing. I turned away for a moment and saw another familiar face in her group – Martin Kovak! He smirked at me as he wrote something in his little pocket notebook – probably “Barbara Sayers.” I turned my attention back to Dr. Hauser. “Oh, Barbara Sayers is ancient history!” I said. “I haven’t used that name on stage for years. I’m Elizabeth Furst now. I like that name – it’s worked pretty well for me, so I think I’ll keep it for a while. Who knows, it might be my ticket to Broadway.” I smirked back at Martin Kovak.

Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t quite replace Barbara with Elizabeth just yet. I heard a young male voice shouting just a few feet from my ear. “See, Dad, she’s Barbara, just like I said.” I looked down. It was Stan, my adorable Stan, four years older and quite a bit taller. And if Stan were there, Phil must be there too. And so he was. And so was Jeri Mason. Or, judging from the gleam emanating from her ring finger, perhaps she was Jeri Dalton now. As indeed she was. I quickly learned that she and Phil had begun dating in Jeri’s junior year (which would have been my sophomore year) at Scyros. They’d married a few weeks after her graduation, and Stan now had an 18-month-old sister.

We had an interesting conversation. Stan was enthusiastically trying to get me to visit them to make an apple pie the next afternoon. He’d changed somewhat, but he was still a lovable, enthusiastic boy. Phil was a bit skittish, as if he feared I might fling my arms around him and smother him with kisses, either to demonstrate my undying love for him or to get a rise out of Jeri. Jeri was happy to chat with me, delivering news of my college friends – except for Sandy, who seemed to have disappeared (I didn’t enlighten her – that would have been too much more fodder for Kovak’s notebook). Every now and then, she’d temporarily blind me by reflecting a mighty flash of light from her ring into my eyes, just to prove who’d ultimately snagged Phil.

I decided it was best not to get back into the apple pie business. Stan and I would enjoy it, but I suspected that Phil and Jeri wouldn’t. I still felt affection for both of them, and I didn’t want to upset them in any way, as much as I’d have liked to meet their daughter. I told Stan that I’d be much too busy to see them tomorrow and I’d be leaving the next day, but the Berkshire Players would probably be back in Scyros again, this time for a longer visit, and we could do a pie then.

***

As I joined the somewhat smaller post-performance crowd in the theater lobby the next evening, I wondered if Dr. Hauser would recognize me as Petruchio. After all, she’d seen me as Achilles in my student days. If so, would she out me to Martin Kovak? I decided not to worry. When I’d played Achilles for Dr. Hauser, I’d done my best to look and move like a girl in the role of a man. Now, for Mr. Kovak’s benefit, I was doing my best to eliminate girlishness completely from my portrayal of Petruchio. As it all turned out, my friend Martin didn’t show up. Dr. Hauser shook hands with me and commended me for my performance, but she didn’t seem to recognize me as Barbara or Elizabeth, which was fine with me.

After a few minutes, the audience began to drift away. Good. I could rescue Jessie from the baby-sitters and she and I could get a good night’s sleep before leaving on the Players’ bus in the morning. I went back to the dressing room, cleaned off my makeup, changed from my Petruchio costume to Terence McAllen drag, and went off to get Jessie.

***

Back in our hotel room, I got Jessie settled down for the night and was just about to change into my nightgown when I heard a staccato knock on my door. I looked through the peephole and saw a rather grim-faced Phil. What was he doing here? I took off the safety chain and opened the door.

“Phil? What…?”

“This is Miss Sayers,” Phil said to someone, a man with a handful of papers. I hadn’t seen him through the peephole. Phil stepped aside to let the man enter the room.

“Miss Sayers,” the stranger said. He looked at his papers, then at me, and then at his papers again. “Miss Sayers,” he repeated. “Are you Alan Dean Sayers, also known as Juliet Sayers, Barbara Sayers, Theresa Sayers, Terri Sayers, Terence McAllen, and Elizabeth Furst?”

“No,” I replied. “I’m now legally Theresa Sayers, also known as all those other names and perhaps a few more.”

He thrust one of his papers into my hands. “I have just served you with a court order granting temporary custody of your daughter, Jessica Sayers, to her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert J. Norris, effective immediately. Please get her dressed and ready to leave.”

The Norrises pushed by the process server. I hadn’t seen them, either. “I can get her ready to go,” Mrs. Norris said happily. She went across the room to where Jessie was sleeping on a rollaway cot. “Wake up, darling,” she said as she shook Jessie gently.

“Gramma!” Jessie said. “Where’s Grampa?”

“I’m right here, sweetheart,” Mr. Norris said. I saw a flash of light. Martin Kovak, standing in the doorway, had just taken a picture of the joyful reunion. He moved into the room for a closer shot.

I hadn’t seen Kovak either. I wondered who was behind him. President Nixon?

***

Jessie was quickly made ready for her journey. Mrs. Norris reluctantly allowed me to give her a goodbye kiss. “Be a good girl for Grandma, sweetheart. I’ll see you in a few days.”

Jessie and her retinue swept regally from the room, with Phil trailing behind. “Phil!” I said. He stopped and turned to face me.

“Phil! You…you…snake!” I snarled. “How could you do that to us?”

“I’m sorry, Barbara. It’s not something I wanted to do.”

“Then why did you do it? Why didn’t you refuse?”

“I couldn’t. I had to do it. I’m a law enforcement officer, and they had a legal court order.”

“You betrayed me! After all I did for you!”

“I know; I know, and I’ll always be grateful to you for saving Stan’s life. But what could I do? I didn’t betray you. They knew where you were – they would have come here with or without me. I was really here only to make certain everybody’s rights were protected and no one got violent.”

“By ‘no one,’ you mean me.”

“That’s about it,” he said. “Now try to calm down and get some sleep. You’re going to have some unpleasant days ahead of you.” He slipped out the door, closing it firmly behind him. That prevented me from killing him, which might have violated his rights – and since he was a snake, Zeus might have changed me back into a man.

I cried myself to sleep.

To Be Continued

Category: Fiction