Microsoft Word - Rogers, Rosemary - The Crowd Pleasers Read Online Free PDF Page A

naturally.
    "Oh Anne-you're priceless! But of course Webb wouldn't be your type, or you his. Oh-perfect! Here, let me get you a refill, sweetie .. ." Carol whirled about, came back stirring a drink with a skewered olive. "You could do something for me, and yourself too. I mean, it would tie in with everything you've been telling me, about wanting to find yourself and being yourself.
    You will listen to me, won't you, Anne? Because I just had the most marvelous idea .
    . ."
    "No!" Having listened unbelievingly as Carol expounded her idea, Anne couldn't sit still a moment longer. This was wilder than any of Carol's outrageous schemes at school. "You're crazy-it wouldn't work, Carol. I'd be insane to go along with such an impossible plan!" Anne jumped to her feet. "You can't "be serious. What would be the point? You might win your bet, but everyone would be mad at you afterwards-and at me, if I was foolish enough to do it .. ."
    "But, Anne, stop sounding so stuffy and just listen to me! No one need know. I'd have to tell Harris, but I can talk him into it. And as for Webb-well, after I've won my bet that I can make him blow his lines, he won't say a damn thing either! His pride wouldn't let him. Besides, don't you want to get even with him? Come on, Anne! If you'd just think about it, you'd realize it's a fantastic idea."
    Anne shook her head helplessly, recognizing the stubborn, pleading note in Carol's voice as she continued to coax and cajole. "Carol, no! It just wouldn't work-it doesn't make sense!"
    "But it does, Anne. And you'd be doing me a tremendous favor too. Listen-it's the last scene-no dialogue, no lines to memorize. It's Webb's scene, and I want to take it from him. All you'd have to do is stand there by the window, looking stiff and frightened. That's what it says right here in the script. Can you imagine? I'm the star, and they give him the big dramatic scene at the end. I've been trying to persuade Harris to have it changed. Maybe this will convince him! Listen-the lighting will be dim; all the audience would see of you is a silhouette. We're just about the same height, and with one of my wigs on, no one would know the difference! All I'm trying to do is prove a point, and you can help me." Carol made a wide, dramatic gesture with her arms. "Where's your spirit of adventure, Anne? Can't you admit to yourself that it might even prove kind of exciting for you? Just think-you'll be playing me, the lead in a big Broadway play, for a few minutes-and that's all it would take. You'd be my stand-in. That overblown bitch Tanya would give her eyeteeth for the chance, only I don't want her to have it-we won't let her know. Please, sweetie? You're my friend-maybe the only real female friend I've ever had, because you've never been jealous. I remember you would always cover for me. Remember those times I'd sneak out the window and hitchhike into town?"
    "That was different, Carol. What you're suggesting this time is-is absolutely crazy!
    What would happen if the union found out? I mean, there must be an actor's union that this Tanya belongs to. And-and I don't think I'd like to have Webb Carnahan mad at me." Saying his name again made her shiver, not understanding why. Thank God Carol hadn't noticed.
    Carol was still determined to get her own way, and she waved aside all of Anne's carefully rational objections. "Why can't you look at this like-like a kind of therapy, Anne? An adventure. Haven't you ever felt adventurous? I promise you, there'll be no complications afterward. Just read the script-and it's only for just this one time.
    There's no one else I could trust . . ."
    Carol was at her most persuasive. It was hard not to fall into the old habit of being the follower while Carol led. But it wasn't entirely because of Carol that Anne felt herself weakening. What would Webb Carnahan's reaction be when he found it wasn't Carol he was saying his lines to? An adventure-with no complications afterwards, Carol had promised. She