Sing for Their Supper - 38

 

"You know I'm going to go crazy," Jolie said as she made herself a sandwich.

 

"Go?" Evie ducked when Jolie took a swipe at her. "Why?"

 

"Playing three different characters. I mean, okay, it's not like I've got a lot of lines to learn but one minute I'm a boy, then next a girl, then a boy again."

 

"With costume changes out the wazoo," Dena chimed in, since she was in the same position.

 

"You'll do just fine," Roma told them. "It's all up here." She tapped her temple. "Think like the character and you'll be her, or him. I'm sure whoever's doing the costumes will make the changes as easy as possible for you."

 

Jolie crossed her fingers before taking her sandwich out to the porch to eat.

 

"You look worried," Mace said, coming over from the guys' cabin to join her

 

"Scared is more like it. What if I blow it, playing all those parts?"

 

"You won't." He scrubbed a hand through his hair. "Me? This is going to be real hard, Jolie, playing someone like Sikes. The doctor isn't so bad."

 

"Roma said it's all up here," Jolie told him, tapping his forehead.

 

"That's the problem. It is up there. The memories."

 

Vin must have overheard because he came out to lean on the railing. "Something in your life that's too close to the guy you're playing?"

 

Mace nodded. "Way too close. I watched my father beat up on my mom every time he got pissed at something that happened at work, like it was her fault somehow."

 

"Damn, Mace." Jolie gave him a hug.

 

"Do you want me to have a talk with Tuck?" Vin asked him. "Maybe he can have one of the other guys play Sikes and you can take their role."

 

Mace stared down at the ground for a long time before shaking his head. "First off, I'm too big to be Dodger or Oliver. And Sam's going to make a great Fagin. Beside which, it would look like I'm wimping out."

 

"It's not wimping out if playing Sikes brings back the bad time in your life," Vin replied. "Is that why you left home?"

 

"Yeah. I couldn't help her. She loved him, damn it, in spite of what he did to her."

 

"The way Nancy loves Sikes," Vin said.

 

"I…suppose so."

 

"If you're going to do Sikes, use that. Use what your dad did. Be him. As hard as it will be, channel him, I think it's called." Vin chuckled softly. "Listen to me, giving acting advice."

 

"Maybe you're right, though," Mace told him. "Not being him, but using my anger at him to feed how I play Sikes, if that makes sense."

 

"It does to me."

 

"Thank you for the advice."

 

"No problem," Vin replied.

 

*****

 

By the time the afternoon read-through was over, the kids were drained, especially Mace. Roma knew why he was, because Vin had told her what Mace had revealed about his life. She wasn't feeling much better, but she was old enough to deal with the memories, as much as they hurt. She knew that, in time, playing Nancy would help her come to terms with what she'd gone through. After all, the more times I do remember, the less it will affect me. I hope. Maybe this will be the catharsis I need—rather than burying it inside, the way I have been all these years.