Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Dorothy sighed as she watched the Tumbling Twins do their act. They were one of the first acts that she signed to perform, now they perform every night. The men that frequented Maisy couldn’t resist the two of them. They were about 20 years old and always wore small and revealing outfits while they did splits, flips and many other acrobatic tricks. They were grateful for Dorothy because the circus troupe that they performed for stopped traveling all of a sudden. However, Dorothy was getting bored watching them. They were doing the same old tricks. She told them to change their act up a little and they did….sometimes. But not tonight. But she felt that way with every act that has performed. She was getting bored. Were her clients feeling the same? The hall was packed due to it being a Monday night but still….
“Whats wrong?”Salomi asked as she came up to her,”I thought you liked the Twins”she said to her as she sat on the stool next to her at the bar
“Oh I still like them….Im just getting bored with them”
“Well yeah, that’s because we see them every night”Salomi said as she sipped on her water. Dorothy took the glass from her and sniffed it, just to make sure. “Hey!”she said,”Come on Dorothy, you don’t trust me! Im being a regular good ol’ 14 year old”she said to her with a smile as she took the glass of water away from her
“No a regular 14 year old wouldn’t be at a vaudeville club every night, especially on a school night”Dorothy said to her. Dorothy gave Salomi the choice to go to a public school or be tutored. Salomi chose the tutor so she could have special attention and wouldn’t have to deal with bullying classmates or long schedules.
“Fine Im a special 14 year old”Salomi said with a smile as the Tumbling Twins ended their act. The crowd applauded and she did too. “See? They like it”
“I know I still find it boring”Dorothy said as the Twins left the stage. She got up,”We need something fresh, new, something our regulars haven’t seen and something new clients will never see anywhere else. Im going to hold more auditions. I’ll make the flyer now. Go about your business as usual. Help out when you can and don’t drink”she told her
“Ok ok ok”Salomi said and sighed as Dorothy went into the back office. She loved her but hated how she babied her. She sat there and sipped on her water as a man came up to her.
“Hey little lady-“he started to say
“Little lady is right, Im only 14. Now get away from me”Salomi said in one breath. The man looked at her with surprise and walked off. Salomi laughed a little to herself. Every year she looked 5 years older than she was supposed to. Lots of men would come up to her, wondering if she was in her 20’s. Not even close. Maybe she shouldn’t wear anything too revealing anymore. Nah, scratch that. She liked looking pretty and she liked being looked at. She just wished that there was someone to look at. She looked around and saw a lot of regulars and few new faces. They were mostly men in their 40’s. Some women. No one her age, but then again, she wasn’t a regular 14 year old and 14 year olds don’t hang out at clubs on Monday nights. She sighed, “Dorothy’s right, we need someone fresh and new”she said as the Piano King took the stage and started to play.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
“So what are you going to do?”Abby asked Vernon. Once Vernon got the letter, he waited for the right time to tell Abby. Once Vernon came back from the Titanic disaster, he also used that time to tell Abby the truth about what he really did for a living.
“I mean I have to go back. When you are a member, you are a member for life. If I don’t contact him….someone will look for me. I know it. I cant put you or the babies in danger”
“Wont we be in danger if you do go back?”she asked him,”They are the reason why you got on that stupid boat in the first place!”she said and then decided to calm herself down. The kids were sleeping.“Well….cant you tell him that you have a job at the butcher’s and we are doing fine without him?”she asked him,”We never needed him Vernie”
“Yes, Morietti is an asshole. Hes a liar and a criminal. But without all that money that I made working for him we wouldn’t have those two wonderful children. On my salary now or before Morietti I could have never been able to afford to have Dr. Livingstone look at you”he said,”I gotta go back”
Abby held him close,”I don’t want to lose you again Vernie”
“You never did and you wont. If I go back that is”he said to her,”I know it sounds crazy but its safer for us this way”he said to her as he kissed her
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
“25 cents sir”Gabriel said. The man flipped the coin to him and went on walking. Gabriel put it in his pocket. He sighed, he has made $2.75 so far but his hands hurt like hell. Would he spend the rest of his life like this?
Soon he was walking back home. It wasn’t really a home. It was a small room that he broke into, no one knows he lives there….yet. When they do, hopefully he will be gone before they can call the police.
As he was walking he looked and saw the building named Maisy. There was a flyer on it, his curiosity got the best of him and he read it:
Got the talent that is out of this world?
No place to share it?
Now’s your chance to perform at one of
New York City’s hot vaudeville spots!
All you have to do is audition!
Come by Friday May 1st at 10 am!
Gabriel nodded his head as he read. He smiled as he walked away,”10 am May 1st”he repeated to himself. He made sure to not forget that.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
“What if we don’t find anyone?”Salomi asked Dorothy as she helped her open up on Friday morning, the day of the auditions. She knew how picky Dorothy could be and who knew if anyone will show up, and if they do, if they will be good enough.
“We will. Im sure of it”Dorothy said,”Now I want you to watch the front door. Give each and every one of them one of these forms to fill out”she said to her,”Easy enough?” Salomi nodded. “Now I will have a few people in there with me and we will call them in order of who has the forms done first and so on”she said
Then there were a few knocks on the door. People were arriving.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Dorothy smiled as the 7 year old, Penny Simon, tapped her heart out for her. She glanced at her mother, Ms. Simon and she was watching her daughter intently, like she was waiting for a wrong move. Bernie, known as the Piano King, helped out if any act needed a piano player. He played the last few chords and Penny took a bow. Her mother instantly got up and clapped loudly. Dorothy smiled and clapped too. Her mother used to be just like that. Too supportive.
“Wow I must say Penny, you have some fancy feet there”Dorothy said as she looked over the form her mother filled out for her
“Thank you”Penny said shyly
“Yes she does, she has been tapping since she was 3. Im so very proud of her”Ms. Simon said,”So? When does she start? Contracts?”
Dorothy laughed,”Um well wait a minute. I didn’t exactly hire her yet”
“Why not!?”Ms. Simon said angrily,her cheery stage mom mood went straight to evil stage mom,”She was perfect!”
“I know Ms. Simon but have you ever been to Maisy? Have you seen the acts that perform here? A lot of them are burlesque, a lot of girls are half….don’t wear a lot of clothes, do you want your 7 year old daughter to be around that?”
“Yes! Don’t think that this is her first job, shes very professional. She has seen everything”
“I know I see from her resume”Dorothy said,”Im just not sure if a 7 year old would fit what our crowd wants. The audience is mostly older men and women, the youngest is their mid 20’s and the best selling drink is whiskey….”she said
Ms. Simon let out a loud sigh, for once not knowing what to say and Dorothy could tell that she didn’t like it.
“Please? I’ll be good?”Penny spoke up, as if Dorothy was her mother and she was requesting to stay up past her bedtime. She then did some more tap dancing and Dorothy couldn’t help but smile. How could she say no to this little girl? She didn’t want to break her heart. The Piano King started to play and then Penny did one last little stomp and bowed.
“Now how can you say no to that?”Ms. Simon said to her
Dorothy sighed,”Ok I’ll make you a deal….I’ll sign her-“
“YES!”Ms. Simon said as she picked up her daughter and spun her around.
“But she has to be the first performance, which is at 7 and she has to leave right after that. It’s illegal for a girl her age to be in a bar like this”Dorothy finished. She couldn’t believe that she was bending the rules for this woman
“Deal”Ms. Simon said as she came up and shook her hand,”You wont regret this. Oh and by the way, I loved you in ‘Long Way Home’”
“Thanks”Dorothy nodded,”See you tonight”
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Salomi sat back in the chair as she gave the last few forms to Dorothy. It seemed to calm down now. They had a pretty good turnout. But it looked like no one was going to show up for the rest of the day. She got up and decided to go to the bar and get her some water, she was parched. She got a glass and ran the tap when she saw a basically empty bottle of Jack Daniels. She looked around and quickly drank the rest of it.”Ahhh”she said,she then poured some water into the glass and drank some of that. She felt better now.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Gabriel walked into Maisy and saw that no one was there. He saw a table with a stack of forms but no one was around. “Damn it”he said, he overslept, but he didn’t think that he would miss it. But he wasn’t going to give up. They were going to see him today. He was sick of shining shoes. He got a pen and wrote down the information on the form and he saw a door open. A pretty blonde in a leotard and tutu stomped out. She didn’t look too happy.
“Tough crowd?”he asked her
“No, blind crowd. Dorothy Gibson is crazy to think that Im not talented!”she said to him,”I never liked her films anyway”she said as she got her things together and slammed the door behind her.
“Dorothy Gibson?”he asked. That name was familiar. Then a door opened and there she was. She was a film actress, that’s why her name was so familiar.
“Can I help you?”she asked him
“I came to audition”he said
“I just had my last audition stomp out of here”she said
“Yes I saw her, she said you were blind”
She laughed,”Well I already have ballerinas in my show. She was no different, and had bad turnout….but Im sorry.You’re a little too late-“
“No please, just let me show you what I can do….on your flyer you wanted a hot new act that no one has ever seen…..well yes people have seen me perform in the circus but I haven’t seen anyone in New York City do what I do….just let me show you. Give me 3 minutes”he said to her
Dorothy sighed,”2 minutes”she said,”You better be good”she said as they walked into the theatre,”As you can see, this is the stage where you would perform, if I hire you-“
“Great”Gabriel said as he hopped onto the stage and found a small stool. Dorothy sat down at a table and looked over his form.
“Oh my piano player left for the day. So if you sing, you gotta sing acapella and if you have a routine, you might as well hum to yourself or whatever you dancers do”she said to him
“Oh I don’t need music”he said as he took out three small bean bags and started to juggle them,”I don’t need big costumes or my own dressing room or my own accompaniment…I just need me and my props which include these bean bags”he said as he started to juggle them between his legs and higher and higher above his head. Thank God for Adam, he taught him how to do this.
Dorothy laughed,”Wow pretty good-“
“You think so?”he said as he stopped juggling.”How about this?”he asked as he picked up the stool with his teeth and juggled the bean bags at the same time. Dorothy gasped in surprise and he sat the stool down. He then balanced the stool strategically on his chin and kept juggling,”I cant even get distracted!”he said,”La da dee la da daa”he said
“Alright put that down before you hurt yourself”Dorothy said.
“How much time do I have left?”
“30 seconds”Dorothy said
“Great”he said as he hopped off the stage,”I suggest you move that”he said as he pointed to his form sitting on the table in front of her
“What are you going to do? Dance on it?”she asked as she picked up the form
“Well if you want me too”he said as he steadied himself around the table and then put his teeth on it and slowly picked it up. Dorothy smiled and started clapping and he slowly put it down. He wasn’t rusty at all.
“Wow I have to say that was different than anything I have ever seen today. You don’t know how many fake opera singers I have seen, ballerinas, tap dancers….but you are new, fun, fresh…”she said and then looked at his form,”You’re 17?”
“I know that’s underage….but I can act 18?…”he asked her
“Hey Ive been bending the rules all day. I hired a 7 year old for God sakes”she said with a laugh,”You got a job….”she said and looked at the form,”Gabriel Brewster…”she said to him,”As long as you stay away from the whiskey”
“I will be totally sober”Gabriel said as he gave her a hug,”You wont regret this”
“Everyone said that to me”she said with a laugh,”I would like to use you as a filler, between acts and maybe use you to entertain the crowd. You are very comedic and clownish”
“Thanks”Gabriel said to her as he looked at her. She seemed so familiar to him, there had to be somewhere that he has seen her before. “So you do films? Where else have I seen you?”
Dorothy smiled,”Well I was in the chorus in off Broadway and Broadway shows”she said to him, but that didn’t do anything for him,”Um….Ziegfield Follies?” Still nothing,”I did some Shakespeare in London…”she said. Still nothing,”That’s basically it…besides all the silent films”
“You sure? You haven’t seen the circus? Havent been in one?”
“No”she said with a laugh
He nodded,”Ok I will figure it out then, see you tonight”he said to her,”Oh and the restrooms are where?”
“There”she said as she pointed to a door behind the stage and he immediately walked through it.
“Dorothy”Salomi said as she walked in,”Some man is here to see you-“
“I officially did my last audition. No more!”she interrupted her
“He doesn’t want to audition. Something about making another film”
“And I officially did my last film 2 years ago-“
“He wont leave until you see him. His name is David Flanahan”
Dorothy sighed, she knew one of these days he would hunt her down.”Fine. When Im done we can leave”she said to her as she walked out of the theatre.
Salomi nodded. She walked onstage and started to turn off the stage lights. She wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. She was hoping she could talk Dorothy into taking her out to the pub down the street, they had the best sandwiches and baked potatoes.
“The bathrooms look nice”Gabriel said as he walked back into the theatre,”The dressing rooms too. Oh and what I said about not having a dressing room, I can have one if you want….me….to…”he said as he realized that Dorothy wasn’t there. But a ghost of someone from his past. “Salomi?”he asked her
Salomi gasped, she knew that voice from anywhere. It couldn’t be Gabriel, it couldn’t be her Gabriel? She turned on the lights and there he was. Looking older, much cuter and very much alive.
“Salomi? Ohmygod…I didn’t think that you made it….”Gabriel said as tears came to his eyes and he walked toward her,”I still think about you everyday…”he said to her,”I still love-“But before he could finish. Salomi fainted.
*_________________________*