All the World's a Stage

"I beg your pardon?"

"A part? In the play? I'm in the drama class with Ryan," she explained.

"You're not a teacher?" shot back Matthew feeling more than a bit foolish.

"A teacher? That's funny."

"Don't let her kid you, Tricia gets mistaken for faculty all the time. She once got away with hanging out in the teacher's lounge for almost half-an-hour before they caught her," said John Corbin with a chuckle.

Matthew could see why. Tricia looked nothing like her contemporaries. If he hadn't known better, he would have guessed her to be in her early to mid-twenties. She had a maturity about her that even Ryan lacked, not to mention a body that could make a man lose his concentration. Even now, knowing she was just kid, he was having a hard time not staring at her large, firm mounds that sat high on her young chest. Again, she seemed to note the scrutiny but took it in stride going so far as to bat her eyelashes at him and flash that pretty smile.

"I guess we should all get inside," said Matthew finally.

The others moved passed the doors with Ryan dropping back next to his dad.

"Don't let Tricia bother you. She loves to mess with people that don't know how old she is. I'm sure she's not going to like it as much when she's thirty and looks ten years older."

"I suppose not," affirmed his dad.

The auditorium was a massive space that could have competed with the one on his campus. At the front, just before the stage, about twenty-five kids were seated in the first two rows. Ryan joined them, taking a seat next to Tricia. Matthew noted that Tricia and John were holding hands now and assumed they must be a couple.

"Lucky little bastard," he thought, then instantly felt guilty at being jealous of some eighteen-year-old.

"Good evening, everyone. My name is Matthew Goodwin. Some of you may know that I'm Ryan's dad, but before you get any ideas, the casting for this play was done by Mr. Pangle before his unfortunate medical situation, so how ever the roles land, I had nothing to do with it!"

Matthew opened a folder that Principal Mathers had given him and started reading off the sheet inside that listed who had won each part. The kids who didn't make the cut would work as the backstage crew, tech helpers, and stagehands. There were a dozen or so parts, but only three were critical roles in the production.

"So, the role of 'Elsa' goes to...Tricia Harrington" read Matthew out loud.

There were some polite claps but more than a few groans and eye rolls.

"She gets every fucking lead..." he heard one of the kids upfront whisper.

He tried to ignore the backbiting and pressed on, giving out the key roles of "Joshua" and "Marcus" to John Corbin and Ryan, respectively. Inwardly, he felt a swell of pride that his son had impressed Mr. Pangle enough to win one of the most significant parts in the play.

"As I'm sure you're aware, if you've looked at the cover, I wrote this particular play we are going to be putting on together, but don't be intimidated by that fact. I prefer a collaborative approach to putting on a production, so if you have any ideas about how your character would react or behave in a given situation, don't be afraid to speak your mind. I'll be passing out the rehearsal schedules and meeting with the set designers tonight, so we can get things moving along. I know this is for a competition, but don't let that kill the joy of creation. We should all be having fun with this thing, okay?"

The kids gave him a nice round of applause as he came off stage. The first person he ran into was Tricia Harrington, who looked exuberant. Her skin flushed pink with excitement.

"This is going to be quite a thrill! You know, bringing a character to life for their creator. I can't wait to pick your brain about what you had in mind for this young woman thrust into the arms of an older, more experienced man."

"Uh...Well...She isn't thrust really. It's more of a dance of equals and opposites that ends with them together, but we can get into that," said Matthew more than a little thrown by her enthusiasm and her mention of younger women and older men. She did seem to have the gravitas that the role called for, and she certainly looked the part of Elsa.

"I even have a costume we could use! I wore a period piece for Halloween last year."

"You went as a nineteen-twenties hooker, Tricia. I don't think that works for a housekeeper," laughed John.

"I was a flapper! A hooker!... Is that what you thought I was dressed as, John? How did you get prostitute out of what I was wearing?"

"Probably because there was so little of it," he teased.

Matthew waved a hand trying to break up the argument while fighting down his imaginations attempt to picture the voluptuous Tricia in a skin-tight mini-dress.

"We can get into costuming details later, folks. For right now, let's concentrate on learning our lines, shall we?"

The rest of their first practice together went better than Matthew had expected. The kids seemed genuinely excited about the project, much more so than many of his more jaded college students would have been. He found himself feeding off that emotion and enjoying the process. When they finished for the day, he offered to take Ryan out for a burger, and they left together.

"Were you surprised to get one of the lead roles?" he asked his son as he drove.

"Actually, yeah, I have to say I was just a little. Mr. Pangle has been complimentary in the past, but I never got the feeling that he was that impressed with my acting abilities. This is the biggest part I've had in a production this year."

"Well, I'm proud of you. I might be biased, though..."

"Thanks, Dad."

"I noticed some groaning when Tricia got the part of Elsa."

"That wasn't surprising. She isn't very well-liked among the drama kids."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah. I mean, I like her okay. She's never been anything but nice to me for the most part, but she is Mr. Pangle's favorite. Tricia has won the lead female part in almost every play we've done since she was a sophomore. Some speculate her talent has more to do with the growth spurt she took that year," he added, holding up his hands to mime having big breasts.

"Ryan!"

"Hey! I didn't say it. I've just heard others make comments like that."

"You don't think she has talent?"

"Truthfully? I think she's terrific and probably deserves every role she's won, but it does get old when no one else gets a shot, and the other girls resent it. You add to that the fact that her family is loaded, and you can see why she isn't more popular."

"Her family has money?"

"They live in Gable Meadows," he pointed out.

Gable Meadows was a gated community near the high school where the cheapest homes started at five-million and escalated rapidly up from there.

"I saw the inside of her house once at her eighteenth birthday party. It was palatial. I mean, you could get seriously lost in that place."

"No, kidding? What do her parents do for a living?"

"I'm not sure. I don't think anyone has ever met her parents. They travel a lot from what I hear. Holidays in Europe, trips to Africa, that kind of thing."

"They don't take Tricia with them?"

"Maybe they do in the summers but not during the school year. I get the feeling she spends a good deal of time alone. I mean, minus the servants and stuff."

"Her house is big enough to need servants?" asked Matthew, both taken aback and impressed at the same time.

"Yep. I told you the place is a monster. I think I heard it was twenty-thousand square feet or something like that."

"Wow. You could fit seven houses like ours in that space."

Ryan looked out the window, lost in thought for a moment, "I don't think she's very happy, though."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, she does take a lot of shit from the other kids. I mean, sometimes she deserves it. She can be a bit...I don't know...haughty, maybe? I've seen her crying when she thinks no one is watching like it hurts her even though she acts like it doesn't. Then there's the liquor..."

"She drinks?"

"I can't say for sure, but I know one day before class, she asked me if I wanted a "pick me up" and then opened her book bag. She had like a whole bottle of bourbon in there wedged between her school books."

"Did you..."

"Oh! Yeah! Dad. I got shit-faced and spent the rest of the day on my knees in the little boy's room," replied Ryan sarcastically.

"I get it. Sorry, I asked. Just being a dad."

"It's cool," said Ryan, playfully slapping him on the arm.

"I'm sorry to hear she's having so much trouble. I guess it's true that money can't buy happiness."

"I bet it could rent it, though..."

"Hilarious, Son. Still, I'm glad she has you as a friend, at least. It sounds like she could use one."

"She has John also, but I'm not sure that's a good thing either."

"Troubles in paradise?"

"Ha! You could say that. They've always had a combustible relationship, very off and on. I've heard things...about how he treats her..."

"Rumors?"

Ryan nodded, "I don't like to say anything because I don't know for sure, but I've heard stories that he can be rough on her."

"You mean to hurt her? Like physically?" said Matthew, his voice showing an edge of concern.

"No...not physically, I don't think, more emotional. Manipulative kind of stuff."

Matthew shook his head, reminded about his issues with Ryan's mother, who could put the "P" in passive-aggressive.

He pulled into their driveway and shut off the engine.

"Don't forget to bring in the trashcans," said Ryan over his shoulder as he went into the house.

"Smart Ass..." mumbled his father with a chuckle.

A DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY -

The next time Matthew met with the cast and crew of his upcoming production, he made sure to pull them all together and give them a brief lecture about family.

"Remember that while you are here and a part of his production, you are, in a sense, a family. That means we protect one another by creating a safe space where artistic expression can flourish. We don't criticize. We share ideas and offer different viewpoints. The way one person approaches a role might be very different than how you see it, but that doesn't make it wrong. It's important to support one another to get the most out of the creative process. You are kind of like brothers and sisters in pursuit of presenting the best performance we can together."

"Does that make you the dad?" joked John.

"If you prefer, but don't expect an allowance, John."

Everyone got a laugh out of that.

He broke them up into small groups, sending the techs and stagehands off to work on the sets while he put the main cast together for a read through that took most of the rest of their time. Sitting making notes on his script, Matthew sensed a presence coming closer right before a shadow dropped across the pages in front of him. A strong and very alluring scent of perfume struck his nostrils as he looked up into Tricia's smiling face.

"Busy?"

"Just making some notes. Can I help you with something?"

"I was just going to say that some of the cast are going to watch John's older brother, Charlie, play at 'The Vault,' tonight, and you should come."

"'The Vault,' huh? I'm not familiar with it."

"It's just a venue where bands play and hang out. They let anyone in even if you're under twenty-one. They stamp your hand to keep you honest, though," she said, adding this last while sticking her hand out palm down in his face.

The perfume scent got instantly stronger making his head swim.

"I don't think so..." he started to say.

"Come on! You did say we're a family now. Shouldn't a family bond?"

"I'm too old to bond."

"You don't look so old to me," she said with a grin that made him decidedly nervous, "besides, Ryan's going. Don't you want to have this opportunity to embarrass him? I thought that was the kind of thing parents lived to do."

Matthew laughed, rolling up the script in his hands.

"Okay. I guess I could stop by for a bit."

"That's the spirit!"

It was a decision he was soon to regret.

He wasn't entirely sure how the kids could consider this music. Charlie's band had barely made it through their first two songs before Matthew was ready to head for the exit. His ears rang from the sheer volume of it, and he fancied he could feel the sound waves vibrating his face. The whole thing might have been tolerable if he could have made out one lyric, or anything at all that Charlie was growling about, but it all sounded to him like someone gargling glass and trying to throw it up.

"What the Hell do you call this?" he shouted into Ryan's ear.

"Post-punk Industrial. I think..."

"Sounds like a car with a busted piston head. Jesus! How do you listen to this stuff?"

"Begrudgingly," admitted Ryan.

"I'm going to get some water."

"What?"

"I'M GOING TO GET SOME WATER!"

"You're going to read Harry Potter?"

"Never mind..." said Matthew, leaving his son and a few other young cast members to walk over to the bar. He got a free cup of water from a bartender who looked like he just got out of prison. The man had so many scary-looking tattoo's it was intimidating, and Matthew tried not to make eye contact.

A hand on his back made him jump nearly spilling his water in the process. He turned abruptly, but any angry response he would have uttered died in his throat.

Tricia had taken the time to change before she came out for this event. Gone was the conservative look she had worn earlier, jeans and a loose-fitting t-shirt. The young woman standing before him now wore a dress that barely covered her. As near as he could tell in the low light, it was a dark blue color, had a hem that rode up well above her knees and fabric that hugged her like a second skin. The top was cut so low if her breasts had wanted to stage an escape, they didn't have far to go. She had darkened her eye shadow and put on a cherry-red lipstick that shined in the glitter of the stage lights.

Matthew swallowed hard, trying to find his voice but struggling against a wave of desire that made his knees shake. Teenager or not, Tricia was one of the hottest women he had ever seen.

"Hey! What's your poison?"

"Ah...It's just water..." he stammered, looking at the cup in his hand.

"I had you pegged for a rum and coke guy."

"Only on the weekends. What would a girl like you know about drinking anyway? You're underage."

"My parents," she said by way of explanation, shrugging off his comment.

"What do you think of the music?" she asked before he could pursue the matter.

"I think it's ridiculously loud and meaningless."

"You just described most teenagers I know," shot back Tricia.

They both got a laugh out of that.

"I don't think I can take much more of this to be honest," said Matthew, setting his empty cup down on the bar.

He was more than ready to go, but Tricia stopped him with her hand.

"Don't leave. If you need a break, I know a great place to take one."

She didn't give him a chance to answer but tugged him toward a pair of heavy steel doors that led to a stairwell. Matthew followed her upward, trying without success, not to stare at her heart-shaped ass that swung from side to side in front of him. They came out into a rooftop lounge with a bar on one side, chairs and couches scattered around were a few patrons sat in deep conversations and a long, open railing across the back. Tricia went to the rail and leaned against it, silhouetting herself against the setting sun. If possible, it made her look even more gorgeous.

"I love the view from up here," she said as Matthew joined her.

"I love the quiet. I'm pretty sure my ears are going to ring for a week."

"Charlie's band is not to everyone's taste."

"Or for anyone with taste."

"Oh! Harsh!"

"Sorry. I just know what I like."

"There's nothing wrong with that. So do I." said Tricia with a mischievous twinkle in her eye that made Matthew look away.

"I'm enjoying the role of Elsa. It's written beautifully. I can feel the character on every page."

"That's very kind of you to say. Elsa was based on a real person in my family's personal history. My great-grandfather's second wife."

"Really? That's amazing. I hope I can do justice to the part."

"You'll do just fine. I think you have the right stage presence for it. The rest is just learning the cadence of the dialog and building the relationship between the characters."

"So you think I'm like the real Elsa?"

"Well, I didn't know her personally but based on the stories I've been told you fit the bill. By all accounts, she was ahead of her time. A strong woman, opinionated and not afraid to speak her mind."

"When you describe her like that, it makes me wonder."

"I haven't noticed you having any trouble speaking your mind."

"True..." laughed Tricia, "but I've had the advantage of a hundred years of women raising themselves to be closer to the level of men. If I had been alive in Elsa's time, I don't know if I would have been so brave."

"I wouldn't doubt you would be the same at any time."

Tricia turned to face the rail, subtly moving closer to Matthew.

"Have you seen any photos of Elsa? I'm just curious what she looked like."

Matthew pulled his phone from his pocket and hunted down a photo he had posted some time ago to his Facebook page. The woman in the black and white picture was quite attractive even in her more conservative period dress and hair. She also bore a peripheral resemblance to Tricia now that he was looking at the two women side by side.

"She was stunning. I can see why your great-grandfather was smitten with her."

"You two look more alike than I realized. I guess that's another reason you're right for the role."

Tricia smiled up at Matthew, "So you think I'm as pretty as your great-grandmother?"

Matthew tried to brush off the question while shoving his phone back into his pocket, "I...uh...don't think looks are going to be a problem for you."

"I just want to give you everything you're looking for..." she replied in a softer voice.

He found himself staring into her emerald eyes that shined in the dying light of the sun.

"Jesus! How can any girl have skin that smooth? Does she even have pores?" he thought, simply stunned at how gorgeous Tricia looked even this close up.

They continued just to stare, an awkward silence made even more so by the sudden, baffling urge Matthew felt to reach out and see if her cheek was as soft as it looked.

"Your eyes are..." he stopped himself short, realizing he was about to say, "beautiful," to a teenage girl. It would have wildly inappropriate even if it were true.

"What about my eyes?" she asked, smiling that wicked smile again.

The doors to the lounge slapping open, followed by a cacophony of young voices, saved him.

He took a step away from Tricia, thinking how it would look for the two of them to be seen hovering so near to one another.

"Great set, Charlie! Great set!" John was saying, slapping his older brother on the back. They were being followed by the members of Charlie's band and most of the drama kids, including Ryan. Matthew caught his son's eye and saw the younger Goodwin raise an eyebrow at seeing his dad and Tricia alone together.

"Great. I'll be having to explain this later," said Matthew to himself, wondering precisely what explanation he would offer.

"Tricia! Get over here and tell Charlie how great he is!" shouted John with a grin.

Tricia shook her head with the expression of a tolerant parent planted on her young face.

"You'll have to excuse me. I have to go stroke someone's ego."

Matthew couldn't hold back a laugh though he did turn away from Tricia's departure determined not to get caught up in staring at her ass again.

"I wondered where you got off to," said Ryan, joining his father near the railing, "Hope we didn't interrupt you two before the good stuff?"