A lightbulb began to shine brightly in Hannah’s mind. Michelle had asked her to announce it, but there was a much better choice. She turned to grin at Edna. “You are! If you’d like to, that is.”
“Me?” Edna looked properly astounded. “Are you sure you want me? I’m not a celebrity or anything like that.”
“We want you. Both Michelle and I have seen you handle rowdy kids in the school lunchroom. You’d be the perfect announcer, Edna.”
“Well . . .” Edna hesitated, but Hannah could tell she was immensely pleased. “Of course I’ll do it if you need me.”
“Great! I’ll tell Michelle you agreed.”
“And I’ll get a pitcher of water and three glasses for the contestant table.”
Hannah found Michelle talking to the woman who played Tricia’s mother.
“Hello,” Hannah greeted her. “I caught a little of your performance in rehearsal yesterday and I want to compliment you. You’re a very good actress.”
“Thank you,” the woman said graciously, and then she turned back to Michelle. “Would you excuse me, please? I’m sorry I can’t stay for the contest and bake sale, but I have a previous engagement.”
“No problem, Vivian,” Michelle told her. “I have plenty of other people here to help. Please don’t forget. We have dress rehearsal in full makeup tomorrow at three.”
“I’ll be there.”
Michelle waited until Vivian had left and then she turned to Hannah with a puzzled expression on her face. “Vivian’s a strange lady.”
“How so?”
“She’s always polite, but she doesn’t say much. And she doesn’t really talk to the rest of the cast. She just keeps to herself, performs her part, and leaves. For everyone else, rehearsal is like a social occasion when they’re not on the stage. They exchange news, make plans to meet for coffee or whatever, and kid around.”
“Maybe Vivian doesn’t have a sense of humor.”
“If she does, I sure haven’t seen it!” Michelle gave a wry smile. “She’s been with the Players for a while now and she’s been cast in a couple of plays, but no one really knows her. One of the women said she’d heard that Vivian had a sick husband at home, so maybe that’s why she doesn’t feel like socializing.”
“That could do it, I guess. She did seem a bit preoccupied today.”
“Vivian’s always that way. It’s almost like she shuts down when she’s not on the stage. She’s polite, and she smiles, and interacts in a minimal way, but she has no real connection with anyone in the group.”
“She keeps her emotions hidden?” Hannah suggested a possible explanation.
“Maybe. Either that, or she’s just what Dad used to call a cold fish. But, once the lights go on and she walks on stage, she comes to life. She’s a talented actress and I’d like to find out more about her, but she doesn’t encourage that sort of thing.”
“You’re right about that. She was polite when I complimented her on her performance, but she was aloof without actually being rude. Perhaps her husband needs a lot of care and attention, and she doesn’t have the time or the energy left to connect with other people. Taking care of someone you love who’s very ill could drain your emotions to the point where you’d have nothing left for anyone else.”
“That could be it. But I wish she’d unbend a bit and be friendlier. I had the cast do their makeup before the first rehearsal because I wanted to see how long it would take them and decide if I needed to recruit more makeup people to help them.”
“How did Vivian do?”
“Perfectly. And she did it faster than anyone else. I think she must have been practicing at home, but I can see why everyone thinks she’s standoffish. Vivian waited to go into the dressing room until everyone else had finished.”
Hannah thought about it for a moment. “There’s another possibility.”
“What’s that?”
“She could be pathologically shy. Some people are so afraid of making a mistake, they don’t want to interact with other people at all.”
“Crippling shyness,” Michelle said. “My psychology professor talked about that. That could be it, Hannah. Vivian is so uncomfortable trusting in her own reactions to people that she chooses not to engage with them at all. And she’s only comfortable when she’s on stage, because everything she says is scripted for her.”
“Right. It’s not really her, it’s someone else she’s pretending to be when she’s up there on the stage.”
The two sisters were silent for a moment, thinking about that, and then Hannah remembered why she’d come into the lobby to find Michelle in the first place. “I almost forgot to tell you. I asked Edna to be the announcer for the contest and she said she’d do it.”
“But I thought you were going to be the announcer.”
“I was, but Edna will be better. You remember how she used to maintain order in the Jordan High lunchroom if things got out of hand, don’t you?”
Michelle gave a little laugh. “She could calm us down in a couple of seconds by just standing there with her hands on her hips and giving us a disapproving look. And if that didn’t work right away, she’d call out somebody and dress them down. Edna’s got a really sharp tongue.”
“And she knows everyone in town,” Hannah added.
“Right. Not only that, she’s very filmic with her sharp features and bouncing gray curls. She’s a really good choice, Hannah. But . . .”
“But what?”
“But you’re not disappointed that you’re not going to be the announcer, are you?”
“Heavens, no!”
“But if Edna’s the announcer, you won’t be on television.”
“Sure I will. And so will you. I’ll hand out the spoons and you’ll put Bertie’s beauty shop capes on the contestants. We won’t have speaking parts, but that’s fine with me.”