"I went over to the building where we'll be filming, and then to have a lady do my hair," I said, answering her as I carefully sat down in my dress.
"You were there for over an hour."
"I know!" I said.
"Where'd you get that done?" she asked, inspecting my hair. "Someone helped you? All they did for us was show us pictures and tell us there was some extra hairspray and bobby pins in here. You look so good," she said again, turning me by the shoulder. "And this dress. It's gorgeous. Look at that." My sister ran her finger over the lace trim at my neckline. Luna was leaning into me the whole time, and I held her close.
"You can go play with those other girls if you want," I told her.
"She's tired," Audrey said. "She's been quiet the whole time, just taking it all in."
"Where is the cameras?" Luna asked me.
"We're not doing that yet," I said. "All you need to know about the camera is that you shouldn't look at it," I said.
"I told her that ten times already. That's why she's asking about the camera. She's probably scared she's going to look at it accidentally."
"Don't worry, baby," I said, holding her close and touching her back. "You'll see the camera when we go over there by it. It's big, and you don't have to do anything special. You can just be yourself."
I was pep-talking my precious niece, but I was also talking to myself.
"What did they tell you to do?" Audrey said. "Did they give you some lines?"
"Lines, no. Goodness. It's just that we're standing on the side of the room when the scene opens, and then a guy named James is going to walk up to me and ask me to dance."
"Well, do you respond to him?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"So, you talk," she said as more of a statement than a question.
"No, I dance with him, but it all happens in the background."
"Oh, so you're just pantomiming when you talk?"
"Yeah, I guess so. I don't think it matters."
"Must be nice having a friend who's in charge. Is he in charge of all this? I think I heard that. He wrote it too. They were talking about him."
"Alex Stockton?" a girl said, peering over a curtain over when she heard us. There were lots of people in there, so I wasn't surprised we were being overheard.
"He's friends with my sister," Audrey said.
"YouknowAlex?" the girl said, looking at me like she was impressed. "What are you doing in here with us?"
"No, I'm dancing with some guy named James," I said.
"Oh, yeah, James Blanchett, probably," another girl said, coming to stand nearby.
I nodded. "Yeah, that's him."
"He's popular in Missoula—The Showbox Theater. I think he's got a news segment, too."
"Yeah, he was a good dancer," I said, nodding.
"It's James Blanchett," the girl said confidently.
"I can't believe you're dancing in a movie," Audrey said. "Since when do you even dance?"
