Aradella stepped in front of Bree. “We’re not players. We just want—” She pointed to the rose.
The man groaned. “Let me guess, a little old man sent you here and we’re togiveit to you.”
“Well, uh...” Aradella said.
“The owner always says no. Oh look! There’s that Never puppet they’ve been looking for.”
Ian was still on the mantel and he’d frozen into a stance so rigid that he didn’t look real.
“This one is missing a leg but I guess it’ll do.” The man looked toward the end of the building and opened his mouth as though to shout.
“Wait!” Bree said. “What if we do an exchange?”
He looked back at her. “Honey, I’m sure you have nothingIwant.”
“You need players, right?” Bree said.
“We can’t—” Aradella began, but then she changed her course. “What play is it?”
“The same as always,” he said in disgust. “They don’t have the brains to understand anything else.”
The women waited for him to answer the question.
“It’sThe Beautiful Princess and Her Jealous Maid. Again.”
“Does the maid try to steal the prince?” Bree asked.
“Of course.Theynever get tired of seeing it, but I’m sick of it.”
“But the beautiful princess wins.” Aradella’s tone was so heavy with sarcasm it could have been weighed on a scale.
“Of course she does!” the man snapped. He looked them both up and down in an insolent way. “If you have no experience, how can you do this?”
“For my whole life, I’ve been acting as part of a lie,” Aradella said.
He looked at Bree as though for verification.
“Both of us have done that.”
Aradella said, “We’ll do it if you’ll give us the rose.”
“For free,” Bree added. “I mean, we won’t charge anything to be in the play.”
The man looked from them to the rose then back again. “What is the use of that thing?”
“It’s for a collector,” Bree said quickly.
“He’s obsessed,” Aradella added.
“All right, let me ask the owner.”
They expected him to leave but he didn’t. Instead he shouted, “They’ll do it if you give them that ratty old purple flower.”
A male voice, filled with amusement, yelled back. “If they make the audience stand up and clap, they got it.”
The man turned back to them. “Better kiss it goodbye. Thosemorons don’t appreciate anything. Your collector is going to be disappointed again. We better get you suited.”
“I guess she’ll wear a crown,” Aradella said. “And some divine dress. Do I scrub the floors?”
