4
Life and Death
‘Oscar, can we have you on stage, please?’ Michael called out to him from the stage as soon as Oscar and Olive stepped through the door. He didn’t wait for a response.
‘Technically we still have six minutes of this break left but… sure. Don’t drinkmy coffee,’ Oscar mumbled to Olive, shrugging off his coat and handing his cup to her. She took both to the far side of the auditorium, knowing that Jane would be walking through the door at any minute. She didn’t want to face her at all and definitely didn’t want to without Oscar.
On stage, Oscar was immediately handed a gun.
‘You’re the murderer, then?’ said a man who by the looksof his white and tufty hair must have been in his sixties but from the looks of his green velvet tracksuit, he thought of himself as a lot younger.
‘Oscar, I’d like you to meet Toby. Our go-to stunt and weapons man. You’ll be handling a gun in this production so we thought it’d be wise to get you acquainted with your weapon.’
Oscar turned the gun over in his hands. The handle waswooden but the hammer and trigger were gold, while the cylinder and barrel were silver with gorgeous swirling patterns carved into the metal.
‘Is it real?’
‘Looks like it, dunnit?’ said Toby. ‘This is a Colt 45 Peacemaker revolver replica. This model dates back to eighteen-seventy-three but Michael here insisted on this one because it’s “pretty”.’ Toby rolled his eyes.
‘Ithink it makes an impact, don’t you, Oscar?’
‘I bet it certainly would make an impact…’ Oscar took the gun by its handle and pointed it towards the back wall of the stage.
‘A real one might. But this one is what we call a “blank firing gun”. The barrel is blocked off so nothing’s gonna come out the end and even then we use blank bullets that don’t have what we call a “projectile”.There’s no bullet. Just a cartridge with a bitta gunpowder. You pull the trigger, the hammer hits the primer, the primer ignites the gunpowder, the gunpowder goes bang, give the audience a flash and, hey presto, no one gets hurt and you’ve got yourself a show!’ Toby took a bow.
‘Yes… well, Oscar isn’t actually going to be the one loading the blank into the gun every night. That will bea job for the assistant stage manager. All Oscar needs to know is where to aim and how to fire it.’
‘He won’t be the one loading it?’ Toby asked.
‘No.’ Michael shook his head but Toby covered his mouth and chuckled.
‘Well then, I feel sorry for whoever’s playing the lady in this show. Whaser name?’
‘Olive,’ said Oscar.
‘Eliza,’ said Michael and Oscar felt himselfblush.
‘Why?’ Oscar said, glancing over at Olive in the auditorium, flipping through her script.
‘Well… ’cause of what happened.’
‘Toby, I don’t think this is the best time for this…’ Michael warned.
‘Nonsense!’ Toby gave him a playful yet forceful shove. ‘It’s only a story, big boss man.’
‘It really did happen, though,’ Michael said, turning away from Oscar.
‘Yeah, but it’s not gonna happen again! Not if everyone’s careful! And there’s no harm in telling the fella! Probably best to, actually. Scaring him into doing things prop’ly. Come over ’ere.’ Toby led Oscar through the black curtain into upstage wing on stage left. ‘Now, we don’t usually allow people up the ladder but on this occasion I think we can turn a blind eye. Eh, Michael?’
‘Well, I just don’t think it’s —’
‘Up you go!’ Toby roughly took the gun out of Oscar’s hands and handed it over to Michael who held it out at arm’s length before dispensing of it on the quick change table. Oscar started to climb the ladder until he reached a metal grated walkway which he hopped off onto, closely followed by the old man.
‘You believe in ghosts, mate?’ Toby asked,dusting down his tracksuit. Oscar sighed.
‘No, but I think I’m the only one around here who doesn’t.’
‘Yeah, probably best not to give stock to old fairy tales but… even so… interesting, isn’t it?’ Toby gestured to a wooden case fixed onto the wall. Behind a glass panel was a revolver, much like the one Oscar had just been holding, except this one was black and this one wasreal.
