“Tilley,” he said, looking surprised. “I didn’t know you acted.” He chuckled, almost to himself. “Well, I knew youacted. I didn’t know you sang.”
She could tell he wasn’t taking her seriously, but that only spurred her on. She wanted to be underestimated, and she didn’t blame Tony. She had walked around this town for decades in a fog, acting, as he had so well described.
“Tony, darling, I think you probably already know that I’m a character.” She flashed her smile at him, and for a moment, she wasreminded of the smile she used to flash at Robert when she was just a girl, when she was trying to win his heart. But no. Absolutely not. Now, with the lights in her face and her heart in her throat, was her moment. She would stayhere, on this stage, even if rushing off into her dreamworld with Robert were easier. “But whether I can sing? Well, sweetheart, you’ll just have to decide that for yourself.”
Tilley hadn’t truly sung in years aside from Sunday mornings at church. Elizabeth considered even having her in the choir to be too risky. What if she had one of her spells? What if she embarrassed them all? But not today. No. Tilley knew this was her shot.
She walked up closer to the edge of the stage so she could look at Tony as she sang. And Daisy, who was sitting in the back of the auditorium. She noticed Mason sneaking in—that sweet boy. She had hinted to him that she sure would love it if he could come. She couldn’t help but smile at the two of them as she began… “I have always been a woman who arranges things…”
As she belted out a song that she had loved since childhood, Tilley smiled knowing that, in this moment, she was ever so slightly like Dolly Levi. She had gotten Daisy and Mason together here, hadn’t she? Anyone could see those two belonged together.
As she said, “Why, Mr. Sullivan, whatever put that preposterous idea in my head,” the three in the audience chuckled. She had forgotten how very, very good it felt to be on this stage, under these lights, to belt out at the top of her lungs, like she did now: “Just leave everything to me!”
She raised her hands in the air on impulse as she filled the auditorium with the sounds of those final notes. Tilley was quite certain no one could hear the piano music over her voice, and, well, she wouldn’t have it any other way. Her voice was the machine on display here today.
As her hands came down and the music stopped, a deafening silence filled the room that had so recently been full of her voice. And then, as if they had planned it, Daisy, Mason, and, most important, Tony, were on their feet, screaming and cheering. Tony, who Tilley usually found to be rather reserved, ran up onto the stage. He grasped her shoulders and said, “Tilley, I am cancelling the rest of the auditions. YouareDolly Levi.” His eyes seemed moist around the rims, which she found terribly flattering.
She smiled demurely. “Oh, Tony, shouldn’t you at least see what’s out there?”
He shook his head. “Tilley, no! I have to have you and only you.”
The fervor in his voice, his attention on her… Tilley knew Tony was speaking of having to have her in the role for his play. But it reminded her what it was like to produce that kind of longing in a man, to bewanted. She thought back to her conversation with Amelia, about whether she could ever imagine herself dating again. While she had said she could not imagine dating, at that moment, she wasn’t imagining herself onstage again either. And this had been intoxicating, freeing, liberating in a way she’d never dreamed.
Could dating be the same? Tilley wasn’t sure. And, beyond that, who in the world would even want to date her after all that had been said about her over the years—most of it, well,true.
It didn’t matter. For now, she would ride this wave. Tony was right. TilleywasDolly. And, by the end of the musical, Dolly finds a man to love, a man who loves her back. Maybe Tilley would have that very same luck.
MASONTeam Spirit
I don’t know what made me sneak out of the office at ten in the morning to watch my batty aunt-adjacent person audition forHello, Dolly. Or, no, maybe I did know. It was Daisy. I needed to see her. And while, sure, it was nice if I was around school all day, I wasn’t mandated to be in my seat every minute. Or, well, I didn’t think I was, anyway. I should probably check on that.
At any rate, the moment Tilley opened her mouth, my jaw dropped. Daisy grasped my hands, and we grinned like idiots. It probably isn’t much of a shock that I’m not, um, much of a theater guy. But seeing her up there on that stage, singing her heart out, lighting up that empty room, was pretty crazy.
“Oh my gosh,” Daisy said to me breathlessly. “I had already planned how to help nurse her wounds. But she’s extraordinary.”
“She is a legend,” I agreed. I turned back to stare at Tilley. Then back at Daisy. “What if you hadn’t brought her here today?”
“The world would never have known,” Daisy said.
I didn’t think of Aunt Tilley as old or anything. I mean, she, my mom, and Elizabeth were all in really good shape for their ages. Butshe seemed about twenty years younger up there under the lights. Tilley was always fun—even when she thought she was someone else—but it was as if her whole body came alive up on that stage. It was like seeing a glimpse into the person she could be. Was this her real self, this Tilley up onstage? How much more could her life be if she was this Tilley all the time?
As she continued to belt out this song I’d never heard, inserting spoken phrases in between, doing little dance steps across the stage, I said to Daisy what now, fifteen minutes later, I was saying to Tony Kennedy: “I heard her sing like you did. But it’s Aunt Tilley. You do know what you’re dealing with here, right?”
Tony rubbed his chin. “I’ll admit I did get a little caught up in the moment. But see, here’s the thing: This town is used to Aunt Tilley. If she freaks out one night and won’t go on or something, they’ll get it.”
That was a brave statement from a director. And I could tell he didn’t believe that that would actually happen.
“Well, who knows,” I said. “She spends half her time dressed as the Queen of England. Maybe if she’s dressed as Dolly Levi, she’ll stay in character and all will be well.”
Daisy had taken Aunt Tilley to go get the kids from school, but it was almost like I wanted to look at her again, hang on to the feeling of seeing her in this brand-new way. I would be there on opening night to cheer her on. That was for sure. For now, I headed back to school.
Or… maybe I just wanted to see Daisy. I texted her:
Can I take you to dinner after the kids are asleep?
She texted back:
Uh… No… Because I’m their babysitter.
