For some reason Borachio thinks this is the funniest thing he’s heard all night, or possibly ever. “Uncle Timmy!” he cries. “UncleTimmy.” He can’t stop laughing. He justcan’t stop laughing,and Sam almost laughs too, but actually she’s still very shaken by what just happened with the girls and the phone, and what happened earlier with her uncle after dinner. It’s been a shaky night. “Hey!” says Borachio. “We should have a party.”
“Yes!” Charlie the Messenger is all for this. They pump their fist in the air. “Like a cast party, but a month before the show.” They grab Sarah Trail by the elbow. “Sarah! We’re having a cast party!”
Sarah turns to Sam, delighted. “We are? I love parties!” She points to Charlie. “You’re local. You must know enough people to make a party.”
“Oh, I know people,” Charlie confirms. “I know pretty much everyone on this island. I know the bartender here—he lets me hang out sometimes, but he doesn’t let me drink. Anyway. I could have a really good party.”
“Perfect!” cries Sarah. “Your house?”
“Maybe,” says Charlie. “Maybe. Let me check with my parents.”
Charlie leaves and comes back a few minutes later, looking downtrodden. “We can’t do it at my house. My parents said absolutely not, no way, no how.” Charlie sighs. “This is all because of my sister.”
“What about your sister?” asks Sarah.
“Oh, her high school graduation party three years ago got—well, let’s just say it got a little bit out of control. I thought that was all in the past now but apparently it’s still really very much in the present.”
“Too bad!” says Sarah. “I don’t even have a house—just a roomin someone else’s house.” She turns to Sam. “I’m guessing you’re not an option, right? Since you live with the director.”
“Right,” confirms Sam. Then she thinks about it. Didn’t Uncle Timmy just tell her that he and Gertie were going to Newport tomorrow night to see Barry? “But maybe—”
“Maybe what?” says Charlie eagerly.
No. She can’t offer up her uncle’s house, which isn’t even his house—it’s Floyd’s house. She could, of course, but she shouldn’t—she wouldn’t.
Would she?
She stands there for a moment, looking up at the whiskey bottles lined up on top of the bar, considering the Tale of Two Sams. On one side is the good Sam, respectful, grateful to her uncle, grateful to Shelly for bailing her out of a potentially dangerous situation just now, grateful that what happened in New York wasn’t worse.
On the other side is a different Sam. The second Sam’s judgment is compromised by three drinks; the second Sam is still smarting from her conversation with her uncle.Taking pictures of yourself, expecting to get famous for it.
“Maybewhat?” echoes Sarah.
“We can’t have aparty,” the second Sam tells Sarah and Charlie once she’s sure Shelly is out of earshot (surely Shelly wouldn’t approve). “But we can have a get-together, at my place. My uncle will be out of town tomorrow night.”
Sarah perks right up at this and says, “Cast party!”
“Castget-together,” clarifies Sam. “Something small. We have to keep it super under control. Just a few people, the cast and maybe a couple of others. I’m serious.” Sam points at Charlie. “Don’t tell a lot of people,” she says. “Even though you know everyone in this town, and even though you’re a messenger.”
Maggie
Maggie hears about the party from Marta, the summer intern, when she comes in for a coffee and a scone the next day before rehearsal. Marta, who likes to chat, who likes, as she admits herself, to be “in the know,” mentions to Maggie that she heard from Charlie, who plays the Messenger, that Sam Trevino is hosting a party at her uncle’s house that very evening. She leans over the counter, practically caressing the register, and whispers, “Her uncle will be out of town!”
Forty-five minutes later Sam herself comes in and orders a cappuccino with four shots of espresso.
“A quadruple?” asks Maggie. “You sure you want that?”
“Positive,” Sam says. Her voice is scratchy. “I was out last night. Like,outout.” She shakes her head. “It was a whole thing.”
“Is that why you’re not at rehearsal?” Sam has told Maggie that though she’s not in the play she attends many of the rehearsals and helps her uncle out, sort of like an assistant director.
“No rehearsal today,” says Sam. “Also, my uncle and I...” She pauses and looks pensively at the napkin holder on the counter. “Never mind. It’s not important.” She takes a sip of the drink. “This is perfect,” she says. She sticks a five in the tip jar—it’s almost a 100 percent tip!
“I heard your uncle is out of town,” Maggie says before she canstop herself. Once the words are out, she can’t take them back. Sam looks at her sharply.
“Where’d you hear that?”
Maggie hesitates. She doesn’t want to get Marta in trouble. “Nowhere,” she says. “I can’t remember.” Then, because she feels guilty and doesn’t want to lie to Sam, she says, “Marta mentioned something about a party.”
