of Charlotte altogether if 'the new girl can't hack it. 'I have worked so hard for this part, Tiffani thought. Oh please, please, don't let it be bad news.
Tiffani was looking down at her feet when Melvin Burton and Commander Winters joined her on the stage. 'Well, now,' Melvin began, 'let's get straight to the point. The first scene with you two in the hotel room is not working. In fact, it's a disaster. We must make some changes.'
Melvin saw that Tiffani was not looking at him. Gently he put his hand under her chin and lifted it until her eyes met his. 'You must look at me, child, for I'm trying to tell you some very important things.' He noticed that her eyes were brimming with water and his years of experience told him immediately what was wrong. He leaned forward and whispered so that nobody else could hear, 'I said we would make some changes, not do away with the scene. Now get yourself together and listen up.'
Burton regained his director's voice and turned toward Winters. 'In this scene, Commander, your character Shannon and young Miss Goodall engage in foreplay that leads to intercourse later that night. In the following scene they are discovered, in flagrante delicto, by the confused Miss Fellowes. And that establishes the desperate situation causing Shannon to run to Maxine and Fred at the Costa Verde.
'But our scene does not work right now because nobody watching it will recognize what you two are doing as foreplay. Now I can change the movement to make it easier — putting Shannan already on the bed when he discovers Charlotte behind the door would be one way — and I can change Charlotte's clothing so that she looks less like a little girl, but there's one thing that I cannot do ...' Melvin stopped and looked back and forth from Tiffani to Winters. They were both staring blankly at him.
'Come here, come here, both of you,' Melvin said, gesturing impatiently with his right hand. He dropped his voice again. He took Tiffani's hand with his left and Commander Winters' with his right. 'You two are lovers for one night in this play. It is essential that the audience believe this or they will not understand completely why Shannon is at the end of his rope, like the iguana. Shannon is desperate because he was originally locked out of his church for giving in to the same lust ...'
They were both listening but Melvin's director's intuition told him he was still not reaching them. He had another idea. He took Tiffani's hand and put it into the commander's, closing his own hand over theirs for emphasis. 'Look at each other for a moment. That's right.' He turned to Winters. 'She's a beautiful young woman, isn't she, Commander?'
Their eyes were in contact. 'And he's a handsome man, isn't he, Tiffani? I want you to imagine that you have an uncontrollable desire to touch him, to kiss him, to be naked with him.' Tiffani blushed. Winters fidgeted. Melvin was fairly certain that he saw a spark, albeit a fleeting one.
'Now tomorrow night,' he continued, looking at Tiffani and taking his hand off theirs, 'I want you to capture that feeling when you're hiding in his room. I want it to explode out of you when he notices that you are there. And you, Commander,' he looked back at the middle-aged naval officer, 'you are torn between an overpowering passion to possess this young girl physically and the almost certain knowledge that it will be the final ruination of both your life and your soul. You are hopelessly trapped. Remember, you fear that God has already forsaken you for your past sins. But, despite that, you finally relinquish yourself to your lust and commit another unpardonable sin.'
Tiffani and Commander Winters both realized at virtually the same time that their hands were still intertwined. They looked at each other for a moment and then, embarrassed, awkwardly separated them. Melvin Burton slipped between his players and put his arms around their shoulders. 'So go on home now and think about what I've said. And come back tomorrow and really break a leg.'
Vernon Winters drove the Pontiac into his driveway in suburban Key West just before eleven o'clock. The house was quiet, the only lights were in the garage and the kitchen. As regular as the stars, Vernon thought, Hap to bed at ten, Betty to bed at ten-thirty. In his mind's eye he