For the dress rehearsal, Miss Goodbody had glued two fake breasts onto Robin's chest. With just a bit of make-up, the seam all but disappeared. Robin looked at himself in the mirror while waiting for his cue. Only he didn't look like a him.
The blonde wig, fake breasts, and stage make-up had turned him into a totally different person. He looked like a girl.
The thought scared him. No guy wanted to become a girl. It just wasn't right. If Miss Goodbody hadn't been there to talk to him when he first saw himself, he would have run. He was still more than a little scared.
And he was more than a little interested in what being a girl would be like.
And that scared him even more.
Practice went well enough. None of the other cast members teased him about how he looked. He did struggle with his lines, due mainly to his nerves.
Once practice was done, Miss Goodbody used the glue remover to remove his fake breasts. As she did so, she said to him. "Do you know what all the great actors do to help them with their nerves?"
"What?" He asked. Intrigued that she considered him with the great actors and willing to try almost anything to get over his nerves so he wouldn't let her down.
"They have some good luck piece that carry with them. Before the play, when they get nervous, they think of their good luck piece. Once the play starts, they find they aren't nervous." She explained.
'Well, it is mostly true. Most actors, great and otherwise, are nervous before the start of the play. Once they get into the play, their nerves disappear.' She thought to herself, refusing to admit that some people never got over their fears. If Robin was one of those, then the play was doomed.
"Really!" Robin said.
"Yes, really." She told him with a smile. "Now hurry on home and get a good nights sleep. You will do fine tomorrow, I just know it."
As she watched Robin scamper on home, she thought to herself that he was a good kid and he was trying hard. 'A real trooper.' She thought to herself.
