The Vaudeville Star

“Pleasant party?” Alice asked as she entered her son’s study.

“Pleasant enough. I hired Rutledge again. That damned ass Harry! Causes nothing but trouble.”

“You always bail him out,” Alice said. “Try not bailing him out for once.”

“And have our family splashed across the newspapers in a scandal? Why can’t the man behave himself? Instead, all he does is find trouble.”

“I met the lovely Miss Sutton,” Alice said, changing the subject.

King didn’t respond.

“I don’t think Lourdes was at all pleased at the attention you gave her,” Alice continued.

“As you’ve mentioned time and again, Mother, if Caroline cannot produce an heir for this family, Lourdes is equally out of the question.”

Alice’s eyes widened. “What are you saying?”

“Nothing. Stating the obvious.”

Instead of being alone with only Vernon and Bessie to practice her new song, Ruby handed the sheet music to the piano player and took center stage in front of the entire vaudeville group. Vernon had assured her there was no reason to be concerned as the theater group was there to support her, and Zeta, the reigning diva, was nowhere in sight. She knew the words by heart and waited until Vernon nodded at the piano player.

Ruby wet her lips and looked out into the auditorium. She was nervous and willed herself not to wring her hands or fidget. Ruby had agreed with Bessie that the song should be sung without the dialect, and she had learned it that way. She took a breath and looked out into the near-empty theater.

“Sweetest little feller, Everybody knows; Don’t know what to call him, But he’s mighty like a rose!

Looking at his Mammy, With eyes so shiny blue, Might you think that heaven, Is coming close to you!”

Her voice was clear and sweet, and when she finished the song, silence filled the bare auditorium. She turned to see Vernon staring at her while Bessie looked as if she had tears in her eyes.

“What? What’s wrong? What did I do?”

“I say,” said Lou as he stood leaning on the piano.

“What?” she asked, perplexed.

“No, my dear. You were—” Bessie tried to find the right word.

“Perfect,” came the word from Lee Chen, who usually never spoke at all.

Everyone turned to the Chinese magician, who held his deck of cards in one hand. Vernon grinned, and she remembered their conversation in the taxicab home.

“You’ll open the second act, Ruby,” he said loudly so everyone could hear, and Max was immediately writing the direction down in his small notebook. “Starting next Friday.”

Vernon looked her up and down and said sharply, “Follow me, kid.” He led her to the costume department. “You need something special. Something different. The card girl costume won’t do.”

He rummaged through the different trunks and dresses that were hanging until he came upon what he wanted. It was an off-the-shoulder evening gown with a cream-colored bodice and an orange skirt. It was decadent and bright and would attract the eye.

“Can you sew?” he asked, quickly taking the dress and handing it to her.

“Yes.”

“Ask Bessie to help you find the loose rhinestones somewhere around here and sew them into the bodice,” he directed. “It will make you sparkle under the lights onstage.”

Ruby dressed warmly in a brown and blue traveling suit with a small hat and gloves for her picnic with King. She was picked up promptly at eleven, and he was already inside the car waiting for her.

“I value promptness,” he said, smiling as she joined him.

He explained that his car was a Mercedes Benz and that he had paid an exorbitant amount for it, but Ruby only feigned an interest. He seemed to like his wealth only because he was able to purchase the most expensive items and display them to the world.