Invisible Threads - Chapter 02

Writer's Note: Read this after reading Invisible Threads - Prologue and Invisible Threads - Chapter 01.

Chapter Two

After two significant conversations and multiple lesser interactions, Gary's fight-or-flight response had been triggered and he needed some moments in a calm environment. He roamed through the various levels of the large hotel until he found a small settee in an alcove. After mulling over the disastrous ending to the interview and calculating his chances of successfully moving on to the next round at near zero, he headed to the waiting area.

***

Cherie finished the interview with 1252 who had asked her to reach into his front pants pocket to retrieve the missing card. For the absurdly inappropriate request, his personality rating had been a zero. For the fact that the missing card had been peeking out of his pocket since he walked into the cubicle, his talent was generous as a 'one'.

Her desk phone rang, "This is Cherie."

"Cherie, this is Lacy."

"Hey Lacy."

"Hey. I'm looking at three magician videos. Two of them are yours: 791 and 847. 791 is slicker, better looking, funny, incredible showmanship, and she's a female magician. That's a good package. You graded 847 higher. Now, his trick is something else, but you gave him an 8 for personality. I didn't see any personality on video. Why the high grade?"

Cherie considered the answer. "He was weird as hell."

"That's a good thing?"

"It's a memorable thing. It's a thing that people will talk about all week. In my opinion, it's a good thing."

"All right, we'll go with 847."

"When do you think he'll be up?"

"It will probably be another 45 minutes to an hour."

"Do you mind if I watch his Phase Four in between my interviews?"

"No problem."

Cherie put the phone down. She would have to run down to Phase Four and then run back if she were to keep her interview schedule. An internal debate ensued where she wondered if it was worth the effort to see this weird guy perform. He was clearly different. Whether different was good remained to be seen.

***

To Gary, the Phase Two waiting area was now even worse than before. Cameras were everywhere and the contestants were doing every manner of activity trying to draw attention to themselves. Everyone was smiling. As hard as it was for him to read and understand facial expressions, a smiling face was completely indecipherable to him. It was worse than a mask and too many smiling faces sent a chill up his spine.

A crowd had gathered at the rejection monitor and were crying or fake laughing or mugging angrily at the cameras that were lapping up the emotion like a thirsty dog on a hot day. The contestants who had succeeded in front of the judges (Phase 5) were paraded through the room so that everyone could react with overemoted congratulations.

The loudspeaker added to the din, "Contestant 847, please proceed to Phase 4. Contestant 847."

As soon as he got up and started walking toward the door, he was beset with well-wishers. They patted his back, grabbed at his hand, and he was hugged four times by strangers. Braving this onslaught, he made it to the exit. Five minutes of human interaction was needed. He wasn't feeling confident.

***

Cherie finished with her second to last contestant - a completely bland 5/5 - and hit Send on her grading. She now had to run down to Phase Four to see 847 and then run back up to get her final interview of the day done under the deadline. Somewhere along the way, she desperately needed a restroom break. Superstar provided lots of free bottled water. Tomorrow, she wouldn't take so much advantage of it.

***

Gary made it to the Phase 4 room where he found a curtain had been placed around one of the entrance doors. Surrounding the curtain was a flotilla of little girls in black tutus and tap shoes. Luckily, the floor was carpeted, or the resultant noise would have been teeth-rattling. Another intern looked at the monitor, "847? Good. You're a little early. Do you need anything?"

He shook his head and waited.

***

Cherie used the staff entrance to make her way into the Phase Four room which was a large meeting room that had been set up with a temporary stage at one end. A few tables were spread around which contained only empty bottles and candy wrappers. A bevy of tap-dancing tots were on stage making an amazing amount of noise.

She recognized the face (although not the name) of another of the interns who was manning a small video camera and recording the acts for final review before Phase Five on the main stage. She pulled a chair next to the camera and watched the tap dancers finish their audition and start talking with Lacy and the other two talent appraisers at the table in front of the stage.

The intern looked up from her camera, jotted some notes, and looked over at Cherie. "Here to check out an act?"

"Yeah, I interviewed him in Phase Three."

"You think he has potential?"

"Maybe. Or maybe it's like a car wreck and I just can't look away."

***

Gary was waiting at the Phase Four door when the intern there looked at him and smiled. "Okay, 847, you're up." She opened the door and he entered.

He was expecting it to be dark inside but the lights were up full. A handful of people were scattered around several tables that were in a state of disarray. He put that out of his mind to avoid the distraction. He navigated to a small stage, climbed the stairs, and walked to center stage.

A man and two women sat at a table directly in front of it, each with a laptop open in front of them. One of the women spoke without looking up, "Find your mark, please."

"Excuse me?"

"There is a taped X on the floor of the stage. Please stand on it."

Gary shuffled until he was directly on it.

"What's your name?" The woman now was looking intently at him. He noticed that others in the room were now watching him, too. He pushed down a wave of anxiety.

"Gary Richardson."

She smiled which did nothing to lessen his tension. "Hi Gary. My name is Lacy and I'm the assistant to the director of Superstar. This is Ed and Melinda, they work in talent appraisal. We'll be deciding if you go in front of the judges." All three appeared to be about Gary's age.

Lacy's smile held firm. "What's your talent?"

"I am a magician."

"Okay, you know that you have 90 seconds, and you don't get any more. We don't like stopping unfinished acts, but we do. So, make sure you are within 90 seconds. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Okay we are timing you. Starting... right... now. Action."

Gary was startled, "May I give you these cards?" He started walking down from the stage.

"Stay where you are, just pitch them here."

He carefully aimed and tossed the cards. The man, Ed, caught them in one hand.

Gary paused and mentally went through his rehearsed lines. "Please notice that the cards are unopened. Please open them now."

Ed opened the box and removed the cards.

"Take any one of the cards at random."

Ed took one.

"Now write something on it."

Ed scribbled something quickly on the card.

"Now, take the card and hold it between your hands with the palms flat against each other so you can't see the card."

"Like this?" Ed held up his hands.

"Yes. Now, ma'am... Melinda, could you please hold your hands together in the same manner?"

She did so.

"Now Ed. Please open your hands."

The card was gone. Ed's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Now, Janet, please open up your hands."

The card was there.

"Now show the card to Ed to confirm that it is the same card."

She did.

"There. That's my act."

Lacy looked at her laptop screen. "That was 25 seconds. You left a lot of time on the table."

"I thought you wanted it under 90 seconds."

Ed jumped in. "No. What we really wanted was for you to have so much material that you were rushing to squeeze everything in under 90 seconds. We wanted you to go over and we would be working with you now on what could be cut out."

This seemed unfair somehow. "But that's the trick I plan to do."

Ed continued, "And the reason we are still talking is because it's an amazing trick. Everything else was very, very bad."

"What do I need to do?"

The three appraisers looked at each other and Lacy looked up at Gary with a less warm smile, "Go back to the waiting area and watch the monitor." This was not the answer to Gary's question, but he recognized a dismissal.

Lacy finished off, "If you are selected to do your act in front of the judges, they will announce it over the public address system. Report to the Phase Five table immediately for your call back instructions. If you need to go to the bathroom, do it now and do it quickly. Once you get into the Phase Two ballroom, do not leave."

"I understand." Gary left.

Cherie was still sitting with her head in her hands as Gary exited. That doofus had not listened to anything she had told him and had just laid an ostrich egg on stage. And she had graded him so highly. Her judgement would never be trusted again unless...

She ran up to the judging desk while the next act was getting situated "Lacy?"

"Hi Cherie. I'm not sure that I would rate that one an eighteen. It was pretty bad."

"But the trick itself?"

Melinda shook her head, "Is not good enough to compensate. I've never seen anything like the trick. But... damn"

Cherie tried to sound calm and professional, "That trick is unusual enough to give a shot. I can coach him. It will take some serious butt-kicking but that's my specialty. Before he gets on stage, he will have an act." The words were coming out in a stream without her knowing why she was saying them.

Lacy looked her square in the eyes, "Between now and tomorrow night, you can have him giving me a full, entertaining 90 seconds?"

"I can." She nodded and stood up straighter. She was still only 5'-0" but was trying to project confidence.

"And some personality?"

"I can give you a full 90 second act."

Melissa chimed in, "There's no way."

Lacy turned to Ed, "What do you think?"

"If we send him through, it's as comic relief. Guaranteed flame-out. The judges can probably milk his non-personality for a few laughs."

"Okay," she turned back to Cherie, "We'll put him through as comic relief. They'll make fun of him. This was not a good act."

"I can work with that." Cherie ran from the room and headed down the hall.

***

Gary replayed the audition in his head as he walked. It was over.

"847! Wait up." He turned to see a woman he recognized running down the hall toward him. He had thought she was taller.

"You're the woman from Phase 3."

"Yes. Cherie."

"Why are you running?"

"Because your legs are too damn long."

This didn't seem like an answer to his question, so he waited for her next statement.

She took a couple of breaths, "You're going to make it to the next round."

He processed that. It seemed unlikely. A moment before, he had been accepting of his failure and already mentally pulling his notes together for another try at normal publication of his research. It required waiting to finish his doctorate and then getting an older co-author...

"Hello. Anyone home?" The woman was on her tiptoes to reach a good enough height to wave her hand across the tip of this nose.

He focused on her. "You're very short."

"Really? I never knew. Are we on earth now?"

"Firmly."

"I talked with Lacy in there. As an act, you sucked eggs. Totally shit your pants. You understand that, right?"

"Yes. I didn't get 5 minutes of human conversation."

"Not even 5 seconds. You were a complete tool. They are going to put you through for the sole purpose of publicly embarrassing you and mocking you."

She waited for him to react indignantly to what she said. He stared at her. She continued, "But your trick is unique. We really want that trick on television. The first question that I have to ask will probably tick you off. I have met a couple of magicians today that did not have good tricks but did have good stage presence. Would you be willing to teach your trick to them and let them perform it?"

"That's not possible."

"Not going to waste any more time with that. If I write a script for you, can you memorize and recite it on cue?"

"If you can coach me to do it right once, then I can repeat it as needed. But my therapists have explained to me that if you ask me to act out an emotion, I will usually get it wrong."

"Challenging, but we can work with it. The personality is more of an issue. The audience has to like you."

"I am not a likable person."

"I agree. But there is a way around that. We just need to go shopping."

"I don't have any money."

"I have my mother's credit card and we'll pay her back. We're going to get you black leather shoes, white socks, tight black pants that are too short on you, a white shirt, glasses, and some pens for your pocket."

"I have 20/20 vision."

"Deal with it. You're wearing the glasses."

"You're dressing me like a nerd cliche."

"Exactly."

"But nerds aren't liked. I know."

"Do you know why the Big Bang Theory was so popular?"

"I didn't like that show."

"It was populated by individually unlikable characters. Pompous, whiny, and irritating. But the audience loved them because they were self-aware. They knew they were nerds. That is what we are going to do with you. Your character is going to be a self-aware nerd."

"That won't be much of a stretch."

"There, you can be funny when you put your mind to it."

He shook his head, "My doctors said that I will never have a well-defined sense of humor because of my lack of sophisticated empathy. They warned me against telling jokes since I have trouble telling the difference between something that is funny and something that is hurtful and mean."

Her mouth dropped open, "We'll shelve that one for later processing."

She was standing closer than he liked so he stepped back. "Does Superstar do this for all of their acts?"

The abrupt change in topic caught her up short, "No... I'm just... doing it for you."

"Why?"

That stopped her. It was a good question. Why was she doing it? His act was terrible. But, after seeing sixteen other magicians during the day, his trick was completely different - next level. It had been made clear to her that she did not have the looks or talent to make it in front of the camera. Maybe if she could not be a star, then she could be a star-maker. She didn't have to be rich and famous if she could be extra rich.

She looked up at him, "Do you want my help or not?"

"I want your help."

"Then stop asking questions. Now go back to the waiting area and I'll meet you there in about an hour."

"What will you be doing?"

She took off down the hall and yelled over her shoulder, "Running!" And she bolted back down to her interview cubicle with her chest heaving. She had never considered herself an athlete and that sprint confirmed it.

Sliding in behind her desk with her breast heaving and her bladder full (she had still not taken a restroom break), she checked her computer. The screen showed a message that contestant 1274 was next up for the Phase Three interview. Within a minute, a strikingly handsome man of about thirty was standing in front of her.

He smiled (and the smile was fabulous). "Hi. I'm Jim Harriman." He held out his paperwork.

Cherie returned the smile as she took it from him. "Have a seat, Jim. I'm Cherie."

She watched him as he sat. The brilliant smile never faltered.

Glancing over the paper she asked, "Do you make your primary living as a performer?"

"Presently, I make about 50% of my income as a performer. The rest is temp jobs."

She looked up to see a greethe smile continuing to beam at her. Hopefully the magic would be as good as the smile. For question five, he had completely filled in the block provided and she followed the (over) in the lower right-hand corner to see that he had filled in the entire back as well. The words had gotten smaller at the bottom as he had squeezed in as many as possible.

Scanning it, she saw that he had grown up in a single-family household with his mother. His father had left when he was young. His mother had worked three part-time jobs with no benefits to keep food on the table and he had dropped out of high school to get a job when his mother's health began to give out under the strain. She had never recovered and so he supported her as well as himself. Paper-clipped to the form was a picture of him with his mother in the hospital. She was very photogenic.

Pure gold.

Cherie went through her spiel, and he signed the waiver.

"And you have a video?"

His smile, which had faded slightly, returned in full force, "Certainly, here you go."

He held out a thumb drive. When she reached up to grab it, his hand moved slightly, and she ended up grabbing the end of his fingertips and having to run her fingers down from them to grasp the drive. She took it from him and plugged it into her computer.

The video was taken at a magic club where two-thirds of the audience were women. He was extremely smooth and comfortable on stage and was the most professional she had seen. His style was flirtatious and obviously played much better with the women than their husbands. But the magic tricks themselves were well-timed, performed flawlessly, and well-coordinated into an entertaining show. This guy was the real deal.

As the interview ended, he stood and reinforced the winning smile one last time, "Thank you."

She smiled back, "You're welcome."

After he left, she turned back to her computer, typing in a synopsis of his question five answer and then scored him: 10 for talent and another 10 for personality. She stared at the screen and again paused a moment before hitting send. She changed both of the 10's to 9's for a total score of 18.