TO BE OR NOT TO BE – PART 5

As it came time for my entrance, I was feeling pretty good. Stepping on stage, the lights were so much brighter than I expected, distracting me, and I tripped over something. "Shit," I said to myself and suddenly forgot my line. I heard the audience get silent and looked at Mel like a deer in the headlights. Being the pro that she was, she ad-libbed something about me failing my dance class which got a laugh from the audience and gave me time to gather myself. After that everything went as scripted. We even got called back for two curtain calls.
***
With all that went on, nobody thought about the meet and greet afterward at which I was the bartender. I realized it a soon as I walked into the room, so I went behind the bar, business as usual. Antonio was the first person to walk up. He winked and told me it was hard to believe that was my first time on stage and that where he was sitting you couldn't tell any difference between me and the other sisters. That's what I needed to hear. By then a crowd had gathered and I started taking orders.
Mark came in a bit later with some friends. When he saw me working the bar, he kind of made a thing out of it saying I should be on the floor with the other actors. With nobody else, I appealed to Antonio, and gentleman that he is, he agreed to take my place.
With Mark leading the way, he introduced me to his friends and other people, that I won't remember. I was still in costume but started to feel somewhat self-conscience from the looks I was getting. I was sure that they all knew the story and were here to see the freak. But surprisingly, it turned out to be just the opposite. I got the impression that most of the people thought that I was living as a woman full time and talked about how courageous I was. I ate it up and let them think what they will.
As the crowd faded, I wondered over to the bar, where Mel and Shari appeared to be locked in a deep discussion with Antonio. When I was only a few feet away, they stopped talking and looked at me.