The second weekend of The Man with the Plastic Sandwich went even better than the first, though not quite up to the size of the crowds they’d had with The Odd Couple. However, they were good enough that no one had any complaints.

As they did every other Monday, they tore down the set for Plastic Sandwich and replaced it with the set for Back Table – not that it required much changing. The park bench was hauled back outside where it belonged and was replaced with a table and three chairs from the banquet room itself – there were enough extras that no one would be aware of the difference. Just for the sake of making things look different, they hung a couple of pictures on the flats, but that was all the work that was needed.

Since Back Table would require all the actors and actresses who had been in other plays over the course of the summer, it was just about impossible to rehearse anything during the day. The only option was to have evening rehearsals. To make the evenings a little shorter, sometimes they had two different sections of the play under rehearsal at once, one in the theater, the other in the tasting room, with Meredith directing one section while Brett did the other. If they got an early start, that allowed them to do two complete run-throughs in an evening, which they did later on in the week.

That left the days clear to work on Saving Grace – or just Grace as they referred to it; the license holder for the play had balked at the idea of a title change, although they acknowledged the problem of potential confusion with the TV show.

Grace was something of another situation comedy, where a warmhearted girl mistakes a telephone repairman for a burglar. In the play she tries to convert him from a life of crime, but things go a little zany when he has to pretend he’s her husband. The quick and unknown “marriage” upsets her conservative sister’s evangelical fiancé, and considerable hilarity ensues.

Meredith, of course, played the title role, while Mike played her boss Walter. Brett played Alex, the phone repairman, and Kellye played Harriet, the sister. Gregor, the evangelist, was played by David, who had done a great job in Hermit and The Odd Couple in spite of his relative lack of experience in comparison to the rest of the cast.

Mike went to the trouble of making himself available to rehearse during the day, at least most of the days; with his job David couldn’t be present then, but the part was relatively small and they were able to work around his necessary absences, with Marty sometimes standing in for him. After a few days things started to look promising.

With the hustle to work in practicing David’s part as Gregor, somehow they managed to not notice that Lu often arrived with him and stayed through the practice for Back Table. It was Wednesday before Kellye picked up on it and when the opportunity presented itself, she asked Lu what was going on.

It turned out that clear back during the rehearsals for The Odd Couple both of them had decided to stop off on the way home for another drink or two. The two hadn’t met before becoming involved with the Curlew Creek Theater, since Lu was from Oxford, while David was from near Centerton, but they’d gotten friendly during the rehearsals. Since then, they had been getting progressively friendlier, something facilitated by the fact that they were seeing each other at rehearsals or performances almost every night. It hadn’t quite reached the point of being a full-blown romance, at least from what Kellye could see, but it looked to her as if things were going that way.

From what Kellye and Brett knew of the two, they seemed like a pretty good match-up. Both were interested in theater, of course, and both of them had done well over the summer. But Kellye had also figured out that the two shared some other interests like cats and a love of country music; it turned out that on one of the relatively rare nights off they’d gone to a country-western bar to do some serious dancing. Kellye said there was no indication that the two had gotten into horizontal dancing in bed yet, but also said she wouldn’t be surprised, not that it was any of her business.

“This has been quite a summer in that department,” Kellye commented. “That’s the third serious romance that’s been brought about by this dinner theater, and I don’t think any of us expected any of them to happen.”

“I sure never expected it to happen to me, or at least to us,” he agreed. “And when you stop to think about it, Meredith and Janine are even more unexpected. But it sure looks like that’s going to work out pretty well.”

As the days went by that week Meredith got increasingly anxious to see Janine again. Janine was due to arrive so she could sit in on the dress rehearsal for Back Table. Brett thought he’d learned his lesson the last time she’d visited and had wondered how the two of them had made it safely back to Curlew Creek at all. Since the rehearsals for Grace were going well during the daytime, he thought it best to offer to go with Meredith to pick Janine up at the airport.

Meredith accepted the offer eagerly; she hadn’t liked the amount of distraction she’d had the last time she’d picked up Janine – either the distraction from driving caused by being with Janine, and the other way around. The best way to make the pickup, everyone decided, was to take Kellye’s car, which meant that Kellye went along too.

It was another hot July day when the three of them set out for the airport, and it was not the most comfortable trip since the air conditioner in Kellye’s car left a lot to be desired. It might have been a little cooler to have all the windows down, but neither of the girls wanted to have their hair blowing around that much. Meredith was visibly on edge, anxious to see Janine again and, from what she said, her desire to see her lover was deeper than mere lust.

Janine wasn’t standing by the curb when Brett drove the car through the pickup lane, and that got Meredith even more anxious; she was almost frantic with worry that something had happened. After a couple passes through the lane with no sign of her, they decided that both Kellye and Meredith would go inside to the baggage claim area to wait for her. It might not do anything for Meredith’s concerns, but at least she wouldn’t be driving him buggy while he navigated the airport traffic.

It took half an hour and several trips around the loop for Brett before, with some relief, he saw the three women waiting on the curb. He braked the car to a stop and popped open the trunk; Kellye threw Janine’s bag in the trunk while Meredith and Janine regretfully pulled themselves apart long enough to get in the car. Once they were together again in the back seat, they were again pressed up against each other like paint on a surface.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Plane was late,” Kellye shrugged; the girls in the back were in such a deep kiss that neither of them could answer, let alone being willing to.

“Time to spare, go by air, I’ve always heard.”

“Yeah, no shit. It was getting a little heavy in there for a few minutes. God knows what would have happened if it had been three hours late.”

Meredith and Janine stayed pretty well stuck together in the back seat all the way to Curlew Creek, although they managed to lighten it up a bit in the last few miles. There was something that bothered him about what he could see of their relationship, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it – or at least, couldn’t quite figure out what he should say about it.

The heat in the car had worn them all down so, shortly after they got back, they decided to walk down to the swimming hole to cool off a bit. Everyone went to change into casual clothes – shorts and T-shirts – with their swimsuits on underneath. “I’m not sure that was such a great idea,” Kellye shook her head. “How long is it going to take them to get their clothes changed and get down here? I mean, with what else they’re likely to be doing.”

“The hell with it,” Brett shrugged. “Let’s give them ten minutes, and if they’re not down by then it could be hours. We can just go by ourselves.”

Much to Brett’s and Kellye’s surprise, the two were back downstairs in well under the time limit; while they couldn’t say anything to each other under the circumstances, it appeared to Brett that the heat and sweat must have overcome their lust, at least for the moment.

It was still a hot walk back to the swimming hole, but at least there was some air moving, which hadn’t been the case in the hot car. When they got back there, Brett was surprised to see that Janine was wearing one of the tiniest swimsuits he’d ever seen. There was hardly anything to be seen in back and not much more in front, although as small as she was the coverage seemed adequate, although barely so.

“Hey, Janine,” he said, trying to keep from staring, “I like your swimsuit.”

“It is real s-skimpy,” she replied. “I b-bought it t-to wear for M-Meredith, b-but I d-decided I c-could wear it in f-front of f-friends like you. I wouldn’t h-have w-worn it at all b-before I m-met you.”

“Fine with me,” he replied. “I’m just glad you’re comfortable with us.”

There was proof positive that having Meredith and being friends with Kellye and him had wrought some serious changes on Janine. As far as he could tell she was still very shy, but she’d just proved she could overcome it with them. Maybe that offered hope for the future, and maybe Meredith would continue to make changes in her. Her stuttering, although still bad, was nowhere near as bad as it had been when they’d first met her.

“I am. I’ve n-never had f-friends l-like you b-before. I m-mostly wrote p-plays so I c-could imagine what it would b-be l-like to have f-friends and d-do things w-with th-them. N-now th-that I have f-friends and M-Meredith, it seems like a whole d-different w-world for m-me.”

It was really pretty sad, Brett thought without saying it, that she’d had to imagine friends and their lives to be able to enjoy them – but it seemed lucky indeed that her imaginary friends had been the door to new worlds for her. Over the next little while they found out that she’d never dreamed, never been able to imagine that someone would want to perform one of her plays, or that she’d hear about it if they did. Both things happening and getting real friends out of the deal was a dream come true to her, and it meant that other doors were opening for her, as well.

They stayed at the swimming hole for a while, playing on the rope swing a lot – more was the wonder that Janine’s barely-there bikini stayed on, but it did – before they headed back for dinner and to get ready for the dress rehearsal.

The rehearsal went well; everyone was ready and had their lines and directions down as well as could be hoped for.

One of the neat things about The Back Table was Meredith’s role as “The Barista.” It was in many ways the smallest and least substantive of all the roles in the play, but she and the table were the common elements that held the bridges between the vignettes together. From somewhere in her collection of clothes, along with a little sewing, she’d managed to put together a uniform for the coffee shop employee. The skirt was very short, almost extremely so, although the top was relatively modest; but in the job she was apparently required to wear a pair of high heels that seemed almost impossible to walk in. She was intentionally very wobbly in them, and though it often seemed as if she was going to fall over and scatter cappuccino all over the stage, it never quite seemed to happen.

The Barista’s lines were modest – the easiest Meredith had to deal with all summer – and they consisted of things like “May I take your order?” In order to inject a little humor into the role, Janine had played with the lines a bit, to heighten the feeling that “The Barista” was barely competent at the job. At one point a customer ordered a “skinny, no whip, half caff, white chocolate mocha latte,” and it took close to a dozen exchanges for her to get it right – or what both The Barista and the customer thought was right, since the order came back all messed up. During the ten minutes or so of that vignette, the order had to be made over three times and the customer wound up having to take the drink with her to go, all done with great humor.

In the next vignette, a customer ordered a black coffee. “You’re sure about that?” The Barista asked. “No skinny?”

“No.”

“No whipped cream?”

“No.”

“No white chocolate mocha?”

“No, just plain old black coffee.”

“Thank God!”

But it was not the minimal lines that made the role work; it was all the sight gags and pantomime that made The Barista memorable. It took someone with Meredith’s natural talent to make it work; Kellye said at one point that she couldn’t have pulled it off a tenth as well.

It was probably the most fun dress rehearsal of the season; the people of the cast not performing at the time sat around tables in front of the stage, joined by a few others like Marty, Samantha, and Mike’s wife. While both Brett and Janine had comments about how the scene was played, everyone was in a good mood and enjoyed watching how the show was going together.

The Back Table was actually a little hard to categorize, since it was many plays in one. Some of the vignettes were intentionally funny, others poignant, a couple actually very dramatic, but they all managed to work in the context of the many things that could happen over the table in the back of the coffee shop during the course of a few hours. They were things that many people might not notice in the hustle and bustle of the busy place.

No one was happier than Janine about the way the play had turned out. Even to Brett it had seemed something of a patchwork arrangement in the beginning, but the patches all fit together into a seamless whole, which showed Janine’s talent for writing plays. Everyone was pleased when they got back to the house that evening, so much so that Meredith and Janine didn’t immediately disappear upstairs but sat around for a few minutes talking about the play.

Needless to say, Janine was nervous the next night, and she had every right to be. It was, after all, the premiere of her first real full-length play, which was an incredible milestone for her even though it was only being presented in a small country dinner theater. The fact that it was being presented at all was proof positive that people had faith in her and her writing. There was a good crowd on hand that evening – not quite a sellout again, but at least comparable to Plastic Sandwich the week before. When Marty introduced her, Janine was nowhere near as nervous as she had been for Chocolate, Roses and Sex; she still didn’t say anything, but there was a big smile on her face as she waved to the crowd.

Finally, the house lights went down and a few moments later the stage lights came up, revealing two women discussing the difficulties they were having with their boyfriends as The Barista came by to take their order. The first segment was one of the funnier ones, if only to get the audience in the mood, and the play went on from there. Soon, the two women had to leave to get to work, The Barista bussed the table, almost fell over and managed to not quite drop the cups, and left the stage so the next pair of actors could come sit at the table.

By the intermission Brett and the others could tell that the play was going over very well; the audience seemed to understand the premise of the play and was definitely having a good time. The dinner was good – the church ladies had cycled back around to the beef and noodles, which thrilled Lu – and the second act, set the next day, started with some follow-ups to what had happened the day before.

When the play finally ended, there was a huge round of applause. The whole cast filed up onto the stage, and Brett made sure that Janine was there with them, a huge smile on her face and her eyes filled with tears of happiness. As always, the cast assembled to thank the customers for coming, and Janine was right there with them. Soon, most of the audience had left, but there were a couple of men who hung around, talking with Meredith and Janine in low tones. Brett wondered what that was all about but decided that it wasn’t anything serious. Besides, the rest of the cast had pushed a couple of tables together and Marty had provided a couple bottles of Curlew Creek Niagara Blanche, and right at the moment that seemed more important. It was a while before everyone actually left the building.

Unlike most nights, they didn’t walk back to the house together; Meredith and Janine had left early, and by the time Brett and Kellye got back it was obvious they were upstairs and enjoying themselves.

Brett slept well that night, Kellye by his side as had long since become the usual thing. He was relaxed; there were some ways in which The Back Table had seemed to be a considerable gamble, but it had worked out in the end and he had no complaints. Once it was done, there would only be two plays left in the season, and then it would be time to get on to the next thing, whatever that was.

It was nice to be able to sleep in the next morning, especially considering how well the evening before had gone. Much later than his normal time Brett and Kellye woke up and stumbled out of bed, trying to pull themselves together to face the day. Both of them were very surprised to find Meredith and Janine not only already up, but dressed nicely, very feminine in a lipstick lesbian sort of way, and heading out the door.

“Wow, you’re up early,” he said, wishing he had some coffee to take the edge off – and real coffee, not a skinny, no whip, half caff, white chocolate mocha latte or anything similar.

“We’re going out for breakfast,” Meredith announced. “Those guys we were talking with last night invited us.”

“Well, enjoy yourselves,” he said as they left, not understanding anything more than before.

“Now, that’s really strange,” Kellye commented as she heard the doors of Meredith’s car slamming outside. “I mean, really strange.”

“How’s that?” he replied, realizing that Kellye was often the one more awake upon first getting up.

“Those two, going out to have breakfast with a pair of guys?”

“Uh, yeah,” Brett agreed as it sunk in. “It can’t mean anything. I mean, with those two. Besides, the guys they were talking with last night sort of set off my gaydar a little bit.”

“Now that you mention it, it strikes me that they would feel comfortable in Coopersport,” she smiled. “That makes it even more strange.”

“Yeah, it does,” he replied, the thought sinking in. “I guess it takes all kinds. Do you want to get the coffee going, or do you want me to?”

“I better do it. You’re just about as clumsy as The Barista in the morning.”

They had coffee, then breakfast, without worrying about what Meredith and Janine might be up to; it didn’t seem to be that important. But as the morning wore on with no sign of the two, Brett began to get concerned.

Brett felt a good degree of relief sometime after lunch when he heard Meredith’s car drive in and heard car doors slam outside. Whatever the two of them had been up to, they’d made it back all right.

In a couple minutes the two came inside. Both of them seemed extremely happy, but there was a tinge of apprehension apparent with both of them, something he couldn’t put his finger on. “Welcome back, you two,” he said. “So I take it you had a good time.”

“Pretty much,” Meredith admitted, then nervously added. “Look, Brett, we have to talk.”

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