The Trouble With Eden - Lawrence Block [16]
“Ah, there you are,” he called out, approaching the two. Bartholomew raised his eyes in irritation at the interruption but Warren’s gaze swept quickly over him and centered on Peter. “Peter, that was superb. I was nervous tonight when I heard you would be on the lights. I loathe being nervous. But you were so much better than I dared to hope that I was astounded.”
“That’s kind of you, Warren.”
“Kind? Kindness has nothing to do with it. It’s pure and simple self-interest. I prefer to play with the lights well handled. One does not want to become blessedly invisible at the wrong moment. Thus, as there is always the chance that you might not realize quite how good you are, I’m taking the small trouble of informing you in order to encourage you to do this regularly.” His eyes turned briefly to Bartholomew. “As I’m sure Tony has been trying to say himself.”
“I was just telling Peter I think he has real possibilities. Of course the work is a discipline, a craft—”
“Yes, of course it is, of course it is. Peter, as I’m sure Tony has already told you, you were far better tonight than Marc Hillary ever was in his life. And Marc was not bad. One got one’s money’s worth with Marc. But you are better intuitively than Marc was with rehearsal and practice and training. Tony, you’ve turned up an honest talent. Permit me to congratulate you.”
“Thanks so much, Warren. I was telling the boy—”
“I know precisely what you were telling him, and I’m sure I’ve done no more than echo your own praise Tony, it was a good show. If one must perform Arthur Miller one might as well do him properly. You’ll excuse us, won’t you? We’re supposed to be meeting some people at Sully’s and I’m afraid we’re late already. I’ll see you tomorrow, Tony?”
“It does seem likely.”
“And perhaps you can join us at Sully’s if you can get I away.”
“I think I’ll be tied up tonight.”
“A pity,” Warren said. He grabbed Peter’s arm and led him out of the theater and through the parking lot.
Halfway to the street Peter said, “What’s this about meeting people at Sully’s?”
“Well, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, sweet, but I thought I’d buy you a drink. I did think we ought to get away from Antonio and it seemed an easier way than handing him a bottle of mouthwash. Subtler, I thought.”
“Uh-huh. How did I do with the lights, incidentally?”
“Hmmm. Let us say that you were not awful. You were a little unsteady in the first act, you were quite good in the second act, and you may have been thinking of something else toward the very end. I can understand that. I have the same problem myself. Arthur Miller has that effect on any sensitive intelligence. Oh, you weren’t bad. On a scale of one to ten I’d give you about a seven overall, and I don’t think Marc ever got much more than an eight-point-six on his best night, so I’d call it an impressive debut.”
“Thanks, incidentally.”
“For that back there or for what I just said?”
“Both. I don’t think it will work, though.”
“Let me guess. He was giving you the usual ostrich shit about how much you had to learn.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And how it was essentially a favor to train you, but he was hard up and didn’t want to go to the bother of getting somebody decent all the way from New York.”
“That’s fantastic.”
“It is like hell. I could write his dialogue for the rest of the season. It’s a case of contempt breeding familiarity. What did he offer you?”
“You came in before we got around to numbers.”
“Well, thank God for that. What was he about to offer you?”
“Probably fifty.”
“And what would you have said?”
“I don’t know.”
“Tell him he can pay you eighty or he can fuck himself.”
“He won’t pay me eighty.”
“No, but he’ll pay you sixty-five.”
“Why don’t I ask for sixty-five?”
“You could. That’s what I would do in your position, but I’m not sure you have the balls for it. If you ask sixty-five, do you think you could stick to it? Suppose you shot it out as an ultimatum and he said