The Magician's Assistant

[3] Meeting Will

“I can do a one man show. I do anyways. She’s just there to look pretty. And she got mad because I apparently don’t respect her. Oh, and I’m a ‘pretentious bastard’,” William said, plopping himself down in a chair.

“Well sometimes you do act like one–“the woman started, but was interrupted by William.

“Shut up.”

“Hey!” I finally decided to intervene. “Don’t talk to her like that.” The woman’s head perked up at my words, finally taking an interest in me.

“Excuse me?” William said, looking at me disbelievingly.

“You heard me. Say sorry. To me, it seems that she’s only trying to help. I bet you don’t even know the meaning of respect,” I ordered him, immediately coming to the woman’s defense. That’s what he got for bringing me into this!

William snapped his mouth shut, entirely disregarding what I said. The woman stared at me, seemingly in a state of shock. “Do it. Now,” I almost growled, growing irritated. “You’re acting like a child.”

He muttered something under his breath. “Sorry, I can’t hear you,” I said, cupping a hand around my ear.

“I said ‘Sorry, Ruth’. Happy?” He almost yelled, and then looked shocked. What was the big deal with saying ‘sorry’?

The woman that I assumed was Ruth gaped at me, opening and closing her mouth like a fish. “It’s quite alright, William,” she finally managed to stutter out. She looked at me like I was a superhero. What was wrong with them?

“Who’s this, William?” Ruth asked, examining me head to toe. Admittedly, I was feeling a little self-conscious.

“Some fan that snuck in,” he muttered, avoiding eye contact with me.

“Actually, no, I’m not. The bouncer let me in here so I could go to the bathroom. Not everybody is after you, you know,” I said, crossing my arms. He was so full of himself!

“William, why don’t you load up the truck? I’ll meet you there in a second,” Ruth said, gesturing for him to leave the room.

He grumbled a response and swung up from his position in the chair. Once he left the room, Ruth turned to me with a grin.

“William has never listened to an order in his life. His usual catch phrase is ‘shove it’. Sometimes he’ll throw in the f-bomb. How on earth did you do it?” Ruth said, shaking her head.

“I – uh, I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I just – maybe I’m just that type of person. People tend to listen to me.”

“Well, whatever it is, I like it. As you might have picked up on, William needs a new assistant, are you interested?”

“What? No, of course not! He doesn’t seem like the type of person I’d like to work with…” I declined, hoping not to upset her. Ruth’s expression fell a little, but then brightened.

“I’ll pay you. More than I paid Jasmine. You’ll be perfect. You’re responsible and you don’t take crap from people. He actually listened to you…I still can’t believe it,” Ruth looked at me hopefully.

 “I don’t think that I’m really a good choice for this. Maybe someone else that’s –“ I said hesitantly, but was interrupted.

“One hundred dollars a show? Fifty for rehearsal?” Ruth offered quickly, raising her eyebrows.

After she said that, I literally choked on my own spit. Embarrassing and unfortunate, I know. “You’d give me that much money even though I’m not experienced? I’m really not a performer…and I’m extremely shy...”