Something's Cooking …..Something Big - DOTTY
Chapter One
Dotty came into the family room and she saw her grandsons moving the couch around and back towards the kitchen. She was about to open her mouth and say something to them when her daughter, Amanda, walked out from the dining room holding the coat rack.
"Okay fellas, the couch is perfect there. Phillip, can you get the stool from the kitchen so your grandmother can sit on it?"
"Sure Mom!" Phillip yelled as he headed towards the kitchen.
Dotty walked down the steps into the family room and said "Amanda…what is all of this?"
Amanda looked over at her mother and smiled. "Well, mother…the funniest thing happened to me today!"
Dotty crossed her arms and smirked at her daughter. "Oh? And just what happened to you that would make you suddenly decide to rearrange the furniture in the den?"
Amanda chuckled and took the picture that normally hung on the wall by the stairs and hung it on the coat rack. "Well, we are doing a documentary on local plays in the DC area. I was lucky to meet Tony Martinet. You remember him. Mother, don't you? I was in that play in college…Tiger Tracks."
Dotty nodded "Oh that crazy play. You were some kind of animal, weren't you?"
"Yes Mother…I was the Wailing Walrus. Anyway, Tony is directing a new play and he asked me to be an understudy!"
Dotty smiled. "Oh Amanda! That's wonderful! How exciting!" She looked around the room and said "So, what's this all about?" She waved her hand around the room.
Amanda laughed "OH! I need to practice my lines so I thought maybe you and the boys would like to help me?"
Dotty smiled "I would love to! Where do you want me to sit?"
Amanda told her to sit on the stool at the end of the couch. The boys came over and they started reading the lines. Dotty sat there with her hand on her chin. This play is so confusing. What is it about? Amanda seems to understand it completely. Sometimes I just don't even know my daughter.
Dotty sighed as she listened to Jamie and Amanda rehearse the lines. "Don't worry, she's one of us, though.."
" A cynic, sweetheart"
"I know"
Phillip muttered "Simp"
"Fellas…Do you really believe the promises of Utopia?"
"I don't think so but I could be wrong."
"You remind me of the dancing weasel…sometimes happy….. sometimes sad"
Dotty rolled her eyes and said "Mon Dieu. Mon Dieu."
"Amanda…"
"Yes Mother.."
"I don't understand this man in the shadows character that just sits at the end of the bar and says Mon Dieu Mon Dieu"
"Well, Mother, He's in the shadows, right? He is foreshadowing the fall of Paris to the Germans."
Jamie pipes up "This play is weird." Dotty snickered to herself that she couldn't agree more with Jamie.
Amanda put her arm around Jamie and said "Sweetheart, it's called Neo-Absurdist. See, everything stands for something else. The whole play takes place in a Paris café…and that's, um…the war. Or the world. And the French Chanteuse is the free spirit of the French people, right?"
Dotty couldn't keep her feelings in and she said "The free spirit of the French people does a cancan on the bar?"
"It's an act of defiance, Mother"
"What ever happened to musicals?"
"Your line"
Dotty waved her hands in the air. "Okay, alright. Mon Dieu. Mon Dieu."
Jamie and Phillip had enough of the play and they started to walk away. "I'm going to watch TV."
Phillip followed him and laughed, "That's not part of the play."
"Well, neither am I!"
Dotty tried to hold in her laughter. Amanda just sighed and looked over her script. "Fellas"
Dotty smirked at Amanda and said "Another act of defiance."
"Mother!"
She looked at Amanda and said "Mon Dieu"
"You have two Mon Dieu's"
"Mon Dieu. Mon Dieu"
Amanda mumbled thank you and went back to reading her script. Dotty sat there for a moment and then stood up.
"Well, I think I will leave this lovely Paris café and head up to take my bubble bath. I certainly hope IFF appreciates you, Amanda. They work you night and day and now this play…they were understanding about it, weren't they? I mean about you being an understudy and everything?"
Amanda rolled her eyes. "Yes Mother. They were actually pleased that I knew Martinets' plays."
"Oh that's wonderful. Will Mr. Stedman be coming to opening night? I would love to finally meet him. You too have worked together for so long. Don't you think it's time I meet some of your coworkers?"
Amanda took a deep breath and Dotty knew that somehow Amanda would steer the conversation away from Mr. Stedman. She always did that. Dotty didn't understand her daughter. Dotty noticed a change in Amanda within the past few months. Anytime Mr. Stedman would call the house, Amanda immediately would smile and her mood would instantly change. A few weeks ago Amanda stood vigil at his bedside when he was in that accident. She gave Dotty some excuse about how Mr. Stedman didn't have any family and that she was happy to help him. Dotty expected that her daughter was involved with her boss…co-worker…whatever he was. She just wasn't ready to share him with her family. Dotty understood, but she would still like to know who her daughter's mystery man was. Amanda dodging her questions wasn't going to stop her from asking about him every chance she could.
"Oh Mother, I am not sure if Mr. Stedman would like to come to a play like this. l don't think its his taste."
"Uh huh…I can't imagine it would be anyone's." Dotty rolled her eyes at Amanda.
"Mother! Come on…this isn't a bad play."
Dotty went over and kissed Amanda's cheek. "Whatever you say Darling. I will still be there cheering you on….maybe you could talk Mr. Stedman into coming. We can invite him for dinner as well. I think that would be lovely…don't you?"
Amanda's eyes went straight back to her script. "We'll see Mother. Good night."
Dotty smiled as she walked up the stairs. She called out "Good Night my loves."
I have got to figure out a way to see this man. Amanda had kept him a secret for way too long. I have wondered if there is something going on between them. Maybe that's why Amanda has been so secretive. Maybe someday I will get to meet this elusive Mr. Stedman. Dotty shook her head and went off to start her bubble bath.