Imagine Trying

Greg never liked the cliche about down on their luck actors working as waiters so grocery bagger seemed one better.

It was a comfortable profession, paid pretty decently and he even had a cool work buddy, Rose.

Sure sometimes the hours were a little hectic ,but hey what can you do?

Like when your boss decides to put you in charge of locking up for the night because of a quote on quote 'dental emergency'.

Greg was on his sixth or seventh Splish as he leaned against the kitchen sink in the employee break room. Rose sat across from him at the table by the vending machines.

"Daisy got in trouble today at school for sticking a crayon up some other kid's nose."She muttered softly, almost drowned out by the hum of the mini fridge. With five younger siblings to take of at home, Rose valued quiet.

Greg chuckled. "Sounds like your day went as well as mine. Chip got onto me for 'not bagging the veggies right.' Apparently putting the tomatoes in first is a big no no."

Rose snorted, softly. "Heck if I know. Only been working here a month."

Greg shrugged. " Ha, I've been here a year already and it feels like I'm still doing everything wrong."

Rose pursed her lips. "So….that audition's tonight right?"

Greg sighed, rubbing the back of his shoulder. "Supposed to be, yeah. Think I might just skip it though…I mean we don't know when Chip's gonna get back and, you know this play just isn't really speaking to me I don't think."

Neither were the five others he 'almost' auditioned for this month.

Rose tilted her head. "You sure….I coulda sworn you liked Phantom of the Opera?"

Greg shrugged again. "I mean sure ,but….you know no one really looks at this." He gestured to, well, himself. "And sees some big intimidating phantom."

Or a spunky, slicked haired teen in the 1950s, or the leader of a French revolution, or a cat…..

"Too boring."

"Too generic."

"Too side character-ish."

"You're just, not meant for the spotlight."

Greg shook his head. Yeah….now just, wasn't the right time.


Chip Whistler was an, interesting boss to say the least.

Greg had never meant someone so uncaring and yet so needlessly meticulous. He scorned their customers whenever he got the chance, calling them rubes and what not, and yet if so much as a carrot was out of place he'd lose his mind.

"How many times do I have to tell you, the labels are supposed to face out." Chip raved at some poor shelf stocker on the other side of the aisle.

"I'm s-sorry boss. I-"

"Then do it right." Chip barked as he stormed back to his office.

Greg sighed, as he watched Rose come up to pat the poor kid on the shoulder, mothering as always.

"It's not your fault. He's just taking his anger out on you cause of the lack of customers."

Greg sighed as he went back to feeding the spider that made home on his register. Now that was an understatement. Chip was biting everyone's head off lately, like a lot more than usual.

That and he was more stressed than a bottle of Splish waiting to burst open, Greg wasn't actually sure he'd seen the blonde even leave the store the other night…or the night before.

Was he sleeping in his office?

"That can't be healthy." Greg said to himself as he went back to feeding Mr. Whimbleton. Not a bad name for a spider, he thought.


Wow, this was…different.

"Never thought I'd see Big City from this high up." Greg said to Rose as they stood by side in Chip's new office.

Who knew one late night rondevu over a bag of coffee beans could take them here….

"Never thought he'd actually get to be ceo." Martin from produce said nonchalantly as he finished packing away the last of Mr. Whistler's things.

Greg perked up, turning to look over his shoulder. "What do you mean?"

Martin shrugged, lowering his voice to a whisper despite Chip's absence. "Y'all haven't been here long so you don't know, but let's just say this isn't the first time Mr. Whistler's considered retirement. He almost got to last year, but then ole Chip decided to go ahead and mess it all up by yelling at a customer. Did right in front of his daddio too and he got told he wasn't 'ready' yet."

Greg raised his brows. Chip wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, sure, but he wasn't an idiot. Specially when it came to saving face…weird

Martin shrugged again as he wheeled out the boxes of Mr. Whistler's belongings. "Guess even jerks like Chip can surprise you, who knew?"

Greg stared after Martin long after his silhouette disappeared from the doorway. He was only broken from his trance when Chip came storming back in.

"Okay, first and only order of business, run the Greens out of Big City!"

Greg sighed, rubbing his forehead. At least some things never change.


"To be or not to…uh line?"

"Meow." Greg chuckled as he patted the head of his siamese kitty. "Thanks Calcifer."

The actor jolted as he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. "Hello?"

"Hey Greg?" Rose asked as the sounds of children shouting rang out in the background. "I'm sorry I know it's late ,but can I ask a favor? I left my purse in Chip's office earlier and I'm afraid to go by myself to get it. Do you mind coming with me? I'll buy you a Splishy."

"Uh, yeah sure thing."

Granted he still had to memorize his lines for the audition tomorrow morning, buuuuuuut, Shakespeare in the park wasn't really his thing anyway.

"Thanks, I owe you one."


"Thanks again." Rose smiled as the elevator doors opened. "I know it's silly, but I just hate going anywhere in this city alone at night."

"No, I totally understand." Greg nodded. "Lived here my whole life and I still get scared about getting jumped."

He was just glad they had special clearance. Being the boss's little minions did have its perks from time to time.

The halls were mostly unlit as they walked down the clean carpet all the way to Chip's office.

Strange he must have forgotten to turn the light off before he-

"Oh. Cripe."

The entire office was a mess. Papers scattered the floor from door to window, all in a big chaotic circle, at the center of which was Chip Whistler, passed out with botany magazine plastered to his forehead.

"Uh Chip?"

The blonde jolted, eye's snapping open like a soda can as he bolted upright.

"What the-What time is it?!"

Greg quirked a brow as he looked at his watch. "Uh, a little after midnight."

"Oh… right," Chip yawned as he hopped to his feet, staggering slightly. "What do you want?"

"Uh, well uh it's just that Rose left her purse here and…"

Chip's gaze narrowed harshly as he eyed the both of them like they were intruders. "And that's my problem because?"

"Well it's not." Greg defended with his hands raised as Rose dove around him to nab her purse from where it leaned against the window. "It's just you asked so…"

Chip blinked, like he couldn't believe he was still talking to them. "Whatever." With that the blonde bent back down to scoop up a handful of papers, muttering to himself about crop rotation.

Greg and Rose shared a look.

"So uh…whatcha doing…boss?"

Chip paused, turning to look over his shoulder with a scowl. "Uh, what is it look like I'm doing? That lame farmer meet and greet my dad does every year at Farm Con is in two days and I'm not about to embarrass myself in front of a bunch of dumb country hicks."

Chip raised the papers in his grip for emphasis. "So I'm getting my talking points prepared beforehand."

Greg raised both brows. "Oh that's….good?"

Chip scoffed. " You're still here? What do I pay you to talk now?"

"Uh no actually you pay us an hourly wage of-"

"That was obviously rhetorical Greg."

Greg zipped his lips, again sharing eye contact with Rose as she fumbled with her purse.

They should just, leave right?

Chip clearly didn't want them there, they didn't want to be there.

So…why was he instead bending down to pick a loose piece of paper?

Greg couldn't help ,but wince as he looked over it, paragraph upon paragraph wrapped in a bunch of farming jargon. Fun stuff.

"So how's that going?"

"Great." Chip bit out sarcastically, refusing to look at them this time. He sat at his desk and typed something up on his laptop.

Greg pursed his lips, giving into his curious nature and leaning over Chip's shoulder to see what he was doing.

How to memorize thirty pages worth of information in two days? Was typed in the search bar.

"Uh, hey."

Chip growled something guttural and looked up at Greg with little patience present in his fiery gaze.

Greg sucked in a breath, silently thanking Rose for her patience this whole time. "You know I uh, I'm kind of an actor so I uh, I have experience with memorization. I could help you get this all… digested before Farm Con?"

Chip cocked a flat brow. "You, an actor? What have you been in?"

Greg gritted his teeth. "Oh psh, you know tons of stuff. Like there was this showing of Wizard of Boz a few years back, guess who was tree number four?"

Greg took another breath as he snatched Chip's papers out his hand. "Hey!" The ceo barked.

"So like one of your problems is that you're not breaking this up at all. You need this stuff to be more digestible. Do you have any notecards?"

Greg didn't really wait for an answer as he leaned over a befuddled Chip and pulled open the desk drawer to search for some, emboldened by the fact he hadn't been fired yet.


The day of Farm Con was a bustling one for sure. Greg's hands nervously gripped the schedule as they wove through the throngs of people.

Chip had a half hour to wander around before the meet and greet.

And boy was he making use of that time, because that was fifteen minutes ago.

"I thought he went to sit by the hay?" Greg asked Rose panickedly. "What'd he do, fly away?"

"Greg, relax." Rose comforted as she came to stand beside him. "He probably just went to the bathroom."

"But the meet and greet starts in fifteen." Greg shot back, checking his watch again to make sure.

"And Chip'll be there." Rose reasoned with a soft smile.


"Alright I need you to cancel all my plans for the remainder of the day."

Greg blinked. What?

"B-but what about the farmer meet and greet? If you don't go those farmers will be neither met nor gret?" Greg argued as Rose boldly nodded her head yes in agreement.

"Forget those losers. A wonderful opportunity has presented itself."

Greg would've sighed if he didn't think that would get him fired. He wished he didn't know where this was going…

"I'm gonna sabotage Bill Green's big speech."

Yeah, he figured.

Kind of a shame, they spent day and night helping him prepare for this stupid thing…..,but hey..it just wasn't the right time, apparently.


Greg's job was comfortable ,even with a crazed boss like Chip.

His apartment was comfortable, if a bit small.

His life was comfortable, even if he wasn't meant for the spotlight.

It was all comfortable because it was so wonderfully…. predictable.

Ten minutes left till the meet and greet. Not that it mattered.

They were backstage now, just waiting for Bill Green to show up.

"Rose, do you have the peanut butter and saltines?"

Rose nodded begrudgingly as she produced the snack she'd been saving for after the meet and greet. Even at a con as humble as farm Con concessions still cost an arm and a leg.

Greg's gaze flickered back to his watch. Eight minutes left now.

Maybe… there was still tim-No Chip would never go for that. Greg swore the only thing the blonde had a passion for was trying to ruin the Greens-...Wait.

Maybe to Chip this was comfort.

This stupid song and dance, because maybe acting like he only cared about taking down the Greens was…..just another way to avoid actually trying.

Because….when you try at something, you put yourself out there and…sometimes it doesn't work out. So hey, always better to pretend you don't care to begin with.

That way you can't get hurt.

Greg's eyes widened, he didn't know what caused him to move forward, but he'd already grabbed ahold of Chip's shoulder before he had time to take it back.

Chip rolled his eyes. "Greg I already told you the bathroom's are over by the-"

"There's still time to make it to the meet and greet."

Chip frowned. "Uh, we already talked about this, that kinda gets in the way of my 5'oclock ruining a man's livelihood?"

"It's across the building ,but if we sprint we can make it." Greg reasoned as his grip slid to Chip's forearm, already edging them towards the exit.

Chip scowled, ripping his arm out of Greg's grip. "Didn't you hear me? I'm not going."

Greg bit his lip as they slowly circled each other. He should stop now, if he wanted to keep his comfortable job to afford his comfortable apartment and live his comfortable lif-

"Chip, you can do this. We practiced all night, you've got everything memorized, all you gotta do now is talk to them"

Chip scoffed, but Greg saw the darting of his eyes.

"I..." He hesitated and before the blonde could get a proper word in, Greg pressed on taking a step closer, causing Chip to take one back.

"All those farmers paid good money to see you, Chip Whistler. And you can't just leave them hanging like this just because you're…. afraid."

Greg swallowed as he looked to Rose, already regretting his words.

If only she wasn't just as frozen as he was.

Chip finally snapped out of his shock and looked at Greg like he was crazy. "Okay, I don't know what dirt you've been sniffing ,but let's get one thing clear. I'm the boss." Chip took a step closer, backing Greg against the exit. "I call the shots, and if you don't like that well then you can go ahead and quit. Kapeesh?"

Chip probably thought Greg was avoiding contact out of submission and yeah maybe that was a part of it ,but…he was also looking at Chip's right hand.

The slight tremor was almost unnoticeable, almost.

"That's what I thought." Chip snarked anyway and turned back to go look out at the edge of the stage for any sight of Bill Green.

Or at least he would have, if Rose wasn't standing in his way.

Chip quirked a brow. "Uh mind scooting over some Rose, I'm kinda trying to-"

"How long do we have?"

Greg's head shot up at the same time Chip's eyes widened.

"You can talk? I thought you were mute-"

"Seven minutes."

Rose nodded, she turned back to Chip.

"Upsies!"

Before anyone could so much as blink Rose grabbed Chip by the waist and swung him over her shoulder, pining his arms to his sides in the process.

"What the! Okay you both are so fired! Put me down right this instant!" Chip yelled, clencing his hands into fists as he vainly attempted to squirm free.

Greg's jaw practically smacked against the ground, dumbfounded.

"What? I told you I owe you one, now lead the way." Greg's eyes widened as he snapped out of it and bolted for the exit, Rose hot on his tail.

Bill Green was on the other side, note cards for his speech fluttering to the wind as they zipped past.

"Chipforgothehadapriorengagmentsosorrygoodluckwithyourspeechthoughokaybye!"


"Okay," Greg panted as they wove through the maze of booths and panels. "Our booth's just up head!"

"Let go!" Chip yelled as they sprinted the last distance to their booth, ducking behind the back curtain just in time.

They thankfully had a spare folding chair for Chip to sit in, or rather be forced into like a toddler trying to escape his high chair so he doesn't have to eat his broccoli.

"Hey-"

"Oh cripe I think I frizzed his hair, did you pack the-"

"Hair spray? Sure did." Greg handed Rose the bottle as she pinched her nose to spray it.

Chip coughed as the fumes lifted his hair. "Have both of you lost it, I-"

"Alright, remember what we talked about, don't get defensive if someone asks a question you don't know the answer to, just take a moment to collect your thoughts. No one's expecting a quip spouting robot and you don't need to have your talking points memorized word for word as long as you got the general idea."

"Do we have any-"

"Water? Yeah, I already set out a bottle for him next to the-"

"Would you stop already!" Chip suddenly yelled, catching Greg just slightly off guard. "How many times do I have to say it?! I'm not going out there!"

"Yes. You are." Again Greg's eyes widened as Rose bent down to Chip's level and placed both hands against the chair's backrest. "You're gonna go out there, you're gonna meet and greet those farmers, you're gonna be friendly, answer any questions they have and you're gonna do it all with a big,fat, shiny smile on your face. Kapeesh?" She emphasied each point by jabbing his chest with her pointer finger.

Chip gulped, fidgeting under Rose's stern gaze.

Greg could sympathize.

"Okay fine, I won't sabotage the farmer's dumb speech …so can we just leave now… do this another time….maybe next year?"

Greg gritted his teeth as he looked back to Chip's hand.

The tremble just was slightly more noticeable this time.

"No." Rose said firmly. "Because you're Chip Whistler, and Chip Whistler doesn't settle for next year."

Rose looked up and shared a look with Greg a second time.

"Let's do this."

"Wait-" Chip cried ,but it was too late they'd already grabbed his arms and hauled him up. "I uh, I have to go to the bathroom!"

"No you don't, you went as soon as we got here." Rose shot back as they pulled his stiff body through the backdrop curtain and maneuvered him into his booth chair, the sounds of the struggle just a little awkward as farmers mulled about the other booths.

"I left my phone in the van, I have to-"

"No, you asked me to hold it, remember?" Greg reminded as he took the device out of his apron pocket and set it on the table, Rose busy readying the Wholesome Foods T-shirts they brought.

"But I-" Chip tried to scoot his chair back, but Rose just came up behind him blocking the getaway and shoving him right back into place just as the first farmer came up to their booth.

"Hello Mr. Whistler, my name's Herb and I'd been hoping to ask you this all day, where do you plan on taking Wholesome Foods in the future?"

"Well I," Chip's eyes darted everywhere ,but the farmer, desperately trying to find a way out. "I.."

Greg stood back, catching Chip's gaze. He took a deep breath for show, encouraging Chip to do the same.

The blonde narrowed his gaze for half a second, before taking a breath of his own. Then he turned back to the farmer. "Well, for starters I'm planning on taking initiative to encourage more open communication between the farmers and suppliers."

Greg breathed the biggest sigh of his life as Herb tilted his head and asked Chip something about food transport, to which Chip slowly eased into a smirk as they began to back and forth.

Soon another farmer joined the line, then another…then another.

"Kind of like watching your kid's first school play." Rose joked as they sat to the side.

"Yeah," Greg laughed as they watched. Chip actually wasn't too not bad at this, he could probably charm an owl out of its feathers if he really tried.

If he tried…if.

"So that audition's tomorrow night right? You study your lines?"

Greg jolted, eyes widening as he grabbed his phone out of his pocket and opened the png of the script.

"I gotta get on that!"


"Number 47?"

Greg took a deep breath and waltzed onto the stage. The director stared up at him with her cold gaze and took out her pen. "Whenever you're ready please read lines 13,15, and 19. They're on page 6."

Greg nodded, turning the page. He couldn't remember the last time he went through the trouble of printing one.

He could do this, he could do this…

Taking one last breath Greg looked back over the non existent audience, save for the few other actors there…

And-wait a sec was that Rose?

It was, in fact, Rose. She sat in the very middle of the middle row and stared up at him with a big smile, cheekily waving hello at him as he stood there.

And right beside her, sat Chip Whistler of all people, shoulders slouched and arms folded like he didn't want to be there. As soon as he saw Greg staring at them though he perked up.

Greg couldn't help ,but smile and take another deep breath.

Show time.