"They sho' loved each other."
John Roe sat with his cousin, Emily, looking at family photos. They were in England, waiting for Tom Hanks to stop by with the man who was supposed to be portraying Eugene.
Emily had laughed loudly when she first heard it was a Brit. While she also had a keen interest in acting, having done a few plays wherein she did accents, she wasn't quite optimistic an English man could do a Cajun accent authentically.
John and Emily studied the photos of Eugene and Alice.
They laughed at one where a snowball was hitting Eugene in the face while Alice laughed. It was clearly from when Easy was still based in England. It looked as if they were posing for a cute photo when one of the boys decided to ruin it.
On the bottom it was captioned: Taken by Luz. Snow thrown by Hoobler.
They "awed" at an up close one with Bill Gaurnere and Eugene kissing Alice's cheeks.
They smiled adoringly at a candid shot of the couple kissing under a tree.
A knock on the door startled them.
"I'll get it." John gruffed.
Emily nodded, pulling out a letter that had been tucked into the album.
It was from Eugene to Alice. Dated December 1944.
Tears came to her eyes as she read it. She quickly put it away as the guests were welcomed in.
John introduced himself and then turned to Emily.
"This here is my cousin, Emily. She's Alice's Aunt Cynthia's granddaughter, so I guess that makes her my second cousin." John said.
Emily nodded to the gentlemen putting her hand out to shake, locking eyes with Shane Taylor.
"Pleasure to meet you." Shane said. "May I say, you look nearly identical to Alice?"
Emily rolled her eyes with a laugh. "I get that a lot. The only difference is-"
"Your hair." Shane finished with a chuckle.
Emily grinned, nervously tucking her dark hair behind an ear. "Yup, my paternal genetics won on that part."
They realized they were still shaking hands and quickly released, noting the smirks from Tom Hanks and John.
Tom cleared his throat as if to get to the point.
"So, this man here will be playing Eugene. And we were wondering what we should look for when casting Alice."
"She better be good at flowing from one accent to the next if she has a large speaking role." Emily stated, sitting back down on her spot on the couch.
"Come again?" Tom asked.
Shane looked intrigued.
John laughed. "Grandma was born in Pennsylvania, lived there fo' seven years, but lived in Ireland fo' five years, and then England for ten. Her mama was American and her papa was Irish. She had a unique voice."
"Quite the challenge." Shane agreed.
"If anyone can do it, Emily can." John laughed. "Em, do your Alice impersonation."
Emily blushed. "You're putting me on the spot here, John."
"Can you do it?" Tom asked.
"Well, yeah, I can... just not the best on command." Emily said nervously. "I wouldn't even know what to say."
"Try talking like you are now, but with her accent." Shane suggested. "Get into character, so to speak."
Emily took a deep breath and thought about her Aunt Alice. How she would talk, phrases she would say, and her mannerisms.
She smiled, opening her eyes and looking around the room.
"Would ye like t'look at some pictures?" Emily asked, her voice flowing in the unique Alice lilt.
The guests gaped at her while John smirked.
"Very unique." Shane commented.
"Ve'y Alice." Emily stated.
Shane grinned. "Mr. Hanks, d'you think Emily could play Alice?"
Emily's eyes widened.
Tom looked at her. "You are almost a dead ringer. Are you interested in acting?"
"I jist finished a musical in my local theater." Emily explained, still in Alice's voice. "'Ve been in plays and musicals since Kindergarten."
"What musical?" Shane asked, curious.
"Fiddler on the Roof. I was Hodel."
"She played Éponine in Les Misérable last year." John added. "She was also an adorable child Cosette when she was 6."
Shane smirked at Emily while she blushed.
"John! Ye don't 'ave't' give 'em me 'ole 'ist'ry." Emily snapped in embarrassment.
Shane and Tom looked at one another and nodded.
"Tell you what. I'll get ahold of the casting director, we'll have you read a few lines with Shane, and then we'll see if the chemistry is there."
Emily looked at John who nodded. "The audition is a fo'mality, I just know it. Emily is perfect for it."
He then turned to Shane. "Have you been workin' wi' that dialect coach you mentioned?"
Shane nodded. "I'm working on how deep I want to go. We need the viewers to be able to understand me."
John laughed. "Come on, let's look at those photos. We even have a few letters the couple sent each other."
The guests agreed and everyone sat around the album.
Both John and Emily took turns telling the stories they knew behind each photograph.
They let Shane have the honor of reading the letters.
Tom pulled out his camera and took pictures of the album, the letters, and a few candid shots of Emily and Shane enraptured in conversation.
Emily still kept up the accent.
Tom gave a sideways glance at John, who winked at him.
Yes, the audition would definitely only be a formality. No doubt about it.
Tom looked at a photo, dated October 1943. Bill Gaurnere was holding something to his face while Alice had her hands on her hips, looking very cross.
The caption read: "Never make Alice angry."
"Miss Novek?" Tom asked. "Do you know the story behind this one?"
Emily looked at the picture, laughed heartily and nodded.
"That was the day of the mutiny against Sobel." She began...