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they will be unrelenting. Do not let the tempters lead you into behaving like someone other than who
you truly are, or you will lose track of yourself, and of the still, small voice within you that keeps you
true to yourself, and the path of right."
He stood immobile for a second, and the audience caught their breath, not quite understanding
and not even understanding what they weren't understanding, for they'd never been through this before.
Then Merlo dimmed the lights.
The shocked surprise held for a second or two more of silence in the dark. Then, suddenly,
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someone started to clap, and in a second, the whole room thundered with applause.
Merlo brought the lights up again. Barry stepped away from the lectern and bowed, and the
applause redoubled. When it started to slacken, he straightened, stepped over to the counter, and, one by
one, pulled the veils off the actors' heads. As each came off, the applause rose again as the actor's head
nodded forward in the closest it could come to a bow. The applause crested, then started to decline, then
soared up again as the next veil came off. Finally, Suzanne's veil lifted, and the applause smashed
against the walls applause mingled with cries of outrage and condemnation, but also cries of
admiration, and outright wolf whistles.
When it finally started to dwindle, Barry nodded, then bowed, and all four heads bowed with him.
The applause washed over them in a tidal wave, held, then receded- and the actors straightened as
Merlo dimmed out the lights.
The applause went on awhile in the dark. It even went on after Merlo had brought up the house
lights. Then, and only then, did the men and women rise with sighs of satisfaction, and regret that it was
over, as they gathered up their coats and shawls and headed for the aisles, and the door.
I writhed my way between them, then slipped into the vacated seats and vaulted over them row by
row, up onto the stage. I just had to tell them all what a great job they had done.
I found them all clasping one another arm in arm, grinning from ear to ear, and telling one another
how wonderfully they'd done, even Marnie.
Then Suzanne started to slump.
18
I was at her side in a second, kneeling and rubbing her hand. I can't imagine what earthly good it
could do, but it was what the romances always said the hero was supposed to do when the heroine
swooned, so I did it, while I prattled inanely, "What's the matter, Suze?" Then, realizing how ridiculous
that sounded, "It's okay now. It's over. No one's going to hurt you."
"I I didn't really think they would," Suzanne gasped, "but & Oh, Ramou! It was so scary, the way
they yelled and hooted at me!"
'Tribute to your acting," I assured her.
"But they didn't mean it for Salome, they meant it for me! She turned and flung her arms around
me, burying her face in my shoulder, and she didn't start crying, but her whole body trembled. I hugged
tight, but not crushing, stroking her back with one hand, closing my eyes to savor the feel of her body
against mine, of her against me, and had the good sense not to speak, just to be there.
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I looked at Ramou holding Suzanne, and knew that Prudence had lost, if she had ever had any
chance of being more than a mild amusement to Ramou, anyway. Suzanne, of course, had won but she
had won months ago, back on Terra. She just hadn't had the good sense to pick up her winnings. I hoped
she would, this time, but I doubted it. I had come to realize, though, that her reluctance wasn't really a
matter of career being all-important to her, more important than love and bonding that was only the
excuse for something more deeply seated, far more.
"She will be all right, Horace," Barry assured me. "It was a frightening audience, you must admit. I
felt as if I were weathering the storm of five generations of pent-up frustration, all coming out at once."
"You probably were." I gazed at Ramou and Suzanne, with Lacey standing behind, ashen-faced,
and Mamie towering over them like an avenging angel, just daring any of those hypocritical Puritans to
lay a hand on one of her companions. "But yes, I am sure she will be well."
"Mr. Tallendar!"
Barry turned about, and I with him to find all seven deacons standing there in the hall, fairly
glowing with satisfaction heightened by apprehension. "An excellent lecture, Mr. Tallendar! I have
never seen anything like it!"
"It was a rare experience, gentlemen," Barry assured them. "Your people constitute a most
enthusiastic audience."
"Aye. We have never heard the like," Deacon Joram said, the apprehension winning out in his face
for the moment. "We are somewhat concerned about the intensity of their excitement, Mr. Tallendar. It
cannot be good for folk to become so stirred up."
"I am tempted to agree," Barry said slowly, "but I do not think you would find this degree of
emotion worrisome, if it were the result of listening to a sermon."
"Well, there is some truth in that," Joram admitted, "for in a sermon, all their feelings are directed
toward the actions that lead to salvation. Here, though, Mr. Tallendar, you have finished by aiming them
away from vices, but have not sent them toward virtues."
"However, there is no question that you must perform again tomorrow night!" The chairman
handed Barry a slip of paper. "Here is the bank draft for your thousand, minus the cost of the hall, as we
agreed but there were easily as many people who could not get into the hall, Mr. Tallendar, as there
were people inside! You agreed to a second presentation, under such circumstances."
As I remembered it, Barry had been the one to raise the possibility but I wasn't about to object.
Neither was Barry. "We will be delighted," he said, taking the check.
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"But . . ." Joram glanced at his fellow deacons, then turned back to Barry. "But perhaps there could
be one slight change, Mr. Tallendar."
Barry tensed, though not overly much he was used to altering the play to fit the desires of the
audience, had even undertaken play doctoring as a secondary profession. "What change would that be,
gentlemen?"
"As we said, we are concerned about the intensity of the emotion that arose," Joram said. "We think
it may have been due to your description of Salome's dance."
Barry frowned. "I would scarcely call that salacious or obscene, Deacon."
"No, no, as it was written, it was in very good taste!" Joram hastened to assure him. "Decorous,
quite decorous! But as it was delivered, Mr. Tallendar, with the emotions in your voice and the & aura
of dancing your lady created, it was far more inflaming than it appeared in the manuscript."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Suzanne lift her tear-streaked face and turn to watch us,
frowning. I heard Ramou murmur, "It's a compliment, Suze," but she watched us closely anyway.
"I suppose we could gloss over it a bit," Barry said. "I must teU you, though, gentlemen, that the
role was far more demanding on Ms. Souci than she had anticipated. We might substitute a different
head tomorrow night."
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