I walk into the room

Finally

 I have been waiting

Outside

In the fluorescently lit room

Sitting

On a cracked, vinyl chair

Waiting

Just waiting
With a sea of kids

My age

Good kids

Great kids

Kids rehearsing

With their parents

Or by themselves

Muttering

The lines

I know so well

I scope out

My competition

There is a girl

With red hair

Who sits next to me

Her mother yells

At her

She yells rude things

When the girl forgets

A line

Or says it wrong

I do not know

Why she yells

The girl is very good

Maybe the best

 In the

Fluorescently lit room

I am

Number 262

Finally

Finally

They call me

Into the room

Past the red door

That every kid

Sitting on a

Cracked, vinyl chair

Wishes to go through

And three faces

Stare up at me

They stare

And smile

Not a nice smile

They look tired

Very tired

I can imagine

I am the 262^nd person

They have seen

Since early that morning

Since I first sat down

In that

Cracked, vinyl chair

In that

Fluorescently lit room

“Hello,” a woman says

Pleasantly

Very pleasantly

But I look past her voice

Read her face

I am an actor

I understand

Emotion

Hers is

Stressed

Tired

Maybe even
Bored

I take a breath

A deep breath

Clear my throat

Smile

Smiles help

Then I begin

The street light
From the window

Outside

Illuminates

Her face

It is dark

Outside

Already night

I have spent

A whole day

In that

Fluorescently lit room

Sitting in that

Cracked, vinyl chair

I say the first

Line

The first word

Even

Already

It is wrong

I can see it

In their

Faces

I ask to start again

But they shake their heads

“Keep going.”

I continue

But I don’t really

Try

I already know

I am

Out

The man

The frowning man

Who sits

In between the two women

Holds up his

Hand

Stops me

“Thank you,”

He says
Grimly

But it is clear

He is not

Thankful

At all

The other

Woman

Smiles apologetically

I stuff

My hands in my

Pockets

And go back out

Through the red door

The red haired girl

Is next

I smile as she

Goes in

But she only

Frowns

At me

A nasty frown

Her mother also

Frowns

And glares

At my mother

My mother looks
Away

She is new

To the business

We both are

We don’t understand

The unfriendly

Atmosphere

I shrug my shoulders

At my mother and she

Hugs me

Every parent and actor

Stares

At her

Sympathy

The red haired girl

Comes back out

Crying

Her mother rises

Yells

Shouts

Grabs the girl

And drags her

Away

My mother glances

At me

I roll

My eyes

We walk out

Of the

Fluorescently lit room
Away from the sea of

Cracked, vinyl chairs

To our car

Waiting silently in the

Full parking lot

It is past

Dinner now

We stop at a fast food restaurant

For a bite to eat

We have been there

Since breakfast

All for those five minutes

In the room past

The red door

That is how it always is

A lot of waiting

Not much time

But it is all worth it

When you get that call

Late at night

Telling you

To come back in

Two weeks

So you can start

The read throughs.