Chapter 1911 A Lesson In Improv
The trio arrived before the cameras and prepared themselves in accordance with the script. Joy was calm as she had already memorized her lines and rehearsed her expressions as many times as was possible. Her father’s presence and encouragement the night before seemed to have emboldened her greatly.
Evan sat close to the front. Upon catching his daughter’s eye, he smiled reassuringly and gave her a thumbs-up which Joy reciprocated.
Zayden, on the other hand, appeared slightly nervous. Something’s wrong. I swear I’d memorized my lines, but I can’t remember any of them now!
Sheila watched her son struggle and was forcibly reminded of the incident at the poetry recital. With a resigned sigh, she strode at once and knelt next to him. “You got this, Zayden. I believe in you! There’s no need to be nervous.”
Zayden’s hands twisted in his lap uncomfortably. “I forgot my lines, Mommy,” he whispered as he gazed up at her before lowering his gaze quickly as though expecting a scolding for having done something wrong.
How could he have forgotten? I’d watched him work on it just last night!
Fearing that a public reprimand would be counter-productive, Sheila suppressed her irritation at her son by handing him the script instead. “Here, refresh your memory.”
Zayden scanned through his lines hurriedly. “I remember now, Mommy.”
Sheila patted him on the shoulder. “Do your best.”
After the break was over, the director called for the crew to take their positions. “Action!”
Zayden took a deep breath and pointed at Yuvan, who stood some distance away. “Look,” he shouted, enunciating like he was told. “There’s a weird person over there.”
Yuvan knelt on the floor in the bitter cold. Clad in a thin shirt, he stared vacantly at a half-eaten apple on the ground with a convincing air of desperate hesitance.
After a quick and shifty gaze around, he reached out to snatch the apple and hungrily took big bites out of it.
At the director’s cue, Joy strode over and allowed her eyes to travel up and down Yuvan curiously. “Aren’t you cold to be dressed in such a thin shirt?”
Yuvan gazed at Joy with terrified silence.
Zayden shuffled closer. “You can’t eat that! The apple has…”
Oh no, I forgot my lines again!
Yuvan was beginning to feel nervous himself at the sight of Zayden scratching his head. “The apple has been laying on the ground,” he recited Zayden’s lines for the latter. “One will get sick if one eats it.”
Zayden nodded vigorously. “That’s right! You’re right. The apple has been laying on the ground. You’ll get sick if you eat that.”
“That’s fine,” Yuvan replied as he took another bite. “I’m too hungry to care!”
Zayden frowned. That wasn’t in the script.
“I’m supposed to say the apple has been laying on the ground, and you should be acting afraid and hide the apple in your pocket, Yuvan. Why are you still eating it?”
“You forgot your lines. It would have sounded too disjointed if we stuck to the script after I helped you out with your line there. Some improvisation was necessary.”
“What do you propose to change?” Zayden asked.
“I will insist on eating the apple, and you will try your best to take my apple away,” Yuvan suggested.
Finding Yuvan’s improvisation agreeable, Zayden reached out instinctively to take the apple, but Yuvan held on to it tightly.
“Give it to me!”
“No!”
“Give it!”
“No!”
The director stood flabbergasted at the scene, which had lost all sense of logic.
“Why would a boy from a rich family be fighting with a retard for an apple? That’s not right.”
“Why not?” Zayden protested, already invested in the spin-off. “Despite my rich background, I’m still a thoughtful boy. I am worried that he will fall ill, so I’m doing my best to prevent him from eating the apple.”
“I’d misunderstood the rich boy’s intentions,” Yuvan added hurriedly. “I thought that he had wanted to take my apple from me. That was why I did not let go.”
The director exchanged a startled glance with the rest of the crew. Look at these two trying to improvise the scene! It’s going to turn into a train wreck if I don’t put my foot down.
Instead, they decided to humor Zayden and Yuvan. “What next?” asked the assistant director. “How would the scene go?”
