Shipwrecked.

Thirty pages took a long time to print.

Lindsey got to rehearsal at 7:00 instead of 6:30 with a schedule and a wrong date. Pat caught it and the date was fixed. Excited actors milled about. Lindsey got scripts out and had them write their names on the top.

She didn't have a sign-in sheet.

She didn't have a waver for them to sign.

Pat went over the rules of the theater. Then the reading began.

Three men short and one boy short.

A few mispronounced words.

A boy with the fewest lines took the longest to read them.

"My brother died."

Brother: "You wish!"

Everyone laughed. But it went worst from there. Back on track, they got through the script, Lindsey playing several parts.

Afterwards they came with the conflicts they could have told her before had the theater told her which dates she could hold rehearsal. "Do the best you can," was the answer they got.

Then the man with the deep radio voice, gave the script back and said he couldn't do the show.

She couldn't replace them. At this point, she couldn't cut them either.

Pat lowered the lights and people shuffled outside the door, standing in a happy cluster.

"They can't cut up like that."

"They can't read."

"That man can't act and he has a big part!"

"He quit because the kids were acting up."

Those words were mispronounced.

Lindsey assured her that she would be addressing all of these factors at the line rehearsal.

Then had to shoo the actors away so she could leave and go to rehearsal (theater rules that no one was left on the premises.)

Marie, blessed woman, told Lindsey the script was done so well. Which helped her worry that it came across as overly-sappy or overly-factual.

Two hours later, she still felt like throwing up. She still needed men.

She needed her little boy.

And a stage manager.

And if she was honest, she was both worried sick she'd understood wrong, or done something wrong. Where was God? Was he coming through? She was failing at the very first rehearsal.

She shouldn't have added parts. She should have taken them out. But if she didn't add them, then the two culprits would have even larger roles to struggle to read and work their way through.

Well. She would learn. She'd somehow figure out how to come across as confident, kind and maintaining order. This would be easier at the Palace theater - while not nearly as nice, it came with less regulations and worried owners.

God help her.

She felt like everything was already falling apart.