ANNIE'S SONG
copyright 2007 by Sabra Brown Steinsiek
Whiskey Creek Press
ISBN
E-Book 928-1593-74-810-4 Paperback 928-1593-74-810-8
ATTENTION: Only the first nine chapters will be posted here before Annie’s Song is released by Whiskey Creek Press on November 1, 2007. Reading this excerpt may be addicting and you may feel compelled to buy the book (I hope!). No amount of whining or gifts of chocolate will make me reveal anything past the end of Chapter 9!
You’ve been warned!
Chapter 4
After a third curtain call, the house lights came up and people began to gather their belongings while they talked about the performance they’d just seen. Timing Is Everything starred Morgan Collins, a.k.a. Annie Morgan, who had taken over Broadway five years ago at the tender age of eighteen. She was perfect in the role of a young woman new to the big city and building a new life. There was already talk of another Tony to go with the one she’d earned for Sundown four years before.
Kit unfolded his lanky frame from the chair and held out his hand to his date, Susan. They had dated on and off for a while now, but it was nothing serious. She was in the graduate writing program with him, and they shared an interest in theater. When his mother, who had a last-minute conflict, offered him the tickets, he’d thought of Susan right away. “Shall we go see if Annie will talk to the peasants?”
“Why do you call her ‘Annie’?”
“She and my sister are good friends, so she was around my house a lot when they were teenagers. Annie is her real name.”
“Whatever she calls herself, she’s an amazing actress. I’m looking forward to meeting her.”
They joined the small crowd that waited outside the stage door, and it wasn’t long before the actors began emerging. Annie and her leading man were popular, graciously signing autographs and talking with those who were waiting. Kit and Susan waited until the crowd cleared and Annie spotted them.
“Hi!” she said, coming over and giving Kit a hug. “I didn’t know you were coming tonight. I would have left your name at the door so you didn’t have to wait.”
“I didn’t know we were coming. Mom couldn’t make it and passed the tickets on to me. Annie, this is Susan Whitman, one of my fellow writers. We were going to get a bite to eat,” Kit said. “Can you join us?”
“That would be great, but I have another idea. Why don’t you come to my place? I can call and order something, and we can pick it up on the way. Do you like Chinese?”
Chinese it was. Annie called in the order, and they boarded the subway for the short ride to SoHo. After picking up their food, they walked down the block to Morganna’s, where Annie took out her key.
“You live in a dress shop?” Kit asked.
“Not exactly,” Annie said with a laugh and led them to the side entrance of the building, where she used her key to let them in. “My sister Betta owns and designs for Morganna’s. The second floor is where she has her studio and designs couture wedding gowns.”
“Your sister is Elizabetta?” Susan said. “If I ever get married, it will be in one of her gowns. She does such innovative designs.”
“She just did my best friend’s dress. Dante is Kit’s cousin, and he and I reconnected at the wedding.”
They rode up in the elevator, which opened directly into the third-floor loft. As the two women headed to the kitchen area with the food, Kit stood in the elevator doorway, overwhelmed by the space and quiet. This, he thought, must be what writer’s heaven is like.
“Come in, Kit!” Annie called. “Would you like a tour?”
“Sure,” he said as he finally stepped into the large room that held living room furniture and a small dining set. The kitchen was at one end, and the wall he was facing had three doors.
Annie grinned and said, “You’re standing in the living room. This is the kitchen, that middle door is the bath, and the other two are the bedrooms. It’s pretty compact.”
“And you live here alone?”
“I guess I do now. Dante was my roommate, and I haven’t decided if I’m going to replace her.”
For a moment his hopes flared...then immediately plummeted. The rent for this place must be incredible. He’d never be able to swing it.
As if she’d read his mind, Annie said, “I’d never be able to afford this place if it weren’t for my sister’s kindness in charging me a ‘family rate’ on the rent. She converted this floor when she opened the shop and lived here until her first child arrived. The timing was great for me.”
They fixed plates, sat at the small table, and concentrated on the food for a few minutes. With their immediate hunger satisfied, Kit said, “I should have said something sooner, Annie. You were incredible tonight. I forgot you were someone I knew; I believed completely you were that girl.”
“Thanks, Kit. I was beginning to wonder if you’d hated it and were afraid to say so!”
“No! I just couldn’t find the words. What you made happen on stage was so real, I felt like I was caught in a time warp and had to find my way back to this plane of existence. I hope I can write something half as good someday.”
Annie was pleased with his comments. “I think it’s pretty terrific, too. We have a great cast to work with, and the critics have been kind.”
“If you don’t mind my asking,” Susan said, “why did you change your name? Not that Morgan Collins isn’t nice!”
Annie started to laugh. She sang “Tomorrow...tomorrow…”—the song from the musical Annie. Kit quickly realized the joke: the red-haired Annie Morgan didn’t want to be associated with that image.
“Then where did the name come from?” Kit asked.
“Collins is my mother’s maiden name and my middle name. I just dropped the Annie and switched the others and, voilà, Morgan Collins, actress, was born. It also meant I wouldn’t be trading on my father’s name. I didn’t want to get a break just because I was Taylor Morgan’s daughter. No one knew at my first audition, and I got the part. Of course, it’s not a secret anymore.”
Susan stopped with her chopsticks halfway to her open mouth. “Collins Morgan? Your mother is Laura Collins Morgan? She’s a fantastic writer!”
“I’ll be sure to tell her you think so.”
“So do we still call you ‘Annie’?”
“If you’re my friend, you do. I’m still plain old Annie Morgan in my real life.”
“Hardly!” Susan said. “With the talent you have....”
Kit tuned them out as they talked. He looked around the loft with true envy. All this space and quiet...if only.
(October 8)
