She had no idea what unblocking was, but it was pretty enjoyable watching Mrs. Amberson getting ordered around for a change. For the first few minutes, Billy had her run in a circle, barefoot, in the middle of the stage. He started to command her to say single words, like “home,” “feel,” “kill,” “love,” all at different volumes. He made her cling to the wall, crawl across the floor, run laps from side to side on the stage. All the while, he stalked around her like a lion tamer.

Scarlett watched this for a while, until the cool darkness of the theater lulled her back to sleep. She woke with a crick in her neck, her head hanging heavily off the back of the seat, to see Mrs. Amberson rolling from side to side on the floor, yelling the word “endless.”

“I needed that,” she said, getting up and dusting herself off.

“Why do I feel that you didn’t just come down here at the crack of dawn to do a tune-up?” he asked.

“You have an uncanny ability to read me, Billy. As it happens, I have acquired a show.”

“What do you mean you acquired a show?” he asked. “Wait. Never mind. Don’t answer that. I genuinely don’t want to know.”

“These are good actors,” she said. “Very good. But they need molding, solid vocal training. And you are the best…”

“Amy…”

“I would never ask this from you on a whim,” she said. “Not you.”

A grave moment passed between them. Billy walked over to the piano and picked up a datebook and flipped through some pages.

“How many?” he asked.

“Fifteen.”

“Doing what?”

“Hamlet.”

“And I take it you need me immediately?”

“Today.”

More flipping.

“Okay,” he finally said. “You’ve run into a little luck. I wouldn’t be doing this for anyone but you, but…I can do two evenings this week. Tonight and Friday. Four hours on Saturday during the day. That’s all I’ve got. Then I have to spend some quality time with my long-neglected family at the beach. I haven’t had any time off in months.”

“Billy!”

She embraced him aggressively.

“You’re out of practice,” Billy replied, shaking his head. “The smoking makes it worse.”

“I know, I know. No lectures, please.”

“It’s my job,” he said.

“No,” she said. “You are just a nosy bitch.”

“Also my job. I’ll expect to see you and your new company at my studio at seven.”

THE OTHER FAMOUS WHITEHOUSE

After the early morning session, Scarlett was released at nine-thirty in the morning with one order—contact every single actor and crew member and make sure they got to Billy’s studio on time. That meant waiting for Spencer to get home from work, which really meant going back to sleep for an hour or so.

The lingering smell of overly strong coffee and burned toast wafted through the lobby as Scarlett entered it. Their father was on his knees in the far corner of the lobby, by the elevator, hammer in hand.