A Day With Dorothy

When Mario let himself into Paige’s apartment, he was greeted by a pair of striped legs protruding from under the couch, à la Wizard of Oz.

“Has there been a tornado in here?” he shouted with mock concern.

Paige flexed her disembodied legs and bumped her head on the underside of the couch. “Ow! Ugh, Mario you scared me.”

“Well, that’s what you get for making me think I’d walked in on a dead body.” Mario plopped down on the swivel chair. “The wicked witch is dead!” he sang as he swiveled side to side.

Paige wiggled free and sat up. “You know good and well you’re the witch.”

“Fine,” Mario conceded. “You can be Dorothy. Take my shoes and let’s hit the brick road.”

Paige snorted.

“But really,” Mario emphasized, “because I parked illegally.”

“Do I look ready? I can’t go to the audition, Mario. I’ve lost it.”

Mario raised his eyebrows. “I could have told you that.” He took a spin in the chair.

Paige glared at him and suppressed a smile. “No, not my mind. My lucky keychain. The one I’ve had since I was a kid.” She circled the living room frantically.

Mario spun couple more times then stopped and spotted a framed picture by the front door, one he had seen many times before.

"Aww, look how cute we were in high school."

"Focus, Mario."

“Was Dorothy this bossy in the movie? Okay, the pink bear with the bowtie?”

“Yes and yes. You know I can’t go without it.”

Mario stood and stopped Paige in her tracks. “Paige. Look at me.”

She obliged.

“Do you think you’ve gotten all those great parts because of a magical pink bear? Do I need to shower you with compliments about your talent again? I usually save that speech for your birthday, but I will whip it out now if this emergency calls for it.”

Paige hesitated.

Mario clinked an invisible fork to an invisible glass. “Paigerita, you have the voice of Dion, the acting chops of Diaz, and the dance skills of Dewan. Heads turn when you walk into a room. Casting directors beg for you to be in their shows. You are a superstar.”

Paige visibly blushed.

Mario noticed. “Oh! And the humility of Dorothy, people!”

She slapped Mario’s shoulder and started circling the apartment again. “You gonna help? Err—sorry, I mean thank you for that. Now, you gonna help?”

“No, you don’t need it. Come on, we’re late as it is.” Mario opened the door. “Off to see the wizard. You might want to get the dust bunnies out of your hair on the way.”

Paige ran her fingers through her hair as she walked out the door, leading the way. “You know,” she said, turning her head back to Mario. “Dorothy would never park illegally.”

Mario scoffed. “Oh, really? But she’d murder!”

Paige’s laugh echoed through the apartment hallway.

----

Mario and Paige signed in with reception and found seats in the fluorescent waiting room.  They pretended to be engrossed in casual conversation while sizing up their competition.

“Not many guys here,” Paige whispered. “Just a whole bunch of girls who look exactly like me.” She rubbed her hands along her quads nervously.

“Sure,” Mario murmured, “but they are not you.”

“Thank you. Hey, didn’t you go on a date once with that guy in the corner?” Paige asked.

Mario averted his eyes without moving his head. The guy was looking down at, presumably, a script. “Hmm, no, you’re thinking of Jack; he’s taller than Jack.”

“Um, he’s sitting,” Paige commented.

“Hush, I can just tell.”

“Hmm. You know, I can’t believe you didn’t get a parking ticket at my place earlier. Lucky.”

Before Mario could respond, the door to the audition room opened. “Paige Hansen?”

Paige bolted to her feet. Mario grabbed her hand, so she turned to look at him. “Breathe.” He smiled at her. As she walked away, he noticed she had a small hole in the back of her leggings. He opened his mouth to say something, which he would do any other day, but he decided against it.

 -----

When Paige emerged from the audition room, she was fighting back tears. She spotted Mario and sank down next to him.

Without looking up he said, “You’re not gonna believe what happened while you were in there—” he halted when he raised his head and saw her puffy eyes. “I thought you had decided to do the Hairspray number, not the one from Les Mis? Wow, you really sold the emotion in there.”

Paige sniffed. “I did do Hairspray. These are not acting tears, these are real tears.”

Mario’s shoulders sank. “Oh no, what happened?”

“Mario Morales?” A voice called from the audition room.

Mario froze. “Do you want me to—”

“No, no. Go.” Paige swiped her nose and smiled at him. “Knock ‘em dead.”

----

Paige and Mario went straight to the pub across the street for happy hour after the auditions.

As soon as they were served their drinks, beer for Mario, whiskey and soda for Paige, Mario said, “Spill.”

“Ugh, I was too in my head.” Paige grimaced. “I knew I shouldn’t have gone today. I cracked, my voice cracked. It was so freaking embarrassing; I haven’t done that since I was 18. There was too much competition, I was feeling self-conscious, and I was thinking about that damn keychain that I lost. I’m telling you, I’m right on this one, it has to be with me at all times. It has some kind of special power.”

Mario looked at Paige with questioning eyes. Paige took a sip of her drink and spit it right back in the glass.

Mario’s eyes widened. “What was that?!”

“Soda’s flat.” Paige hung her head, like this was the last straw.

Mario suddenly burst out laughing. Paige jolted up. She wanted to glare at him, but her lips twisted into a smile then a laugh came over her too. They laid their foreheads on the table and cracked up for about three minutes until a server came by to check on them.

Mario tried to speak coherently to the server, but it only came out like nonsense. “She lost her ke…the audition…now the…the soda’s flat!” he squealed as tears ran down his cheeks.

Paige managed to ask the server for a different drink once she caught her breath. The confused server nodded and jetted off as quickly as possible.

“And!” Mario yelled to no one in particular. “She has a hole in her leggings!”

Paige’s jaw hit the floor. “Me? What? I do not!”

“It’s small, muy pequeña,” Mario mimicked a petite size with his thumb and forefinger.

She threw her napkin at him.

Once he caught his breath and the server brought Paige a better drink, Mario said, “Oh, I forgot to tell you. That guy you noticed in the waiting room, the tall one?”

“Allegedly tall. Yes?”

“During your audition, he gave me his number.”

Paige was stunned but couldn’t hide a slight smile. “No freaking way. How did it happen?”

“He was reading that script, you know. I saw him write something at the bottom then tear the paper. He just stood up, walked over, and handed it to me.”

“He didn’t say anything?”

“No.”

“Who does he think he is, James Bond? Just picking up people with a single look?”

Mario shrugged. “Maybe he’s shy. It was cute.”

Paige smiled then gasped. “Oh crap! How was your audition? I didn’t even ask you!”

Mario picked up his beer to use it as a mic. He belted four bars from Wicked’s Defying Gravity with no regard for other pub patrons.

“So if you dare to find me,

Look to the western sky!

As someone told me lately,

Everyone deserves the chance to fly!”

Many heads turned his direction. They were stunned silent.

Paige clapped, accustomed to his random outbursts. “Beautiful, Mario! So, I guess it went well, then?”

Mario’s phone rang. He answered before the second ring. “Yes?”

Paige mouthed, “Who is it?”

Mario shooed her with his free hand. “Uh huh. Uh huh. Yes, I can do that. Great.” He hung up.

“Who was—”

“I got a callback, Paigerita! I got it!”

They both jumped up from their booths, nearly knocking their drinks over. They embraced to a smattering of claps from nearby patrons who must have picked up on context clues.

When Paige brought her arms down, her hand knocked something out of the belt loop of Mario’s jeans onto the floor. She looked down by Mario’s feet. He followed her gaze.

They both locked eyes then Paige reached down and grabbed her keychain, the pink bear with the bowtie.

First relief, then confusion flooded her face. “Wait. Did you take this? Why do you have this?”

Mario raised his hands in innocence. “I have no idea, I swear. That thing is sorcerous.”

Paige believed him. He would never lie to her. Both of their wheels turned as they recounted the events of their day.

Paige sank into her seat, followed by Mario. Her eyes grew wide with recognition. She set the bear down onto the table ever so gently, like it was a precious crystal, or a newborn baby. Or a bomb.

Mario asked, “What? You look petrified.”

“It all makes sense,” Paige said. Then she paused.

“Out with it, Dorth, before I melt!”

“Your good fortune today, at the expense of my misfortune. No parking ticket, a perfect audition, a date. You had it the whole time! Or…” she shook, “It had you.”

“It?” Mario shivered.

“The bear! It was in your belt loop all day.”

“Okay,” Mario said. “But how did it get there? Is this a Toy Story situation? Is the bear alive?” With great mistrust, Mario looked right at the pink bear. “Did you hop into my pants without permission? How dare you.” The bear seemed to mock them both from the middle of the table.

“The swivel chair!” Paige shouted.

“The swivel chair!” Mario echoed. “I knew it was the butler in the den with the swivel chair!”

Paige chuckled. “No, I must have dropped it there last night. And today, when you sat there and spun your little self all around, the bear must have gotten lodged in your belt loop. Leading to—”

“Leading to…my demise?”

“No! Your good fortune!”

Mario rested his chin on his fist and studied Paige. “You really believe in this thing, don’t you?”

Paige blushed a little. “Yeah. I guess I do.”

Mario gave in. “Fine. I guess we can keep him. You can keep him.” He picked up the keychain.

“What’s his name again?”

“Doesn’t have one.”

Mario looked at the bowtied pink bear. “What should we call you, you little dapper fellow?”

Paige and Mario looked at each other. At the same moment, with complete confidence, they blurted, “Toto.”