2024-08-03 “Saturday Matinee” by Emma

Well, now I know what Merritt meant about things being complicated. ‘Least a little bit.

The picture is of me and Addison Magee, the director, sitting in the office of the interactive theater ‘fore our next performance. Each area has a break now an’ then so the audience’ll move from one place to ‘nother.

SomeoneI heard say it was like a museum people can wander through looking as they want to. Addison said that was a good way to think of it.

Well, just after I took that picture, Tom Jenkins, the owner come by an’ said we was doing really good. He tol’ Addison she needed to work with the “Miner 49er” area about getting the audience more involved, then he tol’ us our break was near about over.

Then Addison looked at me. “You’re doing really well. People are so interested.”

“I reckon it’s ‘cause life’s so different in 2024 than it was during sharecropping days.”

She smiled and shook her head. “Emma, I get the idea you aren’t even acting when you use the dialect.”

I got shy about it and didn’t know what to say, so I said. “Oh, it’s some acting and some of how I was… brought up.”

I was gonna say “brung up” but changed it.

“You’re really from Vicksburg, then?”

I nodded.

She was looking at me real curious, then she said, “So a 19 year old girl from Vicksburg living with a man from Atlanta in Brooklyn… When did you have time to learn so much about 1875? It’s not book knowledge, it’s like you really studied all this. I’m sure they don’t use washboards or churn butter in Vicksburg any more.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just talked about the first part. “Well, I don’t ‘xactly live with Merritt. We just come here together and have apartments side-to-side with each other.”

“He’s your boyfriend?”

I looked down, feeling really strange in the head, but I said. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“Well, are you talking?”

That made me laugh a little. “We don’t know if we are or not!”

Just then Tom came in and said it was time to go back to acting, and Addison said as she stood up, “Well, you should find out.”

“Me and him are gonna discuss it,” I said.

That’s all for now.