Lexi suddenly stepped around me to make sure the poor girl was okay while Manaia picked up her books. She looked me in the eye and shrugged.
“That’s a pretty good move with the raised eyebrow, but is that the best you’ve got?” she challenged me.
Well, hello there. She had my full attention.
“I suppose you have some skills in that regard,” I surmised.
“Check this out.”
She got her phone out and intently flipped through it to find something. When she found what she was looking for, she raised her head.
“You might want to video this. Prepare to be blown away,” she said dramatically.
Only an actor would be so brazen. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I felt that if someone suggested you capture something for prosperity, it would be either something amazing or an epic fail. Either way, I could make her famous when I uploaded it to my social media feeds. I smiled and nodded when I was ready.
Her thumb tapped the face of her phone, and the music started. I started to smile when her eyebrows began to move. It was both awe-inspiring and worrisome at the same time. Since I had a niece and nephews who were preschoolers, I recognized the song—
What broadened my smile into a wide grin was that each of her eyebrows kept time to the beat as she swayed to the music. I was going to have to learn how she did that, if for no other reason than to entertain the little ankle-biters. It was like she was having a party on her forehead.
By the time the song hit the ‘doo, doo, doo, doo’ part, I was envious of her talent. It was hard enough to raise only one eyebrow. This was amazing. She might have created a new fad, brow dancing. Her eyebrows snaked back and forth and did all kinds of silly maneuvers. I knew right there and then that I would be spending quality time in front of a mirror in the near future.
When the music ended, I didn’t know whether to buy her a coffee, slink away, or cheer.
“I’m not quite sure what to say to that,” I admitted. “That’s an interesting choice of music.”
“I babysit my sister’s kids. They give me the same look you just did,” she said.
“You deserve a reward. Let me buy you a coffee,” I said to settle on the proper response.
Lexi followed her to order coffee as Manaia and I watched the video. I was torn between sharing this with the world or keeping it to myself. Did I really want others to gain knowledge of this talent before I mastered it?
In the end, I decided that humanity needed something to put a smile on their faces. I was sure it would supplant the most recent cat video that was all the rage as the most-watched right now.
I might even earn some kind of award for discovering the next big thing like Myspace had been for social media. Then again, that had been a failure. I was sure brow dancing would become a real thing. For some reason, Manaia wasn’t as enthused as I was.
◊◊◊
I hate crying for a part. As a matter of fact, I’d
“I’m going to look like a total wimp. That is not in line with who my character is. I’m supposed to be this cool surfer dude who’s a chick magnet. I’m not the guy who weeps to try to win a girl back,” I complained to Mr. Nomura.
“And here I thought you were an actor. I have every confidence you can pull this off,” he said, playing it straight.
“Are you seriously telling me that you would do it?” I asked.
“What are they paying you again?” he asked. Mr. Nomura tapped his chin with his finger like he was weighing the pros and cons of this impending fiasco.
“I might as well let her cut my manhood off and wear it as a necklace. Better yet, what do they call ritual suicide over there?” I asked, showing how politically correct I was at the moment.
“Seppuku.”
“Why don’t we suggest I do that instead?” I asked. “At least I wouldn’t embarrass myself.”
“There are times I would like to help by cutting off your head,” Mr. Nomura offered.
Note to self: if I see Mr. Nomura with a sharp sword, it might be time to leave.
“Go talk to Mr. Otsuki. He listens to you,” I pleaded.
“Why don’t you do the scene as written, and we’ll see if it works?”
“I’m not falling for that. I know how this works. We do one take, and then it’s over. As soon as it airs, I’ll be forever known as the guy who weeps at the drop of a hat. There will be memes of me that will be used for years to come.”
“Since when do you care what people think about you?” he tried.
“Puh-lease! I’m a teenager,” I said.
Yes, even I saw the irony of using that as my defense. Every teen wants to be perceived as grown-up. Mr. Nomura made no attempt to hide his amusement at what I just said.
