Chapter 21 - The Second Chance

Children Interested in the Arts

The second time Oliver and Cassandra's positions intersected, Oliver was nineteen and employed as a counselor at Painted Rock Summer Camp for Children Interested in the Arts.

Age nineteen was the height of Oliver's attractiveness, his high school years had been too greasy and ungainly and after college he was always a bit too fleshy to be considered anything more than pleasant looking. At nineteen, however, in the summer Oliver was sun-bleached, a bit shaggy, an acting coach and swimming instructor, and consequently a person quite often whispered about, although he seemed unaware of this.

Cassandra Calo was quite aware of Oliver however, the night she performed at the camp. She was about to perform the role of Emilia in the last scene of Othello, but first she made a speech of her own writing.

"They asked me to come here to give you some tips on acting. I avoided laughing out loud (being an actor, I am able to control all of my natural reflexes) and I said yes. I will tell you now that there are no tips on acting. Acting is something that is impossible to teach, and impossible to learn from someone else. You probably all came to this camp expecting to learn how to act. I hope you all succeed, but understand that learning how to act is not like learning how to do long division or how to fix a car. Learning to act is more like learning how to walk; no one taught that to you. Maybe your parents held you by the wrists, but you figured out how to take those first steps on your own. That is all I am going to say, for the rest of the evening I will perform. Observe well so you will at least be able to recognize good acting if you ever see it again."

And then she went on to perform the scene fifteen times, each with a difference subtle nuance. Everyone at the camp said the lesson was the most educational experience of their lives. Everyone, that is, except Oliver, who was merely happy to find that all of his expectations of Cassandra's abilities were correct.

For Cassandra however, her superb focus and concentration were tested that evening. She had endured countless distractions in previous performances, coughing fits, telephones ringing, set pieces catching fire, even stage rushes, but that night she could not help but be distracted from the young man staring at her from the back of the theatre.

She had been stared at before of course, some would say that the only important part of acting is being able to handle being stared at, but something about the way Oliver was staring at her was different. He was studying her. Nobody had ever studied Cassandra Calo before, reviewed perhaps, observed certainly, but never studied. Cassandra could not understand what was going on and she was distracted, not completely, but there were a few upper levels of her consciousness that were focused on Oliver and his eyes. Oliver noticed this, but forgave her, she would learn in time.