Spur of the Moment by Theresa Alan

really important.” Jason started tap dancing, slowly at first. “The important thing is that we’ll be rich. Let’s . . .”
    â€œStop tap dancing around the issue! Tell us the downsides!” Ramiro said.
    â€œI’m not tap dancing.” He started dancing faster. He was really good at it! But of course he hammed it up, exaggerating and occasionally flying his arms out in a tada! manner.
    â€œYou are tap dancing!”
    â€œI’m not tap dancing.”
    â€œYou are tap dancing!”
    â€œI’m not tap dancing.”
    â€œYou are tap dancing!”
    â€œI’m not tap dancing.”
    Ramiro couldn’t help it, he giggled. He quickly suppressed his laughter, but it made the “audience” laugh even louder, seeing that even the performers thought Jason was hilarious. “Okay, except you are, and if we’re going to help you, we need to know everything.”
    Jason slowed the tapping down, almost to a stop. He’d stand still, then let out a little ta-tap, ta-tap. “Okay. The invention will enable us to travel anywhere we want, but to do that, it will require that we clear cut acres and acres of land all across these fine United States. I figure we’ll open a clear cutting business, and we’ll make out like bandits.”
    Ramiro and Scott looked at each other and nodded approvingly.
    â€œAlso, it is very expensive to feed. Currently the only way to fuel it is with oil, but I’m sure that will change soon. We’ll figure out something else soon. Until that happens, it will let off toxic gases that will destroy the environment and our health . . .” He shook his head and waved his hand as if this were a trifling matter. Ramiro and Scott looked at each other and did the same thing, shrugging.
    â€œIt’s very expensive and requires constant maintenance and breaks down regularly and people will need to buy replacement parts and we’ll set up our entire society to ensure that we can refuel it constantly, but we’ll sell all this stuff, and people will buy it, I’m telling you, they’ll buy it! We’ll be rich. Me and all my loyal followers, we’ll be rich!”
    â€œExcellent idea, sir. What do you call this invention?” Ramiro added.
    â€œAn automobile.”
    Scene over.
    They performed three more scenes. In one, Jason was an Australian guide, leading Mr. and Mrs. Blufflekowski through the crocodile-riddled rivers of Australia in search of a rare bug. Next Jason played The Four-Hundred-Year-Old Archaeology Professor and then a Chinese acrobat.
    As Ana watched Jason, she couldn’t believe how talented he was. He was very funny, but he was also a great actor. She’d thought he was gorgeous the first moment she saw him—that was why she was here, auditioning in this fleabag excuse for a theater—but he was more than hot, he was talented! She was in love!
    The character of the Cult Leader was a perfect example of Jason’s goal in life of bringing the injustices of the world to light in an amusing, entertaining way. This was why Ana loved him—he was smart, funny, talented, and he really cared about people other than himself. He was always looking out for the underdog.
    After the guys performed a few scenes, they started randomly picking out groups of two or three or four wannabe Iron Pyrits to perform together for three minutes. They did this over and over until each person had performed at least twice.
    Marin had felt completely comfortable performing. Ana, on the other hand, wanted to wet herself and throw up as soon as she walked up there. Once she got the first words out, though, she relaxed a little, and she felt like her scenes weren’t completely awful, just mostly awful.
    Next Scott, Jason, and Ramiro asked all the wannabes to stand up and tell everybody a little about themselves.
    Ana watched person after person go up and give their mini-biographies and she realized