Stage Fright

As Christina left the office she felt a great sense of relief. Friday was here and she could finally spend some quality time with her boyfriend Jason. To her surprise Jason rolled up in his car.

"Hop in! We've got 30 minutes to make it to our seats!" Jason hollered from the drivers seat.

Christina had no idea what he was talking about but was happy to see Jason nonetheless.

"Our seats?" Christina asked

"Yep! I know you've been under a lot of stress at work recently and my friend told me about this great comedy variety show happening downtown. I thought I'd surprise you!" Jason said leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"Oh Jason you're so sweet!" Christina replied. She was flattered by Jason's surprise act, but was disappointed that she couldn't change out of her work clothes.

Christina held Jason's hand tightly as they made their way into the theatre. Christina scanned the audience and realized she was rather over dressed. Still in uniform she wore a dark blue skirt and suit jacket with black tights and dark blue heels. She was hoping that later Jason would give her one of his famous foot rubs. As she fantasized about being pampered the show suddenly began.

It was a variety in every sense of the word. The MC was a dark haired man with a look almost reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin. He introduced the comedians which ranged from sketch performers, and stand ups. Improvisors and clowns. Jason and Christina chuckled, guffawed, and laughed at every performer. Christina felt the troubles of the week melt away and was grateful for Jason's surprise gift. This was exactly what she needed.

"Now our next performer is one of the great mimes of the world. She trained with Marcel Marceau and has been a mime for over 15 years. Please everyone give a warm hand for Mimi!" A sprightly woman poked her head out from behind the curtain. She had a shock of blonde short pixie cut hair and an athletic but still feminine body. She was wearing the standard mime garb of dark tights and a stripped long sleeved shirt. On the side of her face was a small stage microphone that Christina thought was odd for a mime to have.

Mimi began her act and the MC acted as her announcer introducing and setting up her various mime routines. As she performed it became clear that the microphone was for sound effects that Mimi effortlessly would intersperse into the stunts. As Mimi finished a rather elaborate showcase of being chased by an invisible tiger she stepped forward as if to bow but as she began to bend she locked eyes with Christina and stopped. Christina could feel Mimi scan her up and down. The MC walked up to Mimi and the mime pulled him aside whispering something in the MC's ear glancing at Christina while doing so.

"Well folks we have one final surprise act tonight and it is my great joy to say that we have an expert in the audience tonight." The MC announced gesturing towards Christina. Christina looked at Jason like a deer in the headlights and Jason just shrugged.

"I had no idea this was going to happen I swear!" Jason whispered to Christina. Christina felt a hand on her shoulder and looked over to see Mimi standing next to her. Mimi grabbed Christina by the hand and began pulling her towards the stage.

"Oh my! Listen I have really bad stage fright I don't think I can get up in front of these people! Let alone speak in front of them!" Christina begged Mimi. Mimi looked at Christina with a huge smile and gave Christina a big thumbs up.

As they walked onstage together the audience gave Christina a warm welcome. Mimi led her to a small table that had been set up. The MC walked over to the both of them.

"So Ms. Expert! What is your name?" the MC asked Christina. Christina began to walk away but Mimi pulled her back.

"M-m-my name is Christina." Christina stammered out.

Meanwhile Mimi had begun setting the table in front of them. She put out a banana, a bottle of water, a box of tissues, a toy gun, and a newspaper. Mimi lastly from the bag pulled out a pair of handcuffs. Christina looked at the table with confusion and concern once she saw the handcuffs.

"Now Christina you look like someone who spends long days at the office. Typing and documenting and all that." The MC said and Christian nodded sheepishly. "Well we all know a thing about carpal tunnel. I think Elon Musk has been digging one for years now... Ok bad joke so sue me! Well we know how hard it is on your hands so we'd like to give you a hand. More specifically we'd like to give you two hands."

As the MC distracted Christina, Mimi had snuck behind her. They were about the same height but Christina's heels made it so that Mimi was obscured by Christina from the front. Mimi grabbed Christina's hands and cuffed them behind her back.

"Oh no" Christina muttered to herself.

Mimi stuck her head out from behind Christina and winked at the audience. She then rolled up her sleeves and slid her arms through the holes that Christina's made. The audience laughed at the visual gag. From the front it really looked as though the hands belonged to Christina. Christina's new hands clasped together in front of Christina.

"So Christina what sort of company do you work for?" The MC asked.

"T-t-tech." Christina replied as "her" hands adjusted her blouse.

"A woman of few words then! What is it like being a woman in the workplace?" The MC inquired.

Christina felt herself freeze. She couldn't believe she was not only onstage (her worst fear) but was also being made into a puppet by some woman she didn't know. One of "her" new hands reached up and placed itself on her chest and began patting. "Her" other hand reached up to cover her mouth as if she was clearing her throat.

"Well I'll tell ya' it's not easy being a girl boss!" a voice projected from behind Christina as "she" wagged her finger at the audience. "Ya' have to make folks respect your authority!" the voice roared in a sort of east coast accent.

"You know you should look into being a ventriloquist it really looks like you aren't moving your lips at all!" The MC said and the audience laughed at the absurdity.

Christina actually sort of liked the feeling of getting a laugh even if it was not by her choice. "I guess Mimi figured out how to get around me not knowing what to say." she thought to herself.

"Yeah I'm a woman of many talents!" the voice spoke as "her" hands made a "tada!" gesture. This time however Christina tried to mouth along to words and that seemed to get an even bigger laugh from the audience.