Day of the audition

It’s a rare occasion, when I’m stuck for words and video cameras were invented for such occasions. When it does happen, there’s usually a damn good reason for it. Years ago I was a Supervisor with Theatre Company. It was interesting work even though the hours could be a bit weird. One day, the boss asked me to bring one of the younger members to an audition for a film in the city centre. When I’m asked to do something I don’t want to do, I tend to mumble under my breath like a massively confused Gollum with a dozen rings. I was handed the address as I mumbled away. We travelled by bus and the traffic was as slow as a snail chasing a tortoise. No sooner had we got off the bus, when the rain began pelting down. I had to ask for a lot of directions and we eventually arrived at our destination, drenched deep to the bone and in foul mood. The venue was a hotel and I asked the lady behind the desk, where the main function room was. She looked massively confused at the question and I felt I had to let her know we were there for the audition. Again, she looked like we were speaking a yet to be discovered langauge. She told me there were no auditions in the hotel, that she knew of so she picked up the phone and called a colleague. It didn’t take long for her to finish the call and confirm that there were definitely no auditions. I checked the address which was correct and called my boss. Within seconds he was laughing hysterically and asked me ‘What day is it?”. I told him it was Friday and he repeated himself, ‘What day is it?”. I told him I had no idea what he was talking about and he said ‘What date is it?”. It began to dawn on me as I answered his question, “It’s April 1st”. It was of course April Fools Day or more to the point, Bill Y Fools Day. At first, I found it hard to see the funny side but slowly the man began to command my total respect. He had told the 14yr old guy I was with, that he had an audition for a film. This man was fast becoming a hero to me. It turned out that my boss was mates with the young guys dad and he had arranged it all the week before. I spent the following year working with the guy and attempted to wind him up on numerous occasions but never got close to repaying the favour but I learned so much from him. I learned to mock and not to be afraid to wind people up. Bill Y