Blue Moon by Isobel Bird Read Free Book Online Page B

stones.

CHAPTER 5
    “Is this Cooper Rivers?” the voice on the phone asked.
    “Who’s calling?” Cooper responded. She’d been wary of phone calls from people whose voices she
    didn’t recognize ever since she’d received dozens of calls after the story about her being contacted by
    the ghost of Elizabeth Sanger had appeared in the paper. The woman talking sounded normal, but
    Cooper knew all too well that those people were usually the first to cause trouble.
    “This is Sam Rogers,” the woman told her. “I saw you perform over at Cuppa Joe’s on Saturday night.
    You were really good.”
    “Thanks,” replied Cooper, not sure what the woman wanted. Was she calling just because she’d liked
    the piece? That was nice, but kind of weird.
    “I run the spoken word nights over at Big Mouth,” Sam continued. “I was wondering if you’d like to
    perform at our New Words night on the ninth. It’s a Tuesday.”
    Cooper didn’t know what to say. Big Mouth was the place for performance art in the city. Everyone
    who was anyone in the poetry and performance art scene performed there. Now she was being asked to
    be part of one of their shows.
    “Hello?” Sam said after Cooper failed to respond.
    “I’m sorry,” Cooper said finally. “Not to be rude or anything, but please tell me this isn’t a joke.”
    Sam laughed. “No,” she said. “It’s not a joke. I thought what you said was really original, and your
    delivery was excellent. The New Words night is for emerging talent, and I particularly want to get more
    young people. So, how about it?”
    “Count me in,” Cooper said, trying to sound cool. She was about to burst with excitement, but she
    wanted Sam to think she was handling it like a mature artist.
    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    “Great,” Sam said. “Like I said, it’s on the ninth. Be there around seven. We’ll do all the advertising. All
    you have to do is show up. You’ll have seven minutes, so you should be able to do at least three pieces.
    You have three, right?”
    “Sure,” Cooper said airily. Not three that are ready, she thought to herself. But Sam didn’t need to
    know that. The performance wasn’t until the ninth. That gave her eight days to whip her rough ideas into
    shape. That would be no problem.
    “Okay then,” Sam told her. “I’ll see you on the night of the show. And once again, I really liked your
    stuff.”
    Cooper hung up. She stood in her room for a moment, staring at the wall and letting what had just
    happened sink in. Then she let out a whoop and started dancing around the room wildly, waving her arms
    around in a victory dance. She felt like an idiot, but she was so happy she didn’t care. She had been
    asked to perform at Big Mouth. She still couldn’t quite believe it was true.
    What if it isn’t true? she thought suddenly. What if that was someone playing a joke on you?
    She stopped dancing. Was it possible that someone would do that? She didn’t think so, but you could
    never be sure. Artists are weird, she reminded herself. Maybe someone from Cuppa Joe’s was jealous
    of her, or just didn’t like her, and had decided to show her up by pretending to be from Big Mouth.
    Her elation faded as she looked at the phone, trying to decide if Sam Rogers was really who she said
    she was. Cooper didn’t want to show up the night of the performance and find out she wasn’t really on
    the bill.
    Don’t be ridiculous, she told herself. But the doubt was still there. Finally, after agonizing over it for a
    few minutes she went into the hallway and retrieved the phone book from the closet. Thumbing through it,
    she found the number for Big Mouth and dialed it. She almost hung up, but before she could someone
    picked up.
    “Is Sam Rogers there?” Cooper asked.
    “Just a minute,” the guy said, and Cooper could hear the phone being put down.
    A few moments later Cooper heard someone say, “Hello?” It sounded