Conrad turned toward Celia.
“You cannot ignore the contract.”
“I’m not ignoring it,” Celia said. “I am having it reviewed.”
“You will owe the sponsor forty thousand dollars.”
“Then the restaurant will have a problem to solve,” she answered.
“The production will not be rewritten in the middle of a performance to prevent that problem.”
Oliver looked down at the agreement.
“For the record, the clause requires an acknowledgement,” he said quietly. “It doesn’t require the director to surrender editorial control.”
Conrad stared at him.
“You were in the room when we discussed it.”
“I was,” Oliver replied. “And I should have objected to the way you presented it.”

Walter stepped back from the microphone.
“We can continue if the people at the table want us to continue,” he said.
He turned to the cast, not the guests.
One by one, the performers nodded.
Mara looked toward the restaurant staff.
Anika raised her hand.
Peter did the same.
Luis lifted both hands, which made the nearest tables laugh.
Emily stood.
“Continue,” she said.

Victoria stared at her for a moment.
“You think you’ve won because a few people feel sorry for you?”
Emily shook her head.
“I don’t think I’ve won anything. I think I finally got to finish a sentence without being interrupted.”
The room went quiet again.
Victoria opened her mouth, then closed it.
Conrad looked at Celia, but she had already stepped aside to let Mara approach the platform.
“We are ready,” Mara said.
The performance resumed from the interrupted line.

CHAPTER NINE — THE LAST TABLE

The final scene took place around the battered wooden table.
The performers carried it from the platform into the center of the dining room, where they set places for thirteen people.
Each place held an ordinary spoon, a small plate, and a folded card.
Guests could volunteer to sit at the table, but the cast deliberately left several seats available to the restaurant staff.
Walter explained that the closing scene had no fixed dialogue.
The people at the table would choose what they wanted to serve, ask, or refuse.

A guest in a silver dress volunteered to carry a tray of bread.
Another fetched water for the people beside him.
Bennett asked Luis whether he would join them.
Luis looked at Emily before answering.
“I will if I don’t have to make a speech,” he said.
“You won’t,” Mara promised.
He sat beside Walter and accepted a piece of bread.

Emily remained at the edge of the room until Anika beckoned her forward.
“There’s room,” Anika said.
“I’ve already had my scene.”
“This isn’t the same thing.”
Emily joined them.
For the first time that evening, she sat at a restaurant table without being responsible for everybody else’s glass.
She had imagined that the feeling would be glorious.
Instead, it was ordinary, which pleased her even more.