Page 7 of Release
Chapter 4
ALEXANDRA listenedfrom just outside the green room. The Sammy P. Higgins Live show was in full swing. She would be called up anytime now, and tonight she was ready.
From her spot, she heard Sammy announce, “Our next guest tonight is one of the top female music artists in the world. In the past three years alone she has sold over thirteen million songs on iTunes, toured in countless countries, and has been cheated on, then proposed to by some of the biggest jerks in the entertainment industry.”
Sammy P. Higgins was high on humor tonight. The audience went into overdrive from that intro, with real audience laughter billowing over the pre-recorded sounds they would normally air to bolster the entertainment factor for TV viewers.
His sidekick on the second stage shouted out, “Not nice, Sammy P. You realize she’s your guest, right?”
“I didn’t make up a word, for heaven’s sake. It’s on the damn cue cards.” He turned to look stage right and said, “It’s all fun and games until the celebrity guest pokes my eye out. What were you writers thinking, anyway?” More laughter spewed from the audience. “Let’s get her up here! Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome Lexxi Rock!”
Alexandra walked out on stage—with her black, curly hair bouncing around her face, and the purple wig in her hand. The crowd went perfectly silent. Even Sammy did a double take. She handed Sammy the wig, and as he took it, he looked down at it with stunned awe.
“Well. That’s a first.” He looked at the surprised audience again, and they broke into tumultuous laughter again. Sammy turned side stage once more, realizing he needed to go with the flow. “Where’s hair and makeup when you need it?” When no one came on stage, Sammy stood up and put the wig on his own head. Even Alexandra was laughing now.
Deadpan, with the wig on his head, he asked, “So…how are you doing, Lexxi?”
Alexandra stifled her laugh and shook her black curls around her face. “Much better now. How about you, Sammy?”
“You sure you want an answer, Lexxi?”
“Sure. Hit me.”
He leaned in close to her and snapped his neck so the hair of the purple wig hit Alexandra in the face. “I’m much better now too.”
There was an uproar in the crowd now, which Sammy fueled further by ripping the wig off his head and walking to the edge of the stage. “Who wants to be Lexxi next?” He turned his back to the crowd like he was the bride at a wedding and the wig was the bridal bouquet. With a powerful over-the-head shot, it flew into the crowd and a crazed male fan practically clotheslined a tiny woman for the purple tresses.
Sammy nodded to his sidekick and he queued the live band, who seamlessly delivered twenty seconds of the Benny Hill theme song. He ran along the aisles among the crowd as audience members threw it from person to person so Sammy would not get it back. It was as though Alexandra’s stunt had been planned from the beginning. He ended up having to go to commercial so the wig could be taken away by one of the big, burly set security guys.
At the end of the commercial break, when they were back on air, Sammy asked her, “We need to know, Lexxi. Have you been donning this wig since your career started? Because it would take a heck of a lot of crazy glue to pull off those head swings you do at your live concerts.”
Smiling, she answered, “Did I mention I own crazy glue stock?”
More laughter went off in the audience, but Sammy brought it back under control long enough for Alexandra to say, “No, Sammy. All kidding aside, I cut my hair about six weeks ago.” She turned to the crowd and asked, “How do you all like it?”
They answered with whistles and loud applause.
Sammy waved his hands again. “That’s quite the transformation. How do you like it?”
“I’m loving it.”
“So tell us Lexxi. Your fans want to know…are you engaged to Wilkes Barracks?”
“The simple answer is no.”
“And the not so simple answer?”
“Still no, Sammy. By the way, how come you’re so obsessed with my love life?”
“Well…the simple answer is I don’t have one of my own.”
Alexandra laughed with the crowd. “And the not so simple answer?”
“Well, um…it’s still no…wait a minute. I ask the questions around here.”
“Seems to me you have a little too much fun doing that, Sammy. So much so, I’d like to try that out.”
“Try out what?”
