"You know, you don't have to keep locking your door when you go out." said Carol as Pam locked her bedroom door, picked up her backpacks, and proceeded to leave the house with Carol following after. "I promise I won't get rid of your precious animals, okay?" said Carol in a tone that sounded more like another snide remark than a promise. "You know, I don't understand why you don't get a real job somewhere." Carol continued. " If I’d spent God-only-knows how much money on tuition and outside dance lessons, I'd make sure I found an actual job in a theatre, and not be wasting my time doing the Bunny Hop for coins on some street corner every weekend. If you really have the talent you think you have, quit wasting it."
As Pam loaded her backpacks in the trunk of Kelly's car, she thought to herself: "You're not my guardian anymore, Carol...What's it to you where I dance?" while outwardly saying: "Goodbye, Carol!" as she climbed into the front passenger side of Kelly's car, and slammed the door shut. "And good riddance." she muttered.
"You go girl." said Kelly with a chuckle as she drove away, seeing Carol's stunned expression on her face as she witnessed Pam giving her ’the bird’ with the extended middle finger of her left hand.
After arriving in the Los Angeles area, a few short hours later, Kelly and Pam stopped for dinner at one of the local restaurants, then drove into Hollywood to meet Kelly's boyfriend Brad, and the rest of the members of their busker dance group to go over the dance routines they would be performing the next day as part of their weekend ritual of entertaining the residents-many of whom would stop to watch and leave monetary donations as well. Usually, the audiences who stopped to watch the dancers' performances were either pedestrians, or bus riders waiting to make their connections. This particular weekend, however, some people driving cars took time to pull over and stop to watch the performances. The people in one car were a family of tourists on vacation. In the other car were a young man and woman, professionally dressed in business attire, who got out of their car, and stood beside it while watching the dancers.
"Hey, you guys are really good." said the young man over the applause that followed the end of the last routine. "What's the name of your group?"
"We don't really have a name." said Brad, acting as the leader.
"We just call ourselves street performers." Pam added helpfully.
"Uh, huh." said the young man ."Are any of you working anywhere now?'
Hearing various responses to the negative, and noticing several curious expressions among the group, the young man introduced himself and the young woman.
"Before I continue, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Kevin Connelly, and this is my associate Brenda Adams. We scout talent for big name artists in the entertainment industry..."
"And we think you'd be perfect for a new music video that Michael Jackson is getting ready to produce." said Brenda, finishing Kevin's sentence for him, familiar with her co-worker's habit of taking a long time to get to the point.
Hearing the responses of Pam and the other dancers, excited at the possibility of getting to perform in a video with Michael Jackson, Kevin and Brenda passed out their business cards along with fliers giving the date and time of the audition for the video-which just happened to be the following Monday. Although she enjoyed her job at the pet store, Pam's dream was to be a professional dancer, and even though she knew she would need to call her boss and ask him for a few days off, Pam knew the chance to not only audition for Michael Jackson but also possibly perform with him in his video was an opportunity she couldn't pass up.
"Well, okay Pam, that sounds good. Good luck at your try out today, and we'll see you when you get back." said Mitchell when Pam had called and asked to use some of her vacation days, and had given the reason why she wanted the time off.
"Thanks, M.G.." Pam replied.
"You're welcome." Mitchell replied. "And say "hi" to my main man Michael if you get the chance."
"I will, M.G. Thanks again." Pam replied, relieved her spur-of-the-moment request for time off hadn't cost her her job.
"What did your boss say when you called him?" asked Pam's friend Kelly, as the two young women walked across the parking lot to the building where the auditions for the music video were being held.
"He said: "Sounds good.”, “Good luck.”, and “Say hi to Michael if you get the chance."
"Say hi to Michael if you get the chance." repeated Kelly, feeling a certain shiver of excitement pass through her. "Ohhh, just thinking about the possibility gives me butterflies...I can't believe we're actually here!" Kelly continued in a whisper, as she and Pam waited in a line in front of the door that led to the backstage area of the auditorium they would soon be entering. "Oh God, what if I get stage fright or freeze up?" Kelly whispered, as she and Pam in turn, gave their resumes and 8 by 10 pictures to an assistant as she came walking past.
"You won't get stage fright." thought Pam to herself, while outwardly grinning at Kelly's star-struck behavior, and her whispered reaction to boyfriend Brad who told Kelly to "cool it and grow up if we get cast in the video".
"Of course I will, don't worry about it, okay?" Kelly whispered to Brad as they, along with Pam, were ushered on to the stage where they joined other dancers, none of whom Kelly recognized.
"I thought our group was the only one auditioning?" said Kelly.
"Don't worry about it, okay?" Brad replied, as he gently guided Kelly to her place on the stage while making room for Pam on the other side of him.
While waiting for the audition to begin, Pam overheard some of the other dancers begin to wonder amongst themselves: "Where's Michael?", "Is he here?", "Which one is he?", and other similar questions. From her place on the stage, Pam spotted Michael immediately, sitting at a table, facing the stage, with three or four others looking over the resumes, and talking amongst themselves.
"He's so cute." Pam thought to herself, noticing how nice the colors of the red sweater and dark pants Michael was wearing looked against his brown skin. Inwardly, Pam felt the same excitement Kelly had expressed outwardly just minutes ago. However, Pam's excitement was motivated not by the possibility of working with one who would possibly become one of the most famous performers in the music business but by the possibility of working with a person with whom she'd long felt a special connection-a kinship, for lack of a better word.
After all the dancers were assembled on the stage, the person in charge of teaching the auditionees a series of simple dance moves, introduced himself to the candidates and, with an assistant, taught the dancers a simple routine; and after rehearsing the routine split the group of fifty in to two groups of twenty-five then had each group perform the routine in turn. After a minute or so, each group of dancers was stopped, and the dancers selected were asked to remain on the stage while those not selected were asked to remain in the auditorium. By an interesting coincidence, the only ones selected from their group of street performers were Pam, Brad and Kelly-who uttered an amazed "Oh my God! I did it.' under her breath as she joined Pam, Brad and the twenty-two other newly selected dancers still on the stage.
"I want to thank everyone for being here today," said the man who had been sitting beside Michael the entire time, and who identified himself as the director. "And to tell you a little about the project. The name of the video is "Thriller" which also happens to be the title of the album Michael has been working on, as well as the title track. In the video, Michael and his "girlfriend" are on their way home from a date, and they get surrounded by zombies..."
"Which is where all of you come in." Michael interjected, speaking to Pam and the other dancers.
"That's right." continued the director. "But before they encounter you zombies, Michael and girlfriend will be in a theatre watching a movie. And we've decided to cast those of you who didn't make the cut for the dance sequence as movie theater audience members."...
...Following the audition, when she and Kelly arrived at the home Kelly and Brad shared on the weekends, Pam realized she had forgotten to call her mother who had arranged to help her move after work that day.
"Hey guys, can I use your phone?" Pam asked.
"Sure." replied Kelly
"Sure, go ahead." replied Brad.
"Thanks." Pam replied as she picked up the receiver of the phone, and dialed a number. "Hi, is Marilyn there?...It's her daughter...Thanks." said Pam speaking into the receiver. "Hi mom, it's me."
"Hey, what's up?" Marilyn replied on the other end of the line.
"I got a job dancing in a show so I'm not gonna be home for a few days, which means I won't be home for you to help me move out of Carol's place tonight. I do still want to move out as soon as possible." said Pam.
"That's okay, sweetie." replied Marilyn. "I'll get you moved today. I'll just ask a couple of people from the restaurant to help me."
"Thanks, mom....Oh, but what if Carol..."
"Don't worry about Carol. I know how to handle her." replied Marilyn. "Besides, I have my own key. You'll be moved out before Carol even notices."
"Thanks, mom."
"You're welcome...So, tell me about this show you're in?"
"Well, it's a music video." Pam replied, inwardly excited to be asked to talk about it. "Excuse me." Pam continued while trying to suppress the giddy excitement welling up inside her. "It's a music video...It's called "Thriller..."
"Thriller"..."Marilyn interrupted. "That title sounds familiar."
"It's also the title of the new album Michael Jackson's been working on." replied Pam.
"Michael Jackson. Oh, I like him." replied Marilyn. "I remember one of my room-mates, when I was in rehab, had all of the albums by the Jackson Five and the Jacksons."
"You mean they let her have a record player in the hospital?" Pam asked, amazed.
"No, she had the albums tape recorded. "Marilyn replied.
"Oh, that's right." said Pam.
"And Abby always said when she would relapse and come back in to the program, listening to Michael’s sweet, angelic voice always made going through withdrawal so much easier." Marilyn continued.
"I can see how it would." Pam thought to herself as she remembered being inspired by Michael during difficult times of her own.
"So, "Thriller". That sounds like a horror movie." Marilyn commented.
"Yeah, well, it is...Sort of...There's a movie in it." said Pam.
"And what do you play?" asked Marilyn
"Would you believe, a dancing zombie?" Pam replied with a giggle.
"Well, that sounds like it'll be a lot of fun." replied Marilyn. "You'll have to tell me all about it when you get done with it."
"Oh, I will." replied Pam.
"Okay, kiddo. Take care, and I'll see you in a couple of weeks.
"Okay, Mom...I love you...Bye."
The next several days of rehearsing and filming the "Thriller" video were a lot of fun, and a lot of hard work. For Pam, the choreography she and her fellow 'zombies" learned turned out to be incredibly simple. Having always been a quick study, especially when working with good instructors like Michael Jackson and his choreographers, Pam found herself mastering the dance steps by the end of the first rehearsal session, although she still had a bit of trouble with the transition from one step to another.
"That's okay." Pam thought to herself. "I'll just have to practice on my own a little bit." a promise she kept and fulfilled every evening before going to bed.
On day two of the rehearsals, Pam noticed some of the dancers originally rejected during the audition attending the rehearsal. She found out later these dancers had been asked back to serve as back-up "zombies" in case any of the originally cast dancers had to be replaced for some reason.
As she watched the back up dancers performing the zombie choreography, Pam couldn't help thinking: "These guys are really good too...better than I am even. Now, Pam," Pam thought quietly aloud to herself. "You're just as good as they are...If you don't believe me, ask Michael...he picked you first before them."
Kindred Spirits (c) 2010