Without changing expression, Frankie replied: "Just an old bag to you."
Laughter spread. "Silence!" Jules snapped, as he banged his stick against the seat. "I and only I have the last word."
"You mean I have," he heard a voice at his elbow. Howard Vee slipped into the seat beside him. "How're they coming?" he asked.
"It'll be a typical Monroe chorus," Jules quickly replied.
On the stage, Frankie pursed his mouth so that he could whisper out of a corner. "That's the boss. Isn't he cute?"
"That?" asked Ray. "I don't care for him."
"I'm bringing in a dance team," Howard Vee was telling the director. "I want you to look them over. They might do for a couple of spots."
"Where are they?" Monroe asked.
"Waiting backstage."
"What's their names, Howard?"
"The girl's Nellie Nasmuth's sister. I don't know the boy."