Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
“Mr. Reigns, there’s been a change in plans,” a woman said, lifting Ducky’s hope that the change included cutting him from the show entirely. Anyone could see he was clearly unable to perform. “We’re going to extend your segment to include Ben Schwartz’s presentation of the new Sonic the Hedgehog movie trailer.” The comforting weight of someone’s hand flattened against his back, patting gently. “It’s better this way. Ben will do all the heavy lifting out there, don’t worry. Jim Carey’s doing an exclusive remote. Based on how nervous he is, it looks like it all came together perfectly. Very exciting,” she said swiftly and succinctly, talking ninety miles an hour in her exuberance. “No one knows it’s coming.”
“Great,” Greer replied just as enthusiastically. Only Ducky knew that Greer had no idea what the Sonic the Hedgehog movie franchise meant to the gaming world. He probably had no idea who Sonic was.
At the same time, Ducky shook his head. “Nothing can change. I memorized my lines. I know it’ll take exactly twenty-three steps for me to hit my mark. That can’t change.”
“Duncan, correct?” she asked, bending over to try to look him in the eyes. “The steps don’t change. All you have to do is read the new lines from the monitor. There’re only slight changes to include Sonic. The feed’s speed is based on your reading progress. Ben’s a pro. He’ll handle everything. It was always planned to be this way, we just had to keep it a secret.”
Under normal circumstances, Ducky would be all over anything Sonic related. He’d been a fan of the game and the show all his life. Even Ben Schwartz was a longtime favorite of Ducky’s but the anxiety of a script change on top of the panic attack ready to spill over made his flight response double time. Surely there was someone better suited to be on the stage for the length of two presentations.
An old school compact disc was placed in his line of vision. He lifted his head enough to see a grinning Ben Schwartz standing in their small circle. The excitement of a celebrity crush had him gripping the disc being handed to him and rising. “You take this. Put it in the breast pocket of that fancy suit, and when I say trailer, you pull it out and show the audience. I have a joke planned as if the trailer is on that disc then I’m going to take it from you. It’s a breakable disc and will snap in two. Like I broke the only copy. You know, like we don’t stream things these days.” Ben laughed out loud at his joke. His reaction was enough to have Greer and the backstage hand laughing too.
“Easy peasy,” Ben added, then clapped his hands together with a big giant grin still plastered on his face.
“I’m Ben, by the way, and I got you, bro.” Ben stuck out his hand in a good-natured greeting as if his plan should solve all Ducky’s worry.
Unfortunately, it didn’t. The sound of his drumming heartbeat distracted him from immediately returning the handshake.
“I’m Greer Lockhart. This silent guy is Duncan Reigns. He goes by Ducky, and he’s nervous,” Greer said, opening Ducky’s suit coat and placing the CD in his breast pocket. “Ducky, look at me. You’ve got to calm down.”
Dallas came through their small circle with a bottle of water in hand. His laser beam focus zeroed in on Ducky. “They’re the StreamTrainer guys,” Ben said to Greer, using all the animation he usually had on television, completely missing the dynamic of Dallas swooping in to save the day.
Ben waggled a finger toward Ducky before hooking a thumb Dallas’s direction. “I knew I knew you. He’s the one from the commercials that makes us all look bad underneath our clothes.”
“Here. Take a drink of this.” Dallas didn’t stop his forward movement until he’d pushed Ducky back several more steps. “Give me a minute with him?” Dallas used the tone he always did to gather Ducky’s full attention and it worked as usual. Ducky instantly calmed, looking straight into Dallas’s eyes.
“Is he going to be all right?” Ben asked in that same cheery tone. Ducky caught Greer’s hesitant nod in his peripheral, but otherwise he stayed silent.
“Have I ever put you in a situation you couldn’t handle?” Dallas asked Ducky.
“No. But you know how I—” Ducky replied.
“No.” Dallas’s finger lifted to Ducky’s lips, silencing him from saying anything more. “Listen to me, Ducky. This is your world.” His finger circled around their heads, encompassing the venue. “The people out there watching this award show are your people. This is no different from going live on Twitch, and you do that all the time.” Dallas’s hand swept toward the entry to the stage. “Now, I want you to go out there with your head held high, hands together tightly and say what you’re supposed to say. Own your shit, Duck. Be the man you want to be. The mover of mountains. You’re already there. We all see the real you. It’s time you did too.”