It:Throughout The Years (Reddie, Hanbrough, Beneverly, Statty)

Chapter Eleven

1

Age 29

"Do I look good?" Richie asked as he finished putting in his contacts.

"You always look good," Eddie said as he hugged the taller.

"I'm so nervous," Richie said as he pulled on the collar of his shirt.

"Don't be," Eddie said, "you'll do great."

Richie took a deep breath, "You're right, I got this," he started walking out of the bathroom then walked back in, "but what if I don't got this?"

"Richie," Eddie laughed, "you'll make them all laugh and you'll do so amazing and they'll have no choice but to hire you."

"Okay, you're right, you're right," he took another deep breath and then sighed and cupped Eddie's cheek, "you're always right, Eds."

"I know I am," Eddie said and Richie laughed.

"I love you so much," Richie confessed.

"I know," Eddie said.

"Okay, wow," Richie laughed, "don't say it back."

Eddie silenced Richie with a kiss, "I love you so much too."

With that Richie took a deep breath and went to his audition.

2

Age 18

Richie landed his his first paid stand up at Maxine's bar again. Maxine said that there were people that knew people here so Richie decided to do one of his funnier standups.

Richie walked out on stage, "I want to tell you a story about the best meal I ever had in my life. It happened when I was 11 years old in Derry, Maine where I grew up. I went to a place called the salt-and-pepper diner with one of my friends. We walk into the diner and they had a jukebox there, okay, and the jukebox was three plays for a dollar. So we put in seven dollars and selected twenty-one plays of Tom Jones's "What's New Pussycat"," the crowd laughed as Richie continued, "and then we ordered and waited. Here's the thing about "What's New Pussycat" plays over and over and over and over and over again the second time it plays your immediate thought is not," he switched into a different voice, "hey, someone's playing "What's New Pussycat" again," he switched back to his voice, "it's," he did another character, "hey "What's New Pussycat" is alot longer than I first thought."

The crowd laughed as Richie went on, "The third time it plays you're thinking maybe someone's playing "What's New Pussycat" again. The fourth time it plays you're thinking," he went into a different voice, "woah, someone just played "What's New Pussycat" four times or at least two times and it's a really long song," Richie went back into his normal voice, "so the fifth time is the kicker all right, now my friend and I we're watching the entire diner at this point all right. Most people have gotten wind to what's going on and we're starting at this one guy and he's sitting in like this booth with his stupid kids jumping around and he's like staring at his coffee like this and he's been on to us since the beginning and he's sitting there and his hand is shaking. He has this look on his face like he had just gotten his thirty-day chip from anger management and he's starting like this and the fourth song fades out. It's dead quiet and then, I don't know if you know this but the song begins very quietly, "wha what's new pussycat," and he goes, "God damnit" and he pounds on the table and silverware flies everywhere and it was fantastic," the crowd roared with laughter.

"But a word about my best friend and how genius he was because when we first walked into the diner, okay," Richie continued, "and when we first got there and I'm punching in the "What's New Pussycat"s alright, and I punched in like seven at this point and he says to me, "Hey, hey, hey, before you punch in another "What's New Pussycat" let's drop in one "It's Not Unusual"."," the crowd laughed some more, "oh, yes, that is when the afternoon went from good to great. After seven "What's New Pussycat"s in a row. It played seven times! Suddenly, "dum dum dum It's not unusual," and the sigh of relief swept through the diner. People were so happy. It was the liberation of France," Richie sidetracked for a second, "you know for years scientists have wondered can you make grown men and women weep tears of joy by playing Tom Jones's "It's Not Unusual" and the answer is yes, yes you can provided that it's preceded by seven "What's New Pussycat"s. It's true. Dead honest."