Vandal busily went about his work, carefully collecting pieces of glass as his sister spoke her thoughts next to him. The muscle man must have finished moving stuff around, because he was no longer backstage when the teen looked around. To the same extent, the bearded lady was gone as well. [i]They could at least offer to help,[/i] he though, his pouting expression shifting towards a frown.

A few moments after he turned back, he saw Vi approaching with another broom. Vandal lifted up the broken lamp to see even more glass below it, then used his shirt to twist the remains of the light bulb out of the socket. “If you’re going to help, be careful,” he mumbled, placing the bulb in the dust-pan as he placed the lamp a few feet away from the mess. He nodded in agreement as his sister started to speak, but was too focused on cleaning to listen to the first few sections of what she said next. From what he did hear, he pieced together what he understood to be what she said.

“We’ll get money, Vi,” he started, frowning as he watched her pluck sharp pieces of glass out of the floor, “hey, don’t worry about those, I’ll take it from here,” he commented, interrupting himself as he gently pushed her hands away. After a second, he continued, “we’ve never performed [i]in[/i] a city before, especially not in this area. As long as we do what we always do, we’ll be fine.” Despite these words, an unsettling chill shot down his spine after saying them. He pulled out the last few shards of glass, then wiped the floor with his shirt to make sure there weren’t any more, and picked up the dustpan.

“What I’m worried about is this ‘high school’ he was talking about,” he continued, walking over to the trash bin. He dumped the glass into the metal cylinder, then commented, “it sounds tough, based on what he said.” Immediately after hearing himself say this, he placed the cleaning supplies down and puffed up with pride, claiming, “not as if I couldn’t handle it!” and then deflating as he looked back at Vi and thoughtfully continued, “but I have no idea what to expect.”

[note: he is speaking nearly continuously throughout the 3rd and 4th paragraphs]