Chapter 57

On Sunday, Mrs. McGuire and I left to return to Atlanta. The schedule had called for the movie to be completed before Christmas and I was really hoping that it would be. Since we had finished all the outdoor work and were now working in a studio, weather wouldn't be a factor.

*****

We wrapped the movie on the 19^th of December and Mrs. McGuire and I left Atlanta the following day. It had gotten cold in Georgia and I was happy to get back to California.

Mom picked us up from the airport when we got in around 6 p.m. and drove us to the new house. The changes were obvious as soon as we came into sight of the house. The tangled mass of overgrown grass around the house had been cut down and a new sprinkler system was watering the newly laid turf. New bushes and flowerbeds decorated the outside of the house. The stucco had been pressure washed and repaired where needed, and wood surfaces had been scraped and repainted.

"Mom, it looks great," I said.

"Thank you, dear. I think so too, but wait until you see inside."

When we got inside, the smell of new paint was still slightly noticeable in the air. All of the walls seemed to have been repaired and it was impossible to tell where they had been opened, as Mom had said. The ceilings and walls were all painted, the decorative woodwork was refinished, and the floors had been refinished or polished. Over all, it looked like a brand new house.

The furniture that we had decided to keep and refinish had been completed and brought back. New curtains and draperies decorated the windows. The house didn't have a 'lived in' look though. It still had the Spartan, impersonal look of a model home that was being used to sell other homes, but the other would come as we personalized it.

"I can't believe how much you've accomplished in the past three weeks. It's beautiful… and it's become a home now."

"No, it's still just a house, but together we'll make it a home. Let's carry your bags up to your room and then we'll take a tour of the house."

Mom helped me carry my things upstairs while Mrs. McGuire went to her room in the servants' wing. Mom and I spent the next couple of hours going through every room in the house. Upstairs, only my bedroom and Mom's had the curtains hung, but the other bedrooms had their furniture in place, and all of the bathrooms were finished, only needing to be cleaned and setup with towels, and things. The bedrooms would still need to be decorated with pictures and such because they had the austere look of some hotel rooms.

The downstairs rooms were all finished also, and the curtains were all hung.

"Mom, how did you get so much done by yourself?"

"I didn't do it by myself. I hired several women from a temp agency. Tomorrow will be their last day, but we should be able to get the rest of the curtains pressed and hung, all of the bedrooms made up, and the bathrooms cleaned and set up."

"Is that the last of it, then?"

"No, the pools are still being worked on and we have to get the stable, garage, and greenhouse done, plus make some decisions about the rest of the grounds."

We went to look at the indoor pool. A wall of glass had been erected to replace the solid wall that had sealed off the pool from the rest of the house before. It made the indoor pool not just functional, but a thing of beauty. If the draperies on the new glass wall were open, you could now look directly through the pool area from the living room and see most of the patio area in the back of the house, since the rear wall was also made of glass panels.

"It looks done," I said.

"The tile work is all finished. I paid extra to have the tile shipped by air rather than boat, and we shaved two months off the delivery time. The pool could be filled but the filtration and water heating system aren't finished yet. I offered the pool contractor a bonus to get it done by Christmas, but he isn't sure if it will be done. They were here all day today and will be back tomorrow. It may get done. The outside pool is a different matter. They had to dig up the entire bottom of the pool to replace rusted out pipes, so I asked them to redesign the entire thing. When it's done, it will look more like a lagoon than like a standard swimming pool."

"Really? That sounds wonderful. And everything else is so beautiful that we won't even notice that it's not ready. I'm a little hungry. Is there anything to nibble on?"

"Of course. The kitchen is completely stocked. Do you want a sandwich, piece of pie, fruit, or ice cream?"

"A dish of ice cream sounds great."

"Okay, let's go."

"Where's Carol? I thought that she'd be here. Isn't school finished for the holiday season?"

"Today was her last day. She said that she was going to go shopping before she came up. She probably won't be here until after the stores are closed."

We got a couple of dishes of ice cream and then went to the den to watch a little television, and talk. Mom had had a satellite dish installed, and we now got about three hundred channels, although most of them were the same network offerings, just in different time zones.

"Now that the house is almost done we should ship everything from back home, out to here," I said.

"I guess so, since it looks like this will be home now. We can go back after the holidays to take care of it. We should also go through the things that we have left from when we cleared this house so that it could be worked on. There are a lot of pictures, and other things that can be used to decorate the house. I didn't want to do it until you were here."

"Where are they?"

"We put them in the basement. It's very dry down there, so they won't get damaged. It was all cleaned up and painted after the workmen were finished so I decided that that would be the best place for storing them. You don't have any work coming up, do you?"

"No, I told Mr. Daniels that I wanted a couple of months off. I haven't even heard from him during the past month."

"I spoke to him about a week ago. He dropped by to look at the house and I thanked him for giving us the lead. He left a large envelope for you. I think that it's a script. It's in the top drawer of the desk in the study."

"I'll look at it later. Have you had a chance do any Christmas shopping?"

"I'm all finished. I've been going out every night after the workmen leave and staying until the stores close. I even made arrangements for a tree to be delivered tomorrow."

"Good. That's one less thing to worry about. I guess that I'll be spending the next few days at the malls. I wonder if I'll have any problems?"

"Wear your wig, and go with Carol. I know that she hasn't completed her shopping yet."

"Okay. I'm going up to bed. I'm still running on East Coast time and it's after midnight in Georgia. Goodnight, Mom."

"Goodnight, Honey."

I stopped by the study before going up and found the envelope from Mr. Daniels. I took it upstairs with me to look through it.

I changed into my nightgown and climbed into the enormous bed that had belonged to Ms. LaBarre. The new mattress was firm and comfortable. I turned on the night-light that was mounted on the headboard and looked into the envelope. It was a script, as Mom had thought. I took it out and began reading.

*****

For a few moments I didn't know where I was when I awoke because it was the first time in the new bedroom. I got out of bed and went to my bathroom to wash up before going downstairs. Then I put on my housecoat and slippers and went down to the family dining room.

There wasn't anyone there so I went to the kitchen, and still not finding anyone I went to the enormous stainless steel, double door refrigerator. I found a pitcher of OJ on one of the shelves and went in search of a glass. I must have looked through ten cabinets before I found a cupboard that contained glasses. I had just started to pour the OJ when Mrs. McGuire came out of the doorway that led to the servants' wing.

"Good morning, Miss. I didn't know that you were up already. I'm sorry to be late. I'll start breakfast immediately. What would you like today?"

"Oh… how about pancakes for a change?"

"Okay, Miss. I found some fresh blueberries in the refrigerator. Would you like blueberry pancakes?"

"That sounds wonderful, Mrs. McGuire."

"They'll be ready in fifteen minutes, Miss."

"Thank you. I'll be out on the patio. It looks like it's going to be a wonderful day."

"Yes, Miss."

Since the rear of the house faced east, the patio was bathed in sunshine. I relaxed in a comfortable chair as I waited for breakfast. When Mrs. McGuire brought out my plate, I moved to the new glass and metal outdoor table that Mom had bought since we had eaten our Thanksgiving meal on the old worktable.

I had just taken one bite when Mrs. McGuire hurried back outside.

"Miss Ramsey, the pool workmen are here. I just opened the gate for them."

I jumped up from the table and hurried inside and up the stairs to my bedroom. I didn't want to be seen improperly dressed, even if they were just workmen.

I was hungry so I went to the phone, pushed the 'intercom' button and then pushed the button marked 'kitchen'.

Mrs. McGuire picked up and said, "Hello?"

"Hi, Mrs. McGuire. Could you bring my plate upstairs please? I don't want your delicious pancakes to get cold while I bathe and dress."

"Of course, Miss. I'll be right there."

Several minutes later Mrs. McGuire knocked and came in carrying a tray with my pancakes, juice, and a pot of tea.

"Thank you, Mrs. McGuire. Would you look and see if my sister's awake yet? She might wander downstairs without being properly dressed."

Just then we heard a piercing scream emanating from downstairs.

"Never mind, Mrs. McGuire. I think she knows that the workmen are in the house."

Mrs. McGuire smiled. "I think so too, Miss," she said as she left the bedroom.

A minute later Carol ran into my room. "There are men in the house," she blurted out breathlessly. "They saw me in my nightie."

"Those would be the pool workmen," I said.

"But this is Saturday."

"Mom offered them a bonus if they got the indoor pool done before Christmas."

"Well, she might have said something."

"Was she still up when you got in?"

"Uh… no. I met some friends at the mall and we went out."

I just nodded. "Want some tea?"

"No, are those blueberry pancakes?"

"Yes, they are. Want one?"

"Absolutely, I'm starving."

"Help yourself, but be careful of my new bedspread. I don't want sticky syrup on it before it's one day old," I said, smiling.

Carol leaned over the tray to eat the pancake by picking it up in her hand. "I love this bed. Do you think that any famous movie stars made love in it?"

"I hope not. It's supposed to be brand new."

"You know that I mean the bed frame," Carol said in an annoyed tone.

"Miss LaBarre was a famous actress in her day. She probably had lovers who visited her here. Back in those days, the press didn't camp out on your door waiting to see who comes and goes, and this house was very remote for those times. It probably took several hours to get here."

"But didn't they have less traffic?"

"They also didn't have our highways and high-speed cars."

"Do you know anything about her?"

"Not too much. She kept her private life, private. I've seen a couple of her pictures, though. She was very pretty. I think that there are some pictures with the stuff in the basement. You don't see any of her movies very much anymore though, except on the 'classic' movie channels, and most of her early movies were lost because of the materials they used for making movie film back then. The movies just rotted away in their storage containers. It's a shame that so many old movies were lost."

"I know. We studied that last year. The film was nitrate based and highly flammable. Some of the kids want to go into film preservation work. I thought about it myself, but I can't see spending my life working to reconstruct movies, frame by frame, even though I appreciate those who can do it."

"What do you want to do? You only have a year and a half before graduation."

"I haven't decided yet but I've been thinking about computer-generated imagery work. I like working with computers and it doesn't seem as tedious as film preservation work. Have you decided when you're going to start college?"

"Not yet. For now I'm just going to make as much as I can while I'm 'hot', as everyone keeps saying."

"What's your next project?"

"Nothing right now. We wrapped up the movie in Georgia and I'm officially on vacation. Mr. Daniels sent me a new script to look over, but I fell asleep just as I started it last night. I'll read it tonight. Did you want to go Christmas shopping with me today?"

"Okay, I'm mostly done, but I still need a few things. What time?"

"As soon as we get can ready to leave. Say about an hour?"

"Okay. I'm going to take a bath."

"Me too, it's nice not to have to hurry."

"And nice not to have to wait."

An hour later, freshly bathed and dressed, I went downstairs. The pool workmen were in the basement working on the pool's plumbing and I could hear voices coming from the cellar stairway. Carol was on the patio with Mom. We said goodbye and went off to do our shopping. It was my first trip to the malls in this area, but Carol knew the way and we went in her car. She had purchased a two-year-old Toyota with the money that she had earned for working on the picture in Idaho. I hadn't bought her a car because most of the time I was away and she had the use of mine, but now I would be home for a while and I would need mine. Besides, I knew that her buying her own car would give her more pride in its ownership.

It had been a while since we had shopped together and I enjoyed it immensely. The stores were packed but the selection was still pretty good and we found a lot of the things that we wanted to get. Best of all, I never had a problem with being recognized. The dark wig really did make me look totally different and people were very preoccupied with their last minute shopping.

We continued shopping all day. We called Mom and told her that we wouldn't be home for dinner. Our supper consisted of a couple of slices of pizza at a counter on the mall concourse.

We arrived home about 9:30 p.m. The gate slid open when Carol pressed the button on her dashboard and back again as soon as we were in. We parked in front of the house and carried our things inside, and upstairs. We had been together for the entire day except when we separated for an hour so that I could buy her gifts.

*****

We went shopping again the next day and we finished up our gift buying. As long as we were out, we spent the rest of the day trying on clothes rather than hurrying home. I wound up buying several armloads of things for myself. I hadn't had a chance to go shopping in a while and I made up for it today.

When we did get home, we wrapped the presents that we had bought. There were two more days until Christmas and we wanted to get as much out of the way as possible.

I was hoping not to have the marathon gift-wrapping session that we had had during each of the past two years.

*****

The pool installers came again the next day and were able to finish up the work for the indoor pool. They began filling it before they left, and showed Mom how to shut off the water once it was filled. An automatic valve would keep it 'topped off' after that.

The Christmas tree had been delivered and we spent several hours decorating it. Our regular ornaments were still back at the old house but Mom had bought new lights and ornaments. It wouldn't be the same without all the little ornaments and toys that we had grown up with, but next year we would have our regular things.

*****

On the afternoon of the day before Christmas, we drove to the airport and picked up Aunt Jessica. She was going to stay with us for two weeks. She was absolutely floored when she saw the house, despite the fact that Mom had been telling her about it in their regular phone calls.

"I can't believe it," she said. "It's like a dream. It's so big, and you have a swimming pool inside the house, and right next to the living room. I can't believe it. It's fabulous."

"Crystal's done very well," Mom said. "I never would have thought that we'd be living like this someday. A few years ago I was worried about how I was going to raise enough to put them both through a junior college. It's funny how things turn out."

"How big a mortgage did you have to take out to get this place?"

"No mortgage. Crystal bought it outright from her accounts, plus we've spent quite a bit fixing it up. It was quite run down, but now it's like new again. Come on, I'll show you to your bedroom. It's on the second floor."

Once Aunt Jessica was settled in, we all went out onto the patio to catch up on each other's news. We sat out there until Mrs. McGuire came out to tell us that dinner was ready.

After dinner, we all went into the den to talk and watch television until bedtime.

*****

Christmas morning started normally. We went down to breakfast early, without fear of workmen being downstairs, and after we had eaten we went into the living room to open our gifts. Of course, the living room here was as big as our old house, so things felt a little different. But the family group remained the same. We practically had to drag Mrs. McGuire to the living room. We had bought her a number of presents but she was reluctant to join in the unwrapping.

After we had finished, we cleaned up the mess and went upstairs to bathe and dress. Mrs. McGuire returned to the kitchen to work on the lunch.

Sharon arrived with the babies around 11 o'clock. I had invited her to have dinner with us. Roy was in Gibraltar working on a movie.

Just before noon, someone signaled from the front gate. Mom opened it and a couple of minutes later a limo pulled up and Dad stepped out. Mom had sent him a ticket so that he could join us for the holiday. She hadn't told any of us and it was a complete surprise.

After sniffing his breath, she stepped out of the way so that he could come inside. As he stepped past her, he said, "My God, Susan, I can't believe this house. Is it really Crystal's?"

"Every bit of it," Mom said.

I went to Dad and gave him a welcoming kiss. "Hi, Daddy. Merry Christmas."

"Hi, baby doll. Congratulations. Your house is beautiful."

"Thank you. Welcome to California."

Carol also kissed Dad and wished him a Merry Christmas, followed by Aunt Jessica. Even Mom gave him a peck on the cheek and welcomed him.

"Thank you, all. I'm happy to be out here, but it seems so strange not to have any snow on Christmas."

"If you think that's strange," Aunt Jess said, "you can go swimming later in the living room."

"The living room?"

"Well… right next to the living room. There's a glass wall separating it from the indoor pool. Come on, we'll give you the tour of the house. It'll probably floor you as much as it did me."

As we were finishing the tour, Mrs. McGuire said, "The meal is ready, Miss. You can eat whenever you're ready."

We were eating in the formal dining room this time. The table was all set and we took our seats. Dad had been introduced to Sharon and the twins during the tour.

Dad held up a glass of apple cider. "I propose a toast. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. And -- much good luck to Crystal with her new home."

Everyone raised their glasses and drank a sip as Mrs. McGuire began bringing in the hot food. I got up, as did Mom, and we went into the kitchen to help carry out the food. Two trips each did it, combined with Mrs. McGuire's trips. Mom brought the turkey out and set it in front of Dad, and then handed him the electric carving knife that she had bought.

"Well… an electric carving knife. Where does it plug in?"

"It's battery operated. Just push the button."

"So it is. That's great."

Dad zipped through the carving chore and then passed the meat around. In the meantime everyone had taken their food from the other serving dishes. When everyone was served we said a short prayer of thanks and dug in.

"You even have a cook now?" Dad said. "Any other servants?"

"Mrs. McGuire is much more than a servant," Mom said. "She's a cook and housekeeper, and our friend. She travels with Crystal when she goes on filming jobs. We had some temp help while we were getting the house ready, and we'll have to get someone to maintain the pools and the grounds once the major work is done."

"How about bodyguards. All the big stars have them."

"We've talked about it. The entire grounds around the house are under surveillance now with motion detectors and cameras, but we don't have anyone monitoring them constantly. Crystal's only problem so far happened at the mall back home. Fans mobbed her and tried to steal her clothes as souvenirs. While she was in Atlanta, the movie company assigned a driver who was skilled in the martial arts."

"That's what you need, a combination driver and bodyguard. Maybe two. You're making enough money now."

"It's one more step down the path to giving up my privacy and freedom," I said. "I've been procrastinating on doing it."

"You'll have to do it, honey. You're getting too famous. You have two movies in the theaters and several others on the pay-per-view channels or premium channels. Eventually, they'll get to regular television. Everyone in this country is going to know your face, and some 'crazy' may decide that he wants to do you harm. We don't want anything to happen to you like the tragedy that happened to Rebecca Schaeffer, the costar of 'My Sister Sam' that was shot by a fan/stalker."

"You're right, Daddy. Well… I have several months before I have any new jobs coming up, so I have time to find somebody before I start traveling again."

"Okay, honey. Now… tell me about your latest movie so I can impress the guys back at the office with my advance information."

As we ate, I talked about the latest movie. Eventually, we split into two groups as far as talk was concerned. Mom, Dad, and Aunt Jess held their conversation, and Carol, Sharon, and I held ours. That is, until the twins woke up, and Sharon and I went to feed them. Carol joined us when she had finished eating.

Sharon stayed at the house until almost eight o'clock. I helped her to secure the twin's car seats when she was ready to go home. We hugged and wished each other a Merry Christmas before she left.

After she was gone, we exchanged presents with Dad.

*****

Dad stayed for another full day and then flew back the following morning. During our day together we walked around the property perimeter and went through the stables and the garage. Dad looked at the old cars that were in the garage and told me not to sell them under any circumstances. One was a yellow Rolls Royce from the early thirties, and the other was a black 1948 Cadillac. Both bodies were in excellent condition, but the tires were flat and the condition of the engines was unknown. Dad said that he'd speak to some people that he knew about having them restored.

*****

After we had taken Dad to the airport, and said our good-byes as he boarded his plane, we returned to the house. I had been so busy that I hadn't read the script that Mr. Daniels had left, so I took the time to relax on the patio and read it through.

The story was entitled 'Princess to the Mob' and was about a girl whose father was a criminal kingpin, or, mob 'Don'. After he is murdered by one of his lieutenants, who promptly moves up and takes over the deceased's territory, she appeals to the other mob 'Dons' to bring the new capo to justice. They refuse to take any action that might precipitate a war among the families, so she goes to the FBI. As a result of her damning testimony and the journals that she provides, the murderer, as well as many of the other top criminals that supported him, are incarcerated. The new family leaders, upset that she betrayed the family by calling in the 'feds', issue a million-dollar contract on her head. Feeling that even the Witness Protection Program can't keep her safe with that much money involved, she flees and assumes the disguise of a young male.

I put the script down after reading it completely and thought about the plot. I didn't know if I could do this. What happened if someone recognized Cary and put two and two together? And what would happen when people from the Community Theatre began thinking about transformations. Would awakened memories suddenly cause people to seek large returns from the tabloids for 'dishing the dirt'?

As I thought more about it, it seemed unlikely that anyone would see Cary in the character. I had changed a great deal in the past three and a half years since becoming Crystal. The mid to late teen years usually result in the greatest facial changes during your early life. While I had never grown facial hair, my face had elongated slightly and thinned out. No, I thought, no one except an aging specialist should be able to spot the similarities, and it was unlikely that they would be called upon to compare the photos.

The people at the Community Theatre were more of a potential problem. I felt that Marge, Barbara, and Mr. Tucker would take my secret to the grave, but I wasn't sure about the others. Unlike the others, Debbie had never lost sight of the fact that I used to be a boy. I didn't think that Debbie would ever say anything intentionally, but since she never lost sight of my true identity, could she let it slip accidentally?

I put the script away for later consideration, although I knew that it wouldn't be far from my mind.

*****

The excitement of the holiday season was winding down and I didn't have any plans for New Year's Eve other than to just sit at home. Carol had a date and an invitation for a party, and wanted me to go along, but I didn't really want to go to a stranger's house where I'd be gawked at or questioned all night.

A few days before the New Year, Sharon invited me to say farewell to the old year at her house.

"You haven't been invited to a dozen parties?" she asked.

I giggled. "No. Carol invited me to tag along with her, but I declined. At parties with other than industry people, it's always the same thing. A constant barrage of questions about what it's like."

"What it's like?"

"Yeah. What's it like to be in a movie? What's it like to go to the Academy Awards? What's it like to go to a Hollywood party? What's it like to kiss Alec Carsie? And on and on."

Sharon laughed. "It's like an alien world to most people. They just want to know, and fantasize, about being a glamorous movie star like you. You can't blame them. It's our fault. We put this glamorous and glitzy facade on everything we do."

"But it's just an illusion. Underneath we're no different than they are." Looking at the Christmas tree in the living room, I said, "Tinsel-Town is an apt name. Like the shiny material that we put on our Christmas trees to dress them up. It's thin, and almost transparent, like a glittery cover. The money is very real, but we have to sacrifice our privacy and personal freedom to get it."

"You've been lucky. The tabloids haven't come after you very much."

"I haven't given them much ammunition. I'm not part of the party scene, and I've done my best to stay away from any situations that might become news. I've been able to successfully hide behind the Agency's wall of privacy. Jennifer heads off any trouble before it starts by showing that it's only a fabrication, created in the mind of some writer looking to develop a sensational headline for his editor. I haven't been seen in the company of any one person enough to create rumors about my love life, and I appear to spend all my time working."

"You don't just appear to spend all your time working, you do spend all your time working. What's up next?"

"I've stuck by my guns. I'm taking the next two months off. I haven't even got anything planned yet for after my vacation. Mr. Daniels sent me a script a couple of weeks ago but I don't think that it's a part that's right for me."

"So it starts."

"What starts?"

"What we talked about just a month ago."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You remember. We talked about reaching the point where the movie star begins to stop listening to his or her agent and figures that he or she knows best. The movie star starts to accept scripts that she feels are good, against advice, or begins to reject scripts that she has been advised to accept."

"That's not it at all." I said indignantly. "The script is good. It's just that I don't think that the part is right for me."

"Okay, I'll bite. Why not?"

"It calls for me to become a boy."

"Become a boy?"

"I mean to play a boy in the movie."

"For the entire movie. Like Mary Martin or Cathy Rigby in 'Peter Pan'?"

"No, just for most of it. The script calls for the female lead to assume the identity of a young male in order to avoid getting killed by the Mob."

"That sounds exciting."

"Sharon, real-ly."

"No, I mean it. If you're supposed to be running from the Mob, you'll have all kinds of great scenes."

"You mean great scenes like jumping into freezing lakes, rolling around in the dirt, and hiding in dirty basements or attics."

"Yeah, like that."

"You're sick," I said laughing.

"Well, it's better than wearing an iron-maiden corset and fifty pounds of clothes, and then sitting around for hours as they shoot take after take because somebody keeps forgetting to raise their pinky when they drink their tea."

"You're impossible."

"That's what makes me so lovable. But seriously, it sounds like a good part. Don't worry about not looking the part. When the makeup people are done, your own mother won't recognize you."

I couldn't tell Sharon what I really feared. There were already enough people who knew the truth that I had kept secret for so long, so I said, "As long as my name is on the picture, people will know it's me. Whenever you hear the name Mary Martin or Cathy Rigby, you think of them in their roles as Peter Pan. Name one other movie or play that either one appeared in."

"I can't… right off the top of my head."

"That's what I mean. Both are wonderful actresses, but when you say their names, people immediately think of the roles that they played as if they were boys. I don't want to be remembered like that."

"You're really being silly. People know that they were only parts in a play, just as everyone knows that men played the women's parts in Shakespeare's time."

"Mr. Tucker, my acting coach and the director at the Community Theatre, once said something very similar to me."

"You should have listened to him."

"I did. That's how I wound up here."

"Well, then look how you've benefited. Now call Mr. Daniels and tell him that you'll take the part. You said that he wouldn't recommend a part if it wasn't right for you."

"Let me give it some more thought."

"Okay. Oops, the twins are awake. I have to go, hon. Don't forget about the party. I'll see you then."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye bye, hon."

I put the receiver down and sat back to think about the part. Maybe I was being silly. After all, there wasn't anything wrong with dressing like a boy these days. Practically every girl that I had seen when I visited CMU looked like a boy until you looked close. It was much easier to tell the difference on the campus at USC simply because more kids wore shorts instead of jeans, due to the warmer climate. A pair of hairy legs usually meant they belonged to a guy.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was still before 4 o'clock, so I called Mr. Daniels. We spoke for a while about the movie, the director, the other actors that they had cast, and the schedule.

"This part is perfect for you. I watched the copy of the video that the television station sent me after they recorded the play, 'Wait Until Dark'. You were terrific at showing the fear that your character should have been feeling. I see this movie as being a lot like that play. We'll see a young girl who is all alone, being terrorized by bad guys, with a lot of tight close-ups showing the fear on her face. I sent a copy to the producer of the new movie and it sold him also. You don't even have to go for an interview unless you want to interview them. Just say that you'll do it and the role is yours. The money will be the same as for your last job, ten million.

"Okay, I'll do it if you think that it's right for me. When do we start shooting, and where?"

"In Vancouver, Canada, around mid-March."

 

(continued in Chapter 58)

This episode is dedicated to Debbie Cybill, who passed away while convalescing following surgery to correct a blood flow problem. Debbie was one of my regular editors for this series and is responsible for having made it a more enjoyable story for my readers.

I want to express my grateful appreciation to Lynn Jennings, Kim Em, and Pax Vobiscum for their very helpful suggestions, and proofreading services.

 

 

 

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© 1999 by Crystal Sprite. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, compilation design) may printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without express written consent of the copyright holder.
Anyone wishing to make comments is welcome to e-mail me at crystal@storysite.org