The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

Behind the Curtain

Previously: "Parting Is Such Sweet Something" 

You manage to talk Sydney into putting her top back on, and she keeps it on even after you've gotten on the highway and are heading west. She cleans up her act, too, so that after awhile you decide that she was just venting after finally getting away from the clinging and hyper-dramatic Carmen Oliver.

You've a long drive in front of you, and not a lot of ways to pass the time. You play various games—competing to spot various makes and models and colors of cars; I Spy; Road Scrabble (which Sydney has to teach you; in consists of scoring points for finding words in road signs with rare letters in them)—and Sydney, when she is tired of talking, gets onto her cell phone and watches videos or scrolls around social media.

But in between times she asks you about Paul Griffin, the industry he works in, and what she can expect.

You start by giving her the PG version of his life, and even after she pesters you for details on some of what he got up to, you play down the facts. "Oh, no orgies," you insist. "Not really. Just parties where you'd wind up in a room with someone, then later you might go off in a room with someone else." Of the games you played on the set of Enchanted U, you only remark that every woman there slept with at least one of the cast members, and vice versa.

She reads through Paul's IMDb page, and asks for stories about each thing he was in. Though it seems to annoy Sydney (or maybe because it annoys her), you answer in your assumed persona.

Children of the Dark 4? "That was my first movie, straight to video, but still— God, that made me so happy. I mean, not that I had a speaking role, but I on set for two weeks, and I got made up for one shot with a dangling eyeball hanging onto my cheek. Mostly I remember how we got up touch football games while waiting to shoot ..."

Sliver Man? "I only had one real scene. I was the older brother, and I had to bounce a basketball off the lead kid's head. Randy? Was that the kid's name? Anyway, I kept holding back, 'cos I didn't wanna hurt him, and we had to keep redoing the shot. The director got really annoyed at me, until he came in, showed me what to do, and wound up sending the kid to the infirmary. We lost the whole rest of the day, and even after I did it right, it got cut from the movie. I think there might be a scene of me at the dinner table, but mostly I was just another piece of furniture."

When Love Came Along? "I don't even remember that one. What was my part? Oh. Well, that explains it. 'Customer number three' isn't exactly Othello."

Roomies and Roofies? "Pff! Peter Switzer—he was the lead actor in the series, and he— Well, the plot of the episode was that he signed up for a blind date, and I was the one on the porch when he opened the door. Ooo! Funny! Dude accidentally signs up for a date with a gay guy! He hated the script because, you know, and he kept accusing me of upstaging him, because I was actually trying to play the scene, trying to make it real, make it funny, instead of the stupid, goofy shit it— But he was just terrified he'd pick up the gay taint or whatever. The whole thing wasn't funny or good, and the shoot was miserable and he took it out on me."

Move Along, Lover? "That's the one I thought was going to be my breakout. It was, kind of. That was the first time I ever really got noticed noticed, even though I was just the leading support. The script was boring, but Ken Gray was great, we used to play poker between set-ups."

Christmas by Candlelight? "Oh, fuck me. I read for the lead on that one, and I thought I had it. I did have it, I heard it unofficially! But Fiona Hennessy—that bitch—she didn't want me, said she didn't feel the chemistry with me, and she was married to the producer, so ... Well, so I got to play the paraplegic brother instead of the romantic lead. And to top it off, she wound up having an affair with Hudson Cox. Though I heard they were carrying on even before she got him picked to replace me ..."

Ws and Ls? "Ha! Thirteen episodes, and I think I was on screen a total of maybe twenty minutes? But that was a good part for me, 'cos I played the P. E. coach and there was a P. E. scene in every script because Mark McCray looked good in shorts. But it's where I met Valerie Dunn. She was the casting director and when she got hired on Enchanted U, she remembered me."

And Enchanted U? You take a deep breath and burn up almost half a mile of highway before answering.

"Three seasons, fifty-seven episodes. My name isn't above the title, but it's the second one you see after the title goes by. I'm in every episode except two, and in every episode I have at least three scenes and I'm getting at least ten minutes of screen time per episode, even if I'm just standing behind Adrian Marcus Murray, looking like I'm trying to pass a kidney stone. Good scripts, reasonable production values— What was that snort for?"

"Good scripts."

"Don't be a snob. And for what it was, yeah, they were good! And remember, I was coming off Ws and Ls, where the lead character's catch-phrase was 'Bop till you drop!' Anyway, I'm on primetime TV once a week, even if it is on the CW, my face is out there, I'm making enough money to buy this car and live in a really nice apartment complex, I've got a business manager and an agent and I'm signed up with the same PR firm that handles John Malkovich, and—"

You draw a deep breath.

"During hiatus I'm jetting to cons and fan meet-ups across the country. Some of these things are tiny, I mean, we're talking the smallest ballroom at the Hilton, and there's still empty chairs 'cos only twenty-five girls and seven guys have turned out, but they're hanging on us, me and Scott Cotter and Eric Forman and Ricky Valladares—and Adrian, back before his head got too big and he decided to save himself for San Diego. But we get each other's timing, we work up routines, we do games with the fans, get them up on stage with us and do dumb quizzes and stunts. It's show business, you know, and if you got it in your blood— Well, you get a buzz anytime you're in front of any kind of audience, and you're talking to them, as yourself or as a character, and you miss that when you're on a soundstage and the only people paying attention are the lighting guys and the sound guys, and they're not even paying attention to you, they're watching their equipment. But what I'm saying is, it was fun even when it was exhausting, and when all you're doing is waiting around behind the camera or standing in front of the camera looking cramped while someone else gets to do the lines, at least my face was out where people could see it and I had fans and money and ..." You trail off.

"And what happened?"

"The show got cancelled. And by then I was 'Simon Magus' and the only TV show or movie work that 'Simon Magus' could get was in a show called Enchanted U, and they weren't making that anymore. I was like a plow horse that got retired when the farmer bought a tractor."

"Why'd they cancel it? I heard people talking about it all the time back in Kansas."

"Well, Kansas isn't Korea and it isn't Germany, either."

"What do you mean?"

"It's complicated. Basically, they weren't making money off the domestic broadcasts because it was on the CW, right? And there wasn't enough foreign interest in the series, so they couldn't make it up with international licensing." You peer at her. "Did I have fans in Kansas?"

She starts to answer, then gives you a look. "No one in Kansas ever heard of you, Will."

She means it as a mordant but friendly put-down, a reminder of who you really are. But after immersing yourself so deeply in Paul Griffin's psychology while reliving it for Sydney, it stings something fierce to be reminded what a nobody you are even when compared to the nobody that Paul Griffin basically was.

* * * * *

After thirteen hours of driving, with only a handful of breaks to gas up, get food, and potty, you decide you're not going to make it to the next big city and stop in a little town called Loganville for the night. You pass on the Bar-x Motel because Sydney (who seems to be slipping back into her Rebecca persona) says it looks "Barx" which sounds like "Barks" which would make it a dog. You also pass on a place called the Wamsley Inn. But the Palomino, though it has a "vintage" look, seems clean and, and that's where you fetch up. The man behind the desk wears a seed cap, and his arms look they've been upholstered in leather, but he's pleasant. The room comes with two queen-size beds (for you've registered as father and daughter) and furniture of polished walnut. The air is musty, but there's no stink.

Sydney changes to a nightie, and you strip to undershirt and boxers. She has said nothing else about the mask you're wearing, and you've put out the light and slipped between the sheets when she says, "Will, did you forget what I told you this morning?"

Next: "Daddy-Daughter Time" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 4)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)"