Invisible Threads--Chapter 10

Writer's Note: Please read the previous chapters and prologue of Invisible Threads before reading this.

CHAPTER TEN

As they approached the Illinois Traction Building in the morning, Gary felt cold and unprepared - mostly unprepared.

The previous night, Cherie said that Gary was ready for improvisation. Gary thought she just didn't want to stay up all night forcing him to memorize lines. He had a fridge full of Red Bull and was in favor of the all-nighter. The debate lasted one withering glare.

And now, here he was.

Cherie's hand wave caught his peripheral vision, and he followed her gaze to Philip who was standing with the cameraman and make-up artist in front of the building. The sun was just rising, and he could see the fog of everyone's breath as they were setting up.

Philip went through his plan. "We have these two stools here. Cherie, you'll be in the lower one facing the camera and Gary you'll be in the taller one right behind her."

They both sat down as directed.

Philip shook his head. "No, Gary, you need to be facing right over Cherie's shoulder. Straddle your legs around her."

Gary stood up and reseated himself immediately behind her with his legs to either side.

Cherie looked up at him and smiled. "Is that a comb in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?"

Gary did not have a comb in his pocket and was not sexually aroused. He improvised. "Hubba. Hubba." It sounded stupid. A brief glower flitted across Cherie's face and was replaced instantaneously with a smile as she turned back toward the cameraman. They should have memorized lines.

Philip noticed but ignored the interaction. "We're in a race here. The sun is just rising, and the front of the building is in shade. After the sun gets high enough to clear the shade, we won't have long before traffic starts moving through and cars start parking over there. We'll have just a few minutes to get something we can use."

He looked back and forth between Cherie and Gary. They both nodded.

"Gary, we know your motivation for why you're doing this. Proving some scientific thingy."

Gary opened his mouth to clarify the scientific thingy and immediately shut his mouth as Cherie's elbow dug into his ribcage. Instead, he said "Okay."

"What we want you to focus on here is how Cherie fits into all of this. By the time America sees this piece, they will have already seen your first performance. We're going to be able to cobble together, with superhuman editing, some of the stuff we shot of Dr. Doom..."

"Professor Lecki."

"... We were lucky enough that he did mention you, Cherie, so that will establish you."

Cherie tilted her head quizzically. "What did he say about me?"

Philip smiled. "He referred to you as that pushy Northwestern girlfriend of Gary's. Gary, after we do some editing on that, we'll probably sit you down in Las Vegas for some scripted in-fill with Dr. Doom's stuff. If we do it right, it could be pretty funny and work with your vibe."

Gary heard scripted, "No problem."

"But right now, Gary, this is all about Cherie. And Cherie, you are going to work in reaction. Can you both do that?"

Gary said "No" simultaneously with Cherie saying "Yes." It looked orchestrated.

Philip smiled. "Keep doing stuff like that and this will be great. They love cheesy crap. Okay, Tom, get the lights on and Claire hit them with make-up, and we should have enough light to get started."

Five minutes later, Philip looked at Gary and said, "Action."

Gary had been thinking about what he would say for the last five minutes and had no clue.

"Um, uh, Cherie and I are very different. She likes drama and classics. I like science fiction and adventure. No fantasy, though. Dragon riders and sex-starved elves do nothing for me."

Cherie sighed. That meant he was probably moving in a wrong direction.

"But, about Cherie. Um... She knows the theatrical stuff. What to say and how to say it. And... uh... how to use the word flourish without it sounding stupid. I know how to apply previously unknown physics to make what appears to be magic happen. Before she... Cherie came to me, I could not get anyone to pay attention. She made my experiments more interesting to watch.

Cherie interrupted: "And in the process of working on this, we fell in love."

"Yes, we, uh, fell in... we did that. Yes."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, dear Lord."

Philip tried to get something going on camera that would look like chemistry. "What did you see in Cherie when you first met her that attracted you to her?"

"Well," Gary looked down at her face, "when I first saw her, I did not think she was very attractive."

Cherie's eyes rolled up. "You know, you really... really... REALLY... don't have to say that any more... EVER. I got it. Okay?"

Philip interrupted: "Okay Gary, talk about the thing you find the most attractive about Cherie."

"Um..." He looked down at her face again to see a facial expression that was half expectant and half threatening. "Her nose."

"Oh. My. God!!!" She threw her hands up and fell back into him. The back of her head colliding with his sternum.

"Your nose is... your nose is... good." Gary reached down for the point at which her head had hit his sternum. It hurt. But her head was still resting against it and, not knowing what to do with the hand, he laid it down on her shoulder. That also felt awkward, but he didn't want to move his hand anymore, so he left it there.

"My nose!" She pulled her head away from his chest and craned around to look up at him. "That is just what every girl wants to hear. Her best feature is her nose."

"It's a good nose. It angles just a little funny coming out of your face but..."

"Angles funny? I don't have a response for that. The correct answer is eyes. It's always eyes. That is what a girl wants to hear and expects to hear. So, let's try again." She looked to Philip. "Can we do another take? We'll give you something you can use."

Philip smiled. "You just gave me something I can use."

"You can't use that!"

He was grinning. "I absolutely can."

"Look. Are you still rolling?"

"Never stopped."

She turned back to Gary. "If we don't give him something that sells us as a couple, he is going to use the nose thing. So, tell him it's my eyes."

"Individually, your eyes are very nice. But as a pair they're a little too far apart."

"You are shitting me!!!"

The cameraman began to laugh. "Cut," Philip stood. "And that, folks, is a wrap. We have what we need."

Cherie stood slowly and looked down at Gary, "I have to kill you now. You understand that."

She turned on her heels and stormed away.

***

Al was on the computer making her flight reservations for the reconnaissance trip to the Las Vegas convention center facilities. Lacy would make the drive over in a rental car with her luggage and the bulky cameras and equipment that Al used to get a feel for a location. They would be met in Vegas by some tech people from the local unions.

She remembered last year's filming when she had wanted to strangle them all. But there would be big smiles and double cheek kisses and other things people thought Angelenos did with each other. But that was for tomorrow. Today was more planning and paperwork.

Her phone rang. The screen said, Ed - TM.

She answered, "Hi Ed."

"Good morning, Al. I talked to our boy Harriman. He says he can do it."

"Can do it or has done it?"

"Can do it."

"Well, that is what it is, I suppose. We'll see in Vegas."

"Yep. I have faith."

"Because you're paid to. I'm paid to be a cynic."

"And you do it well."

"Don't I though? Thanks for the update."

"No problem. Later."

And they rung off.