Page 9 of Crying in the Rain

“I always tell new people…well, notalways. But…” Ade rolled his eyes again. This time, he wasn’t hamming it up.

Kris sat back and folded his arms, still a little worried what Ade was about to reveal, although it was refreshing to meet someone who shared his gift for cocking up conversations.

“I mean, I don’t bother if I’m just buying a coffee in a new café or, I don’t know, exchanging hellos with someone I’ll never meet again or…” Ade stopped rambling. “I have a speech impediment.”

“You do?”

“Yes.”

“Sorry. I wasn’t doubting you. I just didn’t notice.”

“No. You wouldn’t, because I’m careful with how I speak. It only affects one letter. Well, the sound of it.”

“Would it be weird if I try to work it out?”

Ade shrugged. He seemed amused that Kris would want to.

“It is weird, isn’t it? Never mind.”

“It’s kind of funny, but a nice change. Most people get all edgy and shifty-eyed when I mention it. Anyway, you go ahead.”

Kris accepted the invitation at face value and replayed what Ade had said so far. “OK. Your ‘S’s are fine. ‘Th’? No—you pronounced ‘thing’ correctly.” He was unpicking their conversation like it was a script, looking for something that wasn’t there while trying not to cringe at his own contributions, including this one. “Is it…‘R’?”

“Yep.”

“Woohoo,” Kris cheered quietly. Ade laughed and made a decent show of hiding that it was killing him. “That’s a pretty common letter. It must be hard to avoid.”

“Like I say, it’s the sound of it but only in certain words. There’s a name for the condition, which I can’t say because guess what? It contains that sound! I can usually…circumvent with cunning use of synonyms.”

“That’s brilliant!”

“Thanks?” Ade’s eyebrows rose again, but this time in definite amusement. “However, faced with communicating with an actor whose name contains that letter…”

“Ah. Sorry.” Kris felt terrible, as if he was to blame for choosing his given name. “If it’s easier, you can call me K or KJ or even Mr. Johansson.”

Ade smiled. “Thanks, but I have to get it over with sooner or later. It’s just a little less of a nightmare doing it this way. And now I can see you analysing what I say.”

Kris blushed. “Sorry. And I seriously need to stop apologising.”

“I don’t mind you analysingorapologising, but so you’ve heard me say it, let’s start again.” Ade held out his hand for itto be shaken. Kris accepted. Looking him right in the eyes, Ade said, “Hi, Kris, I’m Adrian Simmons, but I prefer Ade. I’m the producer.”

Kris held the eye contact, enthralled. He couldn’t stop the smile as he said, “Hello, Ade. I’m very pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“The feeling is mutual, but I’m afraid I really do need to go and start setting up.” Ade rose to his feet. “You’re welcome to come with me.”

“I will,” Kris said. “And on the way, you can tell me how you came to be working in radio production.”

5: Out of Excuses

Ade

The morning woreon, and the pain in Ade’s jaw wore off, as he’d known it would once he had the distraction of work, and the studio downlights meant his bruises were in shadow. Not that it made the situation any less dire, but it would’ve been worse still if he’d had to spend all day with people asking him what he’d done. There was a small but loud part of him that might actually tell them.

At lunchtime, he followed the smokers outside and lit a cigarette, realising the second he inhaled that he didn’t want it, but the lure of company, being able to stand by and listen to their mindless chatter, was a welcome escape from the feeling of cold dread, the icy tide that rose as they edged closer to finishing the recording.

Mid-afternoon, they were on a third take of the pivotal scene in which Rose admitted to Tommy that she had loved him once but wasn’t sure of anything anymore. In the movie, the scene ended with her crying out his name and throwing herself on him in a passionate kiss, but there was something about it in its contemporary, audio-only form that jarred, and it took Ade reading in as Rose for him to figure out what it was. The words weren’t his, yet as he spoke them, Rose’s despair became one with his. The man she’d loved was brutal and selfish, and she stood to lose everything by harbouring him. The idea that, in modern times, she would make that choice was unthinkable to most, but not to Ade, and by the time he was done, his actors looked somewhat unnerved.

Nonetheless, it had the desired effect, as on a fourth take, the actor playing Rose nailed it, after which the cast headed up to the cafeteria for a well-earned coffee break.

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