Page 65 of All That Glitters
Those guys were so dead.
Tony sat on the steps outside his trailer, watching the madness on set from what was hopefully a safe distance. But you never knew with this crew. His thoughts kept going back to the night he’d spent spit-balling story ideas with Carrie at the motel. Outside of Debbie, he hadn’t had anyone to bat around ideas with until now. But Carrie not only shared his excitement, she had a natural instinct for story. And her ideas were solid — like movies he’d pay to see. The fact that she looked ridiculously hot in her short dress barely registered once the ideas started flowing.
He learned that she’d been acting for the past five years, ever since moving to LA when she was twenty. She knew a lot of people in the industry, but Tony got the impression that none of them wanted to talk to her about her film ideas. The way he saw it, it was their loss.
It was probably a good thing that Debbie hadn’t shown up. Nothing happened, but the optics would have been bad. And he wasn’t sure his health insurance covered being drowned by an irate grad student. It did seem odd, though, that she hadn’t returned any of his texts or calls. He planned to try her again after they wrapped for the day.
“So, what’s this I hear about Carrie coming over to your place?” came Craig’s voice.
Tony looked up to see him heading over, a goofy grin plastered on his face. It was one of those grins that said he had some juicy gossip he couldn’t wait to confirm.
“Who told you that?” Tony said as Craig sat down on the step beside him.
“Steve said she was askin’ about you and where you was stayin’. Only made sense that she’d be stoppin’ by.” Craig’s grin broadened. “Noticed you ain’t denying it.”
Tony grinned. “Yeah. She came by the motel.”
“And... she beat up the motel staff or throw any furniture out the window?”
Tony laughed. “No. She was actually really cool. She has some ideas for movies we were talking about.”
“No kidding?” Craig said. “So, she ain’t all ice under that blonde hair?”
“She’s really not. I got the feeling she has a hard time trusting people. And I think it frustrates her that people don’t take her seriously.”
Craig nodded. “I can certainly relate to that. Ain’t nobody takin’ us seriously as filmmakers.”
“That’s why we’re gonna prove them wrong,” Tony said.
Craig slapped a meaty hand on Tony’s shoulder as he rose to his feet. “Let’s go have us a look at the effects they’s makin’ for the next scene.
They walked over to a picnic table, where Todd was carefully spooning gunpowder into a ketchup-filled condom, while Kevin, Roy, and Jethro watched.
“How’s them squibs comin’ there, Todd?” Craig asked as he and Tony walked up.
“Just about finished,” Todd grunted, not looking up.
“Can we blow up Carrie with them?” Kevin asked hopefully.
“Naw,” said Craig. “Accordin’ to Tony here, she really ain’t all that bad.”
“Compared to what?” asked Jethro. “A bobcat?”
Craig chuckled. “I say we cut her some slack. We ain’t exactly been all that easy to work with either, shootin’ her in the butt with condoms and all.”
Roy thought about it. “Guess putting the mouse in her trailer probably weren’t that nice.”
“And the snake we left outside her car,” Kevin added.
Craig nodded. “She’s put up with a lot of crap from us, boys, and she ain’t called the union on us yet. That’s sayin’ a lot. I say we go easy on her.”
The gang all exchanged looks, then one by one they nodded in agreement. They turned their attention back to the table, where Todd was inserting two thin copper wires into one of the ketchup-filled condoms before tying it shut with a piece of twine. He held it up to the light.
“That’s a squib?” Tony asked.
“Kinda like one,” said Todd, “but we’re a little on the cheap here in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“I hadn’t,” Tony laughed.
