“Thank you.” He grinned.
“That was by far the funniest episode I’ve ever watched.” Aunt Melina grabbed her sides. “I ache from laughing so hard. And I thought I was going to have to change my clothes a couple of times there.” She giggled and Milo joined her, the two of them turning red in the face.
“It was great,” Brooke said. “I loved that part where the bad guy tied her to the tracks and then Dudley Do-Right came and rescued her. So romantic.”
“We based it on an old cartoon,” I explained. “It’s pretty cliché, but that’s what makes it work. Sometimes cliché is okay.”
“You made a rhyme.” Brooke laughed. “‘Cliché is okay.’”
“Yeah, I guess I did.”
We continued laughing and talking about the episode, everyone chiming in about their favorite parts. In fact, we laughed so loud that I almost missed hearing my cell phone ring. I caught it right before it went to voice mail.
“Hello?”
“Athena, my phone is ringing off the wall.” Rex’s voice rang out in an overly cheerful tone.
“Oh?” I hope that’s a good thing.
“Network executives want to call a meeting first thing in the morning. How early can you be at the studio? Seven thirty? I need to give them an answer.”
“Oh no. Are they . . . unhappy?”
“Unhappy? No way. They said this was the best episode all season. And apparently a new sponsor is thinking about linking arms with us, which is always good. Executives just want to pat you guys on the back and talk about what’s coming next.”
“Awesome. Should I tell Stephen and Paul to come too?”
“No, that’s not necessary. These guys know you’re the head writer and they want to give you the respect you’re due in a situation like this. So just you this time, okay? I think it’s for the best.”
“Okay, you’ve got it. See you in the morning.”
I thought about his words as I climbed into bed that night, and even dreamed about them. I could hardly wait to hold my head up high as I met with network executives the next morning.
And that’s just what I did. Dressed in my most professional attire, I entered Rex’s office at 7:25. At 7:30 sharp, three network executives made their entrance, dressed in business suits. Well, the guys, anyway. The woman—a forty-something with pristine makeup and hair—wore the female version of a business suit in a rather bland shade of gray.
I had that usual tight feeling in my throat as we all took our seats. Kind of reminded me of that one time I’d been called into the principal’s office as a child. In that case, I hadn’t been in trouble at all. I’d been called in to receive an award for best student of the day. Hopefully today things would go just as well.
The next half hour was spent tossing compliments back and forth. Turned out Ms. Kearney, network exec, was a fan. A huge fan. I counted approximately twenty times she used the words, “I just loved it.” And I’d never met anyone with a brighter smile.
By the end of our time together, we were all best friends. In fact, Ms. Kearney told me to call her Gail. So I did.
“I can’t tell you how excited we are about the prospects for the rest of the season,” Gail said. “I can hardly wait. After last night, I know the viewers are going to respond positively.”
“Really?” I shook my head. “Who would have guessed something as simple as tying a woman to train tracks would resonate with viewers?”
“People love physical comedy. Slapstick is rarely done these days because people are afraid of it, but there’s still a place for it in the twenty-first century. Clearly. That episode was all the proof we ever needed.”
“Looks like it.”
“There’s nothing better than being innovative, and that’s what that episode was. It was one of those rare ones that people will genuinely remember forever.”
Oh boy, did I hope she was right. I could almost envision people thirty years from now talking about the episode in the same way Bob and Paul and I always talked about the old Dick Van Dyke episodes. Did my words really have that kind of power?
The thought of it suddenly overwhelmed me. If my positive, funny words had power, I also had to believe that my not-so-great words had power too. Ouch.
At 8:15 Gail and I walked out of the room, laughing and talking all the way. Rex and the others lagged behind to chat. As I rounded the corner, I ran headlong into my mother. My mother?
My heart raced as I tried to imagine what had brought her here. “Mama? Is something wrong?”
“No, honey. Everything’s fine. Brooke and I were headed out on a shopping spree and decided to stop by.”
“Shopping spree? On a school day?” I asked.
“It’s a teachers’ in-service day,” Brooke said. “Perfect day to shop. Nona Pappas said she would help me pick out some new jeans.”
Nona Pappas?
“She needs my help with a few other things too.” Mama gave me a wink. “Some things just need a woman’s touch.”
“I see.”
At my feet, I heard the strangest sound. Was that . . . panting? I glanced down, horrified when my gaze fell on Zeus. “Mama, what in the world?”
She dismissed me with a wave of her hand. “Don’t fret, honey. He’s not staying. We were just on our way to drop him off at the doggy day care when Brooke remembered that she had her father’s cell phone. We’re only here for a minute, to drop it off.”
I looked down at the dog crate. “You brought Zeus inside?”
“Brooke thought her dad would like to see him. Besides, he’s such a sweet little dog,” my mother said. “I couldn’t bear it if something happened to him in the car.”
Yep. Zeus had definitely weaseled his way into the family.
Thankfully, Ms. Kearney—Gail—didn’t seem terribly shaken when she saw the panting canine. She glanced inside the crate. “Oh, what a cute dog. What breed?”
“A Greek Domestic Dog,” I explained.
“Never heard of it.”
“He traveled all the way from Athens to live with us,” Mama explained. “His name is Zeus. It’s quite a story, actually.” She dove into the twisted tale, telling all about Mean-Athena.
Gail looked my way with a crooked smile. “Interesting story here, Athena. Maybe you could use some of that as fodder for an upcoming episode.”
“Could be.” I forced a smile, wondering how in the world I could work my dead aunt into an upcoming episode of Stars Collide.
From the crate, Zeus began to cry. “Oh, poor little guy.” Gail knelt down beside him. “Are you lonely in there?” The dog’s cries grew louder. He knew a sucker when he saw one, and Gail had s-u-c-k-e-r written all over her.
“Just ignore him,” I said. “He’s trying to get attention.”
“Well, it’s working.” Gail reached over and unfastened the latch on the crate.
“No, no, no, no, no.” Reaching toward the door, I did my best to slam it shut. “If he gets out—” I never had a chance to finish. Before I could complete the sentence, Zeus went barreling across the studio. He paused at the camera to lift his leg. “No!” I ran his way, but he took off just as I came closer, this time heading for the dressing rooms.
“I’m so sorry,” Gail called out. “I didn’t think he’d run away.”
“Good news is, he can’t get out,” I said, still chasing after the dog. “Bad news is, if Rex hears about this, I’m out of a job.”
“If Rex hears about what?”
I turned in slow motion, my heart gravitating to my throat. “Um, well, see . . .”
“If I find out there’s a mangy mutt eating Tia’s copy of this week’s script?” He pointed to our director’s chair. Zeus had made himself at home and was currently consuming several pages of script at once. No way. Oh, you awful dog!
“Give me that,” I cried, yanking the script out of his mouth. “We worked long and hard on that.”
“Athena?” Rex looked at me with panic in his eyes. “Would you mind explain
ing what in the world is happening here? Tell me I’m seeing things, that there’s not really a dog in the studio.”
“You’re seeing things.” I plastered on a tight smile. “There’s no dog in the studio.”
“Good attempt, but I still see him. He’s eating the legs off the sofa.”
“Ack!” I scrambled to snag the mutt, but he shot between my arms and ran onto the set, making himself at home on one of the wingback chairs. At this point, the network executives got involved. One of them—the older of the two men—reached out to grab Zeus, only to have the ornery mongrel snap at him. Yikes!
Zeus jumped from the chair and ran across the set, pausing to chew on a couple of wires. Heaven help me. Hopefully the building wouldn’t go up in flames. As I chugged along behind him, I heard Rex’s voice behind me.
“Keep him away from Lenora, whatever you do. She’s got Fat Cat with her today.”
I groaned. Lenora rarely brought her finicky feline to rehearsal anymore. Why today of all days?
Seconds later I was running down the hall, chasing Zeus. He made it as far as the hair and makeup room, where he turned and made a loud—and overly dramatic—entrance. I’d almost caught him . . . almost . . . when he spied the cat in Lenora’s arms.
Fat Cat took to hissing, then sprang through the air toward Zeus, his claws fully extended. What happened next left a lasting impression in my memory bank. The dog, never one to cower, tucked his tail between his legs and began to creep backward. Backward. I could hardly believe it.
“Well, there you go,” I said. “The hairy beast is tamed by a lowly cat.”
“There’s nothing lowly about my cat.” Lenora hunched over to scoop up the feline. Fat Cat continued to hiss until she offered him a bite of a cinnamon roll. “There you go, sweet baby. Don’t let that mean old dog bother you.”
The mean old dog—as it were—continued to creep backward, likely still scared by the mean old cat. I saw Stephen approaching from a distance. He took one look at Zeus, then looked at me, eyes growing wide. Putting his finger over his lips, he motioned for me not to say a word. I didn’t. Instead, I watched in silence as he snuck up behind Zeus, grabbing him at just the right moment. Perfect. I breathed a sigh of relief.
Stephen’s eyebrows elevated, and his voice went up an octave or two as he quoted one of my favorite movie lines: “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!”
Lenora looked over from her chair. “Oh, I know that one! The Wizard of Oz. Margaret Hamilton. 1939.”
Stephen just shook his head and continued to clutch the dog, which squirmed in his arms. “You brought Zeus to the studio?” He looked at me with that “I don’t quite believe it” expression on his face. “Seriously?”
“No. Mama and Brooke brought him. I just ended up with him somehow. Not my choosing, trust me.”
“Brooke is here?” His face lit into a smile.
“Yes. You left your cell phone at home. She brought it to you.”
“Ah. And we got a dog in the mix?”
“We did. One with lots of energy.”
“It’s all that expensive food I’ve been feeding him,” Stephen said. “That stuff is loaded with vitamins and minerals.”
“Of course it is.”
I followed him into the studio, where he put the dog back in the crate and then swept his daughter into his arms to thank her for saving his neck by bringing the phone.
“I’ve been waiting on a couple of calls from my agent,” he said. “Hope I didn’t miss them.”
He slipped Brooke some extra money for shopping, and she and my mama left with smiles on their faces. Thankfully, they took Zeus with them. And though I looked forward to my day at work, I envied them a little. What would it be like to spend the day helping Brooke shop for clothes?
Stephen and I made our way to the writing room, where we found Paul lying on the floor on his back, talking on his cell phone. The minute he saw us, he sat straight up, looking like a kid who’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Odd. He ended the call, then reached for his laptop.
“Thought you guys would never get here.”
“We’re here,” I said. “But it’s been quite a morning.” I filled him in, sharing the details of the dog story. By the end of it, Paul was laughing. “Crazy mutt. Hope he doesn’t get you fired.”
“Nah. Rex seemed to take it all in stride.” I smiled. “Seems like everyone these days is on my side. Besides, he’s a good dog. He really is.”
Paul did not look convinced. “Are we talking about the same dog that stole my wallet the night we stayed at your parents’ place?”
“That’s the one.”
“That dog makes me laugh,” Stephen said. “Taking him in was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. He’s been a saving grace for Brooke. For me too, actually.”
His words filled me with joy. And relief. “I’m so glad. I honestly think God brought that dog all the way from Greece to bring us together. Funny how a canine can do that.”
“Oh, he still gets me riled up a lot too,” Stephen said. “You should see what he did with the toilet paper he found in the bottom cabinet in my master bathroom. Covered my bedroom in four rolls of the stuff. Looked like it had been snowing in there.” He paused. “But still, dogs will be dogs.”
“And hey, he’s Greek,” I added. “You know that Greeks have a certain inborn temperament.”
“True.” He nodded. “Greeks do have a certain inborn temperament that’s rather unique. And it’s not just limited to dogs.” He wiggled his eyebrows and we both laughed.
Strangely, Paul didn’t join in. He didn’t really seem like himself today. In fact, he spent the next several minutes checking messages on his cell phone and avoiding any and all probing questions.
Oh well. There would be plenty of time to quiz him later. Right now we had a new episode to write. Hopefully it would live up to the heightened expectations of our producer and network executives. If not . . . well, I didn’t want to think about the “if nots.” Just one more advantage to being at Step 9 on the plotline. I could simply relax and enjoy the ride.
The next several weeks sailed by. After the “Angie’s Having a Baby” episode aired, the phones went crazy. Turned out the show’s viewers were ecstatic at the news of the baby’s impending arrival. And they particularly loved the whole I Love Lucy approach to sharing the news. George Lopez’s performance as Ricky Ricardo had taken the cake. If things got any better, I might have to throw myself a party.
Turned out someone else took care of that for me.
On a Saturday morning in early December my mother’s voice roused me from my slumber.
“Athena! Athena, come here!”
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, tried to gather my thoughts, and ran into my parents’ room, worried the house was on fire. Instead, I found my mother curled up in bed with her laptop.
“Mama? What’s happened?”
“They’ve listed the Golden Globe nominees.” She pointed to the computer. “It just posted to the site a few minutes ago.”
“Oh?” My excitement grew. Kat must’ve been nominated again. Or Scott. Regardless, our ratings would go up the minute word got out that someone had received a nomination.
“Athena-bean, look.” My father scrolled down, his finger landing on something that caught me totally by surprise. “Stars Collide has been nominated for Best Television Series for a Comedy or Musical.”
“No way.” My heart began thumping so hard I thought I might faint. “Seriously?”
“Yes, it’s true. Look here.” Mama pointed to the spot on the screen where the show was listed. What joy! I couldn’t wait to tell Kat.
Oh, Kat. I scrolled the list until I saw her name listed under Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series. She did it! She’s been nominated too!
Grabbing my cell phone was the first order of business. Kat answered with a squeal. “I know, I know! Congratulations, Athena! I’m so happy for you!”
“And I’m so happy for you. This is the best season for Stars Collide ever.”
“I knew it would be. The writing has been brilliant.”
“Thank you. I feel like I’m dreaming this.” After an exaggerated yawn, I laughed. “Maybe I am. Mama woke me from a dead sleep to share this news.”
“You’re not dreaming. The show has been nominated for a Golden Globe. And we’re going to win too. I know it.”
On and on she went, singing my praises as a writer and giving me full credit for the show’s success. I’d never been one to have an overinflated ego, but her generous words in the next several minutes almost sent me over the top. Guard your heart, Athena. Otherwise you might begin to believe your own press.
I vowed to keep things in perspective.
Right after I called Stephen.
He didn’t answer, so I left a “Call me as quick as you can!” message. Sadly, the phone didn’t ring for the rest of the day. I had to wonder why. I tried to reach him that night before bed and got his voice mail again. I thought about sending a text to Brooke but decided it was too late. She was probably sleeping. Oh well. I could share my happy news with Stephen tomorrow. We had plenty of time to celebrate. We also needed to keep up the good work by further developing our writing skills. There were plenty more episodes to be written. Maybe I could stand to take a class or two. Brush up on a few things.
On Monday morning I arrived at the studio early to find everyone buzzing about the nominations. There were high-fives happening all over the place. Rex approached and opened his arms for an embrace.
“I’m so proud of you, Athena. All of you. I knew that episode was great, and I’m glad to hear that others agree.”
“Thank you.” I looked around. “Have you seen Stephen?”
“Not yet. I know he had some sort of meeting yesterday, though, because we were supposed to meet for dinner and he had to cancel. He’s been pretty busy, I think.”
“Ah.” Well, that explained why he hadn’t returned my call. Still, it was a little strange that he hadn’t told me about his meeting. Not that we shared every intimate detail of our lives with each other, but it did feel odd. We were a couple, after all.
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