The Sirena Quest
Page 25
“You know,” Billy said, his voice faltering, “this was wonderful.”
Lou smiled in the darkness.
Ray reached for another Rolling Rock. “How’s the Great American Screenplay, Gordie?”
“Are you still working on that?” Billy asked.
Gordie shrugged. “I’m thinking maybe it’s time to move on.”
“You mean drop it?” Lou asked.
“Nah. I mean shift the focus. Make it more, uh, contemporary.”
“Do me a favor, Gordie,” Ray said.
“What?”
“Don’t breathe a word to Brandi.”
“Why not?”
“She’ll try to get you to write a part for her.”
“So?”
“So? You do that, man, and I’m screwed.”
“You?” Billy said. “Why?”
Ray took a sip of beer and reached for the pretzels. “About six months ago, she read this article in Forbes about motion pictures being great tax shelters. Ever since then she’s been bugging me to pour some money into one of those sinkholes.”
“She’s looking out for you,” Billy said.
“Bronco,” Ray said, “I need another tax shelter like I need another asshole. Brandi’s looking out for Brandi. She wants to be in pictures.”
“Well, she’s smart,” Billy said, “and really pretty. She’d be super in a movie.”
They were quiet for a while, each lost in his own thoughts.
The sounds of a rock band came from the ballroom of the Barrett Inn.
“What’s going on in there?” Billy asked.
“A wedding?” Gordie said.
No one answered.
After a moment, Lou said, “Twenty years is a long time.”
“Seems like yesterday,” Gordie said.
“Not really,” Lou said. “We were kids back then.”
“We’re still kids,” Gordie said.
Lou looked over at him. “No, Gordie. By the time you turn forty, you’ve been through too much to be a kid anymore.”
They sipped their beers in the dark.
Suddenly there were lights and voices and laughter. Lou looked up as the hotel doors swung open, illuminating the veranda. High school boys and girls were streaming through the doors—the boys in tuxedos, the girls in full-length gowns.
A prom, Lou realized, rising from his chair.
June. Prom season.
Lou walked to the edge of the veranda, to the edge of darkness. The light from the veranda lit his face.
In the middle of the throng of kids was a girl in a white prom dress. A stunningly beautiful girl with dark, curly hair. She was gazing up at the stars. So lovely—and so young.
She took a deep breath and sighed with pleasure. A tall boy in a dark tuxedo came up and put his arm around her waist. She looked up at him and smiled. After a moment, the two of them turned back toward the doors and disappeared inside.
There were tears in Lou’s eyes.
From the “Class Notes” section of the Barrett College Alumni Magazine (Fall 1996):
CLASS OF ’74
Submitted by
Bryce Wharton
(Class Secretary)
Hard to believe that more than two years have come and gone since our Big Two Zero. That insight flashed through your humble scrivener’s brain a fortnight back when I attended the Left Coast nuptials of Lou Solomon in sunny Santa Barbara. Lou married Donna Crawford (Hampton ’74), who looked even more winsome than in days of yore. After the “I do’s” and the heartfelt toasts, Lou and his two scions, and Donna and her two heir-lettes, headed off for a one-month holiday (you heard me right fellas: thirty days and thirty nights!) in the Tuscan region of Italy, where they’ve rented a villa (complete with vineyard) on a hill overlooking Florence. Sounds like la dolce vita to me.
Rumor has it that Lou received welcome news from the Missouri Supreme Court just days before the ceremony. Something about a paralyzed widow he represents finally getting her just desserts on appeal, assuming that $3 million plus change qualifies as dessert! I’ll have one of those banana splits, too, Your Honor.
The other three caballeros in the infamous James Gang were at the matrimonial. Only Sirena was missing—missing from the wedding party, that is! Don’t get any funny ideas, Frank and Reggie. Just joshing, amigos. (Ha! Ha! Ha!)
Your ink-stained wretch remembered to bring his dog-eared copy of People to the wedding. William “Bronco” McCormick graciously consented to affix his John Hancock to the picture of the Gang on page 67. Bill attended with his lovely bride Dorothy and their charming legatee, Sandy. Bill was too modest to divulge what Dorothy was ready to proclaim from the rooftops: our own Bronco was named one of ten Illinois Teachers of the Year. ¡Muchos kudos, Señor Beel!
During the wedding reception, your intrepid reporter wheedled a few scooplets out of Gordie Cohen. Seems Gordo ankled his advertising job and resettled in (are your ready for this?) the lovely town of Barrett, Massachusetts. These days he shares living quarters with none other than Barrett College English Professor Sally Jacobs, Hampton ’74, who yours truly once had the pleasure of escorting to a T.D. toga party. (Note to Prof. Sally: Where did you go that night, dahling? I still have your cup of Tropical Passion Punch.) Gordo is hard at work on a screenplay and—drum roll, Maestro—the Gordster may finally see his name up there in lights on the silver screen, thanks to a deep-pocketed investor.
The aforementioned deep pocket belongs to Ray Gorman, the mall maharajah and Hombre Mejor at Lou’s nuptials. I am pleased to report that Ray had no problem “standing up” for Lou at the wedding. (Heh, Heh, Heh!) Ray was his inimitably irascible self when your servile scribe asked him to confirm that there was a cameo role in Gordie’s movie for Ray’s favorite little mermaid, Brandi Wine. Although my query triggered a few piquant suggestions—including one anatomical tour de force beyond the modest gymnastic capabilities of yours truly—let the record show that Ray did not deny the rumor. Save me an aisle seat, Raymundo, and make sure my popcorn is hot and buttered!
After the excitement of the Solomon wedding, it was back to my humble abode, where Mr. Postman has delivered missives from many of you. Keep those cards and letters coming in, folks.
We start the evening news with word from Robbie Carlson, who pens from the misty clime of Seattle of his promotion to…
Title:THE SIRENA QUEST}
}
Draft:4th Revised}
}
Author:Gordon Cohen}
}
Scene:49}
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. THE BACK VERANDA AT THE BARRETT INN—NIGHT
ANGLE ON LOU
The four of them are seated in a semicircle, sipping beers in the quiet darkness. Suddenly bright lights and VOICES and LAUGHTER. Lou looks up as the hotel doors swing open. The light from inside brightens the veranda.
NEW ANGLE - THE VERANDA
High school boys and girls are streaming through the doors and onto the veranda. The boys are in tuxedos, the girls in full-length gowns. Prom night.
ANGLE ON LOU
as he rises from his chair and moves to the edge of the veranda, to the edge of darkness. The light from the veranda illuminates his face, his eyes wide with wonder.
NEW ANGLE
In the middle of the crowd is a girl in a prom dress so white it seems to glow.
CLOSE ON GIRL
She is stunning. So beautiful, and so young. She has dark, curly hair. Lou watches, spellbound. She gazes up at the night sky with a smile, takes a deep breath, and sighs with pleasure.
NEW ANGLE
Lou is standing, staring.
WIDER
His three friends are seated on their lawn chairs behind him, watching him.
BILLY
You remember prom
night?
RAY
Sure. Drank a fifth of Jim Beam, booted on the side of my car, and passed out in the backseat.
GORDIE
(singing to the tune of
“Mrs. Robinson”)
Where have you gone, Robin Silverman?
RAY
Yeah. Where did she go?
CLOSER ON LOU
as he stares at the high school kids.
GORDIE
The band took a break and she told me she was going to powder her nose. She left.
RAY
Left?
GORDIE
AWOL. Gone. As in dumped me.
BILLY
That’s terrible.
GORDIE
Welcome to my life.
CLOSE UP
of the girl in the white prom dress. A dark-haired boy in a white tuxedo puts his arm around her waist. She looks up at him and smiles.
ANGLE ON LOU
His eyes are shimmering.
LOU’S POINT OF VIEW
The girl in the white prom dress and the boy in the white tuxedo turn toward the camera, smiling.
The image freezes. The color fades to black and white. We are now staring at the prom photo of Lou and Andi from his 1970 high school yearbook.
And on the soundtrack Neil Young is singing “Sugar Mountain”:
…though you’re thinking that
You’re leaving there too soon.
FADE OUT
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