by Box Set
We smiled and thanked her. Neither of us knew what time it was, so we figured we’d just head on over there.
“Don’t you find it odd that the star of the film is recruiting extras?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Adeline said. “I’m sure it’s a B movie.”
We arrived at the big white tent and almost shouted for joy when we saw a table with drinks and finger sandwiches. We handed our sign-up sheets to the guy at the entrance. He grinned and welcomed us to the team. We immediately headed for the food and ate as much as we could without attracting attention. I wished I’d thought to take a purse from the drama room, so I could store some food for later.
Molly arrived shortly after. She’d added a white hat to her look with a long feather sticking out of the black band. An extra layer of skirting hung over her waist with a sparkly clip holding it up at the hip. She fingered her strand of pearls as she shimmied up to a broad-shouldered guy who appeared to be in his late twenties. He wore a cream-color suit over a white shirt with the top two buttons undone.
“Hi, Mr. Vance,” Molly purred.
“Hello, doll,” the guy said. “I see you made good on your promise to find me extras on short notice.”
“Say, I told ya, you can count on me.”
Molly spotted us and approached. “I was afraid you would get lost, being visitors and all. Some folks sign up, all excited to be in a movie, but then… ” She leaned closer and lowered her voice, “Because I know the pays not great, they change their minds.”
“We don’t mind,” I said.
“Well, the Vance brothers know how to feed ya here,” she said with a glint of admiration in her eyes. “That’s for sure.”
As delicately as I could, I wiped my mouth with my fingers. Did I have sandwich crumbs on my face?
“Brothers?” Adeline asked. “There’s more than one?”
“Oh, yeah,” Molly said. She looked happy to be able to enlighten us. That there is Sheldon, and Spenser should arrive shortly. There’s another, the eldest son who lives on the east coast called Sylvester.” She leaned in and whispered, “Some folks think the brothers are in dirty money.”
Sheldon Vance was a dapper guy with Hollywood good looks. “Is he in the movie?” I asked.
“He mentioned a cameo part,” Molly said. “I actually haven’t met my leading man. The whole thing is really hush, hush. Mr. Vance said we’re doing something brand new in film and he didn’t want the competition to get wind of it. He hired me because I assured him I was good with improvisation.”
I glanced over at Sheldon Vance and was shocked to find him looking at me. Did he hear us talking about him? Before I could avert my eyes, he nodded in acknowledgement and headed toward us.
“He’s coming over,” I whispered.
“Who?” Adeline said.
“Sheldon Vance.”
Sheldon Vance cast a shadow over us before I could say more. His dark hair was shaved close around his ears and neck, but longer on top with bangs that hung over a tall forehead. His brown eyes were graced with striking, thick dark brows, which furrowed as he considered Adeline and me. There was something about his presence that was intimidating. Finally, the stony look on his face softened, and he cracked a smile.
“Hello, ladies,” he said, extending a hand. “Welcome to my movie.”
Chapter Thirteen
Sheldon Vance extended his hand. “Miss?”
“Donovan,” I said. “But you can call me Casey.”
Sheldon’s grin tightened. “A pleasure to meet you Miss Casey Donovan.”
He took Adeline’s hand next and she answered, “Adeline Savoy.”
My gut said not to trust this guy, but we didn’t really have any choice. Not if we wanted to eat again, beyond a couple of small sandwich triangles.
A second man entered the tent, and Sheldon excused himself to greet him. The new guy was slighter in build, but I could see the resemblance in their dark eyes and thick brows.
“Spenser?” I asked Molly.
“Oh, yes. That’s him.” She played with her pearls, whirling them in a circle. “That means things are going to get started soon.”
Sheldon Vance clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention and spoke loudly. “Welcome everyone. Thank you for your willingness to participate in a new motion picture technique. Shortly we will be filming on location at Pacific Bank. Our film and lighting crew are there already and the stage is being set for a bank robbery. Though the bank is a real establishment, it is currently closed for business. The bank staff and customers there are hired actors. Molly has recruited you to be extras in the scene.”
“But I thought I was the lead?” Molly whimpered.
Sheldon Vance’s eyes flashed with momentary irritation before they softened again. “You are sweetheart. You’ll be front and center, I promise.”
“I guess it’s just come as you are?” I asked. I didn’t see any costume people.
“You lovely ladies may remain as you are. You’re there to fill up the empty spaces as the scene calls for a busy day at the bank.” He waved an arm toward Spenser Vance. “All the men are to see my brother for costumes.”
Spenser Vance opened up a large canvas bag and pulled out black onesies, simple, plain and oversized. The guys, including Sheldon and Spenser, pulled them on over their clothes. Then our small crowd of extras followed Sheldon out of the tent to an automobile parked on the curb. Sheldon opened a long narrow suitcase and we all gasped when we saw the guns there. “Don’t worry. These are only props.” He handed one to his brother, and a couple to a few other hefty-looking guys. Then the Vance brothers drove off with their camera men in a car that had Vee Bros. Productions written on the side. The rest of us had to walk, and we followed Molly to the filming site. The air was warm and smelled of jasmine and hyacinths. A scattering of clouds marred the blue sky.
“Have you ever acted before?” I asked Adeline. “I know your dad does some work, but how about you?”
Adeline shook her head. “No. Every other student at Hollywood High has some kind of acting or film industry aspiration, but that’s not me.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I’m not sure.” She cut a knowing look my way. “Our choices are limited, aren’t they?”
“Yes. Which is why I’m going to be a writer. You can’t do a whole lot of damage in a room by yourself.”
“But can you make a living?” Adeline asked. “I’ve considered that option, too, but I don’t think I have the writing chops. At least not to go the distance.”
“It’s a tough business. I think the key is being versatile. You have to be good at a lot of different kinds of writing.”
“And disciplined,” Adeline added. “I don’t think I have the discipline required to be self-employed or work freelance. Unless it’s journalism. I’m more of a nonfiction type of gal.”
“Journalism would be interesting,” I added. “Or broadcasting.”
“Radio, not TV,” Adeline said.
I laughed. “TV could be disastrous.”
“You’re in the middle of a report, all cleaned up and rested, and the next second you’re standing there with a drenched head or a black eye…” Adeline giggled. “I’d go for one of those late-night radio host jobs where you talk to insomniacs and play eighties rock.”
We stood across the street from Pacific Bank. It was a one-story building with a barbershop on one side and a newspaper shop on the other. The Vee Bros. car was parked near the front door and the cameramen had their gigantic cameras poised on wooden stands, ready to roll.
“All the girls have to do,” Molly said loud enough for the whole group to hear, “is walk inside and stand in a line. Chat with each other like you normally would. But whatever you do, don’t look at the cameras. Guys, you get to play the robbers.”
A testosterone-fuelled grunt rose from the male actors. I leaned into Adeline. “Talk about gender stereotyping.”
We walked across the street, and I had to adj
ust my headband to keep it from sliding into my eyes.
We stopped in front of the Vance bros. camera crew. Sheldon Vance eyed me with his dark eyes and then his gaze landed on Adeline. Something about him gave me the creeps, and I stiffened to keep from shuddering in front of him.
“Here,” he said, shoving a gun into my hand. “It’s not loaded.” He handed one to Adeline. “You dames come in behind me and Spenser.”
Seems Sheldon was an equal opportunist after all.
“What about me?” Molly whined. “I thought I was the lead.”
Sheldon handed her a gun, too. “Of course, doll. You go in first.”
She giggled flirtatiously. “Do I have a line?”
“Yes, Molly. You say ‘We’re robbing this bank. Put your hands in the air.’”
“We’re robbing this bank,” she recited. “Put your hands in the air.”
She turned to Adeline and me and spoke with authority. “It’s just for effect. This isn’t a talkie.”
Everyone else was instructed to go in before us and mingle with the actors already on set. “Get in line,” Sheldon said. “Chat with your neighbor like you normally would.”
After the brightness of the outdoors, it took a moment to get used to the dim lights. It looked like a regular banking day, with women in their shapeless dresses and men in crisp shirts and ties.
Sheldon and Spenser put stockings over their faces before handing out a few more to some of the other guys dressed in black. It was a good effect. They definitely looked sinister.
Sheldon gave Molly a countdown and she pushed through the doors with the Vance brothers, with Adeline and I on her heels. We all had our guns pointed.
“This is a bank robbery!” Molly said. “Put your hands in the air!”
Sheldon looked at her with distain. “Louder!”
I glanced at Adeline with bewilderment. I thought this was a silent film. Molly seemed equally confused, but then shouted, “THIS IS A BANK ROBBERY! PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!”
There were a few gasps and a lot of stunned faces. The small group that we had come with weren’t as convincing as the others who were here before us. They must be professional actors.
“Quiet!” Sheldon said, scooting in front of Molly. “Do as the lady asked ya! Especially you fellas behind the counter.”
Everyone’s hands were up high. Spenser Vance, who’d let his brother do all the talking so far, went to the closest teller and pointed his gun right in his face. He was a thin man in his forties with a pencil mustache. His eyes were wide with fright, and his skin pale with fear. Sheldon gave him a bag. “To the top with hundreds.”
I pointed my gun and ad-libbed. “Do as he says, mister.”
Spenser Vance cut me a look, and I wondered if I’d overstepped. Adeline and I would have to search the archives for this movie, whatever it was called, when we got back. Though, with the shoddy production, it probably never got made. In fact, the whole thing seemed strange to me as I took it all in. I expected to see a lighting crew of some kind at work, a director or script person, but the bank was curiously devoid of behind-the-scenes people.
Something wasn’t right with this scenario, but then again, I had no idea how things were done in this era. Movie production was very rudimentary.
Spenser backed away with his full sack while Sheldon guarded him and his haul. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. I looked to Molly for guidance, but she seemed just as confused. Adeline gave me a slight shoulder shrug.
The teller who’d filled Spenser’s bag ran like a Weeble toward a side door. A gunshot reverberated in the room, and I ducked instinctively. What the hay? A red splotch appeared on the man’s shoulder before he fell to the floor. One of the men dressed in black with hose over his head lowered a gun. He saw me watching and I could tell it was Sheldon even with the disguise. Pantyhose couldn’t hide those brows.
I waited for someone to call, “cut,” but instead I heard sirens in the distance. I wondered if they were sound effects and part of the scene. Then I remembered this was a “silent” film. The blood mark spreading along the teller’s shirt looked awfully real. I heard the Vance jalopy fire up and glanced out the window in time to spot it zoom off out of sight. I searched the bank for Sheldon and Spenser, but none of the guys with face disguises were left in the room.
“Adeline?” I said with dread creeping up my spine. Her eyes widened with understanding.
“We need to get out of here!” She ran for the entrance, but it was too late. Several police stormed in, and one with a bullhorn shouted, “On the floor, everyone! Hands behind your heads!”
They looked like the real deal, not some wanna-be actors. A black wave of awareness that we had just screwed up big time washed over me. The police were dressed in back uniforms, a suit jacket fasten shut with a single row of gold buttons over top of a white shirt and black tie. They wore wide-rimmed hats. One of them aimed a pistol at Adeline and me—I guess the guns in our hands were a giveaway—and shouted, “Get down!”
I blurted out. “This is a big mistake!”
“Get down, now!”
My knees gave way and I lowered myself to the floor. The beads of my necklace poked my ribs. I press my palms against the back of my head and stared wildly at Adeline who lay beside me. She mouthed, “No way.”
I felt the tip of a baton press into the middle of my back. A gruff voice said, “Don’t move little lady.” Rough hands grabbed my wrists and snapped metal handcuffs around them.
Handcuffs!
“I thought it was a movie,” I whimpered.
“Uh-huh,” he said as he toed my gun, pushing it out of reach.
“That’s a prop.”
He grunted. “Looks real enough to me.”
One of the tellers, the thin man with a pencil-thin mustache who filled Sheldon’s sack, pointed at me. “She was with them. She shouted at me to ‘do as the man says,’ and give him the money.”
“I was acting. I didn’t think it was real!”
The policeman shook his head incredulously. “Save it for the judge, miss.”
We didn’t even get the dignity of anonymity by riding in the back of a police jalopy. The police station was only three blocks away. I had to admire Sheldon’s nerve to stage a robbery right under their noses.
The officer prodded Adeline and me down the sidewalk, and we lumbered along like cattle.
“I hope they catch those Vance brothers,” Adeline said with spite.
“Me, too!”
Our chaperone scolded us. “No talking!”
I sighed and kept my head down. Now would be a really good time to trip home, and I wouldn’t even care if I gave this cop a story he’d be telling for the rest of his life. But unfortunately, I didn’t have control over when tripping through time happened, and it never happened when I wanted it to.
Chapter Fourteen
“Well, this sucks,” Adeline said.
We both examined the sticky bench in the holding cell with disgust.
“I think I’ll stand,” I said.
Adeline crossed her arms. “Uh, yeah.”
I fussed with my costume. There was a tear along one side seam, and it was dirty down the front from lying on the floor of the bank. I tried brushing it off, but it was stained. Adeline leaned against the wall and I joined her, though the wall wasn’t exactly clean either. I wrinkled my nose. The room smelled used: sweat, stale air, and whatever was on that bench.
“I can’t believe we fell for that,” Adeline said. Her lips were pursed tight with frustration, anger maybe. “What are we going to do now?”
“I don’t know,” I said. As far as the authorities were concerned, Adeline and I had attempted a bank robbery. All the real—not acting—tellers had testified to that fact. And I stupidly called out, “Do as the man says, mister!” Ugh, way to implicate myself.
Molly Mallone had been taken elsewhere, the hospital maybe. She bawled like a baby when the police escorted her into the station, her legs lim
p as she gave into hysteria and shouted out her innocence. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was happily sedated somewhere.
I was exhausted and my gaze landed on the bench once more. I really wanted to sit down, but not on that. Then I remembered I still wore my blouse and skirt under the flapper dress. I started to awkwardly wriggle them off while keeping the dress on.
Adeline eyed me with concern. “What are you doing?”
“We can sit on these,” I said as I waved my twenty-first century clothes like a victory flag. I gave her my blouse then I laid my skirt on the bench and sat on it with a satisfied sigh.
Adeline positioned my blouse on the bench and sat beside me. “Have you ever been in jail before?”
I stared out at the black bars in front of us and shook my head. “No, but I had a few close calls. You?”
Adeline grinned. “Sort of. I was picked up in 1955 for indecent exposure.” She snorted. “I went back while wearing a string bikini.” She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “They didn’t put me behind bars, though.”
We grew silent. There were some muffled sounds coming from the office around the corner. The clerk and secretary had seemed rather startled by our arrival, and I wondered how many arrests happened in small-town Hollywood in 1929.
Adeline broke our silence. “Why are you here?”
I glanced at her in confusion. “Because I allegedly robbed a bank?”
“No, I mean, what triggered your trip?”
“Oh.” My heart pattered with renewed mortification and embarrassment, but before I could answer, she continued in a strained voice.
“I’m here because Marco and I had a fight.”
“Really? You guys looked so happy when you introduced me.” I remembered seeing them in a tense conversation later on though, but I didn’t want to say that.
“We are happy most of the time.”
“What happened?”
She grimaced. “I told him about…” She waved a hand through the air. “This. My travelling life.”