Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret)

by Stephen Andrew Salamon

  “Yeah, but it’s a different type of nervousness,” Darell replied.

  The cartoons, mixed with Darell’s happiness, allowed Damen to ask with excitement, “Tell me what it feels like?”

  “Well, it feels like, it feels like I’m going up a hill on a roller coaster. You know the feeling you get when you just about reached the top of the hill?” Darell stopped as Damen looked up at the ceiling and imagined he was on the roller coaster.

  “Yeah, that ticklish feeling in your stomach, that feeling of surprise.”

  “Yeah, that’s it, but the only difference is, I never reach the top, that feeling is always with me. That’s the feeling I have right now,” Darell explained with a grin. “I can’t believe it, man, I’m going to star in a movie, I just can’t believe it.”

  “I want that feeling, man, I want it so bad.” Flustered with the wonders of prosperity, Damen Schultz grinned toward the ceiling and imagined he was Darell, feeling that sense of climbing, and having butterflies in your stomach that tickle.

  Darell got up and put his suitcase by the door. “Damen, don’t worry, you’ll have this feeling before you know it.”

  The guys took over an hour to get ready, stopping moments at a time to converse with Darell, they knew that this was a very crucial time in their mission; fulfilling their destinies. They got in a cab that headed straight for the airport, not talking to each other, but just allowing themselves to take control of the present and realize that this was the last time they’re going to see Darell, the real Darell. Damen knew in his soul that once Darell left, the only one who would be returning, was a new Darell, both arrogant and conceited, or some other form of character that Damen’s imagination wasn’t strong enough to foresee. He also thought about how Darell was too gullible, and maybe he wasn’t ready for Hollywood yet. His analysis of Mr. O’Conner’s position was too overwhelming for his thoughts, so he stopped thinking of it, and enjoyed the moment, deciding to take each step at a time.

  Jose thought about nothing but the dream he had last night. He looked out the cab window, at the highway and thought, My God, do I really think like that?

  As Jose thought about the dream he had, Damen’s thoughts changed, and now he was thinking about his own stardom, how it was going to be so exciting to be a movie star. The thoughts kept on changing every time they stopped at a red light. But the last red light, before the airport, changed thoughts into words.

  Darell looked at Damen and said, “I read a little bit of your journal.”

  “You did?” asked Damen with a frightened tone. “What part did you read?” He was scared, knowing what he wrote in that booklet, allowed his eyes to be transfixed in a terror state, watching Darell’s every move, hoping that he didn’t read the part that Damen didn’t want them to know.

  A grin appeared on Darell’s face. Seeing the fear in Damen’s eyes, he knew he was in control. The shell started building again, making Darell talk about an issue that would only lead to an argument. “I read the last page that you wrote. I read it on the day you were at the hospital with Vivian. The last sentence said something along the lines of, ‘I shouldn’t take Mr. Fryer as my agent.’”

  “Yes, I wrote that, but those are my own private thoughts,” Damen spoke in a shaky voice. “You know, I don’t ever want you reading it again, it’s private.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m not mad. The whole page was about me making a mistake. But like you said, those are your thoughts,” said Darell, seeing that the cab drove into the airport. “I’m sorry for reading it.”

  Jose turned to Damen and questioned with interest, “What did you write about me?”

  “Nothing, I just wrote about us, that’s all. If it was bad, then it’s bad, but if it’s good, then it’s good.” The cab finally stopped, with him adding, “I write everyday about what happens, it’s my own private business.” Damen replied as the cab stopped.

  “You’re a good writer,” stated Darell, seeing that Jose got out of the cab. “Always remember that, Damen.”

  They all walked into the airport at 7:30 a.m. sharp. Walking up to the terminal that Mr. Fryer told Darell to go to, they walked up to it with sadness and happiness in their minds. Darell said, “Okay guys, this is B-1, this is the terminal that Tom said to me, he said he would be right here.”

  Jose scratched the scar on his neck, saying, “Maybe he’s not coming. I mean, after all, you did get the part in the movie mighty fast.”

  “Oh thanks, thanks a lot.”

  “Well, what do you expect, Mr. Fryer is a professional, he should be here right now, and he’s not,” explained Jose in a vicious manner; it was like he was jealous of Darell. “He is a professional, right?”

  “Yeah, of course he is.”

  Damen saw a fight coming on, brewing in their minds, and waiting for the right moment, the right words and time to come out. So, Damen went in between them, cut off their voices, and spoke, “Guys, guys, calm down. The pervert, um, I mean Mr. Fryer, he’ll be here. Don’t worry.”

  Tom walked toward them from behind. He scared the boys by saying with loudness, “Well, it’s about time you got here.” Damen noticed his zipper was undone on the front part of his pants, causing a smile to appear on his face.

  Darell said with sincerity, “I’m sorry, sir.”

  “You know, I decided that when I get out of the bathroom, if you weren’t here, I was going to leave. You’re lucky you’re here now.” Damen then noticed a big wet spot on Tom’s pants, causing his smile to turn to laughter.

  Damen couldn’t keep it in anymore, he had to make Tom embarrassed; after all, he hated him. So, Damen spoke over him, and announced, “Excuse me, but your fly is undone and you pissed on yourself.” Jose cracked up laughing, and Tom’s face reacted to the laughter, turning red and puffy. “That’s what Darell used to do when we were kids.”

  Tom Fryer zipped up his fly, and said, “Oh, gee, thank you for pointing that out to me. And, for your information, this isn’t urine, it’s water.”

  “Sure, sure, I bet it’s always that excuse,” accused Damen. That’s when Darell stepped in front of him, allowing Tom’s sight to be obscured from Damen’s presence. Darell didn’t want his friend to upset Tom, so he tried his best at acting nice to him, or in real terms, “kissing ass.”

  “He doesn’t mean that, sir, really, he doesn’t.”

  Tom gave out an evil grin, stating, “Well, it doesn’t matter, he’s just another starving artist, an artist that’s begging for attention. Come on, say your goodbyes and meet me on the plane. You’ve got three minutes.” Mr. Fryer left them and walked into the terminal.

  “Well, guys, this is it. I’m off, I’m off to a place, where I’m finally gonna get my chance to make something of myself that I’ve always wanted,” Darell laughed, putting down his suitcase.

  Jose also laughed. “That is so corny.”

  “Are you sure you want to do this, this soon? I mean, this is all happening too fast, man. Are you sure you don’t want to wait a little bit longer?” Damen questioned as he sat down in a seat right next to the terminal.

  “Oh yeah. This is the only time in my life that I’m positive about something. It’s a lot better than painting.” Darell’s voice was low and a grin appeared on his face. It was like he was happy but sad at the same time, to see himself departing from his friends, brothers, his only friends he knew.

  “But, Darell, you didn’t even have enough time to memorize the whole script. And on top of that, you didn’t even practice the script with someone else, you probably don’t even know your own character, do you?” asked Damen in a sincere fashion. He figured in his mind that everything was moving way too fast for Darell. Mainly, he was concerned for Darell’s well-being, and he was worried that he was being pushed by Mr. Fryer to do something that he isn’t ready for yet, or else, what Damen wasn’t even thinking, being pushed to do something that he didn’t even want.

  “Listen, Damen, I memorized a few pages of the script. I’ll just memoriz
e the rest of it as I go along.”

  Jose spoke in a joking fashion, “You know, all you redheads are the same, you all want to jump into things fast.”

  “Listen, I’ll see you guys in about seven months. I’ll see you guys at the top, the top where we all belong. This is our dream, and it will come true for all of us,” Darell yelled out with a smile, trying to joke in his words, and make his speech beyond ridiculous and corny. But, he also tried to hold back his tears, sucking them up with his own gravity of strength, and make them evaporate in his mind.

  “Alright, are you done with your stupid speech yet?” Jose laughed out.

  “Just promise me one thing,” said Damen, feeling miniature tears forming on his eyes.

  “What’s that?”

  “Don’t change, stay the same.” Suddenly, Darell’s tears released from his mind, traveled to his eyes, and flushed themselves down to his face; he knew Damen’s words were something of a warning. “Just remember what Maria said to us, man.”

  “I promise you, on our friendship, on all of our friendships. I promise I won’t change a bit,” said Darell, seeing Jose beginning to rub his eyes.

  Darell seen Jose’s tears and how he was trying to hide them with his hands. So he walked up to him, and question in sarcasm, “What’s wrong, Jose? Are those tears I see?”

  Tears came out from Jose’s fingers, but he still answered, “No, I just got something in my eyes. Hey, just remember, we’re your real friends. Just listen to my advice, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Jose rubbed Darell’s red hair, and took a picture, in his mind, of this memory, and how this was the beginning of Darell’s acting career.

  “Okay, okay, listen, I got to go now. So, goodbye for now.” Darell put his hand out. “This is for our ambition,” he added before Damen put his hand on top of Darell’s hand.

  “I agree.” Damen and Darell then waited for Jose’s hand, with the people from the airport, walking by them and staring at them in craziness.

  “Alright, this is for our dream,” spoke Jose in a low voice with a grin on his face. He put his hand on top of Damen’s and created another oath. The oath was of course silent, and not like the others that were verbal, but this was even more special, because it was a deep promise that they would positively become what they came to be, but they spoke it in silence.

  They released their hands from the bond that brought them to Hollywood, the bond that guided them to making their ambition real. Darell picked up his suitcase and handed the flight attendant his ticket. Just when he was ready to walk down the long passageway that led to the airplane, Damen and Jose ran up to him, with Damen saying in seriousness, “Hey, bud, don’t forget where you came from.”

  Darell turned around and looked at him in a puzzled way. Jose saw his puzzled look and helped him understand what Damen meant by those words. “Sugar Valley.”

  Damen smiled toward him after Jose reminded Darell, and spoke, “Yeah, like I said, don’t forget where you came from. We’ll see you soon.” Darell formed a grin, a grin that meant he understood.

  “Goodbye.” He walked into the passageway, stepping on the airplane. Darell saw Mr. Fryer sitting in First Class. He walked down to Tom’s seat and asked, “Am I sitting here too?”

  “Why yes, it’s First Class from now on,” Tom replied, handing Darell a glass of champagne.

  Darell sipped his champagne and stared out the window toward the airport, saying, “I’m sure going to miss them. They’re like my brothers, we’ve never been apart more than a day.”

  The plane started moving, with Mr. Fryer staring at Darell’s head, watching him gaze out of the window. Tom said, “Don’t worry, in a few months you’ll forget them.”

  Darell turned his head around to face Tom, yelling, “No, I won’t.”

  “Oh really, why not?”

  “Because, I made a promise to them, a promise that I’m not going to break.”

  Jose and Damen watched his airplane take off into the California smog, somehow hearing Darell’s words, feeling them in their minds, subliminally speaking. They both gave out a smile toward his airplane, with each of them wondering why they were smiling.

  Damen watched as the airplane vanished into the smog-filled clouds, saying, “Well, I guess we better get back to the motel, I’ve got an extra gig today at 10:00 a.m.”

  “Yeah, and I have to look for a job, we all do. That extra work is not going to pay the rent and the food bills,” mentioned Jose. They both started walking toward the exit, fighting the crowds of people that went in the same direction they took on.

  Damen didn’t like what Jose said, knowing that he was doing extra work, Damen felt like it was better than nothing. “Yeah, well at least it’s a start,” Mr. Schultz spoke defensively.

  Jose began to rub Damen’s golden-brown hair with his knuckles, laughing, “You’re right, it is a start, you schmuck.”

  “You know what we have to do?”

  “What?”

  “We have to pick up our photos and start sending them out to agents. That’s the only way we’re able to get to the auditions,” Damen replied, walking outside of the airport, and feeling a big gush of warm air hitting their air-conditioned skin.

  “Yeah, we’ll pick them up later on today. Right now, I want to get back to the motel, sleep a little bit and look for a job. I have a busy day ahead of me, Damen.”

  They hopped into a cab, with Damen explaining, “Yeah, you better look for a job. I’m not paying for the whole cab fare anymore, this is the last time.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll get a job today. Right now, let’s just concentrate on happy thoughts,” Jose spoke as the cab drove off.

  “What happy thoughts?”

  “Well, our best friend is going to be in a movie and, um, um, our dream,” Jose replied in a goofy manner.

  “You know what, that’s the best advice you’ve ever mentioned to me, Jose. And I know it’s going to be the last.”

  Jose laughed at Damen’s comment. He looked out his window at the sky and said, “Hey, look, isn’t that Darell’s plane?”

  Damen stretched his body, and looked out Jose’s window, saying, “Yeah, yeah it is.” He sat back straight in his seat, adding, “You know something?”

  “What?”

  “We’re gonna be on that same plane, the plane that’s going to take us to our ambition and give us a chance to make it real, like Darell said,” answered Damen with a grin on his face. He thought about the way Darell described the feeling, the sensation of being on a roller coaster. That’s when he also added, “Yep, it’s going to happen, I can feel it. It’s that feeling of ‘hope.’”

  “I know my dream is.”

  Damen looked at him in a puzzled manner, noticing that Jose didn’t say “our” dream; he said “my” dream. He looked out the window and wondered why he said that. Not wanting to argue with him anymore, he kept his thoughts in and just agreed with him.

  “Yeah, your dream is gonna come true,” said Damen. The cab drove onto the highway, the highway that would lead them back to Hollywood. The whole time, Damen still thought of why Jose confused the words our and my, but then forgot about it as the Hollywood sign came into view, shining through the sunlight and calling out his name.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The days turned into weeks as Damen and Jose worked to achieve their goals, while Darell was already beginning to achieve his. Their lives passed by so quickly, each passing week added up to months, going by like breath, inhaling and exhaling. Moments passing in a flash, running by them without their eyes even noticing anything’s existence. Their language, the accents of a little Southern descent, vanished without a trace, leaving their vocal cords, their mouths, and developing into an accent of unknown background.

  They’d adjusted to the Hollywood lifestyle, a style that they didn’t ever think they would live in, the lifestyle that they were in now; the cliché that actors have. They were known as ‘starving artists’ presently, artists that literally go down
to the lowest form of living, but always think that one day they’ll get discovered and become stars. Damen didn’t ever imagine that he would become a part of this certain way of living, but reality has a weird way of showing itself. Pipe dreams are what cause that style to occur; yet to Damen, it wasn’t a pipe dream, it was a dream that was real in his mind, soul, and heart. Every moment that passed by, every day that flashed through his eyes, Damen knew that one day, his moment would come for him, and dreams of visions that he wanted to take on, would present themselves to him, a reality.

  They both thought that they were accustomed to this form of life; slaving and working at the jobs they got, living in a California dream but in California’s realism. Yet, nothing could prepare them for what the future held, and what the near future would bring. What they didn’t know, was in order to see the reality of their ambition, they would have to see the reality of pain, sadness, and overall, the deepest physique of evil life.

  It was December now; the heat was low, but still there. Remembering what snow used to look like, Jose and Damen felt homesick for Ridge Crest. The boys, and Vivian received jobs at the same place; they worked in Wood Café. It was a coffee shop where actors of all kinds come in to have a bit of cappuccino before their auditions and look over their scripts, practicing and rehearsing for that crucial moment when a casting director was present.

  They liked the job a lot, at least Damen and Vivian did. Jose was still looking for an actor or an agent to discover him; he wanted fame the easy way and Damen saw it too. Working fulltime at the café, getting paid minimum wage, only to have it spent in one day on bills and rent, they were finally in the true meaning of “being on your own.”

  They saw actors come in there all the time. When Damen and Vivian saw a famous actor, they acted happy. But when Jose noticed a famous actor, he acted jealous; he was very envious toward them, especially when it was an actor his age. Damen noticed all the signals that Jose gave, the signs of jealousy toward a famous actor, and he doesn’t know why he acted like that, but he’d soon find out, very soon.