Damen put out his cigarette in his coffee cup, and lit up another one. He stared at Chuck, speculating what it is he had to tell him, and answered, “Listen, Chuck, I can’t promise you if I don’t know what it is I’m promising.”
“Alright, remember when I told you I came to Hollywood with my friends a long time ago?”
“Well, you said something about someone coming here and opening a coffee shop, I guess that was you. And also something about your friends and yourself wanting to become an actor.”
“Yes, that’s the story. Well, you see, one of my friends made it. Remember how I told you three of them sold their souls to the Devil, but only one of them actually kept the contract, in a metaphoric sense?” Chuck asked with seriousness, but pensively.
Damen smiled, remembering, and asked, “Yeah, but did you mean he literally sold his soul to him?”
“No, but you have to understand that in Hollywood, sometimes people crush souls in order to make it to the top. Well, in a lot of instances, when you sign a contract right away, I like to use that term. It mainly means that a person comes to Hollywood, gets discovered right away, and goes to the top without even having any traumatic experience or breaking a single sweat, without even working for it. Well, one of my friends decided to go that route. He made it pretty big. My other friends, who didn’t want to take that route, went to church and asked God for forgiveness, of course for their own reasons. To make a long story short, they ended up like you are now. They ended up like bums, and died a year later. With me, I opened up a café. What I’m trying to say to you is, I want to help you, Damen,” Chuck explained, watching Damen smoking his cigarette heavily.
“You can’t help me, Chuck, by just giving me a roof over my head, I didn’t come to California to work in a café,” he proclaimed in a hurtful voice, hitting his arm against the counter and causing his wound to bleed even more.
“No, no, you don’t understand what I’m trying to tell you. Listen, I was an agent a long time ago. But, the reason why I quit was because of a certain other agent who screwed me over. You can say he began spreading lies about me. The lies got so big that no clients would want to have me as their agent,” spoke Chuck, putting his head down and then looking up at Damen.
Mr. Schultz was surprised, finding out that his ex-boss used to be an agent, and questioning with astonishment, “Wait a second, you were an agent?”
Chuck was offended by Damen’s question, saying with shock, “Yeah.” He then added in a defensive way, “What, you don’t believe that I was an agent? You don’t think I would make a good one?”
Damen patted him on the back to calm him down, answering, “No, no, no, I mean, it’s just weird hearing you say that. I wouldn’t have ever guessed that you were once an agent.”
“Well, like I said, I didn’t get any clients because of him, all because of a lie. So, I then opened up a café and stayed here ever since. Mainly.”
Damen interrupted his words, asking with interest, “Who was the agent that screwed you over?”
He replied, “Oh, you wouldn’t know him. Anyway...”
Damen cut him off once more, intruding into Chuck’s business, asking again, “Try me, what’s his name?”
“Tom Fryer.”
“What?”
Chuck noticed a shocked, dismayed expression on Damen’s face, looking like he’d just seen a ghost, a phantom from his past. “Wait a second, do you know him?”
“Do I know him? That’s Darell’s agent.”
“Well, then your friend Darell better watch out for him.”
“Why?” Damen questioned in a frantic manner, lifting up his white bandage to see if his cut stopped bleeding.
“You see, agents are like a barrel of apples, there is a spoiled one in every bunch. Tom is like a Devil, he could be good when he knows it will help him reach the top, and he could be evil when he knows he’ll get his way. Tom always thought he was the best, but little did he know that he was all talk and no action.” Chuck paused, noticing a bum knocking at the window. “You see, he was the guy who sold his soul to the Devil, to Hollywood. He was the guy who once was my friend, but now is my enemy. He used to be Hollywood royalty some odd years ago, but then turned to being an agent.”
Chuck then got up from his seat. Hearing the tapping on his window by the bum, he started to walk up to the door while Damen wanted to know more input about Tom. Damen questioned, “Wait a second, go back a few. What do you mean by that? What do mean when you said that he could be good when he knows it will help him reach the top, and evil when he knows he’ll get his way?”
“We’re closed,” Chuck said to the bum, pounding on the window again. “I said we’re closed,” he added. The bum flipped him off and walked away from the café in a hesitant motion.
Chuck returned to his seat as Damen asked again, “Chuck, what did you mean by that?”
“What did I mean by what?”
“Everything you said. For instance, when you said he was all talk and no action. What did you mean by that?”
“Oh, well, you see Tom never had a client who made it to the top and stayed there. All of his clients either played in a movie and retired, or played in a movie and then got caught with some drugs or prostitutes. I mean, I don’t think Tom has ever been to one of his client’s premieres,” Chuck replied with a laugh.
“Well, he’s been to Darell’s premiere. I mean, Darell seemed like he was happy and satisfied with Tom being his agent.”
“Listen, Damen, I want to help you.” He looked at Damen putting his head down on the counter. Chuck didn’t want to talk about Tom Fryer anymore, he just wanted to cut to the chase and tell him what he really wanted to in the first place.
Damen lifted his head up from the green counter, feeling its textures of roughness, from old, old coffee stains that weren’t removed, rubbing against his face. As soon as he came up to Chuck’s eye level, he announced with stress, “Like I said before, Chuck, I didn’t come to California to work in a café, let alone live here.”
“Listen, that’s not what I mean by helping you.” Chuck turned away from Damen’s face for a few seconds and began preparing himself for what he was about to say to him. He turned back toward him and spoke, “Let me be your agent, and I promise you I’ll be a good one?” He paused for a moment and then added, “I’m an old man, I’m getting older by the day. I promise you, I’ll be your agent till my last breath.”
He laughed out, “You as my agent? Chuck, that’s ridiculous.”
“What do you mean? I would make a damn good agent,” he stated with anger and defense.
“Listen, Chuck, I know you’re just trying to help, but look at it from my position. Some old guy who was your boss comes out into an alley and saves your life. Then he takes you inside and says he wants to be your agent. Listen,” Damen answered, feeling his own laughter seizing. “I mean, I don’t even know who your clients were in the past, I don’t even know if you had any clients for sure.”
“Damen, this is no time to get picky. I had plenty of clientele in the past, up until Tom’s lie, now I want you to be my client,” he said in a high tone.
“Chuck, all I want to do right now is save up money, and then use it to get the hell out of here and go back to Ridge Crest. I’m too far behind in the game anyway. Darell is already on his second movie, Jose’s just beginning a movie, and me, well, I’m sitting in a coffee shop next to my ex-boss with a stab wound to my arm,” he spoke in a fast and loud voice, getting up from the chair in quickness.
“Damen, when you came in here to work for me, I just thought you were another starving artist with a pipe dream, but--”
Damen lit up a cigarette and stood next to the front door of the café. Cutting Chuck’s words off, he agreed, “I know, and you’re right, it’s just a pipe dream.”
Chuck then shouted, “Let me finish. But then you told me that story about the star in the sky and how you always look for it every night. Remember, Damen? Remember I was in the alley w
ith you and I was trying to find the star, but I couldn’t?”
Damen walked back to his seat and sat next to him again. “Yeah, I remember.”
“After that day, I knew you were born to be a star. The reason why I knew is I heard the same thing come out of one of my client’s mouths a long, long time ago. You see, that client made it in Hollywood; as a matter of fact, he’s one of the top stars of today,” he explained, seeing Damen’s eyes widen with interest, and lighting up with input.
“What’s his name?”
“John Smitherson.”
Damen shot up from off his seat, shouting with excitement, “He was your client? If he was your client, then what happened? I mean, why isn’t he your client anymore?” A smile came on Damen’s face, a smile that meant Chuck was lying. So he added, “Yeah, why isn’t he your client anymore?”
“Because of Tom Fryer, because of the lie. Plus, because of other things that I really don’t want to discuss right now,” he answered as Damen’s smile vanished.
He looked deep into Chuck’s elderly, ripened eyes, wondering what they saw a long time ago, trying to see what Chuck was looking at. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”
“Why would I lie about it? Damen, I’m only going to ask you one more time. Would you please allow me to be your agent?”
A smile appeared on Damen’s face. He answered with a mild voice, “I don’t know. I mean, I guess I could give it a shot. Why do you really want to be my agent?”
“I know you have the talent, and I also want to show Tom Fryer that I could be a better agent than him. Listen, I do want your dream to come true; for you and for me. I really want to help, and I know I can. And I have something to prove to my scummy, old, so-called ‘friend,’ now enemy; with you, I’ve got the power. Listen, do want your dream more than life itself? Do want your dream to become reality?” Chuck questioned, seeing Damen getting up from his seat and turning around to face him.
Damen thought about it, squeezing his eyes tight together, trying to remember the feeling, sensation, the compassion when he was back in Sugar Valley, dreaming about his dreams, and wanting them more than life itself. Suddenly, it came to him, leaving out all the deleterious, bad things that he had to see in Hollywood and all the trauma that he had to feel. It showed itself to him, being of great size and prosperous feelings. “Yes, of course I do.”
“Well, if you want to be up there with Darell and Jose, then shake my hand.” Chuck held out his hand for him to shake. “Is it a deal?”
“Alright, it’s a deal.” Damen shook his hand vigorously. He then gazed out the window of the café, at the streets of Hollywood, the way the darkened night placed a cruel blanket over everything in sight. As he stared through it, he spoke, “By the way, do you have any food here? I’m starving.”
Chapter Fifty-Four
The nerves were growing and the anxiety built as Jose’s flight came closer to England. The fear of what Darell would say when he didn’t see Damen, but instead saw him, went through Jose’s mind every moment he inhaled a breath of air, or blinked an eye. He wanted to ask Julienne what he should say to Darell when he saw him, but his pride was too great, too overpowering. He didn’t want Julienne to see his fears, and especially his anxiety. The sweat started to build on his face, trying to figure out what he should do when Darell saw him. He started to loosen his collar and scratch his head in a speedy manner; it felt like bugs were crawling on his scalp. Then, he started to scratch his neck; it felt like little hairs were touching it lightly. He couldn’t take it anymore, so he turned to Julienne and asked in stress, “Alright, what should I say to Darell when we get there?”
“Say hello.” Julienne then snapped her fingers at the attendant to get her attention, adding to Jose, “It’s that simple.”
The attendant poured Julienne some champagne while Jose turned to face the window of the plane, saying, “Come on, I mean, he’s gonna wonder where the asshole is.”
“Just say that Damen didn’t get the part. Say that you were chosen over Damen at the last minute,” she replied. “You know, Jose, why didn’t you ask me this before when we first got on the plane? It would have given me some time to think about it. Now we’re going to land in about thirty minutes, and you aren’t gonna know what to say to him. I thought you had this all figured out?” Julienne asked, reclining her seat and lying down.
“I thought you had it all taken care of? You are my agent, and I thought you were supposed to take care of these sort of things, aren’t you?”
Suddenly, the attendant announced on the intercom that all of the first-class passengers should fasten their seatbelts.
Julienne put her seat back up and sat there trying to think of what she should say to his question. She fastened her seatbelt, replying, “Listen, don’t worry about it, I’ll help you figure out something. You can tell him anything you want, just don’t tell him how you got the part.”
Jose picked up binoculars and looked out of his window again and saw the Eiffel Tower in the distance. “Alright, I hope it works.”
The plane landed in Heathrow Airport at 12:00 p.m. on the dot. Jose and Julienne got off of the plane, retrieved their luggage, and awaited the arrival of Henry and Dennis Schultz. They decided to wait next to the men’s bathroom, this way if Henry and Dennis had to go, they would see Jose and Julienne.
Being that Jose was nervous, and agitated toward the situation he was going to come into, he sat down on one of his suitcases and questioned with attitude, “What time did they say they would get here?”
“Dennis said he would be here right when we got here. He said he was going to be waiting for us right here with Henry, next to the bathrooms.”
He spoke, “I don’t think--”
Dennis tapped him on the shoulder, causing his words to die, and he heard Dennis say with a smile, “Hey, how was your flight?”
Henry shook Jose’s hand as Jose answered, “Oh, it was great.”
Without warning, three men, dressed in suits, with black caps on, grabbed his and Julienne’s suitcases. “And how was your flight, Julienne?” Dennis asked as Henry shook her hand.
“It was fine, thank you.”
They began to follow the three men carrying the luggage toward the exit sign of the airport.
“How’s that Damen guy doing?” Henry questioned Jose; Julienne bit her tongue.
Jose didn’t know what to say, so he answered with anxiety, “Oh, well, he’s still doing that stuff.”
“Yeah, I heard; it’s too bad. I’m sorry to hear about it, I know he’s your good friend,” Henry spoke.
They entered a white stretch limousine. Jose was the last to get in, but when he did, he closed the door, and said, “Oh, it’s alright.”
The limo began moving in slow motion, feeling a bit of vibration from the engine.
“Yeah, I know, Darell will be heartbroken when he hears the news about him,” mentioned Henry.
Julienne grabbed onto Jose’s hand and began squeezing it, having Jose inquire, “You mean, Darell doesn’t know about Damen yet?”
“No, no, we thought it would be best if you told him yourself,” replied Dennis, seeing Henry agreeing with him by nodding his head.
Henry spoke, “Yeah, because being it that you’re one of his good friends, we thought it would be best.”
Julienne formed a plan in her head once again, asking, “Well, are you sure you want Jose to tell him? I mean, especially before the movie begins filming?”
“Well, yeah, it’s best we get the bad news over with first. Why, did you have any other ideas?” asked Dennis with an interested tone.
Julienne replied, “Well, I thought it would be best to tell him about Damen after the movie is done and completed. This way, he won’t be worried and nervous about Damen’s well-being during the movie’s making. Also, he’ll act much better in his scenes. I know if I found out that my close friend was doing drugs, I surely wouldn’t want to act in a movie.”
Jose began to und
erstand why she was doing this. To Julienne, by them not telling Darell the truth about Damen right away, it would give her more time to go through with her plan, the plan of using Jose for fame. You see, she figured if they told Darell about Damen doing drugs, then Darell would call up Damen immediately and tell him about it. Then in the process, Damen would deny it, and pretty soon the lie would come out and Julienne would be blamed for it. But, to Jose, he figured Julienne was doing this to give him more time to get famous. Jose knew if this lie came out before they finished the movie, then his reputation would be destroyed even before it had been made, and molded into something of greatness. He wanted to gain a little bit of power out of Hollywood, so when Darell finally discovered that it was all a lie about Damen, it wouldn’t matter if he told directors, agents, and so on about it, because Jose would already be at the top in Hollywood. But, what Jose didn’t know was she’s doing this for her own fame, not his.
“You know, you got a point, Julienne,” Henry said.
Dennis began to smile, questioning, “Alright, if we’re not going to tell Darell, then what are we going to say to him when he sees Jose?”
Ring, ring, ring, ring.
The car phone started to ring, showing its presence by a loud humming noise, evolving into a higher pitch every time it was heard. “I don’t know, and I don’t care. You guys figure it out,” Henry replied.
“I know, we could just tell him that we liked Jose more than Damen. We could lie and say that Jose was much better for the part,” Dennis said with Jose looking at him in a sad way.
The anger built up inside Jose’s stomach once again. The jealousy showed as he asked, “Why don’t we just say the truth to him? Why not say that Damen’s doing drugs?” Jose paused for a moment and then added another lie, “And that he hates Darell because he’s jealous of his fame?”
Julienne squeezed his hand, saying with force, “I liked Dennis’ idea more.”
Henry hung up the phone when the limo stopped in its tracks, announcing, “Well, we’re here.”
Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) Page 50