Page 13 of Deck the Hauls

“Are you okay up there?” he asked, sounding far less concerned than I had two days ago when I’d discovered Emily stuck up the tree for real.

“No! I’m stuck. I was trying to put the star on top of this Christmas tree, and now I can’t get down.” Emily somehow managed to make the terrible dialogue sound believable.

“I’ll grab my ladder and help you. Just hold on.” Austin walked to the side of the cameras, where somebody passed him a ladder.

Austin set it up next to a big tree nearby and then began to climb.

I frowned. I couldn’t quite work out how they were going to make this look at all realistic in the film. It seemed so fake with Emily on the box and Austin setting up the ladder at a different tree. I guess that’s the magic of editing and CGI.

He stopped partway and yelled out. “You’re doing great. Just hold on. I’ll be there soon.”

When Austin reached the top, they cut again. A man carried a ladder that almost looked identical to the one Austin had been climbing on, except it was only a fifth of its size, and placed it next to Emily on the box.

“Okay, now back to Emily. Austin, this is where you’ll climb up and reach out to save her. Sue, let’s get even more snow going. I want one camera filming from low down to give the impression of height.” Charles waited until Austin had taken his place on the bottom rung of the tiny ladder. “And...action!”

Sue pressed the button and the snow machine whirred to life. Foam sprayed out over Emily and Austin, landing on Emily’s face and hair. I winced. That looked unpleasant. I was glad Sue confirmed it was non-toxic to humans.

Austin climbed up the ladder and reached out for Emily. His hand skimmed Emily’s ass as he scooped her up and helped her onto the ladder. I narrowed my eyes. That seemed unnecessary. He kept his hand on her butt, even after she’d safely climbed onto the wooden rungs. There was something about the way he looked at her that I also didn’t like. Perhaps it was just an expression he was putting on for his character? Although I doubted his character was meant to look like a sleaze.

Sue added more liquid into the snow machine, sending another flurry of foam toward Emily. A piece landed directly in her mouth. She pressed her lips together. That couldn’t have tasted good.

The snow machine rumbled, then suddenly an avalanche of foam was projected directly at the ladder. Being closest to the machine, Emily bore the brunt of the avalanche, foam covering her from head to toe. She stood frozen on the ladder.

Shit. While it wasn’t toxic, surely it couldn’t be good for Emily to inhale it. I stood, taking a tentative step forward just as Austin jumped off the ladder and started brushing it off his hair, muttering. What a dick. He could have at least helped Emily down.

“Get hair and makeup!” Charles yelled, glaring at Sue.

Emily, still gripping the ladder, started coughing uncontrollably.

A woman jogged toward Emily, but Austin waylaid her, grabbing the towels in her hand and using them to wipe himself down.

Why is no one else helping Emily? I snatched some paper napkins and a bottle of water from the table in front of me and raced over.

I could barely see her face through the foam. She looked like some sort of anthropomorphic snow person—an anthropomorphic snow person having a coughing fit.

“Here, let me help you down,” I said, shoving the water bottle and napkins into my jacket pockets. She was only two rungs off the ground, so I placed my hands under her armpits and lifted her down.

“I’ve got some napkins. Do you want me to help get it off your face?”

Emily nodded through her coughs.

She shut her eyes and I leaned in, trying to ignore the slightly minty scent of her warm breath, and carefully removed the foam from her eyes. Her eyelashes are unbelievably long. With the foam came some mascara, which smudged around her eyes. Oops. Emily turned her head away to cough some more, then I wiped down the elegant bridge of her nose. And then her mouth, brushing over her full, red lips. After smearing the mascara, I dabbed even more gently to try to avoid spreading lipstick everywhere, though not completely successfully. I instinctively wet my own lips before I caught myself. Thank goodness her eyes are still shut. I removed the remaining foam from her cheeks and quickly stepped back as she coughed again.

“Have some water.” I twisted off the cap and passed her the bottle.

Emily took a long sip and then breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank god.”

Her clothes and hair were still covered in bubbles, and she now resembled a cute but damp raccoon due to her smudged eye makeup, but at least her face was clear and she could breathe without inhaling foam. “There, I can finally see your face again.”

“Thank you.” Emily ran her hand through her hair, collecting foam as she went, and then shook her hand so the bubbles fell to the ground.

“No problem. It’s the least I can do after I ruined your shoot.”

Emily brushed foam off her coat. “I’m actually quite glad you interrupted. I wasn’t happy with how I’d done my lines, but I’m not supposed to ask for extra takes.”

“Happy to be of service.”

Emily seemed to take acting so seriously. She clearly cared a lot about doing a good job, which I appreciated since I also took pride in my work. There was nothing more satisfying than working hard and then enjoying the results—whether it was a bed of perfect ranunculus or, I imagined, a well-acted movie.