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“Sounds good to me.” I was never one to pass up a free meal or a new friend, and I figured I could do worse than the leading lady.
Chapter Seven
Jake
As Ben and I worked out the choreography of the scene, I tried my best to focus on the task at hand. It wasn’t easy with so many distractions in the room, and the biggest of which was Kate, who wasn’t even paying attention to what was going on.
Instead, she was sitting across the room with her nose buried in a script. Now and then, I caught her shaking her head with furrowed brows, and I had a feeling whatever she was reading, she didn’t like it.
Ben grabbed me by the shoulders. “Focus, Jake. I need you to make sure you keep on your mark, and when this hallucination begins, Logan needs to immediately look groggy.”
“Okay, so it just hits me out of nowhere, or am I reacting to something?”
“I’ll get a marker that you can follow, but yes, the poison arrow will be shot from here.” He stepped over to show me the direction, holding up his hand to show me the trajectory. “Then it connects here, striking you here, and that’s the reaction.” He pointed his finger right at my face.
“Okay, so it’s a poisoned arrow?”
“Yes, from a deadly plant, and when you fall into the hallucination, you will think a rhinoceros is after you. When you kill it, we find out it’s a native.”
“Excuse me,” Kate interrupted, crossing the room with the script in her hand. “Did you say rhinoceros? There are no rhinos in that part of the Amazon. I think you are confusing your rain forests.”
Ben frowned and spun around. “It’s a hallucination,” he said. “I understand you’re not used to the creative process, but I’d appreciate it if you’d trust my judgment.” His teeth were gritted, and I could tell that he didn’t appreciate her opinion.
“I just thought you’d want to know that this entire scene doesn’t hold to the reality of the Amazon jungle.”
“My creative vision supersedes reality, Ms. Bridges.”
She glanced around at the eyes on her, and I looked away a moment as her eyes panned in my direction. When I looked back at her, I could see the determination in her eyes. “I just thought I should point out the inconsistencies of your script. Isn’t that why you wanted a consultant in the first place? I mean, the name of your film is Operation Amazon.”
Ben turned around red-faced. “I cannot think in this hostile environment, Ms. Bridges. But perhaps you’d like to school me in how to make a movie while you’re at it?”
“Well, for one, I don’t understand why you’d use a poison arrow? Most natives would use their blowpipe, and the poisons wouldn’t come from a plant, but the poison dart frogs, of which the entire species gets its name.”
I could tell that Ben was growing impatient, but he was also getting flustered. “Ally!” he screamed. “Bring me a script.” He read through the scene and then clapped his hand. “Okay, so we’ll just say a poison dart strikes you in the face, and then instead of a rhino, you kill—” He glanced back at Kate.
She shrugged. “A jaguar?”
“A jaguar,” he said, humoring her. “There you go, one of the most dangerous species in the world, reduced to a kitty cat.”
“Kitty cat!” Kate said with a laugh. “I beg your pardon, but the jaguar is one of the Amazon’s deadliest animals and the third largest and most dangerous cat in the world.”
“Third place,” he mocked, earning a chuckle from his crew. “Thank you, Ms. Bridges. I’ll keep that in mind.”
The man had always been nice enough, but I knew he didn’t like anyone’s opinion when it came to his creativity. “Or don’t,” she said, holding up her hands. She walked back to her corner, frustrated. “I’m just doing my job.”
Ben turned around, and I could see the frustration in his eyes. “That’s what I get for hiring an expert. She thinks she knows everything.” It was an awkward moment when I didn’t quite know what to say. I didn’t want Kate to think I agreed, but at the same time, Ben held my future in his hands, and I didn’t want to ruffle his feathers too much.
Across the room, Kate could hear him, and it didn’t sit well, especially when some of the others on the set laughed.
“I don’t know everything, but I do know everything about the Amazon. Perhaps you should have set your story in Africa if you wanted rhinos.”
Ben pretended not to hear and shot Ally a dirty look when she giggled. “Let’s get back to work.” He clapped his hand and then turned his attention back to me. “Just pretend it’s something scary. I’ll make the final decision in the edit.”
