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I took my cup of coffee and walked over to sit across from him. “I’m not worried about that. I just like to stay in a healthy headspace. If I have someone around distracting me, then it’s only going to make things stressful.”
“Fuck that,” Ben said. “I want you to be relaxed, but if you need anything, you just let me know. I’ll make it happen. I want to keep my stars happy.”
“Thanks. But I’m more concerned with the logistics of the script and being able to pull off some of these scenes. It’s going to be challenging, both physically and mentally.”
“That’s why we pay you the big bucks,” Ben smiled. “And again, why I hired a consultant. Hopefully, she’ll make it easier. There will be a grueling schedule, both green screen and on-location. I hope you’re ready.”
“You hired a woman?” I had never had any problem with women doing any job, but the Amazon was so harsh, I had expected a man to guide us.
“Yes, a professor. You’ll meet her soon enough. She came highly recommended, as she specialized in rainforest studies, particularly the region we’ll be staying in. She has lived in the Amazon for years, has relationships with the tribes in the area we’re filming near, speaks fluent Spanish, as well as some of the indigenous languages we’ll encounter.”
“That’s great. I didn’t even think about the language barrier.”
Ben scratched his dark beard. “Yeah, well, she’s a highly regarded academic, so she’ll keep things on a serious and even keel, which should counter my crazy for an effective outcome.”
“Wow, she sounds like a ton of fun,” I deadpanned. I imagined the nerdy, bug-loving type who sat at home on weekends to read up on insect mating rituals and dinosaur bones.
Ben checked his gold watch. “She should be here soon, just in time for me to do a meet and greet and then get things sorted out for the first scene first thing in the morning. I hope you can get your emotions settled by then. I want there to be some underlying tension in this first scene. It’s going to be crucial to the finale. I need there to be adrenaline flowing and a perpetual lump in the throats of my audience.”
“And so it begins,” I said. “Already giving me direction.” No fucking pressure. None at all. “I’m going to need some wash for the gray hairs this stress is going to give me.”
Ben laughed. “That’s right. For some of us, this shit started months ago. I’ve already gotten a few gray hairs. You know how hard negotiations can be. Thank the big guy upstairs that the directing part is easy.” He gave me a sly grin as if it was all my fault. I had a feeling it wasn’t the last I’d hear about my hard bargain.
About that time, there was another knock on the door. “Mr. Malcolm? The consultant is here.”
Ben waved his hand dismissively. “That’s fine, Ally. Tell her that I’ll be along shortly.”
“Yes, sir,” Ally replied, giving me a smile before she shut the door. She was a simple-looking girl, her hair fallen flat from running around the lot. She was cute and reminded me of a lot of the girls back home in Wisconsin. They were the down to earth type of girls who never got that star-struck look in their eyes.
“I’d love to meet your advisor. I have a lot of questions I’d like to ask her.” And I wanted to see if she was the real deal or if I needed to take time to research things for myself. I hated putting my trust in others when it came to my health. It was quite possible that the studios had muzzled the woman, only allowing her to tell us what we needed to know and leaving out the horror stories about parasites and poison dart frogs. I really didn’t want a case of malaria or to die from some tick that got on me during an action scene.
“By all means, come along for the ride. I’m sure she’d love to meet you as well.” He got up and walked to the door as I gathered my wallet and stuffed it in my back pocket. Then I locked up my trailer and joined Ben on his golf cart.
“How come I didn’t get one of these?” I asked. I hated having to walk across the lot, though I often got rides from others. These days, there was no shortage of attention or favors.
“I’ll make sure you have one at your disposal,” Ben said. “I’ll just take it out of your pay.” He put his foot down, and the two of us sped across the lot to the main building where the sound-stage set was under construction. Ben parked outside of his office door, and we walked inside.
