"What?" Lucinda Scott found herself lying in the muddy
ridge of the river bank looking up at Rollie, a medic on his knees beside
her, taking her blood pressure and Gary Sanderlin, standing with his hands
on his hips.
"What happened?" she asked, trying to sit up as she turned
abruptly, hearing Judd Tolsen wheezing behind her.
"Don’t you remember?" Rollie asked, frowning as Angie
stepped forward and touched Rollie’s arm slightly.
"Rol, come over here. You need to see this…"
Angie had not even looked into her friend’s eyes as a
very bewildered Lucinda got up on her feet, her teeth chattering as the
medic protested.
"Ms. Scott, you should stay down. Your blood pressure
is dangerously low. Your temperature is well, jeez- ninety-two degrees…!"
"What, you saying I’m a popsicle or something?…because,
I am strangely, very cold…" and she shivered as Rollie grabbed the blanket
the medic had brought and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"Luce, come on, at least sit down over here," Rollie told
her, concerned as she nodded. Judd stood watching them in silence as he
then looked at Angie. She was still holding the headpiece and staring intently
at it, trying to get her husband’s attention.
"Penny for your thoughts," he commented as she looked
up at him, slightly startled.
"Oh, uh, yeah- look at these hand prints on the side of
the headpiece. I just don’t understand…" Angie replied, shaking her head.
"She was grabbing my head and wouldn’t let go," Tolsen
replied bending over slightly as he realized the imprints were deep and
looked to be smoldering.
As he reached out with his hand, Angie pulled the headpiece
away with a jerk; "Watch it! These impressions will freeze you! The temperature
must be about 100 degrees below zero. I touched the screwdriver last night
and this is the result," she warned him, lifting her hand up to show him
the frostbitten fingers through the bulking dressing.
"Are you jerking my chain? Get real! Lucinda Scott is
not Mr. Freeze, you know…" he began, laughing slightly as he reached over
and with his index finger began to touch the imprint.
His cry at his touch of the imprint drew everyone’s attention.
Angie immediately threw the headpiece to the ground and almost barked out
an order to the bestboy standing by Sanderlin.
"Get me anything that can hold very warm water, not scalding
but warm!" she told the young man who seemed confused.
Rollie looked over at Angie then, Lucinda blinking as
Judd held up his hand, watching the blue demarcation develop on his index
finger.
"What the hell is happening here?" Sanderlin asked, putting
his hands up in the air. He went over to his cameraman and asked him for
the print. "Let’s run this over now! I want to see just what came over
everyone…!"
The bestboy returned almost instantly with a pail of warm
water and Angie had him sit it on a table motioning Judd to follow her.
The paramedic had gone from looking at Lucinda to seeing what Angie was
up to herself.
"Put your hand in there now!" she ordered Judd as he frowned
but did as he was told. The paramedic smiled slightly;
"Pretty good, you’ve had medical training?"
Angie shook her head and rolled her eyes slightly;
"Nope, uh…sorta like that old strategy…see one, do one
and teach one…." She told him as Judd sat down, hand in the bucket and
fumed.
"I told you not to touch it," she admonished him as he
grimaced.
"So, what the hell is going on here, Ramirez?" he asked,
putting his other hand under his chin, resting it as he looked into the
most serious, crystal blue eyes he had ever seen.
"Judd, I wish I knew. You have to know that I did NOT
throw that screwdriver at you last night. It came from behind me…and when
I picked it up after you left, it did exactly what that imprint did to
your finger! I thought at first, it was smoldering- like hot, but once
I touched it, I realized…it was beyond the coldest thing I had ever touched
in my life!"
She was looking at him, her cheeks flushed as the sun
began to makes its presence known. The shot was ruined for the time being.
Rollie stood listening to Angie and Judd as Lucinda continued to shiver,
her teeth starting to chatter.
"Gary? Can we see that replay of the scene on film now?"
Lucinda asked as Rollie touched Angie on the shoulder and leaned over;
"When I touched Lucinda around the waist, it was as if
I had been injected with ice water!"
Angie nodded slightly as they all moved forward, toward the replay monitor.
Gary Sanderlin was happy with the scene so far as it played.
He grunted as he watched Lucinda and Judd going through the motions of
the Irish woman fighting with the demon in the glow of the will-o’-the-wisp.
Suddenly, Lucinda froze, gripping the headpiece. This was what everyone
had remembered. They all watched as the two actors tumbled to the ground.
Gary’s "CUT" was heard above the confusion of voices but the camera had
not stopped filming. Angie noticed at that point, with a slight intake
of breath, a strange almost double image around Rollie. She also noticed
that once he let go of Lucinda, that image disappeared. A communal sound
of surprise came as the camera panned down at Lucinda’s face. The double
image hovered over Lucinda’s face just as the deflection from the set lights
hit the gas from the bog and bounced back into the camera lens. The print
stopped at that point.
"Okay, don’t everyone spook out on me here," Gary told
them all, "we all know how lighting is deflected out here. Hence, the name…of
the film, right? Don’t start with me about an Amityville Horror set…someone’s
playing a game here. Tyler? You worthy of this stunt, right? Maybe you
think I was too hard on you about your kid, huh?"
"Gary, no! I swear, I had nothing to do with this. For
bloody sake, my own wife got her hand frostbit last night!" Rollie protested,
as Angie started to get upset.
"Rollie’s a great F/X artist, Gary, but he couldn’t have
done this! I don’t remember a thing! And…and…jeez, what the hell is going
on here?" Lucinda asked, standing up for Rollie as Angie held her tongue.
Rollie frowned; "Gary, believe me….this is not being done
by me. But seriously, mind if Angie and I take a look at that print. We
can digitally enhance the frames. I’m very curious as to the double imaging
we all saw. Maybe we can clean up the images?"
"Take it!" Gary said in disgust as he threw down his board
and pulled off his headset. He looked around at the group assembled around
him waiting for the next order of the day.
"Everyone, take 2 hours…take a breather. I gotta think
this out. We can wait on this scene until the end. If I have to, I’ll get
a damn full moon imaged into the shot later! Lucinda, listen….I believe
John gets in today at the airport. You and he might want to go over that
ballroom scene. Tomorrow for sure, that IS getting shot."
Lucinda smiled then as she wrapped her arm through Angie’s
arm. The reward of filming with John Grant tomorrow had been worth this
botched shooting today.
"John Grant?" Angie asked, confused, "I thought the lead
was going to be Tim Daly?"
"Can you believe it?" Lucinda gasped, "Tim got caught
with more shooting on the last part of his film out in Key West. John Grant
had tested for this role…Gary liked him too but when the role came up,
John had a commitment in Canada."
"Sooo, John Grant!" Angie repeated, almost in a hushed
voice as Lucinda controlled her squeal. The actor was going to be the next
Leonardo DiCaprio, as Lucinda called it. She hugged Angie and closed her
eyes.
"Finally, this film just might open that final door…"
Lucinda cried, as Angie tried to get her back to Earth.
"Okay….maybe you’d better rest a bit before he gets here,
okay?" Angie warned her as Lucinda took a deep breath and then turned around,
hugging Rollie who almost jumped as she touched him. The last time he had
touched her, he had felt that cold rush inside him.
"Rollie! Sorry about earlier….did you hear? John comes
in today!"
"Ahuh…better can the nervous energy, Luce. I hear the
guy hates leading ladies that spaz…" Rollie told her, grinning.
"Shoot, Rollie! How could he have a ‘want’ card already?
After all, he’s done what? two films?" Lucinda replied, fanning her hand
out like a diva.
"Hey, what can I say? He’s the new idol, up and coming.
Better watch out for all those teenage girls wanting a piece of you for
even being in a movie with him. After all, you’re robbing the cradle, eh?"
Rollie warned her, waiting for her to react.
"Hey, the script calls for an older leading lady…besides,
what’s age got to do with anything? You’re older than Angie…and don’t get
me started about it’s okay for men but not for women…!" she retorted as
Angie rolled her eyes behind Lucinda and Rollie chuckled.
"Angie’s been older than me her entire life…" Rollie commented,
winking at Angie as she whispered; "right answer" behind Luce.
"Look, he’s my leading man. I am a professional actress,
not looking for a date. After all, Marvin is my leading man in life. This
is just a great opportunity!"
Angie stepped up and swatted Lucinda with her script that
she had left lying on the table by a very dejected Judd.
"Get going! You heard what Gary said!"
"Okay…!" Lucinda answered and pulled up her muddied skirts
and jogged off to her trailer. Carl Duschen, the camera operator, handed
Rollie a copy of the print from that early morning and Rollie motioned
for Angie to follow him to the F/X van.
"Come on, super sleuth…we’ve some enhancement to do!"
he told her as he grabbed her around the shoulders.
"Hey! How long do I keep my finger in this bucket?" called
Judd from behind them.
"What color is it?" asked Angie, not even turning her
head.
"Blue…uh and some purple…" he called back at her departing
figure.
"Better keep it there for another couple of hours or so,"
Angie replied as she heard him groan.
"You’re bad," Rollie whispered in her ear.
Angie had sharpened and cut the entire segment of film
away except for Lucinda and Rollie coming into the scene. At the point
where Rollie released Lucinda and she fell, Angie cleaned up the halo effect
around Rollie’s shoulders and dithered to the point of exhaustion.
She pouted and changed the scaling again, as Rollie chewed
a carrot behind her, his head turning slightly as he asked if she could
take more light out of the shot.
"Hey, who’s pulling this cat’s tail?" Angie asked, her
hands stopping on the keyboard as Rollie grinned and looked down at her.
"Sorry, sweetie, ah- I just wonder if you took that scale
back to forty percent and added just a hair more shade there…"
Angie took a deep breath and then opened her mouth. Rollie
had been right!
"What the hell is that?" she asked, standing up, excited,
"Looks like another shoulder right behind yours…and uh, looks like what
do you call those things?"
"That looks like a insignia…uh, cluster with lettering…"
Rollie muttered and adjusted his glasses.
"That- is the collar and shoulder portion of a Confederate
Lieutenant’s Dress Uniform Jacket, specifically, Northern Virginia Regiment…"
said the voice from behind both of them.
Rollie and Angie turned around and looked up in surprise.
"Stu? Stu Westburn? What are you doing here?" Angie asked,
in shock.
"You rang…I deliver! I always wanted to see a movie being
filmed and well, a confession, Mrs. Tyler…I wanted this Jasper chip to
never fail on you again and me be 3,000 miles away!"
Rollie looked from Angie to Stu Westburn. He was an average,
pale skinned, geeky looking guy in his mid-thirties from all appearances.
Was this the guy he had been jealous of?
"Stu, damn nice of ya to come all this way! Sure, we can
get you on the set!" Rollie told him, reaching out and shaking his hand
as Stu received a hardy shake.
"Wow, service!" Angie remarked, grinning but then turned
around to her enhanced image, "Stu, now what about this image…you say it’s
a Civil War uniform?"
"Ah, yep, I have been doing reenactments for over ten
years. My favorite is the Northern Virginian regiment…and to think, we’re
right here! Right on the spot of the beginning of the seven day war!" Stu
remarked, almost snorting as he sported a toothy grin.
"Great…" Rollie murmured as Angie smiled and made a print of the finalized enhancement.