Invisible Threads--Chapter 19

Writer's Note: Please read the previous chapters and prologue of Invisible Threads before reading this.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

"What the hell!" If Cherie were to have a catch-phrase, that would be it.

Gary looked up from his laptop. "What?"

"How long have you been up?"

"I don't know. Two or three hours."

"Gary, two or three hours?" She only used his name in conversation when she was ticked.

"What's the problem?"

She took a deep breath as if explaining to a belligerent child, "This is the desert and the air is dry. You combine dry air with lack of sleep, and you get a lost voice." She took a calming breath and finished, "No big deal. We will stop by a drug store and get some throat spray. What time is it?"

He looked at his computer screen. "A little after six.""Our follow-up interview is at 11:00 so we have plenty of time. It's time to get ready."

After twelve minutes of Gary in the bathroom, thirty minutes of Cherie in the bathroom, a sojourn to the huge breakfast bar (where Cherie would not allow Gary to eat most of what he had put on his plate), and the trip to the drug store for throat spray, they returned to the hotel room to wait for the interview time. Gary headed immediately to his laptop.

Cherie glared, "Back on your computer already?"

"I'm just checking e-mails." Phang says 'Good Luck'."

She holstered her glare and spoke with forced calm. "Right now, the most important thing in the world is getting ready for this interview. After it's done, the most important things are all about winning this show. Before yesterday, you had your life. After this week, you will have your life. But this week is mine."

It seemed to him that she had also owned most of the last few weeks, but he stayed silent.

She continued, "Full immersion computer mode is off the table until Monday. Agreed?"

"Or until I get eliminated."

"You will not get eliminated and don't say that again."

He looked at the theater major sitting on the edge of the bed with the expectant look on her face. "I understand. No computer."

He could survive a week.

She pulled out The Notebook, a three-ring binder stuffed with papers, and opened it in her lap.

Gary hated The Notebook. In it, Cherie kept all of her notes including scripts and flow charts. The hard-and-fast rule was that in order to ease Gary's memorization, the scripts in The Notebook were never allowed to change. Unless Cherie made the change. This occurred with every practice. Her repeated nonchalant use of the phrase, 'Oh, I changed that' was nightmare fodder.

They went through the complex interview flow chart four times before Cherie's comforting smile and soothing tone of voice began to crack. After the fifth effort, she slammed the binder shut and said, "Well, it is what it is and we're out of time."

Gary's confidence waned.

Cherie gave them each ten minutes in the bathroom to re-apply deodorant, brush their teeth, and use mouthwash. He changed into his approved clothes while Cherie took her ten-minute turn. He heard her phone alarm go off at ten minutes. She was in the zone.

At 10:51, They arrived at a desk in front of four sets of double doors with a banner on the front that said 'Superstar Interviews.' Three of the four sets of doors were closed, and a steady hum of conversation and activity came from the fourth. Cherie walked over to the desk, "Gary Richardson, 11:00 interview."

The intern sitting at the barebones reception table scanned a list on her computer. "Yep, here you are. You're checked in. They are running a few minutes behind schedule. Hang around in this general area and we'll call Gary's name when they're ready for you. I'm guessing it will be around 20 minutes."

"Thank you." Cherie stepped away from the table and looked at Gary. "Now, we have some time on our hands. Let's sit down and relax."

"Okay." He sat as commanded.

Cherie knew, when Gary was tense or stressed, his verbal responses grew short and he did not initiate conversation. Through the weeks, she had learned many of the clues to his moods. This was challenging since his facial expressions and body language were rehearsed rather than instinctual. Yet she could tell when he was worried or bothered or annoyed or at ease. This was an uncomfortable train of thought. It felt as if this knowledge was more intimate than was appropriate to their relationship.

"Want a hand job?" She smiled up at him.

She watched him replaying the statement in his head trying to make it make sense, "What?"

"And now I have your undivided attention."

She was obviously joking. He expected her to punch him in the arm. She did not. Apparently, punching in the arm was something she did when she considered herself off-the-clock. "You're very strange."

"And you're very nervous. So, I'm going to regale you with my wit and charm while we wait so that you don't work yourself up into a catatonic state."

"Okay."

"But before I start, I was wondering one thing."

"What's that?"

"When I woke up this morning and you were talking to yourself while writing on your computer, you said the word ether like five times. What's ether?"

He talked animatedly for the next 18 minutes. While he was speaking incomprehensibly in Physics-speak, she tried to look interested.

"Gary Richardson!" The intern called from the desk.

They were greeted by the young woman's smiles when they stepped up to the desk. "Lacy and Ed are waiting for you in cubicle 3 straight through there."

"Thank you," they replied in unison.

Cubicle 3 included four chairs around a table with a laptop hooked to a large screen. Two of the chairs were taken.

Cherie recognized them both. "Hello Lacy. Hello Ed. Nice to see y'all again."

Lacy stood. Ed remained seated.

"It's good to see you again, Cherie. And Gary."

Ed interjected in a sarcastic voice, "And how are our two lovebirds doing?"

The next few seconds were going to tell whether Superstar was going to run with the fiancthing or toss it. Gary was unaware of the subtle tension that Cherie was feeling. She envied him that.

She smiled her brightest smile and took Gary's hand. "We're doing fine."

Ed continued, "That's good. Because we edited your clip from the shoot in Illinois and it did pretty well in a couple of focus groups. The geek thing seems to be selling."

Cherie squeezed Gary's hand. It didn't hurt and he assumed she was pleased. He squeezed back.

Ed's voice turned business-like. "I'm going to play through the draft of the clip as we have it right now. We'll record some more lines in that sound booth in the corner. In the clip, those lines were read by a couple of voice actors so we get could the timing right and you could hear the whole thing. We'll play it through, discuss any comments you might have, make any edits, walk over to the booth, and then record it in front of a green screen. We'll probably be working through the lunch hour but don't worry, we'll get you out in plenty of time to grab a bite before you get the stage for your walk-through at 2:00. Make sense?"

Cherie cocked her head slightly. "Do we need to change clothes to match what we were wearing before?"

"No. We'll put green cloaks on you. The editing guys are magic. They looked at it and said they got all they need from the existing file. They can match your clothes, hair, make-up, everything. Are you ready to see the clip?"

When they nodded, he grabbed the mouse and clicked on a file. The initial screen was blue with Gary's name at the top. A male voice came from the speakers:

"Magic is real. It has been my intent to prove that there is a previously unknown branch of physics which deals with the metaphysical. Centuries of disuse have rendered it forgotten in the modern world but it remains - just under the surface - waiting to be rediscovered for the world. I am on the brink of that discovery. My fellow physicists have been slow to embrace my discoveries."

Cut to a close-up of Dr. Lecki with a banner stating Dr. Malcolm Lecki, PhD. Physics Professor, University of Illinois along the bottom.

Lecki: "The University of Illinois Physics Department is one of the finest in the nation. As such, all of our graduate students and especially our paid graduate assistants are of the highest caliber. Gary is no exception, and his academic research has been superior. (Pause) However, his recent obsession with magic is not recognized by this department and I fear that it is becoming a distraction for him away from his more substantial research. And my concern has only deepened since the arrival of that pushy Northwestern girlfriend of his."

The screen switched to Gary and Cherie.

Cherie watched in growing dismay as their interview from Champaign was repeated on the screen - warts and all. And warts were probably the only negative thing that Gary had not mentioned about her looks. She was wincing as he finished with "Individually, your eyes are very nice. But as a pair they are a little too far apart."

A sharp BLEEP! covered her reaction.

She was taking deep breaths and squeezing the life out of Gary's hands as a blue screen returned with the male voice actor.

"Communication is not my strength. That is why I need Cherie. I have spent my whole life lonely and now I have someone. She believes in me and what I do. That is why I love Cherie."

Back to blue 'Cherie' screen with female voice actor.

(laughs) "No. Communication is not his strength but loving, caring, and a commitment to his dream are. And that is why I love Gary.

End shot of Cherie leaning her head back into Gary's chest while he puts his arm around her. Her eyes closed.

Freeze frame.

Cherie asked him to scroll down to the closing where she laid her head against his chest and he put his arm around her.

"Did the editors make that happen? I don't remember that."

"No. According to Philip, the only editing to that is that they changed some speeds within the video to make your head moving to his chest a little slower and to make his arm motion smoother. However, he did tell us that they had to do some pretty tight editing to cut out several eye rolls and apparently at one point you hit him."

She looked at Lacy, "Wouldn't you?"

Lacy smiled without responding.

Ed continued, "And the different camera crew teams showed several clips at the post-pre-production party. By popular vote, yours won in the 'funniest' category."

Cherie's smile was now a little forced. "Thanks for sharing."

Ed laughed. Gary noted that they seemed to be picking on Cherie more than on him. More uncharted territory in his ever-expanding situational universe. Again, a fiancwould do something. He had thought about this a lot since his first efforts and had watched several romantic comedies on Netflix. Letting go of her hand, he put his arm around her shoulder, squeezed her tight against him, and kissed her on the side of the head.

When Gary pulled his hand from hers, Cherie held the fake smile and waited for the worst. He was improvising. She felt his arm go around her shoulders and the gentle kiss on her head. She leaned into him and put her head on his shoulder. She looked over at Ed who appeared non-plussed at seeing a "genuine" loving interaction between them. She stayed in character and maintained the contented smile as she rested her head against her lover's shoulder and thought, Take that, you sarcastic asshole.

The taping was relatively easy. Ed tried to give Gary direction, which was confusing, so he waited for Cherie to translate. His reliance on her in this environment was so complete that Ed and Lacy began to wonder if their relationship honestly was genuine. Not that it mattered. They had made the decision to run with it. Clearly, the two of them could sell it.

Lunch didn't happen, but they made it to the theater in time for their walk-through. It was disconcerting that there was an audience but since they had requested only one stage fixture, they were scheduled into a break during the day's shooting schedule. The stage area was alive with movement and noise, which agitated Gary. Cherie, as Gary's fiancand maybe even manager, probably should have noticed. But now, she was a theater tech and this was her element.

Lacy seemed to be everywhere as she met them on stage. The requested screen was set up and Cherie positioned Gary behind it while she walked around the front of the stage to make sure that no one could see him getting into character from any of the seats.

She worked with the union stagehands to get it positioned to her liking and then looked back to Lacy. "That's how we want it set up."

"Lacy drew a quick sketch into her tablet and took pictures from each angle which concluded her part in the walk-through.

Cherie walked Gary through the stage. His mark was clearly defined and she went over his blocking. To him, he seemed to be moving far more than necessary and she explained that the extravagant movements were necessary to make the performance feel bigger. He deferred to her knowledge.

They made it back to the hotel room a little after four pm. Gary felt oddly tired although they had done nothing particularly taxing other than walking to the theater and back.

"Gary." Cherie seemed unusually serious.

Gary turned to her warily.

She seemed to be struggling for the words. "At the interview today, you did well. I'm not trying to talk down to you, but I want you to know that I'm proud of you. That type of close-up improv is hard, and you nailed it today."

"Thank you."

He laid down on the bed and fell asleep within a minute.

***

Harriman's planned first performance was technically elaborate so his walk-through had been done the previous day without an audience. Setting up his laser on a tripod, he had checked lines and adjusted elevations until everything was in place. Then Lacy had walked around with him and marked the stage with colored and numbered markers. Her tablet contained the sketch, which he had sent in, and they had walked through the markers to make sure everything matched.

As he was leaving the stage, he looked around for where Richardson or his girlfriend might stash the machine that made his trick work. He had come to grips with the fact that he was not going to be able to let go of the obsession with his competitor.

The performance schedule was posted backstage, and he was scheduled near the end of the second afternoon set and Richardson was near the beginning of the evening set on the same day. So, it would be easy to hang around and grab a seat in the audience or backstage and watch the trick with his own eyes. He wanted to be as close to the stage as possible to see how Richardson's machine worked.

***

Lacy was exhausted, at a dead run, and completely amped on adrenaline. Every minute of the day was jammed full. Every shooting break was filled with interviews, reshoots, and stage walk-throughs for the next day's acts.

She had forced the two meetings with Gary Richardson into her schedule. In those two interactions with him and Cherie, he had seemed nervous and out of his element. Nothing indicated that he was anything different than the character he presented. Maybe he would turn out to be completely genuine - which would be problematic. Fake could be adjusted more easily than real.

That had been a tiny part of a frantic day. But it was over and Day One was shot, saved raw, and ready for editing. Now, everything that had been so precisely placed and organized this morning was in chaos and ruin. And it was her job to make sure that order was returned before morning. She was standing in the booth comparing notes with Al. Lacy remained standing because, if she sat down, she'd be asleep in minutes.