Hearts' Desires (12 page)

The next working day came all too soon after the crew had only been able to find sleep long past midnight. The first thing Alison wanted to do was to inspect the equipment stored ou
t
side to see if it had suffered any damage. Some other team members had gathered around the camera crane and the struts for the spotlight installation. So far, everything looked fine, except some mud spla
t
ter on several of the items. Those could easily be removed, and one of the grips had already started with the task.
             
“Morning, Alison! How is your foot?” asked Max, just lea
v
ing his bungalow.
             
“Better, thank you.”
             
“I can still drive you to town…”
             
“No, it’s not necessary. It would cost us another working day! Did you get any news concerning Zimbabwe?”
             
“The Department of Foreign Affairs assured me, the situ
a
tion would be completely under control.” Max replied with a frown. “However, that’s what they always say. I don’t trust i
n
formation controlled by politics one tiny bit.”

             
He huffed and waited until some other team members had passed by. Spreading panic right now was really not on his agenda!

             
“What are the producers saying? Were you able to reach CEO
Yerikov
?” Alison asked.

             
“They’re afraid to lose a few cents if we reschedule or relocate. ‘A little rebellion here, a little rebellion there – it is Africa, what do you expect’, those were his words. Guess we
have to proceed as planned.”

             
She breathed deeply, like Max not at all reassured ever
y
thing would run smoothly. She had lived in Africa long enough; she knew that a crisis could erupt with the slightest provocation, when the social situation was bad enough. And that it was in the neighbor country! Thousands of refugees had already swept over the bo
r
ders in the past years.

             
Vance joined them. “Everything okay, Alison?” he wanted to know, putting a hand on her arm.
             
“Yes!” She turned around, and a faint smile lit up her a
n
noyed features. Somehow, his presence pushed aside even the dark clouds of worry.

             
“You all act as if I had a major accident! If you’re hoping for a day off because of me, forget it!”
             
“That would never cross our minds!” Vance lifted his eyes to the sky, what made him look like a saint’s statue and Alison smile more.
He has the most amazing eyes I’ve ever seen,
it flashed through her mind.
             
Lauren realized what was happening, before anyone else, i
n
cluding Vance and Alison, took a faint notice of it. He placed his hand on her arm! O no, he did not simply place it there with a friendly pat! This was a caress; she could clearly see the slight brushing of his fingers! Short – but well, she was not an idiot! The image burned in her eyes. A storm of jealousy rushed through her. What could a man like Vance find in this… this… old hag; she wo
n
dered. The idea this ‘old hag’ could touch his beautiful body made Lauren angry. How the hell dare that woman? Disgusting!

             
He is mine! MINE!
             
…” Lauren?
Hey, good morning!”
             
Thabo’s voice startled her. She whirled around, ready to hiss something at him, but restrained herself in the last second. She wasn’t in the Bronx anymore. She was a pro on
a movie set! She forced a tortured smile instead.
             
“Don’t you feel well? I couldn’t sleep, either. I hate thu
n
derstorms. The house of my grandpa burned down once, after being hit by a lightning.”
             
“I’m sorry.”
             
“We lost everything, then.” He sighed.
“Was very bad.”
             
Lauren felt sorry for him indeed. A little bit at least. Thabo wasn’t such a dumbass, after all. He was nice and – well, he adored her and her experience in the ‘business’, obviously. She could let all sorts of wisdom rain down on this ignorant kid. She loved to bathe in his admiration.
             
“Ready to go everyone?” sounded Alison’s question over the yard. In her mind, Lauren answered with some nasty, u
n
friendly words, before she climbed into the bus.
             

             
Jake
Bertoni
arrived last, his demeanor clearly showing the results of his little ‘sleeping drink’. “Aw, man… these asp
i
rin are not what they used to be, right Vance?”
He
sank into the seat next to his friend.
             
“
You
ignored one of the three golden
rules during the time on a set,
”
Vance said with a smile, trying to lighten Jake up.
             
“No booze, no drugs, no sex….
I know, I know…”
The bus started to roll, and Jake made a face. “My ex-wife wants my vac
a
tion home. As indemnity! For what, I ask you?! … No, on close e
x
amination, I don’t want to know
…”
He searched in his pocket and swallowed another aspirin. “She will only give in when I’m a beggar out on the street! Aw… women are men’s ruin!”

             
Vance wished he could have done anything to help
him
, but this trouble was really outside his influence.

At the hunting-scene-location, everything looked promising enough for a good start. The ground was relatively dry again and therefore posed no risk for the sequences on horseback.
The guys from the game reserve were ready, and the stun
t
men, too. One of them was in a particularly celebratory mood – he had just become the father of twins. Despite his original reservations, Vance soon came to good terms with his stunt double
Matty
. While the animal trainers got the horses ready, the two men stood together chatting like old friends. The stunt double had been outfitted and prepared with clothes matching Vance’s, only with a special harness beneath – and, to his regret, with a matching haircut as well, as he just pointed out again with a grin.

             
“I’m going to demand a pay raise! They made me sacr
i
fice my perfect biker’s hair cut because of you, pal…”

             
Vance laughed. “I’m sorry! But count your blessings; all you have to do is let it grow out. I had to sacrifice my ‘biker’s hair cut’…
uh… approximately 20 years ago! Not to mention my bike, because my wife considered it too dangerous.”

             
Matty
scratched over his head. “Well, at least it takes less time! – Could you spare a cigarette? It looks as if it’ll take a while yet to get ready.” He gestured to the group with the horses. The animals were nervous this morning, perhaps as a result of the thunderstorm last night.

             
“Sure.” Vance offered his
Luckies
pack and then took one himself. However, Chang called from the makeup trailer, b
e
fore he could light it. “Well, seems it’s my turn. See you later!”

             
Making a last inspection of the set dressing, Alison found
Piet and Wayland
discussing with some of the crew about the recent events in Zimbabwe, which she had hoped to keep away from them for yet some more time.

             
“I’m just glad I don’t have any folks up there,” she heard Piet say.
“
If you ask me, I would avoid the region.”

             
“You think we’ll run into trouble?” Sound assistant T
e
rence asked.

             
“Hard to say.”

             
Alison could easily notice how the worries infected her team - something she could not afford, even when she shared the co
n
cerns! She was in charge and the mother hen had to keep a cool head always, didn’t she?

             
“We know the situation is critical. But there’s so far no reason to worry,” Alison said, stepping between them. “We will check with the Department of Foreign Affairs regularly. There is no need to overreact at the moment. Everything is under control.”

             
Vance, who observed and heard everything from the steps of the makeup trailer, felt reminded of a queen adm
o
nishing her people. A rebellion in the neighbor country was a bad thing for sure, but right now, the sight of Alison dealing with the situation outshone these worries by far. She looked frail and yet so strong, controlled, reliable… and beautiful.

             
--”Vance?
Can we start?” Meredith looked out of the door, and he forced himself to turn his eyes away from Alison.

To block anything that could stir the rumor pot any further, Alison had decided to give an official statement concerning the situation in Zimbabwe and their respective dealing with it. Only then work started, overshadowed of course by the u
n
pleasant news. Alison felt particularly annoyed about every problem, because contrary to her usual habit, she could not throw herself into the work and check back and forth. Ho
b
bling around with a bandaged foot would only delay things further and not help in any way.

             
Meanwhile, Vance had been prepared by the makeup artist. Although nearly everyone on the set had a lot exp
e
rience in the business, it was always an odd sight to see someone made up to look dead or wounded walk around and chat happily. His character was going to be injured by a stray bullet through his shoulder and additionally by a nasty fall
from his horse. So Vance’s costume was torn and ‘adorned’ with much artificial blood and dirt, when he had left Chang’s.

             
He went to Alison who sat at the table, headgear on, watching everything on her monitor. One of the crew me
m
bers had brought her tea and a box with cookies, now sitting open in front of her. Vance grabbed one of the little pastries. He had to be very cautious in order not to harm the applic
a
tion in his face – but he was hu
n
gry. And no one knew how long it would take until he was ‘free’ again.
             
Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start the day with a real breakfast… just like Jake said …
             
Alison looked up to him disapprovingly.
             
“I’ll take care,” he answered. “
Matty
is already in pos
i
tion?”
             
“Yes.” She handed him the binoculars, and now stood up again. Sitting while her main crew hustled around was som
e
thing that really went against her honor. Moreover, she had the feeling she could not supervise as well sitting at this table. It made her itchy.
             
Green light from everyone! The clapper gave the signal.

             
Vance observed the performance of his stunt double.
Matty
rode on, crossed the path of two antelopes as planned. There he passed the first marker. One…two… Vance counted.
The second marker.
Then the first shot. The stun
t
man tilted backwards and fell with a slight twist – down on the safety mattress.