Hearts' Desires (10 page)

While shaving, Vance thought once again about calling his wife. However, it was shortly past midnight in L.A. now…. Moreover: what was he going to say? She had never been really interested in his work or life on a movie set, except her worry he could have one-night-stands with his female co-stars.
             
“Shit!” He had cut himself.
             
One-night-stands… Lauren‘s little performance popped up in his mind. S
o you’re feeling guilty already, even though nothing ha
p
pened?!
No, it was better to forget the phone call to Carolyn. She would no doubt sense the discomfort in his voice, interpret it as a guilty conscience and make a fuss.
             
Vance started to get angry at himself – more so because La
u
ren’s image refused to disappear from his mind. He stared into the mirror again and made a grumpy face.
I’m twice her age! At least! What does this chick want from me?!
             
Ah yes, that he even asked this question was a certain sign of age, wasn’t it?
Well, I’m not that
Harker
-idiot!
He an
s
wered the sa
r
castic little devil in his head and started to dress. Yes,
Harker
could think he was still in his blooming 30ies!
I wonder how he even fits through a door with that huge ego of his! … And I BET he had
an
hair transplantation last year! Maybe that got him the ‘Washington’… Brown-
noser
!
             
The thought of ‘age’ reminded Vance of the stuntman Al
i
son had mentioned. He was convinced that he did not need
a stuntman
for a simple ride on a tame horse and a little faked fall on a soft mattress at the end of the scene! Okay, he had broken his leg on the set of ‘Ten Days’ - but only because a
heavy spotlight install
a
tion crashed, hit his back, and therefore he stumbled very unfort
u
nately out of the airplane-set. This had nothing to do with his being in shape! He was fit, he was fine! Still angry
about
a lot of things, Vance finished dressing, took his hat and the sunglasses. The sun was not up yet, but the weather forecast had promised a clear sky and high te
m
peratures.
             
The others were already waiting by or in the bus, chatting or busy with the script and annotations. Vance did not see Lauren and breathed a little sigh of relief. He was really not in the mood to deal with any of her tricks right now! Thabo waved in his direction, and a moment later, he heard Jake’s characteristic voice sound across the parking lot.
             
“Hello, Vance!” When his friend was close, Jake conti
n
ued grinning: “Heard some things…”
             
“Whatever you heard
,
if it’s about Lauren and me – it did not happen!”
             
“No reason to jump on me like that, man! What’s going on with you lately?”
             
Vance breathed deeply and now gave Jake an apologetic smile. “Sorry. Maybe I haven’t slept very well.
And the trouble with Carolyn…
But let’s get our mind off these things! Work is waiting!”
             
“Work is a perfect cue! There comes Alison! … And… doesn’t she look like Grace Kelly in
that
dress
…”
             
Vance climbed into the bus.
He certainly wasn’t interested how she looked!
But in the door he turned around, watched Alison and admitted that his old friend was absolutely right. She looked
gorgeous and regal!
The scheduled scene was a very complicated one, needing perfect choreography. The content was relatively simple:
M
a
rens
was on a hunting party with two of his friends, played by
South African a
c
tors, who had joined the team this morning
: Piet from Pretoria and Wayland from Durban.
During the hunt, an accident would ha
p
pen, and for the future viewer of the movie it would look just as if Louis had tried to kill Camilla’s father. In the sequences before, a lot of tension had been built up between the characters – about racism, apartheid and pe
r
sonal regrets – and this would be the culmination of it all, a key scene and the second plot point of the script. Therefore, Alison wanted this scene as perfect as possible; 200 percent perfect!
             
Nonetheless, some not so good news waited for them at the location. The stuntmen had not arrived yet. Their car had broken down and they did not think they could make it within the next hours. And to make the ordeal complete, an official from Animal Welfare showed up, in his hands a bunch of p
a
perwork. Alison s
i
lently gritted her teeth, while she walked up to him. Had she not phoned these guys
already
and had she not solved every single problem?! They exchanged some p
o
lite small talk, and after that they went over to inspect the sp
e
cial ammunition and everything else…
             
“You see, no game will be hurt at any time,” Alison e
x
plained, showing the prepared weapon props. “There are no bullets to i
n
jure them. These things do not even produce a sound that could frighten the animals. I can demonstrate for you. We will add the appropriate sound later, in the studio.”
             
Yes, the Animal Welfare representative wanted to see and hear every detail. He apologized for his intrusion, tried to point out the many abuses the wildlife was suffering, especia
l
ly here. Getting nervous and angry the more time passed, Al
i
son answered again and again she had complete understan
d
ing of the situation and she would never allow anything that violated the directives of the N
a
tional Park.
             
Well, he wanted to speak with the crew responsible for
the lighting, and then the
wranglers – simply with every one…

             
The actors and the rest of the crew passed their time tal
k
ing, eating, or having a catnap. Max Dumont turned on the busses radio in search of something interesting. And that, he got! Drowsy from the heat behind the windshield, he caught some news, distorted by static.
             
“…at this point not able to evaluate the situation in the cap
i
tal… heavy losses in the ranks of the local police…”

             
Max was startled and tried to get a better lock on the broadcast.

             
“… That the rebels move southwards in order to evade…. And mobilizing the National Guard…”
             
The agitated voice of the news reporter spoke of civilian c
a
sualties and fugitives in the embassies. Shortly after, he knew where this revolt had happened, and a shiver ran down his spine. Zimbabwe. And the film crew would move to the National Park near the border to Zimbabwe for the last s
e
quences! Max felt sweat drop on the instrument panel and wiped off his forehead. The radio voice faded into more si
z
zling static. They had still two weeks until they would move to that location.
Still… or only?
A lot could happen in two weeks, for better or worse! The situation could stabilize - or it could get completely out of control and spill over the border into South Africa. He looked out and discovered Alison still talking with the Animal Welfare - guy. He would tell her later when they were back from this set. He got up and went to the back of the bus to grab a cold mineral water from the ice box.
             
Still no sign of the stuntmen.

             
Alison had decided to shoot at least the starting scene of the hunting sequence, because one of the supporting actors, Piet, had an urgent appointment tomorrow. Bad timing again! So they rea
r
ranged everything and finally gathered around Vance and his colleagues. The
armorer
handed
them the
rifles and
the wrangler gave them
last instructions concerning the horses.

             
"Riding experience?" he asked in the actors' direction.

             
"You're joking, man?" Piet grinned - and with a swift el
e
gant movement, he was up in the saddle. Wayland seemed to be good in any kind of sport – only some moments ago he had talked about his placement in the last surfer’s competition – and horses weren’t strange to him either. Obviously, no problems would arise from that side, and the trainer focused on Vance.

             
"It's
been
while," he answered.
It
had been
quite a while
, to be honest! "But I'll manage. As long as you aren't a partic
u
lar
ly
wild devil horse, pal!" he gave the animal a friendly
pat
and got a nudge in return.

             
Alison strongly hoped that this part could be managed today. When the clapperboard sounded, she exhaled a silent prayer to the powers of destiny that they might abstain from interfering neg
a
tively again…

             
Marens
stood next to his horse, a determined annoyed look on his face, while he put the flask back in his pocket.
“Let's move!”
he sneered at the hunting party and lifted hi
m
self onto the saddle.

             
“
Arend
, are you sure you’re fit for the hunt?”

             
“Even half dead I would be a better shot than you!”
             
He kicked the animal’s side sharply and rode ahead, quickly followed by camera 2.

             
“Hey, didn’t your daughter want to come along? Shouldn’t we wait?” sounded Piet’s voice from the sideline.

             
Camera 3 caught
Maren’s
bitter face while he remained silent.

             
"Cut!" Alison spread her hands. "Jake, let's see what we got!"

After a light lunch consisting of sandwiches and coffee, the team was waiting again. Meredith from the make-up team tried to teach Thabo to play guitar. He succeeded in some awkward chords and much friendly laughter. Vance had propped his feet on an empty cable box and leaned back in the uncomfortable chair as far as he could. This was going to be a long afternoon. His thoughts wa
n
dered to Carolyn again – and as fate would have it, Lauren sat down next to him in exactly that moment.

             
“Hi, Vance.”
Her voice was as sweet as sugar. “Hope you are not angry anymore?”
             
He opened his eyes, discovered her face decorated with a s
e
ducing smile all too close.
Moreover, she wore a very tight tank top and a likewise tight, very short pair of jeans.
Dressed to kill.

             
“No,” he answered, standing up almost a little too fast. The chair hit the car behind it. “I’m sorry, Lauren.
Uhm
… I’ll be back soon.”
             
Vance walked in the direction of the toilets and began to feel like an idiot. He was not only running away from his wife and home – now he was running from a little girl’s chaotic hormones as well! What bullshit! When he passed the waiting horses, he had a spontaneous idea how to get away from Lauren and clear his mind. He felt a headache coming on a
n
yway.
             
“Boy?” He bowed down to the youngster guarding the horses, who was sitting on the ground. “Do you think I could go on a little ride?”
             
“Uh… Sir…” The boy jumped up. “Master Henning had said the horses should be kept quiet…”
             
“Well, I won’t go on a race.
Just a smooth and quiet little ride.”
             
“Uh… I don’t know… Don’t want trouble, Sir.”