Hearts' Desires (5 page)

             
“I’ll need an espresso lake!”
             
The two men walked to the next snack bar, where some of the crew
were
already hanging out, all of them looking more or less tired. Shortly thereafter, they sipped their beverages
and waited for the caffeine to kick in, while they watched other passengers hurry through the terminal to the baggage claim area.
             
“
Ahh
… don’t know what humankind did before coffee was invented…” Jake said with half closed eyes. “Must’ve been hell on earth… Look, there’s Lauren! Wow, she has switched her high-heels for tennis shoes! And still she looks gorgeous!”
             
“Be careful, man! You cannot afford to pay alimony for a fifth ex-wife! You might be forced to work extra nightshifts as a taxi driver!”
             
“Hey, you’re
a
wake enough to find your sense of humor again, I see. – But she is not paying any attention to us an
y
way.”
             
“Well, she took plenty of notice of ME during the flight, b
e
lieve me! I’m not looking for more!”
             
Lauren pressed her cell phone against the ear. On the other end of the very poor connection was her sister back in the States. “Why do you call me,
dammit
? I told you not to call me again with this crap!” Lauren hissed in the phone. “Where I am? In South Afr
i
ca! … Yes, filming! What did you think?”
             
She passed the snack bar without looking towards the other crew members. “No, I don’t have any money!”
And if I did, I would not give it to you!
“We are done, don’t you get it?! Don’t call me ever again! I have to work!”

             
She hung up, cursing the fact that she had not changed phone numbers yet. It was a link to a past she wanted to fo
r
get ever e
x
isted. She was out; on her way up! She didn’t want to hear about unwanted pregnancies, brutal lovers sitting in jail for drug dealing or any other crap like that! Halting to put the cell away, the young woman finally noticed the others at the snack bar. Or better, she saw Vance and registered the rest of them marginally like som
e
one would discern pebbles around a precious stone. Where the others looked exactly like
people look after 26 hours of flight and airports – including
herself
, he managed to look simply… Lauren searched for words, and ended up with an unimaginative ‘hot’. She certai
n
ly was going to give a lot of effort to testing just how hot he was.
Especially because
he had not shown much interest in her
so far
.
             
However, for now her fanciful thoughts came to an abrupt end, when Alison Cartwright showed up, directing everybody to the parking area where a bus awaited them.
Outside, a broad-shouldered, balding man with beard was waiting for them: Max Dumont, production coordinator. And next to him, a slim but tall brown skinned boy.
             
Grinning like an idiot,
Lauren commented, while Alison introduced him as Thabo McKenzie.
O my
Gosh
,
and he is supposed to play my lover?! I’m getting sick a
l
ready… A wonder he doesn’t still have braces!
             
She glanced again towards Vance, who just raked his fingers through his short grey hair, before putting his hat on.
             
“Good to see you, Alison!” Max embraced her, but she took care to keep a proper distance between them when they e
x
changed an ‘air-kiss’.

             
“How was your flight?”
             
“Everyt
hing went fine, thank you.”
             
“I e
xpected you two hours earlier!”
             
Don’t get me started…
“Yes, the usual delay because of cramped air space. Two extra hours in London! - You have already prepared everything at the location?”
             
“Of course.
I talked to the caterer again this morning. The sets and make-up-guys are on location already. Everything should be in great order and to your satisfaction.”
             
“Catering…“ She observed skeptically, how two young team members began to load the luggage into the bus co
m
partment. “…You did remember I am a Vegan, didn’t you, Max? -- Hey, you, be careful with the bags!”
             
“Of course, Alison.
Pure certified Vegan.”
             
“Hopefully, the rest of us are not put on a diet?” Vance asked with a smile, feeling happy and relieved having his ci
g
arettes wit
h
in reach.
             
Alison shot him a
n
ice cold
glance
. He only failed to exp
e
rience the full impact because of her sunglasses. “As long as you’re able to work – and I mean work at a 100 % - you can fill yourself up with anything you like. It is your health.”
             
Vance raised his eyebrows and Jake grinned. Alison ‘Ic
e
berg’ Cartwright was already living up to her reputation, oh yes!

             
Alison entered the bus and sat behind the driver.
She closed her eyes and waited for their transportation to get mo
v
ing.
Back after 15 years…
She felt a not
entirely
pleasant sort of excitement, which had nothing to do with the
Amphetamin
pill she had taken earlier.  Native soil… She felt odd, appr
e
hensive, just like back then, when she left, eager to build a career and leave everything behind. Now she had that career and… felt even more dissatisfied, she noticed with a bit of fr
u
stration.
Maybe the stress.
The flight.
Yes, this awful flight, of course! There was no reason why she should not be proud and satisfied with her achievements, even more so now that she was back in her old home country! She had proven to everyone what she was capable of, hadn’t she?!

             
She heard the chatter of the other crew members behind her. For the most of them, Africa was terra incognita. She hoped no one would become sick, especially not Nora. That woman could not have found a worse time for raising the number of her family members! Alison ranted in her thoughts.

             
Finally, the bus moved out of Cape Town, past some ugly cramped slum villages, patched together from corrugated iron
and spare furniture. In the distance, the shapes of the mou
n
tains already showed up like blue shadows against the lik
e
wise blue sky. It was spring time, and along the road, workers were busy with clea
n
ing and gardening.

             
Vance looked outside and felt more at ease with every turn of the busses wheels. He had missed home! Even if technically, he was Canadian for 30 years now, his heart had refused to emigrate! Nonetheless, his eyelids dropped before the mountains emerged from their shadowy shapes into real magnificent rock structures towering over the highway.
One hour later, the film crew arrived at the place, which would be their living and working space for the next few weeks. Half a dozen children from the nearby village waited to greet them with chee
r
ing and hands clapping. The crew would have to “hire” some of them for minor tasks – so the little ones felt i
m
portant and not like beggars, when they got some coins.

             
Their first location,
an
18
th
century farmhouse, sat peac
e
fully in between the soft hills of a vineyard. Two oaks spread their century-old-branches over the roof, and the dark red blossoms of a huge rose bush decorated the eastern wall and parts of the porch. During the past days, the set dressers had already done their best to change the impeccable state of this house into the shabby home with the air of past glory they needed for the film. Of course wit
h
out any damage to even one inch of the wall and wooden porch!

             
Still, it was a beautiful sight, especially in the afternoon sun. However, Alison and her team were far too tired to notice anything but the gravel beneath their feet and some annoying flies.
             
Normally, the house was a family hotel. Most of the film crew would stay in former slave quarters behind the old farm – now cozy little bungalows- , the rest in the RVs that were lined
up near the old stables.
             
Vance let his bag drop right behind the door of his place. The bungalow consisted of a single room with a separate bathroom. It was furnished simply, with a thatched roof, a c
o
lorful carpet and a likewise colorful patchwork blanket on the bed. From the wall greeted a native African style painting. Without paying these surroundings any attention, Vance stepped over to the window and opened the shutters. Sun flooded in, making him squeeze his eyes. But fresh air, too, and that was, what he wanted, after he had n
o
ticed the ‘non smoking’-sign at the door. He freed himself from the shirt, threw it down on the floor and searched for the cigarette-package.

             
For a moment he wondered if he should phone Carolyn, but dismissed the thought. First, there was the time-difference of 11 hours, so it was around 5 o’clock in the morning in L.A. Sometimes she was up that early, if she had to prepare a presentation or travel to a meeting with some clients. Or ma
y
be she had just arrived at home again FROM a meeting. E
i
ther way – bad timing! He had not called from a set for the past few years, because he always felt he bothered her during difficult business matters. After their last fight, she would probably only get more suspicious; she would think, he was trying to cover up something, if he called now…
             
Vance pushed the rattan-chair next to the window, let himself drop in with a loud sigh and lit the cigarette. C
a
rolyn….
             
And
what would I say anyway? Everything is fine my love; I miss you? That was a complete lie! I’m not sure, if I still love you? I’m not sure if you still love me? What a bunch of crap!
             
In the next bungalow, Alison was about to unpack her sui
t
case. It would have never crossed her mind to leave the baggage as it was and get some rest first. She was nearly
finished, when she remembered she wanted to ask Max about the fixing of the camera crane. Better now than tomorrow… If something additional still had to be delivered…
             
She turned around to grab her
iPhone
and discovered a huge brightly colored butterfly sitting on it, slowly battering its wings. Alison stared like hypnotized. Somehow, she couldn’t get herself to shoo the insect away. While she undressed, the fatigue from the flight crept up in her again. The butterfly still sat on the phone. Good, maybe it was really time to rest. Leaning back in the pillows she was already half asleep.
             
As if it had waited for this, the butterfly arose from the
iPhone
, fluttered across the room, and then left through the open window. It made a wide turn up in the sky and then to the house, visiting some of the big fragrant roses there. Ta
k
ing another float through the air, the butterfly landed gently on Vance’s hand, without wa
k
ing him up.
It was early morning, and the chirping of multiple birds a
c
companied the last preparations for the filming of the first scene. Still suffering from jet lag, Vance arrived at the makeup trailer. The fact he had spent half the night sleeping in the chair didn’t make him feel any better! Gratefully, he only needed some minor touch-ups. Head
make up
artist Chang had passed this job on to one of his trainees, a redhead named Meredith. It was her first major produ
c
tion and she was nervous.

             
Noticing that, Vance decided to put his grumpy mood aside as best as he could and be as friendly and easy going as possible. No matter what his personal problems were, his co-workers should not be affected by them, that
was
one of Vance’s prime directives. So far, he was getting along fairly well with all the people on a set.

             
“Morning, Meredith!” he answered to her somewhat shy
greeting and sat in the chair she indicated. “I suppose jet lag has not left much to do for you! I haven’t shaved for two days and I’m sure I look as tired as I feel!” He smiled.