“Soundstage,” South murmurs, only a little thickly, peering at the bottle.
“Who?” asks Sejal.
“Soundstage,” he repeats. “I like saying that, I like the meaning. I used to think it meant a set that was wired for sound, that was soundproofed? Now my guess is it’s like a solid place, a place with structure, not a facade. Soundly constructed. Sound footing.” He thumps the ceiling of the bus and doesn’t even miss. “A place where you can trust your feet. You need that sometimes. Am I right?”
“No, it’s the first one,” Sejal says, and almost falls off with the giggles.
“Careful.” South’s climbing onto the top of the soundstage bus. “Sejal will catch you on set after hours.”
Sejal smiles and scoots over; they dangle their feet. South realizes that, in two months, he’s never seen her sit still.
“Aren’t you supposed to be working?” he asks.
“I am supposed to,” she says deliberately, “drunk.”
“On bourbon?” he guesses.
“On beer.”
He nods; they headsmash imaginary cans.
After a while he lies back and she, not uncomfortably, puts her head on his chest. It’s a good view. The construction crew, with cranes and concentration, is suspending Seven’s trailer from the roof.
Friday, September 15, 2006
JONAH
Because I was in a dark place,
and I begged to be freed.
STAR
And you were answered?
JONAH
No.
INT. SIMILAR ROOM – NIGHT
We get a flicker of JONAH in a similar room, younger and clean-shaven, slightly to the right of where he’s sitting now.
INT. STAR’S OFFICE AGAIN – NIGHT
JONAH
my way out.
STAR
Rough on the whale.
JONAH
Not as rough as remembering
this line.
“South!” says Rebecca.
“Bngah!” says South, gripping his head. “‘Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying–‘”
“Blooper reel, hour six,” she mutters.
“South!” says Sejal. “Don’t muss your hair.”
Tuesday, February 7, 2006