Hiding Hollywood Read online

  When I took a list of requirements and cost estimates to Rush, he made it clear that anything I thought we needed I should get and to prove the point he gave me bank account details and his credit card.

  In spite of myself I could feel a tickle of enthusiasm. This was going to be fun, but to get it all moving and in such a short time I knew we needed more help. When I broached the idea of asking Brick to join us, explaining his administration support role in the office, and how he could help out on the event, Rush was supportive. That put Brick and his mum Elizabeth, who would help her son manage the new situation on the next plane.

  18: Taken In

  It was a large house, but still it was hard to lose these guys. The only places I could really go to avoid them was the pool or my bedroom and neither was a great location for working through the event project planner, so I hunkered down in the dining room while they took over the living room. God, they were hard to ignore.

  “You’ve got to take the part, it’s a great idea,” said Rush.

  “But stage, you know I don’t do stage,” groaned Shane.

  “Well, it’s about time you had a go.”

  “But it’s Tennessee Williams. Let me count the ways I could fuck this up. It’s Brando for God’s sake.” I couldn’t see Shane but I could imagine him stalking about.

  “Let’s see then. You can’t be that bad. Have you got the script?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Come on, let’s do a scene. Stanley and Blanche. The one where they size each other up.”

  “How well do you know this play?” Shane demanded.

  “It’s Tennessee Williams. Everyone knows this play,” said Rush.

  “Fuck it, I don’t. I shouldn’t be anywhere near it.”

  “You’ll make a great Stanley. You’ve got the grunt and grunge, the bad attitude. How awful can it be?”

  “You have no friggin’ idea how awful it can be. I don’t do stage.”

  “Shane, come on. Indulge us, get the script.”

  “I suppose I have to play Blanche,” said Arch, with a considerable lack of enthusiasm.

  “I can’t friggin’ do it with him,” Shane complained.

  “Are you five years old? It’s a little thing called acting Shane,” said Rush.

  “I’ll never be that good.”

  “Well, that’s true.”

  ‘I’m hurt,” said Arch.

  “Now that’s acting,” said Rush, and he and Shane laughed.

  “Nah, get Andi,” said Shane. “At least give me a proper female lead. Arch playing Blanche will put me right off my game. Do I gotta do a Southern accent, you‘all.”

  “Hello no, that’s Blanche and Stella.”

  “Rush you go ask her,” said Shane, adding, “That’ll make sure it never happens.” In the other room I grimaced.

  “I’ll go, you pussies,” said Arch, and within five seconds he was at my side. “Andi would you do us a favour?”

  “I heard. No. I didn’t even act in school plays, try Simon.”

  “He’s gone to bed.”

  “Sensible.”

  “Come on, please, for me.”

  “No. I’m busy.”

  “Please.”

  “No, really.”

  “I can make you.”

  “You and who else’s army?” But he gave me this look that said, he wouldn’t need an army and with great reluctance and dragging of my feet I went with him. In the living room, Rush had the script in his hand. He gave me a brief nod.

  “What do you want me to do?” I asked.

  “Read a scene with Shane. We’ll see just how awful he is.”

  “Nice.”

  “Yeah, friends like,” groaned Shane.

  “You’re Blanche and you’ve run away from all sorts of mess down South and you’ve just arrived at your sister Stella’s. This is the scene where you and Stella’s husband Stanley size each other up. This is where the sizzle starts, cause this is one sexy play,” said Rush, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

  “Ah, I’m just reading the lines right? I can’t act. I can’t do sexy,” I said, squirming at the thought of this.

  Rush smiled, “I think you could do sexy very nicely if you wanted,” he gave me that slow lopsided smile. “But all you need to do is read the lines. Blanche hates the very idea of Stanley, and yet she can’t help herself flirt with him. That’s why this is such fun. Take it from ‘Clothes are my passion’ Andi,” he said, handing me a copy of the script.

  What did he mean I could ‘do sexy very nicely’? I was flushed and embarrassed before I’d even read the first line.

  “Clothes are my passion,” I said flatly, feeling incredibly ridiculous.

  “How much does it cost for a fur piece like that?” said Shane.

  “Why, those were a tribute from an admirer of mine.” I stumbled on the word ‘admirer’, jumbling up the r sounds. Why hadn’t I gone to bed earlier?

  “He must have had a lot of – admiration.”

  “Oh, in my youth I excited some admiration. But look at me now? Would you think it possible that I was once considered to be attractive?” My eyes popped and I made a mock gagging gesture and Arch laughed. Lord, take me now.

  “Shane stand closer to her, be menacing, stalk around her, suck her in, keep her off balance,” said Rush.

  Any more off balance and I’d be on the floor.

  Shane stepped closer. He was taking this deadly seriously now. I realised he had snapped into actor mode. He was at work and he was working on me.

  “Your looks are okay.”

  “I was fishing for a compliment, Stanley.”

  “I don't go in for that stuff.”

  “What?”

  “Compliments to women about their looks. I never met a dame yet that didn't know if she was good looking or not without being told, and some of them give themselves credit for more than they've got.”

  Rush interrupted, “Take it again Shane. You like the look of Blanche, but you don’t like the games she plays. Keep her off balance, be meaner to her. Andi go from ‘What’.”

  “What?” I said again, in exactly the same way I said it the first time, in my normal speaking voice, as though I hadn’t understood why someone didn’t want vegemite on their toast.

  Shane did his line again and suddenly he wasn’t Shane anymore. Instead of looking at me, he looked through me, as though my presence was an irritation. He delivered the next line with the same cool, hard attitude.

  “I once went out with a dame who told me, ‘I'm the glamorous type,’ she says. ‘I am the glamorous type!’ I say, so what?” he imitated the female voice and then almost spat that ‘so what’ at me.

  “And what did she say then?”

  “She didn't say nothin’. That shut her up like a clam.”

  “Did it end the romance?”

  “Well, it ended the conversation, that was all. You know there are some women Blanche that are took in by this Hollywood glamour stuff whereas some men just are not,” he said strutting around me, forcing me to look about for him.

  I spun around, “I'm sure you belong in the second category.”

  “That's right,” he very slowly looked me up and down, as if he was figuring out exactly where to bite me first.

  I said my next line, “I cannot imagine any witch of a woman casting a spell over you.” And I couldn’t either.

  “That's right,” he stepped in close, jerking his chin up.

  I backed away from him on instinct. He was suddenly slightly scary. I put my burning face down into my script and said, “You're simple, straightforward and honest, a little bit on the primitive side, I should think. To interest you, a woman would have to lay her cards on the table.”

  “Well, I never did care for wishy-washy people,” Shane said, softly but with a chilling menace.

  “Good!” said Rush, slapping his hand on his thigh, making me jump.

  I delivered my last line of the scene with relief, ready to quit the room, �
�That was why, when you walked in here last night, I said to myself, ‘my sister has married a man’!”

  Shane punched the air, “That was awesome. Can we do it again?” he grabbed my hands and turned to Rush, “Maybe I can do this. What do you think?”

  “I think you intimidated the hell out of me,” I broke in.

  “Not bad,” said Rush. “Let’s go again.”

  We did the scene again and this time right from the first line, Shane was Stanley Kowalski. He barely looked at the pages in his hand and every word he spoke was delivered with a deliberateness that left me scrambling to get my next line out without stumbling over it.

  We did it a third time and the lines seemed a little more familiar to me. I felt a little less silly and a little less nervous. Shane didn’t use the script at all. When we did it a fourth time, I kept hold of the script but only in a security blanket kind of way. Now I could make proper eye contact with him.

  Somewhere between the fifth and sixth attempts my competitive spirit kicked in. This was more fun than jockeying budget spreadsheets and no one was laughing at me.

  “Andi, do that again, but drop the script, I’ll prompt you if you forget your lines. Keep looking at Stanley and let me block your moves,” said Rush.

  I had no idea what he meant by ‘block my moves’, it seemed like he’d been doing that ever since he’d arrived, but I handed Arch the script, looked at Shane and said the line, “Clothes are my passion.”

  Rush stood behind me and said quietly, “Walk past him, make him look at you on the next line. So I walked past Shane making him turn to follow me and I said, “Why, those were a tribute from an admirer of mine.”

  Rush whispered, “Keep him behind you and turn to face him on ‘look at me now’.” I tossed off the first part of the line and then spun back to face Shane and said, “But look at me now!”

  “Flirt with him Andi,” said Rush. So I put my hand on my hip and tossed my hair and said, “Would you think it possible that I was once considered to be attractive?”

  I was face to face with Shane now and as I said the line, “I was fishing for a compliment Stanley,” I let my eyes travel over his body from his feet to his face.

  Shane blinked and said, “Whoa. Now that was sexy.”

  “Keep going,” laughed Rush and stepped in close behind me again whispering, “Make that next line a come on.”

  “What?” I said, this time making it sound less like I was hard of hearing and more like a tease.

  “Good,” said Rush, his breath warm against my neck. He stayed close behind me murmuring directions, telling me to lift my chin, shake my head, touch my hair and turn my body. He had me tense at Shane’s explosive ‘so what!’ and step away at his ‘that’s right’. He was so close and he moved with me, occasionally brushing his hands against my hips. It was like we were dancing and yet so subtle was his presence I could still be completely focused on Shane.

  At one point, Rush put his hands on my shoulders and moved me so I was angled sideways to Shane. The last time he’d touched me like this he was selling me out to Roger Smyth and I was boiling with rage and desperate to get away from him. This time his touch was very different and I didn’t feel the need to avoid it quite so badly.

  Shane had worked up a sweat in the heat of the late night, “Andi will you run it with Rush I want to see what he does with it?” he lifted the edge of his t-shirt to wipe his brow, showing off washboard abs. “Then you and I can do it one more time before we hit the sack.” He grinned, waited to see if I caught the implication of his last comment.

  I ignored it and saw Arch shake his head and smile. “Subtle as a sledgehammer,” he said.

  Shane laughed, “Had to try it,” he sat beside Arch. Rush took his place and I said my opening line, “Clothes are my passion.”

  It was disorienting to have Rush in front of me, instead of behind me, guiding me or just watching from the side. When he stepped into my personal space I couldn’t help but gasp. His Stanley was different to Shane’s, less physical but more intense, more brooding and far more dangerous.

  When he locked eyes with mine I felt my temperature rise, when he coolly assessed my body I shivered. I wanted to slap the superiority off his face and have him kiss me softly all at the same time.

  I became Blanche locked in a struggle to save herself from her simultaneous distain and desire for Stanley. I was in big trouble if Rush could have this effect on me outside of this performance.

  I was almost panting when we reached the end of the scene. I couldn’t look away from him but Rush seemed unaffected. He simply gave himself a little shake and smiled at me, “You did real good,” he said.

  Shane leapt up and gave me a bear hug. “I will not compete with that,” he said emphatically.

  “That was amazing,” said Arch, “Pretty damn sure my Blanche would have been a wash out against yours. Feeling a lot insecure now.”

  He copped a smack across the back of the head from Shane, “You start feeling secure playing a sexy dame and we have to have that talk again.”

  “You should think about it Shane, seriously think about it,” said Rush, “but in the morning, I’m out. Goodnight,” he headed for his bedroom. I took the opportunity to go back to the dining table to shut down my laptop but could hear Shane and Arch.

  “Everything he touches hah,” said Arch.

  “Doesn’t exactly inspire me to put my oar in,” grumbled Shane. “When you see it done like that.”

  “Good luck telling him.”

  “Oh I’m not going to tell him. I’m gonna get Andi to do it. Not quite everything he touches is so loved up. Never known him to be so rattled by a woman.”

  And I’m going to make sure it stays that way I thought. There are some women who are taken in by all that Hollywood glamour stuff and then there is me.

  19: Ambiguities

  The next day passed in a flurry of activity. Brick and Elizabeth arrived mid- morning. Helen picked them up from the airport and brought them up to the house. They would be staying with her.

  “Andi, thank you so much for asking Peter to come along and for me the break is an unexpected treat,” said Elizabeth.

  “Unexpected,” said Brick, who I could tell was trying hard to hide his anxiety about the new situation.

  “You will certainly be earning your keep Brick and you can take a few extra days of holidays later to make up for coming back to work early, is that alright?”

  “A few extra days, yes,” said Brick definitively.

  “He’s very excited, but he’s nervous about meeting the others,” said Elizabeth, lowering her voice for my ears and then her mouth dropped open. I turned to see what she’d reacted to and found Rush in the hallway.

  “Rush, this is Elizabeth and Brick Aitken. Brick will be helping me with the event administration,” I stepped back to allow Rush through.

  “Good to meet you both,” he said shaking Elizabeth’s hand. He put his hand out to Brick, but Brick reacted by jumping away quickly and pinning himself against the wall, dropping his eyes to the wooden floor. Rush shot me a sharp look and immediately dropped his outstretched hand.

  “Brick, that’s an unusual name,” he said, filling the awkward silence.

  “It’s Brick’s little joke,” said Elizabeth, stroking her son’s arm to comfort him. “It comes from an old saying, thick as a brick. I call him Peter though.”

  Eyes still down, Brick said, “I like to be called Brick because people think I’m not smart but I am smart, so it’s like saying the joke first. If you say the joke first, it doesn’t make you sad.”

  “That sounds very wise,” said Rush.

  I ushered Elizabeth and Brick through to the dining room where we’d set up a temporary office. Rush grabbed my elbow and jerked me to a stop, “He’s disabled?” he hissed.

  “He has an intellectual disability.” I said shaking his hand off and challenging him to say he had a problem with it.

  “You should have told me?” he sai
d frowning.

  “Why? Does it matter if he can do the job?”

  He shook his head, “Of course not, but if I’d have known I’d have been more careful not to upset him.”

  I nodded, suddenly embarrassed. I’d been so intent on finding a way to put Rush on the spot and show his behaviour in a negative light, but all I’d managed to do was make things more awkward for Brick.

  What was it about Rush that made me lose my perspective and make bad decisions? I had to get a handle on my confused feelings and stop my instinct to see only the worst in him.

  I managed Brick’s introduction to Shane and Arch much more sensitively by briefing them first and letting Brick set the pace. He was soon comfortable with everyone and once I got him to work on the details of the event planner he looked positively happy.

  Meanwhile, Arch was showing Elizabeth around the house. She trotted along behind him with a spaced out grin on her face reminding me that we’d probably have to deal with that reaction more in the coming days as we started to work with the local business people.

  Our quiet getaway swiftly became a busy professional workplace with a procession of people in and out, talking about the wine lists, dessert selections, lighting grids, planning permissions, the building program or song lists and band rehearsal schedules.

  Every time someone new came to the house there was a shock reaction. In middle of nowhere there really were three Hollywood stars, fresh from partying in Sydney and they really were working alongside the locals to raise money to rebuild the hall.

  Initial awkwardness soon turned to jokes about Shane’s song lyrics or Arch’s fire fighting technique and scenes from the movies the men had starred in. But the references to Cinderella left me with an aching jaw and a stiff neck and even though Rush would patiently explain that it was a misunderstanding, the sly looks continued.

  It didn’t do the misunderstanding story any credit that Rush and I were now virtually joined at the hip. Much to my amazement he didn’t expect to laze by the pool while I negotiated with the council planner, or read a book while I worried about menus with Simon.