Invisible(29)
“Me too. I want to be a screenwriter,” she said shyly. He was surprised she wasn’t an actress. She was pretty enough to be.
They chatted for a few minutes while they ate lunch, and finished quickly. “I have to get back to work,” she said, and he did too. “I have to go to the main office.”
“Me too,” he said easily, “I’ll walk with you.” She tried to match his strides as they walked back, and she could feel the back of her dress getting damp in the hot sun. “I’m Jeff Blake by the way.” She introduced herself, and they arrived at the main office five minutes later. She was beginning to know her way around. He reported to a different person and was sent out on an errand immediately, while she waited for her next assignment. At least she knew one person now. The boy from Northwestern was undeniably handsome, and had been pleasant to talk to. They were both awestruck by their surroundings.
Her next mission was easier. She was to report to the movie set she’d been hired for, and ask what they needed her to do. The woman in charge of her had wanted to see if she was reliable first, and she had been so far, and came back quickly each time and didn’t dawdle. She seemed bright and efficient. The interns were often smarter than the employees, and they tried harder.
She went to the set then where she had made the first delivery, and she was told that the directors were in a script meeting with the writers, making changes, and the cast members were in their trailers having lunch. It left her nothing to do until they all got back, and she sat in a chair and waited patiently for an hour, and then the directors returned and continued conferring, and half an hour later, the cast appeared.
“We’re out of water,” one of the directors said, “send one of the gofers out to get more. It’s hotter than hell today.” He gestured to Antonia and told her where the giant refrigerators with the bottles of water were kept. He pointed to a cooler to carry them in, and she left immediately to get the water. She was nearly staggering when she got back with the cooler filled with bottles.
“That’s a heavy load for you,” the main director commented sympathetically. He was the only person on the set who had spoken to her and noticed her. He smiled gratefully when she set the cooler down beside him. He handed the bottles out to the other directors and whatever crew and cast members were standing near him, until the cooler was empty. “I hate to ask, but we need more. I’ll send one of the boys with you.” He pointed to a light technician who wasn’t doing anything and told him to help Antonia bring more water. They made two trips together.
“Gofer for the summer?” the light man asked her. He could spot it a mile away. She nodded. “Wear shorts tomorrow, and don’t wear black if you’re going to be standing around in the sun all day.” There were big umbrellas in stands on the set, but they were for the crew and the actors and directors.
“I thought I’d be working in the office,” she explained, and he smiled at her again.
“They’ll have you running all over the place. That’s what the gofers do here.” She was a glorified errand girl, she realized, but she was excited about the job anyway, being this close to famous actors and directors, making a major movie. It was a unique opportunity for her to see how it all worked. “The gofers are usually actors and actresses waiting to be discovered. Are you an actress?” She shook her head.
“I want to be a screenwriter one day,” she explained, as she had to Jeff Blake at lunch.
“I’ll get you one of the scripts if you want.”
“Is that allowed?”
“No, but it’s not a big deal. I’ll grab one for you if I see one hanging around spare.” She didn’t want to break the rules and get fired on her first day. He set the cooler down for the second time then, and went back to work with the light crew, and she thanked him for carrying the cooler for her.
The main director sent her to the office an hour later. She felt as though she was melting by then.
“Tell them we need blue script changes for tomorrow,” he said, handing her an annotated script with the writers’ changes, many of them at the request of the actors who didn’t like a line or a word.
She was a little dizzy from the heat when she got to the office and gave them the script and his message. They sent her to do some filing then, and at the end of the day, they had her insert the new blue pages into fresh copies of the script, so they’d be ready for them on set in the morning. And at six o’clock, they let her go home. She walked to her car, drove to her apartment, and lay in the air-conditioned room, thinking that it was going to be a very long summer, running back and forth from the set to the office a dozen times a day. Her first day as an intern had been exhausting, but she was determined to do whatever they needed, and do well at the job.
She took a shower and lay on her bed, too tired to even go out and eat, and there was nothing in her fridge. All she wanted was a gallon of water to drink and a night’s sleep. And half an hour later, she was dead to the world.
* * *
—
Antonia and Jeff Blake crossed paths again several times the next day. He was friendly to her every time, and their missions were similarly undistinguished, running things back and forth from various sets on the studio lot to the main office or various crew members. They asked Jeff to do physically heavier things because of his size, although the locked cash boxes they entrusted to Antonia were heavy too. There was nothing glorious about the job, and it taught them nothing more about the movie business, they were simply in proximity to it, like being a busboy or a valet car parker at a restaurant with a great chef. But once in a while they did get a glimpse of some major star in a dressing gown at hair and makeup, or on the set. And just being there and absorbing the atmosphere was exciting. But Antonia wondered several times if she would have been smarter to do what Jake had done, get a menial paying job. She hated being dependent on her father for every penny. But she was here now, and decided to make the best of it.