Daddy's Girls (67)
“My father loved that I’m an actress.”
“Of course, you can express everything he couldn’t.” She had never thought of it that way and wondered if it was true.
As they approached Victoria Falls, which he pointed out to her from the air, he told her some things about the scenes they would be shooting, and the place where they were staying, and by the time they had exchanged histories, and eaten the sandwiches, they landed at a small airport, where a Land Rover was waiting for them, and a truck for her bags and the supplies he had picked up in Harare that morning. They were on their way to the camp twenty minutes later, once everything was loaded. Rufus drove her himself in the Land Rover, at first on tar roads, and then on gravel as they bumped along.
It took them just under an hour to reach the camp, where natives in starched white uniforms waited to serve the guests, sitting on wide porches with tables and chairs, drinking and eating. There were several buildings where the rooms were, and a cluster of tents. It looked more like a luxury hotel than a camp, which Gemma was relieved to see, and there was a fleet of vehicles they used to drive out among the animals. It was safari at its cleanest, safest, and most pristine. Many tourists preferred more rugged conditions in remoter areas, Rufus commented, but he knew his cast wouldn’t.
“Not too bad, eh?” He smiled at her as he turned off the engine and half a dozen men in white uniforms ran toward them to assist them from the car. Her bags were already disappearing into the main building on the heads of porters.
“Thank you so much for driving me,” she said warmly, “and coming to Harare.”
“I wanted to get to know you a bit better before we start working together. You’re a very interesting woman,” he said appreciatively. And she thought he was fascinating with his boyhood and his background, his parents and his children, and the places he had lived, and all that he understood about their trade, and the artistry behind it. “Dinner with the cast at eight tonight. Jeans, long-sleeve shirt, boots, and insect repellent. No toilet paper needed,” he instructed her and she laughed.
“I’ll leave it in my room.”
He gave directions to the head man of the fleet of porters and runners, and then with a wave he disappeared into the hotel. The manager of the camp appeared to walk her to her room, up a flight of stairs. When they walked in, she saw an enormous room, with a huge fan overhead circling lazily. Two women in bare feet and uniforms were already starting to unpack her bags. She peeked into the bathroom and it had a toilet, a sink, and a tub, and she was relieved. She suspected that their accommodations cost a fortune, but she was glad they weren’t primitive. If she was going to shoot on location in Africa, this was the way to do it. It was not a real safari, but Rufus had promised that the animals they’d see would be extraordinary.
The two women unpacked her bags, put everything away neatly, and ran a tub for her. They brought her a cup of tea, watercress and cucumber sandwiches, and English biscuits on a silver tray. She wasn’t hungry but ate one of the delicious sandwiches anyway, and lay down on the bed to relax for a while, after the long trip. She fell asleep, and a discreet knocking at her door woke her in time to bathe and dress for dinner.
When she came downstairs, she wore exactly what Rufus had suggested. There were about twenty-five or thirty people milling around, a combination of cast and crew. Rufus stepped forward to introduce her to everyone and there were some very famous British actors in the group, whom she recognized immediately. Her co-star was exactly what he had said, a really sweet, warm, na?ve girl, who looked awestruck when she saw Gemma and said she had watched her show with her mother every week.
Rufus’s production company had taken over the whole hotel. Gemma was seated at a table with the cast, next to Rufus. There were about a dozen of them. The other fifteen or so were crew and sat together. These initial days were a kind of orientation for all of them, to meet and get to know each other. Scripts were handed out at the end of dinner to begin studying. Gemma couldn’t wait to get to her room and read it. And at the end of dinner, the entire cast bid each other a very formal good night and disappeared. They weren’t a family yet, as they had been on her other show. But with Rufus in charge, pulling their emotions straight out of their souls, she was sure they would be soon. In the meantime, she had had a very good day, getting to know him. She could hardly wait for their African adventure to start. Being there was the most exotic experience of her life. And meeting Rufus and working with him was a privilege. He felt the same way about her.
Chapter 15
Caroline planned to spend Christmas with her children, as she always did. The difference this year was that Peter wouldn’t be with them. They had tried to work out an equitable arrangement, and Caroline had been generous with him. Their school vacation had started on the nineteenth, they were spending the first week with her, and Christmas Eve, and Peter was picking them up on the morning of Christmas Day, taking them skiing after he celebrated Christmas with them. He was to return them to their mother on New Year’s Eve.
Caroline had thought about taking them somewhere before Christmas, but they wanted to stay home and see their friends, and they were going skiing in Squaw Valley with Peter, so it seemed superfluous to make them go away with her. The ranch was bleak and depressing that time of year, so she didn’t press them to go there either. And so far, they were weathering the new arrangements surprisingly well. She and Peter alternated weekends, when it worked for the kids. And during the week, he could take them out to dinner or they could spend the night with him whenever they wanted to. They both tried to make it as easy as possible for the kids. They were worried, but not panicked yet. And their grades hadn’t slipped. Billy asked his mother frequently how things were going with Dad. Nothing much had changed since September.