POV by Ted Staunton

Author:Ted Staunton
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459812390
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2017-08-01T00:00:00+00:00

Twelve

At the costume-rental shop I cheap out and only get two costumes, a medium and a small. It’ll be a tight squeeze for Andy, but a budget is a budget.

It’s late afternoon by the time I get back to O’Toole Central. I’ve stopped off along the way to shoot a couple of random city streets, including ours. Jer is making progress on the stairs. The railing looks close to done, and a couple more banisters have been stripped. A Grateful Dead concert recording on his computer provides the soundtrack as he works.

The music makes a weird kind of sense right now. Jer’s face and hair and beard are flecked with speckles of white paint, making him look like a spooky version of his Dead (and dead) hero, Jerry Garcia. Jer would be pleased if he knew. Before I can tell him, though, he nods at the bag I’m holding. “Whatcha got?”

“Costumes. I’m green-screening the band tomorrow.”

“Let’s see.” He takes the bag and pulls out a costume. “What the—Elvis?”

“Yeah. Remember how you said Elvis would’ve liked Andy’s shoes? And that he was the King?”

“Whoa,” says Jer. “As in ‘Kingpin’?”

“Exactly. Why not?” I say. I’m a teeny bit miffed he got it before I could tell him. But maybe that means it’s a good idea.

“No, I love it, but what are you going to do with these?”

“It’s difficult to explain.”

“Will the band get it? I guess your guy Andy will like it, for one.”

“It’ll be easy, if you’ll help me with something. Say, did you know you look kind of like a ghosty Jerry Garcia right now?”

Jer grins. He turns and looks in the hallway mirror. “Hey, you’re right…minus a hundred pounds, I’m pleased to say.” He goes to brush the specks out of his hair.

“No, don’t,” I say. “It’s perfect for what you can help me with.”

The afternoon is overcast, so the natural light from the bedroom window upstairs adds to Jer’s eerie paleness. I position him in the armchair and set the Canon on its tripod. I’m breaking out a wireless microphone when I think, What am I doing? I’m getting too high-tech for my own good. The more basic this is, the better. And the faster the better too, before Jer starts asking too many questions. I get out my phone instead.

“What are we doing?” Jer asks.

“I need you to record a message to BlueGrap. It would mean a lot to them.”

“Really? That’s nice. They were fun kids. They’ve been thinking of me?”

“They sure have.”

“Okay, let me just get cleaned up first.”

“No! Listen, they like you because they say you’re, um…authentic. Hands on, you know?”

“Well, this doesn’t look authentic. You said I look like a ghost.”

“I was just kidding. You look great.”

“No, I don’t. They’ll think I’m sick.”

“That’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yeah, it is. I told them you weren’t feeling so good.”

Jer makes a face. “What did you do that for?”

Oh man. I say it fast, as if that’s going to help. “So they wouldn’t expect you at green-screening or at the cottage.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.