Talent by Howard Kaminsky

Author:Howard Kaminsky [Kaminsky, Howard Kaminsky and Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Polis Books
Published: 2016-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

ALLISON LAY balled up on the sofa until the first fingers of morning light splayed across her face. She had tried again and again to reach Sean during the night, but all she got was a busy signal, as harsh and repetitive as the call of a crow. Finally pulling herself to her feet, Allison moved like a sleep-walker to the shower, but the needles of hot water did not revive her. She still felt numb inside and out. She put on a pair of old jeans and a sweatshirt and forced herself to walk over to the mound of clothes at the door. There on the floor next to them was the script.

After staring at it for what seemed hours, Allison opened the script and with galloping astonishment and then rage read through it without stopping. As soon as she had finished it, she got her copy of Sean’s play and compared the two. Without thinking about the time in California, she picked up the phone and called Lee Simons.

“Hello,” Lee answered, her voice cobwebbed with sleep.

“Lee, The Flame and The Mountain is a total plagiarization of Sean’s play. I think you know something about it. A lot about it. I want answers and I want them fast,” Allison shouted, as if the louder her voice became, the more chance there was that Sean might hear her. Might understand that she had nothing to do with this hideous business.

“Take it easy, Allie. It’s five in the morning here, for Christ’s sake. Give me a minute to wake up. I’m going to speak softly because I’ve got the loveliest young Mexican busboy in my bed right now. I found him late last night at Chianti. Let me tell you, he gave this old number quite a—”

“Lee, I’m not interested in your sex life, dammit. I want to know how Sean’s play got into some hack plagiarist’s hands. That’s all I want to know.”

“I’ve sort of woken up, but I still don’t have any idea what you’re talking about,” Lee responded matter-of-factly.

“Don’t give me that, Lee. I just read this piece of shit, this so-called Flame and The Mountain, and it’s a complete steal from Sean’s play. The only difference is that everything about this treatment by somebody named Plesser is totally banal. But it’s exactly the same story, Lee.”

“Allison,” said Lee in her most professional, formal tone, “I never—I repeat, never—have read Sean’s play, so if there’s any talk of theft, I’d like to get to the bottom of it as much as you. I might not, like you, have a boyfriend involved, but I care about my reputation. I care about it very much. And I do not like being called at five in the goddamn fucking morning to be accused of being part of some cabal involving his play. Just who do you think you are, making accusations like that?” she said, raising her voice with the timing of a practiced performer. “I refuse to be yelled at by anyone.

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