The Sixteen Burdens (The Burdens Trilogy Book 1) by David Khalaf

Author:David Khalaf [Khalaf, David]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: David Khalaf
Published: 2015-10-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

T WENTY-SEVEN

GRAY DISCOVERED THAT getting into the premiere of Gone With the Wind was the easy part. That evening, before Chaplin was home, Gray called Douglas Fairbanks to ask about it. The actor arrived within the hour with two tickets.

“You’ll be taking a date, of course?”

Gray stared at the second ticket like it was a snake that might bite him.

“Yeah,” Gray said. “Of course.”

“Elsie?”

Fairbanks offered a conspiratorial wink.

“Yeah… Elsie.”

“Good,” Fairbanks said. “You deserve a little levity during this difficult time.”

Gray had prepared an elaborate story about why he wanted to go watch an epic historical romance, but Fairbanks never bothered to ask. Chaplin would be more inquisitive, so Gray decided he’d avoid telling the comedian until after the premiere.

The next day, Gray waited for Chaplin to leave before making some calls. Panchito flipped his wig when Gray told him who would be using the second ticket.

“You think that girl can protect you better than I can?”

“It ain’t like that,” Gray said. “I gotta have a date or it will draw suspicion.”

“We found the theater together,” Panchito said. “We’re a team!”

“Sorry, pally,” Gray said, and this time he meant it.

Panchito hung up on him.

Fairbanks offered to drive that evening and even found Gray a tuxedo from the United Artists costume department that had been used by an extra in Puttin' On the Ritz. The bow tie felt like a noose around his neck. He kept tugging at it.

“You look like a proper gentleman,” Fairbanks said as they cruised down Sunset Boulevard that afternoon in his bright red 1939 Mercury breezer. It drew attention, and Fairbanks seemed to soak it in.

Charisma requires an audience.

Fairbanks looked at the fedora on Gray’s head as if he wanted to give it a stern talking to.

“Let’s give the hat a rest, shall we?”

The fedora was the only thing Gray owned that he liked. When he put it on his head it felt like a wall that separated him from the rest of the world. Reluctantly, he took it off.

They arrived at Elsie’s half an hour before the premiere. She had been reluctant to go, but Jack Siegel had been called away to business in Las Vegas until tomorrow, and the prospect of the reward money was too great to resist.

Fairbanks honked multiple times, and the front windows of the dormitory began popping open like an out-of-synch cuckoo clock. Dozens of girls stared down at them. Gray sunk in the back seat, but with the top down there was no hiding.

Elsie walked out the front door wearing a shimmering gold gown that draped gracefully down her. It was like nothing Gray had ever seen her in. Her reddish-brown hair had been trimmed and styled in a way consistent with the day’s fashion. She had on a simple silver necklace.

“My! Look at those glad rags,” Fairbanks said. “Elsie, you’re positively darling.”

Elsie blushed and slid carefully into the back seat, half-sitting, half-leaning against the inside of the car.

“You’re togged to the bricks, dollface,” Gray said.

“Don’t call me dollface! If I get so much as one wrinkle in this dress, Gina said she was going to shave my head bald.

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