All My Tomorrows (2 page)

“Who knows? It might get us new viewers.”

“We’re talking backstory, character development,
romance, conflict. And where am I supposed to send him in July?”

He laughed and put his cigarette back in his
pocket.  “You’ll think of something. I have faith.”

“I need a Xanax,” she said as he walked away.

☼

The
Edge of Darkness

Chapter
2

Marlene Hollingsworth had known my mother since they
were little girls. They had both been born and raised in Joplin, Missouri, as I
had been for my six years although I had been born while Mommy and Daddy were
staying in New York. Mommy and Marlene had been best friends in school and
stood up with each other when they each got married right after Pearl Harbor.
During World War II, Daddy had to go to Fort Robinson in Little Rock for boot
camp, and Mommy went, too.

Mommy lived at a house as a boarder since Daddy had to
stay on base, and to pay for her room, she worked at the dime store. One day
after she had been standing on her feet for hours, a customer was rude to her.
She started crying and all she wanted was to go back to Missouri. Like a
miracle, Marlene and her husband Molly walked into the store right at that
moment. They packed her up and took her back home to Missouri.

The war moved people around a lot. When Daddy was
stationed in Louisiana, Mommy went with him, and she didn’t see Marlene again
until Daddy went overseas. After the war was over, Marlene and Molly and Mommy
and Daddy bought houses down the street from each other and were best friends
all over again. They even both had little boys about a year apart. Then Molly
went into politics, and first he and Marlene had moved to a bigger house in a
finer neighborhood, then he took his family all the way to Washington, D.C.
Mommy and Marlene would write letters, but they didn’t see each other again
until I was three. That was when Marlene had wanted to come home for Christmas,
and Mommy and Daddy invited them to stay with us. Their son Anthony stayed in
Tad’s room, and their daughter Annette stayed with me, but I don’t really
remember it. After that visit, Mommy and Marlene stopped writing, and we never
saw them again. Until now.

Marlene and Molly were divorced now, which I didn’t
really understand then, and she had gotten their house in Alexandria, Virginia.
She lived there with her daughter Annette, only a few months older than I, and
her son lived in Georgetown with his father.

After Tad and Anthony were born, Mommy and Daddy had
drawn up a will stating that Marlene and Molly would become the legal guardians
of Tad and any subsequent children should anything happen to them, and Marlene
and Molly had done the same for their children. That’s why after the fire, Tad
and I went to go live with Marlene.

I really liked Marlene; she was like a movie star. She
let us call her by her first name. She always wore her blond hair in a tower on
top of her head. She wore tons of eye make-up and bright red lipstick and nail
polish. She puffed at a cigarette she held in a long holder. She had fancy
clothes and mink coats and one that she said was beaver. I liked it best. Her
black poodle Jake had a fluffy hairdo and painted nails and always stayed by
her side, and she would feed him the olives from her martinis. Sometimes she
would pour some of her morning coffee into the saucer and put it on the floor,
and he would drink it. She said he might have a hangover from eating too many
olives. I think Jake liked it best on the mornings when Lillian, the maid,
brought donuts and Marlene would tear a piece off and put it in his coffee.

The house had a huge party room with plush white
carpeting and twin blue-silver sofas and a low, round glass coffee table. Trees
and plants filled the room, and the bar was always in full supply of liquor.
When Marlene would sit on one bar stool, her poodle would climb onto the other
and sit on his hind legs while she fed him. Behind the bar, an enormous mirror
covered the wall, and the other walls were papered with a blue, Victorian
print. This was my favorite room in the house, though I rarely was allowed in.
It was the first time I had ever seen a crystal chandelier.

Annette and I had a marvelous time together at first.
We had tea parties for her dolls and looked through Marlene’s fashion magazines.
A stone wall about four feet high surrounded the enormous house, and we would
walk on it pretending to be trapeze artists. This had been my idea. Since they
had carpeting, we couldn’t balance ourselves on floorboards, so the wall was an
adequate substitute, except I was always afraid I would fall and break my neck.
Annette’s brother Anthony would visit occasionally but not enough for him and
Tad to become good friends.

I started going to school with Annette after
Thanksgiving. With the exception of the fire, I had never been so scared in all
my life. For one thing, in school Annette completely ignored me and only played
with her friends. For another, Tad and I were separated since our schools were
not co-ed. I didn’t know if I would like going to an all-girls school, and I
wanted to be with Tad. Ever since the fire, Tad and I had spent more time
together, just the two of us. Sometimes we would talk about Mommy and Daddy
since everyone else acted like they never existed. I had my own room, but at
night I would climb into Tad’s bed just in case there was a fire. None of the
luxuries in my new life could compete with the comfort he gave me.

☼

Alice sat just offstage perusing the new script
when Peter Walsingham arrived with his entourage, and she was relieved most of
the cast and crew were at lunch. Even the few crewmembers there gawked and
whispered to one another.  Alice glanced up at the newcomers then fixed her
attention to the script on her lap, although she couldn’t help it if they were
in her peripheral vision. 
Damnit, he’s just as good-looking in person
.
And
Winnie Johnson just as gorgeous. And thin.
Naturally, he would bring his
paramour
with him to the set. She willed her heart to stop racing, reminding herself
that by all accounts this guy was a misogynistic dick. 
A dick named Peter –
ha!

Winnie walked around the set touching the
furniture and mantle. “I have never seen anything so cheap in my life. And this
is supposed to be your home?”

“Not if I can help it,” Peter said in
that
voice.

“They must have spent the money for sets on the
cameras.  Why do they need so many?”

“It’ll be fine; you’ll see,” the other man said,
his voice lively and excited. “It really is a great show – and you’ll be
working with Giselle Meyer!”

“Who the hell is that?” asked
the
voice.

“Oh, c’mon, Peter, you must know her! She’s
incredible. You see, years ago she was going to be a nun, but before she took
her final vows, Damien declared his love for her, but then he was in a terrible
accident and had amnesia –”

“Jack,” Winnie said, “don’t tell me you actually
watch these soap operas!”

“Only
All My Tomorrows,
but it’s really
good.”

Alice suppressed a smile. She liked this Jack
person.

Peter huffed. “I consider that highly improbable,
but I won’t argue with you. What’s done is done, and I am stuck here. They
wanted to punish me and have succeeded, but what I won’t stand for is
portraying some former character raised from the dead. Ridiculous.”

“Not dead, actually. Just lost at sea.”

“It’s another man’s role. I feel like an
understudy. Even in this pitiful excuse for a drama, I should be able to
develop my own character.”

At that, Alice looked up and right into the eyes
of Peter Walsingham. Her own eyes widened at having him stare at her from
across the set.  And why was he staring at her? At first she didn’t turn away
because of shock, but then, since he evidently had no intention of breaking the
eye contact, she continued out of sheer stubbornness.
I suppose he believes
his fame and movie-starness intimidate me. Well, he’s right, but he doesn’t
have to know it.

“But you get to bring back Tristan!”

Peter broke the gaze and turned to Jack. Alice
smiled.
Ha! I win! I win a staring contest he had no idea we were having
.
Her smile faded and she returned to the script.

“What is with these names? I’d rather play
Tristram Shandy.”

The reference surprised Alice.
At least he’s
not illiterate.

“Tristan is Clarissa’s brother. You will like
working with Eileen Seaver.”

“Yes, that’s another thing. I have seen her
picture. No one in his right mind would believe she and I could be siblings.”

“Perhaps you got all the looks in the family,”
Winnie said, returning to Peter and Jack.

Alice slammed the script shut, but the sound of
paper slapping together was far from satisfying.
So, he is too handsome to
play Eileen’s brother!

“If you have issues with the script,” Jack said,
“why don’t you discuss them with the head writer. I’m sure she –”

With a humorless laugh, Peter said, “I doubt she
could write her way out of a paper bag.”

That is it!
Alice jumped down from her
chair and marched toward her office.
I could certainly have written a better
comeback line than that!