Chapter 9

“Mattson, are you sitting down, love?”

“Yes. Is everything okay?” Concern was evident in his voice over the phone, and Corinne smiled to herself.

“Everything is great! You’re going to be a father!”

CRACKTHUMPSLIDE!

“Mattson? You okay? Mattson? Hello?”

More fumbling sounds, then the breathless sound of her husband came back on the line.

“I dropped the phone. Are you certain?”

“Yes. The doctor did the test earlier today after the five tests I took at home came up positive a few days ago. Are you okay?”

“Yes! I am overjoyed! I can’t wait to be a father! Oh my god, this is amazing! I love you, Cory!”

Tears came to Corinne’s eyes. She’d never believed she could ever be this happy.

Conversation continued for a while before Corinne came back to the topic of the day.

“How goes the editing?”

“Great! I think we will wrap it up this week. Can’t wait to see how it looks on the screen.” His enthusiasm was doubled now that he knew he was going to be a father.

“Yeah, me either. I can’t believe we shot the entire thing in nine days. How long will it end up being?”

“I think it will finish up right at around one hundred and twelve minutes including credits, which won’t be much. ‘Director, Anonymous. Producer, Anonymous. Every off-camera role, Anonymous.’”

“Okay, that works, Mattson.”

“Yeah, I don’t know how we would fill more than that, unless we wanted to delve deeper in to the character histories. That is a different project, though, unless you want to build it into this.”

“Naw, not really. I like what we’re doing. Hey, we will be done with post-production in time for Sundance, right?”

“Yeah, with a few weeks to spare. You still want to get it shown there?”

“Definitely, me boy. Definitely.”

“Okay. Wow. You’re pregnant. I love it. Love it! I can’t wait to be a father!”

“I know. I can’t wait either!”

“Wait, you can’t wait to be a father? That will get a little awkward, Cory. I mean, that role is already taken, unless you want to have us both get sex-change operations. I mean, I know I told you I would do anything for you, but I will have to get my nerve up for that one. That will take a while.”

She laughed so hard she nearly dropped the phone. “No, no thank you. I like you having the penis and me having the vagina. Let’s keep the plumbing all original okay?”

“Anything you say, sweetie,” he cut in before she finished her breath.

“No, I meant I can’t wait to be a mother.”

“You’ll be a great one, since you’re not insane, know what I mean?”

She simply chuckled. “I do. Talk to you later, love.”

“There is news out of Hollywood today. Apparently Corinne DeLoie has starred in an indie film. The strange part is apparently who her co-star is: Mattson Childers, her longtime friend apparently was the male lead in the film. We only have a title for it, and not a synopsis: ‘A Love Timeless’. Apparently it will be debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. More when we know it on that topic.”

“I have to wonder if she is going to go in the indie film direction more now, since she is obviously being punished for defending herself against Conrad Brauer.”

“I agree, Sherrie. I was surprised earlier today when it was reported that Brauer pleaded guilty to two assault charges from the attack on DeLoie. That video upset a lot of people, as did the police evidence photos of Corinne DeLoie’s face and the other injuries she suffered from that assault. It was bad enough that she had to get beaten up by Brauer for refusing to take her clothes off in his film last year.

“But to have her participation in all of her upcoming films pulled out from underneath her when she was dealing with having to recover from those injuries, both physical and psychological, was a travesty. It has caused a shakeup in the general landscape of the American film industry in the back rooms and board rooms of the major studios.”

“True. We are hearing reports that more than a few projects have been put on hold or cancelled entirely because actresses have been refusing to do nude scenes or simulated sex scenes. A lot of the push-back seems to be inspired by Corinne’s confrontation with Brauer. Not every actress has been refusing to do nude scenes, but several, including a few that have not done nudity on screen before, seem to have developed an aversion to it.”

“Interesting. Well, we will have to see where this goes.”