Chapter 34

I set the alarm for four-thirty on Tuesday morning. That enabled me to do my morning workout and run while making it to the studio on time. The first thing I did when at costuming was grabbed my first coffee of the day. By the time I was out of makeup I was awake and ready to go.

We were walking through our scene by seven o’clock and had film by eleven. I spent about half of the time watching other people do their jobs. I had brought school books with me so I made good use of the time. I was determined to do as good as I could on the State final exams even though they were pass-fail in nature.

The girl at the eleven o’clock audition was the Cheryl look alike. She was flawless in her performance. We had lunch together. After lunch, I was asked for my opinion.

My response was, “In one of the few Sunday school classes I attended they told us not to say anything if we couldn’t say anything good. I shouldn’t even acknowledge this girl’s existence. She is the most egotistical whiney brat I have ever met.”

John Wayne came back with, “Okay now tell us what you really think.”

“I’m not allowed to use that sort of language.”

“Scratch that one off the list then,” Mr. Wayne replied.

Mr. Danson took me over to Hollywood High after lunch for my lab session. Nina was there already. The bells rang to change class. I noticed that several girls made a point of looking into our classroom. I wonder what that was about.

We played with poor old Mr. Froggie some more. This time we hooked a battery up the nerves in his leg. That was amazing. Maybe he can go a courtin some more. Nina was fun to be with; she could joke about what we were doing. I was still the one, hands-on, while she took the notes.

She couldn’t understand how I could touch the frog. I told her about how my Dad and I would gig frogs from a flat bottomed boat with tridents. Frog legs were delicious! She wasn’t impressed. I decided not to tell her about walking a trap line in the winter. Dad would get fifty cents a muskrat pelt. We needed the money that bad.

Mr. Danson took me back to the studio and dropped me off at the stunt area. I did my sword drill and weight lifting. The guys who had talked about parachuting weren’t around. After doing my exercises I still had time so I worked on my roping. One of the wranglers was kind enough to saddle a horse and take care of him when I was done.

When I thanked him he said, “You took care of Raul, we’ll take care of you.

When I finished roping Dick still wasn’t there, so I waited. Time seemed to stand still but finally, Dick showed up. We headed out to the Wells Fargo bank and picked up a cashier’s check. The car dealer had called the amount in for the car as promised.

When we pulled up to the dealership the T-Bird was all ready to go. I handed over the check, Dick signed another million or so papers then they handed me the keys and the title in my name. It was really strange the State of California wouldn’t let me buy a car, but I could own one. It didn’t matter now, I had the pink slip.

The dealer insisted on a number of pictures of me taking delivery of the car. I asked him why. He told me it was in case I became famous. He also told me he had heard about some excitement at the studio, a rabid coyote. He wanted to know if I had seen it.

“I did,” was my answer.

Somebody asked a question right then so he couldn’t follow up.

When I slipped behind the wheel of my new car I felt like the King of the Road. From the white leather upholstery to the white wall tires this car was the coolest thing on the road. The Corvette was nice, this was better.

My salesman showed me how to put the top down and he also presented me with a pair of sunglasses. That was nice of him, especially after how I had beaten him up on the deal.