Chapter 41

At dinner we had pancakes, this was Dad’s specialty, so Mum got the night off. He would make what he called Silver Dollar pancakes. They were small, close to the size of a silver dollar. We kids would keep track of how many we could eat. I could eat five normal pancakes. These were about a third of the size so I was able to eat fifteen of them. Denny had to beat me with sixteen. I wonder if that had anything to do with the bellyache he had later.

As we finished dinner the telephone rang.

Dad answered with his usual, “City morgue, you stab ‘em, we slab’em, some go to Heaven and some go to Hello.”

The person on the other end took it well as you could hear laughter.

Dad then got serious, “This is the Jackson Residence.”

He listened and then turned to me and handed me the phone, “Its John Wayne for you.”

I thought he was kidding, he wasn’t.

I answered with a tentative, “Hello.”

“Ricky this is John Wayne, how have you been.”

“Fine, thank you, and how are you.”

“I’m great Ricky I’m putting together a new movie and I have a part that would be perfect for you.”

Mr. Wayne then proceeded to tell me about the movie, “The Cowboys,” its basis was that all the adult men in town that usually went on a trail drive were off on a search for gold. This left the old trail boss, played by Mr. Wayne, having to hire eleven teenage boys to drive the cattle four hundred miles to the train.

He felt that since I could ride bulls, and fall off horses plus behaved myself on a movie set I would be good for a part. He did have to put in that crack about falling off horses.

The movie would start production in January and take seven weeks. I objected that I had school. He countered with they would be running a school on set and would co-ordinate with my school so I didn’t fall behind. The pay would be twenty-five hundred dollars a week. He then asked to speak to my Dad.

They talked a while; well Mr. Wayne talked a lot answering Dad’s questions.

Dad finally ended it with, “Send a contract as you have described, and if our lawyer says okay he will do it.”

Dad handed the phone back to me.

“Rick we will be emailing you a copy of the script once we have a signed contract in place. You will have to memorize your lines before shooting starts.”

Thinking of my recent Drama Club audition I replied, “I don’t know if I can deliver lines.”

“That’s why we have acting coaches, to teach you how to say your lines naturally.”

That was a big relief.

We said our goodnights and hung up. The whole family was excited. Dad asked if Mr. Wayne had said anything about how much they were paying. I whispered to him, twenty-five hundred dollars. He said that is really good for seven weeks’ work. I whispered back, no that is each week.

You would think I had attached those electric wires to Dad. He dragged me and Mum into the front room where we could talk without the other kids hearing. When I repeated to them it was twenty-five hundred per week they both jumped up and down like kids. Dad was ready to ship me off to Hollywood right then and there.

Mum had the practical questions like school and where would I stay, you know, Mum things. Since I spent the summer on the road she knew I could handle myself; she just wanted to make certain I would be taken care of.

We went back to the kitchen where my brothers and sister waited. Dad told them I might be in another movie but not to talk about it yet, as there was no signed contract. Eddie wanted to know when and Dad told him it was being mailed so it would be soon. Denny wanted to know if he could have my room.