Chapter 83

I was pouring myself another cup of coffee when the doorbell rang. I opened it and three bundles of energy rushed past me, and I saw a smiling Taylor standing on the other side. He asked me how I was, and I said I was doing a lot better and invited him in for some coffee. But he shook his head and said he had to do some things around the house.

Taylor had just left when Linda came down, and the girls all hugged her before returning to cartoons on the TV. I had just finished pouring us more coffee about twenty minutes later when the doorbell rang again. Linda went to answer it, and I was surprised it was Peggy and Kris.

They both came in and hugged me, and after asking how I was Linda turned up the volume on the TV and gave the girls some fish crackers before seating us all at the table. “OK Pegs, thanks for coming. And it’s nice seeing you again Kris, even if it does surprise me a bit.”

Kris sat down next to me, and said when her mom said she was coming here she insisted she come along as she wanted to see how I was doing. Linda looked at Peggy, and said she had a question about skating rinks. “There’s a production we’re involved in, and George here came up with a great script idea. And I already called the producer, he likes the concept but has no idea how to pull it off. But in short, it’s a contemporary shoot that will take place in a skating rink. So we’ll need your help in making this happen if you’re interested. You will be paid as a consultant, so we are not asking for a freebie. But you are the only expert I really know down here that can help us.”

Peggy looked at her for a moment, then nodded and smiled. I thought she was about to go tell Kris to go into the other room, and was surprised when she just said “And let me guess, this is for a porn shoot.”

Linda looked at Kris who was still sitting next to me and holding my hand, and nodded. “Do you maybe want to go to my office and discuss this?” But I think the last thing either of us expected was Peggy to just shake her head.

“Linda, in case you forgot Kris is eighteen now. She knows what you do, you write scripts for porn. But George, how does this involve you?”

“Well, it was kind of an idea I had. Linda was trying to find a kind of sequel for a show they had wrapped a while back, and I proposed making it a comedy instead of a drama.”

Linda nodded, and said the original had been a long running drama series mostly revolving around cheating. “Girl screws the boyfriend of her step-sister. Stepfather cheats on his wife with his stepdaughter, Wife cheats with her daughter’s boyfriend, things like that.”

“Wait, an incest show?” Peggy said, looking a bit shocked.

Linda laughed and shook her head. “No, actually not. There was never any actual incest in it, step-mom, step-dad, step-nephew, things like that. The plot was much more about multiple people cheating while living in the same house. It ran for about a decade, on average one hour long episode a month. But by then most of the cast had left so they finally retired it. And the problem was how to replace that? Just repeating it with a recast would have been stale.”

“Exactly. There are two gals that wanted to do something else, so I suggested make it like a sitcom. Basically ‘Three’s Company’, where one guy and two girls share an apartment. But base it on interracial relations. The roommates are a black guy, an Asian gal, and a Latina instead of two white girls and a white guy. So this time it revolves around differing races, but still with a cheating angle as at least two of the cast are living together but not in the apartment.”

Peggy laughed at that, and Kris squeezed my hand hard but was smiling. “And, well, you were at the preview screening of Pete’s show. And you know Kelly. George suggested we create an episode around her.”

“Wait, ‘Hot Wheels Kelly’? You want to do a show about her?”

Linda shook her head. “No, not Kelly, but the idea of Kelly. Imagine a bunch of Cougars. Women our age or older, who hang out at a skating rink to hit on young guys. And we even play with that, at least one or two still trying to dress like we did when we were in school. Full Valley Girl attire, and trying to talk like we did back then. Middle aged women trying to act like young girls.”

At that Peggy laughed out loud, and even Kris giggled. “You know, I can actually see that. God, it’s hard to believe looking back now that was over twenty years ago! And you could actually be describing us!” She grinned at Linda, who grinned back.

“OK, I’m in. What all do you need? I hope you’re not trying to get me to play one of the cougars!”

“Oh no, never Pegs! No, what we would need at most is a skating rink that would be open to this kind of filming being done. And if not that, where we can get skates for everybody and trying to make someplace look enough like a skating rink on camera.”

Peggy got a serious look on her face, and after a moment nodded. “OK, as for the first, no way. None of the ones left would stand for something like that being filmed there. But there just might be an alternative. A rink closed down in Long Beach about three months ago, as far as I know it’s still just sitting there. It’s mostly gutted, but you can rent lights from Becky if you don’t already have them. You’ll want Mike for that, he’s done a lot of skating rinks. For the skates, I know a guy that will sell them cheap. He actually does that a lot, buys up the equipment from rinks that close or upgrade their equipment, then resells them. Now these are all going to be old house skates, maybe even the same ones we would have used twenty years ago. But I bet so long as you get say fifty I can probably get them for twenty bucks a pair.”

Linda actually said that was probably a good deal, and she would talk to Rocco about it. And when Peggy looked at her and asked if she needed skaters, Linda shrugged. “To be honest, we could probably use a couple of dozen of them. And no, before you ask they would not have to do anything but skate. No sex or nudity from any of them, unless they want to of course. However, it will be a porn set so all of them will have to be eighteen or older, and show ID to prove it. Because they will undoubtedly be seeing nudity and possibly some sex. And sign non-sex performer contracts.”

Peggy smiled and nodded at that, and actually said she could probably arrange for that many as extras. And I was a bit surprised when Kris asked how much that would pay. And when Linda said probably around a hundred dollars, plus meals she grinned.

“Oh, if there is no requirement other than skating, I’d love to do it. And I have some friends I can likely bring along as well. Even though none of us are cougars.” I actually gasped at that, and Peggy gave her a hard look.

“Kris, you will do no such thing!” her mom said, and I saw Linda nodding in agreement. And before I could say something Kris just pushed on ahead.

“Mom, you know I ain’t no virgin. I’ve seen porn before. Hell, I’ve seen one or two of yours Aunt Linda. Now I won’t do anything dirty on screen, but I think skating in one would be fun. I’ll just use a lot of gaudy makeup, and wear my push-up bra. Add a wig, and I would defy anybody to recognize me like that.”

Peggy actually looked at her daughter for a moment, then slowly nodded. “So long as you are only skating, I think I can allow that. But that had better be all! And Linda, if I find out you had her do anything else, no matter how much I love you I’ll have your head!”

Linda actually looked into Peggy’s eyes, and slowly nodded. But then grinned. “But Pegs, I can use her in another way.” She quickly raised her hand as it was clear Peggy was about to explode. “Not in that way, but as a skate advisor. Have her come in a few times and give any of the cast who want them some simple lessons. Hell, I may even be one of them, as I ain’t been on skates much since probably before Kristen was even born. Just an hour or two a couple of times before the shoot, to help them get comfortable and maybe help with some basic tricks. I’ll talk to Rocco, I’m sure we can make something work.”

Linda made several more notes, then smiled at all of us. “And so you know, this might be something we revisit in the future. I can see us actually doing this once a year or so. Next time we do it again, but reverse it. The girls go skating, and discover it’s ‘old fart night’, with guys in their fifties hitting on them.”

“Hell Aunt Linda, you can do even another one after that. The girls show up, and the only people skating are all girls. They unknowingly arrived on Lesbian Night.” And they all looked at me after I said that.

Linda burst out laughing, and Kris squeezed my hand at that. Peggy stared at me hard, then burst out in a fit of giggles. “God, oh god, oh god. Lin, if you do actually do that, let me know. Because so long as I can wear something to disguise who I am, I would actually be there for that one. And wanna bet if I work hard enough I can talk my old partner into joining me on the same condition?”

Linda gasped when she said that. “No, oh no. No, you don’t mean...”

“Of course I mean Mandy, who else would it be? It’s been ages, but I bet with a week or two of practice we could throw together a decent couples routine. And trust me, if this shoot goes as you promise I bet I can talk her into it. In fact, I’m a bit surprised you are not having this conversation with your sister.”

“Peggy, remember how long it’s been since Mandy moved to Idaho. And she was only back in LA for what, a year and a half, two years before then? She’s not lived in LA since the late 1980s. Hell, she moved up to San Francisco when Pete was still with Becky. If it was just to ask questions about skating, I would have called her. But I needed someone with local contacts for things like a rink, skates, and skaters. She would be of no help in those areas, but you are the perfect person to help.”

Peggy nodded, and asked how long this would take. “Oh, figure about a month and a half, two months. All I have right now is a page of notes that George and I hashed out this morning, and a provisional approval from Rocco. I still got to write the script, figure two weeks until we have a final draft approved. After that we can move amazingly fast. But we’ll probably need the rink for probably three or four days. Just a guess at this time, two days of preliminary filming, mostly skating with some action in the background. Then the other two days more close up shooting with a greatly reduced cast. And if the place works out but is closed, we might just shoot two or three episodes back to back. We will still show them much later, but we can work all of that out later.”

Kris asked how that would the shoot would work, and Linda looked at Peggy who admitted she was curious also. Linda went to check on the girls as I poured us all more coffee, and when we were seated again she looked at Peggy and her daughter.

“OK, mind you this is largely based on what little we have outlined and what I know of how shootings like this go. And excuse my language in front of your daughter, Peggy. One possible scene will involve a guy and a gal in a dark corner of the rink.” And when she said that, I actually saw Peggy grin and nod.

“OK, so you know what I mean. They do not actually do it in that open of a space, but say they use their hands on each other. For the scenes with the skaters, that is largely what would be seen. Two people in a corner, kissing, fumbling through or in clothes, maybe humping a bit through clothing. But then on the day of close up shooting with few if any skaters around, the camera focused in on them instead of them in the background. Actually seeing body parts, seeing, ah, exactly where the hands are and the, the, hell, the conclusion when they are finished.” Even Linda was a bit red in the face when she finished that, likely because this was in front of Kris.