Whiskey

Kyle Talbot sauntered up to the bar and, in his grittiest, mouth-full-of-range-dust voice, addressed the bartender. “Whiskey” was all he said.

A bottle appeared and a shot was poured and Kyle downed it in one masculine, leading man type gulp.

“Cut!” yelled the director, Scott Winningham.

Kyle was upset. There was no burn to the “whiskey,” it being just colored water after all. Kyle needed it to be the real thing today. His head was pounding from last night’s binge and he could certainly use a little hair of the dog.

“Kyle, could you at least look like you get some relief from the shot?”

“Maybe if my motivation were clearer to me, Scott. You’re not much of a director.” Kyle grinned at his own joke, while trying to move his throbbing head as little as possible.

“Yeah, and you’re not much of an actor.” Scott sighed then barked loudly, “Take fifteen everyone!” Scott went over and put his arm around Kyle and started pulling him off the set. “Let’s take a walk Kyle.”

They walked out the door and into an alley between sound stages. Scott leaned into Kyle. “Here’s the thing Kyle. I don’t mind you wanting to screw Beverly; she is a real star and every straight guy on the set wants to give her a pounding. I don’t even mind that you have taken just about every extra on the shoot to bed; hell, they are extras, they have to expect to be screwed. But Kyle, my friend, I do mind when you screw up my fucking scene! You got fifteen minutes, Kyle. Go to your trailer, get yourself a drink, maybe do some blow. Hell, I don’t care if you shoot up, just when you get your ass back, act like you enjoy the fucking shot of whiskey! Because if you don’t Kyle, I will see that this is the last fucking movie set you ever darken. Is that a clear enough motivation for ya, Kyle?”

“Yeah, sure Scott. I got it.” As Kyle walked off towards his trailer he saw a group of extras, huddled together, smoking. One blonde extra in a saloon girl outfit caught his eye. He hadn’t had her yet, maybe she could be his lunch.

Copyright 2014 Barry Keller. All rights reserved.