Action! (10 page)

“Why are you nervous?” I asked.

“Well, there’s a mountain lion,” Harold replied. “An actual mountain lion.”

I glanced around. “The lion’s not on the bus, is it?”

Bess laughed. “No. The city gave permission for three vehicles to pull up to the location: this bus, the truck with the cameras and lights, and Jake’s trailer with the lions.”

“You won’t really be near the mountain lion, Harold,” I said. “The stunt man will do all the shots with the actual lion.”

“If it makes you feel better, I bet Nancy could give you tips on how to survive a mountain lion attack,”
Bess said, shooting me a grin. “She’s had some practice.”

It was true. One of the two big cats that had been hired for
Stealing Thunder
had jumped at me during the early days of shooting. Herman Houseman and his accomplice, Rita Clocker, had loosened the door of the lion’s cage. The giant cat had leaped out at me and knocked me down.

“I don’t know,” I said. “That mountain lion wasn’t really trying to hurt me. He just wanted to get out of his cage, and I happened to be in the way.” I turned to Harold. “They’re trained animals. They know better than to attack for real.” I tried to sound comforting.

I knew that Harold’s stunt double was used to working with animals, and our mountain lions were well trained. All the attack scenes would be shot with the stunt man, and then Morris would shoot close-ups of Harold’s face with Harold pretending he’d just been mauled. Later the close-ups would be edited together with the stunt man’s scenes to make it appear that Harold was the one getting attacked all along.

Harold shuddered. “Even watching someone else get attacked scares me,” he said.

We arrived at the location and everyone piled out of the bus. Julie Wilson grabbed me as I got out.

“Nancy, I’ve got your costume in the bus,” she
said. “I don’t want it to get dusty and dirty out here, so I’ll call you to change into it about twenty minutes before we start your scene.”

“Okay,” I said. “I wonder what I’m supposed to do all morning. We won’t be shooting my part until much later.”

“You can come keep me company for now,” Harold said. “Morris says I have to watch my stunt double do the mountain lion scene so that I know what Ethan Mahoney is going through.”

“That makes sense,” I told him. “Because Morris will shoot close-ups of you afterward. You have to know just what position the stunt man fell in so that you can get into the same position for the close-up.”

“I guess so,” Harold grumbled. “I’ve never had to deal with wild animals working in my cheese shop.”

“So I guess the glamour of moviemaking is wearing off a little, huh?” I asked him.

“No, I love it,” Harold said. “But I couldn’t do it all the time. This schedule is hectic. I haven’t seen a sunset in at least a week.”

Harold’s two loves in life are sunsets and the theater. It was ironic that his acting debut was preventing him from seeing the sunsets. “So you’re not going to move to Hollywood after we finish?” I asked.

“Certainly not,” he replied. “I’m staying right here in River Heights. The movies can come to me.”

I hid my smile as I led the way up the winding trail to the cave. It was a large cave with a wide opening. Right now most of the cave entrance was blocked by camera equipment and lights. If I peered in between two of the cameras, I could just make out Harold’s stunt double. He was dressed in identical clothes to Harold’s, and he had the same fake mustache glued on to his face. His hat was pulled down low to obscure his face.

“Quiet on the set!” Morris called.

Everyone nearby stopped talking.

“Action, Ethan,” Morris said.

The stunt man, who was playing Ethan Mahoney for the moment, began the scene. He approached the cave from the side and walked slowly in. Ethan was walking carefully because he expected to find the Rackham Gang inside the cave. What he
didn’t
expect was a huge cat.

“Action—lion!” Morris called.

Inside the cave Jake Brigham released the trained mountain lion, a large female cougar named Liz. The big cat loped gracefully across the stone floor of the cave, then leaped through the air toward the stunt man. All I saw was a flash of the cougar’s tawny fur gleaming in the lights. Then the lion’s giant paws landed on the man’s chest, and he dropped backward. Liz fell with him, ending up on top of the poor guy.
At a sign from Jake, who stood right off-camera, the cougar bared her fangs and gave a growl that echoed off the stone walls of the cave.

“Ugh, I can’t watch,” Harold said, turning away.

But I was fascinated. After growling so viciously, the cat simply stood in place and waited for Jake to give it the next command.

“Cut!” called Morris.

“Liz, with me,” Jake commanded, striding forward to the mountain lion. Liz paced over to meet him, and he fed her a piece of meat.

“Is it over?” Harold asked.

“Yes, it’s fine,” I told him. “The cat is very well behaved. She’s only pretending to attack.”

Harold forced himself to watch the next three takes. Finally Morris said we had enough footage of the attack. It was time for Harold’s close-ups.

“Can the mountain lion be taken away first?” he asked fearfully.

“I’m going to load her back in her trailer right now,” Jake answered. He led Liz away on her lead as if she was nothing but a big dog.

“Okay, let’s get Harold into the cave,” Morris said. Pam and Degas rushed over to powder Harold’s nose and make sure his mustache was glued on tightly. Tripp Vanilli, the costume designer, and Julie did one last check of his wardrobe.

“Think you’ll be able to pretend you were just attacked by a mountain lion?” Morris asked Harold.

“Definitely,” Harold said. “Just watching those last few takes, I felt as if I was being mauled myself.”

“Then let’s get going,” Morris said. He led Harold into the cave to show him where his mark was. Harold was supposed to fall to the ground in just the same place that the stunt man had done it. Then he would lie there, looking stunned and petrified. After a few takes, Pam would go in and apply some fake blood and bruises so it would seem that Ethan was beginning to bleed from the lion’s scratches. Then Morris would shoot a few more takes. And after that, it would be time for my scene—the scene in which Esther finds Ethan unconscious on the floor of the cave.

I figured it was time for me to go get into my costume. I hurried back to the bus, found the garment bag labeled
ESTHER, CAVE
and pulled out the long dress. I quickly changed in the back of the empty bus. I stuffed my feet into the tight black button-up boots. Then I climbed out of the bus and headed off in search of Pam and Degas. They still had to do my hair and makeup. When I got back to the set, though, Morris was about to start filming with Harold. I just couldn’t resist watching my friend—surely I had time for one or two takes.

I squeezed into a space behind Morris’s director’s chair, where I had a perfect view into the cave.

“Action!” Morris called.

Harold was being extra dramatic today. He gave a little scream, then flung himself backward. He was supposed to fall straight down to the floor, but instead, he stumbled back for a few steps, his face contorted into a mask of fear.

Then the heel of his old-fashioned shoe hit something on the ground in the cave. Now Ethan’s fearful expression disappeared, and I saw a very Harold-like look of alarm on his face.

“Whoa!” he called as he tripped over the rock on the ground. Flailing his arms, he toppled over backward, hitting the rear wall of the cave.

The stone wall gave way, splitting into pieces and collapsing to the floor. And Harold kept on falling, through the wall and over a ledge that had been hidden behind it. His cry of fear faded into the darkness as he fell, and soon I couldn’t hear him anymore.

There was absolute silence from everyone on the set. The only sound was the clattering of falling stone.

Harold was gone!

Into the Darkness

I
braced myself to hear
another bone-chilling scream from Harold. It didn’t come.

Everyone else was still frozen in horror. I forced my feet to move—I
had
to get to Harold. I rushed into the cave and over to the deep cavern that had opened up when he fell against the wall. Skidding to a stop at the edge, I peered into the darkness. Where had this chasm come from? No one had ever mentioned such a thing in the historic cave. I couldn’t see Harold, and I couldn’t see the bottom. All I could see were the beginnings of steep, rocky walls … then nothing but black.

A burst of static finally broke the silence. I heard footsteps running toward me. It was Bess, and she already had her crew walkie-talkie out. “We need an
ambulance out at the cave where we’re shooting. Right away—it’s an emergency!” I heard her say into the mouthpiece. There was a crackling sound, then someone answered, “I’m on it.” Bess pressed the button again. “You’d better contact the fire department for a rescue team too,” she added.

Good idea. I could always count on Bess in a crisis. Unfortunately it would take an ambulance at least twenty minutes to get way out here. And we needed to help Harold
now.

I dropped to my hands and knees at the edge of the cavern and leaned down as far as I could. “Harold!” I shouted. My own voice echoed back to me. “Harold!” I yelled again. “Can you hear me?”

Silence.

My heart started to beat double-time. Harold needed help down there, and he needed it immediately. I felt a hand on my shoulder. “Nance, move back a little, okay?” Bess said. I could see tears in her eyes—she was obviously just as worried about Harold as I was. “It’s making my stomach go all whoopsie seeing you that close to the edge.”

“She’s right. I know we’re all concerned about our friend, but it’s not going to help Harold for you to go tumbling in after him,” Luther Eldridge agreed, hurrying up beside Bess.

I pushed myself to my feet. “I’m not tumbling
anywhere,” I promised Luther, taking in his pale face and worried eyes. “But I
am
going in after him.”

“Absolutely not,” Morris cried. He had finally shaken off his horror and come running into the cave. I could see the rest of the crew milling about outside the entrance, trying to figure out what to do. “We already have one person down. We’re not going to add you to that list!”

“You have to wait for the ambulance,” Luther agreed.

“Harold wouldn’t be down there if it wasn’t for me,” I shot back. “I’m the one who convinced him to be in the movie in the first place. And it’s going to take the ambulance too long to get here.”

“Nance, don’t be crazy,” Bess said. “I’m worried about him too. But you can’t just throw yourself in there. We can’t even see how deep it is, and you have no way to get down safely.”

She had a point. I scanned the cave and the area outside it where the crew was set up. Rope. I needed rope. I didn’t see any. But I did spot something even better: electrical cords. Tons of them. They were hooked to the cameras and to the lights and lying in coils on the ground. There was more of the heavy black cord than I could ever use!

“Bess, get me the first-aid kit,” I said. I pulled up the long skirt of my costume so I wouldn’t trip, then
I raced over to the nearest camera. The longest stretch of electrical cord was attached to it. In about three seconds I had the cord wrapped around my waist and tied tight. Good thing I had learned all about knots during my camping trips with my dad growing up—I knew this one would hold.

“Harry! Jim!” I cried to the two biggest grips. Grips are the people on a movie set who deal with the equipment—hauling, lifting, and moving. This would take muscles like theirs. “You two hold the other end of this.” I gave the cable attached to my waist a tug. “And don’t let go!”

“You can count on us,” Jim answered. He grabbed the loose end of the long, long length of cord and wrapped it around his own waist. Harry stepped in front of him and took hold of the cord with both hands.

“Thanks, guys,” I said. I marched back over to the lip of the cavern. The black electrical cord unspooled behind me.

“It’s so dark down there,” Luther said. “How are you going to see to help Harold?”

I bit my lip, thinking hard. “There’s a miniflashlight in my purse,” I remembered. “It’s the brown leather one in my seat on the bus.” Julie Wilson took off at a run toward the bus.

Bess rushed over with a large metal box. “The
first-aid kit is way too heavy for you to carry with you,” she said.

I frowned. Bess was right. “Bandages are the most important thing,” I told her. She handed me several Ace bandages and three rolls of gauze. I stuffed everything into the waistband of my skirt.

Julie came running up with the little flashlight from my purse. “Thanks,” I said, taking it. I turned to Morris. “I’ll use this for starters. You get the lights moved up here and pointed down into the cavern, okay?”

“You got it,” he promised.

I glanced at Bess. She gave me a shaky smile. “Be careful.”

I nodded. “Every time I give two sharp tugs, let out about five feet of cord,” I called to Harry and Jim.