Cherry Orphan

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Uri Wasserman please. Calley Nameth and James Nameth. I'm expected."

"One moment." The security guard picked up a phone. He nodded once and hung up. The gate lifted. "Please wear these badges. Do you know where to go, madam?"

"Always!" She winked at him, punched drive and took off into the huge studio complex well over the speed limit.

James cringed and tried to retract inside his clothes.

***

Calley's visitor badge dangled right at the center of her cleavage and swung from side to side as she strutted. She'd obviously been here before and knew exactly where to go inside the sprawling office complex. They passed several people along the corridors, but no one James recognized from films he'd seen.

They barged through a door, then another door into a small office with black and white photos plastered all over the walls and straight up to a reception desk. "Hi, is he free?"

A rather attractive woman looked up. "Oh, hi, Calley. Sure, just go in. Who's this fine young man?"

"James Nameth. He's my English cousin. Isn't he a looker? James, meet Tanya."

"Mmm, yes. Are you Equity, James?" Her accent sounded more American than Calley's.

"Er... I'm sorry...?"

Calley chuckled and came to his rescue. "Independent. He owns The Cock and Fox up the road in Staines. If anyone needs a good pub location keep him in mind."

Tanya pointed a manicured finger. "You, sir, should talk to Uri. He'll get you a union ticket."

James didn't have the faintest idea what had been said and meekly followed Calley through double oak doors into the Wasserman inner sanctum.

The place felt understated, but smelled of money—dollars, sterling, yen, marks, Swiss francs—anything that would spend.

Uri Wasserman stood away from his desk studying something and looked sideways at the intrusion. He wore a white shirt with suspenders holding up dark blue pants around his mildly spreading midsection. A big, handsome guy of fifty plus, and immediately James pictured an actor he'd seen in some of those old black and white movies they showed on TV all the time. It might have been William Holden.

Calley went right up to him and kissed him on the cheek. Wasserman caressed her bare shoulders and smiled. "Look at you. What would your mom say?"

"Fuck off, Uri, she bought me this dress. You're one to talk. I saw the trampy things you bought her."

He laughed. "Shy little thing, aren't you. Who's this?"

Calley looked at James who hung back. "My cousin." She extended an arm and wiggled her fingers. "James meet Uri. He's going to get me a part in a movie."

As James stepped closer Wasserman presented a huge paw the size of a soccer field. "Pleased to meet you, James. Don't mind Calley. She has a vivid imagination. Are you in the business?"

"Hello, sir, er... no." He tried not to let his eyes water as Wasserman almost crushed the bones in his hand.

"Too bad, you got the looks for it. Your age group is in high demand."

James wondered what age group the big American had in mind, but didn't ask.

Calley chipped in. "Hey, it's me you're supposed to cast—remember? A person could die of old age."