Archie said, “I’ll go make a call and get back to you. By the way, you two are out of chips.” He left before we could check the storage room.
Later that evening, Wilson brought Bodhi to the house and the five of us went out on the deck, moving a few lawn chairs around the gas fueled fire pit to enjoy the cool night.
Bodhi didn’t appear to be in a good mood. She said, “We met with lawyers again today.”
Amber said, “And?”
“Troy now controls one hundred percent of mom and dad’s assets.”
“How? You’re the heir,” Amber said.
“He convinced me…well, Jericho convinced me, and Troy agreed with him.”
I said, “And you feel that’s the right decision?”
“I did at the time. Those two are persuasive, Jericho especially, telling me how Troy could protect and build the companies, and take care my every need. I would never want for anything, he said.”
Hondo said, “I’m guessing here, but did Troy say it would be just like when Sylvia was alive?”
“Troy didn’t say it, Jericho did.” She bit at the edge of her thumb, “Maybe they’re right. I didn’t want for a thing when Mom and Dad lived.”
I kept silent. I would talk to Hondo tomorrow, but not now in front of everyone. Hondo caught my eye and I knew we had the same ideas. I thought it might be time to do some poking around that’s a shade outside what’s legal.
We talked about other things for a while, and around eleven everyone left, so that only Amber and I remained at the fire. She said, “You need to help her. What Troy’s doing isn’t right, Ronny.”
“I know. Hondo and I’ll talk tomorrow, see what we can do.”
“I knew you would. Thank you.” She went to the pit and turned off the gas, making the flames shrink and disappear into the lava rock, then said, “Let’s watch something funny, I need to flush away the anger I’m feeling.”
I put in my DVD of Young Frankenstein, and we sat on the couch and did quote-alongs with the actors in our favorites scenes. Amber yawned about halfway through, so I turned it off and we went to bed. She dropped off to sleep in seconds. I wasn’t far behind.
Hondo and I went to the office early and found Archie waiting for us. He said, “Farlow says to call him at this number.” He gave Hondo a paper, “And be ready to work this evening on a night shoot. He’ll give you the details.”
Hondo made the call while I looked for any Julio’s chips we might have overlooked. Hondo waved to me as he put his phone in his back pocket, “Farlow said to come now, so we can talk before they begin shooting.”
“I’m ready.”
~*~
I almost didn’t recognize Farlow when we arrived at the outdoor location. The beard and long hair were gone, along with the biker clothes. Farlow was a nice looking man, and dressed casual but sharp like now, he cut a smart image. He said, “I’m glad you’re here. Let’s go to my trailer and talk about the film.” He led us to the trailer and went inside, saying, “I’ve got your scripts here, too.”
Hondo and I sat on a small couch as he grabbed the oversized chair. Farlow said, “The story is a fun one, and you already know the director, Emma Storm. She mentioned you both. She said Hondo’s a natural for any part. Ronny, she said your work on the Viagra commercial you and Archie did, where Archie gave you the fatherly advice about using the pill, is their highest rated one because you’re so believable in your part.”
“It’s only a commercial. I don’t need the product.”
Hondo said, “I don’t know. It sure looked realistic to me.”
I narrowed my eyes to slits as I looked at him, which made him grin.
I said, “What about us being blue?”
Farlow said, “That’ll take the longest, because you two will only be wearing loincloths. All your skin will need to be covered. It’ll look good on screen, we’ve already done some test shots. You both will need to be waxed to remove any hair before we apply the makeup, though.”
I said, “Hondo wants to go full commando, so don’t spare the wax. He’s always about getting into character by being the character. It’s his method training.”
“Ha ha,” Hondo said.
“I wish it was for more than three days,” Farlow said. “I’ll keep you in mind on future shoots.”