The Ugly Duckling (Excerpt)

Forgotten

The afternoon sun bounced ripples of heat from the ground, even under the protective shade of the big old Camel thorn trees.

"This scene doesn't work for me," Pagliani said to Harris, and I almost groaned.

We'd been working on it all day, but one or the other nitpicked the details, and the constant contact with Druscilla frayed my nerves.

"What do you want to do?" Harris asked.

"You look tired," Dean said, watching the sheep mill about under the massive old tree.

We filmed this scene on a neighboring sheep farm, and the farmer spent the last two days teaching us how to handle the animals. Apart from the exhausting and physically intense labor, it was sweaty, stinky, and draining.

Druscilla tried to weasel her way out of having to do anything, but Pagliani wouldn't allow her to shirk. He wanted a slice of authentic farm life.

Thabisho sat beside us, dressed as one of the farmers "helping out" Druscilla's character.

"Do you think we'll be done in time for dinner?" he asked.

"Not if Pagliani wants to do this again," I said.

After nearly two months of working with him, I'd gotten to know him much better.

"I want them to fetch the runaway sheep with horses. Real farmers of the era would not chase after animals on foot."

"Mercedes can't ride," Druscilla reminded with a self-satisfied little smirk.

Despite her aversion to animals, we only had to redo a few scenes. The sheep didn't seem to mind her, and they were much easier to work with than expected.

But it was a complicated scene with lots of subtext that had to be worked in around animals that suddenly ran in the wrong direction, complained in the middle of dialogue, and bowled over camera or sound equipment.

Gianni almost ended up in the feed trough. Michelle backed up to give me room to walk forward and fell over a sheep on her butt. The "almost kiss between me and Dean" scene turned into a headbutt when two sheep backed into me.

"We need the horse herding scene," Pagliani decided hours later.

"I can teach her to ride, but herding animals with horses is dangerous. The horses know what to do, and they are gonna wanna do it.

"They might unexpectedly react to situations in a way that might unseat her, and I think it would be rather dangerous," Sebastiaan, the neighboring farmer, said with a frown.

"Try it. We'll concentrate on Dean and Druscilla, but Arielle was an accomplished rider, and I want at least a few scenes with Mercedes on a horse," Harris agreed with Pagliani.

"Continue with the scenes you want with the other two, and I'll see if we can at least teach her some control over the animal," Sebastian agreed reluctantly. "But hear me good, this is stupid and dangerous."

"I don't know if this is a good plan," Thabisho said to Sebastian when he reached us.

"They pay me a lot of money, Thabisho, but I won't let them risk Mercedes' health. Let's see if she has an affinity for riding before I decide. I've taught many yuppies how to ride, but I can't teach her what she needs to know in a couple of hours."

Sebastian had to boost me onto the horse the first couple of times, and he made me get off and on several times until I could lift myself into the saddle.

My legs were shaking from the effort, and it was terrifyingly high once I was up there. He explained the mechanics of riding, showed me how to handle the reins, and then got on a horse and taught me how to ride.