The Seven Confessions of Celia St. James

A secret Rustling in Her Pocket

I pull up to the hotel in a cream Mercedes 380; the one with caramel leather interiors. She stands there, preppy chic, oyster white button up and tan slacks, wearing good posture like yesterday's clothes. A young man works our luggage into the miniature trunk of the convertible. Celia pulls down her aviators and says, "Good job, kid. Very nice." I'm glad she's pleased but she's left me at the edge of a precipice of scandalous knowledge and I'm dying to ask but can't, so I keep my impertinent, impatient pouty lips shut and use only side glances to admire her preppy little get-up as she slips into the passenger side.

"Don't you look smart?"

"I'll leave the blue jeans and t shirts to young things such as yourself."

"I just mean...visiting you on set, all I saw you in where those matronly flower patterned dresses." I lean towards her and say in a quiet voice, peeking over my Wayfarers, "You look sexy, is all."

"Oh, do go on!" She mocks, throwing her head back before strapping in.

I drive us through the city. My heart won't stop pounding. I tell myself to breathe through my nose as I repeat my mantra in my head, "I have great tits and a million dollar face. I have great tits and a million dollar face. I have great tits..."

"You know which way we're going?"

"I took a quick glance at the map. It's in the glove box if you want to peek. We are gonna be on 80 for a long time."

We drive until the radio signal fades into scratchy patches of static and faint song. I hear the click of the dial followed by the hum of the engine. We go on like this a few minutes, then I hear the snap of her lighter and her window rolling down.

"Had you never taken a cross country road trip? Is that why you wanted to take one now?" I ask.

She hesitates a moment before declaring, "I don't have anything pressing on my calendar, and you asked me to tell you about Evelyn. So I thought..."

I feel blood drain from my cheeks. For one thing, I was sure she'd never drop a name, though I thought maybe I'd figure it out. For another, and more to the point, I knew she'd been friends with Evelyn Hugo, but lovers?! Evelyn Hugo?! Evelyn love goddess, sex pot, bombshell, man-eating Hugo? The woman is infamous for walking the isle again and again and again...

"Well, I see you know who I am referring to. Are you going to be okay there?" Celia asks, "Do you need to pull over?"

"I just would have never. I just didn't..." I am stammering like a fool. She is smirking. Her kind blue eyes are filled with mirth.

"She was something." She looks out the window distractedly, savoring a memory, I wager.

"So, The One. It's Evelyn?"

"There were some interludes, some dalliances here and there but...It's Evelyn. It's always been Evelyn. Against my better judgment."

I sit quietly waiting for her to elaborate. I hold my breath. The moment passes. Nothing. "Oh my God, you're killing me! Tell me everything!"

Celia gives a hardy laugh. I feel her long, thin fingers tuck a blonde stray tress behind my ear. "The thing with Eve started with the private lessons I was giving her after rehearsals; the dancing and the talking... I'm getting ahead of myself, actually. Let me start over. I knew I would be recognized as great actress someday and collect handfuls of accolades, and no I am not ashamed to admit it. But this thing with Evelyn? That started because I wanted to become a star, which is a different thing, entirely. I knew I'd have to get on the tabloids, attend the right parties, get connected, and so on, if I wanted to become a star. Oh and it would be worth it, getting all that attention, if only to embarrass my sister. So, when I landed the part in Little Women, I considered it my mission to be seen and photographed with Evelyn Hugo. I mean, back then she was married to big man about town, Don Adler. They were hugely popular. And yes, I knew she was gorgeous from the screen and magazine pictures, but I didn't give a fig about that. It was going to be all business on my end. My plan sort of derailed when I met her though."