Starchela in LA

Chapter Eleven: THE BLACK PANTHER

Chapter Eleven - THE BLACK PANTHER

An hour later, when the black panther attacks me, all thought of Natalie's voodoo doll has faded, wiped out by the wondrous scene at my aunt's mansion. But let me backtrack to how we got there.

We exited north campus and pulled into traffic onto Sunset Boulevard. I hadn't been on Sunset yet. It was just this legend of the boulevard of night life and lost souls, weaving from the ocean into Hollywood. One could find rock and roll and movie glam and all the hopefuls, losers, leeches and lovers who wanted to be a part of it. I was just settling in to soak up all of that Sunsetness, when we suddenly turned left and dived into Bel Air.

We pulled up to a checkpoint. A funny house, one that could have come out of The Shire or housed the Seven Dwarves, with a barrier on each side – one to let us in, one to let them out. An iron sign read BEL AIR. I swallowed hard – another legendary place. So my mother's long lost twin sister lives in Bel Air? Quite becoming a child prodigy who became a Hollywood mogul.

Torquevald Nordon exchanges greetings with the uniformed guard who pops out of the dwarfhouse's window. The barrier goes up. We glide in. The barrier drops behind us.

We navigate weaving alleys. Everything is lush green. Giant mansions in white or red peek out from the foliage.

"I am in. Who else is around?" I Tweet. I don't know who lives here, who lurks or lies about, who creates art or shuffles millions of dollars in the seclusion of those homes.

We reach a gate. Iron grill entwined with vines. It opens before us as if by magic... And suddenly we're back in the Twenty-First century. Trucks and caravans are lining both sides of the driveway. Men in overalls and utility belts carry around tripods, lights, metal tubes. Tiny assistants in sandals and headsets and clipboards rush this way and that. Actors in costumes sitting at tables by the side of the path are being made up by ladies with quick fingers and calm faces.

"They're shooting the ball scene on the panoramic stairs," the driver says in his trailer voice.

OMG I just knew it. When he says ball scene on the panoramic stairs, it all makes perfect sense, it all fits perfectly, although I have no idea what it means. It's just... the words are so right.

"Sure," I say.

"We'll go around back. We don't want to be in the way."

In the way? Seriously, I'm the niece of the woman who's doing all this, of the boss who's paying all these people. She sent for me. Surely I'm more important that all these bit players, right? If anything, they're in my way.

Easy, Starchela, don't get carried away with yourself now. Be a good girl, know your place. You just got here.

Fair enough, my inner Starchela. I'll only use my influence to do good. I'll use my pull with the mistress of the house only to request that her driver return the voodoo doll to Natalie.

Torquevald Nordon parks the Maybach in the driveway, and we get off.

"We'll walk around back," he says.

I take one last look at the movie circus. And I see the "bag lady."

She's sitting on one of the make-up chairs along the driveway. I start towards her. The driver's voice booms after me that it's not the way. I ignore him. I have questions for that woman.

Her face is being made up by one of the efficient ladies. I reach them, and I speak, "I met you this morning."

They both turn to me. She's not the same woman. She's only been made to look like her.