The Tropical Dream

Chapter 62 - Workdays in November

Amazingly enough, on the evening following Susan's first day of work at the studio on the first Tuesday in November, neither Greg nor Susan said anything about their day at the studio after they got home. Susan didn't seem to want to talk about it and Greg didn't push her. Instead they went about their evening as though it was part of their normal end-of-a-workday routine. True, they hadn't followed that routine since before Melody was born, but that was what it reminded him of.

The next day started out very similarly. Greg left for the studio about an hour before Susan did. He saw her there intermittently throughout the day, working with various members of the production crew. They ate lunch together, but he had no idea what she was doing the rest of the time. The only thing he was aware of was that each time he saw her, she looked busy.

Then Susan's work week was over and things went back to normal both at the studio and at home. The family had their Hebrew lessons on Thursday and nobody felt rushed. Friday was normal too except that Matt invited Ashley to join the family for dinner in order to hear them pray, then spent the evening with her in their living room afterwards, talking about college applications. On the weekend, Matthew took Saturday off from work to complete the forms for three separate schools, working tirelessly in his room trying to find and provide the requested information.

The rest of the weekend was unremarkable in every way from Greg's point of view. They went to services, swam with Melody in the pool, and did the things they typically did on weekends. Then on Monday, they were ready to start the week all over again.

c

Monday morning for Greg began on the set for the Oyster, preparing to capture the interior and close up shots for those scenes that took place on their boat. Actually capturing those shots was a process the film crew expected would take them three or four days, but so far this morning they were still doing the preparation so they could do that work.

"Excuse me, Mr. Gaffney," Brian Epstein interrupted as Greg looked around the set about an hour before filming was expected to begin.

"Certainly," Greg said.

He stood to the side as his props master stepped past him carrying a heavy looking, enormous seashell. He placed it atop a stack of yellow inflatable live vests on a macramé shelf beside a shell of another type that was already there, supported in the same way. Greg looked more carefully at the shell as Brian set it down. It was flat when compared to the mock clam shell, slightly different in shape and had flat edges instead of undulated lips.

"An oyster?" Greg questioned.

"Yes. Mrs. Abernathy told us about it. Is it big enough?" Brian asked.

Greg looked at the prop in amazement. "If memory serves, it is very close. You made this?"

"Our props people did. It's made from resin painted and textured to look like a seashell," Brian explained. "We thought of using plaster, but Randy though it might make it too heavy."

"The original one was heavy," Greg said as he considered the artificial shell thoughtfully. He wasn't certain it would even be in any of the shots, but it's presence made the little cabin on the set feel more like the one which was once part of their actual boat. "Thank you for making this."

Brian shrugged. "It's no problem. We'll have the bags ready for this afternoon."

"The bags?" Greg questioned.

"To go under the hammocks, for the last scenes with the boat. I understand from the director we'll actually be shooting those scenes today."

"Excuse me, Mr. Gaffney," another man said as he too stepped around him with items intended to dress the set: a wooden spear with an obsidian point and a slight hook on one end, and a rough-looking macramé net, both of which he hung from the walls. Already the top of each hammock held a woven mat of the sort Susan used to make. On the top one there was also a folded airline blanket, similar in every way to the one they still had, and a stuffed bunny virtually identical to the one Jessie kept on her shelf in her bedroom though slightly newer looking.