The Greener Field

Disturbing Details

After the tea was served and Mr. Hoffmann settled back into his chair with his second glass of whiskey, there was a lessening of tension in the exquisite suite. Sarah seemed to be slowly recovering from the traumatic ordeal,  witnessed only several hours before.

"I stay here in the Valencia whenever I'm in San Diego," Gunther said, now rather cordially, as if the girls were visiting his home. "Unless, that is, if I'm vacationing in this beautiful city. Then I prefer my nights and days at the Hotel Del Coronado. Do either of you know that magnificent place?"

Carrie simply nodded her head, while Sarah tried to force a pleasant look on her face at Mr. Hoffmann's efforts to engage in a more divergent conversation. Sarah indeed remembered being dragged to the grand and historical Hotel del Coronado  while still a child. And unavoidably she pictured in her mind its iconic red conical roof, with the many dormer windows in rows around its periphery. For some reason she also remembered the white dining tents down on the beach and her parents drinking Campaign for what seemed like the whole summer night. 

"Ladies, did you know that the Wizard of Oz  was written in that hotel?" Hoffmann asked, looking wistfully into his Chrystal glass. "Its author . . . Frank Baum, vacationed there regularly at the urn of the century, and he would totally immerse himself in his room, sometimes all night and day working on that literary creation."

The two young women looked at each other momentarily, then fixed their eyes back on their mysterious host. They were obviously puzzled by Gunther Hoffmann's sudden and odd preoccupation with such trivia.

He continued. "And as you probably know, The Wizard of Oz  would later become one of the first  American films shot and produced in Technicolor. Can you name another of the same year?"

"Yes," Carrie replied, surprising Sarah with her sudden gaming attitude  "That would be Gone with the Wind . . . in 1939. . . Right?"

"That is correct, Carrie!"

Hoffmann's response was bathed in a certain unexpected delight. "And can you name two other Technicolor blockbusters of that era, Carrie?"

She glanced seriously at Sarah and smiled back at Hoffmann's challenge. She closed her eyes and seemed to be searching for the answer.

 "Let's see . . . that would be . . . The Adventures of Robin Hood.  1938?  And . . . Oh,  I thought I knew the other."

"The Garden of Allah,  in 1936," Hoffmann recited.

"Damn!" Carrie quipped.

They all instantly smiled.

"Not bad, however," Mr. Hoffmann beamed, sipping again at his whiskey. It was the handsome smile again which lingered on his face while holding up his glass to Carrie's cinematic acumen.

"So. I see you are a connoisseur of film history as well. That so, Carrie?"

"Well hardly a connoisseur, Mr. Hoffmann. But I must explain I was a Film Studies  major during my university years."

"Marvelous!"

Sarah, still perplexed by the tangential conversation, stared over at her friend vacuously. 

"And I always thought you studied psychology," Sarah responded. 

"No. I minored in that."

A momentary frown drifted over both of their faces.

"So. Mr. Hoffmann," Carrie continued more seriously, and seemingly back on task. "Please tell us . . ."