Hollywood on the Danube

Chapter Six

Lunch was dropped off, and the aroma of greasy food lured Jeremy in from the courtyard where he'd gone out for a smoke and to watch Mollie do the tango. Shaking his head, Jeremy said to Billy, "The woman's a loon, an absolute loon." 

"She's obviously enjoying herself," Billy quipped, while dialing the phone. 

As Mollie rehearsed, Csaba came from behind and twirled her around the grass, as Frieda walked by reacting in disbelief. "Oh, shit," Csaba cried, literally as he stepped in the crap of Greta's toy Yorkshire. 

"Play time over?" Frieda wanted to know. 

"I just cleaned these shoes," Csaba complained, grabbing a paper towel to wipe the soles. 

Mollie ran after Frieda, who was hurrying down the courtyard on her way to a meeting. "Frieda, could I ask your advice?" she said. 

"Make it quick," Frieda said. 

"You know, I never did hear a reaction to my request for a bump in pay." 

"Your point?" Frieda asked, starting to pull away. 

The taller Mollie blocked her from moving on, more to keep the talk going than to intimidate her. "Do you think I should press it?" 

"Do you like working with us?" Frieda asked, responding to the question with a question, which had the effect of giving her answer, as she swiftly walked off. 

"What do you guys think?" Mollie asked entering the writers' room. "Should I ask for a raise?" 

"Thinking of holding out?" Jeremy asked, secretly hoping she would. 

"I don't know. Maybe I should. What do you think, Billy?" 

Not wanting to get involved, Billy said, "I don't know how this company operates. Any chance they could cut you?" 

"I guess," Mollie said, not really believing they would. "They do seem to want me. Otherwise, why would they have renewed me?" She didn't have a clue it had been a big mistake. 

As Billy went to the coke machine to get an Orange Fanta, a cute fifteen-year-old boy emerged from the production office with his mother and Greta, having just finalized contracts for the kid to join the cast. As they left, Csaba stood smiling at the door, then walked over to Billy. "His name's Istvan and he's going to be terrific. A very natural actor, and very soon a heartthrob." 

Billy inquired about the rest of the actors. "Are they all signed?" 

"Most," Csaba said. "Except for one teenaged boy and a college-age girl." This told Billy the part he'd recommended Leslie for was still up for grabs. 

"Are the actors any good?" Billy asked, and Csaba rolled his eyes. 

"The most beautiful women you've ever seen," he said, trying to encourage Billy, as he did with others, that he was truly a stud's stud. But Billy had been around the block and had gotten the drill from Jeremy, so it passed for amusement when he asked Csaba about the boys. "Oh, they're okay," Csaba said, his enthusiasm set at neutral. "Pretty good looking guys. The girls will certainly like them, -- but those women..." he went on, his eyes continuing to roll. 

Though Csaba remained convinced he'd developed a winning façade, it was also widely known he had a special thing for Rodney. Further complicating matters, how could he hit on someone whom he assumed thought he was straight? For his part, Rodney couldn't be less attracted to Csaba and, inasmuch as his sex life was minimal anyway, he certainly wasn't going to come out of hibernation for him. 

At three p.m. Billy called the new writer in New Zealand, where it was one a.m. of the following day. "Hello, Billy. I just got in," Des answered, much too cheerfully for that time of night. This was curious to Billy, as he'd once been to Auckland and it didn't have the lifestyle of, say, Buenos Aires.