Free Now Playing by Ron Koertge Page A

asks.
    “So you know what happened.”
    “Mrs. B. came over.”
    “I really screwed up.”
    She taps the trowel against the palm, then rubs at it. “Rite of passage. The road to adulthood goes directly through a police station, followed by a dark and dangerous forest.”
    “I just left Colleen sitting there in that stupid police station. She’s never going to talk to me again.”
    “You don’t know that.”
    “I do, too. She would’ve said so, but she was busy hitting me with her purse.”
    “I threw a Calphalon saucepan at my first husband and talked to him an hour later.”
    I take a step closer. “I had a girlfriend, Marcie. A real girlfriend. She trusted me, and I let her down.”
    “You’ll know better next time.”
    “She hates me. I’m never going to see her again.”
    “I meant with somebody else.”
    “Oh, yeah. Girls are lined up around the block. They just can’t wait to take long limps on the beach with me.”
    Marcie glances up the street. “Mrs. B. said you were going out with some friends. Maybe you’ll just do that for a while. Not everybody has a partner.”
    “You don’t understand. I wouldn’t have these friends without Colleen. She made me feel like I was just another guy, maybe with a few problems, but basically okay. If it wasn’t for her, I couldn’t even have talked to them. I’d have thought,
What do they want with me? I’m nobody.
”
    “Colleen didn’t help you make a movie, Ben. You did that on your own. And it was terrific. People loved it. They loved you.”
    “You helped me with
High School Confidential.
You told me I was special and talented and all that. But you’re a grown-up. Grown-ups say stuff like that to kids.” I pointed to my heart. “But Colleen made me feel it.”
    Marcie walks right up and puts her arms around me. Holds on for a couple of seconds. Pats me hard. Lets me go. Says softly, “Talk to me about your next movie.”
    I have to swallow hard before I can say, “It’s called
The Adventures of Colleen the Cat.”
    “Because she always lands on her feet, right? Nice title. How far along are you?”
    “I don’t know. Three or four scenes, maybe. But that’s all there’ll ever be.”
    “Want to show me?”
    “My friends are supposed to be here.”
    “I don’t see any friends. What are we waiting for?”
    I get across the street and back in four minutes. Not bad for a spaz. We don’t even go inside. Marcie just finds a shady spot in her yard. She holds my little camera and I watch over her shoulder.
    She starts with Colleen in bed. My bed. Then that scene at the Norton Simon Museum when she melted down, the night at A.J.’s with Conrad and the other kids, and after that when we were parked.
    Marcie sits back. “How did you get that part where you were making out? I mean, you’ve got one hand in her shirt, but you’re still holding the camera.”
    “I’ve got two hands, or a hand and a half. Basically I wanted the shot.”
    “And she was okay with that?”
    “You know Colleen. She’s kind of an exhibitionist, anyway.”
    Marcie frowns. “My guess is that men have used Colleen all her life. Now you’re using her, too.”
    “I was making a movie about her. I can’t do that if she isn’t in it. It’s not like I’m forcing her to do anything.”
    “And you think she knows what’s really in her best interest?”
    I point at the camera. “There’s good stuff in there. That scene with her at A.J.’s party is terrific, and the part where she’s half asleep in my bedroom and the light is coming in. She’s sexy and gorgeous. It’s not like I’m making her look ugly.”
    Marcie nods. “Those are well done. I agree.”
    “But you think I shouldn’t be doing it.”
    Marcie rubs her face with both hands. “I wonder sometimes what Colleen would be like if somebody just loved her and didn’t want anything from her.”
    Just then, a red Honda CR-V pulls up in front of the house.
    “Go on,” Marcie says. “Have a good time.