They stood in silence for a few seconds more and then hugged once again, this time longer and a bit harder; Jeffrey kissed Saul on the cheek. It was the end of their friendship as they knew it, and they both knew that things would and could never be the same again.
“Are you going to be all right up here?” Jeffrey asked.
Saul smiled and said, “What, do you think you were the first houseguest I ever had?” The two laughed and Saul continued, “Don’t you worry about me; I’ll be fine. Now, get out of here before it gets dark. Give my love to Abby, and tell Melissa that I’m going to be checking up on her.”
“I’ll do that, Saul,” Jeffrey said. “Thank you.”
Saul smiled and said, “It’s what I do.”
Chapter Fifty-One: New Tenants
The cabin was a bustle with movement and sound. All around, men and women were coming and going, depositing package after package, disturbing the peace and serenity of the home on the lake that just recently housed the world-renowned playwright, Jeffrey David Rothstein, and was also the site where a cold-blooded serial killer had finally met his own murderous fate.
The small town of Zion, where the cabin was located, had been the target for the media for almost five months, but as they do in these cases, the thirst for more salacious tidbits about the town soon waned, and the town was left to its quiet existence again.
There were those who still made the pilgrimage to the town to see where the young starlet of the stage, Melissa Foreman, had honed her talents before taking Broadway by storm. They wanted to see where she and Jeffrey had first met and the town that had inspired the worldwide sensation, Katz.
The town was still a practicing Jewish community, but there were those who just could not resist the call of pork anymore and converted back to whatever faith they had before. The people were still the salt of the earth and eager to make newcomers feel at home, and there was no change there as the new tenants of the cabin prepared to settle into their new home.
Not a lot was known about them or what they did for a living, but according to the local pharmacy, orders for contraceptives had increased twenty-fold, and lubricants were selling like white bread. Since the residents of Zion were not nosy people to begin with, it was for the benefit of the newcomers, but there was still murmuring around town about why on earth anyone would need that much Vaseline and barbed wire.
The only thing the ghost could make out was that they were all attractive people and young and vibrant. There had to be at least thirty of them, and he wondered where they were all going to stay. The house was big; it wasn’t that big.
While the commotion kept the tenants busy with labeling and placing items foreign to the ghost in assigned places throughout the house, he became increasingly concerned about the extra electrical lines being run into the cabin, and the additional light fixtures being mounted to the cathedral ceiling. He struggled to walk among them and to decipher what their purpose was here, but he could find nothing. Nobody discussed what the business was of the new owners; everyone just seemed to know exactly where everything went and knew the home for every box.
He had to admit he was becoming more and more intrigued with the newbie’s profession, much in the same way he had been intrigued and excited when he had heard Jeffrey was coming to live with him. He was beginning to get the sense that these men and women were in show business as well, and they were going to use the cabin as the site for a film of some sort.
His suspicions were confirmed when a man, who obviously was a director, entered the living room and started barking orders about where he wanted lights mounted, microphones positioned, and backdrops placed. He looked through his fingers, which he held to make a square, and looked out the back window overlooking the lake and said, “This is perfect! Forget the backdrop; we’ll use the view of the lake for the trio scene.”
Trio scene? the ghost thought. This was better than he could have hoped for. These people were, without a doubt, in the business of filmmaking, and they had decided to use the cabin as the main location for the film.
Jeffrey has to be behind this, Saul thought. His friend knew Saul was destined to remain in the town of Zion for eternity and also knew how much that was killing him. He must have gone out of his way to see to it that whoever moved in after Jeffrey sold the place were in the performing arts, and maybe, just maybe, Saul could have the kind of relationship with them as he had had with the playwright.
This was more exciting and promising than he could have hoped for, and he was overcome with the desire to reach out to Jeffrey and thank him for being so considerate about the ghost’s feelings. Saul was going to be able to slowly introduce himself to the residents of the cabin, and they, like Jeffrey, would be honored to have his wealth of wisdom and creativity to help them with whatever project they were working on.
Saul was so proud of what Katz was doing worldwide that he felt like he could conquer the world again if he was just given the chance, and with these acting types in his home, he knew he would get that chance again. He just had to pick his moment so he did not frighten them off. He had to remind himself that even though Jeffrey had accepted him quickly, others, like the awful Richard Kearney, had not been so open to the idea of sharing the house with a ghost.
It was fine, though; he would pick his moment, and the rest would become cinematic history.
“Dwight,” one of the attractive young women said to the man who Saul had pointed out as the director. “Wasn’t this the place Rothstein owned when he was writing Katz?”
The man named Dwight turned and kissed her on the mouth and smiled. “You better believe it. What a better place to honor that play than right here where it was written?”
This was an amazing thing to hear from Saul’s perspective. These people were here to make a film based on Katz! What were the odds that he could be so lucky? He was confident that as soon as he showed himself to these young, soon-tobe celebrities, they would only be all too eager to make him a consultant on the film and ask him for his creative advice at every turn.
He thought then of his punishment for killing Louis Grecko and how he would never be able to leave the town of Zion again, and thought how wonderful that punishment seemed now since he was once again given the opportunity to work in show biz and share his wealth of knowledge and historical facts with these young, wide-eyed stars.
He left his perch on the second-floor balcony and retired to the master bedroom where he would decide what he was going to wear for his grand unveiling. First impressions were always the most important, and this was no different. These were professionals of the silver screen, and he wanted them to know that they were in the presence of a professional who had the utmost respect for the craft.
Saul decided on his riding outfit, complete with whip, to make his first appearance to them and to give them the sense that he was still young at heart and more than capable of working with them closely. He smiled at himself in the mirror and decided he was as ready as he was ever going to be. He looked at the clock and saw that four hours had passed since he had left the balcony. He really did have to get better at keeping track of time as a ghost. Things moved so much more quickly when you were a ghost than a human, that if you did not have others around to balance yourself, you could literally pass an entire day away in what felt like only a few moments.
He left the room and headed down the hallway toward the steps, excited to see what these young men and women had planned for the movie version of the play he had worked on. Who is going to play me? he thought. He felt like he did the first time he had ever performed on stage and thought of how his life was taking another new route and the adventure this time would be as new and fresh to him as when he was young. He could not contain his excitement and briefly let out a yelp of delight, hoping he had not do it so loudly that the people down below had heard him and were frightened.
From the sounds he was hearing, shooting had already begun. That is very smart, Saul thought. The lighting outside through the back window
was still very good, and they would be able to get some very beautiful shots of the lake. He stopped himself and thought that maybe they were filming the scene where he and Jeffrey had first met. He could not wait to see who they had cast to play his friend, or Abby, or darling Melissa, for that matter. He thought of his friends and could only imagine the excitement they must be feeling at the same time to know that their work was making the transition to Hollywood from Broadway. This kind of thing did not happen all of the time, and it was a special kind of tribute.
He walked onto the balcony and froze in shock at what he saw. Below, in front of the large glass door facing out over the lake, was a naked man with two equally naked women; one was straddling his face, the other his pelvic region. The man was feverishly thrusting in and out of the second woman while orally gratifying the other, and the two women were exchanging deep, passionate kisses, while fondling each other’s breasts. Around them were the director and about fifteen other men and women who were holding towels, extended microphones, and cameras for extreme close-ups. The woman on top of the man’s face let out a loud moan as the other woman dove between her breasts, and the man increased his motion on her vagina. The director turned and motioned for everyone to remain silent and watched as the scene continued.
Saul was in a state of shock. He didn’t remember a scene like this happening in the play. He had heard about creative licensing, but this was ridiculous. How dare they take these liberties with the script that he and Jeffrey had worked so hard on? Did Jeffrey know about this? That thought angered Saul, but he could not bring himself to believe that his friend had any knowledge of what was happening. He was of a mind to return to the bedroom to call Jeffrey, when the director yelled, “And cut! Print it; that was great.”
The crew moved to their assigned post-scene positions, some of them hurrying with towels to cover the naked man and women, and others to adjust the lighting and to check the camera to see that the scene was recorded properly.
The director walked up to the young lady who had been straddling the man’s face and kissed her long on the mouth and said, “You were amazing, darling.”
“How about me?” the other girl asked.
“You were brilliant too,” he reassured her, kissing her as well.
The man stood up, wiping at his genitals, and asked, “I’m confused. If I’m supposed to be a ghost, then how am I fucking two women?”
The director shook his head and said, “It’s because you’re a ghost that you can. The girls are taken by you and your supernatural lovemaking.”
“And how can I be playing a guy named Jeffrey, since I’m a girl?” asked the one from the pelvic area. “Won’t that be confusing?”
The director put both hands on her shoulders and said, “Because your name is not Jeffrey in the movie, your character is named Jefra, and you are a famous playwright who has writer’s block.” He turned to the first girl and continued, “And you are the sexy bookstore owner who wants to kill the ghost but is overtaken by his sexuality.”
“I could so see that happening,” she said in agreement.
Saul listened and felt numb, as it was became quite clear what as to what was happening; his hard work that had helped bring Jeffrey into the spotlight was being bastardized into nothing more than a homage in pornography. He could not believe it. This was what his future was going to be? He was watching these people turn his home, which he once had maintained the serenity and cleanliness of a church house in, into nothing more than a cinematic brothel, and there was nothing that he could do about it.
He felt a lump forming in his throat and reminded himself that he was a ghost and did not have a throat. He was being dramatic again and really needed to dial it down a notch.
The director turned to the crew and announced, “One more scene before we break for lunch. Tom, you’re off this scene, go get a sandwich. Ed, go get me my Louisa Grecko!”
Saul walked among the crew and their equipment and looked at one of the scripts, if that’s what you wanted to call it, and saw the name of the movie, The Ghost and Ms. Katz.
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The Queen and I Page 34
