The Ayatollah's Money

by Richard Dorrance

  Chapter 48 – Big George Arrives

  The Gulfstream touched down in Charleston two days later after a seven hour flight from Milan, a two hour layover in New York to refuel, do Customs, and pickup Soderberg, and an hour and a half flight south. Gale and Jinny waited at the entry gate, Gale acting like a caged tigress, scaring other passengers and gaining the attention of airport security. Jinny told the Transportation Security Administration officers, “She’s waiting for her boyfriend. They’ve been separated for a month, and she’s hot to trot.” That satisfied them, but a few minutes later Jinny had to take her behind a pillar and slap her to calm her down. He’d seen her wild before, but nothing like this. He’d thought Gwen was joking about him being Clooney’s bodyguard, protecting him from Gale. He said, “Get a grip, girl. You’ll scare him away, and then you’ll answer to Gwen.”

  Monique, Soderberg, and Clooney descended the stairs of the Gulfstream, walked across the tarmac into the terminal and over to the baggage claim. Monique was styling in a white leather dress and magenta boots to just below her knees, the lapels and collar of the dress matching the boots. She is a knockout. Soderberg looked raggedy in black jeans, black hightop sneakers, and a dark green mock turtleneck, but he was smiling and joking with Monique. Clooney looked like he was going out to the hardware store for light bulbs, dressed in a way that would make Woody Allen look stylish. His gray sweatshirt said Laglio Popes on it, this being the name of the Laglio High School soccer team, the school in the town on Lake Como. Evidently he was a fan. His jeans were baggy and hid the contour of his butt, which was the first thing Gale looked at as he walked across the baggage area towards the carousel. Then she looked at his face which was shrouded in four or five days worth of scraggly beard, and partially hidden by a slinky baseball cap that said Milan Polytechnic on it. George is big on the local educational institutions.

  Gale turned to Jinny and said, “Are you kidding me?”

  He said, “Don’t worry, that’s his traveling disguise. Otherwise he’d get ripped to shreds by the fans. He’s still Big George under all that crap.” Jinny was happy to see Gale deflate a little, knowing it would make his body guarding job easier.

  Monique had been in contact with Roger when they landed in New York, and Roger had given her the information about their arrival in Charleston, describing Gale and Jinny and telling her they would take them into town and to the Charleston Place Hotel. Monique walked over to them and said, “Bonjour. Hello. You must be Gale and Mr. Blistov. We’re happy to be in Charleston.”

  Jinny said, “Welcome, from the June Enterprises team. We’re happy you’re joining us for the project. Gale and I will take you into town, and in the morning we’ll pick you up and take you to The Hall, where you will meet the others. Is there anything you will need for today?” He touched Monique’s elbow and moved them towards the carousel where George and Steven stood, watching it go around.

  George sensed their approach and turned to meet them, looking from Gale to Jinny and back to Gale. He said, “Hi. I feel like we’ve met before. I saw your interview a week ago on TV, talking about the project. You made it sound very real, like it was all legit. Nice job. The interviewer said your name is Gale. I’m George, and this is Steven.” He offered his hand in the old fashioned way, not positioned for a handshake, but simply out there, palm down, limpish. Gale, having been put through the ringer of a Charleston finishing school at a young age, recognized the gesture and was astonished at seeing it here and now, but the early training kicked in after all these years and she placed her hand on top of his, whereupon he leaned down and brushed it with his lips. Seeing and feeling this, Gale morphed from tigress to kitten, and suddenly fell in love with his stupid clothes and scruffy beard. He was here.

  Jinny, not ever having been subjected to finishing school on the Saint Petersburg docks by his stevedore father and fisherwoman mother (the one who could tear the heads off the fish she caught, not requiring a knife as did most of her fellow fishermen), stared at the hand kissing thing, wondering what was going on. Soderberg ignored the whole thing, having seen it a hundred times, and Monique thought, ‘Thank god, she’ll take care of him and I can go hang out on the beach.’ There are no sandy beaches on Lake Como.

  Ten minutes later they were in the June’s white Mercedes and heading into town, with Monique in front with Jinny, asking him about this local dish called shrimp and grits, and Gale in back between the director and the star. All the luggage that had been in the hold of the Gulfstream wouldn’t fit into the trunk of the car, so Jinny paid a cab to transport the rest of it behind them. As Jinny accelerated up the entrance ramp onto the expressway, Gale found her hand being held by George’s hand. The two hands fit together nicely, and felt natural to both of them, and Gale was surprised her hand wasn’t perspiring considering her heart rate was double it’s normal count. She looked from her hand to her chest and could see the palpitations jiggling her tits. She closed her eyes and said to herself, ‘Calm down. I’m not holding hands with Apollo or Adonis. He’s just a guy from the sticks of Kentucky who has an oversize jaw, brown eyes, and a decent smile.’ She gave him a quick glance which showed him staring out the window, and turned to Soderberg. “Do you know yet if this is going to be a film or a play? We have an office pool with odds on this. I’m down for a film.” She paused, then said, “Either one's ok with me. I know it’s going to be great, either way.”

  Soderberg smiled at her and said, “I have no idea what’s going on here. Yesterday I was practicing making homemade gnocchi in my kitchen with my wife, utterly content to be retired and out of the rat race, and today I’m in Charleston with him, doing something neither of us have any idea about. If Jesus had asked me to make a movie for him about the parting of the Red Sea, I’d have said no. So I can’t answer your question, though I wish I could. All the responsibility for this gig is over there with your new boyfriend.” And he leaned forward and looked across the car at Clooney, who ignored him and continued to stare out the window. Soderberg went on, looking up front at Monique, “Do you know if we’re making a movie or a play? Do you know what your boss has gotten us into? Do you know what the hell is going on?”

  Monique was still trying to get her head around the concept of grits, as it had been described by Jinny. Apparently it was made of corn, though it wasn’t yellow, and it wasn’t in the form of kernels, but something finer, and it was boiled. She hadn’t eaten anything that had been boiled since she was in elementary school. And on top of that the cook added a lot of butter, and then the shrimp. It sounded absolutely horrible, but Jinny had told her it was to die for and he would make some for her the next day. She put her arm on the back of the seat and turned to look at Soderberg. “We’re in this because of Gwenny June. We called up June Enterprises and talked with her husband, Roger, and then he put her on the phone, and then we lost all control; simple as that. I’d like to be able to blame him,” jerking her head at Clooney, “and say he’s a marshmallow and a sucker and a wimp, but I can’t. Gwenny convinced me too, and I don’t know how, or what she said or did, but by the end of the call we both knew we were in and heading to Charleston. And here we are.” She paused and then added, “You are the marshmallow and the sucker and the wimp for allowing him to talk you into doing something you didn’t want to do. God knows he doesn’t have what Gwenny has, nothing like it. No magic. She has magic. You were convinced by a regular, plain old guy. Ha!,” and turned back to look out the windshield. There was no malice in her condemnation; it was more a statement of fact combined with the hint of a joke.

  Jinny looked at Soderberg in the rearview mirror and said, “Don’t feel left out. When you meet her you’ll see what that means. You’ll be happy you came to do this thing even though you don’t know what it is.”

  Soderberg said, “Who gets to decide what it is? Me, us, her, who?”

  Gale put her other hand on one of Soderberg’s hands and s
aid, “Gwen likes teamwork. I’m sure we’ll all sit around and talk about it. You’ll meet Laleh and Shim tomorrow, too, and that’s the whole team, and we’ll figure it all out, and then we’ll do it. Simple.”

  Jinny said, “Don’t forget the dog.”

  Monique asked, “What about the dog?”

  “He’s part of the team. He’s special too. Like Gwen.”

  “How’s he special?”

  Jinny looked at Gale in the mirror who shook her head, meaning don’t answer that. He said, “You’ll see.”

  Soderberg said, “So this project is a democracy? Everyone gets a vote? There’s no boss, like on most film or theater projects, either the director or the producer?”

  Gale said, “Oh, no. Gwen’s the boss. But she’s benevolent, don’t worry.”

  Jinny said, “She’s benevolent with her friends. She’s not benevolent with anyone who tries to fuck with the production. That happened with the other two projects. Whatever the opposite of benevolent is, that’s what she was with them.”

  Monique and Steven and George pondered this last statement, and then Steven again leaned forward and looked at Clooney and said, “You know about this benevolent dictatorship thing by your friend Gwen June? You know that neither you nor I am the boss? You knew about that, and you got involved?”

  Still looking away through the window he said, “Wait’ll you meet her.”