Extra Famous

by Graham Salisbury

  Spike dragged Stella away. She was sobbing now, tears rolling down her face.

  It scared me. It was so real.

  We moaned louder, reaching our hands through the bars, trying to get to human flesh.

  The camera followed as Spike and the other guy carried Stella up to the trees, where Spike had some zombie virus antidote that he invented, because just getting scratched by a zombie was enough to infect you.

  He gave Stella a shot.

  And Stella blacked out.

  “Cut!”

  Ho, man.

  Nobody said a word. There was only the ocean, lapping up onto the beach.

  The scene was over. But all eyes were still on Stella. We wanted to see more.

  Finally, Mr. Obi kneeled down and helped her up. Stella rubbed the tears from her face. “Did I do all right?”

  “All right?” Mr. Obi shook his head. “Young lady, you were amazing! Brilliantly, stunningly, and ferociously amazing.”

  Stella smiled.

  “Let’s hear it for Stella!” Mr. Obi said.

  The clapping and cheering went on for a full minute.

  After we got out of the cages I found Stella and put a hand on her shoulder. “Nice job. I’m not kidding, either.”

  Stella dabbed at her eye makeup with a tissue. “Thank you.”

  “Are you crying?”

  She shook her head. “It was just … intense.”

  “Yeah, and boy, were you good.”

  Stella smiled. “Okay, right now you’re not a gnome.”

  “I’ll take it.”

  Shayla came up next to me. “You made me cry, Stella,” she said. “I was scared for you.”

  Stella smiled. “It was hard, but … I loved it.”

  Man oh man oh man, if I live to be a thousand years old I don’t think anything will ever be as fun and exciting and weird and awesome as that one long day and night on the beach.

  The next day I got up early. I had a call to make.

  It was nine o’clock in Hawaii, so it would be noon in Las Vegas. I hoped he was up.

  Dad’s wife, Marissa, answered.

  “It’s me,” I said. “Calvin.”

  “Calvin! Oh, it’s so good to hear from you.… Is everything all right?”

  “Yeah-yeah, everything is fine. I just wanted to talk to … to Dad.”

  “Perfect timing. Hang on, I’ll get him. Oh, it’s wonderful to hear your voice. I miss you.”

  “Uh, yeah … me too.”

  I could hear her in the background as she hurried to get Dad. Already I was glad I called. Marissa made me feel good inside.

  “Cal?”

  “Hi, Dad. Am I … um, bothering you?”

  “Gee, son, you couldn’t bother me in a million years, even if you tried. What’s up? Is everything all right?”

  I guess that’s what you get when you hardly ever talk to someone on the phone. When you finally do call, they think something’s wrong.

  But that was changing. Dad and I had talked on the phone twice in the past month already.

  “Everything’s fine, Dad. I just wanted to tell you that I’m in a movie. And so is Darci, and Stella, too. A zombie one.”

  “A zombie movie? You mean like a real movie, or is this something one of your friends is making?”

  “No, Dad, it’s a real one. My friend Benny’s uncle is the writer, producer, and director. He’s a famous millionaire from Hollywood.”

  “Hollywood, huh?”

  “Yeah, he made that movie called My Cousin Is a Teenage Vambie. Did you see it?”

  Dad laughed. “Afraid I missed that one, but you know what? I’ve heard of it. Yeah, I think it passed through town a couple of years ago. Same director, you say?”

  “Yeah. He wrote it, too. Me and my friends were extras. We even got paid a hundred dollars!”

  “Well, I’ll be danged. Getting paid makes you a professional. Did you know that?”

  “Did I know what?”

  “If you get paid for acting, you can call yourself a professional. That’s how it works.”

  “Ho,” I whispered.

  “Speaking of money, Calvin, can I say something, man to man?”

  “Uh, sure, Dad.”

  “Marissa and I … we opened up two savings accounts. One for you and one for Darci.”

  “You did?”

  “College savings.”

  “Wow, really? I mean, that’s good. I want to go to college.”

  “That’s what we want, too.”

  Wow. Inside I smiled. Dad was talking to me man to man about college. “I won’t tell anyone, Dad.”

  He laughed. “It’s not a secret. I told your mom. I just wanted you to know that we all care about your future, Calvin.”

  “Um … thanks.”

  I didn’t know what to say.

  “So,” Dad went on. “When does this movie come out? I want to see it.”

  “I don’t know, but I’ll call you the minute I find out.”

  “Promise?”

  “Yeah, Dad, I promise.”

  “I’m darn proud of you, son.”

  “You are?”

  “You bet.”

  We talked a while longer, but my mind was all over the place. Dad was as excited as I was about what I’d done, and I could feel it, even over the phone.

  “Well,” I said as we started to run out of things to say. “I guess I’ll go down to Julio’s house now.”

  “I remember Julio, and Willy, too. And that nice girl Shayla.”

  “Uh … yeah.”

  There was a moment of silence.

  “Calvin?”

  “Yeah, Dad?”

  “Thank you for calling me. I am truly, truly happy that you did.”

  “You are?”

  “Yes. I am.”

  “Yeah, well … bye.”

  “Hey, wait.”

  “What?”

  “Just want to tell you that I love you.”

  “Uh …”

  He laughed. “Don’t worry. This part will get easier.”

  “Hunh?”

  “Say hi to your friends for me.”

  “Sure, Dad. See you.”

  I hung up and just stood there. It was all working out. So what if he lived in Las Vegas and was married to Marissa? At first that had been weird. But now it was … okay.

  I ran outside with a big smile on my face. I banged on Julio’s and Willy’s doors.

  We had plans.

  Julio was in his backyard playing football … with his brothers!

  I gaped at them.

  Julio saw me and shrugged. “It’s not so bad being a slave sometimes.”

  He tossed me the ball and four little cock-a-roaches charged me. I tossed it back and they turned to follow the ball. “Like a school of fish,” I said.

  “Marcus,” Julio called to the next oldest brother. “Take over for me. I gotta go.”

  “You got it, bro.”

  Julio stared at him. “Bro?”

  “You say that.”

  “See?” I said. “They look up to you. You’re a star, just like your dad said.”

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  We took off.

  “It’s good to have you back again … bro,”

  I said as we headed over to grab Willy.

  “Pfff!”

  After Mr. Obi had wrapped everything up the night before, we’d all gone to my house to celebrate our brand-new fifty-dollar bills. Two each. They smelled good, too. I’d folded mine into small squares and stuffed them into my pocket.

  Today me, Julio, and Willy were hoping to find Benny and his uncle at the beach again. Maybe there was something they’d forgotten to do.

  We ran gasping to the park and gazed down on yesterday’s sandy zombieland.

  “Dang,” I said.

  It was as if nothing had ever happened there. The beach was back to like it always was on a Sunday morning—runners, dogs, windsurfers, kite boarders, picnickers, small kids, and su
n lovers.

  Not one zombie.

  Willy tapped my arm and nodded toward the ironwood trees.

  Benny was sitting in the shade, his bike lying on the sand next to him.

  “What’s he doing?” I said.

  “Prob’ly thinking about going shark hunting or something. The guy makes stuff up left and right.”

  “I know,” Willy said.

  “I think he just does it so people will like him,” Julio added.

  I frowned. “But we already like him.”

  “Maybe he doesn’t believe it.”

  “We don’t treat him bad,” I said.

  Julio shrugged. “Just saying.”

  We headed over.

  Benny lifted his chin.

  “What you doing?” Julio asked. “Waiting for your uncle? You got more scenes?”

  Benny shook his head. “Gone already. Flew back to Hollywood this morning. They’ll finish the movie in the studios.”

  We plopped down around him on the pinecone-littered sand under the ironwood trees.

  “Well, it was fun while it lasted,” Willy said. “Thanks for asking us to be in it, Benny.”

  “No problem.”

  “Yeah, thanks, Benny.” I tossed a pinecone at him. They were the size of marbles, small bullets.

  We sat looking out at the ocean glittering with sunlight. No water could ever look better than this, I thought. It made you want to pick it up and wrap it around you like a blanket.

  Benny tossed five pinecones at a tree, one after the other. Something was on his mind.

  Julio asked, “How come you so … like, sad or something?”

  It took a few seconds for Benny to answer.

  He shrugged. “Maybe you believe this, maybe you don’t, but I’m going to miss you guys. I know I’m weird, everybody tells me that. But you didn’t care. We had a good time anyway … then I had to go and change schools.”

  He tossed three more pinecones.

  The sound of waves mixed with the shrieks of small kids playing on the beach, a sound that made the day and everything else seem brand-new, like we were starting over.

  “Well,” I said. “You still live in Kailua, right?”

  Benny nodded. “Yeah. Other end of the beach.”

  “That’s not so far. On a bike.”

  He nodded. “Not that far. I guess.”

  He must have had new friends from school. But then, maybe not. Kids who went to Iolani came from all over the island. They didn’t all live in the same neighborhood like us.

  After a long moment, Benny said, “Since I moved here from Hilo, nobody’s been nice as you punks. I mean it.”

  Julio opened his hands. “We’re nice guys, what can I say?”

  I cracked up.

  We got up and headed back toward Kalapawai Market, Benny pushing his bike.

  “So,” Willy said.

  “What are you guys going to do with your movie money?”

  I thought back to the night before, waving around those fifty-dollar bills. I just sort of wanted to keep them.

  But I sort of didn’t, too.

  “I’m going to buy a new bike,” I said. “A bigger one, metallic red or black, with gears. If I have enough.”

  “My mom took my money,” Willy said. “She’s going to open a savings account for me.”

  Julio liked that idea. “Maybe I’ll save mine, too.”

  That made me feel guilty.

  Sort of.

  “Well, I’m getting a bike.”

  “I know where you can get a good one,” Benny said. “For cheap. A new one would cost more than you have.”

  “You mean a used bike?”

  “More like a rebuilt-to-be-better-than-new bike.”

  Julio put his hand on my shoulder. “Believe him, Calvin. Is Benny ever wrong?”

  I half laughed. “You’re right, Julio. He may be weird, but Benny is never wrong.”

  Even Benny thought that was funny.

  An hour later, after I’d gone home for my money, Benny packed me on his bike to some mysterious hideaway far different from the Kailua town I knew.

  “This place,” he said. “It’s sort of … unique.”

  It was a dump at the end of a bad dirt road.

  Not a for-real garbage dump, but a dark shed with rusting junk all over the place. If there was a bike worth buying in that mess it would be a miracle, and I told Benny that.

  “Don’t be so quick to judge.”

  We stopped. The place was silent.

  Benny dropped his bike. “Follow me.”

  We picked our way through heaps of old toilets, refrigerators, washing machines, sinks, an old jeep, and boxes of nuts and bolts and screws and everything else you could think of.

  “Where’d all this stuff come from?”

  “Dump, prob’ly.”

  Benny stopped just outside the shed. “Hoo-ie,” he called into the darkness. “Old man. You home?”

  Silence.

  Then, Twang!

  I nearly jumped out of my skin. “Jeese!”

  We turned to face a white-haired man holding a large wrench and a garbage can lid. He clanked the lid again and laughed so hard tears came out of his crinkly old eyes.

  My heart felt like drums in my chest. Old geezer nearly gave me a heart attack!

  “My friend wants a bike with gears,” Benny said after the old man settled down. “You got one?”

  Still giggling, the old man waved for us to follow him toward the shed.

  “Doesn’t he talk?” I whispered.

  “Only when he needs to.”

  The old man had a bike, all right. It was sort of silver, with dings and scratches all over it, and even a little rust. He motioned me to it.

  “Norinayo.”

  I looked at Benny. “What’d he say?”

  “He wants you to ride it.”

  “Well, why didn’t he say so?”

  “He did. He only speaks Japanese.”

  I frowned at the bike. What a wreck! “Is he serious?”

  Benny shrugged. “Take it for a spin. See for yourself.”

  “Fine.”

  I rolled the clunker out to the dirt road and looked back toward the shed.

  The old man motioned for me to get on it and go.

  “Sheese,” I mumbled.

  I climbed on and rode down the bumpy road, swerving around potholes and rocks … and holy bazooks! It was the smoothest, best-handling dang bike I’d ever been on in my whole entire life.

  “Wow!”

  I rode farther down the road, changed gears, which shifted like silk, then turned around and rode it back. What a bike!

  I pulled up in front of Benny and the old man. “How much does he want for it?”

  Benny turned to the old man. “Ikura de-suka?”

  The old man squinted and rubbed his chin. “Ju doru.”

  Benny looked back at me. “Ten dollars.”

  “Ten? That’s all? This bike is better than any bike I’ve ever been on. He only wants ten?”

  Benny shrugged. “That’s what he said. But if I was you, I’d give him a little bit more.”

  “Why?”

  “You said it was a good bike.”

  “Yeah, but, I’d just be throwing my money away.”

  “Would you?”

  I frowned.

  Benny looked around. “The old guy can use it.”

  That Benny.

  I pulled out one of my folded-up fifty-dollar bills and handed it to the old man. “Keep the change.”

  Benny translated.

  When the old man unfolded it his eyes nearly popped out of his head. He stuffed the money in his pocket and broke out laughing.

  Benny and I rode away on our bikes doing all the tricks we could think of.

  Standing on one pedal.

  Riding with our arms out like wings.

  Kneeling on the seat.

  We even tried sitting backwards … but we ended up in somebody’s hedge.

  �
��Was a lot of money to that old guy,” Benny said. “That was nice of you.”

  “Your idea.”

  “Yeah, but it was your money.”

  “It was a lot, wasn’t it?”

  Benny nodded. “But look what you did.”

  I stared at Benny and laughed. I was starting to feel really good. That old man needed the money. Benny Obi was right again.

  “Well,” Benny said, slowing to a stop. “My house is that way. Guess I’ll see you around … sometime.”

  I hit the brakes and put my feet on the ground.

  It was like one of those moments when you’re daydreaming and lose track of where you are … then you blink and try to remember. “You have to go home?”

  He shrugged.

  It hadn’t even occurred to me that Benny wouldn’t spend the rest of the day with me, Julio, and Willy.

  “You got chores, or something?”

  “I’m writing a screenplay to send to Hollywood. My agent wants … wants … me to …”

  “Yeah,” I said. “That’s cool, Benny.”

  He glanced behind him. “Well …”

  I ran my hand over my new bike’s rough handlebars. I wanted to tell Benny he didn’t have to make up all that stuff about agents and Hollywood. He could just be normal.

  But how do you say that to someone?

  Benny lifted his chin. “Hey. It was fun doing the movie with you guys. I’ll come find you when it’s finished. You can have a preview.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, good.”

  “Well … bye.”

  He stood on a pedal and headed away, his bike wobbly, then steady.

  I couldn’t help thinking, Benny had all this big movie stuff going on, and still, he’d come to find us. He never forgot his friends.

  “Wait!” I called.

  When he slid to a stop and glanced back, the look on his face told me Julio was right. Benny wasn’t sure if we liked him, or maybe even if anyone did.

  “Forget Hollywood,” I said. “Come over. Hang out with us.”

  “When?”

  “Right now, unless you have to—”

  “Really?”

  I tilted my head. “Really what?”

  “I can hang out … with you guys?”

  “Of course. What are you talking about?”

  Benny looked at me for a long moment. Then he broke into a smile and pedaled toward me. “Hey, did I ever tell you about the time I trapped a ghost in my bedroom?”