The Hollywood Mission

by Deborah Abela

  Her dad looked at her with concern. ‘Are you okay, honey?’

  ‘Yeah. Fine. Great. Linden?’

  Linden reluctantly lowered his fork to his plate, worried that he’d never see his dinner again. The pink lace of Max’s dress swung vigorously behind her as she made her way to the fish tank.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked menacingly as her hands flew to her hips.

  Toby’s eyes ran up and down Max’s outfit. ‘Don’t you think we should ask the big questions first, like what are you doing dressed like a raspberry marshmallow?’

  Max’s head filled with images of Toby being carried away by a giant snow eagle and dropped off the nearest snow-covered mountain.

  ‘I’m here visiting you,’ he said.

  ‘You just happened to be in America, in the same restaurant as me?’

  ‘Actually, I went to your dad’s house first and after I explained I was a friend of yours, they told me you were here.’ Toby had an arrogant grin that Max wanted to wipe from his face and flush down the nearest toilet, but Linden was worried about something else. ‘How did you get here?’

  ‘That’s the best part.’ Toby paused for maximum effect. ‘I used Max’s Time and Space Machine.’

  Max’s mouth dropped open. Linden leant across and closed it so she could tell him it wasn’t true. Max rifled through her bag. ‘That’s impossible because …’ She saw the block of wood where the Matter Transporter should have been. ‘How …?’

  ‘Is that your dad?’ Toby asked as if he hadn’t just ruined her life.

  Max couldn’t answer. Her head was too busy with her new reality kicking out the old one.

  ‘I’d like to meet him.’ And off Toby strode before Max or Linden could stop him.

  By the time they made their feet work, Toby had reached the table and was already introducing himself.

  ‘What are the chances of that?’ Max’s dad was chuffed that she had run into a friend. ‘How long have you two known each other?’

  ‘It feels like all my life,’ Max sneered, wishing her world was still Toby-free.

  ‘I’m here with my parents on holiday,’ Toby lied.

  ‘What a coincidence.’ Then Max’s dad had an idea. ‘Max and Linden are going to be extras in a film I’m directing. Would you like to join them?’

  This was turning out way better than Toby had hoped. Not only had he travelled halfway round the world using a machine he hadn’t known existed, he was standing in the middle of a posh restaurant in Hollywood being asked to be in a film. The best part, though, was the look of horror on Max’s face.

  ‘That is, if it’s all right with your parents.’

  ‘They’ll love it.’ Toby smiled angelically. ‘They’re always encouraging me to have new experiences.’

  Max watched the whole thing as if it was some twisted nightmare. Her life usually could be divided into two categories: the times when Toby was in her life and therefore making everything a misery, and the times when he wasn’t. This was supposed to be one of the times when he wasn’t.

  ‘Great!’ Max’s dad beamed as if he’d just granted his daughter’s most long-standing wish. ‘Here’s my card. Get your parents to call me if they have any questions.’ Max’s dad reached for a notebook. ‘Tell us where you are staying and we’ll pick you up.’

  ‘No!’ Linden and Max said a little too forcefully.

  Ben and Eleanor frowned at their peculiar behaviour.

  ‘His parents can drop him off at the studio.’

  Now it was Max’s dad’s turn to frown.

  ‘Okay. Done. We’ll see you outside the studio gates at 7 a.m.’

  When Max’s dad said studio, what he really meant was a mini city with streets, parks, shops and giant, hangar-type buildings where all the filming took place. The streets bulged with cars, shops, film sets, couriers, security guards and all manner of people rushing around in all sorts of outfits.

  ‘Watch out, Max.’ Linden pulled her out of the path of a small open car as it zoomed past with important-looking people. This was followed by a slow-moving stretch limousine and a guy on a bicycle.

  Max brushed herself down. ‘Thanks, Linden.’

  ‘Gotta watch the roads here,’ her father warned them. ‘Just because people are famous doesn’t mean they know how to drive.’

  ‘Does it always take this many people to make a film?’ she asked.

  ‘Sometimes more,’ her father said as he led the way past a newspaper stand and a pretzel cart. ‘Ours is actually one of the smaller productions here at the moment.’

  ‘Does Steven Spielberg work here?’ Toby spoke up from behind.

  ‘Sometimes.’

  After they’d left him at the restaurant the night before, Toby had used the Matter Transporter to arrive in Max’s room. Knowing she couldn’t send him home because her dad was expecting him the next day, she begrudgingly let him camp on her floor. Far, far away from her bed. Early in the morning he left, and despite Max hoping he’d end up in the outer regions of Mongolia, he met them in front of the studio gates at exactly 7 a.m.

  Her father’s film set was like a giant warehouse that had no end. Lights hung from thick steel rods that disappeared against the blackened ceilings. Backdrops as tall as buildings with paintings of towns, mountains and deserts were being wheeled around on trolleys that made it seem the world was moving. Sound swirled from all directions. Max felt as if she’d been dropped into some underground world where everyone went about their business like ants, each completing their own job with precision and pace.

  After her dad introduced them to a few crew members, Max, Toby and Linden met another man.

  ‘And this,’ her father said, putting his arm around a podgy, short man with superlong side-burns, ‘is Raychik. One of the best editors in the business and one of the best lasagne makers I know.’

  Raychik let out a wheezy cough.

  ‘Nice to meet you,’ Linden said, even though he wasn’t so sure.

  Raychik offered them a grunt and hoisted up his drooping trousers before walking off into the darkened recesses of the studio.

  ‘I bet the last time that guy smiled was when he had wind as a baby,’ Linden joked.

  ‘Don’t worry about him,’ Max’s dad reassured them. ‘He is one of the nicest people in the business.’

  ‘If he’s one of the nicest,’ Toby scoffed, ‘I think the dictionary’s got a lot of explaining to do.’

  Max could feel her body tense when her dad laughed at Toby’s joke.

  Her dad moved away and started talking to a woman with a clipboard.

  ‘Listen, sponge brain,’ Max snarled at Toby. ‘You’re only here because I have no other choice now that you’ve invited yourself into my dad’s film. If I had my way, you’d be sitting on the farthest side of the galaxy dodging asteroids. While you’re here, don’t talk to me, don’t get in my way and,’ she added with particular force, ‘don’t tell my dad any more of your stupid jokes.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Max, I’ll make sure your dad likes you better than me.’

  Max fumed, partly because Toby was being mouthy but mostly because he’d guessed exactly what she was thinking. His being near her physically was bad enough but she definitely didn’t want him going anywhere near her brain.

  ‘As if my dad would like you better than me,’ she laughed, trying to sound convincing. ‘Just stay out of my way and don’t do anything that’s going to attract attention.’

  Max turned and ran straight into a clothes trolley. She clung to the fluff and sequins on the costumes as the trolley began a one way crash course through the studio.

  ‘Max!’ Linden ran after his friend and tried to stop her but it was too late: Max and her runaway trolley ran smack into a ladder that started to sway like a tree that had just been sawn through.

  ‘Timber!’ joked Toby.

  The ladder came crashing down, leaving the guy at the top swinging from the thick black curtain he was repairing. Crew members flew into action
to save him but the curtain started to tear and the whole thing ripped like a ship’s sail in a storm. He landed in a black cushioned heap beside Max, and even though she knew it wouldn’t do any good, she said it anyway. ‘Sorry.’

  It was then she noticed the entire crew had stopped what they were doing and were staring at her. At times like this Max wondered if she was too young to volunteer for an extended stay on the international space station.

  ‘Okay, everyone,’ the woman with the clipboard announced into a microphone. ‘Filming starts in twenty minutes.’

  Instantly everyone went back to work.

  ‘You okay?’ Max’s dad asked her.

  Apart from wanting to trade herself in for a kid who wasn’t a complete disaster, ‘Sure,’ she answered quietly.

  ‘Good. Carla will take care of you and show you what you’re going to wear.’

  A woman with a hair wrap and a long colourful gown led them into a darkened corridor to the wardrobe department. She handed them each an outfit. Max took the frilled dress with the bustle and feathered hat and knew that, after the damage she’d done, she had no room for complaint. ‘Thanks, Carla.’

  They were to be three rich kids from the late 1800s in New York. Toby and Linden got into their suits and laughed as they tried to out-posh each other.

  ‘As impossible as it may seem,’ Toby whispered, ‘that dress suits you even more than your pink one.’

  Max ignored him as she sat before a well-lit mirror and the last of her make-up was applied. A voice yelled into the room, ‘Places everyone.’

  Suddenly actors and extras came from everywhere and spilled onto the staging area. Max lifted her skirt and stared at the studio, which had been transformed into an early morning in 1876. It was amazing. As if she’d been transported straight into …

  ‘Ouch!’ A man in a dark suit knocked her in the head with his cane and walked off without noticing.

  ‘These were rough times. Especially for women,’ Toby said knowledgeably as he polished his hat with his gloved hand.

  ‘They’ll be especially rough for you if you don’t stay away from me,’ she warned.

  ‘Action!’

  The scene bustled to life as hundreds of extras milled around her. Cameras moved along tracks called dollies while others swung over their heads on cranes. After a few minutes of this, Max’s dad called, ‘Cut!’

  It was then arranged that more specific movements would be filmed. A man with a baseball cap and a tragic moustache called to Max and Toby.

  ‘I want you, little girl, to stand beside this shop. And you,’ he looked at Toby, ‘when I give you the nod, you sneak up and kiss her.’

  Max fumed at a few things; being called ‘little girl’, the idea that Toby had to kiss her and lastly, the fact that Linden thought it was so hilarious. She was about to protest when everybody was told to take their places and ‘Action!’ was called again. Max stood by the shop window. The guy then nodded and Toby did as he was told, only when he went to kiss Max, she was so repulsed she pushed him away and he fell through the shop window. There were screams as actors sprang back from the fallen pane.

  ‘Medics!’

  People from the first aid area raced over and checked Toby out. They fussed over him and asked him questions to make sure he was okay. The glass had fallen out in one solid piece and apart from a red mark that was developing on his cheek where Max had hit him, he was fine.

  ‘Does your boyfriend know what happens when you’re kissed?’ Toby rubbed his cheek and looked towards Linden.

  ‘He’s not my boyfriend,’ Max replied.

  ‘Ah, Max?’

  It was her dad. She’d been in America for only a day and she’d already managed to prove to him that she was an oafish, useless, muddle-headed, dim-witted idiot. As Max lifted her long skirt and dragged herself over to her father, she felt the crew’s scowls circling her like a pack of hungry vultures.

  ‘Maybe you and your friends should have a break and get something to eat from the canteen.’ Her dad suggested with a gentle smile.

  The woman with the clipboard screamed, ‘Ten minute break till we fix the window.’

  The three young actors made their way outside as Toby and Linden talked about the window stunt.

  ‘That was pretty impressive,’ Linden said. ‘I thought you’d be cactus after a fall like that.’

  ‘I do judo. You learn how to fall without hurting yourself.’

  As the two new friends talked about stunts and favourite films, Max slumped along behind them, while from out of the darkened wings, a blackened figure stared at her. He watched Max’s every move as a small cough escaped from his broad, wheezy chest.

  Although she was nervous, Max surprised herself and most of the crew by finishing the rest of the day’s shoot without breaking anything — or anyone.

  ‘Where are we going now?’ Toby asked excitedly.

  ‘I’m going home with my dad, while you can —’

  ‘Good work, kids.’ Max’s dad walked up to them. ‘Toby, you right for a lift?’

  Before he could answer, Max butted in. ‘He was on his way to meet his parents.’

  Linden thought he saw Toby’s smile slip.

  ‘We’ll see you for the shoot in three days then, eh!’ said Max’s dad.

  They said goodbye to Toby and walked to the car, where they sank exhausted into the leather seats.

  ‘This film business is hard work,’ Linden sighed as the driver manoeuvred the car onto the busy LA streets.

  ‘Linden, Max, I have a surprise for you.’

  ‘A surprise?’ Max sat forward.

  ‘How about a ski trip to Aspen?’

  ‘I’m in,’ Linden offered.

  ‘But your work …’ Max began.

  ‘That can wait. My little girl’s visiting.’ Max’s dad handed her a brochure of a snow-covered chalet-style hotel. ‘This is where we’ll be staying. You used to love skiing when you were little.’

  Back in her bedroom, Max and Linden flopped onto the bed just as Toby did another appearing act. ‘This is the best trip I’ve ever been on. I never knew hanging out with you could be so much fun, Max.’ He saw the ski brochure. ‘Are we going skiing?’

  That was it. Toby had been getting on Max’s nerves ever since he first arrived in LA but now she’d had enough. ‘I think you’ve forgotten, this is my family reunion and my life, and even though you’ve found yourself in the middle of it, it has nothing to do with you.’

  ‘Oh, Max.’ Toby put on a hangdog look that had faker written all over it. ‘And there I was thinking our relationship was finally starting to blossom.’

  Max narrowed her eyes and got ready to let him have it as Linden peeled a banana he’d picked up from a fruit bowl and settled in to enjoy the show.

  ‘What I’d like to know is who said you could make your home on my planet?’ attacked Max.

  Toby’s smile spread across his face like warm honey. That was more like it. ‘Scientists call it comingling of the species. Lesser life forms learn from more intelligent ones, which means you’ve still got a lot to learn.’

  Linden took another bite of his banana and swung his head back towards Max as if he was at a tennis match.

  ‘And to think your mother went through all the pain of childbirth just for you.’

  ‘At least when I was born my mother had something to celebrate.’ Toby grinned.

  ‘Maybe her tears of joy were really tears of despair.’ Max smiled wickedly, but Toby wasn’t beaten.

  ‘At least they had no trouble telling I was a boy.’

  Linden smiled and turned again to Max. For an instant he thought he saw her falter but she came back more strongly than ever. ‘Did it take you long to have that thought or did you have it shipped in specially?’

  ‘It popped into my brain. That’s a small grey organ you may not be familiar with.’

  ‘I know what a —’ but Max’s response was interrupted by a knock at the door.

  ‘Max, open up. It
’s Ben and Eleanor.’

  Ben and Eleanor! They couldn’t know about Toby, at least not until Max had worked out an explanation for how he’d appeared there. ‘Coming,’ she shouted in a slightly too-sweet voice as she shoved Toby towards the wardrobe. ‘Get in there,’ she hissed.

  ‘You really don’t take losing very well,’ Toby struggled to say as he was being forced into a pile of white, fluffy dressing gowns and spare blankets.

  ‘In case you’ve forgotten, no one knows you’re in here,’ Max answered. Then she added forcefully, ‘And I didn’t lose.’

  She slammed the wardrobe door before giving the nod to Linden to let her uncle and aunt in.

  ‘Were we interrupting something?’ Eleanor inquired as she stepped gingerly into the room.

  ‘Nothing I can’t tell you about later,’ Linden joked as Max shot him a prickly glare. ‘I mean, no.’

  Eleanor wasn’t convinced. She passed a quick eye over the room before making her way to the lounge and taking out her palm computer.

  ‘How was your day?’ asked Max, doing a terrible job of trying to appear normal.

  ‘Interesting,’ said Ben as Eleanor logged on. ‘We met with Harrison to show him the new Time and Space Machine, but we were interrupted by Steinberger who had some disturbing news about a mission.’

  ‘A mission?’ Max perked up at the word.

  ‘And lucky for us, it’s here in Hollywood.’

  ‘Where’s Harrison now?’ Max asked, keen to see the head of Spyforce again.

  ‘He returned to London to organise the logistics of the plan,’ Ben explained.

  Steinberger appeared on the screen of the palm computer. ‘Max, Linden. How good to see you again and how lucky you’re there. Here at Spyforce, we’ve uncovered a fiendish plot within the film industry and we’d like you two to head the mission to stop it. In fact, with Ben and Eleanor there to offer backup, we couldn’t think of a better team for the job.’

  Linden shot Max a sideways smile she quickly returned.

  ‘We’re not sure of all the details yet and will be in touch in a few days to tell you more,’ Steinberger continued. ‘We do know that someone within the movie industry is using the studios for evil means and we need you to find out as much as you can about how the movie business works and who the big movers and shakers are. Which isn’t a bad job. I love the movies. Why I even …’