Syncopated Rhythm

by Erik Schubach

  I almost couldn't breathe, I grabbed her hand and begged between bouts, “Please... stop. I can't breathe...” She left me on the bed with a satisfied smile on her face as she gathered her stuff and let me catch my breath and come down from my laughing high.

  I dabbed at the corners of my eyes to get the tears out without smudging my makeup. “Oh god. I know I shouldn't have laughed that hard but gawd it felt good. You Ky, are a mean spirited and infinitely humorous woman.”

  She grinned sheepishly. “Anything to take the focus off of my embarrassing display. Shall we? Breakfast awaits.” She made an ushering motion toward the door.

  I smiled back and stood and followed her out, asking, “You downloaded the tracks, worked on production notes and story boards. You peeled me some M&Ms...” I had to force myself to not start laughing again. “Did you sleep Ky?”

  She shrugged as we entered the elevator. “I got a couple hours in, but this is just exciting and I had to start. I had an idea for the group shoot that... oh... ummm... sorry. I get carried away sometimes. I usually bleed away the hyperactivity gaming online.”

  I shook my head. “Dammit Kylee, stop apologizing. It is nice to see someone who gets into their work.”

  She shrugged shyly and we made our way to her car, Baltar. When he didn't start right away, she again pumped the gas a few times while cranking it over and the car sputtered to life, belching a blue plume behind us.

  She looked over at me with a triumphant grin. “So where would you like to eat breakfast? We'll have to move fast this morning.”

  I shrugged. “Anyplace is fine, I'll eat just about anything. Where do you usually eat?”

  She blushed a little and grabbed the yellow wrapper of a fast food breakfast sandwich from beside the parking brake and held it up as she shrugged again. I grinned at her like a woman possessed. “That actually sounds divine!”

  She seemed to relax as we pulled out onto the road. I asked, “So, we discussed me last night. What about you. Is this babysitting assignment keeping you from a boyfriend or girlfriend?”

  She snorted. Then did a double take at me. “Oh... you were serious? Umm... nope. Closest thing I do to dating is Robo-Terror. Too much to do at work, then I visit mom every weekend. If I ever get a permanent position somewhere then maybe I can think about stuff like that. I'm kinda in the wrong field to meet people, they are all out of my league.”

  I really hated her putting herself down like that. “Nonsense. So... Kylee's dream date in twenty seconds or less... go!”

  She tilted her head thoughtfully and said, “Don't really need twenty seconds. Just some alone time with a guy or gal that makes me feel... special... pretty. You know, like I matter.”

  I cocked an eyebrow. Gender doesn't matter to her apparently. I bit my lower lip. Shit! Down girl! Just as I realized I was staring at her she blurted. “Your turn. Dream date for Amber Lee? Go!”

  I realized mine was as simple as hers. “Your question actually said it all. Just being with someone who actually wanted to spend time with Amber Lee instead of Amber LaLanie.”

  She nodded in appreciation and we sat in silence for a few seconds. I reached for her iPod to save us and started up some holiday music. Bing Crosby... she had everything on this. I started scrolling through the songs. Then I looked at her. “How many songs do you have on this thing?”

  She shrugged and tilted her head as she drove. “Maybe like twenty or thirty thousand. I spend almost every spare penny I make on music and movies. For research.”

  I shook my head. “Impossible.” I pulled up the usage. “This is only an old sixteen gigabyte model.”

  She grinned like a cat who ate the canary. “Well, most of it is pulled from cloud storage or my external wireless drive.” She was digging in her purse with her right hand as she drove and tossed a little device to me. I almost dropped it, juggling it with the iPod. I looked at it and saw it was just some sort of USB device with an SD card slot.

  She clarified. “That there is using a hundred twenty eight gigabyte SD card plus my cloud services. They all stream through my iPod or iPad. That way my full library and all my work is always with me. The only thing on local storage on my iPad are my current work files.”

  I shook my head. “You and your work. You need to relax a bit Ky.”

  She grinned. “Creating things does relax me. One day, I just know my stuff will be seen.”

  I smiled at the pixie as we pulled into the drive thru at the golden arches. I know that one day she will be right, with the evident love she displays for her craft, that is rare in any field, it would be impossible for her to NOT be a success..

  After ordering our ham, egg, and cheese muffins and orange juice we were back on the road, jamming to music as we unceremoniously stuffed our faces. Mmmm... sometimes you just gotta be bad like this.

  Kylee skillfully navigated us through downtown and into the parking structure at the studio. What a total transformation. From a creepy desolate looking garage last night to a packed organism bustling with activity. She slowed at the elevator. “You may want to get out here, I'm like the lowest of the low here and have to park at the far end during business hours.”

  I rolled my eyes and stayed put. She grinned and brought me to the bowels of the parking structure and parked. We comically stood by Baltar, waiting for him to die before turning to the long march back to the elevators. I caught her eye and she shrugged with an embarrassed grin. “I cheated last night since it was after hours. Interns don't get assigned spaces, we get to fight for the back ones with the janitorial staff.”

  I grinned at her need to justify her embarrassment. I just thought it was cute. We got into the building and she flashed her ID badge to a scanner at the front counter and walked us up to the security desk. “I need a VIP pass for Miss LaLanie, please.”

  One of the men nodded and wordlessly typed something in on his console then scanned a VIP badge with a stock photo of me on it with and handed it over with a smile and a nod to us. I put the lanyard around my neck then we went to the elevators again.

  She looked at the itinerary. “OK, so you are supposed to be in room B205 in like ten minutes. That's like a huge conference room. Not like the auditorium, it just has a reeeaaaaly big conference table in it. Says story boarding here, cool, they'll lay out the shoot for you there and ask for input. The production types will make any needed tweaks before they send the talent... you, to location to lip-synch to the pre-recorded tracks you have already made at Harmony Trax.”

  She was lost in her own world as she started speaking faster, “I cheated and pulled up the storyboards last night. It is pretty bland and straight forward since there are so many assets, again you, to manage for the group number. I came up with some tweaks that I think could have spectacular impact, I emailed the producers. Not that they'd use them, but it keeps me practiced. The shoot for the Rock the Angels number will be in the studio. They will break off the soloists later, possibly Monday, again...” She gave a silly grin. “...you.”

  I smiled in mischief. “There seems to be a whole lot of me in there.”

  She faked a British accent. “As it should be milady.”

  She walked me to the conference room. “I'll be out here if you need me and to walk you to the studio afterward.”

  We peeked in and some of the other talent were already in their seats and their keepers were along the wall behind them. I grinned and grabbed her arm to drag her inside with me. “Ha! The others have their keepers so in you go.” She seemed terrified as I shoved her through the door. I saw a seat next to Skylar and rushed over to take it. Then faked a snobbish voice to my red headed pixie. “Stand along the wall with the other help. There's a good girl.”

  She scrunched up her face as she joined the other keepers, waggling a fist at me. “Watch it lady or you can peel your own M&Ms.” Then she swung two fingers between her eyes and me. We both cracked up. But then she rushed forward and leaned in and whispered. “Ummm... you need anything to drink? Wate
r? Coffee?”

  I grinned. “Coffee would be divine Ky.” I winked as she ran off to the sideboard and poured me a cup and rushed back over, setting it down in front of me before she shrunk back into the wall.

  Skylar grinned at me. “You've got yours well trained already, and she's a looker. I have to keep Flower here from killing Edward and his watch there.” She motioned her head back to her keeper.

  Kim leaned in. “But I could make it look like an accident Sky.” The two grinned at each other and Edward seemed unaffected by their bantering as he stood at the wall. I had to smile at their antics. Kylee was doing an admirable job keeping a grin at bay.

  What I assumed was the production team came in and took their seats. Evan Green was there, I assumed that meant he would be heading up the group shoot himself. I glanced back to a now nervous looking Kylee. Her iPad was up and she was already typing notes. We waited for the seats to fill. Then finally the last seat was taken by Miranda Keys. She looked just as thrilled as Kimi with her keeper as she shot an annoyed look over her shoulder at the woman who stood against the wall behind her.

  I noticed that besides Kylee, only one person on the production team even had a notepad though I didn't see a pen. Evan got everyone's attention and clicked a button and a title screen came up on the large monitors that ringed the entire perimeter of the room and the length of the surface of the huge conference room table.

  With the music track playing in the background, he laid out the shooting sequence and we watched the storyboards as he described how we would be essentially set up as a holiday caroling choir for this one. We all have individual songs on the album to highlight each artist so this group number can be more traditional with breakout scenes for each soloist. I glanced back and Kylee didn't look happy but she dutifully took notes. Most of us are veterans of video shoots so all of this was old hat to us.

  Then he opened the floor to input. There were just a couple questions from some of the artists. Some of the production assistants and interns brought up some ideas to make the video “sexier”. I kept looking back at Kylee but she wouldn't meet my eyes. I finally spoke up loudly. “Kylee, didn't you have some suggestions?”

  She looked like I had just slapped her. Then she looked around and shrugged. Evan was looking at her expectantly. She just said in a hoarse voice. “I uhhh... already emailed my ideas to you sir.”

  He tilted his head to one of his crew and they quickly said, “The coffee girl.”

  Evan looked around and since everyone was looking at him he said. “Please... Kylee. By all means, what did you think of the layout?”

  She looked at me with daggers in her eyes then at Evan. “It is... safe. I mean, it isn't bad or anything, and I know why it is being done so traditionally since each artist has their own track on the album. But there were a couple minor tweaks that would make a huge impact in keeping with the concept of the entire album. Utilizing local assets so it wouldn't affect timing and shooting by more than a day.”

  She was nervously shifting from side to side, Evan rolled his hand impatiently urging her to just spit it out. Then Kylee said, “Well this whole album is to benefit two awesome causes, the Callahan Foundation, and the AWK. Those organizations have access to two huge talent assets. I figured that since this album was to benefit people from those two groups, why not highlight them?”

  She hit something on her iPad and took control of all the screens and started her own storyboards with the music as she spoke. “Each of the two people who run the organizations happens to be married to a rock icon. The Callahan Foundation has Penny Franklin from Leather and Heels and the AWK has none other than Mandy Fay Harris, the woman responsible for this album. Why not have them sing two of the five solos in this song. That would only require minimum recording time for the solo since all solos are on on separate tracks and the talent here would still be the backup chorus like the original idea.”

  She looked around as a transition happened on her storyboards and an animation that looked like it was drawn in colored pencils started with Mandy Fay Harris singing the solo in Miranda's voice since it was her solo originally. Then it transitioned to the choir again and she said, “Then using Sandra Callahan herself, locate some homeless people with vocal training and a child from the burn or cancer ward to sing the other three solos. She could do it in a moment, she has a gift for knowing what each homeless person can do. This album benefits those people on the streets and in the hospitals, shouldn't they be represented in some way?”

  The storyboards rapidly progressed, showing solos by a homeless man, a bald child, then a girl signing with her hands as she sang. Then it ended with colored animated sketches of Penny Franklin dropping to her knees and arching her back and screaming out “Meeeeeeoooooowww!” And it cut instantly to black.”

  It was silent in the conference room. She nervously babbled, “It wouldn't take the focus off our talent here because each one will have a video of their own on the album. It also illustrates that they are behind these causes.”

  I was nodding as were most of the other artists. That would make this more about the people and less about us. I thought it was amazing. And she was right, everything would be the same except who sang the solos yet it changed everything about the concept and impact of the video. Kimi and Skylar were grinning back at my imp who looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

  Evan nodded. “Interesting, but we already have a solid plan here. If there are no other questions, your helpers can show you to the group location. Wardrobe, hair, and makeup will meet you up there and get you all situated.”

  He stood to indicate that the planning meeting was over and everyone started filing out. A couple artists encouraged Kylee as they walked past her. She was as pale as a ghost. Kimi and Skylar both stopped to give her a grin. After everyone else left I stepped next to her. “You OK?”

  She nodded sheepishly. “I guess. Why did you do that? I was so embarrassed.”

  I shook my head. “Because everyone seemed to be offering suggestions except you and I knew you had stuff. I just didn't know that your stuff was that cool. You did that this morning? Holy crap woman, you got skills.”

  She shrugged. “I had already sent it to the production teams. If they thought it was any good they would have brought it up here. I send ideas all the time.”

  I tilted my head. “How many do they use? And how many do they dismiss out of hand like this one?”

  She frowned. “They have never used any of my ideas except for the time Leanne stole one from me and presented it to them after they already shot it down from me.”

  I was shocked and pissed off at that revelation. “What the hell Ky!? Did you call her out on it?”

  She shook her head. “No. All I have to do is get through this internship and I'm hoping to get a real position somewhere. The fewer waves I make before that happens, the safer I'll be.”

  I snapped. “You were born to stand out and make waves! You need to make them stand up and take notice. Your vision for this video was leaps and bounds better than what we are about to do.”

  Her bubbly self was missing as she hugged her iPad to her chest with her eyes down. “We should get going and get you handed over to wardrobe, hair, and makeup.” She started out of the room without me. Crap, did I just put my foot in it?

  When we got to the shoot, there were people bustling everywhere around the set. Before I knew it, a twenty something girl was grabbing my elbow and leading me toward a dressing room. “Hi, I'm Taylor and I'll be helping you get ready for the set today Miss LaLanie.”

  I shot a look of mock terror toward Kylee, her face finally broke into a grin again as she mouthed “Sorry.” She hopped up on a studio chair to wait for my re-emergence. I relaxed a bit, at least she is smiling again.

  Taylor was smooth and professional but the outfit she was giving me was... “No! Absolutely not. I'll wear long sleeved shirts and pants only. No sexy elf skirts and barely there tops! Harmony Trax should have sent ins
tructions on my wardrobe.”

  She looked at her notes. “They did, the producer was just hoping you'd reconsider, this would get more viewers. With your body...”

  I shook my head and cut her off. “Absolutely not.”

  She sighed in resignation and then rooted around on the racks for a moment then came up with a festive outfit that I knew I'd rock. I nodded. “Much better, and if we accessorize it right, this will be just as sexy as you wanted.” I stared at her as she started reaching for my shirt. “Whoa. Did none of my instructions get to you? Out with you. I dress myself.”

  She looked at her notes again and nodded as she left the room. Perhaps she should have done that BEFORE meeting with me.

  I listened to the screaming silence for a moment as I stood... alone. I shook myself and started getting ready. I was frustrated by my confrontation with Taylor and was being fast and careless. As I pulled my shirt over my head the sequined fabric in the back caught in the pins in my wig. “Ow!”

  I tugged a bit and it felt like I was going to rip my real hair out. I tried to get to the offending pins but the shirt was twisted around two of them. I pulled hard and steady so I didn't tear my hair out but it hurt too much. “Dammit!” I looked in the mirror and the splotchy bleached stripe on my side and arm were painfully evident. What the hell could I do now? Nobody could see me like this. I tried pulling the shirt back down but that made me look even worse.

  Maybe I could get Kimi or Skylar in here, they wouldn't judge me. I wouldn't trust anyone else to see the real me... except...

  I walked to the door and called out. “Taylor?”

  She answered quickly. “Yes Miss LaLanie?”

  I paused a second. “I'm in a bit of a mess here. Could you please send Kylee in here to help? NOBODY else.”

  She responded, “Just a moment Miss LaLanie.”

  A few seconds later there was a light knocking at the door. I turned my discolored skin away from the door, like it would hide it. “Kylee?”