Chapter 46 – Back Home
The Charleston team sat around the June’s living room, with the Russian blue cats on the piano, taking it all in. One was fatter than the other.
Gale said, “So what’s Spielberg going to do with the footage from the museum? Do you have a copy? Can we see it?”
Gwen said, “No, we don’t have it. He said he doesn’t know how he will use it, and he won’t do anything with it anytime soon. He has looked at it, though, and says it’s incredible. He won’t do anything without the woman’s permission, either. That wouldn’t be right.”
Guignard asked, “What did you do after that happened in the museum. Did you go back to filming the documentary?”
Gwen looked at Anna, who said, “Of course the production people wanted to get back to work, but we lost that day on the schedule, and then we lost the next day too because the French press, then the international press, went nuts over what happened. ‘Deneuve Saves Woman’s Life.’ ‘Deneuve saves Picasso.’ ‘Deneuve saves France $20 million.’ All the next day the hotel was crammed with reporters, wanting her. They also knew Spielberg was filming in Paris, and they knew he was at the museum and at the hotel. A few of the press were interested in him and what he was doing. A few. But there was no getting out of the hotel that day, for any of us, that’s for sure.”
Gwen added, “The director of the museum refused to release video from the security camera, which was the right thing to do.”
“After the two day delay, we went back to work, did about seven more days of filming. Long days, no fooling around. He had to have us drinking Champagne in some scenes, but they coordinated things so those were at the end of the day. Then back to work early in the morning.”
Gale asked, “So when do we see it?”
Gwen said, “No idea. Could be one year, could be three. This is a Steven special project, him financing, so he has to finish all the other projects he’s working on first.”
She looked over at Jinny, asked, “So what have you been up to, fat boy. Been good?” The day after she met Little Jinny Blistov, more than a year earlier, she was sitting where she’s sitting today. She remembered sticking him in the gut with a straight finger, thinking it would be soft. It wasn’t. His gut was hard as a board. Still is. She liked to tease him about this, and knew Guignard didn’t mind.
“Guignard’s been working down at The Hall. They’re doing well. The place is all fixed up, and they’re writing music.”
“Who’s writing music?” Gwen asked.
Pater said, “Let Jinny tell you about his stuff. Then us.”
Gwen looked back at Jinny, who said, “We’ve been sailing.”
“You mean, around the harbor?”
“No. Outside. Out in the ocean.” Jinny smiled, and Henric smiled, and Constantine acted as if he wanted to smile, but didn’t.
“How’d you learn to do that?”
“You’re not going to believe this,” said Roger, rolling his eyes.
Jinny said, “After we got the boat fixed,” meaning after the, ah, incident with Stirg, “we were out in the harbor again, and we had a little accident.” He looked at Gwen, absolute neutrality on his face. No guilt, no joking, no teasing. “The College of Charleston sailing team was out in their J-22s, practicing. They’re The Cougars. It was a little foggy, and we’d had a few shots.”
“A few shots of what,” Gwen asked.
Jinny thought it best to not answer directly. “There was an incident.”
Gwen looked over at Roger for the story.
“They sliced through two of the J-22s, and put the kids in the water. The Coast Guard came out. They’re lucky they haven’t been deported.”
Gwen looked over at Henric and Constantine. They shrugged, noncommittally. She looked at Helstof and Slevov. Slev said, “Boys will be boys.”
Looking back at Jinny, Gwen asked, “So how did you guys get out of that mess?”
“Well, the Cougars are not going to have to worry about the condition of their boats for quite some time. They’re getting a new fleet. Twenty-five J-33s, the new model. Fast. And the four kids that got dumped, they’re crewing on the trip over to the islands, so they got no complaints.”
“What trip to the islands?”
“Our trip. Us. We’re going to St. Barths.”
“Who’s us?”
“Us, us. All of us. You, Roger, Gale, everyone who wants to go.”
“When we left for France, you didn’t even know how to raise a sail, much less sail across the ocean. Are you crazy?” She looked at Roger for help. He smiled.
Jinny explained. “The Cougars coach was out on the water that day, with the kids. He saw the accident. He saw Henric jump overboard with our inflatable raft, made sure the kids were all right. We got to know him during the investigation and the settlement, and he likes us.” Jinny smiled. “Turns out he’s a retired Olympic sailor. Now the coach. That’s all he does, so he has time, and we invited him on-board. He likes good wine. Now he’s our teacher, so we know how to sail. Sort of.”
“Three weeks of learning, and you’re ready to sail to St. Barths?”
“Not right away. We got to wait till the semester’s over, so the kids can go. That’s part of the deal with the college. So we got plenty of practice time till then.”
Roger showed his hands to Gwen, in the gesture of, “Well….”
Gwen said, “And we thought we were the ones having an adventure.”
She looked over at Peter and Pater. “So, what’s up at The Hall? Who’s writing music?”
Peter looked at Pater for the go-ahead to answer. Then they both looked at Selgey and Bart for the next level go-ahead. They all were a team, at this point. Peter said, “We’re writing.” He paused. “All three parts: the story, the music, the choreography. It’s about Charleston.”
Selgey took over. “The renovation of The Hall is done, thanks to Henric.” She smiled at him. “We’ve made preliminary deals with some dancers to come from Moscow. The retired dancers we spoke of before. Four of them want to come, in a few months. We’ve hired an administrator to put the academy together. Also retired, from the San Francisco Ballet. She’s here and working, full time. So that leaves the dancing part. We all decided,” and she looked around at the academy team, “we want to be more than just a school for kids. We want to create, and doing that would be great publicity for the teaching. So, we’re writing a ballet. An original.”
Gale said, “Ain’t that the hots. Famous people doing special stuff, here in little ole Charleston. Gwenny, you got some friends.”
Gwen smiled, said, “Who’s writing? Who?”
They all turned and looked at Richard, who looked down at his lap.
Bart said, “Richard has written the story. It’s about how southern culture and northern culture are different. Charleston is the south, New York City is the north. It’s a love story, of course. Northern girl meets southern boy, and they learn about each other.”
Selgey said, “Bart and I are doing the choreography. We just started, but it’s a blast. We’re working every day.”
Anna said, “And the music?”
Everyone looked back at Richard, who said, “I’ve owned a synthesizer for thirty years. Ever since The Who brought out Quadrophenia in the early 70s. One of the greatest songs ever written is on that album, Love Reign O’er Me. Had a big impact on me back then, so I learned to play the synthesizer, and I’ve played it ever since. For fun. Now, I guess, I’m gonna put it to another use. Write the music to go with the story.” He looked around. “It’s happening. Just like writing words. The music’s coming. Helstof’s learning to do the recording part of it. She’s good with the computer.” He looked over at her. Gwen looked at her and then at Henric. Henric was composed.
Gwen looked at Anna, said, “We weren’t the only ones having fun, were we?”
Gwenny June Page 45
