“Not yet. They’re mailing it to the office. The camera crew said they filmed another few seconds beyond
what we just saw, but that was it.”
“Might be enough, though.”
“We’ll see.”
Emma came over as if on cue and said, “Are you ready, Darling?”
Hondo handed me his Ray-Bans and raised his eyebrows twice, “Darling,” he said and grinned. Hondo followed Emma to his mark and they did the scenes, then did them again, and again, and again.
CHAPTER 2
They wrapped at sundown and Hondo cleaned up. We got into Shamu, my big four-wheel drive Ford pickup with the paint job that makes it resemble a killer whale and I headed toward our office in Venice.
I said, “You’re buying dinner, I presume.”
“I bought last time.”
“Yeah, but you just told me how much you made today.”
“If I remember right, you asked how much we were going to make.”
“Well sure, we’re a team,” I held up my hand with the index and middle fingers crossed, “Tight like this, but since you did all the work I thought you’d want the satisfaction of picking where we eat. I don’t want you to feel inferior simply because I usually make all the important decisions. I want to empower you.”
“You listened in on that managers’ symposium in San Francisco, didn’t you? I thought you were running security for them.”
“Well, I wanted to pick up some management tips for our business.”
Hondo said, “There’s only two of us.”
“True, but I’ve never had a chance to use the word empower in a sentence before.”
“I’m glad you got it out of your system. Don’t ever use it again.”
“I’m purged, cleansed, pure as the driven-“
“How does The Mongolian sound for eats?”
“That’s the one. I’m so hungry I’m going to order the Genghis Khan Platter. It has half a horse for the appetizer.” The restaurant was just ahead and I eased into the exit lane then turned into the parking lot. As we got out, delicious smells from the kitchen rolled over us. “Your olfactories pick that up?” I said, “Horse feet are a delicacy over there. The secret is they cook the hooves for two years to make them tender. Smells pretty good, doesn’t it?”
“Do they remove the horseshoes?”
“They pry it off and leave it in the bottom of the bowl. Iron’s good for you.”
“I think I’ll stick to my Flintstones chewables.”
We went inside and picked out our items, then took them to the cook who worked with amazing skill on the enormous circular iron cooking top as he seared the ingredients and added our sauces and spices, then returned the now cooked items to new plates. The server led us to a corner and sat us behind a couple of guys who were talking and using their hands for lots of emphasis.
I made Hondo move so I could sit closest to them and eavesdrop. He shook his head, but he’s used to it. I ate and listened.
“I tell you, Bob-O, this is our big chance. It’s not like the cattle calls at open auditions. Just select ones were notified. This is big, and we’re in.”
Bob-O said, “I’m stoked about this, Davester. This is hu-mongo, Mega hu-mongo. A Michael Bay movie with supporting roles that are perfect for us, just perfect!”
Davester said, “It’s a cold read, though. I wish we had the sides; I do better if I can study my sides.”
Bob-O said, “Let’s get there early tomorrow, say eight o’clock. That’s an hour before our schedule time. Maybe they’ll give the sides out and we can go over them. You sure we have the address?”