The Ayatollah's Money

  Chapter 50 – It Starts

  Jinny didn’t realize what body guarding George Clooney was going to be like later. There was no hint of what was to come from this first day of work, this first venture of the stars into The Hall. After Gale had recovered from her fainting spell and realized she was in Big George’s hotel room and he was in the bathroom taking a shower, she went wild, but Jinny was ready and grabbed her again like a feather and threw her out the door into the hallway. When George came out into the living room with a towel wrapped around him, he heard her pounding on the door and screaming, but that was nothing new to him. She’d calmed down in the car, plotting death to her friend Jinny. There were no fans camped out on the sidewalk in front of The Hall, the word not yet having circulated around town of Big George’s presence, and the assassins were quiet and unobtrusive, sitting and standing down the block, having commenced their pre-attack surveillance. So Jinny had it easy today.

  He led the group into The Hall, Gale bringing up the rear, both figuratively and literally. They marched down the center aisle, Soderberg stopping halfway to scrutinize the ceiling, the seating, the lighting gantries, and the sound system, starting his technical assessments of the venue. The other four climbed the stairs at stage right, looking to the center where they saw four people sitting in large upholstered chairs on wheels, looking at them. Roger, Gwen, Laleh, and Shimmey stood up and smiled at Jinny first, and then at George and Monique. George looked at Gwen, knowing who she was and not confusing her with Laleh, and smiled back. He stood still for a moment and then walked towards her, holding out his hand.

  George was used to women banging on his hotel room door, and Roger was used to guys being entranced by his wife. He’d been married to her for twenty years, and he still was entranced. He just didn’t show it.

  Gwen said, “Welcome to Charleston. Ready for the big time?”

  George said, “Hello, Gwen. I’m ready for whatever you cook up. On the phone you said we’d have some fun and do some good, so that’s what we’ll do. Pleased to meet you. And this is Roger?”

  Roger stepped forward and shook his hand, saying, “Sorry about the scam, but Gwen decided we needed you, and that was the only way I knew of getting you. It’ll be worth your time and trouble.”

  George said, “I’ve been scammed a lot, and this is the only one that’s worked. Good job.”

  Roger turned to Shim and said, “This is Shimmey, our writer in residence. We’re hoping you can work with his material.” They shook hands, George very warm and encouraging. And then Roger turned to Laleh and said, “This is Laleh. Laleh, George Clooney. Laleh is our business manager.”

  George looked at her and stared, not saying anything, with her staring back, completely neutral in expression, relaxed. After a minute he looked at Gwen, then at Gale, who was sitting in one of the chairs, her skirt again hitched up high on her thigh, the slash of burgundy hem contrasting with her creamy skin tone. Then he looked back at Laleh once again, and then at Roger and Jinny, who knew what he was going through. It’s not easy being a guy and having these three babes in close proximity. It’s like being in the Toulouse-Lautrec room at The Musee d’Orsay, surrounded by masterpieces and not knowing which one to look at. George regained his wits and offered his hand to Laleh, saying a simple, Hello.

  While George was being initiated into the June women’s tapestry, the June men were noticing Monique, who is not chopped liver. She was dressed in screaming gold colored leather, paper thin and supple, showing every nuance of her Sharon Stone-like figure, trimmed in silver and black that matched her three inch pumps. Gale saw them looking at her and said, “I had to carry a towel around to mop up the puddles of drool Jinny’s been leaving behind her. Totally pathetic to let a simple little sexual attraction affect you, make you act like a fool.” Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. The others sympathized with Jinny, and discounted Gale, knowing her to be the biggest sexually manipulated fool around. Monique smiled and shook hands all around.

  With the introductions done and the sexual heat dissipating a little, they looked out from the stage and saw Soderberg up in the small balcony, scanning his creative landscape. George yelled, “Hey, Steven, what the hell are you doing up there? Come down and meet the team. Gwen’s here. Everyone’s here.”

  He came down the balcony stairs and down the aisle and up the stage stairs, and then they had to go through the whole thing again, with him staring at Gwen, mesmerized, her saying, “Hello Steven. I’ve been wanting to meet you ever since I saw Oceans Twelve. That’s a perfect movie of its kind. It’s great to be working with you.” Then he met Laleh, tearing his eyes away from hers when Roger introduced him to Shim. His was multitasking like crazy, feeling the effects of the three new women, the excitement of the physical environment of The Hall, his new playground, and the nervousness of knowing he wasn’t the boss of the production, a new experience for him. But Gwen, his boss, exuded presence, and it was ok. It was really ok.

  Gwen pointed to the chairs Jinny had wheeled out from the back, and everyone sat down. Here was the core team, minus one. Here were the nine people who were going to produce the show and create the thing, whatever it was. They were missing the other star, the actress. Well, they were missing her and they were missing the thing, the undefined product, the consumable that was to be consumed by the public. Gwen said, “I’ve ordered lunch from McCrady’s restaurant, and it should be here in an hour. Now that we’ve met, now that everyone is here, we have two things to work out, and we’re going to do that before we eat.” Everyone looked around the circle of chairs. Big George Clooney, mega star, and Steven Soderberg, mega director, were like children listening to their teacher, all eyes and ears. Gwen went on, “First, we have to decide on exactly what this production is: a movie, or a play, or something else. Ok? Second, we have to decide on the actress who will work opposite George, play the woman who is threatened by the assassins.” She looked around at her team. “We have an idea we want to propose to you. Or rather, Laleh and Shim have an idea they want to propose.”

  Gale the Mouth piped up. “What idea? I haven’t heard anything about an idea.” She looked at Jinny and said, “Have you?” He shook his head, no. She said again, “What idea?”

  Roger said, “It’s something they came up with last night, and they ran it by us this morning while you were at the hotel. It’s great, Gale, very interesting and creative. We like it, and we think you will too.” Now looking at George and Steven, saying, “And you guys. We think you’ll like it.”

  Gwen said, “First the new idea. Let’s get that settled. Then the actress.”