What They Left Behind

Returning to Los Angeles was hard. The more Gennie thought about it, the more she wanted to move back to San Francisco. Everybody she knew was there, most people’s heads were screwed on just a little more tightly, plus it was safer and more family friendly. She subscribed to the San Francisco Examiner, so she could peruse the classifieds for job openings. When she gathered about twenty-five different prospects, she bought herself a used IBM Selectric at Goodwill and typed out her resume. She wished she had paid a little more attention to typing class in high school, because it was a slow and frustrating process. When she managed to produce a mistake free resume, she went to a print shop and had twenty-five copies made of it. Then she sent them off to each company. She had no idea the whole process would take over a year and a half. When she received a call for an interview, she left Michele with the next-door neighbor and drove up to San Francisco. She did this twelve times and none of them ever called her back.

  On New Year’s Eve 1979, she and Michele watched as the giant crystal ball dropped in Times Square on their TV. Gennie decided she should probably start focusing her job search in L.A. There seemed to more opportunities for the kind of work she was looking for here and besides, she was getting nowhere in San Francisco.

  She had the Los Angeles Times delivered to her door and every day she searched the listings for job openings. There wasn’t very much she was interested in, but she circled any listing she thought she had a chance at. It was the end of January when she found an ad that piqued her interest.

  Technicians needed for set of new television series starting this fall, it read. Looking for anyone w/electrical, computer and/or mechanical skills. Salary starting at 14k w/benefits.

  Even though it was less than she made at her former job, it sounded awfully interesting. She was hoping that some of the people in the new series worked on In Pursuit. Maybe they would put in a good word for her. She’d have to inquire about the hours though. Rory’s hours on set were usually long and odd and that might be the case for this show too. She sent a copy of her resume in the mail the next day. About three days later, she received a call.

  “Is this Genevieve Perrin-Fox?” the female voice asked.

  “Yes, it is,” Gennie replied.

  “Mr. Marr would like to set up an interview with you. What time would be the most convenient?”

  “Any time before 3 pm,” Gennie replied.

  Gennie heard the lady turning pages of an appointment book. “Mr. Marr is free tomorrow at 11 o’clock. Is that good for you?”

  Gennie was surprised that the interview was so soon. “Yes, definitely,” she replied.

  “Let me pencil you in, then. All right, do you know where the office is?”

  Gennie wasn’t sure, so the secretary gave her directions. When she hung up the phone, excitement coursed through her. She even found herself jumping up and down. Erik Marr was the production designer on Rory’s show. She would probably be guaranteed a job, even if it were more out of sympathy than the fact that she was qualified to do it.

  The next day she showed up at a small white brick office building in Studio City wearing an outfit she hadn’t dug out of the closet since her career girl days. She hoped it didn’t look too dated.

  Erik Marr smiled warmly and shook her hand when she entered his office.

  “I remember you,” he said. “You’re Rory’s wife. How is everything going?”

  “Oh…I don’t know.”

  “I know what you mean. Honestly, I felt like I had lost my own son when I saw the helicopter crash. I can’t imagine what you went through.”

  “I can barely remember it.”

  “As much as the network wanted to make it water under the bridge and just replace him with another actor, nobody on the show felt it was right.”

  “I agree with you,” Gennie replied. “I don’t think it would have done as well with another actor.”

  “He was a rising star, that kid,” Erik said. “If he had another ten years…he would have been huge.”

  Gennie lowered her head.

  “Oh…I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

  She sighed. “It’s all right. At least he was doing what he loved.”

  Tears sprouted from Gennie’s eyes. Erik placed a tissue in her hand she wiped them away.

  “So how is your little girl?”

  “She’s doing pretty well. She just started guitar lessons.”

  “Oh, so she wants to be a musician?”

  “Or a vet. She just adores animals.”

  “I’m so happy she’s doing great. I read that Rory’s family is suing the company that made the helicopter. How’s the law suit going?”

  “Their lawyer is gathering up all the evidence and doing some research. She said with all the backlog of cases and legal red tape, going to trial could be years away. She said if it they were in court in the next two years, she would be surprised.”

  “So I guess you need some extra income, huh?”

  “I was going to move back to San Francisco but I haven’t been able to find a job there. I saw your ad in the paper and it looked very interesting.”

  “So you want be part of the crew?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, you’re dressed up a little too well for that. Most of us, except for the set designer, hang out in t-shirts and ripped jeans.”

  Gennie breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s great because I hate dressing up every day. My last job was white collar and I wasn’t sure how to dress up for this interview so I figured it would be best to make a good impression.”

  “So, I looked at your resume. What do you think makes you qualified to work on our team?”

  “Well, I know a whole lot about cars and as I put in my resume, I have a bachelor’s degree in engineering, so I do know a little bit about other kinds of machinery too, including computers. I did a lot of blueprints and drafting in my old job so I think that would come in handy in this line of work. I make money right now refurbishing old cars and then reselling them, so I have plenty of spare parts. If you need a certain kind of vehicle for the show, I have a lot of connections in that respect.”

  Erik nodded. “I need someone like you because I don’t know dittly squat about any of this stuff. But the kicker here is that this new show, Tech 2014, is going to require all sorts of gadgets and whatnot, plus a motorcycle and a car that can do everything except give you a blow job. The viewers out there are more sophisticated than they were ten years ago. If it doesn’t look realistic, we’ll lose them, because this show is going to have a lot of sci-fi elements to it. Probably most of the guys who’ll watch this show will be nerds with no social life to speak of. We don’t them turning back to Charlie’s Angels so they can drool over Farrah Fawcett. You know what I mean?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Now, originally Tech 2014 was going to set in the present time, but the writers decided at the last minute to put it thirty-five years into future, so that gives us a little more leeway to put in some more of those fantastical widgets, but we still have to have some smidgen of realism. It’s got to be something that is technically possible to do in that period of time. The set can’t look too out there or too kitschy. You said you had experience in mechanics and design. I think you would be a good addition to the props department. You would work with the other prop people to come up with the gadgets. I have one prop master so far and his expertise is in furnishings. I would probably have you concentrating on the car and the motorcycle, but of course, you’d be working in concert with the other people in the art department to come up with cool stuff for the show.”

  “It sounds fascinating.”

  “You’d think you’d be interested in something like that? The pay’s not that great, but the hours are very flexible. You’ll probably need to be on set in case something comes up, but we plan to shoot during the day and you can take your daughter with you if she’s not in school. You ma
y have a couple of deadlines, but basically you can do most of your work where and when you want. You’ll probably meet with the other prop masters once or twice a week, but you guys can work that out among yourselves.”

  “That’s what I was most concerned about,” Gennie said. “I was hoping it didn’t require nights and weekends away from home.”

  “No, it shouldn’t, but if it does, you can take your daughter with you. No shoots are planned that would take you far away either. So, do you want the job?”

  “Yes, definitely.”

  “Well, it’s yours, then. You’ll be our assistant props master.”

  “I’m hired? Just like that?”

  “Sure!”

  “Thank you so much, Mr. Marr! I really appreciate it!”

  “You can call me Erik. By the way, it’s nice to see you smile.”

  “Oh, thanks.”

  “Welcome to our team, Gennie. I’m not sure when you can start because there are still a lot of empty positions left to fill. They haven’t even gotten the female lead cast yet. So, I’ll call and let you know. But, in the meantime, try to come up with some designs for a motorcycle and a car. They have to look a little futuristic, but not too much so. They’ve got to be something people can imagine themselves driving.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Great. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “Thanks, Erik.” She stood up and shook hands with him.

  When Gennie left the office building, she was practically walking on air. The job seemed so fascinating. She was sure she was going to love it. Also, Erik was a sweetheart. She remembered Rory telling her what a great guy he was.

  At first, Gennie felt guilty when her thoughts turned to Rory, but perhaps, he was behind all this. Maybe that’s why she couldn’t get a job in San Francisco. He wanted her to work in the industry he loved the most, alongside people he regarded as family.

  She looked up into the sky, which was bright blue with puffy clouds here and there.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  Chapter 59: February 2