The young woman had two earrings on when she came through the door.
Celia watched from the sofa.
“Again.”
The young woman went back.
Nobody had told her what was wrong, so she changed the entrance.
She came in more slowly.
“Again.”
She went back.
The third time she waited outside long enough for the assistant director to look at Celia.
Celia shook her head.
The door opened.
The young woman entered.
She was twenty-four, perhaps twenty-five, and had been hired because the part required everyone in the room to notice her before she spoke.
They did.
That wasn’t the problem.
“Cut.”
The young woman stopped.
Celia remained on the sofa for a moment.
Then she stood.
The director looked at her.
“What?”
Celia crossed the set.
The young woman watched her coming.
Up close the earrings were larger than they had looked from the sofa. Two drops of dark green stone, almost black where the light did not catch them.
Celia looked at one.
Then the other.
“One.”
The young woman did not understand.
Celia lifted her hand.
“May I?”
The young woman nodded.
Celia reached behind her ear and found the clasp.
It resisted.
“Sorry,” the young woman said.
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
Celia smiled.
The young woman smiled back.
The clasp gave.
Celia stepped away with the earring in her hand.
She looked once.
“Yes.”
The costume woman came forward.
“Do you want me to—”
“No.”
Celia turned and went back to the sofa.
The young woman touched the bare ear.
“Leave it,” Celia said without turning.
She left it.
Wardrobe smoothed Celia’s sleeve.
Makeup came in and touched the corner of her mouth.
The assistant director called for quiet.
Celia settled into the sofa.
Her character had owned the hotel for eleven years and had never been inside it.
That had taken them most of yesterday to understand.
The lobby knew her.
The clerk knew her.
The flowers knew her.
Someone had put her initials on the stationery upstairs.
None of it meant she had been there.
Today was later in the picture.
By now the hotel had begun to fit.
That was the problem.
The young woman was supposed to walk through the door and disturb the fit.
Celia looked down.
The green earring was still in her hand.
Nobody had asked for it.
She closed her fingers around it.
“Picture.”
The room settled.
“Roll.”
The slate came in.
Celia looked toward the flowers.
“Action.”
The door opened.
The young woman entered.
She did exactly what she had done the first time.
Same speed.
Same turn after the door.
Same small uncertainty before she saw the people waiting for her.
But one side of her face ended differently from the other.
Celia looked up.
The young woman saw her.
For an instant the smile from beside the door was still available between them.
Then it wasn’t.
Celia’s face changed.
Not much.
The young woman crossed the lobby.
A man beside the desk stopped speaking.
The clerk looked up from the register.
The young woman noticed neither of them.
She was looking at Celia.
“Mrs. Vale?”
Celia let the name reach her.
“Yes.”
“I was told to give you this.”
The young woman held out an envelope.
Celia did not take it.
“You were told?”
“Yes.”
“By whom?”
The young woman hesitated.
That was in the script.
The hesitation after it was not.
Celia waited.
The girl’s hand remained extended between them.
One green stone moved slightly beside her cheek.
Celia could feel the other one against her palm.
“By Mr. Arlen.”
Celia looked at the envelope.
Then at her.
“Of course.”
She took it.
The young woman started to turn away.
“Miss—”
She stopped.
Celia had the next line.
Everyone knew it.
The young woman waited.
Celia looked at the bare side of her face.
Then the other.
She said the line.
The young woman answered.
Nobody stopped them.
The scene went another page.
Then two.
At the desk, the clerk missed a piece of business and recovered it without looking down.
The man beside him forgot to lift his glass.
Celia remained on the sofa.
The young woman reached the door.
She turned.
Celia looked at her.
The scene ended there.
Nobody moved.
“Cut.”
The room released.
The clerk reached for his glass.
The young woman exhaled and looked immediately toward Celia.
Celia opened her hand.
The second earring was still there.
WE&P by: EZorrillaMc&Co.
Travel in Life 