Chapter 8-3
677 Words
Dunne felt, for a moment, as if he were in the 1970s, on the set of the original Weeping Willows.
A production assistant closed the clapper board with a loud crack and darted out of the shot. As soon as Enrique shouted, "Action!" Luanne Diego began to speak.
Luanne Diego, the original Bella Willow herself.
"This isn't possible." Luanne wandered around the set, which was an almost perfect copy of the Team Room from the Willows' old headquarters on the TV show. "I can't have gone thirty years back in time...can I?"
According to the movie's plot, as Enrique had explained it, time travel—or the illusion of it—was exactly what had happened to Bella. It was one way to return her to the 1970s world of the Willows while justifying that she looked thirty years older.
Not that she looked thirty years worse. In fact, Dunne was impressed by just how good she looked. The oldest sister on the show, Luanne had to be at least in her late 50s, more likely her 60s...and she'd managed to keep her slender, perfectly accented figure. She had minimal crow's feet around her eyes, and her neck lacked major folds or wrinkles. Her long hair looked as lustrous and dark as it did in reruns of the show.
Time—and plastic surgery—had been much kinder to her than to Hannahlee.
"Excuse me." The actress playing Kitty, who'd skated into the real Kitty earlier, made her entrance. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"Kitty?" said Luanne. "Is that you? Oh my God..."
Kitty pulled a pistol from her macramé bag. "I've never seen you before. How do you know my name?"
Luanne wiped away tears. "Oh, Kitty. I haven't seen you in thirty years, since the day you d—" She caught herself and turned away.
Quincy, who was off-camera, followed her with the boom microphone that hung from a pole over her head. Like Dunne, he'd been recruited by Enrique to help with the film.
Only Hannahlee had not volunteered. Instead, she stood beside Enrique, solemnly watching the proceedings.
Dunne wondered what she thought of it all. Did she feel nostalgic for the original show? Did memories, good and bad, swirl within her? Did she long to join Luanne on the set and try to recapture the magic? Did she feel anything at all?
Looking at her, he couldn't tell. Her face remained unreadable, as if it were only a plastic place-holder representing the real woman, who was located a thousand miles away.
"Can it be?" Luanne's emotion-packed line pulled Dunne's attention back to the set. She whirled to face the actress playing Kitty. "What day is this?"
Kitty raised the pistol. "Are you on PCP or something?"
"What day is it?" said Luanne. "Please tell me."
Kitty narrowed her eyes. "May 6th, 1977. Friday." She glanced at her watch. "Nine forty-three A.M. All right? Are you happy now?"
Slowly, Luanne sank to the sofa. "Oh my God." She looked dazed. "This is it. This is the day."
"Okay, honey." Kitty moved toward her, keeping the gun leveled in her direction. "We'd better get you back to the hospital now."
Luanne spoke her next words in a stage whisper, gazing directly at the camera. "This is the day...when Kitty died." Then, she buried her horrified expression in her hands and began to sob.
A moment later, Enrique shouted, "Cut!"
Everyone relaxed instantly. The cast and crew hustled around the soundstage, tending to their usual between-scenes duties.
Except Luanne. The second the scene ended, she leaped off the sofa and made a beeline for Hannahlee. Before Hannahlee could react, Luanne flung her arms around her and squeezed.
"Thank you," said Luanne. "Oh, thank you for being here."
Hannahlee stood stiffly, letting the hug happen around her without actually participating.
Luanne leaned back and cupped Hannahlee's face in her hands. "You made that scene possible for me. Seeing you out here enabled me to recapture the feeling of loving and losing a sister." Luanne smiled warmly. "Loving and losing you, Kitty Willow, in particular."
Hannahlee sighed. "Someone murdered Scott Savage," she said. "If you're not careful, I might not be the only one who ends up loved and lost."
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