The director and Dylan sat behind the bus driver. Tyson found his seat opposite them. All we were waiting on were Freddy and Terrence.
“All here?” Tyson asked. “Nope, missing two.”
“Here, we’re here,” said Freddy, breathing heavy, as was Terrence. Coach Flynn would be so proud. The first game of the season was soon. “Starting point guard out of breath equaled out of shape” didn’t sound too good, did it?
“Ready?” the bus driver asked.
“We’re ready,” Tyson said.
“Let’s get going,” Owen said. “The faster we get this over with, the faster I can see.”
“Why didn’t you wait until we got to the mountain?” Freddy asked.
“Again, that’s a very good question.”
-
EXT. MAIN STREET—DAY
Zoom in on brick building covered in posters.
INSERT POSTER—CIVIL DEFENSE TEST IS AT 10 A.M. TODAY; NORMAL ACTIVITIES OF CITY TO SUSPEND FOR ONE HOUR
INT. MARTHA’S HOME—MORNING
HER MOTHER is going through her closet. MARTHA is sitting on her bed playing with the ruffles on her pillow.
HER MOTHER turns to her daughter and smiles.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Come in, Yellow Bus. Come in, Yellow Bus,” we heard over the walkie-talkie.
“This is Yellow Bus. Come in, Black Van,” Tyson said, holding down the button on his walkie-talkie.
“Hold up; we have to turn around. Kitty forgot a chest we need,” Raymond said over the walkie-talkie.
Tyson leaned across the aisle and told the director, who sighed, rubbed his forehead, and nodded. The director didn’t look like he’d slept a wink.
“Ten-four?”
“Roger that.”
It was only a thirty-minute drive, and traffic wasn’t that bad. Only semis and a few cars with out-of-state tags traveling west. Our caravan was down to just us. One yellow school bus. The director kept looking at his watch. The sun was barely rising behind us. He was worried about the time. By my calculations we had plenty, but I’d only been in the movie business for a few weeks.
The bus driver veered off the interstate and turned right at the stop sign. And up the mountain road we went. I turned my head to look out the window but quickly closed my eyes when the sun blinded me.
When we arrived, Max was waiting with his hands stuck in his pockets near the mountain’s edge.
It took a few maneuvers, but the bus driver finally parked the bus in a way that was easy for us to leave when filming was finished and without it being seen on camera. He opened the door.
“Good luck,” he said.
“I don’t need luck,” Mr. Edman replied.
“All right, then.”
The crew had come and set up the night before. Max and his dad had supervised, while his mom passed out hot chocolate.
“Dad’s sleeping. He’ll be back by the end of the day,” Max said.
“Stay out of the way,” Tyson said, looking at Max.
“Aye, aye, sir,” Max said, saluting him.
Owen was standing next to the bus. I kept looking over at him, but he was staring at the ground.
“What’s wrong with Owen?” Max asked.
“I’m not deaf,” Owen said. “I just can’t see.”
“Need a hand?”
“Nope, I’m good,” he said, leaning against the bus.
It was cold. Colder than usual. But even though it had snowed in Griffin Flat, there wasn’t a touch of white powder on the mountain. We were wearing summer clothing under our heavy coats. Everyone was complaining in their own way.
Kitty and Raymond hadn’t arrived yet. In fact, Tyson tried radioing for them using the walkie-talkie, but they weren’t answering.
“It might not work. We’re kind of in a dead zone,” Max told Tyson.
“Ugh, I long for civilization,” Tyson said.
“You’re an asshole. You know that, right?” Max asked.
“I’ve been told that.”
“Well, I’m glad that you’ve been told.”
Tyson grabbed Owen’s arm. “Laura?” he asked.
“No, it’s Tyson.”
“Seriously, first you think I’m Astrid and now Tyson? I’m officially offended,” I said. “How much solution did they use to dilate your eyes?”
“Who knows—but I did hear an ‘oops’ and then ‘oh shit,’” Owen said.
“Yikes,” I said.
“We have to get this right the first time,” Mr. Edman said after he gathered us around. “We only have one shot. Right when I say ‘action,’ we need to go. Skeet’s going to set off the explosions, and we’ll film it. Dylan’s got this, right?”
Dylan nodded.
“I hate to be that person, but I can’t see your nod, if you’re nodding. Did Dylan nod?” Owen asked anyone who would listen.
“That’s an affirmative,” said Freddy.
It had been an hour, and Kitty and Raymond hadn’t made it here. It shouldn’t have taken them that long. But Tyson said they probably got distracted with the scene going on simultaneously on Main Street. Most businesses down on Main Street were delaying opening until after filming began. Some were going to be closed all day. Like, Dewayne’s bookstore was going to be closed. He was going to be a victim. He got seventy-five dollars to shave his head—and beard. And if you knew him, you would know that was a major deal. A lot of my classmates were going to be victims today too. The director didn’t want to use anyone under the age of twelve. I guessed he didn’t want children to be traumatized, even though being traumatized was all the rage. The director, with the help of Dylan here and Eddie Payne, BC-AD Productions, and Economy Pictures, was planning to traumatize viewers with two disturbing hours of Hiroshima in the Ozarks.
“We’ll do two practice takes and then one on film, got it?” the director asked.
Everyone nodded.
“Is everyone nodding?” Owen asked.
“Yes, they’re all nodding,” the director said, sounding annoyed. “Honestly, just assume they’re all nodding to anything that is being asked.”
“You don’t have to be a jerk about it,” Owen said, crossing his arms, but he kind of lost his footing, and without Freddy grabbing him, he would have fallen over.
“You all right, buddy?” Freddy asked.
“How close am I going to be to the edge of the mountain when we’re looking at the bomb going off?” Owen asked.
“Not that close,” Dylan said.
“Okay, good.”
“Now everyone, rest. It’s going to be a while. Tyson, I need the walkie-talkie,” the director said.
Tyson ran over to hand the walkie-talkie to him.
“So what do we do now?” I asked anyone who would listen.
“Practice lines,” said Tyson. “You don’t want to look a fool.”
I found a corner in the cave that Max was hiding out in and practiced.
“You’re good at this acting thing,” Max said to me.
“Really?” I asked.
“Sure. But it can’t be that hard. Astrid does it.”
“You do know how to lift one’s spirits, don’t you?”
Tyson came in the cave complaining that the walkie-talkies weren’t working. He was shaking it, like that was going to get it to work.
“Service’s not so good up here,” Max said.
“That’s just great,” Tyson said, starting to walk out of the cave.
“Wait, Tyson,” Freddy called.
“Yeah?”
“Are Kitty and Raymond here?”