The Perfect Location (8 page)

‘Nothing. Oh you know, I said something and it came out wrong and then every time I see her I say something even more stupid than the last time. It’s like I’ve got Tourette’s or something. I’ll apologize.’

‘You better, ’cause the acting you just saw was bloody good from her and the more relaxed she is the better she performs. I worked with her on the
Bazaar
shoot and when she’s chilled she is a dream,’ she said, waving the salad tongs at him.

TG put down his tray and walked towards Calypso’s trailer. Rose and Sapphira were eating with the crew, but Calypso had headed off for time by herself – never a good sign. This film was only going to work if the crew became like a family and right now he had a problem. He saw her door was open, and as he climbed the step he heard her talking.

‘He is so mean to me, Mom. He yells at me and I swear he thinks I’m fat. I said I ate a pastry and then he saw me in costume today and looked at me like I was a freaking elephant.’

She paused. ‘Mom, it was one pastry! I know, I know, I’ll go for a run. Yes. No, I don’t want you to come over. I’m fine. Rose is nice and Kelly is sweet to me. I’ll be fine. I’m a big girl now. I just hate him. I hate him all the time!’

Calypso sounded like a small child and TG felt awful. Now was not the right time to see her; he would wait and try to make it up to her on set that afternoon.

The afternoon shooting went better but Calypso didn’t speak to TG unless he spoke to her first. Any questions she had about her character she ran by Sapphira and Rose, who were really helpful and ran lines with her off set. Rose was great at helping Calypso dissect the script to find the hidden clues about the character, and Sapphira offered different ways to say the lines, which Calypso found inspiring.

‘There is no one way. I think finding the right reaction is a process. There is no immediate right response. You can explore and then if you want to use the original choice, then great, but it’s worth finding out,’ Sapphira explained as she and Calypso sat in Calypso’s trailer talking.

‘You’re so smart. How do you know all this?’ asked Calypso admiringly. Sapphira was not quite as weird as she had first thought. Calypso had broken through Sapphira’s defensive attitude with sheer persistence and by the end of the first day Calypso hugged her. ‘You’re a saint, Sapphira. I would have been lost today without you and Rose.’

‘You’ll be fine, sweetie. You just gotta believe it,’ Sapphira said with a casual wave as she walked to her car.

TG was so busy he didn’t have time to speak to Calypso and before he knew it they had wrapped for the day and the crew had packed up.

Kelly and Chris walked over. ‘Dinner at yours tonight?’ asked Chris.

‘Sure, sure, make it a bit later though. I have to go through today’s rushes and call LA.’

Kelly glared at him; he was not looking forward to tonight’s date. He watched Calypso walk over to her car. She turned and looked at him; he felt sick in his stomach. ‘Don’t hate me,’ he said under his breath. He smiled and waved goodbye at her.

Calypso looked at him blankly, and then slipped in the back seat and the car drove off. On the drive to her hotel, she was confused. Maybe he was one of those uptight directors who was a tyrant on set and a teddy bear off. Too hard, she thought, as the car sped along the dusty roads towards the main highway. He wasn’t worth thinking about, she thought. Closing her eyes, she let the day and TG slip from her mind.

Calypso waited in Sapphira’s trailer while the set was readied for their scene. Sapphira had asked her to run lines, which Calypso was grateful for, although she thought that Sapphira had the lines down fine. It was Calypso who needed the practice. Marco was taking up most of her time outside of filming and yesterday TG had yelled at her when she flubbed a few lines.

Sapphira had watched with interest. There was no doubt TG had a crush on Calypso but he decided to play the school-yard card and treat her unfairly, thought Sapphira. He was so conscious of not playing favourites that Calypso was being bullied in a way.

‘Don’t worry about him,’ said Sapphira quietly as the focus puller measured them for the next shot. ‘He’s just a bit uptight, big pressure on him from the studio, no doubt. But I’ve worked with worse directors, at least he’s not Jerry Hyman, what a cunt.’

‘That’s terrible word,’ she said shocked.

‘What, hyman?’ asked Sapphira, being deliberately ignorant.

‘No, the other one, the C word.’

‘The C word, Jesus, you’re uptight,’ laughed Sapphira and Calypso felt very unsophisticated and young.

‘TG is so weird around me,’ whispered Calypso. ‘The other day he saw me in costume in my bra and panties and he yelled at me.’

Sapphira made a face.

‘What?’ asked Calypso at the sight of Sapphira’s face.

‘Let’s make a deal, you don’t say the word panties and I won’t say the word cunt. They’re both equally offensive in my book,’ Sapphira stated.

Calypso laughed. ‘What’s wrong with panties?’

Sapphira shuddered, ‘Horrible word.’

‘So is the C word.’

Sapphira sighed, and Calypso changed the subject.

‘I shouldn’t have done this film, I was offered an action movie for much more money. I wish I’d done it.’ Calypso sounded forlorn and Sapphira felt sorry for her.

Sapphira laughed quietly. ‘Been there, done that. It’s all bullshit, babe, don’t get stuck in that genre, so hard to break out of.’

Calypso said nothing as Chris came and checked the measurements of his assistant and then went back behind the camera.

‘You know why I think he’s being a fuckwit?’ asked Sapphira.

‘Why?’ said Calypso grumpily.

‘I think he’s got a crush on you,’ she said as Kelly walked onto the set to adjust Sapphira’s powdered face. ‘That’s why he yelled at you in your underwear,’ she said, emphasizing the last word.

‘No way!’ Calypso shrieked. ‘He hates me. I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m Malibu Barbie. I’m surprised I haven’t been replaced yet.’

‘He’s got a crush on you, he likes you,’ Sapphira found herself singing softly in Calypso’s ear to try make her laugh.

Kelly laughed conspiratorially with the girls. ‘Yeah, I reckon he’s got a massive keeny,’ she said.

‘A keeny?’ asked Calypso. ‘Gross.’

‘A keeny, he’s keen on you. A crush,’ said Kelly.

‘No way. Anyway, I’ve got Marco,’ said Calypso defiantly.

‘Marco Schmarco,’ Sapphira said.

‘You gonna come and do a reading after?’ Kelly asked Calypso as she adjusted her hair.

‘Yeah, I guess,’ said Calypso.

‘What reading?’ asked Sapphira, feeling left out for the first time in her life.

‘Kel’s teaching me to read tarot,’ said Calypso.

‘When you gonna give me a reading?’ she asked lazily, as though not caring.

Calypso perked up. ‘Really? That’s so exciting! You want one from me? I mean, Kelly will be there to interpret as well ’cause I’m just learning,’ Calypso said, her words tumbling over each other. ‘Is that okay, Kel?’

Kelly smiled. ‘Of course.’ She watched Sapphira as she stood still, perfect but soulless somehow, as though a piece of her was missing. She would have loved to read her cards and this opportunity, although through the innocent Calypso, was too good to pass up. ‘Maybe later we can come to your trailer?’

‘Great, don’t forget your magic wand and broomstick,’ laughed Sapphira as the assistant director called places for shooting.

During the lunch break, Kelly and Calypso descended on Sapphira’s trailer with tarot cards in hand. Calypso took her role as tarot reader very seriously and was almost ceremonial about the cards, which were wrapped in a purple Pucci silk scarf.

‘Okay, so shuffle and think about what you want to ask and then pull cards till I ask you to stop,’ Calypso instructed intently.

‘You’re not serious about this, are you?’ laughed Sapphira as she shuffled the cards like a Vegas croupier.

‘We are,’ said Calypso, looking to Kelly for agreement.

Kelly laughed. ‘Ah, Little Grasshopper takes things very seriously.’

Calypso was looking at Sapphira’s hands flying over the cards. ‘Okay, so now you just spread them in a line and pull them out.’

Sapphira started to pull the cards as Calypso ordered them into a cross formation in front of her on the round table, Kelly helping her.

Calypso stared at the cards. ‘Okay,’ she started. ‘This formation here is the issues your life is centred around at the moment. Is that right, Kelly?’

‘Yep,’ said Kelly nodding encouragingly.

‘Justice and the Knave of Cups. This is the card of …’ Calypso took the book she had brought with her and started to leaf through the pages to get to the right section.

Kelly looked at the two cards. The cards of dependence, she thought. Sapphira seemed not to depend on anyone, she imagined.

Calypso found the right page. ‘You need to stop smoking, Sapphira,’ she said, looking with disgust at her cigarette smouldering in the ashtray. ‘Justice is the card of dependence. Whatever you are doing to your body is bad. This card is about coming out of a bad place and trying to find balance in your life, health, mind, body, spirit. I’ve got some books I could recommend,’ she said earnestly.

Sapphira defiantly picked up the cigarette and took a long drag. ‘Tell me something I don’t know,’ she said good-naturedly.

‘The card which covers it is the Knave of Cups. Maybe you are thinking about a baby? Maybe you want to be pregnant?’ asked Calypso, confused. Sapphira appeared to be the least nurturing person she knew. Not mean, but not at all motherly.

Calypso looked to Kelly for guidance. Kelly looked at Sapphira. ‘The Knave of Cups is a child, a child of psychic means. Perhaps in the spirit world.’ Kelly looked at Sapphira’s face for any sign of recognition. It remained impassive but Kelly saw the tiniest twitch of her left eye.

Calypso spoke quickly, thinking she was off the track. ‘Anyway, this next card is the card of unconscious – the Knave of Swords.’

Sapphira sat, her eyes smiling at Calypso’s absolute conviction.

‘The card of unconscious suggests you’re playing tricks with yourself. Using your sword unwisely. You fly planes, don’t you? You should be careful,’ she said, her voice filled with concern.

Kelly looked at the card – the Knave of Swords was about safety. Sapphira lived as though she was a cat with nine lives; that was something everybody knew, but Kelly intuitively knew it was more than just planes. She wondered what Sapphira was playing with which threatened her safety.

Still Sapphira said nothing, so Calypso continued. ‘The past card is the death card – someone has died who had a huge impact on you. This could be one of your parents, perhaps?’ She looked to Sapphira for affirmation but Sapphira was smoking another cigarette and shrugged.

Kelly spoke up. ‘The death card does not mean that it’s bad, though. This card suggests the person who died has travelled and has transformed. Reincarnated, if you like. When this person died, something else changed in your life. I don’t know what that is, only you do, but it influences everything you do now, good and bad.’

Calypso looked at Kelly and then at Sapphira. ‘How is she? Crazy, huh? She’s so wise!’

Kelly laughed out loud. ‘Easy there, grasshopper, don’t worship me. I’m as human as the next person.’

Calypso looked at the next card and opened her book again to the correct page. ‘This is the card of the future. The Ace of Cups. A baby perhaps!’

She seemed relieved finally to have something good and tangible for Sapphira’s future.

Kelly looked at Sapphira’s face, which appeared as though a shadow had crossed it.

Calypso looked at Sapphira excitedly. ‘Perhaps you’ll find a new lover.’ Calypso was unsure whether Sapphira was straight so thought it best to remain gender neutral.

‘Perhaps,’ said Sapphira noncommittally.

Calypso continued, slightly self-important in her role as esoteric messenger. ‘The card of work is the Eight of Cups, which indicates a break from work for a while. Yes, Kelly?’

Kelly nodded.

‘Perhaps you’ll take a break after this film?’ offered Calypso.

Sapphira shrugged again, thinking of the projects slated for her for the next two years. ‘Maybe.’

Calypso thought she was boring Sapphira, so hurried through the rest of the cards. ‘The card of home and family is the Seven of Swords. This card indicates deception and betrayal from an unreliable person in your life. Someone with a careful plan.’ Calypso rushed over this card, not sure what it meant, but Kelly looked at it with interest. Whatever Sapphira was about to face she needed some damned good protection.

‘The card of how you expect things to turn out is the Hanged Man – this is seeing things from a new perspective. Clearer and changing your mind.’

Kelly interrupted. ‘It’s also about dreams, dreams of the future which indicate you will be released from what keeps you in suspended time.’

Sapphira sat still, saying nothing.

Calypso looked at the last card. ‘This is the card of how things will actually work out. The Queen of Coins. This is you. This is the card of the mother, someone who is generous to others. It also tells of charity and aid to those who cannot help themselves. Using your energy for the greater good.’

Sapphira butted out the cigarette.

‘Did it make sense? The reading?’ Calypso asked, her eyes wide.

Sapphira looked as though she was about to speak but stopped herself. Finally she smiled. ‘Spot on.’

Calypso breathed a sigh of relief. Sapphira seemed unimpressed but Kelly pondered the cards. Whatever was in Sapphira’s past, present and future was murky and painful and made her feel uneasy. Calypso was called to the set for a close-up and Kelly and Sapphira sat in the trailer.

‘Is there anything you need to talk to me about, Sapphira? I know we’re not close but I worry about you sometimes,’ said Kelly, kindness radiating out of her.

Sapphira sat debating whether to share her secrets with Kelly and then quickly put her mask back up. ‘I’m not sure I get the tarot, no disrespect meant,’ she said in a low voice.

‘Nah, that’s fine,’ said Kelly, getting the message that Sapphira was as guarded as she ever was.