Celluloid Memories by Sandra Kitt Read Free Book Online

have. I’ll probably never look at a TV program or movie the same way again,” she said as they got into Taj’s car for the short ride back to their office. “Just how did you become so interested in all of this?”
    Taj shrugged, driving with the reckless abandon of many twentysomething males. “I didn’t much like the real world I was growing up in. I lived in a really bad part of Newark, New Jersey. I loved going to the movies ’cause it helped me forget about sharing a bedroom with my two brothers. We used to listen to gunshots from outside our apartment window at night. The mother of one of my friends was killed walking home from the supermarket. How messed up is that?
    â€œI had no space of my own, man. I always wished I could be someplace else but home. My mom really tried hard and everything, but I wanted out. I knew when I was little I wanted to live and work in Hollywood.”
    â€œBut why Hollywood? Why not New York, or Philadelphia?”
    â€œDifferent city, same problems. I felt like I could breathe in California.” He glanced briefly at Savannah. “People come here because of the weather or to get into the movies. I came to get as far away from Newark as I could. I came to save my life.”
    Savannah didn’t have much to say after that. She couldn’t relate to the environment Taj had been raised in, and she had never really felt the need to escape, as he had. But she suddenly found herself applying some of his motivation for coming to L.A., of all places, to her father. She suddenly wondered if that’s what it had been like for him? Maybe he wasn’t escaping from a circumstance, so much as running to one that he wanted for himself. But still, there was that nagging question: how could he just up and leave his family to risk everything on a career in Hollywood?
    â€œThanks for the field trip,” Savannah said to Taj, once they’d returned to their own studio.
    â€œAnytime, Baby Girl. Next time, we’ll go people watching. I know where all the celebrities hang.”
    Savannah gave Taj a slightly exasperated look. They were walking down narrow mazelike corridors to their cubicles. “Why do you insist on calling me that?”
    â€œWhat? Baby Girl? Hey, that’s a compliment. You don’t even know some of the names I got for folks around here. It’s laid-back and all that in L.A., but not everybody is nice. Sorry to say it, but there are lots of brothers and sistahs who get an attitude, know what I’m saying? Jealousy and backstabbing and liars, but you’re not like that. You have this sweet innocence….”
    Savannah rolled her eyes in amusement. “Oh, please…”
    â€œLike you don’t really know what’s going on. You’re like Alice in Wonderland. Only brown skinned.”
    His observation made Savannah laugh as she reached her office and turned to thank Taj once again. “I had a really good time. Now I really do owe you a drink sometime.”
    â€œDon’t worry about it. But it looks like I got big-time competition,” he said, walking away.
    She frowned. “What are you talking about?”
    Taj didn’t stop walking and he didn’t turn around. “In your office. On your desk.”
    Savannah did as she was told. On her desk was a bouquet of mixed exotic flowers. The arrangement was so large that it seemed to fill her small space. The rounded glass vase was wrapped in pale mauve cellophane, with streams of pink, blue and purple ribbon tying it in place. She stared in disbelief at the magnificent grouping, certain that a mistake had been made in delivery.
    She tried searching for a card enclosure but found none. Sitting down she called the receptionist.
    â€œKim, there’s a giant arrangement of flowers on my desk. I think it was meant for someone else. Could you check and find out where it was supposed to be delivered? Probably the director’s