Planet Willie by Josh Shoemake Read Free Book Online Page B

opening and closing folders. I see statues go
by, jewelry and Persian carpets, and then Darling’s as surprised as I am to see
our coy Madonna again, fixing us both with that mysterious smile.
    “This file’s a
mess,” Darling says under his breath. “I’ll have to speak with Jean.”
    I ask if he’d
mind if I have a look at the photograph, and he passes it over. Shore’s not
nuts. Or maybe he’s nuts, but he’s right about this. The eyes in the second
photograph are darker than the first, which is faded and must have been taken
at a different time. So somebody saw the wrong photograph…and then what
happened?
    “What are
those dates on the outside of the folder?” I ask.
    “Anytime we
consult with a client about an item, we’re supposed to date the folder,” he
says.
    “This one’s dated
March this year,” I say. “That was about a month ago.”
    “Mister Shore’s daughter was here, as I believe I mentioned,” he says quickly.
    “She was
looking at the Madonna folder,” I say.
    “That’s
confidential,” he says.
    “Well it says
it right here, Darling. March 10 th .”
    “We may have
discussed the Madonna,” he says.
    “Fair enough,”
I say, “and I thank you for your time.” I make to get up as he shuffles the
folders back into a neat little stack, but the truth is I’m only getting
started. I make a point of gazing admiringly at Ava a bit, then I tell him I
loved her in Mogambo .
    “Her in that
shower when Gable shows up?” he says.
    “Plus Grace
Kelly,” I say.
    “Amazing,” he
says, and there may be hope for the kid yet.
    “How did you
get into movies anyway, Darling?”
    “A high school
job,” he says. “I worked at this video rental place on the weekends, and the
boss was always showing classics on the in-store screens. I must have seen The
Killers fifty times like that.”
    “I worked in a
similar sort of establishment myself,” I say. “Tulsa, Oklahoma. I did
deliveries.”
    Darling grins
and shakes his head. “Man, those were the worst.”
    “Not so fast,
Darling,” I say. “There’s a lot to be learned out there on the road.
Principally what I learned – and this might be helpful someday for your friend
Loku – is that if you want the big tips you’re going to have to deliver more
than a movie. I mean people out there are longing for something more. People
need to get through the night, right? The women particularly tend to be
sensitive types.”
    He feels it
coming, and brother he likes it. Hell, Darling’s longing for something more
too.
    “Sometimes,” I
say, “it takes a few trips to get them to acknowledge this longing. But keep in
mind you’ve got the pick-up two days later, and the pick-up is generally where
you get the first-timers. Seeing you twice in two days just kills her.”
    Darling shakes
his head and asks if I’d mind if he smoked a cigarette. I wave my hand like an
Arabian prince – all my people shall have cigarettes. He takes a pack from the
desk drawer and slides open a window about the size of his diploma, which only
opens about an inch, I’m thinking probably on account of the high suicide rate
among New York insurance professionals. As he blows out smoke, I move the
Madonna folder to my lap.
    “If she’s a
new release,” I say, “nine times out of ten you can make the first move and she’ll
go along and forget it ever happened. Romantic comedies are more problematic,
for the obvious reasons. Your average romantic comedy has overly developed
expectations, not that you can’t meet those expectations. If it’s Action, on
the other hand, my advice is to bring protection. She may have done this sort
of thing yesterday.”
    He flicks his
butt down to Fifth Avenue and tries to force down a grin. I move the Madonna folder
down towards my leg.
    “Then of
course there is the genre known as exercise.” I say. “There was this one time.
This sweet thing in spandex did the complete Jane Fonda workout on tape, on me.
Wonderful