Whatever it was she had, it was twice as strong up there on the screen.
She just plain made your mouth water.
I turned to her.
"Go home and go to bed.
I want you in wardrobe at six o'clock tomorrow morning.
We start shooting at nine."
She shook her head.
"Uh-uh, Jonas.
The joke's gone far enough.
I won’t have any part of it."
"You be on that set ready to shoot at nine!" I said grimly. "You're the one who called, not me, remember?"
I looked at Nevada.
There was a puzzled expression on his face. And something about the clear innocence in his eyes hit me wrong.
"And you better see to it that she shows up!" I said angrily.
I turned and stormed out of the projection room, leaving them staring after me with shocked faces.
8.
I OPENED ONE EYE SLOWLY AND PEERED AT my wrist watch.
Two o'clock!
I sat up quickly and the pain almost split my skull.
I groaned out loud and the door opened.
It was Dan, already dressed in cream-colored slacks and a loud sports shirt.
He held a glass of what looked like tomato juice.
"Here," he said. "Drink it down, pal. It'll wash the fuzz away."
I lifted the glass to my lips.
It tasted awful going down but he was right.
A moment later, my head began to clear.
I looked around the bedroom. It was a shambles.
"Where are the girls?" I asked.
"I paid them off an' sent them home."
"Good." I got to my feet woozily. "I gotta get down to the studio. They were going to start shooting at nine."
Dan smiled.
"I called and told them you were tied up but would get down there this afternoon.
I figured it was better if you got some sleep.
That was a hectic night."
I grinned at him.
It sure was.
Dan and I had really tied one on the night before.
I'd met him coming off the set and offered to give him a lift downtown.
But on the way we'd decided to stop and eat.
I was wound up tighter than a dollar watch and he'd offered to help me unwind. Steaks at a spot he knew, which ought to have been closed but wasn't, along with bourbon and later the works.
The works came out of his little black book, which all agents seem to carry.
I'd unwound all right but now I wondered if they'd ever be able to wind me up again.
His Jap houseboy had shirred eggs and sausages ready when I came out of the shower. I was starved.
I ate six eggs and about a dozen of the little bangers.
When I put down my fourth cup of coffee Dan smiled and asked,
"How are yuh feeling now?" I grinned back at him.
"I never felt better in my life."
It was true.
For once I felt relaxed and loose.
There wasn't the usual tightening in my gut as I thought about the day.