PW-1. Spencer Scarcello
said, “Good night, you guys. Have a great evening, and I’ll see you same time tomorrow.”
On the ride to the hotel, Tina told me what a great time she and Meg had.
“Where did you go?” I asked.
“Shopping, of course,” came the answer. She showed me a couple outfits she had purchased and said, “I’m sure I’ll be able to wear these, as Meg said they are going to take us to some nice places.” She mentioned that Meg had thanked her several times for affording her this “mini vacation,” as she put it. “After a while I got the feeling that maybe she was not completely happy with her job,” Tina continued. “I asked her what it was like being a PA.”
“She answered, ‘Well . . . Carol is the third boss I have worked for. Generally speaking, you really don’t have much of a personal life; you’re on call twenty-four-seven and if anything goes wrong, you generally get the blame.’”
“’Is Carol like that?“ I asked.
”No,“ came the answer. ”She is a sweetheart. She even took the blame in a meeting once for something I did. I didn’t find out about it till two weeks later.”
“Everyone here is so nice,” Tina said to me.
“I know,” I responded. “It’s wonderful.”
We entered our room and both went to lie down and rest for a while. We got up about an hour later and showered, then Tina said, “I have got to take you to this Italian restaurant Meg and I went to today. You are especially going to love it.” (I’m full-blooded Italian, but my grandfather Americanized our last name when he came to America in the 1930s.)
After dinner, we walked around awhile. The sights and sounds of New York were a far cry from the quiet rural life we’re used to. We took a cab back to the hotel. We were still a bit jet-lagged and exhausted from the day, so we retired early. The next morning we tried a new little place down the block for breakfast. The cleaning lady had highly recommended it, and she was sure right. . . . It was great! We waited in front of the hotel again for Carol and Meg to arrive, which they did a few minutes later. We entered the limo and after the usual “good mornings,” Carol leaned toward Tina and me and said, “I have to tell you; I am a bit disappointed with you two.”
“What’s wrong?” my wife asked. “I checked with the front desk this morning, and it seems you two haven’t so much as charged a phone call to the room.” Carol continued, “I thought I told you guys to have a good time! Money is not a problem.”
“We’re not the kind of people to take advantage of a situation,” I said.
“I know you’re not; that’s why I brought this.” Reaching into her purse, Carol then handed Tina an envelope and said, “Here’s a little WAM. . . . Please use it.”
Carol then immediately turned to Meg to ask her something, and my wife leaned over toward me and whispered, “What’s WAM?”
“Walking around money,” I answered.
Tina smiled at me and said, “Well, you heard the lady; if I have to, I have to. Thank you very much Carol. You’re very kind.”
Traffic was lighter that morning, and Carol and I arrived in studio about 8:15 a.m. Much to our surprise, everyone was already there. “You guys are sure early,” Carol said.
“Everyone can’t wait to see what happens next,” said Peter. “I don’t think any of us has talked about anything else since yesterday.”
“I hope you mean with each other. . . . Remember, you have all signed ‘non-disclosure’ forms,” Carol reminded them.
“Yes, of course,” came the reply from several people in the room.
“Well, we’re all here. Shall we get started?” Peter asked. Everyone responded with an enthusiastic “Yes.”
“Okay, places everyone,” Peter directed.
“Oh damn!” I said. “I don’t have the disk.” The entire room fell completely silent as I patted my pockets looking for it. After a brief pause I said, “Oh, that’s right.” I pushed my finger into my neck and retrieved the disk. “Here it is. . . . Damn, you guys are easy!”
“Good one,” came a remark from the back of the room. Everyone burst into laughter except Peter. I think the poor guy was about to have a heart attack. He looked at me with sort of a half smile on his face, pointed at me and was shaking his head from side to side.
“What?” I said. “I was told you ‘show biz’ people always like to start with a joke.”
Someone else said, “Good one,” and the place erupted in laughter again.
“All right, you clowns. I expect this from you all, but not the new guy,” Peter said, referring to me. It felt great to be fitting in with the group.
Peter continued, “Okay, everyone, today will be the beginning of the second hour of the first special. We have gone over the preview, and we are good to go. Joyce will welcome everyone, bring the audience up to date with a brief recap, re-introduce Mr. Diamond, and then we will resume the playback. Any questions?”
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.