Disclaimer: not mine.

Chapter One

Lorana Avignon sat outside a viewing room, waiting none too patiently for Mr. Carl Denham to emerge. Preston, Carl's assistant, had told her that Denham would be out within an hour. Neither she nor her friend Jack Driscoll could afford to come back later.

After a rather long wait, a pudgy man in his 30s stepped out of the room. After a second, his eyes locked on Preston's drink and he said urgently, "Give me that, quick!"

Preston looked down at the glass before hurriedly standing and handing off the drink to the new man.

"You won't like it. It's non-alcoholic," Preston said as the man poured the drink into the plant next to him.

He placed the glace on the door and put his ear to that, listening to the discussion inside. At the same time, he said, "Preston, you have a lot to learn about the motion picture business."

Great. Now I might only be two hours late for the rehearsal.

Not wanting to anger Carl, she stayed silent as he listened at the door. Suddenly, Carl hurried away from the door and said, "Hurry, Preston!" He didn't even see her.

Lorana hurried after them, her movements thankfully not hampered by the trousers she wore, though the bag on her back and violin case in her hand did weigh her down a bit.

Carl hurried out of the building with Preston in tow. She, in turn, kept pace with them. Her long, wavy, dark brown hair flowed behind her from under the newsboy hat.

"I want the casting crew on the ship within the hour," Carl said as soon as they were outside.

"No, Carl, you can't do that," Preston protested weakly.

"Tell them the studio pressured us into an early departure," Carl continued.

"It's unethical!" Preston exclaimed.

"What are they gonna do? Sue me? Huh? Get in line!" Carl said confidently, "I'm not gonna let them kill my film!"

"Do you realize that none of the camera equipment is on board?" Preston asked as Carl hailed a cab.

"Excuse me!" she said loudly, interjecting.

"Lorana! I thought Jack had you editing all day!" Carl said, surprised.

"He needs the money you owe him," she said quickly.

"Come with me!" Carl said insistently, grabbing her wrist and pulling her into the cab.

"But we have no permits! No visas!"

"That's why I have you, Preston," Carl said as Preston sat quickly in the cab.

"We have no insurance! We have no foreign currency! In fact, we have no currency of any kind!" Preston said.

Carl hurriedly shut the door just as a man slammed into it as he reached the car. He reached his arm in the window and grabbed Carl. Carl merely rolled up the window and called for the cabbie to drive. The man just yelled.

"Don't worry, Preston. I've had a lot of practice at this," Carl said placatingly.

"How do you intend to pay Jack?" Lorana asked, once more interrupting. That reminded him that he had no money.

"I'll pay 'im. Don't worry," he said, clapping her on the shoulder.

Carl proceeded to tell Preston a list of things he needed to get done. However, when Carl spoke of Maureen, Preston said, "She doesn't wanna be in the picture."

Carl gave Preston a confused look, to which Preston replied, "Maureen pulled out."

"She pulled out?" he asked.

"Yesterday!" Preston exclaimed, "I told you!"

"You said we were shooting in Singapore, right?" Carl asked. "That's what you told her."

"Yeah, but we're not shooting in Singapore," Preston sid.

Carl said exasperatedly, "Godamn it, Preston! All you had to do was look her in the eye and lie! I gotta get to a phone!" He continued to name a bunch of other actresses who might play the part.

"Ha! You'll never get her into a size four! You gotta get a girl who'll fit into Maureen's costumes," Preston said, thinking practically.

"Fay's a size four," Carl said after a bit of thought.

"Yes, she is, but she is doing a picture with RKO," Preston said.

"Cooper, huh?" Carl said menacingly, "I might have known."

Suddenly, his features changed to epiphany. He turned to her and asked hurriedly, "Lorana, are you a size four?"

She snorted and said, "Two."

"Damn!" Carl said quietly.

Preston and Carl continued to argue over the issues, completely ignoring Lorana.

Soon they stopped outside a building and Carl got out. Before he closed the door, he said, "Lorana, call Jack. I need that Goddamn screenplay!"

He shut the door, but said through the window, "Defeat is always momentary."

The cab drove off again after that. She looked back after Carl and shook her head. "I feel for you, Preston, working for him," she said gently.

He looked up and asked, "Are the script and score finished?"

Lorana snorted and said, "No. No one could write an entire script so quickly, and a score takes even longer!"

"Carl isn't going to like that," Preston said, dreading that.

After some minutes, the two of them got out. They went to two adjacent phone booths where they each made their series of call, hers to jack, the theatre, and each of the section leaders that played her music for her. His were all about the ship leaving and both the people and equipment that had to be there. They both finished at roughly the same time. At that point, Preston hailed another cab, and they went to the ship.