Bob-O said, “How come nobody else is leaving?”
I leaned close to them, “These are my assistants, trained especially to act as stand-ins for real people. We use them to avoid panic. They look natural, don’t they?”
Bob-O said, “They sure do.”
“We don’t want panic. Panic is bad, especially in L.A. Lots of emotional people here, with all the actors and agents and directors.” I winked at them, “But you fellows look like you’re solid. I wouldn’t worry about you two panicking.”
“Than
ks.”
“No problem,” I saw Hondo coming through the doors and said, “Hello Professor Johnson.”
That was the deal clincher for the actors. Bob-O said, “Thanks for the warning Professor. We’ll be leaving now. And we won’t panic or anything.”
“I know I can count on you.” They shook my hand and stopped Hondo to shake his hand before leaving.
Hondo came up and said, “I don’t even want to know.”
I said, “Let’s go to the meeting room and use the secret code, see if we can get in early.”
There was a gorgeous green-eyed redhead sitting at a small desk by the meeting room door. She looked up as we approached.
“Yes?”
“TBA,” I winked at her. “Nothing like a little secrecy, huh?”
“The first auditions aren’t scheduled for another hour. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait.”
“I know, but we really need to do ours early, it’s a matter of life or death.”
The corners of her eyes crinkled as she rested her chin on her hand and looked at me. “Is that right?”
Oh, I am a sucker for green eyes. I said, “By the way, what’s your name?”
“Colleen, what’s yours?”
“I’m Ronny Baca, and this is my comical sidekick Hondo Wells. Most of us call him Gabby Wells, like Gabby Hayes from the old cowboy movies.”
She laughed and leaned back, glancing down at a paper on the desk as she looked from it to us. She said, “I don’t see your names here.” Colleen turned those green eyes on Hondo and said, “So, Mr. Wells how are you? I recognized you from the news last week. All you needed for that rescue was a cape and a big S on your chest to let people know who you were.”
Hondo gave her a smile and said, “I always leave that stuff at home when I go fishing. All I had on were shorts.”
“Oh, I know.” She smiled back.
Colleen studied the paper for a long second, then said, “Okay you two, I’m not supposed to do this, but I’m going to add your names and let you audition. But don’t tell anyone.”
“Our lips are sealed,” I said and held up my fingers in the Boy Scout promise.
**
Colleen went through the door and came back in less than a minute. She gave us three pages of sides and said, “Ronny, you’re up.”
“Don’t we get a few minutes to look it over?”
“If you actually had an appointment we’d give you a few minutes, but since you’re pretty much crashing the audition, then no. Good luck.”
I opened the door and went in. The Le Montrose Meeting Room is impressive. A red carpet runs down the center of a room of ornate wooden chairs and passes between two red velvet curtains tied with gold cord. On the back wall is a black sign with “Le Montrose” angled across it in twenties style calligraphy. In front of the sign was a long desk where four busy people sat. Two others adjusted a camera positioned at the right side of the desk.