Time To Get This Show On The Road
Toby programmed the address to the sound stage into his phone. Alli and Liz last week helped him learn about this new-fangled phone technology as he calls it. This was something Liz had done for him before. He had to be in Los Colinas by eight o'clock in the worst traffic and he was already stressed just at the thought of the drive. Making it in good time he circled the building that looked like a massive airplane hangar with no runway. He wanted to make sure someone wasn't waiting at the back door for him. Nope, so he left the area to find breakfast for them. Stopping at a McDonalds he bought them each an egg McMuffin. Travis was quite capable of handling one on his own. He had four teeth like a beaver and could bite off small chunks he had been doing this for weeks. He was sure if he let him loose on a tree, he could take it down. He was very good at keeping his breakfast together as he ate.
The next trip to the building it was surrounded by limos and expensive cars, many with dealer tags still on them. He was amazed that in a matter of minutes at how quickly things could change. Toby parked, pulled Travis out of his seat, and tossed crumbs out the door making sure his face was clean. As usual, he was in a wonderful mood. Toby wished he was, he was so tense. What was he getting himself into and what makes him think he could do this? Louise.
He approached the building and saw an armed guard standing at the door. He suspects this is the one he is supposed to enter. As he walked closer the guard smiled, "Mr. Toby McBride I presume," he called out with a smile. They had described him exactly, tall, strong, and very handsome.
"Yes, sir, it's me," Toby said but he was at a disadvantage.
"Good you're the last one coming today," the guard said and never attempted to shake his hand.
Apparently, he didn't need to know his name, so Toby asked,
"Am I late?"
"Nah, they are just excited to get started, you're fine," he said and opened the door for them.
He stepped into the vastness and it shocked him. Half-built rooms filled a small area of the vast hangar. A group of a couple dozen people sat or stood around tables and they caught his eye. That big blond mane of Missy's told him he was at the right place.
He heard that big hair was making a comeback, so she was in business. She had a tightly curled mass of naturally blond hair. Not the type Toby liked. He was into long silky-smooth hair; the color didn't matter. Your fingers would get tangled up in that mess.
"He is here," squealed a girl who came sprinting across the concrete floor and stopped right in front of him. She was a pretty thing with long blond silky hair and a warm smile. She had on jeans and a tee shirt looking very casual as did the others. He was glad he hadn't dressed up. His attitude was, take me as I am, or I will go back to Louise's.
"Hi, I'm Amy, I'm here to take care of Travis for you. Oh, he is so cute, how old is he?" She asked quickly as if she couldn't wait to get her hands on him. "They weren't sure when they hired me to take care of him."
"He is almost eight months now," Toby told her as Missy crossed the room walking towards him smiling. He knew she was trying to look sexy, but she did nothing for him. He smiled at her attempt to seduce him.
"It is so good to see you, we were concerned, you weren't coming," Missy told him.
"I said I'd be here, you said eight o'clock and it is eight," he told her as Amy took Travis from him. He again betrayed him and went to her without complaint. He planned to use him as a prop for a while to keep them away from him. He hadn't planned on them having someone to watch him already. His day had just been turned upside down again by them. They have done a lot to be able to work with him.
"Well we are glad you're here we were just discussing the script, so come on they have the storyboards set and we are about to start filming your parts," Missy told him and took his hand to lead him over to the others. Toby watched where that girl took Travis. They had one of those colorful paneled pens he had seen in the baby stores and had fenced a large area with a large colorful rug that could be seen easily from the table. He relaxed as the girl carried a very happy Travis over there.
"Don't worry, Toby she has a degree in early childhood development only the best for you and Travis," Missy offered and looped her arm around his and they kept walking. The men he had seen from the store turned to greet him and a dozen others looked at him as if they were inspecting him. He hoped he passed their assessment.
"Toby, I'm glad you got here. We are having our pre-filming meeting. Setting the filming sights and so on, Toby this is Hilary Grant she is to be your not so fateful wife," Rob told him as a woman stood to shake his hand. She was thin to the point of being too skinny with long dark hair, but she was beautiful. He knows she won't be his wife for long. They already told him she was moving on as he came home.
"Please call me Hil, when people call me Hillary, they ask me how Bill is, and if they call me Hilly as my parents do, they make remarks about my boobs so please call me Hil," she said looking him over as the others did the same. "You're right, he is very handsome, I shall enjoy being your wife even if I do dump you," she laughed an uncomfortable laugh because she knows how she screwed him over in the movie and he has no idea yet.
"That's Ok, I'm used to it," he received a low chuckle from his statement. Rob introduced him around to everyone. He tried his best to remember their names and took the seat offered. They talked for an hour about the movie, the plot, and the location sites.
"You will be going to the Austin area for a few days, we hope. Our site manager says that parts of the hill country look like Afghanistan, and we need some action shots later for the beginning of the film. You know about combat footage before you come home."
"Were you in the army?" some man asked.
"No, never," Toby told them Travis was starting his I'm tired cry. He put up his finger for him to give him a moment and called out, "Bring him, here he is ready for a nap." With his early morning rise, he is off on his sleep schedule.
"Marty here is going to take you to a gun range outside of town. They are going to teach you to shoot an M16 and how to do some combat fighting. We plan to wait until it cools down to go. We don't want to film in the heat of summer so we will wait a little longer," Rob told him.
"We found some ex-marines we hired who will help you make this look real," Marty told him.
Amy approached carrying Travis. "I'm sorry he won't settle for me," she said as Travis lunged for him.
"No, he is at the age he only wants me. He will settle soon. He must like you or he would have been a terror sooner," Toby told her trying to make her feel better as he held Travis to his chest. With a slow and steady rock, he was out in seconds. The early morning rise had worn him out. Passing him back to Amy he told her, "He should sleep for about an hour."
*
She took him back and laid him on a pallet they had for him on one corner of the penned area. Someone had gone out and bought dozens of toys for him, but Amy took most of them away. It would have overwhelmed him with too many distractions. They told her she would soon be taking care of him in Rob's home, but for now, to make Toby comfortable she would handle him here.
While Toby was busy with Travis the others started talking about another aspect of the movie, so he got up and looked over the storyboard. They had pictures of the homes and places they picked as bars; he assumes he will visit. Some looked interesting, others depressing. The location shots in Austin did look like what he had seen on TV of the fighting in Afghanistan. He thought that was very smart and he didn't want to go overseas.
"It's in sequence Toby, but we don't shoot in sequence, so we keep the haircut and tans all the same during the movie unless the story says it changes," Rob told him as he looked over the pictures. Pointing at the craftsman-style home Toby noted first.
"This place is in Oak Cliff, it is a nice older home, and they agreed to let us use it for a few days for filming. This is where you come home to after you get back from war. As you can see, they are building the interior of the house on set. You need to read the script, so you have a better idea of what we expect from you.
We have already started filming with 'your cheating wife' and Steve," Rob said, and a good-looking man raised his hand. "You will catch them together in that house, and Steve has to vault that fence to get away from you," Rob told him, grinning at the prospects. Toby turned and looked at Steve and shot him a hateful look. "You're messing with my wife," Toby asked, sounding menacing. The others at the table laughed as Missy clapped.
"That is what I call acting," she called out. Toby turns red at her praise. Then he heard a lot of teasing about his embarrassment at being praised and a few said he better get used to it.
Toby was excited, but bored and wanted to get his hands on the script. He wants to know what is expected of him. He had a good memory so that shouldn't be a problem with remembering his lines. Travis was awake, apparently the laughing and clapping woke him. Amy was trying to calm him, but he knew Daddy was around, he heard him and was having none of it. Toby knew he had to be hungry. They got such an early start this morning and half of the breakfast ended up in the seat of his truck. He was not a baby food boy. He did like the squeeze bottles of apple sauce and Toby had a dozen in his diaper bag. Excusing himself, he approached the penned-in area. Amy was sitting on the pallet rocking him as she had seen Toby do and it was not working.
"He is hungry, and he will never calm down if he is hungry," Toby said, startling Amy as Travis lunged for him. "Hey sweetie having a strange day," Toby asked if he knew he was. Digging around in the diaper bag he found the apple sauce and opened the top wrestling with Travis to be able to. He sucked the container dry in seconds. Handing a bottle to Amy, "Just add water and shake," Toby told her, he had recently found dry formula the WIC ladies suggested and it has been so much easier at the store not worrying about spoiled milk.
He was lucky that Louise hadn't forced him to find a sitter for him. He knew she loved Travis as a grandchild and planned to stay connected with her and the girls. Movies or not they have become like family to him. Having never had siblings, it was nice to be able to depend on and talk with others and not worry about being screwed over. Bob was getting along well so he was not concerned about them. He was feeling bad about leaving them because he missed them, but he was not concerned they wouldn't be all right.
Moments after the apple sauce was gone, someone who is now Toby's best friend, called lunch. The group stood and made their way to the far side of the hangar.
That is what it looked like to Toby, an old-fashioned airplane hangar. Like in the old Area 51 movie he saw. The only thing missing was the mock spaceship. He had so many references to movies now. They had something going 24-7 at the store when there were no customers, he would watch whatever caught his fancy. There had been a lot of time after Christmas. Toby sat in his favorite stadium seat and held Travis as he slept enjoying the feel of his tiny body against his. The girls teased him about bonding, but he was assuring him he was there for him. The fact he could have never known he had a son ate at his soul. If she hadn't come up the stairs, he would have missed her and never known his son.
He often wondered if he had more. He wasn't a whore like Marcus, but he has had his share of one-nighters. He figures if he gets even the slightest bit of fame, they will come out quickly. He thought about that last night when he couldn't sleep. He was torn about how he would feel to see his eyes on someone else. Travis's blue eyes came out when he was about three weeks old, which was another proof. No one had eyes like Toby except Travis.
Travis cupped his jaw and Toby smiled; he must have noticed his concerned look. He has always been concerned about Toby's mood. He knew in an instant something was bothering his daddy. They entered what Toby would call the dining hall and he saw a highchair sitting at the head of the table at the far end. Toby smiled as most of the people looked at him. They had gone all out to make them feel comfortable. He acknowledges their effort with a smile and follows the others down the line of food. So much would work to feed Travis, but he also saw at the end of the table a few jars of baby food.
He wondered what they thought he would eat as he loaded his plate with mashed potatoes and roast beef. He touched his pinky to the gravy on his plate to see if it was salty. Louise lectured him about the way he fed Travis and all the salt that was going into his body. It wasn't salty, so he doused his potatoes with the drippings.
Travis was doing his best to get to the plate, so Amy asked if he wanted her to take it to the table. He noticed she had a salad as he handed over his plate and groaned. It took a lot to keep these muscles on him and he was already missing the pull-ups he did daily at the store. He did see a place he could do them if he had a running start to jump up to a nice size pipe on the back wall.
He had taken to doing sit-ups with Travis on his chest at night, he loved the game. He would do his sit-ups and then as the women at WIC showed him, he exercised Travis his legs and arms and he would giggle while they worked out then he would take a bottle and sleep the night.
He had a crib, but Toby preferred him to sleep in his bed. He could watch him sleep, stroke his cheeks, and run his finger through the soft curls of his hair. It was a shade darker than Toby's, he probably got it from his mother, but to look at him that was all he could see of her, thank God. If he had to see her every time he looked at him, he would be mad all the time which would not be good for anyone. It had been eight months since he last saw her, and her hateful bloated face was still clear in his mind.
*
Back to work after a good lunch, he won't need much for dinner. Maybe he will stop and buy beans and rice for Travis at the drive-through on the way home. There is that salt again.
They finally handed him his script. Ashley, a lady who worked with the scripts shows him the first scene they would work on with him. Running over the lines as he worked out the script and someone read the taxi driver's lines. He felt it was easy if this was acting, he was in. He read the part to set the scene.
Hank sits in a yellow cab with his duffel bag on the seat next to him. The neighborhood passes by as a satisfied smile appears on his face. He is anticipating seeing his wife. The cab stops out front of his house and he ducks down to see the whole house. He passed the cash to the cab driver and exited the cab." That set the scene, Ok easy enough Toby thought. He just wonders when he starts.
"We need you to go to the wardrobe people and they will fit you for that scene. Then they will have your measurements for everything else and once she has you fitted; we can start. We also need pictures of you for references and publicity. So, 'wardrobe' has clothes for you to wear and the makeup people will dust your nose and they will have the pictures done in no time. It starts tomorrow if you're wondering. Read the rest of this scene, and more if you want, just don't get lost in information," Rob offered because Toby looked ready to get going. He could already tell he was not the type of man to sit around for long.
An hour later and the place was cleared out Amy had Travis, who seemed to be in a good mood playing in the pen area. Toby had changed into a dozen different things and this woman snapped pictures of him as he moved around. She loved his smile and tried to make him smile by joking around as much as she could. She kept calling him a natural, making him pose and move around a green screen background with each clothing change.
They had him try on some of the nicest suits he had ever seen, but they were too tight. Even with the new style of tighter-fitting suits. She still took photos making fun of the tight fit.
"If you flex your muscles, you'll pop a seam," she warned.
Rob watched from the wings not wanting to break the magic she had going with Toby. In the military uniform, he looked grim. He felt guilty wearing them, he told her, he was not military, and his whole demeanor changed. He thought about going in, but his dad was ex-military and he talked so badly about his experiences. Toby wanted nothing to do with the military after hearing that.
He kept reminding himself he would be acting as the tension kept building. He explained his predicament to the photographer and wardrobe ladies, and they told him it was to be expected. Telling him stories of other people and the clothes they were expected to wear and how the costume changed those people too.
"At least you have a conscience. A lot of people put on costumes and act like they own it. Not cool," Deb, the head of 'wardrobe' told him. Toby liked her already; he noticed who ate lunch and she did. She was thicker than the rest, but too old for him. She was one to speak her mind and knew clothing fit well. She put him only in things that would make him look good and was ordering larger suits. She told him he wouldn't need them for a few weeks. That was more information than most of these people gave him. Taking a much different approach to the military photos Toby was somber and stern as she took his pictures.
Mike came by as the day was wrapping up and as he understood the moment, they started filming him his pay moves to thousands a day for the movie. For today he receives a little more than the extras Mike told him. This is fine with Toby if he can pay his rent next month. Plus, he knows filming will start soon. He enjoyed today and was thinking he could do this acting bit.
*
Toby spent the evening talking to Louise on the phone after he ran Regina off. The day sped by, and she could relay the information to the others tomorrow. Filming starts tomorrow and he will call her and let her know how it was. It felt good to talk to her; she was so excited to hear from him. Her sons didn't know how lucky they were to have her. As they discussed often, she says they are rotten, and they think she knows nothing. Toby knows better, she has been around and will give you good advice if asked.
Louise went over his lines with him on the phone until he felt comfortable saying them. She critiqued him at each try forcing him to use more anger in his speech.
"Good lord man you found your wife with another man," she reminded him, forcing him to dredge up old memories to find the anger. Candace worked very well; he would still like to rip her head off. He can use that anger. Travis sat on the floor watching Toby pace, talking loud, and rudely. After the third go around, he had it figured out and stopped worrying about his dad's mood. Between the rude talk was a lot of smiling and laughing they worked it out.