“I am happy to report that we were able to reorganize the film and write her out of the remainder of the production. You’ll get your new scripts later this morning. Of course, losing an actress at this point in a movie is a problem. But I believe you’ll see that we have tightened up the story, and our hope is that it’ll be better.
“I want to thank you all for stepping up and helping with this moving forward. I want to single out David for agreeing to get back into the water after the scare he had. Believe me, we take all your safety seriously, and what happened shouldn’t have,” Gabe said.
“I’m confident we can get everything back on track,” Laurent predicted.
He would just work us like dogs to get back on track. Gabe gave us more clichés about teamwork and success and then hung up. Kitty had the day’s schedule and scripts. She gave me mine, and the new schedule said we were headed back on the road this morning. Our destination was the
Most movies did this kind of filming in the dark to add to the creepiness of the scene. The Colon Cemetery was ancient, having been built in 1876. It was big, too, covering 140 acres. Incredibly enough, for some reason, they named it after Christopher Columbus.
The first impression I had was of a seemingly endless succession of tombs that were blinding white in the midday heat. Some of it was gorgeous, but other parts were in complete ruin. It was sad to see the devastation and neglect that had happened over the years.
Laurent wanted to show a sad part of the cemetery. There was a ruined family chapel that served as a backdrop for the scenes with Heath, Stewart, and me. They were worried I’d been found out and were there to collect what I’d found at the Cuban official’s home and to warn me. This was a scene close to the end of the movie that set up my ultimate demise.
It seemed to take forever to do the scenes, and it didn’t help that there were no shade trees or even places to sit. There was nothing but row after row of white headstones. We were all exhausted and thirsty when we finally called it a wrap midafternoon.
◊◊◊
Cassidy still didn’t feel great, so I took Paul with me to baseball practice. Coach Conde had seen that I had a first-baseman’s glove in my bag and asked if I’d ever played the position before. I told him I hadn’t, but my coaches at home suggested I should get in some practice to make myself more versatile for the U-18 tryouts.
“Have you ever played infield?”
“Shortstop was my primary position up until this season.”
“Why don’t we just let you play first base for now so I can see what you need to work on?” Coach Conde suggested.
I found that fielding wasn’t much different except for the glove. A first-baseman’s mitt was designed to give you more of a chance to snag errant throws. It was longer than my shortstop glove, and the ball seemed to get in deeper, so it wasn’t as easy to pull it out and make a throw.
I had to work on my footwork when catching the ball at first base. I quickly found that you didn’t want your foot on top of the bag. All it took was getting my foot stepped on once to discover that even rubber practice cleats hurt. If the runner had been wearing metal cleats, it would have done some real damage to my foot. The trick was to use the edge of the bag. Of course, I knew all that, but getting stepped on was a painful reminder.
Next, I spent some time holding a runner at first. I soon figured out that there was too much for me to learn to be of much use at first base. Coach Conde agreed, but I appreciated that he took the time to let me try.
◊◊◊
After practice, Luis and Tony stopped me.
“How is Cassidy doing?” Luis asked.
“Last I saw her, she was sleeping off her hangover. I haven’t seen her since this morning.”
“What happened?” Tony asked.
“We went to Paz’s place for dinner, and he broke out the good rum and cigars,” Luis said. “Cassidy had one too many, and the next thing I knew, David had stolen my date and taken her home.”
“Careful. I was on a date with your sister. Cassidy and I are friends and have each other’s back. If I’d gotten drunk, she would’ve made sure I got home safely,” I said to Luis.
“You’re dating Sarita? Damn! She won’t give me the time of day,” Tony complained.
“She knows your lines. David has new game, and I’ll bet she dumps him soon,” Luis predicted.
This sounded interesting. I couldn’t help myself.
“Why would she dump me?”
“Sarita is a good Catholic girl. As soon as you press her, she’ll kick you to the curb,” Tony explained.
Not that I was looking for that … wait, who was I kidding? This sounded a lot like Peggy’s declaration of waiting until she was married. But then she didn’t hold out for Mitch. I wondered if Sarita was just waiting for the right guy.
“Where are you two going tonight?” Luis asked.
“I have no idea. She hasn’t told me,” I said.
