Page 9 - Like No Business I Know

Movie Time

Heidi’s alarm was already turning into a desire for retribution: who
had been gossiping to this old biddy? Clarence? It had to be
somebody at the studio; nobody else could know those things.
Heidi kept her professional life as a script-girl at Empire Films
totally separate from her involvement with the other residents of
Golden Gables—maybe working in the industry was no big deal in
Hollywood, but she had no desire to be constantly fending off
requests for publicity photos, job interviews, and loans. Her salary
was minimal, and most people thought working in the movies was
highly-paid: for those behind the camera without a union behind
them it was not.
She opened the door wider.
“All right. Come in. But don’t think you’re going to blackmail me.
I’ve got friends in this town, lady. You’d better think twice about
running any of that—”
The woman entered briskly, taking the only armchair and placing
her purse on her lap.
“As I said, Miss Holman, I bring no threats or unpleasant news,
only an unprecedented offer. Please sit down.”
Heidi did not like being ordered about in her own apartment, but
she closed the door and perched on the edge of her overstuffed love
seat. Eyeing her guest warily, she took out a cigarette, tapped it
against her thumbnail and lit it.
“I’m waiting,” she said icily.
“You may call me Mrs. Lachesis, although that’s not really my
name,” began the other. “I revealed those facts about you in order to
introduce myself. I am an agent for certain parties whose names you
need not know, and whose faces you will never see. Never, because
they live in the twenty-second century.”
Heidi’s granite features shattered into shards of merriment.
“Whew! For a minute there I was almost taking you seriously, Mrs.
Whatever-your-name-is. Look: just tell me the name of the hospital
you escaped from, and I’ll call them. They ought to send an
ambulance around for you right away.”
The visitor smiled and looked at her watch. “It’s time for a
demonstration. Turn on your radio to the ‘Lucky Stars’ broadcast.”
“Are you kidding me? I never listen to that program.”

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