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October 2024

 Chicken Bone (Part Three)
My Story with Ernest Hemingway

Altenir Silva

Previously on: She looked at me, clearly pretending not to recognize me, and said, "Sorry! I think you're confusing me with someone else." With that, she walked away, much to my amazement. The guy who was with her also looked at me, not understanding anything, and walked away too. I concluded that something was wrong, and I was determined to uncover it.

 

Continuing…

I began searching to meet Allison, but I couldn't find her. The house was very big. Then, I tried to find the guy who was with her. No way; he had vanished as well. Suddenly, I saw her running directly towards the parking lot. I hurried to try to reach Allison before she got to her car. However, I was stopped by a large man, Big-Bang. He said to me, "Don Cristallo wants to bid you farewell." I said, "Wait a minute, I need…" Before I could finish my sentence, he reminded me that "Don Cristallo doesn't accept no." So I quickly lied, saying I wasn't refusing; I was just going to the bathroom. Big-Bang, as calm as a savvy airline pilot, then added, "I forgot to mention that Don Cristallo doesn't wait, either."

 

I thought about Allinson while Don Cristallo was saying to me that one of his men would follow me forever. I said that it wouldn't be necessary, my profession wasn't dangerous, no need to be protected. However, Don Cristallo was clear and determined that I would be protected. So, I didn't reply to anything and just agreed with him, as I had learned from Big-Bang.

 

Some days after the New Jersey party, I still tried to contact Allison, but without success. The only information I had about her came from her roommate and friend, Barbara, who told me that Allison went to South America for a work affair. However, she couldn't specify the exact location.

 

Meanwhile, out of the blue, I was getting close to the Dom Cristallo family. I went to Vegas, Los Angeles, and Chicago with Big-Bang and other gang members. Big-Bang explained everything about the business that I didn't want to learn. Other things happened that I prefer to forget, stuff that happens in Martin Scorsese movies and all.

 

Then, one day, while lunching at Sardi's with Don Cristallo, we began to talk about movies. He remembered what my passion was and said, "Do you still want to make a movie?" I replied,
"Yes, of course, it is my eternal dream." On the same day, I gave him a list of agents and producers to whom I had sent my screenplays (all without responses), and Don Cristallo said that Big-Bang would take care of that.

 

Some days later, I was in my apartment listening to the podcast "The Plot Thickens" by Ben Mankiewicz when my phone rang. I answered, hoping it was Allison, but it was a secretary from a production company scheduling a meeting for the next day with independent producer John Fedder to talk about a script I had sent them a year ago. Suddenly, they had an interest in my story. Soon after, Big-Bang called me, asking if I was happy with the meeting with John Fedder. I understood and froze for a few seconds, realizing that I was now part of the mob team.

 

My meeting was strange, but the word strange had become part of my life. After John Fedder harshly criticized my screenplay, he got up, looked directly at me, and concluded, "This work is so meaningless, so awful, that I only have one option: let's do this shit."

 

Inside Starbucks on 42nd Street, I was reading with delight the notes from Variety and the Hollywood Reporter about the greenlight for my screenplay. It would probably be directed by Michael Bay or Spike Jonze. I didn't understand the two choices, but who understands Hollywood logic?

 

When I was preparing to sleep, after spending some time watching episodes of Ballers with Dwayne Johnson, my intercom suddenly buzzed. I answered to discover that Allison was coming up. Oh my God! I would finally know what the hell she was doing at Don Cristallo's house. I opened the door and waited for her. The elevator arrived, and she stepped out, looking more beautiful than ever.

 

She entered and said, "I need to talk to you." I replied, "Of course, you do." Without further conversation, she got straight to the point, explaining that she had been at Don Cristallo's party because she was an FBI agent conducting a secret investigation into that family.

 

(To be continued)

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Part One

Part Two 

Altenir Silva is a Brazilian playwright and screenwriter working in mass media and communications, including Cinema, Theater, Television and the Web. His texts and scripts - both fiction and reality-based - have been presented , produced and performed in the US, the UK, and Brazil.
For more of his writings in Scene4, check the Archives.

©2024 Altenir Silva
©2024 Publication Scene4 Magazine

 

 

 

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