script. Mrs. Stoker ended up suing him.”
Conrad says, “I beg your pardon?”
“I said he almost plagiarized —”
“Not that. The director.”
“Oh, that. His name isn’t Monroe.”
Conrad scoots forward on the brown leather couch. “I’m pretty sure it is.”
Colleen sets her plate on the big coffee table. She digs in her purse and throws a twenty beside the grape leaves. She looks at Conrad. “Want to put your money where your pretty mouth is?”
He just shakes his head at her effrontery, but he comes up with the money and tosses it, wadded up like a Kleenex, beside Colleen’s, which is not only smoothed out but creased down the middle. I wonder if somebody tucked that into her mother’s thong last night. And did she give it to Colleen, or did Colleen just take it?
A.J. looks up from her phone, where she’s asked the omniscient Google for the answer. “It’s Murnau, Conrad.”
“Well, crap!”
Rane, outdoorsman and peacemaker, suggests, “Let’s just watch Bela Lugosi.”
Colleen shakes her head. “I know that movie,” she says. “He’s tall, dark, and thirsty, and she’s a stupid twit who sleeps with her window open in Transylvania. Let’s gamble some more.” She looks at Conrad. “You against Ben, honey buns. Twenty bucks a pop, and your idolaters here will make up the questions, which have to be about tonight’s topic — vampires.”
Idolaters.
Underneath the tats and the attitude is a really smart girl. If I’m a tree that’s been hit by lightning, Colleen is a tree that grew the wrong way. Buffeted by high winds, maybe. Relentless high winds.
The twins are positively quaking with excitement. They look at A.J., who shrugs and says, “Okay, I guess.”
Colleen winks at me and licks her lips. I’m nervous but totally up for this. In a fight, it’d be easy for Conrad to knock me down. Or literally run circles around me, if we had to race. He’s probably smarter than me about everything else in the world except movies. Nobody knows more about movies than I do. This is the fight at the O.K. Corral, as far as I’m concerned.
A.J. goes to one of the drawers in a big, antiquey-looking desk and comes back with yellow pads and thick black pens.
She says, “The rest of us will make up questions using Wikipedia or Screen Rant. You two write your answers down and hold them up when we say to.”
Conrad points at Colleen. “No input from her. I don’t trust her.”
“I’m just the banker,” she says.
The twins come up with the first question.
“From
The Lost Boys —
” says Denise.
And Danielle finishes, “— name any four principal actors.”
I watch Conrad write fast and then hesitate. It doesn’t take me long. Then we wait.
Colleen taunts him. “Any time in this century.”
I eat another stuffed grape leaf. Conrad’s money still looks like a cud. It doesn’t mean anything to him. There’s always more where that came from.
“Time’s up,” says A.J.
Conrad pouts. “I’ve got three!”
Colleen reminds him, “But to win you had to name four.” She looks at me. “Who are they, Ben?”
“Jason Patric, Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, and Kiefer Sutherland. Among others like Jami Gertz and Dianne Wiest.”
Colleen grabs for the cash. “Next?”
The others huddle, then A.J. asks, “In
Nosferatu,
what was the vampire’s name, and who played him?”
Conrad and I write fast.
When A.J. asks, “Ready?” we both nod and show our answers: Count Orlok, played by Max Schreck.
“Tie,” says Colleen, tossing out another bill. “Double or nothing.”
More huddling. A.J. taps her iPhone a couple of times. Then she asks, “In
Shadow of the Vampire,
who played Max Schreck?”
I can see Conrad’s pen poised over the lined notebook, and I know he doesn’t know.
Shadow of the Vampire
is a cool movie where the guy playing the vampire might really be a vampire.
Colleen sinks into the couch and puts both arms along the back of it. Ed, her old boyfriend, used
Conrad says, “I beg your pardon?”
“I said he almost plagiarized —”
“Not that. The director.”
“Oh, that. His name isn’t Monroe.”
Conrad scoots forward on the brown leather couch. “I’m pretty sure it is.”
Colleen sets her plate on the big coffee table. She digs in her purse and throws a twenty beside the grape leaves. She looks at Conrad. “Want to put your money where your pretty mouth is?”
He just shakes his head at her effrontery, but he comes up with the money and tosses it, wadded up like a Kleenex, beside Colleen’s, which is not only smoothed out but creased down the middle. I wonder if somebody tucked that into her mother’s thong last night. And did she give it to Colleen, or did Colleen just take it?
A.J. looks up from her phone, where she’s asked the omniscient Google for the answer. “It’s Murnau, Conrad.”
“Well, crap!”
Rane, outdoorsman and peacemaker, suggests, “Let’s just watch Bela Lugosi.”
Colleen shakes her head. “I know that movie,” she says. “He’s tall, dark, and thirsty, and she’s a stupid twit who sleeps with her window open in Transylvania. Let’s gamble some more.” She looks at Conrad. “You against Ben, honey buns. Twenty bucks a pop, and your idolaters here will make up the questions, which have to be about tonight’s topic — vampires.”
Idolaters.
Underneath the tats and the attitude is a really smart girl. If I’m a tree that’s been hit by lightning, Colleen is a tree that grew the wrong way. Buffeted by high winds, maybe. Relentless high winds.
The twins are positively quaking with excitement. They look at A.J., who shrugs and says, “Okay, I guess.”
Colleen winks at me and licks her lips. I’m nervous but totally up for this. In a fight, it’d be easy for Conrad to knock me down. Or literally run circles around me, if we had to race. He’s probably smarter than me about everything else in the world except movies. Nobody knows more about movies than I do. This is the fight at the O.K. Corral, as far as I’m concerned.
A.J. goes to one of the drawers in a big, antiquey-looking desk and comes back with yellow pads and thick black pens.
She says, “The rest of us will make up questions using Wikipedia or Screen Rant. You two write your answers down and hold them up when we say to.”
Conrad points at Colleen. “No input from her. I don’t trust her.”
“I’m just the banker,” she says.
The twins come up with the first question.
“From
The Lost Boys —
” says Denise.
And Danielle finishes, “— name any four principal actors.”
I watch Conrad write fast and then hesitate. It doesn’t take me long. Then we wait.
Colleen taunts him. “Any time in this century.”
I eat another stuffed grape leaf. Conrad’s money still looks like a cud. It doesn’t mean anything to him. There’s always more where that came from.
“Time’s up,” says A.J.
Conrad pouts. “I’ve got three!”
Colleen reminds him, “But to win you had to name four.” She looks at me. “Who are they, Ben?”
“Jason Patric, Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, and Kiefer Sutherland. Among others like Jami Gertz and Dianne Wiest.”
Colleen grabs for the cash. “Next?”
The others huddle, then A.J. asks, “In
Nosferatu,
what was the vampire’s name, and who played him?”
Conrad and I write fast.
When A.J. asks, “Ready?” we both nod and show our answers: Count Orlok, played by Max Schreck.
“Tie,” says Colleen, tossing out another bill. “Double or nothing.”
More huddling. A.J. taps her iPhone a couple of times. Then she asks, “In
Shadow of the Vampire,
who played Max Schreck?”
I can see Conrad’s pen poised over the lined notebook, and I know he doesn’t know.
Shadow of the Vampire
is a cool movie where the guy playing the vampire might really be a vampire.
Colleen sinks into the couch and puts both arms along the back of it. Ed, her old boyfriend, used
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