Read Online Seeing Stars by Diane Hammond - Free Book Online Page A

and capable. “Do you need me to come down there?” she was saying into her cell phone. “No? Look, just tell her it’s your epilepsy medication—don’t say medicine, say medication —and that you’ll have a grand-mal seizure any minute if you don’t take it. Honey, I don’t—” A pause, a loud sigh, and then, “Hi. Yup, this is Clara’s mom. Look, my daughter has epilepsy, though she was probably too ashamed to tell you, severe epilepsy, and if she doesn’t take those meds right on schedule , which means five minutes ago, she’s going to start seizing. I know she should have a note. She did have a note when we left home, but God only—” A beat. “Have you ever seen a grand-mal seizure? Because I can tell you, it’s not pretty. A lot of times it involves vomit, and sometimes feces, and then there’s the tongue-swallow—All right. Thank you.” She snicked her cell phone shut.
    Ruth made her way down and touched Vee on the shoulder in what she hoped was a supportive way. “Ruth Rabinowitz. We met at the—”
    Vee turned around. “Hey—sure, how are you?”
    “Fine! Well, a little overwhelmed.” She gestured at the chaos around them, then asked as delicately as she could, “Is everything all right?”
    “What? Oh, that was Clara. She’s got hay fever, and the Nazi set teacher wouldn’t let her take a Sudafed. It’s ridiculous, because you know they’re not going to want her on set if she’s sneezing every two minutes, which is pretty much the way it’s been going this morning.”
    Ruth was nonplussed. “She’s not epileptic?”
    Vee looked amused. “You heard that?”
    “I didn’t mean to, but—”
    “Pretty good, huh?”
    “So she’s not?”
    “Nah.”
    “Are the teachers always obstinate like that?”
    “Not all of them. Sit!” Vee said, patting the seat beside her.
    Ruth sat, taking in Vee’s minimal camp: a laptop, two paperback books with broken spines, and a water bottle filled with what looked like beer.
    “Actually it depends,” Vee was saying. “Sometimes they’re fascists and sometimes they’re okay, and you never know which one it’s going to be until you get there. They’re supposed to be the kids’ on-set advocates, making sure they get enough breaks and have water and stuff. Technically, they’re social workers. Some of them are totally worthless, though. Those who can’t do teach, and those who can’t teach teach on sets. And on big sets like this, with tons of kids, you’re lucky if they just keep the room quiet. One time, Clara said there was a kid who spent the whole three hours rolling doobies inside a lunch box.”
    “You’re kidding.”
    “You’ll see. How’s your girl, did she book Raven ?”
    Ruth sighed. “No. Frankly, it was a disaster. The woman didn’t even recognize her, and then she yelled at her for bringing glasses that she’d specifically told her to bring the day before.”
    “Well, like I said, Evelyn Flynn’s a piece of work.”
    “Poor Bethy was so upset.”
    Vee looked at her shrewdly. “I bet you took it harder than she did.”
    “Probably,” Ruth admitted. By her estimation, she’d gotten four and a half hours’ sleep that night.
    “Yeah, well, the parents usually do.”
    “Really? You go through that?”
    Vee shrugged. “Not so much anymore, but when the kids were little it was hard. Now they kind of don’t give a shit. If they book something, fine; if they don’t book something, fine.”
    “So is Clara one of the extras, too?”
    “God, no,” Vee said. “She’s Girl Number Three. She has seven lines, not one of which has more than four words in it.”
    “Still,” said Ruth. “That’s wonderful.”
    Vee smiled at her fondly. “You’re so new.”
    “Does it really show that much?”
    “Honey, like neon paint on a stripper. Not that that’s always a bad thing. A lot of casting directors like the kids right out of Kansas or wherever.”
    “Seattle,” said Ruth.
    “Like I said. Sometimes those