Read Online Temptation by Douglas Kennedy - Free Book Online Page B

could hear blaring techno-music and the sound of an accelerating engine. Bobby sounded buzzed out of his head: either nose candy or something from the Ritalin school of pharmacology.
    ‘Dave, you’re up late,’ he said.
    ‘Is this a good moment?’
    ‘If I told you I was doing ninety on the 10 with a Hawaiian babe named Heather Fong copping my joint as we speak, would you believe me?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘And you’d be right. I’m just heading home now after along night discussing the Nasdaq with a couple of very bright Venezuelans . . . ’
    ‘And I’ve been up reading. What the fuck does Fleck think he’s doing, copying my script?’
    ‘Oh, you got that, did you?’
    ‘Oh, I got it all right – and Mr Fleck’s in big trouble. To begin with, I could get Alison to file a lawsuit . . . ’
    ‘Hey, I know it’s almost three-in-the-am, but get an irony check, huh? Fleck was paying you a compliment, asshole. A major compliment. He wants to make your script. It’s gonna be his next project. And he’s going to pay you big time for it.’
    ‘And is he also going to palm the script off as his own?’
    ‘Dave, the dude is worth $20 billion. He ain’t no dumb cracker. He knows that your script is
your script
. All he was doing was telling you, in his own skewed way, that he really digs it . . . ’
    ‘Wouldn’t it have been just a little bit easier if he had simply called me up and told me how much he liked the script . . . or if he’d done the usual thing of having his people talk to my people?’
    ‘What can I say? Phil keeps everybody guessing. But hey, if I was you, I’d be pleased. Alison can now screw vast amounts of money out of him for the script.’
    ‘I’m going to have to think about this.’
    ‘Oh, bullshit. Now listen – go take a sense of humor pill and get some sleep. This will all seem pretty damn amusing in the morning.’
    I hung up. I suddenly felt very tired. So tired that I didn’t want to think any more about the game that Philip Fleck was playing. But before falling into bed, I did leave the twoscripts on our kitchen counter. They were both open to page one. Beside them was a note to Sally:
    Darling:
    Your thoughts, please, on this curious case of duplication.
    Love you . . .
    D xxx
    Then I crept into our bedroom, got back into bed, and passed right out.
    When I woke five hours later, I found Sally sitting at the end of our bed, proffering me a cappuccino. I muttered incoherent early morning words of thanks. She smiled. I noticed that she was already showered and dressed. Then I also saw that she had the two scripts under her arm.
    ‘So, you really want to know what I think of this?’ she asked.
    I took a sip of coffee, then nodded.
    ‘Well, to be honest about it, the whole thing’s a bit generic, isn’t it? Quentin Tarantino meets one of those dumb caper movies of the seventies.’
    ‘Thanks a lot.’
    ‘Look, you asked for an opinion, I’m giving you one. Anyway, it’s a piece of juvenilia, right? And let’s face it, the opening scene is overwritten. I mean, maybe you find references to Mahler amusing, but face fact, they’re not going to work with the multiplex crowd.’
    I took another sip of coffee, then said, ‘Ouch.’
    ‘Hey, I’m not saying it’s talentless. On the contrary, it’s got all the hallmarks that have made
Selling You
such awinner. The thing is, you’ve come on a long way since then.’
    ‘Right,’ I said, sounding hurt.
    ‘Oh, for God’s sakes, you don’t expect me to praise something which really isn’t that good, do you?’
    ‘Of course I do.’
    ‘But that wouldn’t be honest.’
    ‘What does honesty have to do with it? All I was asking for was your thoughts about Fleck’s attempted plagiarism.’
    ‘Plagiarism? Will you listen to yourself? You’re like every writer I’ve ever met. Totally humorless when it comes to their own work. So he played a little hoax on you and decided to see how you’d react to his