Wake Up and Dream Read Online Free Page B

first met. It was almost like old times. And he seemed happy.
    ’Course, he wouldn’t say much about what he was writing. When things are going well, writers never will. Just said he was really on to something. Said the whole thing was alive around him in this city. And then, finally, when he did show me, I knew he was right. I wept the first time I read the treatment for Wake Up and Dream through, Mr Gable. I really did.”
    He nodded. He could imagine that April Lamotte was capable of many things, but weeping over a feelie treatment somehow didn’t seem like one of them.
    “But Dan was already fading. I knew the signs. He was starting to worry the way writers always worry, and he was getting back into the pills and the booze in ways that were beyond my control. From being the greatest thing since the Bible, the whole project became a heap of mule shit. Perhaps you can imagine. Perhaps you can’t. Basically, and once again, Dan just started to crack up…”
    “So he’s back again now in some clinic?”
    “About a week ago. A place up in the hills. I had no choice.”
    “And you’ve got a feelie script you want to peddle, and a husband who isn’t up to doing a pitch?”
    “That’s almost the size of it.” She ground out her latest cigarette. “But not quite. Dan’s a respected writer. The Virgin Queen was a huge hit, and the studios still scent money when they hear Dan’s name. He sent the script off on spec without even checking with me, but I was able to broker a deal—Senserama Studios, no less. We’re almost there, Mr Gable. The contract’s approved and written, and it’s waiting at their lawyers to be signed and witnessed. But Dan has to sign it.”
    “Couldn’t you stall? You’re obviously acting as his agent, can’t you sign on his behalf?”
    “The studio won’t hear any of that. They know Dan’s a recluse, but there are limits. It’s got to be Dan. And you know what producers are like. If we let this go, it could be gone forever.”
    He nodded. He knew that the attention span of an average studio executive was shorter than a toddler stacking wooden blocks.
    “And—and I won’t beat about the bush, Mr Gable—Dan and I need the money. This whole lifestyle—this house, the cars you saw outside, the gardens, not to mention the clinics… All of this,” she gestured, “doesn’t come cheap.”
    “How about you simply dust your husband down and spruce him up for a few hours? After all, you said he just needs to sign something.”
    “Dan’s in a bad way, Mr Gable. He’s been to some very dark places. He’s under restraint even now. And I can’t disguise what the Senserama contract’s worth—you’ll be seeing it anyway if you agree to help me get it signed. It’s five thousand dollars upfront on twenty five when the final script’s approved, and I’m offering you a straight one thousand. I can make the appointment for tomorrow and you can have the check cashed by the next day.”
    “You really think I’m that much like him? I mean, for all the charming things you said about my looks…”
    “That’s not important. Dan’s publicity shy, and the lawyers will never have met him before. The beard’s easy. You’ve just shaved it off, and you know how different a man looks without one. Dan wears his hair differently, but it’s nothing that some Brylcreem won’t fix. I’ve got some theatrical glasses—you know, the sort with plain lenses—which are pretty much exactly like Dan’s pair, and they’ll make a big difference as well. Who’s going to argue if you look like Dan, and you’re wearing Dan’s clothes, and you’re with me?”
    “I’d need to practice his signature—know something about his voice and manner.”
    “That’s obvious. And I’m guessing that this won’t be the first signature you’ve ever forged.”
    “I’ll need to take a look at that feelie script, if I’m really supposed to have written it…”
    But he was treading water. Truth was, now