Hearthstone Entertainment
8 Integration
WE ELECTED to bring the casas in one at a time, give them time to get acquainted a little and then leave while the next one came in. Rose, Adam, Amy, and I stayed with Jessica. There were some happy reunions as Jessica met with Brenda, Rhiannon, Renee, and Lamar. I thought she was making an awfully big fuss over the inclusion of gays in our clan, but she really liked Adam and was thrilled to meet Warren. They spent some time together when Geoff, Kevin, and Robyn came in. And, of course, there were a few who were predictably in awe, most notably Cathy and Dawn. They seemed to have the highest pop culture quotient of anyone in our clan.
“Rose, is it possible for me to get one of the house uniforms to wear while I’m here?” Jessica asked. “I feel like I’d blend in better.”
“We don’t always wear them, but I think we’ll make it an afterhours practice this week. It will keep people from forgetting and running around naked. Leonard whips these up in ten minutes now. I’ll get one from him. You might want to talk to him about some of his fashion designs, too. He’s really getting good,” Rose said.
“You should have seen his prom tux and his date’s gown. They were the best dressed at the prom.”
“You all run around naked?” Jessica asked nervously.
“We’re often casual about clothes,” Rose explained. “Or the lack of them. We don’t flaunt that when we have a guest, though. I’ll remind the girls to keep their clothes on in the evening. The younger clan members are like having a bunch of two-year-olds running around, as hard as it is to keep clothes on them.”
“Don’t worry, Jessica. No one is going to stare at you with or without clothes. At least not too much. It’s one of the many reasons cameras are banned on the ranch except those used for the production. And believe me, both our crew and our security team enforce that rigidly.”
Jessica declined to join us for forms in the pasture on Monday morning. That gave us a chance to reinforce to everyone to be cautious of how they dress and to be watchful for strangers around the ranch. When our crew arrived at seven-thirty, Hannah made sure they were aware of the rules and Whitney and Tim checked everyone’s ID as Elaine’s audience and guests arrived. Her guest for the morning show was a musician who was popular around campus and the audience comprised five of Tim and Adam’s football teammates and their dates. Adam and Jessica would sit with them.
It was carefully orchestrated and Jessica had agreed to it in advance. She was Adam’s girlfriend. There would be no more questions from teammates about why he didn’t go out with anyone. Jessica felt it would be good for her image as well. We were actually going to flash a picture of the two of them together during Thursday’s filming. Jessica sat at the end closest to the kitchen and her assistant, Amy, stood just behind her through the entire taping.
Elaine’s monologue was all about music and how to tell what was popular. “Boys with high voices,” she said. “We could have the Vienna Boys’ Choir on and make them into a smash hit sensation.” Her musician guest was one of those who sang in a high voice. “So tell, me, Terry,” Elaine said confidentially to start the interview. “Are you a castrato or have you just not gone through puberty yet?”
After the interview, which had plenty for the football guys to laugh at while their girlfriends swooned over Terry, there was a five-minute social break during which Adam introduced his ‘girlfriend’ to the team and their girlfriends. But then Hannah stepped in and hustled them all out of the studio and thanked them for participating. We had to pull the dance platforms out for Sora, Rose, and Brenda. Hannah, Elaine, and Jessica headed for the motorhome with Amy running interference and checking outside before she unlocked the bus and opened the door for them. That was the last I saw of any of them until Hannah and Elaine came back for their afternoon show after I finished mine.
Judy sounded the all-clear cowbell when security had checked the premises inside and out to be sure that all guests and crew were gone. After Sunday’s rehearsal, Hannah had surrendered the cowbell to Whitney and security was now in charge of announcing when there were non-clan members at the ranch. We’d had a long debate about whether we should lock the front gate. Finally, we decided that was too dangerous. Monte had actually come up with an alarm system. It took about a mile of bell wire, but he set up a simple doorbell that would ring when the circuit was broken. It was pretty ingenious. The dinner crew had pulled massive amounts of food from the freezer for dinner and it all went into the ovens as soon as my show was over. Tonight, we were having all the clan together and everyone would fill plates at the buffet before we went outside to eat. True to predictions, after morning fog, the temperature rose to the mid-80s. Now, as evening settled in, it was comfortable to be outside in our gis.
A tall woman in a white gi with a white belt sat beside me at the picnic table and it actually took me a second to recognize Jessica. Amy sat on the other side of me and I noted that Adam sat next to Jessica. Jessica’s ‘boyfriend’ was sitting next to her, just in case there was a telephoto lens hidden in the woods.
“You look good in that gi,” Rose said, sitting across from us with Sarah. Warren and Mary sat with them. “You should consider joining the clan. We’d love to have you.”
“Oh, Rose, I’d love to. Maybe one day I can. I have such a strange life, though, I don’t even know if I could keep the terms of the agreement. Oh, I agree while I’m here at the ranch. Sarah faxed me a copy weeks ago. It’s just that in the real world… In my version of reality, I don’t know if I could keep the terms. If I could, it would take me about two heartbeats to become Brian’s lover.” Jessica blushed! “How do you do it, Adam? You model almost as much as I do. You know how those people are. I’ve cut myself off from them completely and now I’m just a stuck-up bitch.”
“I’m gay,” Adam said. “There have been a few male models that made it difficult to keep the agreement, but I only joined the clan this spring. You know everyone in the industry is going to know we aren’t really boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“Yes, but the industry keeps its gossip to itself. Lots of models have as much to lose as I do. Even the press knows that it’s for show. But they have to toe the line unless we offend them in some way. Then… Well, I might come back and ask to live in the silo or something,” Jessica finished sadly.
“Honey, you know we always have a place for you,” I said. I reached under the table and squeezed her hand. She had it sitting on my knee.
“Sarah, your sister is amazing,” Jessica said, changing the subject. “I could see what she was doing by the way the cameras were moving during Elaine’s show. She even has a camera set up to catch Elaine’s asides during an interview. I can’t wait for our taping tomorrow!”
Heaven came in through the loading doors with the rest of the residents of the barn and Casa del Arco Iris. She didn’t stay inside long, though. Amy checked outside the back door and she and Adam led Jessica back to her motorhome. I wasn’t invited to join them.
Comments
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
