Her face lit up. “I’m ready to take on any additional responsibility that you need me for. I’d be more than happy to take charge of these mini shoots.”
“Great. I’ll get started on this family scene and, if it’s still raining when I’m through, I’ll go find you and see what remains to be done on your end.”
“Sounds good. I’ll get the cast ready for your scene and take Jon up to shoot these small interiors with me.”
We parted ways; she to get the cast through makeup, hair and wardrobe and down to the set, and I to take a quick look at the script for this particular scene.
It would really put Darling to the test with Mr.Bertram so forthright with her as he is in this pivotal scene.
*****
DESPITE THE LARGE CREWin the room and the major part of the main cast in attendance, Darling did a wonderful job of being strong yet fragile in the scene. But as the thundering rain began to pound more and more heavily, it became impossible to continue.
“The sound of the rain is drowning out all other sounds,” my sound technician said.
I nodded. “Yeah. I suspected as much.” I turned to the cast. “Sorry, guys, but we’re going to have to take a break. The rain is quite literally drowning us out.”
“We haven’t really had the chance to rehearse this scene much,” Carl Brenner, who played Mr.Bertram, said. “Perhaps we could go over it a few times as we wait for the rain to subside.”
“Sounds good,” I said. “I’ll leave you all to it and come back.”
I hurried off in search of Abbie and her small camera crew. With the rain pounding so persistently on the windows, it was sure to make for some very dramatic footage.
On the second floor, in the room that was to be Fanny’s bedroom, I found her. Looking out the window with Jon, the camera operator, at her side, there seemed to be something of great interest outside the window.
“How are things going?”
Surprised at first by my interruption, Abbie then waved me over. “I can’t remember the last time I saw it rain like this.”
I went to her side, Jon moving aside to allow me to look out the window.
“What am I looking at exactly?”I said, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, save for the heavy rain.
Abbie pointed to the gargoyle farther down the building. “Do you see the water spouting from those?”
“Yes. Isn’t that normal?”I said.
“Indeed,” she said. “Earlier, Jon and I were in another room where, there too, the gargoyles spit out a large quantity of water. As excessive as it seemed, I do believe that is the purpose of them.”
“I’m sorry, Abbie. I don’t understand what has you so perturbed.”
She pointed to the gargoyle above us to the right and above us to the left. “Look at these. Only a few drops of water are seeping out of these two.”
“Oh,” I muttered, finally understanding her concern.
“A number of branches have broken off from those large trees,” Jon said. “I think there may be a few of them up there on the roof and the leaves are blocking the gargoyles.”
“I see. I’ll be sure to go down and let Jai know about this. But don’t worry.”
I looked up at the dripping gargoyle, more worried than I wanted to let on. “This place is old,” I muttered, more to myself than to Abbie and Jon. “It’s solid. They built these things solidly back in the day.”
But as the words came out of my mouth, a strange and ominous creaking sound startled all of us.
“What is that?”Jon said.
“I don’t know,” I said, “but I think we should get out of here and head downstairs.”
The creaking sound increased followed by a thundering boom. The floor shook, the walls shook, and we could hear a loud gush of water splashing down in the next room.
