“Sorry, sorry.” I scrambled to turn it off and in my haste, dropped it to the floor and under the table.
“Shit!” I dropped to my hands and knees and crawled under the table. The bastard device had cruelly made its way to the other side of the table. God this was embarrassing, but it got just worse.
“Liar,” I heard JJ shout from the phone, “you’re going home to have wild sex with your hot neighbor.”
“That’s right,” my voice rang out in response and my stomach plummeted. I knew what was coming next, and there was no way I was going to make it to the phone in time to switch it off. “And I’m ovulating too so I can fall pregnant with his illegitimate baby.”
Oh. My. God.
27. The End Of Days . . .
I gasped and started to crawl as quickly as I could. I bumped a few knees and crushed some feet as I went but finally managed to grab the phone and switch it off.
I could already hear the murmurs and chuckles coming from the desk above me. No doubt Ben had heard that too. What the hell did he think of me now? Maybe it was actually a blessing in bad, terrible, bad disguise. He’d probably never ask me out again or come within a ten-mile radius of me for fear that I was one of those psycho woman who entrapped men with babies.
Well, nothing to do but face the music.So I crawled across the floor once more and climbed into my seat. I could feel all the eyes on me. I could see all the not-so-subtle smirks being flung in my direction and the one death stare being bored into me by the hectically religious chick from reception who walked around telling people, with great pride, that she didn’t believe in sex before marriage and that the end of days was near while handing out pamphlets to her charismatic church.
I felt sick. My stomach churned and then knotted.What was Ben thinking?I wanted to look up at him to see the reaction on his face, but just couldn’t will my eyes to look away from the tiny crack in the desk they were now fixated on. A silence descended on the room and I wanted to die of embarrassment.
Then I heard Ben’s voice. “Does anyone know where that song is from?” he asked.What the hell was he doing?
No one replied, even though the answer was so obvious to me. But I wasn’t going to say a word.
“Sera, would you mind playing that again.”
“What?” My eyes flicked up and met his. I could see he was trying to hide the smile on his face.
“Don’t worry . . . just that first bit.” A roar of laugher rose up from the room and I couldn’t work out what was going on.Was he deliberately trying to embarrass me?But with everyone in the office looking at me, I couldn’t exactly disobey the boss.
I fumbled with my phone nervously and pressed play. The first few lines of the song blared out again. I quickly pressed pause when the inappropriate conversation about my ovaries that one should only have behind the closed doors of your gynae’s rooms, was about to start. I folded my arms and focused all my attention back on that crack and waited.
“Anyone know what that was?” He asked the room again. Silence! “Well, that was an idea! Has no one seenPriscilla, Queen of the Desert?” No one moved. “It won awards, it’s a famous Broadway show, people! It was made into a movie.”
There were a few murmurs now, but no one was actually talking.
“Sera, please can you tell the room about the movie; I take it you’ve seen it.”
“Huh?” My head snapped up again and I looked at Ben.
He sat down. “The room is yours, Sera, please.” He gestured at me and my face went bright red. I could feel my cheeks burning.
“Um . . . Okay.” I stood up nervously. “It’s about these drag queens who trek through the middle of the Australian outback to do a show in a small town called Alice Springs. They buy this massive bus and—”
Ben jumped up now and cut me off, which I was ever so grateful for. “And this is what it looks like.” He pressed a button on the computer he’d been fiddling with and the photo of the iconic scene popped onto the screen; the big shiny silver bus, cutting through the barren red desert. One of the drag queens was sitting on top of a giant silver shoe strapped to the top of the bus and a massive piece of silver material billowed out behind them. The room went silent for a moment and I could hear the cogs turning.
“Why is this shot so great?” he asked the room.
No one answered and I don’t know what came over me, maybe it was because I had watched the movie so many times, maybe it was because I lived with the walking embodiment of one of the characters from the show, maybe it was because I’d seen the desert decorations being pulled out yesterday, who knows, but I spoke. “Because of the juxtaposition. It’s surprising to see those two things together. The harsh, barren desert vs the big shiny bus and billowing material.”
“Exactly. This is an image that sticks in your mind because it catches you off guard. And that’s what we need,” he said. “Now imagine seeing luxury sports cars there instead. Multi million Rand sports cars driving through the desert. The harsh, hot climate. Barren wasteland, dead trees, lifeless. Except for the cars.”
A look of acknowledgement started washing over the faces in the room. “It’s brilliant,” Angie suddenly piped up. “We could shoot in Namibia, they have those really great ghostly looking landscapes and that abandoned town. Very other worldly.”
“Great idea. Maybe you can start pulling some visual references of the landscape for me in the meantime, and I’ll see you at the shoot too,” Ben said clicking his fingers at her. I tried not to roll my eyes, since I knew she was probably planning on christening a ghostly looking landscape or two with him.
“Right, I’ll be in my office putting the client presentation together.” He started walking out the room. “And, Sera, you’ll be coming with me on the shoot later this week too.”
He exited and suddenly the whole room was looking at me again. This time the smirks were gone, instead they were replaced with looks of shock, confusion and even some anger.
