Sarah - Jerry and film

From last time ...

"Yeah. Hey. How 'bout an order of clams? I'm suddenly feeling a bit peckish."

"Comin' right up, honey. Comin' right up."

And now ...

Sable Keenan stood in the middle of the room, puzzled. She had her hat and coat on, and she had her keys to the door in her hand. She had two dollars and fifty cents tightly clutched in the other .. and she couldn't remember why. She almost felt as though she'd forgotten her name - and she'd had a moment, just a moment, when she couldn't quite say her grandson's name when he came into the room. She knew she wanted to be going somewhere. But she couldn't remember which door led 'out'.

"Gramma, you okay? ... Gramma? ... Gramma?"

"I'm ... fine ... Jerry. I'm fine. I just needed to think for a minute."

"Okay. But I was just gonna ask ya if ya had enough to get some ice cream, too, when you go to the store."

"Ice cream? Yeah, sure Jerry. Sure. Ice cream. When I go to the store. Absolutely, my boy. As sure as my name is Sable Keenan, ice cream it is. Do you want to come with me, young man? With two of us, we can carry an awful lot of ice cream."

"Oh boy! Let me get my jacket. Oh, and I better leave a note for Mom, just in case she comes home before we get back."

"Good idea, Jerry. We wouldn't want her to worry, now would we?"

"Nah, she ain't gotta worry about nuthin'. I jus' wanna tell her to leave room for ice cream. In case she eats."

"Good thinking, Jerry. Wouldn't do to have her full now would it."

She closed and locked the door behind her. I'm going to have to talk to Sarah about these memory lapses. I may need to see a doctor.


Sarah came home to find a note from Jerry explaining that he and his grandmother had gone to the store for ice cream and be sure not to eat too much. She smiled. That boy. I wish he could always stay just like he is.

Jerry had stood a book on end and closed the book on the note so that it stuck way out of the top of the book - so she'd be sure to notice it. She picked the book up and looked at it, and saw it was an ancient book on playwriting. Next to it, on the table, was a newer book on screenwriting. Both of them were from the library. She was still sitting at the table thumbing through the screenwriting book when the door opened and Jerry and his grandmother came into the apartment.

"Here, let me get that, Ma."

"No, you sit. I'm not an invalid yet, you know? Besides, I've got this big, strong young man with me. He's done most of the carryin' - in fact, it was something of a horse race getting home, what with him wantin' to be sure we were home before the ice cream melted."

"Jerry! You have to take it easy on your Gramma. She's not as young as you are. Put that stuff away and come here when you're done."

"Sure, Mom."

"What's the boy done now, Sarah?"

"No, it's not anything he's done, Ma. It's these books."

"Books? Oh, those books from the library, ya mean. It's his latest thing ya know? Filmin'. He goes around sometimes pretendin' he's got a movie camera in front of his face - or he does that thing that those movie people do - you know - when they hold their hands up in front of themselves lookin' all foolish and stuff. Framin', I think they call it. Like they're preparin' everything for the next shot. He does it all the time."

"He does? Hmmm. He does, eh?"

"He does."

Jerry walked up to his mother.

"What's cookin', Mom?"

"What's cookin', is it? What's cookin'? Is that any way to talk to yer Mom?"

"It's okay, Ma. Jerry, have you actually been reading these books?"

"Yeah, sure. I've been thinkin' about shootin' a movie ever since I can remember. Well, maybe since last year, anyway. My teacher at school thought I oughta look into it - she seemed to think I had a natural instinct for it."

"Now how would she know that?"

"Well, we was doin' this skit in class, you know? And I just told her what she was doin' was wrong. I didn't know WHY it was wrong - it just didn't feel right. Since I been readin', I know what she was doin' is called 'Staging', and I just knew the right things to do. That's how."

"That's good, Jerry. That's very good. So you think maybe you'd like to shoot film?"

"Ah, maybe. I dunno. Maybe I'll be a producer, or a director or sumthin'. I just know I wanna make pictures when I grow up. I don't wanna be a movie star, though. That ain't fer me. Nah, what I wanna do is make other people movie stars."

"But, Jerry. Don't you want to be rich and famous? Movie stars are rich and famous."

"Nah. I just wanna make movies. Real good movies."

"Well, I wish you luck. But, I'll tell you what, if you're good and you wash the dishes, AND DRY THEM after we eat, I'll take you to the pawn shop down the street and we'll see if they have a nice 8mm camera. What do you say?"

"Hot Diggity!! Let's eat!!"

"Yes. Let's eat."

And Sable Keenan stood in front of the open refrigerator, trying to remember what she was doing.