"Peggy, babe...I don't know how long this is all going to take." Stan sighs into the phone from his hotel room in Rome, Italy.
Filming of the Coca Cola ad had been set to begin in Dover, England. Don's vision of young people from all over the world, singing together on a mountaintop was about to become real. But three days of continuous rain, with more forecast, forced postponements. Stan was hoping that the whole trip would take about a week or so, and then he'd be back at home with Peggy in their new home in Brooklyn. They had the house painted before they moved in, and had done a fair amount of unpacking, but he still had things he wanted to take care of. He wanted to get the nursery entirely finished. And he just wanted to be home, and settled in, with Peggy.
Peggy, on the other hand, was slightly envious that Stan went along with Don and the crew, although she would never mention it to Stan. She couldn't understand why he wasn't more excited. She also felt slightly resentful that her pregnancy was literally keeping her grounded, unable to fly. She had wanted to go to England, wanted to see the White Cliffs of Dover, and she wanted to have her input in this ad fully realized. Then when her resentment felt especially strong, she began to feel guilty about feeling resentful.
Right now though, just hearing Stan's voice on the telephone, her heart ached. He had only been away for nine days, but she felt extremely lonely and was really missing him terribly. This intense longing for him surprised her a little. Of course she knew she loved him, this felt different. She needed him. Not necessarily to do anything, she just needed him with her. Maybe being so pregnant made her feel vulnerable, or maybe it was that she had allowed herself to fully embrace him and depend on him.
The rain in England was not letting up and production costs were mounting as they waited. The McCann staff decided to move the shoot to Rome, which promised a more favorable climate. In Italy, the producers had to cast a new group of children by searching schools and youth hostels.
"Peggy, the whole thing has turned into a fucking ordeal. Production was supposed to to begin at 7:30 Wednesday morning with close-up shots of the sixty-five new principal singers. We were going to start that early because the morning light is more flattering. Terrific. But guess what? Apparently, we brought the dark clouds with us. It rained like hell that morning for the first time in weeks. When the rain cleared in the afternoon, the leads were filmed singing the song while the "extra" children waited." Stan sounded disgusted and tired.
"Finally, late in the day, some twelve hundred kids were spaced out on the top of the hill for the climactic shot from the helicopter. The light was fading after only a few takes, and the kids broke ranks and began running down the hill to get more Coke from the truck carrying the props. Your basic fiasco."
Peggy laughed, even though it wasn't really funny. She now was a little glad she wasn't part of the "basic fiasco".
"Oh no, babe, that's not all." Stan continued his rant. "Wait, it gets better. When the film was developed there were some unpleasant surprises. The zoom lens for the close shots was faulty, so each and every mother-fuckin frame was out of focus. And, just for good fuckin' measure, the light levels on the helicopter shots were too low."
Peggy could hear ice cubes clinking in a glass as he took a long sip.
"I take it you're not drinking a Coke right now" she giggled.
"No baby, I'm sorry. I know I swore solidarity with you to give up alcohol till the baby is born, but this whole thing got the better of me. I'm not going beserk, it's just a Scotch and soda." Stan assured her. "At least I'm in my room with one drink. You should have seen the crew at dinner the other night...nearly all of them shitfaced. Don included."
"Oh no" Peggy gasped.
"Don't worry." Stan knew she would be concerned. "I talked to him, asked him if he was ok, and that was not easy, believe me. He told me that wasn't going to happen again. I think he means it. He drank nothing but water at dinner tonight. I have to tell ya, he scares me. I really don't want to feel like I have to babysit him."
Stan went on. "Then, on Thursday, the lead female singer, you know, the "head girl" we brought with us from England, the one they just HAD to have...well, she informed us on Thursday that she had just gotten married and was going on her honeymoon and would not be available for any additional filming. How do you like that?"
"Oh God, Stan...that does sound bad." Peggy said. "So what did they do?"
"Well, as you can imagine, we have now used our entire budget waiting for the rain to end in England and generating unusable footage here in Rome." Stan told her.
"Don wants to keep the ad alive, so we sat down and re-worked it. We cut the number of kids in the youth chorus from twelve hundred to five hundred. And Don began the search for a new female lead. Most of the kids we found by contacting the foreign embassies in Rome and drawing from their residents. We got some forty young people between the ages of fifteen and nineteen as principals. And on Saturday, Don decides to take a walk to clear his head and spots this British governess who lives here in Rome, walking down the street pushing a baby carriage. He tells her the whole story, brings her over to the hotel lobby, the rest of the production crew comes down and meets her and decides Don is right, she looks perfect for the part of the female lead. This morning she got back to us, she's taking the part."
"Well, that sounds promising. Only Don, huh. Only he could chat up a woman in the street pushing a baby carriage, tell her he's filming a commercial...he's gonna make her a star!" Peggy laughed. "And have her take the bait!"
Stan laughed now too. "I know, right! Anybody else would get a slap across the puss!"
Stan felt better, hearing Peggy, laughing with her. Thank God for the telephone.
"We found a new local film company, Roma Films, to film the commercial. We're gonna film tomorrow. I like this company better. They changed up the whole strategy, now we're filming the larger group shots first. Then after that, they're shooting the aerial shots showing the entire group from the helicopter. The tight close-ups we'll get later, we don't have to be on the hillside for those".
"Well Stan, it sounds like it's starting to fall into place, finally." Peggy assured him. "I'm so sorry that it was so difficult. I hoped you would be able to enjoy your trip to Europe a little."
"Peggy, there is nothing for me to enjoy here without you. I just want to come home. I want to come back, sure...Rome is unbelievable, but I want to be here with you. And not working. Just relaxing, being tourists. I did go to the Coliseum before dinner tonight. You have to see it. It is so wild, Pegs, when you think of how old it is. Picturing ancient Romans in chariots. Then you step back on the street and the modern Romans are driving like maniacs. They make New York cabbies look like wimps!"
Peggy laughs again. "I'm glad you saw something, got to enjoy it a bit. I do want to go with you. It sounds great." Then her voice sounded less cheery. "Stan, I miss you so much. Really. So much. I feel like a piece of me is missing. I can't wait for you to come home."
Stan is a little surprised. It's not like her to talk this way. She's usually so pragmatic and strong. Now he's feeling more homesick than ever.
"I know, Pegs. I miss you too. A lot. More than I've ever missed anyone. I'm praying it all goes well so we can just wrap it up and go home." Stan tells her.
"You're praying?" Peggy laughs. "You really must miss me."
"I am praying. And I do miss you. I love you. Now kiss me goodnight, it's 2:30am here...I have to try to get some sleep." he tells her.
"I wish I could kiss you. I love you too. I'll dream of you."