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6

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The next day, Ed walked along Pavilion Street. As he reached the building that was McGinty's Diner, he stopped outside and took a moment to look at the appearance of the place. It was a fine looking building and he liked the way it had been made up.

Finally, he walked to the door and entered, looking around for Brinkley. Ed did not see him though, so he took a seat in one of the booths.

He rolled up his sleeve, looked at his watch and noticed that he was two hours too early. He sighed, thinking that it was better to be too early than too late and rolled back down his sleeve. As he finished, he looked up to see a waitress in front of his table.

"What's it going to be?" She asked, chewing gum.

"Um... I think I'm going to order a bit later. How about I just call you when I'm ready?"

The waitress chewed at him, shrugged, then walked away.

Ed was happy, and waited out the next two hours staring out the window of the diner at the passers-by on the sidewalk outside.

Suddenly, he felt a tapping on his shoulder. He thought it was the waitress and said, "Sorry, Miss. But I'm still not ready yet."

Howard Brinkley cleared his throat and Ed turned away from the window to see him standing there. "Oh! Mr. Brinkley! I'm sorry, I thought you were the waitress."

Howard sat down. "It's perfectly fine," He said, extending his hand and shaking Ed's rapidly. "But... speaking of waitresses, how about we order something? I'm a bit hungry."

"Sure," Ed said, although he knew perfectly well that he was in no mood to eat. He was just too excited about talking with Howard Brinkley in person.

Howard nodded and raised his hand to signal the waitress. "Oh, Miss!" He called. The waitress turned in Howard's direction, chewed at him, and then slowly made her way over.

"Yeah?" She asked, flipping open her notepad.

Howard turned to Ed. "Edward, what would you like?"

"Uh.. Me? W-Uh-Hmm.. I... whatever you're having."

Howard smiled at him and turned back to the waitress. "We'll have two orders of Combo Number Seven please."

The waitress chewed in response, scribbled down the info and trudged away.

"Combo Number Seven?" Ed asked.

"Barbecue ribs and chili fries!" Howard said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

"Barbecue ribs and chili fries..." Ed repeated. He could literally feel his stomach doing back flips inside of him. "Tasty," he said, forcing a smile.

"Yep. Now, about that movie." Howard reached into his coat pocket and produced a notebook. "Here's all the stuff I made you take down yesterday in case you didn't get it all. You'll see that this is a lot more detailed, though." He held the book out to Ed.

Ed took it with a shaking hand and opened to the first page. He looked it over and nodded to himself.

"So, that's to get you started on the script. I'm looking for a movie that's at least about ninety minutes long, so keep that in mind-- Well it's written in there, but I'm just letting you know. Oh, and I'll need the script by the end of the month so we can start shooting right away. Do you think you can handle that?"

Ed looked up from the book and at Howard. "Oh, Mr. Brinkley, I've written one hundred and twenty minute movie scripts in a week. I'm sure I can handle this."

Howard raised his brow, impressed. "Good, good. You're a good kid." He said, belting him a friendly hit on the back.

Having not expected Howard to do that, Ed was thrust forward, hitting his chest on the edge of the table, and knocking the wind out of him. With his eyes bulging, he straightened up and swallowed. "Th-Thanks," He managed to get out.

The waitress returned carrying a tray with their order on it. She carelessly put the plates of food down on the table, splashing Ed in the face with barbecue sauce.

Ed took his napkin, dabbed at his face, then replaced it. As he looked up, the waitress was gone and Howard was chin-high in ribs and fries.

Ed sighed and picked up a French fry. He slowly placed it into his mouth and began to chew.

Howard looked up from his plate. "Wassuh maher, Edwer? Ya naw hungry?" Howard asked, his mouth full of food making his speech very difficult to comprehend.

"No, I... I'm hungry. See?" Ed said, picking up a rib and touching it with the tip of his tongue.

"If ya seey so," Howard said, then went back to his eating.

Ed knew that he had to eat something. It was improper to just sit there and waste all of the food in front of him. So he picked up the rib again and bit off some of the meat. It was not that bad. He bit off some more, and decided that he might be able to finish it. He knew he'd be sick from it later, though.

As he was taking another bite, the denture plate of his four front teeth fell out of his mouth and onto the fries on his plate. Ed looked down at it in horror. What would Howard think of him!

Howard noticed and pointed a finger at it. "Whassat?" He asked, an eyebrow raised.

Ed picked up his dentures and slipped them back into his mouth. "Just my uh... dentures. Don't worry, though, they fall out often, it's normal," Ed assured, praying that Howard wouldn't freak out. He took in a deep breath and held it in.

Howard was silent for a moment, then finally he lowered his eyebrow. "Oh. Okay," He said, and went back to eating.

Ed let out his breath and was incredibly relieved. He put down the bone of the ribs he had finished and picked up a new one.

"Do you have any actors in mind for the parts?" Ed asked.

Howard looked up and his mouth wasn't so full anymore. "Huh? Oh, not really. You can be in charge of that, too."

Ed nodded and ate some French fries. "What about budget?" He asked.

Howard put down his rib and looked at Ed for a moment. "I... I only have a budget of two thousand dollars for you, Edward. I'm sorry."

Ed nodded slowly. "Two thousand dollars? Well, that's a start at least. I've had to do movies on donation basis before, but they all ended up working out one way or another."

"Really? So, two thousand will be good enough for you?" Howard asked. "You're just the best guy ever. How can I make this up to you?"

Ed smiled, modestly. "You don't have to do anything. It's enough pleasure just to talk to you right now."

Howard looked down at his plate and saw that he had finished his food. He frowned, picked up his napkin and began cleaning up. "You've got a good heart, you know that? A good heart. I don't care what you say, I'm going to make everything up to you."

Ed simply smiled back at him and ate a French fry.