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40
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Even though he was in tears practically his whole visit to Bela's grave, it had made him feel a lot better and had cleared his mind, making him able to get down to business on Mr. Brinkley's tasks.
For the remaining days until his lunch with Brinkley, Ed had been hard at work thinking of not only actors that were suitable for the roles, but also actors who would be willing to do the film. Let's face it, Ed didn't have a very good reputation.
After hours of thinking, calling agents and meeting some actors to discuss working on the film, Ed had finally assembled his cast list. And fortunately he had just made it on time because the next day was his and Howard's lunch meeting.
Ed walked down Pavilion Street all the way to McGinty's, early as usual. He sat in the booth that he and Howard had normally taken on their lunches and stared out the window at the sky, waiting for Brinkley to show up. He was very excited about what Howard would think about Ed's arrangement.
Ed turned his head after a while to see if Brinkley had arrived yet, and was surprised to see him just pulling into the booth at that moment. Ed put out his hand. "Hey! Mr. Brinkley!"
Howard took Ed's hand and shook it. "Hello, Edward. Before we begin, I'd like to order our lunch."
"Yeah, sure."
Howard raised his hand to signal the waitress. The lazy one, which they always got, made her way through the restaurant and to their booth. "Yeah?" She asked, chewing gum. She took her notepad from her apron pocket and opened it, ready to take down the order.
"We'll have two Super Mexicali Fiesta specials."
"That's all?"
Ed and Howard nodded.
The waitress scribbled down in her little notepad, then trundled away to give the order out to be made.
Howard turned back to Ed and looked at him. "So, now where were we?"
"Yeah, um... I want to show you the list I made of people to work on our film. I've got the whole cast ready." He took a notebook out from his coat, placed it on the table and slid it across to Howard.
Howard took it in his hands and opened, to reveal a list of names.
"I think you'll be very pleased," Ed added.
Howard nodded then skimmed down the list, seeing whom Ed had managed to get for the film. When he was finished, he closed the book and looked at Ed silently.
"Uh... is it okay?"
Howard nodded slowly. "Yeah, well, these aren't REALLY famous names but I'm surprised you actually got all these people to agree. You must've worked very hard on it."
"Oh, I did, Mr. Brinkley. I went through so many people because many of them didn't want to do the movie for various reasons. But these are the lucky people we got and that's all that matters. Now we can start filming on schedule, like you had planned and everything."
"Yeah, that really is superb, Edward. You know, I'm proud of you."
"You are? Why?"
"Because you're being worked to your limits with small periods of time to get jobs done and you haven't broken down or so much as flinched all along the way so far."
Ed began to blush. "Oh, Mr. Brinkley," he said, embarrassedly.
The waitress returned with the Mexicali Fiesta fun and set the giant platters of food down on the table, then trudged away back to the counter.
In no time, Brinkley was all over his platter. Ed ate his at a normal pace.
"So, we'll begin filming on Friday at my studio. It's just around the cor--"
Ed held his hand up to Brinkley, "Just around the corner of Maxwell and Eaton. There's no need to tell me twice, Mr. Brinkley. I know everything about you."
Mr. Brinkley nodded. "Everything? Ah... okay," he said nervously.
"Yep. I'm a fan of yours, remember?"
"Yeah, sure. Uhh... well, I think we should celebrate being able to do our filming on Friday. How about you bring Kathy over tonight for another one of our famous dinners?" Brinkley asked.
"Sure thing, Mr. Brinkley."
"Enjoying your Mexicali Fiesta?" Brinkley asked, shoving a handful of chili covered nachos in his mouth.
Ed poked a small nacho at some bean dip and nodded. "Yeah. It's pretty swell."
Brinkley pointed at an untouched taco on Ed's platter. "You gonna eat that?"
Ed shook his head, "No, you can have it."
Brinkley rubbed his hands together in enjoyment, took Ed's taco and placed it on his own platter. "Ooh. Thanks."
Just as Ed was about to open his mouth to say something else, a high-pitched scream ran through the entire restaurant. It sounded as though it had come from the back room.
"Geez! What the hell was that?" Howard asked, alarmed.
Ed took his napkin and wiped off his mouth. "I don't know." He stood up from the booth. "But I'm going to find out." And then he was on his way to the back. Brinkley shrugged, saw he had finished his own platter, then moved Ed's in front of him and began on that one.
Ed reached the counter, saw no one there. So, with the eyes of bewildered customers watching him, he walked behind and pushed open the door that led to the back room. And on the floor he saw Carlina Epstein with Nadia Brinkley kneeling over her, pulling her hair. The lazy waitress was off to the side, watching the brawl... lazily.
"What are you doing! Get off of me! Get off!" Carlina cried.
Nadia continued to grasp her hair, banging Carlina's head over and over on the concrete floor. "You bitch! You bitch! He's mine!"
"No. Stop," The waitress said, lazily, twirling her hair around on her finger.
"Ahhhhh! Help!" Carlina screamed, trying to get away, but Nadia was too strong.
"No. Don't," The waitress said.
Ed stood in the doorway, his mouth wide open, trying to make sense of the whole situation. After his shock wore off, he hurried over to the fighting females and grabbed Nadia away from Carlina. "What do you think you're doing!"
Nadia wriggled her way out of his grip and back to Carlina who had managed to get to her feet. "I'm showing her what happens when she steals MY MAN," Nadia said, rushing over to Carlina. She slapped her across the face.
Carlina's head shot back from the impact and her nose began to bleed. Finally, she gathered herself and shoved Nadia into the wall. "Your man? He's my man!" Carlina yelled, then kneed Nadia in the stomach.
Nadia doubled over, holding herself. Carlina shook her hair away from her face and nodded to herself, proud of what she had just done. But she wasn't nodding for long. Nadia straightened out, growled, and tackled Carlina to the floor. "Bitch!" She yelled from on top of Carlina, then began smacking her.
"Please. Stop," The waitress said, filing her nails.
Ed quickly pried Nadia from Carlina again. This time he held on hard to her arm. "Ladies, ladies!" Ed yelled. "I am neither one of yours!"
Nadia began thrashing around in Ed's grip and it was getting harder to hold onto her. Frightened, Carlina inched back against the wall and cowered in the corner, staring at Nadia thrashing. Nadia bent her head down and bit Ed on the arm and he let go of her. "Ow! Good golly geez!" He yelled, holding his arm.
Then Nadia was back on Carlina in the corner. They began rolling around on the ground, closer and closer to the waitress. The bundle of Nadia and Carlina touched the waitress's feet and she stepped back a bit. "Hey. Quit it," she said.
Ed began to have a fit. "That's it! Both of you have gone too far!" He yelled. But the fight was still going strong. "I hate both of you!" He yelled.
The bundle of Nadia and Carlina stopped rolling and both women looked up at Ed.
"I hate you both! I hate you! You're both ugly!" He continued.
Nadia and Carlina separated and looked at Ed in awe.
"I wouldn't even wash my car with the dresses you're wearing! ... if I had a car..."
The two women stood up and approached Ed, still in awe.
"And your hairstyles! They're okay if you live in... THE 40'S!"
Nadia and Carlina's eyes both widened at the same time. They stood on either side of Ed.
"D-Do you really mean that, Ed?" Nadia asked with a wavering tone.
"Yeah. D-D-Do you?" Carlina asked, wavering as well.
Ed crossed his arms over his chest and took on a serious look. "Yes," he said, nodding to himself, sadly.
Tears began pouring from both females' eyes. Nadia placed her hand on Ed's shoulder. Carlina's, on his back.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Ed," Carlina began bawling. "I'm sorry." She kissed him lightly on the cheek.
"Me too," Nadia cried, rubbing her hand on Ed's shoulder. Then she began planting kisses all over Ed's face.
Carlina's hand found it's way to Ed's backside and she began nibbling on his ear.
"Whoa! Ladies!" Ed cried in shock.
Carlina and Nadia immediately stopped and looked at eachother. "Maybe we can share?" Carlina asked, teary-eyed.
Nadia nodded, dabbing at her eyes. "Yeah, that could work."
Ed backed away from the women, wide-eyed. "Don't I have any say in this?" He asked, horrified.
Nadia and Carlina began approaching him, tears drying and smiles appearing on their faces. Ed continued to back away from them. But soon he was backed up against the wall with nowhere left to go. The two women pushed him down to the ground and sat on either side of him. Then they were busy undressing him and applying themselves to his body.
"Carlina! Nadia! We can't do this! I don't want to!"
Nadia stopped for a moment, said, "Yes you do," then went back to kissing.
"But that waitress is still here!" Ed said, pointing to the lazy girl. He was trying to find anything that could turn them off so they'd just let him be. He was praying it would work.
Carlina looked up from Ed's chest to see the waitress standing at the other end of the room, watching them. Then she shrugged. "It's okay. Shirley likes to watch."
"Noooooooooo!" Ed yelled.
"Shhh!" Both females hushed.
Not listening, he yelled again.
His yell went through the entire restaurant, as Carlina's scream had before. The customers, bewildered once more looked around for its source, didn't find it, went back to what they had been doing.
Howard, stuffed from one and a half lunches, sat back against his seat, licking each finger simultaneously. He was none the wiser, as well. No one could help Ed.