Page 14 of Arranging Ayra
“Blythe, this is Ayra, a good friend who will be arranging the music forPride and Prejudice. Ayra, this is Blythe Danner who is, among other things, in charge of the budget for our movie.”
“Exactly, and I do need to speak with you... in private.”
Well, that was clear enough. I stood up and tried to hide how flustered I was. “I was finished eating anyway.” I looked to Keely. “I’ll catch you later.”
Before I could make it past the lunch spread, Blythe and Keely’s exchange grew loud enough for all to hear.
“Blythe, be reasonable,” Keely called out as the redhead walked past me. “You need to explain yourself.”
“You’re nothing without me, Keely,” Blythe shouted. “Nothing! This film is going to shut down without me.”
“The way you’re running things, it was destined to shut down no matter what,” Keely shouted in anger. “We’ll find a way to finish this, and it will be better without you.”
The redhead disappeared and everyone jumped at the sound of the slamming door in the distant.
“Well, that didn’t go too well,” Keely said.
“What’s going on?” I said, almost afraid to ask.
“We have a number of investors... you know, people who put up the money for this film,” she said as she marched out into the hall, her heels clipping loudly on the hardwood floor. “Blythe has been in charge of managing all that. She’s convinced a number of small investors so far and she’s in charge of all the expenses. Last week she told me that she had lined up three investors, big investors with deep pockets. It would be enough to really make the movie that we want to make.”
She walked so fast; I had trouble keeping up with her. And as she took to the stairs, I wanted to ask where she was going, but didn’t get the chance.
“Since the very moment I started working on this, I’ve dreamed of doing a few scenes at one particular manor that is just so splendid. She swore it was out of the question and there simply wasn’t the budget to do it. But with these new investors... I thought I would be able to film the sequence.”
Breathless, I stopped a moment and quickly resumed chasing after her.
“But, wouldn’t you know it...” she went on as she continued her long strides down the hall. “She claims that she lost it. She lost it! How the hell do you lose a few million dollars? Was she carrying it around in her purse!? Did she leave it in the pockets of her other slack? Dang! How do you lose investments like this?”
She reached the narrow doorway Jai and I had emerged from the day before and pulled the door back so violently, it slammed into the wall behind it. Maintaining the speedy pace, she went down the spiral staircase. Three times I almost tripped as I rushed to keep up.
“Lose it? No. Blythe stole it. I’m sure she did. So handy being the one in charge of finances.”
“Keely,” I finally said, still a little breathless. “Where are you going?”
We emerged from the narrow door downstairs and headed back toward the breakfast room.
“Nowhere. I just need to burn off some of this nervous energy before we start up again. Can you imagine me directing those girls while I’m in such a state?” She huffed as she marched on. “On top of it all, we no longer have a producer. Blythe was also our producer. What am I supposed to do now? I’m already putting out more fires than I can handle. I need someone to handle all the administrative and producer stuff, on top of the investors!”
