VII. THE PRIUS
329 Words
VII. THE PRIUS
“Where were we?” LaRissa finally cracked a smile, maybe her first one all day… or all month. She was not prone to random outbursts of happiness, but LaRissa had just escaped a crazed posse and the sense of relief released a surge of emotion.
“In my mother’s dungeon.”
“Right… I have to ask, Charlie, how do you deal with that kind of… adoration?”
“Never really got used to it. I know it’s hard to believe, but I didn’t get into this business to become, well, me. My dream was to play my guitar at a level never heard before. The rest of the stuff? It’s been a challenge.”
LaRissa had driven Yannick’s Prius to a secluded spot in Central Park, dropped a pin on her smartphone so Yannick would know the location of his vehicle, and got as comfortable as possible to continue the interview.
The rock star and the rock reporter had tried to contact several associates to meet them in the park and take them to a safe location. Wanda the PR agent and Estrella’s manager, Berg Rabinowitz, were still meeting with the movie studio. Q. Zeller was busy with his latest lady friend and would not reply to Charlie’s texts. LaRissa, who made her home in San Francisco, and continued to live there even after the magazine shut down their West Coast office in 2009, did not know anyone locally who could help. So LaRissa and Charlie decided to conduct the interview from the backseat of Yannick’s Prius until Yannick needed to get his car back.
Estrella became momentarily lost, staring out the backseat passenger window.
“Hello? Charlie?”
No response. More staring.
“What’re you looking at?”
More staring.
“Estrella!”
Still staring at nothing – at least nothing LaRissa could see, Charlie mumbled, “But I don’t want to die.”
“Pardon? Estrella? What are you saying?”
Charlie came back. “Oh, sorry. What’s your question?”
LaRissa shook her head, confused. “We okay to continue?”
“Of course, why?”
“Let’s just get back to your mom’s basement.” LaRissa made a note: “ODD BEHAVIOR; TRANCES; TALKS ABOUT DEATH.”
- Writer
