Page 33 of Out on a Limb

“Let the countdown begin!”

Henry shut off the television. Even after being roommates since August, Cameron still had not turned Henry into an avid TV watcher. “So, when are you seeing your young urban professional again?”

Cameron wondered if Walker had custody of his son this weekend, which immediately freaked him out. “I don’t know. Probably at work. He frequents my Starbucks.”

“He really is a professional! So, are you guys dating?”

“You and your labels.” Cameron shook his head. “That’s the best part! We’ll never be boyfriends. He’s divorced-ish with a kid.”

Henry nearly spat out his breakfast. “Are you serious?”

“Yes! I met his son. He hates me. It’s wonderful.” Cameron did feel a slight twinge of pain over Hobie’s mean stare, but he looked on the bright side. “Walker and I can hang out, but it’s never going to go anywhere, and we’re both totally fine about it. I’m graduating and moving, and he has a family and roots in Duncannon. There’s no pressure. Nobody gets hurt.”

“Wow, Cameron. This is the perfect scenario for you. Why did you never think of this before?”

Cameron thought he detected some sarcasm in Henry’s voice. He was probably pissed off that his Cameron Needs a Boyfriend campaign was just thwarted.

Φ

“So Jake Gittes was getting too nosy, so what did Robert Towne write next?” Professor Mackey asked the class while queuing up the DVD.

“He gets beat up?” Robert asked.

“Not quite.” She pressed play. Jack Nicholson is held against a gate while his nose gets cut. “He’s too nosey. His nose gets cut.”

“Isn’t that a little…on the nose?” Robert snickered at his own lame joke. Cameron rolled his eyes. It seemed that Robert’s main goal in life was to try and prove his professors wrong. That didn’t make him smarter, just more annoying.

“Is it? How many times have you seen this type of punishment?” Professor Mackey asked. “It may seem a little obvious, but it’s fresh, unexpected, reveals some character, and flows naturally within the story. It isn’t just Jake getting beat up or punched in the face.”

“I suppose,” Robert said.

Cameron gave him the eyeroll of the century.

Professor Mackey shut off the TV. “Chinatownis considered one of the best screenplays ever written, if not the best. It’s revered, yet it would shock you how few Hollywood execs have seen the movie. I remember going on pitch meetings, mentioningChinatown, and getting blank stares.”

“What were pitch meetings like?” Cameron asked, inching closer in his seat.

Mackey laughed to herself. “It’s ten minutes of smalltalk and schmoozing. Then you launch into a beat-by-beat breakdown of your script. You basically have to talk someone through the trailer of your movie.”

Cameron envisioned himself giving a pitch of his script to some stylish exec in his stylish office which overlooked palm trees and the Hollywood sign. He wondered if any offices actually overlooked the sign, or if that was mere movie magic.

Mackey handed back everyone’s latest writing assignments. Cameron’s paper had an A on it, which wasn’t surprising anymore, and a note, which was.

See me after class.

Once people dispersed, Cameron held up his assignment to Mackey.

“My office is around the corner.” She gestured out the door, and he followed.

While most professors’ shelves were filled with dusty books that Cameron figured were solely there for ambience, Mackey’s shelves were lined with old screenplays. Their names were written in black Sharpee on the binding.Ordinary People, Shakespeare in Love, Fargo, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

“You have quite a collection,” he said.

“Thanks. You can borrow one whenever you want. Have a seat, Cameron.”

He plopped into a hard wooden chair. Instead of sitting across the desk, Mackey sat in the other wooden chair, making them feel like equals. She had a coolness that he admired, that was lacking from many Browerton professors. She wasn’t stuck in the world of academia.

“You’re a great writer, Cameron.”