Ed Nelson [Nelson - Star to Deckhand

The Richard Jackson Saga

By Ed Nelson

This is dedicated to my wife Carol for her support and help as first reader and editor.

A lso the BHS class of 1962 just because.

Opening quote

"This is exactly how it happened, give or take a lie or two."

James Garner as Wyatt Earp talking about the gunfight at the Okay Corral, in the movie Sunset.

Contents

Copyright August 2019 by E. E. Nelson

Eastern Shore Publishing

7545 Lovey Lane

Parsonsburg, MD 21849

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage retrieval systems without written permission from the author, e xcept for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Chapter 1

The week started out normal, Dad rousted me out of bed as he had been doing. Now that was strange, when I was on my own I woke up without an alarm and got right up and at it. With Dad here, I sleep as long as I can. Now that was just plain strange. I must be the only teenager in the world like that.

Once up I got right to it. Exercise and out to run. Dick was there. He wanted to talk.

Rick, something weird is going on. I was approached by the FBI who told me I was going to be considered for a special project. They wanted Janice and me to answer a long questionnaire about our lives and give then permission to check our story out. It is like we are being given a top-secret clearance or something. I called the LA FBI office, and found the agent is real, so we went ahead.

One thing Janice and I agree upon is if anything strange is going on in our lives you are probably involved.

Ouch!

If it is what I think it is Dick; you have no worries. You and Janice will like it. In the meantime, I cant talk about it. You should know in a couple of weeks. If things dont work out as I hope, then nothing will happen. You cant lose on this deal.

Is your Mum involved?

Yes, she is.

I have my suspicions about her, so we will see what we see.

Now it was my turn to worry, what were his suspicions? I couldnt ask as I would give away too much. Instead, I just bore down and ran as hard as I could. The high school coach was there and waved as we blasted by him.

As I finished dressing after my shower the phone was ringing. Dad grabbed it, but after a brief conversation handed me the phone. It was Mark Downing. The DF flyers were ready to go out to the distributors today. He had one in hand, and it looked really good. In the meantime, the actual hard copy catalog was going to the printers, so we were in business. Mark was as excited as I was.

Dad dropped me off at the studio with a break a leg.

I think that was for a stage play, but I would take it how it was given. The set was a bee hive of activity by the time I was out of makeup and costume. They were doing a scene with Maid Mariam and the village children. All the girls were playing with dolls while the boys were shooting small bows.

I had read the script, and it had said nothing about dolls, so I asked more out of curiosity than anything else. A set dresser was standing there so I asked him where the dolls had come from. They are not dolls.

I had to look again; they sure looked like dolls to me.

What are they?

Poppets or puppets, he replied.

Oh, I answered.

I still thought they were dolls.

He laughed, Poppets is what they called dolls in medieval times. The term Dolls didnt come into use until much later.

Got me, I laughed, I dont remember any poppets being mentioned in the script.

There werent, Sharon Bronson brought them in. She thought as Maid Mariam trying to help the village children, the bows and poppets would be appropriate.

It looks like they are a hit.

So much, that there now will be a scene of her making them out of old rags. To add a little drama she will run out of rags and rather than not have dolls for all the girls she will tear up one of her dresses. Of course, it will have sentimental value or good memories. The writers havent sorted that out yet.

Well Im glad she is buying into the movie.

Guess who will be making bows, He asked?

It didnt take a genius to figure that one. I had better check one out to see what I had to do.

Yeah, we were surprised; she has a reputation of being a brat. I hope this is the real Miss Bronson.

Same here, I replied.

Even after the scene was finished, the littles continued to play with their toys. The girls were obviously in love with their dolls, and boys with their bows. The safety man was watching the boys like a hawk.

My scene was a sword fight with Junior. It wasnt to the death or even a severe wound. We had to save him for future movies. I just had to humiliate him by disarming.

The actor playing Junior seemed like a nice kid, he was almost my size and twenty-three. What he wasnt, was a swordsman. How he got past the audition I will never know. Even though I had to win the fight, there had to be a fight.

They finally put Sammy in costume and had us perform the fight, then had the actor dance around with a sword getting pictures of his face which they could splice into the film.

Sammy and I had fun. We talked briefly about how we wanted the fight to go. We then walked over the area we would be fighting in. It was the great hall of the castle. We then put on a show for everyone. It went perfectly though we had to go through everything twice for an insurance shot. They then had me standing over Junior with my sword at his throat saying,

Yield or die.

He yields. Then being Junior, he tries to stab me in the back.

Since I am the all-knowing Robin Hood I know what he is going to try. So I slapped him up the side of his head with the flat of my sword. I had to time and pull that just right or I would have brained him. I wouldnt have minded doing that to Junior, but the guy playing Junior was okay.

Sharon had watched the scene even though she could have been off set.

I walked over to her and told her, Nice touch with the poppets.

You know what they were called?

Of course I do.

So sue me, she is a pretty girl with a bad reputation, but it is my duty as a red-blooded American Boy to impress every female I can.

Pull the other one, I saw you talking to the set dresser.

Busted, I replied.

Thats okay Rick. I had to look it up.

If you dont mind; where did you get the idea?

Anna told me that she used to do little things on the set for people she was working with, I thought of dolls and went to the library where I learned of poppets.

Keep it up Sharon you are heading in the right direction. The smiles on those little girls faces prove that. Where did the boys get the bows?

Junior made them last night.

Did he know you were doing the dolls?

No we surprised each other.

Thats neat. Well I have to get to work.

I went onto the set to take my position. I noticed Sharon and Junior leaving together. I really had to find out his name again, I had been told, but hadnt paid attention. Anyway, Junior and Sharon seemed really friendly. I hope he is a good guy.

Chapter 2

Finally, it was my turn to go to lunch. All the littles were at the commissary along with their parents. Several of the parents had seen me get my award from the Mayor on the late news last night so they congratulated me. One lady wanted me to know I wasnt to shoot that terrible weapon while her little Johnnie was on the set. Her words, not mine.