Wool of the Prince-- Chapter 32

Chapter 32

~1,076 words

The ride on the Redline was quite quick. It was filled with all kinds of people. Jay noticed a woman in a glittery jumpsuit scribbling something on a clipboard. There was a man in Ray Vans who had a large afro, and he was playing a game on his phone. There was a little girl in a pink dress who was poking at her mother to look out the window, but her mother was talking on her cell phone and kept smoothing the girl’s hair down. And, of course, there was a man with a too-bright smile in a curious red cape, a young woman in dirty-looking homespun, and a man in a suit who looked quite out of place, but yet belonged to this motley crew. Jay almost laughed when a little boy had taken an interest in Cabot’s cape. The boy was trying to intimidate Cabot into giving it to him by staring him down. Cabot, clearly uncomfortable, cleared his throat and tried to look elsewhere.

They arrived at Hollywood late in the afternoon. “We need to find a computer or something,” Jay said. “I don’t know where the studio we’re looking for is.”

“I have a laptop,” William offered. William was the only one who had had luggage to take with him on the train. He had popped into his hotel in Chicago to grab it before they went on the train. “We should find an internet café or something.”

“Yes. I think I see a Starbucks down the street a little ways,” said Jay.

The streets were filled with cars and people and buildings. There were plenty of palm trees, and the day was warm. When they entered Starbucks, they stepped into a cloud of coffee-scented air.

“Mmm,” said Fleta, taking a deep breath. “I can never get used to how good all your food is here.”

“You’ve only had train food,” Jay laughed. “Wait until you get some real food.”

“Does this place serve real food? Because it smells delicious in here.”

“Well, I wouldn’t consider this the best food we have to offer,” Jay said.

“But you can still have whatever you like,” William interrupted.

Fleta beamed. “What kind of fruitwashes do they have?”

William looked confused, but Jay answered. “We don’t have fruitwashes. The closest thing to a fruitwash that I can think of would be a smoothie, and I don’t see any on the menu.”

“Oh. What should I get then? I don’t really like coffee.” Fleta wrinkled her nose. “Though I do love its smell.”

“Hot chocolate, maybe?”

“Ooh! I haven’t had chocolate in forever! Yes, I’ll have some of that.” Fleta clapped her hands.

“Coming right up, missy,” said William. “Does anyone else want anything?”

Jay and Cabot shook their heads.

“Then you best start researching that studio, Jay. See if you can find us a hotel while you’re at it.” He handed Jay his backpack.

Jay led Cabot to a booth table around the side of the building. He unzipped the backpack and slid out a sleek laptop. Cabot watched him from across the table.

“Here Cabot, let me show you something. Come on this side of the table.” Jay scooted over, and Cabot sat beside him, looking with barely-masked wonder at the laptop’s screen. “This is a computer. It can do all sorts of things. But what it’s best for is accessing the internet. The internet is a means through which everyone in the world with a connection to it can communicate.” Jay connected to the Starbuck’s Wi-Fi and launched the browser. “Now, I don’t know what studio the dagger movie was filmed in, so I can just Google that. The movie was Total Vengeance, made by Three Pines Studios.” Jay typed the title into the search bar, and clicked on the first result—a link to IMDB: Internet Movie Database. That brought him to an information page about the move.

“What’s all this?” Cabot asked, pointing.

“Those are the actors who played in the movie, but we don’t care about them right now.” Jay scrolled down further. “We care about this.” He pointed at a word: Waterpress Studios. Jay looked up Waterpress Studio’s location. It was just a mile down the street from the Starbucks. He checked the visiting hours, but the studio had closed half an hour earlier. Plus you needed to RSVP for a tour. Jay sighed. “I guess we’ll do it tomorrow. If we can get a hold of the tour manager.”

“So Earth has all this communication ability…” Cabot mused. “I bet you guys don’t have any wars. All disputes can just be settled over this internet thing.”

Jay laughed. “If only that were true, Cabot.”

Just then, William and Fleta appeared. “There you guys are!” Fleta said. “We were looking for you, but we couldn’t find you!” She was holding a steaming cup of chocolate.

“Were you able to find anything out about the studio?” William asked.

“Yeah, Three Pines filmed Total Vengeance at Waterpress Studio, which is down about a mile from here, but they’re closed, and we have to call to schedule a tour.”

“I’m sure that can be arranged. And the hotel?”

“I haven’t gotten to that yet. Maybe you’d be better at handling that.”

William nodded and took the laptop without a word.

“So how do you like your chocolate, Fleta?” Jay asked.

Fleta was sipping at the side of the cup. “It’s hot, but delicious. It’s so smooth and creamy and sweet. I wish they had these at every inn back home.”

“I wish they had fruitwashes at every restaurant here.”

Cabot played with a napkin, shredding it thoughtlessly into thin strips. The ripping paper, William’s typing, and occasional sips from Fleta were the only sounds.

Eventually, William closed the lid of the laptop and said, “A cab’s coming to pick us up and take us to our hotel. Then I thought it would be fun if we could see a movie together, so I bought tickets! After that, we can pick up dinner.”

“Sounds like a fun night,” Jay said. He had smiled when Fleta brightened at the mention that they were going to see a movie. “Thank you William.”

“No, thank you. I’m already getting some ideas as to what my new app is going to be, and it is going to be good. I can just feel it.” William grinned, and Fleta finished off the rest of her hot chocolate.