Sirens, p.62
Sirens, page 62
you wait around until the awards ceremony's over and give escort horne.'
Mike,' the other cop said, gesturing. ' don't know 7one it in.' the
blond, said without turning around. And in Y' C tone of voice, said, ''d
be happy to, Miss. Whitney.' k the pad and pen back from her. ' just
look for us er you come out.' a you, Michael. Mr. Rubens and I would
appreciate 541 - - Ilianaged to stress the '' and the rest of the
sentence se _e , to fade away. She turned, took Rubens' arm. ', Miss.
Whitney?' 4yes?) ' luck, tonight. We're pulling for you.' ', thank you,
Michael. That's very kind of you." Colour had come to his cheeks and he
turned away. Daina and Rubens went through the second set of doors into
the lobby proper and she saw him the moment she stepped through. He came
quickly up, his dark hawklike face held high. He was in an ill-fitting
tux that he must have rented at the last minute. His hair was a good
deal longer than she remembered it, its pitch blackness relieved now by
strands of silver, and his full beard was shot with white. It seemed
ages since she had thrown him out of her house. ''ve been waiting for
this moment,' he said. His voice was the same, that peculiar metallic
quality making his sentences seem clipped, foreign. It was just one of
the elements that made him such a good public speaker. He seemed
uncomfortable in the tux, his neck welted from twisting it back and
forth against the chafing collar. ', this is Mark Nassiter.' They
ignored each other with the ferocity of sworn enemies, ' d'you
want?'Daina said, ' to see you again." There was a bit of tobacco on his
lip. ' see what you've become.' His dark eyes were hooded. ' see what
they've made you into.' ' I've become, Mark, is because of me. These are
my dreams.' ' sure about that, honey?' He leered at her, leaning in on
the balls of his feet, a habit he used to counteract his lack of height.
For the first time shewas able to recognize the hardness in his face;
there was an adamantine quality to his eyes that she was certain now had
been there all the time. Mark pointed. ' so sure that this Svengali
isn't at the heart of it all, pulling his strings.' His mouth twisted
with contempt.
"How's it feel to be sleeping with a power junkie?' 542 hand snaked out,
touched the line of her jaw, briefl ed her chin, ''s all that's happened
to you, baby.' aina felt the forward surge even before she saw Rubens e.
' just a goddamn minute, you sleazy punkl' Rubens' ds were balled fists.
Mark beckoned with his finger. ''mon, you fat cat. I ain't id of you. I
ain't afraid of anything!' aina stepped between the two of them. She
looked at Mark she spoke to Rubens. ''s enough," she said tightly. ave
this to me.' "The hell I will.' Rubens took a lunge past her. ' bastard
erves everything he's gonna get from mep She spun around now, glared up
into his face. ' said I'll le thisp Mark grinned sardonically. ', that's
the way, baby. Yeah, h. Assert your little self. Take it while you can.
Who cares t it's only an illusion.
This's the battle he'll let you win use it costs him nothing to lose.
But when it comes to the r, honey, he's already bought you, sold you,
and packaged like a side of ham. And the funny thing is - I mean the
screamingly funny thing is that you won't even know it R the army's gone
on to a new, even bigger campaign and you far behind.' ''re awfully sure
of yourself, aren't you?' He snorted derisively. ' enough, so I don't
have to kiss e asses of the power.' ' yeah,' Daina said. ' can just see
the scene now between and the people at Columbia.' She eyed him. ''m
certain y enjoyed scarfing down your polemics while shovelling over
extra eleven mil you needed to finish up Skyfire after you over budget.'
Rubens laughed when he saw the expression on Mark's face. ' disgust
me.'Mark turned to go. ' through with us so soon?' Daina said sweetly. '
thought , ' h p en in b e pe of a n d he to r I f re yo jaw e u a b b ri
y e"@ e 0 she sa Rubens you sleazy punk 1 Rubens, ''mon , fat cat. I ain
t u were just warming up.' ''ve seen enough,' he said savagely. ' than
enough.
It's at I came here for.' She reached out quickly, took his arm in a
strong grip, 543 pulling him back to face her. ', no, my lad, you won't
get away with that.' He started to Pull away from her but she merely
tightened her grip. ''ll tell you why you came here. You came to pick up
your Oscar. You who won't kiss the asses of power. Well, here's the
power tonight, Mark, and you know what? You're right here with the rest
of us, aren't you?' ' I win,' he grated, ''ll be able to say my piece.
That's what I want.' Daina shook her head so that her honey hair brushed
her checks. She smiled. ' you had any guts at all you would've stayed
away like Brando or Woody. But you couldn't. You're too weak. You lack
even the conviction to face up to what you really are." She let go of
him as if he were a three-month-old piece of meat, ''re all polemics;
all steamy-voiced and angry-eyed in the dead of night. But when it comes
right down to it, you won't strap on your guns and shoot.
You're no outsider. You play at being an outlaw but that's all it is.
Face it, Mark. You're a kid and that's all you'll ever be.' Mark's hands
were clenched fists at the ends of stiff arms and the comers of his
mouth were white with tension. ' everything all right, Miss. Whitney?"
Daina turned her head slightly, saw the blond cop behind her. He had
left his post, come, in through the second set of doors. ''s all right
.2 But he was not even listening, pushing on past her. He stopped in
front of Mark, tapped him on the chest with the tip of his forefinger as
if testing for life. His other hand rested lightly on the top of his
bolstered pistol's stock. ' giving the lady any trouble, bud, I wouldn't
advise going any further.' He pushed once softly against Mark's chest. '
on,' he said lightly. ' it.' And pushed again so hard that Mark stumbled
back a pace before turning and disappearing into the crowd. The blond
cop turned around. ' else I can do, Miss. Whitney ...'He touched thepeak
of his cap. ''s all right, Michael," she said softly. ' you very much.'
' at all.' He went out through the doors to join his partner. 544 t's
the matter,' she said to Rubens as they went through theatre, ' got your
tongue?' n't know," he said. ''m just a little dazzled.' vas perfectly
prepared for the moment when they would name. Rubens was certain it
would come even though s not. , a time when the fear creeps in on silent
dangerous oozing through the mind, clamming the hands. It was ing a
child all over again and knowing, just knowing, that was nothing hiding
over there in the comer where she'd her clothes and the closet door
stood half open, in the in the dark with the rain spattering against the
windowlike lonely tears and the lurid neon radiance of the ing forking
down and the thunder rolling like waves t a rocky coast, rattling the
windows at the moment e apart the sky.. all these jokes. The nominees
for Best Actress in a on Picture are ... ) t, somehow, at those times,
knowing did no good at all se some other part of her mind was at work,
creeping out she wasn't - looking, taking hold with steel talons and ng
an ascendancy, laughing hysterically at the rational d ... Daina Whitney
for Heather Duell.. o now she sat there on top of the bed covers,
cross-legged goosefleshed, her nightgown bunched up around her s, and
she bit at her nails, stared at that black comer as if ere a pit and
broke out into a cold sweat ... for The Powers That Be ...' : she
thought she was perfectly prepared for whatever was that was going to
spring out at her from that dark place. but then Jodie Foster's only
nineteen.' Laughter.
"Now re's the all-importantienvelope. Sally, would you do the ours?"
It's only fear, she thought, that can cloud men's minds ... easier
opening envelopes, wouldn't you? Oh here we The winner is ... Daina
Whitney' - shouts and applause ost drowning out the rest -'for Heather
Duell!' 545 So then she thought: What is it I am going to say now to
all of them? Now that I've been chosen, now that my name has been
called, now that the four others who were nominated have dutifully
hidden their disappointment for the cameras but who, later on, for
tomorrow and tomorrow, until it's nothing but old news, will whisper
their resentment and envy to anyone who will listen. Is there anything
to say to this community, to this city, to the world? The film's theme
swelled in the theatre as she climbed the plexiglass steps to the stage
with the rising applause ringing in her ears, the bright lights flaring
in her eyes, and walked, breathless, to the thin podium where Sally and
Bob waited, strangers to her now, smiling and waving. On the podium's
thin platform: the gold statuette. Silence. And within the silence, a
rustling as if she were alone in a field full of insects on an endless
drowsy summer's afternoon. She looked out over the audience, looking at
no one at all. ''ve thought of so many things to say ... at a moment
like this. Once I thought they were important things. But never having
experienced a moment like this before, I find that everything I thought
I would say is inadequate. ' doesn't matter. Nothing I say here matters.
This award'she grasped the statuette around its ankles, holding it aloft
- ''t for words. It's for actions. It means more to me ... I can't tell
you. It's been a dream for so long, so long. Thank you Rubens and Yasmin
and George and, especially, dear Marion. Thank you all for proving that
this town hasn't lost its touch for making dreams come true.' Rubens'
house seemed to be transformed as more and more people arrived to join
the celebrations. Six statuettes stood beside Daina's, including Best
Supporting Actress for Yasmin, Best Director for Marion and Best Film
for Rubens. Daina felt as if she were standing atop the highest ountain
in' peak in the world and below her, spread out on the most immense
carpet in the world, were all the millions of people, their faces
upturned in rapturous radiance, their arms out- tched towards her while
she whirled and whirled and led. From Rubens to Yasmin to Marion and
back again as the of them stood in the centre of the room, standing on
the sh pillows of the couch in the sunken conversation pit, ding their
Oscars aloft while a battery of drunks shot off ir SX-70 Sonars.
Snick-snick-snick. The resulting flurry photos filled the air like
confetti. Daina winked at the fat mermaid on the wall. She downed
champagne at a record clip. There was more ittinger Blanc de Blanc there
than anyone had seen in one ce in a long time. She had stayf-d in the
Zandra Rhodes but had taken forty utes in the bathroom with Mandy, the
makeup artist from iko's in Beverly Hills. She had emerged looking like
a tigress. Mandy had used the . top half of her face as her canvas,
employing paints of lescent oyster-white, glittering gold, a deep earthy
umber hints of a hard searing green. She had used all horizontal kes,
expanding Daina's eyes, giving the startling illusion t they went all
the way around to the sides of her skull. Above and below the
white-painted sockets, the sweeps of darker colours filled and
highlighted, the glitter used ringly only on the highest sections of her
face: the points her cheekbones, the ridges directly over her eyebrows,
which arced out and up into the thick tangle of her hair. ' had removed
the diamond band that had swept ina's hair back and away from her face
for the awards mony. She brushed it out and up until it resembled the e
of an enormous cat. Daina had stood up in front of the mirror, shaking
her head k and forth. She stared at herself in the warm rosy light, wled
deep in her throat. Then she threw her head back and ghed. ,"Go out
there,' she had told Mandy, patting her on the flank, have yourself a
good time.' Now she threw her champagne glass into the empty firece. She
felt as if she could open her arms and encompass night. She wanted to go
outside, to press all the stars 546 547 against her beast, to feel
their cold ethereal burning there and to know with quiet certainty that
she and she alone had accomplished that. I People kept arriving at the
most appalling rate; no one left. Men and women sat on the sofa, two and
three at a time on the chairs; they lounged against the walls, reclined
on the carpet, danced past the fireplace, kissed atop toilet seats,
sprawled across the beds, antagonized Maria to the point where she threw
up her hands in disgust and walked out; crawled across the tennis courts
outside, draped themselves over the net and threw up, collapsed into the
pool, snorting and spouting water to the confusion of the dolphin that
bucked and rolled there, splashing those close to the edge. And still
they came. In dribs and drabs, in torrents they pushed their way inside,
bearing presents of food and wine. She thought she knew them all but she
could not be certain. Nothing mattered except her Oscar, which she
alternately put on the mantelpiece so she could stare at it from across
the pulsing room and held clutched tightly to her breast. She spent a
fascinating fifteen minutes speaking to an oddlooking man, tall and
impossibly thin and gaunt. He had sallow skin, a black beard, a long
hooked nose and eyes like bits of coal. She lurched away finally only to
discover that she had been talking to the El Greco. '... all the way.'
'?' ', come on,' Yasmin said softly, taking her about the waist. ''s my
party.' Her words were slightly slurred. ' know. I only want to talk to
you a minute.' She smiled into Daina's face. ' can get back to that in a
minute.' They went outside. It took them a year and a half. The forest
of people kept shifting and there was no clear path to follow. The world
was a liquid and they were finless. Outside, amid the trees and the
grass and the carefully sculptured foliage there seemed to be fewer
people but that might have been only because there was more open space
to move around in. Their heels grated grittily against the concrete
flagging nd the pool. The underwater lights were on as well as the akers
and the water was a shifting rainbow of colours. No erent from the land.
he dolphin rolled and snorted through its blowhole, diving then spinning
upward, breaching the surface and leaping into the air to the
accompaniment of raucous applause the crowd of onlookers. The creature
undoubtedly elled in the attention, understood the nature of the guests,
it repeated this manoeuvre again and again, seeming to ch new heights
with each successive leap. asmin put her head to one side as she watched
the ature's antics. ' d'you. suppose he thinks of?' she ndered aloud.
"They're supposed to be the most intelligent tures on earth after us."
They walked on. ' perhaps re's nothing in its head but dreams.' She
turned to look at ina. ' would be nice wouldn't it?' She took a deep th
of the night air. ' but dreams.' hen we all must be dolphins tonight,'
Daina said, looking at the night sky, the burning stars, and remembered
her . They did seem close enough to touch. ''ve got something to tell
you,' Yasmin said and Daina ed to look at her. othing bad, Yasmin,' she
said. ' tonight.' Yasmin smiled, her teeth white and shining in that
sensuous y face. Her eyes had never seemed so huge or so liquid. t word
just before I left for the awards. I looked for you ore but in the crush
I couldn't find you and then afterwards . there was just no time.' She
took Ddina's hands in hers. e been offered the female lead in the new
Scorcese film.' ' stared at her. '. Really?" She pulled Yasmin her,
hugged her. ''s wonderful! I'm so happy for "The thing is, I'm off
tomorrow for, preproduction work in cerne. I'll be there a couple of
weeks before shooting begins Luxembourg, Madrid and Malta.' Daina
sobered for an instant. ' but ,'I'll be at the Grand National in.
Lucerne. I'll call you as as I get settled.' I will never see you again,
will IF 548 549 Yasmin laughed. ' what we've been through together how
can you say that?' Daina felt near to tears, could not understand why.
''s just a feeling.' Yasmin stroked her neck. ''t be sad,' she said. '
on a night like this. I'll be back.
And, anyway, you'll be leaving soon for the Brando project. Didn't I
hear Singapore?' ', yes.' ' that's what you should be thinking about. My
