“Ah,” Judith remarked. “That’s good.”
“Bill’s taking notes,” Renie said, making a sandwich out of the crackers.
“Did you get anything interesting from Ellie Linn?”
Judith inquired, sitting down at the kitchen table.
Renie opened a can of Pepsi and sat down across
from her. “You mean besides how much she hates Angela La Belle and Dirk Farrar?”
“And why is that?” Judith asked.
“Professional jealousy of Angela,” said Renie, after
swallowing a big bite of her concoction. “Maybe genuine dislike. Conflict of personalities. It can happen in
any business.”
“What about Ellie’s feelings for Dirk?”
Renie shrugged. “Couldn’t say.” She ate another
mouthful.
Judith took a pumpkin-shaped cookie from the jar
on the table. “Did Ellie mention a film called
“Yeph,” Renie replied, still chewing. “Geb wha?
Ewwie’s muvver wode the scwip.”
“Her mother wrote that script?” Judith, who had
learned long ago to decipher her cousin’s words when
she spoke with a mouthful of food, was surprised at the
information. “I actually saw that script someplace. I
think it was in the room that Dirk and Ben shared.”
“Her mother,” Renie began, having swallowed, “is a
writer. Her name is Amy Lee Wong, wife of the Wienie Wizard. She’s Chinese by birth, from Hong Kong.
I gather she’s written a few romance novels under the
pen name of Lotus MacDermott.”
“Interesting,” Judith commented, looking thoughtful. “So Mrs. Wienie sold the script to—whom?
Bruno?”
“Could be.” Renie polished off the crackers, cheese,
and ham, then took a long drink of Pepsi. “Ellie is supposed to star as the seventh wife of a Mormon bishop
back in the 1850s. The narrative involves the Utah War,
which occurred when there was a public outcry about
the Mormon practice of polygamy. According to the
script, one of the reasons that the persecution or whatever you’d call it ended was because the Mormon
bishop took a Chinese wife. If I recall my Western history, it had more to do with the Mormons pledging allegiance to the Union when the Civil War broke out.
Ben Carmody is supposed to play the bishop.”
“My.” Judith got up and took a can of diet 7UP from
the fridge. “It sounds a bit implausible. I mean, the
Mormons weren’t famous in those days for being tolerant of other races.”
Renie grinned at her cousin. “That’s why it’s a
movie.”
“I suppose,” Judith said. “Except for the distortion,
the film might have possibilities. Maybe that’s what
Ben and Ellie were discussing when we saw them at
