They'll never change. Might as well hate lightning, hate ice being
cold and fire being hot.'
Jack sighed, still angry but only smoldering. 'You said they had two
reasons for making the deal. What's number two?'
'To make a movie that will be a monument to the genius of Anson
Oliver,'
' Crawford said. 'That's how the father put it. A monument
to the genius of Anson Oliver.'
'
'For the love of God.'
Crawford laughed softly. 'Yeah, for the love of God. And the fiancee,
mother of the heir-to-be, she says this movie's going to put Anson
Oliver's controversial career and his death in historical
perspective.'
'What historical perspective? He made movies, he wasn't the leader of
the Western world--he just made movies.'
Crawford shrugged. 'Well, by the time they're done building him up, I
suspect he'll have been an antidrug crusader, a tireless advocate for
the homeless--' Jack picked it up: 'A devout Christian who once
considered dedicating his life to missionary work--' until Mother
Teresa told him to make movies instead--'
'--and because of his
effective efforts on behalf of justice, he was killed by a conspiracy
involving the CIA, the FBI--'
'--the British royal family, the
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Pipe Fitters--'
'--the
late Joseph Stalin--'
'--Kermit the Frog--'
'--and a cabal of
pill-popping rabbis in New Jersey,' Jack finished.
They laughed because the situation was too ridiculous to respond to
with anything but laughter--and because, if they didn't laugh at it,
they were admitting the power of these people to hurt them.
'They better not put me in this damn movie of theirs,' Jack said after
his laughter had devolved into a fit of coughing. 'I'll sue their
asses.'
'They'll change your name, make you an Asian cop named Wong, ten years
older and six inches shorter, married to a redhead named Bertha, and
you won't be able to sue for spit.'
'People are still gonna know it was me in real life.'
'Real life? What's that? This is Lala Land.'
'Jesus, how can they make a hero out of this guy?'
Crawford said, 'They made heroes out of Bonnie and Clyde.'
'Antiheroes.'
'Okay, then, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.'
'Still.' i
'They made heroes out of Jimmy Hoffa and Bugsy Siegel.
Anson Oliver's a snap.'
That night, long after Lyle Crawford had gone, when Jack tried to
