Life's a Beach by Claire Cook Page B

just shrugged. Riley headed down the beach to join the other kids. I read the article one more time, just in case I’d missed something. When I looked up, Manny was standing in front of me.

    I put the paper behind my back. “Too late,” he said. “I’ve already seen it.”

    I wasn’t sure whether to smile or not. I bowed my head. “I’m so sorry for your loss,” I mumbled.

    He rubbed his thumb and forefinger back and forth across his jaw. There was a jagged piece of toilet paper stuck below his right cheekbone. Maybe it was the fact that his sneakers were untied, but even with clear-cut evidence that he shaved, he looked about twelve. “Well,” he said finally. “Now I know why Spielberg built the shark for
Jaws.
”

    “Is it still around? Maybe he’d let you borrow it.”

    He didn’t seem to hear me. “I just figured we’d save so much money this way.”

    “Or maybe you could bring in a sea lion or something?”

    He shook his head. “The studio’s pulling the plug.”

    For a minute I actually thought he meant they were pulling the plug on the whole ocean. Or at least the whole movie. Just to be safe, I went with a sympathetic shake of my head.

    “ ‘Come back,’ they said. ‘There are plenty of sharks in LA.’ ” He buried his face in his hands.

    I wasn’t sure what to do. I put a hand on his shoulder, then lifted it up. “But you’ll still get to make the movie, right?”

    He looked up from his hands. “Yeah, I guess, if I can make what I got here fit with what I can do on the left coast. And stay within budget.” He reached up to straighten the brim of his baseball hat, and I could see that his hands were shaking. “Listen,” he said. “I was hoping you could help us out.”

    “Sure,” I said. “Anything. Whatever you need.” I wondered if I should offer to help him tie his shoes before he tripped, or if he’d be insulted.

    “It’s the kid. Who reps him?”

    I looked at him blankly.

    “Never mind. I’ll have the casting people look it up. But the kid, the kid is great. We’d like to take him with us to LA.”

    When I glanced up, Tim Kelly was leaning over the back of a director’s chair watching me. He wiggled his eyebrows and grinned. I looked away, but not before he saw me looking.

    WE’D CALLED HOME during the lunch break, so everybody was waiting for us when we got to Geri’s house.

    My mother put an arm around Riley and started walking him into the living room. “So,” she said. “Sit right down and tell us everything. Don’t leave out a single detail.”

    I leaned back against the kitchen counter. “I think one of the movie guys likes me,” I whispered to Geri. “The gaffer.”

    “Hel-lo?” my sister said. “Today is not about you. My son is going to Hollywood.” She leaned forward. “What
is
a gaffer anyway? Is that like a gopher?”

    “No,” I said. “It’s like an electrician. Everybody knows that.”

    “Well, pardon me, but I didn’t. So, are you going to dump Noah and start dating the gopher? I have to say, it’s about time.”

    I started heading for the living room. “Gaffer,” I said. “And don’t be ridiculous.”

    “We got to start the screaming part today,” Riley was saying as I sat down next to him on the couch. “Do you want to hear mine?”

    “Let’s save it for outside, okay, honey?” Geri sat down on his other side. She had a legal pad with her, and it actually looked like she might be about to make a list that didn’t involve her birthday.

    Seth looked up from his laptop. “Okay, the casting director referred me to an agent, and the agent says they’ll pay first-class travel, put up Riley and whoever goes with him, and pay a per diem.”

    “Seth,” Geri said. “Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself? We’re not even sure yet we’re going to let him go.”

    Rachel crossed her arms over her chest. “You can’t let him go. We still have school left.”

    Becca twirled some hair