Until Proven Innocent by Gene Grossman

answer. It’s the same thing that can get to you when you’re reading in a moving car. It’s not necessarily the motion that can make you feel nausea coming on, it’s the sensory conflict that you pick up because of a difference in motion between your primary senses of vision and motion. In a moving car, when you try to read, your close focus is on a stationary object, the item you’re reading, while your peripheral vision is picking up the motion of scenery whizzing by the car window. This sensory conflict can get to you.
    The same thing can happen on a boat, but instead of your peripheral vision sensing motion, it’s your inner ear feeling the motion of the boat. The conflict occurs when you’re close focused on some part of the boat that’s moving with you, so it appears to be standing still with respect to your body. Every person has his or her own tolerance level. I remember one time a guest on our boat asked me to close the blinds on some windows because she was starting to feel woozy while we were sitting still in the slip. Evidently she was looking out our windows and saw the boat moving up and down ever so slowly, in contrast to the nearby apartment buildings.
    I guess the only way to combat the feeling is to keep all three of your motion senses lined up - close focus, peripheral vision, and inner ear. The only way to do this is to look out in the distance so that you can see the exact same motion that you feel. This works for me. All that a seasickness drug like Dramamine does is dull your senses, so that they might ignore the conflict. Personally, I’d rather have my senses about me and avoid seasickness the natural way.
    Suzi reaches a place that is supposed to be at least three miles out and then turns back toward land, presenting us with another nice view of the West Los Angeles coastline. As planned, she has no problem finding the slip, and soon the engines have been turned off. Once the Asian Boys have the boat secured, quiet resumes.
    If I can avoid getting sick, going to sea always makes me hungry and thirsty, so I call a cab and make plans to once again become a drunken sailor at Mi Ranchito.
    *****
    Olive succeeded in getting hired sight unseen. She must have really laid it on thick to Hershel, because the production company called to ask me when their featured actress would be available for a rehearsal. They planned on a three-day shoot. One day up in Northern California at the factory, one day on the highway, and ending up at Hershel’s dealership for the live telecast of his ‘premiere’ of the new car.
    I told them that I’d bring the dialogue to them on a digital tape, and they said that I shouldn’t be worried about timing. As long as all the dialogue is on the tape, they’ll put it in the commercial at the right places and mix it in with the music they’ll be adding.
    Olive calls.
    “ Hi Mister Sharp, it’s Olive. When Hal told me I was hired, he gave me the name and address of the production company that’s shooting the commercial. I’m supposed to go over there for a rehearsal. Are you coming with me?”
    “ No Olive, I’m not going to be there with you.”
    “ Oh, okay. I just thought you’d like to… oh, never mind. When do you think I should go over there? Hal said they’d be expecting me to call.”
    “ Olive, I’ll tell you about it tonight, when we make your dialogue recording at the Venice Soundstage.”
    *****
    As arranged, Olive arrives right on time at the soundstage this evening. Everyone has already gone home, but I paid Ren to stay a little later to help us set up the microphone. It’s a good thing that the session is this evening, because Ren tells me that it’s the only night he has off from his other job. I don’t ask him any personal questions, because one of the other crewmembers mentioned one time that he works evenings as a projectionist at a local movie theater.
    Olive surprises me. Using her best phone sex voice, she goes through the several