With Spirit Part 1

Attempt at fiction short story (Please critique)

With Spirit.

Jerry rarely spoke directly to Lea.  Obviously she was the star of the show and he only the lowly 2^nd camera, but that wasn’t it.  Lea wasn’t like that; she was a real sweetheart, everyone loved Lea.  Maybe it was because she was so young, she was 24 but she didn’t look it, and he well he wasn’t in his 20’s anymore that’s for sure.  Not that Jerry talked much to anyone, he was an old workhorse, mid-western, reliable but he kept himself to himself. Lea was pretty, sweet, talented and so much more.  Lea was special, way too special to be saddled with that worm Sean.

Sean was a piece of work.  He had latched onto Leah like a drowning man grasping the last life-ring.  He was a two bit, junior assistant to the assistant producer & he had probably used every sleazy scam in the book to land that job.

Lea didn’t know she was beautiful.  Her delicate face, the long dark eyelashes, button nose and the irrepressible curl in her mouse brown hair gave her an innocent, angelic school girl look.  Though that young woman certainly didn’t fill in that dress like any school girl, she was all woman.  But just one look in her eyes and you forgot all that stuff.  The myriad blues and marine greens were mesmerising.  There was great kindness in those eyes, and a timeless wisdom.  Jerry would have followed Lea to hell if she asked him.

Sean had played on her every insecurity.  Psychic sensitivity went hand in hand with emotional sensitivity.  Lea gave so much to others that she rarely kept any energy for herself.  Trusting her guides she was confident in helping others.  But in her own life she questioned her every decision, to her self-belief was too close to arrogance.  Besides she thought Sean was too handsome, too successful for her; he was out of her league.  Like the mouse under the spell of the swaying cobra she sensed she should run for her life, but she was dazzled, beguiled.

Leanora Gaskill was a star.  She was a natural; natural beauty, natural grace, natural speaker, and of course a natural psychic sensitive, in other words a true medium.  How had that conniver managed to sweep her off her feet the first day of her two day guest spot shooting?  How had he managed to finagle himself the job of producer/director on a new show centred on Lea and her amazing abilities? How?

‘Houses with Spirit’ God how Jerry hated the name of the show.  Lea had the power.  I mean Jerry was a born sceptic, ghosts were for Halloween.  But the things he’d seen in the last 6 months had blown his worldview to pieces.  It was kinda frustrating sometimes; critics, viewers, they thought it was camera tricks, fakes.  It was funny too, the more amazing the phenomena was the more scepticism it drew. Jerry had seen some unbelievable things, and of course it was going to be hard for the audience at home to believe the unbelievable.  With what a good special effects man could make appear real, maybe it was surprising anyone believed anything anymore.  But God the cheese in the name ‘Houses with Spirit’ surely didn’t help.

Paulo was their sound guy; he liked to say even the dead loved Lea.  Ghosts certainly showed up around her.  And she was so gentle with them; she really cared, about everyone except maybe herself.  But to that jerk Sean her need to help the lost souls was just another handle to manipulate her.  To use her, to get his own show, to be a producer, to be a success.

Michael Peterson, producer on the ‘The Ted Waldorf Show’, had introduced Sean to Lea.  Not like a social introduction more like here is the dogsbody who can fetch and carry for you.  But by the end of taping Lea was hooked.  Sean had romanced, confused and conned that little girl until she didn’t know which way was up.  The guys in the crew had seen it all, watched it happen from the beginning but there was nothin’ they could do.

Ted Waldorf was getting bigger every season.  His own show had dozens of crews.  It took a hell of a lot of footage to fill in 3 hours a day even with Sundays off and news breaks.  And now new shows were sprouting from guest spots on ‘The Ted Waldorf Show’, and his people were making damn sure they stayed under the Ted Waldorf umbrella.  It started with making sure they kept control of the shows’ crews.  It was easy, you just told this wide eyed newbie that they were getting their own show, then you tell them that they can keep the crew that got them through the guest spot shooting. This ensured Ted kept financial control with quality control & gratitude thrown in, it was a winning formula.

Part 2