21 Dreams Will Never Die (2/2)
Why sit in the comfort of the theater and talk about others? Why not roll up his sleeves and do it himself?
What was the point of being alive if not to do the things that one loved? Why spend our days living unremarkably? The mere thought of cooking in a restaurant every day made Wang Yang's hair bristle. Being chained to a stove, doing something he didn't like for the rest of his life, wouldn't that be a worse fate than failure? Sure, he'd been coming home every night wilted and drained, and waking up at the crack of dawn the following day, but at least he welcomed each day with new hope and a sense of purpose. The same could not be said about working in a restaurant.
Did Anne go home? As Wang Yang recounted all the great times he had when shooting his film, a faint smile flickered over his face. No, he knew Anne would never go home. Even if she had to live the rest of her life as a background actor, she'd never go home. As for him, he'd never go home either.
Do dreams ever really die? Look at Harry. He hadn't given up at all. He still muttered indignantly at the television every day. His dream was well and alive. It's just that he was running away from it.
”But I won't run away from mine!” Wang Yang's resolve hardened. His fingers clenched tightly onto his palm. At that moment, business began to pick up at the restaurant. An African American mother came up to the counter with her child and Wang Yang greeted them, his face radiating smiles and positivity. ”Welcome to McDonald's; what can I do for you?”
There was an endless stream of customers entering and leaving the restaurant. As a member of the service crew, his job was to take the customers' orders, retrieve the customers' meals from the back of the house and bring it to them—and from time to time, clean up after customers who wouldn't do it themselves. It was a busy job, and Wang Yang hardly had a chance to relax.
Wang Yang entered the kitchen to retrieve a meal for a couple from whom he'd just taken an order, only to find Harry George leaning against the wall, seemingly idle. He couldn't help coming up to his big, fleshy backside with a mischievous grin and giving it a good kick. ”Hey, dude, what gives? Slacking off like that. Don't you have any sense of professionalism?”
”Oh please, I've been working my a*s off all day. Can't a guy take a rest?” Harry barely wheezed out his excuse as he remained inclined on the wall, utterly indolent.
Wang Yang smiled. Just as he was reaching for a hamburger, his cell phone began beeping in his pocket. Who could be calling him at this hour? With a frown, he dug his phone out and checked it. To his pleasant surprise, it was Rachel, whom he hadn't spoken to in a long while. Looking at Harry, he felt justified giving himself a little break as well. He answered the call with a smile. ”Hi, Rachel, is that you?”
”Hi Yang, good evening!” Rachel's voice said over the phone. Then, with a soft but unmistakable giggle, she said, ”We haven't spoken in such a long time. Why haven't you called me?”
The truth was, Wang Yang had been busy calling on film companies and working an assortment of odd jobs to support himself. Every day, he'd come home and plunge his fatigued body into his bed without even taking a shower. He barely had time to research and contact film companies regarding his work let alone idle chit-chat over the phone. More importantly, he couldn't afford the phone bill… But he wasn't going to tell her that. Half humorously, he said, ”Oh, the number six button on my cell phone's dial pad got broken. Too bad your phone number has so many six's in it…” He laughed. ”How have you been?”
Rachel laughed and said, ”Oh, same old, same old. Going to school every day, sitting in lectures, eating, sleeping. How about you?”
”Me? I'm doing pretty good. I've been making daily trips to Los Angeles and getting a bunch of no's from all sorts of people.” Strangely enough, Wang Yang was no longer bitter about his ordeal from the past few days. In fact, he felt invigorated just talking about it. ”I didn't expect that there would be so many film companies in Los Angeles. You should've seen the names of some of these companies. They're so quirky and weird. The funniest one I've seen so far is a company called Toxic Films.”
Blurting out a laugh he said, ”God, are they trying to make a niche for themselves at the box office with drug movies?” Rachel cracked up in laughter at his comment. For a while they laughed, then Wang Yang asked, ”Rachel, is there any reason you're calling me? Yeah, I'm on duty at McDonald's, so I can't be on the phone for too long.”
”Oh! I didn't know you were at work. Am I disturbing you?” Rachel apologized. Wang Yang brushed it off. Then she said, ”Yang, I'll be brief. Here's the thing: since I haven't heard from you for so long, I'm guessing your hunt for a movie publisher isn't going too well. I mean, if there was any good news, you'd have told me a long time ago, right?” Wang Yang nodded and said, ”That's right, you clever girl.”
Cutting to the chase, Rachel said, ”Well, a few days ago, I was talking to my professor when the subject of DV movies came up, which led to you. And it just so happens that my professor knows the Vice President of Publishing at Lionsgate Films, John Feldmeyer. They're close friends. So, I asked my professor to introduce Mr. Feldmeyer to me. I got in touch with him and we had a chat. He's very interested in your movie and would like to meet up with you.”
”Lionsgate Films?” For a minute, Wang Yang considered. Lionsgate was a highly reputable film company. Wang Yang had been meaning to contact them, but seeing as it wasn't based in Los Angeles, but further up north beyond the Los Angeles International Airport in the coastal city of Santa Monica, he'd decided not to approach the company for the time being.
But now, with Rachel's recommendation, it seemed his trip to Santa Monica had been put on the front burner. With a grateful smile Wang Yang replied, ”Sure, I'd be glad to meet up. Thank you so much, Rachel! Before you hang up, could you give me Mr. Feldmeyer's contact details?”
An ”okay” from Rachel preceded the sounds of her rummaging through her bag. Minutes later, she replied, ”All right Yang, listen closely.” She told Yang the number for Lionsgate Films, as well as Mr. Feldmeyer's business number.
Wang Yang ripped a sheet from his order pad and jotted down the numbers with a ballpoint pen. After double-checking the numbers with Rachel, he smiled and said, ”Thanks a lot, Rachel. I'll get in touch with them.”
”Yang, I've had a long chat with Mr. Feldmeyer over the phone, and I could tell he doesn't have any bias against DV movies. You can do it.” After a few words of encouragement, Rachel said, ”All right then. I'll leave you to your work. Bye!”
”Bye, goodnight.” Wang Yang ended the call and stuffed the piece of paper with the phone numbers written on it into his pocket. There was a smile on his face. Wow, another opportunity! See, why would I need to go home?
At some unnoticed moment, Harry George had left the comfort of his wall and had been surveying Wang Yang with a quizzical look on his face. ”I heard it just now. Dude, what's all this about a movie? Did you make a film?” he asked.
Wang Yang nodded. He had nothing to hide. ”It's a movie I shot using a DV camcorder. I've been running around for a month trying to get it published.” With that, he walked into the kitchen with a food tray propped on his hand, waiting for the line cook to fill up the order on his ticket.
Like an ugly shadow, Harry George followed behind Wang Yang, taunting him and reminding him of his misfortune. ”Hey, I bet you're on a bad streak, aren't you? Did the film companies chew you up and spit you out? 'Oh, you're nothing but dog sh*t.' Face it, kid. Look at you. This is where you belong—in McDonald's—forever and ever…”
”Okay, if you say so.” Wang Yang shrugged his shoulders, unperturbed.
”Dude, it's not as easy as you think!” Harry George sniggered, shaking his head and crossing his arms over his chest. With a knowing smile that Wang Yang thought offensively confident, he said, ”I was a poor fool just like you. I tried my luck at all the film production companies in Hollywood, and they all said, 'Go home, fat kid. You're not cut out to be a cameraman. Just go home.'” Patting Wang Yang on his shoulder he said, ”Trust me, dude. I've been through it all and now I've seen the light. Everyone has dreams, but not all of them were meant to be.”
”I don't care what you say. How would I know if my dream wasn't meant to be if I never tried?” Wang Yang said with full conviction. But as soon as he saw Harry George's blasé expression, he suddenly asked in a milder tone, ”Say, how many sets did you visit back then?” Harry barked impatiently, ”About a dozen. Who remembers?”
Wang Yang huffed out a laugh as he took a tray of food from the line cook and started for the table outside. He told Harry smilingly, ”Dude, you want to know something? I've visited fifty-four film companies over the past month! And soon, it's going to be fifty-five.”
Harry stood stunned a minute before he could fully register what he'd just heard. Teeth clenched, he called out after Wang Yang with a certainty in his voice, ”Dude, you want to know something as well? You're going to fail. I guarantee it! We're alike, you and I. We're both failures.”
”Failure? There's always the fifty-sixth company, the fifty-seventh company…” In a few steps, Wang Yang had turned around and was facing Harry, blinking and smiling. ”My dream will never die,” he said.
Harry seemed to be groping for words as he convulsed with rage. Kneading his chubby face into a frown, he finally bellowed, ”Even if there are a hundred companies out there, you'll still fail!”
”Yeah, but there's always the hundred and first company.”
”Failure! Failure! Failure…” Harry shouted incessantly, so as to be heard above Wang Yang's voice. Only when Wang Yang had left the kitchen did he stop to catch his breath. In a spell of daze and exhaustion, spots and strings danced before his eyes. Dreams will never die? ”That stupid b*stard!” he cursed under his breath.