The Seventh Wave. Episode 26.
PART TWO
Episode 26
There are events he hasn’t told her about, events which he plans to use in his film as he develops its gangster plot-line. There have been robberies in several of the houses along the beach. An old lady was found dead in one of the looted houses, thought to have been a victim of the looters. He has other plans for her. He has renamed her “Big Mama.”
He has a draft for a scene.
[Ext./INT. DAY. HOLY ANGEL CASINO & RESORT.]
* NOTE: In the movies, geography metamorphoses into whatever is most convenient for the shooting schedule, and the place you want to be is right there outside the door of the taxi when you get out of it, right there around the corner from the last place, where you need it to be. You drive a block from downtown Los Angeles and look, there’s the Pacific Ocean. You pass the arch in Washington Square Park and hey, there’s the Chrysler Building. So, because our story needs it, ANNA the runner sees a large neon sign:
HOLY ANGEL CASINO & RESORT
and she turns onto the approach road.
* NOTE: Background to be filled in later. The Holy Angel is the jewel in the crown of the gambling queen, Brooklyn’s own Angie Santangelo. It’s the largest and most successful such establishment in the Tri-State area: the hottest tables, the hottest entertainment. Angela Santangelo, known as Big Mama, is the Orphan’s long-time competitor and enem.y They have been on the outs for years. Which makes her Anna’s friend. Or so Anna hopes.
ANNA enters the resort. The place is empty, which makes it look even bigger than usual. This is not a time for games of chance. Life itself is a lottery right now, and few people want to make the odds even worse. Anna wonders if places like Big Mama’s can survive. The doors are open, with masked guards, and she complies with their hygienic requests, then heads to the front desk. One uniformed woman receptionist, black, masked, with big bouffant hair, wearing an enameled name-plate, Shanelle. And behind her the huge, golden, hollow, empty hall.
ANNA: Is Angie here.
SHANELLE: Who’s asking.
ANNA: Just tell her, Anna from Miami.
SHANELLE: Last name?
ANNA: Say, Anna who played the Orphan.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Salman's Sea of Stories to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.