Barbara Boswell - All In The Game

“Konrad, how gallant!” Lauren smiled sweetly.

Shannen turned her head to see Ty standing less than a foot behind them. She swung her fishing line at him, clipping him with the clam bait.

“Oops.” She snickered. “So sorry.”

“You’re only sorry that your aim was off.” Ty turned off the camera. “You meant to smack me in the face with the clam guts. But you missed, Shannen,” he added, saying her name with alacrity.

“You’re sure I’m Shannen?” She looked ready to whip the pole at him again. “How do you know I’m not Lauren?”

“Could be, you know,” Lauren chimed in. “We’re dressed exactly alike. Denim cutoffs, red bandanna triangle tops. The only difference is that one of us has a braid and the other has a ponytail. Can you be sure who styled her hair which way?”

“You two play that twin stuff for all it’s worth,” said Konrad, with respect. “No wonder. Two people looking exactly the same…talk about messing with minds! If I had a twin in the lineup with me, nobody could ID me. Because it might be my twin, y’know? I could’ve beat the rap every time.”

“We’ll keep that in mind if we decide to go in for a life of crime, Konrad,” said Shannen.

“I don’t have a problem telling them apart.” Ty moved closer to Shannen. “This is Shannen. Unquestionably.”

When she took a step backward, he advanced, knowing she would force herself not to retreat again. She would view that as a tactical error.

He was right. She stayed put.

“Remember the rules? The crew isn’t supposed to interact with us in any way.” Shannen’s fingers clenched the pole tightly, and she stayed as still as she could, despite the unsteadying waves rising and breaking around her. “You’re supposed to be invisible. So shut up and film, Tynan.”

“Who’s to know I’m not? From on shore, it looks like I’m filming the three of you out here.”

“How do you know his name, Shan?” Lauren was puzzled. “We weren’t introduced to any of the crew. Clark and Bobby said to think of them as part of the camera equipment and forget they’re human.”

“Which isn’t hard to do, in his case,” Shannen sneered.

“You dodged the question, babe.” Konrad studied her curiously. “How come you know his name?”

“Maybe she made a good guess. Am I right, Shannen?” Ty’s bland tone contrasted sharply to his baiting smile.

“As a matter of fact, you are. I read a book about names, and Tynan means ‘condescending, self-righteous jerk,’ so I immediately guessed he must be a Tynan.” Shannen met and held his gaze. “An obvious fit.”

“If Cortnee was out here, she’d say, ‘What did the book say that Cortnee means?’” Konrad laughed.

It was a startling moment. Shannen recovered first.

“The first time Konrad laughs, and you aren’t filming, Tynan,” she scolded. “You’re not doing your job. I ought to tell Slick Bobby next time he oozes by so he can pass it on to Clark. Then you’ll get fired.”

“But you won’t tell, will you, Shannen?” Ty leaned down to wash off the bits of clam that clung to his bare shoulder. Like the other cameramen, he rarely wore a shirt during the long days of filming in the sun. He was bronzed and muscular.

Shannen quickly looked away from him, staring instead into the sparkling clear water.

“How do you know my sister won’t tell on you?” demanded Lauren, her eyes darting from Shannen to Ty and back again.

“Because I read the same name book that she did, and Shannen means ‘not a snitch,’” said Ty.

“A bitch but not a snitch,” amended Konrad.

Lauren stamped her foot. “My sister is not a bitch! You should apologize to Shannen right now, Konrad.”

“He doesn’t have to, I’ve been called worse names than that.” Shannen stole a glance at Ty. When she found him staring at her, she looked away again. “It doesn’t bother me.”

“I’m sure whoever called you…worse names, regrets doing so, Shannen,” Tynan said quietly.

“I’m sure I don’t care, Tynan,” she retorted. “Sticks and stones and all that.”

“Y’know, that’s just crap,” Konrad said vehemently. “Some of the names I got called as a kid made me a helluva lot madder than getting whacked with any stick. And in the joint, you better watch your mouth—you get what I’m saying? You diss somebody there and you’re dead meat. It’s worse than punching him out.”

“That’s an interesting point.” Ty raised his camera. “Would you say that again when I turn the camera back on?”

“Sure.” Konrad looked pleased. “Uh, should she say the bit about sticks and stones before I say it?”

“Yeah, that’s good.” Ty nodded. “Shannen?”

“I’m not saying anything,” Shannen said crossly. “You aren’t directing a movie, and we’re not supposed to rehearse our lines. Get out of here, Tynan. Go back and film Cortnee.”

“Hey, I made an interesting point,” argued Konrad. “It should be on TV.”

“I’ll give you a lead-in, Konrad,” Lauren volunteered. “Okay, Tynan, ‘Camera, action, take one,’ or however that drill goes.” She tilted her head, her expression suddenly wistful. “Shannen, remember how the kids at school used to call us freaky clones? And Gramma told us to say, ‘Sticks and stones may break our bones but names will never hurt us.’”

“Who called you freaky clones?” demanded Konrad. “Just tell me who and when I get back I’ll break every bone in their—”

“Nobody ever called us that.” Shannen heaved an exasperated sigh. “It was just Lauren’s cue for you to say your—oh, turn off that camera, Ty. This is ridiculous.”

Ty turned off the camera. “Makes you really respect directors, doesn’t it? Imagine doing take after take after take of the same botched scene.”

“Acting is harder than I thought,” admitted Konrad. “Care to try it over again?”

“No!” Tynan and the twins chorused.

The four of them looked at each other and laughed. They immediately lapsed into silence, nonplussed by the unexpected moment of camaraderie.

“I got a fish!” Lauren suddenly shrieked, hanging on to her bamboo pole, which was waving and twitching. “I bet it’s big, it’s really strong! Help!”

Tynan turned on his camera to film Lauren clutching her fishing pole as it swayed precariously, back and forth and around. Konrad reached over and took hold of the string, swinging it out of the water. The fish on the primitively fashioned hook went flying into the air.

“Get it! Get it!” cried Lauren.

Konrad did, catching the impressive-size fish with his bare hands.

“That was so quick!” marveled Shannen. “Like watching Gramma’s cat reach up and nab the bird who’d made the fatal mistake of flying onto the porch while he was napping there.”

“Except we can eat the fish,” said Lauren. “That bird incident—yuck, it was so gross!”

Ty’s lips quirked. He caught Shannen’s eye and found her looking at him. Both immediately turned their attention back to Konrad and the fish.

“I think I’ll turn off the camera until that fish is officially pronounced dead,” said Ty.

“Feeling queasy, Ty?” taunted Shannen. “You didn’t seem to have any qualms filming us drinking snake blood in that over-the-top victory contest a couple weeks ago.”

“The snake blood scene was sexy in a vampire-ish sort of way, to quote a TV critic,” said Ty. “But nobody is going to find strangling a fish sexy in any sort of way.”

“That’s disgusting!” scolded Shannen.

Ty wondered if she was referring to him, snake blood or fish strangulation.

“The fish is dead,” announced Konrad.

Ty resumed filming.

“This fish would make a decent-size meal for two people, maybe even three, but we’ll only have a few mouthfuls each if we split it six ways,” said Konrad. “So let’s not.”