Death Before Facebook

hand.
    “Guess what, Dee-Dee? Layne returns the compliment.”
    “Layne who?” He opened the oven to peer at his eggplant parmigiana.
    “You know what Layne. The one you think is cute.”
    “How do you know he returns the compliment?” He straightened up and spoke casually, but Skip noticed he brushed the hair out of his eyes, something she’d never seen him do before.
    It was probably a habit he had in high school. “Because he called up and asked your last name.”
    “He did? Just like that? Did he say why he wanted to know?”
    “He pretended he was inquiring about your health.”
    “Ah, the how’s-old-what’s-his-name maneuver.” He pulled the casserole out.
    “Ah, indeed. You want to make a bet on whether or not the kids are going to eat that?”
    He turned around, right hand already stuck out. “Fifty dollars.”
    “I get it. You’ve already taken a poll.”
    “It’s their favorite dish. Can you beat that? Listen, want to work on that software of Layne’s tonight? I did try, but there was one little problem—I couldn’t get on the TOWN.”
    “I’m using Steve’s user ID and password.”
    “Oh. Steve.”
    After dinner, Jimmy Dee uploaded the software and began futzing with it. Skip read magazines. And after a while she went home, leaving him cursing Layne, telling her he was quite sure Layne was the murderer, at any rate he was a sadist. Generally having the time of his life.
    Back in her cold apartment, she gathered blankets and tucked herself in to read, but her mind wandered. Should she call Darryl? Not tonight, of course, but tomorrow, maybe? Did she really want to see him again?
    She did. She did, badly, but it was dangerous. She liked him entirely too much for a woman supposedly involved with another man.
    But maybe Steve is dumping me.
    Well, he hasn’t yet.
    As if on cue, the phone rang. “Hi.”
    “Steve?”
    “Of course Steve. You were expecting, maybe, Tom Cruise?”
    Though no one could see, she flushed.
    “Listen, we really have to talk. I’ve got some semi-bad news, but in the end it’s going to turn out really great. I’m not kidding, this is really exciting.”
    “You’re not moving here.”
    “Now, why would you think that?”
    “Every conversation’s pointed to it.”
    “Well, wrong. I am moving there. Just not right away.”
    Oh, sure.
    “Hey, are you still there?”
    “Go ahead. Talk.” She knew she sounded distant, withdrawn; but she couldn’t pretend.
    “I know this interferes with our plans, but it’s only for a couple of years, and things’ll be so much better when I finally get there. I mean, this is really the most important thing that could happen to me at this stage of my career—the
mos
t important. For once I’m on the cutting edge—and I really have to stay a while and cash in.”
    “I guess you’d better tell me about it.”
    “Remember that computer seminar I took?”
    “Vaguely.”
    “Well, you know I’ve always been a computer buff. So I took this AVID seminar. Just for fun, really. It was in nonlinear digital editing—have you ever heard of that?”
    “Should I have?”
    “It’s changing the film industry—and incidentally, it’s making your boyfriend rich. It’s like… total freedom. It’s so fucking fast it’s unbelievable. Anything you want to do, you can do it. It’s just split-second stuff.”
    “So what does all that mean?”
    “The old way of editing is wildly expensive and time-consuming. This costs pennies—for the equipment, I mean—and you can literally get a rough cut of a film in one night. It’s state-of-the-art, baby, and I’m in on the ground floor.”
    “But what does that mean to you?”
    “It means I’m in big demand,” he said modestly. “I’m working on feature films—under big-name editors—which I haven’t done before. And here’s the best part—I’m making about five thousand a week.”
    She was oddly intimidated. “That’s a lot of money.”
    “You bet it’s a lot of money. It’s a hell of a lot of money. Do you see why I have to stay a while?”
    “In a Hollywood kind of way I do. But what about your own work?”
    “At five thousand a week, I can make a half million dollars in two years. Think how many little baby films I can turn that into.”
    “‘Little baby films’? You’re putting down your own work.”
    “No, I’m not. I’m just calling it what it is. Besides, I love doing this stuff. I’m crazy about it.”
    “You’re never coming here, are