S

I pedaled hard at the sight of the green light and quickly made my way across the street. As I pulled onto the minor two-lane road, I felt a sense of relief at not having to worry about traffic. I started riding my bike as a kind of therapy a few years back after losing my best friend, Ray, and have been going ever since.

I recently found somewhere a little safer where I could just pedal and really let my mind wander. It'd been great for coming up with ideas with my scriptwriting. It was a little back road with luxurious houses straight out of an old black and white movie. As I passed by the elaborate gated entrances, I glanced through them, expecting to see Humphrey Bogart standing outside in a bathrobe smoking.

As I came up to one of my favorites, I slowed down to listen to the sound of the small waterfall in the driveway. That's how I heard the car before I saw it, yet I still barely had time to scoot my bike out of the way. The old white Cadillac roared around the bend and just narrowly missed hitting me on the side of the road.

“Hey!” I shouted. Before going down with the bike, I did get a good look at the man driving. He was wearing a big straw hat and sunglasses but still looked strangely familiar. After hitting the ground, I turned from under the bike and spotted the driveway where the old white car pulled in. “What the hell!” I yelled furiously. Luckily, my only injury was a scraped knee. After assessing the damage, I picked up the bike and walked it over to the entrance where the Cadillac had pulled in.

A stone driveway with trimmed hedges along each side led to a large white gate. I couldn’t see the car past the gate, but a small electronic box with a speaker and call switch was there. I hesitated before reaching for the button. My finger hovered over it for about thirty seconds before I turned and left. I shook my head as I hopped onto the bike and headed home to clean up my scrape. On the way, my mind replayed the incident. While fuming about how someone could almost kill me and not even slow down, my thoughts drifted to the driver again. He looked so familiar.

That night when I got into bed. My knee was a little sore as it rubbed against the sheets. Suddenly it clicked, and I sat up in bed. I grabbed my phone and looked up S. Peter Lewis. He was a big Hollywood star about 30 years ago when he played the lead in the aptly named Chase movie series. As I swiped through his pictures, it was clear that the driver of the Cadillac was Lewis.

His Chase movies were huge, and although they got cheesier as they went on, I had seen them repeatedly as a kid on TV. Years later, they tried a reboot of the series with a new actor. Although it didn't take off, it did reignite interest in the originals, and that's how I found out about them. Lewis’s most recent mention in the media was about his wife passing away about 6 years ago. I didn’t know about his wife and hadn’t seen or heard anything about Lewis in years. I turned off my phone and sat for a minute. Now I was more excited than mad about my close encounter. I decided I would return to the house the next day and actually push the button this time.

The following day I woke up excited. Even if I didn't get anywhere at the house, all the energy and movie thoughts combined with the ride would definitely lead to some good ideas. I made my way into the neighborhood and pulled up to the house. I set down the bike, took a deep breath, and pushed the call button.

I waited for a minute and pressed it again.

“Yes?” called a male voice with his mouth full.

“Mr. Lewis?”

“Yes, go ahead, this is Mr. Lewis, over,” teased the voice.

“Um, hi, my name is Andrew Mayfield. I was on the bike yesterday that you almost hit when you came home,” I shook my head as I released the button. There was a brief silence.

“Well, are you okay?”

“I am. I got a few scrapes, but the bike is fine and everything,” I assured.

“Oh yeah, what kind of bike?" inquired the voice.

“A Nishiki,” I answered, unsure of how specific to be.

“Hmm, I don't know if that's good or not. Just being polite,” said Mr. Lewis in between what sounded like more chewing. “Well...Andrew, what can I do for you? You looking for money or something?”

“Oh no, no, actually, I recognized you from your movies. Under The Oak is one of my favorites,” I confessed. "Chase was great and all as a kid, but I really felt your emotion in Under the Oak." Under The Oak came out after the Chase movies and was written by, directed by, and starred Lewis. It’s about two men who shoot each other and end up sitting wounded under a big oak tree and talk for most of the movie. Unfortunately, it didn't make much money, but I liked it because it was so different.

“I love that movie. I really put my heart into that one. It’s nice to hear somebody else out there liked it. Sorry about the chewing. I'm finishing up my chocolate cake here.”

“Chocolate cake at 9am?”

“Have you tried it?”

“Well, no, but I'm also not a movie star,” I answered.

“Trust me, it's good; movie star or not. I feel bad doing this through the speaker, but I got an idea. You look up a picture of me on the internet, and I’ll keep talking, so you get the whole experience. Search “S. Peter Lewis Australia trip.” There's a good one out there of the wife and me on a safari.” I played along and looked up a picture of Lewis. I found one of Lewis where he looked like he did in Chase and a young woman wearing classic dark brown Outback hats standing by a river.

“Got one up where you look like Indiana Jones by the water,” I joked.

“Yep, that's the one. Better times...” The call box was silent, so I spoke up, not wanting the conversation to end.

“Do you have any new projects you’ve been working on? It’s been a while, right?”

“It has, but you know, Andrew, I lost my wife about six years ago. Cancer. Um, and ever since, I just haven’t felt the need to do much of anything.”

“Yeah, sorry, I did hear about that.”

“I think I’m just waiting to really get over it before I get back out there and try to work on anything.” My thoughts immediately drifted to when I lost Ray.

“Have you thought maybe getting back out there and working is part of getting over it?” I offered. Lewis didn’t answer. “It’s been six years, and if everything's still stopped for you like it just happened, then it's like you're still living in that moment. But the world isn't."

“I hadn't really, but then again, since I fired the maid, there hasn’t hardly been anybody around here, and I don’t know the last time I even talked with someone. I mean, I speak to my wife when I go for drives in the El Dorado, but she doesn’t say much." I heard the speaker click off and then back on again.

"I guess what I’m saying is it's nice to talk to someone,” continued S.

“Yeah, it’s nice to talk to you too,” I agreed.

“What do you do, Andrew? What’s your work?”

“Actually, I don’t have a job yet. I’m a senior in high school, and I'm planning on going to film school.”

“Film school? Really? What do you want to do?” fired off S.

“I want to make movies. I write scripts and make story outlines for movies, but I want to take it to the next level. I can’t seem to write anything good enough yet,” I confessed.

“Well, film school may be exactly the wrong way. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go, but I am saying it costs a lot of money and time and may not actually get you anywhere. First, try spending some time really writing, then find some fellow filmmakers to share it with. Put yourself out there on paper and see where it takes you. You may not even like it, but if you do, then you at least have the most important part down.”

“How do you know what to write about? I mean, how do you know which project is the one to go all-in on like Under The Oak?”

“You don’t. You just put your best work out there and enjoy the process. I may not have made any money doing Oak, but it's the highlight of my career. I did what I wanted to do, and when it was done, I felt like I had accomplished more than any of those Chase pictures. I’m saying don’t let anyone hold you back. Start going for it now, and eventually, you’ll have something to look back and be proud of. Make other people want to go to the film school of Andrew.” It was a little cheesy, but I really did feel empowered. I got advice from a filmmaker I looked up to. It was better than waving at Bogey on his front porch.

“Wow. Mr. Lewis, I don't know what to say, except this has been amazing. Thank you."

“No problem, kid, and call me S. Hey Andrew, this has been great, but I didn't know this was going to turn into a whole conversation, and I really gotta take a leak. Anyway, did you say you live around here?”

“Yeah, I’m over in Westfield on Aloha Court. I just ride my bike over sometimes.”

“I see; well, maybe I’ll run into you again sometime and not almost hit you with the car. Sorry about that, by the way. Anyway, I’m gonna go. Bye, Andrew.”

“Bye, S'' I shot back, beaming. I frantically picked up my bike and sped home, way too excited about writing.

The next evening, I worked on a new script at the table while mom made dinner in the kitchen.

DING DONG

“Can you check the door, Drew?” called mom. I sighed loudly before getting up from the table and heading to the door. I looked out the window, and there was S in his large straw hat and sunglasses looking back at me. I quickly opened the door and stepped outside.

“Andrew?” asked S. He took off his sunglasses. While he was still recognizable as the star of Chase, he looked more like an old guy you would see sitting alone at a bar than a movie star.

“Yeah, that’s me. Hi S,” I gushed, trying to remain cool.

“Hey there, I thought I’d stop by and see how you were healing up. Oh, and I brought you this,” said S with a smile as he handed over a picture frame. I looked at him excitedly and then looked at the picture. It was an autographed photo of the speaker box outside his house. The note said:

To my friend and fellow filmmaker Andrew. -S.

I shook my head and smiled as I read it.

“Just don’t tell everybody where I live, okay, and maybe leave out the car incident. Oh, and I got some breaking news. After speaking with my COUGH therapist, I’m starting up a new project, and the plan is to write, star, and direct,” said S coyly.

“Therapist sounds like a smart guy, and that sounds like a movie I want to see,” I confided.