LA Odyssey
... He'd been admiring her large brown innocent eyes and her long innocent legs. A one-minute tale
The sky was as brittle and dark as old slate. She boarded the Greyhound bus on that cold, damp October morning, determined to light out before another Indiana winter closed in around her. She was at that still-optimistic age of twenty.
An old guy stumbled up the aisle and chuffed down in the seat next to her at the last minute, causing a minor explosion of road dust.
“Where ya headed?”
“I am going out to California,” she said. “L.A. — City of the Angels.”
“Whoo! Now that’s a good long ride.”
“Yes it is. But they say that the sun dances on the ocean in L.A. every single day, all winter long, and I’m going to see it for myself.”
“What do you got waiting for ya out there … you know, besides sunshine?” Chewing on an unlit cigar, he took off his hat, and reached into his coat for his pocket flask.
“I’m just done with Indiana, that’s all. I’ve been taking acting classes and I’m planning to get into the movies.”
“Well, good for you, missy. I hope that works out for ya.”
“Oh, it will. I am sure it will.” she said, cozying in with her pillow for the 2,000- mile journey.
She found a single room she could actually afford off of Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood, and got a temporary job serving espresso in a small upscale cafe. After only two months, she was approached by a movie producer who had been admiring her large, brown, innocent eyes and her long innocent legs. He gave her his card and asked her to come for a screen test at his home in the Hollywood hills on Tuesday night. He said he was thinking of casting her as the lead in a modern remake of Casablanca.
She woke up just as the bus was passing through the low northern hills of Colorado. How disappointed she was to realize she still had a long, long way to go before that particular dream would come true.
Sharron, I think you just wrote the story of a million young women with dreams 😊✨️
And here I was thinking casting couch and victim and every other cliché dream of Hollywood...and she hasn't even reached Colorado. Well done!