Valise in the Attic by Jan Fields

up.”
    “Rusher hasn’t made any movies lately,” Alice said. “I thought maybe he was sick or something.”
    “He didn’t look sick to me,” Peggy said, then smiled dreamily. “You know, some men just look more distinguished with age.”
    “Someone talking about me?”
    The women turned to see Stony Point’s mayor, looking dapper in a long trench coat and porkpie hat. “We weren’t,” Alice said. “But we could be. You definitely look very distinguished in that outfit.”
    “Matt Rusher is going to be in this movie,” Peggy said, nearly jumping up and down. “He’s going to be in this scene!”
    “Really?” Ian’s eyebrows went up. “The movie people didn’t say anything about blowing stuff up in Stony Point. I heard this was going to be one of those warm family films for cable. That doesn’t really sound like a Matt Rusher kind of movie.”
    “Maybe he’s branching out,” Alice said.
    “I suppose,” Ian said. He held up a suitcase and said to Annie, “It looks like you and I are both going on the ferry.”
    “Oh, that’ll be fun,” Annie said.
    Just then a nervous young man rushed over to shout at the group that they needed to get into position for the scene. He called for the ferry riders to follow him and sent the “greeters” on to follow another shivering man with a clipboard. Annie was starting to think clipboards were the badge of movie making.
    As the group was rushed onto the boat that would represent the ferry, Annie took a moment to be grateful that her wardrobe included gloves and a scarf. The wind blowing across the water was vicious. “We want you to stand near the rails as the ferry approaches the pier,” the young man yelled. “Then when the ferry docks, someone will signal you. You simply walk off in an orderly way. We’d like you to smile and look toward the crowd on the pier.”
    The young man went through the crowd and paired up a few people. He tugged Annie closer to Ian. “You two be a couple,” he said. “As you walk off, kinda look at each other and smile, please.”
    “No problem,” Ian said cheerfully.
    Finally the young man told them not to stare at or interact with any of the actors. Annie looked curiously as a young man walked up onto the boat carrying a canvas duffle. Unlike most of the people, he was wearing neither a hat nor a scarf. Even his coat was slightly open. Annie assumed it was to make him easy to recognize in the crowd, but she suspected he must have been cold.
    He was a nice-looking young man. Annie doubted he could be much older than Vanessa. He had big brown eyes and a thick scruff of dark hair. That must be Logan Lariby, Annie thought. She smiled at the thought that teen idols still seemed to have a lot of hair these days. The young actor slipped through the crowd to take his mark. As he passed by Annie and Ian, he nodded politely, making eye contact with a smile.
    After Logan was in place, everyone else was shown where to stand in relation to the actor. Ian and Annie stood next to the rail, and Annie fought to keep her teeth from chattering. Ian moved closer to her to block some of the wind. “Having fun yet?”
    “Surprisingly, yes,” Annie admitted. “It’s fascinating, and until we moved to the boat I wasn’t even terribly cold.”
    They chatted quietly for a few minutes, and then the boat started up and moved away from the pier only to make a tight loop and circle back. When they were finally pointed in the right direction, someone bellowed, “Action!”
    Annie looked out toward the pier as she had been directed. The wind made her eyes water, but she kept a smile plastered on her face as the pier grew closer and closer. She was grateful for Ian’s attempts to keep as much wind as possible away from her.
    Finally the boat docked, and Annie saw the crowd on deck begin to move toward the gangplank. She slipped her arm through Ian’s and smiled up at him as they walked. He looked down at her, his eyes warm. For a moment, it