|
|
|
|
EPISODE 6, SCENE
3 Eric Banks raced through the swinging doors of Baked In Telluride, still dressed from a morning of boarding on the mountain. He went straight to the Employees Only room to change into his work apron. There he found his boss, a flinty-eyed woman named Gena. She was none too pleased to see him. "Late again, Eric." "Sorry, Gena. They had a twenty minute mechanical breakdown on chair six." "That's not my problem. It's the third time this week. I'm gonna have to let you go." Eric stared at her, stunned. "The chair broke!" he pleaded. "What could I do?" "I'm sorry, Eric, but I don't need excuses, I need someone reliable behind the counter, and that isn't you." Eric saw there was no use trying to change her mind. He was unemployed again. Losing his gig at Baked was Eric's second major setback this week. Luanne had finally asked him to vacate her living room couch. He was relegated to sleeping in his van. Serious reversal of fortune. At least he still had Bill Hart on his side. He'd been up on the mountain every morning with the new board the Plush rep had given him, working on his technique for the upcoming Dread Prez Shred race. He was determined to win it. "Hey Money!" Nicky called from the door of the Steaming Bean. Eric had been walking aimlessly down the street brooding about why he couldn't seem to hold a job or a girl. He crossed the street to join Nicky at the Bean. Nicky was standing with a big thuggish looking fellow in a black baseball cap that had "Daylight" emblazoned across the top. "How're you doin', bud?" Nicky and Eric touched fists. "Poor," Eric replied. "I just got shitcanned from Baked." "Boo!" huffed Nicky. He turned to introduce the big man at his side. "This is Brock Johnson. He works for Stallone. He's looking for someone to take him up the mountain this afternoon. Are you busy?" "Not anymore." Eric shook hands with Brock Johnson and weaseled fifty bucks out of him to do the guide thing. They mostly hung out on Lift 3 because Johnson was a beginner snowboarder at best, muscling his way down the runs with stiff awkward turns while Eric carved mightily on his new Plush board. On the long rides up the mountain, Eric got an earful from Johnson about what a prince Stallone was to work for, how he prepared for his acting roles by reading scripts with Brock and the other goons, ya da da. Eric thought about asking if he could crash at Stallone's airport-sized house, but after a few hours listening to Brock Johnson, thought better of it. |
||||