Phoenix Falling Read Free Page B

absolutely sure of himself, a little arrogant. A decent fellow, but not exactly a deep thinker. On leave home, he falls in love with a young neighbor, Sarah Masterson. Since she's the prettiest girl around, naturally he feels he deserves her, while she's dazzled by him. They become engaged, and he promises to leave the army and take up life as a landed gentleman after one last campaign in North Africa."
    "Where do the torture, guilt, and despair come in?"
    Rainey stood and disappeared into the locker room, returning after a moment with a script. "You can read all about it here. The short answer is that Randall is captured by Arab rebels in an attack where all of his men are killed. He's beaten and abused, and is finally released, a broken man.
    "Ironically, England is looking for something to be happy about in the wreckage of a nasty little campaign that went badly, so he's given a hero's welcome when he returns home. As Randall is dying inside, he's lionized, presented to the queen, and generally treated like the greatest thing since sliced bread. No one wants to hear about what really happened, and besides, he can't bear to talk about it."
    Kenzie felt a chill of recognition. This was a character he could understand. "Presumably things get worse before they get better."
    Rainey lifted hand weights and started slow bicep curls. "He doesn't want to marry Sarah because he feels tainted and unworthy, but there's so much momentum behind their engagement that before he knows it he's standing at the altar.
    "The marriage starts disastrously, but even though Sarah is young and wildly naive, she's not stupid, and she truly loves him. Gradually she comes to understand what torments her husband, and her love pulls him back from the brink of destruction. At the end, she leaves everything she's ever known to accompany him to Australia so they can begin a new life in a place where there are fewer rules and family expectations."
    Frowning, Kenzie gazed out the window, where a famous neighbor walked along the sand with two golden retrievers. Though Rainey's project would be an interesting change of pace from his usual heroics, making a movie with her would be hell, and this particular story might cut too close to the bone. "You don't really need me. There are plenty of actors who could do the role well."
    "I had you in mind the whole time I was writing the screenplay. John Randall has a tremendous emotional range from arrogance to despair to hope, and I can't think of another actor who could do it as well." Her voice turned persuasive. "You'll get a chance to stretch acting muscles you haven't used in ages. You've been getting restless with all of these big budget thrillers. This is your chance to do something different, and knock a lot of critical socks off."
    His soon-to-be-ex-wife knew how to bait a hook. She was a great fan of his work, claiming that he made acting look so easy that it was always the people around him who won the awards. She might be right, and while he didn't need an Oscar, he was human enough to want to be considered good as well as successful. "Are you playing Sarah?"
    She shuddered theatrically. "No way. She needs to be painfully young and innocent. I was never that young."
    "Maybe not in your personal life, but you could play nineteen with the right lighting and makeup."
    "I've already got a terrific young English actress, Jane Stackpole, to play Sarah. I'll be plenty busy directing."
    "Directing is a popular ambition."
    Though his tone was neutral, she reacted vehemently, setting down her weights and stalking to the glass to stare out at the ocean. "When I was young, I wanted only to act. Now that I've done that for years, I want more. I want to tell my stories my way instead of being a puppet playing out someone else's vision. But you know how hard it is for a woman to get a chance to direct." A tremor, instantly suppressed, sounded in her voice. "I want to make this story, now, and to do that I need you."
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