Jacob apparently sent our ‘take’ on the contract back to them that same afternoon including in it all our ‘little’ deletions and additions. They pressured their legal to look it over the very next day and then modified our modifications including rearranging the locations of some of the information. I guess they hoped that moving our stuff around would cause us to miss some of the things they did to it. By Monday a revised copy of the revised copy was on Jacob’s desk and that afternoon he had Alice trying to find me so I could look at it again. I guess I zigged while she zagged since I didn’t get the message until after six when Candy and I got home.

I had spent Friday through Monday as myself having been released from my bondage Thursday afternoon after I left Jacob’s offices. Candy only made one comment about it during the weekend asking, “when will my new ‘girlfriend’ be visiting again?”

“Never if I have anything to say about it. I’m quite happy as a male.”

I didn’t know if that made her happy or sad. I was beginning to think she liked having Denise around once in a while. The only other time that sort of thing happened was when I was doing the second Amazon TV-movie. We didn’t always have the time to run me through full makeup and out again every day that we were shooting. I went a week or so at a time en-drag during those few months. I know Candy wanted what I had to offer as a male but sometimes I began to wonder if she didn’t wish I was a girl, at least part of the time anyway. I’m not quite certain what to make of her.

She’s a special girl and I really like her. I re-thought my strategy when I heard the message from Alice on our machine that Monday evening. I called back and left a message that I’d be in Tuesday morning very early, “but if I don’t make it by eleven, don’t look for me as I’ll be going out on location doing that stunt gig I mentioned to you and I’ll be gone until Thursday evening.”

I considered the lessons Candy had been teaching me. I guess they were paying off, slowly, and I figured I’d take us both to dinner if I ever actually made it through this signing process. I guessed it wouldn’t hurt to spend a day or two as Denise, either. If it would make Candy happy, then why not?

The next morning Candy was off to her daily and I was about to take off to go see Jacob. I was rethinking this whole thing because I didn’t want him buying me a whole new outfit again should he decide to take the contract back to them in person with me tagging along to put in my signature. I bit the bullet dressing in the whole outfit again which precluded the bus once again. This was becoming expensive. That’d be two more taxi rides just for today.

Due to Candy’s expert tutelage I was able to successfully do my makeup after attaching my breast forms and wig. The earrings didn’t want to go in easily so I wound up bleeding a little . Now that I think about it, I seem to remember them saying something about that at the store. What was it? Something about not removing them for several weeks while the ears healed? I didn’t pay it a lot of attention at the time. Where the heck’s that stuff they gave me to use to clean.... ah. Here it is.
Cripes, that really stings.

Okay. Purse, watch, bracelet a la Candy, earrings, wallet also a la Candy, money - cripes sixty bucks. Glasses, so I can read the contract. They don’t look especially feminine but they’re the only pair I’ve got. Cell phone, okay I guess I’m.... oh shit. I rushed back into the bedroom and dug through my dresser until I found that box of perfume. Applying it liberally, I hoped it would dissipate before Candy got home so we wouldn’t go round and round again. I don’t remember if I had any on when she first saw me as Denise. Does this stuff linger very long?

I had called for a taxi which arrived about the time I was perfuming myself. By nine I was at Jacob’s and some twenty six dollars poorer. Alice did a double take trying to remember who I was. She knew she’d seen me before but the name escaped her.
She was just beginning to place me when I made it easier, “Hi Alice. Does Jacob have the revised contract ready for me to check out?” She pegged my voice in one.

“Good Morning Dennis, you’re looking quite fetching today.”

“I didn’t know if he would want to drag me over to the studio again today so I opted for preparation rather than rush.”

“Good thinking, but he hasn’t said anything one way or the other.”

“He needs to remember that beginning this afternoon and continuing through Thursday I have that stunt gig so this is the only opportunity I will have this week. I think they said they were in a hurry.”

“Well, here’s the contract. Take it in there and start going through it.” She pointed at a door which I remembered led to another office they used occasionally.

She continued, “They moved some of the stuff around so you might need to hunt for it,” as she gently shook the contract. “I’ll let him know you’re here and looking at it. I’ll also reminded him again of your prior commitment through Thursday.” She motioned once again at that office door as she said all that.

“Thanks.... In here?” I asked once I had opened the door and discovered it seemed to be someone’s office since there looked to be a photo frame on the desk as well as a computer terminal which hadn’t been there before as far as I could remember.

“Yes. No one will be working in it today so you should be able to have some quiet time in there.”

“Thanks again.”

I turned and made my way into the office not really recalling having seen anyone other that Jacob and Alice in the offices. Of course I haven’t actually been in here all that often so I guess anything was possible. I crossed the short expanse of polished wood flooring with the click clack of my heels going suddenly silent when I hit the plush carpet of the office nearly tripping when I did so. There’s quite a difference between walking on wood and walking on carpet which tries to grab and hold the heels. Closing the door behind me I walked to the desk, seated myself behind it then began to plow through the contract. The first thing I noticed was the sentence saying I’m not a girl was missing. I panicked then remembered Alice said the studio attorneys moved some of the stuff around so I needed to keep my eyes peeled for it. A long search didn’t reveal it for me so I began at the top more carefully examining the whole thing again this time with more of a fine tooth comb.

I finally found what I think was supposed to be that sentence. It had been moved back to page four more or less intact but was now missing that part, which I thought was all important, about me not being a girl. I looked through the desk for a pen which had red ink but not finding one caused me to go back out to Alice to borrow one before returning to make my penny’s worth contribution to the war effort.

‘The signers below hereby acknowledge that the individual, who’s stage name is Denise Francine Parker for the purpose of this contract, is signing as same.’

I added the part ‘,although he is not a female’ in red ink with an arrow drawn from my contribution written in the border to the place immediately following the ‘as same’ portion.

Now I began to review the whole thing from the start so I could begin to ferret out the other additions we made as well as again remove some of the things they put back hoping we wouldn’t discover them. I did my XXX’ing out and adding in, using red ink. If nothing else it would draw their attention to the fact we found their changes to our changes and we made other changes again.
About an hour later, I took my marked up copy back to Alice and returned her pen. She glanced through the red ink grunting before she got on the intercom to see if she could interrupt His Majesties concentration, first checking the phone lines to be certain he wasn’t on the phone. I’m even more convinced she must have been a doctor too, with all the grunting she did as she checked my marked up contract copy. Hell, I only made nine changes and I know Jacob had made a lot more than that the first time through.

After talking with his nibs for a half a minute, she said, “Wait here Denise.” before she got up going into the inner sanctum for a few minutes before returning.

“He wants you to wait,” was all she said before she returned to her work.

“It can’t be too long. I’ve got to get going soon to catch the bus ride to the remote location.”

She nodded her head.

About twenty minutes later, just as I was beginning to become antsy, Jacob came out and beckoned for me to follow him as he headed on out the back going toward his car. We went through the same rigamarole as last time and eventually we were on the road. He spent most of the drive explaining things to me concerning their desire to begin shooting at the earliest opportunity. Most of the things I found in the contract he had also but he was going to use my version since it showed more and was in red ink which made our point of view more dramatic. I noticed as I quickly checked it that he had added at least as many changes as had I.

“Is it normal for me to be there at this point?”

“Sometimes yes, sometimes no. In this case I think I would prefer you to be there since if we get them to agree to it all then we could all sign this copy right away and there will be no more guessing or posturing. If they won’t sign this one or another with the same changes within reason then it likely isn’t going to happen for a number of weeks if at all. It will have to do with how comfortable they are that they will be able to find someone immediately if they don’t sign you. Don’t forget they have already picked five people who didn’t accept for one reason or another.”

“Okay. Before I sign, I want to see those wings.”

“Damn, I should have made that one of the conditions. I’ll bring that up when we reach that point in the negotiations. I did get to talk with the developer and learned that it takes a bit of time to learn to use them.”

That puzzled me a bit but I didn’t say anything since we were just pulling into the studio’s lot and would be going in, in short order.

This time, we managed to show up earlier than the appointment since traffic was light thus we waited for about ten before winding up in a different Conference room. Two of the same guys were there with one more suit who was introduced but with no explanation of his role in things. Two of their legal beagles were there and like all lawyers were obvious in their appearance. I wonder why it is so easy to spot a lawyer even before they are introduced as same?

They each had a typed copy prepared for signing when Jacob drew the copy we had, which was covered in red ink, out of his briefcase. The lawyers looked at it and at the producers and the two producers looked at the inked contract like it was a time bomb. The other guy didn’t seem to care one way or the other. He spent most of his time watching me. Our copy was taken from the room for a few minutes and when it returned it was accompanied by four color copies which were made so everyone could have one to look at while we ‘renegotiated’. That, I learned, was a polite way of saying we tried to slit each other’s throats without getting caught.

Jacob wasted no time getting right into it and soon they were all talking so fast it’s a wonder any of them could understand the other. The only two who were silent were myself and that guy who continued to sit there staring at me, so we began to watch each other. I heard Jacob say something which drew me back from my thoughts and I began to pay attention again as one of the two producers began to talk.

“Yeah, Jacob. Legal thought that was a real joke. Of course a woman isn’t a girl. One is of age and one isn’t. What was the point of saying that? That’s why they took it out. It was just clutter.”

“Perhaps if you look more closely at page four and it’s carefully corrected amendment, it will make more sense to you. That is something we will not allow to be missing from the contract.”

Mr. Silent finally said something in a tone which left no doubt that he was a little more than annoyed, “Okay.... so what’s problem with the way legal sai....” He and then the three others finally reached the location where my correctional insert stated I wasn’t a female.

“What the hell? Jacob, is this a joke?” Mr. Silent continued soon followed by the other two.

“No. I told you repeatedly that this individual is a male who is willing to play the part and who has doubled for a great many actresses doing their stunts for them in the shows they were in. He has doubled for some very well known starlets. In the two TV-movies he played the part of a woman all through each movie. We never said he was a female and went to great lengths to bring the fact he was male to your attention. You are the ones who continually made that mistake. Now, if we could go on to the matter of the base rate for acting vs the base rate for the stunts....”

“Jacob, that’s completely unacceptable.” Mr. Silent voiced a bit loudly.

“What? You won’t pay stunt rates when he’s flying? It’s dangerous and....”

“NO, this other thing.”

“Exactly which, other thing?”

“You know what I’m talking about. This he isn’t a female thing.”

“I don’t see a problem. Perhaps you could enlighten me?”

“We want a girl.... woman for the part. Not some.... some.... thing.”

“Oh. So now it’s a matter of bigotry? She looks like a female, she acts like a female, she sounds like a female and she stunt doubles for other females but you feel that in spite of Federal laws regarding sexual discrimination she cannot perform in your movie?”

“That isn’t it and you know it. How can we have a leading lady who isn’t a woman? God, we would be laughed out of the business.”

“Tell me something. Can any of you look at her and see anything but a woman? Come on. Right now, exactly who do you see sitting there? Who did you see when you had her read for you? More importantly who is going to tell the world that she is a male? I’m not. She isn’t, she’s too much of a professional for that. At a guess I’d say you do not intend to do so, should she be signed to do the show. How many others have you tried to sign? Denise there will likely be the one who is called in to stunt double for whomever you sign which means she will be acting in more than half of the movie, so why not just sign the whole package in one person?”

“This isn’t going to work, Jacob. No. We are not signing her. Er.... him.”

“Okay. Then we are out of here. Thank you for considering my agency. Good afternoon gentlemen, and to you too, Lawrence.”

We departed the building and Jacob again treated me as though I was a lady, holding my door for me until I was in the car and then carefully closing my door, coming around to enter the car himself. We set out and in minutes were off the studio lots and back into traffic. As we drove back to his office I asked if he could drop me off at my apartment since it was pretty much on our way and that would give me the chance to change and hopefully make it to the bus ride to our shooting location. His reply allowed me to note that Jacob seemed to be in a fairly good mood despite our basically being thrown out on our ears.

I finally questioned him about that.

“I’m not worried. They’re very rapidly running out of time. I did some checking and their pilot has to be up for the network to review and to sign-off prior to their series in only twelve more weeks or it isn’t going to happen this season. That means they must find someone to learn to fly with the wings within a week or less then start shooting within two weeks after that at the latest and that still won’t be enough time before they begin shooting, for that person to be fully checked out on the wings. I tracked down the manufacturer of those wings and discovered they aren’t something which can be learned overnight. They take at least a week to get used to and at least another week to become passably proficient. The developers won’t even allow a person in the air alone until they have at least a hundred hours of instructor controlled practice under their belt and they told me that could take a month or more to attain because it’s actual in the air flight time. Simulator practice doesn’t count. Especially if the person has never had any flight experience, other than riding on commercial jets.

I’ll bet it would take at least that month or more to reach the level of expertise necessary to do the most basic stunts. That means they have to sign someone right now if they want to shoot the pilot in time for presentation to the networks. They’re between a rock and a hard place. Their only other choice is to abandon the show for now, and possibly forever, if they can’t find someone who will play the part. Even if they do then it’s still likely you’ll be the one doing the stunts and I still will soak them for the learning time and even more heavily for the stunts themselves so we will win out either way. You’re the only person who could pull it off and everyone in the business will point them in our direction. Or, at least they will after I finish talking with the few dozen who matter. Hell, most of them owe me anyway.

The studio probably signed a contract with the manufacturer of those wings so they have to pay him something whether they use the wings or not. They won’t get that money back unless they sell the pilot and the series. I’ll give them till this time next week at the longest before they’ll be back, and when they return I’ll make them pay through the nose. Both for your services and for the delay. I’ll make certain they also pay for your learning time on the wings at stunt rates, with a minimum of that hundred hours for learning. Corey, Grangier and Tollenger will learn I know how to play hardball if they didn’t know already. God knows, they should. So.... Yes, I’m in a fairly good mood. We just need to wait a little longer. By the way, I’m having Brooke pick up some more outfits for you since you will likely need them very soon.”

I was a little stunned that Jacob felt this was a victory when I felt so much like it was a defeat. I did suddenly comprehend that Brooke would be out shopping for more clothes for the female me.

“Uh, could you have her pick up several more pairs of stockings? I don’t know the size and the pair I have won’t last forever.”

He laughed, “more earrings too. If the pilot is well received and the series takes off then be prepared for Brooke to take you shopping for a gown to wear so you can look good at the Emmy s.”

As if I wasn’t nervous enough, he had to bring that up, “A.... gown?! I mean.... Of my own?”

“By the way, you may as well keep those on.” He pointed at the lumps protruding from my chest. “You’ll need them the rest of the week for your stunt gigs and we may as well be ready for when Magic calls back with their hat in their hands.”

It was two days shy of a week when they called back.

The first I knew of it was when I returned a call to Alice who bluntly told me, “Get your little derriere in here, honey. You and Jacob are on your way to a bargaining table.”

“Uh, Alice. I’m at a location shoot, in costume and makeup. There’s no way. I’ve got two more days of location shooting before I can make it in.”

“Don’t worry about it. That’s an easy shoot so Jacob has a replacement on her way out there even as we speak. There’s nothing in the contract specifying you specifically as the person to do those stunts so as soon as she arrives and is in makeup, you get yourself cleaned up and rush your little ass in here.”

“I don’t have a car nor enough to pay for a taxi.”

“Just get yourself in here and we’ll pay the taxi.”

“But.... I’m a hundred kilometers or more out at the MGM shoot. A taxi will want me to pay in advance at least part of it. I don’t carry that kind of money on me.”

That gave her a bit of pause, “Ookaayy.... We’ll.... let me talk with Jacob.... don’t hang up.”

She was back on the line in less than a minute even though it seemed a lot longer to me, “okay, kiddo. We’ll send a small limo. The four hour rate will be less than the cost of a taxi. Be ready. Call me as soon as your replacement arrives so I can get the ride moving. I’ll give them a heads up as soon as you and I hang up so they can get their act together and then give them the address when you call again. That’ll give your replacement about an hour and a half in costuming and makeup then once she’s nearly ready you can begin to change and have yours removed. Don’t wait too long, I want you in that limo as soon as it arrives there.”

“Yes, Mother.” I replied facetiously.

“You better remember that. Mother always knows best.”

After we hung up, my thoughts turned temporarily to Magic and the possible contract, I guess Jacob really did know his pigeons.
My replacement arrived while I was before the cameras so I didn’t learn she was here until she had been in costuming for nearly forty minutes. My cell had died of course since I habitually forgot to charge it, so I had to find a phone then called Alice back collect and told her I had only just learned my replacement was here so I would be going into costuming to change and then to makeup to be cleaned up. I would be ready to leave in a little over fifty minutes. She promised the ride would be on it’s way in less than ten and would probably arrive just over forty minutes after that. I don’t know how she times things like that so well as she does.

I finished one more stunt, which took me two takes before the director was happy, probably because my mind was now trying to multitask and wasn't spending enough time on the situation at hand. Finally I retired to have my costume changed back to the clothes I had been wearing when I arrived and then made it into makeup so my screen face could be removed and my street face put back on. The production crew wasn’t too happy about the change and called complaining to Jacob who politely told them what they could do about it since he was within his rights under the terms of the contract. The limo arrived and I was in it and on my way within three minutes of it’s arrival. The contract didn’t name me specifically so Jacob was within his rights to send a replacement stunt person. Still, I hated to do it. This little fiasco had better pay off otherwise it could wind up hurting my standing in the stunt community.

We arrived at Jacob’s offices less than sixty minutes later and Alice signed the voucher so the limo company could be paid their four hour minimum of $235 for the three hours and thirty three minutes the whole thing took, if you included the time it took for them to reach me and return. That was still cheaper than a taxi unless I had been able to make a flat rate deal and paid in advance. As I didn’t have the funds to do that and it was unlikely Jacob would have reimbursed me even if I had, this was the least expensive alternative. It still had me gulping, geez.... I mean.... $235?

I wasn’t in a skirt since I had been on location working. I did make certain I had heels, nice pants and a good blouse with me as I had done each time I went to do a shoot just in case of something like this. Now I was glad that I had. Oh, and I had my purse of course.

We were out the door of his office in less than fifteen, going through the same rigamarole with Jacob holding my door of his car. He wasn’t in a hurry today, much. In less than forty minutes and with only three near misses and a lot of horn honking, we arrived at Magic’s studios. I hesitated to think where it was that I left my heart during our Mach 2 effort. We made our way to that same office where we had been twice before and met Mr. Corey who was there to receive us. I was beginning to get to know the layout of this place recognizing the path of our hasty retreat from Conference Room Five just a week before as we once again proceeded to that location. Within five minutes we had two of their lawyers present along with Misters Grangier and Tollenger.

Things begin to heat up as Jacob delivered the bad news. We were asking an additional twenty percent base and a minimum hundred forty hours of stunt pay for the training with the wings. They began fighting that tooth and nail.

“Come on, Lawrence. I checked around. You offered the first five actresses you approached for the part more than the total we’re asking. You’re just trying to stiff us because she’s not a household name. That’s beginning to change in the industry. You’re out of touch as I’m certain people have been telling you this past week. I know you’ve been checking around.”

“Jacob, there is no way. We could go five percent on the base but the training time is base rate not stunt. He won’t be before the cameras.”

“She! She won’t be before the cameras and for that little gaff I’m adding another five percent base.”

“Oh come on. Big deal. She’s a he and you even wanted that in the contract so don’t stiff us for using the pronouns you selected.”

“That use is our prerogative, not yours.”

“Double standards, huh Jacob?”

“No. Just caution so you don’t let it slip on the set or anywhere else.”

“Afraid your ‘Starlet’ will get himself raped?”

At that little gaff, the company lawyers cautioned Lawrence. They took him aside and there was a bit of a heated discussion over in the corner before he came back, bright red in anger.

“Okay. Afraid your ‘Starlet’ will get ‘herself’ raped?” He used his fingers to indicate quotation marks on both ‘Starlet’ and ‘herself’.

“Lawrence, you’re an ass. Gentlemen, and in your case Lawrence I’m using the term very loosely, it’s been nice. We simply must have one of these knock down, kick them in the nuts sessions again sometime.”

Jacob got up, assisted me to my feet as we turned to leave. We had taken no more than a step or two toward the door with Lawrence still spouting hatred after us when the door opened and Mr. Penn stepped in. He took one look at the crap Lawrence was spouting and before he said a word Lawrence shut his yap.

“Corey. Get out.”

“But — ”

“I said, ‘get out’. Do it before I buy you out and fire your ass.”

“You can’t do that.”

“No? Just try me, and while you’re at it maybe you better go carefully read your copy of the contract which allowed you the option of receiving stock in this company. Continue in this vein and you won’t have a leg to stand on.”

This was the first time I’d seen Penn but Jacob told me he practically was Magic. I was already beginning to like him. Corey just hung his head like a chastised dog and left.

Mr. Penn told us he had seen my screening but this was the first time he had seen me in person. He stood in front of me examining me carefully head to toe before asking me to walk around the room. Next he started a conversation with me and as it progressed I suddenly realized he had been watching my movements during the conversation. By now many of those were quite feminine, thanks to Candy’s efforts to make me appear more feminine, especially when I was dressed like this which helped remind me to act feminine.

“You cut your hair back a bit from where I remember you wore it when in that TV-movie where you played an Amazon.”

I couldn’t tell if he was upset, happy or just making a statement.

“Yes. It needed to be shorter for some of the recent stunt work I was doing, since long hair during stunts can be extremely dangerous. The Union even adds a premium when long hair is involved. You don’t want to know what my medical insurance does.”

He smiled as he appeared to be considering either my answer or possibly the shorter hair when he asked, “Can you do stunts if you are wearing a longer wig or with extensions in your own hair?”

“Yes. It does depend on the stunt though because long hair, as I said, can be very dangerous in some situations.”

He grunted. Great – another doctor. Suddenly he grabbed my hand in his, placed his other hand on my waist before he began humming a waltz as he took me on a dizzying spin around the room which didn’t have me all that confident as I tried to follow him while wearing the pair of stilts women called high heels. I reached up and placed my free hand on his shoulder to help me balance.
“Good.” He commented when we stopped. He stood there thinking for perhaps thirty second before he turned to the remaining two partners and the lawyers, “Sign her and get her down to take a look at the wings. She starts today and needs to have a couple of hours with them before going home. I want a small limo and driver available for her use throughout the entire production, put that in the contract. That also includes during any subsequent episodes if the network buys into the series.”

“Jacob is asking an additional twenty – ”

“Twenty Five, thanks to Corey.” Jacob immediately added.

Tollenger colored, “...Twenty Five percent base plus stunt pay for the wings training sessions with a guaranteed hundred forty hours.”

Penn turned to Jacob, “Jacob, make that twelve percent and a hundred hours stunt training and we’ll sign.”

“No problem. Put that in writing and we’ll sign. Just be certain the clause is still in there that she is really a he or we walk and we don’t come back.”

Penn looked at the four sitting at the table as he said, “if it isn’t in there Jacob, write it in and I’ll initial it.”

To the others he said, “Sign her!” before he wagged his fingers back and forth at the two legal beagles who looked like they were about to say something. Moments later he turned to take my hand giving it a light kiss. Then, with everyone else in the room behind him he gave me a wink before walking around me to exit the room, the door closed silently behind his entourage of two clipboard toting assistants.

Jacob looked at the remaining quartet who were still semi-catatonic, “Well gentlemen.” he smiled, “Shall we?”

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