| Just a peek behind the scenes of the trials and tribulations of fanfic characters. And their writers. Behind the Scenes - Part II “Fifty-nine bottles of beer on the wall, fifty-nine bottles of beer. If one of those bottles should happen to fall…fifty-eight bottles of beer on the wall. Fifty-eight bottles of beer on the wall, fifty eight bottles of beer…” “Doc, for cryin’ out loud. You’re driving me nuts!” Untangling his leg from the M-1 strap, Doc stood and dusted the dirt from his pants then stretched the muscles tense from being bent uncomfortably for such a long period. “Well what else am I supposed to do, Billy? At least you get to move around. I’ve been stuck in this overturned jeep for what? Six months? All I get is the occasional potty break. For which we can all be grateful, by the way.” Standing from his own slightly cramped position, Billy stretched his back and moaned a bit at the popping sound. “Kirby and Littlejohn have it good. They’re not even in the scene she stopped on, so they get to wait in the green room. Probably ate all the food.” Nodding his agreement, Doc checked his watch. “Potty break. If we hurry, we might be able to grab some food before it’s gone.” Billy fell into step with the medic, frowning slightly. “What are stuck out here for, anyway? It’s been so long, I don’t remember.” “Some challenge or something. Some crazy writer dreams up a scenario and the others torture us with it. This one is sure takin’ her sweet time with it. Something to do with ‘real life’ whatever that is.” “Must be nice to HAVE a real life. Instead of just answering to some dizzy dame’s beck and call.” Billy quickened his pace as they got closer to the ‘green room’. He could almost taste the food already. Littlejohn and Kirby were lounging around on the soft leather couches when they got to the room. Both looked up and grinned wickedly. Putting down his sandwich, Kirby chuckled. “Back again, boys?” “Shut it, Kirby. She’ll come back and write some more. Just you wait. Then she’ll get stuck on your scene for six months.” Grumbling to himself, Billy headed straight for the buffet. He was relieved to see that Littlejohn and Kirby hadn’t had time to eat everything this round. Even easy-going Littlejohn seemed to be getting enjoyment out of their predicament. Perhaps just glad he wasn’t the one having to do it this time. “You guys haven’t heard the bad news, then?” Sensing a bit of glee in that statement, Doc’s hands twitched with the desire to strangle the big guy. “What bad news?” “She lost the file. Can’t seem to find it. Too many document files on her computer now. Her own story seems to have disappeared, so you guys may be stuck there for ages. ‘Least ‘til she can find it.” Doc shook his head in frustration. “That’s it! I’m going on strike. No way am I waitin’ in that stupid jeep, swelterin’ in that heat, until she finds what she did with the story. Sheesh. She can just come lookin’ for us in here.” All four turned to look as a newcomer passed through the door. Littlejohn, Kirby and Billy did a doubletake. The new guy looked like Doc’s twin. The new Doc greeted his lookalike and headed for the buffet. “Takin’ a break, too, huh? I got tired of sittin’ on the side of the road by myself.” Blinking a bit, as if he had double vision, Kirby dared to ask the question. “What’re you doin’ here?” “While you guys were answering this so-called challenge, some dame callin’ herself DocII asked for a bedtime story. That was ages ago and I’ve been sittin’ on the side of the road ever since.” Billy sighed and filled his glass with wine. Thinking a bit, he added some more. “That’s it. We need to get this dame a winning lottery ticket. Then she won’t have nothin’ better to do, than finish these stupid stories.” Fishing in his pocket, Doc managed to scrape up some change. The others all followed suit. “So where do we get one of these lottery tickets, then?” END |