Bought and Paid For

Jade swallowed nervously and consciously relaxed his fingers from around the package he was creasing in his sweat-slicked grip. His footsteps squeaked on the polished floorboards of the white-painted corridor. Stills and advertising posters from vintage movies hung in simple wooden frames all along the length of the hall. He didn’t know why he had been singled out for this task, it wasn’t like there weren’t other employees in the house who could have done it, but something in the earnest way Evelyn’s groundskeeper, Gene, had asked him to do it made him suspect there was an ulterior motive.

If there was, he couldn’t think what it could be. He had been padding back from returning his lunch plate to the kitchen when Gene, had found him en route, his greying hair flying wildly around his head and his boots trailing dirt all over the perfect floors. He had exclaimed with relief at the sight of Jade and had rapidly pressed a large, padded package into his hands with garbled instructions about where to take it and far more information about what exactly would happen if he didn’t catch the stallion who had escaped out of the North paddock into the field of Evelyn’s purebred mares.

With no wish to hear more about horse sex, Jade had taken the package and agreed to deliver it, much to the old man’s grateful relief. Bemused, Jade had watched him run off back the way he came; the mud all over the floor testament to his haste. With trepidation, Jade pulled out his well-worn map of the building – a godsend gift from Evelyn on his second day here – and tried to work out a route from where he was standing to the ‘movie room’.

Now he was shuffling down the corridor, counting off doors and trying not to get too distracted by staring at the beautiful old posters. The package had been deceptively light at first but was now weighing heavily in his arms. He wondered idly what it could be as he spotted his target door on the left.

Hefting the parcel to balance on his hip, Jade freed a hand to open the door. ‘Just put it on the desk in there’, he had been told, and so he was groping for a lightswitch to illuminate the dark room so that he could see what he was doing when a sharp voice snapped irritably at him to “shut the fucking door and stop that damn light coming in!”

Literally jumping off the ground in fright, Jade almost lost his grip on the package and had to dance awkwardly in the doorframe to stop it crashing to the floor, unfortunately managing to knock the door wider as he did so. There was an irritated grunt and a hand jerked him into the room, slamming the door behind him. Jade blinked in the darkness, the only light source was an ancient movie projector, currently projecting nothing at a large silver screen at the end of the room. Jade’s heart lurched at the familiar shape – a flashback to a life he had left behind years ago.

There was a snap and a red safelight blossomed its warm rays over the room, bathing everything in crimson. Jade held up the package and started to apologise and explain when the words caught in his throat as Adam Carson turned, concentrating on a small piece of machinery in his hands. He spoke without looking up. “Hold this.” He took the heavy package out of Jade’s hands and handed him a flashlight. “Don’t switch it on until I say, and for God’s sake only point it where I tell you.”

With an impatient gesture, Adam led a more than slightly confused Jade towards the skeleton of an old movie projector, bolted to the floor and staring blindly through a hole in the wall. He picked up a screwdriver and nodded towards the machine. “Shine it in there, light up the back panel for me.” Shaking slightly, and wondering if he could just turn and make a run for it, Jade did as instructed, putting the torch into position before clicking it on. Adam made a grudging grunt of approval before reaching into the projector, the edge of his tongue peeping out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated.

Jade watched him work while his attention was diverted. It was hard to imagine that this tousled and T-shirted man in grease-smeared jeans with dirt on his face was really one and the same person as the multibillionaire business guru in the sharp suit on the covers of economics magazines and Sunday specials. He studied the angles of Adam’s broken nose, wondering idly what had caused the original injury. Some of his initial fear had ebbed away since Adam was so engrossed in his task and Jade tried to convince himself that he might be able to get away without having to speak to the man at all. He knew it was cowardly, but he didn’t want to risk bringing himself to Adam’s attention more than absolutely necessary in case he held true on his threat to send Jade away.

Without him noticing, Jade’s musings had relaxed his hands and the torch slipped in his grip. Adam glanced up irritably to see why his light had gone and blinked in surprise as he realised just who he had recruited to help him. Jade shuffled uncertainly while Adam studied him, his jaw set angrily. They hadn’t spoken since the night Adam had come home. Jade had actively avoided him and Adam had seemed to neither care nor notice if he was there or not. Jade almost hoped he had forgotten about him. There was an awkward pause and Jade frantically tried to think of something to say to stop Adam glaring at him like that.

“Did Ev send you here?” The question was curt and Adam flexed his shoulders slightly, as if preparing for a fight.

Jade clutched the flashlight tightly, trying to moisten his mouth so that he could speak. “N-no. Sir.” There was a moment of silence and Jade felt compelled to expand. “I-I mean, I was just passing when I was asked to bring the package here. I didn’t know you’d be here or I…” He twisted the flashlight in his hands, staring intently at the floor rather than look up into those accusing eyes.

“Why are you still here?” Another blunt question.

Jade’s heart skipped a beat. He was going to be sent back. Adam was going to throw him out. “I…” Words failed him. He couldn’t go back. He couldn’t. If it had just been Hunter he probably could have managed but Davey would systematically take him apart - and enjoy every second of it. Adam exhaled impatiently, waiting for an answer.

Jade spread his hands, making the charcoal shadows dance wildly around the room from the flashlight beam. He shrugged, feeling more beaten and naked under Adam’s simple question than he had ever done in Hunter’s basement. “I have nowhere else to go.” The truth burned him as he spoke it and the full weight of his situation came crashing back to him. He had nowhere else to go. Ostracised by his family, run away from his employer, hiding out in a rival’s mansion like a rat skulking in the bilge of a ship. He had no money, no clothes that belonged to him. Only the charity of a bored socialite with a penchant for melodrama.

Adam snorted. “Go home.” He shifted his weight and Jade looked up to find a questioning raised eyebrow, a little curiosity under the guarded annoyance.

Jade suddenly felt a flash of anger. Here was this rich man who had nothing more to worry about than which club he used for his next golf shot, holding his life in his hands and telling him to go home like he was a petulant six year old running away from home because he wasn’t allowed ice cream.

“Go where? To my hometown? My house is gone. We sold it, my family live in a one-bedroom apartment in the city. It’s only five minutes from the hospital. Or do you want me to go back to Hunter? Because I can’t. I… I can’t go back there. I…” He stopped and shook his head, fully aware of how histrionic it would sound.

“Why not?” Adam glanced back at the machinery in his hands, taking away some of the pressure of that penetrating gaze.

Jade heaved a sigh. “I think it would kill me. Eventually. The… the stuff he wants me to do. The stuff Davey does.” Heat flooded his face, the shame burning off him. He felt incredibly impotent, forced to admit what he did for a living to this self-made success story.

Adam tilted his head, eyeing Jade seriously. “He’s… that bad?”

Jade raised his eyes to stare desolately at Adam. “Yeah. It’s… bad.” Adam let out a short huh that Jade couldn’t interpret. Did he disbelieve him? Did he think it was funny?

With a grunt, Adam picked up the screwdriver and nudged Jade’s shin with his foot to get his attention. Jade jolted and re-aimed the beam of torchlight. “Left a bit, get that embedded panel… there. Hold it there.” With a nod, Adam dropped back into his work, hands deftly tightening screws and checking wiring. There was a long silence punctuated by metallic zings and scrapes. “Tell Martin to move you to one of the bedrooms. I need the guest suites clear.”

Jade exhaled a long breath of pent-up tension. He hardly dared hope that Adam’s simple order might mean that he was allowed to stay here. It was too good to be true. Almost shaking with relief, he forced himself to watch Adam’s hands working on the wires and motors inside the projector, aiming the flashlight beam carefully to keep up with the work.

For a few minutes they worked together in blissful silence, Jade lost in rose-tinted memories of performing an almost identical task for his grandfather, before the old man had died. But he shook himself out of it. This was no time to be wallowing in the past.

The darkness and almost companionable silence lent Jade a confidence he hadn’t known he possessed and he felt and uncharacteristic urge to try to build on Adam’s apparent acceptance of him. After trying out a few conversation-starters in his head, he eventually settled on the polite but curious: “Um, why do you need me? I mean… why can’t you just put the overhead lights on?”

There was a pause in which Adam swapped the screwdriver for a soft brush and began dusting the inside of the machine. “Partly because I use this room to store film that – even though it’s been fixed – is delicate and temperamental and I’d rather not risk ruining it more than I have to.” He frowned and abruptly moved Jade’s elbow with an authoritative grip to change the angle of the light, tapping at some unseen part inside the projector. Apparently satisfied, he resumed his careful dusting. “But mostly because the only lights in here are the red ones. Which – you may have noticed – are already on and aren’t good enough for this kind of work.”

He flashed Jade a smile and stepped away to pick up the heavy metal panel that formed the cover of the projector. He set it gently over the machine with just a tiny whine belying the effort it had taken to move the solid metal like that. Jade was glad that the safelight bathed everything in shades of red – it helped to hide the blush that had warmed his cheeks at being so eloquently shot down. He was absurdly conscious of the area of his arm that Adam’s work-stained hand had gripped, just for a moment.

“Turn it off for a moment, but hold on, I’ll need it again soon.” Adam’s voice was warmer and Jade glanced up at him to see him smiling like a proud father at the projector. With ceremony, he pressed a button and the mechanism whirred and clicked as hypothetical film was drawn through it. Another button brought the bright projection lamp to life, lighting up the inside of the machine with its hot glow.

Adam nodded to himself and shut the machine down again. Virtually ignoring Jade, he crossed the room and used the flat blade of the screwdriver to open up the thick brown paper and bubblewrap packaging around the parcel that had brought Jade here, just a few minutes ago.

Still smiling, he unpacked the contents with care, holding each round metal case up to the dim red light to study the label before setting them carefully aside, ordering them as he did so. Selecting one, he opened the case and took out a reel of film, drawing out a length of it and examining it carefully, checking for any obvious damage. All seemed to be well, and he seemed almost cheerful as he carried the reel to the projector and started to mount it onto the machine.

Jade watched in silence as Adam loaded the film, winding it through the complexities of the machine. He muttered to himself, biting his lip, as he manipulated the crackling film through various stops and rollers. Just after the aperture he paused, poking the film in various directions, trying to remember where it went next. Jade stepped up to the projector and took the end of the film from him before he damaged it.

“Here, it goes under these stays and over these spokes, then round to here and over these rollers – there’s the audio pickup – and then up again and under these other stays and through the centre of the receiving reel… like that.” He matched actions with words, surprised how the task came back to him from so long ago. “Then you roll it for a couple of seconds” – he pressed the button to turn on the mechanism – “to wind it on properly. And then you should be at the start of the test sequence.” He stopped the machine, his fingers trailing over its familiar shapes. It had been a long time.

When he glanced up, Adam was staring incredulously at him. “How the fuck do you know how to do that?”

Jade quailed slightly, hearing anger in a voice that was only curiously amazed. “Uh, I… I mean, my granddad used to have one. I mean he used to work with one. At the theatre in my hometown. It was his job. With the projectors. In the theatre, I mean. And I uh, I used to go there after school and kinda, y’know, hang out and help and stuff. Um.”

He swallowed thickly, aware of how pathetic he was sounding. “He taught me all about them. Right up until the theatre closed and he got fired. And then he died about a year after. He just had nothing to do. He asked the owners if he could buy the projectors from them but they just said no, even though they were all just boarded up in that room and left there. After the theatre had closed I mean. Grandpa said it was a sin to leave them to rot like that, but what could we do? Um.” He shut up, realising that he was just babbling now.

Adam was silent for a long moment, just watching Jade twist his toes into the floorboards like a naughty child. With another cryptic hmmn, he switched on the projector and started it running. He walked to a second door in the room, opening it to reveal a black staircase with a terse glow in the dark sign informing anyone who cared to read it that the theatre was to their right. He turned to glance back at Jade. “Wanna watch a movie?”