A Scandal in Hollywood

I stood at the edge of the hole and watched as they lowered the casket in it. Tears stung the back of my eyes, but I held them back. I wouldn’t cry in public, I had to be strong for Aimee’s parents. Her aged mother stood beside me, clutching a slightly torn tissue in her wrinkled hands as she sobbed. Her father stood silently beside her, a tear slipping down his cheek. The tiny woman in front of him raised the tissue to her eyes and covered them as a cry escaped from her lips. I looked up to see the sun shining brightly. Ironic today would be the hottest day on record for California when rain would fit the mood better. I knew Aimee would have wanted the sun to shine at her funeral. She absolutely hated rain, but loved the sunshine; she would have laughed at the irony if she’d been here.

I watched as Aimee’s father stepped forward to comfort his wife as I turned back to watch as the grave workers filled in the hole. I closed my eyes and imagined Aimee’s face when she was alive, not how I’d last seen her: cold and pale in her casket at the reception.

Tanned California skin appeared in my mind, followed by light brown hair blowing in the breeze and a pair of stormy blue eyes staring back at me. Her lips would curve into a smile as she waved at me and motioned for me to come over to her as the sun beat down on her floppy straw hat. I squeezed my eyes shut tight when I felt tears on the brink of them. I would not cry, I would not cry, I would not cry, I chanted inside my mind as I remembered Aimee’s parents standing behind me. I had to be strong for them; they would need me after the death of their only daughter.



I carried my baby sister Tammy on my hip as I tried to keep up with my parents. I held Tammy close as she pulled at my hair as I ran down the supermarket aisle to where my parents were looking at loaves of bread at the end.

“Tammy, stop pulling my hair,” I chastised her gently as I pulled my black hair from her iron grip. For a ten month old she was pretty strong. I looked up to see my parents weren’t standing where they were two minutes ago. I walked to the end of the aisle and looked to my left to see them heading down the next aisle. With a sigh I rushed after them.

I was nineteen years old and still living at home, looking after Tammy while my parents went to work. I was more like the live-in babysitter than their daughter. I wanted to go to college but they always told me how they needed me to look after Tammy. ‘Just until she goes to Kindergarten, then we can look into college for you,’ they told me, but that was be almost four years away! I didn’t see why mom couldn’t just take off work for a couple years, or hire a babysitter. We both know they could afford it, seeing as how they’re both lawyers, and good ones at that.

“Laura, keep up!” my mom called from the other end of the aisle as she and dad looked at a can of beans.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said politely as I rushed across the aisle. Tammy cooed as she grabbed a strand of my hair and yanked on it. I cringed when I saw a few strands of hair in her fist as she cooed happily.



When I got home I parked the car and just sat in the garage for a few minutes, staring at the home security pad on the wall next to the door that led inside.

Aimee turned to me with a smile on her face as she typed in the password to the new security system she’d convinced me to buy.

“See? Now all you have to do is type in a password, and it lets you in. If anyone tries to get in without typing in the password the police will be alerted and they’ll be here in less than five minutes. You won’t have to worry about obsessed fans or burglars anymore!” she said, displaying the panel like a model. I laughed and pulled her into a hug.

Ever since we’d come home last week and found a fan snooping around in our belongings, Aimee had been shopping around for a home security system.

“Alright, alright, you win. It was a good idea,” I said before kissing her forehead.

How could I live in a house where everything reminded me of her? Why did she have to die so young? She was only a year younger than me at 38-too young to die.

A knock on my window made me jump and caused my knee to hit the horn and let out a sound that reverberated through the garage. I turned to see my son, Brett standing there with a concerned expression on his face. I pressed a button and the window rolled down.

“Sorry, dad, I didn’t mean to scare you. I thought you heard me drive up behind you.” I look in my rear view mirror and saw the black convertible I’d bought him for his 16th birthday two years ago. How had I missed it?

“It’s fine,” I said with a shrug as I pulled the keys out of the ignition and got out of the car. I locked the door behind me and turned back to Brett.

“Do you want to come in?” I asked as I swung my keys around my finger.

“I can’t, I have to go to the store and get some things so mom can make dinner, but I wanted to come see you first, see if you were alright. I heard that Aimee died; I’m really sorry, dad, and mom sends her condolences too,” he said with a look of sympathy in his eyes.

“Thanks, Brett, and tell your mom I said thanks too,” I said, patting him on the shoulder.

“Well, I’d better get going. I’ll come by sometime soon to visit, ’k dad?” I nodded and he walked back to his car with a wave before he got in his car. He always came by at least once or twice a week when I wasn’t on a set in some other state for a new movie, so needless to say I didn’t see him much. Since he’d started driving I’d been seeing him more regularly than before, and sometimes he would drive out to the set and we’d go get lunch, but I still wished I could spend more time with him.

I watched until he drove away then turned walked over to the door with a sigh as I punched in the security code I knew by heart.



I laid down on my hotel bed and let out a sigh. Tammy gurgled from her crib next to my parents bed as they leaned up against the headboard and watched TV. My head ached from Tammy pulling my hair, my arms felt like jelly from carrying her around all day, and I just wanted to go to sleep. I had just turned on my side and relaxed when Tammy started to cry.

“Laura, could you please take Tammy for a stroller ride around the front of the hotel? She just loves it when you push her around.” I sat up and turned to look at my mom with a tired look on my face.

“Please?” she asked, smiling at me sweetly. I let out a sigh as I stood up, then dragged my feet over to Tammy’s crib and unfolded the stroller that was leaning against it. With a heave I lifted Tammy up and set her in the stroller before strapping her in and pushing her out of the hotel room.

This vacation was supposed to be relaxing, and it was, to my parents, that is. It wasn’t relaxing to me. Since my parents went out sight-seeing everyday I was forced to carry Tammy and tag along behind them while they had fun. At night, when they were all asleep, I could sneak downstairs and visit the pool that was open all night at the five-star resort they’d booked. I could just swim around and let my mind wander as I felt the water ripple all around me and listen to nothing but the crickets and frogs outside. It was the most relaxed I’d felt since Tammy was born.

I pushed the button next to the elevator and a moment later it dinged open. I walked in and rode it down to the lobby. The doorman, Mr. Adkins, opened the door for me and gave me a sad smile when he saw me pushing a stroller in front of me. He saw how my parents dragged me along everywhere they went and I could tell from glances he gave me that he felt sorry for me.

I walked outside and turned to the left since my parents usually went to the right. As I walked along I looked at the graffiti sprayed on the sides of buildings as Tammy hit the side of her stroller with her stuffed monkey.

I started to feel thirsty and felt a little relief when I spotted a Wal-Mart up ahead. I reached in my pocket and pulled out what money I had. I look down at the crumpled up $10 bill in my hand; yeah, that should be more than enough for a water.

I walked into Wal-Mart and went up to the small refrigerators in the front and grabbed a water. I pushed the stroller over to the ten-or-less items line and waited patiently. A boy with floppy blond hair stood in front of me, or at least that’s what I saw from looking at the back of his head. Tammy cooed loudly as she threw her stuffed money at the boy in front of us. He turned around when it hit his back to see Tammy laughing.

“I’m so sorry about that,” I said as I moved around her stroller to pick up the toy. He moved the carton of eggs he’d been carrying to the other arm which was already holding a tub of butter. Then he picked up the toy before I could and handed it to me.

“It’s no problem. Kid’s will be kid’s, huh?” he said with a shrug. I nodded before handing the monkey back to Tammy and giving her a stern look while I had my back to the boy. When I was sure Tammy wouldn’t throw the stuffed animal again I walked to the back of the stroller.

“Is she your baby?”

“In a way, I guess. She’s my baby sister,” I said with a smile.

“She’s adorable,” he said as he placed his groceries on the conveyer belt bending down to Tammy’s level. “What’s her name?”

“Tamara is her full name, but we call her Tammy,” I answered. He made a funny face at Tammy, causing her to laugh.

“Next please,” the cashier said loudly. We both turned to see that the line ahead of us had disappeared.

“Oh, sorry,” he apologized to her quickly before sliding his eggs and butter down to the end. After we’d both paid for our things he walked me out of the store.

“So, do you live here, or are you one of the many tourists?” he asked as we walked.

“Just a tourist. We live in Tennessee,” I answered before taking a sip of water. “Although I wish I could live here. It’s pretty nice.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. What’s Tennessee like?”

“Freezing in the winter, and scorching in the summer. It swings between two extremes each year, so I never really have time to get adjusted to one temperature. It keeps you on your toes, I guess,” I tried to explain, but the boy seemed lost to me.

“So, how long are you here?” he asked, changing the subject.

“A week.”

“And back to school in the fall, or are you in college?”

“Neither. I already graduated, but I’m not going to college. I have to take care of Tammy while my parents work.”

“So you have no plans to go to college?”

“I do, but I can’t until Tammy starts Kindergarten. My parents won’t pay for it until then.”

“Can’t afford college and daycare?” he asked with a sympathetic look.

“They could afford both, but they don’t want Tammy to go to a daycare, they want her to be taken care of and raised at home until she starts school.”

“Well that doesn’t seem fair to you,” he said with a confused look.

“Life isn’t fair sometimes,” I replied with a shrug as I wondered why I was telling a complete stranger about my life.

“I guess so,” he mumbled. He stopped and I realized we’d reached a black car.

“Well, I should be getting these back to my mom,” he said as he unlocked the back door and placed them on the floorboard. “Could I get your number or something? I like talking to you.”

“Um, sure. Do you have your phone so I can punch in my number?” I asked. The boy reached around his pocket before groaning.

“Oh, no. I left it at home,” he mumbled to himself.

“Well, do you have a pen or something?” I asked as I pulled out the receipt I’d gotten and tore a piece off. He opened the front door and searched around in the passengers side compartment before finding a pencil and handing it to me. I quickly wrote down my number before handing it back to him.

“And my name is Laura Field.”

“Nice to meet you, Laura. My name’s Brett,” he replied before slipping the piece of paper in his pocket and opening the car door.

“And do you have a last name, Brett?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. I wondered why he was being mysterious.

“Brett McKelvey,” he answered before getting into his car and driving away.