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Chapter 8

I cleared away the fan mail, while Amy went to her dressing table and extracted various bottles, jars, plastic tubes and brushes

‘Now come in and take a seat in front of the mirror, young lady. I’ve been wanting to do this ever since that first occasion when you wore my long riding skirt and proceeded to show me up in front of everybody,’ she said with a smile.

I shrugged my shoulders, sat down as instructed and let her have her fun. Amy was a proficient makeup artist and hair stylist so an hour and a half later she was satisfied with her efforts. My long black hair was arranged in a low chignon bun and I sported silver and diamond pendant earrings. She went to her wardrobe and took out a three-quarter length black, backless, halter necked dress, beautifully embellished in silver detailing across the waistline.

‘Now slip out of your things and put this on.’

‘Wow, that does look nice,' I replied.

‘Yes, it’s a dress that I wore to an awards ceremony last year which received several complimentary comments in the press. I think it should look good on you as well.’

She helped me to put on the dress, and zip it up.

‘There’s also a matching pair of high-heeled black sandals with an ankle strap embellished in silver to go with the dress, if they will fit you.’

‘I’ll try them on if you don’t mind. I’ve always had relatively small feet for a guy.’

‘Yes, I’d noticed.'

The dress and the shoes fitted me and felt great to wear.

‘Next time we will have to do something about your hands and fingernails, but I’m afraid we won’t have time to do so tonight,’ said Amy.

‘That’s ok,’ I replied.

She finished arranging my hair and stood back to admire her efforts.

‘Wow! I always knew that you would look good dressed as a girl, but I’d no idea that you would turn out to be quite such a beauty,’ commented Amy.

She sounded as if she really meant it. She stepped to one side so that I could see myself in her full-length mirror. I said nothing, just stared at myself in the mirror, not knowing what to think, except that I felt great.

‘Do you mind if I take some more pictures of you, Nikki?’ Amy asked after a minute or so of stunned silence on my part.

‘Yes, so long as you promise not to post them on your Instagram or Twitter accounts, or anywhere else on the internet,’ I said at last finding my voice.

‘Don’t worry, Nikki, I won’t do that,’ she replied.

She went to her handbag and to took out her phone and proceeded to take several pictures of me in different poses.

‘Would you like me to share them with your phone as well?’

‘Yes please.’

A few minutes later we were both examining the results on our respective phones.

‘I don’t look too bad, do I?’ I commented, with a smug grin.

‘Not too bad, my foot, you look stunning,’ she replied.

I didn’t reply although I had to agree with her.

The following morning the crew quickly set up and reshot the scenes involving Amy and myself and we were finished soon after eleven o’clock. Jenny and Les Worth then approached Amy and handed her a revised schedule and began to go through the details with her.

‘Okay tomorrow, we’re going to make a start on the exterior scenes with you and Ray, and then the crew will set up and do as much as we can on Saturday without you, ready to finish off with you in place on next Monday morning.’

‘Remember you can always use Nicola here to stand in for me tomorrow and on Saturday morning to help you block the scenes or during the camera and lighting set up? She might even serve as a body-double for some of those early shots before we begin our conversation. I would finish any of the shots involving dialogue on Monday morning.’

Les thought for a moment before turning to me.

‘What’s your schedule over the next couple of days, Nicola?’ he asked.

I shrugged.

‘At present I’ve nothing more to do until next Tuesday.’

‘What does your contract specify?’

‘It doesn’t really specify my duties, I’m just employed as a dogsbody, to be used as required.’

‘I object to my stand-in describing herself as a dogsbody – that reflects on me,’ said Amy smiling.

‘Sorry, I never thought,’ I replied.

‘But would you be able to come in tomorrow and maybe on Saturday, if necessary?’

‘Yes, I suppose so.’

‘In that case, Jenny, can you book Nicola as a stand-in tomorrow whilst Amy is getting ready for the shoot. That should save us some time.

‘What about her costume?’ asked Jenny.

‘We’ll just be planning shots and lighting so she can come in everyday clothes.’

‘What about Saturday morning?’ Jenny asked.

‘At the moment, I’m not sure whether or not it is going to be practicable to use her on Saturday, but we’ll see how we get on tomorrow.’

Amy and I had Thursday afternoon free of commitments, so we had arranged for me to give her a second riding lesson. As soon we had changed out of our costumes we returned to her caravan where she donned a pair of riding breeches and loaned me a pair of her jeans and a plain blouse to wear. She refused outright to let me retrieve my own from storage, determined that I would not be seen in her company wearing male trousers.

Riding was the one thing that I was pretty good at and for once in our relationship I was the acknowledged expert. I again went through the basics of riding side-saddle and she practiced, initially in the yard and then later in the adjoining fields. We took care, and after an hour or so she’d gained enough confidence to progress from a walk to a gentle trot.

‘I still don’t really see the point in riding side-saddle,’ she said once we had successfully completed a circuit without mishap.

‘You never know when it might come in handy for future film or tv work,’ I suggested.

‘But why were women expected to ride side-saddle in the first place?’ she asked.

‘Strictly speaking, it’s known as ‘riding aside’ rather than ‘astride’, and it was 'fine ladies’ rather than ordinary ‘women’ who rode that way, I answered primly, deftly avoiding the question.

‘Ooh, I stand corrected, I’d no idea you were such a pedant, Miss Schoolma'am,’ she said, mocking my reply. ‘But there must have been a reason for the practice or was it just because of the clothes they wore?’

I blushed.

‘In the past, there was a widespread believe that a young lady might lose her virginity while riding astride. Once that idea got into circulation it was considered vulgar for any lady to ride astride, whether she was a virgin or otherwise.’

‘It sounds more likely that it was as an excuse used by young ladies who had already lost their virginity with one of the stable lads,’ commented Amy with a grin.

‘I really couldn’t say, but how about you do one more circuit of the field at a trot, and then next time we can proceeded to a canter.’

In the end we stayed out for nearly two hours with Amy on Moonbeam and me riding Cinderella, a slightly more spirited mare. Amy was getting the hang of gripping the saddle using the pommel and gently issuing instructions to the horse using a short riding whip rather than her legs. Eventually though we had to return to the stables so that the grooms would have enough time to unsaddle, groom and feed the horses before they finished their shift.

‘May I help you down from there, Miss O’Donnell?’ asked Alan as she returned to the stable.

‘That won’t be necessary, you just hold the bridle, I think I’m getting the hang of things now,’ she replied as she lifted her leg over the pommel and slid off the saddle.

Her confidence was a little misplaced because her slide continued after her feet hit the muddy floor and she landed heavily on her backside, with her right arm breaking the fall. She looked so ridiculous that both Alan and I were hard put not to laugh.

‘Are you alright?’ asked Alan as he helped her to get up.

‘I think I may have sprained my wrist when I broke my fall.’

‘You had better get that wrist checked by the paramedic, Miss O’Donnell,’ said Alan, ‘we are expected to report any accidents relating to the horses, I would take you there myself but I’m afraid I can’t leave the horses.’

‘Don’t worry Alan, I’ll go with her,’ I said.

The paramedic on the set checked that she hadn’t broken any bones and confirmed that she had not done any serious damage to her hand. He gave her a couple of anti-inflammatory tablets, bandaged her wrist and fitted her lower arm with a plastic splint.

‘Just keep it strapped up like that for a couple of days and it should be alright, Miss O’Donnell,’ he said. ‘Come back if it is still painful after the weekend,’

‘But I’m supposed to be filming tomorrow and then attending an awards ceremony on Saturday evening.’

‘Filming tomorrow is going to be out of the question, I’m afraid. But if you can keep the splint in place until Saturday afternoon you should be alright to go out without it in the evening, so long as you don’t try to use it in the meantime.’

‘Oh dear, I can’t see Frank being happy when he finds out. I guess we’d better find him and explain,’ said Amy.

She was right, Frank wasn’t at all happy with either of us.

‘Bringing forward that scene was going to help us with scheduling problems over the next three weeks,’ he sighed. ‘Nicola, this is partly your fault, the whole point of employing you was so that Amy did not need to go near the horses. There are to be no more riding lessons and you are only to ride them when you are required to do so.

‘I am sorry,’ I replied.

‘It was my fault,’ said Amy coming to my defence. ‘I asked Nikki to teach me how to ride side-saddle. But maybe I could turn up on set tomorrow and take off the splint whenever you need to film me.’

‘No, I’m not going to go against medical advice, and get sued for it afterwards. We won’t be using you until next Monday but I’m definitely going to need you on set all day tomorrow, Nicola, and probably now on Saturday as well.’

‘What about a costume?’ I asked.

‘That won’t be necessary for tomorrow, you can wear ‘everyday clothes’,' he replied. ‘On Saturday we will have to see whether you can wear the costume that was made for Amy.’

As we walked back towards the caravan, Amy and I began discussing what I would wear the following day.

‘Good luck with my costume on Saturday, just wait and see what they have in store for you to wear Nikki,’ said Amy, with a wicked smile.

‘What do you mean?’

‘A voluminous silk dress over a hooped crinoline petticoat and that dreaded whalebone corset, so you’d better leave plenty of time for the costume department to get you ready.’

‘Will it be uncomfortable to wear?’

‘Yes, at first but like all the female cast you’ll just have to get used to it.’

‘Amy. I’ve been told to come in my ‘everyday clothes' tomorrow morning, but I’ve run out of clean things to wear and I was planning to do my laundry tomorrow. Will it be alright if I hang on to your jeans and this blouse to wear tomorrow?’

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea especially if you want to show to the directors and crew that you can make a convincing stand-in for me. I’ll loan you one of my own dresses to wear on set tomorrow and first thing on Saturday, to help you stay in character. What about Sunday?’

‘The clothes that you bought for me last week will be clean and dry by then.’

‘Good.

‘Alright, I’ll make sure that everything is washed and ironed by the time you get back on Sunday night. I’ll also be free on Sunday if there is anything I can do to repay you?’

‘I suppose you could type some more of those address labels for my fan mail if you have time over the weekend. I won’t be able to sign them with my arm strapped up like this, but I should be in a position to do so next week.’

Once we had reached the caravan, Amy opened her wardrobe and after a minute or so extracted one of her pretty light blue summer dresses which she held up in front of me. It was quite feminine looking, in contrast to the rather androgynous clothes that I’d previously been wearing in the evenings.

‘Come over and look at yourself in the mirror and let me know what you think?’.

I followed her instructions.

‘So much for your promise that I wouldn’t be expected to wear anything too girly,’ I thought to myself, but I did look nice and I had no wish to argue with her choice.

‘Thanks, that will be fine,’ I said.’

‘There are some matching beads and earrings to go with this dress and you can wear my white open-toed high heels.’

‘I’ve not had much practice wearing heels.’

‘In that case it is time you did so.’

‘Alright, I’ll make sure that everything has been washed and ironed before I return them to you,’ I replied.

‘Now what are you planning to do about makeup?’ Amy asked.

‘Will I need to wear some? We haven’t put on makeup at other times’

‘That was only because the makeup staff fixed it for us. Tomorrow you’re going to be on set without a formal costume, so you will need to show them that you can present as a convincing girl.’

‘I’ve got the lipstick, face powder and the eyeshadow that you bought for me last Sunday and those products that you gave me on Wednesday night. So I think I should be ok.’

‘Alright, that should do, but remember what I taught you yesterday evening. I’ll check up on you before you go on set first thing tomorrow morning but after that you’ll be on your own.’

‘Thanks Amy.’

Later that evening Amy went through the following day’s schedule with me so I would know what to expect.

‘Pay attention and do whatever the Assistant Director tells you tomorrow and keep any opinions to yourself. That way, they may even get to keep you on for a few more days of filming.’

‘I wouldn’t dream of arguing with the director.’

‘Also, make sure you use your girl voice at all times and although you seem to have made great progress over the last couple of days, remember what I’ve told you about being conscious of your body language and hand gestures.’

I sighed.

‘Yes, I promise to do my best, but there seems to be so much for me to remember.’

Amy smiled.

‘I think that you will probably be good enough as a stand-in for me.’

 

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Next week:Weekend social activities

Thanks for the comments and corrections, everyone. Feel free to keep them coming.
Louise