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."You know Will left you a plate in the fridge."I microwaved my dinner of leftover shrimp pasta while Patti read my one-page script."This is really good," I said, returning to the table.I could tell by Patti’s expression that she wasn’t thinking the same about my writing."I know, it’s terrible.Ethan’s right.This film’s going to be a disaster.""Not at all," she said."It just needs a little work.""A little work? How about nine more pages and a complete rewrite of the one that’s there."Patti gave me a sympathetic smile."Well, you don’t have to finish it tonight, do you?""If not tonight, then very soon.Blake thinks I already sent it to him and it got lost in cyberspace.Although with the drunk driving arrest, he’s probably a little preoccupied right now, so that ought to buy me another day.""He was arrested for drunk driving?"I gave Patti the ten second synopsis, emphasizing that the blood alcohol limit in Australia was much lower than in the U.S, and that no one was hurt."The local lawyer told us he’ll likely get off with a fine, so it’s really more of a PR problem than anything else.I’m not sure it’s even a problem.He’s hardly the first celebrity to get arrested for drunk driving.A little good publicity to counteract it wouldn’t hurt though.""Then we should get to work.First, I think you need to narrow your focus.""Narrow it how?""You’re making it sound like this is a documentary about global warming, instead of the story of the endangered Pacific walrus.""Aren’t they tied? I thought they were ‘inextricably linked,’" I said, attempting to imitate Ethan’s practiced tone of moral outrage.Patti laughed at my bad impersonation."Of course they’re linked.But global warming’s an abstract concept.A cute and cuddly walrus drowning because the sea ice melted out from under it is something everyone can relate to."I didn’t know where we’d find a cute and cuddly walrus but I understood her point."Are you sure you don’t want to write this? Because I think you missed your calling."Patti smiled again just as Ethan appeared in the doorway."I’m only here for a refreshment," he said, as he walked past us and into the kitchen."Don’t just concentrate on the melting sea ice," Patti continued."Off-shore drilling’s a major threat too.""You mean like what happened in the Gulf? I thought they cleaned that up really fast, once they shut down the well.""You did not just say that," Ethan said, peering around the fridge."It’s true.I saw it on TV.The beaches are open and everything.""Sydney, all they did was flood the Gulf with a toxic dispersant that sunk the oil.It didn’t make it magically disappear.It’ll be years before we know the true extent of the damage.""There’s still no effective way to clean up an oil spill in icy water," Patti said."A large spill here would be catastrophic, not just for the walruses, but for the entire Arctic ecosystem.""And we’ve already gotten a preview," Ethan said, then slammed the fridge door shut."What a nightmare that was," Patti acknowledged before turning her attention back to me."Do you know about the spill at Prudhoe Bay?""I know about the Exxon Valdez." It had been a case study in my marketing class at UCLA, an example of how not to handle a corporate crisis."Different spill," Ethan said, "but the result’s the same.Rush Oil’s was one-tenth the size, but it still managed to wipe out almost an entire species of wild geese and thousands of tundra swans.Six years later the area still hasn’t fully recovered, and probably never will.""They’re still drilling though," Patti said, shaking her head."Without adopting even one of the safety measures we suggested."Ethan shook his head too."Rush Oil really is the worst of the worst."I pushed my plate away and started typing.A few minutes later Patti stood up, insisting it was past her bedtime even though it was only ten-thirty at night.When I couldn’t convince her to stay I turned to Ethan, who was still leaning against the counter sipping his soda."Well, are you going to stand there all night, or are you going to help me?"To my amazement, he did.Naturally I discarded most of his suggestions.But they always got me thinking in a different direction, which really was useful.And he did provide lots of information about walruses that I never would’ve discovered on my own.Three hours later we had a ten-page script.It wouldn’t win any Academy Awards, but it was good enough to send to Blake.After I saved it to my hard drive and made a backup copy, I ran down to the cabin for my jacket."You don’t have to come with me," I said when Ethan pulled on his jacket too."I can take it from here.""What if you get struck by a rogue wave and fall overboard before you can hit send," he said, following me up the steps."Then all my hard work would’ve been for naught.""A rogue wave?""Anything can happen when you’re out at sea."I was too tired to argue, so I ignored his hovering as I hooked up my computer to my satellite phone and locked onto a signal.It took two attempts, but I e-mailed Blake the script, which presumably landed in his in-box 10,000 miles away.I was so relieved that I laid down there on the deck.Ethan was right.It was colder than lying in the dinghy."I wish we had champagne.This deserves a celebration."Ethan looked down at me with a sly grin."No champagne, but I’ve still got whiskey."I glanced up at the bridge.Will was on duty tonight, but he didn’t seem to be paying us much attention."Okay, but bring a mixer this time.I can’t drink that stuff straight."I closed my eyes to the solid mass of clouds blocking the midnight sun and almost dozed off before Ethan returned with his quarter bottle of whiskey, a can of Coke, and two paper cups filled with ice."What, no peanuts?""I couldn’t find any, so I brought these," he said, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a handful of pretzels."It’s a party.Should I get the lawn chairs?""We’ll have more room in the dinghy."I waited until Ethan finished wiping the bottom of the boat with a dirty towel Mac kept under the wheel before I joined him."What are you smiling about?" he asked, as he poured equal parts whiskey and soda into my cup."You haven’t even tasted it yet.""I’m just so happy not to have this stupid script hanging over my head." We still had to shoot the film, but as far as I was concerned the hard part was over."Christ, Sydney, it was ten pages.I’ve written hundreds of articles longer than that.""Yes, but has anyone ever read one without falling asleep?"He shot me a half smile before he took a long swallow from his drink
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