Chapter 170: 170
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December 16, 2012 – Sunday 8 P.M – Half Basin Studios, South Ouigab
"Man does he ever sleep?" Luca whispers to his cast mates as they approach Tayaw's mobile office just outside the warehouse.
The final shooting of the year finally wrapped up just a couple of minutes ago but the lights in Tayaw's office / trailer are still on.
"F*ck. I don't know. I was worried for the guy at first, but he always looks great. Must be the age." Warren replies.
"Nah. It must be the genes, man. He's been too busy to work out, but he's still ripped. I don't remember having the time to work out during busy days when I was his age." Frank shakes his head.
"Whatever. Let's go say hi and bye." Luca says.
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
"Who is it?" The trio hear Tayaw yell from the inside.
"Luca." Luca simply responses.
"Come in." and with that, they open the trailer's door to enter.
The first thing they notice after entering is what seems to be what Tayaw is doing.
"Hey… uhh. Music?" Frank asks as he points at Tayaw's synthesizer and the headphones that Tayaw is wearing.
"Yeah. For the soundtrack." Tayaw says as he turns off the keyboard and removes his headphones.
"I forgot that you're a musician." Frank says.
"Mm. You wrote the songs in 'September Ninth' too, right?" Luca asks.
"Yeah… Anyways, while I'm pleased with y'all checkin in, I thought y'all are on your way to the airport right now?" Tayaw asks.
"Hah. We just want to say goodbye or something. By the way, we've still got plenty of time before Christmas. Why are you sending us home early by the way?" Warren asks.
"Well, I forgot that there's this thing Americans call 'Thanksgiving'. This is to compensate for that." Tayaw says.
This clears up the three's unanswered question.
"That's generous." Luca says, flattered by the sentiment.
"Thank you. We didn't say anything then because we saw that Teungeb don't have it." Warren nods.
"Hm. Anyways, can you guys spare me 15 minutes or so?" Tayaw asks them suddenly.
"Yeah. We've got time. I, personally, can spare more than just a few minutes." Luca says.
Warren is not impressed at Luca's blatant ass kissing.
"We'll be taking off next Wednesday anyway, so I've got time to spare before then." Warren says, riding on Luca's comment.
"Can I listen to the soundtrack, though?" Frank, on the other hand, is clueless at the invisible competition among his two cast mates.
"That's exactly why I'm asking Frank. Alright. Take a listen, fellas. Close your eyes please, I need your concentrations." Tayaw says as he fiddles with his laptop.
The speakers in the trailer soon starts to produce orchestral music. The music is made of sounds from the timpani, cellos, and string bass. The cellos are playing their baritone the melodies while the timpani and bass keeps their foundation. The song is expressing sad but desperate emotions. The three actors' who were at first hesitant for staying late, are now listening seriously. They are gradually getting immersed in the music and the emotions it is forcing them to feel.
The music soon ends, and the three actors open their eyes as they take deep breaths.
"It's… sad." Warren nods. The two other actors also nod in agreement.
"Unlike the song in 'September Ninth', this doesn't have a lyric. But it's great." Frank says.
"Okay. These are all electronic sounds, not real instruments, so it's not the final version. But, just looking at your faces, I guess it's a good start." Tayaw says in gratitude.
"Where does this come in the movie though?" Luca asks.
"This will be in the latter part of the second movie. This piece will play in the death scene of your character, Frank." Tayaw says.
Tayaw's words gives Frank a mixture of emotions inside and he becomes silent.
A few seconds later. "I know my character's dying, so I was okay. This though, man. Thanks. Looks like I'm going out with an impact." Frank chuckles.
"Mm. Your character's death, after all, is a turning point and is very important in the third film." Tayaw says.
"Okay. How about this." Tayaw starts introducing the rest of the songs he made for the second film of the trilogy.
Twenty or so minutes later, *knock* *knock* Tayaw and the actors are interrupted by another knock on the door.
"Oh. She's here." Tayaw suddenly says to the trio.
Tayaw's words brought various but similar ideas to the actors' heads; 'Isaac has a girlfriend.'
Their assumption however is shattered when Tayaw let two people in.
A Teungebian man in his 30s, assisting a blind Teungebian woman in her 30s.
"Fellas. This is Shereen and her husband Navi. Shereen is consulting for the film." Tayaw says.
"Nice to meet you." The three actors introduce themselves to the couple.
"Alright. They said pleasure to meet you guys." Tayaw translates for them.
"Okay. Looks like your day isn't over yet, huh?" Luca asks on behalf of his group.
"Yeah. Anyways. See you guys on… January. Enjoy the sights of Nabla before you go, huh? You guys haven't had the time." Tayaw tells them.
"Exactly why we'll be leaving on Wednesday instead of tomorrow." Luca smiles. And with that, the three actors left the trailer.
"I'll be outside too. Honey? Call when you need something." Navi also excuses himself, trusting Tayaw with Shereen's care.
Every night in the past few days, Navi witnessed the boring work his wife is doing for Tayaw.
"Alright. Thanks for bringing Shereen over." Tayaw says, handing Navi a few BGC bills.
"Thanks man." Navi also silently accepts the bills, not wanting Shereen to find out.
The two men's carefulness in their exchange is for naught as Shereen is busy assembling her braille electronics for taking notes. After Navi left the trailer, Tayaw and Shereen are now ready for work.
"Are you ready?" Tayaw asks.
"Yeah." Shereen says, excited.
"Okay. Taking from where we left off yesterday, it was when the main character first arrives in America, right?" Tayaw asks.
"Correct. Were everything okay?" Shereen asks.
"Yeah. Have a listen." Tayaw says and hands Shereen her headphones.
Tayaw in the past few months of carefully studying the films he got from the Giant Roulette, has realized a subtle but glaring absence of an important matter in 'September Ninth' that he intends to fix with the films he is currently making. The sound design.
In comparison to the films of the Giant Roulette, 'September Ninth' and perhaps every other film in his world, are too noisy. The ambient and background sounds are too noisy and unnecessary. Tayaw figures that it would have been okay for the sound design to be as natural as possible until he realizes that sound design is a great tool that can be used to direct the attention of the viewers just as much as the visuals of a film.
Tayaw knows that a director's job is to direct the attention of the audience, and using sounds is essential for it. For example, in 'September Ninth', when the main character smashed the keyboard on his boss' head, Tayaw went for the natural sound of the keyboard smashing, and the best he did to make the impact greater is to make everyone in the office shut up during the shoot. After Tayaw has learned more, he figured that the surprise would have been more impactful if the ambient sound is almost silent and the keyboard a lot louder and more explosive like a bomb.
In his learning process, and its application, Tayaw seek the help of the first blind person he can find, which is Shereen. Shereen, who lost her sight at a very early age, has almost forgot what it was like to use her eyes. With her blindness, she learned to filter out other sounds and focus on the sounds that is important or unusual. Such skill is exactly what Tayaw figured he needs to hasten his learning process for his film on how to play with the sounds; which sounds to include in the film and which sounds are unnecessary.
"This is good, I think. But it can be better. The chatter of the other immigrants in the boat are a given, so they can be quieter. The voice of the ship's captain, giving directions, though, can be a lot louder. If I was the character, that's what I'd be paying attention to." Shereen advises.
"Okay. I'll do that." Tayaw nods and he begins to take notes.
"Okay. Here's the gist of the part we're going to work on tonight. The main character, and his mother are now living in New York. I want to keep the young Giovanni's interest in his surroundings and his learning of English." Tayaw says.
"Okay. Play it." Shereen nods and begins listening with focus.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
3 AM – East Hamptons, New York
"Sir…SIR!" A woman is shaking Sylvio awake.
"What? What?" Sylvio is annoyed that his sleep is disturbed, it also did not take long for his wife to wake up.
"It's Don Gonzalo. He was rushed to the hospital." The maid reports.
"What?!" Sylvio's stomach sank at the news.
"How is he? Where did they go?" Sylvio asks.
"I don't know sir. His personal nurse just called in. They're on their way to the hospital now." The maid reports as she hands Sylvio thick clothes to wear she already prepared.
"Alright. Call Bennie immediately." Sylvio says.
"He's already waiting in the car." The maid says.
A few minutes later, Sylvio, Juliana, Delfina, and some Coniglio men, are now all gathered in the intensive care unit of South Hampton Hospital.
"You! How is he?" Sylvio orders Kayla who just came out of Gonzalo's room.
"Sir. Don Gonzalo suffered a heart attack while he was sleeping. We revived him on the way here, but he's still unconscious." Kayla reports immediately.
"What on earth happened?..." Sylvio can only ask, not knowing what to do.
"This…" Kayla hesitates, hiding her guilt.
"According to the doctor, because of his damaged kidneys, it released excess chemicals in his body that affected his heart." Kayla says. Gonzalo's family processes Kayla's words.
Right after Kayla's report, a doctor also comes out of Gonzalo's room.
"How is he?" Sylvio asks.
"His heart is stable for now, but he is in a coma. The best-case scenario is that if the patient wakes up within 72 hours, he has a great chance of recovery. However, because of his chronic kidney problems, we can only hope and pray… If he doesn't wake up in two or three days, then his brain might never recover, and might never wake up again." The doctor reports, stoically.
Delfina shakes her head at the situation in helplessness.
"Wait… Chronic?" Sylvio asks.
"Yeah. From the blood tests, we figured that his kidneys have been weak for at least 6 months now. You didn't know?" The doctor asks.
"No…" Sylvio answers in confusion.
"That's strange. It was very well managed, what happened is inevitable. Not even a transplant would have been helpful since he won't survive a surgery in his age." The doctor says as he rubs his chin. The doctor's words make Sylvio, Delfina, and Juliana turn their heads towards Kayla.
"Why didn't you tell us?!" Juliana bursts out in anger and gets in Kayla's face.
"… Don Gonzalo stopped me from saying." Kayla confesses immediately.
"You!." Juliana is about to get violent, but Sylvio's men stopped her.
"Juliana…" Sylvio shakes his head.
"Knowing my father, he asked, maybe even forced this poor lady to keep it a secret." Delfina consoles her daughter.
Despite Delfina and Sylvio understanding the situation, they decide to give Kayla the cold shoulder. They felt betrayed.
Unlike Juliana, Delfina and Sylvio already had an inkling of Gonzalo's deteriorating condition. They were quick to realize that Gonzalo, since the beginning of the year, has gradually increased his reliance on a wheelchair and cannabis. They only did not take it seriously as Gonzalo manipulated their perception by dropping subtle comments like 'Ooh. My knees' or 'Too bad I'm too old for knee replacement.'
"I'm sorry. I should have told you all." Kayla says, trying to stop herself from crying out of guilt.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
December 16, 2012 – Sunday 8 P.M – Half Basin Studios, South Ouigab
"Man does he ever sleep?" Luca whispers to his cast mates as they approach Tayaw's mobile office just outside the warehouse.
The final shooting of the year finally wrapped up just a couple of minutes ago but the lights in Tayaw's office / trailer are still on.
"F*ck. I don't know. I was worried for the guy at first, but he always looks great. Must be the age." Warren replies.
"Nah. It must be the genes, man. He's been too busy to work out, but he's still ripped. I don't remember having the time to work out during busy days when I was his age." Frank shakes his head.
"Whatever. Let's go say hi and bye." Luca says.
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
"Who is it?" The trio hear Tayaw yell from the inside.
"Luca." Luca simply responses.
"Come in." and with that, they open the trailer's door to enter.
The first thing they notice after entering is what seems to be what Tayaw is doing.
"Hey… uhh. Music?" Frank asks as he points at Tayaw's synthesizer and the headphones that Tayaw is wearing.
"Yeah. For the soundtrack." Tayaw says as he turns off the keyboard and removes his headphones.
"I forgot that you're a musician." Frank says.
"Mm. You wrote the songs in 'September Ninth' too, right?" Luca asks.
"Yeah… Anyways, while I'm pleased with y'all checkin in, I thought y'all are on your way to the airport right now?" Tayaw asks.
"Hah. We just want to say goodbye or something. By the way, we've still got plenty of time before Christmas. Why are you sending us home early by the way?" Warren asks.
"Well, I forgot that there's this thing Americans call 'Thanksgiving'. This is to compensate for that." Tayaw says.
This clears up the three's unanswered question.
"That's generous." Luca says, flattered by the sentiment.
"Thank you. We didn't say anything then because we saw that Teungeb don't have it." Warren nods.
"Hm. Anyways, can you guys spare me 15 minutes or so?" Tayaw asks them suddenly.
"Yeah. We've got time. I, personally, can spare more than just a few minutes." Luca says.
Warren is not impressed at Luca's blatant ass kissing.
"We'll be taking off next Wednesday anyway, so I've got time to spare before then." Warren says, riding on Luca's comment.
"Can I listen to the soundtrack, though?" Frank, on the other hand, is clueless at the invisible competition among his two cast mates.
"That's exactly why I'm asking Frank. Alright. Take a listen, fellas. Close your eyes please, I need your concentrations." Tayaw says as he fiddles with his laptop.
The speakers in the trailer soon starts to produce orchestral music. The music is made of sounds from the timpani, cellos, and string bass. The cellos are playing their baritone the melodies while the timpani and bass keeps their foundation. The song is expressing sad but desperate emotions. The three actors' who were at first hesitant for staying late, are now listening seriously. They are gradually getting immersed in the music and the emotions it is forcing them to feel.
The music soon ends, and the three actors open their eyes as they take deep breaths.
"It's… sad." Warren nods. The two other actors also nod in agreement.
"Unlike the song in 'September Ninth', this doesn't have a lyric. But it's great." Frank says.
"Okay. These are all electronic sounds, not real instruments, so it's not the final version. But, just looking at your faces, I guess it's a good start." Tayaw says in gratitude.
"Where does this come in the movie though?" Luca asks.
"This will be in the latter part of the second movie. This piece will play in the death scene of your character, Frank." Tayaw says.
Tayaw's words gives Frank a mixture of emotions inside and he becomes silent.
A few seconds later. "I know my character's dying, so I was okay. This though, man. Thanks. Looks like I'm going out with an impact." Frank chuckles.
"Mm. Your character's death, after all, is a turning point and is very important in the third film." Tayaw says.
"Okay. How about this." Tayaw starts introducing the rest of the songs he made for the second film of the trilogy.
Twenty or so minutes later, *knock* *knock* Tayaw and the actors are interrupted by another knock on the door.
"Oh. She's here." Tayaw suddenly says to the trio.
Tayaw's words brought various but similar ideas to the actors' heads; 'Isaac has a girlfriend.'
Their assumption however is shattered when Tayaw let two people in.
A Teungebian man in his 30s, assisting a blind Teungebian woman in her 30s.
"Fellas. This is Shereen and her husband Navi. Shereen is consulting for the film." Tayaw says.
"Nice to meet you." The three actors introduce themselves to the couple.
"Alright. They said pleasure to meet you guys." Tayaw translates for them.
"Okay. Looks like your day isn't over yet, huh?" Luca asks on behalf of his group.
"Yeah. Anyways. See you guys on… January. Enjoy the sights of Nabla before you go, huh? You guys haven't had the time." Tayaw tells them.
"Exactly why we'll be leaving on Wednesday instead of tomorrow." Luca smiles. And with that, the three actors left the trailer.
"I'll be outside too. Honey? Call when you need something." Navi also excuses himself, trusting Tayaw with Shereen's care.
Every night in the past few days, Navi witnessed the boring work his wife is doing for Tayaw.
"Alright. Thanks for bringing Shereen over." Tayaw says, handing Navi a few BGC bills.
"Thanks man." Navi also silently accepts the bills, not wanting Shereen to find out.
The two men's carefulness in their exchange is for naught as Shereen is busy assembling her braille electronics for taking notes. After Navi left the trailer, Tayaw and Shereen are now ready for work.
"Are you ready?" Tayaw asks.
"Yeah." Shereen says, excited.
"Okay. Taking from where we left off yesterday, it was when the main character first arrives in America, right?" Tayaw asks.
"Correct. Were everything okay?" Shereen asks.
"Yeah. Have a listen." Tayaw says and hands Shereen her headphones.
Tayaw in the past few months of carefully studying the films he got from the Giant Roulette, has realized a subtle but glaring absence of an important matter in 'September Ninth' that he intends to fix with the films he is currently making. The sound design.
In comparison to the films of the Giant Roulette, 'September Ninth' and perhaps every other film in his world, are too noisy. The ambient and background sounds are too noisy and unnecessary. Tayaw figures that it would have been okay for the sound design to be as natural as possible until he realizes that sound design is a great tool that can be used to direct the attention of the viewers just as much as the visuals of a film.
Tayaw knows that a director's job is to direct the attention of the audience, and using sounds is essential for it. For example, in 'September Ninth', when the main character smashed the keyboard on his boss' head, Tayaw went for the natural sound of the keyboard smashing, and the best he did to make the impact greater is to make everyone in the office shut up during the shoot. After Tayaw has learned more, he figured that the surprise would have been more impactful if the ambient sound is almost silent and the keyboard a lot louder and more explosive like a bomb.
In his learning process, and its application, Tayaw seek the help of the first blind person he can find, which is Shereen. Shereen, who lost her sight at a very early age, has almost forgot what it was like to use her eyes. With her blindness, she learned to filter out other sounds and focus on the sounds that is important or unusual. Such skill is exactly what Tayaw figured he needs to hasten his learning process for his film on how to play with the sounds; which sounds to include in the film and which sounds are unnecessary.
"This is good, I think. But it can be better. The chatter of the other immigrants in the boat are a given, so they can be quieter. The voice of the ship's captain, giving directions, though, can be a lot louder. If I was the character, that's what I'd be paying attention to." Shereen advises.
"Okay. I'll do that." Tayaw nods and he begins to take notes.
"Okay. Here's the gist of the part we're going to work on tonight. The main character, and his mother are now living in New York. I want to keep the young Giovanni's interest in his surroundings and his learning of English." Tayaw says.
"Okay. Play it." Shereen nods and begins listening with focus.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
3 AM – East Hamptons, New York
"Sir…SIR!" A woman is shaking Sylvio awake.
"What? What?" Sylvio is annoyed that his sleep is disturbed, it also did not take long for his wife to wake up.
"It's Don Gonzalo. He was rushed to the hospital." The maid reports.
"What?!" Sylvio's stomach sank at the news.
"How is he? Where did they go?" Sylvio asks.
"I don't know sir. His personal nurse just called in. They're on their way to the hospital now." The maid reports as she hands Sylvio thick clothes to wear she already prepared.
"Alright. Call Bennie immediately." Sylvio says.
"He's already waiting in the car." The maid says.
A few minutes later, Sylvio, Juliana, Delfina, and some Coniglio men, are now all gathered in the intensive care unit of South Hampton Hospital.
"You! How is he?" Sylvio orders Kayla who just came out of Gonzalo's room.
"Sir. Don Gonzalo suffered a heart attack while he was sleeping. We revived him on the way here, but he's still unconscious." Kayla reports immediately.
"What on earth happened?..." Sylvio can only ask, not knowing what to do.
"This…" Kayla hesitates, hiding her guilt.
"According to the doctor, because of his damaged kidneys, it released excess chemicals in his body that affected his heart." Kayla says. Gonzalo's family processes Kayla's words.
Right after Kayla's report, a doctor also comes out of Gonzalo's room.
"How is he?" Sylvio asks.
"His heart is stable for now, but he is in a coma. The best-case scenario is that if the patient wakes up within 72 hours, he has a great chance of recovery. However, because of his chronic kidney problems, we can only hope and pray… If he doesn't wake up in two or three days, then his brain might never recover, and might never wake up again." The doctor reports, stoically.
Delfina shakes her head at the situation in helplessness.
"Wait… Chronic?" Sylvio asks.
"Yeah. From the blood tests, we figured that his kidneys have been weak for at least 6 months now. You didn't know?" The doctor asks.
"No…" Sylvio answers in confusion.
"That's strange. It was very well managed, what happened is inevitable. Not even a transplant would have been helpful since he won't survive a surgery in his age." The doctor says as he rubs his chin. The doctor's words make Sylvio, Delfina, and Juliana turn their heads towards Kayla.
"Why didn't you tell us?!" Juliana bursts out in anger and gets in Kayla's face.
"… Don Gonzalo stopped me from saying." Kayla confesses immediately.
"You!." Juliana is about to get violent, but Sylvio's men stopped her.
"Juliana…" Sylvio shakes his head.
"Knowing my father, he asked, maybe even forced this poor lady to keep it a secret." Delfina consoles her daughter.
Despite Delfina and Sylvio understanding the situation, they decide to give Kayla the cold shoulder. They felt betrayed.
Unlike Juliana, Delfina and Sylvio already had an inkling of Gonzalo's deteriorating condition. They were quick to realize that Gonzalo, since the beginning of the year, has gradually increased his reliance on a wheelchair and cannabis. They only did not take it seriously as Gonzalo manipulated their perception by dropping subtle comments like 'Ooh. My knees' or 'Too bad I'm too old for knee replacement.'
"I'm sorry. I should have told you all." Kayla says, trying to stop herself from crying out of guilt.
December 16, 2012 Sunday 8 P.M Half Basin Studios, South Ouigab "Man does he ever sleep?" Luca whispers to his cast mates as they approach Tayaw's mobile office just outside the warehouse. The final shooting of the year finally wrapped up just a couple of minutes ago but the lights in Tayaw's office / trailer are still on. "F*ck. I don't know. I was worried for the guy at first, but he always looks great. Must be the age." Warren replies. "Nah. It must be the genes, man. He's been too busy to work out, but he's still ripped. I don't remember having the time to work out during busy days when I was his age." Frank shakes his head. "Whatever. Let's go say hi and bye." Luca says. *Knock* *Knock* *Knock* "Who is it?" The trio hear Tayaw yell from the inside. "Luca." Luca simply responses. "Come in." and with that, they open the trailer's door to enter. The first thing they notice after entering is what seems to be what Tayaw is doing. "Hey uhh. Music?" Frank asks as he points at Tayaw's synthesizer and the headphones that Tayaw is wearing. "Yeah. For the soundtrack." Tayaw says as he turns off the keyboard and removes his headphones. "I forgot that you're a musician." Frank says. "Mm. You wrote the songs in 'September Ninth' too, right?" Luca asks. "Yeah Anyways, while I'm pleased with y'all checkin in, I thought y'all are on your way to the airport right now?" Tayaw asks. "Hah. We just want to say goodbye or something. By the way, we've still got plenty of time before Christmas. Why are you sending us home early by the way?" Warren asks. "Well, I forgot that there's this thing Americans call 'Thanksgiving'. This is to compensate for that." Tayaw says. This clears up the three's unanswered question. "That's generous." Luca says, flattered by the sentiment. "Thank you. We didn't say anything then because we saw that Teungeb don't have it." Warren nods. "Hm. Anyways, can you guys spare me 15 minutes or so?" Tayaw asks them suddenly. "Yeah. We've got time. I, personally, can spare more than just a few minutes." Luca says. Warren is not impressed at Luca's blatant ass kissing. "We'll be taking off next Wednesday anyway, so I've got time to spare before then." Warren says, riding on Luca's comment. "Can I listen to the soundtrack, though?" Frank, on the other hand, is clueless at the invisible competition among his two cast mates. "That's exactly why I'm asking Frank. Alright. Take a listen, fellas. Close your eyes please, I need your concentrations." Tayaw says as he fiddles with his laptop. The speakers in the trailer soon starts to produce orchestral music. The music is made of sounds from the timpani, cellos, and string bass. The cellos are playing their baritone the melodies while the timpani and bass keeps their foundation. The song is expressing sad but desperate emotions. The three actors' who were at first hesitant for staying late, are now listening seriously. They are gradually getting immersed in the music and the emotions it is forcing them to feel. The music soon ends, and the three actors open their eyes as they take deep breaths. "It's sad." Warren nods. The two other actors also nod in agreement. "Unlike the song in 'September Ninth', this doesn't have a lyric. But it's great." Frank says. "Okay. These are all electronic sounds, not real instruments, so it's not the final version. But, just looking at your faces, I guess it's a good start." Tayaw says in gratitude. "Where does this come in the movie though?" Luca asks. "This will be in the latter part of the second movie. This piece will play in the death scene of your character, Frank." Tayaw says. Tayaw's words gives Frank a mixture of emotions inside and he becomes silent. A few seconds later. "I know my character's dying, so I was okay. This though, man. Thanks. Looks like I'm going out with an impact." Frank chuckles. "Mm. Your character's death, after all, is a turning point and is very important in the third film." Tayaw says. "Okay. How about this." Tayaw starts introducing the rest of the songs he made for the second film of the trilogy. Twenty or so minutes later, *knock* *knock* Tayaw and the actors are interrupted by another knock on the door. "Oh. She's here." Tayaw suddenly says to the trio. Tayaw's words brought various but similar ideas to the actors' heads; 'Isaac has a girlfriend.' Their assumption however is shattered when Tayaw let two people in. A Teungebian man in his 30s, assisting a blind Teungebian woman in her 30s. "Fellas. This is Shereen and her husband Navi. Shereen is consulting for the film." Tayaw says. "Nice to meet you." The three actors introduce themselves to the couple. "Alright. They said pleasure to meet you guys." Tayaw translates for them. "Okay. Looks like your day isn't over yet, huh?" Luca asks on behalf of his group. "Yeah. Anyways. See you guys on January. Enjoy the sights of Nabla before you go, huh? You guys haven't had the time." Tayaw tells them. "Exactly why we'll be leaving on Wednesday instead of tomorrow." Luca smiles. And with that, the three actors left the trailer. "I'll be outside too. Honey? Call when you need something." Navi also excuses himself, trusting Tayaw with Shereen's care. Every night in the past few days, Navi witnessed the boring work his wife is doing for Tayaw. "Alright. Thanks for bringing Shereen over." Tayaw says, handing Navi a few BGC bills. "Thanks man." Navi also silently accepts the bills, not wanting Shereen to find out. The two men's carefulness in their exchange is for naught as Shereen is busy assembling her braille electronics for taking notes. After Navi left the trailer, Tayaw and Shereen are now ready for work. "Are you ready?" Tayaw asks. "Yeah." Shereen says, excited. "Okay. Taking from where we left off yesterday, it was when the main character first arrives in America, right?" Tayaw asks. "Correct. Were everything okay?" Shereen asks. "Yeah. Have a listen." Tayaw says and hands Shereen her headphones. Tayaw in the past few months of carefully studying the films he got from the Giant Roulette, has realized a subtle but glaring absence of an important matter in 'September Ninth' that he intends to fix with the films he is currently making. The sound design. In comparison to the films of the Giant Roulette, 'September Ninth' and perhaps every other film in his world, are too noisy. The ambient and background sounds are too noisy and unnecessary. Tayaw figures that it would have been okay for the sound design to be as natural as possible until he realizes that sound design is a great tool that can be used to direct the attention of the viewers just as much as the visuals of a film. Tayaw knows that a director's job is to direct the attention of the audience, and using sounds is essential for it. For example, in 'September Ninth', when the main character smashed the keyboard on his boss' head, Tayaw went for the natural sound of the keyboard smashing, and the best he did to make the impact greater is to make everyone in the office shut up during the shoot. After Tayaw has learned more, he figured that the surprise would have been more impactful if the ambient sound is almost silent and the keyboard a lot louder and more explosive like a bomb. In his learning process, and its application, Tayaw seek the help of the first blind person he can find, which is Shereen. Shereen, who lost her sight at a very early age, has almost forgot what it was like to use her eyes. With her blindness, she learned to filter out other sounds and focus on the sounds that is important or unusual. Such skill is exactly what Tayaw figured he needs to hasten his learning process for his film on how to play with the sounds; which sounds to include in the film and which sounds are unnecessary. "This is good, I think. But it can be better. The chatter of the other immigrants in the boat are a given, so they can be quieter. The voice of the ship's captain, giving directions, though, can be a lot louder. If I was the character, that's what I'd be paying attention to." Shereen advises. "Okay. I'll do that." Tayaw nods and he begins to take notes. "Okay. Here's the gist of the part we're going to work on tonight. The main character, and his mother are now living in New York. I want to keep the young Giovanni's interest in his surroundings and his learning of English." Tayaw says. "Okay. Play it." Shereen nods and begins listening with focus. O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O 3 AM East Hamptons, New York "SirSIR!" A woman is shaking Sylvio awake. "What? What?" Sylvio is annoyed that his sleep is disturbed, it also did not take long for his wife to wake up. "It's Don Gonzalo. He was rushed to the hospital." The maid reports. "What?!" Sylvio's stomach sank at the news. "How is he? Where did they go?" Sylvio asks. "I don't know sir. His personal nurse just called in. They're on their way to the hospital now." The maid reports as she hands Sylvio thick clothes to wear she already prepared. "Alright. Call Bennie immediately." Sylvio says. "He's already waiting in the car." The maid says. A few minutes later, Sylvio, Juliana, Delfina, and some Coniglio men, are now all gathered in the intensive care unit of South Hampton Hospital. "You! How is he?" Sylvio orders Kayla who just came out of Gonzalo's room. "Sir. Don Gonzalo suffered a heart attack while he was sleeping. We revived him on the way here, but he's still unconscious." Kayla reports immediately. "What on earth happened?..." Sylvio can only ask, not knowing what to do. "This" Kayla hesitates, hiding her guilt. "According to the doctor, because of his damaged kidneys, it released excess chemicals in his body that affected his heart." Kayla says. Gonzalo's family processes Kayla's words. Right after Kayla's report, a doctor also comes out of Gonzalo's room. "How is he?" Sylvio asks. "His heart is stable for now, but he is in a coma. The best-case scenario is that if the patient wakes up within 72 hours, he has a great chance of recovery. However, because of his chronic kidney problems, we can only hope and pray If he doesn't wake up in two or three days, then his brain might never recover, and might never wake up again." The doctor reports, stoically. Delfina shakes her head at the situation in helplessness. "Wait Chronic?" Sylvio asks. "Yeah. From the blood tests, we figured that his kidneys have been weak for at least 6 months now. You didn't know?" The doctor asks. "No" Sylvio answers in confusion. "That's strange. It was very well managed, what happened is inevitable. Not even a transplant would have been helpful since he won't survive a surgery in his age." The doctor says as he rubs his chin. The doctor's words make Sylvio, Delfina, and Juliana turn their heads towards Kayla. "Why didn't you tell us?!" Juliana bursts out in anger and gets in Kayla's face. " Don Gonzalo stopped me from saying." Kayla confesses immediately. "You!." Juliana is about to get violent, but Sylvio's men stopped her. "Juliana" Sylvio shakes his head. "Knowing my father, he asked, maybe even forced this poor lady to keep it a secret." Delfina consoles her daughter. Despite Delfina and Sylvio understanding the situation, they decide to give Kayla the cold shoulder. They felt betrayed. Unlike Juliana, Delfina and Sylvio already had an inkling of Gonzalo's deteriorating condition. They were quick to realize that Gonzalo, since the beginning of the year, has gradually increased his reliance on a wheelchair and cannabis. They only did not take it seriously as Gonzalo manipulated their perception by dropping subtle comments like 'Ooh. My knees' or 'Too bad I'm too old for knee replacement.' "I'm sorry. I should have told you all." Kayla says, trying to stop herself from crying out of guilt.
