Dangerous Moonlight, ch 5

September 2, 1990

That evening, Michele sat with her laptop on her lap, vainly trying to get the juices to start flowing so she could write her report to her sister. But nothing was coming. The white screen glowed at her, impersonally and unhelpfully.

Well…it was non-fiction. What if she tried her hand at fiction….at some fantasy she had, and start writing that. Perhaps then she’d be able to segue into her real work.

So…what could her fantasy be….?

Well, she could fantasize about Robert Wade, of course, but what…. She didn’t want to just fantasize that he’d show up in her bed out of the blue…no, it was the chase that counted…the pursuit. That was what had always been sexy to her, when watching TV shows as a kid. The “will they ever get together” storyline. Once two characters did get together, the interest was gone! Then, to try to rekindle the interest, the writers would introduce a baby into the mix… which she’d always thought made it worse.

No, it was the chase that was the thing…

Just a few minutes ago, she’d come back from her cabin from watching the movie Thank You, Mr. Moto. There were three! movie theaters on board the ship – one of them was airing first-run movies, one was running silent movies only, and one was running only movies that had a cruise boat theme, or at least a ship appeared at some time during the proceedings. She’d stopped in and seen that Peter Lorre’s first outing as Mr. Moto, Thank You Mr. Moto, was next up. She bought a bucket of popcorn with extra butter and a large Pepsi and settled back to enjoy herself.

Although Mr. Moto had been the hero of the film, the viewers didn’t know for sure whether he was a hero or a villain until two thirds of the way through. Indeed, he had been a rather ruthless hero, at one point throwing a villain – still alive – overboard.

She had loved that part, thought Michele. “I know who you are, Mr. Moto,” the fake steward had said.

And “That is most unfortunate for you,” had said Mr. Moto. Then there’d been a judo fight and over the side the steward had gone.

“What a great line…”

What about that, then, as the plot for her seduction fantasy….

Dangerous Moonlight, by Michele Bravo

She stared at the title for several seconds.

Okay, how abut this, she thought. I don’t write it like a story. No need to describe the setting or the character. I write it like a movie. Yeah. I’m the heroine and Robert Wade is the hero. And we’re on a luxury cruise liner from San Francisco to Honolulu. And it’s almost midnight and there’s a full moon. And…and…it’s 1938, just before World War II, and he’s supposed to be the pilot of a new test plane, and he’s traveling to Hawaii with the plans, and I’m supposed to find out if he’s really a pilot or just a spy, trying to steal the plans. And he is a real pilot, but he thinks I’m a spy, trying to steal the plans from him.

Michele put her hands over her eyes and giggled. Jeez, I’m making this pretty complicated for my first attempt at a seduction scenario. Just start the damn thing.

Dangerous Moonlight, by Michele Bravo

Michele - played by Michele Bravo
Robert –played by Robert Wade

The scene: They’re walking along the promenade deck of a WWII era cruise liner. It’s a full moon, and the silver light glints on the waves.

Michele: The full moon is lovely, isn’t.

Robert: I hate the full moon. Moonlight is dangerous.

Michele: [Coquettishly] Why, whatever can you mean?

Robert: Have you never heard of the bomber’s moon? That’s what a full moon is. When the night sky is so bright, thanks to a full moon, that’s the time bomber pilot’s love best.

Michele. Oh.

[Michele knew a great deal about certain aspects of the Second World War. Her grandfather had flown P-51s in that war, and her grandmother had been a WASP. When they’d visited him – her parents and her sister – he always talked about the war, and sometimes had friends over, and they’d talk about dogfights. Michele had started studying fighter pilots, not only of WWII but also of WWI. Indeed, while most of her friends had had posters of rock stars on their walls since their early teens, she’d had posters of the Red Baron, and WWII era-aircraft.

However, the reason why she knew about the bomber’s moon, and could mention it so glibly, was that she was also a fan of mysteries, and , indeed, had just finished A Late Phoenix by Catherine Aird only a week or so ago, in which that author had used the term. One could learn so much about history by reading mystery stories. ]

Robert: I’m sorry. I don’t mean to cast a damper over your enjoyment of the evening.

Michele: That’s quite all right. I’m so fascinated by pilots and aircraft. The thought of two brave pilots…desperately trying to outmaneuver each other as they fight for their lives in the air….I can’t explain it. It’s just so…. Did she want to say “Hot”? Did they even use the term “Hot” for sexual excitement back in 1938? She didn’t know….

Robert: Oh, the adrenalin flows, I don’t deny it. A lot of pilots during WWI never could go back to civilian life after the war ended, because they needed that extra excitement that peacetime didn’t offer.

Michele: So you’re going to Honolulu to fly planes? That’s out of the way, isn’t it? It’s Germany we need to worry about, surely.

Robert: [smiles] If only that were true.

The couple reach the prow of the ship. They can see the white foam churned up by the ship scything through the water, and the dolphins bodysurfing on the waves.

Robert: [sighs]: It is romantic, isn’t it?

Closeup of their hands brushing against each other. Of their fingers intertwining. Camera cants upward slowly to reveal their two profiles facing each other, silhouetted in the full moon…they kiss.

…..

The door opened, and Michele’s roommate staggered in, her face green. She headed straight for the bathroom and bent over the toilet.

Is she going to get drunk every night? Michele wondered.

She glanced back at the page, at the blinking cursor. The mood was gone…the sounds from the bathroom quite destroying it.

Hell, she may as well get started on writing her story of the events of the day for Alice.

Coitus interruptus again, she thought. Twice! Well, hopefully the third time would be the charm….