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Page 24
you actually met him. Fell in love with him."
Mariah rose abruptly from the bed, the receiver still clasped against her face. Protests formed inside her head, ready to spill from her lips. But she stopped. And laughed weakly. "Maybe I did, just a little."
In the script, Thorn had been an outcast from his society. The scene after the one that first unnerved Mariah with its directive about righting wrongs was a flashback to the past. In it, Thorn had shirked his duty. As a consequence, a boy from the town near Fort Pitt was kidnapped by Indians, and the youth's mother subsequently killed herself. Stripped of uniform and self-respect, Thorn fled into the wilderness to atone.
Later scenes occurred after civilization overtook him, turning the small cabin he built into a stopping place for settlers going west. Befriended by an outcast Frenchman and the Matilda character, he braved wild animals, renegade warriors and more while fighting his own internal battles. Never running from any challenge, the character had grown, matured, until he was ready to resume his place in Pittsburgh society.
But then he had been called out by a relative of the missing child. In a duel fought at the tip of the land forming Pittsburgh, Thorn died.
That could be fixed. It had to be. The script required major revision anyway; it never even revealed the wrong Matilda was to right, let alone having her fix it.
She certainly hadn't saved Thorn.
"Look, Angela," Mariah reasoned, "let's keep my emotions out of this. Bottom line, we want to do a great film. Draw a substantial audience through word of mouth as well as promotion. We fix the story, cast it right, and Lemoncake can make big bucks here."
"Maybe we should hire you as the female lead." Angela's voice was teasing.
"Yeah, right." Mariah snorted. "Then you can kiss those big bucks good-bye." But she raised her eyebrows thoughtfully. Though she thought little of her acting ability, she did identify with the Matilda role. After the strange demand about righting wrongs issued by the character named Porter,

 
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