Cape Canaveral, California by Kenny McKernan

Cal turned up the radio that was playing one of his favorite songs, “Dawn (Go Away)”. He looked in the mirror and saw himself smiling back with sunglasses perched on his nose. He was cruising down the Hollywood streets to work in his Ford Thunderbird. It still had that new car smell. His new job payed handsomely and he didn’t mind spending it. He had worked as a cameraman on big projects before, but never one like this. He had to lie to his wife, Maria, and tell her it was a movie about a detective. The men who hired him made it explicitly clear that he was not to share a single detail of the true project to anyone. He finally reached the gate of Adderley and Luckman Film Studios. He showed his badge to the guard in the booth. The guard flipped a switch and the chain link fence rattled open. Cal parked next to Harry who was just getting out of his car. He and Harry had become rather good friends while working together on the film.

“Morning Cal”.

“Good Morning Harry”.

“Hey, how do you think the shots from yesterday turned out?”

“I don’t know, they seemed pretty realistic to me.”

The two men walked into the building and got a cup of coffee from one of the various break rooms. It tasted bitter this particular morning but the men would need it to get through the long day. Cal was still excited though. Today would be the last day of filming. The crew would leave the studio and the film would enter the editing process. This day in particular would be an important one. They would be working on a crucial shot. It would have to be perfect in order for the audience to believe it.

“Hey Cal, you got any other jobs lined up after this one?” Harry asked.

Cal replied, “No, but there’s always work to be found in this business.”

Finding a new job after this one was the least of Cal’s worries. He never had trouble finding another director who would hire him. After all he was one of the most skilled cameramen in all of California. He could always find the perfect angle for a shot. Often times the director would ask Cal where he thought they should put the camera for each scene.

Cal and Harry walked over to the set where others were setting up today’s scene. The actors were in their costumes and ready to go. Cal decided to walk over and make conversation with Buzz.

“Morning Buzz”.

“Hey Cal, how’s it going?” Buzz replied.

“Good, good. You ready for today?”

“I think so, I mean how hard can it be to stick a flag in the ground”.

“Right, right,” Cal said chuckling.

Just then, the director stood up and started yelling an announcement into his bullhorn.

“Alright everybody, today’s our last day so I just wanna thank everyone. You’ve all done a fantastic job, please give yourself a hand!”

Everyone clapped and smiled to each other. Cal was not quite as enthusiastic but he still clapped. He hadn’t really enjoyed his time working with this director. When he was hired for the job he was told that Stanley Kubrick would be directing. Kubrick’s background with directing 2001: A Space Odyssey made him perfect for the job. Plus Cal loved his other films like Spartacus and Dr. Strangelove. So when Cal found out he would be working with Kubrick, he was ecstatic. However, Kubrick backed out of the job. This new director, Arthur Garrison, and Cal didn’t always see eye to eye. Art would say that a scene should be shot “this way” but Cal knew that it would look better “that way”.

Art continued, “But, we aren’t done yet, so let’s finish strong today and make the Russians think we won. Everyone to your positions!”

Cal walked toward the camera. He was passing one of the set lights just as someone turned it on.

“Jeez!” Cal exclaimed.

“Oh, sorry about that Cal,” replied Tim, the lights operator.

Cal dreaded those lights. He found they were much too bright. And such a glaring white color. They were blinding. Cal avoided these lights if he could but eventually he would find himself being blinded by the bright shine. Cal stumbled to his camera and took a seat behind it. Art stood to his left and Buzz stood in front of the camera holding a few pieces to the Lunar Flag Assembly Kit. Harry helped Buzz’s fellow actor, Neil, put on his helmet. Neil walked into frame and stood next to Buzz. The young kid named James held out the clapperboard in front of the camera.
James announced, “Apollo 11, Planting the Flag. Take one.”

CLAP! went the slate.

Art yelled into his horn, “ACTION!”

And off they went. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin began assembling the Flag Kit, fooling the entire world into thinking America had made it to the moon. Cal didn’t have to do much, the camera was supposed to look like a stationary one in this shot. He just looked through the lens and made sure everything looked real. Buzz and Neil struggled to set up the flag. The kit was meant to make an upside down L shape. The two men however had issues getting the pieces to fit together correctly.

After a couple minutes of struggling Art bellowed out cut. Two stage crew members came in with fans to cool of the astronauts. The regular cooling systems found on a suit were far too heavy for the men to wear now. After a minute everyone reset. This time the men were able to assemble the kit. Now all Buzz had to do was plant the flag into the ground. Buzz picked up the pole slightly and hammered it back into the moon’s surface. He backed away just as one of the crew members was moving a fan. Cal felt the cool air blow past him. He thought he may have seen the flag flutter a bit. This would be important to keep the audience’s trust because there is no wind in space so the flag couldn’t flutter. He decided to let it go until they had finished the shot. After Art called cut he raised his concerns.

“Hey, Art. Did you see the flag move at all after he planted it?”

“No, it looked perfectly still to me.”

“Well, I thought one of the fans might’ve made it move a little. It’s probably best if we just redo the shot.”

“You want us, to redo that entire shot for something you “might have” seen?!”

“Well just to play it safe.”

“I don’t care what you saw cause I saw what I saw and what saw is what is right! I’m the director on this set and I’ll make my own decisions. Thank you!”

Cal went through the rest of the day fuming at Art. How could he be so inconsiderate of something so important? The other shots they finished that day involved “collecting moon rock samples” and “exploring the surface”. And once all the shots were completed the small crew cheered. Even Cal. He was still mad at Art but he was happy to be done and was proud of his cinematography. He shook hands with people, hugged a few, and eventually ran into Harry.

“CAL! I can’t believe we’re finally done!”

“Me neither Harry, it’s quite an accomplishment.”

“Hey you know what Cal, why don’t we go out for a beer. First round’s on me.”

“You know, that sounds like a great idea. We could go to that bar that’s…”.

But before he could finish a loud voice came booming over the speakers. It was one of the representatives from NASA. Cal thought he remembered his alleged name being Mr. White. Mr. White was standing at the front of the room with a microphone in his hand.

“Attention Crew. Before you leave today we would like to offer everyone, a drink.”

About four or five waiters came out carrying trays with a large number of drinks on them. The drinks were in larger-sized shot glasses. Cal noticed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin being shuffled out of the room by federal security agents. He also noticed that not one NASA representative or one federal agent had received a drink.

Cal turned to Harry and said, “Harry don’t get one of those drinks.”

“What? Why not?”

“I’m telling ya Harry, something’s up.”

“Cal, you’re talking crazy. Now get a drink.”

Cal grabbed a glass but did not intend to drink it, at least not right away.

Mr. White’s voice came back on, “NASA would just like to thank the crew for all the hard work you have put into this project. Cheers!”

Everyone raised their drink and then gulped it down. And then…nothing happened. Everyone was fine. Cal waited around 20 seconds and then realized he was overthinking things. Of course nothing was gonna happen. What was he thinking? Cal looked at his drink and swung it back and swallowed the strong bit of alcohol. The crowd began chatting amongst themselves and were preparing to leave when everyone began coughing uncontrollably. One man dropped to his knees, and then another, and another. Cal turned and saw Harry struggling to breathe. Cal ran to his friend’s aid but before he could help Harry dropped to the floor, dead, along with the rest of the crew. Cal stood and looked to Mr. White. He began coughing uncontrollably like the others. He knew what was about to come.

“I’m sorry to do this, but we couldn’t take any risks,” spoke Mr. White.

Cal hit the ground hard. He began gasping for every breath until finally he couldn’t catch one and then he saw the bright white light that he had always dreaded.