Chapter 25 - Stacy
Crystal took a deep breath. I could hear the intake of air, and when I looked and then I could see the slow exhale so that she'd relax and be agile in whatever happened next. This was one of her calming actions that she'd taught us all from an old yoga class. She said her old airline had taught the cabin crew the same system for when they needed to start working with an unruly passenger and needed to keep their cool.
Crystal stepped forward, "Hi. I'm Crystal. I run Crystal Blue Photography."
Madison managed a weak smile in my direction.
I stepped up beside Crystal. "Hi Stacy. I'm Dave, Crystal's fiancΓ©, and I often work with her on various CBP projects."
Stacy continued to size us up, but she'd been silent so far. She ran her eyes up and down my body, and said, "Are you the one that's going to fuck my daughter?"
I slowly said, "Errr, make love, perhaps. I like Madison and I certainly don't want to hurt her by being rough or anything."
Stacy crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Good. I'm here to watch. I needn't tell you that Madison and I have had words at home about her life choices." She sounded like she was about one step from committing murder -- and I was sure we would be the victims.
Crystal smiled at her, although I could tell the smile was forced; "That's fine. Do you know anything about taking a video?"
Stacy recoiled slightly. The question surprised her, as well as our friendly welcome. She stuttered out a reply that she had taken home movies for years, but nothing really professional.
Crystal said, "Oh, good. My other assistant couldn't make it. You can take this camera and help by filming some of the action. Just be mindful of where I'm aiming and stay out of the way, please. You don't need to worry about on and off between what you want to video. Just let the camera run nonstop. The memory card in the camera is huge, so you don't have to worry about filling out the memory bank."
Crystal presented Stacy with one of her backup cameras. Since it was handy, I guessed that it was the one I was going to hold for more of the POV shots. Stacy looked flummoxed and started to examine the camera.
I was already thinking that Crystal had just had a stroke of genius. Instead of letting Madison's mother watch, seethe, and get riled up about what was going on, she fundamentally co-opted her into being part of the complex situation instead of an outsider.
Stacy spoke up, "I came here... I'm not... I think... will doing this affect my daughter's reputation, education, or future?"
We shrugged. Crystal said, "I guess that's up to her and to how much she allows it do that. We do not use her real name, if there's any name at all attached to the video. Also, there's no reason being in a film has to have any impact unless she wants it to. Certainly, if she becomes a star of some kind, she might have to deal with the fame and recognition, but normally that doesn't happen with only a few videos."
I nodded in agreement.
Stacy turned to her daughter, "And you still want to do this even after our discussion last night?"
"Yes, but I'm embarrassed that you'll be watching."
Stacy turned back to us, "Madison told me that you took videos last weekend, and that one of your 'models' was fifty or so."
Crystal nodded, "Yes, that's true. She's a grandmother."
"So, you do use older women in the films."
I thought of Ross, "And men. There's a great deal of diversity in the videos that we do."
Stacy said, "I thought the porn industry was all booby eighteen-year olds; that is if the producers were really trying to avoid pedophilia."
"Not the case, except for one or two of many," Crystal proclaimed. "Most of our work to date has been for private viewing only -- what we've come to call private porn. We're only now starting to expand into having a more commercial or public presence. The scenes we're shooting today are actually for a demo video I need to show various companies to get on their roster as a producer of carefully crafted adult films."
Madison stated flatly, "They were very insistent that I prove I was of legal age. They have that information on file along with my model release forms."
I added, "And no one would breach that age barrier here. I even had a talk with Madison about potential long-term implications and ramifications depending on what happened further along in her life."
Stacy said, "As have I in the past twenty-four hours. She does understand all of that, but still wants to proceed. I kind of insisted on coming along today to see what would happen. I worried about her safety."
I commented, "Did you read the email with the plot outline, including the description of major activities and positions that Crystal Blue wants to get on video?"
Stacy nodded, "I did, and it was purely by accident. The text came in while Madison's phone was lying on the counter. I was right there and glanced at the message when it lit up the screen."
Crystal said, "If we go according to plan, by five or five-thirty, we will have covered all of that and then some. The actors -- Dave and Madison -- do have the flexibility to ad lib, if you will. If they do, we capture that, too. There is no carefully choreographed movie script that we follow."