This Morning in Hollywood

There are movie stars all over Los Angeles. This morning I walked to the corner to get a newspaper and I ran into Mickey Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor who were out walking their dogs together. I was nervous and worried that they might start talking to me.

Mickey Rooney said, “Good morning.”

I said, “Ahh, yes, yes, I think it’s really going to be a good one.”

Elizabeth Taylor said, “Good day.”

Mickey Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor kept on walking past me. I thought, ‘A good one, Brooks? Are you kidding me?’

As I got to the newspaper dispenser, Marlon Brando was just ahead of me. I was scared because I thought he was dead. He looked back at me and saw my shocked looked.

Marlon Brando said, “I know. But I’m not dead. You can’t trust the press. When I read about my death I got very upset. But then I thought, ‘Whatever, it’s just someone’s opinion.’

I think because I was nervous, I stupidly said, “I liked you in Superman.” I thought, ‘Oh, God, Brooks, seriously? What about the Godfather?’

Marlon Brando said, “Well, thank you very much.”

Then he got two papers out of the newspaper dispenser and handed the second one to me.

He said, “No one has to know.”

As I was walking back to my hotel room, I came across Angela Landsbury watering the garden in her front yard.

I said, “What a beautiful garden!”

Angela Landsbury looked up and said, “Yes, I agree, it’s looking good, but I can’t rest on my laurels. It can always look better. Water and weed, water and weed, water and weed.”

I thought, ‘Why couldn’t she have just said thanks?’ And then I thought, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t keep talking to celebrities since it makes me so uncomfortable?’

Then Angela Landsbury said, “Would you like to come in for some tea?”

I said yes.

We drank our teas out on her porch. The sun was cascading across the garden. Bees were pollinating the freshly blooming flowers. It was so quiet that I could hear the bee’s wings buzzing. The tea relaxed me. The sun reached my toes. My body felt warm. I started feeling better.