Millie Hardiman and the Red Parrot Fever

Philo Jubal - Part 37

It soon became obvious to everyone that Philo Jubal was a comic genius. The fact that it was unintentional made him even funnier.

Penny had recommended him as a replacement for Wolf. He was a friend of hers from drama class, although when closely questioned by Chunk, she insisted that he wasn't her boyfriend.

Millie wanted to dislike Philo, but in truth she knew now that Wolf had had to go. Unlike their break-up before Christmas, she found that she had quickly got over him. She was even a little bit glad that he wasn't there. Now that she had had some time to think about it, she knew that she had always been worried, that he was going to do or say something that would embarrass her.

When Philo came in to meet the team, Elaine asked him to read a few lines in character.

Philo wasn't a striking looking boy. He had brown hair and glasses and a pleasant enough face, but you wouldn't look at him twice, until he started to act. Then his face became very expressive and his shoulders hunched up to his neck in a most endearing way.

"My name is Joz Killdog and my family is at war with clan Zul!" Philo orated dramatically, and everybody laughed aloud. He stopped and blushed. "What's wrong?" He asked meekly.

Barry composed himself. "There's nothing wrong, Philo, it's just funny hearing you say "Joz Killdog"."

Elaine added, "I'm not sure that you're right for this part, dear."

"I'm not so sure." Susan pursed her lips tightly together which meant she was thinking hard, usually about another character for herself. "Maybe the part's not right for Philo, but we can turn Joz's character around. Instead of a warrior, he can be a space geek, who uses his techno skills against Kya."

"And," said Millie happily, "if he's a geek he'll have a lot in common with Laura Brown. And then he can fall in love with her, and we can have lots of plots where he tries to turn her against Kya."

Barry looked at them both. "If you two can write it that way, I love Philo for the part. No reason why we can't have a bit of comedy in with the drama. What do you think, Elaine?"

"Easy decision," Elaine agreed. "Welcome to the team, dear."

                                                                                                         ...

"I'm just not sure of my motivation in this scene." Philo tortured himself before every take.

Millie who was standing close by, smiled at the look of pain on Barry's face. This had been going on all week and everyone had been thoroughly enjoying the exchanges. The first time Philo had questioned his motivation in a scene, Barry had curtly told him, his motivation was to get the job done or they'd find a new actor. Unsurprisingly, this hadn't inspired Philo, who had struggled with his performance after that. Elaine had finally suggested to Barry that he pay lip service to the requests, and this would keep Philo happy and the production running smoothly.

"Look Philo," Barry held back a sigh and squatted down beside Philo, who was sitting inside his single-seater rocket ship. "You've kidnapped Laura's dog, George, from her home in Bognor. Your motivation is to convince Laura, that you'll live up to your clan name and kill the dog, if she doesn't bring Kya Zul to Phobos."

Philo was still unsure. "I thought I loved Laura, why would I kill her dog?"

"You do love her." Barry kept his tone soothing. "But you have to scare her enough to make her believe you. This is just a ploy to get her to bring Martian Girl to you."

The cast and crew who were all listening, whilst pretending to work, smiled happily at Barry's obvious impatience.

"That makes sense." Philo scratched his head and pulled on his rocket helmet, so that he could talk to Laura via his space speaker.

Susan appeared beside the rocket in a silver catsuit, carrying a birdcage. Barry made a wry face, "Ok, once Susan has cleared the set, we'll be ready to start."

"But I've got a great idea," exclaimed Susan.

"Put it in a script and if we like it we'll cast an actor to play the part." Barry dismissed her.