The Girl in the Booth Behind Me has a Gun

I am trying to pour a little cream into my early morning breakfast cafe coffee when I hear the man in the booth behind me tell the woman with him to raise the gun slightly. There is spillage. He speaks again
"Okay, now, how are you going to look when you shoot him?"
There is a bit more silence.
"Good, but could you show me what you thinking?"
I could show him what I am thinking.
"Okay," he says, " Keep that and let me see it with the gun raised just a little more."
"Do I have a line?" Her voice is calm, not the voice of a shooter-up of cafes.
"Uh, no. He says 'What's the gun for?' and you shoot him."
"Okay." As if agreeing to take Diet Coke instead of Diet Pepsi.
I get up slowly to get more napkins. Oh good, they are shooting alright, but they are shooting a movie. I go back to my seat, mop up and start in on my cold eggs and crisp bacon.


The director is methodical. He goes through each shot several times before they roll film. They are shooting on film which surprises me. I've been out of the television business for almost twenty years, they were saying then that film was dead, but then they never know really, do they? There are two actors, they talk to each other between takes. I get the impression they are meeting for the first time in this early morning cafe.

They shoot the shooting several times. The director gets up and sets up a cover shot to include the whole booth and part of the window. There is a problem. A taxi keeps backing up on the side street right into the shot.


"It'll look crazy to see that cab going backwards!"
They wait. The cab pulls forward, then just as they are set to roll backs up through the shot again. There is frustration. The actress leans toward the window peering down the street.
"Oh, I get it. There is a garbage truck blocking the street. He can't get by."
The cab pulls forward again. The director waits. They set up. (This plate was here. Right?) They roll film. The taxi rolls through the shot backwards.
There is wonderment laced with profanity.
"If you wanted a taxi to do that, it would never happen!!"

It is about half past six. The waiters are amused by the movie makers, but they will not appear as extras in the film. They shake their heads smiling. The director tries more cajoling to no end.
"He's just going to walk by you as you stand right there."
They smile at him.
"Okay, okay." he says, "I really appreciate you letting us do this much.

My eggs are gone and the coffee too. The actress yawns and stretches as the director and the actor try to figure out two things: 1) how to film him walking out in the bloody shirt against the brightness of the windows and 2) how to avoid startling the cop eating her breakfast in the corner booth while shooting him walking out in the bloody shirt against the brightness of the windows.

As I pay my check up near the door, I think about telling the cop that the woman in the booth has a gun, but not to worry, it's a movie. Then I think, this is New York, everything is a movie.