Janet Hardy in Hollywood Part 22

They talked almost aimlessly and Janet suddenly felt very empty and more than a little afraid of what her reaction would be when she got into the plane and the ground started dropping away from her.

Then a ripple of excitement ran through the crowd and she heard someone call.

"Here comes the plane!"

Out of the east twin stars suddenly appeared, coming rapidly and very low, and then she heard the steady beat of two powerful motors. Like some great bird of prey, a-wing in the night, the silvery monoplane swung over the field, circled sharply, and dropped down far out on the runway and rolled smoothly toward them, its propellers flas.h.i.+ng in the bright rays of a floodlight which bathed the entire field in a mantle of brilliant blue.

Janet watched the scene with fascination. The ground crew rolled a small platform up to the door of the pa.s.senger cabin and a girl, not much older than herself and dressed in a smoke grey suit with a jaunty overseas cap perched on a ma.s.s of brown curls, stepped out. After her came several pa.s.sengers, alighting for a bit of air and to stretch their legs before settling down for the long flight over the plains and into the higher alt.i.tudes that would take them over the Rockies.

Janet's mother hugged her hard.

"We'll miss you, dear. Write often and remember to do your best if you get a chance in any pictures."

"I will, mother," she promised.

"Goodbye, Dad."

"Goodbye, Janet. Hit the line hard."

"I'll tackle it with all I've got."

"I know you will," he said with a confidence that Janet wished she could have felt.

Then Helen's father touched her arm.

"Time to go," he said, and Janet and Helen walked toward the plane while the Thornes said a final word of goodbye to their old neighbors.

"You have seats four and five on this side," said the stewardess as the girls reached the plane.

Helen went in first with Janet close at her heels. The interior was much like a bus, thought Janet, and she found her seat unusually comfortable.

Helen's father and mother took seats across the aisle from the girls and the stewardess came along and snapped on the safety belts.

"You can take them off as soon as we're away from the field," she explained.

The landing stage was pulled away, the starters hummed deeply as though struggling with stubborn motors, and finally the mighty engines burst into a deafening roar, but were soon throttled down.

Lights in the cabin were turned low and Janet, pressing her face close to the small, round window, could see her father and mother standing on the ramp. She waved, and they waved back. Then the plane started forward, rolling smoothly along the concrete. When it came to the crushed rock runway it b.u.mped slightly, but before Janet knew it they were in the air and when she looked down again, the field was several hundred feet below.

She was actually on her way to Hollywood.

_Chapter XVIII_ h.e.l.lO, HOLLYWOOD!

Janet and Helen found that by leaning close together they could converse but with the steady beat of the engines in their ears, a sense of drowsiness soon overtook the girls and they relaxed in their chairs.

Janet dropped into a deep sleep that was not broken until their plane dropped down at Cheyenne well after midnight to change pilots and refuel.

Here the stewardess offered them a selection of fruit and Janet ate several oranges with relish. Then they were off again, meeting the sunrise east of Salt Lake City with the most glorious panorama Janet had ever seen unfolding beneath her eyes.

After that they swung southwest in an almost direct line for Los Angeles, climbing dizzily over the Sierras and then dropping down into lower California.

Helen glanced at her watch and Janet, still unused to her own, followed suit. They would be at the Grand Central airport in less than half an hour.

Helen, leaning back, cried, "We're almost there," and Janet nodded happily.

It seemed almost on the echo of Helen's words, although it was actually minutes later, when the plane wheeled and settled gently down on the runway of a huge airport.

Janet, looking eagerly from the window, saw a group of cameramen standing at the gate which led to the field. There must be some celebrity on their own plane or on a s.h.i.+p due in soon. She scanned the pa.s.sengers in their own cabin. None of them appeared unusually famous and she decided the cameramen were there to meet some other plane.

A landing stage was rolled up the moment the plane stopped and the stewardess opened the door.

"Take your time," said Helen's father. "We'll all be a bit stiff after this long ride. You girls want to look your best."

Janet stood up and smoothed out her skirt. It had remained remarkably fresh and the heavy silk s.h.i.+rtwaist showed only a few wrinkles. Her jacket would cover that up and she got that garment down from the rack over her head. Helen, who had worn a brown silk suit, had fared almost as well, and after a hurried glance into the mirrors in their handbags, both girls p.r.o.nounced themselves ready to see what Hollywood looked like.

Helen's father and mother were out of the plane first with the girls close behind them.

A uniformed airport employee nodded to Mr. Thorne.

"I've had your bags put in your car," he said, and Janet saw the famous director hand over a bill.

The cameramen were still cl.u.s.tered at the gate and instead of looking for the arrival of another plane, seemed to be watching them as they advanced.

"Hi, Mr. Thorne," greeted one of them, a chunky little fellow half hidden behind a huge camera. "Have a nice trip?"

"Fine, Joey. Couldn't have been better."

"Get any fish?" another one called.

"You guess," smiled Helen's father.

"That's far enough," said the photographer called Joey. "Just line up with the girls in the middle. What's the idea trying to sneak in on us like this?"

"What do you mean?" parried Mr. Thorne.

"The Ace publicity office just tipped us off that you were coming in this noon with a couple of girls from the midwest and that you think they're a couple of great film possibilities. I don't call that playing very fair with us."

"So the office phoned and said I was bringing in a couple of new stars?"

"That's right. Now girls, smile a little. We won't bite even if the cameras do look big."

Janet and Helen, more than a little perplexed by the sudden turn of events, couldn't help smiling while the photographers clicked their machines.

Then several reporters, who had remained in the background until the photographers were through, pushed ahead.

"Give us the dope, Mr. Thorne--who they are, where you found them, what you have in mind for them? Do you really think they're good?"