Bullets of Rain by David J. Schow Page A

guts out of an existing multiplex, and plug in a single theater with one-third the seats. Nice recliners. Beverage service, including champagne. No kids allowed. Legroom. Big screen. Ushers. One projectionist. It's like bumping the ante on a Hollywood screening room, the kind you have to have special invites to go on studio lots to see, only better."
        "Any movie house where they serve you champagne is a step up. Most multiplexes look like giant porcelain restrooms."
        ''Here's the most outrageous part. It costs fifteen bucks to get in."
        "I'd pay twenty bucks, for that."
        "Joe thinks a lot of people would, because you can have all the movies in the world in your house, but there's still this atavistic need to go out to see a new movie. Or an old movie. As long as it's the right movie."
        "Okay… so?"
        "So, if the flagship floats, he wants to tear out the rest of the multiplex boxes and retheme the whole place, and he needs someone to come up with a design that's new, because just tearing out seats and tossing in a bigger screen won't excite the backers.''
        "Derek, this is dangerously close to a passion of mine.''
        "I know. Why do you think I told Joe? Think of it, man-valet parking and appetizers. No more drug dealers with switchblades. Hollywood massacres its own history faster than any other city in the country. They're trying to tear down the Hollywood Bowl right now, and build a venue three times bigger on the same spot, for rock shows, because the L.A. Philharmonic's contract eats shit and dies in 2005. The Bowl is only one of the three most recognizable buildings in Hollywood. I bet cash money you know the other two."
        Art thought about it.
        "Obvious: Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Capitol Records Building.''
        "They can reinforce the existing structure of the Bowl, but the guys who made billions off the subway project down there are hungry to tear down and throw up. The Chinese wasn't even Grauman's, for more than two decades, and now they're crowing 'anniversary' and not counting the lost years it was called Mann's Chinese. The main house has been rechristened Grauman's now that they added another rat-maze multi. It's happening to all the showoff theaters. The time is ripe for you to strike. You're interested, right?"
        "In the theater thing? Sure. But my interest equals exactly zero."
        "I just need an excuse to put you two together, and you'll achieve critical mass all on your own. Can you knock out some time to come to L.A.?''
        "Right now?"
        "Shit yeah, right now. Let's jump in the car and haul ass. It's a rental; it won't matter if we wreck it. We'll be there in seven hours." Probably less, if Derek still drove the way Art remembered.
        Adventure beckoned. It frequently did within moments of any appearance by Derek.
        "You mean take off with a known felon on a road trip to chase a movie theater?"
        "Basically, you got it. If the cops pull us over, just call me Jake and all shall be cool. Pretend I'm somebody else. Crank up the stereo. Catch a little highway air."
        "Half the coast road'll be out. There's already flooding, south of here. There's a storm coming."
        "We can outrun it.'' Derek's eyes were bright now, full up with mischief. "That's what that pedal on the right is for."
        "Neither of us is in what you might call driving trim."
        "Fuck that, I'll be sober in an hour. Good to go. Come on, man, get out of this cage. I just got out of mine. Check out something completely mysterious. Who knows? Lots of eligibles in L.A. ''
        "I'd love to-"
        "But, " Derek interposed. "You're gonna but me, aren't you?"
        "Shut up. Listen. This storm coming in is a big deal for this house, the one you're sitting in right now."
        "So lock up, drop your shutters, and fly. We'll take the dog with us. You wanna go to L.A.,