The Smallest Star in the Universe

                                                      by Francis Michael Dattilo, Jr.

     Gail Curran felt like a shining point of light twinkling in the vast Milky Way.  She had just played a small but important scene in Rich

Reeve's latest blockbuster movie.  The Rich Reeves.

     Oh, it wasn't a blockbuster film yet but it would be like all his other movies.  In the scene, she played a librarian helping his dashing character do research on a noted artist missing for years from the public eye.

     It was a lot like Dorothy Malone's book store scene with Humphrey Bogart's Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep.

     They had shared a drink from Bogey's flask with the shop's curtains drawn during a rainstorm.  

     Gail had even shared a bottle of water with the star between 

takes.  When it was over, he even gave her a brotherly hug the gentleman he was.

     No wonder all the big name actresses and actors relished working with him.

     Gail's afterglow did not last long.  She had already been given business cards by two handsome young Hollywood agents.

     But first she had to call her mom in Peekskill and give her a report as she had promised.

     "Mom," she announced into her cell phone.  "This is your little movie star."

     "Gail, dear," her mother's sweet voice cracked with tears in her throat.