Amanda wakes me with kisses, and we make love. I wait for her to climax, then I roll off of her without climaxing myself. I’ve got a full day and it’s important to save it for the camera.

We got time before either of us has to be anywhere, so dress and take a walk together through Griffith park. Our favorite place is Ferndell trail, a lush nook with a bridges that cross a rolling stream. Sunlight cascades through a canopy of giant sequoias. Dragonflies with stained-glass wings flitter in light. We sit on a bench, and listen to water falling over rocks.



Usually my call time is set up so that by time I walk on set we’re ready to roll camera, and I jump right into the scene. I dropped my first Viagra of the day on the drive over.

When I enter the house I notice the lights aren’t set up, the video equipment is still in their boxes, and plastic bins are scattered across the floor.

Flea and Trisha Marie, my scene partner, are sitting on some bins. Flea stares at his cell phone. Trisha, still dressed in her street clothes, is smoking a bowl of kush.

I say, “We running late?”

Neither of them responds.

“Hello?”

Flea looks at me and says, “Daniel’s test came back positive. He has HIV.”

“What do you mean, positive? I thought he was still shooting Brazil with Alpha Man the Elusive Scoundrels crew...”

“They came back, and he took his HIV test a few weeks early.”

“Shit...did he get infected over there?”

“Nobody’s sure yet, but probably.”

Trisha pulls out a prescription bottle filled with kush from her jeans pocket, and starts re-packing her bowl.

I say, “How’s he taking it?”

Trisha says, “How the fuck do you think he’s taking it, Tyler?”

Trisha makes room for me on her bin and I sit next to her.

I say, “Alpha asked me if I wanted to go on that trip, but Amanda said no way...That could have been me. Anyone else from the Elusive Scoundrels crew infected? Alpha? Mitch Adams or Malik?”

Flea says, “No, they’re clean.” He shakes his head. “I feel terrible, man. Daniel is a such good guy.”

“Yeah.”

Trish passes the bowl to me. I take a hit and hold the smoke in my lungs. I offer it to Flea, but he waves it off. I take another hit and pass it back to Trisha. Flea goes back to staring at his phone, and Trish and I pass the bowl back and forth. A wave of euphoria washes over me and there’s a tingling sensation in my teeth.

Trisha empties her bowl and scrapes the resin with a car key. She says, “I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but...”

“Right,” Flea says, “What do you guys want to do?”

Trish says, “I’m already here. Let’s fuck.”

I shrug. Flea stands, opens the plastic he was sitting on, and pulls out the rape kit, the bin that contains porn supplies, and takes out the baby wipes, douche and lube.



The scene is over and I’m driving on the freeway, talking to Amanda on the cell phone.

She says, “Is anyone else infected besides Daniel?”

“Nobody knows yet.”

She says, “And people still shooting?”

“I guess. My scenes for tomorrow are still on, and I’m still booked solid next week. Nobody canceled.”

“You’re going to cancel your scenes.”

I say, “That’s a lot of money, babe.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? Don’t be an idiot. You’re not working until everything is figured out. Not until it’s known whom he worked with since he came back from Brazil...this is exactly why I didn’t want you to go on that trip. Those putas over there are nasty, and you can’t tell me they test the same as you do here in the States.”

“Yeah...I’ll be home soon.”

“Te amo.”

“Te amo.”