Recoil

“Congratulations, darling. You’re in.”

“Oh, Jason!”

The girl flung her arms about the neck of the director and kissed him soundly on both cheeks. Few men would have been able to keep calm under such an onslaught. Janet Meade, the most beautiful and talented actress of her generation, was notorious for her devastating effect on men. She had large dark eyes, tresses of long blonde hair, and a magnificent body accentuated by exceptionally svelte hips.

Jason rested his hands on these attributes to push her gently away.

“Just keep yourself slim for me, darling, that’s all. Stars shine brightest when they’re ten pounds under.”

As soon as her husband came home that night, Janet told him the good news.

“Alan, it’s the title role, I get to wear the most amazing costumes. Jason hasn’t shown me a full script yet, but he says it’s going to be the most spectacular horror movie since Jaws.”

“Wonderful, darling. When do you leave?”

“In three weeks. I can hardly wait.”

Over dinner, Alan noticed his wife wasn’t eating.

“Anything the matter, darling? This is delicious.”

“Oh, I was just thinking. Jason said I wasn’t to get fat.”

“Good grief, you’d have to eat like a horse for six months before you even put on a pound. Don’t be silly, tuck in.”

But Janet still hesitated. The next day she phoned Jason.

“It’s not that I expect to put on weight, Jason, it’s just that – well, it’s such a marvellous opportunity I don’t want to do anything to jeopardise it.”

The director understood at once. “I’m going to send you to see a friend of mine, Jan. He’s a doctor, going to be technical adviser on the film in fact. He’ll take care of everything until we start shooting.”

Doctor Segrum was a kindly little man whom Janet instinctively liked. He gave her a thorough examination, took a few samples, made a few tests, then prepared a phial of a clear solution which he injected into her arm.

“Secret recipe,” he confided, swabbing her arm with a piece of cotton wool. “I’ve been a closet dietician for years, and to my mind the root of all beauty is slenderness. You, my dear, prove my theory consummately.” Janet beamed at the compliment. “I’ll give you a regular course of injections until we leave for the location, and thereafter I need only top you up once a week.”

“Of course, you’ll be coming with us.”

“I will indeed. I might say, Miss Meade, in all modesty that as technical adviser I hardly think the film could proceed without me.” And he smiled shyly, wiping off the dirty needle.

Janet visited Doctor Segrum every day after that. She liked his modest, self-effacing manner, and the stories from his past which he recounted to take her mind off the injections. He had been twice round the world as a young man, ands had done everything from chopping trees in Canada to collecting live insects I the jungles of Amazonia.

“Snakes are his passion,” Janet reported one night as she sat in front of her dressing table removing her make-up. “He was attacked by an adder once and he says it was love at first bite.”

“Really,” said Alan, who was trying to read.

“Oh my skin.” Janet peered more closely in the mirror, pinching the flesh beneath her eyes. “It’s getting so dry, I don’t know what to do with it.”

“No wonder it’s dry, all those lotions and creams you use.”

“They’re meant to keep it moist.”

“You’ve got to look my best for my fans.” She slipped off her robe and examined her naked body. “Look at this. I’m not getting fat am I? Those injections are working?”

“You look fine.”

“Really?”

Alan laid his paper aside and held out his arms. “Come here.”

She adored the feel of his hands on her body. She kissed his face and neck, but once he winced and cried out.

“You bit me.”

“I thought you liked that?”

“No need to draw blood.”

The next day she asked Doctor Segrum to look at her teeth. “Alan was right, I’m sure they’re getting longer.”

“Nothing to worry about,” the doctor concluded. “It’s only the canines. They often continue to grow after the others have fully developed.”

“I’m not turning into a vampire am I?”

“Our film,” said Doctor Segrum sternly, “is not about vampires.”

Two days later, Janet flew out with Doctor Segrum and Jason to the location, a small island I the Philippines. They were away for three months. Alan wrote often and at first Janet replied quite regularly. But gradually her letters became less frequent. Alan put this down to pressure of work, and the tight shooting schedule. But by the start of the third month, he had heard nothing for two weeks, and was beginning to worry. When the crew arrived back, he was waiting anxiously at the air terminal. There was no sign of Janet.

Jason took his arm and guided him into a side room where the crew’s equipment had been unloaded. Hugh crates and boxes stood draped in black cloth.

“Alan, you know Janet was playing the lead in this film? It was vital she remained slim.”

“Why? Why was it so vital?”

“It – was in the script,” Jason said carefully. “The film is to be called The Blonde Serpent. It’s all about a girl who… Goddammit, that’s why I sent her to Segrum in the first place, he… breeds snakes.”

“Where is she?” Alan’s voice was beginning to quaver.

Jason turned to the crates and whipped off one of the black cloths.

“Alan, I’m so sorry… I didn’t know.”

Alan stared at the thing lying there in the straw. And from the depths of her glass case, his wife hissed back at him.

1978