Then came Ray and Damon. They were the craft service folks which are the people who serve all kinds of treats like fruit, yogurts, cake and that kind of stuff between breakfast and lunch and even after that. Damon and I developed quite the friendship even though we were quite the odd couple. He was black and I was brown, he was in his thirties and married and I was in my late teens as single as they come. It was in conversation about life's real important issues that we realization our differences were only in age and race. He once refered to me as "A young brotha with an old soul" and I found this depiction of me to be most interesting. One that instantly became cemented in my brain and I have a very bad memory. I'll never forget it. Before you knew it he was calling me his little buddy and I was calling him D. He had my back whenever I needed him and put a good word in for me whenever he could. When the day was getting long or hectic for either one of us he would call on me to sing the opening verses of Al Green's song "Tired of Being Alone" and we felt instantly relieved. We felt better. He found it funny how a 19 year old kid from East L.A. knew Al Green.
On set I had my share of nicknames. One was "Pastel" by the head chef Oscar and translated it literally means cake but in spanish it can also mean slow or dumb. When he called me that he didn't mean it as an insult. In our culture an insult is sometimes a sign of friendship as it was in this case. I was also given the nickname little Chris by transportation driver Carlos. It's a play on the name of rapper ludacris and also as well as my height. Carlos was also a cool cat. I'd ride with him at least once a day to set or basecamp so you know we had to get to know each other. It took me awhile to get around his name. Why you ask? Because it was Carlos and he was a black man from detroit. Some of the convrsation we would have were outrageous by our standards but not Carlos's. He would tell me about all the young women he had slept with and continues to even at the age of 50. I guess it's true that your only as old as you feel. He would give me advice and techniques to please a woman sexually. I mean no topic was too much for this guy. Damon and Carlos more than anyone else saw something in me that maybe I don't see in myself. If they didn't they wouldn't have bothered fathering me as they did. They gave me advice on life that only a person experienced would know. I told them how I see things and live life. Maybe they saw that I had my head on straight. That I was a good person but who knows. I feel like right now me being a good person doesn't account for shit! But thats another story for another blog. I've always been able to get along and communcate much better with older people and strangers then my peers. I feel I have nothing to lose because I don't and in the end I'm glad I've made those connections every single time.
When Paul's cousin was in town and worked as a PA with us for the time she did, he often had her work beside me so you know I was force to get to know her. She was this real white german gal with red her and a deep accent so you canimagine how I resisted at first. What would we talk about!? While she was here I learned to speak some german and more about German culture as it stand today then I think you ever knew. We got along better than I expected and Paul saw this. He told me that she once showed up very late to his home one night when she hadn't met anyone but the crew of 7 Pounds. He thought it was I who dropped her off that night. He thinks I had sex with her that night but not only did I not but I wasn't the one who dropped her off that night. He would tease me about having my way with his cousin almost daily while she was here. Towards the end of production when I thought he had forgotten about it and laid the idea to rest, he told me about an e-mail he received from her to tell him how she was doing and to say hi to everyone for her. He also said my name was the only one she mentioned so to this day he thinks I had sex with his german cousin.
The people who I remember most were not just the one's I dealt with on a daily bases. Actually two of them who were there for one day had a profounding affect on me. One day the production called for senior citizens as extras. Many of which were unable to travel to or from set without assistance. Watching these 70 plus geezers really planted the seed in my head that if I don't take care of my health now, I'll pay for it later. But then again who wants to live that long? It was on this day that I met Inez. I'm not sure if Inez was her real name or the character in the films name. She's the old woman Will's character visits in the hospital. In between takes they would tend to Inez's legs because they were bleeding very badly. I'm not sure what she had but it wasn't pretty to look at. They would tape her legs up and never having seen anything quite like it my eyes were glued. It was given orders to help Inez with whatever she needed and I did. She was so genuinely grateful to me for all my help that it became my honor to help her. We spent most of the day together, her 87 and I 19. She even joked "that's a ways apart". I simply replied with "Were the same age in spirit."
On the night we were shooting in the L.A. TIMES building in downtown I met Brooke. She was one of those Rent-A-Cop's who happened to be stationed were I was. We struck up a conversation that lasted hours. We spoke about our dreams and aspirations for most of those hours. She had quite the interesting story. She lived in detroit and had a vision of coming to los angeles to persue her dream of starting up an organization I forget what about. She had just enough money to come to los angeles and as soon as she got here she lived on the street up until she got the Rent-A-Cop gig. She now has her own place and last time I spoke with her she was going to have a big meeting with an executive. I hope it went well. On the night we met she told me something about myself that I didn't know. So much so that it gave me chills and struck a nerve. She looked into my eyes and ,I'll never forget this, said "I CAN TELL YOU'VE GIVEN ALOT MORE THAN YOU COULD, GOING OUT OF YOUR WAY FOR EVERY AND ANYONE AND NO ONE HAS STOPPED TO GIVE YOU A GENUINE THANK YOU. SO I WILL" She paused and said with the deepest sincerity "THANK YOU". Now its important that you know she told me this early on in the conversation before she knew anything about me. With that speech a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I can't explain it but she spoke volumes with that sentence. I never realized how I gave and gave and gave to people in hopes of getting a genuine thank you and not just a thank you because it's the thing to say. You know what I mean? I can't tell you enough how I needed to her that even if it came from a stranger. It's like someone sent her to me that night.
It's a beautiful thing when I look back at the memories I've created with all these different men and women, young, old, black, white, yellow, brown, american, german. In the end I realize none of it was a barrier for us and I'd like to think they'll remember me as I do them.
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