THE MYSTERY CALL
or HOW TO ANALYZE A STRANGE SITUATION
by
David Bolton
SMASHWORDS EDITION
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PUBLISHED BY:
David Bolton on Smashwords
The Mystery Call, or How to Analyze a Strange Situation
Copyright 2011 by David Bolton
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A weird thing happened to me the other day...
Have you ever had a really strange, difficult-to-explain experience in your everyday life? I'm not talking about big, earth-shaking events, but rather "little mysteries" - things that are most unusual, and for which you simply can't come up with a good explanation.
I had such a mysterious experience over the last few days, one that I would like to tell you about.
I'll say right from the start that the purpose of this book is not to come to a conclusion, i.e., to explain the peculiar experience itself, but instead, to give an example of how you should go about analyzing a strange occurrence, in order to have at least a better chance of solving the mystery.
I will call the following series of events "the Mysterious Call".
Background
This case involves three different acting agencies. Since they may not want me to use their names, I will refer to them here as "Agency A", "Agency B", and Agency C". All are well-known acting agencies in Tokyo, Japan, near which I have been living for over two years now.
Shortly after arriving in this country in March, 2009, I decided to become a "gaijin actor", that is, to join the ranks of foreigners who take on occasional acting or extra jobs for Japanese TV shows, or for movies. I signed up with a number of agencies, Agency A among them.
On the weekend of June 18-19, 2011, I was working all day (and a good portion of the night as well) at a job for Agency B. I was playing one of the main roles, which meant that I had to be on the set from the beginning till the end of the filming, since I was to appear in a number of scenes.
The filming went very well, though there had been considerable stress before I accepted the job. The agency that had offered me that job - Agency B - had first called me Friday evening, saying that they needed me all day Saturday and Sunday.
"I'd love to accept", I told the agent on the phone, "but I am not free on Sunday. I already have a job with Agency C lined up, so I'm afraid I'll have to turn you down."
Agency B was disappointed, but understood my position: even though the Agency C job was only as an extra (not a main role), an actor should never break his word to the first agency that contracts him.
The agent said it was a shame, but they'd do their best to find somebody else, despite the fact that the shooting was to start the next day.
The next morning, at 8:15, I received an unexpected call from a guy at Agency B:
"David, isn't there any way at all you could take the job? We had found another man, but he hasn't shown up this morning, he isn't answering our calls, and the rest of the cast has had to leave on the bus to go to the shooting location, minus one of the main actors. This is really a disaster for us!"
I felt for him, but said again that I could not break my word to Agency C. Since Agency B needed me not just Saturday (which would have been no problem), but Sunday as well, there was no way I could accept, unless of course Agency C agreed to release me.
Since it was so early, Agency C wasn't open yet; nonetheless, the agent from Agency B just happened to have the private number of the Agency C agent who had contracted me. He implored me to call her and to try to work something out.
I won't go into details about the next few hours, the many calls back and forth, trying to find someone to replace me for the Agency C Sunday job, etc. Suffice it to say that in the end, a good friend of mine agreed to take on the "extra" job on Sunday for me; I had Monday lined up for Agency C as well, but this was no problem, since the Agency B job was to be finished by Sunday night. The Agency C agent accepted this solution, and I was released of my obligation, and thus could now accept the all-weekend main role.
Nothing mysterious at all up to now, just a lot of stress.