I’d forgotten the cold, back when I was on the porch talking to Wilma’s niece, but as I walked home a chill wind blew in off the still half-frozen lake and reminded me. I’d been living in southern Wisconsin for four or five years now, and was used to winter extending itself well into what should’ve been spring; still, this was unusual weather: by the time I reached my A-frame I’d seen perhaps a dozen fat flakes of snow fall heavily to the ground, fat wet flakes that hit like bird droppings. Somebody didn’t know it was April.
It was cold inside the A-frame as well. I built a fire in the conical metal fireplace that took up the far corner and went over to the couch beneath the overhang of the loft and sat.
The stack of girlie magazines (the ones I’d found in Turner’s room) I’d been carrying rolled up and stuck under my arm. I now flopped them onto the coffee table in front of me, and a bare-breasted girl with dark hair and very brief bikini bottoms that didn’t completely conceal more dark hair was grinning at me with considerably more than friendship in mind, below the word Hustler. This was the cover of the magazine on top of half a dozen others, and I started flipping through them, and they were interesting, in a gynecological way, and in one of them I came across an interview with a director of pornographic films.
His name was Jerry Castile.
I glanced at the cover. It was dated May, of this year. Meaning it was the current issue.
I wondered if the story Turner had told me, about his being here to kill Jerry Castile, had been a spur of the moment thing, fabricated out of Turner’s recent memory of having seen this particular article. The page where it began had its upper right corner folded down. Perhaps this was part of Turner’s research into the mark…
What the hell. I’d already looked at all the pictures.
I leaned back and read.
Associate Editor Rick Marshall conducted the following mini-interview with porno director JERRY CASTILE during a lull in the shooting of Castile’s current flick, BLUE MOON. Marshall: Jerry, I think our readers would agree that you’re one of the biggest names in porno today. Like Damian, the Mitchell Brothers and a few others, your films have had not only box office impact but critical acclaim that has helped hardcore skin flicks reach beyond the raincoat-in-the-lap audience, to a younger crowd, including many couples. Now we hear a rumor that you’re planning to leave the field, to direct films for a major studio. Has all the critical acclaim gone to your head? Or have you simply “said it all,” as far as hardcore sex flicks are concerned? Castile: Maybe I had an offer I couldn’t refuse. Seriously, several major studios have made me offers, and in August I’ll be doing a film for American International. Marshall: Then better money lured you away? Castile: Partially. And I’ll have bigger budgets, and can make better, and more varied kinds of movies. Marshall: Does that mean you’re bored or tired of porno movies? Castile: No, but in porno these days, a lot of risks are involved. The Supreme Court ruling, giving locals the power to pass and pursue their own anti-smut laws, has made it rough to stay alive. It costs money to fight those fucking court cases, costs money to stay in business and out of jail. There’s a lot of repression in the air, and I for one find it scary as hell. Marshall: So we can safely assume you won’t be doing porn for any major studio? Castile: Nothing hardcore, certainly. It’ll be R-rated stuff. A hard R, but nothing X, and certainly nothing triple X. Marshall: Does that mean that Blue Moon is your hardcore swan song? Castile: No. I have one other commitment to fulfill. I’ll be going to the Midwest in April, to do a film called Snow Ball. We’ve already done some location shooting, here in the East. The rest of the film will be shot in a ski lodge, a wild place, octagonal building, great for camera angles. Marshall: I didn’t know any major porno was being produced in the Midwest. Aren’t there a lot of hassles involved with shooting porn in that part of the country, particularly in Chicago? Castile: Frankly, yes. It’s very underground. A lot of minor stuff is done there, loops, that sort of thing. Actually, I wouldn’t be shooting a film in the Midwest at all, except that’s where the financing is. And, I was offered that great place to shoot it in, that octagonal ski lodge. Marshall: Who do you have lined up for the film? Castile: We were hoping for Harry Reems, but he’s not going to be available. We’ve got Frankie Waddsworth, and also Candy Floss. Marshall: Is she still in as good a form as she was in Sensuous Esophagus? That bit with her giving head and singing at the same time was remarkable. Castile: We already filmed a scene with her and Waddsworth in a ski lift where she yodels and gives head. Marshall: Versatile girl. Sounds like Snow Ball ought to be a terrific way to bring down the curtain on your hardcore career. Castile: Well, I won’t be going out with a whimper.