“I’m doing okay. How’s everybody there?”

“We’re okay. Mom’s in her usual blue, moody periods again. You know how it is. And John is still preoccupied with cuddling up to his new girlfriend.”

“Oh. By the way, have you read the book ‘The Lord of the Rings?’”

“Oh that? I just finished reading the entire trilogy. Why’d you ask?”

“Well, guess what? They’re filming it here in New Zealand and the producers of the movie are getting some of our students to play some parts in it! And the school assigned me to chaperone the kids on the set!”

“WHAT?!!!” Louise shouted over the phone. Obviously, she was getting seriously giddy from what she just had heard.

Marae pulled away the receiver from her ear as her sister shouted like a crazy lunatic. “Will you put a lid on it? You almost knocked my eardrums out with all your screaming!”

“I’m so sorry, Marae. It’s just I’m so excited for you. Wouldn’t you believe it?! You’re actually going to see how the most anticipated movie of all time will be made! Oh, please! You gotta give me details about it, okay?”

“I don’t think they would allow that, my dear sis.”

“Well, at least give me an insight on the actor who’ll play Legolas in the movie. Please?”

“Leggy who?”

“Legolas Greenleaf! He’s the one and only elf in the fellowship. And he’s my most absolute favorite character in the book!” sighs Louise.

“Sheesh, you are crazy, sis! You and your nutty obsessions!”

“Please? He’s my all-time favorite elf! ‘Fair of face beyond the measure of Men’, as Tolkien himself put it.”

“Okay, I will try to snag some information about the actor if I have the time. Yeah, I remember you giving me copy of the trilogy, so I might as well start reading it now.”

“Oh thank you, thank you! Better read it so you’ll get a little background about the movie and my little elfie-luv, Legolas! The actor who’s gonna play him had better be drop-dead gorgeous!”

“Will you stop babbling about this Legolas guy, I mean, elf?”

“Oh, just read the book and you will find out why I’m so fanatical about him.”

“So, anything else, sis?”

“Uh, nope. Just checking up on you. And I’m sure glad I did! Don’t forget to check on Legolas, okay?”

“Okay, okay, I will. Now, puh-lease, put down the phone because I have to prepare my dinner, ok? Bye! Thanks for calling.” Click. Marae put the phone down and made a chicken sandwich for herself. But before eating it she gave Pepper a bowl of dog food. She sat down by the couch and opened the TV, scanning through the channels. Pepper sat beside her and placed her head on Marae’s lap. She came upon a local news channel and they were reporting about that very movie.

“It’s has been 3 months since Peter Jackson’s cast and crew started shooting J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Security was very tight and no one from the media was allowed to go near the closed set. Despite great pressure and speculation from both eager Tolkien fans and the general public, they are avoiding any disclosure about how the movie will turn out.”

“Well, aren’t we pretty lucky to see it, right Pepper?” The little beagle gave out a bark. ”It would be interesting to see how this movie is being made.” Marae closed the TV and went upstairs to her bedroom. She picked out the “Lord of the Rings” book from her shelf, and started reading it.

“This is fascinating.” From then on she couldn’t put the book down. She wasn’t really a fan of fantasy books but this one had piqued her curiosity. And after reading it for 4 hours, she finished almost half of book already. She got way past Chapter 8 of Book 1 when she decided to continue reading it tomorrow and get some sleep, so Marae tucked herself into her bed, with Pepper snoozing away at the foot.

7:30 a.m., Monday

It was a bright, sunny morning, and Marae was in a tizzy, tense, bundle-of-nerves frame of mind. She took one last look at the little hand mirror from her bag. This is the day when the producers of the movie will go to their school and choose some children to play small parts in the motion picture, so she had to be very presentable. Not too made-up of course, but neat and professional-looking. She made a mental check of her attire, a lace-trimmed denim tunic, jeans and dark blue sneakers. She tied her shoulder-length hair in a ponytail, and stowed away all her personal stuff inside her black backpack. Before leaving her apartment, she left some dog food for Pepper.

“’Bye Pepper! See you later!” she chorused, closing the door behind her and walked towards to her car. It was a 30-minute drive going to work. She enjoyed driving around Auckland because she adored the scenery. Being in the middle of two magnificent harbours, the Waitemata and the Manukau, it’s a place where most of maritime activities in the area take place. She made her regular stop at her favorite coffee shop, The Kauri Café before going to work. It is about 2 blocks away from the Little Feet Preschool. And since it was a bit early, Marae decided to stop by the café. The coffee shop is located between an old bookshop and an antique shop, and isn’t that big, but it had a cozy ambience with a few invitingly-arranged tables outside by the front window.

“Morning Mrs. Lynne!” Marae cheerily greeted Mrs. Lynne, the 45-year-old proprietor of the coffee shop for almost 10 years.

“Good morning, Rae! Well, you’re up early, dearie. So, what are you having this morning?”

“The usual. One mocha java coffee to go, please?”

“Okay. Want anything else with it?”

“Hmmm… probably one cinnamon roll also?”

Ms. Lynne handed her her order. “Thanks Ms. Lynne. I’ll pass by again after work. Bye!”

“Bye Rae! Have a nice day at work, dear!”

“Thank you, Mrs. Lynne.”

By the time she got to the school her friend and fellow co-teacher, Miranda was already there preparing the classroom. She was busy fixing the books and toys in the classroom.

“Good morning, Mira!” Marae placed her backpack by the side table in the classroom.

“Hello, Rae! I’m still so overwhelmed that people from New Line Cinema will be visiting us today! And I’m so happy and excited for you, girl. I have good feeling about this! I think this will be the start of something really special for you.”

“Oh, please don’t start, Mira. I know what you’re getting at. Remember, I am doing this for our school and not for anything else. I’m not gonna use this as an excuse to meet some guy,” she replied as she handed over to Mira the toys as she headed towards the art-materials area.

“Fine! I’m just saying that what if you meet someone there? Who knows, you may find a guy that might finally break down that damn wall you built around you.”

Marae suddenly stopped at what Mira just said. She turned to face her friend and looked at her for a few seconds, and then gave an exasperated sigh. “It’s not that I don’t want to do it, Mira. I don’t think I am ready to love again, not now, and not yet. I can’t help but feel afraid and I don’t think I can handle anymore heartaches,” Marae answered despondently.

Miranda moved toward where her colleague was standing. Placing her hands over friend’s shoulder, she rejoined, “Just don’t give up, okay? We’re all meant to have someone in life for us to love and love us back. Besides, you deserve to be happy.”

“(Sigh!) I just don’t know, Mira.”

“Just keep an open mind. Don’t shut out the whole world, Rae. He’s out there, somewhere.”

She smiled back at and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll try, Mira. Don’t worry about me. Come on, we’d better prepare our classroom. The producers will be here in about an hour.”

After an hour, the producers of the movie arrived in the school premises. Miss Walters was the one who welcomed the visitors, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Barrie Osbourne and Tim Sanders.

“Hello Frannie!” said Mrs. Walters as she hugged Fran.

“Hi Beth. How’re you?” asked Fran.

“Up to my ears with kids, as usual. I’m so glad to see you again. Thank you for taking time to see us.”

“Oh, this Peter. Peter, this my dear old friend Elizabeth.”

“Hello, Elizabeth.”

“Hello, Peter. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she greeted him, extending her hand to Peter.

“Likewise, Elizabeth. I’d like to meet the kids you have now, if they’re ready.”

“We have a few kids who were allowed by their parents to participate your movie. And the parents wanted one of my teachers to accompany the kids.”

“Oh, no problem,” said Peter.

“Let me introduce to you to her. Marae?”

“Yes, Mrs. Walters?” asked Marae.

“These are the people from New Line Cinema. I would like you to meet the producers Ms. Fran Walsh, Mr. Barrie Osbourne, Mr. Tim Sanders, and Mr. Peter Jackson, who is also the director. This is Miss Marae Alvarez. Ms. Alvarez is new, but has proven to be a very able and reliable teacher. Besides, the children all love her. She has a firm but gentle hand when it comes to putting them in line.”

Marae shook the hands of the four producers. “It’s really a pleasure to meet you all. Please call me Marae.”

“Hello Marae,” smiled Peter as he extended his hand to Marae.

“Marae, due to the nature of the job, you and the children will be with them in a couple of weeks,” said Mrs. Walters.

“But it’s not an everyday basis. We’ll give you a schedule on which days you will be required to be on the set. Since we are on a tight schedule, we need you to be there on Wednesday, so as to familiarize yourself with what we’re doing. We’ll be filming first in Waikato for the Hobbiton scenes. The children will be asked to come around early in the morning, to put on their costumes and make-up,” added Fran.

“Okay, no problem. I can give you a list of the children’s names so it would be easier for you to identify them,” answered Marae.

“Thank you, Marae. And don’t worry about the transportation. We’ll have a van just for you and the children,” replied Barrie.

“Thank you very much, sir.”

“So, we’ll see you on Wednesday at 8 a.m., Marae. Nice meeting you,” smiled Peter.

“Oh, thank you. It’s a real pleasure to meet you all,” replied Marae cheerfully.

Mrs. Walters toured the producers around the school. Later, she introduced them to the children who will be playing the bit roles of Hobbit and Rohan children in the movie.

After work, Marae dropped off again at the Kauri Café. After ordering a cup of cappuccino she strode off and took a seat in one of the tables outside. Right then and there, Mira arrived to join Marae in the table.

“Hey Rae!” Mira greeted as she sat down the chair.

“Hey you, yourself. I didn’t know you go here too.”

“Well, I’m not a regular. I only drop by once in a while. So, how did the meeting with the producers go?”

“It went okay. All the four producers seem very amiable. I hope I’ll have some time off to explore even a part of the set.”

“That’s great! You’d better call me on Wednesday evening and tell me everything about it.”

“Yeah. And my sister kept on pestering about a character from the book. The elf guy Legolas.”

“Why, what does your sister want about him?”

“She wanted me to spy on the actor who’ll play Legolas,” groaned Marae as she rolled her eyes.

“Cool. Maybe you should spy on him. He might be cute y’know,” she grinned mischievously.

“Har har! Sure, I’ll let you know if he’s cute, so I can introduce you to him. And he’ll fall in love with you, and you’ll fall in love with him. And you’ll become one of the most famous half-Hollywood, half-plain-folks couples ever!”

“Oh no! Don’t you dare change the topic and make me the object of desire of some unknown actor.”

“Well, you started it.”

“Okay fine! I’ll keep my big mouth shut.”

The two girls chatted for about an hour before going their separate ways and went home.

5:00 a.m., Wednesday

Today’s the day! Marae could hardly believe it’s her first day to actually set foot into the LOTR set! She wore her one of her favorite tops, an apple green blouse, dark blue denim pants, and brown strappy sandals. She will be accompanying eight kids today: Jam, Stuart, Lisa, John, Christine, Peter, Jamie and Hugh. She felt kind of excited because she has never actually seen how a movie is made. It’s bound to be interesting to see at least part of the process. And since she has read parts of the book, she could just almost imagine how they will envision every detail of it. But yet, she couldn’t shake off this certain feeling that she was feeling now. Somehow, she couldn’t ignore this indescribable but niggling sensation in her head that something, something different, is bound to happen today. She looked at the itinerary that Peter Jackson gave her two days ago. “Hmm. Guess I’ll be stuck there until 4 p.m.” She heaved out a sigh. Pepper was still asleep in her bedroom. So Marae just left her there. She already called her neighbour Jane last night to look after Pepper for her. She sat on the sofa near her front door and waited. To pass the time, she got out her portable CD player and placed a CD of Enya, The Memory of Trees, in it and played a particular track from it, Anywhere Is…

“I walk the maze of moments
but everywhere I turn to
begins a new beginning
but never finds a finish…”

“The moon upon the ocean
is swept around in motion
but without ever knowing
the reason for its flowing…”

Ever since Louise introduced to her Enya’s album The Celts she immediately became a fan and bought copies of all of her albums. Her voice had oftentimes soothed her ruffled nerves every time she heard it, and it often felt like she was caught up in another dimension that seemed far above her mundane problems and worries. A sharp sound suddenly interfered and she snapped back to reality.

Beep! Beep!

A dark blue van was parked outside her driveway. She immediately jumped up from her seat and turned the CD player off. Grabbing her knapsack as she bolted out of the apartment, locked the door and headed towards the van. All of the kids were already there. A big bodyguard-type guy stood beside the door of the van.

“Good morning, Miss Marae. I’m Henry. Mr. Jackson sent me to bring you to Waikato. And as you can see, the children are already inside,” Henry said as he opened the door for Marae.

“Oh, good morning to you too, Henry. And thanks.” Marae then looked at the kids, some of which were still a little sleepy since it was just 5:45 a.m.

“Good morning, kids!”

“Good morning, Miss Marae!” they greeted back merrily, if a little drowsily, with some yawns here and there.

Marae settled inside the van beside Christine, a 5-year old, wide-eyed, bespectacled girl with curly dark brown hair. Since it was almost a 2-hour drive to Waikato, she decided to catch up on a few minutes of sleep. Most of the children were starting to doze off in their seats too. So Christine curled up beside Marae, curling under her arms as Marae put her right arm around her to give her some more space. Christine was one of the few students that she had become so close to. This sweet little girl would always go to Marae for comfort, she felt like she was her second mother.

After an hour on the road, John and Stuart had just woken up and started creating so much noise because both of them were struggling and tugging at each other. Their shouts woke up the rest of the children and Marae.

“Stuart! That’s my truck! Gimme that!” John started making a grab for his favorite brightly-colored, blue-and-red truck.

Without saying a word, Stuart just tugged at the truck even harder towards his direction. He had this determined look on his face, as if his whole life depended on that truck.

“Give it to me! Miss Marae!!!” John shrieked.

“Whoa! What’s happening here boys?” Marae tried separating the boys apart. “Wait! Give me that toy!” she said firmly. “Please?” John let go of the truck. “Okay, can someone please tell me what happened?”

“Stuart started it! He grabbed my toy truck without even asking!” John protested. He pouted his lips and immediately folded his arms in front of his chest with his brows almost meeting at the middle of his forehead.

“Well, Stuart? Is this true?” asked Marae.

He remained silent. “Stuart, remember that we should ask permission first before getting things which don’t belong to us.”

“Yes,” he answered softly.

“So, what are you supposed to say to John?”

“Sorry, John.” Then he hugged John.

“S’okay, Stuart. Here,” giving him the truck. “You can play with it now if you like.”

“Well, that’s very good of you two. Now, remember we’re going to a place where we really have to behave properly okay? If you need anything or something’s bothering you, just tell me.” The two boys nodded. “You two better get some sleep now because we still have about an hour’s drive.”

After an hour, they arrived in Waikato, in a small, picturesque patch of farmland in the lush town of Matamata. The trees and plants in the area have remained untouched and preserved. Peter Jackson and his crew didn’t even do much landscaping in the ten-acre surroundings. Instead, they planted their own additional foliage and trees to create the perfect look of Hobbiton.

Marae and the kids arrived just in time at the set. As they stepped out of the van, people were already on the move doing their specific tasks for the day. Lighting equipment, cameras, and other different kinds of apparatuses were being put into place. Up close and despite all the behind-the-scenes preparations going about, the site was so beautiful. It had rolling green hills with Hobbit holes and from it, chimneys spewing out smoke and other quaint-looking, homey structures. It was like stepping into a different time zone, a different dimension. And there was Peter Jackson, in his usual white shirt, shorts and rubber shoes, busy giving out instructions to people. The kids remained in the van while Marae walked up to Peter.

“Good morning, Mr. Jackson,” smiled Marae.

Peter turned. “Well, hello Marae! Nice to see you and the kids here at last.”

“They are still in the van. Where should we go?” asked Marae.

“I’ll have Miss Robertson come with so you could bring the kids over there inside the trailers. Afterwards, the kids will be suited up in their costumes. I’d like to have them in the set by 10:30 a.m.” Marae acknowledge him. Peter called for Miss Robertson, a petite, bespectacled woman, probably in her late 30’s. She seemed very amiable, with a ready smile and a sweet-auntie air. After introducing Marae to her, they brought the kids to one of the 5 trailers parked in the area. As they approached one of the trailers, they met Elijah Wood, the actor who will be playing the lead role of Frodo Baggins. He just got out of his trailer when he was pointed out by Mrs. Robertson to the children. Marae instantaneously recognized him from his last movie, Deep Impact.

“Well, hello there kids,” greeted Lij with a smile.

“Hello!” answered all of the children.

“Good morning, Miss Robertson! Are these the kids who’ll be playing the little Hobbit children?”

“Yes Lij. We are going to the trailer to get them suited up into their costumes. And this is Miss Marae Alvarez, who will be chaperoning them during the shoot. Miss Alvarez, this is our Frodo, Mr. Elijah Wood.”

“I’m pleased to meet you, Miss Alvarez. You can call me Lij.” He extended his hand to Marae.

“I’m thrilled to meet you, Lij. You can call me Marae.”

Lij crouched down and looked at the little kids. “So, what’re your names?” All the eight children introduced themselves to him.

“Okay, kids. Let’s get inside the trailer so we can put on our costumes. We’ll see Lij later in the set,” said Miss Robertson.

“See ya later, kids!” waved Lij.

“Bye Lij!” they all said in a synchronous response.

When they got inside the trailer, there were eight people already there preparing their hobbit feet, ears, and wigs. Their costumes were already hanging in a clothes rack. Each child was asked to sit down on individual chairs. Jam, Hugh, Stuart and John were the first ones to be fitted with the Hobbit feet, which took about an hour to finish, while the other kids were fitted with their Hobbit ears, wigs and costumes. Then, after which the task was reversed until all of the Marae’s charges were completely transformed into adorable Hobbit kids. Miss Robertson and Marae accompanied them to the set and Peter Jackson came up to meet them.

“Hello kids! So, are you all ready?”

“YES!!!!” they answered as they jumped excitedly.

“Okay, I would like you to meet someone.” An old, bearded man came in. He was dressed in a gray robe and long pointed hat. He walked slowly towards the kids and greeted them in a throaty, somber voice.

“Good morning, little children.”

The kids were slightly frightened because he was a very tall man and seemed to almost tower over them. He immediately noticed it so he stooped down and slowly smiled at them.

Curious little Hugh stepped forward and tugged at the man’s beard. The old man frowned at him intensely. He got scared and hurriedly ran towards Marae and hid behind her. The old man laughed loudly.

“Oh, don’t be afraid of me. My name is Mr. Ian Mckellen and I play Gandalf who is a wizard,” he drawled in a deep, British-accented voice.

“Yes, he plays Gandalf,” interrupted Peter. “Later, when you see him come down the road in his wagon, all of you will run down the hill and after him and say his name as excitedly as you all can. So, what’s his name?”

“GANDALF!!!” squealed the children.

“Very good! Okay, I need all of you to follow me and we will start filming. Marae, you can just stay and watch them in the monitor.” Peter indicated a TV monitor surrounded by a small group of production people and a chair for her to sit on. He told the kids to stand beside a dirt road near a Hobbit hole. Then, associate producer Ellen Somers gave out orders for everybody to keep quiet and turn off their mobile phones. Marae switched off hers as she watched the arrival of Gandalf in Hobbiton. They all watched in the monitor as Gandalf’s wagon coming up the raod, with Frodo sitting beside him. As she watched the scene unfold, she suddenly became aware of a not-so-tall guy standing beside her. He was also dressed as a Hobbit with a curly brown wig, dark green coat and brown pants slightly cut above his knees.

“Hullo! Haven’t I seen you around here before?” he greeted in his thick Scottish accent.

“Well, uh no. It’s my first day here.”

“I’m Billy, Billy Boyd. What do you do here?”

“Actually, I’m just accompanying those kids over there.”

“Oh really? Like a chaperone or something?”

“Something like that, but I’m really their teacher. Their parents just wanted somebody to go with them so here I am,” Marae answered.

“Why, that’s great! I think that’s pretty cool. And your name is?”

“Marae, Marae Alvarez.”

“I see. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but are you Hispanic?”

“Well, I do have Spanish blood but I come from the Philippines.”

“So, that’s why you don’t look that Asian,” smiled Billy. “Well, I gotta go Marae, I’m needed on the other set. See you around, okay? Bye!”

“Bye Billy. Nice meeting you too.”

After wrapping up the arrival scene, Elijah ran into Billy who also just finished, and they goofed around a bit. They were about to take a break for lunch, and Lij decided to introduce Marae to Billy. Marae had just on her mobile phone as he came up to her.

“Hi! It’s Marae, right?”

“Yes. So, how did everything go?”

“Well, we just finished one part of the scene. And we’ll shoot another part later in the afternoon. But we’ll be eating as soon as lunch is ready. Why don’t you bring the kids there by that huge tent over there? That’s where we’ll have lunch.”

“Sure, thanks.” Suddenly her mobile phone rang. “Sorry, I have to get this first.” Marae walked a few steps away from the two. When she looked at the phone, she saw Louise’s number flashing on the screen. She immediately pushed the call button to answer it.

“What?”

“Hey, where are you? I’ve been calling your house all morning.”

“You could’ve just left me a message in the answering machine.”

Just then Orli arrived in the set. He was wearing a plain yellow polo shirt. It was partially unbuttoned, revealing a white undershirt beneath it, and sleeves rolled slightly above his forearms, together with his usual jeans and sneakers. He had wanted to visit the Hobbiton set for months now, just to satisfy his curiosity and to see the other actors go through their paces. And since his call on the other was not for another 15 minutes, he decided to drop by and say hello to his mates. He went towards where Lij was standing.

“Hey you!”

“Orli! What brings you here?”

“Just killing some time before the other studio finds me. So what’s up in here?”

“We just finished a Shire scene. Oh, I want you to meet someone. She’s over there,” pointed Lij.

Orli turned and looked at where Lij was pointing. From a distance, he saw a woman talking in her mobile. He couldn’t see her face that well because her back was turned from them. Somehow, she seemed strangely familiar.

“Louise, will you please put the phone down now and call me later? I really have to go,” Marae said hurriedly.

“Why are you so in a hurry? Where are you?”

“I’m in Waikato!” she yelled and made ready to turn her cellphone off.

“What are you doing in Waikato?” Apparently, she didn’t move fast enough.

“Ugh! Fine!”

“Well?”

“I’m in the LOTR set,” she whispered softly. And almost before she could complete the phrase, a blood-curdling scream emitted from the other end. Louise screaming her head off again no doubt! Fortunately, she held her mobile far from her ear in anticipation that this would happen. She slightly turned a bit and saw Lij talking to a guy. That’s funny, he looks quite familiar, she thought. But she turned her back again when she heard she sister finally gained her breath to start yammering again.

“So, do you know anything about the guy who’s playing Legolas?” Louise asked excitedly.

“Will you stop asking about LEGOLAS!?” Marae raised her voice a bit as she mentioned the last word. She toned he voice down coz she felt someone was watching her. “I can’t even get a word in sideways with all your screaming!”

Legolas? Did somebody holler the name Legolas? Orli turned to the direction where he heard it. All he could see was the woman that Lij pointed out, still talking on her mobile. Why is she whispering? he wondered in puzzlement, but he shrugged it off. He faced Lij again. “Uh huh. What are you up to Lij?” he grinned sheepishly.

“Nothing, I just met her today. She accompanies the kids who will be playing the Hobbit kids.”

“Oh? Like a chaperone?”

“Well, something like that. And man, she’s got these incredibly beautiful brown eyes! Come on, I’ll introduce her to you.”

“I dunno know, Lij. She seems awfully busy with that phone call she’s having. Besides, I’m not interested at the moment.”

“Right! ‘Coz your mind’s still lost in thought on that woman you saw at the beach last weekend, huh?

“I can’t keep my mind off her. I keep seeing those sad eyes. I wish I could see her again.”

“But you don’t even know her name or where she lives. How’re you going to find her?”

“I have this feeling she lives near that beach we went to last weekend.”

“Searching all my days just to find you
I'm not sure who I'm looking for
I'll know it
When I see you”

“But what if she doesn’t?”

“That’s why we oughta go back there soon, Lij, as soon as we get our time off.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to Dom and Billy about it. Anything to stop you from pestering me about this mystery lady. We could go there next Sunday, okay?”

“Thanks Lij. Well, I gotta go. I think it’s time for my shoot. I’ll meet your new friend afterwards, ok? ‘Bye mate!”

“Bye OB!”

Marae was still busy talking to her sister. She was trying in vain to wrap up their conversation.

“Look, I really have to go now. We’re about to eat our lunch. I’ll just call you in the evening, okay?”

“Please you gotta give me details now!” pleaded Louise.

“No! I will talk to you later, but that will only happen after I get some sustenance, ok? Bye!” Click! Marae turned off her mobile and started walking back to Lij. She saw him waved back at someone. He was already walking a few meters from them and she couldn’t see his face anymore.

“Sorry about that. It was my sister who just called.”

“It’s okay, Marae. Was she checking up on you?”

“Yeah, you know how sisters are. Who was that?” referring to the guy who just left.

“Oh, it’s just Orli.”

“Orli?”

“His real name is Orlando Bloom. He plays Legolas in the movie. I’ll introduce you to him one of these days”

“Oh!” exclaimed Marae. Weird name. Imagine a guy named Orlando Bloom. At least I have something to tell Louise tonight she thought to herself.

“Come on! Let’s go over there eat now.” The two walked toward the tent. The kids were already seated and Marae sat beside them and ate their lunch.

Until then, I'll hide in my bedroom
Staying up all night just to write
A love song for no one

Sunday 4:00 p.m., Karekare Beach

Marae arrived in the beach with Pepper. Clad in a gray sleeveless top, black jogging pants and cross trainers, she tied her hair up and started a few stretching exercises before proceeding. She jogged along the shoreline with Pepper following her.

“Come on, Pepper! Hurry up! We still have 5 more rounds to go!”

On the other side of the beach, Orli was already surfing with Dom. Lij had just finished surfing and was sitting on the beach to catch a breather. Just then, he saw a familiar face running towards his direction.

“Marae, is that you?”

Marae immediately recognized Lij and stopped by him. “Hey Lij! What are you doing here?”

“Well, I’m here with Orli and Dom. They are still surfing over there.” He pointed them out to her, two figures almost lost in the foaming waves. Just then the dog beside Marae barked at him and wagged its tail. “Well, is this your dog?’

“Yes. Her name is Pepper.”

“Hello Pepper.” Lij squatted down and gave her a pat on the head. “What’re you doing here?”

“I usually come here quite often. This is one of the best beaches I’ve ever visited. This is my favorite place here.”

“You come here often to jog?”

“Yeah. Sometimes I would come here for a swim or just stay by the beach to watch the ocean. I’m sorry if it sounds a little clichéd, but I feel totally at peace here, and it gives me complete solitude to just write, be by myself.”

Dom and Orli decided to stop surfing and started to head off to the shoreline. As they gathered their surfboard, they noticed that Lij was talking to someone.

“I wonder who Lij’s talking to? asked Dom.

“Yeah. You know how that crazy chap would always try to impress some female.” They both laughed. But as they approached where they were standing, Orli caught sight of the dog beside Lij. It looked strangely familiar. That little dog looked like the same dog that took my towel last weekend! But he remained quiet and didn’t mention anything.

“Hey Lij!” Dom shouted.

Lij turned towards them. Marae also turned to the direction where he was looking. She saw two sea-soaked guys bundle their surfboards and approaching them. Orli lagged behind Dom a bit and then got a good long look at woman Lij was talking to. He suddenly stopped dead on his tracks. It’s her! It’s really HER. He couldn’t believe it that she was there right in front of him, at this very moment! Suddenly he couldn’t move from where he was standing.

I could have met you in a sandbox
I could have passed you on the sidewalk
Could I have missed my chance
And watched you walk away?

“Well, there you are,” said Lij “I would like you to meet Marae, Marae Alvarez.”

“Hello Marae! I’m Dominique Monaghan. You can call me Dom.”

“Nice to meet you uh, Dom.”

“Do you know that Marae accompanies the little tykes who play the Hobbits kids? She was in the Hobbiton set last Wednesday.”

So it was her. She was the one Lij tried to introduce to me a few days ago, Orli thought. Lij noticed that Orli was still standing behind Dom, looking all dazed up.

“Hey OB! Why don’t you come over here and say hello to Marae?”

“Hello Marae. It’s good to finally meet you,” smiled Orli as he extended his hand towards her.

“Hello Orli,” Marae smiled. They didn’t let go of each other’s hands for a few seconds.

For his part, Orli was glad to finally see her again. Now, he can find out more about this enigmatically mysterious woman.

So tired of being alone
So hurry up and get here
You'll be so good
You'll be so good for me