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Jeff, the owner of the Italian restaurant, had discovered that, over the past few days, Eric had changed.
He was no longer distracted or in a daze and had become quite spirited. When he entertained the guests, he was no longer awkward like before and he would sometimes even joke with them. Once, Jeff saw him skillfully tease a thirty-year-old lady on her hippie accent which even got him a huge tip.
"Eric, did something happen recently? You seem very… different?"
During the break, Jeff finally could not resist the urge and asked since he cared very much about his deceased friend's child.
"Is it that obvious?" Eric asked, somewhat taken aback.
Jeff laughed, "It's written all over your face."
"It might be because I found a goal. You know, once people have something they wish to achieve, they become more driven."
"Oh, what is your goal? Do you mind telling me?"
"Of course not," Eric replied, "I have decided to become a film director. I have been writing my first film script over the last few days. It will be finished in two days."
"A film... director?" Jeff was somewhat surprised. He subconsciously opened his mouth, wanting to remind him to not aim too high right off the bat, but then he recalled that the child was still mourning his father's loss and swallowed his words.
Despite his looks, Eric had a middle-aged man's mind, so witnessing Jeff's reaction, he just smiled indifferently. After all, this was Hollywood.
Each year, thousands of people came here from all over the world to pursue their dreams, but few succeeded, so Jeff's reaction was to be expected.
"Then… Once you have finished writing the script, show it to me. In the past, I had also once wanted to be an actor, back when my appearance was not what it is today," Jeff patted his large belly and continued, "During my youth, I was quite handsome. I have even played a small role in The Godfather, you know. *sigh* Time flies."
Eric was somewhat surprised. He would have never thought that Jeff had such a past, but he quickly composed himself. After all, this was Hollywood, the world's largest film industry where nothing was impossible. In fact, during his early years, Sylvester Stallone had even starred in a porno called The Italian Stallion!
"No problem! When it is done, you can help me give me some feedback on it," Eric replied so that Jeff would feel more at ease about this whole ordeal. Not to mention, he could also use some feedback.
Although Eric had already revised the script to match the pop culture of the '80s as much as possible, he couldn't guarantee that there were no flaws. As someone from this time, Jeff could better help him find the loopholes and inconsistencies.
The two of them chatted for a while. As several guests entered the restaurant, Eric hastily went forward to greet them.
***
After a day's hard work, Eric quickly returned home, had his supper in a hurry, and busied himself with writing the novel for Jurassic Park and the film script.
The Jurassic Park novel was basically complete, and only required some final proofreading. Eric planned to send copies to several publishing houses tomorrow.
For the script, however, he had only written the outline as there were still several points that needed to be worked on. Eric had it all planned out in his mind so he only needed two days to sort things out.
He left home the next morning at around 7 o'clock to make several copies of the novel and mail them. He had noted down the addresses of some famous North American publishing houses ahead of time. Even if these large-scale publishing houses rejected Eric's draft, he would not be disappointed.
The United States had tens of thousands of large and small publishing houses alike, so somebody would eventually take a liking to his novel. Although Jurassic Park had once topped the New York Times bestseller list, sales was not Eric's main goal. What he wanted was to own the rights for the film and television adaptations once the novel was published.
***
"Hello, what can I do for you?" Just as he stepped into the printing shop, a somewhat thin Latina female employee warmly welcomed him.
Eric pulled out the manuscript from his bag, "I would like to make a few copies of this."
As the female employee looked at the thick stack of paper, she asked, "Sir, may I take a look?"
"No problem," Eric handed over the manuscript.
She did not pay attention to the content, but counted the number of pages, "There's more than 300 pages, but I'll count it as 300. A full copy of the manuscript would be $30, how many copies would you like, sir?"
'$30!' Eric's mouth twitched slightly. He sighed at how expensive a printout was. He only had a few hundred dollars left and that was after asking for this month's pay in advance.
After some bargaining, they finally settled on the price of $100 for four copies. Once the money was paid, the female employee politely poured Eric a cup of coffee, then took the manuscript and began copying.
Eric slowly drank his coffee as he watched the female employee operating the copy machine. It would probably be done in half an hour and wouldn't get in the way of his waiting job. Although it only got busy at the restaurant after ten o'clock and even if he knew that Jeff would not deduct his wages even if he was late, friendship was friendship while work was work. Eric was aware that if he wanted to maintain his current relationship with Jeff, he couldn't slack off.
Ten minutes later, the printing shop's door opened. Eric looked up and saw a brown-haired, middle-aged Caucasian man stepping into the shop while holding a workbag.
The man was about 40 years old and 5'8" in height. In spite of this, he appeared very sturdy, sported a brown stubble, and wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses on his aquiline nose. His head was slightly balding and he exuded a gentle temperament.
"Welcome sir, could you please wait a minute?"
The middle-aged man gently nodded and politely greeted Eric as he sat down next to him. The female employee temporarily stopped her work and quickly poured a cup of coffee to the newly arrived guest, "Sir, I will be done with the other customer in about ten minutes. Please, have some coffee while you wait."
The man thanked her as he received the coffee. His eyes followed the female employee as she fiddled with what seemed to be manuscript and his eyes moved slightly. There were only three people in the shop and he couldn't help but look at Eric.
"If I might be so bold as to ask, is that manuscript yours?"
Eric nodded, "Yes, it's a novel I just finished. I'm making several copies."
"You look like a high-school student. It's really impressive for someone your age."
"Thank you, this is actually my first novel, so I'm not too confident in it."
"You must believe in yourself… Would you mind if I read it?" As he said that, the middle-aged man pulled out a business card and gave it to Eric, "I run a small publishing house, you see."
Eric received the business card and took a look:
Michael Klaus, The Night Elves Publishing House Manager.
[TL Note: Weird name, but okay]
Eric's eyebrows jumped and he thought, 'thankfully, it's not Michael Crichton.' Eric couldn't help but scold the Westerners for their lack of creativity in naming. He remembered that in high school, there were two guys named Jake and two girls named Jessica just in his grade alone. Throughout the whole school, there would surely be many students with the same name. Some didn't even bother giving their children a proper name, Robert Downey had only lazily added a "Jr." after his son's name.
Anyway, letting the man look wouldn't do any harm so Eric gave him a freshly photocopied version. He received it and looked at the novel's title, "Jurassic Park... interesting title."
Eric faintly smiled but did not say anything. Michael Klaus also didn't comment any further and began reading. The more he read, however, the more his casual look turned serious. Although he had praised Eric, but, taking his age into account, he didn't think that such a youngster could write anything truly praiseworthy. During his past business dealings, almost all best-selling authors he had met had been older, experienced men with knowledge as vast as the sea.
After quickly and carefully reading the manuscript in his hand, Michael Klaus looked at Eric. His eyes were full of surprise, excitement, and determination.
"Young man, can you tell me your name?"
"Eric Williams," Eric truthfully answered.
With his previous life's experience, there was no way he would be unable to understand the change in Michael Klaus's expression.
Although he didn't plan to handover Jurassic Park to a small publishing house, getting acquainted with Michael Klaus wouldn't do any harm. If he got rejected by the more well-known publishing houses, he would at least have a backup plan.