Z on Location

Don’t Ask Me Anything

The RV’s window slides down to Nora leaning in with a grin, calling out “Going my way?” Z and Mom have been waiting at the airport for what felt like forever, but neither seems to mind now that Nora’s here. Mom introduces her as her college film student, gushing that Nora is a lifesaver for agreeing to help on such short notice, then turns to Z. “This is my daughter, Z, an aspiring filmmaker,” Mom says, and Nora tells Z she already knows all about “those little videos” she makes, since Mom talks about her all the time and is proud of them. Z isn’t thrilled with the word “little” for videos that take her hours to edit, but she shakes Nora’s hand anyway.

Nora looks every bit as stylish as Z’s stylist, “Mariela Ramirez,” would approve of, tall, with dark red hair, black leggings patterned with tiny gold diamonds, an oversize white t-shirt, a jumble of gold necklaces, and a light blue cardigan. Mom waves Nora into the passenger seat, leaving Z to settle into the back with the equipment, a preview of the new sleeping arrangement: Z will share the queen bed with Mom for the rest of the trip so Nora can take the fold-out. Remembering how badly yesterday’s shoot went, Z checks her phone once more, finds no new texts, and turns it off completely, determined not to let anything distract her today.

On the drive to the Exploratorium, Nora can’t stop talking about the Kanbar Forum’s Constellation acoustic system, thrilled to finally build the sound design for it. Mom explains that sound is Nora’s real specialty. Once they arrive, Z lugs gear past the Tinkering Studio and the planetarium, itching to explore, but reminds herself the priority is getting through the shoot cleanly this time.

Inside the Forum, a short, fast-talking employee everyone calls the “sound guru” greets them and launches into a stream of technical jargon with Nora that Z can barely follow. Mom sets Z up running the B camera instead of sound, and though Z is a little stung, since sound was supposed to be her job, Mom promises there’s plenty of work to go around. Z wants to double-check the settings for the camera, but she realizes they were saved on a note on her phone. With a sigh, she powers the phone on, checks the settings, and then turns it off again. And then, Z somehow finds herself taking orders from Nora anyway, fetching the key light and repositioning it exactly where Nora marks.

Mom’s first interview subject is Tom, a curator in the East Gallery, who describes the museum’s living systems exhibits, including special lenses built into a table so visitors of every age can see magnified plankton up close. Z barely registers it, distracted by watching Nora adjust her own mic.

The second subject is Sally Stevens from the education department, who explains how she partners with local schools on events and online learning. Watching Sally’s intent expression and sharp green eyes, Z decides a close-up would look incredible and darts off to grab a second camera from one of the cases, hoping to finally prove she can do more than run the B camera. Crossing back in for the shot, she trips over a cable, crashes to the ground, and looks up to find the lens shattered in pieces around her.

Mom rushes over, and once she sees Z is unhurt, her face flushes red with embarrassment in front of Sally. She apologizes for the interruption and hurries back to the interview, but her rattled question comes out identical to the one she’d already asked. Before Sally can notice, Nora steps out from behind her equipment and smoothly claims a sound glitch, asking Sally to repeat her earlier answer about the Tinkering Studio so the footage isn’t ruined. Sally repeats it without a second thought.

Mom shoots Nora a grateful smile. She doesn’t look at Z again for the rest of the interview. Z stands frozen by the B camera, certain that she’s let Mom down all over again, and wonders whether she’ll ever prove herself trustworthy enough for the interview with Winter she’s hoping for.