At long last, on the free Monday of Labour Day, Willow is hosting a brunch at her house. Will and Winona are there; Wazzer, pale and blinking in the daylight; and the rarely seen Woodrow. They are fortifying themselves, without paying holiday service surcharges, before going downtown to the big rally, clamoring to keep The Hobbit movie based in New Zealand.

Woodrow, a Yankee import who is also an on-again, off-again Weta Digital contractor, has the whole table hanging on his every word. “I understand where the unions were coming from. But I understand where Warner Brothers is coming from – 500 million smackers, ya know? Considering the 3D option and everything. And I feel I really understand where Peter Jackson is coming from. On a personal level. When I look back at the one time I met him, five minutes, yeah, but his passion and commitment really shone through and…”

As he stops to breathe for a bite of sauteed mushrooms, Winona shakes her head. “It has to be here. It utterly has to. Otherwise our whole economy is based on dead sheep, milk, and talking people into buying IT services. Just too depressing!” Winona’s brow crinkles at the thought, even though her handsome salary is paid by a department that gets its funding from the dead sheep.

Will says, thoughtfully, “That’s a good point, Win – if we didn’t have these movies distracting everyone, would we have a stronger economy? One based on more serious commodities, instead of jobs gluing hair onto hobbit feet?”

“Hey, if we didn’t have the movies, dude, I wouldn’t even be here,” says Woodrow.

Changing the subject, Willow asks, “Have you read The Hobbit?”

Will hasn’t. Winona has dim memories of having it read to her as a child. Woodrow has an uncut hardcover of it at home – the one with the Alan Lee illustrations – but he’s only looked at the pictures.  Willow had to tape the covers back on her copy when they fell off after she’d read it for the 100th time. But she blushes and says nothing except, “Shall we get going?”

Tags:   food · Wellywood · will · willow · winona · woodrow1 Comment