Chapter 121: Hanna Castleberry

Saturday, June 12, 1971

Miss Hanna Castleberry of Longview, Texas was the young reporter who had interviewed us on the red carpet. So when she called to me from behind the security cordons outside the Owls Roost, I left the group and walked towards her, Mikeya and Adriana still on my arms.

I realized immediately that this wasn’t going to work, as the other reporters all crowded around. I turned abruptly and walked away to her obvious disappointment.

“Penny, I need to meet with Miss Hanna Castleberry alone without the others around. She’s the reporter who interviewed us on the red carpet. Can you arrange it?” I asked.

“It may take a little while,” Penny replied. “First let me get you safely inside. Have you spotted something?”

“Nothing. Don’t worry. I’m in no hurry. I just want to talk to her. Alone,” I told her. “Could you get her and her cameraman’s basic information from them also? Tell her you’re doing a background check before you put her alone with me. And ask her to keep her cameraman close by.”

“Yes, sir,” Penny thought with a smile. This was the first time I had really given her instructions on how I wanted something handled. “Do you want me to actually run the backgrounds?”

“Naw. I’m just setting the mood,” I explained. “I’ve already checked them. They’re clean.”

There were about a hundred people in the room, not counting the servers and the band. Since we made up about one-fifth of the party, I guess it would qualify as an intimate gathering. However, the ones who were there, had been the largest of the donors for the charity dinner last night, along with a few celebrities and local politicians. In addition, most of them wanted to meet the teen who had matched their donations.

We immediately appropriated a couple of the large round tables off to the side, and I politely excused myself as I headed for the buffet. I could swear that it had been three days since I had eaten. I returned to the table to deposit my twin plates, overloaded with some of every kind of hors d’oeuvre they offered while I went to get something to drink. When I returned, I groaned, as both plates were almost empty. I looked at the girls as they thanked me for bringing them something to nibble on and headed back to the buffet. I had barely gotten seated again when John and Dominique came by, bringing the first of what turned out to be a long line of people who wanted to speak with me.

I stood resignedly, looking longingly at the food. “Oh, well,” I thought. “Business before pleasure.”

John introduced the president of Rice University, Norman Hackerman, who thanked me profusely for our donation. I explained that it was the Greg and Susan Wagner Foundation’s doings and introduced him to Nicky and Amy, then quickly sat back down to eat.

“I’m proud of you, Michael,” Catherine told me during a lull. I was busily scarfing down my food before someone else showed up, so I thought “For what?” to Catherine.

“I didn’t realize you hadn’t eaten for three days, until I heard your thoughts. However, I am proud of your attitude about doing what’s important for the company first,” she told me.

“Oh, no!” Mikeya said on my other side. “I didn’t know either. Here, let me go get you some more to eat.” Abby jumped up with her, telling Mikeya that they should get me some more Coke to drink as well.

I continued to meet and greet, always introducing Catherine. Dominique and John spent a lot of time talking business with Catherine. I heard them discussing deep-sea oil exploration a great deal.

Dominique came and sat beside me saying, “Please, I know how young men are when they’re hungry. Don’t stop eating. I just wanted to tell you ‘thank you’ for what you did last night. It was marvelous. It sure shook up a few of the old fuddy-duddies. I also wanted to find out how long you plan on being in Houston. You see, John and I would like to have you and your family out to the house tomorrow. No press and no VIPs. Well, except for my grandchildren. They usually join us for lunch on Sundays. We’d like to get to know all of you a little more. If you’d like, you can bring your bathing suits as we have a pool. And I assure you that the food will be much better than this. We have a wonderful chef and he is very experienced at cooking for young people.”

“That is very generous of you. May I ask the others?” I asked.

“Certainly, just get back to me when you can. Say around one or so?” she told me.

“Hey everybody. We’ve been invited to a pool party at the de Menils’ house tomorrow around one. Anybody up for it?” I thought to everyone.

Immediately the girls started responding aloud.

“Oh, boy! A pool party!”

“Yeah! Count me in!”

“We don’t have bathing suits!” this was from Deedee.

“But we still have some of Michael’s allowance left over,” Nicky reminded everyone with a laugh.

Dominique smiled at their exuberance as she studied me. She had caught the fact that I hadn’t ask them aloud. “There is definitely more to you than meets the eye, young man!”

Then she turned and began talking with Catherine.

About an hour later, Penny came to me and said that she had done as I requested, and Miss Castleberry was sequestered in a conference room on the second floor. Her cameraman was with her. I gathered Ileana, Adriana, Vickie, Nicky, and Abby to accompany me, explaining to Catherine that we would be back shortly. Catherine didn’t even bother to ask. She knew I would keep her connected.

When the girls asked me where we were going, I told them to just follow my lead and be themselves. They were feeling good and giggled as we followed Penny.

Hanna, and her cameraman, Hal, were waiting for us. After we introduced ourselves, and seeing all the girls with me, Hal was not as reluctant to leave Hanna by herself with us.

Hanna Castleberry stood maybe five foot five, in her pretty high heels that accentuated her legs beneath a dress that didn’t even come close to touching her knee. Her long dark hair was tied back in an effort to make her look older than she was. She hid her brown eyes that always seemed to be sparkling, behind a pair of glasses that she now had pushed up on her head, another prop to try to get people to see her as something other than a pretty young girl. However, Hanna’s biggest weakness was also her greatest asset, for she had a personality that just bubbled, making people WANT to talk with her. You just knew that she loved puppies and kittens and called her grandma every Sunday. But right now, her bubbly personality was subdued as she waited to see what I wanted. The thought had actually crossed her mind that the rich and handsome teenage playboy was going to hit on her. “That wouldn’t be so bad, except that he’s so young, and he already has a bunch of groupies!” she thought.

“Here we go again!” I thought. “I just cannot get over how many girls are hung up on the age difference thing.”

“Get over it, Michael. You can’t change thousands of years of evolution,” Adriana thought to me. “Besides, she doesn’t really know you yet!”

The girls all giggled at Adriana’s crack and I looked at them sternly, hoping they wouldn’t get silly on me now.

“Hanna, I know you met them earlier, but to refresh your memory, this is my sister Nicky, my administrative assistants Adriana and Vickie, my fiancée Abby, and one of my wives, Ileana. Ladies, this is Miss Hanna Castleberry from Longview, Texas.”

Hanna nodded to them and then turned to face me, expectantly.

“Score two points for Hanna,” I thought. “She doesn’t waste words, and she waits to see the lay of the land before speaking.”

“Hanna has one younger sister, Alice, who’s still at home. Her father, Bob, is former military and just about to retire as a policeman in Longview, Texas. Her mom, Cindy, is a nurse. They still live in the home Hanna was raised in, and are related to almost everyone in the county some way. She never had a serious boyfriend in high school, but was friends with most of the boys in town. She graduated from the University of Texas in Austin, last year with her degree in journalism, and is currently working for KHOU here in Houston on the city beat, but dreams of doing documentaries. She is single, her last relationship ending when they graduated and he left for a twenty-seven-month tour with the Peace Corp in French Guinea,” I told the girls. “She is still a virgin and she does want to get married one day, and have babies, but for now, she is looking for the chance to work on documentaries.”

Of course, the girls were used to seeing me pull mental rabbits out of my hat. However, Hanna was surprised. She immediately became embarrassed at the mention of her virginity, and suspicious as to how I knew.

“How do you know all that?” she asked.

“Is it about right, Hanna?” I asked.

“Yeah, I guess. We still plan to get back together when Billy comes home, and I get my own career going,” she told us. “I checked on you, too. You’re the boy wonder of Wall Street, getting ready to take over your grandfather’s company, at sixteen. And you really are married to two princesses from an island in the South Pacific.”

“Very good!” I told her. “Your affiliate in New York gave you accurate information. Have you heard from Billy since Christmas?”

She looked at me closely. “No. He said it’s difficult to get mail out from where he is,” she answered.

“And you believe him?” I asked.

“Uh, I’m not sure. Before he left, he promised me that they had regular mail, so I don’t know what to believe,” she said.

“Hanna, can you handle a video camera?” I asked.

“Of course. I can also write, direct, and produce. Why did you have the FBI checking me out, and why are you asking me this?” she asked with a mixture of confusion and some fear. “I’m the one who is supposed to be interviewing you!”

“In a moment,” I replied. “One last question. Is it really your heart’s desire to make a documentary?”

“What’s going on?” she asked. “If you have checked me out at all, then you’ll know that’s true. Why are you asking me this? It’s as if you’re interviewing ... uh, you are, aren’t you? That’s why you wanted to talk to me without Hal.”

I smiled and just nodded. I could see the light bulbs come on in Adriana and Nicky’s eyes as well, as Hanna considered us in a new light.

Finally, I said, “Hanna, I am looking for someone to document on film what is about to happen in my life. I cannot promise you that it will ever be seen by the public, as I will hold absolute rights to all aspects of it. But if what I think is going to happen, does actually come to pass, it may become one of the most important pieces of film work in this century. I am willing to take that chance, allowing the right person complete access to my life while paying them to do it. Are you willing to gamble the next couple of years of your career that I might be worth filming?”

I could see that she was debating furiously with herself, and I HATE scanning anyone, especially a female, while they are trying to make a decision. Meanwhile, Adriana, Nicky, and Abby were connected to Vickie and all four of them were chattering back and forth at the same time, which, even with my considerable skills, I could hardly follow.

So I waited.

“What makes you think your life would rate a documentary that would be so important to the world?” Hanna asked.

“You mean, besides the fact that I am sixteen, and already one of the richest teenagers in the country? That I am about to become the head of the ninth largest private company in America? Or that I’m a prince, married to two princesses, Ileana here, being one of them, and engaged, so to speak, to Adriana there,” I said nodding towards her, “and to Abby, the little one there.”

Hanna just looked at me, staring from me to Adriana, Ileana, and Abby before bringing her eyes back to me. Finally, she asked Adriana, “You’re engaged to a man who’s already married?”

Adriana just nodded her head, as Vickie chimed in on her behalf. “She was born with a deformed larynx, so she is unable to speak. Nonetheless, she can see and hear just fine. She understands Michael’s, er, unique relationships and wants to be a part of his life ... a very intimate part!” she added giggling.

“And you’re okay with this?” Hanna directed the question at Ileana.

“Of, course. Why wouldn’t I be? I only met Michael a few weeks ago, and married him by accident when he agreed to get my sister and me pregnant with the next heir. Thank goodness, my sister got pregnant first so now I don’t have to!” she explained in typical teen fashion, which is rarely an explanation at all.

Hanna was even more confused, but she sensed a story there. Then she looked at Abby. “How about you? Are you even old enough to be talking about marriage?”

“I’m older than he is!” Abby said indignantly.