Chapter 3

Alex stood in front of me and brushed away some imaginary lint for the third time in the last five minutes before she straightened my tie for the fourth.

It was five minutes before she was supposed to go out to face the press and prepare the room for my portion of the press conference. She and I had worked with Jennifere until close to midnight last night until they were both absolutely sure that I could handle myself on stage and knew which questions were traps, which ones to ignore and how to answer them, and which ones to actually answer.

Jennifere was positioned in the back of the room where she would signal me as to how to answer the question with a series of signals we had devised and I had a cheat list of the signals if I needed them, despite my assurances that I could easily remember the ten or so signals that we had devised.

But if Alex didn’t calm down, she was going to wear out this new suit and tie from straightening and adjusting and brushing it. And, yes, she was even starting to make me a bit nervous too.

“Should we review your opening statement again?” Alex asked, looking me in the eyes. She was dressed in a black suit that consisted of fitted black pants, a black suede jacket, and an eggplant-colored sweater, though I swore it was a nice shade of purple. But to me, the most impressive part of the outfit was the black boots that had heels that put Alex at eye level with me.

Knowing that the nervousness was going to continue, and knowing that I was the source of the nervousness since she had shown none of this yesterday when she had faced this same group with little or no preparation, I did the only thing I could think of that would take her mind off the situation and give her something more important, something more confusing to think about.

I grabbed her and kissed her hard.

She was surprised, and it took a second for the fact that I was kissing her to register with her brain. But once it did register, she surprised me by wrapping her body around mine and returning the kiss with passion, molding her body to mine and pressing her lips to mine.

It was perhaps the best kiss of my life, as I’ve never kissed anyone who returned my kiss so passionately, which is what makes a kiss a great kiss. Soon both of us were lost in the incredible sensations of that kiss and we probably would have continued for a while except that Jennifere chose that moment to walk into our staging room.

“Well, that is one way to calm her down,” Jennifere said with a smile. “But I want a turn after the press conference.”

“Fine by me, she is all yours afterward,” I replied with a wink while Alex tried to straighten herself out and hide her blush, but my comment only made her blush more, and Jennifere sputtered a moment before recovering.

“As tempting as that sounds, I was referring to getting some time alone with you! Now go wipe her lipstick off your face and be ready to go in five minutes. I’ve got to go make her presentable again and then we need to get this show on the road!”

With that, Jennifere and Alex headed for the washroom and I headed for the small sink in the room to clean my face. I needed to think about what that last comment meant, and what I wanted it to mean. While I hadn’t been worried about the press conference before that kiss, I didn’t think about it at all until we walked onto the stage five minutes later. I was too busy reliving the kiss with Alex and trying to figure out what Jennifere meant by her comment.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you for coming today. I have a short statement after which I will answer a few questions.”

“Three years ago, I decided that despite having no special talents, no special gifts, and nothing that made me outside the ordinary, I had nothing to lose if I tried to save the world. So, I left my office, got into my car, and drove across the river to the alien ship. After a moment of meditating and praying to whatever higher entity there might be in the universe, I walked up to the alien ship and entered the ship.

“The Aliens accepted my argument for saving the world and returned me here, though there was an apparent three-year delay in doing so. I have no memory of what happened in those intervening three years. I have been examined by a physician, and they can find nothing wrong with me. I have no scars or markings that I didn’t have before I walked into the ship so I do not believe I was the subject of alien experimentation.”

“I do not have any additional information as to the motivation of the aliens or if they will return. They do not communicate with me, nor did they give me any secret information.”

“I understand that you have a few questions, and I’ll answer them if I can.”

For the next thirty minutes, I did exactly that, answering all manner of questions, everything from ‘Were the aliens angry about Area 51’ to ‘What was my favorite color’

It was rather amusing, I’m sure, to an uninterested observer. First, there was the focal point, who wanted to strangle the idiots in the audience who were asking such inane questions. Then there was Jennifere who was doing her little dance of signals to help me stay on message and not tell some of the more annoying reporters what I really thought. And finally, Alex, who stood just to my left and helped to direct the flow of the questions. It was a team effort and I would have struggled more than I did if it hadn’t been for their wonderful help and coordination.

The most interesting part of the press conference, though, were the looks from the women in the audience. They really weren’t looks, they were more like stares, and some of them were downright leers. Even Jennifere and Alex weren’t above sneaking in a lustful look when they thought I wasn’t looking, and both of them blushed profusely when I caught them as I was answering a question.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, but was the agreed thirty minutes, Jennifere signaled to Alex to wrap up the session, so Alex called for the last question. Apparently, she had a plant in the audience to ask what my plans were.

“My plans are still being developed. I am meeting with the people who have been caring for my house and estate in Memphis later today, and then I am going to meet with my advisors where I will start to develop an agenda. Until then, all requests should continue to be directed through King Communications and Ms. Jennifere Winemiller.”

Alex then stepped to the podium and motioned for me to exit the room. Reporters started shouting questions like crazy then, but I ignored them and walked out of the room, flanked by two large bodyguards. Alex tried to get in a few words, but the raucous reporters made it impossible, so she simply turned off the mike and motioned for the stage lights to be killed and left as well, ensuring the Jennifere had made her exit safely beforehand.

A few minutes later I was walking back into my suite, followed by Jennifere and Alex. There was a bottle of champagne and one of the two young women from the night before was dressed in a butler’s uniform pouring the champagne into three waiting glasses.

“Congratulations Mr. Dekker,” came the voice of the hotel manager from the study as he rounded the corner, taking the first glass and handing it to me before handing glasses to the two ladies. “I have not seen many performances in front of such a large crowd from an amateur in my many years of managing this hotel.”

“Thank you, I think, but my success was due entirely to the preparation of these two lovely ladies,” I replied.

“Yes, I see that, and if I had known how good a spokesperson Alex was, I might have tried harder to find her a job with us here at the hotel, but I am extremely happy for her that she has been able to secure employment with you. She deserves a good break. So, Cheers!” He said lifting his glass.

We all happily lifted our glasses and drank a toast. And then I started to relax which is always a mistake.

“I hate to ruin the mood, but there are a couple of issues I need to discuss with you this morning,” resumed the hotel manager. I hadn’t spent a lot of time paying attention to him, but I noticed that he was dressed in an impeccable three-piece suit every time I had seen him, with a tie and matching handkerchief in his breast pocket. He appeared to be in his late fifties or early sixties and I noticed that his hands had the changes of severe arthritis. I wondered how painful they were and if that was why he went into hotel management. I was so busy looking at his hands and hoping that they felt better that I almost missed what he was saying.

“So, I need you to give me a bank account where I can transfer the money as the hotel cannot assume responsibility for such a large amount of money for a prolonged time.”

“I’m sorry, but could you repeat how much money we are talking about here?” I asked.

“Since Alex announced that we would accept funds on your behalf yesterday, we have received over a million dollars.”

I was stunned and started to feel lightheaded again, and it must have shown because instantly Alex and Jennifere were by my side helping me into a chair. And while they may have been concerned about my well-being, it sure didn’t stop either of them from giving me that ‘I told you so’ look.

Alex looked at me, looked me in the eye and I could tell that she was asking my permission to take care of this matter. I nodded, causing the tension in the room to drop tremendously.

“Tony, can you do Mr. Dekker a favor and have RBC send over someone tomorrow who can open an account for him as well as manage some of the tax implications?” Alex asked the manager.

“I’d be more than happy to, Alex,” Tony replied with a smile, “I’m sure that Roger, the bank manager will be over shortly with a whole cadre of assistants!”

Tony, as I now knew his name, paused before continuing.

“Mr. Dekker, I know you wanted to meet with the people who were representing the foundation that had been set up in Memphis. I have put them up in a conference room downstairs. However, if you are not feeling well, I can inform them that you will not be able to see them today.”

“No, I will see them today,” I replied.

“Are you sure, because, not to be indelicate, but they did not seem to be very nice people Mr. Dekker and I do not want them to upset you,” Tony continued, looking uncomfortable.

I smiled and appreciated how he was truly concerned for my welfare. “Thank you, Tony, and while this has been a lot to manage, I used to be a traveling salesman and I’ve dealt with some very unsavory characters in my life so I think I can manage. Just give me a few minutes to have a bite to eat and we’ll head down. In fact, feed them lunch on me, and tell them I’ll be there at 12:30.”

We were a bit later than 12:30 when we arrived for the meeting with the people who represented the foundation that had been caring for my property for the last three years. Jennifere and Alex had teased me throughout lunch about the kiss I had promised to Alex and I had teased them that I was still waiting for Alex to kiss Jennifere.

So of course, when she had leaned over and given her a little peck on the lips, claiming that now it was my turn, I, of course, had cried foul. We argued good-naturedly, even humorously, but there was a definite sexual undertone in the room that kept everyone on edge. Before we knew it, it was 12:30 and we still needed to freshen up before we headed downstairs.

I was surprised that Jennifere was going with us, but she said that it could have public relations implications, and we needed to have a strategy session afterward to review and agree to her proposed agenda so she could finalize the plans. Then Alex could work on travel arrangements and security.

So, the reality was that it was closer to 1 pm when we walked into the room, and while I realized that we were thirty minutes late, I’ve certainly been later than that to a business meeting and been treated better than I was when I walked into the meeting room the hotel had arranged for this meeting.

“Well, it’s about time you got here,” huffed a very obese woman who was sitting at the head of the conference table. “We’ve been waiting all morning for you to arrive. We have been taking care of your house and possessions and you don’t even have the good manners to come say thank you!”

I stopped at the entrance to the room and Alex ran into me as I stood in the doorway. I took a moment to take in the room as Alex collected herself behind me.

In addition to the woman who was seated at the head of the table, there were two men seated with her, and unfortunately, I knew them. They were all fat, grossly obese if truth be told, loud, and obnoxious. They lived just down the street from me and were rednecks of the worst kind.

They had won a lawsuit against some store and been able to buy a nice house in mid-town Memphis but it had quickly deteriorated to become the scourge of the neighborhood as they allowed it to fall into disarray.

From the way they were dressed, I was absolutely certain that they had been living off the largess of my estate. I was certain, after Alex’s demonstration, that significant amounts of money had been coming into the shrine that was my former home. They were here to ensure that they were able to continue to live off that income, and I was certain that I was going to do anything in my power to separate them from my estate as fast as possible.

I turned to Alex and whispered in her ear, “We need to get these people out of here and out of my affairs as quickly as possible.”

And with that, I walked into the room.

I purposely sat down at the other end of the table from where they were sitting, Alex and Jennifere taking seats on either side of me.

“I believe you wanted to speak to me about how you have been taking care of my house while I have been away,” I said quietly.

“What did you say,” the woman said quite loudly. “I can’t hear you down there, why don’t you come sit on this side of the table?”

I picked up a piece of paper, wrote my sentence on it, and handed it to Alex who promptly stood and carried it down the table and dropped it on the table in front of her, walking back to take her seat beside me.

“Well, yes, we did manage to keep the place up despite all the crowds that swarmed over the place, the piles of trash that had to be taken away, and the general upkeep on a house. For three years mind you and that can be pretty expensive!” she boomed down the table.

I took another sheet of paper and wrote ‘But of course, you collected the offerings and donations that were given to my house. I am sure that those more than covered the cost of the upkeep.’ I again handed the note to Alex who promptly delivered it down the table and watched in amusement and the fat lady got more and more angry that I wouldn’t even talk to her.

“Well, yes, they covered part of the expenses, but as I said, keeping up a house with all that crowd is quite expensive.”

We went back and forth like this for the next thirty or so minutes, and I think poor Alex walked a mile in those boots of hers. Of course, I demanded statements for all the work they had done and told them I would be verifying all work with the Memphis Police Department and the accounting with the Internal Revenue Service.

Then she got angry and stormed down the table and started screaming at me. Saying I was ungrateful, that I was in cahoots with those aliens, and that I was the spawn of the devil.

When I refused to respond, she tried to take a swing at me. Since Jennifere was closer to her at the time, she grabbed her arm first, but I’m pretty sure that it was Alex’s flying tackle across the table that stunned everyone the most.

Then her two boys tried to get into the fray, but by then a group of security guards and Royal Canadian Mounted Police had poured into the room and quickly subdued the three con artists. Besides charges of assault, which I fully intended to see through, they were also facing charges of international fraud. Since they had purposely come to another country to commit that fraud, they were in for a hard road.

We had all my written notes and Jennifere had been recording the conversation on her phone which she gladly turned over to the RCMP investigators.

Of course, the questioning by the RCMP took four times longer than the actual interaction with the jerks from Memphis, and by the time we were finished with them, Jennifere, Alex, and I were exhausted. We were escorted back up to my suite by a couple of very nice security guards where we collapsed into the den and all propped up our feet and sighed simultaneously.