Chapter 32

Friday morning. I woke up, shit shower shave and get dressed in my new suit. Ashlee and Brenda put dresses on that made them look so good. Not sexy good, but sophisticated good. We piled into the jeep and headed downtown. Craig and I talked on the phone while I was heading downtown and we met at the parking lot across from the lottery building. The four of us walked together past all of the news trucks that were parked out front. As a matter of fact, every news agency in the country was there. All of the broadcast channels from Kansas City were there and most of the cable channels.

We checked in with the lottery agency and I presented the winning ticket to the woman at the counter and she just started to gush. "Oh Mr. Johnson, congratulations. We are so pleased that a local man in Missouri won. We have everything set up for you..." and on and on shaking my hand vigorously. The long of the short of it was that the four of us went into a large office where I chose to take the cash upfront instead of over time. Craig brought out the paperwork for my trust and the lady agreed that the money would be placed into the trust for me. More paperwork and I agreed to have my picture taken and posted to the web site, but not to have anything about where I live posted. Not even the city of my residence would be posted. They said that something had to be said, so I said post it as if I lived in Kansas City since that is the city where I bought the ticket.

By the time we were done, Craig had gotten a phone call from Adam who said that $138 million dollars showed up in my trust fund. He would call back if something else happened.

At the end of it all, I had spent about an hour with the lottery people signing papers and tax documents and then it was time for me to meet the media.

"Are you ready for this Mr. Johnson?" the lottery agent asked me.

"As I will ever be." Ashlee came to me and gave me a gentle kiss, then used her thumb to wipe away any traces of lipstick.

"You'll be fine. We will be here when you are done."

So with that, the lady from the lottery went out first and made the introductions and I stepped up to the podium. Everyone with a camera was flashing taking my picture so I just stood there with a smile on my face and let them take my picture. I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out a few note cards with my prepared words on them.

"Thank you all for coming out to meet me. I am sure that this week has been suspenseful for you all while I got my life worked out to accept this prize. It has been suspenseful for me as well. My name is Paul Johnson and I'll give you all a few details about my life for your articles.

"I am a widower who lost my family a few weeks ago in a car accident here in Kansas City..." I was interrupted by a young lady gasping in surprise and then sob to herself. "Yes, that Paul Johnson. I was a teacher at a local career college where I taught a variety of computer courses and maintained a network computer lab for the students. I have since retired from that work and now that I have won this prize, I am going to travel and complete my bucket list. I won't go into details about what is on it, but Europe should get ready for an American invasion." This small and pointless joke got a chuckle from the people there. "There are several things I want to see here in the US so there is always a chance that we may run into each other as I travel this wide and wonderful country of ours.

"My desire for my life is to live as normal a life as a man can do in this country. I don't want to be famous. I don't strive to have my face all over the TV and papers. I just want to live my life and not trouble anyone while doing it."

I looked up from my notes and spoke directly to the audience. "As a side note, to the young lady who cried out for my loss, thank you. I am currently dating a wonderful woman who has a teenaged daughter who seems to accept me as her father which is wonderful. We, as a new family, are going to travel together and I am going to do my best to be a great man to my girlfriend and a loving father to her daughter. Hopefully, their titles will change to Wife and Daughter but only time will tell. Thank you all for being here, I am overwhelmed to the response."

I put my cards away and then said "I guess if there are questions, I have a few more minutes to answer them."

Everyone in the room raised their hands and started shouting out questions. I took a step away from the podium and the lottery lady stepped up and pointed to the man from ABC. "Mr. Johnson, how did your family die?"

"You can find that out yourself, it was all over the local media. Sorry."

Point to the NBC lady: "Mr. Johnson, what is the first thing you are going to buy with your money?"

"Seems pointless, but an RV is probably the first thing."

CNN: "How did you meet your new girlfriend?"

"We both worked at the same school and it was after I lost my wife that I approached her for lunch. The rest is history."

Fox News: "Can I have one item from your bucket list please."

"Ok, one item." I thought for a second. "I want to build a car and my future daughter has agreed to join me in building that car."

Fox News tried to as a follow-up but the lottery pointed to KMBZ, the local radio channel: "Are you going to do any personal appearances on TV or is this it?"

"That is a good question. I have no desire to be famous so TV is probably out. Radio is another story." I chuckled to myself, "I listen to your station everyday so if 'new boss' calls, I may answer his phone call."

A murmur passed through the room at that comment. I think I just opened myself up for trouble, but I didn't have to answer their calls if they find me.

CBS: "I have two questions for you. One, Are you going to do any charity work with your money and second, why don't you want to be famous?"

I bit my lip and shuffled my feet. "Let me answer the second question first. I don't want to be famous because it is not in my character to be famous. Some people yearn for the spotlight for whatever reason that they have. I won't go into why I think they want it, that will just cause too much trouble and too many questions. Now, about the first one. Yes. I am going to do charity work with my money but the work I do will never come to the light of day. What I do there will be done secretly and without anyone knowing it's me doing it. I think that the people here in this room, that are from KC, know of 'Secret Santa' who worked throughout KC giving away money and never sought the limelight. Well, that is me as well. What I do will be between the recipient and me."

MSNBC: "Do you have any political leanings?"

"Yes."

The guy from MSNBC was shrugging his shoulders and using his hands to get me to answer further. "Ok, I am very conservative and believe that the government is currently a disaster and too involved in the people's lives. I think that politicians are like diapers. They should be changed often and for the same reason."

That got a laugh out of the assembled masses. The lottery lady stepped up and asked if anyone had any more questions and none had so she moved be over to the side where she handed me a the HUGE CHECK and where pictures were taken of me holding the check. All of the media types took my picture and then the news conference broke up and I was ushered backstage again. Ashlee welcomed me into her arms and I was kissed by her soundly. "Well done honey."

Craig shook my hand and slapped my arm saying "I couldn't have done it any better than that. You sure you don't want a future in politics. That joke you made out there is going to stir up the extremes for sure."

"Well that means that you are just going to be busy keeping them at bay." We laughed it off and then it was Brenda's turn.

"You did a great job, dad." Brenda said. I gave her a hug and ended up lifting her up off her feet as I hugged her.

"Thank you, that means a lot to me."

I put her back on her feet and held out my hand to Ashlee. She took it and we followed the lottery lady back to her office. "Can I get you something to drink?"

We all agreed that water would be great. She left and came back with four bottles of water for us to drink and I opened mine and took a long pull on it. I looked up at the lottery lady, "how long do you think they are going to be out there?"

"Oh I have no idea. I haven't been here that long so you are our first big winner in this office. Do you want me to go and check?"

"Yes please. If you see the reporter from KMBZ, please bring her in would you?"

"Are you sure about that?" Ashlee said, surprised that I would single one person out.

"Yes I am. There are several people at that station that I would love to meet so I suppose my sudden fame may get me a chance to meet the people I listen to all the time."

"Oh". She shrugged her shoulders and we all sat around waiting for her to come back.

A couple of minutes later, the lottery lady came back followed by the reporter who asked me a question from the radio station. The look on her face was priceless. She was very surprised and obviously excited to get a chance to talk to me personally. "Mr. Johnson, may I introduce you to Donna Barkly from KMBZ."

I stood up and offered the reporter my hand and she shook it with enthusiasm. "Donna, thank you for taking the time to come and talk to me. May I introduce my wonderful girlfriend Ashlee, her daughter Brenda and my lawyer Craig." She shook each of our hands and then took the offered seat.

"Please understand that I don't want this to be splashed all over everywhere, I just wanted to talk to you personally. OK?"

"Do you mean this is off the record?"

"Yes, I believe that is correct."

She put her pad of paper away and then asked "What can I do for you?"

"I have been a long time listener to your station, that wasn't just a line I said back there." I motioned my thumb over my shoulder indicated the news conference. "I would very much like a chance to come and meet your staff at the station including the on air staff. Is there a way to make that happen?"

She smiled, I think she saw exclusive and promotion flash before her eyes, but she played it cool. "I'll have to call the station manager and see what I can do. We don't get very many requests for people to come to the station. We usually have to beg, borrow and steal to get people to come to the station. So, I'll ask the manager to see what they think."

"OK, that would be great, thanks."

She got up and stepped into the hall and put the phone to her ear. I tried not to eavesdrop, but I did see her acting out with her arms and the smile on her face was a dead giveaway that something good was happening. I got Craig's attention away from his phone and motioned to look out in the hallway. He did and the sight of her walking around and moving her arms was funny and we both chuckled at the site. Brenda and Ashlee stopped their conversation and joined us in watching the reporter act out what she was talking about. It happened very quickly, but each of us got a funny show to watch as she was on the phone.

She got off the phone and came back in, but not all the way, "Can you come to the station now?"

I looked at Ashlee, "Do you have anything planned this afternoon?"

"No, I was going to run to the pharmacy and work out, but nothing that has to be done right now."

"Want to go Craig?"

"No, I have to get back to the office. I still have other clients that need me."

"Thank you Craig for your time this morning. Sorry to keep you."

"Oh, no. Not like that. It's my secretary is all in a twitter about something. I'm sorry Paul."

"No worries. Have a great day." I stood up, gave him a handshake and pulled him into a man hug and he excused himself saying goodbye to Ashlee and Brenda.

I turned to the reporter who let Craig pass and I said, "Sure, I have nothing to do so going now is fine."

She put the phone back to her ear and told whoever was on the phone that I would be happy to do it and that we were heading that way now. She hung up the phone came back into the office.

"I'm ready if you are." The reporter said to us.

I stood up and said to the lottery lady, "Thank you for your time today. You have made this very stressful situation almost enjoyable."

"Thank you Mr. Johnson. Do you want your giant check to take with you?"

"No thanks, just throw it away. I got everything I want."

"Well, take care and good luck with your list. I hope that you get it all done."

"Thank you."

Ashlee and Brenda said their thanks to her as well and we followed Donna out of the offices. She said that she was parked on the street and I said that we were in the parking garage across the street. We agreed to meet at the corner so that I could follow her to the station.

"Paul honey, why are you doing this again? I thought you said that you didn't want to be famous." Ashlee asked concerned about me.

"I highly doubt that I am going to be put on the radio. I just want the chance to meet these people that I have been listening to all of these years. We'll be out of there in an hour tops."

"Whatever you say. I think this is going to be a bigger deal than you think."

I pulled her in for a kiss and tried to assure her that everything is going to be fine. She wasn't convinced but went along for the ride. "It might be fun mom." Brenda backed me up from the back seat.

We managed to find Donna and we followed her through the streets of KC and ended up in the nicer area of a Kansas City suburb. Go figure.

I parked in a guest spot and the reporter went around back to park in the station spots and then jogged around to meet us at the building door. She brought us in and then up an elevator ride to the top floor. When we entered the receptionist area, the lady behind the counter welcomed us and Donna had us all sign in on a guest sign in sheet. We all got guest badges and then we followed Donna back into the station's offices. Nothing special, just your typical office cubicle farm with people on the phone, talking, having a snack at the desk and all the rest. Donna finally managed got us to an office where, according to the name next to the door, Samuel O'Brien worked. She knocked on the door and then once Samuel said come, she welcomed us into the office.

"Boss, here is Paul Johnson I called you about."

Samuel jumped up from the desk and quickly came to us welcoming us into his office. "Mr. Johnson. I can't believe this. I am so excited to have you here. Just so excited. Come in, and have a seat."

The three of us took a seat around a small conference table in office while Samuel brought his chair out from behind his desk. "I am so excited to have you here. What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to get a chance to meet your staff. I have been a long time listener and the voices I hear on the radio have been with me on the way to work and on the way back from work for years and I want to take this opportunity to meet them. You know, put a face with the voice."

"Oh that I can do for you. So you weren't wanting to be on air with them. I can make that happen for you. As a matter of fact, I can make just about anything happen since you are here."

"No, not necessary. I really don't need the publicity."

"Well that is fine. Come on, I think everyone you may hear is still here."

"Thanks."

He led us through the mass of people in their cubes and we ended up in front of another office with a closed door. Scott and Dana's office; the people that I listen to on my way home from work. He knocked on the door and a woman answered the door and welcomed us in. "New boss, what brings you down to this part of the building?" a man said from inside the office.

"Scott, Dana, I have a visitor who wants to meet you."

He moved out of the way and the three of us came in. "May I introduce you to Paul Johnson and ... I'm sorry, I didn't get your names." he said to Ashlee and Brenda.

I took over. "This is my girlfriend Ashlee Jones and her daughter Brenda."

"It is good to meet you. Come in." The name didn't ring a bell so he didn't get excited. "What brings you down here to our office?"

"I wanted to get a chance to meet the people who I listen to all the time on the radio. You know, put a face with the voice."

"Well what do you think? Good faces with the voices?" We all laughed at his joke.

Funny thing is, Dana pegged to who I was. "Wait a minute. Did you say Paul Johnson?"

"Yes, that is correct. I call you guys from Blue Springs like, what, once or twice a month. We have spoken on the phone before."

"NO." She said "That is not it. She then looked passed me and say Donna in the hallway. "You are the guy who just won the lottery aren't you?"

"Yes I am." I confessed.

"AAAAAHHHH!!" she screamed out. She then ran to me and hugged me and started bouncing while maintaining her hug with me. "I can't believe you're here. We had been talking all about you and what we would do with the money if we had won."

Scott came over and stood next to me shaking my hand while Dana just held on to me. "I mean, we were going to do an entire segment about you and now here you are." Donna's excitement was infectious and we all ended up being excited. I think even Ashlee and Brenda were happy about it.

"Will you be on the radio with us? We could give you two segments at least if you would."

Ashlee asked, "What are two segments? How much time is that?"

"Sorry. Two segments can be one 15 minute segment with a shorter 10 minute follow-up or one of the 10 minute spot and a longer 15 minute segment after the news break. Understand?"

"So about 25 minutes of air time then?" Brenda said verbalizing what we all were thinking.

"Yes, that is correct. So, do you want to do it? It would be a blast to have you on with us." Dana was a hard sell. She really pushed.

"Did you work in sales before this?" I asked her.

"NO. Why?"

"Oh nothing."

Ashlee chuckled from behind me. She got the joke as well. "Ashlee, what do you think? Want to be on the radio?" Scott asked her.

"I won't speak for him, but I know that I have no interest in being on the radio." She looked at Brenda, "What about you? Want to be on the radio?"

Brenda looked between us and said yes. "I would like that very much."

New Boss then clapped his hands and told Dana to start getting the teasers going and turned to Donna told her to get her report done. The two women jumped into action and ran out of the office. He then said to Scott, "Why don't you show these nice people around, I have work to get done." So he left us and the four of us were left in Scott's office.

"Scott, is this office typical of the people who are on air?" Ashlee asked filling in the quiet.

"Not really. Since Dana and I are a team on air we share an office doing prep work before the show."

Me - "What prep work do you all do?"

Scott - "Well we read through the newspaper looking for interesting stories to talk about. Something interesting enough to garner people listening in and calling in. We can't do four hours of just us talking about ourselves or what we did over the weekend, that wouldn't be very interesting."

We all nodded our heads. "You are very correct sir." I agreed with him.

Ashlee - "Have you been following this story since it broke last week?"

Scott - "Oh yes. The idea of a local man winning that much money has been a topic of discussion all week. And now here you are, in my office. I tell you, the local press is going to be so jealous."

Brenda - "How long have you and Dana been working together?"

Scott - "Four years now. Before this, I was working as a reporter here at this station and Dana was working out of town and she was brought here to try and fill a spot by one of our other talent who left for the west coast."

I knew who he was talking about and nodded my head in agreement. "Shame, I thought he was pretty good in you ask me." I said.

Scott - "Yes he was which is why he was hired by another station. All in all, it was pretty typical in this business. We move around all the time in the radio business."

Brenda - "Doesn't that get tiring moving all the time?"

Scott - "It does." Sadness passed over his face. But he did his best to put a happy face on it. "That doesn't matter now, you are here now and you are the man of the hour. The man with the golden ticket. Which is why we need to find out some things for your interview this afternoon."

Me - "What would you like to know?"

Scott - "So many questions, so little time."

So it began, he started off by asking about my past, my work history, my love life and such. I began telling him about what I used to do, that I was married before but when he found out that I was the same Paul Johnson that lost his family in that car accident some time ago he became very animated saying how sorry he was for my loss. I had to stop him from getting too far down the sadness lane. I reminded him that I have a new love in my life and that I have a future that is looking very bright indeed.

Scott - "Yes, you are right. I won't go down that lane. Nothing but a bummer show if you follow that chain of thinking. However, what are you going to do with yourself now that you have money?

Me - "Many things. I am going to travel this country seeing what I have always wanted to see and do things that I have always wanted to do. Like, find a car that can go 200MPH and see if I can drive it that fast. I want to see Seattle and go up in that tower they have. I want to see what it feels like to spend the night above the Arctic Circle. I want to see shows in New York. I want to see if I can get in to see a live taping of some of my favorite shows, like the Tonight Show or see David Letterman do his show."

Scott - "All good ideas. How about the empire state building. I hear the view from there is amazing"

Me - "Oh yes, I want to do that as well. I also want to see baseball games around the country. I hear Boston has an excellent baseball stadium."

Scott - "Oh ya. Been there done that. While you are in Boston, don't forget to eat fresh lobster and the clams. They catch it fresh out there."

Me - "Really. Have any recommendations?"

Scott got up from his chair near us and went to his desk and fished around for something then came back with a business card. "Here, take this. This is a friend of mine and he can get you into one of the highest rated restaurants in the area. Their lobster is the best; fresh picked by the chef himself and the crabs for their soup are also fresh. You won't have a bad meal there, I guarantee it."

I took the card from him, looked over the name on it and then put it in my jacket pocket. Dana came back from her work and sat down in the chair she vacated a while back. "What did I miss?"

Scott said, "A bunch, you will just have to wait and see."

Dana - "Oh poo. So Ashlee, how did you snag such a lucky guy?" Dana said moving to her side trying to get the dirt from her.

Ashlee - "Well, if you really want to know, he pursued me before all of this happened to him. We both worked at the school and after he lost his family, he asked me to lunch one afternoon and we started out like that. It is pretty simple really."

Dana - "Really, he asked you out for lunch. Isn't that sweet? What has he bought for you so far?"

Ashlee - "Nothing really. We go out to eat all the time but nothing yet."

Dana - "Well, we need to get you to the right shops and to add to your wardrobe. I tell you, I know the right people to get you engaged with and I'll show you how this town works honey."

Ashlee - "Dana, I really appreciate the attention but I don't really need anything and I don't really want to be part of the in crowd." Man, I tell you. Ashlee is a class act.

Dana - "Oh come on. At least let me show you where the best places to shop are."

Ashlee was a rock, but even rocks get cracks. Looks like Dana found the one crack in my girlfriend, shopping. "Ok, I'll go shopping with you."

"YEAH!!" Dana said celebrated her victory. "You are so going to enjoy this, just you wait."

Scott - "With that major decision made, what do you all want to do now?"

I spoke up, "I would love to see the studio and meet some of the other folks I hear you talking about."

Scott - "Sure thing. Right this way."

I have to tell you, we were a motley bunch. I in my suit, the ladies in their dresses, Scott in jeans and a t-shirt with sandals (flip flops) on his feet and Dana in shorts and a polo shirt. If you didn't know any better, you would think that I was leading them on a tour of the building. It just struck me as funny.

"What's so funny hon?" Ashlee asked taking my elbow in her hand.

"I was just thinking about the visual we make. The three of us look like working professionals and the people who work here look like they are on vacation. It just struck me as funny is all."

She looked around between us and agreed. "You know, you're right. I didn't even give it much thought. We do look like professionals."

Scott led us around the cube farm and down a hallway. "Here we have all of the studios of our stations. We have six stations in this one building, everything from our talk station to the hard rock station KQRC. In each of these studios are the people who make this world work."

We walked down the hall and we each got a chance to look into the world of radio. All we saw were people sitting or standing in front of a tech board pushing buttons or surfing the internet looking totally bored. "Scott, may I ask you a question?" I asked, stopping the tour.

"Sure."

"What are they doing? They look like they are bored to death, when I listen to them on the radio, it sounds like it's a constant party here. These guys all look like their souls have been sucked out and only the empty shell is left behind to push the buttons."

"You aren't too far away." He moved to a window belong to the alternative station. "Jimmy here is supposed to play the records but now that everything is automated, all he has to do is make sure that the next song is in queue in the right order and the system does the rest. He may take a few phone calls throughout the day, but generally, it's a pretty dull job being a disk jockey."

"Hmm, I had no idea. The truth is not very pretty is it?" I admitted out loud.

"Not when it comes to radio." Scott agreed with me.

Jimmie looked up, saw us and waved and invited us in. Scott opened the door after making sure that he wasn't on the air and we all went inside.

"Hey Scott, who are your friends?" Jimmie asked after putting his head phones down and turning the music down a bit.

Scott did the introductions. "This is Paul Johnson and his family. They wanted to come and meet us all and I am doing a tour."

Jimmie pegged immediately. "The lottery winner Paul Johnson?"

"Yes, that is right." I said.

Jimmie came around the board and shook my hand vigorously. "So glad to meet you. I just heard the news and they said that you accepted the money this morning." He whistled. "100 million bucks huh? What are you going to do with it all?"

"For now, leave it in the bank while making a few dreams of mine come true."

"Well, if you need anyone to throw a party for you, let me know. This isn't my only job and I do some DJ work on the side."

"Good to know."

"Oops, hang on. I have to do my DJ thing." He went back to the other side of the desk and told everyone was the last song was and how they were going to have a long block of music, he then pushed a few buttons and came back to us. "Sorry about that. I still have some work to do."

Scott thanked Jimmie for his time and helped usher out of the booth and we continued down the hall. More of the guys on air were busy so we didn't get a chance to meet them but when we got to the last two booths, a short young man excused himself and moved past us and into the last booth with an assortment of odd toys in his hands. "Please excuse him that is T-Bone and this is the hard rock booth for KQRC. You won't want to meet them, they are all crazy. There was a curtain pulled closed so we couldn't see in, but a small knob was next to the door and Scott turned it and the show going on inside came out of a hidden speaker above our heads. They had a porn star in from California in there and by the sound of it, they were showing off the use of experimental sex toys live on the air.

The expression on my face must have been seen by Scott, he turned it off quickly and took us to his booth. The light was on above our heads so he turned the knob here and we heard the man in the booth talking. Someone was on the phone with him and the two of them were talking about something that I didn't quite understand. We stood around for a minute longer then the light went out and Scott ushered us in. "Ryan, you busy?"

"No, come on in." Ryan said to him while taking his headphones off.