Chapter 10: A Change in the Relationship

I made the news again. The TV people wanted to interview me, but I made myself unavailable until I'd talked to Bud Fosdick on Monday morning. I was hoping that my adventure would be old news and forgotten by then. The evening paper also wanted an interview, and once again I deflected them by saying that since a crime had been committed, they should talk to the police about my involvement. I didn't want to interfere with their investigation. Dad had come up with that line and it worked like a charm -- temporarily.

Shelly and I went to the aquarium on Sunday afternoon. She really loved going there and we hadn't been since mid-summer, so we spent most of the afternoon wandering through the exhibits. Shelly was never an expensive date. She, like Sym, had a wide variety of interests and was quite satisfied with places like galleries, museums, and other places of a similar kind. To be honest, that's what I enjoyed too.

Monday morning, I was scheduled to be in the office at the City Works and Maintenance Department. Bud Fosdick usually arrived at eight, but I planned to be there at seven-forty-five after my workout at the university fitness center. Shelly was there as usual and together we wondered what Bud had in mind. I promised I would let her know as soon as I found out.

"Ian, I want to put you on a management training program next summer. You've told me you've pretty much decided that working for the city is in your plans when you graduate, so I want to give you a head start."

"Oh!" This was a surprise and I'm sure my reaction showed it. "Wow, that's going to be a big change, isn't it?" I wasn't exactly brilliant in my response to his announcement.

"Between now and next May, you and I will lay out a program that will give you as much exposure to how we run this department as possible. I have the support of the top management, so if you agree, then we'll begin to get you ready for a more senior position," he smiled.

"I didn't expect anything like this, Mr ... Bud. I'm really grateful for the opportunity. Has the city ever done something like this before?"

He shook his head. "No, not to my knowledge. But you've earned this, Ian. You've done all the grunt work and proved yourself, not just to me, but to the men on the crews. You've worked all over the yard in every corner. You've been here since you were sixteen, so you've got five years experience. Usually, when we bring in a new management person, they don't have a clue what we do or how we do it. That won't be the case with you.

"So, congratulations, you've made me look good when I took a chance on you," he grinned, standing and holding out his hand.

I shook it heartily. "Thanks. That's really good to hear. I'll really be looking forward to getting started."

That was the end of our meeting and I climbed in the truck and headed off to the campus. I should be there in time for my second class that morning. I didn't see Shelly, so I'd call her from home that evening.

"I guess Bud told you what he wanted to talk to me about," I said to my dad at dinner that night.

"Yes," he smiled. "He did. He's very high on you, Ian. I think he's surprised and pleased that you want a permanent position in his department. He told me it was a lucky day for him when I asked him to give you a chance when you wanted a summer job. That made me feel very good and I'm sure it made you feel that way as well."

"For sure. It's kind of strange, Dad. I never had to do anything special to do that job properly. The first summer was hard because I wasn't used to all the manual labour. But after that, it was figuring out what needed to be done and then doing it."

Mom was sitting there listening to us and then added, "Bud told us that the crews really respected you. You weren't some young teenager looking for an easy summer job. You worked as hard as they did and they appreciated it. When that accident at the yard happened, the men were in awe of what you did. Bud said they were amazed at how cool you were. Most of them didn't know what they would have done in that situation, but a few of them have taken the sponsored first aid course. That's all because of you."

"I think everyone expects me to be perfect now," I said. "I'm not. I know I'm not. I don't get all A's in school and not everyone thinks I'm a great guy. I hope I can live up to everyone's expectations of me. I don't know what I'd do if I let the people down who count on me. It worries me," I admitted.

"Don't, Ian," Dad said, holding up his hand. "Don't start thinking that way. Just do what you do and everything will be fine. You've got the right instincts and you're a good person. That's enough. Don't go thinking you have to live up to some impossible standard. No one can do that, not even Superman." He smiled when he said that and I knew what he was thinking. I smiled in return.

Shelly was bubbling with congratulations at my good fortune. She wasn't the least bit surprised at Bud Fosdick's offer for the coming summer. "You've earned it, Ian. Bud is right. You've done everything they've asked you to do and then some. This is your reward for being a good employee who wants a future with the City. That is what you want, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. I'm just surprised it's coming this quickly. He hasn't really spelled out what I'm going to be doing, but I'm sure it will be interesting."

But along with my future role came some here and now obligations. Bud and the city management asked me to cooperate with the newspaper and other media in their requests for an interview. They saw it as good publicity for a department that usually only heard complaints. If the storm sewers were plugged or the potholes weren't fixed or the snow removal was slow, they heard the complaints. Seldom did anyone tell them they were doing a good job. It was something that I would have to remember and be prepared for in the future.

Once I had agreed to do one interview, the requests came thick and fast. I had to be selective or I'd be doing nothing but talking. So, on the advice of Dad and Bud, we selected three. One was the evening newspaper because it had the highest circulation. The second was a radio interview on a popular talk show in the morning hours, and the third was an appearance on a morning TV breakfast show. I was nervous about all three, but I had promised I would go through with it, so I had to suck it up and keep my promise.

The easiest of the three was the newspaper interview. I don't know how much research they did, but they knew about the bus accident, the yard explosion, and my most recent adventure with the sink hole. Their reporter wasn't terribly probing into what I was thinking or why I did what I did. It was more or less just a recital of the facts and little more. I walked away from that thinking this wasn't so bad after all.

The radio talk show was a whole different matter. The host had all the facts in front of him and questioned me about the circumstances surrounding my involvement. He wanted to talk about what motivated me to act, rather than stand aside. He was an old pro and knew how to get the best out of an interview. But the worrisome part for me was when they opened the phone lines and I was expected to talk to the public and answer their questions.

It was unnerving. If I wasn't being praised for being a hero, I was being told I was under the guidance of God. One man suggested that I'd set all these accidents up to make me look good. Yikes! An elderly woman praised me for being brave and doing the right thing, and then went on to tell the audience about her no good son and what a worthless piece of trash he was. I had to hand it to the host. He got rid of her as gently and gracefully as he could. We went to commercial and I couldn't help myself. I burst out laughing and the engineer who was producing the program was right with me. The host was just leaning back in his chair and grinning. I guess he'd heard stuff like this before. Luckily, I was back under control when we went back on air.

When we went back on air, I got a surprise. The lady I had rescued from the car was on the phone from her hospital bed. She was recovering and expected to be sent home in a week. I didn't know what to say to her, because she was weeping in thanks that I rescued her from what she believed was certain death at the hands of the criminals. I repeated that I didn't know the circumstances of her situation, just that she needed help, and I was there. I was glad when that call ended. I found it very uncomfortable.

I was in the studio for a total of forty minutes, and on edge for all forty. When I walked out into the lobby area, I breathed a sigh of relief. A young woman, the producer of the program, came with me. She was a very attractive blonde, late-twenties, nice figure, and a very cheery disposition. I liked her.

"You were great, Ian. You were very calm and composed, no matter what the audience was asking. Thank you for agreeing to come on air with us."

"You're welcome. I won't lie to you and tell you it was a pleasure, but you made it as easy as possible for me and I'm grateful."

"You're not comfortable in the limelight, are you?"

"No. I try to avoid it if I can. All those events that we talked about this morning ... they all happened by accident. I wonder sometimes if I'm a magnet for them. I hope not."

"I can't imagine that being the case. What does your girlfriend think of all this?"

"She thinks I'm crazy," I laughed.

"I don't think you're crazy," she said seriously. "I think you have a very strong sense of responsibility, and you react when you know that you're the only person who can make a difference at the time."

I blinked in surprise. I'd heard that explanation before, and it was closer to my beliefs than anything else that had been attributed to me.

"You might be right. I've analyzed it to death and haven't come up with anything other than what you said about knowing no one else could or would do anything. I guess that might be called compulsive behaviour."

"Well, don't get too uptight about it," she smiled pleasantly. "There aren't too many guys in this world who have that kind of impulse. I think your girlfriend is a very lucky young lady. Now, I've got to go. Very nice to meet you, Ian. Thank you for coming on the program. I really enjoyed listening to your story," she said as we shook hands.

I think that little conversation did more for me than anything I had heard in the past few days. Well, two down, one to go. The finale was on Thursday morning at the TV studio in town. The program was a breakfast show and began at six am and ran to nine am. My segment was scheduled at seven. There were three on-air hosts, a woman interviewer, a newsman/interviewer, and a weather guy. Pretty much the standard formula for this type of program.

I was down at the station at a quarter-to-seven as requested. They took me to a small dressing area where makeup was applied. I didn't expect that, but I suppose I should have. I was told to wear the kinds of clothes I would normally wear at college and I did, over the objections of my mother. She wanted me to dress a little more formally, but Dad intervened and convinced her they wanted people to see me as a college student and not some movie actor. That seemed to satisfy her.

After the news, sports, weather, and during the commercials, I was led onto the set and placed on a stool at one end of the curved island. Despite what it looked like on TV, the set was very small and we were sitting quite close together. I got a bit of coaching from the producer on how to handle myself in front of the cameras. They told me to talk to the hosts and not the audience. That was a relief actually. I would be able to see the people I was talking to.

What I wasn't prepared for was just how deep into my past they had probed. I don't know where all their information came from, but they began with my saving Kelsey Barnes from running out in front of a car. They even knew my nickname was "Soup." They made a big point of my being only nine years old at the time. Then it was the bus accident and again, they emphasized that I was only twelve at the time. At sixteen was the yard explosion and now, at twenty, the sink hole episode.

I was asked about my job and I explained what I had been doing and how important the work was. I made the point that most people just thought about us when they needed us. I didn't say anything about potholes or snow removal, but the hosts mentioned the kind of reaction the public has and paved the way for me. I told them that my future career would be working for the city. I wanted to do something tangible that helped people and I thought the best place for that was with the city.