100: Next Gen

I breathed a sigh of relief when I got home from Seattle on Saturday the first of July. I'd had only three days shooting and April and her crew took off Thursday morning. I planned to spend a couple days with my family and Dani agreed to stay with me.

Thursday and Friday had been good, but also trying, days. Maddie had just turned six years old and would go to first grade in the fall. That meant that she knew everything and would not listen to anyone telling her differently. She was strong-willed and defiant. Oh, god! Had Betts been reborn? Jonathon was three-and-a-half and was a quiet, pleasant child.

As to Betts, she was an ideal mother. She listened to Madeline explain why boys could not be nurses and then calmly explained to her why she was wrong. She didn't do it in a demeaning way. She simply said, "I don't know. I think Jonathon would make a great nurse, don't you? He's kind and gentle. I would let him nurse me, wouldn't you?" Maddie stopped her explanation then started with "Boys except Jonathon..." I was pretty proud of Betts. She paused in the middle of preparing dinner Thursday and just turned to give me a hug. "Never, ever pray for patience," Betts warned me.

I heard a crash in the family room and a cry from Jonathon. I made it there considerably before Betts and scooped up the boy from beneath his Big Wheels tricycle. He'd run over a pile of blocks and managed to tip the trike over—something that is almost impossible to do. Of course, as soon as he had someone's attention, he started crying harder as I comforted him. Maddie was at my side in an instant.

"Did you hurt Jon-Jon?" she demanded. I knelt down so we were on the same level.

"No, honey. Jon-Jon fell off his tricycle. I think he's okay. Just a little scared."

"Don't ever hurt Jon-Jon," she scowled at me. "I get mad." She held out her arms to her brother and he reached for her. I let him go and the two went to sit beside the tipped vehicle. Maddie patiently explained what happened when he ran over the blocks. She righted the tricycle and helped Jonathon back into the driver's seat. They went tearing down the hall.

"Maybe she's too protective of him," Betts whispered.

"Maybe not," I answered. I pulled my sister into a hug and kissed her. That went on a little longer than I planned. She pulled away and smiled at me.

"Yeah. Maybe not."

Addison took Dani, Xan, and me on a tour of her office Friday. She looked great in a charcoal business suit. She explained that she'd been gathering data for contract negotiations with a Japanese firm. In a week, she'd leave for Japan with the manager and expected the conclusion to the agreement would come in about two weeks. Then she'd be staying to work at the IBC Tokyo branch while she attended school this fall. Instead of going to her parents' home after work, she took us to a seafood restaurant down on the waterfront. We had oysters, calamari, and pasta with clam sauce for dinner. I was pretty amazed when Xan decided she liked the calamari, and especially the aioli sauce to dip it in. I think she ate most of what we ordered.

"Can I come to your hotel with you?" Addison asked us. "We don't have to do anything. I'd just like to be with you both before I head across the Pacific." It was quickly agreed and we went back to the hotel. I wasn't sure if Addison wanted to cuddle with me or with Dani more. We ended up sandwiching her between the two of us as we went to sleep. No goodbye fucks. Just holding and loving.

In the morning, Addy took us to the airport and Liz picked us up in Indianapolis.

"Has anyone heard from Whitney?" I asked when we got settled at home.

"She said she'd call tonight when she got in," Rose said.

"In where?"

"Her mom's picking her up in Chicago. She'll drive down on Monday."

"Not until Monday?" I complained. I really missed Whitney and I worried about her all the time.

"Relax, Brian. She'll be here for two weeks. And she's already told us she wants to make love to you every day. We negotiated every other day so the rest of us would have a chance, too," Nicki said. "At you, I mean."

"I understand," I laughed. "I don't think Whitney would want a chance with all the rest of you. Maybe Josh."

"If Whitney wants time with Josh, he has our permission to love her any way they want," Mary said. She looked pointedly at me.

"If it's required, he has my permission, too," I said. "I think that's up to Whitney."

"As long as we're all on the same page," Cassie said. "But if she can only have you seven or eight times in two weeks, she might need Josh to fill in." The whole table giggled, but Josh and I just stared at each other in bewilderment.

We did one thing right, though. When Whitney and I lay on the dormitory deck making love the night of the Fourth, the sky suddenly lit up with our own fireworks display. It had cost me a fortune, but Josh and Doug put it together and set it off at just the right moment.

Just because we had July and August off from production, it didn't mean we had no work to do. Frankie and Chuck went back to their island retreat for a month, but there was a ton of other work we needed to do.

"Here's the situation," Rose said. "Armand wants a CEN studio so he can expand his live broadcasts. He wants us to commit to use it for all three shows."

"I think he's pushing us a little too hard," I griped. "Redress isn't even a studio show."

"He'd like us to develop a spinoff. He'd love it if Heaven was the host, but would accept anyone we identified. It would be a weekly, not daily show. And we've got some great options," Rose persisted.

"Where?" I asked. "Where is this studio supposed to be located?"

"He's identified three locations that he could have operational by the beginning of the fall season. Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis," Rose said.

"There's only one choice among those if he wants to have our shows," Rhonda said firmly. "I, for one, am not leaving the ranch."

Several of us nodded.

"That would be the number one reason he sent only the information on the Indianapolis location," Rose grinned. "He only tossed out the other two options to get us thinking that we could influence his decision. Here's the profile." She passed around packets of material. It seems that there had been a religious film producer on the south side of Indy that had their own studio. I say 'had been.' They'd stayed committed to 16mm film production for too long. Their entire business had crashed when everyone switched to video tape. It wasn't that they couldn't have adapted. They simply didn't believe the world was changing and refused to learn the new technology. The company was bankrupt and had actually approached Lockhurst in an attempt to keep the property from being acquired by a soft porn company. Oh, how the mighty ... and all that.

"So, what's he want to do and what are we going to do with our studio here?" Elaine asked.

"He wants both Chick Chat and XX/XY to go live from the studio in Indianapolis in September. I'm actually beginning to like this guy. The XX/XY magazine would be published in Indianapolis, too, initially sharing space where the Star is currently. Apparently, there is enough room in the building the studio is located in, though, that we could renovate to house various parts of his media empire. He believes, and I've checked with both Barbara and Donna and they agree, that we could attract audiences for both shows to the studio in Indianapolis and not have to travel. All the time. Elaine, you'd continue to do a week on the road each month. Brian, you'd only have to do a week a month on the road. That's a significant improvement over what we currently have."

"That's almost a selling point. I'm just concerned about what Lockhurst wants from us. Let's make sure we know what we're getting into."

We took everyone involved in Hearthstone Entertainment, including the clan advisory council, to Indianapolis the next week to look at the studio. The man himself met us there. He was as charming and hypnotic as a king cobra. We had four lawyers with us and they were all mesmerized. And you had to admit that Lockhurst was confident. He'd already purchased the building. He was moving his own corporate headquarters to the top floor.

It was hard to let our little syndicate go, but that was one of the terms. We would produce two daily shows in the studio, Chick Chat and XX/XY. Midafternoon and early night broadcasts, just as we were doing now. We would put our minds to developing another weekly fashion show. Redress would still be produced on location, wherever the clients were found, but it would be broadcast on CEN. Armand had big goals and wanted an early morning show as well. It would be something to send the kids off to school with. We had a lot of arguments over that during the next few weeks. He was firm that the target market would remain focused on the segment we had defined for the two shows. We held that audience did not wake up in time to watch TV before class.

Negotiations.

Ultimately, we ended up with a vastly revised television schedule for the fall and a new home studio. In a way, that was strangely depressing.

Brett, Eric, and Laurie arrived in late June while I was on the road and I had not yet really welcomed them. I decided it was time to act as if I were actually the Patrón and arranged to have dinner with them. I talked to Rose and we decided we should have dinner with all the dormitory residents. I'd cook it in the studio kitchen and we'd serve there. We had to count up how many we had now.

"Uh ... Brian?" Pam said as I was bustling about the kitchen just to see how well we were still set up. Rees had left it in sparkling condition for the summer break and even though the dorms had done some cooking, it was in very good shape.

"What is it, PJ?" I asked. I turned to her and she reached around me to hug. I welcomed that. In fact, I started swelling just feeling what were obviously unrestrained breasts beneath her t-shirt pressing against me. Maybe I held her in that hug a little longer than was necessary, but she didn't seem to mind.

"Wow! Do I still do that to you?" she asked as she ground her crotch into my erection.

"What on earth would make you stop doing that to me?" I laughed.

"Oh. Well. That's interesting. And kind of appealing." She pulled my hand from around her and slid it up under her t-shirt to cup her breast. "This isn't actually what I came to ask you, but please don't stop yet. For dinner tomorrow night ... well, we have a couple guests you might not know about this summer and we'd like to invite them, too. Is that okay?"

"Sure it is, PJ. Anything you'd like." I rolled her nipple between my fingers and she moaned as she pressed her lips against mine and her tongue into my mouth. We were both panting pretty hard when she pulled away.

"Oh, I like," she hummed. "A lot. I need to run back upstairs now. Right away. See you later!" Pam pecked my lips once more and then turned to hightail it back up the stairs.

"Oops! Somebody needs attention," Mary said as she came out from the prep kitchen. "Let me help. You just continue talking to your audience out there." My audience? As far as I could tell there was no one else in the studio. Mary sank to her knees and freed my erection to slurp it into her mouth. "Don't mind me. Just go ahead with your show, Chef Brian," she giggled. Then she made a great effort to swallow me whole. I looked out across the kitchen counter to the empty studio.

"Today we have a special treat in store," I mumbled to the silent cameras.

I planned a simple but nice meal for Thursday the thirteenth. It was mid-July and temperatures were heating up into the 90s. I didn't want to heat the house too much, but I also wanted to do a nice meal. I'd decided to grill, but instead of going outside to do it, I'd use the grill in the kitchen. Mary was assisting and she came into the kitchen with Ross helping her carry the vegetables.

"Tomatoes, zucchini, radishes, scallions, and fresh herbs. Anything else, Brian?" Mary asked.

"I have the shrimp and the mushrooms. Do we have good salad makings? Is it too late for spring greens?" I asked.

"We got a variety of greens," Ross said. "I hope you're planning that light vinegar and oil dressing. I'll get the necessary greens."

"Thanks, Ross. You're really doing a lot of work in the garden, aren't you? I know everyone who can takes a turn helping out, but it seems like you are out there all the time," I said.

"Yeah. Well, last summer after Maribelle took over the garden planning, I just started working out there. I'd never worked in a garden before I came to the ranch," he confessed. "I discovered I like it. It gives me time to think. And stuff grows. I guess I'm becoming a farmer at heart."

"How's school been?"

"Oh, not a problem. I guess studying philosophy is one of the reasons I like to garden."

"It gives you time to philosophize," I laughed.

"Kind of." Ross was serious. "Maribelle says that by gardening we participate in the karma of the land. You know," he said as he pulled up a stool on the opposite side of the counter from me, "everybody in my class is deep into studying philosophy. Everything from Nietzsche to Barth to Chomsky. Chomsky came for a guest lecture this spring and you've never seen so much hero worship. But I don't think there is a one of my classmates who has ever had an original thought. They can quote the philosophy of others, but they don't seem to be able to do it. Not like you."

"I'm scarcely a philosopher," I laughed. "I do recall, though, that Socrates is supposed to have encouraged all men to marry, stating that if they chose well they would be happy, and if poorly they would become philosophers. So far, I seem to have chosen well, or been chosen, so perhaps I'm not destined to become a philosopher."

"I won't argue that. Still, you have a life philosophy that is unique. I might write my master's thesis about you," he laughed. I choked. Let's change the subject.

"Don't mention the word thesis," I said. "I'm so far behind on mine I may not get my degree for another year."

"What do you have?"

"A boatload of data. The thesis is supposed to make sense of it."

"It will come to you. The right thing always does. I'll go get the salad greens."

"What can I do to help, Chef Brian?" Rees asked me.

"Rees? What are you doing here? I thought you'd be off on a beach somewhere for your break," I said.

"Oh. She didn't tell you. Pam said it would be okay and she would tell you we were here. Is it okay? Damn it! That's the second time she's made me look like a party-crasher."

"Easy, Rees. Of course it's okay. Pam told me we had guests, but she didn't mention who. I just got the count to expect fourteen of you tonight."

"Thank goodness. I don't want to be a pain. I love my job and ... Well, when Pam said I could just stay here this summer if I wanted to, I sort of jumped at the chance. I think she's trying to start her own casa or something. However you guys do that," Rees said. She took over skewering the shrimp, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes.

"I wouldn't put anything past PJ. Don't let her pressure you into anything. Who else do you think she's dragging into her nefarious plan?" I laughed.

"Well, you know her brother and his two friends are here, right? I sure wish I'd known them in high school. I'm having a good time with them now. Then there's Pam's boyfriend Bob."

"Bob? From the fashion merchandising class? What's his last name?"

"Felton. So far I think it's Pam, Bob, Brett, me, Eric Sommers, and Laurie Carlisle. The only problem is that I don't think Eric and Laurie are actually a couple," Rees chatted away.

"Um ... Does that imply that you and Brett are a couple?" I asked.

"Oh. Well, maybe. We don't know yet, but we're having fun just doing stuff this summer. And I mean we're helping out on the ranch, too. All we have to do is show up for Theresa or Larry and they have us on assignment. I could have spent the summer working in the garden, but I wanted something that wasn't directly food related. I actually learned how to drive a tractor this week when we were baling. It was fun!"