Chapter 23: That’s Why We Play These Games

Monday November 9

I arrived at school probably the most rested I’d been in weeks. Not going on a recruiting trip made me realize how much I’d run around this fall. I smiled when I saw Tracy and Pam waiting for me in the parking lot. I winked at Pam and then wrapped Tracy in my arms and kissed her with some passion. If we hadn’t had the history we had, I would love to be with her. She and I had made a good team, and the sexual side was top-notch.

I laughed at Pam when we finally let each other go.

“Me next,” she announced, and about knocked Tracy down so I could kiss her.

I wondered if the parking lot was considered school property, because I was just about to break every PDA rule they had. While I kissed Pam, I heard Cassidy.

“Is he giving out kisses?”

“Oh, yes, and they’re good ones,” Tracy said.

“Quit hogging him. I want a turn before the bell rings,” Cassidy complained.

Pam pulled her face away from me and stuck her tongue out at Cassidy. I decided that I’d better protect my baby mama, and let Pam go and pulled Cassidy in for her turn.

“David!” boomed Coach Hope’s voice.

Cassidy reacted by grabbing my head and holding it in place. I peeked over her shoulder and Coach was stomping over. When he got close, I picked Cassidy up and held her like a shield between her dad and me. I noticed Pam and Tracy had bailed.

“Morning, Coach,” I said.

“Get to class, Dawson. You, come with me,” Coach told Cassidy.

“He was giving out kisses, and I wanted a turn,” I heard Cassidy say. I decided I might want to jog to class!

The football team was called to the gym during first period. All the coaches were there, and we sat in the bleachers. I also saw some press in the gym for the announcement. Phil sat next to me, so I assumed he was no longer mad at me. Wolf sat on my other side.

“I see you have your mini-me with you,” he teased.

“Settle down,” Coach Hope called out. “We’ve received the pairings for the first playoff game. They’re making us go on the road to play Nazareth Academy. They’re a Catholic college-preparatory school. We’ll need to be focused to beat them, and we only have two days to prepare. So I want you all to be ready to go this afternoon.”

We had all heard of Nazareth. They were supposed to be the best team in the northern part of the state. I was surprised we’d get such a good opponent for the first game. I guess I would never understand how they ranked the teams and decided who got the home game. As the top seed, we should have been at home throughout the playoffs, but that wasn’t how they did it.

“I also have the All-Conference Team. We had several players make first team. On offense, Jim Ball, Johan Bauer, Wolf Tams, and Ty Wilson were honored. Bryan and Brock Callahan were second team winners. Roc Pearson was named offensive freshman of the year. On defense, Yuri Antakov, Johan Bauer and Brock Callahan made first team. Bryan Callahan made second team. On special teams, Derek Hofmann was named first team punter and placekicker, and Ty Wilson won for kick returns,” Coach announced.

I could feel everyone’s eyes on me because my name hadn’t been called. I was surprised to realize this meant as much as it did to me. I started to clap for the winners and everyone joined in. I was glad my teammates had been recognized for their efforts. When the clapping had died down, Coach continued.

“The conference decided to do something different this year. They’ve named a Conference MVP, and that person is our very own David Dawson,” Coach said, and everyone began to clap.

I could tell the coaching staff had planned this little deception, and I decided there’d be payback at some point. Then Jim was called up front.

“We have some good news on the recruiting front: Jim Ball has accepted an offer to play for the Alabama Crimson Tide.”

Jeff tried to ambush me for an interview, but I hip-checked Jim in front of him. I wanted him to have his big moment.

That afternoon we watched game film of Nazareth Academy, and I got an uneasy feeling in my stomach. They had two defensive ends who were undersized, but cat-quick. I watched as bigger, stronger offensive tackles were consistently beaten by these two terrors. It’s hard to run your offense if you have one, let alone two, defenders in your backfield and causing chaos. They’d lost three games to much larger schools, but had been in all of them.

In a lot of ways they reminded me of us last year. They were a tenacious group that never seemed to give up. The difference between last year and this, for us, was we now absolutely knew we would win, and we had a year of experience under our belts. We’d proven that we had the heart of a champion when we’d beaten King. That belief could carry you a long way, and would help you overcome any obstacle. That was why I knew we could overcome Nazareth Academy.

We only had today and tomorrow to practice, so the coaches took us out to the field. We ran around in shorts and t-shirts to walk through the plays we would focus on against our first opponent. I felt great, because I’d had an extra day to recover. I’d needed it because of the pounding Todd had put on me.

When we were done, I felt we would be able to win against Nazareth Academy without too much trouble. It would depend on how well we handled their defensive ends. If we couldn’t block them, it would a long night for me. While I loved to create, and avoid rushes, it wasn’t how you wanted to structure a game plan.

After practice, Brook, Cassidy and I went to the dojo. In the school parking lot I saw Yuri and Jan. It hadn’t taken him long to figure out that she could chauffeur him around. I saw Cassidy and Brook playing rock, paper, scissors to see who’d claim shotgun. I tossed Brook the keys when she won.

“You drive,” I said as I climbed into the back seat.

I had a message from Tyler to call her. She’d received my contract from Ari Gould to be my acting agent. I’d gone with AT Modeling in part because Tyler would be my entertainment lawyer. She would review all my modeling and acting contracts. Ms. Dixon was still on retainer for most anything else. If she couldn’t handle something, her firm was large enough to have whomever I might need for something special. A good example would have been if the mess with Pam had dragged on and we would have gone to court, then Ms. Dixon would have stepped aside and a Family Law specialist would have stepped in. The great thing about it for Ms. Dixon was that her firm knew she was the one who’d brought me in as a client, and she was in charge of my account

I called Tyler’s number.

“AT Modeling, how may I direct your call?”

This was new.

“I need to speak to Tyler.”

“May I ask who is calling?”

“This is David Dawson. She left me a message and asked that I call her back.”

“One moment, please.”

I was put on hold and had to listen to bad classical music.

“David?” Tyler asked.

“Yes.”

“Sorry. We’ve recently grown, and we have new offices. I’m not used to the phone system yet.”

Tyler and Adrienne had run everything out of their condo. It sounded like business must have picked up, if they needed office space.

“I received the contract from the Gould Agency, and it was your standard boilerplate contract that was designed to screw you. I want to rework it and give Mr. Gould incentives in the form of bonuses if he can get you to certain levels of income. This way if he doesn’t work hard for you, then he isn’t into your pocket for much.

“I also talked to Kendal to get an idea of what your contract for the second and third movies in the Star Academy series were supposed to pay you. I want to exclude that income from the base amount, because he didn’t do the work to get you that payday. If Mr. Gould can make you more, then he’ll earn money from that,” Tyler explained.

“What if he gets aggressive and loses me those movies? I don’t want him to sabotage me just to get me into something different so he can get a payday.”

“I’ll have to think about that. I can see your concerns.”

“What about Kendal? Do I owe her firm anything for the movies?” I asked.

“No, they didn’t complete the deal.”

I thought about that for a moment.

“Tyler, I don’t feel comfortable with that. I know I should just pocket the money, but she was a big help to me. So was Tom, for that matter.”

“I take it you wouldn’t want the rest of the firm to benefit.”

“No, those dicks can ... well, you know,” I said, stopping before I told her what I really thought.

“Maybe you can pay them directly somehow. I’ll think on it and see. Maybe you could send them on a vacation in lieu of cash,” Tyler suggested.

“I’ll let you figure out what works. I also trust you to do what’s needed for the contract. Send it over to my dad when you need it signed,” I said, and then we said goodbye.

I hung up as we pulled into the dojo parking lot. I thought Yuri had a good idea, having Jan drive him. I just couldn’t imagine I would let Cassidy drive the Charger, though.

When I got home, I called Frank Ingram of IDC – Public Relations, my PR agent.

“Hey, Frank. What did you find out about the blog?” I asked.

“The blog was established last week and we haven’t figured out who owns it yet. We did robo-vote the site and you’re now at 98% swagger. So you’re no longer a douche. You want me to follow up and see who posted it?”

“No. I mean yes,” I said, changing my mind. “Someone took the time to do it, and obviously has an axe to grind. I think we need to find out who.”

“Okay. I’ll put my gal on it. She can crack the website and figure out who’s behind it.”

“What can you tell me about Ari Gould?” I asked.

“Did you sign with him?”

“Not yet. I just wanted to ask what you thought of him. He said he’d talked to you,” I said.

“Hollywood is full of sharks, and Ari is the biggest and baddest of the bunch. He’s a pain in the ass, and also one of my good friends. Ari comes across as an arrogant prick, that if I was an actor, I’d hire. He’ll be your arrogant prick,” Frank shared.

“He checked out my mom awful hard.”

Frank burst out laughing.

“That’s Ari. He may look, but he’ll never touch. His wife might have something to say about it,” Frank said, and then got serious. “I understand your concerns. Ari seems like the worst possible guy for your image. He’s loud, abrasive, a hard drinker, and just about everything you would think of as the cliché Hollywood agent – in public. Get him behind doors and he’s a savvy businessman who has an instinct for this business. If he offered to be your agent, then he sees something in you.”

“So you trust him? You’d leave your mom with him for an afternoon and she’d come back unmolested?” I asked.

“Well, your mom is cute,” Frank teased.

“You remember that I’ll be on a plane to LA in three weeks, right?” I asked.

“Yes, I do, and you’ll have no worries about Ari.”

Frank then caught me up on what he’d been doing for me. He’d updated my Facebook page, Twitter account and Instagram account. He added a bunch of photos of me doing different athletic things to highlight my talents to the movie industry. He explained that if I showed diversity I’d be considered for a wider range of possible parts. He actually had done a lot of it based on what Ari had asked him to do. My eyes started to glaze over when he started to talk about the different metrics of my potential fan base they were working with to drive my Twitter followers up.

When I hung up I felt better about Ari, and I knew that he and Frank would work well together. I’d let Tyler tangle with Ari and get our contract worked out.

Pam normally came over on Monday nights, but she and her mom had planned a girls’ night out. So I was surprised when I heard the downstairs door open. I could tell I was safe, because my guard dog went to the head of the stairs and his tail began to wag. I heard three little voices, and smiled as Kyle and Mac were almost sent tumbling by an excited Duke. I had to go grab him. I about turned him loose when I saw Angie with Nate in her arms. She and I hadn’t talked since she’d confided in me.

“Ice cream,” Mac told me as she pulled on my pant leg.

Mac was serious about her ice cream. Angie smiled at me.

“Your mom told them that you had ice cream. They wouldn’t settle down until they could see their Uncle David and eat all his ice cream,” Angie said as she handed me Nate.

“Nate, you want to help me?” I asked, to his delight.

A baby’s laughter should be a cure for cancer. It just makes you feel better about your day. I thought I would introduce the little guys to one of the great joys in life, Cookie Butter. Trader Joe’s had figured out that if you combined almond butter with crushed up gingerbread cookies, you had the perfect product. I’d discovered that if you put a tablespoon scoop into the bottom of a bowl and microwaved it for thirty seconds, it became warm gooey goodness. You then scooped in vanilla ice cream and stirred it around until the Cookie Butter swirled into the ice cream.

“Oh, my,” Angie groaned as she tried her bowl.

“Duke! Park it!” I commanded, as he attempted to lick out of Mac’s bowl.

He knew he’d been bad, and slinked into his crate and lay down. Kyle and Mac were seated on the floor as they attacked their ice cream. I held Nate and shared mine with him. He felt I wasn’t feeding it to him fast enough and shoved his hand into the bowl. I about dropped him when I saw Mac tip her bowl up to get the melted ice cream and it ran down her neck.

Poor Duke couldn’t take it anymore and bolted out of his crate. He began to lick Mac from head to toe and she went into a giggle fit.

“No, no,” she said, as she tried to push Duke away.

Kyle was next.

“I guess you won’t have to give them a bath tonight,” I suggested.

“Gross. They’re covered in dog slobber.”

Angie collected all the bowls and put them in the sink for me. She found a dishtowel and wet it so she could clean up the little ones. Once they were cleaned she took them downstairs and back into the house. I think Mom wanted to get Angie and me together alone in the same room to show us that we could do it without anything unpleasant being said.

I had some homework and reading to get done. In a way, I was glad Pam wasn’t here to distract me. Of course, that wasn’t really true. She did distract me in the best way.

My cell phone buzzed. I looked and saw it was Yuri.

I didn’t want to answer it, because I needed to finish my reading. I also knew I’d better.

“What’s up, Yuri?”

“David, can you come over? Jan and your uncle came by. We were having a good talk, but my grandma insisted on being there, and then she insisted we all go over and meet Jan’s mom. It was educational,” he said.

Oh brother, I thought. Yuri’s grandma scared me. She was like a force of nature, unstoppable once she got going.

“And everyone’s still alive and has all their body parts functioning?” I asked.

Yuri chuckled a bit, but it seemed like a relieved one.

“Yes. It was tense at first, but things calmed down after a while. We even managed to get her dad on the phone. It looks like it all might work out okay, but my grandma wants to talk with you personally now.”

I shuddered. It was now a no-brainer that this was more of a mess than I wanted to get involved in. It would’ve been worth it if I could bow out before I got too deep, but with my Uncle John involved it probably was too late for that. Frankly, with Yuri’s grandma involved, I was sure she’d track me down if I didn’t show.

“Any way I can get out of this?” I asked with a plaintive whine.

Yuri chuckled, but it sounded like a nervous one.

“Nope.”

I sighed in resignation. I’d hoped this wouldn’t be necessary, but apparently it was.

“I’ll be right over.”

I grabbed my keys and phone, got in the Charger and drove over to Yuri’s place. They lived in an older Victorian house on the edge of town that his mom had bought when his grandma moved in with them. When I knocked on the door, Yuri answered. He looked a bit sheepish.

“Sorry, David, but my grandma insisted on talking with you if Jan and I are to happen.”

I just nodded.

“It’s okay, bro,” I said.

He led me inside to the living room, where his mom and grandma sat in deep, comfortable armchairs. Uncle John was seated on a window seat.

I looked around. It was a cozy, comfortable room. Jan was perched on the arm of Grandma’s chair and they held hands. Or rather, Grandma seemed to have a hold on Jan’s. It looked like Jan was absolutely ready to bolt. I recognized Jan’s cheerleader travel bag at her feet. I looked at my uncle, but before I could ask him anything Yuri got my attention.

“David, my grandma wants to...” Yuri began.

“Yuri, I talk David, you no need,” his grandma said to interrupt him.

Then she turned her gaze towards me and looked at me intently. I tried not to blanch, and met her gaze directly.

“David, Yuri bring this girl home, next day her, your uncle stop by, they talk. I stick nose in. They tell me you say she should be Yuri’s girl, she need order around, punish if needed.”

She looked at Jan, then back at me.

“We go with Yuri and your uncle, visit her home, talk to her mom. Talk to her papa on phone. Her mom, ah, I learn new word today. Resentful. Her mom resentful cow.”

Jan bit her lip and looked down. Her body trembled, and she looked like she was going to cry. Grandma looked up at her, then reached up with her free hand and patted Jan’s.

“Is okay,” she said gently to Jan. “Things not always what we want. Things always what they are.”

I looked at my uncle, and he had on the classic Dawson blank face. He seemed content to let Grandma run the show.

She turned back to me.

“Her house grand, her family rich, but her mom not act like mom at all. Act like roommate who hate her. Always watch TV or on computer. Her dad long way away, long time. Can’t come home. Can’t be papa.

“Yuri tell me you say Jan need ordered around. Need boss. Need punish if good for her. Need no drugs, no booze. Need be useful. She pretty girl, good for Yuri that way, need learn other ways be useful. Is work for her, work for us, maybe good things come later, but maybe not,” she said.

She looked at Yuri, then back at me.

“Yuri talk about you lot. First mad, then...” she said as she looked perplexed for a moment, and then said something in Russian to Yuri’s mom, who also replied in Russian, whereupon Grandma turned back to me.

“Then confuse-ed, now proud be your friend. You good to him, good for him. I watch you at games, booster tent, other places. You patron, boss, general; not just with friends – with school, with town. Not from new papers, not from,” she said, and there was another brief exchange in Russian. “Not from in-her-i-tanz. Not from age. From here.”

She patted her heart.

“Here.”

She pointed her finger to her head.

“Here.”

She pointed to her crotch and said something to Yuri in Russian. He smiled and turned to me.

“Cojones,” he translated.

I felt my face get warm, but held her stare. She looked at me as if seeking confirmation of something.

“Question is, why? Why you do this for her? Why Yuri?”

I looked her squarely in the eyes.

“Because Jan is one of us. And because Yuri is also one of us.”

I saw an almost imperceptible change in her face. It was almost like a recognition or affirmation, so I continued.

“I’ve watched you, too. You are strong; fierce, even – but you care. Your family is strong. Yuri gets much of what he is from you. If you agree, you’ll help both Yuri and Jan. Your family and Yuri will be very good for Jan. If you can do this for her, I think she will be very good for Yuri,” I said.

“How?” she asked.

“Yuri’s learning how to treat women, but needs someone to help him more than I can. She’ll help him understand what he can and can’t do. She’ll help him fit in better with the fairer sex. For Jan, she needs someone to show her that there are other ways to get someone to like her ... other ways than with sex or drugs. I think she can help Yuri in other ways. She can gain a purpose and help him reach his goals. I think the two of them will make a great team if they learn to trust and work with each other. One thing that comes to mind is that Yuri’s going to start getting recruited for college football soon. He needs to put a program together for his own development. Jan’s pretty organized when she wants to be. She can work with the people who help me, and learn to help Yuri with recruiters, and with the recruiting and skill-development programs that he’ll need. Who knows, maybe she can learn Russian from you while you learn English from her. That way it wouldn’t be just her and Yuri. I think she has a lot to offer the family as a whole,” I suggested.

Jan looked up at this, with an intense, interested look on her face. Grandma continued to gaze at me, and seemed to come to a decision. She nodded her head.

I also saw the corner of Uncle John’s mouth twitch as if he wanted to smile, but he was soon giving me the blank look again. It really was unnerving when a Dawson did that. I didn’t like being on the receiving end of that look.

“Okay,” she said, and then turned to Jan. “You live here now! We your family!”

When Yuri’s mom started to protest, Grandma turned to her and said, patiently.

“You know how I grew up. You not know all I see as girl, as young woman. This okay,” she said, and then turned to Jan. “You in our family now. You do what Yuri say. You do what I say. You study. You help Yuri with, ah, what David say, program. You help me with English. You learn Russian. No booze. No drugs. You bad girl, we punish.”

Then she smiled gently. I was confused as to why Jan seemed to now to be part of the family. I would have to talk to my uncle and uncover what had happened at Jan’s house. I kept my mouth shut, because my uncle and everyone else seemed to be fine with it.

“You good girl, we love you. We love you anyway, even when bad; but we punish, because we love you. You part of family now.”

Then she tugged sharply, and a startled Jan slid off the chair arm and into her lap, where she was hugged fiercely.

“Okay, little girl? You okay to have new family, take care of you?”

Jan looked at her from inches away, startled. Then something seemed to melt in her. She buried her head in Grandma’s shoulder and nodded vigorously. A few seconds later, her shoulders started to shake. I realized she was crying.

Grandma looked at Yuri and me and made a shooing motion with her free hand. We quietly opened the front door and stepped outside onto the porch. Uncle John and Mrs. Antakov followed us out. Yuri looked at me apologetically.

“Grandma can be a little intense.”

I grinned at him as I shook my head.

“Yuri, you are the Master of Understatement!”

I turned to my uncle, and he gave me a weak smile.

“Jan called me last night,” Uncle John explained. “She wanted to thank me for talking to her. I could hear loud music in the background. I asked her if she was having a party, and she explained her mom was the one with guests over. Long story short, I thought it’d be a good idea to visit her home to see what was going on. Something didn’t feel right. I called Yuri because he’d agreed to support her, and I wanted her to have his backing if it was needed.

“When I came over to talk, I was introduced to Yuri’s grandma. She insisted that we take her along,” he said, and gave me a cryptic look.

“What we found was Jan’s mom treats her more like a roommate than a mother. Not like a welcome roommate, either. Jan is ignored, and is basically on her own. As long as she stayed out of her mom’s way, there weren’t any issues. If she got her mom’s attention, all the attention she got was negative – basically, verbal abuse.”

“It turns out Jan was a ‘daddy’s girl’ until her father went overseas, and her mom just plain resents the hell out of that, and out of her. It’s pretty clear her mom never wanted the responsibility of raising a child.

“At one point, between Yuri’s grandma and Jan’s mom, I was afraid someone would get hurt, but we finally got things calmed down. We found out Jan’s dad had taken a high-paying job in the Middle East. Just before he was supposed to come home, he’d called and said his contract had been extended, and he had to stay.

“Both Jan and her mom felt abandoned. From what I could figure out, her dad was the glue that held the family together. He’d been the one to tell Jan ‘no’ and to be the responsible parent. Without him in the household, Jan was left to fend for herself, but she’d never learned how,” Uncle John explained.

“So how did you work it out so Jan would move in with the Antakovs?” I asked.

“Yuri’s grandma wasn’t leaving without her, once she saw what was going on,” Uncle John said.

“Mom can get that way,” Mrs. Antakov said.

“Jan’s mom didn’t really care, but we called her dad to confirm it was okay. He had no idea things had gotten to this state, but he was tied to a long-term contract and couldn’t get home to help. I assured him that I felt the Antakovs would be good for her. He ended up giving us permission to help Jan. He’s setting up financial help for the Antakovs’ time and effort, and he’s going to email us a power of attorney that lets Yuri’s family make parental decisions on Jan’s behalf. He also asked that I make sure Jan is taken care of,” Uncle John said.

“What do you think about all this?” I asked Yuri.

He gave me a look. I honestly thought only girls could give me that look. I might have to smack that out of him if he continued to give it to me. There had to be something in the ‘Bro Code’ about it.

“I’m not sure you realize what you’ve done. Grandma takes this patron stuff seriously; it’s what was around her when she grew up. She always thinks long-term, and family first. She told me that I could do worse than have you to help guide me,” he said, and then gave me a hard look. “You do know most marriages in old Russia were arranged marriages, don’t you? Arranged at a young age, too! I may be stuck for good! Good thing you set me up with the hottest girl in school, though!”

He grinned as he mock-punched my arm. I grinned back. The little dumbass didn’t know what he’d gotten himself into.

“I knew Jan way back when, long before her dad left for the Middle East. There’s a lot more to her than you’ve seen so far, and a lot more to her than I think she even realizes,” I said, and then turned back to my uncle. “Thanks for the help. I would’ve had no idea what needed to be done. Is there anything you need from me?”

He just shook his head. I knew my uncle had things in hand. I felt better knowing that Yuri’s grandma wanted to play an active role in all this. Jan wouldn’t get away with much with my little Russian-mafia wannabe. She would absolutely toe the line if Grandma had anything to say about it. With Uncle John overseeing everything, I was confident Jan would be looked after.

I said my goodbyes and I drove home slowly, with the windows down, full of thought. I’d rarely felt anything as powerful as the emotion I’d felt in Yuri’s home. The source of it all was a seemingly gruff little slip of an old lady, who could only speak broken English.

What Yuri had said about an arranged marriage shook me up a little bit. I wondered for a moment if I had really helped Jan or not. She had gone from her home, where she pretty much had free rein to do what she wanted, to being under the watchful eye of Yuri and his grandma. I guess my biggest concern wasn’t for Jan, because she did need the tough love and the support Yuri and his family would give her. My biggest concern was Yuri. I was sure he would be okay with the sex. He was a teenage boy, after all. It was Jan. She was used to getting her way, and knew how to manipulate guys with her body and drugs. I just hoped he was tough enough to handle her and the temptations. I’d fallen for her, and I hadn’t even gotten laid. I would bet he was just hard-headed enough to get the job done. If not, I could always kick his ass, or better yet, tell on him. I’d done it with Phil. Yuri might give me a better fight when he came for me.

Wednesday November 11

I had to hand it to our booster club. They had really come through the last two weeks with transportation. The charter buses were much better than riding on a school bus. I had my earbuds in as I listened to my tunes. I closed my eyes and reflected on the last two days.

Ari Gould had agreed to the contract Tyler had sent him. The only change he requested was a flat fee to finish negotiating my Star Academy movie deals. He liked that if he made me more than what they were currently offering, he would get a bonus and a percentage. His flat fee was half what I would have paid Tom and Kendal, so I talked to my dad and he agreed we should sign the revised contract.