Chapter 15: Star Wars Effect

Sunday March 6

When we came back from church, it was just the three of us: Mom, Dad and me. We had a light lunch, and I joined Dad to watch the Bulls lose another game. That was when someone buzzed from the front gate. Dad switched the TV to see who it was, and it was Coach Diamond. I met him at the front door.

“Hey, Coach, come in,” I said, and took his coat.

While I hung it up, Dad greeted him and he took a seat to watch the game.

“This isn’t a social call,” he said, getting down to business. “I’ve come to ask for a favor.”

Coach Diamond had been my offensive coordinator last fall, before he took the head coaching job at Washington. He’d also coached baseball, and I’d heard he was now their head baseball coach, too. Our first baseball game was actually against them this Saturday at Washington.

“You need me to give you some coaching tips,” I teased.

Between Bo Harrington, Coach Mason and me, Coach Diamond had learned a lot. Of course, he’d also taught me a lot.

“I actually need your help with a fundraiser. Our booster club wants to raise funds to make improvements to our facilities. We want to raise enough to get a decent weight room, similar to what you have at Lincoln High. The plan is to stage a fundraiser before our game on Saturday, and I wanted to see if you’d come over early and sign some pictures or whatever you Hollywood-types do.”

“What all are you planning?” Dad asked, as Mom joined us.

“We thought we’d have a petting zoo, maybe some pony rides. The high school band could play and we would set up a food tent. All that and you’d be there to sign autographs ... Oh, and then there’s the baseball game.”

“How many people do you think will show up?” Mom asked.

“We’re hoping for maybe a thousand,” Coach Diamond said.

Dad snorted and then looked mortified that he’d made his feelings known. Coach Diamond gave him a crooked smile.

“I know. Those were my thoughts exactly. When I heard ‘pony rides’ and ‘high school band,’ I figured we might get a couple hundred if we were lucky. You helped raise all the funds for the Field House. I hoped I could pick your brains and maybe you could point us in the right direction.”

“The Sullivans have a car dealership in Washington. I would call them and have them help you get organized,” Dad suggested.

“You need to do something like a hog roast and a beer tent,” Mom said, and when I raised my eyebrows at a beer tent, she added, “There needs to be something for the adults.”

“I have the number for the guy who did the hog roast for our Alternate Prom last year. He cooked three hogs for three hundred people, if I remember right,” I said.

“You had a band help the governor with his campus get-out-the-vote events. Do you think they might help with this?” Dad asked.

“I don’t know. Let me go make a call,” I said.

I went into the office and called Angel Hargrove, Jett’s and her band Birthrite’s manager. I explained what we planned. Unfortunately, or fortunately for Birthrite, they had been booked to play some bars in Chicago.

“There’s someone I think I could convince, though,” Angel said.

“Anything would be welcome,” I admitted.

Nothing against Washington’s high school band, but I couldn’t see them being a big draw. They would attract friends and family, but I was thinking bigger.

“There is someone who you did music videos for ... for free ... and owes you many favors.”

“Eve,” I said unenthusiastically.

“Still mad about the breakup song?” she asked.

“It was kind of a bush-league move on her part,” I admitted.

“She knows,” Angel said, and then sighed. “Tell you what. I’ll deliver Eve Holiday to do your fundraiser, but they have to pay travel costs and for hotel rooms Saturday night.”

We agreed, and my next call was to Frank.

“Have you seen the video Lucasfilm sent us?” Frank blurted out when he answered.

“No. Why, do I look stupid in it?” I asked.

“It’s awesome. I’m meeting with my staff right now to figure out how best to use it. This is what we dream of in my business.”

Someone was excited.

“Send me the link when you get a chance. I actually called you because I wanted your help with another project. I’ve offered to help one of my old coaches raise money for his booster club. I hoped you might have some ideas on how to get people to show up.” I said.

I gave him the rundown of what they planned and how I’d gotten Eve ‘Country Girl’ Holiday, my ex-girlfriend and classmate, to sing at the fundraiser.

Frank said he’d put together a plan and work with Caryn to make it happen. I also gave him Coach Diamond’s phone number in case he needed to talk to the organizers directly.

When I got off the phone, I turned on the office computer and watched the video. When it was done, I ran to the door.

“Dad, you have to see this!” I called excitedly.

“What is it?” Dad called back.

For some reason my parents never responded to me when I got excited and called for them. I might’ve ‘cried wolf’ one too many times.

“Our video.”

That was all it took to get my dad off his butt. When everyone was in the office, I just pointed to the screen and hit play.

It started with a female newscaster in studio. There was flashing banner with ‘Breaking News.’ Under that was a graphic that said ‘Millennium Falcon Stolen’ and ‘CTV News London.’

“We have breaking news that there have been explosions at Elstree Studios, where the new Star Wars movie Rogue One is being filmed. It has been reported that the iconic starcraft, the Millennium Falcon, has been stolen. We go to Crispin Maconochie who is on the scene in Hertfordshire.”

The screen split and you could see flames shooting out of the side of the studio. There appeared to be a large gaping hole that looked big enough to get the starship through. The fire department was busy trying to put out the flames.

“What have you been told, Crispin?” the studio anchor asked.

“It’s reported that two men stole the Millennium Falcon earlier today. We have security footage that shows the theft,” Crispin said, and then it switched to grainy footage from a security camera.

It showed the studio side wall explode out into the parking lot. Moments later the Millennium Falcon roared out of the smoke and flames as it rocketed out of the view of the stationary camera. If I hadn’t known it was fake, I would have believed it. When the last Star Wars movie was about to release, Lucasfilm had shown a similar ‘leaked’ video. It showed starships parked on a runway, droids running around, and an Imperial starfighter flying. It had been a YouTube sensation overnight.

The scene switched to a picture of my dad and me in what looked like mug shots with our names under them. We were dressed up in our costumes, so they must have pulled the photos from the video we shot.

“Be on the lookout for a father-and-son team. David A. Dawson and his father Robert Dawson were on the set. It seems David A. Dawson was at the studio to audition for the role as the young Han Solo in an upcoming movie. He recently starred in Star Academy and has a movie called The Secret Circle coming out this summer.

“My sources tell me that after the audition, the duo slipped into the hangar and stole the Millennium Falcon,” Crispin said.

The picture changed to one of the Millennium Falcon. Then the scene switched back to Crispin Maconochie and he put his finger to his ear as if someone was talking to him through an earpiece.

“Hang on. I’m being told we have video that David A. Dawson just leaked to the internet showing his brazen theft,” Crispin said.

The scene changed to what we’d shot. Mom and Coach Diamond both laughed when I ran onto the bridge. When our part ended, Crispin Maconochie was shown again.

“Police have issued a galaxy-wide request for any information on the whereabouts of the thieves, and a reward has been offered for the safe return of the Millennium Falcon.”

The screen split so the anchor could be seen, too.

“Crispin, any idea where they might have gone?”

“The RAF tracked the Millennium Falcon as it headed over the Atlantic towards the United States, but the fear is that they may have left the planet.”

“Thanks, Crispin. In other news, a kitten was stuck in a storm drain...”

That was where the video ended.

“That’s so cool,” I said.

“When will they release it?” Mom asked.

“Frank and his team are working on it,” I said, and then turned to coach. “Frank Ingram is my publicist.”

“That looked like an actual newscast,” Coach Diamond said.

“Lucasfilm is good at what they do.”

“So you really are up for the role?” Coach asked.

“Yeah, I should know soon whether I got it or not.”

I told Coach Diamond that I’d arranged for Eve ‘Country Girl’ Holiday to play for free. I planned to pick up the travel cost and hotel rooms as my donation to the cause. Coach thanked us for our help and now had some more calls to make. He only had a week to get everything organized.

I went to my apartment and changed into my cowboy gear. Zoe had invited me over to go horseback riding. I’d been bad and told Fritz I wasn’t due back until tonight, so I planned to drive myself to the Pearson farm in the Jeep.

Having security and a driver was fine sometimes—I was able to actually get things done while I was being driven around—but I missed driving. I’m sure just about every teen would agree with me that it was a rite of passage and represented freedom.

Driving myself in the Jeep would have been fine, but I found that Peggy had taken it to her parents. I grabbed the keys for the SUV. When I hit the county road and sped up, I discovered this beast was sneaky fast. What felt like 45 mph turned out to be 60 when I looked down at the speedometer. Peggy had complained that she was sure she would get a ticket driving it, and now I knew why.

There wouldn’t be any traffic or police in the park, so I decided to see how the Ford Hennessey VelociRaptor SUV with modified engine, using a supercharger, would handle. I soon found it was every bit as fast as my Charger had been. It didn’t handle like the Charger, but I felt safe taking the winding turns through the park. I vowed to take driving classes with it so I knew all its capabilities.

When I pulled into the farm, Zoe came out of the barn to greet me. She’d already done all her chores, so we could go riding. As we finished saddling the horses, I received a call from Frank.

“We’ve had a fun idea. Do you have a warehouse or somewhere big you could hide the Millennium Falcon?”

“I have a barn that might work. Why, what do you have planned?” I asked.

“Can you go there and take a picture of you in front of it with the doors opened?”

“Sure, but what did you want it for?”

“We’re not sure yet, but we’ve been kicking around some ideas. Just go take the picture and send it to me,” Frank said.

The shit hung up on me. I had an inkling of what they were planning.

“We need to ride over to my farm and take some pictures.”

Zoe, being a girl, wanted details. I tried to give her the facts, but ended up having to tell her everything. I have no idea why stating, “I need to take a fake photo so it looks like I’m hiding a spaceship” wasn’t enough information. Girls!

When we rode up the farm’s drive, I saw my grandma had several people working. One was on a tractor, pulling a cart full of walnuts. They’d been cleaning up around the trees.

“What brings you out today?” Grandma Dawson asked.

“Zoe wanted to go for a ride, and I need to take some pictures of the barn for my publicist.”

The barn doors were open, so I handed Zoe my phone and stood in front of it.

“You want to be famous?” I asked her.

“Sure, why not,” she said.

I had my grandma take our picture.

“You should film them backing the trailer into the barn,” Zoe suggested.

“Why would you do that?” Grandma Dawson asked.

I had to tell her the whole story.

“That makes sense,” Grandma Dawson said. “You’d want to hide it inside so the satellites couldn’t see it.”

My grandma should be in movies. She had them unhook the wagon so I could come speeding up on the tractor, hook up the wagon, and then back it into the barn. It took me three tries, because backing a wagon wasn’t easy.

When I successfully parked the wagon, I acted like I was looking for satellites. As if you could see them.

“Here in the good old US of A, possession is nine-tenths of the law,” I said, and then closed the barn doors.

I sent the pictures and video to Frank. It would be interesting to see what they could do with them.

Zoe and I rode to where the bluff overlooked the river. Someday I would want to build a house there. The view of the slow-moving river and forest looked like a scene out of a painting. When we came to the top, we startled three deer. The two females looked pregnant.

Zoe and I got off the horses, walked to the edge, and just took in the sights.

“Why did you not show up the other day?” I asked, referring to our appointment in the music room.

She looked away and blushed.

“I was being too brazen. I just couldn’t do it again. I came to tell you, and that girl was there. I told her to tell you I couldn’t make it.”

“You know that girl tried to take your place,” I teased.

“David,” she complained, and then looked at me. “Did she really?”

I just gave her a cryptic look. Zoe looked shocked.

“I let her show me her boobs,” I said.

“You are such a pervert sometimes. I have no idea what I see in you,” she huffed.

I reached out and took her hand. She came into my arms and we kissed. She laid her head on my chest.

“I’m conflicted. I was raised a certain way and I know my parents would disapprove if they knew what we’d done. When I’m with you, all that goes away. But you can’t just pick and choose what you believe,” she said.

“Why not?” I asked.

“That’s just not the way it’s done.”

“I think that your belief in God is a personal thing. While I agree with you on most things, I think some are outdated. I believe man, not God, dictates some things. Of course, I could just be interpreting things to suit me. You need to decide what’s right for yourself,” I said.

“Like what?” Zoe asked.

I got a tight smile. This was one of those things that people believed in deeply. They would normally fall on one side or the other.

“Birth control. Some religions are against it. I use it, not just because I want to keep from having a baby, but also for health reasons. I understand the irony in what I’m saying, and agree that if I were in a monogamous long-term relationship, I wouldn’t have to worry about the health issues.”

“What about abortion?” she asked.

“You’re not going easy on me, are you?” I asked.

“I guess not, but I would like to know.”

“Okay, this is more complicated. I believe that life begins at conception,” I said.

“Is that why Pam’s having your child?”

“Partially,” I admitted. “Pam and I are too young right now. We both have a year left in high school. That doesn’t mean that couples haven’t faced this very issue and survived.”

“Do you believe in abortion?” she asked again.

“There are cases in which the health of the mother should be considered,” I hedged.

“What about rape or incest?”

“That would fall under the health of the mother. The mother’s mental health should be considered.”

“What if something’s wrong with the baby?”

“I think that the parents should be given all the facts and the support to decide. Giving birth to a child with a severe birth defect could mean a tremendous strain on a family, financially, emotionally, and physically, with the time needed to support the child. Something like that shouldn’t be forced on you without your consent.”

I sighed.

“I don’t have all the answers. That’s why I talk to people I trust, and pray. Sometimes you have to leave it in God’s hands. I’m smart enough to know that I shouldn’t just blindly decide what’s right in each and every situation. Honestly, I don’t think it’s my place. We each have to face our decisions in the hereafter. At some point personal responsibility comes into play.”

“With that logic, I could go down and rob a convenience store, if my moral compass said it was okay.”

“Everything you do in life has consequences. If you’re willing to take the risk, there’s nothing I can do to stop you. That’s one of the things I like about our country. You’re free to be an idiot. If you’re a big enough idiot, we can decide not to put up with your shit and put you in jail.”

“You’re a giant contradiction,” Zoe said.

“I guess I am, but that’s life. Nothing is black or white. We live in the gray areas, and sometimes that isn’t easy.”

“So, what should I do?”

“About having sex with me? I’m all for it,” I said with a big smile.

“You’re not worried about burning in Hell?”

“If that’s what keeps me out of Heaven, I was the one that decided to do it, and I can live with that.”

“Would you be willing to pray with me?” Zoe asked.

I smiled and bowed my head. I prayed that she would decide what was right for her.

Monday March 7

My phone rang at five a.m. It was Frank.

“I might have made a slight miscalculation. We released your video from the studio and the one from the farm. It’s blowing up in Europe this morning. You have a hundred thousand new Twitter followers, and it was on all the morning shows over there. We’ve been flooded with media requests.”

I sat in silence. I got my phone out and he was right, my Twitter account was going nuts. The hashtag #MillenniumFalcon was trending in the top five. I found the video of me parking the spaceship in my barn. Whoever turned the wagon into the spaceship did a great job. It was amazing what CGI could do.

“Okay, now what?” I asked.

“Something like this can build into a huge story. We need to let doubt be the focus of the day. You can’t do anything to put a damper on the story as yet. I think we can use it to get people to your fundraiser on Saturday.”

“How many do you think they should plan for?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we doubled the event. If you thought a thousand, then plan for two right now.”

“Do I need to worry about the farm? I don’t need people running all over it; we’re just starting to get it ready,” I said.

“I would probably get some security. I’d also encourage you keep someone with you today until we know what this turns into,” Frank said.

After I hung up with Frank, I let Duke out and then went to the house to wake up my mom and dad. I was no longer their favorite when I told them what was going on. I’d neglected to tell them about the video I’d shot at the farm.

Dad got up and called Caryn. I was ordered to make coffee while Mom took her shower. The noise woke up Little David, so I ran upstairs to get him. Peggy was dead to the world, so I changed him and brought him downstairs with us.

Dad was in the middle of telling us that Caryn would take care of the security when the gate buzzer went off. Mom turned on the TV and we could see it was a reporter. This was going to be worse than the fight with the ‘Baby Dick Gang.’

“When this is all done, we’re going to have a long talk about unintended consequences,” Dad said.

I just gave him a look. He’d been right there with me. How was this all my fault? For once I was glad my mom was there. She told the reporter what she thought of him ringing the bell at such an early hour. When he persisted, she called the police. Maybe not how I would’ve handled it, but when the local constabulary showed up, the reporters seemed to back off. That’s right, ‘reporters,’ as in more than one. We now had several more littering the street.

Duke looked out the front window and decided he was tough. His announcement woke Peggy up. She freaked out a little when she couldn’t find Little David in his bed. Dad made me explain why she’d been woken up and why there were reporters and police out front.

Dad called Frank to figure out what we should do. It was agreed that I should go out, look nervous and do the ‘no comment’ routine. When I opened the front door, I was blinded by camera lights. I was dressed in a sweatshirt, sweats and slippers. I looked like I’d just crawled out of bed.

Ten reporters shouted questions. I did my acting job and ran back into the house. When I came back in, the local station had been doing their usual local farm reports when they broke in with a special report. They admitted it was all a prank, but played all the video, and then showed me looking worried and running back into the house.

“Wouldn’t it be funny if he really did have the Millennium Falcon?” the anchor asked, and then went back to talking about corn futures.

Mom wasn’t impressed with my acting skills and sent me to my room to get ready for school.

Fritz showed up to drive me. When I got into the car, he turned and stared at me.

“You’re a little shit, you know. We already had to call the police and have them arrest two college kids who tried to break into your barn. The local police have blocked the entrance to the park to keep people from getting back into the farm area.”

“More unintended consequences,” I said.

“What are you talking about?”

“My dad told me he planned to talk to me about unintended consequences. This was just supposed to be a fun thing, but it looks like it may be getting out of control.”

“Well, let’s hope that it doesn’t get worse,” Fritz said.

He dumped me off at the back door. We’d gone by the front entrance and there were paparazzi and press waiting there.

Of course, my antics were the talk of the school. Poor Alan was about to explode. He was smart enough to know it wasn’t real, but he was a Star Wars fanboy. I promised to tell him, and everyone else, what happened during the second half of lunch. The first half was taken up with our Junior Class Project.

I was happy to see several people had joined us. The one that made the most sense was Sun. She’d been homeless, and when she said she wanted to help, Brit had invited her to the meeting.

“Before we get started, I know you’ve probably seen the news. My little videos have caused quite a stir. On Saturday, we have our first baseball game at Washington. I’ve been asked to help raise funds. Should we ask people to bring things for our homeless cause? I mean, we’ll have a bus there for the baseball team anyways,” I said.

“The Homeless Coalition also serves the Washington area. I think that would be a good idea,” Brit said.

I left it to Brit and Sun to figure things out. The plan had been to try to fill up a bus next Saturday when we had our first home game against Wesleyan.

Alan wanted to try out his app this week, and Wolf had his first picnic table built. Things were moving along nicely.

As I went to lunch, I received a text from Caryn. It seemed my dad had been caught at work and talked to a reporter. The link to the interview was attached.

“Do you have the Millennium Falcon hidden in a barn?”

Dad gave the guy a look he’d developed over the years that told either Greg or me that we were idiots. I admit, it made me chuckle.

“We had an attempted break-in at the farm, so it had to be moved.”

Good call. We didn’t need people bothering my grandma.

“Sources say that this is just a publicity stunt. Is there any truth in that accusation?”

“Oh ... it’s on the internet, so it has to be real,” Dad said as he started to laugh, and walked away.

The reporter turned to the camera.

“I think we’ll have to leave it to our viewers to decide if this is a hoax or not.”

You could hear the cameraman laughing, and the reporter smirked. It must have been a slow news day if they were goofing off on fluff pieces like that.

Lunch was chaos. Cassidy had to threaten me, because I was on my last nerve with Alan and his questions. “Yes, I auditioned to be in Star Wars ... Yes, I did get to shoot a blaster ... No, I didn’t see any Wookies ... No, I can’t use ‘The Force,’ I tried out for Han Solo and he’s not a Jedi ... I know what my dad said, and like I told him, that’s not how ‘The Force’ works ... It’s all done with CGI. No one can use ‘The Force’ ... Yes, it was fun ... No, I can’t get you a role in the movie ... No, I don’t have Harrison Ford’s phone number.”

At baseball practice, Coach Haskins showed me how to steal a base. At the same time, Coach Herndon taught the pitchers the proper way to pitch out of the stretch.

“At first, I want you to go each time the pitcher releases the ball, to get used to breaking at the right time. We’re going to try two different running techniques. I don’t think either is better than the other. We’ll just figure out which one works best for you,” Coach Haskins said.

“How will we do that?” I asked.

“We’ll time you and see which gets you to second base the fastest.”

“Usually, I just smile.”

Coach wasn’t impressed with my witty comment and made me run five laps around the field to ‘adjust my attitude.’ While I ran, he worked with some of the other players on base-stealing. When I came back, he made me wait my turn as he coached Brock.

“The two techniques to start your run are the directional step and the crossover. Let’s try the directional step first. Now watch how I have my feet,” Coach said, and demonstrated having his feet planted just a little wider than shoulder width. “With the directional step, there’s typically a little hesitation step on the lead leg to turn your foot so that the toe’s pointed to the base you want to steal.”

Coach demonstrated picking up his foot and turning it before he began his run.

“What the directional step does is allow you to shift weight towards the edge of your base of support so you can gain momentum quickly. It is added movement, but it can help create a better mechanical advantage for you to get up to speed faster.”

He had Brock try five runs to second so he felt comfortable doing it. He then timed him for the next five.

“The second is the crossover. You dig in the foot closest to the direction you want to go and then use that lead leg to push off while your trailing leg crosses the lead leg.”

Brock did this several times until he felt good, and then Coach timed him.

“If you’re facing a pitcher that has a weak move to first, or a catcher with a weak arm, what you can do is cheat your lead foot back a little bit,” Coach said and then demonstrated.

His lead foot was now a couple of inches further back than his front foot.

“What this does is opens your hips more, and there’s less body weight in your way as you turn and run,” Coach explained.

Brock tried it with both techniques and it did help his time by a little bit. Brock was faster with the crossover move.

Then it was my turn. Coach had me do both, and my times were actually identical.

“Can I try something?” I asked.

“Tell me what you want to try.”

“In my speed training I do a drill where I begin with my knee on the ground, my back foot planted, and I’m parallel to the line of scrimmage. What I do is use my planted foot to lift and push myself towards the line. In essence it’s the same thing as the directional step, except I don’t have that hesitation,” I explained.

“Show me.”

The drill taught you how to change direction with speed. If you thought about it, that was what base-stealing was. You faced home plate and had to turn to run down the baseline. I pushed off my back foot, and instead of doing the directional step to get my body going in the right direction, I took a full step towards second. I’ll admit that if I hadn’t run the speed drill thousands of times, it would have felt awkward compared to the directional step method.

Coach timed me and I was faster doing it that way. Placing my front leg slightly behind helped. Then Coach showed me I could actually turn the toe of my lead leg slightly towards second base to open my hips even more, to make it easier to run. What slowed you down was that you had to twist your body ninety degrees to run down the baseline. If I cheated and only had to turn seventy degrees, it cut a fraction of a second off my time. Every little bit helped.

The only downside to this was if the pitcher had a good move to first, your lead foot suddenly becomes your back foot and you don’t have the power to push off as you would with your feet squared up.