Chapter 21: Camp David

Sunday July 24

Duke nudged me to let me know he needed to go out. I looked at the clock and saw I’d only gotten four hours of sleep. At least he’d let me sleep in a little bit. When we went down, we found Precious had waited for him.

While the two of them ran around the backyard, I went back up and put on my running gear. When I’d come down again, Duke had found his ball and decided that it had to come on our run. I didn’t feel like negotiating with him and let him take it. He led the way, and when we got to the first corner I about ran him over. Peggy had been working with him to sit at each street crossing because Mom had taken him to the hospital to work with her cancer patients. He’d apparently almost gotten himself hit, so he was relearning a good skill. I’d become a little lax because where we ran there was very little traffic.

He looked up at me and dropped his ball, which bounced out into the street. We looked both ways and then I let him chase his ball down and continue on our run. I quickly got tired of stopping at each corner, so I took him to the park where we ran around the lake. They had a big open field, which allowed me to let him off his leash and tossed his ball for him.

On the third throw, he decided the ducks were taunting him and made a beeline for the lake. He was running full-out when he made a spectacular jump into the water. He all but caught one of the mallards. He chased them across the lake to the island, where he went up the bank and went through the bushes. I heard a woman shriek.

I sprinted around the end of the lake and to the bridge. I pushed through the bushes and found Duke had made a new friend. It was a woman who looked like she was in college and who’d decided to catch some sun. I could see Duke had shaken himself and she was wet, hence the shriek. She must have been trying to get an even tan on her back because she was topless. She heard me push through the bushes and shrieked again.

Our eyes locked and Mr. Happy stood up. That’s never a good thing when wearing running shorts without a jock. I looked closer and could see she was very good-looking. Her hair was somewhere between blond and brown and she’d cut it short so it was off her shoulders. Her cute nostrils flared as she bit her lip and her eyebrows rose, which were all signs that she was interested in me.

I think we both knew where this was going. There was an instant sexual attraction that went beyond her having her breasts on display. I could tell she wanted this to go further when she dropped her hands from covering herself. Mr. Happy suddenly was doing the thinking, and I pulled my shirt off and closed the distance between us.

I told Duke to park it and he went and lay down under the picnic table. While I was distracted, she’d reached up, and as I turned around she caressed my hardness through my shorts. Finding someone to have sex with was just not on my mind when I left this morning. Maybe this was the wild card Tracy had talked about.

I was brought back to the moment when she pulled my shorts down and engulfed my growing member. I was so ready for college. I loved confident women who were comfortable in their sexuality. If they wanted you, they simply did what came naturally. I think that was why I had so much fun in LA. I felt the need to reciprocate, and we soon found ourselves in the sixty-nine position.

I think the thought of being caught and how suddenly everything had happened caused us to reach our satisfaction way too fast. By now, the big brain had figured out that this needed to stop. I didn’t have a condom, and while I loved Coby, he didn’t need a little brother anytime soon. There was also the little fact that I didn’t even know this girl’s name.

I dressed and smiled at her.

“I’ll be here about the same time tomorrow,” I ventured.

I gave my chance of seeing her here again at about one in a thousand. I grabbed Duke’s leash and put him on it. We had to go back to the field to find his ball. I had a smile on my face all the way home when I thought about my fun in the sun.

After church and brunch, Dad and I went to the office. We found Caryn, Megan and Kent in the conference room. We all got comfortable and Caryn kicked off the meeting.

“We’ve gotten all the units rented in the strip mall. The foot traffic the restaurant is creating has caused us to have a waiting list if a unit should become available. We’ve taken over the Quickie Mart and I have the numbers on alcohol, lottery and cigarette sales. I’ve also broken down sales by the hour to see if staying open late is a good idea,” Caryn said, and she handed Dad and me folders.

The later hours were profitable. The only problem was that the three things I wanted to remove were our biggest sellers later at night. Fritz had come up with a plan where we could put in a drive-through, similar to a bank, for nighttime security.

Another option in the packet was to increase hard liquor if we removed cigarettes. It took me all of two seconds to reject that idea. I had the Mennonites working the farm stand. They would never approve of us selling more alcohol.

“Can we make it without those three items?” I asked.

“It will cut into profits, but we should be fine,” Caryn assured me.

From looking at the numbers, it would hurt, but not everything was about the almighty dollar. Before I made my final decision, I turned to my dad.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“If it were me, I would leave them on the shelves,” Dad said. “I worry that you won’t have the margin you need if you have a bad month. I also worry that you’ll lose customers because of it. Caryn thinks that by making it more family-friendly, and with the addition of the produce stand, you should be fine. I understand your thoughts on this. I think in the long term you’ll be okay.”

“Pull them.”

“I figured that would be your answer, so I talked to the suppliers. We can have it all out by mid-August.”

“Tell him about the food bank,” Megan suggested.

“You know that we’ve been giving food to people in need that come into the Quickie Mart,” Caryn said.

I nodded.

“We talked to the county about everything they already have in place, and they put us in touch with the food bank. Long story short, they’re going to take over food giveaways. They’ll also help sign people up for other services that can help them out. We’re setting up a small desk in the back of the store for them.

“We also arranged for any extras we have to be donated,” Caryn explained.

We then talked about the restaurants and farms. Then the conversation turned to Jack Mass and my investments.

“Jack finished up an apartment conversion to condos and sold it to a company that will sell the individual units. That frees up funds we loaned him, and we need to figure out what to do with them. Jack can either roll them back into the business or move them somewhere else. We might have an idea for the ‘somewhere else’ portion. I’ll let Kent tell you,” Caryn said.

“Two ideas, actually. The first is buying a house in LA. Your dad tells me that you have set aside money for a home. What I’d like to suggest is that you pull the trigger now, and I have a specific home in mind. Before Craig Wild was killed, he bought a house for his brother in the Serra Retreat gated community in Malibu. It turns out he’d taken out a loan on it to support his lifestyle, and now that he’s passed, the bank wants their money back.

“Doug doesn’t have the money to buy it from the estate and is afraid that he’ll lose it. He’d like to sell it and possibly rent it from whoever buys it,” Kent explained.

“I’m not sure I would want Craig’s little brother renting my house if he’s anything like Craig. He would have it destroyed in no time,” I said.

“Doug is nothing like Craig. I think you’d like him.”

“How much?” I asked.

“He needs 2.5. It’s an eight-bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bath home, with a two-bedroom pool house, on two and a half acres. There’s currently a vacant lot for sale down the street for 2.5,” Kent said.

Warning bells were going off.

“What’s wrong with it?” I asked.

“It was built in 1960 and hasn’t been renovated, and Doug needs a quick cash sale before the bank sues the estate and puts a lien on the property,” Kent explained.

“Have you seen it?” I asked.

“I found it for Craig. He spent quite a bit more for it.”

“What do you think?” I asked everyone.

“Send your mom out to take a look. She can do what she needs to make sure before you spend the money. She can also meet Craig’s brother,” Caryn said.

“I still have the home inspection report from when Craig bought it in February. Doug has also had an architect draw up plans for the renovation and estimates as to what it would cost, to give you an idea of what you’re facing,” Kent said.

“I’ll talk to your mom and get her out there. In the meantime, I’ll have Caryn and your mom work up plans for the home,” Dad said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“If we do buy it, you might not move into it for five or more years. Do you rent it, flip it, or fix it and flip it?” Dad explained.

“We’ll have to think about that. What’s the other idea?” I asked.

“I want to expand the management portion of your business and offer it to other people. Since I’ve been working with you, I’ve had several people call, wanting me to be their manager. When I was with Craig it was easy, because he and I were more friends than anything else. I learned a lot working for Craig because of his hijinks, and I can promise you I never want another client like him.

“I also know I’m not the guy to run the business. I talked to Frank Ingram at IDC – Public Relations. He and his partners have an interest in collaborating with us. They would buy in and Frank would run it. They would also be our in-house public relations firm. I’ve talked to Kendal Miller and she’d be interested in joining us,” Kent said.

“Do you have a business plan?” I asked.

“Not yet. Caryn said you had to approve it before we could spend resources on putting one together.”

“If Kendal and Frank are involved with it, I’m fine with looking into it,” I said.

“Not going to ask your old man what he thinks?” Dad asked.

“If you were against it you would’ve stopped them from asking me,” I said.

I looked out the window and it was a perfect summer day. I think my wistful look ended the meeting.

“We’re losing him. There’s nothing else that can’t wait till next week,” Caryn said.

“What about the Japanese thing?” Megan asked.

“Oh, yeah. That would make us enough money to pay for some of this,” Caryn said.

“Did Ari get me the TV deal?” I asked.

“Yes and no. They said your character was too scary. Ratings have gone through the roof, but they’ve had to put warnings on some of the episodes. Instead, they want you to do a romance. The good news is that it’ll be filmed in the States. It’s about a girl going off to college and she meets a guy and instantly falls in love with him. Ari said he didn’t think it would be too much of a stretch for someone of your talent,” Caryn said.

“Ari can kiss my...”

“David!” Dad warned. “Do you have any numbers?”

She slid the contract over to Dad.

“Yes. He can do this one.”

“Make sure that’s in dollars and not yen. I got tricked by that once already,” I admitted.

“Nope, dollars,” Megan said.

I was starting to love Japan.

I sent Zoe a text that I was free of my obligations. She said that she was working with the horses and could use my help. I drove the Demon, because ... why wouldn’t I? Right before I was at the entrance to the park, something told me to slow down. It was good that I did because there was a speed trap just over the hill that I would’ve blown by.

I made sure I used my turn signal to enter the park. I didn’t want to give them any reason to give me a hard time, or worse, a ticket. Mom had made noise about what would happen if I were reckless when driving the Demon.

I pulled into the Pearson farm and found the three amigos sitting on the porch, drinking iced tea. They were sweaty and had obviously been working.

“Look who shows up once we’re done,” Phil commented.

“You’ll learn that’s the sign of a good leader,” I informed them.

I ignored their catcalls as I went to the barn to find Zoe. She had a halter on one of the young horses she was training to sell.

“Take him to the rounding pen while I finish up here,” she told me.

“Hello, big boy. What’s your name?” I asked as I let him smell me.

“That’s Casey. He’s my star pupil,” Zoe said.

“Come on, Casey,” I said, and clicked my tongue.

He followed me out of the barn. The gate to the rounding pen was open, so I walked him in and took off his halter. I could tell that Zoe had been working with him because he waited until I’d gotten to the center of the pen and then began to circle it. Uncle John had taught me with cows that they had two pressure points you wanted to focus on. The first was the nose since the cow would follow that. The other was the back hip to get him moving.

With Casey, I used the same pressure points to get him to change directions. I would click my tongue to get his attention and raise my hand towards his nose and he would turn towards the fence. As soon as he reacted, I would drop my hand, because you didn’t want to constantly push him. Each time he turned for me, I would praise him.

“That’s a good boy.”

I could tell he was losing connection with me when he was further out from me, so I shortened the distance between us. Zoe came out to find Casey making small circles around me as we got to know each other. Of course, when he saw her he ignored me and went to the gate.

“You’re going to have to get other people to work with him,” I observed.

“Dad said the same thing. I need to get him to trust me before I’ll let Dad work with him. I see he must like you because he was working with you.”

She wanted me to wash the other horses. They seemed to like the attention, so it wasn’t really a chore. While I did that, Yuri came out.

“We’re going to wash the trucks. Do you want us to wash your car?” he asked.

“Sure.”

“I need your keys so I can move it and clean the inside,” he said reasonably.

I’d just finished washing one of the horses when I heard the Demon start. I heard the engine rev up and rocks fly. I chuckled when I imagined Yuri’s surprise at how much punch my car had. My chuckle turned to a frown when I heard it pull out of the driveway and roar down the road.

I put the horse I was washing in her stall and gave her some feed as a reward for being a good girl. I went out and sure enough, Yuri, Phil and Roc were missing.

I debated which one to call. Yuri was probably driving, so he was out. It was a tossup between Roc and Phil. I picked Phil. The phone rang and then went to voicemail.

“Call me right back, or prepare to die.”

Phil must have believed me because my phone rang.

“Did you call the police?” he asked.

They must have run through the speed trap. Sometimes God does shine down on us.

“No. I take it you were speeding.”

“He didn’t call them. He said we must have been speeding,” Phil said to Yuri.

“I didn’t think I was going too fast,” I heard Mrs. Pearson say.

Mr. Pearson came out of the house and I waved him over.

“Your wife took my car and has just been pulled over by the police,” I told him.

A big smile came to his face as he suddenly had a story he could tell on her at church. It looked like he was going to enjoy it.

“Do you think they’ll book her?” he asked, and then his smile got bigger. “Maybe I can get a copy of the mug shot.”

I wanted proof too. She was the last person I would’ve thought would go joyriding in my car. I could hear the police officer, so I put the phone on speaker for Mr. Pearson.

“Do you know how fast you were going?”

I smiled. It was Greg’s friend Billy. Mr. Pearson was loving his wife’s discomfort. Then it got interesting.

“Ma’am, do you have permission to drive this car?” Billy asked.

“Well ... uh ... not exactly. I’m sure David would be fine with it, though,” Mrs. Pearson tried.

“Phil, hand the phone to Billy,” I said.

“David wants to talk to you,” Phil said.

“Hey, David. I think someone stole your car.”

“Listen, can you do me a favor? Can you cuff her and then take a picture of it? I’ll donate some free meals for you and your fellow officers at Granny’s West,” I said, offering him a bribe.

“I can’t really do that,” he hedged.

“Tell her what I offered you,” I suggested.

She went along with it, but she did it one better: she had Billy put her in the back of his squad car. I would have to remember the look she had because it was way better than my freezing-wet hound dog face. The woman should be an actress.

Billy sent the picture to me and I sent it to Mr. Pearson.

“Don’t send it out. I need this one for a later date,” he told me.

A man of experience. I needed to take notes.

It turned out that Roc didn’t think they had the right wax for my car, so he talked everyone into making a quick run to the auto-parts store. His mom happened to overhear their plan and insisted on driving.

Zoe had brought in the other horse she was training to sell for his bath when her mom and the three bandits came back with my car. Yuri apologized up a storm because he was the one who had asked for the keys. I assured him everything was okay after Mrs. Pearson told me they’d have my car ready for me shortly. I’d learned my lesson and made them give me the keys.

Zoe and I finished up the horses and went to find my car.

“All done,” Mrs. Pearson announced.

I made a big show of inspecting it and then smiled.

“Thanks. It looks great,” I said, which brought smiles to their faces. “I thought Zoe and I could go out to dinner if that’s okay with you?”

“That’s fine,” Mrs. Pearson allowed.

“But...” died on Roc’s lips.

The rule had been that for a date, Zoe and Roc had to go with another couple. I’m not sure if it was the thought that he might get the same privilege, or the look Zoe gave him, but he didn’t make his objection.

“I need a shower,” Zoe told me and went into the house.

I decided to go to my farm to talk to my grandma while she did that. Grandma took me on a tour to show me what was going on. She told me to help her pick some vegetables to take home with me. The timing worked out because when I was loading the trunk, Zoe sent me a text that she was ready.

“Where do you want to go?” I asked once we were driving.

“Let’s pick up food and go to your house,” she suggested.

I introduced her to the Mexican place that had burritos as big as your head. Greg and his family would be home with our parents, so I bought a variety of dishes. I had them separate the order for Zoe and me so we could just drop off the food for everyone else.

When we got home, I dropped off the food and produce my grandmother had sent and we went up to my apartment. Turned out that Zoe was an evil girl and her plans didn’t include eating just yet. I did learn something: the burrito was just as good reheated.

Monday July 25

Peggy wanted to run with me this morning. I offered her cash to take Duke and the boys on a run without me. She made me tell her why and I explained the mystery woman at the park.

“That just confirms you’re a ‘stupid boy,’” Peggy stated.

“What? Why?” I asked.

“Think about it. One of a couple of possibilities is going on. Either something’s wrong with her because she’s willing to have sex with a complete stranger...”

“Hang on. I’m not bad looking,” I said, and flashed her my abs.

“ ... or she knows it’s you and she’s setting you up,” Peggy finished.

“That’s why I’m wearing my body cam,” I said, pointing at my hat.

“Do you have condoms?” she asked.

I showed her I had one in each sock. I wasn’t happy when she made me pay her cash up front. I thought she trusted me more than that.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to find the girl I was calling the ‘mystery woman’ waiting for me or not. I think I was a little relieved when she wasn’t there.

I’d agreed to hold a camp for the football team this week. The plan was to work with different groups each day. Today I had everyone come in. There were over ninety of my teammates who showed up. When you think about it, that’s a lot of boys, given our high school has somewhere around 750 pupils. That meant about a third of the boys came out for football. Sports were a big part of Lincoln High, so it didn’t surprise me.

When I went out to the field to talk to my campers, Jeff Delahey and a camera crew were there waiting. I waved and then ignored them.

“Okay! Gather around!” I called, to get everyone’s attention.

Looking around, there were several unfamiliar faces in the crowd. Not all of them were freshmen. Mom had told me that she’d had a few families want to move here. Part of her showing home and the community was a tour of the new facilities we had on campus. We’d started to attract people who had kids that played sports. If we continued to have success, I was sure that trend would continue.

“Welcome to Camp David. Coach Hope asked that I spend some time with you this week before I leave to play baseball for Team USA. I’ve spent time at a number of football camps and had quite a bit of one-on-one coaching. He felt I should share some of my knowledge with you.”

I then told them what the goals were and who should show up each day. Today I would help them to increase their speed by showing them what my speed coach had taught me. Tomorrow was linemen, Wednesday was for linebackers and defensive backs, Thursday was for the skill players on offense.

“People ask me ‘what’s the secret ... how do you become successful?’ I’ll tell you, I think it’s simple and can be summed up in the word ‘focus.’ It’s being able to go through every day, whether it’s a workout in the weight room, a conditioning run, practice, or in the classroom ... focus on what it is you’re doing on that day, at that moment. It’s not cheating yourself out of a rep, a play, or a practice. Because you’re going to get tired, you’re going to get sore, and you’re going to get bored. But I can tell you there’s something special about us. We’re tough; bulldogs are tough; we always have been. Physically tough and mentally tough. When other people quit, we keep going. When other people give in, we stand back up. Let’s go out and surprise some people this year. The last two years weren’t flukes. We deserved to win State. Let’s go show them what it means to be a Lincoln Bulldog. Today we recommit to winning State. Today we start to dig deep to set ourselves apart.”

My motivational speech had the desired effect. Everyone was pumped up to learn new skills today. I was happy the older guys stepped up and helped the younger and the new teammates. By the end, I could tell they were tired after I ran them. I think some of them wanted to sneak off when they saw Cassidy show up. I’d talked to her earlier and had her up her game today. Boy, was that a mistake. She about killed us.

I met with Coach Hope in his office to give him my impressions from today. I wasn’t totally on board with Jeff and his film crew sitting in, but Coach Hope told me we needed to get used to it.

“Da-vid,” Cassidy said in a singsong voice to interrupt our conversation.

“He’s busy,” her dad said.

“He’s done enough football for today. He has to take me to Beth Anderson’s to go swimming,” Cassidy said.

“Just give me ten more minutes,” I suggested.

“Will you and my dad see each other before practice tomorrow?”

“Yes,” I admitted.

“Would you rather talk to my dad or see all the cheerleaders in swimsuits?”

Sometimes Cassidy made a lot of sense.

“Sorry, Coach. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, and packed up.

Jeff and his crew started to follow me.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked.

“To see you interact with all the high school cheerleaders,” Jeff said with a straight face.

Coach Hope laughed at the face I made. Jeff slowed his roll when he saw the one Cassidy gave him. I think he’d heard the rumors of her taking down guys and didn’t want to get added to the list. I thought he made the right call when he suggested a quick interview before practice.

Cassidy and I just walked in the Andersons’ front door.

“I’m home,” I called out.

“In the kitchen,” Mrs. A said.

She was busy making snacks for all the girls. I looked out at the pool area and saw that I would be the only guy.

“Where’s your husband?” I asked.

“Louisville, Kentucky. They’re apparently having some sort of issue, so he flew out today.”

“That means we don’t have anyone to burn everything on the grill,” I observed.

Mr. Anderson always had fire issues when grilling. I was put in charge of the squirt bottle to put them out, or he would burn whatever he was cooking. Tom Dole had shown me that beer also worked to put out flare-ups. I thought his method had a lot of merit. It motivated you not to burn the food because you got to drink the remaining beer.

“Are you volunteering?”

“No, not really. I’ll kick in some cash for delivery, though,” I said, getting out my money clip.

Mrs. A had no problem taking my money. I don’t think she felt like cooking for this large a group anyways.

Cassidy had gone out to talk to Brook and Beth. I wasn’t surprised when the two of them came into the kitchen. They each claimed a hug and a kiss.

“Go get changed. I want you to meet the new cheerleaders,” Brook told me.

I grabbed my duffle bag to get a t-shirt. Luckily, I kept extra swimsuits at the Andersons’ for occasions like this. I went and changed into a pair of board shorts and a Lincoln High football t-shirt.

Four girls who were on varsity last year had decided not to come out this year. Tracy technically had one more semester of high school, but she and her family had decided that she didn’t need the stress. With her out of the way, Brook had been named head cheerleader. Pam had also decided not to go out. She was still not happy about how it had all gone down when Tracy first had problems. Mona had staged a coup and been named head cheerleader.

The other girl that I was sad to see hadn’t come out was Halle. She’d decided that since she might get one of the movie roles she was trying out for, she didn’t want to commit to cheerleading. If she didn’t get it, she was fine with just being a senior.

One girl was asked not to come back: Ronda Reyes. She was one of the two cheerleaders that hung around with Jan Duke. The other one was Ella Keen, who’d drowned with Jeff. After Jan had moved in with the Antakovs, she’d cleaned up her act, as far as drugs go. Ronda hadn’t, so it was decided not to invite her back.

There was one girl that I was happy to see had joined the team: Lisa Felton. Tracy and Pam had taken her under their wing with the help of Halle, Zoe and Brook. I couldn’t wait to see her in a cheerleading uniform. I was betting it would be as good as the X-rated version of a Catholic schoolgirl uniform she liked to wear to drive the males of our school crazy.

“I want you to meet some of the new girls,” Brook said, pulling me away from my friends.

She walked me over to the younger girls and I froze. Oh ... Dear ... God! April Lacier’s little sister, Jill, was with the group of freshmen. I’d dated April for all of two minutes, and I remembered her little sister practicing her womanly charms on me. When she was in middle school, I could get the big brain to explain that she was jailbait, and Mr. Happy had reluctantly allowed us to run from her. Now she would be in high school. Seniors dated freshmen ... right?

The reason April and I had gone out was because she was tall and athletic. She tended to wear baggy clothes that hid her assets. April had a great body. If I were using my superhuman model skills, I would say she was six feet tall and weighed 160 pounds. People got hung up on women that carry a little more weight than the ‘ideal’ 150 pounds for someone that tall. The extra ten pounds was all muscle, which came from playing basketball; she had a muscular bottom and thighs.

Jill was just a tad shorter than her sister at five-eleven and weighed 150 pounds. She was spectacular. Imagine what Adrienne must have looked like as a freshman in high school. Jill might possibly be the best-looking girl at Lincoln when she enrolled. That’s saying a lot when you have a lineup of older girls that includes Jan Duke, Pam Bell (runner-up in the Teen Miss California pageant), Tracy Dole, Brook Davis, and don’t let us forget Halle James, daughter of the legendary Rita James.

What the older girls had over Jill was the confidence and experience to wear appropriate swimwear. You could tell that Jill had tried way too hard to look sexy and had worn a bikini that revealed too much skin. If I can be so bold ... leave a little mystery.