Chapter 49

David met with his studio handler, Kimberly Osso, an older Italian woman with kind eyes and a friendly smile.

She explained that the day’s interview was with a magazine called The Young Vision, dedicated to youth education. The young girl interviewing him, Nitya Bhatnagar, was still in high school and wanted to talk to him about how he did so well in school. Which had nothing to do with the upcoming movie.

“Why are we doing an interview with an educational magazine?” David asked.

“UAE doesn’t have teen magazines like they do in the States. Here, they are focused on either religion or education. The Young Vision is a bimonthly publication that is a guide to help youth and their parents navigate their education.”

Ms. Osso had arranged for the interview to be held in one of the hotel’s signature restaurants, Ossiano. The hotel had installed a man-made bay called the Ambassador Lagoon, which held 65,000 marine animals. Ossiano featured floor-to-ceiling windows, providing the patrons an underwater view. It had won the award for Best Seafood in Dubai for five consecutive years at the Time Out Dubai Restaurant Awards.

It reminded him of going to the Aquarium of the Pacific back in LA, except Ossiano would serve its customers a 1-star Michelin meal while they watched all the fish.

When David walked in, it was apparent they weren’t open for business. Ms. Osso guided him to the table where they would video his interview. When he sat down, a man in a fancy suit and tie came from the kitchen area.

“Have you eaten?”

“No, and I’m starved,” David admitted.

“We don’t serve breakfast, but let me see what we can come up with,” the man said. “Would you like some tea?”

“Yes, please.”

While they waited for Nitya to arrive, the camera crew adjusted their lights because the aquarium backdrop was causing some unwanted reflections.

Nitya arrived with her dad. She looked unexpectedly young in her school uniform; David would have guessed middle school if he didn’t know she was in high school.

Introductions were made as tea and something to nibble on were brought out. The snack was dates stuffed with almonds, which David had never had before. He liked the sweet, crunchy combination.

Nitya pulled out a large notepad and a pen and got down to business. When David was clear on what she wanted, the interview began.

Nitya: “I read your bio. You attend the University of Southern California as a business major with a minor in film. What can you tell our readers about how to be successful in school?”

David: “Before I share what I know, I want to talk about what I don’t. Many people will tell you a college degree is your ticket to success. I agree that, in the past, it was. But I’m no longer sure that’s still true. It’s made me ask, what will my college degree mean?”

She gave him a look like he was talking nonsense.

Nitya: “That might be true in the United States, but education helps define future success in the UAE.”

David nodded his agreement.

David: “I understand why you’d believe that because you’re getting an education. Your teachers and parents have told you that you need college. Going to a university will provide you with more knowledge on a given subject. It will mean you have more expertise in the subject of your degree. But what’s it worth once you graduate?

“Yes, when you finish school, the competition for jobs that require a college degree has become fierce. And if you have a clear goal, a degree may very well be what you need to succeed. But most of us have no idea what we want to be when we become adults.

“Many people graduate and end up with a job in something other than their field of study. I’m just saying that people become much less impressed with what degree you have or where you got it from after a few years out of college.”

Nitya: “Are you advocating against getting a college degree?”

David: “I’m saying, ‘I don’t know.’ It may or may not be worthwhile.”

Nitya: “So, what do you know?”

David: “Life’s not easy. In my first year of high school, my mother got sick, and my parents didn’t have health insurance. I won’t bore you with the details, but I had to go to work to help support my family. I took it upon myself to figure out how to pay for my mother’s treatment, put food on the table, and everything else while still attending high school.

“At the time, I could have wallowed in self-pity and despair. I might have shaken my fist and complained that life wasn’t fair. Do not fall into the entitlement trap of feeling like you’re a victim. Believe me when I say that it’s easy to do.

“I had done everything asked of me and found it wasn’t enough. Everyone will face that at some point in their life. For me, it happened much sooner than it happens to most. Be it not getting the promotion you thought you deserved, flunking a class you tried your best in, or, in my case ... getting bitten by real life.

“I’m just saying that the sooner you come to grips with the understanding that ‘it’s up to you whether you succeed or not,’ the sooner your life will be better. It has nothing to do with a piece of paper that says you survived college.”

Nitya: “What are you saying?”

He chuckled and shook his head.

David: “Don’t let what other people think define you. Step back and contemplate what you want out of life. If it’s not going to college, then don’t go. I’m having a lot of fun, and college is a great way not to grow up too soon. But I could make a lot more money if I stopped attending today. Going to college will cost me more than I will probably make the rest of my career after college because of the opportunities I’m missing.”

Nitya: “Not everyone is a movie star.”

David shrugged.

David: “You’re correct, but that’s not the point. The point is, when I was in high school, I wasn’t, either. But I started down a path that has gotten me to where I am today. I would never have looked for a part-time job if my mom hadn’t gotten sick. Now, I’m not saying that I wouldn’t have eventually starred in movies. What I am telling you is it might have been years down the road.

“Start working toward what you really want. It’ll be hard work—nothing in life is worth it unless you put in the sweat equity. Take it a step at a time, and you’ll be surprised by what you have accomplished in one, five, or ten years. But it needs to start sooner rather than later.”

Nitya didn’t look convinced, but David doubted most teens would be. He’d had to learn this from his uncle at his lowest point. Looking back, David hadn’t fully embraced Uncle John’s teachings because he still didn’t know enough to know what he didn’t know.

Thankfully, he’d embraced a few key concepts, like goal setting, which had changed his life. If he hadn’t, David might’ve become a pudgy wallflower being bossed around by his best friend Tami. Hell, he might even have ended up as a thirty-year-old virgin. How sad would that be?

David: “Let me put it another way. What do you want to do when you grow up?”

Nitya: “I’d like to help my family run their business. We sell rugs in thirteen locations across the UAE. I have no brothers, so my sisters and I expect to inherit the family business one day.”

David: “Running a business isn’t easy. I’ve started a few myself, and there are many moving parts from sales to accounting to management.

“I want to point out that most university professors are very good at teaching the basics. Like in accounting, there are debits and credits. They’re very good at that. What they’re not as good at is the real-world stuff. We have a saying: ‘Those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach.’ It’s from George Bernard Shaw’s 1905 stage play Man and Superman.

“Educators will push back, saying I’m denigrating their profession. I don’t mean to because I respect teachers. But your dad probably knows his business better than any professor.”

Nitya: “My dad started the business with an old truck and sold rugs at a bazaar. He never finished high school. But he wants me to attend college, and I will be the first in my family to do so.”

David: “I go to college for a similar reason. My mother pushed me to go, and I do it partly to honor her. If I were you, I would go. Make your father proud. But in the meantime, why don’t you start working part-time for your dad? Learn how the business is run. That way, when you graduate, you’ll have a leg up on someday running his business.”

Nitya: “That sounds like a good compromise.”

The man in the suit turned out to be the restaurant owner. After Nitya and her dad left, he joined David for breakfast.

Since Ossiano was a seafood eatery, they were served avocado toast with steamed salmon as a starter. Next up were lobster scrambled eggs with a wasabi Hollandaise sauce and sides of shrimp and scallop tacos with pineapple salsa.

David made reservations for his entourage to have dinner before Phil and Ruth joined him at the birthday party that evening.

Phil and Ruth had eaten breakfast and were now talking on the balcony.

“Why aren’t you with my brother?” he asked.

Technically, she was supposed to be, but Ruth’s mind had gone into a maelstrom after the ‘rain check’ comment. Until then, she’d been mentally high-fiving Cassidy for planting the ambush BJ in her mind. With her lips wrapped around his ... David had looked at her like she wasn’t just part of the furniture.

“Gah!” Ruth blurted with her hands going heavenward, but she caught herself and gave Phil some side-eye to see if he’d witnessed her outburst.

“Un-be-fucking-lievable. You like him,” Phil guessed correctly. “And he left you hanging without telling you he liked you back.”

Ruth was confused. How did Phil figure that out?

“What makes you say that?”

“I went to high school with the dork. Do you know how many girls had David randomly smile at them, and then he kept walking down the hall? They went from ‘Oh, my God! He noticed me,’ to ‘I’m not good enough for him,’” Phil said, leaning over and hugging Ruth’s shoulder with a sympathetic look.

Her eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out Phil’s role in all this. Then her eyes went wide.

“You man-whore!”

It was Phil’s turn to look surprised, and he barked out a laugh.

“David’s friends used to beg him to send them his castoffs. I was just smart enough to offer the girls a sympathetic ear. At first, it didn’t actually get me any action. Still, after he graduated, I was the last Dawson standing, so to speak,” Phil shared.

“And you had built up all that girl goodwill as a nice guy.”

Phil gave her a cheeky grin and shrugged.

“I’m just saying that David’s not your only option while we’re in Dubai.”

Ruth now understood why Cassidy enjoyed hurting boys. When David arrived from his interview, Phil was about to lose his left nut. David walked up to Ruth, leaned down, and kissed her.

“Sorry, I had to run this morning.”

Ruth saw Phil’s look of disappointment that she wasn’t about to become a vulnerable girl he could seduce. Just then, their daytime butler, Tabitha, appeared.

Fritz had handed Ruth an extensive file on the people David would come in contact with. It said the suite was staffed by three butlers. Ahmed, the evening butler, was the hotel manager’s cousin and had just graduated from college. Ali was actually in college and studying to be an engineer. After completing his other duties, he used the late nights to do his schoolwork.

Tabitha had been hired from London, where the household she’d worked in had a slight change. The man of the house had gone to jail for embezzlement, leaving his wife penniless. A service had put her in contact with the hotel, and she decided to accept the position in Dubai. Tabitha had done it partly because she had nothing keeping her in London, neither family nor love interest. She’d decided a change of scenery was needed.