Chapter 127

John greeted me with a big smile when I got to his office, pointed to a chair, and we started talking about the weekend and how well things went. He was saying how valuable the advertising we got out of it was, so I asked, “Do you think that we’ll be able to get that much exposure often?”

“No, I’m sure that we won’t. There’ll be times when things won’t work out that well, but as you can see, the concept is right by what happened on your first weekend.”

“Is there something that I can do to encourage things like that?”

“Yes there is, that’s why I wanted to talk to you today, but I want to tell you again how pleased everyone is by the way you handled yourself first. You showed a level of maturity that surprised everyone, but I’m curious about something. You didn’t seem to be bothered by all the attention. Why is that?”

“My mom teaches dancing and she would teach me some moves when I was growing up, then we would show those moves to her next class. I was so busy paying attention to the moves that I got used to not paying attention to the people who were watching and it’s sort of that way now. Being in front of a bunch of people just doesn’t bother me.”

“So you don’t even notice that there are people around you?”

“I notice that people are there, but I can tune them out if what I do is important and just concentrate on those I’m with.”

“That’s amazing. So even though it was the first time that you did that sort of thing, you weren’t bothered by people staring at you and wanting to talk to you?”

“I was a little nervous in the beginning, but everyone was nice and it turned out to be fun for the most part.”

He shook his head, then, “What about Carol, the girl who showed up at your room. I watched you talking to her outside the entrance Saturday morning. Most guys would be a little nervous talking to a girl as pretty as she is. You didn’t seem that way at all, why not?”

“My girlfriend, my sister, and my mother are all pretty, so is Nell. I guess that I’m used to talking to pretty girls.”

“So you think that Nell is pretty?”

“Sure, don’t you? She’s not only pretty, but I love the way she moves. She sometimes reminds me of a cat.”

“That’s interesting. I’m glad that you feel that way about her. She told me about your girlfriend by the way; she’s that singer, Kristen Baker, isn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“Well, you’re right about her being beautiful, and she’s okay that you’re staying with Nell?”

“She says that she is.”

“You are a fortunate young man. You’ll have to tell me how you worked that out one day, but let’s get back to the present. The way you dealt with Carol when she showed up at your room proved that you can think fast, but why did you turn her away? Was it because of your girlfriend, Nell, or what?”

“No, I was tempted, but I work for you guys and it wouldn’t have been right.”

“Why not, she was obviously attracted to you and no one would have known.”

“Well, I would have known. Besides, she wasn’t attracted to just me, she was attracted to who she thought I was. She saw my picture in the paper and on TV, and I’m sure that she thought I was some big deal or something, and that wouldn’t be fair to her.”

He laughed before he said, “You’d better understand something, young man. You ARE a big deal. That’s who we want you to be and we’re spending a lot of money making sure that you are. Your name and picture has been in every newspaper and on TV in every state including Hawaii, Alaska, and even Puerto Rico.” It was the first time that I realized how far reaching this was. I was stunned and all I could say was, “Oh!”

I guess that my amazement showed, because he was still smiling when he continued, “Look, Pete, you’re a good looking guy, and I’m sure that it’ll happen with girls you meet in the store as well. Have fun if it does, but be careful. The ones I want you to concentrate on are girls like Carol. We call them lead girls, and we use them in a lot of situations. Girls like her are special and we carefully pick them. Along with being attractive, they are always intelligent. They are daughters of important people more often than not, and they are always well connected in the community. We pick them because of that and we pay them well. Don’t tell anyone, but they make almost as much as the assistant managers. Those are the girls who you need to concentrate on. They’re the ones who can make those kinds of things happen, so I want you to hit them hard.”

I looked at him for a minute before I asked, “Exactly how hard?”

“As hard as it takes. Leave them drooling if you can. Do even more if that’s what it takes.”

“That doesn’t seem fair. They’re not going to fall for any antics from me if they’re as smart as you say they are.”

“Your antics will have little to do with it. Your good looks and fame is going to draw them to you, and they are going to want you to be a notch on their belt, or bra, or whatever they use to keep score. They are used to getting what they want, so be careful, have fun, but remember who you are and why you’re there.”

“So you hired me because you think that I’m good with girls?”

“I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t part of it, but there’s more. You’re not only good-looking, you’re smart, and most importantly you don’t mind taking direction. It’s something that I forgot about when I tried to get a pro to take the job. Most professionals have big egos and they don’t like people telling them how to behave. Nell pointed it out to me, and told me how you didn’t mind taking guidance from us. That’s why I didn’t try to force the issue. I’ve told you before that there’s a lot riding on this. The economy is struggling right now. This youth program could make a big difference and we’re depending on you to help us turn things around.”

“I can really help that much?”

“Darn right, you can. Do you know how important the advertising was that we got from what you did over the weekend? It’s what we hoped would happen, and it’s only the beginning, but let’s get back to what you asked. You wanted to know if there’s something you can do to make things happen like they did over the weekend. Let me explain how it happened. Whose idea was it to bring the cheerleading squad to perform on Saturday?”

“It was Carol’s idea.”

“What about Sunday?”

“It was the same thing, I guess. Debby thought that I might be able to do something about getting funding for her glee club.”

“Exactly, and let me tell you why she thought that you might. I talked with both managers to find out what their lead girls were interested in, and I had them tell the girls to drop hints to you about making it happen. They did, and you followed through by checking it out with Nell. That was the right thing to do, and she authorized it, but as far as the girls know, you’re the one who made it happen. Once the word gets around that you can do those kinds of things, and believe me it will, you are going to be approached by every lead girl who has an agenda, and trust me, every one of them does, so all you have to do is let the store manager know when they tell you what it is. He’ll either authorize it or he’ll contact Nell or me. We’ll decide on how to proceed, but you’ll get credit for making it happen and it’ll get easier every time as the word gets out.”

“You know, this sounds exciting.”

He stood up and with a big grin he said, “You’re right, it’s exciting as hell. That’s what we hoped would happen and as I’m sure you know, that’s why I wanted a professional instead of you to represent us. Well, I was wrong. You’re doing a great job. The TV stations both sent us the footage they got on Saturday and Sunday. We had a teleconference meeting with the Board last night and they were very impressed with how you handled yourself, so much so that we’re going to make a proposal to your agent about some changes in your involvement with us.”

“What is it?”

“It’s going to require a change in your contract. We have a meeting with your agency tomorrow. I’ll be there with our lawyers, so will Nell, and I assume that you will be as well.”

“Nell will be there?”

“Yes, she’s flying in for the meeting. You can call her when we finish here and she’ll tell you all about it.”

“It sounds important.”

“It will be. Our lawyers are drafting a proposal right now. It’ll be a big change for you if we can get your people to agree on things.”

“Can’t you tell me what it is?”

“You’ll know about it soon enough, I’d rather wait until it’s complete. Do you have any other questions?”

I thought for a minute, then I said, “I actually do. Are you sure you’re okay about this thing with Nell and me?”

He looked thoughtful too, and he said, “Yeah, I guess it’s time we had that talk. The answer to that question is yes, I’m fine with it. It made life easier for both of us. You changed her, Pete. You changed her a lot, and I want to thank you for it because it’s all been good.” He turned and looked out the window for a minute before he continued, “She told me that she explained about my personal lifestyle preferences to you. May I assume that you’ll keep that to yourself?”

“Of course, I will; it’s none of my business.”

He turned back to me and said, “Thank you, she said that you would. Is there anything else?”

“What about other people in the company, does anyone know that I’m staying with Nell?”

“No one knows except Sarah, Cindy, and me.”

“About Cindy; I get the feeling that you’re going to ask her to come with me to the stores on weekends. Is it true?”

“Nell says that you need an assistant and she thinks that Cindy would be ideal. How would you feel about it?”

“I think it would be fine, have you talked about it with her?”

“Nell wanted to talk to her guardian first.”

“I’m pretty sure that he’d be okay with it. Would you like me to ask her about it?”

“Not yet, I want you to talk to Nell about it first. Is there anything else?”

“No.”

“Then I want to talk with you about something that has come up. You impressed some members of the Board so much because of your success over last weekend, that they want to get to know you better, so I’m planning a dinner party this Saturday night, and I’d like you to be there and bring your family with you.”

“You want to invite my whole family?”

“Yes. The Board is aware that your mother and sisters are part of the Stone Agency, and your father works with us in a round-about way as part of the airline consortium.”

“Everyone’s been out of town, but they’re back now, so I’ll ask them tonight. Is it like, formal?”

His phone buzzed just then. He pushed a button and said, “Put it through,” when Sarah said, “It’s Foxworthy from Montreal,” then he said, “This is important, I have to take the call,” when a button on his phone lit. “Nell will tell you about the dinner party,”.

I stepped outside and called the agency. Shelly answered and said, “All three of them are here,” when I asked if Mom was there. “Erin and your mom are in her office talking with some people, and Amy is on a conference call. Your mom said to tell you to call your dad at home if you called.”

I called him. It was great talking to him and we decided to get together, so I drove to the house. I parked next to my Mustang in my usual spot behind the garage, and I spotted Dad sitting in a lawn chair on the lawn, talking on a cell phone when I went through the back gate, so I walked up behind him. I guess that he was talking to Mom because he said, “I miss you too, Babe, I’ll try to call you later.”

I must have surprised him because his body jerked and he dropped the phone when I said, Hi, Dad.” There were a lot of hugs and back-slapping then, and we started bombarding each other with questions. I asked how the 747 training class had gone and the about the upcoming airline job, and he did the same to me about what was going on with Burgers and how I was getting along with Nell.

We decided to go to a coffee shop for lunch after a while. We ate and sat there talking for so long that we were getting nasty looks from the waiter, so we came back home and talked some more.

Nell called around three o’clock and said, “Hi, John told you I was coming in tonight, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, he said that there was some kind of meeting tomorrow. What’s it all about?”

“I’ll tell you all about it tonight, but I need you to do something right now. I just called Megan at work to see how the new job was going. She’s upset about something, and she won’t tell me what it is. It sounds serious, Pete. I need you to get over there right away.”

“What time are you getting in tonight?”

“Around eleven, I’ll call you when I arrive. Please get going, Pete, I have a bad feeling about this.”

I said to Dad, “Something has come up, I gotta go,” when she hung up.

He asked, “Trouble?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Do you need some help?”

“No, I think I can handle it.”

“Will you be back? I’d like us all to have dinner together tonight, I’m gonna fix some steaks and make some SOP” (special occasion punch).

“I think so, I’ll let you know.”

I drove over to the art gallery and went inside. The place was bigger than I expected. It was beautifully decorated and there were pictures hanging everywhere. A skinny guy with a full beard was standing behind a counter talking on the phone. He glanced at me, held a finger up and he smiled and asked, “May I help you?” when he finished the conversation.

“I’d like to speak with Megan.”

“May I ask who’s... , “ He suddenly raised his eyebrows and stared at me for a second, then said, “Oh, she’s, uhh, in the back.” He nodded toward an opening in the rear and I could feel his eyes follow me as I went through it.

Megan was working on a canvas and she frowned and turned away instead of saying hello when she saw me.

Something was obviously wrong, and I went to her and put my arm around her. She stiffened at first, then she sighed and put her head on my shoulder. I held her as she slowly relaxed, then I said, “Okay, tell me what’s the matter.”

She pulled away from me, straightened up, and said, “Nothing, everything’s fine.”

I stared at her for a second, then I pulled her around until she was facing me, and said, “Bullshit! Something’s the matter. We’re family now, and we don’t keep things from each other. You have to tell me what’s going on.”

We stared at each other for almost a full minute before she sighed again, and said, “My mother came by today and took my car.”

“She took your car! Why, was the car hers?”

“No, I paid for it with my own money, but she had to sign for it, so her name is on the title.”

“You mean she just took it without telling you?”

“Yes, then she called me on my cell phone and said that she had it so that I wouldn’t report it stolen.”

“How could she do that to you?”

“She has her own set of keys. She said she needed it, and that’s just how she is.”

“Why would she need your car?”

“She said that she had a problem with hers, but knowing her and what’s going on at home, it was probably repossessed.”

“That’s awful. How does she expect you to get around?”

“She told me to have my rich new guardian take care of me and hung up. I’m so pissed off that I can’t stand it, but I don’t think that there’s anything I can do about it.”

She was so angry that she was shaking, so I said, “Don’t worry, I’m sure there’s something we can do.”

“I don’t think so that and I’m walking for the time being.”

“Like I said, don’t worry, we’ll figure something out.”

Eyes blazing, she grumbled, “There’s nothing to figure. I shouldn’t have told you about this. It’s my problem and I don’t want you getting involved or asking Nell for help.”