Chapter 24

"What are your chances of landing a teaching job, Robert?" Todd asked.

Bobby grimaced. "With the hiring cutbacks, and the economy the way it is, I'll probably still be doing bookkeeping at the realty office for at least another year!"

"So, why not stay in school?"

"Hell, Todd, I've already got my Master's. Studying for my PhD would be great and then I could teach at a post-secondary level, but it all costs money and I'm just scraping by with what I'm making now. If I went on, I'd have to do it part time, and that would be at least another four or five years. There's just not a lot of call in the business world for a guy my age without any experience - all my training has been for teaching, even my vacation jobs."

Vanetta was getting nervous. She had told Bobby that Todd could be intense. Having finished the pizza and wings, the seven of them were comfortable in the chairs around the great couch where at least five of them had made love. Bobby was on his third beer, which was two more than he usually had.

"So working there isn't paying enough for you to stay in school?" asked Todd from his seat between Kelly and Laura.

Robert looked back at him, irritated. "Yeah, that's what I said. It's a catch-22 - I can work there the same number of hours and take longer to get the degree, or I can work more hours and take even longer to get the degree 'cause I'd have less time to study."

"Okay," said Todd, "so how attached are you to that job?"

"It's a waste of my time, training and talent," Robert replied shortly. When Todd continued looking at him, he went on, "Look, I'm supposed to be a teacher for Chrissake's! I should be teaching high school kids to do that sort of job! The money would be all right for a high school graduate, but I can't even afford to move out of my home! If it weren't for my folks, I'd be screwed!"

"So, how would you like to come work for TKO?"

Robert gave a short bitter laugh. "Thanks, Todd, but I'm not looking for charity. I want to teach, I want the chance to help kids make the world a better place and I admire what you all do, but I couldn't take money for doing something I'm not qualified for."

"But you're qualified to be a teacher," Kelly said, cluing in to what Todd had in mind.

"Yes, but you aren't running a school here," said Bobby.

"But we do have two high school seniors who need to finish off their last year, and they both have jobs as well. Aren't you qualified to help them finish off their last year of high school?"

Cara's eyes got as big as Ami's. Kelly was talking about them!

"Yeah, I'm certified as a home study instructor and as a tutor, but it would still be charity if you paid more than the going rate for home study."

"We don't do charity," said Todd. "At the risk of pissing you off totally, are you always on such a high horse? We only pay what we think a person is worth, or what the job is worth."

Robert was steaming up, and Vanetta could see it. She had been afraid something like this would happen if Bobby didn't get a chance to get used to Todd's often-blunt manner of speaking. As far as Todd was concerned, he was just asking for information, but people tended to take his questions as criticism.

Kelly could see Vanetta looking worried, and was about to speak up when the phone rang. "I'll get that," she said getting up.

"Bobby, I don't think Todd is talking about giving you charity, honey," said Vanetta. "I know for a fact that they pay fair market value, and you have some unique talents. Why don't you just listen to what he has to say?"

Robert looked at her for a moment, taking in the worry in her eyes. "Yeah," he replied, and then looked at Todd and Laura sitting on the couch. "Look, would you excuse me for a moment?"

He got up and went to the bathroom where he relieved himself, absently watching the stream of piss foaming the water in the bowl as he thought.

She was right, he thought, he hadn't listened, just got on the defensive when Todd started talking about a job. He had done the same thing a few times when offered work by friends of his folks, especially when he found that they were offering him make-work. He wanted to teach, not work in an office, or sell insurance. Sure, he had gotten the job at the realty office himself through the student employment office, but it barely paid a student wage and he knew he couldn't take much more of it.

He washed his hands and splashed water on his face and considered himself in the face reflected in the mirror. He chuckled to himself. Where's your manners, idiot? It's got to be better than a time-share presentation. These people just fed you and they want to give you a job! The least you can do is listen to them!

"That was Reuters," Kelly said coming back to the couch. "They wanted exclusive rights to Ami's pictures, but I told them they could only have first run rights or they could settle for worldwide outside of the North American market."

Robert came back in at this point. "Hey," he said. "I want to apologize for being such a hemorrhoid. I guess that Netta's right. I get a bit defensive and then I get offensive. Instead of shutting you out, I should have heard you out."

Todd laughed. "That's okay, Rob," he said. "Sit down, relax. Kelly's just about to break the news to my star apprentice that she has sold her first international shoot."

Ami looked up hopefully.

"So? What did you tell them, Honey?" asked Laura.

"Ah, well, you know... I wanted to hold out for more, see what AP was offering, but I decided that Reuters would give it good coverage, and start a good name for Ami, so I let them have the exclusive publishing rights."

Todd laughed again. "How much did you soak them for, Kell?"

It was Kelly's turn to laugh. "Full credits, Ami Phillips, TKO Photography, six pictures for three fifty each."

Ami looked crestfallen. "I can't make a living off that. How many pictures did you take while you were going through school, Todd? Did you ever find time to study?"

"I took a lot of pictures, Ami." Todd said. "Sports, news, you name it, wherever a camera could tell the story, I was there, but I had plenty of time to study."

Laura started laughing and everyone turned to look at her, which only caused her to laugh harder.

Kelly's eyes crinkled in a smile as she realized why Laura was laughing.

"I wouldn't complain too much about the pay, Ami," Kelly said. "After the studio percentage, you'll still have about nineteen to spend on what you want."

"I guess that's about fair," said Ami. "I only spent about an hour taking the pictures and another one developing them. I just thought there was more to be made, and if I had to travel down there on my own... I don't see how you can make any money at this."

Laura was laughing so hard the tears were running down her face as she clutched her sides trying to keep from hyperventilating.

"I don't think it's that funny," said Cara. "Ami worked hard at getting the right shots and I don't think that it's fair that she only gets nineteen dollars for her effort!"

"I think Laura is laughing because she's been where you are right now, Ami," Kelly said. "When I first offered her a job as a model I said she might make four fifty an hour, and she said she might as well keep her fast food job."

"Models make more than four dollars an hour," Cara said. "We know that... oops."

Ami's eyes got big again. "Did you mean three fifty as in three hundred and fifty, Kelly?"

"But of course, my dear. Did you think I'd let the first Todd Ayres apprentice ever get less than what she was worth?"

"Oh, shit," said Ami.

"Holy shit is more like it!" said Cara.

Vanetta smiled, shaking her head and remembering what it had been like when she first arrived in Charlotte.

Todd and Kelly had arranged her enrollment at the university, paying for her tuition and textbooks and it had taken her three months to find out. Up till then, she had been in awe of the 'free' American education system. On top of that, they had employed her to give her practical business experience.

In the beginning it had all seemed so overwhelming. Big dollars coming in and big dollars going out. She knew that Todd and Kelly owned stocks and real estate jointly above what the business they had started provided. Vanetta had been to the New York office, but more importantly, she saw the money that the modeling agency generated. Todd's photography, the stuff he liked to do, that brought in incredible amounts of money on its own. In her time as Kelly's assistant, she had seen cars in the big bay, motorcycles, and all sorts of strange products that you'd never find at a Wal-Mart. But Todd had grown restless in the studio in the last few years and has started going out on jobs that appealed to him more than staying in the studio. He rarely did portraits any more--no matter that the people who wanted them were offering well over a thousand dollars an hour for his time. He wanted to be creative. How could she ever explain this to Bobby?

She had seen Todd and Kelly the consummate professionals in their fields and the quiet unhappiness of their private lives.

Then Laura came into their world.

Now, the pieces just seemed to slot into place. Todd and Kelly had found that with Laura, each other was their family, Kelly was coming out of retirement, and Todd had a renewed interest in his work and a new apprentice!

And now, three years later, she had money in the bank, was about to graduate as MBA with honors, and had been offered the presidency of a multi-million-dollar business.

She would have to ask Mama if the Obi-Man had said that Laura was an influence in her life as well!

After the excitement of Ami's first sale had settled down, Laura had put on a pot of tea, and Todd was explaining to Robert just what he wanted from him.

"What we want to do," said Todd "is to bring kids into nursing homes. We think it will be good for both the kids and the seniors, but I know that it won't come easy. Kids need a contest or a prize to get them motivated these days. I've got a plan in mind, and I want to hear from you if it's feasible and if it will work. Then, if it's doable, I want you to run it. On top of that, if their parents allow it, I want Ami and Cara to stay in Charlotte so Ami can be my full-time apprentice, and Cara to work with Kelly. They have a year of high school to finish."

"And then there is the coordination and scheduling of the Williams Sisters and the boys you know to provide musical backup for them, and getting them to nursing homes, hospitals and all charity functions," added Kelly. "And you will be responsible for paying for their lessons as well as insurance and all the trivial details that come with it."

"Don't forget fund raising," said Todd. "We'll pay for the first year, but we need you to shame some corporations into parting with some of their money for the future. Remind them that one day it might be them on the receiving end of what we are trying to establish."

"It wouldn't hurt to get the turtles into this as well," said Laura.

Ami, Cara, Vanetta, and Robert all looked at Laura like she had just landed from another planet.

"Janet's turtles," said Todd. "That's a good idea, Laura. A hands on approach would be much better for the kids than giving money to one of the so-called wildlife preservation associations."

"Yeah," said Kelly. "She could come up here and talk about it, hell, why limit it to Charlotte? If Robert can set up a speaking tour for her, she could talk to a lot more kids."

"You have connections to all the school boards, right, Rob?" asked Todd.

Robert sat still, his eyes wide open, the alcohol long since evaporated from his brain. "I'm really sorry for suggesting that you were looking at me as a charity case," he said. "You're talking about real work here."

Todd chuckled and said, "and you haven't even heard our main idea yet!"

Over the course of the next hour, Todd laid out his plan for convincing the school kids of Charlotte to visit nursing homes, while Bobby used Vanetta's pad and pen to scribble notes.

"Chuck me, Farley," said Bobby after hearing Todd's plan. "You certainly weren't talking about charity. This is a full time job!"

Todd just smiled.

"So, if I got this right," said Bobby, consulting his shorthand notes, "You want to sponsor a contest starting this September for Junior High students in Charlotte."

For the moment, they were all sipping mineral water, having decided the wine would wait until later.

"The basic rules are that each volunteer student will represent his or her class and the school they attend."

Todd nodded.

"You want the students to make three visits of an hour each to the closest nursing home from where they live. Okay, I'm going to change that right off the bat," Bobby said. "Five visits minimum and brownie points for more visits."

Kelly started to say that was too much but Bobby raised his finger and continued. "Three visits of an hour each, Kelly, and the contest will be over in a week. I'm going to make sure that every nursing home is well covered, and restrict it to one visit per week. That way we'll get at least a month and a half out of your prize money, and I think I'll push for an essay after each visit. Just a short one, but listing who they spent time with and what they learned. It would make me feel better as a teacher knowing the kids would be doing some writing, and I already see taking all the good essays and printing them for distribution and possibly running it in the papers. I know from my dad that newspapers love this kind of human interest stuff."

"Okay, Robert," Kelly said. "I see your point, and it would make for some interesting reading if we published it as a 'free for donation' book to help keep the program alive."

"That's sort of what I was thinking, Kelly, though I'm not so big on the 'free for donation' as I am for a set price. I might be a qualified teacher, but remember that my specialty is business."

Vanetta ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Now these prizes," Bobby continued. "That's quite a list. We might have to set a cut off date or some ambitious kids are going to go once a week right up till the end of the school year!"

"What's the down side?" asked Kelly.

"Short attention spans for most, and consequently a less than enthusiastic turnout," said Robert. "I'd suggest running it the first semester. The prizes are well worth it to the students, and four months isn't too long. It also limits the visits to a maximum of 15 weeks, and the grand prize will go to the most ambitious student. Hell, even the second prize is worth fighting for."

Bobby read the list out loud. "First prize for an individual effort: A brand new computer system! 10 second place prizes: 20" color TVs. 50 third place prizes: Sony Portable CD players and two free CDs. 100 fourth place prizes: $50 Gift certificates."

"You think that's enough incentive, Rob?" asked Todd.

"It sure as hell is," said Bobby. "And the added incentives for the classes and the schools is going to ensure the teachers are behind this one hundred percent!" He consulted his notes again.

"1st prize for best school effort: A one day trip to Carowinds for the grade 7 and 8s! 5 second prizes for best class efforts: A movie followed by lunch at Pizza Hut. 15 third place prizes for class effort: Pizza Hut delivers lunch." Bobby took a deep breath. "And then the bonuses for schools, every school that participates receives $1000 towards their arts program. Excuse me for being so blunt, but that is a shit pile of money you're talking about here." He did some quick calculations on his pad. "You realize you're talking about a non profit, no return project here that is going to cost you in the neighborhood of forty-five thousand dollars?"