Chapter 35 -- Unexpected Trip

Oh, we're big rock singers.
We got golden fingers.
And we're loved everywhere we go.
We sing about beauty,
And we sing about truth
At ten thousand dollars a show.

--The Cover of the Rolling Stone (Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show)

The next day, June called and told me that she wasn't going to be visiting for a few days.

"What's up, Baby?" I asked, knowing that June had no obligations to come over, and realizing that June didn't just call to say she wasn't coming over.

"Oh... nothing," June said unconvincingly.

"Tell Doctor Oogie about it," I coaxed.

Despite June's low spirits, I heard a bit of a chuckle from June. However, her voice almost immediately turned serious again. "I got a letter from Tiny."

Oh, shit. June NEVER called Archy by the nickname that she claimed to hate. "What's up with Archy?" I asked.

"Oh... nothing."

I didn't answer, but decided to allow June to take her time. After a minute or two, June finally continued. "He says that his coach is being hard on him."

"That's what coaches are supposed to do," I pointed out.

"I'm talking about his curriculum," June said. "Archy wants to use football as a way to get a good education and maybe a good job. He loves animals and was thinking of becoming a veterinarian. His coach, however, is forcing him to take the jock classes... the ones that don't teach anything and are there just for scholarship students to easily ace so they can continue playing."

I could see where June was heading with this. From my short friendship with Archy, I knew him to be a very attentive student, even though we shared no classes together.

June continued. "If Archy goes along, the diploma he eventually gets will be essentially worthless. If he doesn't go along, the coach has threatened his scholarship."

This wasn't fair! "That sucks!" I protested.

"Tell me about it!" June agreed.

"What sucks?" Kristen asked, walking out of the bedroom.

I put my hand over the transmitter and gave Kristen a quick summary of my discussion with June.

Immediately, Kristen took the phone out of my hand. "June, this is Kris... I'll be picking you up at your house in..." She looked at her watch. "Forty-five minutes. I need to make some phone calls."

Kristen didn't wait for an answer, and hung up the phone.

"Jim, pack an overnight bag for us. Go downstairs and get a change of clothes for June. Ask Lynette if she wants to come with us. We'll use her car."

"What's happening?" I asked.

"I told you what I want, Jim," Kristen said, almost snapping at me. She was surprised that I didn't just follow her directions blindly. "Now, get!"

Dismissed, I went to the bedroom to follow Kristen's directions. I looked in Kristen's closet, and didn't know what kind of outfit that she'd want.

As if Kristen were reading my mind, she called out, "Jim, I need the grey button down shirt and the matching pants. They're on the right side of the closet near the front. Don't forget underwear!"

I found the outfit that Kristen wanted and then packed a pair of slacks and one of the collared shirts of mine that the girls seemed to like.

As I left the bedroom, Lynette was already in the living room with a small overnight bag. "I've got an outfit for June, Jim," she said. "What's going on?"

Kristen was talking on the phone. "How soon can you get to Lafayette? Really? What's his name?"

I shrugged at Lynette.

Kristen turned her attention from the phone to the two of us. "I'll be downstairs in a few minutes, Lynette."

Lynette shrugged back at me as we were summarily dismissed by Kristen.

On the way downstairs, I told Lynette what little I knew about the conversation I had with June and Kristen's taking charge immediately afterward.

"Lafayette? Kristen's going to Purdue!" Lynette said.

I was a bit surprised, and hadn't made that connection.

Almost as soon as we got to Lynette's car, Kristen stormed out of the building. "Why aren't you two in the car already? Come on, you guys!"

"What's going on?" I demanded.

"Just get in the car! Lynette, we need to stop at June's first."

The three of us got into Lynette's vehicle, and I sat in the back. "I'm driving you guys to Purdue?" Lynette asked once we were out the security gate.

"No," Kristen said. "From June's, we stop at the air field outside town."

"Your uncle Jerry?" I asked.

"Yeah, he was already at the hangar and was just going to go for a joy ride. He said he'd be happy to take us to Indiana."

"What are we going to do at Purdue?" I asked.

"Set some things straight," Kristen said, her eyes flashing her anger.

I had never been to Purdue University before. I knew they had a nationally ranked football team, and I had been proud when Archy had been accepted on their team. He wasn't a starter, but June said that his coach told him that he had great potential.

The only person in our entourage that seemed to know what she was doing was Kristen. From the air field in West Lafayette, she arranged for a cab to take us to the campus. When told how long it would take for a cab to arrive, Kristen hung up and called a limo company that had an advertisement at the hangar. The limo arrived about five minutes later.

"Are you familiar with Purdue?" Kristen asked the driver.

"Yeah," the driver said.

"Take me to the administration building."

"Yes, ma'am."

Kristen didn't explain what she was about to do. I've seen her headstrong before, but there was a determination in her right now that was unusual. June, Lynette, and I looked at each other, not totally understanding what was happening.

Once at the administration building, Kristen told Lynette to stay with the limo and check us into the University Inn, which was nearby. Kristen already had reservations for a suite of rooms and a friend of Kristen's would pick Lynette up from there and bring her to us.

I was surprised, but we all followed Kristen's lead, and June and I followed Kristen as she started walking toward a red brick building.

A man that was standing nearby noticed Kristen and said, "Excuse me, are you Miss Kristen Swift?"

"I am," Kristen said, looking at the man warily.

"Mike Shapiro sent me to find you," the man replied. "My name is Willard Keesan, and his law offices contacted me. I'm with the financial aid department."

Kristen smiled and offered her hand. "These are my companions, Jim Crittenhouse and June Rodgers."

"Kris, Mike told you that you didn't need to make this trip. We've already been contacted and your demands are already being worked on."

Kristen seemed surprised. "Really?"

"Your father has influence, Miss Swift."

"What demands?" I asked.

"We've arranged for the cancellation of Archy Jonas' scholarship," Willard said.

"Canceled?" June cried. She looked at the three of us, horrified.

"I'm covering his tuition, housing, and living expenses by underwriting a guaranteed student loan," Kristen explained.

"He'll have to forgo some things," Willard said. He looked around nervously.

"His perks," Kristen said, matter-of-factly.

"May I take the three of you to my office? I think we should not be having this discussion out here."

"How far?" Kristen said, a bit suspicious and eying the building she had been ready to enter.

"A few blocks from here," Willard promised. "It's really taken care of."

Kristen looked at June and me. June was still a bit shocked at what was happening so quickly in front of her. I looked at Willard and nodded slightly to Kristen.

"Thank you, Mr. Keesan," Kristen said. "Your office."

Willard Keesan's office was close enough to walk, actually.

Once inside the office, we were led into a conference room.

"Miss Swift, as Mike told you, you didn't really need to come. We work these sort of things every day."

"Do your every day things include charges of fraud, malfeasance, and offering enticements outside the bounds of the NCAA rules?" Kristen asked.

Willard blanched. "There is no fraud or malfeasance involved, Ms. Swift."

Kristen had fire in her eyes. "A freshman's coach has told him that he could lose his scholarship if he doesn't sign up for make-work classes. He came to this respected university to get an education. In return, he will offer his athletic skill to your Boilermakers. You are now denying him the education that you promised him."

"I think the student misinterpreted his coach."

"Shall we get Archy Jonas and the coach in question right here?"

Willard decided to change the subject. He reached into his briefcase and pulled out some papers. "On his application, Mr. Jonas has indicated a desire to eventually enter our School of Veterinary Medicine."

Kristen looked at June, who simply nodded.

"That's correct," Kristen said.

"I'm sure our counselors will be able to help Mr. Jonas to arrange a schedule that is appropriate for the discipline that he has expressed an interest in. He doesn't have to declare a major..."

"What perks was he offered?" Kristen asked, interrupting the man.

"The university officially has a policy that forbids the offering of gifts to members of our sports program."

I was confused. I thought that Willard had said that Archy would have to forgo his perks.

"Mike told me how the game is played. If it's not the university, it's the alumni committee or somebody else. I don't fucking care who offered something to Archy. I'm more interested in what he was offered."

Mr. Keesan looked ashen.

We were interrupted by a secretary. "Mr. Keesan, Daniel Swift is on the phone asking if his daughter has arrived."

Before Willard could answer, Kristen took charge. "Forward Daddy's call to this room. I'll talk to him."

The secretary was surprised, and looked at Mr. Keesan, who simply shrugged.

As I said, this was the side of Kristen that I didn't get to witness very often: "take charge and ambush" or "overwhelm and conquer." There was a side of her that was ruthless when confronting a situation that she didn't like.

The phone buzzed a few moments later and Kristen casually picked up the phone. "Daddy? Thank you... yes. I'm talking about that right now. I'll call you if I need you. I love you, too. You're sweet!"

Kristen turned to the lawyer that had lost charge of the situation. "Mr. Keesan, I'm not interested in trying to trick you into admitting knowledge of any offers that were made unofficially to Archy Jonas. I'm here basically for his benefit. I will talk with Archy later on, and if he wants to continue playing football despite the fact that he is no longer bound to a scholarship, he will. June has told me that he had always wanted to play for the Boilermakers."

Kristen looked at June and smiled.

"My company, KISS Holdings, is underwriting all financial aid to Archy Jonas to an amount equal to his old scholarship. This will include housing and living expenses, and any and all perks that would normally be offered to him as a scholarship recipient. KISS will also pay Purdue University the standard service fee for managing the student loan. Standard loan terms apply in that no payments need to be paid until one year after Archy leaves Purdue, and will terminate ten years afterward. The interest rate for the life of the loan is one percent. Do you have any questions?"

"One percent?" Mr. Keesan sputtered. "The prime interest rate is..."

"The loan is already backed by KISS," Kristen interrupted. "Purdue is getting a service fee for processing the loan, and the one percent is a bonus on top of that fee. Purdue has no exposure with this loan, and can only gain--even if only a relatively small amount--from it."

There was a small amount of haggling of the finer details, but it was obvious that Kristen was on top of things.

When the discussion was ended, Mr. Keesan seemed to have a new respect for Kristen. He offered each of us a handshake as we started to file out of the conference room.

Before Kristen left, she turned to Mr. Keesan. "By the way, my friends and I would appreciate it if you could secure us a University car for the next twenty-four hours. You can bill KISS at your normal rates."

"Sure thing, Ms. Swift."

Mr. Keesan went to his secretary and whispered something to her. She nodded and got a pair of keys from her purse, and Mr. Keesan handed them to Kristen. "It's the dark blue Buick in the parking lot."

"We're not taking your secretary's car, are we?" I asked.

"Well, Mr. Crit..."

"Crittenhouse," I offered.

"Mr. Crittenhouse, it's the University's car. Another will be sent to replace hers in about three hours, and she'll get her car back when you leave."

The secretary shrugged and didn't look too put out.

"Thank you, Mr. Keesan."

"Do you know where we would be able to find Archy?" Kristen asked.

"You could try his dormitory at the Hilltop Apartments, or the football field," Mr. Keesan answered. He looked thoughtful for the moment. "They had practice earlier this morning. So he may be at his apartment or having lunch."

"Can you please meet my companion, Lynette Robbins, and explain to her how to find Archy's apartment? She was going to meet us with one of the lawyers my father secured at the other building."

"Certainly, Ms. Swift."

Kristen nodded and the three of us left. We found the Buick and Kristen drove. Kristen seemed to know her way around Purdue, as she drove straight to the Hilltop without having to consult a campus map.

"Have you been here before?" I asked.

"Will and I spent some time here a couple of years ago," Kristen answered. "He was thinking of attending here."

"Is that how Mr. Keesan knew your father?"

"Uh, huh," Kristen said, smiling. She asked June, "Which building is Archy staying at?"

"Building five," June answered.

"Ahh, that would be at the top of the loop," Kristen said.

Kristen didn't park in the parking lot, but parked illegally closer to one of the buildings.

"Isn't this illegal?" June asked.

"Not for University cars," Kristen answered. "That's why I asked for one instead of getting a rental."

June and I giggled at that.

The three of us, led by Kristen, entered the building. June knew Archy's apartment number, and we knocked on his door.

The man that opened the door was enormous. He was big, black, and must have had about twenty-five pounds on Archy. "Yeah?"

June took the initiative. "I'm Archy's girlfriend from Illinois," she said softly. "These are my friends. Are you Sam?"

The large man smiled. "You that chick June?" He turned around. "Hey, little guy! Your old lady is here!" He opened the door wider and let us in.

The apartment that I was looking at was unlike any dormitory that I had envisioned. It had a separate living room, two bedrooms, and even its own bath. It was truly an apartment.

Archy came out of the bedroom wearing only his boxers. "June!" he said, running toward his girlfriend. He picked her up and they spent about two minutes kissing.

While Archy and June were getting reacquainted, I offered my hand to Sam.

"Let me guess," Sam said. "You that guy they call 'Oogie, ' and the other one must be Kristen. Am I right?"

I smiled. I could see my reputation was getting wider thanks to Archy. "Yeah."

"Archy's playing at the Marriott tonight."

"Trumpet?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Just him, a piano, and a drum. They do some old jazz stuff."

"Cool!" I said, grinning. I couldn't wait to see Archy back in action.

Archy and June had finally finished their hot kiss. "Sam, this here's the guy I was telling you about. He's the virtuoso--that's French for talented dude--that taught me to read music."

"I figured," Sam said, his laughter booming. "Kristen, I'm honored to meet you."

"Why are you guys here?" Archy asked.

"Kristen canceled your scholarship," June said, grinning.

Both Sam and Archy reacted identically. "She what?" they shouted together.

"You are now on financial aid, backed by my holding company."

"But he'll lose the apartment!" Sam said.

"I have it arranged so that Archy loses nothing. However, your coach now has no hold over Archy. There's a Mr. Keesan that Archy can visit that will arrange for a counselor to plan for your eventual veterinary degree."