Chapter 64: Donna's Gift

Saturday, April 16, 2005 (Continued)

Amid the very noisy, backslapping throng, people kept mentioning how great my time was, but I didn't care. I'd originally thought of entering a race to confirm that I could run a world-record time. By the time the race arrived I already knew that I could, so I really only ran it because it was important to Donna. My time was, to me, a pointless piece of information. I knew that if I'd started at the front of the pack and had run at my optimal speed, I would've been several minutes faster than what I'd just achieved, so all my winning time really measured was how much the pack slowed me down, which was useless information to me. Very useless actually, as I had no intention of running in any more organized races.

I was happy enough just from seeing how overjoyed Donna was. She was hugging me, kissing me - mostly on the cheeks, but sometimes quickly on the lips too, which was very cheeky of her - and telling everyone who cared to listen that I was her brother. She obviously recognized quite a few people around us because she singled out many of them for special mentions that I was her brother. They were her fellow club members, I guessed.

When Number 2 wobbled his way across the line, I tried to congratulate him as I'm magnanimous in victory, but he shied away from me, accusing, "Fucking cheat." That certainly put a damper on my mood, and presumably the mood of the others that heard. I was pleased that Donna ignored his comment.

Donna and I moved to the side to clear the finish area and the sore second-place getter, and we just chatted away. I heard the crowd roar louder than normal, and saw the third-place getter cross the line. He was a little too far away for me to congratulate him, and I was still thinking about walking back to do so when then second-place getter went to talk with him. I didn't want to talk with that asshole, so I turned my back on them and concentrated on hugging Donna.

Mom and Dad fought their way through and we all got happy together for a while. I thought of getting my phone back from Dad and calling my girls, but the crowd's noise made that impossible. Texting would work but I preferred to wait until I could talk to them.

After a few more minutes a number of race officials approached us. One tapped me on the shoulder and demanded that I come with them. The guy who made the demand was not at all polite or friendly. Nor were any of the other guys around us. The presumed head official - because he seemed to be in charge and he was the oldest official around - led off, and I was motioned to follow him. I shrugged and did so, with the family following along.

I was taken into a tent that had been erected for the officials. My parents and Donna tried to follow inside but were blocked. When I saw that I immediately turned around and went back to my family. This did not please the various officials around us and they told me to get inside.

"Not without my family I'm not. I've got no idea what this is about, but I'm not taking another step without my family."

Mom and Dad started making a fuss, and one of the officials decided, "Let them in."

We were escorted to the back of the tent and I was told to sit in a particular chair. Next thing I know someone is approaching me with a syringe. Whoa!

Neither Mom, Dad nor I thought this was a welcome development, and we told them so.

The head official said, "There have been credible allegations of cheating made against Mr. Anderson. As per the Registration, which he signed, we are permitted to obtain blood and urine samples, which we will be doing now."

Mom demanded to see my Registration, which was quickly produced, and it did indeed grant them permission to do exactly as he'd said. It bore my name and signature too.

They took their samples of my blood, and I adjourned behind a canvas flap to pee into small bottles while being watched doing so by a "Designated Peeing Watcher". I don't know what the job title really was, but I saw that he had to write his name and sign a form that recorded his doing so.

The head official explained, "Several other runners have lodged official complaints that Mr. Anderson cheated. They particularly commented on his freshness, saying it was inconsistent with someone who had run a 10k race. Our officials at the finish line confirm that he did not appear to be fatigued when he crossed the line, so I have to say that the situation looks very dire for Mr. Anderson. We will check our race instrumentation and talk with our course monitors, and I expect that we will find that he did not run the entire race. In which case he will be disqualified and banned."

Donna cried, "Oh no! What about my bets?" Perhaps not the smartest thing she could have said.

Mom and Dad turned on her. Mom shrieked, "YOU DIDN'T! No wonder you were so eager for Mark to win. You are in SO much trouble when we get you home."

"It's not like that, Mom."

"We told you off for trying to bet just a week ago. I'm beside myself with anger. How dare you disobey us like that!"

"It wasn't for me, Mom. Oh no! Now everything's ruined."

"It certainly is. We'll talk about this - at length - when we get you home. You just sit there and shut up."

Donna sat there and cried. Something didn't feel right about this. Donna's pleasure in my winning hadn't seemed mercenary. She seemed genuinely joyful. On the other hand, she'd pretty much convicted herself already.

Dad asked the official, "What happens now?"

He answered, "We've summoned the various course monitors. They'll be asked whether Mr. Anderson passed their stations. We'll check our electronic records and video cameras. It'll take a while, maybe as long as half an hour. If his tag passed every checkpoint, we'll have the time and will rewind each checkpoint's camera to that time, to check to see if it was him that was carrying the tag. We'll do that for every checkpoint, and several of our people are doing that now. The blood and urine samples will be sent off for analysis, which will take several days, but I don't expect they'll show anything."

Mom demanded, "So why did you take them, then?"

"Because we always take them when there are accusations of cheating. We'd be foolish not to. In this case it seems obvious that drugs aren't the issue. This looks like a blatant case of using a substitute runner. How you expected not to be caught when you crossed the finish line without even sweating, I've got no idea."

Now I felt a lot better! I HAD run the whole course and that would presumably show up on all their equipment. I felt stupid for not thinking about my looking non-fatigued, but I still felt better.

I said, "Mom, Dad. Don't worry about it. I'm not anymore. I did run through all the checkpoints, as they'll soon find out. And even if there's a computer glitch, or something, and they can't verify my race, I still couldn't care less. I don't care if my body's not sweating the same way other people's do causes them to not recognize me as the winner. The only reason I ran this race was to make Donna happy, and I couldn't care less for myself. They can disqualify me for all I care."

Perhaps the reference to Donna wasn't smart, as Mom's lips tightened at that.

Before Mom could answer Donna declared, "Oh no. You can't get disqualified. It's a serious problem. You can be banned for life and you'll never be able to run again."

I laughed. "That's just silly, Donna. They can't stop me running. I can put on some shoes and run out the back door whenever I want. What are they going to do, post guards and the front and back of our house? Haha."

The official said, "She means you can't run in recognized races. If you're banned for life you'll never be able to compete in organized events."

I laughed even louder. He didn't look too pleased at that. I realized he obviously thought organized races were important as he'd hardly be the head official otherwise. I told him, "I'm not interested in racing. I ran once just to try myself out and I'd already decided not to run competitively again. You can ban me for life if you wish. It's a matter of complete indifference to me. I'd walk out if that's all that was involved, but I realize that my being declared a cheat would hurt Donna at her club so we'll sit and wait until my name's cleared."

^-- I tried to think of another topic. The only one that suggested itself to me was, "Mom, have we got any plans for tonight? I completely forgot about having a celebratory dinner and I was asked before the race what I was doing tonight. Has Julia discussed anything with you?"

Mom clearly thought I was being a bit surreal, but she rose to the occasion, "She hasn't mentioned anything. I think she was too involved in her shopping with Carol. I know they were both very excited about that. Are you really this unconcerned?"

"I really am. Let me check my understanding." I turned to the official who was babysitting us. "Am I right in thinking that even if you think I cheated, I won't get a jail time, or a criminal record, or a fine, or anything like that. All that will happen is that I'm banned from running in organized races?"

He said, "Yes. Probably not just running though. If you took up another sport they'd find out about your banning and you'd at least be scrutinized carefully. Possibly dropped from any teams if they didn't want to bother with you." He said it as if it was a horrendous result.

I turned to Mom, "See, Mom: totally unimportant. With everything that's going on in my life, do you think any of this crap matters?"

The official in charge of "this crap" wasn't pleased, but Mom got my point and started laughing, as did Dad. Mom said, "You're right. For you this is meaningless. I just got scared by all the stuffy, self-important officialdom. It's just a bunch of sweaty guys running around in circles, so who the hell cares!"

#1: <Go Mom!>

Dad said, "I feel like standing up and walking out, but you're right that Donna's standing might suffer. Let's wait for a bit longer."

Mom didn't like the references to Donna, but Donna wisely kept silent.

An official came in and handed our guy a piece of paper. He read it, frowned, and put it in his pocket.

Mom, Dad and I started chatting about family stuff. Just making lightweight conversation, as if none of this mattered to us. This visibly annoyed him so we kept it up. One thing Mom mentioned was that she'd gotten a text from Julia confirming that they'd be looking at houses tomorrow afternoon. Mom had nearly said "mansions", but erred on the side of discretion as there were too many people around us.

I was wondering whether to call Julia when my cell started ringing. I'd given it to Dad to carry so he got it out of his pocket and gave it to me.

"Sorry I didn't call you earlier, Julia. I did win the race..."

The sounds of yahooing could be heard from my phone. I held it away from my ear until it had died down.

" ... But there's a problem. Because I don't sweat normally they think I cheated..."

The sounds of laughter could be heard from my phone. I held it away from my ear until it had died down. I particularly enjoyed the look on the official's face while this was happening.

"We've got to sit through some small-minded crap while they check their computer records, videotapes and stuff. I even had to pee in a bottle while someone watched me. What a pain. We have to wait for them to clear me otherwise it might cause Donna trouble at her athletic club."

I was about to start asking how she and Carol were enjoying themselves, when Donna interrupted, "Mark! Mark! Ask her to tell you what I said about your getting a car."

I didn't have a clue what that meant, but I asked, "Julia, Donna wants you to tell me what she said about my getting a car. What's that about?"

I listened, then Donna said, "Tell Mom and Dad."

So I repeated what Julia had said to me, "Donna had asked Julia not to let the Williamses buy me a car yet, but Donna wouldn't say why, only not to do it until after this race."

Donna said, "I bet all my money on Mark to win and I got REALLY good odds, so I can give him the money as a present to buy a car with. He's getting his license any day now and I wanted to give him really good present because of how much I love him. I didn't bet for me; I bet for Mark."

Wasn't that sweet? And believable too as it fitted with how she'd behaved better than her wanting to win for her own benefit. I said, "Mom, I believe her." I think probably unnecessarily, because Mom seemed to believe her too.

Mom said, "We'll still talk about this when we get you home, young lady. Don't think this gets you off the hook."

The next event of note was Cindy coming in. When I saw her she waved and said, "Congratulations, Modest Mark. So you did win after all. So, can I come to your celebration this evening?"

This caused me some embarrassment, but I covered it by introducing Cindy to Mom, Dad and Donna. I also mentioned my sister Carol and girlfriend Julia, reminding Cindy that they were out shopping.

Mr. Official harrumphed. When Cindy looked at him, he said, "Your congratulations are very premature, Cindy. Mr. Anderson has been accused of cheating. We are waiting for the rest of the reports now."

Cindy said, "These you mean? All of which say he personally ran through every checkpoint. I volunteered to bring them so I'd get a chance to make another pass at Mark." Not much shame to this girl. She added, "I was talking to Fred when Mark ran past Fred's checkpoint. Have you seen Mark run?"

The official answered, "No. I was too busy in here during the race."

Cindy said, "He's got the best running style I've ever seen. He flows across the ground like it's effortless. If you want to see a thing of beauty, take him outside and ask him to run for you. You'll enjoy it. I hope he chases after me." Nope, no shame at all.

Donna laughed, which was very good to hear because she's totally one of my favorite sisters now.

The official started reading through the results carefully. Cindy started leaving, and I said, "Hang on a minute please, Cindy." She stopped and I pulled out my phone and hit speed dial 1.

"Hi Julia. It looks like the cheating allegation is falling apart and that we'll be out of here shortly. Yes, yes, but that's not why I'm calling right now. A pretty young woman hit on me earlier, and invited herself to our celebratory dinner. Are we having a celebratory dinner?

^-- "We are now, good. Her name's Cindy and I'll give her the phone in a second and you can arrange the details with her. Good. I'll talk with you about your shopping later. I'll put Cindy on now."

I gave the phone to Cindy, saying, "Julia is my girlfriend. Take the phone outside and arrange the details with her. I find it's more fun when I'm surprised."

Cindy took the phone, saying, "This should be interesting." She walked out, saying, "Hello Julia, I'm Cindy..."

I stood, saying, "We've wasted enough time already. I could have run the whole race again in the time we've been sitting on our butts in here. I presume this is finished with now?"

The official said, "We have to send the samples off. But as I said before, I doubt they'll show anything. The computer and videotape evidence exonerates you. We need to complete the paperwork, write an official report, reply to the complainants and to the accused - that's you. But that's just paperwork. You'll be recorded as the winner today and it's unlikely that'll be overturned. Prize-giving has been held up, but will go ahead as soon as you turn up."

I said, "We're going home. I don't want to share a podium with the two sore losers - if my guess is correct - and this whole procedure has robbed me of any happiness I might've had. If there's any stuff you'd normally give me, let Cindy accept it on my behalf and she can pass it on tonight."

I turned to Donna, "Donna, do you need to chase down your victims?"

Donna laughed, "Haha. No. They're all from my club and I have all their phone numbers. I'll start calling them when I get home and get them to mail me their payments. They know I've got records."

"We're outta here then."

Donna grabbed my arm and hugged it on the way out.

The official started giving the necessary orders to have my win recognized and whatever else he had to do. I didn't have any interest.

Cindy saw us emerge and waved to get our attention. We headed over to her as she was ending her conversation. She handed the phone back, saying, "Julia says you have to get a camera phone so any other girls who pick you up can send their pictures to her so she can judge whether they're pretty enough. Your girlfriend's got an unusual attitude about you."

"You've got no idea!"

Donna, Mom and Dad all laughed their agreement.

Cindy said, "I'm picking you up at 7 from your home, then driving us around to Julia's to collect Carol and Julia, then we're off to a restaurant."

"Sounds good. Did Julia give you our addresses?"

"Yeah."

"We're not hanging around for the prize giving because the cheating allegation and sour-faced crap has ruined it for me. I told that guy," I pointed at him, "that if there are any certificates or medals or whatever that he should give them to you to pass on to me. Is that okay with you?"

"No trouble. I'll be here for a while anyway. See you at 7 then?"

"Looking forward to it. Thanks for your help today, Cindy. See you later."

We wandered back to our car. I was glad the whole thing was over. While we were walking I started praising Donna for her clever scheme in getting me to do all the work for my own present. She insisted that she'd had to do lots of work too, mostly in acting like a little girl who was foolishly proud of her big brother, and then getting the best odds she could.

Mom wasn't impressed and said she'd still have a serious talk with Donna at home.

Dad said, "Cars are pretty expensive. How much did you bet?"

Donna said, "I know they're expensive. I bet everything I have: $125. I got about 20-to-1 odds on most of my bets. I did lots of little bets and everybody thought it was cute that I was betting on my big brother. I've got it all written down here." Donna pulled a little notebook out, which had page after page of, usually, $5 bets.

Donna continued, "I figure I've won $2,800 if nobody welches. It's such a pity I had to tell you already. I was planning to give it all to you when you got your license. That would've been so cool."

It would have been an impressive gift. I was still flicking through her 'book' (in that sense she was a bookie). There was one $20 bet at 30-to-1. Donna saw me looking at it and said, "He's a pain. No one at the club likes him. He thought he could take advantage of me so I squeezed really good odds out of him. I made sure I got someone important to witness that bet." (Every bet had a second signature beneath it.)

Mom was even less impressed. "You're FAR too good at this business, Donna." Mom started her preaching about doing bad things for good reasons, etc., etc. Just the usual mother stuff. I tuned it out. I just hugged Donna proudly, reminding myself not to tell Mom I was going to Vegas to gamble at roulette. Well, sort of gamble; just as Donna had sort of gambled.

I remembered that Donna hadn't heard our conversation about buying a mansion, so she had no idea about how much money we should have shortly, fingers crossed. Her $2,800 will hopefully be insignificant after our Vegas jaunt, but I certainly wasn't going to mention that.

When Mom paused for breath, I told Donna, "I thought what you did was VERY nice, but I suggest you give up betting now or Mom will kill you. That'd be such a pity," then I leaned closer and whispered, "now that your buds are growing."

Donna's response was to try to tease me about my new "GIRLFRIEND," said with the tone little girls use when teasing.

"Nah. I'm going out with Carol and Julia anyway. If Cindy wants to tag along that's fine. I'm too young for her and I don't have the spare time for another girlfriend anyway."

Donna persisted, and even Dad joined in, trying to tease me about Cindy. But I laughed, "It's funny. Two or three weeks ago I would've been freaking out over Cindy's interest, but now I just don't care. I'll be nice to her and I hope we all have fun, but it wouldn't matter to me if she cancelled. I don't know whether Julia told her my age, but I don't think she'll waste much of her time on us once she learns it. She only chatted me up originally because she thought I was handsome, so I don't think that says too much about her being smart."

Mom said, "She nicknamed you 'Modest Mark', so I'd say she was quite astute."

"Astute, maybe. Clear sighted, not so much."

Mom laughed, and said, "Look in the mirror some day. You're growing into quite a handsome guy."

Before I could {raspberry}, Donna jumped in with, "You're handsome ALREADY. Just in the last few months you've gotten really good looking."

I was about to {raspberry} that silly idea, when Mom said, "Yes. I've noticed that too."

Even Dad chipped in with, "Even I've noticed, and I try not to notice how handsome guys are, haha."

#4: <Maybe we should look in a mirror sometime.>

I was thinking about what to do until Cindy came to pick us up, which reminded me about getting my license, so I asked, "Dad, can you give me a driving lesson some time today please? Just to let me drive your car for a while to get used to it again."

I immediately realized the "again" wasn't very smart, but he never commented on it. I guessed because he thought I was referring to my parking lot test drive.

"Sure. I can take you out after we drop the ladies off."

That's what we did. Dad and I spent an hour or so with me getting reacquainted with his car. It wasn't COMPLETELY easy. Early on I had a few little awkward moments, but I invariably got them right on the second attempt. I was superbly physically coordinated, and with four minds on the job could easily keep track of several things happening at once.

After an hour Dad said, "I can't imagine how you could fail a practical test. Let's swap seats and I'll take us back."

Julia called me while we were driving back, mentioning that she was having lunch with her Mom and Carol.

"Oh, is your mom shopping with you?"

"No. She's just came to do a package run and we thought it was a good time to stop for lunch."

"What's a 'package run'?"

Julia explained patiently, as this was clearly something everyone should already know, "When Carol and I have too many bags to carry, we call Mom, she comes in and we load up her car with whatever we're carrying plus those we left at the last few stores, then she takes them home."

"Wow! You two are doing some serious shopping."

"No, not really. We're just scouting this morning. The serious shopping starts after lunch."

I made a mental note to win an extra million from the casino.

Julia continued, "The main reason I called is to find out about Cindy. What's she like? How did you meet her? What are your plans? Etc."

I felt self-conscious talking about this beside Dad but there was no strong reason why not. "The easiest question to answer is about my plans, because I don't have any. I don't care what happens. Let's the three of us just enjoy ourselves and if Cindy joins in, that'll be fine. She invited herself along. She looks to be in her early-20s and she's quite pretty. Not as beautiful as you or Carol, but still reasonably pretty. Nice body too, not that I notice such things, haha. I guess she's probably a runner, as she was some sort of helper at the race today. As for, 'What's she like?' She's certainly not shy, that's for sure! I was walking around before the race and she told me to get back to the starting line, but she called me 'Handsome' because she couldn't see my number. We chatted briefly and she invited herself out with me tonight, and then asked again after I'd won."

Julia asked, "So you don't mind me having some fun with her then?"

Uh oh. "Um, just so long as you don't do anything to embarrass me."

"When have I ever embarrassed you?" The date started in about seven hours, so it was doubtful I'd have time to fully answer that question!

"If I answer that question you won't have time for any more shopping today."

"Haha. Embarrassing their boyfriends is what girlfriends are for."

"I KNOW that! That's one of the very few things I understand about females: 'Girlfriends cause embarrassment'. And I've got two of them. Oh woe is me!"

"Haha. From what Carol's told me about Donna, you've got three any time you want."

Remembering that Dad was beside me, I said, "Um, yes. I'm not sure about that though."

Julia misunderstood my deliberately vague answer, "Carol's sure. Donna was playing with herself for ages after you left. Carol eventually fell asleep while Donna was still going. You had her going 'big time', as you like to say."

"Yes. I know that side. It's the other side I'm not sure about."

"Pardon? Oh, you mean 'you', but you can't talk easily now?"

"You got it. Dad and I are heading home now after a driving lesson. It looks like I can handle the car okay. I'll read through the Driver Manual again when I get home. Probably I'll call the DMV guy on Monday and take the Knowledge and Practical tests asap."

"Good. You can have my car then. It's already insured for you." Of course it was.

I asked Julia, "Speaking about cars, did you hear what Donna got up to today?"

"No."

"She bet all her saved up pocket money on me to win. Got really good odds too, about 20-to-1 usually. She won about $2,800. She intended to give it all to me to buy a car with after I got my license. Just as a present for being a nice brother. That's pretty spectacular, isn't it?"

"I'll say! That girl's got a big heart and plenty of gumption. So that's why she told me not to let my parents buy a car for you. What a nice girl."

"Very. But she got busted when the race organizers looked like they'd be disqualifying me. Now she's in trouble with Mom, even though I think she's big time wonderful."

Dad chipped in - I quickly held the phone toward him so Julia could hear what he was saying, "I admire her generosity and pluck too. It's worrying how much she knows about betting, but her heart's in the right place."

When I got the phone back to my ear, I heard, " ... while I tell Mom and Carol."

I then heard Julia repeat the story, with appropriate comments from Vanessa and Carol afterward. Then Julia came back on the line and said, "They like that story. We all agree she's a nice girl."

"Yes indeed. Does my inviting Cindy along upset any of your plans for tonight?"

"No. My plans got upset when we were told we weren't allowed to make love until after the trial. Remember how I said that when you had your cast removed I was going to buy Carol a similar dress to the one I wore on our first date, and the three of us were going to take you out on the town?"

"Yes, I remember. Carol was very excited about getting a dress like that. That was way back before our marriage. Carol had no idea what going on a date with the two of us meant."

#2: <Actually, neither did we. We were worried about Carol being the odd one out. We certainly don't have that worry now.>

Julia said, "We have her dress now and it's VERY sexy! We'll wear them tonight to celebrate your getting your cast off and your win. The original intention - of having a really sexy night out to tease Carol - no longer applies, but it'll still be fun. It would've been much better without the sex restriction, but there's nothing we can do about that. Cindy sounds like a friendly girl so it should be a good night anyway. Not ending with several bangs unfortunately, but good fun and well deserved anyway. Hang on, Carol wants to talk with you."

Carol just needed to gush: shopping was fantastic, her dress for tonight was "the sexiest thing I've EVER worn!" which wasn't actually saying much, but I kept that thought to myself so it didn't interfere with my anticipation of seeing her in the dress. Carol thought Donna's betting scheme and generosity were lovely, she congratulated me on my winning the race, said it was so funny that I'd found another girl even before the "School Plan" had started, etc.

I was happy that Carol was so happy, and joked with her that, "I didn't find Cindy; she found me. I was a helpless victim, just like every guy is when a woman makes up her mind."

Carol asked some questions about Cindy, most of which I'd answered to Julia but I happily repeated myself, enjoying Carol's mood.

Julia suddenly came back on the line, and said, "Mom's had an idea about something. Can I talk with your dad please?"

I passed the phone to Dad, who said, "Hello," and then listened for thirty seconds or so. He said, "You know, I think that's fine. Fine with me anyway. I'll check with Fely when we get home, but almost certainly that's okay." (Pause.) "No, I won't."