Chapter 6: Socialites

"Yes! That's exactly what I meant! You look amazing!" Tony said to Tina.

Tina blushed. She had spent the last two hours preparing for her date with Riley to the Savannah Press Club gala. It was one of those events in Savannah society. Except for Rebecca she would almost certainly be the youngest person there. Tony had no idea at what point he had become part of Savannah society. The only explanation he could think of for his invitation was Tammy's Wheels and the charity's involvement with the top levels of the two largest employers in the community. He certainly did know that his parents were constantly attending such events. As it turned out he was correct. He didn't yet understand just how correct he was.

Tina's dress was a medium blue that perfectly matched her eyes. It had thin straps and plunged only moderately between her breasts. The skirt flared slightly and ended just above her knees. She mostly left her long, straight brown hair completely untouched, lying down against her back as she normally did. The only difference was a half dozen tiny braids that flowed down as well. It was something Anita had spent painstaking hours weaving. She wore diamond stud earrings and the tennis bracelet Tony had given her for her birthday, something she rarely went without. She was all girl, but an elegant girl. There was more than a little bit of sexy there as well, however.

"Perfect, of course you're gonna need shoes," Tony said with a smile.

Tina was barefoot. "Stockings, panty-hose, or nothing?" she asked.

"Nothing. Stockings aren't bad, but all men hate panty-hose. You look perfect as is. You really don't need any kind of hose though, you look great!

Tina walked to Tony and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, now get out of here. You should be picking up Rebecca soon. Don't let her wear heels!"

Tony doubled over in laughter. "Maybe a half-inch or so but nothing more, the last thing I need is someone accusing her of being drunk again. Then again she is doing fine lately; maybe it's time for a new challenge. I'll let you teach her to walk in heels."

"Oh boy! You don't ask much do you?" Tina giggled.

Tina was a smart girl, but she was totally out of her element. Riley was dashing in his three-piece suit. He was charming and well mannered. He was totally lost as well.

The thought was to go to this semi-formal thing for his sister with, of course, the added benefit of the beautiful rock-girl, have dinner, watch the awards, then maybe end the night with a dance or two. Instead it was receiving lines, a pre-dinner cocktail mixer, and dealing with lecherous men staring at Tina, not that Tina wasn't worth staring at. The two huddled with Tony and Rebecca for the first half-hour until they were approached by, of all people, the Mayor.

"Ah, the beautiful young Miss Harris, it's good to see you again young lady."

Rebecca, of all things, dropped into a half-curtsey. Tony recognized it as part of her "Scarlett" persona.

Rebecca wasn't wearing the fifty-dollar dress she and Tony had discussed long ago. Tony actually had no idea beforehand but Tina took her shopping for this one. It was an amazing shade of light green and went almost to the floor on her left side but just barely above the knee on the right. It hugged her taut body like a glove and actually showed more cleavage than Tina's did and it was backless to boot. In Tony's completely biased opinion it was ... well it did things in his suit pants because there was no way she was wearing any underwear. Tony had confirmed it and Rebecca just giggled when he did. She knew what he was doing. Tina wasn't the only girl at the press gala getting a lot of looks.

The mayor probably understood that being charmed by a young girl like Rebecca wasn't something a man of his age should fight. Tony was a bit preoccupied steadying her attempted curtsey, but he was sure she probably batted those incredible green eyes at him. Tony knew exactly the helpless feeling that engendered. Mere mortals, like the mayor of a fairly large city, had no defense against it. "Thank you Mr. Mayor, it's good to see you again."

The whole ten-second interaction would have been downright humorous if Rebecca had any idea what she was doing. Girls with rare beauty generally figured it out and used it to their advantage. Rebecca, as usual, was just herself. There are standards of beauty and, as Tony had told his sister, there are standards of just cute. Add the two together and it had a devastating effect on males of the species. Tony, of course, had obviously figured it out on his own. She had done it to him in about 15 seconds more than a year ago.

Mayor O'Donnell said, "This is my wife Eileen. Eileen this is the young lady who was working so hard on that wheelchair charity around St. Patrick's Day."

Eileen was a matronly lady who probably once fancied herself a southern belle. Certainly the near-garish hat she wore bore testament to that. The only thing she wore well was a decidedly genuine smile. "I've heard a lot about you Rebecca. I do believe you charmed my husband out of a couple of things he wasn't prepared for."

Rebecca giggled. "Well, I hope not. I was just trying to get some help for our charity."

"And what a wonderful thing that was! Seeing all those kids in the fancy wheelchairs in the parade! What a wonderful idea. Was it yours?"

"Yes, well no. I guess the idea to do the chairs in the first place was, but when the Shriners wanted so many of them we needed a better plan. Tony came up with the idea of getting the whole community involved. I'm sorry have you met Tony?"

"I don't think I've had the pleasure." Eileen O'Donnell knew exactly who Tony Smith was, he had been invited to this night after all, but they really had never met in person.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. O'Donnell this is my boyfriend Tony Smith. He's the head of our merry little band of do-gooders." She turned to Tony "Tony, Mrs. O'Donnell."

"A pleasure ma'am," Tony said taking Mrs. O'Donnell's hand in his. "May I introduce the rest of our group?"

Mrs. O'Donnell nodded and Tony introduced Tina and Riley to the mayor and his wife, though Tina had already met the mayor briefly during the awards ceremony on St. Patrick's Day. After pleasantries were exchanged the mayor and his wife were off, but only after Mrs. O'Donnell promised to speak more with them over dinner.

"Uh, I never checked the seating arrangements. I guess we're having dinner with the mayor," Tony said once they had left.

"Nope," Riley replied. "Tina and I are sitting with my family. You two," he pointed at Tony and Rebecca, "are having dinner with the mayor. What's this all about anyway? I take Tina on one date and I'm like hobnobbing with the mayor all of a sudden?"

The teens laughed at his mock distress. "Well in this case it isn't about being rock stars I'm sure. Has Tina told you about our charity?"

"My sister mentioned you were involved with all those wheelchairs at the parade. Her winning story is about it."

Tina giggled. "Well we were a little more than just involved. Tony, Rebecca, and I pretty much ran the show on that. It was our idea. As soon as Tony turns eighteen he'll become CEO of our non-profit corporation."

"You have a corporation?" Riley asked.

"Well it's kind of more complicated than that. Tina and I actually own it though that's not exactly as cool a thing as you think," Tony replied. "It means we are financially responsible for it. Because it's registered as a not-for-profit we can't make any money on it, only lose money. Anyway all the officers and board members have to be eighteen or older so our parents and some of the people from our contributors' companies technically run the thing. They pretty much do what we ask them to do though."

"Sounds complicated. The part about being financially responsible sounds outright scary too," Riley commented.

Tony raised an eyebrow at Tina who nodded slightly.

"It's not too bad Riley. Tina and I have an inheritance and we're putting some of it to use for charity is all. Actually we haven't had to spend much of our own money on it yet. We donated a truck to haul the wheelchairs so it didn't have to come out of capital is all. So far National Pacific, Southern Sugar, and a couple of workers unions have provided most of the financing. We did get about twenty thousand in private donations around the time of the parade."

"That sounds like a lot of money," Riley commented.

Tony looked at Rebecca. She and her mom handled the finances for Tammy's Wheels. He knew she would know to the penny how much money they had.

"We have right at a hundred and four thousand in the bank right now, but we're going to need more for what we have planned. We built sixteen chairs the first time. Then the Shriners' Hospital in Macon wanted some, so we did sixty-seven for the parade. Now every Shriners' hospital in the country wants them, not to mention every other children's hospital out there."

"Wow! So you guys are going to keep growing this thing?"

"Yeah, as long as we can get the funding for it, that's the hard part," Tony said. "Say, we're going to do this here in Savannah starting the first of the year. Maybe you could be our contact for volunteers from Riverside. So far all of our workers come from our own school. We'll probably need more next year."

Tony watched a smile break out on Tina's face as she stifled a laugh.

"Well sure," Riley said. "I'd be glad to help."

Both Tina and Rebecca started laughing then.

Riley gave Tina a puzzled look. "If your wondering what Tony does for the charity," she said, "you just found out. You've just been recruited Riley. Welcome to the team!"

Riley looked back to Tony who just shrugged and asked, "Are you any good with tools?"

The girls laughed again.

Tina and Riley were seated with his family at a table for ten. Beth was there with a guy introduced as Steve, Cindy was with her boyfriend Frank, and little Jenny (even at fourteen Jenny was definitely a Porter sister, parts of her were most definitely not little) with her friend Peter as well as the parents.

"So," Mrs. Porter said once introductions were made, "Riley tells me you're a musician. What instrument do you play?"

Tina hesitated not quite knowing how to explain. Riley laughed and answered for her. "Tina's trying to figure out how to answer modestly Mom. On stage last night I saw her play, hmm, let's see, acoustic and electric guitar, keyboards, the saxophone, and violin. Of course sometimes she was singing as well."

"I've seen her play drums, clarinet, and flute onstage as well," Beth chimed in. "No telling what she's hiding at home!" Beth was clearly enjoying Tina's minor discomfort.

Tina decided to throw it back at her. "Bass and trumpet if you must know," she said to Beth with a smile on her face.

"Oh dear!" Mrs. Porter exclaimed. I'm sorry, we didn't mean to embarrass you Tina. I had no idea you were quite so accomplished. You are a very talented young lady. So you play in a band at the school dances and things?"

"I'm not embarrassed by it Mrs. Porter. Yes, I'm in a band with my brother and some friends. We don't play schools or parties much anymore though. We just agreed to play at our own school when we don't have a gig somewhere else."

"So we can't entice you to come back to play at Riverside?" Riley asked.

"Uh, Riley, probably not. We'll have to see, but you have to understand this isn't just a hobby for us anymore. It's also our job. Everyone has to get paid and that includes Chrissie, Gwen, Matt, and whoever else we need to set up and tear down. Schools really can't afford us anymore. If there's a date when we aren't doing anything and your school isn't as well then I'm sure everyone would love to do it. That is where we got our start after all, thanks to Beth."

"Why don't you just find a date when they're free Riley?" Beth asked. "Then schedule a dance when they can come. You are the Junior class representative to the student council. I'll bet you can charge a higher price and make some money for the council. Those guys have gotten pretty famous over the year."

"That might work," Tina said. "If you can convince them to hold a dance on Saturday night instead of Friday then it's something we could do. We have a few club dates that are only for Friday scheduled."

"Famous?" Mr. Porter queried.

"Uh, well kind of sir. We've been in a couple of magazines."

"Like this month's edition of Rolling Stone," Beth said.

"And Teen Beat" Jenny chimed in.

Tina shrugged. "It is starting to seem a bit larger than life."

"I guess, I take Tina out on one date and I'm being introduced to the mayor!" Riley said.

Tina laughed. "Riley, stop it! Please I'm just a girl OK? I don't like anyone treating me like a star or something, least of all you! I doubt Mayor O'Donnell even has a clue that we are musicians. He knows us from the wheelchair thing."

"The same thing that Cindy's story was about?" Mrs. Porter asked.

"I'm sorry," Tina said, looking perplexed, "I'm a bit confused."

Cindy looked at her brother, "You didn't tell her?"

"I thought I mentioned that Cindy's story was about the wheelchair thing."

"Oh! Yes you did. I guess it explains things somewhat. Tony was a bit puzzled why he would get an invitation to something like this."

"So you were a volunteer for that then?" Mr. Porter asked.

"Well, I guess, I was more like an organizer really. "My brother Tony's girlfriend, Rebecca, was in a wheelchair when they met. The whole thing started out of that. That's her with Tony now." Tina pointed out Rebecca seated next to Tony.

Riley cleared his throat and looked at Tina.

"OK, OK, Tammy's Wheels is a non-profit corporation that my brother, his girlfriend Rebecca, and I started."

"I don't think you fully understand Tina," Cindy said. "You, your brother, and Rebecca are in Eileen O'Donnell's little black book. That kind of charitable movement looks really good at things like state and national mayors' conferences. You know, they get up and give their spiel and then take all the credit as if they did it themselves. As young as y'all are you are officially 'community leaders'. This isn't the last soiree' you'll be invited to. She fully expects you to make contacts for fund raising and things like that to keep your project going. It reflects very well on the city. That's why your brother is sitting with the mayor."

"Oh my! None of that occurred to us at all!" She smiled then, realizing that Tony was about to be ambushed. She really, really felt sorry for the mayor and his wife.

It hadn't occurred to Tony or Rebecca either, but it was starting to dawn on them. Their tablemates, other than the mayor and his wife, were his own parents, Roger Collins, the CEO of National Pacific and his wife, and Chuck Rogers, the CEO of Southern Sugar and his wife. Having the President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Tammy's Wheels at the table with himself and Rebecca was no coincidence. He shot his father a look. There was no way he didn't know this was going to happen. His father looked back amusedly. Dad was working on his education, and this wasn't something you learned in school. Welcome to politics Tony Smith!

"So, young Mr. Smith," Eileen O'Donnell started.

"Please," Tony interrupted. "Please call me Tony. When I hear Mr. Smith I go looking for my father there." Tony pointed at Jim Smith.

"OK, Tony. We were curious about your future plans for your charity."

Tony chuckled, "Given the people around the table I somehow thought that may be the topic of conversation. Oh, the future of Tammy's Wheels; that is a good topic." Tony turned to the two CEO's and asked, "Is this a good time to ask for a whole lot more money?"

That got laughs from around the table.

"OK, I just broke our first fund-raising rule. 'Always send Rebecca to ask for the money', they can't resist her. Seriously though it's obvious that there is only so much we can do here in Savannah. We're shooting for a hundred chairs next year and we'll get that I'm pretty sure. It was very popular as I'm sure everyone realizes. The plan for making that happen is pretty simple, we go to Ft. Stewart. If we can get thirty chairs done on a base as small as Hunter we can easily get forty done down there.

"The problem is that it's gone national, heck international even. That hospital in Macon bragged to every children's hospital in the country. All we have right now is an answering machine at our house, but we have inquiries from thirty-seven hospitals or medical facilities throughout the country; even two in Canada and one in Mexico."

"Oh! I had no idea it was that big!" Eileen O'Donnell exclaimed.

"And that is the problem," Tony stated flatly. "It most certainly is not that big. We have a hundred thousand dollars and roughly a hundred wheelchairs. Most of the chairs we have need to be refurbished. We only have about forty-five ready to go right now. That's not a problem for Savannah, we'll be ready. That's not going to get a children's hospital in Los Angeles any chairs though."

"Wow Tony, are you really thinking that big?" Roger Collins asked.

"Absolutely. Is that going to happen this year? No, not a chance, but it is a goal. The goal really is that anyone who needs a chair will get one eventually."

"Do you have a plan to tackle this?"

"Well I guess we do. An idea anyway, we franchise."

The two CEO's looked at each other. Finally Chuck Rogers spoke. "Did we just hear a brilliant solution to a business problem come from a teenager? Franchise indeed! It'll work too."

"I'm sorry," Eileen said. "I really don't understand what you mean by franchise. Isn't that like a restaurant chain?"

"Not really in this case, the same kind of concept though. Right Tony?"

"Yes sir. Ma'am, as generous as these two gentlemen have been and will be when we ask them in the future, or when we send Rebecca to ask them, there is no way their organizations can finance this nationwide. On the other hand there are other corporations in these other cities. For instance Rebecca and I are trying to get an interview with the CEOs of Coca-Cola and Home Depot in Atlanta now. They can finance the chairs in their city. Literally every city you go to has several large businesses, so we go city to city and set up an organization funded by the local economy wherever we go."

Chuck and Roger had both pulled out small notebooks and were scribbling furiously. They had their respective teeth in a business problem and they both had just gotten inspiration from Tony. These were not men to waste a good idea on inaction.

"Well that gets the funding I guess, but where are you going to get the people?" Eileen asked.

Tony's eyes lit up with sudden inspiration. "Well from you ma'am. Like every CEO knows other CEO's, every mayor knows other mayors right? Every mayor has a school system. I think we've proven we can do this with a minimum of adult supervision. Get us some enthusiastic teenagers and we'll move the world for you."

Rebecca laughed. Eileen O'Donnell had just been recruited.

"What are you chuckling about?" Riley asked Tina.

"Do you see who's over there?" Tina asked, pointing two tables over to where the mayor was sitting.

"Uh, the mayor and his wife, your brother and Rebecca; oh, your parents are there as well. I have no idea who the other two couples are."

"That would be the CEO of National Pacific, also chairman of the board for our charity." She pointed Roger Collins out. "The other is the CEO of Southern Sugar, also the CEO of Tammy's Wheels. Daddy is the president."

"So what's so funny about that?" Riley asked.

"Other than the fact that Daddy told Tony nothing about this ahead of time? Let's see, now we know that the mayor's wife is going to grill Tony about the charity, we now know she's going to do it right in front of, at least legally, the president, chairman, and CEO. It's what she doesn't know that's funny."

"OK, I still don't understand."

"No one knows, at least not anyone at that table except Tony and Rebecca. She's thinks she's blindsiding them all. Tony and Rebecca know exactly what they have planned. We just haven't sat down with them all and told them yet. Even Daddy doesn't know. Tony's about to drop into his serious mode and amaze them all. There you see?" Tina pointed to the table again. "My brother speaks and the CEOs of two corporations are taking notes! Before the night is over Rebecca will empty their pockets again too!" Tina giggled.