Third Time Is a Charm Read online

  I was all flushed when I returned to the car. We were parked directly in front of the cleaners so Susan saw the transaction. She also saw how I looked.

  “Cute, huh?”

  “Very.”

  We went back to Jackson House. I turned on the radio. We heard about Louie Miller, Sang Mm dooby do, dahm dahm, dahm do dahm ooby do, got stuck on a subway train, and powdered an alligators behind. I think we had the best music ever.

  Susan was going to get in her car and leave but Mum waylaid us first.

  “How was your trip to the office?”

  “It went fine; Dennis is very much on board with the News program. Susan has graciously agreed to help mentor Dennis.”

  “Good, did you remember to go to the dry cleaner?”

  I knew this was the real question and she really didn’t have to ask, as I had my suit in hand.

  “Oh he remembers and will be glad to go again,” replied Susan.

  “Why is that?”

  “I think Rick is in love with the girl behind the counter.”

  Mum raised an eyebrow at that; she really had that one eyebrow trick down.”

  I ignored her.

  As Susan left she told me we had to talk.

  “Rick this could be a honeypot.”

  “Besides the obvious what is a honeypot.”

  “In our world it is common to place someone very attractive in front of you. The ideal outcome for them is to have film of you in compromising positions for blackmail.”

  “I don’t think I like our world.”

  “It is what it is.”

  “So if she acts really friendly just ignore it?”

  “Yes, there is nothing to gain by leading her on, and possibly a lot to lose.”

  “With my luck and girls, maybe I should find a Hungarian Princess.”

  “Don’t give up Rick, you are still young.”

  “I know but it is so discouraging, every time I think I have a girlfriend it goes bad.”

  “As I said, don’t give up.”

  It had been a busy Monday so far and it was only lunch time. I decided to head for the studio, I could eat there.

  When I got there I was told Mr. Monroe wouldn’t be available for at least an hour so I went over to the commissary. Mr. Monroe wasn’t around, but Mr. Wayne was there.

  When he caught sight of me he yelled, “Hey Pilgrim come on over.”

  I joined him and Katherine Hepburn. They were working together on a film and had come to the commissary rather than eating with the crew on set. From the way they were passing a flask back and forth I think I knew why.

  It didn’t take long to figure that they were more interested in drinking than eating or acting. I made an excuse and wandered off.

  Over at the stunt yard I worked on my archery as it was the hardest skill for me to keep up. The sword fighting seemed to be ingrained in my muscle memory to the point I just needed to refresh it occasionally. Of course I could always learn new thrusts and parries.

  After an hour I went back to the main office. I was told I had just missed Mr. Monroe as he went from one meeting to another. It would be another hour.

  I went back and taped my hands then worked on the heavy, reflex, and speed bags for an hour.

  Again I had missed him between meetings. His secretary assured me he had been informed. I asked which meeting room he was in. She pointed at one door across the hall so I sat in a chair and waited. I was beginning to get suspicious. After half an hour Mr. Monroe came out.

  Chapter 3

  He didn’t seem surprised that I was there. That may have something to do with me, the receptionist making a call and my hearing the phone ring in the conference room. It was also strange that he was the only one in that room. He didn’t seem thrilled to see me.

  “Hey Rick, I hear you have been trying to catch up with me all afternoon.”

  “I have, do you have a minute to talk about the Sock Hop?”

  “Not really, let’s do it next week.”

  “Okay, I will wing it in the press conference.”

  “What press conference?”

  “One of the papers got wind that the Sock Hop was not as presented and wanted to get my side of it.”

  Of course there was no interview; well maybe Dennis could interview me. All of a sudden having our own media outlets made a lot of sense.

  “Rick, don’t do anything hasty. Let’s go to my office. We are trying to straighten this mess out.”

  We moved into his office and he closed the door.

  “What happened anyway?”

  “A case of too many Indians, not enough Chiefs, do you realize that all the studios, eight different consulate schools, and three networks were involved with this dance? Each of us assigned one low level person to represent us. Remember it was just a school dance in the gym.”

  “Things went awry when one the low level people at a network decided it would be a good TV special. They then set it up for one of their mobile TV crews to be there. Then someone else decided if it was going to be a TV special then they just couldn’t let the riffraff be on screen, they would hire professional dancers, next thing you know, Dick Clark is hired, the red carpet is rolled out.”

  “The end result I have over twenty calls from irate agents. You are the only person who has come in to face me themselves.”

  “What is going to happen?”

  “I’m the leader of a group of executives deciding how to handle this. At this point we are inclined to embargo all the tape and declare it a non-event.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because there is no way that we could get the releases signed now for a reasonable rate. Some of the agents think they have us over a barrel.”

  Sometimes inspiration hits at the right time, for me it is normally when the time is passed. You know the perfect come back, when you are on your way home.

  “Don’t pay anyone, make it a charity event.”

  “That won’t work; we would still have to pay to scale. Some will refuse that.”

  “You can pay them much more than scale.”

  “How?”

  “Pay them in kind?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Have them list their time as a charitable donation. You issue them a letter stating that their time is tax deductible as a charitable donation. I mean do the charity for real like the March of Dimes telethon.”

  “Do not put an amount in the letter; let each person decide their own worth. Their agent will get ten percent of that deduction.”

  “What if they decide they are worth some ridiculous amount?”

  “That’s between them and the IRS; it’s just like when you make a donation to the Salvation Army, they have you do the valuation. That way they are not in the middle. As they say pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.”

  “We would have to get everyone together again for the show.”

  “Use the footage you have, then have volunteers who were present like myself make the on air pleas.”

  “Would you do that?”

  “For the right charity I would.”

  “Rick, once again I owe you big time. Now to decide which network will carry it.”

  “That’s easy, the one who created this mess. They can carry the cost, that or be sued by everyone else.”

  “I love it.”

  I told him I had to be going, but he stopped me.

  “Rick, what did you think of the class ring design by committee?”

  I didn’t know how to answer that. Mr. Monroe laughed at me.

  “Horrid, gaudy things aren’t they?”

  “Uh, yeah.”

  He went to his desk and picked up a small jewelers box.

  “You told me why you wanted a class ring. When I saw those monsters I knew it would not work. So here.”

  He handed me a box, when I opened it there was a normal looking and size class ring, with WHS on the sides. It was perfect. It was what a real high school student would give hi
s girlfriend.

  “Mr. Monroe I don’t know how to thank you.”

  “You have more than thanked me today Rick. I mean it, if you ever have problems the studio will do all that is in its power to help you out.”

  Knowing what I did about Hollywood’s past that was an enormous promise.

  “Thank you Sir.”

  His phone rang about that time. After answering it he told me he had to get moving, Hepburn and Wayne were raising hell on the backlot.

  I had spent the whole afternoon at the studio so I headed home for dinner. We talked about the day. I related my ideas for the sock hop fiasco. Everyone thought it was a good plan. Denny and Eddie didn’t pay much attention as they were in a big argument about who would win a fight between Batman and Superman.

  I was learning to keep an eye on Mary. She was listening to the TV plans avidly. I wondered what was going through her devious little mind.

  After the heady adventures of the day, reality crept in as I headed to the library to do school work. After several hours the day caught up with me and I went to my room and crashed.

  As I ran Tuesday morning I tried to sort out yesterday in my head. I had wins and losses. The biggest win was the charity telethon idea. The loss was my impulsive decision to hire Dennis.

  My family had come together to develop a plan to straighten out the situation. The question was; how did I arrive there in the first place? After some thought, I realized I had made a decision when I didn’t have to.

  As I thought more I decided my order of decision making should be; people then cost. The first question on any decision is do I have to make that decision right now. If not put it off until I consult with those whose opinions I respect. If I can’t put it off make sure everyone involved knew why I’m making the decision and what may cause me to change my mind later.

  If I have to make a decision immediately and there is no way to reverse it later, learn to live with the consequences. The important thing is to put off decisions until they are thought through if at all possible.

  I made a personal resolve to stop whenever I was thinking about an action that would affect other’s lives.

  I was thinking so hard on these issues that I completed my run with absolutely no idea of what course I had taken. When I got back Ben was out in the yard working with the horses. I asked him how it was going. He told me that position was so far beyond his dreams he didn’t know what to say.

  I asked him how his grandmother was doing.

  “Not so well, she didn’t recognize me the last time I went in, she kept calling me Jason.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Thank you, it is hard, she raised me after my parents were killed in a car crash in 1952.”

  “It has not been easy has it?”

  “It was a wonderful life until recently, now the nursing home costs are eating up the last of her money. I don’t know what we will do when it runs out.”

  I was ready to open my mouth, but shut it as I realized no decision had to be made right now. Instead I changed the subject and asked how the horses looked to him.

  “They are in great condition. I checked all of their shoes this morning. None of them need new ones yet. That reminds me, what Farrier do you use?”

  “As far as I know none has been set up.”

  “I can recommend one that will come here if you need her.”

  “Her? I didn’t realize there were female Farrier’s.”

  “Jane is one of the few, and probably the only cute one in the country.”

  I could see which way that wind was blowing.

  “I will check with my parents. If we don’t have anyone setup there is no reason she couldn’t do the work.”

  “Thanks Rick, I appreciate it.”

  “Okay, see you later.”

  “It will be much later I have some things to do after this.”

  “Okay.”

  Uncle Popeye, as he now was to be called and Aunt Sybil were at breakfast. I hugged my Aunt and shook Popeye’s hand. We exchanged a few inanities as none of us had coffee yet.

  I brought up the Farrier issue. We didn’t have one so Dad was going to tell Ben to go ahead and make arrangements for her to stop by when needed.

  I asked him for a private moment after breakfast. In his office I explained about Ben’s grandmother. He told me he would take care of it. The family would pay for her care. To be blunt it was not completely out of the goodness of his heart, but a desire to bind Ben closer to the family so he wouldn’t spill our secret hideaway.

  As I left the room I realized this delaying bit had something going for it. In the end Dad made the decision not me, and he was paying for it!

  I went into the library and sat down for a thinking session. There was a problem that I had been putting off. Namely I’m sixteen years old and have soloed, what’s next?

  I can go try to become a private pilot with instruments ratings. Then I can get instructions in flying a multi-engine aircraft. I can’t get a commercial license yet but that wasn’t in the plan.

  My new Cessna 310 would be delivered early March. They had moved the date up, the demand was so great another production line had been added. There was no reason I couldn’t start my multi-engine training prior to that as soon as I had my private certificate in hand. My parents weren’t aware of any of this. They left all the details to me.

  The question I had now; where to go and who to see to start my instruction. Ideally I would be ready to go when my plane was delivered. I needed to ask Mr. McGarry for advice.

  As arranged I spent the rest of the morning with Mr. McGarry working on my instrument rating. In a way it was like flying a 707. You had to have faith in your instruments. Maintenance and flight checks make one heck’va lot of sense.

  For the fun of it we buzzed Mr. Tunstall’s ranch. At least that’s what Mr. McGarry told me I did. He had a hood up and I couldn’t see anything out the canopy.

  I did ask him about multi-engine training and he recommended a school at LAX. I would have to check into that. Hmm, maybe I would get a beach house sooner so I wouldn’t have so far to drive for lessons.

  Chapter 4

  When I arrived home for lunch Popeye and Aunt Sybil were there. Anna Romanov joined us at lunch. After lunch the men were informed the ladies were going shopping. We could entertain ourselves.

  Our entertainment consisted of going to the library where Dad and Popeye had a whiskey, while I had my Coke.

  Popeye described what he had seen in the various ports he and Sybil had visited. He had changed his opinion on several ports since our last meeting.

  He thought that the one which would hold promise was Singapore if it could get out from under British rule and get its corruption under control. He and Dad agreed that wasn’t likely to happen.

  Haiphong wasn’t in the running because of the past problems between the French and Vietnamese. The country still hadn’t stabilized.

  Sydney, Manilla, Tokyo, and Hong Kong in the Pacific; London, Liverpool, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Marseille, Hamburg, and Valencia in Europe; Colon, Buenos Aries and Santos in South America: Savannah, Charleston, Houston, New York or more likely New Jersey, Long Beach, and Seattle/Tacoma in the United States. There were others interested but these were the ones he thought would come through the quickest.

  If China ever opened up it would be Shanghai hands down, but don’t hold your breath.

  Dinner was very pleasant with Popeye and Sybil. I just couldn’t bring myself to call him Uncle Popeye like the other kids. He didn’t seem to mind so the other adults let it go.

  We all related our recent adventures. Aunt Sybil turned out to be the story teller in the family. While Popeye would relate facts, she provided color and interest. After dessert we adjourned to watch TV but the set never got turned on as Sybil told us about the various cities and countries they had visited.

  I realized that while I had been a few places it was really nothing compared to them. I vowed to change that
in the future.

  My morning run gave me time to think through my day. Mum and Dad were heading to Boeing. The boys were going to a homeschool outing with some friends and their parents. Mary would be taken care of by Mrs. Hernandez. I needed to check on the commercial pilot’s school at LAX about multi-engine training.

  Part of my new morning ritual was to check up on Ben and the horses. All was fine. Ben as he put it was in pig heaven. The horses were looking comfortable in their new settings. How does one tell a horse looks comfortable? They just did.

  Popeye and Sybil had gone with Mum and Dad so it was just us kids at breakfast. The boys were chattering on and on about the tar pits. They hoped a dinosaur would float to the top while they were there. I didn’t think it worked that way but it would be cool if it did.

  The phone rang and Mrs. Hernandez summoned me.

  “Hello, Rick Jackson speaking.”

  “Rick, this is your favorite redhead from Katin’s.”

  “Hi Nancy, what’s up?”

  “I just had the most disturbing phone call from the accountant on your movie. They are refusing to pay for your charges from the other day.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me, I figured I would owe for it, how much?”

  “The total is two hundred, twenty-seven dollars and fifty-six cents.”

  “Wow that was a lot of swim suits. Was the fifty- six cents for a bikini?”

  “Very funny Rick, that’s not the worse part, they are withdrawing support from Corky Carrol and the world surfing competition.”

  I got a cold feeling.

  “Let me check into it, don’t worry about Corky, I’m good for all of it.”

  “Rick, that’s a lot of money.”

  “I have a lot of money, and I take care of my friends when needed. I will be down this morning. I need to go down to LAX anyway. I’ll be there before lunch.”

  “Okay, see you then.”

  I immediately redialed the studio and asked for Mr. Monroe. He took my call right then.

  “Rick, I guess you heard, you were next on my list to call.”

  “I’ve heard that the surf movie has refused to pay some bills at Katin’s and have withdrawn support for Corky Carrols world tour.”