The Brand

by M. N Providence

  Joelyn sunk into a depression so severe and brutal that she actually did contemplate suicide. In fact, she was found one morning unconscious inside the bathroom of the main suite in her home by some members of her people, after having plied herself with generous amounts of cocaine and alcohol. After they had administered First-Aid techniques and brought her back to life, they swore themselves to silence and kept the secret from the rest of the world.

  There might be some truth in the statement that thousands of people worldwide kill themselves each year as a direct consequence of bad relationships. It might also be true that this is so because lying is an inherent part of human nature. Human beings are inconsistent creatures, therefore, they will not always tell the truth. This inability to tell the truth about the faults in one’s character to loved ones and family has led to lots of damaged souls and minds, some of them never to heal properly.

  Samantha Ashford, feeling compassion for her friend, actually took some time off from her job at Deloitte & Touché and got in touch with Joelyn’s mother. The two of them caught a plane at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International airport and went to Los Angeles to be with Joelyn at this time of her second marital tragedy. Though Joelyn’s dependence on alcohol and dangerous drugs was hidden from the two visitors, they did, however, notice that she was worryingly psychologically unbalanced. They suggested to her that it would be advisable to consult a psychiatrist to help her deal with her grief.

  Joelyn insisted that she was getting better. To prove this, she threw herself into the making of the new film by JOY-LINE PICTURES. This personal involvement in the film that she was entirely financing from her own pocket was her first public appearance since the shame of her husband’s multiple infidelities, and it persuaded the visitors from South Africa that she was ready to pick up the pieces and continue with her life. They bade her farewell and returned to their respective lives in South Africa as well.

  For the people on the set of the new film, having Joelyn’s personal thrust in the film’s production gave them a torrid time. She cut and amended the script so many times that the story took on a completely different form and character. She abused the people working on the set and reduced them to obedient subservience. She clashed with the film director several times until he quit the job, following yet another heated exchange between the two of them. Joelyn hired another director, who did not add anything new to the already existing material, but re-worked the project from scratch. These delays added more money to the film’s production costs. When it was eventually packaged in its final cut, the film had cost $89,5 million to make. It did not do well at the box office, amassing only $8 million on its opening weekend and eventually collecting a total of $34 million from ticket sales worldwide. One does not need a university degree in financial mathematics to understand that JOY-LINE PICTURES, wholly-owned and financed by one Joelyn Smith, had made an incredible loss of $50 million. Joelyn Smith sunk deeper into the quagmire of drugs and alcohol.

  Chapter 10

  AMERICA

  When Jansen Vermuelen resumed her tennis career after a 12-month absence, she was a more mature specimen. Gone was the caustic tongue. It was replaced by such superb manners on court that a New York Times Magazine writer noticed and wrote an article about her. The first tournament Jansen played in upon her return to the WTA professional circuit was the French Open, and although she did not win the women’s title, she did show her mettle and resolve by reaching the final, where she lost 6-4, 4-6, and 3-6 to a Serbian victor. Jansen played all her matches leading to the final in good spirits, laughing and joking with her opponents, and making funny facial animations when match-referees’ decisions went against her.

  The improved manners and controlled temperament were due to the appointment of an anger-management coach to her team. It was an appointment forced on her by her head coach, Gary Speckman. Jansen had also made her own personal resolve to be a better person, after taking time off tennis and realizing the large number of tennis fans whose lives she touched. During her forced hiatus, her multitude of followers on Twitter and friends on major networking sites had sent in their condolences and wished her well. Since her appearance on TV shows, her fan-base had expanded to magnificent proportions. At the French Tennis Open, the journalists gathered there awarded her the unofficial title of Personality of the Tournament. She was interviewed on court by a TV journalist after her women’s final defeat and she modestly expressed her joy at being back playing tennis, and also gave praise to God for answering her prayers and helping to heal her previously broken wrist. The crowd loved her and gave her a standing ovation.

  Back in her hotel room, Jansen hugged her coach again. He was excited, but he didn’t want to show it. But Jansen knew him well enough to know that he was very proud of her, even though he was all business. ‘Roland Garros is over. No point in dwelling on the past. The future is waiting for us to live. Wimbledon is next. Let’s focus our minds on that.’

  He left the room, but stopped at the door and looked back at her. They stared at each other for a long moment, until Gary’s face broke into a wonderful grin. ‘You did great, kid. I’m proud of you.’

  ‘Thank you, Gary.’ Suddenly, she was overcome by an overwhelming surge of emotions that brought tears to her eyes.

  Gary Speckman quickly stepped out of the room.

  Jansen sat down and unconsciously rubbed her left wrist. Tears flowed down her face. They were tears of joy. A heavy load had been lifted off her shoulders. For two months now, her coach had put her through rigorous training exercises, the anger management consultant had worked on her mental strength, but there lingered within her some self-doubt over her ability – or inability thereof – to recapture the magic of her previous exploits in the game of tennis. To her, Roland Garros had been the yardstick which she would use to determine how rusty she had become and how far she had to go. She had not expected to go all the way to the final. But coming from the lowest ranks of seeded players to reaching the final showed her determination and strength of character.

  Her impressive performance at the French Open proved how hungry she was to lift a trophy. For her, it was not about the money. She had been born into money, and her father had further left her with too much money to care about this commodity so crucially unavailable to others. No – it was not about the money. It was about becoming the best tennis player in the world, bar none. It was about lifting all the four Grand Slam titles. It was about becoming the best there was and the best there ever would be. And Jansen Vermuelen knew that to be the best in the world required extra hard work.

  In the morning, Jansen Vermuelen had a press conference in the presence of her coach. It was a new arrangement for Gary Speckman, who had previously been conspicuous by his absence from the tennis star’s publicity shows. The press conference was organized, for branding purposes, by the French automaker Peugeot, part sponsors of both the French Open and the brand known as Jansen Vermuelen. During the press conference, the company presented Jansen with a brand new Peugeot RCZ two-door convertible, a beautiful drop-top with amazing looks, perfect for the image of a young, beautiful blonde woman. Soon after the press conference, Jansen and Gary travelled in the first class cabin of an Air France Airbus A380 passenger jet to Johannesburg, South Africa, while her customized convertible was shipped by Peugeot to an outlet in New York City, to be ready for Jansen’s collection at any time she deemed convenient. In Johannesburg, Jansen and her coach arrived together with a team of fifteen people who were all under the employ of Miss Vermuelen and were all maniacally dedicated to making every wish of hers their command. They all settled at the famous mansion in Sandhurst.

  Coach Speckman insisted on training his young protégé at the mansion, which had a Clay court, a Grass court and an all-weather indoor Hard court. All three were kept in good order by a paid professional maintenance caretaker. Gary wanted Jansen to return back to her roots and start where it had all begun for her, before the glamor of a showbiz lifestyle had swayed th
e young woman’s mind and swelled her ego. Judging by her performance at Roland Garros, the return to basics had worked. Now, Gary focused his mind and attention to training her for the upcoming Wimbledon tournament.

  Chapter 11

  AMERICA

  While the world generally accepted Joelyn Smith’s vanity and egoistic tendencies as hazards synonymous with the nature of her occupation, it remained a closely-guarded secret that Joelyn Smith was in the second half of 2012 a certifiable alcoholic and drug addict with a dangerous affinity for Veuve Clicquot champagne, Johnnie Walker Blue Label premium whisky, Krug Grand Cuvée, Hennessy Private Reserve, and the finest quality of cocaine originating from the vast opium fields of Colombia. Indeed, of late, Ms. Smith had become an intolerably nasty piece of work.

  She had developed the unenviable habit of being late for important appointments. She breached her contracts with her major sponsors. She yelled abuse at her workers. Those who couldn’t stand the heat got out of the kitchen. Those who underestimated its intensity took up those vacant positions only to learn of the horror of their mistakes. Joelyn Smith, affectionately known as Jo S, was fast earning herself a reputation for bad manners and rude etiquette. The tabloids detailed every bit of juicy gossip about her; from causing a scene at an A-list celebrity restaurant to being kicked out of hotels after trashing multiple hotel rooms. Public opinion was divided regarding her behavior.

  The only thing – at least according to certified brand managers – that Joelyn had done right in the last few weeks was to end her marriage to one Jason Kane in a civil manner. To avoid a prolonged and protracted acrimonious dissolution of their marriage, the two stars had instructed their respective divorce attorneys to find common ground and speed up the process. Indeed, Jason Kane and Joelyn Smith’s divorce was an occurrence of such minor insignificance that it provided little or no entertainment to the ordinary masses and in fact served as a reminder to everyone that the two stars had married not for financial reward but purely for love, however misguided they might each have been.

  In the second week of June, a lawyer representing the business interests of one Joelyn Smith had filed a lawsuit against a company that manufactured hair products for using Joelyn Smith’s image in advertising some of its products. The lawsuit claimed a $30 million compensation for “damages incurred” to Ms. Smith. It further stated that the hair products manufacturer had benefitted to a “possible” amount of “over $72-million” by the unauthorized use of her images to market its products. The lawsuit was filed at a Los Angeles County court. The judge who presided over the case was an ambitious man who had dreams of a political future. He saw the opportunity as a golden one to make his name known. The case would definitely attract widespread attention, because it involved the name of one of Hollywood’s current pop idols.

  The judge sped things up and bullied the opposing teams of attorneys into making final presentations. In a quicker-than-normal process, judgment on the case was heard in August, barely two months before the November Presidential Election. Joelyn Smith did not physically attend the court proceedings, but her name was mentioned so many times by members of the media that a group of her fans actually stood vigil outside the courthouse from the early hours of the morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of their idol. The judge, unable to control himself, seized the moment of glory and actually permitted TV cameras into the court. After a noisy and chaotic environment that lasted for the better part of half an hour, the judge brought the court to order and gave his final ruling.

  He found the accused company guilty of illegally exploiting the images and “implied name” of Joelyn Smith for its benefit. The judge did not, however, award the asked-for $30-million in damages, after stating that the plaintiff had “greatly” exaggerated the profits obtained by the accused company. He awarded $1,5 million to Joelyn Smith. Some quarters of society had castigated Joelyn for being greedy, mentioning in social networks that with her staggering wealth – known to the world, thanks to Forbes magazine – she already lived comfortably and did not need to harass people who were trying to create wealth for themselves. In a cheeky response, Joelyn took the money awarded to her, and after paying her attorneys, donated the rest to charity.

  There was little mention of that in the media. Joelyn threw a tantrum, crying that her attempts at social responsibility were not properly recognized. She accused her publicist – a neurotic 26-year-old who had recently become a patient of one of LA’s top psychiatrists, due largely to working for a tyrant with a volatile temper – of not doing her job efficiently. The following day, the young woman had a minor nervous breakdown and did not arrive for work. The day after that, her psychiatrist prescribed that the young woman should quit her current job to refrain from suicidal thoughts.

  Sometime in September, Joelyn attended the MTV Video Music Awards, where she picked up three awards. The next day, the newspapers, tabloids, TV channels and radio stations all spoke about her and how she deserved those awards. Some were more critical than others, noting how thin Joelyn had become since her divorce from Jason Kane, and how she had giggled and mumbled words during all her acceptance speeches. To be fair, everyone who had watched the live broadcast had noticed that Joelyn appeared drunk throughout the show. She had arrived for the VMAs dressed in a skimpy little see-through dress that left little to the imagination and showed the world how thin she had become.

  Rumors circulated that the organizers of the show had wanted Joelyn to perform at the event, but she had refused. Word was that Joelyn was not herself lately, and her people did not trust the actions she would perform on stage. Of course, the veracity of those rumors was never ascertained. Joelyn’s publicists strongly declined the rumors that she had been drunk at the VMAs.

  On the 6th of November, American voters went to the polls and decided to retain Barack Obama’s presence at the White House. When the election fever was over, ordinary Americans quickly forgot about Washington politics and looked elsewhere for entertainment. The Soul Train Awards, traditionally designed to recognize and acknowledge talented Black musicians, came in November and nevertheless went against conventional practice by bringing in Joelyn Smith to partner a song performance with Raizer T. Their performance together was electrifying. Their peers in the music industry gave them a standing ovation. Later, Joelyn was called onto the stage to present an award to a winner in a certain category. She was waiting for the winner to make his way to the stage when millions of viewers across the globe saw her raise her right hand to her forehead. Then she collapsed and fainted in a dead heap.

  A few minutes later an unconscious Joelyn Smith was taken by a speeding ambulance to hospital.

  Chapter 12

  AMERICA

  Her name was Jansen Vermuelen. She was an extremely beautiful young woman of twenty-one. She had a graceful, athletic body. She was virtually loved by everyone she met. Her fans adored her. They simply called her Jansen, and gradually sports presenters, reporters and bloggers ignored her last name altogether until it was firmly fixed in people’s minds that she was Jansen, a tennis star with many other talents. She had dieticians, nutritionists, aerobics instructors, personal trainers, masseuses, her own personal doctor who was on standby 24-hours a day, as well as a personal chef who travelled with her to every hotel she stayed in around the world – to the indignation of the hotels’ resident chefs.

  Jansen was at the top of her game and on top of the world. Since her return to professional tennis, Jansen had picked up a tour-leading three titles and climbed the WTA rankings from 257 when she resumed her tennis career to a respectable 39. Wimbledon had proved elusive for her, and she had crashed out of the third round of the tournament with a hamstring injury. After that, she went back to New York to recuperate and start the mental preparation for the upcoming US Open. By all intents and purposes, Jansen wanted very badly to reclaim the US Open tennis title from its current holder. Her agent at International Management Group was forced to respond after widespread speculation about whether
Jansen would be fit in time for the US Open. The agent mentioned that Jansen had had a cortisone shot in her thigh to relieve lingering soreness. Five days later she was back at work filming a commercial. She posted two tweets the next day, saying her thigh had improved “immensely”, and she had begun training with her coach for the US Open.

  From the moment she had decided to return to playing tennis, Jansen had made a number of personal resolutions: she wanted to climb the WTA rankings and become the top-ranked female player in the world; she wanted to win all four Grand Slam titles; she wanted to improve her attitude on court; and she wanted no man to disturb her intended resolves. The last man she had been with was the Arab prince. Since then, Jansen had rejected countless sexual enticements and romantic proposals from all types of men all over the world. When asked in TV and magazine interviews, she stated that she was in a “cooling” period at present as far as relationships were concerned, adding that boyfriends – no matter how decent or good they might be – had a tendency to distract one from one’s intended goals, so she had made a personal pledge that she would stay single for the rest of the year.

  Jansen went into the US Tennis Open backed by an army of supporters. She went into the tournament 100% fit, and railroaded her way past opponents and stormed into the finals with merciless brutality. The final was played against the current Women’s Number One, in front of a sold-out crowd of 22,500 at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Before the start of the match, Coach Gary Speckman told his young player that she had the strength to beat her opponent, and should not let rankings intimidate her. Jansen went into the first game with a positive attitude and swept it, plus the next three games, into her bag to lead 4-0. However, her opponent showed why she was № 1 by returning strongly to win the next five games. In quick time she was serving for the set and did so with an ace that whizzed past a helpless Jansen. The partisan crowd was stunned into disbelief.