by Tina Anne
“I was told that the guy requested you.”
“Requested me? Why me? What guy? Who is he?”
I was really starting to panic. In fact I was glad I was wearing a strong deodorant.
“Mom, it will be ok.”
He thought I was afraid of being on TV. No, I’d been in front of a camera and even live audiences lots of times. This was not my issue. If only I could tell him, but I made a promise a long time ago. Instead I promised to be at the meeting and let Frankie get back to work.
When it was time for the meeting Frankie and I walked down to Nigel’s office together. I was filled with dread. I wondered if maybe I could become so sick over night that I had to be hospitalized. It could happen. There had to be a way.
We entered Nigel’s office. I really liked Nigel. He and his office always smelled so good, so inviting. (The smell of the office was inviting not the smell of Nigel himself. Don’t get the wrong idea.) The coolest thing about him was his British accent, I loved it. His housekeeping skills, however, left a lot to be desired.
His office was decorated with pictures of himself posing with different celebrities. There were also several small hand carved knives scattered about. I wasn’t in to knives, but one of them had a handle that was shaped like an empire penguin. Nigel and I shared a passion for penguins so I always noticed that particular knife. Nigel’s office was cool, but things that should have gone on the shelves were thrown on the chairs and even on the floor. The knives and photos took up all the space instead. I cleared a chair off and sat down. Frankie did the same.
“Misty, I’m sorry,” was the first thing Nigel said to me.
“For what exactly,” I asked.
“I agreed to this interview without really knowing who this guy was. Normally I’d do a thorough check before agreeing to an interview. But his name seemed familiar so I thought it would be ok. It’s just that we need publicity so bad that I jumped at the chance for the park to be on national TV.”
Ok, he was really nervous. He was talking too much for Nigel. How bad was the guy who was going to do the interview?
“Nigel, who exactly am I being interviewed by?” I asked afraid of the answer.
“Al Learner,” Nigel said as quietly as he could.
“What?” Frankie yelled. Standing up “Are you insane, Nigel?”
Nigel just shrunk down even more into his chair. I had no idea who this Al Learner guy was, but judging by Frankie’s reaction, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“Frankie sit down,” I said. He obeyed.
“Mom,” Frankie said, “Al Learner works for one of those tabloid TV shows. His specialty is turning people into mince meat. He loves to embarrass people. Reduce them to tears if possible. Ruin their career. Their lives.”
“That’s right,” Nigel said. “Although lately he’s been focusing on tracking down long lost famous people. Celebrities in hiding, things like that. I can’t imagine why he wants to talk to you. But he did request you by name.”
I could imagine why. I knew why he requested me. A feeling of panic overcame me. Suddenly my chest hurt and I found it hard to breath. All I could think was that maybe I was having a heart attack and it would get me out of the interview. I felt the blood drain from my face. I looked at Frankie.
“Mom!” Frankie got out of his chair again and knelt down on front of me.
Nigel was talking to someone on the phone. He hung up and said, “They’re on their way.”
Who? Who was on their way? Tell me!
“Just breathe, Mom. It’s ok.”
I could see the panic in Frankie’s face. I was sure he could see the panic in mine. I just stared into my son’s eyes hoping it would calm me down.
At that moment both Marlowe and Frank burst through the door. Great now I had the Police Chief and the head of security here. Not to mention, the first was a potential new boyfriend and the latter my ex-husband.
They both tried to examine me to see what was wrong. At the same time. This only made it worse.
“Stop it!” I yelled, much to their surprise judging by the looks on their faces. “Frank, you examine me. Marlow you get out of the way.”
At this point I was more comfortable having my ex-husband touch me than a man I had barely known. Besides, they both had the same qualifications. They had even trained together over the years. Frank asked me questions about numbness, tingling, pain, that sort of thing. I answered his questions as best I could.
“Well, I think it was just a panic attack. Not a heart attack,” he said finally.
That’s when the EMT’s arrived and kicked everyone out of the room. After doing as thorough an examination as they could do in the office, they declared it was a panic attack. They recommended that I go to the hospital, but I agreed with their diagnosis and I declined. With that they left and everyone else came back in to the room.
“Mom, are you ok?” Frankie said.
They were all standing by the door as if they came any closer they would catch whatever it was that I had. I smiled and almost started to laugh. But I couldn’t. All I could do was concentrate on breathing.
“Frank, please get everyone out of here,” I said between the deep relaxing breaths I was trying to take.
Frank cleared the room and closed the door. He sat down in the chair next to me. “Misty what happened? You don’t get panic attacks. Nothing scares you.”
I looked at him. Right now he was the only one who could truly tell me what I should do. He was the only one who knew my life’s story.
“Frank a guy named Al Learner is coming here to interview me tomorrow,” I told him.
“Fantastic. Why would that make you panic? You can handle a camera.”
“Frankie and Nigel said his specialty is turning people in to mince meat.”
“You can handle that. You’re tough. Still don’t see the problem,” he said.
I explained a little further about the interview and the reason for my panic.
”Oh, shit,” was all Frank had to say.
I looked at him and shook my head. “Help me, Frank. I don’t think I can get out of it. What will I do?”
Frank reached over and took my hand. He might be my ex-husband, but he still knew me better than anyone else in the world. And I trusted him and his opinion. We had a sort of love and respect between us. We talked and we came up with a plan of action. Both he and Frankie would be in the room with me. He would be in full security uniform and perform body guard duties for me if necessary.
In addition, we decided to have one of the company lawyers in the room. And we would record the interview ourselves on the security cameras that were already in the room. Frank would ensure the cameras were operational and he would try to find a way to record the audio. I felt better with a plan in place. I knew Frank would not let me down.
Once we worked out the details as much as he and I could we let everyone else back in to the office. Frank and I explained our plans to the assembled team.
“I’ll be happy to be there in full uniform, too,” Marlowe said.
I smiled at him. “Thank you, but that might be an abuse of tax payer dollars.” I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but I felt like I didn’t know him well enough to have him there. Maybe after we had a date or two. Or ten.
“Ok,” Frank said, “I’m going to get with my security team and make sure we are all set to record tomorrow. Misty, I’ll call you if I need anything.” He kissed me on the top of my head and he left.
“That was weird,” Frankie said.
“He knows how worried I am. That’s all. So, back to business.” And back to CEO mode. “Nigel, I need you to get me some background on this guy. Footage would be most helpful. I need to learn all I can about him and how he operates. I think that will help me plan my defense.”
“I will e-mail you everything I find,” Nigel said.
“Good. Frankie, you do the same. You’ll probably come up with something Nigel didn’t. Marlowe, you take me home. My day he
re is over. I need to get home and start prepping for tomorrow. We need to prepare for battle. I’ll keep my computer on all night. I’ll see everyone at the theater tomorrow. Be on time. No, be early.”
I stood up and walked out the door. Nigel started tapping away at his computer. Frankie followed Marlowe and I out the door. We said goodbye to Frankie. I stopped in Della’s office and told her that I wasn’t feeling well and needed to go home. She told me that she knew about the ambulance and had already taken care of everything. Marlowe and I left and went outside to the front of the building and his car. Marlowe took my arm and led the way. I had to admit that his touch felt nice. It even gave me chills.
He didn’t have the police cruiser with him. Instead he had his Honda Civic. Not a bad car, or anything, but he never washed it or cleaned it out. He had to wipe the fast food wrappers off the seat before I could sit down. At least he apologized for the car being such a mess. One point in his favor. He even closed the door for me before walking around to his side and getting in. When he got in and started the engine, however, whatever was in his CD player came on at full blast. I jumped and yelled at him. He pressed the power button and turned it off.
“What the hell was that? Why was someone stabbing that lady?” I said.
He looked offended. “That,” he said with a bit of attitude, “was Maria Callas. One of the greatest opera singers of all time.”
Opera? Ok, one less point in his favor. I was not a fan of opera or classical music to say the least. Could I really date a man who listens to it? I looked at how handsome he was. Sure, we could work around it. Frank and I listened to very different music and we were together for a very long time.
“Sorry, Marlowe, she just scared me.” I said.
“It’s ok. I’ll work on your love of opera later.”
“It’s going to be a tough job, I have never liked it. Ever. And yes, I’ve been to several.”
“You’re kidding? I’d pegged you for a music lover,” he said.
“Music, yes. Opera, no. Music must have a guitar. Preferably electric. Preferably sung in a language that I can understand.”
“Wow, you’re in to rock, then? I like rock.” He didn’t sound convincing. “I was into it a lot more when I was younger. In fact once I even had a crush on this heavy metal singer.”
Now we were speaking the same language. Heavy Metal was one of my favorite genres of music.
“Really? Who was it?” I asked smiling.
“Really. In fact I still have a poster of her on my wall. She was hot. No idea where she is now. Her name was Misty Breeze.”
I tried to show no reaction. He had or has a crush on someone I once knew. In fact she and I were good friends once. Almost like sisters.
“I’ve heard of her” I said. “In fact, I’ve met her. When Frank and I were younger we had a little business helping young performers.”
“Oh, wow, that’s so cool. Where is she now?”
“She died. When I was in my early twenties. She had overdosed while on the road in Europe somewhere.”
“I heard that, but I was hoping it was all made up. I mean she always promoted herself as anti drugs. I believed her. I was hoping maybe she just wanted to escape the lime light. I’d really like to meet her someday. Call it a fantasy.”
“She didn’t use drugs. We thought it was suicide, not an accidental over dose,” I said.
“Well, I’m still going to dream. You never know.”
Oh, I knew.
We pulled up in front of my house. He turned the car off and looked at me. He looked worried.
“Do you need me to come in with you? I could hang out, maybe make dinner for you?” he said.
“You cook?”
“Ok, I can microwave. Or call out for something.”
“Thank you, but I don’t think we know each other well enough yet. Before we spend time alone in my home, lets at least go on a couple of dates. I’d like to get to know you better before I decide if I want to give in to temptation.”
“Oh, I tempt you?” he smiled.
He did, but I really didn’t want to tell him that. A woman has to keep her man guessing at least a little.
“Not yet. Bye, Marlowe,” I said.
I got out of the car and went in to my house. My sanctuary. It was time to prepare my battle plan against Al Learner.
After a couple of hours of reading e-mails and watching videos on my computer I was interrupted by a knock on my door. It was Frankie, I was grateful for the interruption. My eyes were getting so tired.
“Mom,” he said, “have you been working on this stuff all this time?”
“Yes, and I could really use a break.”
“Good, cause I’m hungry. Let’s go up to Festival De La Manatee and see Minerva. I think William is working tonight too. We could say hi.”
William was the father-in-law of our head engineer Jerome. He was also the preacher at a store front church that he founded. And he was fast becoming a friend of ours. He was a great man. Unfortunately when he was young he got in to trouble and went to jail for a time. Even though I know and trust him, the park has a policy of not hiring anyone with a criminal record. No, exceptions. Not that I would make one for him or anyone else. That just wouldn’t be right.
“I didn’t know he was working there,” I said.
“Not at the restaurant. He’s working for your hotel. You need to pay better attention to who you hire.”
“Honey, I spend almost every waking hour at the park. I let the hotel’s HR handle the hiring for it. I really don’t even know most of the people at the hotel.”
“By the way, before you protest, I already called Minerva and told her we were coming. She’s making something special for us. So let’s go.”
I wasn’t going to argue with him anyway. I was hungry and I’d been sitting in my living room way too long. But again, I thought that he needed a girlfriend and to stop hanging out with his mommy so much.
When I arrived home earlier I had changed out of my business casual clothes and into a pair of shorts and an Adventure Universe t-shirt. I could not go to Festival De La Manatee dressed like that. So, I made Frankie wait while I changed in to something decent again. Minerva’s restaurant didn’t have a dress code, the idea was that people could feel comfortable going straight there after spending the day at Adventure Universe. But, I felt that as the park’s CEO I should be presentable anytime I was in public. Especially if I was on park property. Technically the hotel wasn’t on park property, but it was close enough.
Frankie approved of my choice of clothing and we walked up to the main house/hotel that contained Minerva’s restaurant.
Chapter 3: Meal From Hell
When Frankie and I arrived at the hotel I had to stop outside and look at it for a moment. It was once the home of the previous owners of Adventure Universe. It was huge. There were four or five bedrooms on each of three floors and each bedroom had its own ensuite. In the center of the front driveway there was a huge fountain with winged horses in the water and carved figures surrounding the water spout. It was atrocious for a home. For a hotel it wasn’t so bad. It used to be referred to as the Neuspech House, the last name of the former owners. (And the same name of the town in which we lived.) I had renamed it Summer House. First, for my last name. (My way of leaving a legacy?) Second, because it was a place where you could always find the happiness of summer.
After climbing the steps and entering the hotel’s lobby Frankie and I were greeted by William. He was on duty as a page, or bellhop this evening. I walked over to him and shook his hand. It wouldn’t do for the owner to be seen hugging one of the employees. And I knew my presence was known because everyone had stiffened up and some of the staff were even trying to look busy where they hadn’t bothered before. I laughed. I wasn’t that kind of owner. As long as the job was getting done, a few moments of down time were fine. I did it myself.
“You look great,” I said to William. He really did. His uniform was ironed, crea
sed, and wrinkle free. Unfortunately not all of the hotel's pages I’ve seen so far looked as good.
“Thank you, Misty. I feel great. This sure beats bussin’ tables. At least I think it does. I’ll tell you when we get really busy. With only one floor open, we ain’t that busy right now,” William said. “By the way some TV reporter just checked in. Nasty piece of work. He’s been rude to everyone since he got here. Didn’t even give me no tip for carrying his bags, just looked at me and closed the door. Why’s he here anyway?”
“He’s interviewing Mom tomorrow,” Frankie said.
“Oh. Now you best be careful, Misty. That man’s a sly one. I don’t like his show none, but I’ve seen parts of it when other people was watchin’ it. Can’t believe people like that sort of thing. Makes my skin crawl just lookin’ at that man.”
The bell rang at the front desk. This meant they needed William.
“Gotta go. I’ll say a prayer for you tonight, Misty. And for that man cause Lord knows he ain’t heaven bound the way he’s goin’. Enjoy your dinner; Miss Minerva’s waitin’ for you.” With that he left and went to see what the front desk needed.
I had to laugh as William walked away. He was always so happy. In that respect alone he was a role model for others. Not to mention that he was hard working and dedicated to his job. When he was bussing tables at the buffet he would clear and wipe down other people’s tables. I really admired him.
Frankie and I turned and walked over to the podium of the restaurant’s hostess. She looked up and smiled at us.
“Good evening, Shirley,” Frankie smiled at her.
I thought I saw her blush. Frankie had that effect on women. He was good looking, but mostly he had a way of charming people. Worked on almost everyone, especially the women. And yet he had never been on a single date as far as I knew. I never understood that.
“Hello, Mrs. Summer, Mr. Summer. Minerva’s expecting you. Follow me, please,” Shirley said.
We followed her over to a table in the corner. I loved they way Minerva chose to decorate the restaurant. There were images of sea life and water everywhere, especially her beloved manatees. The theme was reflected in the décor, the walls, the menus, and even the furniture. It wasn’t tacky and it didn’t make you feel like you were in an aquarium. It was just elegant. It was calm and peaceful. Just the thing to help families relax after a busy day at the park. Not to mention the park’s CEO and CFO.
