◊◊◊
Dare sent him a text that he and Corvus were ready to test their equipment at USC’s practice field. David, Ruth, and Duke found the two boys talking to the head of the grounds crew.
“Hey, Hank. Thanks for coming in on a Saturday,” David said.
“No problem. When I read the work order, I thought I should probably show up.”
“Where should we set up?” Corvus asked.
USC had three practice fields for football, two outside and one underground. The main outdoor field was full-sized, while the second one was turned ninety degrees and was only fifty yards long.
“If we’re just testing, let’s set up on the short field,” Hank suggested.
The boys had three large square cases accompanied by telescoping poles. Inside the cases were three gadgets that looked similar to the death star in the original Star Wars movie.
“What the heck is that?” David asked.
Corvus began to explain, but Dare stopped him.
“He’ll get lost if you explain it.”
David remembered why people wanted to stuff the little dumbass in his locker in high school.
“He looks like he might punch you,” Corvus warned.
“Cassidy said that Ruth would prevent him from doing that,” Dare said.
“What say you, Ruth? Can I pound the little shit?” David asked.
“If he keeps it up, I might have to go on break.”
“Sorry,” Dare said.
The problem was he didn’t look sorry.
“Just tell me,” David said.
“This is a top-of-the-line VR camera system. There are 42 linked micro-cinema cameras that professionals are using to make Hollywood movies,” Dare said.
“How much is all this?” David asked.
“All three cost just under a half-million dollars,” Corvus said.
Dare saw the look in David’s eyes.
“We rented them!”
“If the equipment is this expensive, our market is going to be limited,” David warned.
“We only need these for a week or two. Once we figure out the angles and such, we can get more affordable single VR cameras,” Corvus explained.
“We showed you the budget,” Dare said defensively.
“But we need some …” Corvus started, but his roommate shushed him.
David debated whether to send them home or not. But the inner geek in him wanted to see what they could come up with.
“Let’s do this,” he decided.
◊◊◊
They had David throw Duke’s tennis ball for fifteen minutes as their test. Duke was a big fan of VR filming.
They had a laptop hooked up to VR headgear. Corvus snatched it out of Dare’s hands to go first.
“Turn it on,” Corvus said.
He suddenly stood up straighter and froze. His head began to jerk around as he teetered back and forth.
“Uh oh,” he said as he ripped off the headgear and vomited.
Obviously, their first test was unsuccessful if throwing up while wearing the gear was the result.
“If you want to go next?” Dare asked David.
David saw through Dare’s attempt. He wanted to see David get sick.
“I could do that. Or maybe monkeys will fly out of my ass. The two possibilities seem equally probable,” David said.
He left the two of them to figure out what went wrong.
“You stay with the equipment for now. Call Fritz because we need to find somewhere to store it and then people to guard it this week,” David told Ruth.
“But …”
“I have Duke with me. He can lick my attacker if they get too close,” he said as he turned to walk his dog back to the townhouse.
◊◊◊
When David got back, he found the groceries had been delivered, and his housekeeper was putting them away.
“You have a message,” she said as she handed him a sticky note.
It said that Coach Trent from Elite 11 wanted him to call back.
David went up to his room and returned the call.
“Thank you for calling Nike, where we say, ‘Just do it.’ How may I direct your call?”
“Coach Trent, please.”
“May I ask who is calling?”
“David Dawson.”
“One moment while I connect you,” the pleasant-sounding woman said.
David listened to some canned music for a moment.
“David! How’s it going?” Coach Trent asked.
Coach Trent was the face of the Elite 11 quarterback competition. It was designed to offer high school quarterbacks the opportunity to attend camps and receive some of the best available coaching. At these camps, the prospects for college ball would be invited to regional events across the country.
There they would go head-to-head against many of the best players in high school. The nation’s top signal-callers were then invited to the Nike campus in Oregon for the finals. Eleven of those would receive the title of Elite 11. When David attended, he was the first junior and had been named Co-MVP.
“I’m doing well. I’m in summer school, getting ready for the season,” David said.
“Remember when you were at camp, and we had former participants come to give the guys a talk?”
“Yeah. That’s one of the highlights of camp.”
“Two of our guys have run into conflicts. Could you maybe come up Wednesday and fill in? We would pay to have you come up and cover all your expenses,” Coach Trent said.
“I’m fine with that. Let me just check with my head coach to make sure it’s okay.”
“Thanks. I’ll owe you one,” Coach Trent said as he rang off.
David called Coach Clayton but just got voicemail. He hung up and called Jaxson Pettis, USC’s Athletic Director. David shook his head when it was easier to get through to Coach Clayton’s boss than to him.
David gave Jaxson a rundown of what Elite 11 had offered. He suggested that David not accept anything, but he would clear it with everyone if he wanted to go.
“Could I maybe take a crew to do my vodcast from there?” David asked.
“I’m not sure I could authorize paying for that,” Jaxson said.
“I have a budget from the advertising I sold. Maybe you could coordinate with the cinematic department and get it approved.”
“Why don’t you do it? Jaxson asked.
“Well … I think they want to spend my funds on internal stuff,” David admitted.
“And if I call, they can’t say no?”
“It would make a stronger case,” David said.
“I will if you’ll do me one favor.”
“Maybe.”
“Ease up on Coach Clayton. I am aware of the situation, and that’s the last I will say about that,” Jaxson said.
“Yes, sir.”
David called Coach Trent back and told him he was coming. He also would have a film crew with him, and Coach Trent would be one of his vodcast guests.
◊◊◊
Chapter 24
David
David and Professor Blum had flown commercial to Oregon for Elite 11. David was unable to get either a first-class upgrade or an aisle seat. Since he was a touch claustrophobic and had long legs, the flight would be uncomfortable.
The wheels had barely touched down when David powered up his tablet and then began to scroll through his emails.
“Young man, you’re not supposed to turn that on until the plane has come to a stop,” the woman in the aisle seat complained.
He bit his tongue to halt the sharp retort that wanted to come out. It seemed nowadays everyone felt it their duty to impose their will on you, even if it was misguided. David was a fricking pilot, after all. He knew the risks. He would bet that in the next minute, the flight attendant would be on the PA system welcoming everyone and saying that they could now turn their devices on.
Sure enough, the announcement came, but the old biddy just huffed her frustration at not being able to control him for the whole fight.
The woman, who looked to be his grandmother’s age, had been on him since they took off.
David’s messenger bag had been the first issue. He’d made the mistake of putting it in the middle seat when he sat down. She’d scolded him and told him he could either stow it up above or under the seat in front of him, which was what he planned to do before takeoff.