“I know. Next, you’ll be telling me it’s you and not me and that I’m a fantastic person,” Beth continued her torment.
“Well …”
“David! I’m telling your mother,” she threatened.
“We both know that’s an empty threat. I’m in Cuba, and she can’t do anything about it,” I said in a haughty voice.
“Live in your fantasy world for now. We both know you have to come home sometime.”
“By then, she’ll have forgotten,” I tried.
She just laughed at me. My mom NEVER forgot anything. Then Beth got serious.
“Hey, I really did mean what I said. I apologize for dumping that on you and running, but I knew it was too much too soon.”
“Beth, let’s be clear. We’re outside the 24-hour rule boundaries right now. I do love you, and when we’re older, I’d love to get serious with you. Maybe we could wait until I at least get out of high school before we make a life commitment,” I suggested.
Believe me, I knew what a hypocrite I was being. Tami had used a similar argument on me more than once.
Beth seemed relieved. She wanted to know all about Cuba. I told her they even got me to sing, and Beth made some rude remarks. I guess I couldn’t blame her because she’d heard me sing before.
We talked for about an hour. I finally had to remind her that phone calls from Cuba weren’t cheap. I figured she was worth it.
My next call was to home. Dad answered, and after he confirmed I was okay, he handed the phone to Mom. I knew I needed to be the one to tell her about Beth. If Mrs. A did, there’d be hell to pay. That discussion took nearly forty-five minutes. There was no way I could leave anything out, so I didn’t try. We were talking, after all, about Beth. She seemed happy that I’d confessed my love for my friend.
So much for the interrogation. We next had the requisite ‘update’ conversation about the ambush interview I’d been subjected to at the hands of a couple of women with an agenda. The upshot of it seemed to be all good.
We’d had a report from Frank, my public relations guru. He said that most of the media seemed surprisingly grateful for the focused information we’d given them. They also appreciated that we’d provided the background videos they could use to fact-check the story. Of course, they’d never admit it, but more than one contact at the more prominent outlets had commented favorably on the professionalism we’d brought to the table.
They even understood our need to send them a ‘cease and desist’ letter from our lawyers. Most times, they’d ignore those letters. But the amount and quality of the information we’d given them made that impossible. When you added in our filing suit against a couple of outlier news outlets on the next business day, they couldn’t ignore the issue of their own potential liability.
Whew! It looked like one of our goals, keeping the media on our side, seemed to be achievable.
There were two more pieces of good news. The first was that Elle, the magazine the interviewer had implied she was working for, had issued a press release distancing itself from the interviewer. And the magazine’s media person had confirmed it. Second, the two outlier media outlets who’d ignored our information and who’d gone the ‘Damn David’ route were in trouble. They’d used only the interviewer’s highly edited garbage and were now in hot water. They were facing both legal and public perception problems.
Both outlets then tried to claim they didn’t get it in time. Frank, speaking through Ms. Dixon in a press conference, pointed out our package had been sent to them while they were on the phone with Frank. And our email tracking software showed the message had been opened two hours before they first aired the story.
The second outlet had done its own selective editing. In response to one question, I’d said something about the interviewer’s agenda, and in the next sentence, had answered the question. This particular outlet had kept in the bit about the interviewer’s agenda but left out the actual answer in its reporting. Then, about an hour later, one of their pundits engaged in a lengthy on-air diatribe about how I’d never answered the question and implied I was hiding something.
This was where having my own website helped. That outlet was immediately bombarded by calls and online comments. Viewers pointed out that I had, in fact, answered the question. And that the pundit was making himself and the outlet collectively look like an ass. When this particular bit of sleaze became the subject of commentators from other outlets, the pundit had to issue a public apology, citing ‘internal communications errors.’
That didn’t stop the lawsuits, though. Ms. Dixon felt we could recover our costs of responding to the whole incident if we got the right settlement from the two outlets.
I sure hoped she was right. I’d been trying hard not to think about what this was costing me. Frank’s scandal escalator could choke a horse, not to mention Ms. Dixon’s team’s hourly rates.
The only downside to it all was that my relations with the feminist organizations, which had been nonexistent before, were now firmly on the ‘existent but bad’ side. After an initial outcry, they were now saying very little. But they couldn’t be happy we’d exposed two of their own to criticism and ridicule, even though the two richly deserved it.
I asked my parents to talk with Frank about brainstorming ways I might be able to rehab relationships with those organizations. I didn’t hold out much hope for our being able to accomplish anything, though.
When I was done with Mom and Dad, I made quick calls to Brook, Zoe, Pam, and Tracy. My conversation with Halle took a little longer because she was about to start her press tour for our movie, The Secret Circle. It was due out Memorial Day weekend. Our main competition would be X-Men: Apocalypse.
I talked to her about the effects the ambush interview issue might have, but she thought it would actually boost movie sales. Halle seemed to be a true believer in the Hollywood mantra, ‘any publicity is good publicity as long as they spell your name right!’ I hoped she was correct in her assertion. Only time would tell.
I also confided in her that I had a scene where they had me sing. I’d heard Halle sing the National Anthem at one of our games, so I knew she was light years better than I was. She had sympathy for me.
When I was done with our call, it was late. I decided I would call everyone else another evening. I wanted to hear that everyone was okay back home. It was important that I get that reminder of what normal was so I could face Laurent tomorrow. He was starting to wear on me, and it had only been three days.
◊◊◊ Thursday May 19
Cassidy must have friends in high places because she contrived to be my security today. When I got to the set, Kitty and Anita met me and informed me we were shooting scenes on an old yacht. Laurent planned to do other scenes, so I didn’t have to deal with him.
It was an absolutely perfect day to be out on the water. There was a light breeze, which made the heat and humidity bearable. Cassidy looked like she planned to get some sun while I worked. She wore white shorts, a sleeveless blouse, sunglasses, and a straw hat with a scarf to keep it on her head.
The hotel had suggested that we not use their grounds for our workouts, so I’d asked Paul and Fritz to find us a dojo we could work out in. I personally thought they planned to play tourist, which was fine with me. Caryn begged off because she needed to follow up on arrangements for the restaurant grand opening. Megan was a big help, but Caryn was the one who knew the whole plan.
When we arrived at the marina, I was amazed at the effort they’d gone to. All the boats that might be observed in a shot were from the correct period. Floating out in the bay was a big yacht where most of the scenes would be filmed today.
Kitty set up a series of scenes where I walked down the dock and boarded a classic wooden Chris-Craft runabout to take me to the yacht. I fell in love with the boat. It had an inboard motor that made a deep throaty sound as it gained speed. The artisanship and care for this boat were obvious. It simply glistened in the morning sun. It just had so much more style than today’s fiberglass boats had.