On the way home, I wanted to talk to my mom about doing this in the future.
“You didn’t really need me to shoot the pictures, did you?” I asked.
“No, but they wanted the prestige of you doing it. I’ll have Megan send them signed publicity shots tomorrow. The boys will love it,” she explained.
“Okay, two things. First, I understand why you wanted me today. That is a nice listing. If you could give me a little more lead time, I would appreciate it.”
“I understand, and I’m sorry for the short notice.”
“Mom, if you need me, I’ll help you out. Second is, I don’t really want the money. Could you have them write checks to one of the charities instead? That way, they get to write it off their taxes, and I have another reason to do it.”
“That makes perfect sense.”
“I’d bet that they might be willing to cut even bigger checks, and you can advertise that a portion of the sale is going to charity. It might not sell the home, but it could get you some foot traffic through the house,” I said.
◊◊◊
Brook and Cassidy showed up for dinner. Peggy looked wiped out, so I told her I would take care of the boys tonight.
“Do you plan to drive to Michigan and Ohio State after the game Friday?” Brook asked while we were eating.
“This is an unofficial visit, so we have to pay for transportation,” Dad said. “Yes, we plan to drive.”
“You do realize that it’s over five hours to Michigan and then four hours to Ohio State? From Ohio State, it’s another five hours of driving to get back here. Do you really want to be in a car for fourteen to fifteen hours?” Brook asked.
I looked at Dad and then Mom. She gave me a little smirk. Mom was the only smart one. We might not get to Michigan until three in the morning if our game ran long.
“Tell me you have a solution to our dilemma,” I said to Brook.
“The flight training school trains pilots of all abilities. They told me that if you would agree to use the flights as training, they would just make you pay for fuel, airport fees, room, and board. Roy said he would also like to get tickets to the game.”
Roy Tyro was her instructor at Lincoln Flight School.
“I thought they didn’t allow passengers on training flights,” I said.
“This would be for a pilot who’s doing some continuing education. He already has his license,” Brook said, then leaned forward as if to share a secret. “I think it’s Roy and a buddy who just want to go flying. They get you to pay for it, with the added bonus of attending a football game.”
I had an evil thought.
“Ty plans to go to Michigan this weekend. He was talking smack about them flying him in while we have to drive. Keep this a secret. I want to see the look on his face when we beat them there.”
“Brook and I want to go too,” Cassidy blurted.
“Slow your roll. I had plans to convince him later,” Brook told her.
“I could just threaten to hurt him. That way, you wouldn’t have to use your … ah … you know,” Cassidy faltered.
Before my mom could get involved, I caved.
“Absolutely, you two can come. While you’re at it, you might want to invite Tami and Sarah. I don’t want to hear Tim and Wolf complaining all weekend that I have my girlfriend with me, and they don’t.”
“How big is this plane?” Dad asked.
“I don’t know. Why?” Brook asked.
“I imagine David’s uncle and brother might want to go. And I recall that Wolf’s uncle was interested in going on a trip,” Dad said.
“You’re in charge of setting it up,” I told Dad.
I was confident he would make sure that everyone paid for their own hotel rooms, food, and tickets to the game. He would call Caryn, and she would get Megan to do the legwork. Megan might miss a half-hour of her favorite soap opera.
“Oh, and make sure no one tells Wolf or Tim. I don’t need them blabbing to Ty,” I said.
I did learn one lesson: I should have played hard to get. Once I caved, Brook had to ‘go home to study for a test.’
◊◊◊ Thursday September 22
I found Tracy talking to Ms. Saunders when I walked into my photography class. I looked at her curiously, but she ignored me. My classmates were clustered around one of the computers, acting like they were working on something, so I joined them.
“What’s she doing here?” Marshal asked.
He was the most outgoing of my classmates. It had taken them a little while to warm up to me. I understood them since I’d been a nerd in middle school. If the starting quarterback had been in my class in those days, I would have been a little leery of him. I think that when I didn’t bug them to help me or look down on them, they’d finally accepted I was okay. I also made a point to inform them that I had a better GPA than they did. That held some serious street cred in the nerd world.
“I don’t know, but I expect we’re about to find out,” I said as Ms. Saunders stood up and looked back at us.
“As you know, David has been shooting some video for his mom’s real estate business. He’s offered to help Tracy shoot a series of shorts called Dessert First. The concept is similar to something you’d see on the Food Network where a chef from a local restaurant would make their signature dessert,” Ms. Saunders explained.
“Why are you doing this? It sounds like a lot of work,” Curtis said.
“Someday, I want to get into broadcasting and thought this would be a good project to practice on,” Tracy explained.
“She told me I would get to eat desserts,” I admitted.
“You need Curtis and me to help,” Marshal said. “Curtis is a wiz at the sound and using the software to edit the video. I can handle a camera and the lighting.”
“What would we need David for?” Tracy asked, to be smart.
“You need me to make you look good and to eat desserts,” I shot back.
Ms. Saunders sat the four of us down, and we strategized our first episode. The plan was to shoot it next week. I told them we could do it at my restaurant, but it had to be when we weren’t busy. I didn’t want to disrupt anything.
◊◊◊
This week, we were playing Lakeview, and they hadn’t won a game yet. I was sure everyone expected us to win big. After practice, Coach Mason and Coach Hope pulled me into one of the conference rooms. I expected them to go over something in practice that we needed to work on. What I found were two concerned men.
“What happened last weekend?” Coach Mason asked.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time. Part of my responsibility is to make sure you guys are dialed in mentally, not just physically. I’m letting you down this week. I’ve not done a good job of making sure that we’re emotionally prepared to play Lakeview. In today’s practice, it was evident that you’re not fully engaged, and it’s rubbing off on your teammates,” Coach Mason shared.
“Cassidy told me about your altercation while at Oklahoma and how you’ve stopped going to the dojo. We’re just worried that you’re losing focus,” Coach Hope said.
My first reaction was to be pissed. No one had worked harder than I had over the past three years.
“Did I not do what you asked for in practice?”
“Like I said, I don’t think the issue is physical. I worry you might be buying into the narrative that Lakeview will be an easy win and that you can mentally take some time off from the game. If I were being honest with you, you’ve been phoning it in this week. We wanted to sit down with you and see what we can do to help you regain your focus,” Coach Mason said.
I looked at both men, and they seemed to have my best interest at heart.