One of the outnumbered males, his back leaning against the bar and a bottle of Heineken Dark resting lazily in his lap barely supported by his right hand, turned to his friend on the next stool and muttered in a low, slightly drunken voice.
“You know Jim. I really could dig this life style. There are some fine looking women that frequent this place. I’ve been in love at least a dozen times today.”
“Settle down Romeo.” His friend teased. “You know you have a so-called date tomorrow, even if it is a publicity stunt. Over half the men in America would love to be in your shoes on Saturday and you’re sitting here scoping out the local beach babes.”
’”Look Jim. You know what an airhead Tiffany is. I couldn’t spend a real night with her if my life depended on it. All she talks about is how good-looking she is, which is true, and how rich she is, which is true, and what a beautiful body she has, which is true. Oh dammit, I might talk my self into enjoying it, which I know I, won’t so let’s just stop talking about it. Okay?”
“Sure Brandon.” Jim Caldwell laughed. “I’m sure you’re really going to suffer. If it bothers you that much, why don’t you shave off your beard and take off those super dark glasses and let these girls see who you really are. I know you like traveling incognito until you make a public appearance but wouldn’t all these lovely ladies be really surprised to know they spent the afternoon in a beach bar with America’s heartthrob Brandon Miles.”
“Shut up man. You know I don’t want anybody to know I’m here. Especially my manager. He would have a fit if he knew I was out in the general public without a product endorsement or some other money making scam. I wish I could lead a normal life but oh well, that’s the cost of fame and fortune I guess. Come on, let’s get back to the motel so we can get some sleep. We have to be at the resort by noon. Just because you’re my best friend that doesn’t relieve you of what my manager is paying you for. To be the bodyguard for little old defensive me. Now come on and protect me from all these wild women.”
Paul Johanson, his long, thin, almost artistic fingers were again stroking the scruff of his blond goatee. This action, plus the fact he was growing any hair on his pink baby faced features was a constant annoyance to twice elected Sheriff Ralph Slocum. Sheriff Slocum, defender of all that was good and a tyrant to those unfortunate few who were unlucky enough to break a rule in his county, leaned precariously back in his worn red leather chair, a gift from the Hinkley estate when old man Hinkley bit the big one, sighed for perhaps the third time in ten minutes and asked again.
“Okay Paul. Just what are you trying to tell me for the umpteenth time? It’s after ten o’clock and I realize you just came on duty at six but I’ve been here since five thirty this morning and all I can think of is a nice cold shower and sitting back drinking about six brewskys and wondering who else will screw up tomorrow.”
“Well sheriff, as I was saying before, we need to deputize about ten more men and stake them out all around the new resort. We can issue them whatever guns we have and the rest they could volunteer because as you know every able-bodied man in this county owns a firearm or two since they all go hunting in the fall anyway. We would only need them for about twelve hours anyway because that’s when all the rich people will be at the resort. We would be prepared for, any idiot fool enough to try to rob the new place, and we would surely be heroes if anything happened.”
“Are you out of your fool mind, boy? Just, who in God’s name is suppose to pay for all this military deployment you have in mind and besides, the resort has its own security force plus, I hear it has the best computerized alarm system on the market. We would be the laughing stock of the county if we showed up with a bunch of rednecks pretending to be cops. I bet the resort wouldn’t even let us on the property, much less protect all those high society snobs they call important guests. Sometimes boy, I don’t know where you get all those big city ideas. Those two years at junior college must have really warped your mind.”
“I’m telling you Sheriff. I have this crazy feeling that somebody or a group of some bodies is going to try to rob the place. There will be more money drippin’ off the necks of those socialites than this county has ever seen and I think we need to be there when it happens.”
“I’m not going to listen to any more of this hogwash. I’m going out to my county police vehicle and try not to leave any rubber when I blast out of here. Trust me, nothing is going to happen.”
The three tannish-red Advils left a melt in your hand, not in your mouth stain directly in the center of Steve Sidel’s sweaty left palm as he contemplated the irony of the current situation. Fourteen hundred miles he had traveled to be on time for the super grand opening of the super new resort in the middle of this super ex-farmland and he had forgotten his super stupid pre-prepared speech from his super supervisor. Opening his mouth with less than super enthusiasm he popped the Advils in his mouth and swallowed them with the help of a very strong Jack Daniel’s and Coke. The last place he wanted to be, was representing his computer equipment company to a bunch of wealthy people who were here for the status recognition and could care less if everything from the elegant meals to the very tight security were all completely regulated by the latest in electronic technology. His company, Datafuture, was a Fortune 500 firm with more employees than he wished to think about and why they had chosen him to brag about their wonderful advancements in the computer field was beyond him but, oh well, he had decided. POR, push on regardless, and then his secretary had forgotten to pack his speech. By the time he had discovered the folder missing from his attaché case, the home office was closed, and his secretary was probably on a date with her pimply geeky boyfriend and, there was no way she could fax it to him if she was getting groped in the back seat of her boyfriend’s 85 Cutlass. Tomorrow is another day he thought, he would get up at his usual five a.m. and write his own damn speech. He knew more about the workings of the systems anyway since he had designed the entire project. He would just tell the guests the advantages of the new system and how it would vastly improve their comfort and safety as they enjoyed there stay at the beautiful new resort. That’s all they cared about anyway. They could care less about how the company was the wave of the future and how it would influence the entire nation in the years to come. He would just state the facts, mam and deal with the wrath of his boss when he got back. In the meantime he would just nurse his Jack with a silly grin on his face and deal with whatever, whenever.Steve and his younger brother Sam grew up in a modest neighborhood with middle class families surrounding their two story stucco home. Steve loved school, and was a member of the National Honor Society and made the Dean’s List every semester. Sam hated school and hung out with some very low class individuals that were always getting into trouble. Their father, an accountant by trade, tried to interest both his sons into sports but, Steve was the only one interested in any school oriented extra curricular activities. Sam’s extra curricular activities was beating up and robbing the younger kids of their lunch money and trying to steal from parked cars. Sam’s friends were all losers and he fit right in.
Steve excelled in sports and was a multi-letter man every year. Sam excelled in terrorism and was a multi-visitor at the juvenile detention center every year. Steve knew at a young age that he was going to be very successful in his business life. Sam really didn’t give a damn. When Steve graduated from high school, he received several scholarships and decided to attend MIT (The Massachusetts’s Institute of Technology). When Sam dropped out of high school, he attended, not by choice, the county jail. Steve graduated with honors and was swept up by Datafuture, a dynamic new company that was experimenting with computer controlled technology to efficiently run companies in all aspects of their business. Sam was released with parole and was immediately swept up by the authorities when he violated the parole in the first twenty four hours. Two brothers, so different but, still brothers.