I gave her what she wanted. Duke was missing out. He was my usual dance partner when I was feeling goofy. Tami bailed on me when a slow song came on. She said she’d see me downstairs for breakfast.
◊◊◊
Mom took the boys to daycare, and Tami drove home to do laundry and spend time with her mom. Duke and I settled in to play some video games. It felt great to do some mindless gaming. Around noon, I was bored, so we walked downstairs to make some lunch. I’d put the tomato soup on and was starting to make the grilled cheese sandwiches when Peggy came home from her last final.
“How’d it go?” I asked.
“Good, but I think my mind is fried,” she admitted, and then saw me making lunch. “I’m starved.”
I made her a cup of soup, gave her my grilled cheese, and put on another sandwich to cook for myself.
“What have you done today?” she asked.
“Played video games. This afternoon I need to box up stuff to ship to Cuba,” I said.
“Want some help?”
“Sure.”
We ate lunch and then grabbed the shipping boxes Caryn had gotten me. The plan was to only carry on a change of clothes and toiletries, in case everything else got lost. Cassidy, Fritz, and Paul were doing the same. Fritz said he’d be by around three to pick everything up, and he would take it to the shipper.
We’d been warned not to take anything flashy or of value. That meant I couldn’t bring my designer sunglasses or my smartwatch. I’d picked up a cheap tablet to take; I would give it to Angie when I returned. Rita James had given me a stack of DVDs of classic movies to pack. I’d gotten a small portable DVD player and a monitor I could hook it up to. I thought about just ripping the DVDs to my laptop, but that sounded like work. It would save the space of carrying the DVDs and player. Then I remembered I was shipping everything and forgot about that plan.
Peggy had a great idea: she suggested I pack cards and poker chips. Dad had a set that I ‘borrowed.’ I figured it would be a good way to get to know the cast and crew. Plus, I was starting to enjoy the game.
I also packed my dojo equipment, including both my weighted Bo staff and a practice one. And I packed batons. Cassidy planned to do the same so we could work out when we had time. With my baseball gear, I also added a bag of balls and a couple of footballs.
When Fritz came, he eyed my four big boxes but didn’t make any comments. I’d be gone for a month, and I didn’t want to worry about finding what I needed.
Peggy drove to daycare to get the boys, so I started dinner. Greg and Angie showed up with their family. They were done with finals too. Greg helped me cook while Angie and Peggy took the kids to the living room. It felt like old times, cooking dinner with my brother.
Mom and Dad came home.
“What are you making?” Mom asked.
“Fried chicken. Greg’s making mashed potatoes and corn,” I said.
“What, no salad?” she teased.
“I think I can survive one night without one,” I said.
It was nice to have everyone home. Kyle and Mac wanted to sit next to their Unca David. Everyone turned to look when they suddenly were spitting out the chicken and wiping their tongues.
“Dirty chickie,” Kyle complained.
Angie gave me a look that didn’t bode well for me.
“What did you give them?” she demanded.
“Liver,” I admitted.
“Unca David, bad!” Mac said, which made everyone laugh.
“Paybacks are hell,” Greg warned.
I just smiled.
◊◊◊
My cell phone buzzed. This was the call I’d been both dreading and expecting.
“David,” Frank said without preamble, “I just got a call for comment from one of the networks. I told them I would comment if they would send me a copy of the full footage they were given and give me a few minutes to review it. I’ve got it, and we predicted it almost perfectly. They edited the video to make you look bad, and they changed it to reflect their narrative that you support a ‘rape culture.’ That’s a hot button for the feminist movement. They also arranged it so it would hit the news on Friday evening so it could marinate with the media over the weekend without a response from us.”
I started to reply, but he stopped me.
“Let me finish. We’ve already done the data dump to your website and sent a tailored response package to the network. And I’ve gone over all the talking-point highlights with the network guy. He tried to hide it, but he was obviously surprised by the information we had, as well as our videos.
“If we’re lucky, he’ll go over this and delay putting it on the six o’clock news, so nobody will see it until the ten o’clock time slot tonight. We’re already working on clips responding directly to their videos and should have them up on the website within the hour, as well.
“Now, all we have to do is follow the plan. Hang in there, and if anyone asks, just say from what you’ve heard, much of the interview footage that’s been made available is a highly edited fabrication. And that your people will have a full response available on your website shortly,” Frank said to ruin my day.
◊◊◊ Saturday May 14
