On the ride home, I fell in love with the Demon. The Hellcat had been special, but they had made this more than a dragster. It actually handled better than my old car. I wanted to take it somewhere where I could really put it through its paces. I also thought it would be a good idea to send whoever would be driving it to driving school, me included. This was much more car than the average. A little specialized knowledge would make it safer to drive and allow us to understand its capabilities. I would have to see if there was a local school similar to the one in LA.
◊◊◊
I walked into the house to say hi to Mom.
“Go get changed. We’re having a private party at Our House.”
“I didn’t think they planned to open it until the end of August,” I said.
It sounded like Dad and Caryn had been holding out on me. The upstairs to Granny’s West was planned to be somewhere you could take a date to dinner and dancing on Friday and Saturday nights.
Once we arrived at Our House, we drove around to the entrance, which was in the back of the building, next to where the new parking lot had been completed. You entered a reception area where there was a man who looked like a bouncer standing behind a hotel-like desk. He was wearing a black t-shirt with ‘Our House’ over the pocket.
“May I help you?” he asked.
“Dawson, party of three,” Dad said.
A panel slid back to reveal an elevator. I liked how it was a bit secretive. I noticed that there were no buttons to push. The elevator began to rise, and when it reached the second floor, the back door opened, and you entered the club. It was much bigger than downstairs because there wasn’t space for a kitchen carved out of the floor plan.
On the far wall, there was a stage where a band was setting up. In the back and on the sides, there was seating that was raised four feet above the center section; that center section had smaller tables and a dance floor. I smiled when I noticed that Jan was tonight’s hostess.
“Good evening, you must be the Dawsons. If you will follow me, please,” she said and led us to a large table that would seat eight.
On the wall was the picture they’d taken when I won the Gatorade award, with a label with my name and what award it was for. Looking around the room, there were other pictures of me in this section. I spotted ones that showed me with LeBron James, Peyton Manning, and Halle James from Friday night. There were others of awards I’d won. I got up to check them out.
A side wall was dedicated to Lincoln High Football. There were pictures of us winning state and of Coach Hope and his staff, as well as several other players. On the other side wall, it showed former Lincoln players who were in college in their team uniforms. All the guys who went to State—Kevin, Magic, and Luke—were on display, along with Bill at USC and Jim at Alabama. If you were a supporter of Lincoln High athletics, this was your new place to hang out. I then found a section devoted to other sports winners, and smiled when I saw Peggy was displayed for her third place at State in cross country.
My phone vibrated; it was my mom with a text telling me I needed to come back to the table. I found that Lacy, Pam, and Peggy had joined our table.
“Where are the boys?” I asked.
“They needed some grandma time,” Peggy said, meaning my grandma since my mom and Lacy were here.
The place had started to fill up. I was glad to see Tami, Sarah, Tim, and Wolf with their parents. Halle walked in with her mom and brother, and they were soon followed by the Pearson clan. I started to see a theme.
The next guest shocked me. Governor Higgins and his wife came strolling in, followed by Saul and his wife, and Frank. Before I knew it, everyone that I’d worked with or knew seemed to arrive. My mother must not have been happy with how my award had been handled and decided I needed something better.
Before dinner, Governor Higgins took the stage and got everyone’s attention.
“I received a call Saturday morning from Carol Dawson telling me that her son David had won a couple awards. She thought it might be nice to throw a little party at his new restaurant. Of course, Betty and I wouldn’t miss that for anything, so I readily agreed to help out.
“I understand that Frank Ingram, David’s publicist, has a video he would like to show us,” Kurt Higgins said. Then he stepped back as a screen came down, and the video started.
That was when I realized that this had been planned for longer than just two days. Frank had interviewed Bo Harrington, Bud Mason, Coach Hope, and Moose. Then there were several coaches at Elite 11 who I’d worked with. The one that surprised me the most was a section with Coach Kingwood from USA Baseball, talking about me.
When the video was done, the governor got up, announced my awards, and had me come up. I don’t really know what I said; it was all a little overwhelming. I made it a point to go around and thank everyone while they ate. In a dark corner, I found someone I never expected to be here: Anthony and Nancy Giovanni.
