“Ms. Dixon got a call with more information today,” Dad said. “The police have confirmed that the studio did receive a complaint from Halle about Zander and sat on it. The security Zander had with him was employed by the studio. Ms. Dixon says that regardless of the outcome of the criminal charges, you have strong grounds for a civil suit. She says you could be looking at a big payday based on your injuries. In a way, it was almost like she wished you’d been maimed in some way so we could all get rich,” he added.
“Yeah, me too,” I deadpanned. “Like walking around like a cripple hasn’t been bad enough.”
“Don’t get started. We’ve heard all about it over the past few weeks,” Mom teased.
“I never whine!” I said as whiningly as I could.
At that moment, I wasn’t in a mood to argue with my mom, so I let it go at Mom’s amused snort. I could see my dad visibly relax when I laughed away her bait.
“How do you feel about all that?” Uncle John asked.
I turned to my parents and rolled my eyes. Uncle John had just gone into therapist mode, and they both caught it. He wasn’t amused when we all laughed at him.
“I can leave,” he threatened.
“Settle down, John. Even you have to admit that was funny,” Dad chided his brother.
“Fine. But it’s a legitimate question. What do you want out of all this?”
“I want Halle to be safe. Thankfully, I expect that with the bad press the studio and Zander have gotten, the studio can’t possibly bring him back. There has been a parade of women who’ve come forward to decry how he treated them.
“So, I don’t feel I need to do anything else, and I’m not sure I’d want to, as long as Halle’s going to come out of it safe and okay.
“More generally, I’m sure he’s not the only one in Hollywood, and elsewhere. I’m not prepared to take this on as a cause or anything, though. That being said, I’m not opposed to helping out if someone wanted to take it on.”
“Would it change your mind if the studio decided to pull the plug on Halle’s film because of all this?” Dad asked.
“Why, have you heard something?” I asked.
“I talked to Rita, and she said it was a possibility. Would you forgo your civil suit if the studio sold you and Halle the rights to the movie? Rita’s had a talk with Paul Andon, and his studio is eager to take the project on. They could recast Zander’s role. The hard part is already done. They’ve got the story written, it’s been cast, and a production crew is in place. If they move quickly, they could get it back up and running with minimal disruption.
“Rita said the current studio would be willing to eat their costs to this point if everyone agreed to settle the civil side of the matter,” Dad said.
“I bet Saul already has someone for Zander’s role,” I guessed.
“Halle asked them to talk to Ben Doman.”
I liked Ben and thought they would make a cute couple for the movie.
“Do they need me to call Ben to help convince him?” I asked.
“No. I’m sure Saul has it under control,” Dad said.
“What do you want to do?” Mom asked.
“As far as I’m concerned, this solves a lot of problems. I honestly didn’t look forward to being involved in a civil lawsuit. Thinking on it a bit more, if the movie does even moderately well, Halle and I could make out like bandits if we own the rights. That is, if Paul Andon’s studio isn’t too greedy.”
“I’ll pass the word on to Rita,” Dad said.
“How do you feel about being a father again?” Uncle John asked.
Okay, he can’t help himself sometimes.
“Scared,” I admitted. “I’ve been trying to work on the ‘not making people wrong’ thing you taught me.”
“How’s that going?” Uncle John asked.
“It’s harder than I imagined it would be. To be honest, though, it has helped.”
“How so?”
“My instinct was to put all the blame on the two girls. I reasoned they were older and had said they were safe. I’d been told that Scarlet was a freaky girl, and what we did pushed the envelope for me,” I admitted.
“What did you do?” Uncle John asked.
I glanced over at my parents and decided to come clean. I gave Uncle John a general outline of what had occurred without being too graphic. He got a faraway expression on his face for a moment and then refocused.
“I don’t know for sure, and I won’t unless I have a chance to talk with Scarlet alone for a while. But I have an idea of how this came about,” he said, turning to focus on me.
“I got the impression from you or your mom that her dad ruled the family with an iron fist. He kept her pretty close to home and under the parental thumb. Is that right?” Uncle John asked.
Mom and I looked at each other and then turned back to Uncle John, both nodding.
