Dad looked askance at me. I’d seen my share of rental cars in my travels, and there are some telltale signs. The first is the little bar codes they put in the windows so they can be scanned when they’re returned. Another clue was that it didn’t have any dealer markings. That was because rental companies buy their cars directly from the manufacturer.
“Trust me. This guy is trying to impress us for some reason. Hang onto your wallet,” I warned Dad.
“Shouldn’t that be my line?”
My dad thought he was funny sometimes. It was better just to let the one-liners slide, or he would decide he was on a roll, and you’d have to listen to them all night long.
When Mr. Parker turned the car over to the valet, he spotted us and put on his best smile. It was showtime!
“Rob, David, it’s so good to finally meet you. Call me Gordon,” he said as he shook our hands. “Let’s go inside so we can get comfortable.”
He went up to the maître d’ and said something in a low voice. Dad and I had to turn away so as not to laugh when they couldn’t find his reservation. He tried to bribe the man, but there didn’t seem to be any tables available. We could wait an hour or more if we wanted. Mr. Parker’s night wasn’t starting the way he expected. He came over to give us the bad news. Dad nudged me to go get us a table.
I walked up and could tell that the maître d’ had no clue who I was. You can’t play on your celebrity when that’s the case.
“Hi. I was wondering if you had a table for three?”
“I have a feeling I should recognize you.”
“Not really.”
The maître d’ did a double-take. I imagined he was used to being pushed around by celebrities and expected me to follow suit. He looked at his table chart and smiled.
“I just had a cancelation,” he said as he glanced over at Gordon.
I could only imagine what Gordon said to piss the guy off. Gordon turned bright red when I motioned for everyone to follow us to the table.
Once we were seated, Gordon was back on his game.
“I understand they have Glenlivet 21 here. Would you like to try it?” he asked my dad.
Dad knew his scotch and seemed impressed.
“I would love a glass. It’s not every day I drink anything that fine.”
Honestly, I was dead on my feet from the past couple of days, so I opted for coffee. I was awake enough, though, to remember this guy was definitely not in any of my circles of trust. In fact, he was potentially deep into one of my circles of distrust. I pulled out my microphone pen and set it on the table. I made sure that none of the three of us were blocked and positioned it such that a waiter wouldn’t be tempted to move it. Dad seemed oblivious to this.
After we’d ordered appetizers, Gordon started his pitch.
“I’m sure you would agree that David’s choice of colleges is an important decision. Getting him in the right program can greatly affect his income once he’s in the NFL.”
“I’m sure it is, and that’s why we spent the fall touring different schools.”
“So, you would agree it’s an important decision?”
I’d listened to my mom enough to recognize the sales technique he was using. You get the client to start agreeing with inconsequential statements like ‘the sky is blue’; ‘dirt is, well … dirt.’ It didn’t really matter what. What you tried to do was get them used to saying ‘yes’ or agreeing with whatever you said. It seemed to me to be a clumsy approach.
“As a matter of fact, I’ve been considering playing baseball and skipping college for now,” I said to throw him off track.
“I was led to believe that you’d play football,” Gordon said, losing his slick demeanor for the first time.
Dad and I did what Dawsons do and just stared at the man. His cred went up a few notches from its rock-bottom starting point when he took a deep breath and came clean.
“Look, I can tell I’m about to mess this all up. It’s clear you’re not going to be swayed by anything but total honesty.”
Dad took a drink of his scotch and then smiled. Gordon used that as his signal to explain himself.
“Five-star athletes are a rare commodity in the world of football. There are very few players who make an impact in and of themselves. We believe that David is one of those people. We think that, because of everything he does outside of football, he is someone we want to partner with.”
“I don’t see how he can do anything until he exhausts his eligibility,” Dad said.
That made Gordon smile.
“What do you expect someone with David’s unique talent and image would mean to the school he enrolls in, financially?”
“That would depend on the university. A school that wasn’t filling their stadium would probably value him more than, say, a top-five school,” Dad ventured.
“You would agree that it could be significant and that big-time football generates a lot of money,” Gordon said.
He was back in sales mode.
“I would guess that by the amount you’ve doled out to certain schools to wear your apparel, it is significant,” I said.
“Yes. We’re not in business to lose money.”
