by Ed Nelson
I told him I would be back on Monday for my school schedule and would like to arrange more lessons in unarmed combat. He told me he was looking forward to it. Yeah, it was going to hurt.
After that I drove back home. I went to the library and found an old friend and read for the afternoon. I wondered if there would be a woman in my life with red-bronze-auburn hair and gold flecked, tawny eyes.
For some reason I just didn’t have much energy. I read for the rest of the afternoon. Had dinner with the family and then watched some TV with them. I have no idea what was on later. I was in bed early.
Chapter 7
I felt rested when I woke up. After my warmups I took off on what was going to become my morning routine through the state park next door. It felt good to be running. I still had to get in shape for running up and down hills but it wouldn’t take long.
After my morning ritual I joined the family for breakfast. Everyone was there and the talk was of school. Mary and the boys would be going to Tucker Academy, a private school in Hollywood.
Apparently they had a very good reputation. It was a day school only, for kindergarten through 12th grade. As a co-ed school there would be socialization. Within a brick fenced in campus like setting, with tight entrance control one of the major concerns was addressed. The average class size was fifteen students with a maximum of twenty.
I made the mistake of saying it sounded pretty good. Mum was all over that, asking me if I wanted to go there.
A quick, “No,” and I was out of there with only half my breakfast eaten.
I immediately revised my beach plans for the day. Instead I grabbed a sport coat to complete my Hollywood day wear and headed to the studio.
I drove the T-Bird with a studio sticker so was waved through the gate. There was a new guard. They seldom lasted because it was actually considered a stepping stone to getting into the movie business. Once in the gate and meeting people a career of some sort would start. It was seldom in front of the camera, but it would be a much better paying job.
I had thought about bringing the other Bird so I could get a sticker, but after thinking about it I remembered how people would treat me with a stickered car. Maybe I would be better off having an anonymous car. Who would ever thought any T-Bird would be considered anonymous!
I was taking a chance that I could talk to someone at the school. Mum had scared me with the idea of sitting in a class room.
I was in luck. Miss Sperry was in, doing some paperwork.
“Rick, so good to see you, I heard you were back and hoping you would be stopping in to arrange classes.”
“I am so ready,” I exclaimed.
I guess I gave myself away with the emotion I showed.
“How’s that Rick, most kids hate the start of school.”
Kid?
I hadn’t thought of myself that way for a while, but she wasn’t wrong. I proceeded to tell her about Tucker and Mum’s comments. She laughed then told me.
“I think she was having you on, she called yesterday and we had a long talk about this year.”
Hmm, this revenge would be served cold.
She offered me a cup of coffee and asked about my summer vacation. Of course she like the rest of the world knew of my knighthood, but wanted a rundown of the whole trip.
She was shaking her head about getting chased out of Argentina. I may not have been as forthcoming as I could on all of the details. Africa I told pretty straight, well nothing about diamonds. England she heard about everything but a certain blonde or a Spanish beauty. There are just some things that don’t need to be public.
Maybe I wasn’t as a good of an actor as I thought.
“Rick, when you are older I would like to hear the whole story.”
“Why don’t you think it was the whole story?”
“You blush beautifully. I suspect it was girls in England and Argentina but something different in Africa.”
“Okay, I will be fifty in 1994, try me then.” After a laugh she let me off the hook.
We got into a serious discussion about tenth grade. There would be the required History, Math, Science and English. She had the California text books set aside for me. There would be no class lectures as long as I had the work in on time. She or Mr. Dawson would be available for any questions.
It turns out that Mum had bought a home library with a complete set of Encyclopedias, both Americana and Britannica. There were several dictionaries, one large enough that it required a pedestal stand. I suspect she just liked the look. Anyway I hadn’t noticed any of those at home so she probably had them set aside to surprise us. That gave me an idea for my own surprise.
Miss Sperry had my lesson packet made up for the year. They had really been confident that I would be back. They had due dates on them that would allow me to take a normal tenth grade school year. I intended to have them finished by the New Year. When I expressed that to her she shrugged like that was expected.
I would have to come in for a mid-term and final exam but no other tests. On the other hand my assignments would be graded strictly so I had better pay attention. I promised I would, but all of a sudden I did feel like a kid making a promise to the teacher. Since I was sitting, I didn’t scuff my shoes when I told her I would do all my work.
I made a graceful as exit as I could, not very; carrying my large box of books and papers. What happened to debonair Sir Richard Jackson, about to be trained in spy stuff? Maybe I still was a kid. Certainly my confidence went down the drain when facing a teacher.
On the way out to the parking lot I kept an eye out for a certain unarmed combat teacher who may still be damp. It would be best to give him time to dry out.
After putting everything in the T-Bird trunk I went back to the main office. I was hoping to get everything taking care of with one trip. Again I was in luck. Mr. Monroe was in and available. Of course the ladies at the front desk had to announce Sir Richard is here. Mr. Monroe didn’t help at all as he actually came out of his office and bowed.
My cold revenge list was getting long.
After the fun and games it turned out he basically just wanted to say, “Hi.”
He did bring me up to date on how the studio work load re-organization was working out.
“Rick, it is paying dividends already. We are saving money and we are only half way there. There is no way that we will ever be able to repay you for your ideas and leadership.”
“You already have, by letting me lead. I learned so much about business from working with your staff it was amazing. I think we could call this a win all the way around.”
“I am glad you feel that way, but I still think we came out ahead. Unless you are doing some things I haven’t heard about.”
“Are you aware of Jackson Transportation?”
“No.”
I then explained to him about my ideas over the summer and what was being done.”
“Rick, let me get this straight, you now own your own truck line and your own navy?”
“I hadn’t thought of it as my own navy, but yes. Do you think I should wear an Admirals uniform?”
“That may be over the top. You are really talking serious money here, millions.”
“My accountants tell me it will be many of them.”
I didn’t want to use the B word as that was so unbelievable.
“Do you still intend to continue your movie career?”
“I don’t know about a full career, but what else do I have to do? Frankly I am a figure head for the business; there is a team in place to run the actual organizations.”
“Slow down Rick, organizations?”
“Well there is the holding company Jackson Enterprises which owns: Jackson Productions, Jackson Home Products, Jackson Personal Products and the newest, Jackson Transportation.”
I then went on to explain about each division.
“Maybe I had better see if I can get Nina back from Switzerland you must be the most eligible bachelor in America if not the worl
d.”
“Uh, Mr. Monroe, I won’t be sixteen till next month, let’s not rush into anything.”
“Rick, I keep forgetting how young you are, you come across so poised and mature.”
Keeping my thoughts to myself; I wondered what he would have thought of me in front of Miss Sperry.
It was getting towards lunch so he invited me to the commissary. It was the usual zoo of strange costumes. There was one group that was really weird. They were all dressed in black pajamas. I asked about them. Apparently they were Japanese Ninja’s. I had read about them somewhere but never gave much thought about what they would look like.
“Someone is making a movie about them?”
“We think they will be a strong niche like Westerns. They will be all action.”
“I don’t see it. People will just laugh at men in pajamas.”
“Our marketing people tell us different, but time will tell.”
Another thing kept happening; people kept coming up to Mr. Monroe to ask questions. The questions didn’t seem very important; every time it resulted in an introduction to me.”
After the third person I finally realized that people didn’t really have questions, they just wanted to meet me! I didn’t get it, but was polite to everyone. I had learned that early on in the business world. Only be rude when it was necessary not just because you felt like it.
The sixth person that approached us was Mr. Palmer. He didn’t want an introduction as he knew me very well. He was there to let Mr. Monroe know that he would only hurt me, not break me.
The funny thing is that made me feel better than all the others. I wisely waited him out before shaking Mr. Monroe’s hand and leaving for the day.
I drove directly back to Jackson House. Mum was just coming out of some meeting in her study. I told her that I had picked up my school books. Also to make it easier on us kids I had ordered dictionaries, thesaurus and several sets of encyclopedia’s for the library.
It was fun to watch her face. Well this revenge was not as cold as it could be, but it was still fun to watch her to start to stutter. It didn’t last long as her eyes narrowed. Probably my grin gave it away.
“Richard Edward Jackson you will pay!”
“Oops, I didn’t mean to get the full name reaction.”
I beat feet out of the house. I spent the rest of the afternoon walking and running around the trails. It gave me time to think, and kept me away from Mum.
I spent the evening playing pool with Denny. He was getting to be a shark. I couldn’t touch him. I was missing long straight in shots and he was walking the cue ball around others to sink shots that I wouldn’t have considered.
Chapter 8
After my morning workout I cleaned up and spent the rest of the morning sorting out all the class work that I would have to do before Christmas. It looked like a huge stack when it was all together but not so bad when sorted by subject. I then subdivided it to the midterm and final. It actually looked doable.
I made the decision to work on each course daily rather than have a math day, English day etc. I still stuck to my plan of working all the problems at the end of each chapter or writing the essays. It gave me firm control of the material. If I was going to spend my time on this stuff I might as well actually learn it for real, rather than just to pass a test.
It took me three hours to get the first set done but I felt like the project was very doable. As a matter of fact maybe I could take my final before Christmas and be ready to start eleventh grade the first of next year.
After lunch I drove down to Huntington Beach to check the area out. The Katin Surf shop was easy to find. It sat by itself just north of town. It was across the Pacific Coast Highway from the water but had a really good view. The beach was huge and I wondered if they would someday build houses on the beach side of the road.
I went inside. It was a laid back place. There was a couch and chairs upfront and some old guy all dressed in blue was talking to someone named Corky about his boat, The Southern Seas. A lady with the reddest hair I had ever seen asked if she could help me.
I explained that I would be starting lessons on Monday for a part in a movie. She wanted to know all about it as surfing hadn’t made it to the big screen yet. I ended up spending several hours there and the old guy measured me for surfing shorts. They were made from a canvas so tough I think it would stop bullets. It would stand up to the abrasion from sand and water; at least that is what Corky Carroll told me.
Nancy let me know he was one of the best surfers around so listen to any tips he gave me.
I went home and helped Dad straighten up things in the sub-basement. We had built the extra bedrooms down there so we had a real retreat if needed. When it was first mentioned I thought that was extreme. Now I had seen more of the world and was getting a better understanding of the money now in our life it made more sense.
Saturday I performed my daily work out and then really hit the school books. I ended up doing two complete sets of lessons in the morning and another after lunch. These lessons were not set up as one school day, one lesson. They were more like one lesson, one week. Not quite one for one but close.
I was brain dead by three o’clock so drove down to a local driving range with my golf clubs. I banged away for an hour. I really needed the practice after a long layoff.
When I returned home I had a message waiting. Fred Madison wanted me to call. When I got ahold of him he asked what I was doing tonight. I told him I had no plans. He asked if I wanted to go cruising. That sounded good to me. We agreed we would catch a burger somewhere along the way. Mum and Dad were fine with it, especially after I told them I had no plans to stay out later than eleven o’clock.
On my way out Dad asked if I had bail money! I wanted to know why he asked.
He laughed and said, “Well you have been known to have interesting things happen around you.”
It so happened I had several hundred on me, but I wasn’t about to let him know that. It would be admitting that I had the same concerns as he did. There must be a teenage rule against that, if not there should be.
Fred didn’t know about my T-Birds so he was excited to drive around with the top down. We went to West Hollywood and drove up and down Sun Strip. We had offers to drag for pinks. I declined every time because it was obvious the cars were all set up for dragging and I would have lost my car.
The girls were everywhere. I was ready to stop at the first ones that waved but Fred convinced me to check out all of the mile and half drive before we committed. I was glad we did, each group seemed prettier than the last.
After two rounds there were two girls that stood out, a blonde and a brunet. Fred wanted the blonde which was okay with me. We pulled over and asked if they wanted to join us for a burger at the drive in a block down the way. They piled in, the blonde whose name was Jane got in the back with Fred. The brunet who was Betsy stayed up front with me.
They wanted to know all about us. When Fred told them he was an actor they squealed and wanted all the details. It became clear that they wanted a studio introduction. When I was asked what I did I told them not a lot because I was still in High School. That cooled Betsy down. As a matter of fact when we stopped at the drive in, she climbed in back with him.
That’s how the evening went, the girls sitting in the back, hugging and kissing with Fred. I was really glad to let them know I had to be home by eleven. I dropped them off at Fred’s place and didn’t want to know what happened next. I could have told them I was an actor also, but something about them set off alarm bells.
When I got home no one was up. I made it by eleven but would get no credit for it.
At breakfast the next morning after my regular workout, Mum let me know that I had got in at 10:47. It seems we have guards at the gate who log us in and out. That doesn’t seem fair, they don’t even have to wait up to keep track of when I got home.
I was smart enough not to say that out loud.
No one had any plans for t
he day. I think the busy week on top of the vacation had caught up with everyone. My brothers would be starting school tomorrow so they were dreading that. Mary was excited as this was her beginning. She was looking forward to meeting girls her age. That would be good for Mary. I don’t see how a bunch of five year olds could be a problem. It is not as though they would be underfoot here at home.
I spent most of the day getting ahead on my school work. I managed to knock out four units today and still go to the driving range to slaughter some golf balls. My long shots were still long, but I needed a lot of work on my short irons. I could hit a ten foot circle but not put them in a fruit basket. That was the nice thing about this range, for a fee you could try about anything.
After working in a sand trap I would need to take a shower when I got home, I must have had a ton of sand in my hair. I never did get around to practice putting and that is what I needed most of all.
It was starting to get dark when I got home. I skipped the shower. It seems I didn’t have as much sand as I thought. At dinner everyone was quiet, so we broke up early. I double checked my school work but my heart wasn’t in it. I finally gave up and watched TV until eleven and called it a day.
Today, Labor Day is the last day of vacation for the boys. At breakfast they were in a mixed mood. Normally they would be complaining about the end of vacation, but at the same time happy to be seeing friends again and catching up on events. This year it was the moaning about the end of vacation and unspoken dread about starting a new school.
Now Mary was different, she was starting school for the first time and was looking forward to making a bunch of new friends that she could invite over to play. She was just chattering away, but no one seemed to be listening to her. The boys were in their private misery, Dad was futilely trying to read his newspaper and Mum and Mrs. Hernandez were discussing a menu for some upcoming dinner.
I tried to settle the adrenalin charged child down a little by telling her that she may not make new friends as fast as she thought. That went nowhere quick.