by Jack Weyland
“Is this a hypothetical question?”
“For now it is.”
“If you were to ask me, I’d question your motives. If this were an attempt to come on to me, I would view that as unethical and a clear violation of the teacher-student relationship. That would make an interesting on-air exposé, don’t you think?”
He winced. “It would not be for that reason.”
“What would the reason be then?”
“I’ll be leaving soon. I thought it might be nice for us to get together and talk.”
“I see. Would this be business or pleasure?”
“Most likely, a little of both.”
“And where would we be eating?”
“Wherever you want.”
“So, what are we talking here, a couple of hours?”
“Yes, I suppose so. Why are you giving me such a hard time?”
“I was once told not to trust anyone.”
He smiled and shook his head. “I’ve created a monster. You’ll go with me then?”
“Yes, under the conditions we’ve discussed.”
“Will you wear the black pantsuit?”
“What is this, Fantasy Island?” she teased.
It was the first time she’d seen him blush.
For the rest of the week, she could think of little else besides their Friday date. She told herself that it wasn’t because she was in love with David—that she was only flattered by his attention. But she was also becoming aware that he liked her much more than he cared to admit.
They ate Chinese food at a restaurant in Logan. Emily had never eaten there before, but the hostess and their waiter treated David like an old friend. He told Emily he ate there two or three times a week.
They got to the restaurant before the dinner crowd arrived, so they had the place pretty much to themselves. After glancing at the menu, Emily let David order for her.
Remembering how arrogant he had been when they first met, it surprised Emily to find David looking at her as though he were some love-struck boy. A few months before, she probably would have lowered her gaze, but not after being tutored by him for a year.
While waiting for their food, she asked, “Why are you looking at me?”
“I was just examining my creation,” David responded. “Before I met you, you were Emily–1. But now you’re Emily–2. I’ve made you what you are today. So, I was just looking at my handiwork. I did a pretty good job.”
“You may not think so in a minute.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I have some questions I’d like to ask, if that’s all right.”
“And if it isn’t?”
“Then I guess we’ll just sit here and stare at each other.”
“All right, go ahead.”
“Are you married?” she asked.
“No, not now. I was once, but it didn’t work out. Laura and I got married when we were still in college. When I graduated and took the assignment in Syria, she continued on at school. I was gone a year. By the time I got back, she’d met someone else and wanted a divorce. So we did it as painlessly as possible.”
“Any children?”
“No.”
She nodded. “All right. One other question. Why did you leave Washington, D.C., to come here?”
He winced. “I came here for the skiing.”
“How many times have you gone skiing since you’ve been here?”
“Are you kidding? All the time. Skiing is my life.”
“I can verify that, you know.”
After looking around to make sure nobody could hear, he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. “If I tell you, will you promise to keep it confidential?”
“Yes, of course.”
He gave a troubled sigh. “I got an anonymous phone call one night from someone, tipping me off that a congressman was involved in the acquisition of some key real estate near a downtown redevelopment district in his home state.”
“What was wrong with that?” Emily asked.
“It was an insider’s deal. The politician used his prior knowledge to take unfair advantage of the situation, and he made a lot of money on the sale of the property he bought.”
“What did that have to do with you?”
“Well, when I found out about it, I didn’t have any hard evidence that he had been tipped off—only the anonymous phone call. Then I did something a newscaster should never do.”
“What?” Emily asked, wide-eyed.
“I hated this guy. He had embarrassed me a couple of times by snubbing me when I tried to contact him. I decided to get even.”
“How?”
David didn’t answer for a moment. When he did, he spoke softly. “I planted some evidence, so I could use the story.”
Emily was amazed. “That could have got you sent to jail.”
“It would have, except the night before the story was to air, the network found out I had set the guy up. My boss was furious. At first he fired me, but I begged for another chance. He told me he’d consider hiring me back if I’d take a year off to think about what a blunder I’d nearly made. He’d gone to school here, so he wrangled the college into letting me get the campus station up and running. That’s why I turned up here.”
Emily didn’t respond, but just sat, looking at him.
“What?” he said.
“What you did was wrong,” Emily said.
“I know,” he said. Then after a moment, he added, “It’s not something you would have done, is it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s the way I was brought up.”
“You’re a Mormon, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you’re a good representative for your church.”
Emily thought about that. She hesitated, then asked, “Would you like to know more about what I believe?” She immediately regretted doing so. What interest would a man like David Alexander have in her beliefs?
He shook his head. “No. Thanks for asking, though. I’m not a very good candidate for religion.”
Their waiter brought them each a bowl of hot and sour soup. “This will knock your socks off,” David said.
She took a taste. “Wow!”
He laughed. “Exactly. It clears your sinuses. It also guards against colds and flu. And not only that, it will guarantee you a plentiful posterity.”
She laughed. “Sounds good, except I can wait on the last one.”
“You and me both, kid.”
They spent the rest of the meal in light conversation.
After they had finished eating, the waiter brought the check and a couple of fortune cookies. David gave Emily first choice, and then they cracked them open.
“How do they know these things?” David asked, handing his fortune to Emily to read. It said: “You will receive good news.”
She read hers but didn’t offer to share it with David.
“What does yours say?” he asked.
“Nothing. Just something stupid,” she said, wrinkling up the little slip.
David reached across the table and took Emily’s closed fist in his hand. Slowly, he pried her fingers open and took the fortune from her. It read: “Look for a new romantic interest in your life.”
After reading it, David looked into Emily’s eyes. He didn’t say anything for a moment, but when she looked away, he said, “I don’t suppose there’s any place we can go now, is there?”
“You mean, like to your apartment?”
“Something like that.”
“Probably not.”
“Not that I have anything in mind,” he said.
“No, I’m sure you don’t.”
“So, basically, this is it?”
“We could go to a movie if you want.”
“I don’t like to go out in public. Too many people recognize me.”
“Poor baby,” she teased. “Admit it, David, you love the recognition, don’
t you?”
“Not always.”
“I’m not sure I believe that.” She looked at the clock on the wall. “Your two hours are up.”
He shook his head. “I have something I want to say.”
“Okay, what is it?”
He leaned forward and spoke confidentially. “What if I were to admit there’s a possibility that . . . well . . . that I can’t get you out of my mind?”
Be careful, she thought, this has no future. Play the skeptic. It’s what he’s taught you.
She raised her eyebrows the way he’d coached her. “Then I’d ask if you’ve ever considered how old you are compared to me?”
He cleared his throat. “I’m twenty-seven . . . well, actually, I’ll be twenty-eight next month.”
“I’m eighteen. That’s ten years. That’s a big difference, don’t you agree? When you were a senior in high school, I was in the second grade. How come you didn’t invite me to your prom, David?”
“All right, there’s an age difference, but you act much older than your age.”
“That’s because you’ve coached me.”
He took her hand. “Do you have anyone in your life right now?”
“Not right now. I’ve scared them all away.” She told him how merciless she’d been when Ben asked her out earlier in the year.
“So there’s nobody?”
She thought about Austin. “Well, at one time I thought I might end up marrying my brother’s best friend, but I’ve pretty much given up on that now.”
“How come?”
“I won’t even see him for another year. And, also, right now I’m hoping for a career in broadcasting, at least until I’m twenty-five or thirty. Then I might get married and settle down.”
“Maybe I’ll still be around then,” he said.
“Maybe so, but, to be honest, it wouldn’t do you any good.”
“Why not?”
“When I get married, it’s going to be in a Mormon temple to someone who believes the way I do.”
He gave her one of the crooked smiles she had found so alluring and cleared his throat. “Well, it looks like I’ve pretty much made a fool of myself here, doesn’t it?”
I should tell him how much he’s meant to me. I should tell him I’ve spent nearly every waking hour wondering what he’d think about what I wore or how I did my hair or how I looked and sounded on camera. I should tell him I started reading the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal just so I can talk to him intelligently. I should tell him I know his every gesture, the way he raises his eyebrows when I’ve done something he approves of, how he softens his penetrating gaze sometimes when we’re together. I should tell him I’ve often wondered if this is what it’s like being in love.
But she said none of those things. And at her door, she said, “Thanks for all you’ve done for me.”
He tossed it off. “I didn’t do much. Your hard work made it happen.”
In a gesture of professional equality, he shook her hand. “The next time you have hot and sour soup at a Chinese restaurant, I hope you’ll think about me.”
“I promise,” she said, quickly turning to go into her apartment. The last thing she wanted to do was to cry in front of David Alexander.
* * * * *
I need to get back to reality, Emily thought. Instead of making copies of her demo-tape, she had just been sitting, daydreaming. She planned to send copies to TV stations in Denver, Minneapolis, Seattle, Boise, and Salt Lake City and needed to get them in the mail.
At the beginning of the school year, she’d had a hard time watching herself on video, but David had insisted she critique herself every day by studying the videotape of her newscast.
He had been right. Looking at herself had at first been painful, but doing so had helped her get rid of nervous gestures and improve her on-camera poise. She had in fact become conscious of everything she did, as though a camera were recording her every action—even the simplest of tasks, such as putting on her makeup, walking to class, stopping to talk to a friend, or even taking notes in class. The camera in her mind was always just ten feet away, dedicated to recording every movement she made.
Sometime in March, she had realized that she liked what she was seeing when she looked at herself, either on videotape or through the eyes of the camera in her mind.
It wasn’t that she was completely satisfied with everything. She could think of plenty of things she would have liked to change about herself. For one thing, she was five-foot-six, but would have preferred to be a couple of inches taller. Girls her height had to work harder to be noticed by guys. Sometimes she also wished her hair weren’t blonde. Mainly because she believed that brunettes were given more respect than blondes.
But in spite of that, when she looked at herself on camera, she was mostly pleased with what she saw. It was not something she ever talked about, but she did look good. Not so much beautiful as radiating a sense of self-confidence, competence, and what David called integrity. I’m as good as people I see on the national news, she thought. It’s only a matter of time before I’m there too.
If Austin could see me now, she thought, he wouldn’t believe how much I’ve changed. It’s like David says—now I’m Emily–2.
The segments from the demo-tape ended. When she got up to retrieve it from the VCR, she saw David Alexander standing in the doorway. “What’s this?” he asked. “A meeting of your fan club? Looks like you’re the only one who showed up.”
“I thought you’d left town already.”
“I was gone for a few days, playing tourist, but now I’m back again. I’m leaving tomorrow for Washington. I’ll be back on the air this Wednesday. Will you watch me every night?”
“You know I will. You’re my hero.”
“Yeah, right. So you made a demo-tape to send out?”
“That is correct.”
“Against my advice to finish college first?”
“I can’t let this go, David. It’s the most exciting thing in my life right now.”
“What kind of a price are you willing to pay for this dream of yours?”
“Whatever it takes.”
“Do you have any idea how many demo-tapes major market stations get a year from people like you? Hundreds. Most of them are never even watched. So what makes you special?”
“I’m very good.”
“Who told you that?” he asked.
“You did.”
He scowled. “When did I ever tell you that?”
“Well, not directly, but one time you told me that newscasters in markets like Seattle and Portland aren’t much better than me.”
“And you took that as praise?” he asked.
“It’s as much praise as you ever give anyone.”
“Let me tell you something. The chances you’re going to get a job by sending out demo-tapes are very slim. I still say you ought to stay in school.”
“I want to at least try to get a full-time job in broadcasting. If nothing comes of it, then I’ll come back to school in the fall.”
“Have you talked to your parents about this?” he asked.
“Not really.”
“You should. If you won’t listen to me, at least listen to them.”
“They won’t care. I’ve got to work this summer anyway. Why not do something that really interests me?”
He threw up his hands. “All right, this is against my better judgment, but if you’re really serious about this, then come back and see me in a couple of weeks. I know some people. We’ll make some calls, and I’ll take you around to some stations, and we’ll see what comes of it. If you want, you can stay at my place. It’s got way more room than I need. And my mother would enjoy some company. You’d have your choice of four different rooms. There’s some rooms I’ve never been in. We’d probably never see each other.”
“You’d help me get a job?”
“Yeah, I guess maybe I could do that. After all, I created you, so I might as well put you to good use.�
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“It’d be so great to work in Washington, D.C.!”
“You’re out of your mind if you think that.” He looked at his watch. “I’ve really got to go now.”
“I won’t ever forget you, David . . . Alexander.” She mimicked the way he said his name on the air.
“If you come to stay with me, don’t expect much. I’m a lousy host. I spend a lot of time on the road, especially if there’s an international incident. Most of the time you won’t even see me. My mom’s good company, though. You’d like her. And she’d like you, too. The two of you have a lot in common. She also wants me to quit smoking.”
“Sounds like a sensible person.”
He shook his head. “I’m still not sure that you wanting to go to work right away is a good idea. Are you?”
“I’ve come this far. I can’t turn back now.”
“Well, okay then, come out, and I’ll see what I can do about getting you a job. Talk to your folks about it. If they have any questions, have them talk to my mother.”
“They won’t have any problem with it.”
He smiled. “Are you crazy? Of course they’ll have a problem with it. Anyone who’s seen My Fair Lady would know what’s happening here.”
“What is happening here, David?”
He didn’t want to say any more, but, while opening the door to leave, he said softly, “‘I’ve grown accustomed to your face.’”
He turned and bounded down the stairs.
* * * * *
Austin had been on his mission for one year but didn’t feel much like celebrating.
He was, at that moment, at a zone conference listening to his new district leader, Elder Hastings, explain the secrets of his success. Elder Hastings and he had been in the MTC together just over a year before, but Hastings had become the superstar of the mission. I was better than him in the MTC, so what happened? Austin asked himself.
Elder Hastings continued. “Number one: be prayerful. Number two: work hard. Number three: follow the mission rules. Number four: . . .”
What is going on? Austin thought. By now I should be one of the top baptizers. Or at least a district leader. But I’m nothing. What am I doing wrong?
Austin had grown up listening to his mother read letters from his older brothers while they were on their missions. He’d seen the look of pride on her face when her sons were called as district or zone leaders. He remembered the day he came home from school and his mother had proudly announced, “Guess what? Cameron made mission assistant!”