Generations: Wilder Times

by Lori Folkman

  Whoa. She really seems to be getting around.

  So it would seem, Eve. But wait, can we get all those pictures up on the screen at once? Here we go: what do you think, Eve? Is that all the same guy?

  Oh. My. Gosh. That’s Ben Wilder!

  Yes it is. The one and the same. In EVERY picture. Apparently, Ben’s quite the master of disguises. Check out this one:

  Who’s that big guy in a sweat-suit?

  Let’s zoom in.

  Ha, ha, ha. Oh my gosh. That is hilarious! Who’s with Ben in the fat suit?

  That’s Jackson Scott. The high school kid who wrote the “Generations” Video. And look: here’s another picture from that same night.

  Katrina Hayes. Of course. Doesn’t seem like they are “just friends” after all, does it?

  Not so much. Ben’s definitely spending a lot of time with her. And going to great lengths to make sure they’re not seen together. Kind of makes you wonder …

  So, are you saying that if you want to see Ben Wilder, all you need to do is watch for Katrina Hayes?

  Exactly. Just like the nursery rhyme, “Everywhere that Mary went, her fleece was sure to go.”

  Chapter Fifteen ……

  Ben had just finished performing his first charity concert. It was at one of the local theme parks, which had been closed for the afternoon—except to all the beneficiaries of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

  He couldn’t believe the perfect luck they’d come across scheduling this event. The timing was ideal—just before his album release schedule went into overdrive. The location was within an hour of his house—no added travel expense. And Kat had been able to make it. In fact, she stood in the wings while he performed. It was amazing to be able to look back and see her beautiful smile.

  But, as awesome as that was, this concert became so much more for Ben. That feeling he had when looking out on the audience—an audience full of kids with bald heads, wheel-chairs, even IV’s—wow. His throat was nearly too tight to sing at times. Here they were on their deathbeds and they were having the time of their lives listening to him in concert. It was touching. Overwhelming.

  He hadn’t planned it, but he walked into the crowd during his last song. He wanted to touch them. Feel their energy. Their genuine love. And then he spent nearly an hour afterwards signing autographs. He hadn’t planned that either. He didn’t want it to end. Ben had this feeling of reverence—this amazing peace in his soul—and he wanted this feeling to last forever.

  To add to his bliss, Kat signed autographs as well. Several kids had approached her and asked, and then it turned into this autograph-signing assembly line. Ben tried to watch her whenever he had a second to look up. While she was glowing from the energy of all the attention, there was something else. This genuine interest, care and concern that she conveyed to the kids. And Ben could see them respond to that love. Katrina lifted them. Blessed them. Like she was Mother Theresa. Ben hoped that Paul was watching this so he could see that Katrina wasn’t just your average teenage girl. She was someone special. Someone amazing.

  The event was ending; the crowd was clearing out. Most of the rides in the park had closed. But Ben and Kat ran and jumped in the lines of the open ones so they could have some fun together, before he left. He was off to Dubai tomorrow.

  One of the rides that was still open was the big Ferris wheel. As they were boarding, Ben gestured to John, Ben’s head of security, giving him the signal to keep this thing rolling. For a long time. The Ferris wheel was the perfect place to talk. No one could interrupt or listen in. And he and Kat hadn’t had a chance to talk yet today.

  The first topic was one that Kat brought up. The news from last night. She’d already apologized when they talked on the phone this morning. But she apologized again. She felt like it was her fault that Ben’s disguises had been discovered.

  Ben shrugged it off, just like he’d done before. Really, it wasn’t her fault. He should have known better. He should have been more careful. She had needed disguises as well. Too late for that now. But he didn’t say any of that. “It’s done Kat,” he said. “Just forget about it and move on. That’s the only way you can survive the press.”

  “Really? You’ve moved on … already?” She sounded both amazed and skeptical.

  Okay, truth. “Not entirely. But close. I’d be fine with it if they wouldn’t have released pictures of my Shelby.” Really, why did it have to be that car? His newest? His current fav. And now he could never drive it again. “I’m going to have to sell it.”

  “Can’t you just … paint it or something?”

  Silly girl. “No. The interior was done to match the paint.” Custom, all of it. Couldn’t change one without the other. He’d have to order something new.

  “Do you think you’ll really get sued? Over the fat suit?” Her voice sounded tense, apologetic. Even though that one wasn’t her fault. It was Jack’s.

  “No. We’ll settle before it gets to that point. With both of them.” Yep. Two different groups had threatened law suits over those photos. One was some foundation for the fair treatment of obese Americans. The other was a conjoined-twins anti-discrimination group. They’d both found Ben’s behavior offensive. Whatever. It was just greedy people jumping on an opportunity to take some of his hard-earned money.

  Ben didn’t want Kat to think that this was a big deal. Because she’d worry—especially if she knew how irate Paul was over the incident. He wanted Ben to sever ties with Jack and Kat immediately. That type of behavior was juvenile. Degrading. Beneath him. He should be hanging out with Hollywood’s elite. Not in bowling alleys.

  “I don’t regret it, Kat,” he said when he saw her creasing her eyebrows. She was already worrying. “I don’t know when I’ve had that much fun: laughed that hard. It’s a good memory. No matter what happens with the ambulance chasers.”

  “Yeah, it was fun.” She smiled. “Embarrassing, but fun.”

  “I would think you’re used to being embarrassed by now.” She looked startled. He added, “From hanging out with Jackson.”

  “Oh. Yeah. He can be … goofy sometimes.”

  “He doesn’t care what people think, does he? It’s really cool.”

  Kat didn’t say anything. She looked off into the distance, but he could see that she looked pleased. Like she was proud of her stepbrother for gaining Ben’s praise. And Ben was glad that he saw those admirable traits in Jack. Because there was no separating Jack and Kat. Ever. No matter how tight Ben got with her. He was glad that he had realized that he may as well buddy up with Jack, rather than fight him. Because in actuality, Jack was a good buddy to have.

  “Jack feels horrible about getting you into the fat suit. He didn’t mean to cause a problem.”

  “I know. He called. He even offered to pay half of the law suit.”

  “He did?” She looked astonished.

  “Yeah, once he’s a famous director. He said he’ll make it up to me then.”

  She snickered. “Right. He owes me fifty bucks and he’s told me the same thing. Good luck recouping your millions.”

  “They don’t have much money, do they?” Ben asked. Not that it mattered. It was just different. Ben had never known anyone poor before.

  “They do okay. They just have a lot of mouths to feed. And his mom doesn’t work.”

  “Why would you do that? Have so many kids when you couldn’t afford them?” Again, not that Jack’s overpopulated family mattered. It was just … different.

  “They really love kids. His mom is really … compassionate. She’s a nurturer. A great homemaker. Jack’s lucky.”

  Ben could hear something in her voice. Was it sadness? He approached it with caution. “I bet she’s like a second mother to you.”

  “Yeah. She is.” Kat sounded light at first. Then her tone went flat. “But don’t let my mom know I said that.”

  “Why?”

  “She’s a little jealous of Karin, I think. They don’t really get along.”

  “Really?
They seemed like they were friendly at the cast party.”

  “Well they are. They don’t fight or anything. And Karin’s always more than nice to my mom. But it’s just … I don’t know. My mom avoids her.”

  This was progress. Kat never talked much about her family. Or Jack’s. And especially not about their past. “Do you think it’s because of what happened with your parents? Is your mom still is jealous about Karin being with your dad?”

  “Oh … um … no,” Kat’s eyebrows were creased again. Dang. He’d pushed too far. This was something that she didn’t want to talk about. “It’s not really like … it’s not as bad as it sounds with … them,” she mumbled.

  He could tell she was stressing about this, so he stopped her. “It’s okay Kat. You don’t have to talk about it.”

  She still looked concerned. “But I probably should …”

  “No, really. No worries. It’s nothing I need to know about.”

  Kat gave him a half-smile. But he could tell she hadn’t dismissed it. The Ferris wheel made another gradual decent, and they rode in silence for a time. Kat spoke up again, “I didn’t mean to make it sound like there is a riff between the Hayes’ and the Scott’s. My mom just … isn’t comfortable with Karin, I think because Karin has the life my mom wanted.”

  “What do you mean?” Kat couldn’t mean that Karin had a better man, because Ben had met Vaughn Scott. He was a little on the geeky side.

  “My mom wanted to have lots of babies and stay home making bread. But things didn’t work out that way.” He didn’t say anything. His silence must have encouraged her to continue. “She had a really hard time getting pregnant, so Taylor and I are lucky little miracles, I guess.”

  “And she didn’t want to work?” Kat’s mom had a cool job even. Ben would have thought that Mrs. Hayes would love what she did for a living. She had a rather unique—and prestigious—job at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Surely she realized how privileged she was to have that job.

  “No. It just sort of fell into her lap. From her connections with the Philharmonic. She was content just to do that: to play the oboe. But she felt like we needed some stability with our income. My dad’s work can be sporadic. And my mom stressed about that. A lot. She’s kinda a worry wart.”

  “So she got a full time job so she could stop worrying about money. But she’s not any happier for it?”

  “Yeah! Exactly. Ironic, huh. I think she’s even more stressed than she was before. Because now she is stressed about being out of the home too much. Ah. Parents.”

  Ben had to laugh at her tone. She sounded so mature, so wise. But she was just mocking her mother. Now he knew where she got her anxiety from, although she tried to cover it. Dismiss it. Which was good. He had to wonder if Jamie Hayes had ever been carefree, like Kat. So he asked.

  “I don’t think so. I don’t ever remember her being … lighthearted. I get that trait from my dad. And it drives my mom nuts. She hates spontaneity. She plans every minute of her life. And she doesn’t make time for fun, really. She thinks I’m too … adventuresome. Like my dad.”

  He knew all about that—all about inheriting traits whether he wanted them or not. But being adventuresome wasn’t a bad trait to have: at all. He could think of one’s much, much worse.

  “Sheesh, this is the longest Ferris Wheel ride I’ve ever been on. Do you think they are going extra long for the Make-A-Wish kids?”

  He smiled. “Yeah, probably.” He slid in closer to Katrina. He grabbed her hand. No one would notice that as their gondola went round and round. “Good day, huh?” he asked. He couldn’t help but smiling. The charity work was helping Kat to open up, just like he had hoped it would. He was getting in. Winning her over. He was so glad he’d done this concert, for more than one reason.

  She didn’t get to respond. The Ferris wheel shuttered and stopped abruptly. “Geez, what happened?” Ben looked down. They were at ten o’clock on the wheel. He could see the ride operator. And he could see where the crowd had been waiting in line to get on the Ferris wheel. People were running away, screaming and crying. And he could see something all over a bunch of the people. Was that …? Oh, nasty.

  “Don’t look down, Kat,” he said.

  But she didn’t listen. She looked. “Is that …?” She quickly turned her head away. But it was too late. She went pale.

  Yep, someone had lost their lunch. And their breakfast. And last night’s dinner. Disgusting. Ben felt his own stomach turn. But then he smiled, thinking of how lucky they were to be on the backside of the Ferris wheel. They could have been below whoever that was that had lost it. And they would have been splattered. He couldn’t even imagine ….

  Kat didn’t look so good. She had her eyes closed and she was breathing shallow breaths, almost like she was having labor pains. “You okay?”

  “No.” She answered with her eyes closed. “I’m going to be sick.”

  Really? From that far away? “You must have a weak stomach.”

  “Yes. Very.” She finally opened her eyes, but she kept her eyes diverted from the scene below. She was still breathing through her mouth.

  “So you don’t want to go get a chocolate shake after this?”

  She smacked him in the chest. “Ben!”

  “Ow!” She was surprisingly tough. She probably left a welt across his pec. Which wouldn’t be good for his photo shoot next week. “You need me to change the subject?”

  “Please.”

  So he asked about something that was still on his mind. “So what kind of car do you think I should get to replace the Shelby?”

  “I dunno. Maybe an Audi. My dad likes his.”

  “Naw. That’s an old-man’s car. Except for an R8. But it doesn’t matter. Audi’s aren’t American.”

  “So?”

  “I only drive American. Part of the image. America’s Son and all that.”

  It worked. He had distracted her from the voluminous vomit. Her cheeks were pink again. She looked like she could focus. But that didn’t mean that she looked all that interested in the conversation.

  “I don’t know. Then get a Ford Aerostar or something.”

  “They don’t make those anymore.”

  “Dang. That’d be smoking hot. Plus it’d be a good disguise. No one would expect you to drive something … nerdy.”

  He smiled. That was something he hadn’t thought of before. But he didn’t think he could bring himself to that level. Cars were something he just couldn’t sacrifice. “I guess I could,” he played along. “I could get a job as a pizza deliveryman and drive around with one of those signs on top of the minivan. And wear a striped polyester suit. No one would ever catch on.”

  “I’m kinda glad, actually,” she said. He was confused. “About the disguise thing,” she clarified. “It’s really nice to be with you … as you. To be able to see your eyes.”

  She looked uncomfortable to be saying this. He scooted even closer to her, hopefully encouraging her to continue. Her eyes matched the gray of the cloudy sky. Her eyes never revealed much, but finally, he could see this flicker of endearment there.

  But she didn’t say anything else. So he teased, “So you sabotaged me then: so that my disguises were all revealed. Just so you could see my eyes.”

  The Ferris wheel moved again, but stopped when they got to eleven-o’clock. They were unloading the passengers. And then the ride would be shut down. That meant his day with Kat was almost over. His heart felt heavy for the first time that day.

  “So I’m off to Dubai tomorrow,” he said, trying to sound light.

  “I know. Wow. I’m jealous. It looks like a cool place. Are you excited … to go there?”

  “Um, no. Not really. I’ve been there a few times before. So I’ve pretty much seen everything cool about it.”

  “Oh. Yeah.” She sounded awkward. Like she should have known that Ben didn’t like Dubai.

  He tried to cover it with, “The photo shoot will be cool though. The photographer is Franz Burdette, so t
hat will be pretty amazing to work with him.”

  “Wow. Yeah, that will be cool.” Her voice sounded enthusiastic. But her face had this momentary blankness upon it. She had no idea who Franz Burdette was. But Ben didn’t call her on it. He didn’t want her to get embarrassed and clam up on him. Besides, it was kinda cute. He could totally play it up and talk about Franz as if he’d just won an Oscar, and Kat would never let on that she was in the dark.

  “I’m really going to miss you,” he said, making sure his voice was quiet enough for only her ears. “I kinda dread going, just because I know I won’t get to see you for eight long days.”

  Again, they moved, this time stopping at twelve o’clock. She said nothing. At all. She just blinked twice, gave him a small smile and then looked to her left, her eyes focused on the horizon. He could tell that she wasn’t even trying to say something. Not even contemplating it. He was DYING.

  “Uh, Kat?”

  “Yeah?” She turned her eyes back to him. Her face was completely placid. Like his words had evaporated before they ever reached her ears. Really: had she not heard what he said?

  “I just told you that I was going to miss you.” Her mouth pulled down ever so slightly and then she bit on the corner of her lip. But still, she didn’t respond. “So typically, if someone says something like that—lays their heart on the line—the other person says something in response.” He tried to make it sound like he was playful, trying to hide the anticipation. But she still didn’t look like she was going to say anything. So he all-out asked. “Are you going to miss me?” He knew he didn’t sound playful that time. He sounded irritated.

  “Well that depends,” she said blithely.

  “On?” Seriously? She was killing him.

  “On who you’re asking.”

  Huh? There wasn’t anyone else in this gondola, was there?

  “Are you asking the Katrina Hayes that you’re ‘just friends’ with or the Kat that you like to kiss when no one is watching?”

  Wow. That was direct. Love it. So he rolled with it. “So, Katrina Hayes, my friend, will you miss me when I’m gone?”