by Ed Nelson
One guy at least invited me to play a few hands of cards with him and some friends. I knew how that would turn out, but at least he was willing to work for the money.
The girls were the worst. They let me know they were available and would be faithful, unlike that horrid Nina.
The comments about Nina sent me into a rage, but I contained myself.
It was almost poetic that Lady Christine or better known as the Blonde Bitch was present. She of Mary spilling chocolate fame.
“Oh Richard, it is so nice to see you. I have missed your company.”
“Do you still slap little girls like my sister?”
That stopped the show dead. The Scandinavian blonde blushed as I had never imaged anyone could blush. Those around her, almost a dozen looked from her to me to see what would happen next.
What happened was I turned and left. There was nothing for me here.
We were wheels up early Sunday morning. What had been a pleasant trip had turned bad. I kept replaying my thoughts about Nina and my rage when other people talked bad about her. How did I feel about her?
I shrugged my gloomy thoughts off. I still had feelings for her, but I wasn’t about to forgive her betrayal.
Instead, I got into a game of gin rummy with the hostesses and off-duty members of the flight crew. Talk about sharks. They took me for twenty dollars.
That was the highlight of the flight, losing a few bucks while laughing and joking with some nice people. The money meant nothing to any of us, it was the comradery that was important.
There is a lesson in this somewhere. I think.
I was back at Jackson House in time for dinner. Mum and Dad were fully aware of the events in England. They even knew about my leaving the ball early. I wondered who their spies were.
I knew that Mum had talked to the Queen so she knew the official portion of it, but how would she know about the ball?
I decided upon a unique approach. I asked her.
“Mum, how do you and Dad know about me leaving that ball early?”
Dad spoke up, “It came over the UPI wire. One of the paparazzi filed a story that was accepted.”
I had forgotten that every move of that entire crowd was subject to scrutiny. I sincerely hoped that I wasn’t considered one of that crowd.
Dad had a copy of The Wall Street Journal. They had run an op-ed by a concerned citizen. It took the position that Jackson Enterprises was too large and vital of a company to leave to a teenager. It went into detail about my recent public events, all interpreted as me being a petulant teenager with no sense of responsibility.
Too many people in America depended on Jackson Enterprises for their livelihood to leave it to a child. The company should be nationalized for the good of the employees and the nation. I shouldn’t be allowed to take any of my operations offshore along with American jobs.
That last got to me, one thing Todd Goodson and I had made clear in a letter to all employees was that no jobs would be going overseas. These were all new jobs.
Pittsburgh couldn’t support our worldwide needs and if we were going into production elsewhere it made sense to do it around the world.
Todd had canvassed many employees at all levels and reported back that there was a high degree of understanding and support of the company’s needs.
I asked Dad if he could find out who wrote this piece. He said he would try but the Journal protected its sources.
Denny and Eddie didn’t pay much attention to our conversation. They were arguing about who would win a fight, Batman or Superman.
Mary was listening intently. She didn’t say anything, but you could see the wheels turning. I wondered what the outcome would be.
The next morning after my run and workout I rode George over to the Forest Service Station. Sam and John were already there setting up the practice greens to reflect the south course greens at the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont Pennsylvania. That would be the venue of the US Open in June.
Sam congratulated me on winning the Masters. I asked him why he didn’t want to come to any of the tournaments.
“Too hard on my knees.”
“We could get you a golf cart.”
“Nah, always walked the course.”
That West Virginian was certainly set in his ways.
I hit a round of balls at the driving range and called it a day.
I wanted to be at the movie lot on time. This was one of the few days that I would have real lines on a real set. Most of my scenes were in the saddle out on the range.
I was to pledge my undying love to Molly. The shooting sequence had me pledging my love. The next scene would see me getting shot down by a pretty Shawnee maiden. Ya gotta love Hollywood.
Chapter 46
The scene with the Shawnee maiden had Miss Shawnee of 1961. The 1962 pageant wouldn’t be until later in the year. She only had three lines.
I had to wonder what the writers were thinking. I was supposed to fall in love with her and be ready to set Molly aside with such short contact.
That was in the movie. In real life, I was head over heels, and we had only exchanged names before our scene. Maybe the writers weren’t so far off after all.
In the scene which was taking place in a general store owned and run by her parents, she was stocking a high shelf on a ladder when it tipped backward.
She is gorgeous. Tall, around five foot ten, light copper skin, coal-black hair, fine-featured with high cheekbones.
She was almost a stereotype of beauty. Her saving grace was a ready smile, which made her serious features light up.
Awendea told me to call her, “Wendy.” She was brought in for two scenes. This was a reward over and above for being the beauty pageant winner.
I was there to catch her. We walked through the scene several times, and each time I ended up with an armful of a beautiful Indian girl. Maybe I was giving up on acting too soon.
It wasn’t considered a dangerous stunt, so we did it ourselves. She was a good actress. She had the same wide-eyed look each time I caught her.
I would then set her down and ask her if she was okay. She would nod and turn away.
That was our introduction.
The next scene was me walking into the store and buying some stuff that I didn’t need just as an excuse to talk to her. As she rang up my order on the huge bronze cash register, I was visibly working up the nerve to ask her to go for a walk that evening.
Then there would be a short scene where I found out her name. While mailing a letter to my mother, I would casually ask at the post office the name of the young lady at the general store. It is Awendea, which means beautiful morning in Shawnee. The postmistress just smiled when I asked.
I was shown walking back and forth in front of her store while I finally worked up the nerve to go in the store to pop the question.
When I did, I was to be crushed by her reply.
” Why would I go walking with a no-account cowhand? I will grant, that you are good-looking. However, I leave tomorrow to go to school in Edinburgh, Scotland.”
I would then turn with shoulders slumped and walk away. What I was not supposed to know at the time was Molly was watching and listening one aisle over. This set up a breakup scene and fight which would go on for half the movie until I won her back.
The reality of the scene being shot was that Sally was not even on the set. Her shots were already in the can.
Back to real life, I asked Wendy if she had any dinner plans. She didn’t and accepted on her and her escort's behalf.
Dang! I was hoping to have a date alone.
It turned out Chief Redfoot was her escort. That made it easier, or at least less awkward.
The Chief had a twinkle in his eye when he told me that they would accept my invitation. What I didn’t know was that my parents had extended an invitation to him and his charge for dinner at the Brown Derby. I was welcome to join them.
Later that evening when we met at the restaurant I was surprised by We
ndy as she was wearing the proverbial little black dress. I don’t know what I was expecting, bead encrusted buckskin?
She wore it well. Though I hadn’t said anything or gave myself away by my looks, I did chastise myself for stereotyping.
The Chief wore a custom-made suit which set his rugged features off nicely. He also still wore his long dark hair in a headband. It was a bright red.
Just to make small talk I mentioned I liked his headband. He replied that he wore it to meet the white man’s stereotyping. My look of shock was met by a belly laugh.
“Oh, Rick, the look on your face was worth it. I always have worn headbands to keep my hair out of my food.”
I had blushed as red as his headband. I felt like I had just been paid back for my thoughts about Wendy.
Once past that, I held a chair for Wendy as the Chief introduced her to my parents. He introduced her as his granddaughter.
I’m so glad I have kept my mouth closed. I just knew he had a tomahawk hidden somewhere under his suit coat.
It was a thin crowd at the Derby, so it wasn’t a real surprise when the papa-rats-eyes closed in on us. They used their normal tactic of scouting the room out and then rushing the table with their chosen target.
They would be ejected immediately, but they still had time to get their pictures.
Mr. Cobb would apologize and give us a free dessert for the inconvenience. It had become a ritual that we all tolerated.
Since Wendy was sitting next to me, I could imagine tomorrow's headlines. I wondered what Nina would make of them.
Wendy and I got along well. I asked her what her plans were after the movie.
“I leave for Edinburgh Scotland to go to school once my scenes have been accepted by the editors.”
I looked like a hooked fish as she explained.
“That is why the writers choose that line for me. They thought it would be a good inside joke and make it easy for me to remember my lines.”
Chief Redfoot added to the conversation.
“She is going to study to be a Doctor, just like Awendea my great grandmother did at the University of Edinburgh.”
That explained the epilogue which ultimately appeared at the end of the movie explaining that Awendea as portrayed by her great-great-great-granddaughter was the first female MD in the Shawnee Tribe.
Chief Redfoot never missed a trick in showing how long the Shawnee had been civilized as long as or even longer than the white man.
The one thing that we all had a hard time getting in our heads was that the Indians had a thriving civilization going until the white man showed up with his new diseases which killed off ninety percent of their population and destroyed their nations.
Bottom line was that another budding romance was cut off. I wondered if Wendy even knew we had a budding romance. She was polite to me but never gave any indication that she might be interested in me.
We had a pleasant dinner, papa-rats-eyes aside. At the end of the evening, I told Wendy I would see her on the set. She told me she was looking forward to it. Hope springs eternal.
In the morning I rode over to the Forest Service station. Sam had the place set up to match Oakmont as much as he could. John and I talked about when we could go to Oakmont to play several practice rounds. It would have to be next week as I had to be on set every day this week.
After spending the morning hitting a little white ball around, I return home to have a message waiting.
Would I please call Bobby Kennedy at the White House at my convenience?
“Please?”
“Bobby Kennedy.”
“Convenience.”
Now those were words I never thought would be in the same sentence. I returned the call. I was put through directly to the Attorney General.
“Rick, thanks for returning my call so promptly. JFK and I would like you to stop by the White House or even Hyannis Port when you get a chance. We need to talk things through and make peace with each other.”
“I think that is a good idea. I have no desire to be at odds with you. I will be flying to Oakmont, Pennsylvania next week to practice at Oakmont. Why don’t I continue to Hyannis Port and we meet on Saturday?”
“That would be great. We were planning to spend the weekend there anyway. Your name will be at the guard station.”
“Thanks, I’m looking forward to this.”
We hung up and I listened to the news on the radio while having lunch. The news out of China was confusing. It seemed several of the new nobles had died suddenly while attending a state dinner at the new Empress’s request.
It left the power structure in turmoil but troops loyal to the Empress were preventing outright civil war from erupting.
Way to go Empress Ping! I wondered if Prince Deng kept his head.
I did have to make some phone calls to see what this was doing to the bank project. I was glad I wasn’t in China to share their interesting times.
Chapter 47
I wondered what sort of person I had become that I was cheering the deaths of people I didn’t even know. Granted they were communists and had fought their way to the top on the bodies of others, it still didn’t seem right that I had cheered their deaths.
I knew Empress Ping and her actions had shown that she had the best interest of the Chinese people in her heart. It still didn’t give me the right to be happy for the slaughter.
There was no doubt it was a slaughter, probably by poison. China was probably better off for it. Still, it didn’t sit right that I was cheering the deaths.
I thought about calling the Empress but didn’t think she would appreciate the call if she took it. Beijing is fifteen hours ahead of us, so it was around 3 am the next day there.
This was one of the few free afternoons that I had. The next day we would fly to Pennsylvania to play a couple of rounds at Oakmont to prepare for the US Open.
To celebrate my free time, I took my trusty T-Bird on a ride. I had no destination; I was following my nose.
My nose took me out to the Ontario Airport where I looked up Mr. McGarry. He was there waiting on his next student, who wasn’t due for an hour. We spent the time exchanging flying stories. Mine was about the 707-emergency landing and spotting Brigitte Bardot.
His were about the war and were much more exciting than mine.
He was just getting to the punchline of a story about being jumped by four Japanese Zeros when his student showed up. He told me he would finish it the next time I came to visit. He is a cruel man.
I drove back toward Hollywood and stopped at Warner Brothers. I was hoping to get in some sword work with the stuntmen, but they were all working.
I gave up and drove home. It was early enough that I saddled George and had an hour's ride around the public park. I didn’t see any tigers or one of those fierce chipmunks.
Dinner was with my brothers and sister. The parents had gone to some charity dinner. I was glad that they didn’t drag me along.
Denny was noticeably quiet during dinner so later I asked him if anything was bothering him.
“Rick, you caught Nina cheating on you. How did you get over her?”
So little brother has girl problems.
“I haven’t. Part of me wants to fly to Europe and hug her and tell her all is forgiven. The rest of me says if she betrayed me once I would be insane to trust her again.”
“You don’t act like you are bothered.”
“Remember I’m an actor. Some days it hurts so bad I want to cry.”
“So, it's okay if I’m all busted up and don’t know what to do.”
“Welcome to the real world of men never understanding women and why they do what they do.”
“I don’t think I will date for a while.”
“That’s my plan.”
“What about that beautiful Indian girl Awendea or Sally Fields.”
“Sally doesn’t like my lifestyle plus she has a boyfriend and Awendea has left for Edinburgh to go to school. Don’t believe everything yo
u read in the papers.”
“Thanks for listening and sharing Rick, this helps.”
“I’m glad.”
“Now if you want to share some of your money that would be nice.”
“I will loan it to you if you use it to grow your business. Otherwise, earn it yourself.”
“How much interest?”
“Two percent.”
“That’s better than Mary she wanted four.”
“Do you need it?”
“No, I just wanted to know what was available.”
“Tell me, Mary wanted four percent, was that per annum?”
“She didn’t say.”
“I would watch the little shark; she may have meant by the week.”
“She would do that to family members?”
“Probably not, it would only be by the month.”
At that, I heard a screech from behind the couch. Someone had been eavesdropping.
“Shame on you Mary.”
“I wouldn’t charge my brother that much!”
“I know, dear, I knew you were there. I saw you crawl behind the couch when we came in.”
“How else am I going to get good stories for my column.”
“Are you still doing that?”
“Not regularly, but I get one hundred dollars per special. The best part is Mum, and Dad don’t know I get paid in cash. I have over a thousand dollars hidden in my room.”
“Then a trade, you don’t report on this conversation, and Mum and Dad don’t hear about your deal.”
She whined a bit but made the deal. One thing about Mary was that she kept her word, well except in Monopoly.
The next morning John and I took off for Pittsbrgh to play several practice rounds at Oakmont. I was now prominent enough in the golfing world to be allowed to play almost any course.
That course is tough! The Donald Ross-designed course has earned its name, “The Monster.”
While not dreading playing in the tournament I knew it would be harder here than the Masters.