Can Am Story

by Oliver Rill

  I sat at my desk going through the mail then Matt and I drove over to LSG in his Lincoln. We discussed possibilities for the airline. I was astonished at the variety that could be had compared to the crap was actually served up on most airlines. Everything was available for a price. I had to make decisions on cutlery, glasses, trays, napkins and things we wanted to sell on-board. All that before we even got to the food! Journals, magazines, newspapers … It was madness!

  “We are going to have to spend a whole day here.” I said. “How are we going to make decisions on all of this?” I was armed with a stack of catalogues and had to make a preselection, which seemed reasonable, after all, a short flight would have a different selection on sale than a long flight, and maybe there should be a difference in morning flight selection and evening flight selection.

  “Do you have candies, too?” Of course they were available. You couldn’t try them, but they were in the catalogue. “That’s no good. The taste is the deciding factor.”

  “We could have some made up to you own recipe for you.” The sales guy said.

  “My kind of praline would be a crust of sweet but milky chocolate with a strong pistachio flavoured filling with bits of honey comb to give it a little crunch. How long would that take to make up and how much would it be?”

  “I’ll have to check. I’ll make a note and give you a call about it.”

  “Yes note it down and send me a taster!”

  We drove back to the office. We bumped into Linda in front of the elevator as she came back from lunch.

  “Herr Hoffmann, can I have a word?”

  “Of course, do you want to join our team?”

  “Shhh. I wanted to ask if I could. JB wouldn’t be very happy about it, but I think it would be more fun with you.”

  “Give me a call or pop into my office. JB filched one of my staff, so if you migrated over to me, Linda, we’d be quits.”

  “I’ll call you, that’s a promise!” She smiled, radiantly.

  I didn’t like any of the people who had faced me across my desk that morning. Amanda’s replacement would be a hard nut to crack. It seemed that all the customer service applicants had an attitude problem and that was the last thing we needed in our Customer Service. I didn’t turn anyone down directly, but kept my hopes up for a good candidate.

  By six p.m. there were still eight students sitting in the corridor for my second batch of interviews for the marketing jobs and I was done in. We didn’t have a conference room, only five small offices and mine wasn’t the largest of them. Amanda had gone for the day. Actually, the work Linda and I were doing would have been the right assessment test for these students. I would describe something that I had in mind and get them to put it into reality. I asked Matt to clear Amanda’s desk, gathered a few chairs and distributed the students in a circle around it.

  Then I gave each a sheet of paper on which was printed a 737 without any decoration. I described the logo I wanted.

  “Everyone has only this one sheet and only one pen, blue or black, because we are not equipped with felts here. You have 30 minutes maximum from now. You may ask questions if you wish.” I already knew what I wanted to do after that and left the group working under Matt's supervision.

  ‘Risto would get here tomorrow afternoon! I was looking forward to that. I had less than 24 hours to wait. It was middle of the night in London. There was about a seven hour time difference so I reckoned it would be about four in the morning there. Not a time that I could ring and ask if he was excited about the trip or if he had everything packed yet.

  I called Gavin, who was still in the house and asked him to change the bed linen. He had everything in hand.

  “I was going to call you and let you know that I have to go. I’ve only stayed a bit longer today because … Well you know how it is when you start somewhere new, everything takes a bit longer while you work out where everything is. By the way, don’t you have any houseplants?”

  “No I have never been interested in them.” I laughed. “You should be glad that there is one less thing on your list to do. I’ll see you in the morning, Gavin.”

  After a while, I went back and gathered the sheets in from the students. Then one by one asked them to tell me which ‘freebie’, costing a maximum of $10, the plane should offer. I wrote their answers on the back of their sheets: umbrella; bath towel; baseball cap; keyring; travelling mug; wallet; T-shirt and a bag. I pondered the choices. The umbrella was ok, but a bit boring even if it was practical, unlike the keyring which was completely unimaginative. The bath towel I did like, but would cost more than ten dollars. The baseball cap was completely unsuitable as were the wallet and the T-shirt. The travelling mug was a good idea and there were possibilities with the bag. I decided for the travelling mug, the bath towel and the mug. The drawings were much of a sameness and it was hard to choose. I thanked everyone and asked the three ‘winners’ to stay to tell them that we would start as soon as the new offices were ready – a couple of weeks away.

  “Matt, we should really be looking at the floorplan, but I am bushed. Do you want to do that Monday or first thing tomorrow? The presentation is on Monday too, so my mind might not be on it properly.”

  “I’ll be there whenever the boss calls!” Matt beamed at me.

  “I just feel bad that I’m asking you to work on a Saturday, but …”

  “No, I understand. Right now there is a lot to do and working with you is fun. Let’s do it in the morning. Shall we go for a drink tonight? To a bar?” I shot Matt a worried look. “Ok, no problem. We can go tomorrow with your friend, when he gets here and tonight we can see the end of that film we started yesterday.”

  “You don’t have a home to go to then?” I reminded Matt that he hadn’t been to his own house for a while. Matt grabbed my backside and pulled me against him.

  “I just want to be sure that you aren’t eating potato chips secretly and that you’ll become hopelessly addicted to me.”

  I pulled away.

  “Okay. Same procedure as ever – you fetch the food, I’ll open the beer.”

  That night I didn’t fall asleep in front of the TV. What I really wanted was a massage. A proper massage. But I was somehow afraid to ask, but the need for relaxation spurned me on.

  “Matt. When the film is over do you think your hands will be strong enough for my back?”

  “Only if I get Sunday off.”

  “It’s a deal! That was easy.”

  After the film we went down to the bedroom. Matt worked on my back and I relaxed completely. When he was finished, he laid on the bed next to me and stared at the ceiling. He had taken off his T-shirt, but left his pants on. I looked at him. He was obviously miles away.

  “I can still see you giving me the once over, even if I am not looking at you.”

  “Ha ha ha, you caught me red handed!”

  “I’ve told you before: if you want to play; play. It doesn’t bother me.” I put my hand over him. He was becoming hard. I raised my eyebrows and Matt grinned mischievously.

  “Go on! You know you want to.”

  I attended to Matt solicitously, then fell back as exhausted as he and fell asleep. When I awoke, he was no longer there. I bit down a sudden pang of hurt. Matt was such a complicated person. He was neither one thing nor another, neither close nor distant, but somehow both together. He liked women, but sleeps with his boss? I felt confused and somehow guilty as though I was taking advantage of him.

  I went upstairs to the kitchen and fetched a cappuccino. On my way to the terrace I noticed the blueprint for Venice lying on the dining room table. Through the open door, I could see Matt swimming in the pool.

  “Come in, Oli, its beautiful!”

  “Let me drink my coffee first, ok?” I stretched out on the nearby sunbed.

  “Ok, I will come out then, I’ve been in here a while now.” Matt climbed out and came to stand next to me drying himself. “That was so good yesterday, I really enjoyed it.”

  “Mat
t, do you mind if I say something?”

  “Go right ahead!”

  “I did say way back when we were in Vegas, that sex is like potato chips to me.” Matt, on one leg as he pulled his pants on, nearly fell over laughing.

  “Potato chips?”

  “Yeah, man, this isn’t funny. When I open the bag and start eating, then I can’t stop. And you have opened that bag, against my better judgement.”

  “And you want more?” Matt laid on the sunbed next to me and drew his index finger across his belly.

  “Matt, if we don’t stop, then …”

  “Oh come on, Oliver. I am just your typical guy. I’m not gay.”

  “Then stop it!”

  “But it’s just for fun. It’s great how we understand each other and are still productive at the same time. We both bring something to the table and both of us feel rewarded: I learn from you, you get a trainer; I get a private pool, you get a masseur; I liked to be looked at, and you, my friend, have a boner!” Matt stood up and swung his leg across me and sat on my pelvis, taking my head in his hands, he looked into my eyes. “We both get something from this.” He said firmly. “Just relax and don’t worry about it.”

  “You see? That’s exactly what I mean. I want to be kissed now. That wouldn’t occur to you. I would never start it or ask for it in any way, because I know that you actually don’t like men. I don’t even want to begin with what would happen if you introduced me to your girlfriend!”

  “Shhh.” Matt crooned and laid a finger on my lips. “Stop worrying. Maybe I will kiss you later, but right now, I’ll fix us some breakfast. You should breakfast like a king, you know and I know that you haven’t been taking that seriously.”

  Matt stood up, took my hand and said I should come into the kitchen with him to see how he made the omelette, so that I could do it alone if I had to. As if I hadn’t ever made an omelette!

  I cleared the blueprint away and we ate. He had made the omelette with avocado and a little lemon. It was certainly good, you just have to get over the fact that it was so early in the day for a big meal. After, we bent over the blueprint.

  “So what do we still need?”

  “To be honest, I’m not good with planning. I’m always afraid I’ll forget something then all hell will let loose.”

  “Go on, tell me what you were thinking.”

  “We’re going to need a legal department, personnel, customer service, accounts, a technical department, marketing, …” I stopped to think.

  “Sales?”

  “Yes, sales, exactly – Great Matt! And procurement.”

  “Does your assistant get an office too?” He grinned at me.

  “You’re so good looking, I’m going stand you in the entrance to tempt clients in. What do you think?”

  “I think my boss is going to get what he deserves!” And he planted a kiss firmly on my lips. “But don’t forget, I like women. Ok?”

  “Ok, Matt. I don’t know how to put this into the plan properly. Let’s make a list of the departments we need and I’ll try to get some help from JB Homes. I really don’t trust myself doing this.”

  Matt folded the blueprint up, made a note of the departments on a piece of paper and put both in a large envelope.

  “When does your friend arrive?”

  “Aristo? His plane lands at two and he’s bound to need a couple of hours before he get through immigration.”

  “Do you mind if I tag along?”

  “Don’t you want to play at the beach and pull sexy chicks? Its weekend, Matt!”

  “I’d like to get to know your friend. And I could drive you. You wouldn’t have to wait alone at the airport and we’re going for a drink tonight anyway. I promise I’ll leave you in peace Sunday. Honest!”

  “Okay. Let’s take the Jag and go through the building. It’s not far from there to the airport. If we have time we can take a walk along the promenade.

  So we drove over to Venice for a look. Everything was a thick layer of dust throughout. Cables hung from the ceiling, the grey-blue carpet was felted, grimy, in tatters at places and smelt. None of the doors matched, the windows in them and for that matter the outer windows too, were smeared and opaque. The bathrooms lacked tiles here and there and those that were there were scratched and cracked. It was depressing.

  “Nonsense! It only needs a facelift.” Said Matt.

  “First thing, I want that horrible little sticker on my car removed. I want the new logo on there.”

  “Yes that’s really important. Shall I get some firms in to quote?” Laughed Matt.

  “And we’ll get a gardener in here. It’s only a small stretch, but it doesn’t have to look that awful. Those bushes are so overgrown, they look really uncared for. It doesn’t give a good impression. What we have to do urgently on Monday is put the ads out for new positions. We don’t have anyone for procurement, nor the legal department and Amanda’s replacement – there hasn’t been anyone yet. Then if we get the planes we’ve ordered we’re going to need flying staff.”

  “I’d better write it all down. We’re going to need an IT department too, aren’t we, Oliver?”

  “Ah, Matt. It’s so good that you’re here. Yes, of course, we’ll need an IT department too.”

  “If I wasn’t here, you’d be laid up in bed with a guy who sees to it that you get what you need! But unfortunately, you only have me. And you have to work.”

  “You’re right Matt. My assistant won’t let me have a private life.”

  “Just like my boss. I’ve constantly got to fly to Vegas, or take a trip to Venice – and all at the weekend! I don’t have a private life at all anymore!”

  We strolled along the promenade. I was allowed frozen yoghurt that wasn’t actually in the diet that Matt had given me. Afterwards we drove over to the airport, parking in the staff parking lot and using the shuttle bus to the terminal. We sat in the arrivals hall seats and chatted.

  “You bought the Thunderbird for Aristo, didn’t you, Oliver?”

  “For him too. I always wanted one and in California, you just have to have a Cabrio. Aristo is going to look after the building. I need you in the office, Matt, so Aristo will have to take the T-bird.”

  “Is Aristo’s background buildings then?”

  “Not really, but he’s going to be there and I can show him the ropes.”

  “Wow. You really trust him. Do you love him?”

  “Is that the green-eyed monster I see there?”

  “Is he better looking than I am? Be honest.”

  “You both score a ten, ok? You can’t get higher than that.”

  “But you like him, don’t you?”

  “Matt! He is like my little brother. And he’s heterosexual. As you are!”

  “Have you ever … you know.”

  “No we haven’t. I have never … you know… with my little brother!” I was getting exasperated with Matt’s clinging.

  “But you want to, don’t you?”

  “Matt! Enough!”

  “Ok, Okay. I have the advantage. That’s good enough for me.”

  Finally Aristo appeared through the gates. He beamed at me, dropped his bag on the floor and enveloped me in an enormous hug.

  “Man that is so crazy, Oli. Thank you! I am in L.A. I can’t believe it. L.A-a-a-a-a!” He cried drawing out the ‘A’ into a long wail of joy. Matt stood up and introduced himself.

  “Hi. I’m Matt. I’m Oliver’s assistant and his best friend.” Wham, Matt got in there first in the first round, I noted with concern. Aristo, on the other hand didn’t bat an eyelid and greeted him in an open, friendly manner.

  “Come on, let’s go. I wanna get out of here.” I said.

  In the car, I asked Aristo about his flight and like the polite person I remembered, he replied that it was all great. However, I knew that Norwegian Airlines’ Business Class could be a bit dodgy on the cheap deals. The seats might be better, but if you didn’t pay the business class prices, you lost out on the service and I priva
tely laid a bet that Aristo hadn’t.

  Aristo gazed around and sucked in the L.A. impressions that flew at him from all sides. Matt sounded Aristo about his interest in sport and explained that under his supervision, I ran daily now and was on a strict diet.

  “A diet? Oli doesn’t need to lose weight!”

  “No, we’re doing a body transformation plan. It’s not about losing weight, more about lifestyle.” explained Matt. “We are going to give him a fitter and leaner life.”

  At the house I gave Aristo the house tour. I told him to choose one of the guestrooms for his own. Back in the lounge, his eyes still wide with astonishment he spread his arms wide.

  “Fuck me, Oli. Where’s the tennis court? The house is beautiful!” He gasped. In actual fact, when you looked at the other houses in the area, it was one of the smaller ones. None of them were particularly showy or conspicuous from the street. At least that was the style in Beverly Hills. In Hollywood the houses more discrete and couldn’t be seen in entirety from the street. When you could see the house, it was only a small part that showed. The rest was half hidden behind trees or strategically grown bushes and landscaping. The house was a dream for us, but for the neighbors it may be seen as a poor cousin. The best bit about my house, apart from the pool, was the view and the fact that it wasn’t overlooked from any side.

  “Does this belong to you?” asked Aristo.

  “It belongs to the company. I live here as director of the firm.”

  “Does it belong to JB Homes or Californian?” asked Matt.

  “It belongs to Can Am.”

  “Oh yeah, right Can Am. So it does belong to you!”

  Aristo and Matt leapt into the pool. I followed suite a little later. Of course, we also had to show Risto a bit of L.A. and do the tourist thing, so after we had dried off a bit, we drove around, found a little café for a bite to eat and did the obligatory tourist route.

  “Aristo is really good looking. He could be a model. He’s nice too, I understand why you like him.”