Can Am Story

by Oliver Rill

  The other two were home by the time I got there. I changed quickly and we set off at a fast sprint. This time, we ran towards Daniel’s place. By the time we got there, he was totally out of breath and didn’t want to do the return run, so Matt and I spent the evening alone.

  “When you fly to Florida next weekend, are you taking Gavin with you again?”

  “Yeah, sure. He’s got to get the house sorted. There’s bound to be a load of building dirt and someone has to cook.”

  “And what about me?”

  “You can eat in New York on the company’s bill. And in Boston. And Chicago. And Washington.”

  “So I am going cap in hand on the east coast for slots while you have fun at the beach?” He teased me.

  “Come on, Matt! No one can pull the wool over your eyes. If you negotiate for slots, you’ll get them. I know that and so does everybody else.”

  “How about I take Friday off and come over on Thursday evening, then we can fly back to L.A. together on Sunday, what do you think?”

  “Only if you have your quota of slots.”

  “Well, it’s a good job that Atlanta isn’t on the schedule. Looks pretty dry, slot-wise there.”

  “I know, it does look pretty bad. We’re just going to have to do without Atlanta for a while. We’ll manage, won’t we?”

  “I guess so. Something will come free eventually there.” Reassured Matt.

  “And when does Aristo want to fly back to Greece? He did want to go back, didn’t he?”

  “Oh, did he say that?”

  “He said that you’d spoken about it for July or August or something. But he wanted to fly back in June.”

  “Is he going to find stewardesses there or what? 400 of them? I’m sure he will find them, but they won’t be allowed to work here! If he manages to fill the positions, then I’m sure he’ll be able to take an early holiday if he asks his boss nicely, but I can’t see that happening.” I was a little annoyed, at this. He of all people knew the workload that was now upon us and he wanted to fly off into the sunset? So much ahead of the agreed timeframe and for so long!

  Daniel started his training courses in L.A., then had to move on to other cities. During the week I had told Aristo that he would have to work really hard to get me to agree otherwise I wouldn’t be able to let him go so early for his massively lengthened holiday. He was not impressed, but did see my point.

  Saturday dawned as a perfect day. I woke Matt up gently as only lovers can, then we breakfasted, then returned to our never ending appreciations of each other. After a shower and a rushed drive to the airport, I caught the flight at two. I had thought when I booked it that that would leave me time to spend with my sexy man before I left and I was right.

  I took a taxi from the airport to my castle in Fort Myers and marvelled again at the size and the impression it made. Debbie was already there and I noticed that I had missed calls from Jason. On Debbie’s tour of the house the elegant white, grey and turquoise in place of the rustic wood and brown, red and orange colours came into effect. It was lighter, airier and somehow, even more spacious.

  “I didn’t manage to get the roof tiles changed, but they are on order and will be changed in three weeks. It’ll take about a week. They’re a lovely light grey which will complete the picture. Do you like it?”

  “Good God, Debbie! What will you think of next?” I was delighted. I gazed around me in wonder and amazement. What had been a good compromise at the purchase had turned into a perfect home for me. For me and hopefully lots of guests.

  “I did try something quite new, and it’s on the house. I’m really quite proud of it. I will of course keep it a secret where they came from but I want to use some photos of it in my marketing materials.”

  “Debbie, what on earth have you let me in for now? Don’t be so secretive!”

  “Come on, I’ll show you. You’ll love it!”

  We walked outside and turned towards the Gulf of Mexico. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Before the walk to the water’s edge had ended in a type of curb stone, but today I could see new palm trees which weren’t so different from many other properties around here. There was also a small Tikki bar which sat on a short sloping sand beach.

  “A beach? You waved your magical wand and a beach appeared? How cool is that?”

  “Don’t get too excited about a bit of sand, ok? It’s 25 meters long. It’s not going to disappear in the next few weeks, but you may have to refill the sand after a while. It’s easy enough to do. Do you like it? Or is it a bit OTT?”

  “It’s perfect! I’m gobsmacked! I really don’t know what to say.”

  “Good. Let’s crack on then. Don’t worry, it’s just run of the mill stuff from here on in. See the cameras in the palms? They have several purposes. They record and have infrared capabilities. You’ll have to see how that goes with the birds here. Up till now it’s been ok as they aren’t flying so low at the moment. The alarm will sound if the rays are disturbed. Sounds a bit like 007, but it does give you a bit of security. You can leave them running all the time or if the birds do cause a nuisance, just train them on the gate and only on the water when necessary. You’ll have to work that one out. It all works anyway.”

  “That is fantastic, Debbie.”

  “The garage is more or less empty, you’ll need to fit that up as you want. Apart from that … Houses of this size usually have a panic room. You haven’t made any enemies though, have you? So I haven’t fitted one. In any case it would take more than a week to construct that.”

  It all looked so perfect, I couldn’t see one thing missing. “Just one question. The guesthouse. Did you do anything in there?”

  “I threw out all the stuff that was in there. It was all cheap old rubbish anyway, and re-did it.”

  “Brilliant! I’m a little nervous about the bill.”

  “My Dad told me you had enough money. Come on, let’s go in. I’m hot and could do with a drink. I think I’ve earned it, haven’t I?”

  “You most certainly have. I’ve just got to make a telephone call and I will follow you, ok?”

  I called Jason, who told me there was a party that I just had to come to that evening. He’d already invited his friends.

  “And I was looking forward to a quiet night in” I teased, still on a high.

  “You are kidding! You’re on the VIP guest list. Get here about 11. It’ll be quieter then and we’ll be able to chat.”

  I agreed although I really just wanted to slide into my bed in my newly made up bed in my grand, brand new, renovated house with a full belly.

  I chatted for a while with Debbie in the kitchen until she gave me her bill and left. I looked at the paperwork anxiously. I had reckoned that there wouldn’t be much change from one hundred thousand for the work that she had done, but when I unfolded the sheet of paper, I saw the end sum of only 40,000. I couldn’t believe what value for money it all represented. After I had waved Debbie off for the airport, I went to close my eyes for a nap. I had given Gavin the night off too, but he was still pottering about in the kitchen.

  I transferred the money for the bill immediately online and glanced at the balance in my account. Still $300,000. I guess I didn’t really have money problems any more.

  Gavin sat on the terrace and starred vacantly at the sea.

  “Oh, are you going out again?” He said as he saw me coming down jangling my car keys.

  “Yes, I’m sure you’ve got stuff that you need to be doing tomorrow. I’ll get up then go shopping. I need a few bits and pieces. If you just get me something to eat in the evenings that would be great.”

  “I’m not sure how I’m going to get to the store to get stuff in.” He said.

  “That’s true, you haven’t got a car. I’ll attend to that in the morning. We’ll need to go shopping together for now.”

  I drove the rental car to the club where Aaron was on the door. I couldn’t imagine what his diet would be to make him the size he was.

  “Oli! Grea
t to see you again! How long are you here for?”

  “Me? I’m here till next Sunday then I fly back again.” He clapped me on the back and told me to go on in.

  “There’s a cool show on tonight that you’ll enjoy. I’ll be in later. Have fun!”

  Jason was on the bar.

  “Is it champagne again?” He asked.

  “Not today. I’ll have a G&T. How are you doing?”

  “What? Since you rejected me, you mean? I’m nursing my wounded ego.”

  “You’re crazy!” I laughed. “You surfer guys always have a crowd of fans around you and barkeepers are never alone!”

  “Here’s your drink. Tragic Mike is on tonight and we’ve got go-go dancers from Miami putting on a show, too.”

  “I heard about that. I’m looking forward to it. Y’all got time for the gym tomorrow night?”

  “Of course we have. We’re training then we’ll all hang out together.”

  I wandered through the club, danced a while and got chatted up by a couple of guys. I thought they were quite entertaining, at least until they asked me to come into the bathroom to shoot up. I felt uncomfortable refusing as I did and their looks gave me to understand they thought I was stuck up as they moved on.

  The stripper like go-go dancer’s show was fun. They came down into the audience and dragged them up to the stage. I sheltered in the safety of the shadow of the bar and Jason’s presence. Or so I thought until he jumped up onto the bar and pointed theatrically at me.

  “Jason. No! Please don’t do that! I really don’t want to.” In vain, panic in my voice. A dancer skipped up to me followed by a spotlight, throwing us into sharp relief. I got a short lap dance and then was pulled onto the stage.

  “Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt!” He said. A tired but nervous smile played on my lips. He pushed me into a chair and shimmied and swayed in front, behind, around me. So close that I felt the hair on my arms brush against the silk of his costume, the crowd on the floor shouted lewdly. His frenzied dance came nearer and nearer until he plumped down onto my lap. His clothes had been shed completely by this time and I was frozen into stone. As the lights went out with a clunk, the lights on the floor were raised, taking the attention away from me. I grabbed my chance and fled.

  “Give me a large one of those as well. I need a drink!” I called to Jason as he poured out a gin martini with a flourish.

  “He’ll come back to your place for a hundred dollars!” grinned Jason.

  “Enough!” I said. “If I was interested in going with somebody, which I am most definitely not, then it would be long term and not just a quick leg over.”

  “You never know what might happen.”

  “Give me that!” I grabbed the ice cold cocktail. “I’m going to drink to forget that. I do know what would happen actually. After a very forgettable fuck and promises of calling the next day, he would disappear into the night, never to be heard of again. In the meantime, well-meaning friends tell me that they’ve seen him hanging around bars with various ‘friends’ who they know have a dose of the clap.”

  “Maybe he just needs someone sensitive to take him seriously and who he can rely on. He may be a literature student and is just doing this to pay his way through university and no one realizes what a sweet guy he is, who needs to find his courage in a bottle before every show.” That maybe was so. But maybe too, he can’t help himself and drags himself from show to show, with a different guy each time.

  The DJ in spite of the strange name of Tragic Mike, was really good. I found my body dancing to the music with no effort on my part at all. I also found my glass refilled on a regular basis.

  The alcohol caught up with me in a dizzy whirl when I went outside for a smoke. I staggered and almost fell.

  “Oli!” Aaron called out in alarm. “Hold on, I’ll drive you home right now.”

  “I’m good, Aaron. I’ll grab a cab.”

  “Shut up and climb in. You’re too drunk for a cab. If you need to throw up, tell me and I’ll stop.” Aaron’s car was right outside the club. He had steered me over there and was now holding the door open for me.

  “I’ll take a cab. Honest.” Aaron picked me up like a rag doll and deposited me inside.

  “Give me your address.”

  “But you can’t see where I live!” I wailed.

  “Cut the crap! The address!”

  “63, Wolcott Drive.” I slurred.

  Aaron only had to stop once. I just managed to get out of the car in time to avoid puking up in his car. I clung to the lamppost and obliterated the road markings beneath me. I prayed that no-one would see me either as Oli from Berlin, nor as Mr Can Am, my present identity, who had lost control and was emptying the half liquefied contents of his stomach on the highway.

  “Is this it?” Aaron asked as we stood in front of my gates.

  “Yeah, I’ll get out here. Thanks Aaron.”

  “If it’s yours, open the gates.” Aaron looked in disbelief at the house.

  “No, no. It’s ok. I’ll walk in.”

  “You can’t walk five yards in that state. Open the gates.”

  I dug for the remote and Aaron’s eyes widened as the gates opened. He drove in, took my keys from my pocket, holding me like a puppet by the other arm.

  “Where’s your bedroom?” He asked.

  “I can do this. Really.”

  “Where is it?”

  “Upstairs.” I felt my feet leave the floor as Aaron lifted me in his arms and carried me upstairs as though he were carrying a baby. He laid me on the bed, undressed me and got a bucket and a bottle of water from the kitchen.

  “I’m taking your keys. I’ll come around at ten tomorrow and check on you. We can go get your car then. Now sleep.” He covered me tenderly with a blanket and left.

  I didn’t get up until past midday the next day, understandably. I had missed several calls including several from Matt and Rebecca. I tried Matt first.

  “Nice of you to answer! How was your night?” He dove straight in.

  “Stop! My head is banging!”

  “And as soon as you get a night away from me, you spend it at a strip club? That really isn’t on!” He added, bitterly.

  “Hey, hey. Who told you that?”

  “Your picture in the press.”

  “My picture? Oh fuck me! It’s not, is it? It wasn’t a strip club, it was a normal night club.”

  “A night club where naked guys sit on your lap.”

  “Matt, it was nothing! Goddammit, is it really in the press?”

  “Rebecca is climbing the walls as you can imagine. And I am pissed off too. We had an agreement.”

  “Matt, I stood by our agreement … stand by our agreement. Really.”

  “You know what? I think I even believe you. I can see the expression on your face and it certainly wasn’t the way you would look at me, if I was sitting on your lap like that. But really, Oli. How would you feel if I did something like that?”

  “Matt, I’m really sorry. Please forgive me. I think I need to call Rebecca now though.”

  I called Rebecca on loudspeaker while I gave my teeth a well needed brush. Actually I didn’t really need the loudspeaker. She threw her feelings into the phone at volume. When her diatribe wound down, I rinsed. My head throbbed, I still felt dizzy and a little drunk, but unlike the night before, didn’t have the energy to defend myself.

  “Ok Rebecca, what are the next steps?”

  “We keep our mouths shut and see that you don’t move from small print on page seven to a full page three And we prepare ourselves for what you are going to say at the press conference when they ask you about it. I’ll try to check out the background of this Miami Go-Gos group, then talk the whole thing down with you having friends all over the place in every level of society and that you support the community when you can. Basta. Then we’ll have dealt with it and we won’t need to speak of it again and you’ll divert the conversation back to the company business.”

  “Ok Rebec
ca. I’m sorry, he just hauled me up on the stage.”

  “Never again, ok? As soon as you see someone raising their phone to take a photo, you turn away from them. And from now on, you stay away from clubs, is that clear? You’d better not go into bars either, for that matter.”

  “Yeah, mom. Ok. I get it.”

  Aaron sat downstairs with a coffee. Gavin was waiting with his shopping list.

  “Morning, Oli. How’re you feeling?”

  “Stop.” I groaned.

  “I think you’ve a bit of explaining to do.” Said Aaron.

  “You’re damned right there. I’ve already had that pleasure. Gavin. Do you have any coffee? Can you pour some? Please? I really can’t …” I trailed off.

  “You didn’t tell us that you’re rolling in it.”

  “I’m not rolling in it. I’m just hung over, that’s what I am.”

  “Oh yeah, you’ve just got a mansion with a park and its own beach. We all have one of those.” Sarcasm dripped from his words.

  “I got a good deal on it.” I said, playing it down. My mind was functioning enough to recount it roughly as our PR department demanded from me.

  “Don’t give me that. I can see through it. You’re that guy with the airline, I read all about it.”

  “Aaron? Can you drive me back to my car when I’ve finished this coffee? I’ve got a few things I need to do today. Do you know where I can buy a car? I need one.”

  Aaron listed a few dealers and suggested we go to a business park where several were located. He offered to come with us, as they could be pretty sharp with tourists.

  “Oh and Aaron? Thanks for last night. That was good of you, I’m really grateful.”

  “No problem. Anyone would have done the same.”

  “If you like, we could do a BBQ tonight? But I’m afraid I can’t go out at the moment.”

  “With a hangover like that, I wouldn’t either. You owe Jason 80 green ones too. 80! You certainly know how to enjoy yourself!”