A Good Man (19 page)

“Larry, you’ve been making too many documentaries.”

“Now look. They’re throwing all the towels into the pool. That’s not boring at all.”

Bob sighed. “I just hope they don’t find the other mikes.”

“What others?”

“The ones sewn into their clothing.”

“When did this happen?”

“Larry, why do you think we took the Crew to the beach all day Sunday?”

“But, John, I mean, Arthur—”

“We took care of that when he went running this morning. It only took five minutes. The man has very few clothes.”

As a result of the microphone dunking, it was much quieter around the pool for the rest of the day. While most of the Crew frolicked around the pool and played drinking games involving quarters and Ping-Pong balls, Sonya corralled Gary and Tony to help her make a huge salad to go with the steaks Justin and John were cooking and seasoning to perfection on the grill.

“Steak and salad, Jazz?” Justin said.

“Low-calorie dressing, too,” Sonya said.

“No ranch dressing?” Justin asked.

“Nope.” These men put ranch on everything, even their pizza.

“No potatoes?” Justin asked.

“Nope.”

Justin sighed. “I hope we at least have some dessert.”

“You get fruit,” Sonya said.

“Man,” Justin said.

“You need good food to give you energy for the challenge tomorrow,” Sonya said. “You need protein. Ranch dressing, potatoes, and dessert will only weigh you down. That obstacle course is going to be no joke.”

“C’mon, Jazz,” Justin said, “at least throw some croutons up in there.”

“Not gonna happen.”

After dinner, while Sonya and John cleaned up the kitchen and while Aaron, Justin, Tony, and Gary played Spades at the kitchen table, the rest of the Crew started partying again outside.

And not one of them complimented any of the chefs, Sonya thought.

“Is it louder tonight?” John asked while drying dishes.

“Seems like it,” Sonya said. “Why do they do that? Why do they drink away their limited brain cells?”

“Boredom, I think,” John said.

“A bunch of frat boys,” Justin said. “They don’t know any different.”

Gary shook his head. “You and Aaron were putting ’em away the other night, man.”

“But I was a frat boy,” Justin said. “For about a minute. Once that rushing mess started, I quit.”

“I only drink light beers,” Aaron said.

It’s still beer, Sonya thought. “Well, I don’t get any of it,” Sonya said. “They could be bowling or watching TV or, gee, getting to know me better.” She looked at Tony’s hand. “What’d you bid, Tony?”

“Five,” Tony said.

She looked at Tony’s partner, Aaron. “Get ready to help this boy. He only has three and a possible.”

“Watch me get it,” Tony said.

Tony didn’t get his bid, Aaron got mad and left, and the game ended.

Tony shrugged. “It was worth a shot.”

“You didn’t even have any off aces, man,” Sonya said.

Tony smiled. “So I take risks.”

Gary and Justin stood.

“I’m goin’ bowling,” Justin said. “You with me?”

“Yeah,” Gary said. “Gotta work off all that healthy salad. You comin’, Tony, Artie?”

Tony stood and stretched. “I’m beat. I’m goin’ up.”

“I’ll catch up with y’all,” John said. “Almost done with these dishes.”

After they left, John whispered, “You should be resting for your lesson.”

“I’m not that old,” Sonya whispered.

“It will be quite a workout,” John whispered.

I am already tired of cleaning up after a dozen men. “I’ll just get off my feet for a while, then. You don’t mind finishing up?”

“I am a horrible bowler,” John said. “If I bowl half my weight, I’m happy.”

That’s pretty bad. “What’s your high score?”

He looked up. “Think I broke a hundred once.”

Geez. I hardly ever bowl, but I always get at least a hundred. “After you finish, you need to go practice,” Sonya said. “I’m sure they’ll want to make bowling one of the challenges.”

John shrugged. “If they put up those gutter guards, I have a shot.”

“Good night, um, Arthur,” Sonya said.

“Good night, um, Jazz,” John said.

She went upstairs and had barely hit the bed and grabbed for the remote control when she heard a knock on the door.

Kim!

She went to the door, opened it, and saw Larry and all his wrinkles.

“Where’s Kim?”

Larry looked past Sonya into her room. “She’s not here? Bob was supposed to call her.”

Which means Bob didn’t call her. She picked up her phone and pressed number two.

Larry smiled. “You’re not supposed to be making calls.”

“And people are supposed to keep their word.”

“What you want?” Kim asked.

Sonya heard loud voices and traffic noises. “Where are you?”

“At Grauman’s Chinese Theatre to see all the handprints and footprints,” Kim said. “Ooh, there’s Denzel’s! What’s up?”

“They’re letting you move in tonight,” Sonya said.

“Why so early? I haven’t seen all I want to see. I haven’t done half of what I want to do, Sonya.”

I did promise she could see the sights. “How much time will you need?”

“Gimme a week at least. I haven’t been to Disneyland, San Diego, or Tijuana yet.”

“Tijuana? What for? And do you have a passport?”

“I have a passport, Sonya, and, I don’t know, I just want to go there to say I’ve been there. I may get another tattoo.”

“In Tijuana?”

“Why not?”

“Why not?” is this generation’s excuse for doing anything stupid. “Well, can’t you knock all that out in three days?”

“Sonya, I’m on vacation. I want to take my time and enjoy myself.”

Shoot! I can almost control a TV show, but I can’t control my daughter. “Just be safe, okay?”

“You know I will.”

I don’t know that for sure. “I’ll see you in a week, then. Keep your phone with you at all times, okay?”

“Okay. Ooh, there’s Will Smith’s. Why didn’t he put his ears in the cement? Gotta go.” Click.

Hmm. Why didn’t Will Smith put his ears in the cement?

Sonya tossed her phone onto the bed. “So Bob didn’t even try to call.”

“He only said he would call,” Larry said.

Jerk! “Bob says a lot of things he doesn’t really mean, huh?”

Larry nodded. “But I didn’t say anything.”

At least I can trust Larry. “Kim will be here in a week.”

“And we’ll be ready for her.” Larry walked to the window. “They sure have a lot of energy, don’t they?”

“Misguided energy,” Sonya said. “They need to do something constructive that doesn’t involve drinking.”

“Good luck,” Larry said, and he left.

And here I am about to veg and watch something on this little TV when I could be watching something on the huge TV downstairs. Whose castle is this anyway?

When Sonya went downstairs to the great room, she found John, Justin, Gary, and Tony sitting on a couch watching Man v. Food.

“I thought y’all were bowling,” she said, settling into a recliner behind them.

“No balls,” Justin said. “Oh, sorry.”

What? “There’s a bowling alley but no balls?”

Gary shook his head. “Triflin’, ain’t it? It wouldn’t even turn on.”

Sonya stared at the screen. Oh, this is a gross episode where Adam eats seventeen hot dogs in an hour at a place in Chapel Hill.

“Remind you of home?” John asked.

“A little. Chapel Hill and Charlotte are worlds apart. He’s never come to Charlotte.”

John smiled. “So you’re from Charlotte.”

Sonya nodded.

“He’s never come to Alabama either.” John stood. “Why don’t you join us?”

Such a gentleman. She left the recliner and sat in the middle of the couch flanked by Gary and Tony, Justin anchoring the rest of the couch. She took the remote from Tony. “House rules.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tony said.

Grr. There’s that word again. “Um …” What’s his other name? “Arthur, if Adam did come to Alabama, what would y’all feed him?”

John sat in a recliner. “Home cookin’ till he busted a gut.”

“I miss that,” Sonya said.

“So do I,” Justin said. “At least at home they put potatoes on the table.”

“Hush,” Sonya said.

“And at least a few croutons,” Justin said.

“Hush, I said,” Sonya said.

After watching Adam suck down a half-dozen hot dogs, Justin tapped the couch arm with his hand. “We should do this.” He nodded. “Yeah, we should have a hot dog–eating contest.”

Is he kidding? “We just ate. And I doubt the Crew out there will want to participate.” Alcohol is their food.

“I bet I could eat twenty dogs in an hour,” Justin said. “No problem.”

“With the bun?” Gary asked.

“With the bun,” Justin said.

Sonya looked at Justin. “Oh, please don’t. I don’t doubt you can do it, but we just had dinner.”

“That was just an appetizer,” Justin said. “I have plenty of room.”

John jumped out of the recliner. “I’ll fire up the grill. Shouldn’t take long.” He started for the pool.

“No!” Sonya shouted.

John stopped.

I have power! “I mean, do we even have any hot dogs?”

Gary went into the kitchen and came back with three eight-packs of hot dogs. “We have dogs. Beef ones, too. Not the rooter-to-the-tooter kind.”

Shoot. “We have buns, too?”

Gary nodded. “We have plenty. Justin, you want ’em plain or kitted out?”

Justin smiled. “Can’t eat a hot dog without mustard, ketchup, onions, and coleslaw. Oh, and chili, if you got it.”

Sonya blinked. “Y’all can’t be serious.”

“As serious as the heart attack he’s going to have,” Tony said.

Gary shrugged. “Why not?”

“Why not?” Sonya said. “Justin, you have an obstacle course challenge tomorrow.”

“So I’ll need some extra protein,” Justin said. “And it ain’t likely I’m gonna win, right?” He turned to Gary and John. “Y’all gonna hook me up?”

“I’ll cook’em,” John said.

“I’ll prepare the buns,” Gary said.

“I’ll prepare the bucket,” Tony said.

Gross! “I guess I can make the chili.”

While browning the ground beef, Sonya borrowed one of the show’s many laptops to surf the Internet. The average hot dog with a bun is two hundred fifty calories. Add my chili and the fixings, and the dogs Justin is eating will be around three hundred calories. That man is about to eat six thousand calories in one hour! I might eat that many calories over three days! And at, say, four ounces per hot dog, he’s about to eat five pounds of food after dinner!

I’m glad I’m not rooming with him.

Sonya marveled at the precision of her hot dog–making crew. After John filled each bun with a charbroiled hot dog, Gary and Tony “kitted them out” and placed them on several plates. Sonya added a layer of chili, and in less than thirty minutes, Justin was at the kitchen table, a huge linen napkin tucked into the top of his shirt.

“Who’s keeping time?” Gary asked.

Tony checked his watch. “I got it.”

“Justin,” John said, “you have to eat one hot dog every three minutes.”

“Piece of cake,” Justin said. “Let’s do this.”

Justin inhaled half the hot dogs in only twenty minutes.

Oh, nasty! Sonya thought. And I’m sure Bob will use this mess as a promo for next week’s show. I feel so sorry for our viewers! She looked at the light over the table. Is that the camera lens? “I am so sorry you’re seeing this, America,” she said. “I tried to stop them.”

By the time Justin finished his fifteenth hot dog, the rest of the Crew, all reeking of alcohol and smoke, had drifted in to cheer Justin on.

Nobody light a match! Sonya thought.

With five minutes to go, Justin was down to his last hot dog. “Mmm-mmm,” he said. “I think I’ll try to taste this one.”

“Amazing,” John whispered in Sonya’s ear.

“Disgusting,” Sonya whispered back.

With the Crew counting down the seconds, Justin finished his last hot dog, took a swig of water, gargled, and swallowed. He opened his mouth just as Tony yelled, “Time!”

The noise was deafening, high-fives all around—

And then it was over.

The rest of the Crew returned to their drinking, and Gary pulled out a deck of cards.

“I need a snack,” Justin said.

And I need a nap! Sonya thought. Watching someone overeat in front of me is more tiring than watching Adam scarf down food on TV. But now there’s another mess in the kitchen. She went to the sink to run some water.

“I’ll clean up,” John said from behind her.

“It’s okay,” Sonya said. “I let this thing happen.”

John tugged her elbows until she faced him. “Rest.”

Sonya rolled her eyes. “We’re not swimming a marathon tonight, are we?” she whispered.

“No,” John whispered. “You just look tired.”

I am a little tired. “Okay.”

“We’ll try to keep it down,” John said louder.

Sonya looked at the card players. “I’m not worried about y’all. It’s them I’m worried about.”

And “them” kept Sonya awake for most of the night. That and her nervousness. What if I can’t swim? What if I sink? What if I make a total fool of myself? A verse came to mind. “I sleep,” she whispered, “but my heart waketh.”

When the alarm clock went off at 3:45, all was quiet in the mansion. Sonya put on her swimsuit and a rubber swim cap, wrapped herself tightly in a robe, slipped on some sandals, and went down to the pool, where John was already doing laps.

She shivered in the wind. “Is it cold?”

“The water is warmer than the air,” John said. “It was cold at first.”

Sonya looked around. “Is everyone else asleep?”

John nodded. “Justin tried to stay up but crashed an hour ago. Guess his little snack did him in.”

She took off her robe, kicking her sandals behind her. “I just want you to know that I am athletic. I just never took any swimming lessons.” She dipped a toe into the pool. “It is warm.”

“I would never lie to you, Sonya.”

And I believe him. Crazy. Whenever John speaks, I believe him. “Okay. I’m ready. I think.” She went to a ladder and eased into the water. Brr. Not terrible, but not exactly like a nice warm bed. “Okay, Coach John, let’s do this.”