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Cassadine TNG

The only way to preserve her autonomy is to be an open book with the people who could jump her **** in a heartbeat. That means keeping a journal of private thoughts-- not on a computer because Mouse and Uncle Stefan could hack it even if they never did and keeping her appointment book online. It’s not an appointment book like 9am doctor’s appointment. Its things like:

6:30am TaiChi class in the park- MWF. Could have kept doing it solo but the park is good too. The class they have at the gym sucks.
8:30 Online Class with Uncle Stefan. Renaissance literature ready to discuss. (Yes, Uncle Stefan, I’m done reading the Montaigne. What a bear! And you bet I read the cliff notes too.)11am-1pm Charity Luncheon with Aunt Brittany. Schipperke rescue.
2-3:30 Acting Class
4-5pm Driving instruction
6pm Dinner with Baba and Frankie.
7pm Theater.

Because it is kept online she goes back after she’s done and comments after the appointments to fill in the people back in Port Charles what she is doing so

11am-1pm Charity Luncheon with Aunt Brittany. Schipperke rescue.

...becomes--

I hate people. Cruel mother f’rs. And how in the hell can someone have lunch while they are showing pictures of puppy mills and rescue dogs. Bastards. Aunt Brittany is really into this rescue group. She gives to all the rescue groups but the Schipperkes are the ones that get her time, not just her money. It’s important to her. Evidently she switched to schipperkes after she was attacked and the nutjob killed her pomerian. I’ve met her dog though, Uncle Dillon is right --he is a devil dog. He’s the kind of dog Twink should get... they both have short attention spans. Idle paws and all that. I’m not ready to get a dog yet. Sure as hell not going to get one as a fashion accessory. One of the stories at the luncheon was about this dumb bitch who just loves her little puppies almost as much as getting her picture in the paper. Fine whatever-- take a picture. She never gets her dogs fixed! She’s got like ten! There are like 6000 dogs that were put down– killed-- last year just in LA because they couldn’t get a home. How much trouble would I get in for stealing all her dogs and taking them to the vet? Or maybe it would be more efficient to steal a vet?

She’s been in Los Angeles now for a week. There have been three Lakers games. She’d been at the video shoot for the Michaelsons and even got in on the shoot. Friday, Uncle Dillon’s assistant, had been emailing her things for the last week. What newspapers to subscribe to, what clubs to be seen at. Anja’d forwarded copies of things Dillon couldn’t get to whether it was personally or CSMC- LA related. She’d been to the TaiChi class at the gym and known in less than twenty minutes that she was wasting her time. She’d done her TaiChi on her own until she happened to find out about the TaiChi in the park. Ah the benefits of sunny LA.

The schedule extends out with planned trips to Utah for Sundance, trips to Chicago for Steppenwolf with Uncle Stefan, trips back to Port Charles around the major holidays to check in with family although Baba is already planning on having at least one of the major holidays out here in the sunshine. Friday had come through big time with an addition to today’s schedule. They are doing casting for Uncle Dillon’s next studio flick. This is the first round of casting that is all being handled by an agency that he farmed his first round to. An agency he and the Studio could agree on. He’d have all final decisions and had people in mind for the major parts but this allowed him to focus in another direction.

Three people behind a table. They have an excerpts of the script for each of the parts and stacks ready for the yes, no and maybes for each of the parts. Fancy is there as an observer, less than an intern really just a fly on the wall. Friday wanted her to hear how the casting agents did their job. What they were looking for– how clinical and impersonal it could be. At this level it is. They are going off a list of characteristics for each part as well as the look of their stars. This is a cattle call. Hundreds of people would be seen in a day, this is just about the look. Few would actually even get to see the page of dialogue before being told, “ Thank you for coming in, Next.”

Hair, makeup and contacts can do a lot. Hair color isn’t as important as body type. There aren’t that many actors who can do a Christian Bale or a Tom Hanks to cut mass weight or a DeNiro or Stallone bulking up for a film. And there are few studios who are willing to wait if there is an actor who is willing to do the physical makeover.

“This is a studio picture you’re casting?” Fancy asks after reading the pages of dialogue.

She might be less than an intern, supposedly a fly on the wall but she is also the director’s niece. So the question is answered. “Yes. It was floated to Dillon because he does well with these pictures and the Studio heard he might have an opening in his schedule.”

Fancy shakes her head in disbelief. This is going to be a problem. “Hasn’t Eastern Promises already been done?”

“Eastern Promises was a cheat. The guy was an undercover agent. There hasn’t really been movie made about the Eastern European mob. Italian Mafia, Mexican mafia. It’s been done to death. Pardon the pun.” The second at the table explains to the director’s niece.

Fancy bites her tongue. This is either going to be really great or is going to cause ripples from here to St Petersburg. How could Uncle Dillon do this? How could they even come to him with this? She takes a seat behind and to the right of the middle person at the table. She is here to observe. And observe she would.

Actors come in bringing their head shots to the table where they are observed and then their person studied while another flipped over the head shot to see the actor’s resume. Someone is about to be dismissed out of hand when the second points out something on the resume. Language.

Fancy because she is sitting right there sees to what the casting agent is pointing at. And calls out in Russian. “Beautiful day to be treated like a piece of meat; wouldn’t you rather be at the beach?”

It startles the actor from out of his guarded zone. He has to do this for the job and it’s a force to shine. He answers back, “Do I lose the job if I tell you I like the mountains better?”

“What did he say?”

“He prefers the mountains to the beach.” Fancy tells the casting agent.

“Is this up to date? Are you still with this agency?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you for coming in. Next.” As soon as the guy is halfway to the door the agent is leaning back to Fancy. “Nobody told me you spoke Russian.” The headshot goes from the no pile to the maybe.

“Just a little bit. Enough to order a meal and get around. Russian grandmother.” Course it hadn’t been Tasha who had taught her Russian. “I studied French. Russian I just picked up.”

“If you’re available for as long as we’re casting– you just went from observer to paid.”

It doesn’t matter how much, or little, the money is. “I can rearrange a few things.” Fancy nods.

2pm Observe Cattle Call arranged by Friday.
4pm Driving School.

Becomes--

Got my first Hollywood job! Sucks that it’s not acting though. Went to that cattle call to observe. Turns out they were casting a movie about the Russian Mafia. When they found out I speak a little Russian-- hired! It’s still observing, maybe fetching water or coffee but every once in awhile asking a question in Russian if someone put on their resume that they speak Russian to try to get an edge. The lead casting agent says this will be going on all week so I’m going to have to shift things around a bit. Uncle Stefan, you want to switch class around to earlier?
This process is brutal. And really there is nothing you can do. At this stage it’s not who you are or what you can do it’s how you look. And the look is never right. I tell ya it’s good I already have two years of therapy under my belt. Because this could make a person crazy. How can someone stand always being told they are too tall, too short, too ethnic, not ethnic enough? People were being dismissed before they ever opened their mouth. And okay I guess they asked for it. I looked at the casting notice. There were people trying to come in who did not fit.

It seems as soon as her appointment book is updated with her comments on the day that her phone is ringing. She picks it up when she sees the caller ID. “Bruno?”

“Read your entry today.” Bruno’s voice is a deep rumble. “I’m gonna send Friday some flowers for setting that up for you. That girl is real smart always has been. Means you see it already. New tits and a nose job aren’t going to get you where you want to go. Cause the next part maybe they only want someone with a b cup. Maybe they want someone with a little bump on their nose cause they’re casting for someone who has it rough at home. It’s got nothing to do with the actors. Actors are just the canvas that someone else can paint pretty pictures with. Reason why there is such high unemployment for actors in this city. They don’t get a chance to show what they can do. You wanna make this a career look at the ones who are really great. They don’t look like cookie cutters with the same tits and the same face and the same teeth. They got something about them that stands out, that shines. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an uglier f’er than Dustin Hoffman. He’s been working for what 50 years?”

“So how do I make this work?” Fancy sits up in bed.

“You’re already doing it. Have been for the last two years. Thinking the long game. You’re gorgeous and won’t need a tune up unless you do something stupid like get in a car wreck or start dropping kids like puppies. You’re putting your face in front of people who specialize in faces. You think those casting agents aren’t going to remember you? You’re going to be in with them for a week. Second round of casting... they’ll probably have you do the readings to get the flavor. See who they are going to recommend to Dillon. You think it was an accident that Dillon took this picture? He had you in mind already. Bet he’ll be offering you a job as his leading lady’s assistant, maybe second assistant. Cause you know while she’s bank for the studios she isn’t going to speak Russian. You’d be a hell of a lot cheaper than a voice coach. Probably take you and Baba too.”

“It would have been nice to be in on the plan.” Fancy declares wryly.

“The plan was for you to spend an afternoon with the top casting agency in Hollywood. You took that and worked it into a week or more. You’re doing just fine, kiddo.”

“Thanks Bruno.”

“Oh and one last thing. I’m not kidding. You’re gorgeous just the way you are. If you start thinking you need to have a little this or that done– you call me. You’re twenty years or more away from the knife, okay? Hell call Dr Cam. You still got him on speeddial right?”

“Yeah, I promise.”

“And part of that last thing. You get anyone who starts telling you need a little this or that. Or if you did a little this or that... I want their name.”

“It won’t come to that, Bruno. I might be young but I don’t fall for the same line twice.”

Two years with Uncle Stefan– she knows business appropriate. She’s also east coast rather than the more casual west coast. She could look twelve if she dressed a certain way but she could also look her age. Today she looks her age, 16, but dressed for the office. This is going to be another round of cattle calls this time for the women’s parts. The call backs would start tomorrow. Then she would hopefully get a chance to read with some people. The faces are starting to blur. It’s seriously about 30 seconds of focus before moving on to the next actor. The people in the yes and maybe folders would be reviewed again later but for now it’s the first pop and then on to the next.

“Okay that is the last for this morning.” The casting agent gets to her feet and stretches. The others follow her lead and work the kinks out.

“I thought my tush was going to fall asleep.”

“Mine did.”

“Working lunch rather than staying late? We review the folders we have so far have call back decision by 1:30 when we start again?” The lead agent suggests.

“If it means I’m home by six for once.” Another of the agents gives a thumbs up.

“I saw a deli on the corner.” Fancy suggests. “Do you want me to go pick something up?” As soon as the offer is made there are nods and she is on her way with a list of what everyone wants for lunch.

As soon as Fancy is clear. “I still can’t believe a) that you let her sit in and b) that you hired her– although that made sense at the time.”

“She’s Dillon Quartermaine’s niece. This is his picture. What do you think? But I wouldn’t have hired her if she hadn’t been useful.”

“Did you see those shoes? Less than $300 a pair and I’ll kiss a... frog.”

“Yeah, I saw them. Also saw that she was wearing them yesterday. She might be wearing designer pieces whether it’s Maxie Radcliffe or Mason but they are all not designer. The blouse she was wearing underneath? I bought the same one for my daughter at Target.”

“Why isn’t she in school?”

“Home schooled.” The third agent who’d been playing nice with Fancy during their infrequent breaks. “You know what she is reading? Evidently she just finished up with Montaigne. She had three different copies in her bag: french, english and the cliff notes.”

The shocked expressions go to laughter at the addition of the Cliff notes. It’s a very student thing to do. “I didn’t read the cliff notes for Montaigne until college– Renaissance philosophers. And then the professor was more into Voltaire and Descartes. I bombed that class.”

“Why Montaigne?”

“Her uncle, not Dillon, the guy who is home schooling her– long distance now since he’s still back in Port Charles, New York– said he did it for the French and because Montaigne was evidently an influence of Shakespeare? She bought the english version to check the french and then bought the cliff notes to check both. This uncle, Stefan, has accounts with every bookseller on the planet or something ridiculous. She might be wearing blouses from Target and the same pair of shoes two days in a row but has carte blanche for the word– written, spoken, or acted. Oh and she is not living with Dillon and Brittany. She has her own place with that Russian Grandmother. She moved out here from New York because she wants to be an actress.”

There is a collective groan.

That night is her first red carpet event. Brittany had suggested she go with Dillon to the opening of his movie. This is the one he’s been working on for the last two years and it’s finally opening. If it could have been a G rating that would have been great but impossible. With an underlying theme of genocide, G just wasn’t possible. They had managed to keep it a PG 13. It’s a tough movie to catagorize and the only reason it had gotten made was because Dillon had been there from start to finish.

Dillon had agreed with Fancy’s email two years ago. It was a story that had to be told. How the Soccer Town had come to being with the escape of the Congoli Soccer Team ahead of death squads... it’s an important story even if it is being marketed as a sport movie rather than a drama. It even has the little blurb on the bottom– based on a true story. Doesn’t mean that a few names aren’t changed. There is no way Karin or Mark could be part of the story. It would blow the relief work they do if the rumors about Mark being a spy start resurfacing again.

Dillon had been lucky enough to get Chiwetel Ejiofor to play the Congoli soccer coach who made a run for the border with his team rather than have his boys conscripted into the military. Don Cheadle would have been perfect but had been tied to another project. Michael Quartermaine’s name had been changed as the doctor whose clinic is visited in the middle of the night by a desperate man seeking asylum. The death threats against Michael were just starting to die down, no need to get them going again.

Kyle Radcliffe had played himself, helping getting Soccer town built not only for the new refugees but also for the orphans of the area. Having him in the movie, had helped make sure that the soccer scenes were accurate, and created buzz for the movie, but the guy is no actor. It’s a good thing he is playing himself.

“Dillon! Dillon! Look over here!” Dillon smiles at the crowd of photographers and keeps a hand on Fancy so that she is included in the pictures. He isn’t an actor. Never wanted to be in front of a camera but he is well known enough, notorious enough, to sell a few magazines. Moving down the red carpet, he pauses to do quick interviews with the entertainment press: Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight. He’d already done interviews with the magazines prepping for this release. As soon as he’d gotten the movie cut and in the can he’d shown it to one of his contacts at a studio that hadn’t had an oscar winner in over a decade. The swearing had started as soon as the lights came back up. Dillon had them by the short and curly. This needs distribution and the studio that came in, even late getting a distributing/ producing credit... well there would be something for them come the following February.

“Yes, I’m very proud of the movie. I have to give a lot of credit to Chiwetel. Awesome job. And the studio. They gave me a lot of autonomy to tell the story I wanted to tell. But the real credit goes to my niece, Faith. She’s the one who emailed me the news story and let me know it was a story needing to be told.”

“Your niece?”

“Yes, This is Faith Monroe, my niece.”

The reporter can tell the look of a designer gown when she sees it. “And you’re wearing....?”

“Tonight– nobody but Maxie Radcliffe of course.” Fancy answers with a smile.

The next day’s work for the casting begins exactly at 8:30. One of the agents, shakes her head. “I can’t believe you’re up and so perky after last night’s premiere.”

“Uncle Dillon brought me home straight after the movie. I’ve already been up for hours.” Fancy replies. “Uncle Stefan moved around my class schedule so I could help here. I think he likes it better anyway. It makes the lessons more on east coast time than west. I’m going to have to start hitting the gym at lunch though rather than first thing.” Today’s appointments are being held in a much smaller venue and more by appointment. This is the last step before the actors meeting with Dillon for final approval on the principal parts and for the smaller parts it’s the last step before the lawyers and agents get involved.

“Okay, Fancy, putting you to work today. Here is the piece for reading. We’re going to be putting everything on tape. The questions and the reading. We still have a lot of people to get through.”

Fancy takes the sheets. Her part is already highlighted. Since she is familiar with the whole thing because of the pieces she been seeing for the last couple of days she reads the first line aloud.

“Tone back the accent to a hint of a flavor. This picture isn’t going to have subtitles.” The agent suggest wryly. Fancy repeats the first line again and gets a nod of approval. “We’re ready for the first one.”

Over and over again. One actor after the next doing the same small scene over and over again. Bringing their own twists or fumbles to the part. Fancy does her best to maintain a distance, reading rather than acting but there are some that are good enough to draw her into reacting, draw her into the part. After lunch it’s a different scene, for a different part but she is still using the same character to work with the actors auditioning. Finally five o’clock rolls around.

“Fancy, why don’t you head on out. We’re going to be at it for a couple more hours yet.”

“Are you sure? I can stay.”

“We’re going to need you ready to go in the morning.”

“Okay. See you later.” Fancy gathers her things and already has her phone to her ear letting Frankie know she is done for the day. She’d wait for him to pick her up at the corner deli. Baba had already put an order in for the deli after hearing about it the day before.

One of the agents is looking through a folder and shaking her head.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m going to have a tough time casting Eugenie. There is nobody here that could do better than what we’ve seen all day.”

“We haven’t heard the others yet. There is still time to be surprised.”

“You feel it too.”

The lead agent shakes her head denying what her gut is telling her. “No way. She’s got nothing on her resume. She doesn’t even have an agent. She’s green as grass. Eugenie is a pivotal role. She’s killed off in the first act but if the audience doesn’t believe it then the rest of the movie is shot.”

Dressing for dinner is totally different out here in LA when dinner is going to be served on the back patio by the pool. Frankie lights the tiki torches to keep the bugs away and is in charge of the grill. He has convinced both Baba and Fancy that the grill is men’s work. Fancy had picked up a variety of salads as well as a deli plate from the deli on the corner and Baba had put together a relish tray of a variety of things she had pickled. While Fancy has been at work all day, Baba and Frankie had been making the rounds of the CSMC-LA establishments. It’s something Baba had done back in Port Charles. Of course Baba’s favorite will always be Flynn’s, the restaurant that Baby had worked at when they first met. So she has plenty to say on how the clubs are being run.

“Don’t think that Baby or Maureen, the head of CSMC- LA, were expecting a secret shopper when you moved to town, Baba.” Frankie calls over his shoulder as Baba tells Fancy about what she’d seen at the sports bar.

“I am customer. I should get respect.” Baba sniffs. For dinner she is dressed in culottes and a sleeveless top with a light cardigan over the top.

“I’m surprised that the manager at Flynn’s didn’t call ahead and warn them you were coming, Baba.” Fancy brings out the dishes and silverware and sets the table by the pool. She is dressed in her tank style swimsuit with a long skirt style cover- up over the suit.

Frankie brings over the grilled chops to the table. “I’m not. The manager of Flynn’s has been receiving Baba’s good advice for the last eight years. You know it has to be seen to be believed.” He has his tongue in his cheek and Baba picks up on it and gives him a playful smack in the arm.

“That’s true. You could have warned them too.” Fancy shrugs. “Baba’s right. You know Baby would be freaking out if she thought her customers weren’t getting respect.” She starts passing around the dishes.

“So how did it go today?” Baba asks as she glances up from her plate.

“Fine, I guess. I still don’t like this, Baba. It’s a movie about the Russian mob. If Uncle Dillon makes it too good, too accurate, you know he’s going to be pissing people off. And talk about issuing an invitation to the feds. They already think he knows too much. I think he took it because of me.”

“Yeah, maybe he did.” Frankie agrees with a nod. “I talked to Bruno about this one too, Fancy.” Frankie knows he has both of the women’s attention. “This is the best way for Dillon to do this kind of movie. It is a studio flick. The only way his name is on this is as director, not writing, not producing. And if they haven’t nailed him already for this other movies that were too realistic...” Frankie shakes his head. “And if the IRS comes after him again after this one, then you know that the studio is going to be forking over for the lawyers and accountants. They’d be too afraid of the IRS starting in on their accounting practices next. The last thing a studio ever wants to do is open their books. Bruno says that Dillon was real careful to make sure that he left a loophole in for the studio to screw him out of his cut. And if there is a loophole...”

“They’ll use it.” Fancy nods. For the last two years her version of math problems had been calculating profits and points on net and gross of different movies. Dillon had somehow managed to get Mouse the books on all different kinds of movies made all different kinds of ways not just his. Alecia had done the same thing too– forwarding contracts and album cost breakdowns to Mouse. Fancy agrees with what Mouse had said all those years ago about creative types needing a manager because otherwise they might as well be accountants.

The movie had premiered in LA days before it opened for everyone else. The opening would be on Friday. There is nothing like it opening the same day. The word had come down that a couple of pictures had even adjusted their opening so that they wouldn’t be going up against it. The reviews had been positive with more than a few beyond glowing. Dillon and Brittany would be out of town doing promo for the movie as had the actors. Embarrass the hell out of Kyle but he’d even been asked about it when he’d been doing some commentating on an exhibition soccer match.

Fancy is trying to keep busy rather than obsessing over the reviews. She had been the one to suggest it to Dillon and feels invested. So when Vic emails her an invitation to go out to the movies she is more than willing to go as long as they go to Soccer Town so she can see how a normal audience without the director and stars react to the film. And of course Frankie had to be total and complete stereotypical jerk cleaning his pistol right there in the living room on the coffee table. Baba had just rolled her eyes and been welcoming. “Be home at a decent hour. I want to go to the farmers market in the morning.” She gives Fancy a kiss on the cheek and a pat on the shoulder.

“Fancy, let me talk to Vic for a sec.”

“Do not embarrass me anymore!” Fancy demands.

“I swear. Just a little man to man chat.” Frankie walks onto the porch and Vic comes out too. “Sorry about the pistol thing. Had to do it. My dad did it for my little sister. It’s just a respect thing for Fancy you know, let her know how important she is to me and Baba.”

“Sure, Man. I get it.” I might start breathing again in a week.

“It’s not that I don’t think that Fancy couldn’t seriously **** you up if you messed with her because she could. Not karate or kick boxing or any martial art type stuff. She’s more the grab the nearest lead pipe, bash your brains in and then call me to clean up the mess type.
Here is the thing. There are a lot of people who don’t like Fancy’s mother. The guy who used to run the label that the Michaelson’s were with for example. When he went to prison for screwing his talent over, a lot of those acts came to CSMC. That guy is serious bad news and has been running his mouth from prison. The press? Probably not so much of a problem right now unless they start hooking Fancy to Dillon Quartermaine or to her mom. Which is a possible but I don’t think they’ll be hanging at the localplex. And then there are the perverts. Fancy’s petite, she looks young– she’s had perverts hitting on her before and not taking no for an answer.
As far as I’m concerned, the only thing you have to do as Fancy’s date is know when you’re in over your head. You start getting a bad feeling, that you’re being tailed or just a bad feeling-- then call. Don’t try to outrun anyone or any bull like that. Just get to a crowded place, even if it’s an all night grocery store, or the front of a cop shop and give me a call.” Frankie calls off his phone number and hands over a business card. “Oh and have a great time.”

“Are you done?” Fancy demands. “What did you say to him?”

“Man stuff. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.”

“You did not just say that!” Fancy is about ready to take Frankie apart. He is so Big Brother on her and that is not going to fly. She’d picked Frankie because he was supposed to be cool!

“Come on, Fancy. He’s just teasing you. We should get going if we’re going to make the movie.” Vic takes her arm and starts ushering her to his car.

“I am so sorry. Frankie is normally really great. I don’t know what got into him tonight.”

“I’m okay with it. Really he was showing me a lot of respect. He worries about you but its not because of going on a date with me but because he’s not going too and doing the bodyguard thing.”

After putting in her order at Baskin Robbin, Fancy takes a seat at a two top. They’d gone to a relatively early show, when she came out the later show was sold out as was the show after. Bouncing off the ceiling is about the feeling she’s getting. “So you want to hear the true story?”

“I thought that was the true story.”

“Nah. Okay two years ago, it was right after I was adopted, my mother’s cousin came to dinner with her husband. They’re crazy people. They hear a hurricane is coming they head for it. And from what I can see it’s like that in that whole branch of the family. Her mother and father hang out in South east asia waiting for a Tsunami to happen and her big brother is the one they based the doctor in the story on. His real name is Michael Quartermaine. He’s my mother’s cousin. He builds clinics in Africa. He has this one country he works out of because every single other country around it is tearing themselves apart. Lots of work for doctors and nurses. Doesn’t pay but there is plenty of work. So this soccer coach shows up in the middle of the night and he wants asylum for himself and for his guys. He knows if he stays in the Congo either his guys are going to be forced into the military or they are going to end up in shallow graves.
Cousin Michael, there was no way of this guy knowing who Michael was. But Michael has like the President or his right hand man on speed dial cause Michael gets things done and brings a lot of corporate money to the country. You’d think they were trying to make Michael happy but that wasn’t it, or out of the goodness of their hearts but that wasn’t it either. They had just gotten their asses kicked in the Africa Cup. They needed a new soccer coach. The paperwork was in the works right then and there. Another thing that they didn’t show in the movie. The cousin who told us the story... the one who goes looking for hurricanes? Her husband used to-- well he used to be a spy. All the stories I hear he was really bad at it. But he knows people. And he contacted those people to get all the family members of the team over the border too.”

“That would have been a totally different movie.” Vic shakes his head. “That would have been like Bourne Identity type of stuff.”

“Exactly which is why they had to leave it out. Cause if it got out that Karin’s hubby knows people then they’d start thinking he was spying again all the time.”

“So why didn’t they call the doctor by the right name.”

“The death threats started from the Congo before the seal was even dry on the citizenship papers. And Michael was at the clinic that was right on that border. If he would have put a bullseye on his clinic he couldn’t have been a bigger target. And he’s got more than one clinic so he pulled up stakes and moved on to the next one. Actually he contacted that President or minister guy and asked him if he had any ghost towns that these soccer players could have.”

“And sure hey here’s a list right.”

“Pretty much.” Fancy nods. She knows Vic is having a tough time with that part. It had been in the movie but everyone probably thought that part was fiction. “Average life expectancy over there? 45. Not kidding. They have old people and they have kids. Everyone in the middle is being taken out by AIDS.”

“They have medicine for that now, for HIV.”

“Yeah, we do. Over there most people can’t afford one medication let alone two or six. I mean come on, over there they have mosquitos that will kick your ass. So they get this ghost town. Michael he knows a little bit about soccer, he played it as a kid. His babysitter– Kyle Radcliffe.”

“No way.”

“Way. That’s how Kyle got involved. He started making phone calls. To his sponsors and then to Catholic charities because that’s the way he adopted all of his kids.”

“How many does he have?”

“Six. And if Kyle and Maxie weren’t always traveling as part of their jobs they’d be doing the foster parent thing like Kyle’s Uncle Cole. Since they are always traveling Kyle will do things like soccer clinics and Maxie does shoe and winter coat drives. You know the really down to earth necessary stuff. Anyway Catholic charities said they’d be happy to help out if this wasn’t just a place for the soccer team.”

“They’re the ones who said orphanage.”

“Them, Kyle and Michael too. Michael couldn’t go back to his clinic because of the death threats so he started refurbishing a clinic there. The family members of the soccer team were put to work getting their places ready as well as the dorms for the orphans. Kyle was getting tons of gear from reebok and his sponsors. Soon as the bare bones were in place they started getting kids from all over the country.”

“And they all lived happily ever after.” Vic sums up.

“We’ll see. Africa’s cup is coming up. This is going to be the kind of movie where they do updates for the downloads. You know like Stand and Deliver did with AP scores.”

Yeah, yeah I know. Day early. But hey got the day off. Might as well post! Happy New Year!

Deb