All the Rage
Chapter 11
Shortly after New Year's, the construction on
the theater and bowling alley continued in earnest. The bowling alley was a
cake walk compared to the theater which was very detailed and at time tedious
work. But John's attention to detail was paying off. The stage had been
replaced as well as all of the old wiring. Everything was being restored and
what couldn't be restored, was replaced by a replica that duplicated the
original. Even the old dressing rooms had been restored. The last fixtures to
be reinstalled would be the theater chairs, elegantly reupholstered with plush
red velvet, and the crystal chandelier.
Justin and his fellow artists were literally
slaving and sweating over the frescoes that lined the upper walls of the
theater. To save time, Justin had sketched the scenes that were revealed where
the stucco was removed. For the areas that were damaged beyond recognition,
Justin used his artistic imagination to fill in the missing scenes. The
frescoes were done in a style reminiscent of Greco-Roman paintings. Each artist
had his or her section of wall to paint using Justin's sketches as a template.
The subtle differences in personal artistic style went un-noticed by the
untrained eye and each artist was encouraged by John to find a way of
incorporating their signature into their section. Rather than using his name,
Justin used his cowry shell and sunburst symbol.
Lacy, when she wasn't covering a day shift at
the diner, continued to act as gofer for Justin and the other artists. Taking
their cue from Justin and recognizing a budding artist in their midst, the PIFA
crew was very patient with Lacy. One of the professors encouraged Lacy to
finish high school so she would be able to submit a portfolio to PIFA. Lacy
finally admitted to Karen that she had run away from her home to get away from
an abusive boyfriend. Karen was able to get Lacy to reveal her full name and birth
date but little else. Karen hoped that the positive feedback Lacy was receiving
from Justin, his fellow artists, Debbie and even from Brian, would convince
Lacy to finish high school and apply to PIFA or anywhere else she desired.
Karen seemed to be making some headway with her, and Hunter was very grateful.
Even though Lacy continued to hide under boy's clothing, Hunter was painfully
aware that Lacy was a girl. He and Karen spent many hours trying to understand
why Lacy hustled as if she was a he. Whatever her reasons, Lacy was safe and
off the street. She appeared to be on the right path.
As good as things were going at the clinic and
with the construction, Brian was having a devil of a time with the Rage PR.
Brett finally had given Brian the date for the premiere, April 5th, which
suited Brian just fine. It wouldn't interfere with Briana's second birthday
party. But aside from that, Brett was fighting Brian regarding an idea for a
contest that Michael was running in the comic. Twelve lucky winners would get
to go to the premiere. However Brett wanted the
One afternoon, mid-January, Brett Keller and
his posse of yes-men sauntered into Kinnetik. Brett was momentarily rendered
speechless at the juxtaposition of Kinnetik's seedy looking exterior with the
ultramodern and expensive interior. Even the chipped plaster on the support
columns had a certain charm. The decor of Brett's offices paled by comparison
and Brett was envious. Kinnetik screamed out Brian Kinney while Brett's offices
only whispered. Brett was not happy.
"Brett Keller to see Brian Kinney,"
Brett announced to anyone who cared to listen as he walked into the main
office. Brian was taking a short break, peeking in on Bree as she was playing
in the daycare. One of Brian's guilty pleasures was watching his beautiful
daughter. Brian, the blissfully happy daddy, leaned over and kissed Briana's
golden head. She giggled in delight. Brian Kinney, master of Kinnetik, exited
the day care area and went back toward his office.
"Brian Kinney! You're a difficult man to
track down," Brett exclaimed with a false smile and shook Brian's hand.
"Brett Keller, as I live
and breathe. What brings you to
the Pitts and everyone knows where to find Brian Kinney," Brian sneered
back.
"Thought I'd personally
oversee the Rage PR. You know,
look over what you've got, maybe I can lend a
hand." Brett leaned into Brian's personal space and ran his hand
suggestively down Brian's back. Brian's eyes narrowed into a Rageian death
glare, Brett backed up a bit then cleared his throat. "Seriously, Brian,
the faxed copies and emails don't do the posters justice. And since you seem to
avoid sunny LA, LA decided to come here, to dreary
Before Brian could answer, Justin walked into
the office with Briana toddling behind.
"Hi Bri!"
"Dada!"
Both of Brian's beautiful blonds smiled their most sunniest of smiles at Brian.
"That's what keeps me here, Brett."
Brian swooped down and swept Bree into his arms then reached out for Justin's
hand. Justin was there at Brian's side faster than you could say Kinnetik.
"Brett, you can keep your LA sun, I've got my sunshine right here."
Brian kissed his daughter then Justin. Ignoring
his office full of people for a minute, Brian wanted to know what Justin was
doing at Kinnetik.
"I wanted to see if you were free for
lunch and to look at the latest Rage boards," Justin confided.
"I'm not so sure about lunch but I was
about to show Brett and his goons the boards. You're welcome to stay,"
Brian informed Justin.
"How about I send out for lunch while you
get the boards set up?" Justin suggested.
"Wait, I have a better idea. That asshole
thinks that LA is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I wonder how long it
would take Emmett to do lunch."
"I don't know but it's worth a shot. I'll
call Emmett."
"I'll get Cynthia to set up the
boardroom." Brian leaned over to kiss his spouse. "I love you, you
know," Brian whispered into Justin's ear.
"I know," Justin whispered back then
took Bree back to the outer office to make his calls.
"Brett, old man, why don't you and your
assistants make yourselves comfortable while I send out for lunch then we can
look over the boards. Consider it a working lunch," Brian snarked just a
tad. He wasn't convinced that Brett actually knew what work was.
Within the hour, Emmett,
breezed into Brian's inner sanctum.
"Hi, hi, hi!" Emmett said while regally waving his hands around.
"Ooo, sweetie, don't you look as gorgeous and as hot as ever," Emmett
winked at Brian as he gushed. "And who is this?" Emmett asked, giving
Brett and his cohorts the once over.
"Emmett, this is Brett Keller, the man who
is bringing Rage to life on the big screen," Brian stated with flare.
"Brett, this is Emmett, my personal caterer." Brian growled low into
Emmett's ear, "Tell me you brought over something to wow the pants off
this asshole."
"Don't worry, honey, your Auntie Em has it
covered," Emmett whispered back.
"You had better, or you're one dead Auntie
Em," Brian snarled.
"Brett! So nice to meet
you. I've heard such wonderful things about you," Emmett schmoozed
loudly. Just then, Cynthia entered the office.
"Brian, lunch is set up in the boardroom
as well as the boards, anytime you're ready," Cynthia, ever the
professional, informed Brian.
"Thank you, Cynthia. Brett, gentlemen,
please come this way." Brian led Brett and posse to the boardroom.
Emmett had set up a veritable feast of
sandwiches on the boardroom table. Brett and his posse sauntered in giving the
place the once over. Brett did his best to find fault with the place but had to
admit that Brian had style.
They took seats around the table and Emmett
began to hand out the plates he arranged. He had made large sandwiches on
focaccia, pita and exotic whole grain breads. These had been cut into small
pieces about the size of two mouthfuls each. Each plate contained a selection
of four sandwiches filled with everything from chicken and goat cheese to the
best egg salad any of them had ever tasted. There were so many oohs and aahs
and yummies that they all forgot about the Rage PR boards until they had
sampled each of their sandwiches. Emmett placed the large trays of sandwiches
in the center of the conference table so that the men could choose more of the
sandwich they liked best. Everyone was so enjoying the unexpected flavors that
they hardly noticed that Emmett had set glasses of elderflower flavored water
in front of each of them.
"What is this?" Brett asked taking a
drink.
"Elderflower," Emmett grinned.
"It's … refreshing … and different,"
Brett admitted.
"My clients always seem to enjoy it,"
Emmett smiled.
"Brian, how did you find this man? I'd
like him to cater for me in
Brian snorted. "The commute might kill
him, but I don't doubt he could handle it."
Emmett beamed under the praise. He knew he was
good, but Hollywood?
"So Brett," Justin interrupted the
Emmett lovefest. "What do you think of the boards?"
Brett looked around the room noting the
"All the Rage", "Do You Feel the Rage?", and "Let the
Rage Capture You" on top of drawings of Rage in
various poses and actions. "I don't think the public is going to make the
connection. The comic book fans will, but nobody else will get it."
Brian sighed. "That's the fucking point!
It's aimed at the people who know about Rage but interesting enough to get
those who don't understand it to ask 'Who's Rage?'.
That's what we want to start, curiosity, questions, interest. Then we go from
there." Brian didn't know how to explain it any better than that.
"I don't know," Brett said with a
frown. His entourage looked equally bored.
"Brett," Justin said watching Brian's
blood pressure start to escalate. "This is the preliminary campaign. As
the opening approaches, we start the contest to win a trip to the opening.
Brian has made sure that the premiere in
"How can you be so sure?" Brett
scoffed.
"Because we fucking
research these things!"
Brian bellowed. "Cynthia, would you care to show Mr. Keller the
demographics and the focus study that was just completed?" Brian stood and
stalked out of the room.
Justin watched him leave and knew he would go
to Bree. She would calm him down.
"Is he ticked?" Brett grinned. His
posse smirked too.
"Gentlemen, if you would care for some
sweets," Emmett said replacing the sandwich trays with a huge tray of
fruit and tiny tarts and cookies and truffles. It looked almost too good to
eat. The posse started to dig in.
Emmett gave Justin the high sign to join him at
the back of the room. "Should you go after Brian?" he asked.
"He'll be in the daycare playing with
Bree. He'll come back when he's ready."
"I thought he was going to toss the whole
lot of them out on their ear," Emmett chuckled.
"He would have ordinarily, but he doesn't
want to fuck up the movie for me."
"Right, well, at least they liked the
food," Emmett said as he readied a carafe of coffee for them.
"It was great. I don't know how you did it
on such short notice."
"I'm a good, little boy scout, always
prepared."
"Can't thank you enough. And they were really impressed," Justin said meaning
every word.
"Oh, oh," Emmett said as Brian came
back into the room. He had debated bringing Bree with him, but had decided that
if things were going to get nasty, she would be better somewhere else.
Justin looked at Brian who nodded and sat down
at the conference table. "I hope you enjoyed your lunch," he said
slowly.
They all nodded. "I still want to steal
Emmett away from you," Brett joked.
"I can't be bought or stolen," Emmett
said as he placed the coffee in front of them all.
"Brett," Brian began. He was going to
tell this idiot that he was the advertising expert and they were going to do
this his way.
"No need to say anymore, Brian. I've
looked at your research and it indicates you're right. You are Rage after
all," he laughed trying to make everything okay. The research certainly
seemed to back up Brian's approach.
Brian scowled. He had been ready to take on
Brett Keller and now, apparently, he wasn't going to get that chance. "I'm
glad you've come to your senses."
"I may not like your approach, but if it
works, we all win."
Brian couldn't argue with that. "Then I
better get back to work." He stood and walked out of the boardroom.
"I hope it wasn't something I said,"
Brett laughed as did his minions.
"You have no idea just how lucky you
are," Justin added and went after Brian.
"So, Emmett what do you say about
relocating to
"If you want to pay me to relocate and
find me a long list of clients, I would be happy to come. I could use a
vacation."
Brett laughed and shook his head as he and his
entourage stood and made their way out of Kinnetik. Emmett started to clean up.
Justin headed for the daycare knowing that
would probably be where Brian had gone. He found Brian sitting in the rocking
chair holding a sleepy Bree in his arms. He looked up when Justin came in.
"Are they gone?" he said softly as he rocked his daughter.
"I'm hoping they will be by the time we
come back." Justin knelt beside his husband and their daughter running his
fingers gently through Briana's blond locks. They stayed that way for a few
minutes until Bree drifted off. Brian stood up and laid her down on one of the
little cots. He kissed her cheek as did Justin and the two men walked back to
the main office.
Emmett was almost done his clean-up. Brian
noted that Brett and his gang had disappeared.
"You didn't head out to
"He couldn't afford me," Emmett said
with a big grin.
"I owe you one, Emm. I wanted them to
drool over lunch and you pulled it off," Brian said.
"It's the least I could do in return for
all the business you send my way."
Brian nodded. "So Brett couldn't convince
you to go?"
"I wouldn't go anywhere with that guy. I
know an asshole when I see one."
Brian snorted. "You've had lots of
practice identifying assholes," Brian said in his best self-deprecating
voice.
"There are assholes and then there are
assholes," Emmett stated with a chuckle.
"And which category do I fall into?"
Brian smirked.
"Only the best, sweetie,
only the best." Emmett and
his boxes and trays departed Kinnetik.
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the Rage