“ Paris?”
“Oui.”
“Je crois que non,” said Courtney.
Now, I only had one year of French back at St. Patrick’s High School in Newburgh, New York, but I was pretty sure she’d just said, “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?” I asked.
It was a good question – timely, too, because I was only two people away from handing over my boarding pass and heading to Paris, which is probably my favorite city in the world. Except for the people, of course. Not all of them – just the snots.
“You need to come home,” said Courtney.
“Why? What’s up?”
“Something good, Nick. Something really good. You’re going to love this one.”
That was enough to get me to take a half step out of line. Courtney Sheppard had a few notable vices, but hyperbole wasn’t one of them.
“Okay,” I said. “So blow me away.”
And sure enough, that’s exactly what Courtney did. She almost knocked me right out of my shoes.
Chapter 5
LET ME TIP my hand here – I know it’s semiridiculous, but I am a huge baseball fan, have been since I was a little kid back in the Hudson Valley, throwing apples at tree trunks for practice.
To continue with the narrative, though. I cupped the phone tight against my ear trying to hear every word as best I could. The airport was absolutely swarming, with most of the noise coming from the next gate over, where there were a hundred men gathered, all with neatly trimmed black beards and crisp white flowing robes, otherwise known as dishdashas.
Then there was me.
A shock of sandy-brown hair on top of my six-foot-one frame dressed in a faded pair of jeans and an even more faded polo shirt. I couldn’t stand out more if I were Gene Simmons wearing full Kiss makeup and reading the Koran out loud.
Courtney drew a deep breath. “You remember Dwayne Robinson?” she asked. Of course I did and she knew it.
“You mean, the same Dwayne Robinson who cost the Yankees – my Yankees – the World Series? That crazy bastard? That total enigma?”
“Ten years ago and you still hold a nasty grudge? You are nuts about baseball, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely. It could be a hundred years and I’d still never forget… or forgive.” I bristled.
What can I say? I’ve been a die-hard fan of the Bronx Bombers ever since my father drove us down from Newburgh and took me to my first game when I was five. We sat in the upper deck, about three miles from the field, but I didn’t care. Ever since then I’ve just about bled Yankee pinstripes. And yes, I know it’s nuts.
“On second thought, maybe this is a bad idea,” said Courtney. “Go to Paris, Nick.”
“What do you mean by that? What are you getting at? Why are you pushing me off to Paris now?”
She milked it for a few seconds. “He wants to do an interview with you.”
I had this bizarre feeling that that’s what she was going to say, but I was still surprised to hear it. Very surprised. Dwayne Robinson had been the J. D. Salinger of the baseball world ever since he got banned from the game in spectacular fashion. His last statement to the working press was “I’ll never talk to any of you again.” For the past decade, he’d been true to his word.
Lucky for me, things change. This was huge. This would be the story of my career so far. It was also a dream come true.
“Courtney, you miracle worker, how’d you get him to agree to an interview?” I asked.
“I wish I could take some of the credit,” she said. “Instead I just answered the phone. I got a call from Robinson’s agent yesterday.”
“The guy still has an agent? That’s amazing in itself.”
“I know, go figure. Maybe they’re hoping he’ll be rein-stated. Maybe that’s it, what he wants to talk to you about.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath,” I said. “He’s well into his thirties by now. Hasn’t pitched in years.”
“Still, that would explain his wanting to do the interview, right? He comes clean, sets the story straight… It would be his first step toward a comeback,” she said. “Maybe not on the mound, but at least in the public eye, his legacy.”
“Yeah, so far it’s worked wonders for Pete Rose,” I joked. “Still, if that’s the case, wouldn’t he do a television interview?”
The words were barely out of my mouth when I had the answer. Dwayne Robinson, the “Great Black Hope from Harlem ” and onetime ace southpaw of the Yankees pitching staff, suffered from, among many things, acute social anxiety disorder. Although he could take the mound and pitch brilliantly before fifty-five thousand screaming fans, he could barely carry on a conversation one-on-one. Especially in front of a camera.
“I forgot one thing,” I said. “The guy was like a walking advertisement for Paxil.”
“Bingo,” said Courtney. “In fact, Robinson’s agent told me that he’s afraid his client might change his mind. That’s why he’s already set up a lunch for you two, Nick. You and Dwayne, Dwayne and you. Cozy, huh?”
“When?” I asked, beginning to get more than a little excited about this.
“Tomorrow,” she said. “Lombardo’s, twelve thirty.”
“Courtney, I’m in Dubai.”
“Hopefully not for long, Nick. You have an important lunch tomorrow. In New York.”
As if on cue the gate attendant approached me. He looked just like Niles Crane from the show Frasier. Weird. “Excuse me, sir, will you be joining us to Paris?” he asked with a slight smirk. “The gate is closing right now.”
I looked around. Everyone was on the plane already. Everyone but me, that is.
“Nick, are you there?” asked Courtney. “I need to know if you can do this. Tell me you’re in.”
Now it was my turn to milk it for a few seconds.
“Nick? Nick? Are you there? Nick? Damn you – stop playing silly games.”
“Oh, I’m in,” I said finally. “I’m in.”
Way over my head, as I’d find out.
“I never had a doubt,” said Courtney. “You bleed Yankee pinstripes, isn’t that right, Nick?”
TWO FLIGHTS, eight time zones, and twenty exceedingly long hours later, I was finally wheels down at JFK at a little before eleven the next morning. Walking off the plane I felt like a zombie. I probably looked and smelled like one, too.
There was only one message waiting for me as I ditched the satellite phone for my iPhone. It was Courtney, of course.
“Lombardo’s. Twelve thirty,” she reminded me. “And don’t be late! This is the big one, Nick. You’ll probably get a book deal out of it. And a film. So don’t blow it, guy.”
Thanks, boss…
There are a couple of things I think you need to know about Courtney Sheppard at this point. First, at the relatively young age of thirty-four, she’s the editor in chief of Citizen magazine – the same magazine that in only two short years of existence has defied the odds and done what so many other upstarts will never do. Turn a profit.
On the heels of editor stints at both Vanity Fair and The Atlantic, Courtney made a formula for success at Citizen by taking those two magazines’ seemingly divergent sensibilities and combining them into one. Smart move. But then again, she’s a smart woman.
A very pretty one, too. And not particularly impressed with her looks, either.
Which brings me to another thing you need to know about Courtney Sheppard. On second thought, we’ll get to that information a little later.
From Kennedy Airport I caught a cab to my apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. I live mostly out of my suitcase, and that’s a good thing because my apartment isn’t all that much bigger than one.
Clearly I’m not in journalism for the money. Who – besides maybe Thomas Friedman of the Times – is? I don’t mean that Friedman doesn’t love what he does, merely that he makes a lot of change doing it.
Anyway, when I was eleven years old I saw the movie All the President’s Men with my parents. My father loved it because he despised Richard Nixon. Like Pavlov’s dog, he would always blurt out “That crook!” at the mere mention of Nixon’s name.