◊◊◊
I’d shown Ms. Saunders the pictures I’d taken of my mom’s listing. She taught me how to use Photoshop again. It helped clean up the glare issues that came with shooting a room with sunlight coming in. We then worked on the early evening pictures that showed the home with the lights on. With a few tweaks, they really popped. I sent the finished results to my mom so she could use them in her marketing materials.
I showed Ms. Saunders my mom’s website, and she found the video I’d done of my mom and the virtual tour.
“You took this with your phone?” she asked.
“Actually, my mom’s, but yeah, I’m the one who shot it.”
“With some editing, this could be quite good. I like how it feels amateurish in some ways, but there are things you could do to raise it up a level or two.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about your movies. Do they normally do one long scene where they follow you around, or do they break it down and show shots from different angles?” she asked.
“But that would mess up the flow as she’s talking.”
“Add her voice after the video is shot,” she offered.
I felt my face get hot as I realized how stupid I’d just been. My mind began to race with thoughts about what could have been done differently to make it better.
My mom had told me that real estate was changing. It used to be that prospective buyers would come to your office, and you would take them around to show them homes. There were some days she’d come home exhausted after she’d carted them from house to house.
With the Internet, people had access to a lot more information. Mom had tried to make her website a one-stop place for home buying. When a customer brought up a home on her site, it had a lot of pictures. But it also gave them information about the neighborhood, crime rates, school ratings, nearby shopping and eateries, and much more.
She said that she rarely had a customer in the car anymore; they did their research first and then called her to meet them at the house to see it. That was why the photos and video were so important.
Ms. Saunders helped me with some video-editing software to make some minor changes. We added some soft background music and a picture of the home’s exterior with a header that showed the address.
“With your movie background, we should take some time and have you shoot some videos.”
“What should I film?”
“I don’t know. What do you like to do?” she asked.
I got a big smile.
“Not that,” she teased. “It has to be something that won’t get me fired.”
I was shocked that Ms. Saunders would assume that was what I had in mind. Then I remembered that she was around teenagers for most of the day.
I was surprised that I liked this class so much. If I’d thought about it, I probably wouldn’t have been surprised at all. I looked forward to creating a video.
◊◊◊
Football practice went well today. Some days, everything seems to go right. I finally felt like I was ready for the season. After practice, Coach Mason wanted to talk to me.
“I want you to be prepared for not starting on Saturday.”
“What did I do wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing. Coach Hope plans to reward Trent for summer workouts and two-a-days.”
“What about the other guys who traveled to Mexico with me?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“Seriously? Coach Hope and I discussed this before we left. Now he’s going back on his word,” I said, getting mad.
“I didn’t say they wouldn’t play. They just aren’t starting.”
“How long is this little punishment supposed to last?” I asked.
Coach Mason chuckled.
“It’s not a punishment. It’s a reward for the effort they put in,” he explained.
“I call bullshit, but what do I know? If he had told me he planned to do this, I would never have let them come with me.”
Coach Mason looked serious.
“I agree it’s bullshit. I need you to be above it all. The team looks to you to set the tone. If you complain, then the boys who took your places will be put in an awkward position. Trent knows full well that we have a much better chance of winning with you playing. If you make a fuss over this, you could tear the team apart.
“You also need to remember that Coach Hope is in charge. I’ve seen a number of times where players forget who’s leading, and the team suffers for it. I want you to step back and look at the big picture,” Coach Mason said.
“That him playing ‘leader’ is going to hurt me in my recruiting and my family’s future?” I asked.
“David, I didn’t come here to coach Trent. I came here because you have an extraordinary talent and I want to see you have a leg up when you start to go up levels in competition. If I thought this would hurt you in the long run, I would be the first one in Coach Hope’s office.
“All I’m saying is that you need to look and act like a leader,” he said.
“The thing is, if it were just me, I could swallow this. What pisses me off is he’s gone back on his word to the other guys. If he planned to do that, he should have just manned up and said something instead of playing games.”
Coach Mason raised his hands in defeat. He wasn’t going to defend Coach Hope for that, but I saw his point about the team. I also recognized that Coach Mason was a godsend, and I didn’t want to piss him off.
“Okay, I’ll play nice. But it irks me that we’re dealing with this kind of crap from him once again at the start of the season.”
“My advice is to let this play out. There’s no way he would risk losing a game,” Coach Mason predicted.
I hoped he was right.
◊◊◊
After school, Chuck was waiting for me with the Demon. Cassidy and Brook had gone to flight school. I’d set up an account so that Cassidy could use the simulator if she wanted while Brook flew. For some reason, they didn’t allow anyone but the instructor and student in the plane during flights. If I were to guess, it was for both safety and insurance reasons.
The plan was that if Cassidy decided she wanted to learn to fly, Brook and I would pay for it. Getting your license wasn’t cheap. Brook confided to me that she’d spent close to fifteen grand so far. Brook said letting her use the simulator would give Cassidy an idea of whether she really wanted to do it. We hadn’t told her that simulator time wasn’t free or what we planned if she decided to get her license.
“Gimme,” I said, holding out my hand.
“You know that I’m supposed to drive you.”
“Dude, it’s my car. You seriously don’t want me sneaking off just so I can drive it,” I warned.
He handed me the keys. If it had been Paul, I might’ve had to wrestle them from him. I sent a text to Tim to see where he was. He replied, saying he was over at Wolf’s house.
I fired up the Demon and sunk into the seat, enjoying the feel of the beast as I revved the engine. I eased out of the parking space and pointed the front end towards the street. As I turned onto the road, I took it easy and smiled when I saw a police car waiting near the entrance of the school’s parking lot. More than one teen had gotten a ticket racing out of there.
I gave Billy a wave as I saw who had set up the speed trap. I made sure I obeyed all the laws until I was out of sight, and then I gave it a little gas. Let’s just say I made it to Wolf’s in record time.
When the guys heard me pull up, they came out of the garage. It looked like they were covered in grease.
“What are you two doing?” I asked.
“Tim is working on all my lawn equipment,” Wolf shared.
I followed them into the garage and found parts lying all over the floor. Tim returned to taking the engine apart while Wolf got busy cleaning the parts.
“I would have no clue what to do if our lawnmower died,” I admitted.
“It didn’t, but I have Tim work on it periodically so it runs better. The guys took good care of the equipment, but I like for Tim to make sure,” Wolf explained.