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Authors: J. M. Jeffries
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asking.”
“Noelle had her own interests that my parents encouraged. She can draw and paint and sculpt and create exquisite glass sculptures. She can make something out of nothing.”
“What about what you do? Your house is a show place.”
“Say what you will, everything in that house is something I love, and the lucky part was that it all worked together.”
Traffic was heavy for a Saturday. It seemed that, with the prolonged hundred-degree weather, everyone was heading for the beach. They fell into silence as Jake concentrated on driving. He thought about Merry and what her childhood had been like compared to his own. As a child, he’d loved the park, but he’d grown to resent it as it had consumed his father’s time.
Not until he was an adult and graduated from college did he realize all the advantages the park had given him. It had paid for his education. He’d learned to deal with difficult people. He could operate every ride and even do some simple fixes when something broke down. He’d learned to handle money.
His father had made sure he could do everything, and after a while he’d realized the park was a family business even though he and his sister had chosen very different paths. He wondered if his father had been hurt by the direction his life had gone. If so, he’d never said a word. Thinking back on his life, his father had subtly encouraged him to seek his own way.
He realized his father didn’t want to retire. His father loved that park. He’d helped build it with his own hands; he’d put his soul into it. Which made Jake start thinking about his grandparents and how they must have felt when his father had decided to build the park instead of farming.
“You’re frowning. What are you thinking about?” Merry asked.
“My father,” he said. “He always encouraged me to go my own way, but I started wondering what he really wanted for me. I know he would have liked me to take over the park, but I didn’t have any interest in it and neither did my sister.”
“My parents weren’t too thrilled about my acting. I had to do a lot of tap dancing and make a lot of promises to get my mom to take me to auditions.”
“What kind of promises?”
“No grades lower than an A minus, and I had to sign a contract that I would go to college.”
“You’d think your mother would support a daughter in the arts. After all, she’s renowned for her stained glass.”
“Yeah, with her degree in political science. My parents were the hedge-your-bets kind of people. After all, look how my acting career turned out.”
“Are you unhappy with what you’re doing?” he asked, wondering if his father had made a mistake hiring her.
“I love what I’m doing.” She leaned toward him. “But don’t tell anybody, I like set design a lot more than I ever liked acting.”
He glanced at her, totally surprised. “I would never have known that.”
“Acting is a lot of pressure. Pressure to remain thin, pressure to look a certain way and everything I did was scrutinized. I couldn’t take a lunch break at McDonald’s without someone taking a photo. And it’s even worse now with Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Honestly, I do not miss the spotlight, but I do occasionally miss that feeling of being special. It’s addictive. But long-term relationships are hard to maintain.”
As they approached the beach, they exited the freeway and fell into a long line of cars snaking down the boulevard.
“Being a celebrity did not do many of my clients any favors.”
“You have to realize that the second you become a commodity, people treat you differently. Some people don’t tell you no, letting you have whatever you want whenever you want it as long as you’re famous. The second you stop being famous, everything goes away, and a lot of people will start telling you no, and you don’t know how to react to that. A case in point is Maddie. She was cute and perky as a child and everyone loved her, but the
“Noelle had her own interests that my parents encouraged. She can draw and paint and sculpt and create exquisite glass sculptures. She can make something out of nothing.”
“What about what you do? Your house is a show place.”
“Say what you will, everything in that house is something I love, and the lucky part was that it all worked together.”
Traffic was heavy for a Saturday. It seemed that, with the prolonged hundred-degree weather, everyone was heading for the beach. They fell into silence as Jake concentrated on driving. He thought about Merry and what her childhood had been like compared to his own. As a child, he’d loved the park, but he’d grown to resent it as it had consumed his father’s time.
Not until he was an adult and graduated from college did he realize all the advantages the park had given him. It had paid for his education. He’d learned to deal with difficult people. He could operate every ride and even do some simple fixes when something broke down. He’d learned to handle money.
His father had made sure he could do everything, and after a while he’d realized the park was a family business even though he and his sister had chosen very different paths. He wondered if his father had been hurt by the direction his life had gone. If so, he’d never said a word. Thinking back on his life, his father had subtly encouraged him to seek his own way.
He realized his father didn’t want to retire. His father loved that park. He’d helped build it with his own hands; he’d put his soul into it. Which made Jake start thinking about his grandparents and how they must have felt when his father had decided to build the park instead of farming.
“You’re frowning. What are you thinking about?” Merry asked.
“My father,” he said. “He always encouraged me to go my own way, but I started wondering what he really wanted for me. I know he would have liked me to take over the park, but I didn’t have any interest in it and neither did my sister.”
“My parents weren’t too thrilled about my acting. I had to do a lot of tap dancing and make a lot of promises to get my mom to take me to auditions.”
“What kind of promises?”
“No grades lower than an A minus, and I had to sign a contract that I would go to college.”
“You’d think your mother would support a daughter in the arts. After all, she’s renowned for her stained glass.”
“Yeah, with her degree in political science. My parents were the hedge-your-bets kind of people. After all, look how my acting career turned out.”
“Are you unhappy with what you’re doing?” he asked, wondering if his father had made a mistake hiring her.
“I love what I’m doing.” She leaned toward him. “But don’t tell anybody, I like set design a lot more than I ever liked acting.”
He glanced at her, totally surprised. “I would never have known that.”
“Acting is a lot of pressure. Pressure to remain thin, pressure to look a certain way and everything I did was scrutinized. I couldn’t take a lunch break at McDonald’s without someone taking a photo. And it’s even worse now with Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Honestly, I do not miss the spotlight, but I do occasionally miss that feeling of being special. It’s addictive. But long-term relationships are hard to maintain.”
As they approached the beach, they exited the freeway and fell into a long line of cars snaking down the boulevard.
“Being a celebrity did not do many of my clients any favors.”
“You have to realize that the second you become a commodity, people treat you differently. Some people don’t tell you no, letting you have whatever you want whenever you want it as long as you’re famous. The second you stop being famous, everything goes away, and a lot of people will start telling you no, and you don’t know how to react to that. A case in point is Maddie. She was cute and perky as a child and everyone loved her, but the
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