Doc's Place

Chapter 11 | Part 2

Thursday, October 4, 1984

Armed with a copy of the publication plan, my curriculum vitae and my rolled-up newsprint, I scamper for the Buick and haul ass over to Ron's shop. Walk in trying to look relaxed, although I'm excited. Ron and Karen are chubby and friendly.

We sit around a glossy conference table and sip tea from porcelain cups while Ron explains that until recently, he worked as the lead designer for Rupert Artanian, the owner of Reno's biggest ad agency. Rupert is still bitter because he feels that Ron betrayed him by leaving. Ron says this is a small town so he wants me to hear it from him first. "Rupert has the Doc's Place advertising account, Jill," says Ron.

"So now I know. What have you heard about this agreement I'm going to let for Doc's Talks?"

"Dick Scope is telling people that you won't last the month," says Ron.

Smile and say, "Show me what you have, Ron." We spend the next hour or so reviewing his designs, which are bold and colorful. He also sketched some ideas for Doc's Talks after I called.

"So, end the suspense, Jill," says Ron, nodding toward the roll of newsprint. "Show me your idea for the layout."

Unroll the sheet along the conference table, stand back and watch as he bends over it, lightly pinching his lower lip between his thumb and forefinger.

He takes a full minute to move down and back up the newsprint sheet. He mutters, finally saying something loud enough to hear, "Well, I'll be damned." He looks up. "When did you come up with this concept?"

"This morning."

For the next hour, using more sheets of newsprint, Ron extends his design across the next eight issues with variations that hold my concept. The colors and designs leap off the page, yet draw in the reader, beckoning to see what is inside.

"I like it," I tell Ron. "Now call Karen in here and let's talk pubs plan."

He calls in Karen, who sits down.

"You sit down too, Ron."

"What the hell is it, Jill?" he asks but sits down when Karen pulls him down in the chair beside her.

"Read," I tell them and hand over the pubs plan. Walk to the window. Ron's shop is a couple blocks from the fitness center, located in a building that looks more like a warehouse than a design studio. Everyone in business starts somewhere. When I started JP Performance, my first business, I lived in the parts storage room above my shop. Smelled like metal, grease and rubber, but I didn't mind. Almost twenty years later, JP Performance is known worldwide and worth thirty-five million dollars.

"Holy shit," says Ron. "Have you proposed this to Doc's Place executives?"

"Already received budget approval," I tell him, turning from the window to hand him my curriculum vitae. "Check it out," I add, "I have an inside track with the foundation since I'm already published in their magazine once."

"Hope you get the Aces to do your photo work," whispers Ron.

"Talked to them yesterday. They've already delivered their bid."

Ron's shoulders slump as he says to Karen, "Too high for Doc's."

"Let's talk about your bid, Ron," I tell him.

"Our bid may be the only one," says Karen. "Nobody in town likes to bid on employee magazines. Constant re-writes by management wreck what little margin there is."

"So you'll bid on it?"

"Are you kidding?" asks Ron. "I'd eat peanuts out of your shit for this." He glances at Karen, who shakes her head as she smiles. "The national exposure alone is worth it," says Ron.

"Deadline is Friday and I decide on Monday."

"It will be in by five today, Jill," says Karen. "We'll keep the details quiet until you let the bid. Monday, you say?" she looks up at me.

"Noon," I tell her.

"Good. What say we get some lunch? I have a few more surprises for you."

"Jesus, I don't think I can take much more of this," says Ron, his hand on his chest. "You've almost given me two heart attacks already."

Over lunch, I tell him that I have sole design discretion. The only review is the legal department at Ferro so he and Karen can pocket the margin. Also tell him about the other awards I expect. Ask about printers, and Ron tells me to go with B. Draper and Sons, which is what Dick in purchasing told me.

My next two appointments waste my time and theirs. They look at the concept on the newsprint and pretend interest but I can tell they're not going to bite. Looks like a lot of work for not much money, says the guy during the last visit, the one who already has an agreement with Marketing.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

Previous Part Next Part

Doc's Place Chat
© 2008, Michel Grover.
Chapter 11 | Part 2
Autumn 2008

Lucia :

Mic has posted in the left frame paragraphs from Doc's Place, one of his copyrighted stories. I'm moderating chat here in the right frame. I post every day, but I don't post everything. I have formed a secondary group from which I may also post comments.

Carlo :

I'm visualizing another movie shot: Jill's looking out the window as she waits for Ron and Karen to read the pubs plan. She remembers her first shop and the parts storage room upstairs where she lived. As she remembers, the view from the window morphs into Jill in her younger years working in that shop. When did you open that shop, Jill?

Jill :

Late November of '65, just a few days before Thanksgiving and a couple weeks before my 17th birthday.

Maria :

Ah, a Sagittarius. That makes sense, I guess.

Doug :

Jill doesn't believe in horoscopes and astrology.

Alice :

Oh no, Dougie. She's a realist who dreams she's a predatory animal now and then. Don't forget that she occasionally sees a 14-year-old girl who isn't there.

Doug :

You're right, Alice. Doesn't mean she believes in horoscopes, though.

Alice :

Not saying she does. Just don't claim she's a hard-headed realist, either.

Doug :

I concede

Alice :

Thank you. Were you going to tell us why it makes sense that Jill is a Sagittarius, Maria?

Maria :

I'm not about to subject you to a reading since most of you consider astrology to be poppycock and since I'm no expert anyway.

Alice :

How about a couple salient points: 2 positive and 2 negative.

Maria :

Okay, Jill has a passion for justice and the obvious ability to start huge projects and see them through. On the other hand, she is restless and promiscuous. One thing that does not seem consistent is that Jill does not even pay lip service to religion, although one could interpret that as an adherence to form versus substance, which is consistent.

Lucia :

Several people are mentioning that Jill's birth is in a brown earth rat year, which, by coincidence, occurs again this year—2008.

Marcus :

May we get back to Carlo's point instead of belaboring this superstitious claptrap?

Maria :

You're right, of course, Marcus. Please continue, Carlo.

Carlo :

I was wondering how to use Jill's memory of operating that shop as a device in the movie.

Amalie :

Interestingly enough, Jill opened her shop half her lifetime ago from the time of this story. How did she do financially with this shop, Cyril?

Cyril :

Within 2yrs, she had tripled her wealth, from sub-100K to well above a quarter of a million dollars; then she ran off to Australia.

Ian :

Tripled her wealth to more than a quarter of a million between the ages of 17 and 19 in the late 1960s. Bloody hell.

Doug :

Seems more significant that she was a mechanic and shop owner then and a manager now.

Carlos :

Doug has a good idea, Carlo. Juxtapose the teen-aged girl in coveralls with the woman in a suit

Jules :

As the memory fades, have the girl stare directly into the camera lens as if asking, "What the hell are you looking at, asshole?"

Alan :

Sure, a shock of hair hanging over one eye.

Carlo :

I don't know if it's that different, but her look probably says that she doesn't give a shit about you or your look, Alan.

Ian :

Did you have a radio playing as you worked in that shop, Jill?

Jill :

Sure. AM band, because FM broadcasting didn't become popular until a few years later.

Carlos :

Beach Boys, Beatles, Hendrix.

Alan :

What's the point of using that music? Use Simon and Garfunkel, maybe the intro to "The Sound of Silence."

Suze :

"Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M."

Ian :

Or Donovan, "Hurdy Gurdy Man?"

Cyril :

Not out in 1965, but maybe Dylan, "Like a Rolling Stone."

Jules :

No, Ian's right about Donovan but make it "Catch the Wind."

Carlo :

That's it, Jules. "In the chilly hours and minutes of uncertainty, I want to be in the warm hold of your loving mind."

Jules :

No man, you have a few seconds for the entire scene. Use "When sundown pales the sky, I wanna hide a while behind your smile and everywhere I'd look, your eyes I'd find."

Maria :

You guys slay me. Only one verse fits: "When rain has hung the leaves with tears, I want you near to kill my fears, to help me to leave all my blues behind." Play the original or the live version, not the one from the 1999 "Greatest Hits" album. What Donovan Leitch does with that sentence, especially the last phrase, is as cold and filled with yearning as you get.

Carlos :

Hmm, Maria's right, guys.

Jules :

Damn, she is right.

Lucia :

So remembering her shop is just a device to show how far Jill has come in 17yrs, Carlo?

Carlo :

Not to show how far she's come but to show what she has become. When she was 17, she had not yet evolved into the being that one day would resolve to change the world.

Maria :

She wasn't promiscuous or serial yet, either.

Amalie :

You're wrong, Carlo and Maria. At almost 17, Jill had already evolved from human into the species she is at 34 and now at 59. Between 17 and 58 is simply a matter of degree, not evolution.

Maria :

How can you say that of someone who is not quite 17, Amalie?

Amalie :

I can say it because the Jill we see in Carlo's dream is exactly the age I am at this moment, Maria. I have evolved already into what I will be. Now, it's simply a matter of time and experience.

Doug :

Okay, you are Jill's age when she opened her shop, but so what? That's mere coincidence, not evidence that gives you insight.

Benny :

Can't you tell that Amalie is having an epiphany? What is it, Amalie? What do you see?

Amalie :

One of the things we're doing over here in the chat frame is struggling to make sense of what happened in 1963 when Jill is 14. That seminal event is the spark and events immediately thereafter are the consequence of Jill's evolution.

Benny :

Not sure what you mean, Amalie. Do you mean like a car wreck that leaves someone crippled or disfigured?

Amalie :

Yes, but on an enormous scale: something cosmic, like the big bang model. Today, we look at the universe about us and we see physical phenomena we call relics—not just of the big bang but of the creation of the universe that immediately followed, forming the universe in which we live today.

We are reading about the relics of that cataclysmic event in Jill's life and the formative events that followed immediately afterward. These events apparently are not only forming Jill's universe but ours as well, if we believe what she and her executives tell us.

Doug :

I'm not buying this, Amalie. Yes, you make an interesting point and I like it but what makes you say Jill has already evolved? At age 16, Jill is still legally a minor. She has yet to kill her first victim, right? Even if she has, it probably wasn't premeditated.

Amalie :

Typical Doug: act stupid to elicit information so you can satisfy your morbid curiosity. Cyril, how many?

Cyril :

7: 2 boys who had attacked and raped a girl; 4 men who tried to kidnap Jill and her 2 friends; and 1 rapist. Jill hunted down and killed the first 2. She killed the next 4 in self defense while under the threat of rape and murder. She crossed state lines to hunt down and kill the rapist.

Amalie :

Look, all I'm saying is that at age 16, Jill has already become what she is and will be. Yes, the evidence supports my claim, but my insight and understanding comes from the fact that I am self-aware. At almost 17, I know what I am and what I will be. As I said, from now on, it's a matter of age and experience.

Lucia :

That's an interesting insight, Amalie. As with any theory, time will tell: along with some further observation and analysis.

Meanwhile, I'd like to introduce JoeRay, who has a question for Jill. Go ahead, JoeRay.

JoeRay :

I just opened a performance shop, but it's not paying the bills yet. I'm thinking of taking in some routine service work but I wanted to know what you think, Jill.

Jill :

How much time do you have before you're in financial trouble, JoeRay?

JoeRay :

If my wife and I are careful, we can stretch my savings from Army bonuses and so on to last another six months. Problem is we're both pushing 30 and I'm getting pressure from her and her family to start having children.

Jill :

Focus on making your business profitable. Have you picked a line of performance products you trust and lined up supplier incentives based on sales numbers over time?

JoeRay :

Yes, but I haven't met any of those numbers yet.

Jill :

Do you demand the full price of parts and half the price of labor up front?

JoeRay :

Yes, I do.

Jill :

Did you set up in your hometown?

JoeRay :

Yes, ma'am.

Jill :

Are your friends from school enforcing the law now or breaking it?

JoeRay :

Quarterback just got himself elected sheriff.

Jill :

Persuade your product supplier to back you and then tell the new sheriff that you'll add performance tuning to half his cruisers for the cost of your labor if he'll let you put your logo under the hood. In 3mos, you'll have enough business to hire another mechanic.

Carlos :

Jill has a great idea, JoeRay. The deputies will be bragging and lifting the hoods on those cruisers all over the county. When the sheriff asks you to do the other cruisers, tell him you'll do it for your price on parts and full price on labor.

JoeRay :

So you wouldn't take in service work at all.

Jill :

Not enough margin in that work, JoeRay. The money's in after-market add-ons. Besides, once you're doing performance work, you won't have time to do service.

JoeRay :

Sounds good, Jill. Thanks. I'll let you know how it goes.

Jill :

Same deal. Soon the sheriff would ask for a similar deal on his deputies' cruisers.

Doug :

Sound like an arms dealer's morality.

Maria :

What would you have told JoeRay if his friends had been on the wrong side of the law, Jill?

Jill :

JoeRay's in business.

Doug :

So is an arms dealer.

Jill :

If people pay, you can't refuse their business because you don't like what they do for a living. If you do, you'll find yourself dealing with church-going contractors who build substandard housing and turning away bar owners who refuse to sell to minors.

Jules :

You've never been in business for yourself, have you, Doug?

Doug :

I am but it's all online so I never meet, as in meat, my customers.

Maria :

You mean meet.

Doug :

No, I mean meat. Ask your daughter about the difference.