Part Four
Tuesday, January 5, 1988 6:30 PM
The next few days went by in a blur,
and the Agency was no closer to figuring out how 'Operation Beat It' had been
compromised. Lee and Amanda left work early enough to make it to Jamie's award
ceremony, leaving the investigation in the more or less capable hands of Beeman
and Fielder.
The middle school auditorium was
crowded and noisy as students, teachers, family members, and people from the
community tried to find seats. Guests of the three winners filled the first two
rows of the auditorium. Carrie, Joe, Phillip, Dotty, Lee, and Amanda sat in the
first row as did Angela's father and grandfather. The family of Ramona Jones,
sat in the second row. Aunt Natalia and Peter sat directly behind Lee and Amanda,
making sure they didn't get noticed. The remaining 184 seats filled quickly.
On stage, Mr. Morales and Mrs.
Dennis sat to one side with Donna Moore, the President of the 'Young Writers of
Virginia,' while Jamie, Angela, and Ramona sat on the other.
As the lights were dimmed, the crowd
began to settle down. Donna Moore, a middle-aged woman in her early fifties,
went to the podium and began to speak. "Good evening. My name is Donna
Moore, and I am President of the 'Young Writers of Virginia.' Each year the
'Young Writers of Virginia' sponsor an essay contest for seventh grade
students. As President, I personally
selected the topic that the students wrote about. This year's topic was
honesty. I would also like to note that never in the history of our
organization, have we had more than one winner of our contest come from the
same school. Tonight we will hear the first place essay, and present awards of
recognition to all three of our winners. After the reading of the essay and the
awards presentation, a reception will be held in the school cafeteria. I now
turn you over to Mr. Michael Morales."
As Donna Moore returned to her seat,
Mr. Morales took her place at the podium. "Good evening. As some of you
may know, I'm the Advanced Language Arts teacher for grade seven...."
Jamie felt the sweat start to build
in between his shoulders. He knew, once Mr. Morales finished his speech, that
it was his turn next. He turned to Angela and grimaced; she smiled at him. 'I
can do this,' he said to himself. 'I can do this.' He turned his focus back to
his teacher, who was finishing up.
"...Now without further ado,
the winner of the 'Young Writers of Virginia Eighth Annual Essay Contest':
Jamie King."
The audience applauded loudly as
Jamie stood up and slowly approached the podium. After taking several deep
breaths, he nervously started by saying, "Good evening. The title of my
essay is 'To Tell the Truth.'" Pausing,
he took another deep breath, and looked around the auditorium. 'Oh, geez,' he thought, 'all the seats are
filled.' He looked at Angela, who smiled at him a second time. After wiping
away the sweat that was forming on his forehead, Jamie turned back to face the
crowd and read his essay.
In the audience, Amanda watched as
her youngest son worked his way through his nervousness. 'I'm so proud of him,'
she thought to herself, 'standing up there in front of everyone.' She gave the
hand on her lap a squeeze, smiled at Lee, and began to listen to her son.
As Jamie spoke, Dotty glanced over
to her daughter and Lee. 'This should be interesting,' she mused. 'I wonder how
they'll react to an essay on honesty coming from Jamie. Maybe,' she thought
with some hope, 'this is what they need to be honest with all of us about their
marriage.'
Lee noticed Dotty watching him and
Amanda. "Why is your mother looking at us?" he whispered.
"I don't know, exactly,"
Amanda returned. "But have you been listening to Jamie?"
Lee nodded. Truth, trust, and honor.
Jamie wasn't just reading the words; he believed them. Lee swallowed, trying to
remove the lump in his throat. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" he
asked his wife.
Amanda nodded. "Yeah. We can't
lie to him, to them, anymore."
**SMK**SMK**SMK**
Thirty minutes later it was over.
Jamie had received a hearty dose of applause, the awards had been presented to
all three of the students, and the crowd had made their way to the cafeteria
for punch and cookies.
"Jamie, we're so proud of
you," Amanda said as she gave her son a hug.
"Thanks, Mom."
"You did okay," Phillip added,
as he tried not to sound too impressed.
"Hey, thanks, bro." Jamie
turned to his mother, uncomfortable with the praise.
"Mom, could you hold my
envelope and plaque while I go talk to Angela?"
"Of course, Sweetheart."
"Thanks," Jamie said as he
handed her the awards and went in search of Angela.
As Jamie walked off, Dotty took the
envelope and plaque from Amanda and examined both items. "I think the
savings bond was a good idea," she said as she removed it. "Forces
them to keep it for college."
There was general agreement, with
the exception of Phillip who made a face. "Can we get some punch and
cookies now? I'm really hungry," he said.
Amanda nodded, and Phillip left,
followed by Joe and Carrie.
Dotty looked across the room to
where her younger grandson was standing. "I think I'm going to go join Jamie and Angela," she smiled.
"That grandfather of hers is quite a good looking fellow."
"Okay, Mother," Amanda
said, an amused smile working its way across her face.
"Looks like it's just us,"
Lee noted as he guided Amanda to an empty table in a secluded corner.
"Looks like," she agreed.
"We need to talk," he cut
to the point, "about how and when to fill them in."
As Amanda was forming an answer,
Dotty rushed over and gushed, "Richard has invited us to have dinner with
them."
"That's nice, Mother,"
Amanda nodded. "Mother, when we get back, and the boys go to bed, we need
to talk about something."
Dotty nodded and thought to herself,
'It's about time.'
"Listen," Amanda
continued. "We're gonna want to discuss this with Joe as well. Why don't
you tell Angela's grandfather that we'd be delighted to join them, and that
we'll meet you out in the parking lot in a few minutes?"
Unbeknownst to the trio, Natalia and
Peter overheard the whole thing.
"Natalia, we don't have much
time," Peter told her.
"Don't worry about it. The only
ones who are going to find out anything tonight are the mother and whoever that
Joe person is. We still have enough to make a decent blackmail threat. We'll go
home and practice what we're going to say to them tomorrow. Come on, Mathers is
waiting for us. He agreed to play Stetson and his partner for our little rehearsal."
"Okay, let's go. I want to get
this over with as soon as possible, so we can move on to something more
exciting, if you get my drift."
"I always get your drift,"
Natalia told Peter as they left the cafeteria.
"After dinner with the Davises,
the family returned to Amanda's along with Joe and Carrie."
**SMK**SMK**SMK**