Chapter 2

The following day Gordon arrived at the hotel just before ten, to be greeted by his brothers in the lounge. "Hi, there, champ!" said Alan. "Feel any different today?"

"No," said Gordon, and John was the only one to notice him blush slightly. "Should I?"

"Well, this is the first morning you've woken up as an Olympic champion."

"I suppose I'll get used to it," replied Gordon, dryly.

Just then Drew Meredith arrived and they all seated themselves around a table. Meredith produced a small recording device. "If it's all right with you I would like to record the interview."

The boys looked at each other. The one who had identified himself as Scott responded "Provided that if we say something is 'off the record', you agree."

"OK," said Meredith. "Can we start with introductions? I'd like to know who you all are, and what you do."

Scott spoke first. "I'm Scott, I'm the eldest at 25. I'm in the Air Force."

The blond man to Meredith's right spoke next. "I'm John, I'm nearly 24 and I'm with NASA."

"Following in your father's footsteps?" said Meredith.

John grinned at him. "I see you've been doing your homework."

The dark-haired man sitting between Scott and Gordon spoke next. "I'm Virgil, I've just turned 23 and I've recently completed an engineering degree at Denver."

Meredith cut in. "None of you are saying where you live."

Scott responded "Well, when we're not studying or on duty we go home. Our father has an island in the south Pacific." Meredith had read about Jefferson Tracy's island retreat in his research. The millionaire had bought it a few years ago and seemed to be becoming something of a recluse, but the reporter had not realised that the millionaire's sons all considered that to be home as well. Most young men could not wait to get away to start their own home, especially if money was not an issue, as it clearly was not in this case. Meredith looked at Gordon. "I suppose you're next?"

Gordon grinned. "That's right. I'm 21, I'm serving with the WASPs – oh, and I swim a bit."

Alan, sitting next to him, dug him in the ribs, then looked across at the reporter. "I'm Alan, I'm 20, and at the moment I'm studying electronic engineering at Colorado."

"Technology seems to be a common theme here in one aspect or another" observed Meredith.

"That's right," answered Scott. "The idea is that we all train in some technical field in order to be able to join the family business."

Meredith smiled at the way he managed to make a multi-million dollar corporation like Tracy Transport sound like the local family grocery store. "None of you are tempted by the managerial side of the business, then?"

"No," said Virgil, "we've always been more into practical things. Even as kids we were always taking our toys to bits to see how they worked."

"Excuse me," cut in John, "whose toys?"

The three younger boys responded together. "You weren't using them." "You got them back." "We got them working again – mostly."

Meredith smiled at what was obviously an old argument. "Hey, guys," cut in Scott. "Mr Meredith is never going to make sense of this if you all talk at the same time."

The reporter made a note on his pad. The continuous banter between the boys was an obvious indication of their closeness. It continued throughout the interview, when he was questioning Gordon about his swimming, and his plans for the future, and talking to Alan about his racing career. Meredith had done so many interviews over the years that he usually found he could ask the right questions almost on autopilot, leaving the recorder to pick up the answers, while his brain got on with analysing the interviewee. It was always interesting to note what questions a person didn't want to answer. In this case the Tracy boys put an immediate veto on any mention of their mother. His research had shown that she had died some years ago, so they must all have been quite young at the time, but he was surprised that the subject was still taboo. Another subject Gordon seemed reluctant to discuss was the accident he had had the previous year. That might be worth a little digging – he might be able to get another story out of that for the more sensational tabloids – under one of his pen-names, naturally.

Just as the interview was drawing to a close Jake arrived with his camera. (Meredith had told him to arrive an hour after the designated time to give him time for the interview). He took some group shots, and a couple of single ones of Gordon wearing his medal. Again John noticed Gordon redden slightly as he put the medal on. ('What has that kid been up to now?' he wondered to himself. There was some good-natured ragging from his brothers when Gordon asked Jake if he could have a couple of prints of the solo picture, but Jake was only too happy to oblige, and promised to send them to the Olympic Village.

As he watched the boys leave to accompany Gordon to his practice session, Meredith found he had been impressed by these young men. It was difficult in his line of work not to become jaded, meeting so many so-called 'celebrities' all desperate for their moment of fame. But these boys were different. They lacked the cynicism and careless attitude common in so many youngsters of today (listen to him, he sounded like his own grandfather!). Instead they seemed to have a purpose – it was as if they knew what they were going to do with their lives and looked forward to the prospect. The reporter found this quite refreshing.

(Author's note: for a complete transcript of the interview see 'Echo from the past')

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite Gordon's best efforts, it was nearly 2.30 by the time he arrived at the athletics stadium, and made his way to the athletes' enclosure. "Have I missed Cassie Myles race?" he asked a team-mate.

"Yes, that was ten minutes ago. She got bronze." Gordon didn't notice the odd look the other gave him. He stayed for the rest of the event, hoping Cassie would come into the enclosure, but there was no sign of her. There was great rejoicing when another of the girls, Sally Tucker, scooped a silver in the javelin event.

He looked for Cassie that evening at supper, but when he didn't see her he supposed she was off celebrating her win. At the end of the evening he went up to his room, and was not surprised when some time later there was a tap on the door and Cassie slipped in.

"I wasn't sure if you'd come tonight," he told her. "I thought you must be out celebrating with your team-mates."

"Celebrating? What the hell have I got to celebrate? All I got was a bloody bronze! That po-faced madam Sally Tucker ends up with a silver."

Gordon was surprised by this reaction, even more so when Cassie threw herself on the bed and started to sob. He put his arm round her shoulders and tried to think of some words of comfort. "Hey, now, don't cry like that. Look, I didn't get there in time to see your race, but I'm sure you did your best. You gave it your best shot – it's just that somebody else was a little bit better on the day. If you tried as hard as you could then nobody could expect more of you."

She looked at him through her tears. "You're a sweet man, Gordon, even if you do have some odd views. I'm here to win – as far as I'm concerned you're either first – or you're nowhere." She sniffed, and turned to him "Will you come to my next race? – it's the day after tomorrow."

"Yes, I'll be there, I promise. My last race is tomorrow, so I'll definitely be able to make it this time. Maybe I'll bring you better luck."

She kissed him, seductively, "And can I wear your medal again tonight?"

Sometime later, as they lay wrapped in each others arms, Cassie rubbed her finger across his arm, which was covered with small, needle-type scars. "I noticed these last night – did you used to do drugs or something?"

He pulled his arm away. "No, I was in an accident last year – that's the marks from where they pinned me back together."

"But you're covered in them!" she exclaimed, horrified.

"Yes, look, I don't like talking about it." He touched the medal that was once again round Cassie's neck. "Having this to work for was one of the things that kept me going – that and my family." 'And Dad's project' he thought to himself. He removed the medal from Cassie's neck, giving her a kiss as he did so. "And now, if I'm going to try for another of these tomorrow, I think you'd better go and let me get some sleep!"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------