Caroline and the Greeting Card Convention
Chapter 2
Richard approached the Cassidy booth before the convention opened and found that Caroline and Del were already there.
Caroline greeted him "Hey, Richard! Funny we didn't run into you last night, we all have rooms on the same floor."
"Well, you wouldn't have, unless you happened to arrive at the exact same instant that I did. I went straight to my room and didn't leave. All I wanted to do was forget the horrible trip down here. I ordered room service and stayed in all night. I'm glad I had a good book."
"You were reading last night, Richard? Well, at least I hope it was something entertaining, like the latest Tom Clancy novel."
"Hardly" replied Richard, holding up his copy of Camus's "The Stranger".
"Well, Richard, we had a lotta fun last night. First we gambled a little in the casino. It's huge. I went shopping. They have some wonderful stores here! We ate a nice Chinese dinner at the Imperial Garden. Then we saw Chicago." Seeing Richard's blank stare, she added "You know, Chicago, the old rock group." After being met with the same blank stare, Caroline gave up. "Oh, never mind."
Del chimed in "Yeah… and then we really had some fun… in my room!"
"Oh, Del!" Caroline giggled and playfully hit his arm.
The greeting card convention was being held Saturday and Sunday in Caesars' spacious Palladium Ballroom. All the biggies of the industry were there – Hallmark, American Greetings, and Cassidy. Compared to the others, however, Cassidy was much less aggressive in its marketing. The Cassidy booth displayed life-sized cardboard cutouts of their staples – Caroline in the City, Flower Friends, and Sergeant Buck. They handed out free sample greeting cards, all labeled "Brought to you by Cassidy Greeting Cards" on the bottom. Hallmark and American Greetings also handed out free sample greeting cards. But instead of cardboard cutouts, Hallmark had people wearing Snoopy and Bugs Bunny costumes, while American Greetings had live Care Bears. Hallmark ran Bugs Bunny, Peanuts, and Road Runner cartoons in a continuous loop on monitors surrounding their booth. American Greetings did the same for Strawberry Shortcake and the Care Bears. And both displayed a plethora of products besides greeting cards to sell – mugs, wrapping paper, notepads, and little dolls. Attending the convention was a mixture of people. There were buyers, representing those that would carry the products – stationary stores, drug stores, and supermarkets – there to do business. Also crowding around the booths were fans of the cartoons, there to collect memorabilia and possibly meet the creators of their favorite strips and shows. Del's job consisted of schmoozing buyers. Caroline would also schmooze some, but she mainly talked and signed autographs for fans. Richard's job consisted mostly of handing out sample cards and getting products from the rear of the booth, behind a partition, making sure that there were enough for fans who wanted them and for Caroline to sign. Being a 'fellow artist', Richard also spelled Caroline at times when she tired (although fans complained they wanted a 'real' artist) or when Del and Caroline took off together to have some fun. Richard worked the whole time, preferring to make more money. There was nothing in Caesars, or in all of Atlantic City for that matter, that interested him.
******
While working the booth, Del saw a man approaching who appeared to be vaguely familiar.
"Del...? Del Cassidy…?" the man asked.
"Yes, I'm Del... I know you, I know your face, but I can't quite place you... college, right? Penn?"
"That's right! John Ambers, class of '86... Go Quakers! I was hoping to catch you at the convention. I'm sort of in the business now, I manage a group of stationary stores. I've heard of Cassidy Greeting Cards, of course, and was hoping you'd be here. What have you been doing since college?"
"Oh, nothing much. I met a couple of women, decided to give each of them a house and a chunk of my salary... had to marry and divorce each of them first. What have you been up to?"
"Oh, pretty much just concentrating on my career." Eyeing Caroline, John asked "And who is this lovely lady?"
"Oh, excuse me... John, this is Caroline Duffy. She's a big part of our Cassidy Greeting Cards family. She draws the "Caroline in the City" strip... Caroline, this is John Ambers, an old college buddy of mine."
Caroline smiled and shook his hand. "Pleased to meet you."
"Same here. I'm a big fan a little Caroline, but I must say, you're much prettier… Hey Del, remember that frat party our sophomore year, with the three coeds..."
Del urgently gestured John to stop. "Ix-nay! Ix-nay on the arty-pay! Uh... did I forget to mention that Caroline is my girlfriend?" Del said with a forced smile, as he wrapped an arm around Caroline.
"Party, huh?" Caroline queried, curiously.
Del nervously replied "Uh... the reputation of those frat parties is greatly exaggerated, Care... Nothing ever really happened at them, just drinkin' and dancin'… Right, John?"
"Absolutely! ... Del, can we get away from here, maybe have some fun in the casino, while we talk some business and old times?"
"Care... do you mind? Can you and Richard handle things alone here?"
"Sure... Go, Del." She waved as they left. "Nice meeting you Mr. Ambers."
Once out of earshot, John asked Del "So, what's the story with you and this Caroline? If my memory serves me correctly, she's not the type of girl you usually go for."
Del replied "If by that, you mean she doesn't have the cassavas of my usual girlfriends, that's true. But let me tell you, once we hit the sack..."
"A real tiger, huh?" John asked.
"I'll say. With her Midwestern upbringing, you wouldn't think so. But I tell you, it's always the repressed ones... And she's funny, great fun to be with, intelligent…"
"What's she doing with you then?" John joked.
"Ha, ha, very funny... Our problem is, she seems to want a commitment. We've broken up and gotten back together three times already... Or is it four?"
"Commitment? From what you said, you don't seem to have a problem saying "I do"" John commented.
"Yeah, well, you know... twice burned... It's just that, I think I've almost used up my quota. I want to get it right this time" Del answered. "Hey, before we hit the casino, why don't we talk a little business? … So, John... just how many stationary stores do you manage? 'Cause we have some great products..."
******
Later at the Cassidy booth...
"Richard, the crowd is thinning out. Del's been gone a long time. I wanna go see how he's doing. Do you think you can handle the booth alone for awhile?" asked Caroline.
With mock panic, Richard answered "What?! Leave me alone here?! However will I manage?"
"Shut up…" she smirked. "I'll bring you back something, okay?" Caroline said as she started to leave.
"A reason for continued existence in this barren cartoon wasteland?" mumbled Richard.
Caroline turned her head. "What?"
"Nothing" replied Richard.
……
Caroline went to find Del in Caesars' casino. It wouldn't be an easy task. It had a large Keno area, several scores of gaming tables, and thousands of slot machines. Like all casinos, everything was laid out so that gamblers would have to spend the longest possible time passing by the flashing lights and sounds of the slot machines and the action of the tables, to subject them to the maximum amount of temptation. After wandering around a bit, Caroline finally saw him, at a distance. But instead of being with his old college buddy, Del was gambling at a craps table and talking to a busty blond cocktail waitress. Del was flirting with her, of course. He wouldn't be Del, otherwise. Caroline saw Del flash some money, also. No harm there. Drinks were free for gamblers, casinos having learned that "free" drinks more than paid for themselves in increased losses by gamblers. But Del always gave a tip, especially to a pretty girl. It's when he got out a pen and started writing on the twenty dollar bill that she decided to intervene…
Just as Del had finished writing and handed the twenty to the waitress, Caroline approached.
"Hi Del. What happened to John and who is this?" Caroline asked sweetly.
Del quickly put his pen away and guiltily answered "Uh… John went off to play blackjack for awhile, he's coming back. Things are looking good, I think he's gonna carry our cards! ... Her…? She's nobody special, just a waitress."
"Well, she must be someone special…" Caroline retorted. In a surprise move, Caroline snatched the bill from the waitress and examined it. "… for you to give her a twenty dollar bill with your hotel room number on it." Caroline smiled questioningly at Del.
Just then, a celebratory cheer was raised from the craps table. The shooter had just made his point.
Del was really sweating and used the brief additional time to come up with "Uh… actually, I wanted to surprise you. This is… my cousin. My cousin... uh… uh…"
"Donna" interjected the waitress.
"…Donna" concluded Del. He completed the introductions "Donna, this is my girlfriend Caroline."
"Pleased to meet you" Donna said.
"Likewise" said Caroline.
"Del… your cousin Donna, huh? Funny, you never mentioned her before."
"Uh… yeah. Well… that's because she's not a first cousin. She's a distant cousin. Very distant. We don't keep in touch much. In fact, I didn't know that Donna worked here, until today."
With a forced smile, Caroline shook Donna's hand. "Well, Donna, I'm always happy to meet part of Del's family." Then she got an idea of how to get back at Del, by making him squirm after the convention was done for the day. "Donna, since you two haven't seen each other for so long, I'm sure he'd like you to get together with us tonight. Why else would he have given you his room number? We're going out for an expensive dinner at Primavera and going to see a great show afterwards."
Just then, another cheer rang out from the craps table.
This helped to distract Caroline. Unknown to her, Del stood behind her, frantically gesturing to Donna. As Caroline tried to tempt Donna, he shook his head, waving money at Donna for her not to join them. As Caroline went on, Del continued to shake his head and to add even more money.
Caroline continued "Our expenses are being picked up by the company. Since Del is president, I'm sure he won't mind if the expense report is fudged a little, to include you, right dear?" Del gulped and nodded. "Won't you join us?"
"I'm sorry, but I'm working. Maybe some other time" Donna replied.
Del breathed a sigh of relief, but Caroline noticed the wad of money in his hand. "Del, why are you holding out all that money?" she inquired.
"Oh, I just wanted to bet more money. This shooter's really on a roll." Amazingly, the shooter had thrown 22 straight rolls without crapping out, making his point three times. Del also had doubled his money three times, since he had bet with the shooter.
"Anyway, that's really a shame, Donna. Say hello to Aunt Mabel for me" Del said as he surreptitiously handed Donna the money.
"Sure thing" Donna said. She then gave Del a long French kiss, before turning and leaving behind a nonplussed Del. "Bye, cousin" she purred.
"Uh... we're a close family" Del explained to Caroline. "Honey, I still have some money on the table here. Once I'm done here, I'll go find John and finish up our business."
"Okay, I'm gonna go back to the booth and help Richard. Swing by as soon as you can" responded Caroline, as she turned to go.
……
"Darn!" Caroline thought. "I was really looking forward to seeing Del sweat, when we went out together with his 'cousin'. I thought for sure she'd agree to go with us for a free dinner and show." Despite her time in the Big Apple, Caroline's Midwestern upbringing gave her a trusting nature – that is, it took a little longer for her to realize when someone was deceiving her. "Oh, man…! That money… Del was bribing her!" After that, Caroline's thoughts turned to one thing – Revenge!
"Hmm… I've got to think of some way to get even with him." As she approached the Cassidy Greeting Cards booth, she looked up, saw Richard, and began to form a plan…