When the soul of the seventies gave way to the excess of the eighties, the promise that a band like "Circle Twice Dot Twice" would ever come along had dried up, left unfulfilled due to the changing tastes of a nation sick of protest getting into their entertainment, instead craving a light, airy escape in the form of four minutes of sound per shot.
Yet here Ness Franklin was, listening to their lead singer lay down one of the most soulful, entertaining, and honest vocal tracks he had ever heard in his four years of producing music, or his twenty-six years of listening to it. And he was listening to it alongside his colleagues, mentors, and heroes, Luciano "Lucky" D'Amato and "Gorgeous" George Tyler.
The sound of Circle Twice Dot Twice, from what Ness heard of them in concert, wasn't terribly seventies - there was a definite influence from Blood, Sweat, and Tears, Tower of Power, and even the band his co-producers used to front, The Runaway Five. But there was also a definite influence from the alt rock bands of the 2000s, and he also thought he detected a little post rock in there. It was a unique, tasty flavor of music, one he was thrilled to help refine and bring into the world.
The track done, Ness clicked on the intercom and said "HELL of a take, Greg. Give yourself ten, you deserve it."
"Thanks, boss," Greg answered, wiping the sweat off his brow as he exited the booth.
"Any word on Columbia yet?" Ness asked Gorgeous.
"They're too busy trying to shut down BitTorrent networks," said the slim, bespectacled Gorgeous, "Look, I'm not concerned with promotion right now. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Let's just keep our eye on the ball and play a little jazz with these guys so they can get the album they deserve."
"Of course, of course," said Ness, "Sorry, I'm anxious as all hell. I mean, these are probably the best guys we've ever worked with. If anyone deserves to break out--"
"Damn skippy," said the somewhat more rotund Lucky, "You see anybody blaming you, brother?"
Ness grinned, breaking his lips only to say "Not that I can find, brother."
The grin turned serious when he heard his Blackberry ring out in alarm. "Shit," he said, "That's my cue."
"The old lady?" asked Gorgeous.
"The old lady," affirmed Ness.
The confrence room in Dennis, Andersen, Carroll, & Harbor was circular and bright, with large plate-glass windows that would overlook the City of Angels, so hot today that one could see the heat bend the air it invaded. Ness and his attorney, Richard Poole, sat facing that view while Carol Ann Franklin and her army of attorneys - the name partners Jason Harbor, Sean Carroll, and Katerina Andersen - sat with their backs to it.
"Mr. Franklin," said Carroll, picking up a piece of paper, "On this sheet of paper you'll find a draft of final demands our client has. If you're not willing to answer these demands, then we'll set a court date and argue about it there. Just so we're clear, I'll read them to you: At the top of the list is the money: our client wants from you about a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in alimony and three hundred and fifty thousand dollars in child support. In return for accepting this generous deal--"
"Whoa whoa whoah," Richard cut in, "Sean, this is an extremely unfair offer, you're asking my client to give up three quarters of his salary when it's not even a steady salary to begin--"
"Richard," Ness broke in, "Thanks for doing your job, but let's hear these guys out."
"In return for accepting this generous offer, we'll leave your client with the house and most of the furnishings." At this point, Ness felt his Blackberry vibrate and glanced down to check it. "Our client is going to want the plasma TV, the king sized bed and the linens..."
The text message on his Blackberry was from his secretary and the first words that caught his eye were "JEFF ANDONUTS". After that, all voices faded. Ness read through the entire text as the lawyer continued to drone on soundlessly.
NESS,
JESSICA HARDWICKE (P.I.) CALLED. CLAIMS YOU KNOW HER FIANCÉ, JEFF ANDONUTS. HIS FATHER HAS DIED. CALL 534-23-64 (CANADIAN NO.) FOR DETAILS ON WAKE.
-NANCY
"...Also in return for your cooperation, our client is willing to share custody of your child with you. As a show of good faith."
"You realize that you're dangling A CHILD'S FUTURE as a reward?" asked Richard, incredulous, "This doesn't strike you as evil in any way?"
Ness looked up in time to see Andersen lean forward. "Mr. Franklin," she cut, "let's make something clear. Our client's father is a close, personal friend of our founding name partner, Peter Dennis. And because of this, we're willing to fight to the death for her. Now, we're happy to take you to court and leave you with nothing. We don't even care if you're a good person. As far as we're concerned, if you're against our client, you're against us. And in her opinion, our client is being VERY charitable, considering all the pain and suffering you've put her through over the past ten years. So take the offer so we can start putting this behind us. Or, we'll go to court and you can look forward to a full year, maybe more, of dealing with a very pissed off law firm. We've got nothing better to do than mess with the lives of people like you."
Ness took a moment, and then said "Ms. Andersen--"
"Mrs."
"You're married? Huh. I tip my hat to the spouse. Look, I appreciate your offer. I'm going to assume based on how 'your client' hasn't opened her whore mouth throughout the whole meeting that we're playing some sort of middle school 'I'm-not-speaking-to-you' game."
THAT knocked Carol Ann for a loop, finally causing her stone face to change into a classic "I am shocked" expression. "Mr. Franklin!" shouted Harbor--
And before Harbor could finish that thought, Ness jumped back in. "So in that tradition, tell Carol Ann that my counteroffer is this: I will pay her twenty-five grand in alimony per year. I will pay her one hundred grand in child support per year. She can have custody of Robbie, because there's no disputing that I'm not around enough to help raise him. She can also have the house because Robbie doesn't deserve to be yanked from the home he's growing up in because his mother is acting like a fucktarded child."
Once again, "MR. FRANKLIN!", except now it was Harbor AND Andersen at the same time.
Still, Ness would not be stalled. "I WILL have visitation rights. Twice a week, and one weekend a month at Robbie's discretion. And I better goddamn like what I see when I come to visit. If I find out that you're drunk off your ass, coked up, not exercising discretion with one of Robbie's 'uncles'--"
"I don't like what you're insinuating about my client," Carroll cut in--
"I don't like your toupee. We're even. If I see any of that bullshit happen, so help me God, I will quit my job. I will get one with better hours. I will get a small apartment more conducive to raising a child. And I will take all that to the court, and I will yank that kid out of your arms. And just as a show of faith, as soon as you sign my counteroffer, I'm going to throw in a giant cross. Your client can take it with her to Christmas parties. And every time she bitches about how much she's sacrificed for her prick husband, she can just climb on up and nail herself to it for added effect."
"You BASTARD!" Carol Ann squeaked.
"SHE SPEAKS!" shouted Ness, "Hey, Carol Ann, you call your offer 'charity'? Toots, I need your 'charity' like I need a goddamn twig in my pisshole!"
Now all three lawyers jumped in. "MR. FRANKLIN!" Meanwhile, Richard looked like some kind of frightened squirrel, oblivious to any clear strategies for calming everyone down so logic could retake the reigns of this meeting. Not that much different from what he looked like once Ness started running his mouth.
"I'll take that as a rejection of my little counteroffer." Ness rose from his seat. Richard, not knowing what else to do, stood with him. "Welp," he said, stretching out, "I'm going to shove off, do something more productive with my time. Of course, that's kind of a broad subject since sterilizing my own urine to drink would be more productive than this meeting. So I'll just leave you with that thought." With that, Ness spun on his heel and headed for the glass doors seperating the confrence room from the rest of the law offices of Dennis, Andersen, Carroll, & Harbor.
"You leave this office, we'll see you in court! You will lose ever--"
"Bring it on, dickheads!" Ness left the confrence room, Richard following with notably different parting shots, namely "We'll be in touch."
"What the hell just happened in there?" Richard asked in the elevator.
"I'll deal with it when I get back."
"You've got a hell of a lot to deal with, Ness. Where are you going?"
"Toronto," said Ness as the doors opened to the lobby, "An old friend's father just died. I've got respects to pay. Call me with any developments."
He left Richard behind with the elevator, Richard still somewhat shell-shocked from the events of the past five minutes.