Junior Year Box Set

I think he expected a negative reaction from me.

“Good. Wes would be a good fit for your offense.”

He would be a good fit at almost every college in America. Wes wouldn’t work out well if you ran the wishbone, but if you didn’t expect him to run the football, he would be successful.

After the meeting, I thought about the Michigan program. Was Coach Haber the guy to turn them around? I thought he might be. I was glad it would be another year before I had to decide. I put them in the same category as Florida. These were two programs that, if they got their act together, could be national powers again.

◊◊◊

On our trip home, I suggested we stop at the hospital and see Tim. It was hard to see a fellow athlete hurt as severely as he was. While Tim was upbeat and full of hope, his eyes told me he had some doubts. It would be a lot of work, but I knew that Tim would be back and ready to play next year.

The guys were quiet when we left. They all seemed to be lost in their own thoughts.

I got home and told my parents about my trip. I was surprised when Mom admitted that she and Dad were still having some problems, but they had worked on them this weekend. She told me they would probably not go to any more recruiting visits this year because they still had issues they needed to work out.

◊◊◊

I entered the lobby at Rigby, Thompson and Associates, walked up to the reception desk, and asked for Megan. Megan was a diminutive slip of a girl, barely over five feet tall, with black glasses but a sweet smile. The thought popped into my head that if ever there was a nickname for her, it would have to be ‘Mouse.’ She greeted me with a smile and a warm handshake.

“Hi, David, I’m Megan. I understand you need a new income statement for your bank.”

“Yeah, Kendal said you would get it for me.”

She led me back to her office and sat me down next to her in front of a computer with a giant monitor.

“Okay, let’s pull your information up and see what we have.”

Megan typed in a string of commands and up popped a bunch of rows and columns of numbers. I looked at her and shrugged my shoulders. I had no interest in bookkeeping and was more than happy to have them do this for me.

“I’m sure someone understands that, but I sure don’t,” I admitted.

“Just watch,” Megan said with a hint of a smile.

She typed in a few more commands, clicked on the mouse a few times, and all of a sudden there were a number of colored pie charts on the screen. I looked at it for a second and then turned to her with my eyebrows raised.

“Is that my information?” I asked.

“This shows your income from modeling and movies as well as expenses, both in hard numbers and as a percentage of total income. It’s also shown by quarters for the previous year and a half.”

I’m sure my jaw dropped. The charts made this much more understandable. Kendal had always shown my dad and me reports that were rows of numbers. With just a quick glance I could see where all my money came from. It was interesting to see how it had changed over time. Modeling had gone from my only income to one of the smaller portions. Two sections that surprised me were photo resales and revenue from the leads I had created for both Ford and Adrienne. I received an override on that business, and it seemed to grow over time. The farm had started to pay off. The recent harvest and the cattle sales had hit this quarter. It turned out I was flush with cash right now.

“Can I see a hard copy of that? It’s amazing,” I said.

“Sure!” she said. “Give me another moment.”

The mouse rolled and clicked away again merrily, and a very pretty document titled ‘Income Statement’ appeared. Megan clicked away again for a minute and then got up.

“Be right back! These documents can only be printed on one printer, and I have to go get the printouts.”

I watched her through her office glass as she went a couple of doors down, produced a key, and entered another room. Half a minute later she reappeared with some papers in her hand. She picked two out and handed them to me.

“There you go, a completely up-to-date income statement in five minutes,” Megan said with a smile.

“What are the other pages?” I asked.

“I just wanted to show you these, so you have an idea what we can do to help you understand your finances.”

She then showed me the printouts of the colorful pie charts. Megan took the time to talk me through them. She pointed out where the money came in and what I spent it on. Something became clear from the charts: for my long-term security, I needed to find other sources of income like the farm.

I got ready to leave.