Chapter Five
1599 Words
They had gotten home by a bit past two, so Daniel had bid Alfie good night, went to him his room and got ready for bed. Times like this was when he felt lonely the most. He didn’t have anyone to hold or have small talks with while they gradually fell asleep. He pulled on a pair of plaid pajama bottom and a white shirt before sliding into bed.
Daniel woke up at dawn and began typing. His goal was to write for three hours and then get breakfast ready. His work as a ghost writer had to be the best thing to have ever happened to him. He didn’t have to be in the spotlight, he still made a ridiculous amount of money and he was still able to do things he wouldn’t have been able to do if he was a popular face. He, however, writes for two hours and exercises for one. He quickly takes his bath, pulls on a pair of jeans and a grey hoodie before walking out of his room. He pads into the kitchen and pulls out the carton of eggs from the fridge.
Times like this too, made him feel all the more lonely. Every day, he’d wake up and make breakfast and every day, he ate alone. He cracks the eggs into a bowl, adds a little salt and a drop of milk and whisked. He grabbed the bread from the top of the fridge and pops two slices into the toaster. It doesn’t take long for breakfast to be ready, just as he was pouring the mango juice into tall glasses, Alfie walks into the kitchen, one hand scratching his bum and the other hand rubbing his belly.
“Morning, dad.”
“Morning, Fie.” Dan greeted as Alfie takes his seat. “How was your night?”
“Sore. I have to do a couple of stretches later on.”
“Here. If you want more, there’s an extra plate of eggs in the oven.” Dan says as he slides the tray of food towards Alfie.
“Have you written today?”
“Yeah and exercised a bit.”
Alfie nods. He takes a bite of his eyes and his stomach growled loudly. He looks down at it with wide eyes as he silently wondered why it was growling. He was already eating. He looks up to find his father staring at him with an amused expression on his face. They bursts into laughter and continued to eat. Alfie ended up eating the extra plates of bread and drinking another glass of mango juice. Alfie loads the used plates and pans into the dishwasher and tells his dad he was going to freshen up.
He had his bath, slid into a black sweatpants and a white shirt with the words I am your leader on it. He brushed his hair and finally went down stairs, his phone in his hand. He finds his father sitting in front of the television as they played a rerun of another Grey’s Anatomy episode. He sits beside his father and taps the screen of his phone.
He had two missed called and a message from Mr. BlackBourne
The text simply read, call me when you see this.
He immediately called the man who picks after three rings. Alfie gets up from the chair and points at the phone pressed to his ear when his father looked at him in question. He makes his way back into his room and sits on his bed.
“Good morning, sir.”
“Good morning, my boy.” The man starts. “I’m sorry for calling you this early but I just wanted to share a good news with you.”
Alfie’s sits upright at that. He wondered what news Andrew wanted to share with him. He was pretty sure the tickets to the show sold out a few minutes after it was available online.
“We just received a contract from PepC, you know the drink?”
“Yes I know it.”
“They want you to do a campaign shoot with a couple of other people. It’s gonna be you, the siblings, Precious and her snakes and Tutu.” Andrews said. “A couple of other people from sports teams and one more person would join you.”
“Do you mind if I see the contract, make a copy of it and sent it to my lawyer?”
“I’ve sent someone to deliver it to you, it should be there in a couple of minutes.”
“But I’m at my dad’s house.”
“Yes, I know.”
Alfie doesn’t even want to know how Andrew knew he was at his father’s house. The ringmaster seemed to always know anything, especially when his performers were up to no good.
“When does the shooting start and how long does it last? What about the others from the troupe?”
“They have a charity show to perform at.” Andrew replied. “It lasts for a week and it starts on Monday? I can get them to push it to Wednesday?”
Andrew BlackBourne had this motto, no man is to be left behind. He made sure all his performers were given equal treatments because they were all special in their own way and were in a class of their own. If one person gets a deal, everyone got a deal. And he made sure no one was cheated.
“I’ll look through it but Monday should be fine.”
“If you change your mind, please inform me and I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you very much, sir.”
“Any time, my boy.”
After the call, Alfie slides the phone into his pocket and walked back downstairs. He finds his dad still sitting in front of the tv and plopped onto the space beside him. Immediately, he’s seated, his dad turned to him.
“Is something wrong?”
“Nope. I got a contract for a PepC campaign.”
“THAT’S AMAZING!” Dan cheered, smiling brightly at his son. “You’re going to be on billboards and everything.”
Alfie grabbed one of the throw pillows and playfully smacked his dad with it.
“Stop hitting me or you’ll be grounded!”
Alfie snorts. “I don’t leave under your roof anymore so that doesn’t work on me.”
“I raised you for Twenty-three years, if I say you’re grounded then you’re grounded.” Dan warned, raising an eyebrow as if silently asking if Alfie is he had a problem with that. Alfie doesn’t even try to argue anymore, he just nods his head and grinned at his father.
“Where’s the contract? When does the shooting start? Who else from your troupe got the contract?”
“Mr. Andrew sent someone to have the contract delivered here.”
Dan huffed. “I told that man to start using emails but he doesn’t trust it. He keeps saying they can easily be hacked and manipulated and he doesn’t want spam messages. He is seventy one not a hundred and forty.” Dan complained, frowning a bit as he spoke.
“He is right though.”
“I know but it’d make things easier.”
“Any way, Precious, Tutu and I are going to be doing the campaign with a couple of baseball players and so on.”
They are interrupted by the bell going off. Dan got up to get it. Standing at the door was a man with a red uniform with the letters ABB on it. He hands Dan the envelope after the ma had signed. Daniel closed the door and made his way back to the sitting room. The envelope wasn’t heavy, nor was it light.
“I texted Barrister Churchill while you were at the door. He said he’ll be here in ten.”
“Good.”
Alfie picks the remote this time and flips through Netflix as he tries to search for something to watch. He finally settles on the ninth season Modern Family. They were halfway through the episode when the bell went off. Alfie got up before Dan could and walked to the door. He welcomes the Barrister in who smiles and greets him warmly.
“Jonathon! Good to see you again.” Daniel greet as he grabs the Barrister’s hand in a firm shake.
“Likewise, Daniel.”
“Please take a seat.”
They got down to business immediately the barrister sits. Jonathon reads through the contract carefully and finally tells the Allred’s that it was a great deal. He advised them to sign and Alfie does. Jonathon Churchill has been working for Alfie, ever since he joined the circus three years ago. Daniel had searched for the best lawyer he could give his son and had found Jonathon after a few weeks of searching and the man has never led them astray.
“You begin on Monday.” Jonathon says and Alfie nods.
“I know.”
“Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
- Writer
