A number of days passed by before Michael’s fateful meeting with Diya. With Josh safely housed, Freddy returned to the campaign trail. Despite his efforts to further pound the pavement, he was not making any progress in regards to changing his polling numbers. While they didn’t tank after the series of scandals from the week prior, along with an added bit of good news that his negative approval ratings decreased, he was stuck at 12% in a matchup against the incumbent mayor. Three months of campaigning and he had almost nothing to show for it.
This is why Michael’s scheduled meeting with Diya was so critical. If Freddy was to have any real chance, he’d need her campaign donations. They would further raise awareness about his campaign, help him to hire staffers and support an army of volunteers. He had only recently gotten his digital fundraising platform operational. With a meager $300 in his campaign war chest, Diya’s billions would make all the difference.
On the Wednesday of Michael’s meeting, Freddy offered to drop Evan off at school for him.
“It’s so you have less to stress over today” he said, as he got his stuff together and made his way to the front door of their house. “Your focus should be on getting ready for this meeting with Diya.”
“I don’t see what there is to prepare for” Michael replied with an annoyed tone in his voice, as Evan happily made his way to join Freddy out the door.
Sitting alone in the house, Michael ruminated on what was about to transpire. He wasn’t really looking forward to this, especially since he and Diya hadn’t exactly part ways on the best of terms. If it wasn’t for Freddy’s insistence, he’d never have reached out to her in the first place. In his mind, their friendship was over. He just hoped that Diya’s willingness to meet with him stemmed from giving her a false sense of hope.
A short while later, Freddy came home and sat down next to Michael on the couch.
“It’ll be ok” Freddy said, patting Michael on the knee.
“I’m really nervous” Michael replied. “I’m not looking forward to this meeting at all. I really don’t want to lead her on in thinking I want to reconcile with her.”
“You’re only scheduled for an hour, so just get straight to the point. You need money for my campaign, sell the pitch and see what her response is. If she says yes, then fantastic. I may have a real shot of winning this thing now. If not, at least you tried. Either way, I really appreciate you doing this for me.”
“She’s not going to let me do that, Freddy. I know her too well. She’s going to want to catch up first, chat and then, in the few seconds I’ll have remaining, let me ask about your campaign.”
“Just say it right off the bat, so it’s made perfectly clear what your reason for being there is.”
“If you say so…”
A short time later, Michael got up to get ready to leave. He was dressed in a more business casual outfit, not wanting to be too formal, but not wanting to look like a slob either. When he was ready to go, Freddy gave him a kiss and opened the door for him.
“Good luck” Freddy said, as he watched Michael head out the door. “Break a leg. Known them dead.”
Michael let out a weak smile, as he slowly made his way to his car and began to drive off to the airfield. He hadn’t flown to Sacramento in a while. In fact, he hadn’t flown at all in the last several months. A little nervous about the flight, considering there was expected overcast clouds, Michael got approved for take off at the nearby airfield and lifted off into the sky.
Flying in the air, Michael let his thoughts run free. He knew he should be giving his full concentration to the task at hand, considering how dangerous flying could be and how deadly any sort of minor bump or collision was. In spite of these risks, however, he had a lot on his mind and pondered over them as he flew through the skies above.
“Maybe I can just not show up and tell Freddy she said no” he thought to himself as he flew. “How’s Freddy going to know otherwise? I mean, besides my inability to convincingly lie. He’s really lucky he has that skill set. It has come in handy many times before. I wish I could just flat out lie the way he does and look like I mean it. I’m just too much of an open book for my own good.”
Before long, Michael found the iThink company parking lot and signaled to ground control that he wished to land.
“What’s your business here?” the air traffic controller could be heard through his car’s speakers. “I don’t recognize your license plate number or car ID.”
“Code word wildflower” Michael replied. “I’m here to see Diya Ramesh.”
“Code word wildflower? What kind of crazy thing is that? Permission denied.”
“Diya invited me here. Michael Scavolini. I’m here for a 12 o’clock meeting.”
“We don’t have any scheduled logs from her here. You should try to contact her, if you actually know her, and tell her to reach out to us. In the meantime, permission denied. You do not have authorization to land in this parking lot.”
“Ugh.”
Michael had two ideas ruminating in his head. He thought to just turn around and head back home. However, he’d need to land at a gas station first, as he didn’t have enough to make it back with the current amount in his tank. He also thought to contact Diya and ask her what to do. However, he knew she’d be busy and perhaps not available to talk right this second.
Struggling with how to proceed, Michael was about to give up, when he spotted a large lane of vacant road not too far off in the distance.
“Maybe” he thought to himself, as he maneuvered his vehicle over to the strip of road below. “I know that this is illegal and potentially could get my license suspended, but I’m kind of in a pickle here and there’s no one else around. I’m willing to chance it. Hope this works.”
Michael looked at the stretch of road and prepared for an unauthorized landing. Setting the controls down, he began his descent and seemed like he would have a smooth landing. However, just before he did, a car sped down the road.
“Shit!” Michael gasped aloud, as he panicked and quickly maneuvered upwards, hoping to avoid a collision.
As his vehicle made its way back up in the air, the horn from the car below blasted loudly.
“You fucking maniac!” the driver yelled, as they sped off into the distance.
Relieved that he avoided a likely fatal collision, Michael pulled his vehicle down again and finished with a relatively smooth landing.
“Phew” Michael thought, as he turned his vehicle around. “That was a close one. I nearly lost my life just now. I hope Freddy appreciates all the effort I’m making for him here.”
Once he was safely in motion on the ground, Michael headed towards the famous iThink sky scraper. It was just outside of the city center, with another building closer to the state’s capitol building. It was a sight to behold, one of the largest buildings in the world. Shining with a blue as clear as the ocean, it hosted half of the nearly one million employees that iThink employed worldwide.
Driving near the building, Michael thought against going up to the gate attendant. If the parking lot air traffic controller didn’t recognize his information, he didn’t know if the security guard would either. Finding a metered spot, Michael parked and digitally gave a two hour payment. Stepping out of the car, Michael made his way to the front entrance a block away.
The interior of the iThink building was as impressive as the exterior. It was modern, with tall ceilings and a silver floor. The panes of the building were one way mirrors. You could see out, but no one could see in. Lots of people made their way through the hustle and bustle of the building’s vast lobby. Waiting in line at the security desk, Michael took it all in.
“I’ve seen the pictures online before” Michael thought, as he slowly scanned the room "but to see it in person is a whole different experience. I have to admit, this is very impressive. Pretty much exactly the way I would have designed it if I was in charge. I wonder if my sense of fashion and taste rubbed off on Diya somehow.”
After a few minutes of waiting, Michael made his way to the security desk.
“Hi” Michael said. “I’m here to see Diya Ramesh.”
“Ha” the security clerk replied with a chuckle. “You and every other person on the planet. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“Code word wildflower. She told me to tell you to look up a code word wildflower.”
“Uh….ok.”
The security clerk typed on his communication device into a special program designed for VIP visitors. The fact that Michael knew there were code words in and of itself made it clear he wasn’t faking his relationship to Diya. If the code word was correct, he really did have an appointment to see her.
Typing in the program, the security clerk was amazed to see that access was granted.
“Wow” the security clerk said, with an astonished tone in his voice. “I know we’ve trained for this, but damn, I’ve never actually been able to successfully do this before. Unbelievable. You must be really important then.”
“Yeah” Michael replied quietly, knowing he couldn’t reveal what his real relationship to Diya was.
“Alright, the program has you automatically assigned to transport directly to her office. Hop on the moving sidewalk over there.”
Michael slowly made his way to a moving sidewalk a short distance away.
“Good luck with your meeting!” the security clerk called out, as he activated the moving sidewalk from the code word program.
Starting up, Michael felt the floor move below him, as it transported him from the lobby to a private elevator away from the crowds. Entering a mysterious room, Michael saw an elevator door open on its own, as the moving sidewalk brought him into the car. After the doors closed, the elevator sped up like a rocket, disorienting Michael and leaving him with an out of body experience.
When it finished its ascent to the penthouse floor, the doors opened and Michael was moved again. Michael took in this sparsely spaced floor, with some fine pieces of art work on the walls and small, but chic looking furniture. Gazing at the views from the glass panes, Michael could only see storm clouds, where blue sky should have been.
“If the weather was better today” Michael thought to himself, as he continued to be moved by the floor “I bet these views would be absolutely fantastic.”
The moving sidewalk stopped once again in front of a large wall. The only notable thing about the wall was what appeared to be a slit, carved to look like a door. Waiting for a moment, Michael stared at the wall with a confused expression on his face, before he heard a voice call out to him from speakers in the ceiling.
“Michael, you’re here” Diya could be heard saying.
“Yeah” Michael replied. “It was easy to find the place, but it wasn’t so easy to get a parking spot.”
“Oh really? Well, they should have let you park in the parking lot.”
“They didn’t. They said they had no record of this meeting in their database and that permission was denied to land. I almost hit someone while I made a makeshift landing on a seemingly abandoned road.”
“Oh no, you shouldn’t have done that. You should have called me and I would have fixed the problem.”
“I thought to do that, but I figured you were busy. Can I come in now, please?”
“Oh, yeah, right, of course. Give me a second.”
Michael stood impatiently behind the wall, before a buzzing sound could be heard and the makeshift door in the wall opened up into Diya’s office. It was very minimal in the way of decoration. She had a humongous desk, impressive views of the skyline through two corners of the room and stacks of bookcases in various spots. Michael thought the set up was strange, but he wouldn’t really be focusing on that during his visit.
Feeling his heart in the back of his chest, the moving sidewalk stopped suddenly, causing him to jerk.
“Are you ok?” Diya asked, as she got up from her chair to greet him.
“Yeah, I’m alright” Michael replied, as he composed himself.
“Come here, my old friend. It’s been so many years.”
Diya gave him a big hug, which Michael accepted, but with a strong showing of hesitation. Michael gently patted her shoulders, while she crushed him with her grasp. When she let go, after what seemed like an eternity, she ushered Michael to a seat in front of her desk.
“Sit sit” she said, motioning Michael to the chair.
Michael slowly sat down in the chair, as Diya went around to her desk and sat in her rolling chair. When they were settled in, she confidently spoke up.
“It’s so good to see you again. I really never thought that we’d ever meet up again. You look like you haven’t aged a day.”
“Thanks, Diya” Michael replied, with a hint of nervousness in his voice.
“I know I said I only had until 1 to talk today, but since we haven’t caught up in so long, I pushed all of the day’s meetings back an hour, so we have until 2 to chat. I'll have to stay an hour later tonight and get one less hour of sleep, but it's worth it. Hope it puts your mind at ease a bit.”
“Eh, sort of. I’m just worried about getting a ticket, that’s all.”
“Phew, ticket schmicket. If you get one from those meter ladies, just send me the bill and I’ll cover it. It’s on me, especially since I must have forgotten to have my secretary call the parking lot attendants to give them the heads up that you were coming today.”
“Thanks Diya, I appreciate it. I hope it’s not necessary, though, but it’s good to know that I’m covered just in case.”
Diya smiled, as Michael began to feel a little less nervous than before.
“So it’s obviously been a long time” Diya continued “and obviously a lot of stuff has happened in the preceding years. You probably know about my deal already and, quite frankly, I’m sick of talking about myself anyway. I do that all the time and it just absolutely drives me nuts. I want to hear about someone else for a change. How have you been, Michael? How has life treated you?”
“I mean” Michael replied, being careful with what he’d say and how he would phrase it “for the most part, life has been good. I’ve been married to Freddy now for fourteen years. We adopted a son—“
“Wait, what?! Hold up. You have a son?”
“Yeah….”
“Wow Michael. I never thought you’d go domestic. Did you end up making a test tube baby?”
“No. We adopted our son because this girl got knocked up by someone we knew in high school and he refused to be a father. So rather than abort it, she asked us to take care of him.”
“Who would do such a thing like that?”
“Daniel.”
“Daniel?! You really adopted Daniel’s baby?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t like we were going out of our way to have a child. We were totally content with it being just the two of us. However, he was just kind of sprung on us and we just made the best of it.”
“I’m totally not surprised that Daniel would knock up a girl like that and then abandon her when she got pregnant. That’s so much like his character to do that. I’m just surprised that you would adopt his baby, knowing what a jerk he was to you and really to most everyone in high school.”
“Well, it’s kind of a funny story of how it happened. Freddy and I were home together one weekend and we hear a knock on our door. We weren’t expecting company, so we were surprised to see this girl standing in the hallway when I opened the door. She looked very sad, extremely miserable actually.
“I had no idea who she was, but I felt sorry for her. So going against my normal instincts, I let her in to our apartment and sat her down on our couch. She was sobbing hysterically and told me that she knew us from high school.”
“Who was it?”
“This girl Melanie.”
“Melanie?”
“I don’t remember her last name at the moment. So anyways, she tells us that Daniel hit her up, saying he missed her and wanted to hang out. Long story short, they get drunk and he fucks her without a condom on. A few days later, she misses her period and she’s freaking out. She gets tested and it turns out that she’s pregnant.”
“Oh my God.”
“Yeah. Crazy, right? So she tracks Daniel down and says she’s having his baby. He at first denies it and claims she’s a whore who sleeps around with a lot of men, but she shows him the DNA tests and it’s obviously his. He basically flat out tells her to either abort the baby or get out of his life. He wants nothing to do with a child.”
“What a piece of shit, but this is so typical of him. It seems age has not made him a better person.”
“Nope. So anyways, she goes through her yearbook and the first person she recognized was Freddy, since it was alphabetized by last name. She finds his law practice and then traces him to our apartment. I’m a little freaked out at how easy it was for her to find us, but the pressing matter was the baby in her belly.”
“How far along was she?”
“Only about a week. It was in that window where she could still use the morning after pill. She really didn’t want to abort the baby, but she didn’t want to raise it on her own either, especially if it looked like Daniel. She remembered how happy we were as a couple and thought we’d make good parents. She asked us to adopt her baby and raise it like our own child.
“Freddy was totally opposed to the idea, but I wasn’t so sure. I told her we’d think about it and then we had a lot of back and forth about it over the course of a few days. Freddy didn’t want to add anyone into our relationship and felt we were just getting into a rhythm of enjoying each other’s company.
“I felt that I couldn’t leave this child to either be killed or brought into a world with no hope. If we didn’t raise it and give it a loving home, then who would? Plus, I remembered that my father had insisted that my mother not abort me, so I felt it was my way of paying it forward, in honor of my dad.”
“Your father was something else. Leaving you on the hook for student loans, abandoning you before your wedding and basically being a big part of the reason why we had to part ways in a professional capacity.”
Michael was visibly irritated with this comment and his face showed it.
“We didn’t part ways on the best of terms because you royally screwed me over.”
“Michael, I didn’t screw you over. If anything, you screwed me over for years prior and left me to build this company all on my own. Considering the contributions you made, or really, lack thereof, you got more than your fair share as a parting severance.”
“Considering it was my ideas that helped make your website work, I totally got the short end of the stick.”
“You got more than a fair compensation for the work you put in.”
“I got fucked over royally. I remember how it all went down like it was yesterday.”
“I do too and I recall it differently.”
In 2026…..