The Dream Virgin: A Ventures Nest Thriller Page 8

  CHAPTER 16

  Walls of mixed wood surrounded the enormous stone fireplace. Redwood beams crossed and braced the high-domed ceiling under which giant leather beanbag chairs rested on the cobblestone floor that spread into the dining room and kitchen out onto a large recreational area with more amusement games than at the bowling alley.

  Everyone was barefoot, including the large Native American Indian woman seen before with Leon who served everyone dishes of ice cream.

  Leon savored a spoonful from his dish.

  “Tallula makes this delicacy with a wooden hand-grinder, packs it with ice and rock salt, takes hours.” He took a spoonful. “That’s why it tastes so scrumptious.”

  Tallula smiled.

  “It’s Molly’s ice cream. But I don’t mind talking the credit for Leon’s sweet lie.”

  Tallula walked backed to the kitchen and on the way she said, “Let me know when you’re ready for seconds.”

  Elfri took a spoonful of the chocolate almond and said, her hackles somewhat lowered, “So why is it you seem to know so much about me and my comic book?”

  “I’m interested in seeing if you can help Chip,” Leon said. “That’s been difficult because as much as we’ve tried, as many specialists that he’s seen, he’s responded to nothing and no one.

  Until three months ago.”

  Chip finished his ice cream and laid his head on Leon’s lap.

  “I want to share a story with you,” Leon said.

  Elfri and Will waited, watched Chip close his eyes.

  “About eight years ago, a twelve-year-old boy got in touch with me. He told me over the phone why I should meet with him about my property to build an R&D incubator for innovative entrepreneurs.”

  “Oliver was only twelve?”

  Leon nodded. “Brilliant, no-nonsense kid with deep-pocket backing from a foundation set up for him when he was orphaned.”

  “There’s nothing known about his parents?” Elfri asked.

  “Lots of speculation, the trust being worth a fortune, where it came from. But there’s no trace of its founders. They obviously did not want to be found and I’ve spent a good deal of time and money trying.”

  Leon stroked Chip’s hair. Kept his voice low.

  “After serious due diligence, confirming that Oliver had bank accounts worth a way lot more than me, and I’m not bad off, I decided to give it a go and see what Oliver could do. So I gave the kid a shot.”

  “Nicole’s his foster mother?” Will asked.

  “His guardian. She’s part of a family of guardians, a select group of exceptional tutors who’ve been in his life from the time he was two. Nicole taught economics at MIT, then worked in the private sector until the foundation convinced her to join the family. Her resume played no small part in my decision to go into business with Oliver.”

  Elfri listened to Leon; could tell he knew a lot about business. She’d never been around anyone as wealthy and she liked that he didn’t make a big thing out of it. And he was cool with his Hawaiian look. Probably smoked weed.

  Will said, “Can I ask why Oliver and his foundation picked Lake Meadows for Ventures Nest? Seems sort of remote.”

  Leon slowly lifted Chip’s head off his lap onto the pillow.

  “They answered one of the online ads I ran. A hundred and eight acres of forest meadowland in the gorgeous Oregon Alps near a lovely little lake town. After a lowball offer from a chemical company in Seattle that wanted to put up a pesticide plant, I got a call from the senior partner of a NYC law firm. She represented a foundation and had a client interested in talking with me.”

  Leon stood and pointed to the dining table.

  “Oliver pitched me right over here. Set up a four-by-ten-foot model that he designed, built, and transported across the country. Model was a mindblower, each unique site on the campus planned with purpose and powered by solar and wind as much as possible.”

  Will said, “Oliver’s an impressive young man.”

  “He impressed me for three hours. Showed and told me what he envisioned and why he wanted me to become his partner. Had forty-six pages of plans, budgets, and projections for turning a deserted nudist camp into a campus for young entrepreneurs to collaborate and turn their projects into successful enterprises that made money and made sure that some of it went to good causes. Had it set up that Ventures Nest would participate in each of the projects, help them get started and take a piece of the profit.”

  “So you made a deal.” Elfri said.

  “We signed an agreement that basically asked me to put up my property and offer my influence in Lake Meadows. His foundation would pay for building the campus.

  If and once Ventures Nest became profitable, which Nicole projected would take three years, Oliver wanted an option to develop and re-design my properties on Main Streat that face the lake. Natures Retreat wasn’t the only property he knew I owned. He’d done his own due diligence.”

  Elfri said, “Must be nice to be rich. You must play a mean game of Monopoly, huh, Leon?” wanting to see what he’d say.

  “Take him long to turn a profit?” Will asked.

  “Twenty-seven months to make four million from a startup his team created called Real Tuff Turf, sold it to a golf course conglomerate with patents for an artificial turf system that intertwines with a live root system using adaptive ratios.”

  “That’s interesting,” Will said, wondering how that worked. Golf not his thing.

  “Oliver turned an abandoned nudist colony and a barely-thriving fishing town into a trendy tourist trap for the young and affluent attracted to the latest and greatest gadgets and getups. Then he put Lake Meadows on the map with Wonder Way and land values skyrocketed.”

  “So what happened three months ago?” Elfri asked.

  “Say again?” Leon said.

  “Chip. You said he hadn’t responded to attempts to get him to relate until three months ago.”

  “Right. Around that time Nicole told me about the six Venture Nest contest winners that were coming up this summer to work on their projects. Chip happened to be with me when Nicole opened a file with your name on it and took out one of your Dream Zoo comic books, Slumber Tattoos a Boogieman.”

  Will said, “Slumber’s a tough cookie.”

  Elfri said, “Can you please shut up and let the man talk?”

  Leon was taken by Elfri’s outspokenness, even more impressed that Will didn’t take his granddaughter’s remark personally, just nodded and worked his mustache.

  “So Nicole let us look through the comic, told us how you and Will drive all over the place teaching kids the power of dreams. When I saw how excited Chip was looking at your comic, Nicole said she thought I might want to talk with you. So I thought if I could offer you sponsorship for the summer, then maybe you and Chip could relate on some level.”

  “Sponsorship?”

  “Open my home to you, lend whatever help you may need during your time at the Nest. Pay you a hundred dollars a day every day you’re here and can offer Chip some of your time.”

  Leon’s offer was a shock, so Elfri cleared her throat before she said, “Okay if I ask how you see that happening, time wise, knowing I came here to work on Dream Zoo?”

  “You spend an hour or so a day with Chip, hang out, hopefully connect in a way that gets him closer to feeling maybe it’s okay to open up, maybe want to talk.”

  Elfri looked at Will. Then back to Leon.

  “I could probably hang out for an hour a day and teach him about dreams, but I’m not into trying to get Chip to speak unless he feels like it.” Elfri waited for Leon to say something, but he just nodded, so she asked, “Anything else I should know?”

  Leon looked down at Chip sleeping.

  “He has bad nightmares.”

  CHAPTER 17

  The first week in Lake Meadow
s was so full that Elfri had to cut her naps to four. She was beat and didn’t particularly want to go with the other Nestlings to the gala opening on Main Streat and Wonder Way that would be mobbed with tourists.

  Part of her problem was adjusting to a new schedule; part of it was the high altitude. Like she told Rachael who called her daily, she had a lot going on and there was only so much time. It was great that DZ’s Facebook page was getting Likes like never before, but Rachael needed to stop bugging her for fresh photos to post of her at Ventures Nest. She’d never taken a Selfie, wasn’t big on posing. She could pretend, but smiling for a camera unless you were playing someone like Silvia the Psychic felt stupid to her.

  Elfri and Will settled in quickly at Leon’s and spending time with Chip had become addictive. He’d read every DZ comic, some of them two and three times, and he wanted to be with Elfri every minute of the day. He had yet to invite Elfri into his private space, a room at the rear of the house with a lock on it. Even Leon had limited access. Chip would let Leon in to bring him a Giant White Knee or a Mexican Redleg, but tarantula deliveries were about it.

  Leon shared with Elfri that Chip kept pet tarantulas in his locked room. Which was why Elfri wanted Chip to take as long as he wanted to invite her in.

  Leon went out of his way to make things nice.

  Using the deluxe bathroom with a Jacuzzi between the two guest rooms Leon offered her and Will to stay in wowed Elfri. It’s where she was now, looking at herself in the wide mirror, trying to decide whether she should tuck her hair under her Astros cap. Let it hang down. Or comb it out.

  Except for playing Slumber, Elfri had no experience with makeup or fashion. But she began to think she might want to find another look other than jeans and tees and boots. If she’d talk to her, maybe she could ask the Rags-to-Riches Leah her opinion.

  “You ready?” Will shouted from the hallway.

  Elfri wasn’t, but shouted back, “Let’s do it!”

  It was closer and easier for Will to drop Elfri off on Main Streat rather than take her to the Nest, but they both figured it would be wise for her to meet up with the other Nestlings at the shuttle on campus and be part of the ride into town.

  Elfri had not started things out well with A-B-D and L-M-W, lettering the Nestlings for memory, but she knew next to nothing about Amarosa, Bob, Didjano, Leah, Manny, or Wayne.

  None of them showed interest in knowing her, and when she tried to strike up a conversation they’d act polite, but would leave with some lame excuse after the first minute or two. Elfri knew staying at Leon’s instead of at one of the Nestling yurts on campus played into them feeling she was being favored; not part of the team.

  On Wednesday, Elfri overheard at the Munchies kiosk, maybe it was meant for her to hear, Manny saying she was a lose cannon and Didjano saying she was a crazy-eyed bitch who needed electroshock treatments.

  Which is why Elfri needed to figure out how to make up and fit in.

  She knew some jokes, could tell a few stories; it couldn’t be that hard. She could get them to talk about themselves like most people like to do.

  The ride into town sucked.

  Hunter and five of the other Nestlings were seated in the first two rows of seats, so Elfri had to sit in the rear row of the shuttle with Didjano who wore a t-shirt that featured starving children with the words 21,000 DIE EVERY DAY emblazoned across it.

  Didjano wanted nothing to do with Elfri and made it clear when Elfri reached out, trying to be friendly, and said, “Mind if I ask how you got into knowing so much about everything?”

  Not looking at Elfri, sounding like a Wellesley snob, Didjano said, “I had the good fortune to grow up poor and quick, watched the brainy TV shows at Laundromats, read the Encyclopedia Britannica in libraries, not all forty-four million words, but enough to use my eidetic skills to garner attention and reach a meaningful online audience of young Afro-Americans that I can preach environmental truths to.

  Didjano turned to Elfri like a pointed gun.

  “Truth is, I only responded to your cloying question in hopes I could refrain from telling you straight out what a major bitch you are. I obviously wasn’t successful.”

  Didjano cocked the gun.

  “Here the deal, cowgirl. I will go about doing my thing.”

  Didjano tapped her heart.

  “And you’ll do yours.”

  Didjano tapped Elfri’s heart with a fuck-you-finger.

  “But if you ever again mock what I have to say and care about, I guarantee to make your dreamy summer stay a nightmare.”

  Didjano turned away as if Elfri didn’t exist.

  The first reaction Elfri had to Didjano’s rant was to punch her lights out. But she graced the space and kept her mouth shut as Didjano typed in her iPod and Elfri turned and pretended to be interested in the scenery.

  On campus Elfri overheard that Didjano had a large African American following on Face the Facts, and was at Ventures Nest to try and develop another TV show called Earthy Matters, an Eco-Quiz game show; young black students on one team, celebrities on another, Didjano asking questions about the planet with the sponsored winnings going to small charities. Plus she had a book of serious poetry she was writing about racial equality.

  Which made Elfri feel shitty, and was why she tried to reach out to Didjano. It was hard for Elfri to back down or say she was wrong, even when she knew she was and should. Stupid stubborn is what Will called it.

  It was a problem Elfri needed to deal with. Way overdue.

  The ride from campus to town took about ten minutes so Elfri put on her shades, shifted into Alpha, and accepted the fact she had amends to make.

  CHAPTER 18

  “Stay together, please!”

  Hunter huddled the Nestlings together at the first cross block of the teeming thoroughfare, told them they could make their way down the other three blocks of Main on their own. He had helped them squeeze their way in and out of several Wonder Way shops, which Elfri was blown away by, especially the Sweet Sins candy store with their samples of champagne gummy bears on silver trays. Hunter wished them luck fighting the opening night mob and reminded them that the last shuttle left the Welcome Center for the Nest at ten sharp. They could catch a cab if they wanted to stay later.

  “And watch your valuables. Gala events attract pickpockets and I’m not talking about the shop on Main.”

  Hunter said if anyone had a problem they could speak to one of the Green Guides who were dressed in green and were also cops.

  Main Streat was cool in the daytime, but dazzled at night, especially the first night of the first weekend of summer when the latest line of innovative shops were introduced to the young and affluent with all the bells and whistles. Main Streat intimidated Elfri. It also turned her on. Laser light wizardry played overhead, never-ending, always-changing light shows that vied for attention with the digital magic below on Wonder Way, where the Guides wore leaf mustaches and twirled neon green batons, where the signature color green that embraced Mother Earth and signaled a Peace and Love renaissance was used by revelers dressed as pickles and celery stalks, artichokes and asparagus, and all manner of trees.

  Funsters amusement center featured Fate of the World and Climate Challenge among its hundreds of video games.

  Posters for the Crazy Ideas Bash were featured in shop windows.

  Halfway down the second block of Main, Elfri was amazed at how all the virtual reality aspects of Wonder Way were integrated into storefronts; it wasn’t just razzle-dazzle.

  The Nestlings approached a shop called Pick Pockits that made Elfri think of what Hunter said and she checked her jeans for her wallet.

  A frog that could be Kermit’s quilted cousin leaped back and forth over the storefront entrance, each leap with a different Pockit featured on its patchwork body. Custom designed Pockits hopped up onto the astounding sidewalk and into th
e store like digital frogs.

  Inside Pick Pockits were fashionable Pockits of studded leather, raw silk and rhinestones: zipped and buttoned, multi-purposed. Pockits for hiding valuables. Pockits to attach to backpacks, handbags, footwear, and clothes. All Pockits displayed cleverly on appropriate counters by Pockit-patched clerks sporting samples.

  Cheerful voices welcomed them as they entered the shop.

  “Hey, what’s that in your Pockit?”

  “You got deep Pockits?”

  “Like a Pockit full of miracles?”

  Each come-on question emphasized with a wacky frog croak.

  The other Nestlings kept their distance in the store, stayed away from Elfri, the snub led by Didjano.

  Except for Leah.

  While Didjano rapped about the Fly Pockit, what a “crotch-killer” it was, Leah walked over to the Smarty Pants display where Elfri was checking out a smartphone Pockit. Leah looked at Elfri.

  “You believe nobody thought of this before? Portable pockets?”

  “Yeah. Each with their own attachment kit.”

  Leah looked over at the other Nestlings trying on Hat Pockits.

  “No one likes you very much, you know, Elfri.”

  “I know. I messed up big time with Didjano.”

  “Didjano is not a good person to mess with.”

  Leah gave Elfri a bump on the hip.

  “Wanna hang out awhile?”

  Elfri’s heart skipped a beat. She had to hold back from giving Leah a big hug and said, “Sounds good to me.”

  Leah gave Elfri a long look.

  “You could use a makeover.”

  Leah took Elfri into the bathroom at the App Happy store, a store that made Elfri feel like a total dweeb.

  First she applied bright cherry lipstick, then Leah took off Elfri’s shades and lined her eyes.

  “When you got stun gun eyes, you don’t hide them.”

  Though it felt foreign, going along with Leah’s fashion suggestions gave Elfri a new and awkward approach to dressing.

  “The cowgirl getup’s okay on cutie pie chicks, but a few alterations turns it trampy, which is a better fit for your intense nature.”