Friends and Family Series
The Lloyd King Story
By:
Ron Robbins
(© 2011 by the author)
Editor:
Frank Perry
The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's
consent. Comments are appreciated at...
Chapter 2
For the next three years, Buddy made good on his promise. I never realized the time and effort it would take to become a sophisticated young man. Even Buddy, who was born into a socially prominent family, didn't realize the enormity of the task. Nonetheless, he prepared a self-study plan for me to follow on my own, and another plan that he had that I could follow either at camp, or to my visits to Buddy's estate in Greenwich, Connecticut. I never realized how much I lacked in the social graces. For example, how many times is the average teenager exposed to a formal dinner? The answer is not that often, if ever. That was just one of many things he had to learn.
I spent many hours at the library and studying in my spare time. Buddy tutored me in the proper etiquette, diction and speech he had to use. He also mapped out a required reading list, as well as the fine art lectures and exhibits I was to attend in Manhattan. I visited the museums, and attended the opera and select concerts in New York. Usually Buddy's folks supplied the tickets for the concerts and operas they attended together.
Every month a package would arrive from Buddy that contained the previous month's publications that his family received. He tacked on notes to the front of each magazine of the pages I was to read. The publications covered a broad range of subjects; from the arts, investments, fashion, and sports. I was to read the society columns in the daily newspapers. It was a learning experience that consumed many hours of my spare time. Nevertheless, I was determined to prove to myself, and to Buddy, that I could be accepted as a sophisticated young man, even though he didn't come from a wealthy family.
I never thought much about Buddy's looks until he began to read articles about him in the papers. They described Buddy as being handsome and debonair. It was then that I realized that Buddy was a handsome young man. His photograph turned up in the society columns in the company of some of the most beautiful debs, yet he never stopped having sex with me as often as he could. Buddy usually stayed at his father's suite at the Plaza when he attended many of those charity affairs. Sometimes he and I attended events together, but in almost every case, he took me to bed after the event. We used to get a big kick out of reading the gossip columns the following morning insinuating a romance in the making, etc.
We both graduated from college the same year; Buddy from Yale, and I from Columbia. MY graduation present from Buddy was a two-week Caribbean cruise together. It was the most wonderful vacation I ever had. We played in the sun every day and had the most enjoyable sex together every afternoon and evening. Buddy told me that Chip had accepted his offer to put him through Yale University Law School. I was happy for Chip; he was a great guy and was madly in love with Buddy.
Buddy had decided to go into the family brokerage business after he returned from his three-month world tour. He also said his family wanted him to attend Harvard for his MBA, before joining the firm. The three-month cruise was a graduation present to get him to mull it over. Buddy had already decided to go ahead with his MBA, but he was going to let his dad sweat it out for three months.
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After graduation, I decided to start looking for a house on Long Island. My plan was to invest in a house and take in a roommate to help pay the expenses. My older sister, Margie, was a real-estate agent and had made a convincing argument against buying a house in a new development. Instead, she suggested that I look for an older fixer-upper home in an established residential neighborhood. She was creative when it came to the real estate business and her advice turned out to be on target. She reasoned, at the time, that my investment would double if I purchased a home in a better neighborhood. It was my task to find a structurally sound house that needed some renovation. Since I was handy with his hands, I could do a lot of the work himself and apply for a home improvement loan for any major repairs.
Margie contacted a local Bay Shore broker and they began the search. After looking at more than fifty houses, I finally settled on a house that I could afford, but one that I fell in love with. The house was an English Tudor design with clean lines and smooth white stucco, with dark brown stained wood trim. It was a five-bedroom house, with three and a half baths, living room, dining room, library, a large eat-in-kitchen, butler's pantry, and a full basement. It also had a separate three-car garage with a loft.
The house sat on a large wooded parcel of land. It was well constructed and the layout was ideal. There was a small central entrance foyer with stairs leading to the second floor. The doors to the left of the foyer opened into a large combination library and family room. The doors to the right led into a large living room with an archway at the other end that lead into the dining room. The butler's pantry separated the dining room from the kitchen. Directly behind the stairs in the foyer, there was a powder room.
On the second floor there were three large bedrooms and two bathrooms. The master suite contained a fireplace and a small bath. The other bathroom was shared by the remaining two bedrooms. The third floor had two additional bedrooms and a bath. The basement was large and dry.
The grounds were well maintained with several large hardwood trees. The shrubbery was overgrown and leggy, but otherwise everything looked to be in good shape.
The house would need a lot of work, both inside and outside, to put it into first class condition. It was structurally sound, and was priced well below the market value. The Lees, the present owners, had built their dream home on the water and lost all interest in this house. They did very little remodeling in this house since it was built in the mid thirties. The house had been on the market for over a year with no takers. The agent knew this was an ideal place for me so they cut the broker's fee in order to make the deal.
With Marge's help, and some creative financing, I was able to swing the deal and close on the Bay Shore property, which I have never regretted. My budget was spread thin, and I had to juggle car payments, commuting, and my living expenses out of the salary I was earning at the time. I talked my sisters and parents into moving in with me and gave them a good deal on their rent. At least I would have enough income to paint and fix up the place.
Most of the weekends were spent renovating the house, which I enjoyed doing. Within two years, I had replaced all the old plumbing and painted the entire interior and exterior of the house. Naturally, I had to hire professionals to modernize the bathrooms and rewire the entire house. Rewiring an older home is a tricky process and I hired a licensed electrician do the work, my insurance could have been canceled had I done the work myself. My last project was to remodel the kitchen and butler's pantry, and to add a patio off the dining room. That project alone would cost around twenty thousand and I was not about to spend that amount until my income improved.
Much to my surprise, both sisters announced their engagements. All the family was happy for them. Anne was the first to marry and wanted to hold her reception at the house. This put my remodeling plans on the back burner. The wedding reception was a great success. Everything turned out perfectly. Anne and Bill Baxter, her husband, moved into their new home after their honeymoon. Margie married the following year and held the reception at Michael's, one of the local restaurants that specialized in wedding receptions. However, many of the out of town guests stayed at the house. Margie and her husband moved into their own home. That killed all my ambitious renovation plans for some time.
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With my new position and hefty salary increase at Chadwick, my future looked much brighter. I could afford to upgrade my wardrobe and shop at the better stores to add to it. This was not to imply that I planned to abandon my monthly trek to the thrift stores for good bargains. Life takes on a completely new meaning when you don't have to watch every penny of your income. In addition, I planned to take advantage of a long term goal, and travel to Europe. I spent many an evening planning the countries I wanted to visit and mapped out an itinerary. I asked the company travel group to see what kind of a package they could work out for me, provided I could take the time off.
After the cheers and euphoria died down about landing the contract, I began to realize the enormity of the task that lay ahead of me. This was a huge project worth over two million dollars a year. I'd never managed a project this big before. It was one thing to put a project together on paper, but it was quite another to make it work. My lack of experience had entered my mind and caused me to have second thoughts about my ability to handle the project, yet I kept those feelings to myself.
It took six months to fine-tune the solutions to the many little problems before starting on our first project. My own people were geared up and ready. They made it all look easy, of course, as they were all experienced professionals. Once that project was underway, two more followed in quick succession. I began having production glitches that the production managers should have anticipated. Therefore it fell to me to iron out the wrinkles. Much later, I was to learn that my own boss, Paul Chadwick, created the problem. At the time, I was unaware of any problems, until I discovered that his three top project managers were taken off the Telecom account and reassigned to one of Paul's pet projects.
I was made aware of this when CJ summoned me into his office. I've never seen CJ so angry. He lit into me for placing the company in an uncompromising position, and for trying to cut corners on the project. CJ explained the conversation he had with the Telecom VP.
"Telecom wants an explanation as to why the shooting locations were changed without their permission. We had absolutely no authority to use a Telecom site, instead of building a set in a studio. In addition, the VP wants to know who authorized major changes in the shooting scripts without Telecom's authorization. Their manufacturing people are very upset because the shooting is disrupting production schedules."
Naturally, I became annoyed because I had no idea what CJ was talking about. Furthermore, I resented the implication that I had allowed these things to happen without Telecom's approval.
As I left his office, I told him, "I will find out exactly what has happened and I'll report back to you as soon as I know who was responsible for this breach of contract."
After I left CJ's office, I called an emergency meeting of all my project leaders to find out what happened. What I learned was much worse than I thought.
"I want you all to drop everything and prepare a report for me to present to CJ this afternoon."
Before submitting my report to CJ, I spoke to the directors and writers that had made the changes to confirm what I suspected. With this information, I returned to CJ's office with the facts. CJ could not understand why Paul would deliberately interfere with Telecom, knowing how demanding they were about everything.
CJ apologized to me for venting his anger on me and said he would speak to Paul and would be back to me as soon as possible.
I placed a call to Craig Zucker to use his influence with the company to smooth this over, and above all to right what was wrong in the production.
I was able to convince Craig that, without his knowledge, someone had decided that the project would be more realistic if they used the actual on-sight location. However, Craig made a few demands. He learned from the production crew that Paul Chadwick was the one that changed the project without permission from Telecom. He said that Paul was not to interfere with their projects again and he wanted the promised production staff returned to Telecom's projects. Everything ran along smoothly after that.
Paul apologized for interfering. He figured he was saving the company money and improving the product. Naturally, I had to be careful how I handled Paul; after all, Paul was my boss. I could not lose sight of the fact that Paul would be running the company in the near future. Telecom would only be around two more years. If I wanted to stay with Chadwick, I had better play it cool with Paul.
I was spending more time in the field than in the office. I had hardly any time to myself, let alone getting out to the Island. It was a real learning experience for me. It taught me how to be diplomatic with my staff, yet be firm in my dealings with the creative people and the unyielding strict budget they had to follow. There were many occasions where I wanted to fudge, but that was one firm ruling I never broke. It didn't take long for the word to get out that they would not exceed the budget.
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A year had passed and we had reached the half way point in our contract. I grew into my position and everyone was happy. I instituted a new policy with Craig Zucker, the VP of operations at Telecom, to meet every Friday afternoon to brief him on the status of his entire project. In addition, I sent him a detailed status report every month.
At first, Craig kept the meetings formal and strictly business. But after three months, he suggested they conduct the meetings at his favorite restaurant. Our Friday lunch meeting became a ritual that usually lasted three hours. Once the report was out of the way, Craig started sipping his first Martini and began his discussion on his latest disaster at the office. Craig was a hard-working genius. He was in his early fifties, but had the drive and energy of a man half his age. I admired the man from the moment I met him five years before at the first bid conference. Craig has forgotten more about the business than most men will ever learn. He knew the details of every project in production and knew its current status without referring to any notes. I was sure that Craig would become president of Telecom one day, or some other firm; no question about that in my mind.
Craig would always start out by saying, "Tell me, Lloyd, how would you have handled this." Then he would cite the problem and listen to my response. If I was on target he would be pleased. It not, he would then discuss the problem and how it should be handled. We both enjoyed our Friday lunches. I was learning how Craig's sharp mind worked and how he approached and solved difficult problems.
Craig had found a good listener in me and he trusted me. The negative side was the number of martinis he could down without showing any negative effects, whereas my maximum limit was two if I had a big lunch, but then felt wiped out for the rest of the afternoon. My next stop after lunch was to the gym for a quick workout and steam bath to sweat out the alcohol, and then back to the office to catch up on my lost time. As long as we were making a profit, they didn't interfere. In fact, they started including me in their private meetings and high power lunches if I was in the office. I was the first to admit that I was flattered. The bosses and the other senior managers would drop into my office to discuss some of their problems. To my way of thinking, I had arrived, so that added value to his advice. Titles mean nothing, unless and until you have earned the respect of your colleagues.
There was only another year to run on the contract before renewal. I loved everything about my role: the benefits, the everyday challenges, and the satisfaction from managing a multimillion-dollar project. It became obvious to me, that I could never go back to my old job again after proving my capabilities on this project. I have no illusions about the Chadwicks' promise to promoting me to VP. They had alluded to that at the onset of the project. Yet it had never happened. If they were serious about my future with the firm, they would have given me the title by now. It was time to put my resume together and drop some discreet feelers in the right places. I realized that I had a lot of planning to do during the next six months.
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That strange incident with the Yale students that happened years ago kept haunting me. I was beginning to be concerned about my mental state, so I decided to discuss it with Buddy before finding a shrink. Buddy was a true friend and arranged to meet me the next day at his home in Greenwich. His family was on the grand tour, as usual, leaving Buddy home alone. I had spent many happy hours in that lovely old mansion. Buddy's parents were gracious hosts and invited me as a guest many times and always made me feel welcome. After some small talk, Buddy asked if I would like to join him in his bedroom for a quickie before dinner. Nothing had changed between us; we both enjoyed having sex together and the years never changed that. Buddy led me into his bedroom suite and locked the door. We stripped and jumped into bed for our usual enjoyable and satisfying sex.
After an excellent dinner, we retired to the den for after dinner drinks.
Buddy said, "Tell me what's troubling you. It must be important for you to make a trip out here on a school night."
I explained my experience of seven years ago, about the Yale college kid that I keep fantasizing about over time.
"I must find this guy to put my mind to rest," I said. "I'm to the point where I dream about him on a regular basis. It's become an obsession with me. I remember him as vividly as if I saw him yesterday, yet this happened years ago. I want to find him. I don't know what's come over me lately, but I find it very distressing. I'm terrified at what this feeling for him says about me. You're my best friend, Buddy, and I'm asking you as a friend to honestly tell me what you think."
Buddy said, "I think you already know the answer. You're asking me for confirmation. You're right about one thing; I am your best friend, so I'm going give it to you straight. You're a homosexual and have been for as long as I've known you. Your mystery man is the catalyst that brought it to a head. Now you're finally facing that realization, but haven't accepted the truth as yet.
"Your desire for this young man is your way of trying to work out your homosexuality in your own mind. What surprises the hell out of me is how you could justify having sex with men and still think that you're straight. You've indicated no desire to have sex with a woman at all, nor for that matter, do you show any desire to do so in the future.
"Your young dream boat is creating problems for you now, and you want him to reappear in your life once more. His nagging image is driving you crazy because you fell for him years ago and have kept him locked up in your subconscious."
"If you suspected I was a homosexual and continued to have sex with me, what does that make you?" I asked.
"I'm bisexual and always have been."
"God, I can't believe I'm a homosexual," I said. "I enjoy having sex with you, but that's something that we enjoyed as kids and continued it until now. I'm not in love with you and we've never kissed or anything of that nature. We just enjoyed having sex with one another; that's all. I don't feel that I'm a homosexual because of that, I consider myself straight."
"Have it your way, Lloyd. Just because you didn't want to kiss and make out didn't mean that I didn't. You're a wonderful guy, Lloyd, but emotionally immature when it comes to relationships. You never realized it, but I've been in love with you for all these years. I've always regretted that you never felt the same way, because I feel we would have made beautiful music together. I always held out the hope that you would come around and become my lover one day."
"I'm sorry, Buddy; I never knew you felt that way. I should have been more sensitive to your feelings. If it's any consolation, I love you as a friend. You're a very dear friend. I hope we can always continue to remain best friends. I'm glad you told me, because you've answered a question that's puzzled me for some time. You've always been my closest friend and we've shared moments together that have been truly wonderful."
"I've always felt very close to you and I will never forget you because you are so much a part of my life now. You mean more to me than any brother ever could, yet I never understood why you would pick me to be your close friend. You have so many friends in your own social set from which to choose. It is a little disquieting to learn it was not my keen mind, or outstanding personality you sought after all, it was my body. But no matter, I'm flattered that a handsome, intelligent guy like you saw something in me to love. It appears that we're both chasing the impossible dream."
"You're not a dream to me," Buddy replied, "You're a warm, charming, intelligent man. Don't ever put yourself down. Sure it was your handsome body that attracted me in the first place. I would be lying if I told you otherwise. You are without a doubt, the most sensual person I have ever had sex with. When we embarked on the project years ago, when you asked me to help you to be accepted as a member of my social group, I latched onto it as a way of keeping you around as you began to learn and blossom into something wonderful. You became more than just a casual friend and pupil. You became a confidant and an intimate friend. I treasure every moment I spent with you and I fell in love with the charming and sophisticated man that I created. Unlike Professor Higgins, I did not capture the heart of my pupil."
"Look, Lloyd, it's not going to be easy for you to accept your orientation. My friend, it's going to take time to adjust, but you'll come through it just fine. Go on as you always have and stop worrying about what it means. You'll find the right person one day. One thing's for sure, whoever the guy is, he'll be getting a handsome man and super person. Remember, you will always be in my heart and you will always be my dear friend. If you ever need anything, I want you to come to me.
"Now, tell me everything you can remember about this villain that has stolen your heart."
I smiled. "You will always be my best friend. His name is Randy. At the time he said he was living in Connecticut and attending Yale. He was cultured and well-dressed. I could tell he came from a well-to-do family; you taught me all about that."
"You said he was your age, so that would make him twenty-six now. Let's head down to my club and talk to some of my old cronies; perhaps they may know the guy. How many handsome guys, other than me, can there be at Yale named Randy?"
They arrived at Buddy's club twenty minutes later and the bar was packed. Buddy spotted a group of his friends at one of the large tables and joined the group. Not one guy could remember someone named Randy. I knew it was a long shot and as the evening wore on, I realized that finding him was a lost cause. Buddy's friends were bright and were interesting. The crowd thinned out as time passed. Just as they were ready to leave, a man walked up to Buddy and introduced himself as Chuck Lodge, IV.
Chuck said, "I understand you were inquiring about my friend, Randy Cavanaugh?"
Buddy said, "My friend, Lloyd, is the one who wants to find Randy, if indeed Randy is the right guy. Lloyd ran into Randy several years ago in Manhattan and lost his contact information. We had a little bet going on this evening that I just won, if your Randy is the guy. I bet Lloyd that it would be easy to find this guy, because he had to be the only handsome guy, other than me, who has attended Yale in the last ten years. God, it's like taking candy from a baby."
Chuck laughed, "I graduated with Randy and both my wife and my girlfriend think I'm better looking than Randy."
Buddy said, "I made a mistake, now its three guys in ten years. How can Lloyd get in touch with Randy?"
Chuck said, "Hold on, let me write the information down for you. Old Randy could use a friend about now. He is recovering from a nervous breakdown and has been out of the loop for a while. I haven't seen him in over a month, but if you're serious, I'll call him and see if he's going to be free tomorrow. How's that for service?"
I said, "Tomorrow morning would be great for me. I must be back in Manhattan by early afternoon."
"Let me call him right now," Chuck said.
Buddy said, "You realize this is a long shot, Lloyd. Randy may not be the guy."
"It's not a long shot," I said. "Chuck was the other guy that was with Randy that afternoon."
Chuck returned a few minutes later. "It's all set. Randy has invited you for breakfast at eight o'clock tomorrow morning."
He gave me the directions to Randy's house and his telephone number in case he got lost. Chuck stayed for a drink and reminisced about the good old days at Yale. Unfortunately he didn't volunteer any more information on Randy.
The next day I had no trouble finding the house from the detailed directions Chuck had given me. I saw the quaint road sign that hung from the thick white post that read Water View Cottage, and turned into the circular drive and parked at the front entrance.
It was a charming two story framed structure that looked to be over a hundred years old, with a widow's walk atop the house. The gray shingles and white trim reminded him of some of the homes in northern New England. The house sat in the middle of a large, beautifully landscaped tract of land with an unobstructed view of Long Island Sound. On either side of the property were huge evergreens that blocked out the view of the neighboring homes. I rang the doorbell, and was greeted by an oriental house servant.
"My name is Lloyd King. I have an appointment with Randy Cavanaugh."
"Please, come in, sir. Mr. Cavanaugh is waiting for you in the morning room." He led the way to the back of the house and into the bright sunny room.
Randy was stunned when he saw me. He extended his hand, "My God, we finally meet again," Randy said, "my handsome stranger from Manhattan. I never thought I'd ever see you again."
I was speechless and held onto Randy's hand and gazed deeply into his eyes for several seconds without saying a word.
"What a delightful surprise, please be seated," Randy said.
"I never thought I would see you again," I said. "I hardly slept a wink last night in anticipation of our meeting. God, you haven't changed at all. You still look the same as I remember you from seven years ago. I must confess, I had no idea how I was going to explain this visit if you hadn't remembered me. I would like to think that destiny has brought us together once again."
"Are you ready for breakfast?" Randy asked.
"I'm sorry," I replied, "I'm too excited to eat. My stomach has been churning since early this morning with excitement over this meeting. I hope you have not gone to any trouble. I'll join you for a cup of tea if you want to eat."
Randy led them into the breakfast room. Kim came in, took their order and left.
"I know it's rude to stare," I told Randy, "but I can't help it. I've thought of you so many times and it's hard to believe you're actually sitting across from me. It's unbelievable."
"Please, don't apologize. I've had the same thoughts about you," Randy said. "Let's enjoy this time together. Chuck said something about your rushing off to New York this afternoon. Is that still the case, or can you say longer?"
"I wish I could stay longer; I have a million questions to ask you, but unfortunately, I'm booked on a flight to Chicago this afternoon, and will be away for two weeks, back in town for two days, then out to the West Coast. Now that I've found you, I don't want another month to pass before getting together again. I don't wish to sound brash, but may I call you while I'm on the road?"
Randy smiled, "Did Chuck happen to mention that I've been in a sanatorium for the last two years recovering from a nervous breakdown? I'm free to do anything I want as long as I continue to take my medication and get plenty of rest."
"Chuck mentioned that you had a rough time and could use some company, that's all he said."
Randy laughed, "Don't worry I'm safe around people. I won't attack you unless provoked. You sound like a busy man. Exactly what do you do?"
I explained my job and responsibilities, and the reasons for my many trips. "It will be almost impossible for me to talk to you during the day," he said. "Would it be okay if I called you in the evening?"
"That will be fine." He handed Lloyd his card. "My cell phone number is the one written on the back, the number on the front is my house phone that will also ring through to my answering service if I'm not home. Please try not to call me after 10:00 p.m. and before 5:00 A.M."
"Are you working now?" I asked.
"I keep my hand in by taking on special cases for my law firm, but I'm not back to a full schedule. I'm also occupying my time with my painting. It fills in my days when I'm not working on any special project. My art teacher tells me I have a natural talent for painting. Maybe someday I will become a commercial illustrator, or try my hand at interior design. For now it fills my day and is excellent therapy."
"How did you make your living before your breakdown?" I asked.
"I'm a tax attorney with my father's law firm. At present I'm on disability leave. Some days I feel fine and want to tackle the world. That may last for several hours, or even a whole day. Other times, I feel exhausted and have no desire to do anything. My doctor tells me that I will continue to have these mood swings until I'm fully recovered. It makes it impossible to take on any projects where my colleagues can't take over if I'm unable to continue."
"Well, Randy, I would really like to stay, but I must leave you and drive back to the big bad city to catch my plane. You'll never know how delighted I am to find you again." I handed Randy my own card and said, "My private number at the office, and my cell phone number. Please call me any time, day or night if you want to talk. My secretary, Janis, will know where to find me all the time, or you can leave a message on my private voice mail."
Randy walked me to my car and said, "I still can't believe you're here; this is really great. Let's plan on getting together again when you return; we'll work something out."
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To be continued...
Posted: 09/07/12