Pecking Order, page 12
Ivan said, “If I’m able to make that happen, would you be all right with that?”
Derrick said, “Three, four thousand a month? Hell, yeah! That would be good looking out.”
Ivan nodded and said, “That’s what I need to work on, then. And that would take care of Mom’s house, too.”
Derrick nodded and changed the subject. “So, who you had over here last night?” he asked his brother. “Some girl you picked up from one of these parties?”
Ivan grinned. “That’s a wild story that I don’t feel like talking about right now. So ask me about it again later, like in a couple of weeks.”
Derrick laughed it off and left him alone. “All right, then, suit yourself.”
IVAN WAS ANXIOUS for the rest of that night. He was trying to decide when would be the best time to call Lucina about her ideas for their partnership. By the time he had settled in with his brother and went over the hard calculations of his monthly business goals, it was eleven o’clock. Was eleven o’clock at night too late to call on business?
What the hell, she throws nightclub parties, Ivan argued to himself. This is not a nine-to-five job she’s pushing. And it’s a Thursday night. She’s probably out somewhere right now herself.
So he decided to call her that late from his bedroom while Derrick crashed on his sofa. He took a couple of deep breaths to compose himself and get his thoughts ready while the line rang, only to receive a recorded message. The message didn’t use her voice or even identify whose number he was calling.
“Shit, how do I even know this is for her?” he mumbled. He went ahead and left a message anyway. “This is Ivan David from ID Promotions.com. I’m calling for…Lucina Gallo,” he said with hesitation. He nearly screwed up her name. “Ah, anyway, call me back…and we’ll talk.”
Ivan hung up his cell phone and said, “Shit. That was a terrible message.” Then he felt anxious again, wondering how long it would take for her to call him back.
As soon as he began to strip out of his clothes, his cell phone rang. He grinned and moved to answer it from his bedroom dresser, assuming it was Lucina.
“That was fast.” However, when he read the number, he recognized that it was Ida calling him.
He stopped and stared at the phone with a new dilemma. Do I even answer it? I’m ready to talk business right now. What if Lucina calls me back while I’m shooting the breeze with Ida?
He decided not to answer, still hoping to get his call back from Lucina. When he remained up, doing business projections for his website, and eleven o’clock turned to eleven thirty, Ivan called it a night and climbed into bed to rest.
“I guess she’ll call me tomorrow, then,” he figured. He pulled the sheets over his boxers and white T-shirt. I need to call Ida back tomorrow, too, he mused. I’ll just tell her I went to bed early after an extralong day.
As soon as he got good and comfortable with his eyes closed, his cell phone rang again and startled him.
“Shit!” He stumbled back up to answer it.
He looked to read the number and found that it was restricted.
“Okay, this must be her now,” he assumed. “Hello.”
“I-van Da-vid, what are you doing right now?”
It was Lucina Gallo, as he had guessed. Her question sounded urgent. Ivan could hear faint music blaring in the background.
Okay, how do I answer that? he asked himself. He mumbled, “Ah…actually—”
Lucina cut him off. “How fast can you get downtown?”
Ivan hesitated again. “Ah—”
Lucina cut him off again. “I-van, I’m going to have a mee-ting with a couple of football players from the Chargers at the Treasure Grill. And I want to throw a big birthday par-ty. If you can make it here in no more than thir-ty minutes, I can let you pitch them with me.”
What was an eager businessman to do…?
“I’ll be there,” he told her.
She said, “O-kay. I’ll make them wait for you.”
As soon as Ivan hung up the phone, he cursed himself again. “Shit!” It was twenty minutes to midnight. Then he wondered, “What should I wear?”
He froze for a minute, standing in the middle of his bedroom while he thought it over. Football players, hunh?…Wear something flashy, he told himself.
He walked into his closet and pulled out a colorful party shirt he had bought for himself after graduating from college. But after putting it on, he decided that it was too bright and loud.
“Yeah, that’s too much…but maybe I could put a blazer over it.” He grabbed a navy blue sports jacket to wear over the top. He liked how the combination looked with his dark denim jeans and brown leather shoes.
“Not bad,” he decided, looking it over in the bathroom mirror. With no time to waste, he brushed his teeth, tossed on a dab of Escape cologne, and headed for the door.
When he walked out into his living room, Derrick was sound asleep on the sofa. The cable TV was on an HBO adult series.
Ivan chuckled and went on about his business.
AT SEVEN MINUTES AFTER MIDNIGHT, Ivan found a parking space off of Fifth Avenue and rushed into the Treasure Grill to meet up with Lucina and the Chargers.
“May I help you?” the hostess asked him at the front entrance.
Ivan looked like a man who was late for a hot date that had cooled off. The place was nearly empty.
“Yeah, I’m looking for a, ah, pretty Brazilian girl with some football players.”
The hostess smiled at him. She was a college-age blonde in all black.
She said, “You must be Ivan David.”
“Yeah,” Ivan answered her with a nod.
She nodded back to him. “They’re in the back. Follow me.”
She led the way to a secluded section of the restaurant where they had pulled two tables together to accommodate a group of eight. But at the moment there were only seven; three football players, Lucina, and three other drop-dead-gorgeous women.
Lucina caught Ivan’s eye as soon as he approached them at the table. She stood up to greet him by taking his left hand with her right. Then she introduced him to everyone.
“O-kay, everyone, this is I-van Da-vid, from IDPromotions.com, one of the best upcoming websites for San Diego parties.”
The biggest football player looked impressed and nodded. “Is that right?” He had to be at least six foot seven and three hundred pounds. He sat at the far end of the table to give himself plenty of uninterrupted space. They had left an open seat at the closest end for Ivan.
Ivan pulled out a stack of flyers from his party at Raymond’s Hot Spot Lounge and passed them around the table. He still liked the flyer, the party just didn’t turn out right.
They all checked out the flyer, while Ivan took a seat in the empty chair. Plates of steak, shrimp, chicken, mashed potatoes, and vegetables littered the table along with drinks.
“So, how did this party turn out?” a much smaller and younger football player asked him. He inspected the flyer front and back.
Ivan answered him quickly. “It was basically a party for a new friend who wanted more late-night traffic for his bar. So we gave it to him. That’s what we do.”
His answer was satisfactory enough for a nod from the three Chargers. The third Charger continued to observe him in silence. He was smaller in size than the first, but larger than the second. His age seemed to fall in between theirs as well. He looked to be in his late twenties, like Ivan. They were all casually dressed. But with the extra sizzle of their jewelry, confidence, wealth, and the hot women who surrounded them, they produced an overload of energy in the nearly empty room.
Lucina said, “Zachary is the birthday boy. He’s turning twenty-four in two weeks. And we want to throw a big par-ty for him.”
“Go, Zee-Dog! Yaaay!” the hot women cheered. As Lucina’s signature, her girls were a mixture of races and nationalities.
The smallest and youngest player grinned sheepishly at their excitement for him.
The big guy in the back belted, “Yeah, Zee-Dog’s from Chi-town. He’s trying to go after ten interceptions this year. He set a new rookie record last year with seven.”
The silent player still had nothing to say. He looked on and smiled, taking everything in. In many business transactions, the silent ones were the deal killers. So Ivan paid him the most attention.
“Well, how big of a party do you want to throw for him—two thousand people at a hotel ballroom? Or do you want to stay classy with five hundred, special guests only?” Ivan asked Lucina. He tried his best to appear professional.
The big guy spoke up first again. “Five hundred? That ain’t enough people. We’ll fill up that party just with the team and everybody’s girlfriends,” he joked.
They all laughed.
The big guy added, “We need more like three thousand.”
“Yeah, that’s much more like it. He needs a big par-ty, I-van,” Lucina commented. Ivan could read the hint in her language: bigger was better. Then he looked at the silent one to see what he thought.
“What do you think?” Ivan asked him.
Finally, he got the guy to speak. “Well, either way, I feel it should be a controlled setting so things don’t get out of hand. And it’s easier to control the smaller parties.”
He was exactly what Ivan thought he would be, a cautious over-thinker. Just because they were all on the same football team didn’t mean they were cut from the same economic class. Ivan suspected that the silent dissenter was more money and image conscious than the other two players, so he had just the right approach for him. He had just learned the class lesson himself.
Ivan nodded and said, “I know what you mean. There’s different events for different crowds.” Then he pulled out a flyer from his most recent event at the downtown winery.
The silent one looked at it and cracked a grin. He said, “I’ve been to this place with my fiancée before.”
Bingo! He was also getting married soon. The hot women Lucina had surrounded them with after midnight meant this was not his ideal business meeting.
The big guy cut him off. He said, “Look, Jeffrey, just ’cause you’re gettin’ married now don’t mean you should stop Zee-Dog’s fun. He’s just gettin’ his feet wet in the league. You go somewhere and have your own small party and leave his alone.”
Ivan grinned and pulled out his business card from Hutch & Mitchell while the rest of the table laughed and made fun of the party pooper.
“Boooo, a married man is no fun,” one of the hot girls commented.
“Who told you that?” one of the other girls responded.
Ivan ignored it all and handed Jeffrey his card across the table. He said, “I’m an accountant with the Hutch and Mitchell firm. I also work with the San Diego Urban League. We should talk. I could save you a whole lot of tax money.”
Jeffrey took his card and was now impressed with him. Ivan was more than just a slick party promoter.
Jeffrey nodded and said, “Okay, I’ll call you.”
Zachary overheard it and asked him, “You a tax man?”
Lucina bragged, “He’s one of the best.”
Zachary said, “Well, let me get one of your cards, too. I could have you double-check what my agent does,” he joked.
Ivan smiled as he pulled out another card. He said, “We already represent some of the Padres players, so we know just what you’re up against as young athletes with money.”
The big guy looked on and hesitated from the far end of the table.
Jeffrey told him, “If anything, you really need to get his card, Perry. You spend money out here like it’s water.”
Ivan jumped on that, too. He said, “If you create a business, and you put it all on a debit or credit card, we’ll help you work it out for taxes.”
The big guy couldn’t turn down good money advice out in the open. He at least had to make it look like he was listening.
He said, “Okay, give me one of your cards.”
Ivan took out another one and passed it over.
“What about us? We wanna save money on taxes. I want a card,” one of the hot girls whined.
Ivan pulled out his small stack of business cards and handed one to everyone but Lucina.
“He’s already helping me with my taxes,” Lucina lied.
Jeffrey opened up and asked him, “So, how did you get into the party promotion game?” The veteran football player was used to meeting loud, drunken ramblers and shady hustlers who threw parties, but not young, professional tax accountants.
Ivan told him the truth. “I just got tired of sitting on the sidelines, basically. I wanted to meet more people and make a name for myself. So I figured, why should I sit back and watch all these guys, who know nothing about stretching money, blow it all right in front of me? So I’m out here making new friends, connecting all the dots, and becoming who I want to be: a hardworking man who makes money while taking care of people’s money.”
Everyone was sold but Jeffrey. Ivan’s honesty brought to mind a bigger question for him.
Jeffrey asked him, “But isn’t that a conflict of interest for you to make money with your clients?” He figured he had a gang-busting question on his hands. A tax man would know every extra dollar that a client had to spend.
Ivan didn’t flinch. He said, “Is it a conflict of interest for Nike, Reebok, and Adidas to make money with you? They know how much you’re making, too. But the more money you make through the things you do off the field, the more popular you become, and the more money they make through your sponsorships.”
Ivan went on, “Well, think about it the same way with your tax man. The more money you make in diversified ways, the more we can figure out how to save for you. That’s how we stay valuable to our clients. And that’s how we attract new clients.”
Jeffrey heard that and went silent again. It sounded good to him so far. But…
“Isn’t getting involved in too many business ideas a risk to the client?” Jeffrey asked him. “I’ve heard about plenty of guys who nearly lost it all by being advised to do too much.”
Ivan looked the man in his eyes in silence at the table. It was an easy question to answer. But his patience made Lucina nervous. Everyone else was awaiting his answer.
Ivan said, “Jeffrey, every time you step onto the football field, there’s a risk that somebody’s gonna try and knock your head off. But you get your heart up and you tell yourself, ‘I can play this game. And win.’ Otherwise, you may as well stay on the sidelines with the equipment managers.”
There was a pregnant pause at the table before Perry and Zee-Dog looked at each other and broke out in laughter.
Perry said, “Shit, brother, that’s the truth right there. Everything’s a damn risk. Every time Jeffrey catches a pass across the middle, my ass is on the sidelines praying for him.”
Zee-Dog said, “Every time I’m one-on-one down the field, it’s a risk that I might get burned for a touchdown. But I go after them interceptions anyway.”
Perry said, “Football is the riskiest sport there is. Either you got the heart for it or you don’t.” He looked at his cautious teammate and said, “You gotta admit that, Jeffrey. That’s going all the way back to Pop Warner days. He’s right.”
Ivan jumped back in to simplify things. He added, “Basically, we’re just talking about one party here, Jeffrey. We’re not talking about a car dealership or a pyramid scheme. Just one birthday party.”
Finally, Jeffrey looked across the table at Lucina and gave in. Then he nodded and grinned to Ivan. This guy represents himself well, he admitted. So let’s do this one party with him and see how it goes.
AT CLOSE TO TWO O’CLOCK in the morning, Ivan sat across from Lucina in a downtown bar that was still open.
Lucina cradled her drink in her right hand and told him, “You did good. But at first…I was very nervous. I did not know where you were going,” she told him. She said, “I was thin-king, ‘Oh, my God! What have I done, to invite him here and mess up my business?’ But then…you did all right.”
Ivan took a sip of his drink and chuckled. “That guy Jeffrey was gonna break the deal. That’s why I concentrated on him. I know that quiet type. You know how I know?”
Lucina looked at him and asked, “How?”
“Because I used to be him. I was skeptical of everything.” Ivan leveled with her. “I kept my money in my pocket unless it was for family. But at the end of the day, you can’t do business like that. You gotta go for it and learn your lessons on the way. That’s what I’m doing right now,” he admitted.
It’s nearly two o’clock in the fucking morning and I still have to go to work, he kept saying to himself.
Lucina tilted her glass to her lips and made her comment over the rim. “You are right. That is what I did with you.” She took a sip of her drink and said, “I took a chance.”
With that, Ivan got back to business. His fantasizing about working deals and romancing Lucina Gallo were over, for the minute. He was now sitting next to her with a major event to put on.
He said, “Okay, so, how is this gonna work? Do you have a venue already?”
Lucina said, “I have several to choose from.”
“And how much do they cost?”
“From two and a half to five thou-sand dollars.”
Ivan nodded. “What are the other expenses?” He knew what he needed for his parties, but a three-thousand-capacity crowd was way out of his league.
“We need radio, your website, promotional flyers, catering, security, my girls.” She stopped and said, “I always pay my girls.”
“What about the DJ?” Ivan asked her.
She said, “No more old school, I-van. This is a regular par-ty.”
Ivan laughed and said, “That was just for the older crowd that I was catering to. But you still gotta mix the new songs in with the classics.”
Lucina said, “I know plen-ty of DJs. I even know DJs out of L.A.”
“Yeah, but what would they cost us?” Ivan asked her. “My DJ would only cost five hundred dollars. You bring a guy from L.A, that’s a thousand just to bring his equipment down.”
