After I leave David, I walk out of the private dining room and turn and go out the nearest fire door. Nobody is around to stop me and I don't even hear an alarm. I am out on the street and the only thing I am feeling is sweet freedom. I haven't left anything behind me of importance; even the clothes aren't really mine... they had given us a stipend to buy new clothes when they accepted us into the show as contestants. They told us in general terms what to buy and then left it up to us.
I am fortunate now, since I am one of the few local area residents who qualified, that I am only a few miles from home... I don't know if I would have been so bold if I had lived in some other city and would have had nowhere to stay the night except, perhaps, some hotel. I made my mind up and just keep walking in the general direction of my apartment. I'm not ready to share my exhilaration with a cab driver or find a city bus right now. The only thing going on in my head is an insistent voice saying "Well, you've gone and done it, haven't you..." over and over again.
After a good long walk, I finally make it to my apartment. I turn the lock and walk inside. Of course the answering machine is nearly full. I haven't told many people where I'd be... only a few really close friends know I'd been accepted for the show. The rest of my friends and acquaintances are probably wondering what is up when they hadn't heard back from me in the week and a half that it had been since we all went into the house. The rules were very specific - no outside communications and I'd observed they had taken people's phones and pagers for the duration.
Well, now what am I going to do with myself? I start to think about that for a while. Eventually, I'll have to call my boss and tell him that the show is over for me and I'll be returning to work from my leave-of-absence. It is fortunate that my job is flexible enough to be able to accommodate my needs and let me take an open-ended leave. But for tonight, there is nothing to do about that.
My thoughts are interrupted with the insistent ring of my phone... I can't even figure out how long it has been ringing when I realize that is what I am hearing. Eventually the answering machine picks up and it is an AD from the show calling. I really don't want to pick up the phone yet, but I am drawn to the sound. The voice on the other end sounds panicky and I don't want to ignore it so I picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hi, this is Grant from the show. You're home OK?"
"Yeah."
"What were you thinking, just walking out like that? You can't do that - you have a contract..."
"Well, to tell you the truth... I wasn't really thinking about that - I just knew I had to get out of there."
"But you have a contract..."
"Well, I suppose you can tear up the contract. You don't owe me anything and I'll come down and sign a model release or whatever for the time I was on the show just in case."
"You know it's not that simple..."
"Listen. Grant... I did what I thought was best. I thought I was taking the classy way out. If I hadn't done what I did, I could see that I'd soon be telling anybody that would listen how aggravated I was and you wouldn't have wanted that, now would you?"
"But if you'd just come to us and told us..."
"Grant, nobody was ever there as far as we were concerned. I wasn't about to tell a camera lens in the closet that I was about to burst with frustration over the situation."
"But we might have been able to do something..."
"Grant, you were just as stuck as I was. The rules you created didn't give you any more wiggle room than I had..."
"Oh, this is such a mess. What are we gonna do now?"
"Well, Grant, I'm going to bed and I suggest you think about it tonight and in the morning something will come to you. Good night."
"Good night."
I did just what I said I would do and got ready for bed. I'd finally get to sleep in my own bed for a change.
In the morning, I wake to the phone ringing. I guess I'm not surprised.
"Hello?"
"Good morning, this is Grant."
"Good morning Grant, what can I do for you?"
"Can you come down to the production center today for a conference. We've got to talk about where we will go with this..."
"Do you really need me? Can't you just handle it?"
"You really should be here... and I hear that David would like to talk to you."
"OK. Anything for David, I suppose."
"Thanks! Come by around ten."
Well, that was interesting. David wants to talk to me. Hmm.
So, I grab a cab and get down to the production center. No mystery, it's just a few extra rooms in the same building that we were stuck in as virtual prisoners just separated by some sound-proofed walls. As contestants, we all passed through there when we got our marching orders and were herded inside.
Grant is there to meet me. He takes me past the control room where the heart of the operation is. I notice on the monitors that people are just stirring and the showers are starting to come alive. I feel a little nostalgia for the times inside, but that is all behind me now. We go into the conference room and I am greeted by a number of people who all look up expectantly when we enter. I guess they all need to see if I am still alive and not a jibbering idiot. Actually, I am feeling quite refreshed. If they give me any guff, I am going to tell them that they did a lousy job of picking mattresses!
Well, I'm not able to lecture them about the finer points of mattresses... The Associate Producer stands up and addresses me first:
"Well it's good to see you this morning... You know you caused us all a great deal of concern yesterday, don't you?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Now we are going to do just what you suggested and tear up your contract."
"That's a relief, sir."
"I suppose it would be. Now for your new contract, we'll make certain adjustments."
"New contract, sir?"
"Yes, you know it won't be that simple, will it?"
"I suppose not, sir."
"Right. Well I think you had better have a talk with David now and then we'll get down to work."
I haven't noticed that David is at the table since I have been so concentrated on the Associate Producer the whole time, I haven't even mentally taken an inventory of who else is at the table. David rises and takes me to a smaller conference room and closes the door. He begins:
"Well, you really went and did it, didn't you..."
"I guess I really messed things up for you."
"On the contrary, I think you have done us a real service. I thought about what you said last night and after I got over the shock, I realized that you were exactly right. I had gotten involved with a couple of the 'beaus' as you thought. The lovemaking was pleasant enough but I was finding myself distracted from the choices I had to make by the sex part of it. I was getting excessively attached to whatever guy I was with at the time and I was losing my perspective. I guess I was letting my hormones speak for me."
"Interesting, but what does all this have to do with me, David?"
"You, my friend, are about to embark on a real adventure. If you were an actor, I'd think it was the part of a lifetime. I think I can say it was the role you were born for."
"But David, what could I do? I can't be a contestant any more... I violated the rules big-time!"
"No, you won't be able to be a contestant. We couldn't collude with a contestant. For them, it really must be all on the up-and-up. No, you are going to be more than a contestant. You are practically going to be a co-star (but without the billing...) You are going to become a ringer... that isn't in the rules. We can do any damned thing we want when it comes to ringers."
"But how would that help you?"
"We'll get to that... but first, I presume you saw that the house is waking up?"
"Yes, I went by the control room and saw that the showers are starting."
"OK. Well once everybody is dressed, I will go in and make an announcement. Eventually somebody will notice that you're missing. We need to come up with a plausible excuse for why you aren't there. I will tell them that we had an unfortunate accident last night and that you were slightly injured during dinner. The producer suggested that you could be singed in a flambe gone awry. The story goes we had to take you to the hospital for observation and that you'd be back later this afternoon. The crew even dummied up some footage for me to show. Looks like hell but if it's fuzzy enough, they'll believe it."
"But you can see that I'm perfectly well... nobody will believe that."
"Of course they will... just leave that to the makeup artist we brought here just for the purpose. She'll get you looking like a flambe victim in no time."
"I still don't see..."
"Listen, nobody will be any the wiser. It will even lend some drama to the show. Everybody will rally around you and comfort you. You will be the star of the hour. That's when our plan starts to take effect."
"But what will I do?"
"You are going to start running interference for me. You will begin testing the remaining contestants and trying to distract them from their attention to the contest. Of course, I'll be watching the whole time. And I'll be giving you your orders daily; who to test next and how far to tempt them. It won't be easy, you'll need to take one for the team several times, but I think you'll be fine."
"Just be sure you grab me a change of clothes while you're there. God, I'll be like a kid in a candy store!"
"Just as I thought. Now get into the conference room and sign that contract!"
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