Mob Movies

Chapter 2 Background

 

    

     There really wasn’t much for me to do.  I’d shot a commercial for Earl’s Discount Furniture that same morning and the cameras and lighting were still in place.  Eight hours ago, Earl Buncombe had sat on that very bed with his granddaughter in his lap and informed his viewers the king sized canopy bed, nightstands, and dressers could be purchased at the ridiculous low price of nine hundred and ninety nine dollars.  Per Earl, it was an incredible bargain and could be found at any of his five locations in the Greater Indianapolis area.

     I’m Thomas Meade, owner along with the bank, of Meade Media. Catchy right?  Up until about a year ago, I was doing well but things had gone wrong and it was my fault.  I need to tell you a few things.

     After I graduated college with a business degree and accepted my ROTC commission as a second lieutenant, I spent a year in the Middle East following real soldiers around with a video camera.  I commanded a small group of videographers whose job was to make a video record of the war.  They say the Army can teach you a profession and in my case it did.  Shooting video turned out to be something I liked and according to my colonel was damn good at.

    I returned home to Indianapolis when I finished my ROTC commitment.  I lucked into an entry-level job at Carter Graphics, a local company specializing in making television commercials and print advertisements.  Old man Carter took a liking to me.  His wife had passed on and his only son had been killed in a hunting accident.  I worked my tail off for five years then one day he collapsed in his office.  It was one of those heart attacks where you’re dead before you hit the floor, a massive myocardial infarction.  Not a bad way to go in my opinion.

     Still I was shocked when the probate lawyer called to say he’d willed the business to me.  I was a small business owner at thirty years of age. 

     I changed the company name and threw myself into the business working sixteen-hour days.  Over the next five years, sales increased three hundred percent.  Meade Media got a reputation for being creative, on time, high quality and reasonable.  I expanded our reach, capturing my share of out of town and even out of state accounts.

     Some friends introduced me to Corrine.  She was seven years younger than me, recently divorced, no children.  The fact she was a former Miss Indiana who kept her figure by following yoga and Pilate’s regimens that would challenge a Navy Seal made me want to get her in bed the moment we met. 

     But she had other ideas like insisting we get to know each other before we hopped in the sack.  It turned out she was right.  We dated three months before we slept together.  For the first time since I broke up with my college sweetheart I was in love and Corrine returned my affection.  Six months later I asked her to marry me.  We low keyed the wedding.  Neither of us had much family.  That was three years ago.

     Two years after we were married, Corrine quit teaching and joined Meade Media.  She made the excuse that since I worked all the time; it was her way of being with me.  I think she was also tired of teaching school and all the bureaucratic hassle that makes up what we call public education these days.

     Corrine’s smart and a fast learner.  She handles all the scheduling, arranges for models and actors and is basically responsible for bringing everything together when we shoot a commercial.  Wife or not, she is very good at her work.

     The thing with Mr. Quarles has changed our relationship. Corrine has been made to do things she would never have conceived of doing before.  She’s no prude but sticking her finger in a young girl’s vagina to confirm she’s still a virgin is definitely not native to Corrine’s character.  But she’s been forced to do much worse.  It’s definitely had an impact on what used to be a very respectable straight marriage.

     We don’t talk about it but neither of us can see how things will ever go back to the way they were pre Quarles.  Humpty Dumpty has fallen off the wall.