SF Chapter 174: Flight II
Lindsay asked something she'd been curious about. "Dani, I was talking with my friends when you got nominated for the Oscar."
"I realized I didn't really know much about it. How did it all start, really?"
Dani looked at her. "Oh, it was kind of a normal story, so I usually don't talk about it much. But alright. To understand it, it all started with Wimpy Kid."
"Grandpa gave you that as a birthday present, right?" Alex said rhetorically. "I vaguely remember asking him for it too..." She tilted her head.
"Oh," Haley, who seemed to remember more, revealed. "Dani made all of us 'convince' Grandpa to give it to him for his birthday."
All the girls stared at him.
"I still think Dad was a bit stingy. But I admit that a $63,545 present is pretty expensive for a thirteen-year-old kid..." Dani commented.
"SIXTY-THREE THOUSAND?!" Alex exclaimed.
"It's a bit expensive to self-publish," he dismissed her outburst and started telling the story.
(Little Dani, 12 years old - Flashback)
"Come on, Dad, it only costs seventy thousand!" Little Dani whined again.
Jay scoffed. "Seventy thousand?!"
"That's too much, Daniel. You're twelve! And how did you even get those numbers?"
"That was very easy, Dad. I called twelve publishing houses. That's the average number I got. And I even got the cost breakdowns."
Jay raised an eyebrow. "They told you that?"
Dani made an annoyed face. "Well, most of them were all petty about giving me the numbers. So I had to use a few tricks…"
He started counting them off.
"One of them, I called twenty-five times until they finally gave me all the costs."
He continued, "And the one near our house? I went there every single day, morning and afternoon, until they finally gave me everything."
"There's one where they would hang up as soon as they heard my voice. So my friends and I had to take turns calling them."
(End of flashback)
"You called twenty-five times?!" Mischa asked in disbelief.
"Yes! God, Livia was persistent about not giving me the numbers..."
"And twelve publishing houses..." Lexi added, raising an eyebrow.
"To tell you the truth, it was forty publishing houses. But twenty-eight of them gave me either a mean, harsh, or very stern warning about me 'harassing' them." He used air quotes.
"So I focused on the twelve that just needed a little push to tell me all the costs..."
He continued the story.
(Flashback)
"Hello, Livia," he said over the phone.
"Oh, not you again, kid," a tired voice answered.
"Come on, don't be petty. I just need to know a few numbers…"
"We can't disclose that, kid…" she replied again. "You know, I have a sister your age-"
"Is she pretty?" he interrupted.
"…"
"Hello?"
Dani heard the phone disconnect.
"That was rude… I was only asking…"
He looked down at his list.
"Okay, let's try the next one."
But then the door swung open.
"Daniel!" the principal yelled. "You're in detention! You're supposed to be doing your homework, not using the school's phone!"
"But some publishing houses use caller ID, so I need to use different phones," Little Dani argued.
He went even further in his 'defense.' "Besides, California Penal Code §851.5 says a detained person must be allowed to complete at least three phone calls!"
Mary, the principal, was almost ready to throw the kid out the window over the sheer audacity of it.
Still, she asked somewhat sarcastically, "How did you remember all of that and forget your geography book?"
"Oh," he answered innocently, "one of them I've used more than once. Way more."
Mary's eye started twitching violently.
(End of flashback)
"You called from the principal's office?" Alex yelled. "And you got detention?!"
Dani snorted. "I got tons of detention, Alex."
"And detention was good. I could read and write without the person at the front bothering my focus or interrupting my train of thought."
"You mean the teacher?" Lexi deadpanned.
"Yes. Some of them were very persistent about trying to 'correct' me."
"Anyway, I couldn't get the okay for the seventy thousand... so I had to go back to negotiating..."
(Flashback)
After Daniel finally got an 'almost' okay as a birthday present…
"Hello?"
"Hi, Livia. Long time no talk. Miss me?"
"What do you want, kid? I already gave you the numbers. Don't you have better things to do?"
"The thing is, Livia… now I need a discount."
"…"
click
"Hello?"
(End of flashback)
"I don't get it..." Lindsay frowned.
"Oh, to understand my thought process, I need to tell you my dad's side of the story too," Dani remarked.
(Flashback)
"Okay, Daniel. Fine!" Jay finally gave in. "I'll give you ten thousand dollars."
He didn't know why, but his son had started whining for a much smaller amount.
"Great!" Little Dani made a small victory pose.
But he soon asked, "How about fifteen thousand?"
"What?!" Jay made a face.
"Now that I've got ten thousand guaranteed, I just need to negotiate more with you and less with the publisher until the two numbers are the same!" he revealed his plan.
Jay walked away without saying a word, but with a little gremlin bothering him all the way to his room...
(End of flashback)
"So that's how it ended up at $63,545," Dani finally concluded.
The girls burst out loud.
"Forget about talent. What I envy most is his complete lack of shame and the fact that rejection doesn't affect him..." Amanda pointed out.
He ignored it and went on with his story.
"To wrap up the Wimpy Kid part, after it was released, it only took three months to break even."
"After the first year, it sold half a million copies," he grinned, "making it a great success. So the second book was pretty easy to release."
"Soon, sales passed the million marks, and then everything became way easier... the school suddenly became very 'flexible' about the way I behaved."
"So my high school life took off!"
But he raised a finger, remembering one more thing. "There was another awesome thing. Livia's life also took off, since she got a small percentage of every sale."
"I also give her nice gifts every time I release a new Wimpy Kid!"
(Dani, 18 years old, a day after his birthday - Flashback)
"Hi, Livia. Miss me?"
"How many copies?"
"One million on the first day! And that's only counting Book Six!"
"I love you, Daniel."
"See? You used to hang up on me." He chuckled. "But you're married, Livia. I don't do married women!"
"…"
click
"Hello?"
(End of flashback)
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