renner
League Member
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2004
- Messages
- 178
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- 0
- Age
- 40
- Location
- Oakland, TN, USA
- Website
- www.fetchquest.com
Originally posted in PRIME, being posted here since it has to do with Steve Knox, too.
---
Time can be described as a fickle mistress.
The best way to describe time is not so much the passing of seconds on a clock, but through the memories built over its passage. Memory is what truly shapes a human being, what makes them complete. With our memories, we are able to discern courses of action that best suit any sort of situation. We're able to remember events that shape not only ourselves, but all of humanity. Even human history is really made up of memories of those who came before us. A thousand years seems like a long time only because our memories make us remember just how long a year really is.
Perhaps for some God out there, a thousand years is nothing but a blink of an eye.
Without our memories, would we have personalities? Would we have history? Or knowledge? Would we remember that movie that we loved so long ago, but hadn't seen in a while? Would we remember that book that we read, so many years ago? Would we remember our leaders? Would we remember our friends? Family? It's a fair bet to say that we wouldn't remember a thing.
As important as memories are, however, they can lie to us all the same as they can help us perceive the truth.
---
January 13th, 2001; Providence, Rhode Island
The Knox family household was a mansion just on the western outskirts of the city of Providence, Rhode Island.
The mansion and the land around it were only modest compared to most lavish mansions of its ilk. The mansion could easily be seen from the road, and it was a short path from the gates to the mansion itself. The building faced to the south, had two stories, and two wings; a western wing and an eastern wing. Most of the bedrooms and bathrooms were built into the west wing, while the eastern wing consisted of a gym, a recreation room, and a few other speciality rooms here and there.
The mansion was clearly for a "millionaire on a budget", it lacked the excess of most mansions of the day. In fact, there weren't even any dedicated hired help working at the mansion, it was entirely maintained by the Knox family themselves. The building seemed to be made to house the Knox family's many members and provide a sort of a training ground for them as well.
At this time, seven years ago, there were eight people living in the mansion, all of them being members of the Knox family.
The patriarch of the family was a man named Earl Knox. He was a professional wrestler who rose up from nothing to become something of a modern-day legend for his time. A big wrestling star in the 1990s, Earl Knox was known by his in-ring name of "the Pearl". He was the "complete package" from a wrestling standpoint, he was not only a talented wrestler, but he was extremely charismatic to the point that eventually, Hollywood didn't just coming knocking... they kicked the damn door down. Earl Knox was 44 years old at this time, and he wrestled for fifteen years before entering semi-retirement to focus on acting.
Earl's wife was Samantha Knox. They met when Earl was just starting out in the wrestling business, she was another wrestler's valet at the time. She was older than Earl, at this time being about 48 years old. Samantha retired from wrestling early in order to take care of Earl's children, while he continued to tour the world as a professional wrestler. Although she disliked being left at home a lot, she remained faithful to Earl.
There was also Earl's younger brother, Jeffrey, who was once a wrestler before he retired to sell insurance. Jeff was 37 years old, with slowly balding brown hair who tended to slouch when he stood up. He lived with Earl primarilly because he liked the idea of living in a mansion, and mostly because he was hedonistic enough to try and avoid a life of too much responsibility. Jeff Knox was not known for his moral code or his intelligence, and Earl has had to slap him in line more than a few times, particularly after Jeff got in a few bad run-ins with the law.
Samantha Knox also had a relative living with the Knox family, her German-born niece, Lieselotte Weber. Liese, as she was commonly called, was twelve years old. She was a recent immigrant to the country, who was sent to America to live with Samantha and the others because of the sudden death of her family. Because she had lived in Germany all of her life, she spoke mostly German and had a poor grasp of English. She was sullen and quiet, and it was hard to get her to talk even if all she spoke was German.
Then there were the four children of Earl Knox.
The oldest among them was Soren Knox, known to the wrestling world today as Captain Justice. At this time, Soren was 17 years old, and a senior at his high school. He was playing in his high school's football team as a defensive linesman, and was noted for being the biggest linesman on his team. Soren had been trained to wrestle by Earl earlier, but he dropped it to play football and pursue other options first.
The second-oldest of the Knox siblings was Steve Knox, who still wrestles under his legal name to this day. He currently wrestled for New Frontier Wrestling. Steve was 15 years old at this time, and a sophomore in high school. Steve also played in the football team as a safety. He had a good build, but he was smaller than Soren, and decided to play a position that required more speed. Although Steve played football, he also still trained to be a wrestler, seeing football as the thing he did on the side.
The youngest brother was Simon Knox. Simon was twelve years old at the time, and in the seventh grade. Of the siblings, Simon was the one who admired his father and his accomplishments the most, and he wanted to one day reach the age where he would be able to become the wrestler and actor that his father was, today. At this time, he was a far cry from the pessimistic, dismissive man that PRIME audiences have slowly become accustomed to.
The last of the siblings was Siobahn Knox, who was nine years old at the time and in the fourth grade. Today, she's sixteen and a junior in high school. Siobahn didn't really care about her father's accomplishments and was much closer to her mother than her father.
Eight people lived in this mansion, and their lives would be forever changed in the next six months.
* . *
It was a snowy day in Rhode Island, and the Knox family stayed indoors on this Saturday.
Earl Knox was best described as being very serious about anything he ever did. A consummate professional, Earl was always working to improve everything about his in-ring style and his out-of-ring etiquette. Some journalists who covered the wrestling world often referred to Earl Knox as a "gentleman wrestler", although his antics in the wrestling world were hardly gentlemanly. Earl had so much charisma as a wrestler that he could literally get whatever reaction he wanted out of any kind of crowd by saying anything he wanted.
However, Earl was still serious about wrestling. He was exceptionally skilled at drawing reactions through ring psychology, storytelling, and oftentimes simply selling. His offense was diverse, culled from areas of sports entertainment, Japanese wrestling, and European wrestling.
So serious was he that he built a wrestling ring in his mansion's gym, simply so he could train even if he were home. It was also where Earl had initially trained Soren Knox before he decided to devote himself fully to football. Today, it was where Steve Knox trained.
Earl Knox was about six feet and four inches tall, and he weighed somewhere around 250 pounds. He had a tall, lanky kind of build, but he was definitely muscular. His short brown hair showed only the slightest indications of graying, and he hasn't yet developed any sort of baldness like his younger brother did. Despite being 44, he was still in tremendous shape and didn't look like the effects of 15 years of wrestling have slowed him down, even if he was semi-retired from the ring at this point. Earl was dressed in black track gear with white stripes, with a white tanktop seen just underneath his jacket, and white sneakers.
Steve was getting to the size he's at today, but still had a lot of training to do to reach that sort of build. His brown hair was short and somewhat spiky, and his face was contorted mostly in frustration at the moment. Steve was wearing a black NFW shirt and gray sweat pants with white and black sneakers.
The scene in the gym was started with Steve and his father in the ring. Earl had Steve in a side headlock, and was really wrenching it while Steve was somewhat panicking, trying to find some way to get out of his predicament. Steve's struggle was only magnified as Earl barked instructions as his second son, trying to coax him into finding his way out of the hold.
Outside of the ring, sitting on the bench against the wall, were two children: Simon Knox and Lieselotte Weber.
Simon, twelve years old, was still quite small at this age. His blonde hair was muffed and unkempt, but he was growing into the handsome man he would become. Simon was wearing a black T-shirt depicting his father, and a pair of khaki shorts. He was barefoot, and watching intently at the action in the ring with his feet up onto the seat, balling himself up.
Liselotte, also twelve years old, was also a bit small. At this time, though, she was slightly taller than Simon was. Her hair was black and shoulder-length, which she tied into a small ponytail. Her eyes were blue, but she had this sullen and quiet look on her face. She wore a long-sleeved white shirt underneath a pink T-shirt, and a pair of jeans. Like Simon, she was barefoot. Liese was less attentive about the actions in the ring than Simon was. She was, in fact, paying more attention to a small teddy bear that she had than the struggle between father and son in the ring.
"Son, you can't spend a whole match tryin' to figure out how the hell you get out of a side headlock." Earl told his son. To emphasize his point, he wrenched the hold again. Steve, still strugging, grabbed hold of his father's wrist, and attempted to turn the hold into a top wristlock. The two men began to jockey for position, but Steve was winning this one.
Earl, struggling with his son in the hold, could only smirk.
"There ya go." he said. Steve pressed his advantage, pushing Earl back so that his back started to get to the canvas. He bridged in order to keep his shoulders from being down on the canvas. Steve pressed his advantage, kneeling on the canvas to acquire more control and leverage over his hold.
Steve wasn't apt for talking during matches like his father was. However, he couldn't help but smile at the advantage he now had. Unfortunately, he saw something that caused his smile to quickly fade: the smile on Earl Knox's face.
"My boy," Earl said, softly. before he suddenly dropped his bridge and then reached with his legs to grip his son in a headscissors, "You're still too soft."
Steve fell over onto the canvas, and Earl kept the haadscissors in. However, he happened the idly glance at the clock on the side of the room, just above where Simon and Lieselotte sat. He saw that it was nearing noon, and he muttered to himself, "Son of a *****."
He let his son off easy by letting go of the headscissors. Steve got up quickly, partially wondering why his father would relent on him and mostly ready to grapple with him again. However, Earl held up his hand for Steve to stop while he went to one of the corners of the ring to grab a towel and wipe some of his sweat off of his brow. They had been at this for two hours, and both men were quite exhausted. Earl tossed a second towel to Steve, who caught it awkwardly, as if he didn't expect the action quite so quickly, or as if he was so sore from his dad kicking his ass for two hours that his motor functions had weakened. Either way, he almost didn't catch the towel at all.
"Sorry, son. It's almost noon." Earl explained.
"You sure you don't want to go another hour?" Steve asked, wearily. To be honest, it was a stupid question to ask, Steve had been taking bumps all day and although he was getting used to it, he was still not truly up for his suggestion. In fact, Steve could barely stand, the adrenaline in his body slowing to a crawl. Steve knew in his heart that his body could crumble if he took even one step.
"I could, but then I'd miss the appointment I made with Mr. Wilkerson," Earl said, "He's gonna come by in an hour or so."
"Mr. Wilkerson... you mean that producer?" Steve asked.
"Yup. That's the one." Earl said. He stepped through the ropes and out of the ring, heading for the exit that led to the hallway connecting the east wing with the main foyer. Simon, seeing his father leave, decided to follow him. He was unaware that Liese also got up and followed him out, and probably wouldn't have cared too much if he had indeed known of this.
* . *
William "Willy" Wilkerson was a movie producer who worked in Hollywood. He became known in some circles for basic action movies, usually buddy cop movies. Willy had been working with Earl since he got into acting, producing his first two movies, "Crime Doesn't Pay" and the film's spiritual successor, "Police Brutality". Both films were surprise box office successes, on the strength of the draw of Earl Knox's name. Willy was part of the reason why Earl had been able to break away from being "just a wrestler".
Nobody in the Knox family really liked the guy. He had been compared to a snake in both personality and appearance. He was in his mid-30s, and his hair with slick, oily, and black. It was coupled with a mustache and goatee that some people might believe to be sinister. He was in the habit of wearing snake-skin shoes, and a khaki-colored suit with some gaudy-looking ties. He was currently in the Knox family's dining room, his snake-clad feet already propped up on the table as if he owned the table, and he was in the process of using a match to light his cigar.
Willy smirked at Earl Knox as he approached. It was the type of smirk that you'd swear would have snakes coming out of it at any moment. It was the kind of smirk that, when young Simon Knox saw it, caused him to stop short of actually following his father into the dining room. Earl turned to see Simon standing there, with Lieselotte quietly approaching behind him.
"Sorry, son. Business calls." Earl said, softly. He grabbed each of the double doors that connected the dining room to the foyer of the mansion, and shut them in front of Simon. Simon stood there for a moment, blinking at the doors that now blocked him from his father, as Lieselotte approached from behind. She saw Simon staring at the door, and was curious as to what was up with him.
"Was ist falsch?"
Simon looked behind him to see Lieselotte, her teddy bear hanging by her left side as if it didn't matter any more. However, his was a look of confusion, as he didn't understand a single word that Lieselotte said. She noticed the confusion and decided to try again.
"Vhat... wrong?" she asked, her German accent poking through her broken English.
Simon simply held his finger to his lips, the universal sign for "stay quiet" that even Liese understood. Simon approached the door quietly, and placed his ear against the seam between the two doors. He could hear the familiar voices coming from behind the door.
"So, Earl. Thought about my little project?" the voice of Willy Wilkerson asked. His voice was like the Devil himself if he happened to chain smoke since he was eleven. His voice had this intimidating quality to it, which made some weak-willed people quiver in its wake. Simon, himself, would come to believe in later years and interactions with Willy that he was more like a mob boss than a Hollywood producer. However, for right now, all Simon could do was listen in.
"Hmph. Your project is just another cop movie, isn't it?" Earl inquired. There was a pause as Simon heard his father sit down across from Willy, "I wanted to branch out, Willy. I don't want to just be an action star."
Willy could be heard softly laughing. "With your physique, mate, you're built for the action genre. Why step away from what made you?"
"What made me, Mr. Wilkerson, was the ring." Earl said, "I might not have made as much money working there as I do now, but my name was well-known enough for you and your crew to knock on my door."
The only thing Simon could hear was the awkward silence that filled the room, as well as the sound of Willy's cigar smoking.
"Earl, Earl, Earl... you misunderstand." Willy said in a honey-soaked voice that Simon could swear had traces of poison in it. Willy was heard getting up, "Yes, it's a cop movie, but this one's different."
"Different how?" Earl asked, "You're not gonna put me up with some crazy Chinese martial artist, are ya?"
"No. Why would I want to try and emulate that accident of a success with Chris Tucker?" Willy asked, the sound of his footsteps heard in the room. From the small crack in the door that Simon peered into, it would appear that Willy was looking at some of Earl's memorabilia collected from fifteen years of wrestling, which lined the dining room.
"No... I want some respect in this profession, Earl. I want the Oscar." Willy said. He paused, before he added, "And I want you to help me."
Earl paused to think about it.
"We'll see. You got a title for it yet?"
"We're thinking of calling it... 'the Long Arm of the Law'." Willy said. He said this with such a flair for the dramatic that he thought, in his mind, he should win an Oscar right then and there.
Earl paused, as if he was thinking about it, before he gave a response, "Well, I can't really say 'no' to you, can I?"
"No. You certainly cannot." Willy said. The statement, to Simon, sounded a bit sinister... as if Willy knew something he wasn't about to bring up.
At about this time, Simon felt a presence just above him, or more precisely, somebody's long hair tickling the back of his neck. He looked up to see Lieselotte hovering above him, trying to mimic his action of listening in on the conversation. His attention is drawn away from the conversation and towards Lieselotte.
"What are you doing?" Simon whispered to her. He got up from his position, and missed some bits of conversation between his father and the producer. Lieselotte remained in her position, but eventually looked up at Simon.
"I do... vhat you do?" she said, more of a confused statement than an actual question.
She paused to hear more of the conversation, but then sensed that now was a good time to move away. She stepped away from the door. Now... Simon was young, but not a fool. He suspected that she moved away because someone was too close to the door, and stepped back himself. At about this time, the doors swung open. Out strolled Willy, blowing out a cloud of smoke from his cigar on his way out. He spoke not a word, and Simon was fairly certain that he didn't want to hear anything else he had to say. Earl slowly walked out of the dining room, looking like the color had drained from his face.
Willy left the mansion, and Simon noticed that something was up with his dad.
"Dad? What's wrong?" Simon asked.
Earl was listless. The only thing he did was turn around, and start to head up the stairs of the foyer towards his bedroom.
However, as he did so, he said something to his son, "Nothing, son. Nothing at all."
After Earl disappeared from sight, Simon turned to Lieselotte.
"Did that... man... say anything to my dad?" he asked.
Lieselotte seemed confused. She tried her best to respond, "I... not know."
Simon realized the folly of asking Liese for anything, given her poor grasp of English. Simon was sure that whatever she heard was important, but she couldn't tell him due to the language barrier. Whatever she heard, though, likely had a big impact on Earl Knox, given the look on his face after the meeting.
Simon would not find out the full extent of the meeting and what Liese had heard for years.
By then, however, it was seven years too late.
---
Time can be described as a fickle mistress.
The best way to describe time is not so much the passing of seconds on a clock, but through the memories built over its passage. Memory is what truly shapes a human being, what makes them complete. With our memories, we are able to discern courses of action that best suit any sort of situation. We're able to remember events that shape not only ourselves, but all of humanity. Even human history is really made up of memories of those who came before us. A thousand years seems like a long time only because our memories make us remember just how long a year really is.
Perhaps for some God out there, a thousand years is nothing but a blink of an eye.
Without our memories, would we have personalities? Would we have history? Or knowledge? Would we remember that movie that we loved so long ago, but hadn't seen in a while? Would we remember that book that we read, so many years ago? Would we remember our leaders? Would we remember our friends? Family? It's a fair bet to say that we wouldn't remember a thing.
As important as memories are, however, they can lie to us all the same as they can help us perceive the truth.
---
January 13th, 2001; Providence, Rhode Island
The Knox family household was a mansion just on the western outskirts of the city of Providence, Rhode Island.
The mansion and the land around it were only modest compared to most lavish mansions of its ilk. The mansion could easily be seen from the road, and it was a short path from the gates to the mansion itself. The building faced to the south, had two stories, and two wings; a western wing and an eastern wing. Most of the bedrooms and bathrooms were built into the west wing, while the eastern wing consisted of a gym, a recreation room, and a few other speciality rooms here and there.
The mansion was clearly for a "millionaire on a budget", it lacked the excess of most mansions of the day. In fact, there weren't even any dedicated hired help working at the mansion, it was entirely maintained by the Knox family themselves. The building seemed to be made to house the Knox family's many members and provide a sort of a training ground for them as well.
At this time, seven years ago, there were eight people living in the mansion, all of them being members of the Knox family.
The patriarch of the family was a man named Earl Knox. He was a professional wrestler who rose up from nothing to become something of a modern-day legend for his time. A big wrestling star in the 1990s, Earl Knox was known by his in-ring name of "the Pearl". He was the "complete package" from a wrestling standpoint, he was not only a talented wrestler, but he was extremely charismatic to the point that eventually, Hollywood didn't just coming knocking... they kicked the damn door down. Earl Knox was 44 years old at this time, and he wrestled for fifteen years before entering semi-retirement to focus on acting.
Earl's wife was Samantha Knox. They met when Earl was just starting out in the wrestling business, she was another wrestler's valet at the time. She was older than Earl, at this time being about 48 years old. Samantha retired from wrestling early in order to take care of Earl's children, while he continued to tour the world as a professional wrestler. Although she disliked being left at home a lot, she remained faithful to Earl.
There was also Earl's younger brother, Jeffrey, who was once a wrestler before he retired to sell insurance. Jeff was 37 years old, with slowly balding brown hair who tended to slouch when he stood up. He lived with Earl primarilly because he liked the idea of living in a mansion, and mostly because he was hedonistic enough to try and avoid a life of too much responsibility. Jeff Knox was not known for his moral code or his intelligence, and Earl has had to slap him in line more than a few times, particularly after Jeff got in a few bad run-ins with the law.
Samantha Knox also had a relative living with the Knox family, her German-born niece, Lieselotte Weber. Liese, as she was commonly called, was twelve years old. She was a recent immigrant to the country, who was sent to America to live with Samantha and the others because of the sudden death of her family. Because she had lived in Germany all of her life, she spoke mostly German and had a poor grasp of English. She was sullen and quiet, and it was hard to get her to talk even if all she spoke was German.
Then there were the four children of Earl Knox.
The oldest among them was Soren Knox, known to the wrestling world today as Captain Justice. At this time, Soren was 17 years old, and a senior at his high school. He was playing in his high school's football team as a defensive linesman, and was noted for being the biggest linesman on his team. Soren had been trained to wrestle by Earl earlier, but he dropped it to play football and pursue other options first.
The second-oldest of the Knox siblings was Steve Knox, who still wrestles under his legal name to this day. He currently wrestled for New Frontier Wrestling. Steve was 15 years old at this time, and a sophomore in high school. Steve also played in the football team as a safety. He had a good build, but he was smaller than Soren, and decided to play a position that required more speed. Although Steve played football, he also still trained to be a wrestler, seeing football as the thing he did on the side.
The youngest brother was Simon Knox. Simon was twelve years old at the time, and in the seventh grade. Of the siblings, Simon was the one who admired his father and his accomplishments the most, and he wanted to one day reach the age where he would be able to become the wrestler and actor that his father was, today. At this time, he was a far cry from the pessimistic, dismissive man that PRIME audiences have slowly become accustomed to.
The last of the siblings was Siobahn Knox, who was nine years old at the time and in the fourth grade. Today, she's sixteen and a junior in high school. Siobahn didn't really care about her father's accomplishments and was much closer to her mother than her father.
Eight people lived in this mansion, and their lives would be forever changed in the next six months.
* . *
It was a snowy day in Rhode Island, and the Knox family stayed indoors on this Saturday.
Earl Knox was best described as being very serious about anything he ever did. A consummate professional, Earl was always working to improve everything about his in-ring style and his out-of-ring etiquette. Some journalists who covered the wrestling world often referred to Earl Knox as a "gentleman wrestler", although his antics in the wrestling world were hardly gentlemanly. Earl had so much charisma as a wrestler that he could literally get whatever reaction he wanted out of any kind of crowd by saying anything he wanted.
However, Earl was still serious about wrestling. He was exceptionally skilled at drawing reactions through ring psychology, storytelling, and oftentimes simply selling. His offense was diverse, culled from areas of sports entertainment, Japanese wrestling, and European wrestling.
So serious was he that he built a wrestling ring in his mansion's gym, simply so he could train even if he were home. It was also where Earl had initially trained Soren Knox before he decided to devote himself fully to football. Today, it was where Steve Knox trained.
Earl Knox was about six feet and four inches tall, and he weighed somewhere around 250 pounds. He had a tall, lanky kind of build, but he was definitely muscular. His short brown hair showed only the slightest indications of graying, and he hasn't yet developed any sort of baldness like his younger brother did. Despite being 44, he was still in tremendous shape and didn't look like the effects of 15 years of wrestling have slowed him down, even if he was semi-retired from the ring at this point. Earl was dressed in black track gear with white stripes, with a white tanktop seen just underneath his jacket, and white sneakers.
Steve was getting to the size he's at today, but still had a lot of training to do to reach that sort of build. His brown hair was short and somewhat spiky, and his face was contorted mostly in frustration at the moment. Steve was wearing a black NFW shirt and gray sweat pants with white and black sneakers.
The scene in the gym was started with Steve and his father in the ring. Earl had Steve in a side headlock, and was really wrenching it while Steve was somewhat panicking, trying to find some way to get out of his predicament. Steve's struggle was only magnified as Earl barked instructions as his second son, trying to coax him into finding his way out of the hold.
Outside of the ring, sitting on the bench against the wall, were two children: Simon Knox and Lieselotte Weber.
Simon, twelve years old, was still quite small at this age. His blonde hair was muffed and unkempt, but he was growing into the handsome man he would become. Simon was wearing a black T-shirt depicting his father, and a pair of khaki shorts. He was barefoot, and watching intently at the action in the ring with his feet up onto the seat, balling himself up.
Liselotte, also twelve years old, was also a bit small. At this time, though, she was slightly taller than Simon was. Her hair was black and shoulder-length, which she tied into a small ponytail. Her eyes were blue, but she had this sullen and quiet look on her face. She wore a long-sleeved white shirt underneath a pink T-shirt, and a pair of jeans. Like Simon, she was barefoot. Liese was less attentive about the actions in the ring than Simon was. She was, in fact, paying more attention to a small teddy bear that she had than the struggle between father and son in the ring.
"Son, you can't spend a whole match tryin' to figure out how the hell you get out of a side headlock." Earl told his son. To emphasize his point, he wrenched the hold again. Steve, still strugging, grabbed hold of his father's wrist, and attempted to turn the hold into a top wristlock. The two men began to jockey for position, but Steve was winning this one.
Earl, struggling with his son in the hold, could only smirk.
"There ya go." he said. Steve pressed his advantage, pushing Earl back so that his back started to get to the canvas. He bridged in order to keep his shoulders from being down on the canvas. Steve pressed his advantage, kneeling on the canvas to acquire more control and leverage over his hold.
Steve wasn't apt for talking during matches like his father was. However, he couldn't help but smile at the advantage he now had. Unfortunately, he saw something that caused his smile to quickly fade: the smile on Earl Knox's face.
"My boy," Earl said, softly. before he suddenly dropped his bridge and then reached with his legs to grip his son in a headscissors, "You're still too soft."
Steve fell over onto the canvas, and Earl kept the haadscissors in. However, he happened the idly glance at the clock on the side of the room, just above where Simon and Lieselotte sat. He saw that it was nearing noon, and he muttered to himself, "Son of a *****."
He let his son off easy by letting go of the headscissors. Steve got up quickly, partially wondering why his father would relent on him and mostly ready to grapple with him again. However, Earl held up his hand for Steve to stop while he went to one of the corners of the ring to grab a towel and wipe some of his sweat off of his brow. They had been at this for two hours, and both men were quite exhausted. Earl tossed a second towel to Steve, who caught it awkwardly, as if he didn't expect the action quite so quickly, or as if he was so sore from his dad kicking his ass for two hours that his motor functions had weakened. Either way, he almost didn't catch the towel at all.
"Sorry, son. It's almost noon." Earl explained.
"You sure you don't want to go another hour?" Steve asked, wearily. To be honest, it was a stupid question to ask, Steve had been taking bumps all day and although he was getting used to it, he was still not truly up for his suggestion. In fact, Steve could barely stand, the adrenaline in his body slowing to a crawl. Steve knew in his heart that his body could crumble if he took even one step.
"I could, but then I'd miss the appointment I made with Mr. Wilkerson," Earl said, "He's gonna come by in an hour or so."
"Mr. Wilkerson... you mean that producer?" Steve asked.
"Yup. That's the one." Earl said. He stepped through the ropes and out of the ring, heading for the exit that led to the hallway connecting the east wing with the main foyer. Simon, seeing his father leave, decided to follow him. He was unaware that Liese also got up and followed him out, and probably wouldn't have cared too much if he had indeed known of this.
* . *
William "Willy" Wilkerson was a movie producer who worked in Hollywood. He became known in some circles for basic action movies, usually buddy cop movies. Willy had been working with Earl since he got into acting, producing his first two movies, "Crime Doesn't Pay" and the film's spiritual successor, "Police Brutality". Both films were surprise box office successes, on the strength of the draw of Earl Knox's name. Willy was part of the reason why Earl had been able to break away from being "just a wrestler".
Nobody in the Knox family really liked the guy. He had been compared to a snake in both personality and appearance. He was in his mid-30s, and his hair with slick, oily, and black. It was coupled with a mustache and goatee that some people might believe to be sinister. He was in the habit of wearing snake-skin shoes, and a khaki-colored suit with some gaudy-looking ties. He was currently in the Knox family's dining room, his snake-clad feet already propped up on the table as if he owned the table, and he was in the process of using a match to light his cigar.
Willy smirked at Earl Knox as he approached. It was the type of smirk that you'd swear would have snakes coming out of it at any moment. It was the kind of smirk that, when young Simon Knox saw it, caused him to stop short of actually following his father into the dining room. Earl turned to see Simon standing there, with Lieselotte quietly approaching behind him.
"Sorry, son. Business calls." Earl said, softly. He grabbed each of the double doors that connected the dining room to the foyer of the mansion, and shut them in front of Simon. Simon stood there for a moment, blinking at the doors that now blocked him from his father, as Lieselotte approached from behind. She saw Simon staring at the door, and was curious as to what was up with him.
"Was ist falsch?"
Simon looked behind him to see Lieselotte, her teddy bear hanging by her left side as if it didn't matter any more. However, his was a look of confusion, as he didn't understand a single word that Lieselotte said. She noticed the confusion and decided to try again.
"Vhat... wrong?" she asked, her German accent poking through her broken English.
Simon simply held his finger to his lips, the universal sign for "stay quiet" that even Liese understood. Simon approached the door quietly, and placed his ear against the seam between the two doors. He could hear the familiar voices coming from behind the door.
"So, Earl. Thought about my little project?" the voice of Willy Wilkerson asked. His voice was like the Devil himself if he happened to chain smoke since he was eleven. His voice had this intimidating quality to it, which made some weak-willed people quiver in its wake. Simon, himself, would come to believe in later years and interactions with Willy that he was more like a mob boss than a Hollywood producer. However, for right now, all Simon could do was listen in.
"Hmph. Your project is just another cop movie, isn't it?" Earl inquired. There was a pause as Simon heard his father sit down across from Willy, "I wanted to branch out, Willy. I don't want to just be an action star."
Willy could be heard softly laughing. "With your physique, mate, you're built for the action genre. Why step away from what made you?"
"What made me, Mr. Wilkerson, was the ring." Earl said, "I might not have made as much money working there as I do now, but my name was well-known enough for you and your crew to knock on my door."
The only thing Simon could hear was the awkward silence that filled the room, as well as the sound of Willy's cigar smoking.
"Earl, Earl, Earl... you misunderstand." Willy said in a honey-soaked voice that Simon could swear had traces of poison in it. Willy was heard getting up, "Yes, it's a cop movie, but this one's different."
"Different how?" Earl asked, "You're not gonna put me up with some crazy Chinese martial artist, are ya?"
"No. Why would I want to try and emulate that accident of a success with Chris Tucker?" Willy asked, the sound of his footsteps heard in the room. From the small crack in the door that Simon peered into, it would appear that Willy was looking at some of Earl's memorabilia collected from fifteen years of wrestling, which lined the dining room.
"No... I want some respect in this profession, Earl. I want the Oscar." Willy said. He paused, before he added, "And I want you to help me."
Earl paused to think about it.
"We'll see. You got a title for it yet?"
"We're thinking of calling it... 'the Long Arm of the Law'." Willy said. He said this with such a flair for the dramatic that he thought, in his mind, he should win an Oscar right then and there.
Earl paused, as if he was thinking about it, before he gave a response, "Well, I can't really say 'no' to you, can I?"
"No. You certainly cannot." Willy said. The statement, to Simon, sounded a bit sinister... as if Willy knew something he wasn't about to bring up.
At about this time, Simon felt a presence just above him, or more precisely, somebody's long hair tickling the back of his neck. He looked up to see Lieselotte hovering above him, trying to mimic his action of listening in on the conversation. His attention is drawn away from the conversation and towards Lieselotte.
"What are you doing?" Simon whispered to her. He got up from his position, and missed some bits of conversation between his father and the producer. Lieselotte remained in her position, but eventually looked up at Simon.
"I do... vhat you do?" she said, more of a confused statement than an actual question.
She paused to hear more of the conversation, but then sensed that now was a good time to move away. She stepped away from the door. Now... Simon was young, but not a fool. He suspected that she moved away because someone was too close to the door, and stepped back himself. At about this time, the doors swung open. Out strolled Willy, blowing out a cloud of smoke from his cigar on his way out. He spoke not a word, and Simon was fairly certain that he didn't want to hear anything else he had to say. Earl slowly walked out of the dining room, looking like the color had drained from his face.
Willy left the mansion, and Simon noticed that something was up with his dad.
"Dad? What's wrong?" Simon asked.
Earl was listless. The only thing he did was turn around, and start to head up the stairs of the foyer towards his bedroom.
However, as he did so, he said something to his son, "Nothing, son. Nothing at all."
After Earl disappeared from sight, Simon turned to Lieselotte.
"Did that... man... say anything to my dad?" he asked.
Lieselotte seemed confused. She tried her best to respond, "I... not know."
Simon realized the folly of asking Liese for anything, given her poor grasp of English. Simon was sure that whatever she heard was important, but she couldn't tell him due to the language barrier. Whatever she heard, though, likely had a big impact on Earl Knox, given the look on his face after the meeting.
Simon would not find out the full extent of the meeting and what Liese had heard for years.
By then, however, it was seven years too late.