Free Fallling for the Prodigal Son by Julia Gabriel Page A

might have said—that she realized he hadn't been the least bit surprised when she'd revealed her past as a camper.
     
    Just before three o'clock in the afternoon, Lucy heard someone say, "Knock, knock."
    She looked up to see Derrick standing in her doorway. She waved him in. He closed her office door behind him.
    "So how was your day?" she asked.
    "Great. The more kids change, the more they stay the same, don't they?"
    "Yeah, isn't that funny? They dress differently than we did—better probably—but underneath it all they're still just kids. How did the skipjack race go?"
    "Several of the kids got some really great shots, as in h ang-those-things-on-the- wall great. One of the boys is a top-notch sketch artist, too. You never know what you're going to get with these kids."
    Derrick's face brightened suddenly, to Lucy's surprise. "Guess who else was a camper here? I learned this just recently, when she was in DC for a concert."
    Lucy shrugged. "I have no idea."
    "Simone Adkins."
    "The singer Simone Adkins? Grammy award winning Simone Adkins?"
    "The one." Derrick looked proud of himself for unearthing this information. "What has Sterling Matthew done with his life? Compared to what so many of us have accomplished?"
    "Nothing. But then he doesn't have to accomplish anything. He was born rich."
    Derrick dragged a side chair over to Lucy's desk. "So, Douglas and I, we've concocted a plan," he said conspiratorially.
    "Oh yeah?" Lucy was interested.
    "Oh yeah. I was thinking about how I was going to write this story. Because if the camp is ending, then I don't need to ask people to donate money, right? But then I thought, well why not ask people to donate money to save the camp?"
    "Ahhh ... I'm not sure if he'll be swayed by that." Lucy recalled the ragamuffin conversation from the previous night.
    "I'm going to propose to my editor a weeklong series on the camp, a retrospective of the camp's history and all the people who have been touched by it. Both famous people and the not so famous."
    "What are the odds your editor will sign off on it?
    "She will. I'm the great Derrick Jones, right?"
    Lucy wished she had one-tenth the confidence and charm that Derrick had. If she did, they wouldn't need to be having this conversation right now. Sterling Matthew would already have acquiesced.
    "But that's not all. I'm going to call up all the camp alumni I know and hit them up for money, personally. Or have my summer intern do it." He smiled. "You know you've made it when you have your own unpaid minions. But seriously, over the years, people who went to the camp have contacted me because of the articles I've written about it. I've kept a list of those people, Lucy. I never really knew what to do with all the names, other than call a few up each summer for good quotes. But I've got hundreds of them by now."
    "Do they have money to give?"
    "The ones who call me do. They call because they want to tell me how well they've done in life. Or they want free publicity for their businesses or careers, which I'm happy to give when I can. But I'm always amazed at how well so many former campers have done in their lives. Most haven't won a Grammy or the Heisman, but lots own businesses, became doctors or professors."
    "Or reporters," Lucy added.
    "Well, I'm the only one of those so far. If pretty boy wants to get rid of the camp, that's his prerogative. But I feel obligated to let camp alumni know that this is the final summer. Having talked to so many of them over the years, I know they'd want to know." He smiled that sly smile again.
    Lucy's smile matched Derrick's.
    "When do you think the story might run?" Lucy asked.
    "Well, it'll take me a week or so to run down some of these folks. They're busy. You can't get them on the first try, usually. And then I'll need to coordinate with my editor, see when there's space to run it."
    "I ask because I'll be out of town all next week. I've been signed up for a marketing conference in San Francisco."
    " As a