Page 26 of Atlas
“Jolene Fisher.” They shook hands, and once again, she lifted the colors to him.
“Thank you, but I wouldn’t know how to apply them without a mirror, and no offense to my beautiful and brilliant wife, but face paint was never her strongest suit. Maybe you can help me when we land?”
Karen joined in. “He’s right. I can run a large corporation with a firm hand, but come Halloween, our girls quickly learned never to come to me for creative outfits. It’s so bad that my family banned me from carving pumpkins at our house. Last time I tried, it was a small massacre, to say the least.” Unlike her husband, Karen’s drawl was discreet.
“All right, I’ll help you, but I can’t guarantee my hands won’t be shaking from the betrayal of painting a blue star on your cheeks. You sure you don’t want a bit of orange on your forehead? It’s a nice color.”
There was laughter between them.
Jolene tilted her head. “What about you, Karen, are you a Dallas fan too?”
Karen nodded. “I sure am.”
Looking around the cabin, Jolene pointed to the rest of the passengers. “It’s time to reveal your colors, people. Who’s cheering for the Broncos tonight?”
Out of the fourteen people, only four raised their hands. “With Atlas and me, that’s six Broncos fans.”
“And the Dallas Cowboys?”
Karen, Jeff, and five others raised their hands.
“That’s seven. Hmm, what about you, Miranda?”
Jolene had met the event coordinator when we entered the plane, and the young woman looked perplexed when Jolene drew her into the conversation.
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m not here for the football. My job is to make sure you’re all comfortable.”
“Then you’re on team Broncos. We need the support.”
Jeff protested. “You can’t just recruit fans like that.”
“Sure, I can.” Jolene grinned. “It’s time to pick a team, friends. What’s it going to be; the Broncos or the Cowboys?” We were all looking at the last two passengers who hadn’t chosen sides.
“I’m a Bears fan,” John, our CEO, called out.
“Rams fan here.” Michael Feltzer, another Forbes top ten CEO, raised his hand and gave a sheepish smile. As far as I knew, the two men had been fraternity brothers and remained great friends ever since.
Jolene, who had no idea who either of the men were, smiled at them and spoke in a playful tone, “Sorry boys, but since the Bears and the Rams aren’t playing tonight, you’ll have to cheer for another team. May I recommend the Broncos?”
Jeff booed and called out to them. “Don’t listen to her. Go for the Cowboys.”
I looked on in astonishment when Karen, who was known to be a fierce ball breaker, joined in and was grinning as she tried to convince the two undecided men to join the Dallas supporters. The atmosphere in the small plane was jovial, and everyone was engaged in the battle between team Broncos and team Cowboys. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought they were a few champagne bottles in with the way they were laughing and interacting, but we hadn’t started drinking yet.
“I’m going to go with Karen’s team,” John concluded. Jolene and two other Broncos fans booed and laughed.
Now, everyone was looking at Michael.
“Such pressure.” He twisted his hands with a genuine smile. “Before I make this important decision, I need a count of how many are cheering for each team.”
Being a true leader, Karen turned in her seat to get an overview. “Hands up if you’re a Dallas fan.”
Nine people raised their hands.
“Miranda. How could you?” Jolene blinked her eyes and touched her chest with mock disappointment. “I thought you joined us…”
In a fast movement, Miranda’s hand came down. “I’m sorry. I just got confused. Who are we cheering for again?”
“The Broncos.”
