1984 Big Brother Job Julia-Nude Day

"I see," she said, while wondering what could she really do for this man, when he already had all the answers.

Then, she realized that he was looking for someone to take that role. Perhaps, he was tired of having all the answers. Perhaps, he didn't have time to handle all of this so unimportant stuff and needed more time to do what he does best, create, invent, and produce the things that people need in global communication.

"Unless you come up with a better idea, trust me, it's better that I just ignore them. My best defense is to pretend they don't exist," he looked at her, as if he could see right through her.

Looking at him, as if he was a gigantic bird of prey, even though she was 5'9" tall and an inch taller than him, he made her feel so small and so insignificant. Suddenly, she felt a bit like Alice In Wonderland, shrinking from his mere stare. She didn't like feeling so small. She didn't like feeling so insignificant, yet, she liked feeling his powerful influence and feeling so protected under his strong wing.

"Unfortunately, you're a target with a huge dollar sign on your back and you've been even more of a target because you've been out there in the forefront with no one you've trusted enough to run interference for you. I can do that for you. I can handle whatever they have to give," she said hoping to say all the things she needed to say to make him believe that she could do the job, while hoping it was all the things that he wanted to hear.

"It's better that the public stays in the dark about who I am and what I do, you understand. I have enough people trying to steal my ideas without having me inspire all of humanity at the detriment of what I need to accomplish. I don't need anyone meddling in my business affairs. I already have fortune, more money than even I can spend in ten lifetimes. I don't want or need fame. That's your job," he said with a satisfied smile, as if he was the king handling her his robe, his crown, and his scepter, while he disappeared in the background and vanished to become Merlin the Magician.

"I understand, of course," she said with a smile of total acknowledgement, while assuring herself that they were definitely on the same page about what her responsibilities would be.

"That's what I'll be paying you to do, to become famous or infamous, as the case may be," he said with a laugh, "as my way of deflecting interest from me to you." He paused to give her an appreciative look. "By your appearance alone, the public will more love you than hate you, I dare say. Perhaps, some of the women will hate you, but the men will never remove their eyes from the screen, whenever you appear on camera and if they hear anything you say, no matter what you said, even if you said the sky was falling, they'll believe every word of it."

"I can't lie for you, if that's what you need me to do. Lies are always discovered and I'd forever lose my credibility. I'd be of no use to you then, not to mention, I'd ruin my career. There's a lot of sense in the old adage that the truth will set you free," she said with a small satisfied smile.

"There's no reason for you to lie for me or to lie about my business affairs, but spinning the truth is always better than be so forthcoming. Our government does it all the time," he said giving her a look of admiration that she had become accustomed to and never comfortable with, especially when on an interview for a job. "I can hire anyone to stand up there to talk to the reporters, but I need a special someone, you, to handle the press. There's a vast difference. It's those savvy editors and rich and powerful publishers that hide behind their sometimes gullible reporting messengers; they are the ones you must learn to respect, trust, and despise."

"Surely, it will take me time for me to get up to speed. I'll need time to learn your business and to intuitively know what to say and what to do, when--"

"Get up to speed? You're already miles ahead of your competition. Look at you, educated and smart, you are the most beautiful creature I've ever seen, more beautiful than the most beautiful bird. Fame more suits you than it does me. The public, I dare say, would rather hear my message coming from your beautiful mouth, than from my ugly puss."

As if she were a TX9000, the latest satellite invented by the Japanese and copied by the Chinese for half the money, he was satisfied with his latest acquisition. He summed her up with happy contentment, as if hoping to make a fortune by buying a million shares of her stock on the open market for a short sale. There was, suddenly, an uncomfortable silence between them that they'd never again experience. Trying to get a read on him, she contemplated him. It was her move and he waited for her to speak, only one never at a loss for words, she was unsure of what to say.

Preceded by his reputation and with his boyish good looks and flashy white smile, he reminded her of the image she had of how F. Scott Fitzgerald's character, Jay Gatsby, would look and act, if he was here in the flesh, today. In the way he moved and in the way he talked, with his confident manner and self-assured charm, all of it fortified by the weighted control and the political influence of enormous reserves of wealth and power, JB was a man, who had so much on his plate at any given time, that the mere presence of him, as well as the thought of working for him, overwhelmed her. The reality of him never occurred to her, until he was sitting across from her.

Normally confident, poised, and self-assured, he made her doubt her abilities making her wonder, if she was even right for the job. Yet, he must already know she was the one for the job, otherwise he wouldn't be sitting here wasting his precious time with her. He must really want her for him to take the time to meet her in person, she thought.

His easy demeanor was contagious. He made her relax, no doubt, his way of disarming his adversaries. Cool and calm, good at verbally jousting, he cut off the heads of his dragons in his boardroom, where he did all his battles and where few gained admission. He never fought his fights in public.

Disarming and disabling his competition in the process and enabling everyone who challenged him defenseless, JB had a carefree attitude about him that lulled those into misunderstanding him and underestimating him, even so much as thinking him tame and even so much as lame. His father had started this business, after all, and for those who thought he was anything like his father were sadly mistaken and rudely awakened in a boardroom fight with him. He was driven and thinking him tame was their folly and underestimating him as lame was their undoing.

Definitely, not wild, he was assuredly not tame nor lame. Calculating and logical, in the way of the Vulcan Spock, he wasn't as emotionally charged and driven, as was Captain Kirk. Those who thought they'd get the better of him, never saw him coming, until it was too late.

She was unprepared and ill equipped to combat him for the job during this impromptu interview and she feared, she may be losing the contest to another better armed adversary. The worst thing she could do was to relax. The worst thing she could do was to look weak, confused, and unconfident. She couldn't allow him to rattle her.

If she couldn't handle the pressure of him, one man, now, even such a man as him, how would she handle the heat of a hundred reporters later? Yet, if she could handle such as man as him now, well, no one ever has, she'd gain his confidence. She needed to stay focused and keep her wits about her and not be taken in by his charisma and by the omniscient reputation that preceded him.

It was easy, too easy to surrender to him and she knew enough about him that he needed someone who'd put up a fight, before being overpowered and taken by him. She knew enough about him that he didn't want a yes man or a defenseless woman; he didn't want another rooster in the henhouse or another bitch in his kitchen. She knew that he liked things just the way they were, only he needed someone to care for the garden he had already planted to make sure that nothing he put in place be changed, while the new crop he was growing had the time to flourish in the dark and in secret.

If she was to work for him as his public persona, if she was to handle the press on a daily basis, then every response she made now needed to be thoughtful and measured to show him she could do the job. She needed to adopt a strategic plan of defense, so as not to be put on the offense by a question he'd surely ask that surprised her. Just as he was good at making people feel comfortable, before going for the jugular, she needed to be more like him. For sure, she didn't want to be one of his victims, not now, and not yet, anyway. She needed to make him believe in her ability to do the job, just as much as she believed that she could do the job. Without doubt, it would be very challenging working for such a man.

Having learned all she could about the company and about him, she figured he'd be all business with numbers, facts, and statistics and she was ready for all of that. Yet, he surprised her. Leaving that information for his battery of accountants and entourage of personal assistants, he was so much more approachable and easy to talk to than she thought he'd be.

Already, making her feel at ease, doing to her what she had wanted to do to him, he had reversed the table on her. This was his test of her. Nonetheless, she already liked and trusted him. Yet, he had an aloofness about him, an impenetrable armor that protected his secrets. If she imagined that he had many skeletons hidden in his closet, she'd be right.

"How did you, one man, ala Ted Turner," she said laughing away her nervousness, while knowing that Ted Turner was his inspiration, as much as his adversary, "start a worldwide cable communication company so vast, when there was so much competition in such a growing, changing, and redefining market?"

"That's easy," he said. She watched him, learning from his posture and, instead of leaning back to savor his success, he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table, as if ready to whisper her a secret of what was next on his agenda. "I was ready for it. I always knew I'd do something like this. This was my destiny, after all," he said with a smug and confident smile.

"You were?" She sat enthralled buying into what he wanted to tell her, sell her, and what she needed to hear to learn. "How so?

"Rather than creating television programs, theatre, and shows I hoped the world would embrace and watch, rather than being at the mere hat in hand mercy of sponsors, prima donna actors, actresses, directors, and producers, rather than giving away all my profits to network syndication and to talent that have suddenly found the eye of the public and the pomposity of star power, how better to control what people watch on television than to be the behind the scenes service provider?" With a God like wave of his hand, as if painting a priceless Picasso, before putting it on display at a museum, he said, "I merely provide a much needed and necessary service, the same as any utility company." He gave a smug little laugh, as if he was enjoying a private joke and he was, but the joke was on her.

"You have it all figured out," she said, "don't you?"

"I do, but I didn't have to figure anything out. As if it was scripted, it was fated to be this way. Only," he said, "as a mere service provider, not dependent upon fossil fuels and burdened by costly labor, my costs are much lower and my profits much higher. People love their high definition, cable television so much so that they can't spend an hour away from the television due to lost power. They wouldn't know what to do with themselves, should they suddenly have no cell phone, TV, and Internet. Why, I dare say, they'd be suicidal after a day of not having global communication," he said with a mad scientist like laugh.

"Control?" Carefully listening to and analyzing his every word, thinking first before speaking and not being as impulsive with her words, as she usually is, she felt pressured to not make a false step or a bad impression. Still she persevered. "Service and control are at odds with one another, are they not?"

"Don't be so naive, Julia," he said with the appropriate pause in honor of her name. It was obvious that he was a man who had an answer for everything and she waited with baited breath to hear it. "Much in the way that a public servant controls every aspect of your little uninspired life, of course, I don't mean you specifically, I control what every household watches, that is, for the matter of a bloated monthly service fee."

"I see," she said. "That's one way to explain something in a way I've never considered."

She was in awe of him. It was then that she realized that she could learn so much from this man. Only, just as she thought it, he said it.

"Not everything can be found in a book, Julia," he said her name, as if he was saying it for the first time and savoring it, while in bed with her naked. "You can learn a lot from me and I'm willing to take the time to teach you."

"Why take the time to teach me anything, when you can hire anyone, someone who is more experienced for the position."

"You mean hire someone who already has experience of not succeeding, someone who's already failed, which is why he or she is looking for a new job," he said looking at her, as if she was a car he was considering taking for a test drive, before buying. "With you, I can mold. With you, I can instruct you in everything you need to watch my back," he said, while studying her.

"You make a good argument, one that is contrary to what other employers deem important, experience over enthusiasm and malleability."

"It's funny, after reaching a position of such power, wealth, and influence, the basic human traits are the things that I regard the most, honesty, loyalty, and dedication. I see all of those qualities in you, something that is missing from those who have already worked for another, grown weary and disillusioned, before being flushed out of the system. One day, no doubt, after you are done with me, after I have taken all that I can use of you and you of me, you will be the same, but for now, you are my diamond in the rough."

"What if I'm the rare exception and work for you for the next thirty years," she said smiling her confidence through her glass, as she made solid eye contact with him, while taking a sip of her wine.

"Ah, then, you'd be the rare commodity, a beautiful flower that would blossom and grow as powerful as I needed you to grow. I'd want nothing more for you than to have you succeed in this position. It would ease my mind of these responsibilities allow me to continue my work elsewhere, Julia."

No one had ever said her name in quite that way before and she liked how he enunciated each syllable of her name. He pronounced it, as if he was chewing it. He was the first man she had ever met, who undressed her with his mind, instead of with his eyes and she felt naked and exposed in his presence. Astutely, she realized that there was nothing she could hide from him without him knowing that she wasn't forthcoming. As if he had seen her naked and vulnerable before, if only she knew he had, it was as if he could see who she really was. He made her feel defenseless and now, he volunteered to be her teacher, and, yet, to what end?

"If nothing else, Mr. Blankenship--"

"Please, call me JB."

"Alright," she said with a smile, as if she had just scored a point in his favor. "If nothing else, JB, my education has given me the foundation that I need to prepare for the job as your Executive Personal Assistant," she said wishing she hadn't said that, as soon as she said it, and in the way she had said it.

Her pitch for the position sounded as unprofessional as it was desperate. Had she been interviewing with human resources for a lower level position, what she had said about being prepared for the position would have been perfectly fine, but this was Jerick Blankenship, JB, the President and CEO or Monitor, Inc, one of the richest men in charge of one of the biggest corporations in the world. Yet, notwithstanding, she wanted him to know that she wanted the job and she was glad when he ignored what she had said by not dignifying it with a response.

Immediately, she knew he'd be a man who'd challenge her, and just as it would be some time, before she was capable enough to meet his challenge, it would be some time, before she became bored working for him. The thought of working for him excited her and she never wanted anything in the way that she wanted this job now.

"Your accomplishments precede you, Julia. You mustn't waste your time selling me on you. I'm already interested, I'm already sold, otherwise I wouldn't have come here in person. This is an important job and based upon this rare personal interview that I've granted you, it's your job to lose. I don't have to tell you that. Being in the heart of my innermost circle of my trusted advisers, you'll be an integral part of my operation."

"Tell me more about you being the service provider. I find that part of this interview fascinating," she said liking more what she just said.

This was how to get him to talk more about himself and about his company. This was what she needs to do to land this job. She could tell by his facial expression, eager to tell her about his company, that she was on the right track.

"Much in the way as Bill Gates and Windows is in the background, as the operating system for the computer, I'm the technical uplink between the creative energy and financial minds for televised networks," he said with a satisfied laugh. "The writers, producers, directors, and actors do all the work for me by making the shows, be it a movie, a situation comedy, a documentary, or world news. It's of no consequence to me if they win an award or flop. Innocuously remaining in the background, I just broadcast what they've generously created and so professionally stated."

"You're much like a utility company in that regard," she said with a smile, repeating back his own words.

"I am," he said returning her smile with a satisfied one. "For me, as it does for them, it all starts with a signal and that signal, transmitted by my satellites, are mine. I own them. Without me and my company and all the companies like mine, there is no TV, no Internet, no telephone, and no worldwide communication. Without my satellites, everything will be quiet and everyone will be bored. Think of me as the sun of their universe. Think of me as the one who always get paid, no matter what crap and reality based show they put on television. Yet, that's all old news."

"Old news, what do you mean?"

"Now that my communications company is established and set in place, now that I have the money that I need, I'm working on a new project and you, my dear, are my final puzzle piece, my centerpiece, if you will, to help guarantee my project's success."

The genius in him was showing and with the sudden change in his facial expression, when talking about his new project, she wondered if he wasn't a little crazy. Yet, just as what is normal, what is crazy? Besides, what did it matter? She'd be working for one of the greatest men the world has ever known. Ted Turner, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Howard Hughes, even Oprah Winfrey are all a little crazy.

You'd have to be crazy to be so driven or maybe they were the rational ones. Maybe they were the ones who saw how all things worked and how all things should be. Without doubt, knowing all the secrets, whether it was the stock markets, the media, human nature, and/or the human condition, they were the manipulators. They were the marionettes pulling all the strings, while raking in all the money, and the rest of us were just their puppets.