Page 89 of You Chive Me Crazy
“Oh, come on!” I said, thinking. “Shawn Spencer and Burton Guster?”
“Now, you’re talking, but I’m Gus,” he said, grinning. “And, you know, you could have just said Sherlock Holmes and John Watson and saved us a lot of time and trouble since everyone knows who they are.”
I smirked. “Sometimes it’s better to take the road less traveled.”
“How impressive was Savannah?” Rolando said, beaming. “She made that video disappear!”
I nodded. “That was amazing, but not as surprising as that woman who recognized you and wanted a selfie with you. Now, who’s the rock star?”
“I have to admit that shocked me,” Rolando said. “I kind of liked the feeling, though. Now, I know what it feels like to be Lucas Filo.”
“Not quite,” I said. “You’re missing the hair.”
Rolando ran his hand across his smooth, bald dome. “Even better. Less for me to worry about.”
I chuckled and pulled out my phone. “Okay—we need to head back to the festival to talk with the organizer, then I’m going to do my first review.”
I sent Zoe a text telling her we’d be there shortly and asking her to prepare an order of the same baked potato I’d already tried.
Luckily, the festival organizer, Calvin Easton, was sitting in his golf cart in the parking lot and was talking on his walkie-talkie when we approached him. “We need to get maintenance to the men’s bathroom. One of the urinals is overflowing.” He smiled when he saw me. “Lucas Filo! In the flesh!” He held out his hand. “I’m Calvin Easton, the organizer of the festival. Are you here to review the festival?”
I nodded. “That, among other things. I’m friends with Zoe Bell.”
Calvin frowned. “That’s a shame what happened, but there’s nothing I can do about it, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“What if I told you the video has been taken down, and the man has retracted his statement about getting salmonella? We have his confession on video, plus Lita at the urgent clinic will confirm that they have had no cases of salmonella.” I handed him her business card, then we showed him the video.
“What people will do for money,” Calvin said, shaking his head in disgust. “Obviously, Potato Heaven can open again, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Unfortunately, we’ll be closing soon for the day.”
“I understand,” I said. “That’s all I was hoping for. Thanks so much.” I felt the tension leave my shoulders after knowing Zoe had been given the green light to sell her baked potatoes again.
“My pleasure,” Calvin said, pulling out his business card and a pen. “Do you mind autographing this for my wife, Betina? It’ll help me score some serious points since she’s a big fan of yours.”
That gave me a great idea.
“I can do something even better,” I said. “Tell her to come by Zoe’s food truck tomorrow afternoon and I will take a selfie with her, and then sign whatever she brings, something more personal.”
“Deal!” Calvin said, shaking my hand.
Rolando and I walked around the barrier that had Zoe’s food truck blocked off, and she came outside with the baked potato I asked for, setting it on the table next to us, along with utensils and napkins.
“How did it go on your end?” Zoe asked, looking a little more relaxed. “Savannah was able to have the video removed. Thank God.”
I grinned. “Everything went according to plan. Lazlo retracted his statement, and admitted what he did. We’ve got it on video. Andyouwill be open for business tomorrow. I just talked with Calvin.”
“Yes!” she said, lunging for me and giving me a hug. “Thank you. I owe you big time. You don’t know how much this means to me.”
“Actually, I do,” I said. “But right now, I need to make sure you have plenty of customers showing up tomorrow. I’m going to review this potato right now and get this video online. Rolando is going to record me over at one of the picnic tables with the ambiance of the music and attendees all around me. We’ll be back in a little bit.”
“Thank you,” Zoe said. “We’ll let you two get to work, then.”
I found the perfect picnic table under a tree and set the baked potato down. I took a few notes, getting a general idea of what I wanted to say since I was basically going to wing it on camera. Not an easy task since I always wrote my reviews for the magazine, and then they passed by Rolando for editing.
Maybe this would show Jeremy that I had the chops to be on camera for one of his TV shows. I was ready for a change.
“Three, two, one . . .” Rolando cued me with his finger to start.
“Hey, foodie friends, it’s time for another review, but this time we’re coming to you live from Big Bang Big Bear, the largest food truck festival in the world. Are you ready for the most delectable potato known to humanity?”
