Dreams Of Fame
1.12 - The Government Comes Knocking
“Thank you for your time, Ms. Presley,” the therapist smiled.
Zoe blinked slowly. “I’m sorry, sweetie, but what was you name again?”
“I’m your therapist, Melody, remember?” she said slowly. “Ms. Presley, are you alright?”
Zoe nodded and slowly got to her feet. “I- I need to apologize.”
“Apologize? To who, Ms. Presley? I think you should lay down, you’re worrying me,” Melody said carefully.
Zoe didn’t respond, instead slowly wandering out of her office. Melody followed her out to her front stoop, and watched as Zoe slowly meandered down the path.
“Maybe I overdid it…” Melody muttered to herself. “I don’t usually do this kind of hypnosis stuff… that blonde woman asked me and I just wanted to meet Zoe Presley in the flesh…”
Melody sighed to herself. “She was such a bitch. I overreacted and overdid it, I bet. I could get my license drawn for this, be careful, Melody!”
Zoe pushed her way through the front door of the house, surprising Travis and Summer, who jumped.
“Zoe! You’re back sooner than I expected!” Summer exclaimed.
“What’s up y’all?” Zoe beamed. “I’m going to go talk to Giovanna, be back in a jiffy!”
Summer and Travis stared at her, shocked, as she went downstairs.
“What did you do to her?” Travis whispered to Summer.
“It’s like her whole personality changed…” Summer said quietly.
“I was expecting her to start chewing me out for only getting a million from the government instead of another amount, but she actually seems happy…”
“She’s always been tense before,” Summer agreed.
Downstairs, Zoe found Giovanna talking to herself in the kitchen they’d decided to leave in the basement.
“You’re right, husband, hahahaha! Moooooooo! Let’s find a couch!”
“Er, Giovanna?” Zoe asked, smiling.
Giovanna turned to Zoe, unfazed. “Yes?”
“Well, you see, I just thought I should apologize for that whole basement fiasco… that just wasn’t me, ya know?”
“The basement is lovely,” Giovanna said, looking around. “I love being indoors.”
“And you’re free to leave whenever you want, okay? Love ya, Granny.”
Giovanna nodded.
Summer descended the stairs. “Zoe… there’s some people at the door.”
“I’ll be right up!”
“They need you now, Zoe,” Summer said, looking nervous.
“We’ll get started on your next story right after this, okay Granny?” Zoe told her. “The whole world is very excited to hear your tales, and they deserve to be told.”
Giovanna smiled at Zoe.
“I really did screw her up, didn’t I?” Zoe said sadly as she followed Summer upstairs.
“Um, yeah, yeah you did Zoe,” Summer said forcefully. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah! Completely!”
Travis smiled awkwardly when Zoe and Summer came upstairs.
“T-They came in,” he stammered. “I-I couldn’t h-help it, they’re the g-government.”
“The government? Oh dear,” Zoe said quietly.
“Yes, Ms. Presley, we’re the government,” said the woman standing in their front entrance. “You’re the one who bought this house, correct?”
“That I am…”
“Okay. I’m Cassandra Goth, secretary to the President, and I’m here on account of your IP address being used to funnel a million dollars of government money to your personal account.”
“Cassandra Goth? No, you’re just like the daughter of that super rich family. Get out of here.” Summer snorted.
“What? No, I’m so much more than- didn’t you hear what I just said? I’m the personal secretary to… ugh this is besides the point. Ms. Presley, I looked into your records, and all that’s against you at the moment is a note filled with the Oasis Springs police department by a Ms. Jo Kauffman. The officer left a note saying that Ms. Kauffman was trying to convince him you’d kidnapped a fictional character, but even so, I have the feeling your household wouldn’t want the government to try to further investigate that claim.”
“Jo went all the way to Oasis Springs for that?” Summer whispered to Travis. “Why?”
Travis shrugged, too terrified to come up with a decent reply.
“Even though you weren’t the one to do the hacking, as owner of this property, we expect a little responsibility. And Mr. Scott.”
Travis took a deep breath.
“We know you were the one to actually do the deed. Usually, we’d send someone like you to federal prison but because you are one of our most skilled hackers, we’ll let you off with a warning as long as you return the money immediately.”
“Oh, thank you, Ms. Goth,” Travis said, nearly sobbing, rushing to the computer to start returning it.
Summer frowned. “Man up, Travis.”
“Good day to you all,” Cassandra said, nodding curtly.
She and her bodyguard walked confidently out of the room.
Zoe thought for a moment, then slowly turned to Travis and Summer. “You know what? If we were a powerful family… a rich family… like the Goths, we wouldn’t have to hack the government to stay afloat.”
“Okay Zoe…” Summer said slowly.
“And all the money is returned!” Travis exclaimed, rapidly typing on the computer.
“I’m going to do it,” Zoe said, getting excited. “My series will be the best selling series of all time!”