The Struggle

Delay saw Song Ya eating watermelon and couldn't help laughing. He quickly covered his mouth.

"You fucking honky!"

Eric grabbed him by the collar again. "You were the one taking his side just now, weren't you?!"

"Hey! Hey!" Delay hurried to explain. "I was afraid you'd get yourself into trouble! If you'd so much as touched Robert, he could've called the cops and a lawyer right away. You and APLUS would've been the ones to pay for it! Trust me, Robert's an old hand. He used to pull this trick on us all the time. You know how white rock kids have bad tempers."

"Calm down, Eric," Song Ya urged.

"You shouldn't have eaten that slice of watermelon..." Eric grumbled as he sat back down.

"Uh..." Song Ya awkwardly tossed the rind onto the fruit plate and wiped his hands. "I'll make a call."

He called Michelle first. "Uh... Dr. Michelle, I wanted to ask: what should I do if a white guy gives me watermelon?"

Michelle readily agreed to help. After they finished talking, Song Ya put down the receiver, thought for a moment, then called Old Joe.

"Yo! My dear APLUS, I love you so much, I love you, I love you..."

Old Joe was so excited that he launched into a string of gushy remarks. "Hey! What number are we at now?" he asked someone on the other end. "Haha! Number eleven on the Billboard singles chart! They haven't released the exact sales figures yet, but I heard SBK ordered a million copies! We should sell at least a few hundred thousand in the first week, right? Did you hear? Saturday Night Live invited Little Lowry and me! It's Saturday Night Live..."

Song Ya patiently listened to Old Joe's boastful rap before telling him what was going on.

"No problem. I'll call my friends in New York. Just you wait!" Old Joe promised.

About ten minutes later, Old Joe called back. This time, his voice was much more serious. "APLUS, did you cut all the Black girls from an audition?"

"Uh..." Song Ya realized he was in trouble. "They didn't fit the style I wanted..."

"Hey! You shouldn't have done that. Even if it was just for show, APLUS—even if it was just to give people the impression you were being fair! I lived through segregation. Back then, white people at least knew to put a few Black and Native American people in government positions for show. My friends in New York are really upset with you. They don't think you're one of us. You're mixed-race, and your skin is already on the lighter side, so you should be even more careful..."

"I screwed up."

Song Ya could only admit his mistake. "I didn't think it through at the time..."

"I don't have much influence in New York. You know how we hit a wall everywhere we went there last time... If we were on the South Side of Chicago, we could make that honky's life hell. You can use Joe Music's studio as much as you want. We're always out promoting anyway..." Old Joe was powerless to help.

Song Ya thanked him. Lisa knocked and came in. "Daniel wants you to come over."

When he arrived at Daniel's office, Robert was there too, sitting on the sofa and smoking.

"Don't stir up trouble or make waves for a while! What did I tell you?"

Daniel angrily paced back and forth around the office. "There are only three of us in this room right now. Robert, apologize! Apologize to APLUS."

"I didn't do anything," Robert said, pretending to be innocent.

"Don't! Give me! That kind of bullshit!" Daniel shouted, pointing at Robert. He picked up the phone. "Get Delay up here. He saw everything, right?"

"Okay, okay, okay, I was a little rash, but that little sidekick of APLUS called me a honky too." Robert was starting to panic.

Daniel was about to lose his mind. "That's not the same thing! Robert, don't try to play games with me. We all know damn well those two things aren't the same!"

"Uh... Actually, you don't have to apologize. Even if you do, I might not accept it," Song Ya said calmly. "I've already called the Chicago Civil Rights Organization. They'll contact their counterparts in New York and look into this. A protest fax should be arriving any minute."

"Wow, wow, wow! Here comes the Black-man routine! You people never know when you've got enough!" Robert clapped at Song Ya in a furious rage.

"My God!"

Daniel clasped his head in both hands in despair. After a moment, he said, "Robert, apologize first, then pack your things and get out of here... Go to Manila... They're short-staffed over there."

Robert panicked. "Hey! The mosquitoes will eat me alive!"

"Apologize," Daniel said, staring at him coldly.

Robert hung his head and held out for a while. "All right, APLUS, I regret what happened just now..."

"Apologize!"

"...I'm sorry, APLUS. I sincerely apologize to you..."

"Go pack your things!"

Watching Robert leave with his head bowed, Daniel came over and patted Song Ya on the shoulder. "Let's leave it at that... Are you satisfied?" he said. "Don't stir up trouble. We had an agreement."

Song Ya nodded. Old Joe's words came back to him. "I want to move rehearsals to Chicago. I'm on my own here, and you know Lisa often brings people into the studio without asking me. She's also taken me to meet people I shouldn't have met. Then there was Isco, and now Robert, not to mention all those agents in New York who seem to be everywhere."

He discussed it seriously with Daniel, who agreed. SBK would cover all the expenses, including the rent for Joe Music. "We can't cut corners on this, or we could run into legal trouble later..."

After saying goodbye to Daniel, Song Ya returned to the studio. "How'd it go?" Eric asked.

"Robert apologized and got sent to Manila," Song Ya replied.

"Yeah!" Eric was delighted. "How's that for a result? Pretty good, right?" he asked Delay.

"Pretty good," Delay said with a bitter smile. "If it were us white guys, we wouldn't stand a chance."

The studio phone rang again. Song Ya picked it up, and Mira's sobs came through the receiver. "That man's still in the hotel lobby. He hasn't left..." She was incoherent. "That agent—he has photos."

"Calm down, Mira. Calm down and tell me what happened!" Song Ya urged her. "Eric, get a cab."

He hurried to the hotel with Eric and Delay. The white-haired old man who had tried to blackmail them with photos before was easy to spot in the lobby.

"You son of a bitch!" Song Ya snarled through clenched teeth. This time, he was genuinely angry.

"Hey! Don't lose your temper..." The old man pointed at the hotel security guards, who were looking their way. "Let's go talk over there. I won't take up much of your time."

Song Ya left Eric and Delay by the entrance and followed him to a corner of the lobby.

"This time, I did my homework. We meet again, haha, boy..." The old man wore a sleazy grin. "My girl should still have a chance."

"Mira is already Daniel's pick. Aren't you afraid of crossing him?" Song Ya did his best to stay calm.

"Of course, Daniel won't change his pick. But what if Mira withdraws on her own?"

The old man pulled out the photos again. "Mira's the lead in a movie Columbia Pictures is investing several million in for the second half of the year. Do you think Columbia will be happy to see their new star dating a Black guy? A record deal or a movie career—which will Mrs. Jovovich choose? That movie, Back to the Blue Lagoon, is a huge opportunity. It's a remake of a film starring Brooke Shields! Mira has a chance to reach Brooke Shields' level! Guess who her mother will give up? Oh, I forgot to mention, they might be upstairs crying in each other's arms right now."

Song Ya laughed instead. "I admire your persistence, but I'm amazed by your stupidity. Did you think I wouldn't look into all this before finding a girlfriend? What's so precious about some skimpy beach movie? If you were me, would you want your girlfriend to star in that kind of film? Besides, Brooke Shields showed everything in Pretty Baby when she was thirteen. How would it benefit me for Mira to follow her example? Go ahead and make the photos public. I hope Mira's movie falls through! Even if Mira drops out, your girl won't get the part! And didn't Michael Jackson once date Brooke Shields? Isn't he Black? Which film company gave Brooke Shields a hard time over that?"

The old man was dumbfounded. "That was Michael Jackson," he sneered at Song Ya. "You're APLUS."

"FXXXYOU! The first week I released Thrift Shop, a song I wrote when I was fifteen, it hit number eleven on the Billboard singles chart!"

That left the old man deflated. He hung his head just like Robert had and thought for several minutes before finally looking up. "A hundred grand. Buy my negatives."

Song Ya pulled out his checkbook, scribbled a few lines, tore off a check, and flung it at the man's face. "Five thousand for you to buy a coffin! Eric! Delay!"

He called the two over. "Keep an eye on him and get all the negatives back!"