Timmy Caruso’s picture appeared on the screen, but after decades, the picture quality had faded. And it didn’t look like Timmy. In the picture, Timmy gazed up, sucked in his cheeks, puckered his lips, and furrowed his brow, like a caricature of Baron Timmy, age fifty, Value Valley CEO, Master of the Universe.
Kathy: Thirty summers have passed since Timothy Caruso drowned off the coast of Pearl Island. Timothy Caruso was the ten-year-old son of Victor Caruso, former CEO and majority shareholder of Value Valley Inc., the nation’s largest supermarket chain. The Caruso family, hailing from Milwaukee, rented a house for the summer season on the south shore of Pearl Island.
The screen showed a picture of the storm-gray house with its many windows.
Kathy: On an August afternoon late in the summer, Timothy Caruso disappeared beneath the waves.
Jake: Disappeared? Hmm…
An unflattering paparazzi photo of Timmy’s mother appeared on-screen opposite the storm-gray house. Her eyes looked red and tired. Her hair frizzed around her puffy face. She had an empty martini glass in her hand. Her nail polish was chipped and peeling.
Kathy: The waves were calm that day, but the National Weather Service had issued a riptide warning. Nearby lifeguards had rescued a swimmer just before the Caruso boy got swept away. Onlookers claimed that the boy had been standing in shallow waters, and he was reported to have been a good swimmer. His body was never recovered.
The existing photos were replaced by a modern-day beach scene—Pearl Island on Memorial Day weekend. The beach was peppered with brightly colored umbrellas and blue shade sails. Surfers floated in the placid water, patient for the next wave. Kids climbed on the boulders piled beside the sand dunes to protect against erosion. Red flags fluttered from the lifeguard stands.
Kathy: Experts recommend that all swimmers heed riptide warnings, signified by a red flag.
Jake: Those red flags. Gotta heed ’em.
Kathy: Avoid swimming alone or at night. If you do get caught in a riptide, swim parallel to the shore until you have escaped the ocean’s pull.
Then there appeared a photo of a dashing man. He wore his dark hair slicked back, accentuating the dignified gray along his temples. He had a broad smile and bright white teeth, with sharp incisors. His brow was smooth and airbrushed. His rich eyes twinkled.
Jake: Up next! Danz Landry, bestselling author of Bond with the Man You Were Always Meant to Be, is joining us to discuss his new book. It’s called Reconnect Your Future Self with Your Past Self: How to Make Your Selves Be Friends. It hits shelves next week, but Danz is going to give us a sneak peek. And we’ll get a special five-point tutorial on how to Remove Life Roadblocks and Undermine your Internal Underminstanceor. Stay tuned!