[Veritas]

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mom? It's me, JD."

"Oh, hello, JD! How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks. Say, listen, there's something I have to tell you."

"What?"

"Christopher's got some crazy new stunt planned, one that's sure to get him killed."

A heavy sigh. "Oh, dear! What is it this time?"

"Well, it involves a mine shaft caving in on him."

"Oh, Lord! He promised!"

"Look, I'm as upset about this as you are, so I decided to get everyone together for an intervention."

"An intervention?"

"Yeah, you, me, Cos, George, Gerard, Dave, and maybe I can get hold of his girlfriend, Sandra. We're gonna confront him head-on and talk him out of it."

"And what if he refuses?"

A pause. "Well, then, we're gonna have to resort to drastic measures."

"What sort of 'drastic measures' are you talking about?"

"I'll leave that for later. Meantime, you meet us in Criss' suite at nine AM tomorrow morning, got it?"

"Yes, yes, I'll be there."

"Good. See you then."

"All right, good-bye. Love you."

"Love you, too, Ma. 'Bye."



"Holy Trinity, Father Mykolos speaking."

"Good afternoon, Father, this is Dimitra Sarantakos."

"Well, hello, Dimitra, how can I help you?"

A deep, heartfelt sigh, then, "It's Christopher, Father. He's planned another dangerous stunt for his show. He'd promised me he wouldn't ever do those things again, not after that Florida hotel escape. You remember that, don't you?"

"You told me about it, yes."

"Well, now JD tells me he's going to try to escape from some mine shaft that's going to cave in on him."

"Well, you tell that daredevil son of yours that he made a promise and he'd do well to keep it!"

"That's why I am calling, Father. JD is planning some sort of intervention tomorrow morning at nine. He wants us all to be in his suite by then to try to talk him out of it. It would help if you were there, too. He may not listen to me, but he'll certainly listen to you."

"Oh, he'll listen to you, Dimitra. You're his mother, remember?"

"Still, I wish you could be there, too. We'll need all the help we can get."

"All right, Dimitra, I'll be there. It's at the Luxor, right?"

"Yes, at nine o'clock. I'll meet you in the atrium."

"I'll be there. And don't worry, we'll straighten him out, I promise."

"Oh, thank you, Father! God bless you!"

"And God bless you, too. Until tomorrow, then."

"Yes, good-bye."

"Good-bye."




"Hi, there!" chirped a cheery female voice. "Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but leave your name, number and a brief message, I'll get back to you as soon as possible! 'Bye!"

"Hey, Sandra, this is JD, Criss' brother. Look, I need to talk to you about Criss. Give me a call when you get this, okay? Number's ***-****. It's really important. 'Bye."




"Dave Baram here."

"Dave? This is JD."

"Oh, hey, JD, what's up?"

"Look, did Criss tell you about his plans for his latest demonstration?"

"You mean about the mine shaft escape?"

"Yeah, that."

"What about it?"

"We're worried he's gonna get killed, that's what! Listen, we're gonna try to talk him out of it."

"Yeah? Well, good luck with that!"

"That's why we need you to come to Criss' suite at nine AM tomorrow morning. We're holding an intervention."

"An intervention? Sounds serious."

"Damn right it's serious!"

"So who's gonna be there?"

"You, me, Mom, Cos, George, Gerard, Sandra if I can get hold of her, and anyone else we can get."

"So why are you having this thing, anyway?"

"Because Criss made a promise to Mom he wouldn't do any more dangerous stunts, and now he's going back on his word. Because I'm tired of worrying about Mom worrying herself to death. And because I'm fed up with Criss giving me a heart attack ever time he pulls a stunt like this!"

"Those are good reasons."

"So, you coming or not?"

"Well, okay, if you really think you can persuade him not to do it. But, you know, Criss can be pretty pig-headed when it comes to not doing things his way. You might not be able to get through to him."

"Oh, we'll get through to him, all right. Believe me, we will."

"Well, lotsa luck on that, pal!"

"So you gonna be there?"

"Yeah, I'll be there, bright and early. Just to see what happens.

"Okay, thanks, Dave. See you then."

"Yeah, 'bye."




"Hello, JD?"

"Yeah?"

"This is Sandra."

"Oh, hi, Sandra, glad you called."

"So what's this about Criss?"

"Well, we got word he's doing this really dangerous stunt, and we're trying to talk him out of it, so we're holding an intervention tomorrow morning at nine AM, and we need you to be there."

"What sort of dangerous stunt?"

"Well it involves a mine shaft and a cave-in."

"Oh, God."

"So, can you come in tomorrow morning?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, I'll be there. Nine AM where?"

"In Criss' suite. You can meet me by the office and I'll take you up."

"Okay, thanks."

"No, thank you."

"Okay, JD, 'bye. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, 'bye."