DIARY

March 25, 2003

Breaking the real story to Steven Phenix

It was time that Steven was told the truth. There was a risk involved in confessing the story but there really was no other way. The time had come that he would have to learn the truth. Pieter called and he was semi-confident that Steven would be able to appreciate the effort. It took Pieter about three minutes to tell his April Fools’ Day scam. After that there was a silence that seemed to last about just as long. Steven ended his silence with “I have to call you back”.

After some three hours Steven did call back. He had given it some thought and expressed his concerns regarding his own involvement. He concluded that there was nothing wrong with concocting an elaborate April Fools’ Day joke (from a PR standpoint that is) but Pieter should have told him from the start. Pieter asked “would you have been part of it if I had told you from the moment we met?” Steven replied with “Probably not.” Pieter then asked “Are you going to help me make it all the way to April Fools’ Day?” Steven answered “Yes, if there are no more surprises and you do all the explaining?” Pieter: “Deal.” What a relief. Although there was no guarantee that we would actually be able to make it to April Fools’ Day, it was important that Steven would support the campaign. He was now part of the “conspiracy.”