JC: William Redman Carter
Noble Savage
Chapter 45
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2005

After a noisy and busy afternoon, the house had finally quieted 
down. The office staff had returned to the hotel in which they were 
staying until more permanent housing could be arranged. Colt and 
Nicole had taken over duties as bodyguards while Rock and 
Natalie retired to their room. Lisa was cleaning up the kitchen 
while Ken was watching television with Tim. 

Lucy and William sat on the patio waiting for sunset. William was 
silent while considering the events earlier in the day. Lucy watched 
William think his thoughts and smoke his cigarettes. She could see 
that he wasn’t going to resolve whatever problem was troubling 
him. Unable to keep quiet any longer, she asked, “What happened 
this afternoon?”

“My sixth sense deserted me,” William answered glancing over at 
her to judge her reaction. 

“Oh,” Lucy said raising an eyebrow. He wasn’t telling her 
anything that she hadn’t already figured out. His behavior was 
identical to the afternoon when they had the interviews. She didn’t 
know what to say, so she asked, “Do you want to see a doctor?”

“Daddy Ed says that the Two-Sided One considers it training,” 
William answered. 

“What does that mean?” 

“I don’t know, but I do know that a doctor won’t help,” William 
said. He took a drag off his cigarette and exhaled to the sky. 
Shaking his head, he said, “I have a feeling that it is going to be 
happening more and more frequently.”

“I’m so sorry,” Lucy said. She didn’t understand the full 
implications, but knew that there was nothing that she could do to 
stop it. It was also obvious that William could do nothing to stop it 
from happening in the future.

“Don’t be sorry,” William said looking over at Lucy wondering 
why she thought it was her fault.

Smiling at her husband, Lucy asked, “How would you feel if I was 
going blind?”

“I’d feel pretty bad,” William answered and realized that her sorry 
wasn’t taking blame for his problem but supporting him. Touched 
by her concern, he reached over and took her hand. Softly, he 
asked, “Have I told you how much I love you?”

Batting her eyes at him, Lucy said, “Words are cheap. Take me 
upstairs and show me how much you love me.”

Laughing, William looked up to the sky as if he had been assigned 
an arduous task. Theatrically, he said, “I didn’t know what I was 
signing up for when we got married.”

“That’s right buster. Now take me upstairs and let me know how 
much you appreciate your wife.”

William put out his cigarette and followed Lucy into the house. As 
he followed her, he thought, ‘It is nice to be home.’

Outside of a non-descript two story office building, five very 
attractive women were standing around waiting for William and 
Lucy to arrive. The presence of so many attractive women 
gathered in one place had the predictable effect on the males 
entering the building. Several men had collided with animate and 
inanimate objects because they were walking while looking at the 
women rather than where they were going. Even a few women 
were rather taken aback by the collected beauty that was gathered 
there. More than one individual wondered if the new business, 
WRC Enterprises, was some sort of modeling agency.

Barbara watched the individuals walking into the building and 
sighed. Amanda, asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Men,” Barbara replied. 

 “What about them?”

“They are all staring at us as if we were chocolate cakes at a fat 
farm,” Barbara answered.

Amanda was silent for a moment and then said, “You’re kidding, 
aren’t you?”

“No. The whole reason I went to work for William was that he was 
the first man who ever interviewed me without looking at my body 
first and then my credentials,” Barbara answered. 

Frowning, Amanda thought about it for a second and then asked, 
“Isn’t that rather conceited of you? I mean, are you really that 
beautiful?”

Sandra answered, “It’s not conceited of her. She is that beautiful. 
We all are, including you. You may not see the effect that you 
have on men, but it is definitely there.”

“Men ignore me for the most part. All they see is the white cane,” 
Amanda replied.

“I doubt that many of them ever see the white cane. You’ve got a 
body that most women would kill to have.”

Amanda was silent for a moment while she considered the answer. 
Her family and her friends were always saying that she was a very 
attractive woman, but she had never had that much luck with men 
approaching her. She said, “Men don’t seem to be attracted to me.”

“You’re wrong, but lucky in a way. Most decent men won’t 
approach an attractive woman out of fear that they aren’t good 
enough for her. I imagine that the bastards don’t want to deal with 
the cane,” Barbara said.

“Lucky?”

“Yeah, you don’t have to deal with the bastards trying to look 
down your blouse, trying to cop feels in the elevator, or get hit 
with cheesy pickup lines that went out of fashion in the fifties,” 
Sandra said.

“It sounds to me like you hate men,” Amanda said.

“There are times when I do hate them,” Barbara replied. Usually 
after getting harassed by some man in a position of power, she 
would turn to the arms of a woman just to get away from it. It 
wasn’t that she really desired women, but just that she had never 
found a man she found acceptable.

“Sad,” Sandra said.

“I grew up in a healthy town where the men understood women. I 
guess that was from the town’s people being around the Carter 
Clan for so long. I didn’t really have jerks drooling over me until I 
went off to college. It really surprised me how most of the college 
men treated women,” Juanita said.

“You were lucky,” Barbara said.

“I grew up around my tribe and things are a little different at home 
than in a city,” Donna said. She shrugged her shoulders and added, 
“I was just Donna from down the road.”

“The girl next door,” Barbara said. 

“Hello, ladies,” William said from behind them. As a group, the 
women turned in surprise. 

The first to recover was Barbara. She said, “We were waiting for 
you to arrive.”

“You could have waited inside. You have the keys,” William said. 

“We thought that you would want to show us around the offices,” 
Barbara replied.

“Oh. I’ve only been in here once, so I’ll be just as lost you. Mary 
arranged for the office to be set up while we were traveling over 
the past month,” William said.

Lucy shook her head at seeing the surprised reactions of the 
women. She knew they found it hard to believe that William didn’t 
watch over the shoulders of everyone who worked for him. He 
would hire the best and let them work without interference. She 
said, “Let’s go in and explore the place.”

As a group, they entered the building and walked through a very 
simple lobby. Amanda was being helped along by Donna. Donna 
led just by offering her arm, allowing Amanda to use her cane to 
check for obstacles. As they walked, Donna described the 
environment so that Amanda could generate a mental model of the 
layout. They were an effective team.

At the far end of the first floor, forty seven steps from the entrance 
of the building, was a plain door with a very small sign that said 
WRC Enterprises. The group came to a halt and waited while 
William fished through his pockets to find the keys. It took a 
moment to unlock the door. He stepped back and said, “Here is 
your new workplace.”

The door had opened upon a very luxurious lobby. The women 
entered the room in silence wondering what they would find. The 
lobby had comfortable looking chairs scattered around the waiting 
area. Each pair of chairs was bracketed by plants and was situated 
such that the occupants would be looking at an aquarium or a 
western style painting across the room. Soft music filled the air. 
Everything was designed to be relaxing.

Across from the door was the receptionist’s desk. Donna led 
Amanda over to a desk that looked like something out of a science 
fiction movie. After examining the desk for a moment, Donna 
exclaimed, “There’s no telephone.”

Smiling, William said, “Yes there is. On the center of the desk is a 
user manual. Someone will be by later to train Amanda.”

Amanda sat down on the chair and ran her hands over the top of 
the desk. What she felt didn’t seem to make sense to her. She 
found the user’s manual and picked it up. She opened it and ran her 
fingers over the first page. A smile came to her face and she said, 
“This reads like a science fiction book.”

“That’s odd. I believe that is where the engineers who designed it 
got the idea for it,” William said with a smile. Actually, Mary had 
arranged for a student from the Druid College to spend hours 
interviewing blind people about what equipment would allow 
Amanda to perform her job with the greatest ease. The entire desk, 
computer programs, and telephone system had been designed and 
constructed by fifth year students just for her over the course of 
two weeks. 

He watched as she reached out and touched a raised Braille display 
after reading a section of the manual. A smile crossed her face and 
she said, “You’ve got twelve lines. Right now, none of them are 
being used. Where’s the headset?”

“In the right drawer of the desk,” William answered.

She felt around the desk and located the proper drawer. After 
opening it, she reached in and found a very lightweight headset. It 
took a second to figure out the on-off switch. She turned it on and 
then hung the headset on her ear. Once it was in place, she said, 
“Oz, connect to line one.” 

The rest of the group had watched her explore her desk fascinated 
by her actions. When she mentioned Oz, just about all of them 
laughed. It was so unexpected. They were surprised when she said, 
“Oz, dial 555 555-1234.”

The bogus phone number connected her to a recording. Head tilted 
to one side, she said, “This is a test. Oz, hold line one. Oz, connect 
to line one. Oz, disconnect line one.”

A delighted smile spread over her face as the computer followed 
her instructions. Turning to face the group, she said, “This is 
amazing. I can operate the phones purely by voice.”

Nodding his head, William said, “For the most part. It isn’t very 
effective when there are multiple calls coming in at once, but it 
will allow you to leave the desk while continuing to work. One of 
the sixth year students from the Druid College will arrive in 
September to see what improvements can be made to the system. 
His internship will be to create a commercially viable version of 
it.”

“This is amazing,” Amanda said. She ran a hand over the desktop 
taking in all of the various features. Hardly able to contain her 
excitement, she said, “I love it.”

“I’m glad you like it. Let’s see the rest of the office,” William said. 
He said the latter sentence in a slightly louder voice so that 
everyone could hear. Most of the other women had gone over to 
the waiting area to check out the plants, paintings, and aquariums. 

Reluctantly, Amanda got out of her chair and picked up her cane. 
The group rejoined William and then went through a door beside 
the desk to the back office area. At the first door, they stopped and 
William opened the door. Stepping back, he said, “Barbara, this is 
your office.”

Impressed by what she saw, Barbara stepped into the spacious 
office and looked around. She wasn’t sure what she expected to 
find, but it wasn’t what was spread out in front of her. A luxurious 
wood desk faced the door from across the room. In front of the 
desk were two comfortable chairs. On the right side of the room 
stood a conference table constructed of wood matching the desk 
and capable of seating six people. On the left side of the room was 
a set of wooden cabinets. She would have been impressed by 
anyone who had that office. She was overwhelmed that it was hers.

Turning to face William, she said, “It is beautiful.”

“You have a budget of ten thousand dollars to decorate it,” 
William said gesturing to the blank walls. He pointed to a door at 
the back of the room and said, “You have a private bathroom.”

“Wow,” Barbara said swallowing heavily. 

Turning to Sandra, William said, “Your office is next.”

Sandra’s office was identical to Barbara’s office and had a private 
bathroom as well. Sandra entered her office and walked around. 
She slipped off her shoes and felt the thick carpet under her bare 
feet. Smiling, she said, “I could get used to this.”

“It’s yours for the next two years,” William said with a grin. He 
added, “You have ten thousand dollars to decorate it.”

Juanita stared at the office and wondered if hers would be the 
same. It was clearly a nice office, but she wondered if it was really 
practical for an accountant. She needed significant work space for 
holding files. Donna stared at the office feeling jealous. She knew 
that a lowly file clerk wouldn’t need a fancy office. She expected 
to get a little cubby-hole.

Turning to Juanita, William said, “Your office is across the hall.”

Juanita opened the door to her office. The quality of furnishings 
was just as high as in the previous two offices. The desk was more 
appropriate for her purposes. Two of the wood cabinets were 
replaced by open shelves. She said, “It’s perfect.”

“The door over there leads to the file room,” William said pointing 
to a door along one side of the room. He shrugged his shoulders 
and, in an apologetic voice, said, “I fear that this office doesn’t 
have a private bathroom. Mary Gold said that Barbara and Sandra 
would be meeting with lawyers, businessmen, and others on a 
regular basis. She felt they needed a private bathroom to freshen up 
in between guests.”

“That’s okay,” Juanita said while opening the door to the file 
room. Her eyebrows raised on seeing the size of the room. 

“You have ten thousand dollars to decorate the room,” William 
said watching the look of surprise spread over her face. 

William said, “Donna, your office is on the other side of the file 
room.”

Nervous about what she would find, Donna walked down the 
hallway and opened a door. She looked in and saw that it was the 
main door to the file room. Grinning, William said, “Next door 
down.”

Donna walked down the hall and opened the next door. The office 
was smaller than the other three offices, but it was still much larger 
than she had expected. Like the others, the furniture was first class. 
Surprised by the luxury of the office furnishing she stepped back 
and said, “This must be a mistake.”

“No mistake,” William said. He smiled and said, “You have an 
eight thousand dollar budget to decorate it.”

“It’s so big and nice,” Donna said. She had been expecting a little 
office with a metal desk instead of the fine wood furniture that 
filled the room. She even had a small four person conference table 
in her room. She couldn’t imagine what use she would have for it. 

“The door leads to the file room. I imagine that you’ll wear out a 
good path through it over time,” William said. 

Turning to Amanda, William said, “Your office is across from 
Donna’s.”

“My office?” she asked surprised.

“Yes. The desk in the front is the receptionist station. There will be 
some paper work for you to fill out and other office jobs that you’ll 
have to perform. Everyone needs a little privacy for that,” William 
answered.

Amanda walked down the hallway using her cane while running a 
hand along the wall. When she encountered a door, she asked, “Is 
this it?”

“No, that’s the men’s room. The next door is the ladies room. The 
next door is to the break room. The next door is to your office,” 
William answered.

Barbara looked down the hall and asked, “What are the last two 
rooms?”

“One is a supply room. The other is bedroom in case anyone 
should work late and need a place to sleep. It also has exercise 
equipment,” William answered.

“This place is a palace,” Sandra said looking in the break room. It 
was a full kitchenette with a large table. She noticed the standard 
posters required in all offices that were hung on a corkboard on the 
wall.

Lucy asked, “Is this satisfactory?”

As one, the women answered, “Very.”

William grinned and said, “Good.”

Everyone went their individual way and explored their offices 
along with the shared areas. Amanda went into her office and 
closed the door. Once she was sure that she was alone, she burst 
into tears. She had never expected to have such a nice setup. Even 
as her tears rolled down her cheeks, she knew that the next thing 
she would do is call her mother and tell her about her office.

Watching everyone go about their business, William turned to 
Lucy and said, “You might want to let Amanda know that there are 
some tissues on her desk.”

“Why?”

“What do you think she’s doing alone in her office with the door 
closed?” William asked as he pointed to the closed door. 

“Oh. You’re right,” Lucy answered realizing what William meant. 
She looked at Donna’s office and noticed the door was closed to it 
as well. She asked, “Does Donna have tissues, too?”

“Of course she does. I’ll meet you in the break room,” William 
said giving her a wink. He turned and went into the break room. 
After grabbing a soda from the refrigerator and a bag of pretzels 
from the cupboard, he took a seat at the table. 

He settled in for a long wait since the others were too busy looking 
around at their offices to worry about him. He wondered how long 
it would take Lucy to realize that they didn’t have an office. He 
was pretty sure that she would be the first one to figure it out. He 
grinned and popped a pretzel into his mouth.

It was five minutes before Lucy joined him in the break room. 
Seeing that he was having a drink, she went over to the refrigerator 
and grabbed one for herself. Popping it open while walking to the 
table, she took a sip. Reaching the table, she sat down and stole 
one of his pretzels. Before eating the pretzel, she asked, “Where 
are our offices?”

Grinning at the suspicious look on her face, he answered, 
“According to Mary Gold, the first two offices were supposed to 
be ours.”

It made sense to Lucy. She knew that Mary would set them up with 
the two largest offices and would have bathrooms for them. 
Raising an eyebrow, she said, “Let me guess, there wasn’t 
supposed to be an office for Amanda or a bedroom.” 

“There was supposed to be a bedroom. No office for Amanda and 
Donna was supposed to have a desk in the file room,” William 
answered. Shrugging his shoulders, he added, “We’ve got our 
desks at home. I don’t see any real need to change that.”

“You’re right,” Lucy said shaking her head. She had seen the 
effect that the separate office had on Amanda and wouldn’t have 
wanted to deprive her of it. There were times when William really 
surprised her. She asked, “How long do you think it will take them 
to figure it out?”

“A couple of days,” William answered. He took a sip of his drink 
while watching Lucy steal another of his pretzels. At the sound of 
noise behind him, he turned and looked at Barbara. She was staring 
at him with her arms crossed and a frown on her face. Realizing 
they had been caught, he said, “Or maybe not.”