Storiesonline.net ------- Love And Hate by Lazlong Copyright© 2006 by Lazlong ------- Description: Ed Delany had no idea how interesting things were going to become when he took over as VP of Engineering. He was challenged professionally and personally as he made a place for himself. This is the story of how he responded to those challenges. Codes: MF slow rom ------- ------- Introduction: This story has been lying around on the shelf for a couple of years. I am back on my feet and am writing on the continuation of my "Wagons Ho" stories, so I thought it might be a good time to post this. Some of you may think this story is fanciful, but let me assure you that every incident is based on fact. I was an engineer for thirty years and during that time all of these things happened to me or to people I worked with. The most gruesome of the incidents happened while I was on the site. Lazlong ------- Chapter 1 Week 0 - Friday Have you ever met someone whom you just knew, within the first thirty seconds, that you were going to hate? Unfortunately, I had just met two of them. He was Sylvester (call me Sly) Westover and she was his girlfriend Missy Gerard. "So, Ed, what do you do for a living?" had been Sly's predictable first question. For some reason I didn't want to tell the bastard I was his new boss, so I just said, "I'm in engineering, Sly. What about you?" "I'm Senior Project Engineer at Belding. I've been there ten years now. I pretty much run the engineering department." "Good for you. What do you do, Missy?" I needed to get Sly shut up so I didn't have to fire him before I actually started my new job. Missy was a cute little thing with dirty blonde hair and startlingly blue eyes. I might have been interested in her if she hadn't opened her mouth. "I'm a secretary, Mr. Delany. I know that secretaries are far below you lofty engineers, so you needn't bother talking to me." It wasn't said in a self-deprecatory manner. Oh, no. It was said in a "I know you're an asshole, so go screw yourself" tone. Missy walked off and left Sly and me standing there. I really didn't have anything to talk to him about, but I couldn't see a graceful way to get away. He started telling me about how he had been going with Missy for a while and that she was crazy about him. I think he could have gone on forever, but Missy finally came back. Thank God I was saved by my friend before I had to say any more. I introduced Jillian to Sly and Missy and quickly made an excuse that we needed to meet someone. "Actually, you do need to talk with someone," Jillian told me. "I just ran into Mike Severt and he asked me to tell you to come talk with him as soon as possible." "I wonder what he wants?" I grumbled. It was bad enough having to come to the going-away party for my predecessor without having to spend time talking to the company president. "We'd better find him," I said. "Do you have any idea where he is?" Jillian took my arm and led me over to a quiet corner where Mike was huddled with Pete Welsh, the guy I was replacing. "Hi Mike, Pete," I said. "What's up?" Mike had a slightly chubby, boyish face that lit up when he said, "I'm getting ready to throw you to the wolves, Ed. Pete is going to give his farewell speech here in a few minutes, so I thought it would be a good time to introduce you to the people who are going to be working for you. You don't need to make a long speech, but I would like for you to say a few words to everyone." I smiled back at Mike. I had been expecting something like this and I wasn't unprepared. I knew he was testing me to see how I reacted under pressure. "Not a problem, Mike. I assume I'll be speaking right after Pete, so I'll make my way up to where you are when he starts talking. In the meantime, I'd like to dance with the lovely lady here." When we had made our way onto the dance floor, Jillian said, "You didn't seem surprised by Mike wanting you to speak." "I wasn't. It's a common ploy to see how the new guy reacts by putting him on the spot unexpectedly. Most of them get up and mumble a few words then sheepishly take their seats. I'm ready for him so I hope I make a better impression." We danced a couple of dances then I saw Pete go to the podium in the front of the room. He had told me his final speech was going to be short and sweet, so I gave Jillian a squeeze and made my way to the front of the room. Mike got up and said a few words about Pete and thanked him for his years of service. Then he said, "I know you've all been wondering who would be taking over Pete's spot now that he's going to be spending his time relaxing and enjoying himself. I'm not going to go into a big introduction here, I will let our new Vice President of Engineering tell you a little about himself. So, without further adieu, here is our new Vice President of Engineering, Ed Delany." I made my way to the podium and shook hands with Pete and with Mike. Then I turned to the microphone. "Hi folks," I said, then waited for the mumble of response to die. "I'm Ed Delany. Mike wants me to tell you a little about myself, so here goes. "I got an early start in engineering. I had my bachelor's degree when I was twenty and I went to work immediately for one of your West Coast competitors. I started out as a junior engineer and worked my way up through the ranks. I've been Vice-President of Engineering for your competitor for the last two years. "Filling Pete's shoes is not going to be an easy task and I'm going to need the help of each and every one of you to do it. Pete has been with Belding for over twenty-five years. When Pete took over this job, I wasn't even in elementary school yet. I firmly believe that Pete is one of the prime reasons that Belding is one of the industry leaders today. "I've just spent the last two weeks cloistered in a hotel room with Pete. I have to tell you right up front that there are a lot of people I'd rather be cloistered in a hotel room with than Pete Welsh." I waited for the laughter to die down then went on, "Pete and I covered a lot of ground in those two weeks. I feel I have a good handle on what his policies and plans were. We also went over company policies. Along with Mike Severt, we discussed where Belding is going in the future. "This is a party, so I'm not going to take up any more of your valuable fun time. I do want to say that we are going to be going through some exciting times at Belding over the next few years. As plans begin to firm up, I'll talk with all of you about them. In the meantime, have fun and let Pete know he's going to be missed. Thank you." There was a polite round of applause as I turned the podium back over to Mike and made my way back to join Jillian. We went back onto the dance floor and I asked her, "So, what did you think about my speech?" "The speech was okay. At least you didn't fall on your face. It's nice to have you back in the area again, Ed. Things just haven't been the same since you moved out west." Jillian and I had been friends since we were toddlers. After college I had moved to the West Coast and Jillian had married a guy we had gone to school with. Her husband had been a police officer and he had been killed in the line of duty two years ago. "I agree, Jillian. I've really missed the old town and you. How are YOU doing these days?" She didn't have to ask what I meant. "I'm doing better, Ed. At first I thought about Mike every minute of every day. Now, I can sometimes go most of a day without thinking about him. I'm still not ready to start dating or anything like that, but maybe I will be some day." Week 1 - Monday I was at work long before anyone else on Monday morning. In fact I was there before some of my employees had even gotten out of bed. Mike had told me they'd have a new computer on my desk and it was waiting for me, so I got started loading software right away. I almost had it the way I wanted it before people started wandering in. One of the first people to knock on my door was Sylvester Westover. "Good morning, boss," he said. "That wasn't a very nice trick you played on me on Friday." "It wasn't meant to be a trick, Sly. It was up to Mike Severt to make the announcement. I'm not your boss though. It was my understanding that you reported to Gene Reynolds." "That's right. Well, anyway, welcome to Belding." He ducked his head and made a hasty retreat. I didn't have a secretary assigned to me as yet. The secretary who had worked with Pete had been with him for a lot of years and had retired when he did. Mike had told me he would have someone assigned temporarily until I could select someone from the secretarial pool or hire someone from outside. I basically had four areas of responsibility. They included Controls (Electrical) Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Research and Development, and the CADD (Computer Aided Design) Department. I also had a dozen or so project managers who reported directly to me. The project managers were the guys who were directly in charge of each project. They did the scheduling and made sure the project was completed on time. All of them were working on several projects at once and they traveled almost continuously. The second person to stick his head into my office was Gene Reynolds who was the Controls Engineering Manager. Pete had brought each of my department managers around last week and had introduced them to me. I asked Gene to have the other department managers meet me in the cafeteria so we could have a little get-acquainted meeting. The cafeteria at Belding is nice. Actually, it is very nice. Nothing is crowded and three sides of it are glass, looking out onto the manicured lawns that surround most of the facility. I got myself a cup of coffee and went off to one corner of the large room to wait for the managers to show up. I greeted each of them as they arrived. Mel Jackson was the Mechanical Engineering Manager; Dale Klauss was the CADD manager; and Jim Shear was the R&D Manager. Pete had had nothing but praise for his managers, but then again, according to Pete, everything in engineering was rosy. I knew he was probably dreaming. "Okay, guys," I said after everyone was seated. "I don't know what Pete's management style was like, but I try to keep things as informal as possible. I much prefer to ask someone to do something than to tell them to. If I'm not in a meeting, feel free to come into my office at any time." I received nods and murmurs of agreement from all of them. "Over the next couple of weeks, I'd like to sit down with each of you and go over any special needs your department has. At that time I'd like to discuss every employee in your department and I'd like your candid evaluation of each of them. If anyone is exceptionally good, I'd like to know about it. If anyone isn't pulling his or her weight I'd like to know about that too. If there are any problems between departments, I need to know about them as soon as possible." "Ed," Mel Jackson said. "I'm sure we all have people we'd like to replace. Over the last couple of years we've had a lot of problems getting anyone hired, even as a replacement for someone who quit. Personnel says we have a hiring freeze and they refuse to hire anyone." "That's true," Gene Reynolds added. "I am two engineers and three support people short in my department right now because of people quitting. Personnel refuses to replace them. I also have two engineers and one support person I'd like to replace, but I haven't let them go because I know they won't BE replaced." "This is the first I've heard about a hiring freeze," I told them. "I'll look into it. If you guys are short handed, it'll just cause other people to quit because they're overworked. What other kinds of problems are you guys having?" "Well," Gene said. "I'm having some problems with purchasing. The purchasing department keeps substituting things on us. They claim it's to cut costs, but some of the things they substitute are more expensive than the things we've specified. I talked to Pete about this six months ago and he said he'd check into it, but he never got back to me on it." "I'll check into it," I said. "How are things going in R&D, Jim?" "I have some of the same problems as Gene and Mel," Jim said. "My department is two people short and purchasing does the same thing to us. Other than that, our only problem is in a lack of direction. We have a couple of on-going projects, but we really don't know where the company is going, so we don't really know what direction our research should be taking." "Okay. The lack of direction is definitely an upper-management problem. I know what Mike has told me, but I think this is something that upper management has to work on. Dale, how's the CADD unit doing?" "We're a couple of people short as well and our workstations should have been replaced a couple of years ago. Other than that, we're fine." "Okay, Dale. Write me up a justification and a plan for implementing the equipment replacement over a six-month period. Let's shoot for going over it in a week. If you need more time, let me know. I'll see if I can get an appointment with Mike Severt today to talk about the hiring freeze. Is there anything else I should know about?" No one said anything, so I said, "Mel, why don't you plan on meeting with me Thursday morning to go over your personnel and your personnel requirements. I'll talk with Dale on Monday, Gene on Wednesday, and Jim on Friday of next week on the same issues. The following week, we'll start going over all open projects. Now, let's get out of here and get to work." I let all of my managers take off, and then got myself another cup of coffee. I sat there making notes until I finished it then went back up to my office. I was more than a little surprised to see Missy Gerard sitting at my secretary's desk. I nodded my head at her and went on into my office. Missy followed me in. "Mr. Delany," she said, standing stiffly in front of my desk, "I've been assigned as your temporary secretary. I told my boss that it was a mistake, but he insisted. If you ask him for someone else, I'm sure he would agree." "Why would I want to ask him for someone else, Missy?" I asked. I knew she had a low opinion of engineers, but I figured I could live with that at least temporarily. "I think I let you know the other night how I feel about engineers in general. I think that the ones here at Belding are the worst of the lot. I'm sure you wouldn't want me working for you, knowing how I feel." Her stance hadn't relaxed a bit and her tone was aggressive. "What do you have against engineers, Missy?" I asked. "I don't think that's any of your business, Mr. Delany." "Since you're going to be working for me for a while, I think it is my business," I told her. "If you push me on this, Mr. Delany, I'll tell you to go fuck yourself and I'll quit," Missy said, the venom dripping from her voice. "I really can't afford to quit, but I will. If you can just leave me alone until you can find a permanent secretary, I'll be moved back to the secretarial pool and we'll both be happy." "I'm sure that won't be a problem, Missy. After all, it's only temporary. Let's give it a week and see how it works out. If at the end of a week either of us wants out I'll ask for someone else." "Okay, Mr. Delany. Is there anything you need right now?" "Yes, a couple of things actually. First off, my name is Ed. Please call me that. Secondly, I need an appointment with Mike Severt as soon as possible. Would you see if you can set something up for me?" "Certainly, uh, Ed. Will there be anything else?" "Not right now, Missy. Let me know about the meeting with Mike." Missy came back in a few minutes later and said that Mike would see me at one o'clock. .oO~Oo. I got to Mike's office about five minutes early, and his secretary told me to go on in. Mike was all smiles as he greeted me and offered to have some coffee sent in. "Are you getting settled in okay, Ed?" he asked. "Just fine, Mike. I had a meeting with my managers this morning and we went over problem areas. I'll be meeting with each of them separately over the next couple of weeks to go over their personnel and their projects." "Speaking of personnel, did they get a temporary secretary assigned to you?" "Yes, they assigned Missy Gerard. Do you know anything about her, Mike?" "No, I'm afraid I've never heard of her. We have around fifteen hundred employees here, Ed. It would be impossible for me to know all of them. Is there something wrong with her?" "Not really. She just seems to have a low opinion of engineers and I wondered if you knew why." "No, sorry. We can get you someone else if you'd like though." "No, that's okay, Mike. I want to give her a chance first. I do have some personnel problems though. All of my departments are short-handed. My managers tell me there is a hiring freeze and they can't replace people who have quit. You never mentioned a hiring freeze. What gives?" "I don't know," Mike looked puzzled, "We did have a hiring freeze that started about two years ago and went on for about six months. After that there shouldn't have been any problems in hiring replacements though. I did tell Marty Babcock, the VP of Human Resources, to make sure that any new hires were justified. I'll talk to him this afternoon and get this straightened out." "I'd appreciate that, Mike. Working short-handed has put an extra burden on our engineers. You can overwork most engineers quite a bit and they'll hang in there. After it reaches a certain point though, they start leaving the company. We also have some drones who are not pulling their weight. We need to get rid of them and get good people in to replace them." "As I said, there is no hiring freeze, so none of that should be a problem." "Okay. We have one other problem that my managers brought up. Evidently, when the engineers specify the equipment they need for a project, purchasing comes along and makes substitutions. This causes problems for the engineers and increases engineering time and costs." "I don't know if I can agree with you on that one, Ed. Purchasing is probably substituting lower cost alternatives. If the cost is lower and the component is equal in quality and function, I don't see how that could be a problem." "One thing that comes to mind, right off the bat, Mike, are programmable controllers. Some controllers perform the same functions, but are quite different in how they're programmed. If the controller from company A costs a thousand dollars less than the controller from company B, but takes even fifty hours more to program, then the company B controller is the most cost effective. Also, we may already have a program written for the company B controller that only needs minor modifications for the project. Using the company B controller could save us hundreds of engineering hours and thousands of dollars." "Why would one controller take so much more time to program?" "It's a function of the support software the company sells for the controller. Think of it as being like the operating system for a computer. If company B uses something equivalent to Windows and company A uses something that is equivalent to DOS, an engineer could program company B's controller much more easily." "Has anyone talked to purchasing about this?" "My managers say they have. I'll be talking to purchasing myself as well. I just wanted to give you a heads-up since purchasing falls under Finance." "Okay. Give Phil James a call and let him know you're going to be talking to his people. If he has a problem with that let me know and I'll see if I can calm the waters. Are there any more problems you've uncovered on your first day here?" I had to laugh. "No, Mike. I think that's about all of the damage I can do for one day. Let me know when I can start hiring people, though. I'd like to replace the people we are short, then start systematically replacing people who are not pulling their weight," I said as I got up to leave Mike's office. "Give me until tomorrow, Ed. You can go ahead and start looking for people now. There won't be a problem with hiring them. I just need to make sure Marty is on the same page we are." .oO~Oo. I spent the rest of the day going over the personnel files of the engineering managers. I didn't see any problems with any of them in their personnel files. All of them had been with the company for several years and all of them had good records. Out of curiosity, I reviewed Missy Gerard's records as well. There I did get a couple of surprises. First off, I found she had been in the engineering department before. She had worked as the department secretary for three months. She hadn't been Pete's personal secretary, but she had worked on a couple of special projects for him. Secondly, Missy had a degree in electrical engineering from a good university. She had never worked as an engineer though. I wanted to ask her why, but I wasn't sure how to go about it, since she was so touchy. I decided to put it on hold until tomorrow. Week 1 - Tuesday I came to work early again. Not as early as I had the day before, but earlier than most. I was surprised to see Missy already at her desk. I decided to try to get on a better footing with her. "Missy, I want to talk with you about a few things, but I don't function well until I've had some coffee. Would you come to the cafeteria with me for a cup and some conversation?" "So, you're starting it too," she said. She had taken a defensive posture and she looked like she was going to chew me up and spit me out. "Starting what, Missy?" I asked, feeling totally perplexed. "Hitting on me. Pete waited almost a week before he hit on me the first time." "I'm not hitting on you, Missy. I don't even like you. There are some things we need to talk about though." I could see she wasn't convinced, but at least she didn't start chewing. She hesitated a few seconds, then gave me a nod. We went to the cafeteria and I got coffee for both of us. After we were seated I asked, "Are you sure Pete was hitting on you? Did you report it?" "Yes to both," she said in clipped tones. "What happened?" "Oh, it started out just like this. He'd ask me to come down here for coffee. That went on a couple of weeks, then he asked me out to dinner. He was married, so I refused. Then he started touching me. When I complained, he acted like it was a joke. When I reported it, I was transferred to the secretarial pool. They did nothing to him." "I'm sorry that happened, Missy. I'm not Pete. I don't hit on women who work for me." "We'll see," Missy said skeptically. "I have a question for you, Missy. Why are you working as a secretary when you have a degree in electrical engineering?" I was waiting for an explosion, but I was pleasantly surprised when it didn't materialize. Instead, her shoulders slumped and she let out a big sigh. "The secretarial job was supposed to be temporary. When I hired in here, I was told there were no openings in controls engineering, but that as soon as a slot opened up, it was mine. When a slot opened up, I went and talked to Gene Reynolds about it. He said that the electrical engineers had to travel to job sites. He said he couldn't hire me since he couldn't send me to job sites where I'd be the only woman there." "That's a crock. I'm surprised you didn't quit right then." "I thought about it. I would have, but I just couldn't afford to. I have a lot of student loans to pay off, plus I'm not from around here. I don't have anyone who could help me out while I looked for another job." "Would you like to try your hand as an engineer?" "Yes, I think I would. What Gene said makes sense, but I think I could overcome those problems. If not, at least I could say I tried." "There's one other thing I'm going to ask you and I hope it doesn't make you angry. Why are you dating Sly?" For the first time since I'd met her, Missy laughed. "I'm not dating Sly. My boss told me I was expected to be at the party. I was having car problems and Sly offered to give me a ride." I had to laugh too. "I'm sorry. I know that was none of my business, but I just couldn't imagine the two of you together. While you were in the restroom, Sly told me the two of you were a couple." "He also told you he practically runs engineering." "You're right. He doesn't have a very good track record for honesty with me. I think it's time we get busy so let's get back upstairs." ------- Chapter 2 I gave the problem with Missy a little thought over the next couple of hours. Then I suddenly had a brainstorm. Obviously, Gene didn't want to have to deal with the problems of having a female engineer on a job site. I didn't agree with him, but I could see his point. I did, however, have an alternative staring me in the face. Jim Shear had told me that he was two people short, in R&D. I decided to give him a call. After we had exchanged greetings I asked, "Jim, how would you like to have a young electrical engineer, who finished third in their class at MIT? This person has no engineering experience as yet; but is bright, and is willing to learn." "That sounds ideal, Ed. How do I get this guy, and how do I manage to get him hired?" "Well, first off it isn't a guy. It's a girl. Do you know Missy Gerard?" "Yeah, I know Missy. She has an engineering degree?" "Yep. She tried to get into controls engineering, but Gene is concerned about having a woman on a job site. You wouldn't have that problem." "No, I wouldn't have that problem. Are you saying I have to take her, or do I get to interview her?" "I am not telling you that you have to take her. I definitely want you to interview her. I really know nothing about her, except that she has a degree from MIT, and that she finished with a great class standing. I'm giving you an opportunity. What you do with it, is up to you." "Great! I'll get in touch with her boss and see when I can set up an interview." "Actually, you're talking to her boss, right now. She was assigned to me as a temporary secretary. I'll have her give you a call." "Okay. Tell her we can do it this afternoon, if she'd like." We said our goodbyes, and I called Missy in. "Missy, I was wondering if you'd be interested in interviewing for an engineering job... in R&D?" I asked when she came in. "I think I'd like that very much," she said. "Okay, give Jim Shear a call. He says he's free this afternoon." "Uh, thank you, Ed." "You're very welcome, Missy. I don't want to see you waste your talents working as a secretary, when we are short of engineers." ------- I gave Phil James a call and told him about our problem with purchasing. "Ed, this is news to me," Phil said. "Al Jackson is in charge of Purchasing. You should probably talk to him about this." "That's fine, Phil. I just didn't want to step on your toes by talking to one of your people without your knowledge." "Go ahead and talk to him. I'd appreciate you letting me know what you work out." "Not a problem, Phil. Thanks." ------- Al Jackson was a problem though. He seemed to take an adversarial position from the moment I told him who I was. "I went over all of this with Pete Welsh, Mr. Delany," he told me. "I don't want to have to cover the same ground every time there's a change of personnel in engineering." "Consider this a major change. Pete is no longer here. All of my managers are complaining about the substitutions that are being made, and I need to know what can be done about them." "I have two people who make electrical purchases, and three who make mechanical purchases. There are many factors that go into the decision as to which part to buy. My purchasing people have to consider all of these, not just the preference of the engineer who specifies the part." "These aren't just preferences the engineer is stating. The engineer is saying 'buy this specific part, and nothing else'. If the part isn't available, then the purchasing agent should call the engineer, and ask for a suitable substitute." "My people are quite capable of making these decisions themselves, Mr. Delany. Look, I know you're a new guy. I know you're anxious to show everyone who is boss. But I don't work for you, so it isn't going to work on me. If you have a problem, take it up with my boss." Then the bastard hung up. Well fuck him. I started to call Phil back and fill him in, but I decided I needed to cool down first. My stomach rumbled, and when I looked at my watch I saw that it was time for lunch, so I figured a good meal might put me in a better mood. ------- I had gotten my lunch and was just starting to eat, when Gene Reynolds came over and joined me. "Hi, Gene. How's it going?" I asked. "Some good, some bad," he said. "I have one project that is driving me nuts. It's two weeks behind schedule, with only six weeks before it is scheduled to be turned over. There's a penalty clause for every day it's late." "What seems to be the problem? Was mechanical late in turning it over to you?" "No, mechanical was right on time. Oh, they had a few things they had to fix after we got started, but for the most part, it was fine and they didn't delay us any." "Then, what caused the delay?" "There are a couple of things. First off, all of the programs were written for AB controllers. What we received were Nitschke controllers. After a lot of argument, purchasing finally ordered AB controllers for us, but that threw us a week late in getting the cabinets built." "I'm working on getting that problem taken care of, right now. What else went wrong?" "Well... It seems like our Project Engineer and out Project Manager have some conflicts. From what I've been told and what I've seen first hand, whenever the PM tells the PE he wants something done a certain way, the PE calls me and bitches about it. Then, I have to get involved and find out what is going on. I listen to both sides, and then see if I can work it out between them. Then the PE will do something on a different part of the installation, and the PM will be on the phone to me saying the PE has overstepped his bounds. I have to get involved again. All in all, this bickering back and forth is putting us farther behind every day." "Where's the job site located?" "It's in Atlanta." "Are the PM and the PE both on site now?" "Actually, neither one of them are. The PM is Jason Baldwin. He's in Pittsburgh on a different job. The PE is Sly Westover. He had to come home on personal business." "I want both of them in my office at 8:00 AM, tomorrow. No excuses." "I'll try, but it may be hard to get the PM here by that time." "Tell the son-of-a-bitch to get in his car and drive all night if he can't get a flight. As I said, I don't want any excuses." "Now, what is Sly Westover's personal business?" "I don't know." "Gene. I hate to say this, but that is a screw-up on your part. Westover should be on the job site. Nothing short of a death or a family member in the hospital should bring him home at a time like this. After tomorrow morning, I want him on the job site 24/7 until the job is finished." "Okay, Ed." "How much of a penalty is there on this job?" "It's $10,000 a day for every day it's late." "So, right now, we're looking at $140,000 worth of penalties. That sucks, Gene. I want overtime authorized for the installation crew, immediately. When our PM and PE get back to the site tomorrow, I want them on the site, seven days a week." "Okay." ------- Okay, so my quiet lunch had been spoiled. I decided to call Phil as soon as I got back to my office. "I wondered when you'd call," Phil said when I had gotten him on the line. "Al Jackson said you'd talked to him." "Well, Phil," I said. "I did talk to Al and he told me he wasn't about to change his policies. He told me if I had a problem with purchasing, I should talk to you." "Al was a little hot under the collar when he talked to me. He said you demanded that they purchase what the engineers specified." "I guess I did say that, but I really didn't demand it. I told him that if something an engineer specified wasn't available, his purchasing agent should call the engineer and discuss with him what an appropriate substitute would be." "I don't really see what the problem is. If the purchasing agent checks over all of the specifications and the two parts are identical, what is the problem?" "Well, I have one project that is seven days behind schedule right now because something was purchased other than what was specified. There is a $10,000 a day penalty for every day we finish behind schedule. The engineer specified AB controllers. Hundreds of hours of software were written for the controllers. When the controllers came in, they were Nitschke controllers. We could either rewrite the software, or get the controllers that were specified. When the proper controllers finally came in, we were a week late getting the cabinets built." "So, you're saying that purchasing has cost the company $70,000 by getting the wrong controllers." "Unless we can make up some of the time on something else, then yes. I've also run into things at the company I worked for before. We found that two photo-cells from two different companies had identical specifications. However, the cells from one company would give false trips, if the wiring for it was run in the same trough as the motor wiring. A purchasing agent wouldn't know this, but an engineer would." "I think I understand a little better where you're coming from, Ed. Let me look into this a little closer. I have a feeling I'm not being told everything I need to know, by my own people." "I'd really appreciate it." ------- Missy came in just before quitting time and said, "You need to find a new secretary." "Oh, we're back to that?" I asked. Missy grinned and said, "Jim Shear wants me to start working for him as soon as possible." "Well, congratulations, Missy. As far as I'm concerned, you can start for him tomorrow. I'll just have them send up someone from the secretarial pool." "Thank you. I was hoping you'd say that. I have to admit I'm a little apprehensive. I've had the schooling, but not the experience." "When I started on my first engineering job, my boss told me something that took off a lot of the pressure. He said that no new engineer is worth a damn to the company, until after he's been on the job for a year. There are some exceptions, but for the most part, I agree with him." "I intend to do better than that. I know it will take me a while to learn how things are done, and what the company wants and needs; but I intend to be productive, long before a year is out." I had to smile at that. "I'm happy to see your enthusiasm," I told her. Week 1 - Wednesday The first thing I did the next morning after people started coming in, was to call personnel and tell them I needed a temporary secretary. They said I'd have one within half an hour. At eight o'clock exactly, Jason Baldwin, Gene Reynolds, and Sylvester Westover came in. I motioned for them to take seats and told Gene to close the door. "First off, I have some questions for you gentlemen," I said, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible. "I'll start with you, Jason. Why were you in Pittsburgh, when you have a job in Atlanta that is two weeks behind schedule?" "I have more than one job that I'm responsible for," Jason said. "Besides, the PE wasn't there and not much was getting done without him." "As of right now, you have one job. That's the Atlanta job. When we leave here, you have one hour to give me a summary and the schedules of the other jobs you have assigned to you. I'll either pass them off to someone else, or see if we can delay them. When you have given me your summaries, you are to get on a plane, and get to Atlanta. You are to stay in Atlanta until the job is complete." "But, that's at least six more weeks," Jason protested. "So it is," I said. "Sylvester, why are you here when your job is so far behind?" "Well, I had to come up for the party, then I had some personal things to take care of..." I slammed my fist down on my desk and said in a loud voice, "Bullshit!" I thought Westover was going to pee his pants. "Mr. Westover, you are in serious jeopardy of losing your job over this. You are supposed to be a Senior Project Engineer. Act like one. It is my understanding that much of the reason this job is so far behind, is because of conflicts between you and Mr. Baldwin. I don't know the cause of these conflicts, and I don't want to know. As of right now, they have stopped." I glared at both of them then went on. "Mr. Baldwin is the Project Manager. That means he is in charge of the job, and is responsible for it. If he says something is to be done in a certain way, then do it. No arguments. If you feel it is a wrong decision, document it in your project log, along with how you would have preferred it was done." "What is a project log?" Westover asked. "A project log is a log of the daily activities on a project. You and every engineer are supposed to be keeping them. I asked Pete Welsh before he left, and he told me it was departmental policy." "Okay." "Now, Mr. Westover, I want you on the same plane to Atlanta that Mr. Baldwin is on. You are to stay in Atlanta until the project is complete. I have authorized overtime for all of the installers, and I expect you to be at the site whenever the installers are working. You and the installers are expected to work seven days a week and as many hours as the installers can handle, until this project is back on schedule. Do I make myself clear to both of you?" Both of them gave grudging agreement. "This meeting is over. Gene, I'd like for you to stay for a few minutes while these gentlemen make plane reservations." When they had gone, I asked Gene to close the door again. "Gene, I'm disappointed in you about this project. Pete told me you were very good with your people, but you didn't do a very good job with your people on this job. You should have squashed Westover, the first time there was a conflict between him and the PM." "Sly had some valid points on some things, Ed. There were several cases where the way the PM wanted it done would have taken longer than the way Sly wanted to do it." "Would it have taken longer than the time they lost because of Westover's arguing about it?" "Well... probably." "Another thing. You should have gotten all over Westover, for leaving the job site to come back for a party. His 'personal things' he should have taken care of before he left for the site." "Well, Sly and Pete were pretty close. They golfed together almost every weekend. I didn't feel it was my place to refuse to let him come to Pete's going-away party." "Gene, you need to take more control of what's going on in your department. I don't want anyone to be a martinet, but your employees have to know that you're in charge. Also, find out why project logs aren't being kept. Project logs are a very valuable tool. They can keep us from repeating mistakes, from one project to another." "I never really saw the point in them, Ed. I guess it's my fault they aren't being used." "Do you have a department meeting after every large project is completed?" I asked. "No, we haven't been." "That's where these logs do the most good. If we can go through a log and find problem areas, we can warn the other engineers to look out for them in the future. I want project logs done on every project, and I want wrap-up meetings after every major project is completed." Gene didn't like it, but he reluctantly agreed to do as I asked. ------- After Gene had left, a woman who looked like a Romanian weight lifter on steroids came in. "I'm Barbara Coovert, your temporary secretary," she said in a deep, husky voice. "Okay," I thought. "At least I won't be tempted to make a pass at my secretary." "It's nice to meet you, Barbara," I said. "Please call me Ed." "Thank you, Ed. Is there anything I can do for you right now?" "The only thing I can think of right now is to give Mel Jackson a call, and remind him he is to meet with me tomorrow morning at eight, to talk about personnel." "Will do, Ed. Just buzz me if you need anything." It was a little early for lunch, but after my disturbing meeting earlier, I needed a break. I went to the cafeteria, and got myself some coffee and found an isolated corner. I'd brought the personnel records of all of Mel's people with me, so I could start looking through them. To say they were boring, would be a gross understatement. There wasn't anything in any of them. Their original applications were there, along with copies of all of the papers they had to sign when they were hired. There was nothing else except a copy of their yearly evaluation forms. As I looked over these evaluations, I realized they didn't show me anything about the employee. In every case I looked at the employee was rated a 9 or a 10 in every category. The files were completely worthless. I just hoped Mel's files would tell me more than the personnel files did. Just as I was getting up to leave, Mike came by and told me he'd gotten everything straightened out with personnel, and that we could begin hiring engineers whenever we wanted. ------- When I got back in my office, Barbara came in and told me she had called Mel. She said that he'd be in my office in the morning. I thanked her and she turned to leave, then she turned back toward me. "Can I ask you a personal question, Ed?" she asked as she parked one of her meaty hips on the edge of my desk. "I suppose so," I said, not really wanting to get on any type of personal level with this woman. "Are you married or do you have a girlfriend?" she asked. "No, I'm afraid not." Barbara smiled and said, "I just wondered." She left without saying anything else and I just sat there, stunned. I'll swear she was hitting on me. It wasn't so much the question she asked, but her body language as she asked it. Oh, well. Another potential problem. I spent the rest of the afternoon going over the projects Jason Baldwin was assigned to, and then going over what our other Project Managers were assigned to. I worked out to whom I could shift Baldwin's other projects. Then I asked Barbara to contact each of the Project Managers, and have them get in touch with me. Edited by TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 3 Week 1 - Thursday I was working on my second cup of coffee when Mel came in. He had a stack of file folders with him, and a yellow legal pad. He declined coffee, so we got right to it. "First off," I said, "how many people are you short in your department?" "Well, we are authorized 25 engineers and five support people. We currently have 23 engineers, and four support people." "Is your authorization realistic?" "I'm not sure I can answer that. At least not a straightforward answer. I don't really like the way we are set up to do things. The way we're set up right now, the numbers are realistic," Mel said. "What would you like to see get done differently?" I asked. "Well... First off, when we make a bid on a project, the guys in Estimating get with the CADD guys. They come up with a layout for the system, based on what the customer wants. Estimating goes over the layout, and estimates what type and how many of everything is going to be needed for the system. Then, if we get the job, Mechanical Engineering gets involved." "Okay, that's pretty standard." "Estimating usually does a pretty good job, by the way. Once we have a job, we assign a mechanical engineer to the project. It's theirs, until the project is signed off by the customer as being completed satisfactorily." "How would you like to see it done differently?" I asked. "Bear with me for a minute. Currently, the engineer assigned, pitches in and designs the system. He decides how much conveyor and of what type is needed. He figures out what the mountings should be, and specifies the parts. He figures out the number of motors needed, and what horsepower ratings they have to be, and a thousand other things to design the system. He gives all of this information to purchasing. Then he waits until it is time to start the mechanical installation." "Okay." "During the time he is waiting for mechanical installation to start, an engineer may be assigned to several other projects, each of them in different stages of development," Mel said. "This is pretty well the way it is done throughout the industry. It makes for some dead time for an engineer, and for some time when he's on a site babysitting but not doing much. It can be a real bear to schedule, as well." "Okay, we have some engineers who are very good at the design phase of a project. They are consistently faster and more accurate then the other engineers. We have other engineers who are excellent at supervising the mechanical installation but are a little weak in the design phase. We have still others who work well with the electrical engineers during commissioning." "I think I can see where you're coming from, Mel. Are you suggesting we break each project up into three phases with a different engineer assigned to each phase?" "Something like that. For large projects anyway, that approach wouldn't work well for small projects." "Another problem with that approach would be that the engineers who supervised installations and the ones who were there during commissioning would be traveling most of the time." "A lot of our engineers wouldn't mind that. Our electrical installers travel 50 weeks out of the year and they are fine with it. I had one young engineer ask me if I could keep him on the road 100% of the time. He said if I could he'd give up his apartment and just stay with his brother when he was in town." "If we did it that way, would you need more, or fewer engineers?" "I don't think we'd need nearly as many. I have one engineer who I think could do 50% of the design work by himself. He'd love it. He hates to travel. If I had a wife who looked like his, I'd hate to travel, too." I had to laugh at that. "Mel, your concept is definitely worth looking into," I said. "Why don't you start looking into how you'd divide up your personnel, if you could do something like this. Based on the projects we have going currently, figure out how many people you'd need to cover them. Then write up a plan as to how we would implement the changes. After you have it laid out, let's sit down and go through it in depth." "Okay. It might take me a couple of weeks to get it together." "That's fine. Now, let's go over the people in your department." We spent nearly two hours going over the personnel in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Mel was candid, and I took copious notes. After we had discussed all of the people, I looked back through my notes. "Okay, to sum it up, you have three engineers who are marginal," I said; "One engineer who has been promoted at least two rungs up the ladder from where he should be. One is an egotistical bastard who should be fired immediately. One engineer who should be promoted to 'God', and seventeen competent engineers who are doing a good job." Mel smiled and said, "That sounds about right." "Fire the egotistical bastard at your earliest convenience. Get with personnel, and have them start looking for a replacement." "The hiring freeze is over?" "That's right. Have them start looking for people to fill the other authorized slots as well." "Will do, boss." "There's one other thing I'd like for you to do. The evaluation sheets you fill out every year are being used the same here, as they were at the last place I worked. Everyone gets a 9 or a 10 in every category. You can continue to do that for their personnel file, but I'd like a different one filled out for me. I'd like for you to carefully read what it says for each of the rating categories, and give me a realistic evaluation of every person in your department. I'd expect the values to run all the way from 1 to 10. Then when you do your yearly review for personnel, I'd like for you to update the realistic one for me as well." "I can do that. I've always thought those forms were a waste of time the way they're used." .oO~Oo. I needed a break, so I went down to the cafeteria. I picked up a sandwich and a cup of coffee and went to the table that seemed to be becoming mine. I really liked the ideas Mel had about rearranging his department and I was thinking about that when Missy came up with a cup of coffee in her hand and asked if she could join me. I motioned to the seat across from me and she sat down. "I just wanted to thank you again for helping me get into R&D," she said. "That's okay, Missy. I'm sure you'll be more of an asset to the company as an engineer, than you were as a secretary. Does Jim have you doing anything meaningful as yet?" "Not really, he has me going over tech manuals, and looking at schematics of our proprietary designs right now. I can see where we can improve some of our designs though and I'm going to ask him about that. I also see we're still not using fiber optics, and I think we should be moving in that direction." I had been trying to get the engineers at my former employer's to look into fiber optics myself, but I decide to string her along and see what her thoughts were. "Why do you think we need to go to fiber optics?" "Well... Take a look at our Sort Controller for example. It has literally hundreds of inputs from photo eyes and proximity sensors. Each photo and/or prox has to be wired with special 'twisted pair' wiring to help prevent interference from other wiring. Even then, we still have problems with interference at times and have to run their wiring in special troughs. Fiber optics would eliminate that." "Okay, I can see that, but aren't fiber optics a lot more expensive than twisted pair wiring?" "Yes and no. There have been a lot of improvements in fiber optics over the last few years. Most photos and proxes are now available with fiber optic outputs, so you don't need converters. The new equipment that is available for fiber optics has brought the time for making terminations down to the point it rivals terminating with wires. So, the cost is far less than it has been in the past." "Well, just to let you know, I tend to agree with you. I did a lot of research on fiber optics the last place I worked." "I'm going to pitch it to Jim and see what he has to say." "Good for you, Missy." "Well, I guess I'd better be going. I just wanted to let you know how excited I am about my new job." "Can you wait just a minute, Missy. I have a question for you if you have the time." "Sure." "Do you know Barbara Coovert?" "Yeah, I know Barbara. Why do you ask?" She's been assigned as my new temporary secretary. Frankly, I'm a little concerned about her in a way." "In what way?" "Well... I think she may have been coming on to me." Missy giggled. "Oh, she probably was. What did she do?" "When she came into my office yesterday, she sat her butt down on the side of my desk and asked if I was married or if I had a girlfriend. It wasn't so much the question, but her body language when she asked it, that put me off." "She put her butt on the side of your desk and it didn't break your desk?" Missy giggled again. "I shouldn't tell you this, but the secretaries all call her Big Bertha behind her back." I couldn't help myself. I had to laugh. "Rumor has it that she has hit on nearly every man, married or single, in the company. If she bothers you, ask for a replacement." "I may have to. I just hate to do that." "At least you have that as an option. You are in a lot better position than I was when Pete started hitting on me. You have power and authority. I didn't." "I'm sorry that happened to you, Missy. No one should have to put up with that kind of treatment." "Pete was a randy old goat. Yes, it bothered me, but I got over it. I know of at least three other women in the company he hit on as well. There are rumors of other things he did too." "What kind of things?" "Well, it is rumored that Syl Westover is only in the position he's in today because he's Pete's buddy. There's another rumor that he had some kind of connection with Al Jackson in purchasing." "Hmm, that's very interesting. I probably shouldn't tell you this, but Syl is skating on thin ice right now. The project he's on, is behind because of him. Right now we stand to lose $140,000, because it is behind schedule." "I don't gossip, Ed. I listen, but I don't contribute." "Thanks, Missy. I don't usually run off at the mouth like I have been, today. I'd better get out of here before I start telling you my life's history." We got up and Missy thanked me again before she took off to R&D. .oO~Oo. I started putting the notes I had made this morning onto the computer when I got back to my office. I was about half way through when Barbara came in and asked me if I needed anything. "No, Barbara, I'm fine," I said. "You certainly are fine," she said and went back out to her desk. "Oh, shit," I thought. I started going through Pete's files on his Project Managers. I spent the entire afternoon going through them. Barbara came in three more times during the afternoon, looking for things to do. I had her do some copying and a few other things, but I really didn't have much for her to do. Week 1 - Friday Mike called me early this morning and told me he would need to have proposals for next year's budget in three weeks. I called each of my managers and told them I'd like proposals for next year's budget within two weeks. Since I didn't have anything better to go on, I told them to figure on 10 percent over what last year's budget had been for their department. I started digging out Pete's budget files and going over them for this year. They really weren't very well put together, so I spent some time laying out a spreadsheet in Excel and then filling Pete's numbers from this year into it. I managed to keep Barbara busy finding information I needed so that she wasn't a problem. Week 1 - Saturday Saturday was a very nice day. I got to spend some time with Jillian. In fact, I spent most of the day with her. We talked a lot about when we were kids, and she talked some about her husband. Right after lunch, she asked me, "So how was your first week at work?" "It wasn't bad. I managed to get a hiring freeze removed. I had a meeting with all of my managers. I managed to get a secretary rehired as an engineer. I chewed out a Senior Project Engineer, and a Project Manager. I got hit on by my secretary. I think those are about all of the major things that happened." Jillian burst out laughing. "Getting hit on by your secretary must have pumped you up pretty good." "It would have if I'd been attracted to her," I said, then I went on to tell her everything that had happened with Barbara. "Well, she definitely was coming on to you. It's too bad you aren't attracted to her." "Honey, she looks like a Russian weightlifter on steroids." Jillian giggled. "So, you got to chew out an engineer and a Project Manager. How did that come about?" "Do you remember meeting an engineer at the party by the name of Sly Westover?" I asked her. Jillian agreed that she did, so I went ahead and told her about the project they were screwing up. "It sounds like Sly's manager and the Project Manager's manager were partially responsible for this, too," she said. "I'm not worried about the Project Manager. He's my responsibility, now. I chewed out Sly's boss, too. Him I'm a little worried about. I think he was probably a pretty good engineer, but I don't think much of his management skills so far." "Is he going to be salvageable?" "Right now, I really don't know. I'd like to be able to, because he is a very likable guy. I'm really not going to have the time to put a lot of effort into him, though. I'll have a talk with him about what I think his weaknesses are. After that, he's pretty much going to have to do it himself." "What's this about giving a secretary an engineering job?" "Actually, you met her at the party, too. Missy Gerard... she was with Sly." "And you made her an engineer?" "Jillian, she finished third in her class at MIT, in electrical engineering. She took a secretarial job because they told her she could have the first electrical engineering job that came open. They lied to her. She stuck with it, because she couldn't afford to quit." "And you came in like a knight in shining armor and got her into engineering. Better watch out for that one, Honey." "Hell, I don't even like her. I almost wish I did. She's really kind of attractive. The problem is, she has a personality like a 'junkyard dog'." Jillian laughed then asked, "What do you think of your other managers?" "They seem okay. I really don't know much about them yet. I did have a long meeting with Mel Jackson, the mechanical guy. He impressed me. I think he's probably a damned good manager." "Well, it sounds like you had an interesting week at least. So, when are you going to start looking for a girlfriend?" "I still don't think I'm ready for that. Lorna caused me to swear off women completely. Hell, the only woman I feel comfortable talking with, is you." "Lorna was a slut, Ed. You can't judge all women by her." "I was truly in love with her. When I came home and found her in my bed with another guy, I felt like my whole world had ended. Did I tell you I actually burned the bed? I couldn't even think of sleeping on it again." "That was three years ago, Ed. It's time for you to move on." Maybe she was right. I just couldn't imagine letting myself fall for another woman though. Week 2 - Monday Dale Klauss, the CADD Manager, was my victim for today. He had all of his personnel files with him and appeared to be well organized. As he was putting everything on my conference table, I said, "I know you probably don't have all of your 'ducks in a row', for upgrading the CADD system; but do you have enough, that you can at least include the cost in your budget estimate?" "Yes," he said, "but it's going to run a lot more than 10 percent over last year." "Don't worry about the 10 percent. The hiring freeze is over, so you need to be hiring a couple of new employees, also. I may have a little trouble getting all this past Mike Severt, but I'm pretty good at pitching a fit when I need to be." Dale was up on his employees, and gave me a good evaluation of each. He had one guy he'd like to replace, but he said there was no hurry on him. I explained to him what I'd like done as far as evaluation reports are concerned and he agreed it was a good idea. .oO~Oo. Dear Barbara made a couple of more comments this morning that I considered inappropriate, so I sat her down and talked with her. "Barbara, I think we need to reach an understanding. Some of the comments you have been making tend to make me feel like you're 'hitting on me'." She started to say something, but I held up my hand to stop her. "Whether I'm right or wrong, these comments need to stop. I do not date anyone who works for me. I never have, and I don't intend to start now." I nodded to her to let her know she could speak now. "Well, you can't blame a girl for trying," she said. "Will that be all, Mr. Delany?" "Yes, that will be all, Barbara." It was lunchtime, so I decided to visit the cafeteria. I loaded up a tray, paid for it, and went to my table. I hadn't much more than sat down when Missy asked if she could join me. "So, how's R&D?" I asked when she was seated. "R&D is just fine," she said with a grin. "I'm having a ball." I had to smile. I could remember being a young engineer, fresh out of school. We all wanted to invent new things and set the world on fire. "I'm happy you're enjoying it." "How are you and your secretary doing?" "I had to have a talk with her this morning. Her comments had started bordering on the lascivious. I hope it did some good." "If not, and you have to get someone else from the secretarial pool, or if you're looking for a good permanent secretary; ask for Brenda Gifford. Brenda's very smart, and she's very happily married, so you wouldn't have a problem from that end." "Thank you, Missy. I've been putting off looking for a permanent secretary, trying to get some brush fires put out. This Brenda of yours might work out fine." "She's really a sharp cookie. Actually, I think she'd make a better PA than a secretary. She hates being moved around from department to department, so I'm sure she'd like a permanent assignment." "I'll see if I can interview her this afternoon. Thanks again." Brenda Gifford proved to be everything Missy said she was, and more. She was every manager's dream of what a good secretary should be. Her secretarial skills were top notch and she had a grasp of the needs of the business we were in, that I wish all of my managers had. I knew I wanted her, but I had an idea that Missy was right. We should make her my PA, instead of a secretary, so I told her I'd get back to her later in the afternoon. As soon as she was gone, I called Mike. When I had him on the line I said, "Mike, I've found someone in the secretarial pool who I'd like to have for my secretary. The problem is, she is far overqualified. As soon as she realizes that, she'll be gone. I'd like to offer her a position as my PA with a $5,000 raise over what she's making now." Mike thought for a minute then said, "Sure, go ahead. It may open up a bucket of worms for me with all of the other VPs wanting PAs, but maybe it's time we moved in that direction, anyway." As soon as I hung up with Mike, I called Brenda, and asked her to come back up. When she arrived, she said, "Well, that didn't take long." "No. I knew I wanted you in the department before you left my office. You have every skill a manager could want in a secretary. However, I have other plans for you." Brenda frowned and asked, "What would those plans be?" "Brenda, I'd like to offer you a position as my Personal Assistant. You'll still be doing all of the secretarial work I need done; but you'd also be helping me with scheduling, presentations, and even personnel. We might add other duties as we go along, but that would be primarily it. The position pays $5,000 per year more than you're making now." Brenda looked like she was having trouble breathing. "You're serious?" "Absolutely." "Mr. Delany, I'll sweep your floors and shine your shoes, for that kind of a raise. My husband and I are having some money problems right now, and the extra money would be a big help." "Well, consider yourself hired as of right now. I'll talk to your boss, and find out how soon you can move up here." "I could move up right now," Brenda said. "They've had me doing filing and copying for the last few days. I was about bored out of my mind." "Okay. Why don't you pack your things up, and get them ready. I'd say that tomorrow morning would be soon enough. By the way, you need to call Missy Gerard and thank her. She's the one who gave me your name." Brenda smiled. "Missy is a nice young woman. I was so happy she finally got the chance to work as an engineer. She's had nothing but praise for you, for giving her the chance." "She deserved the chance. Did you know she finished third in her class at MIT? I was considered a whiz kid, and I couldn't have come close to that." "No, I didn't know that. I just hope she does okay working for Jim Shear." "I'm sure she will. She has some great ideas I'm anxious to see implemented. Do you have a reason for wondering?" "I'm sorry, I guess I was talking out of school. I shouldn't be saying anything about a manager." "Brenda, part of your duties is to let me know if there are any potential problems in the department. That includes problems with my managers. You are going to be privy to a lot of information that is best kept between us. All I ask is that you don't repeat anything outside of this office." "Would that include any gossip I hear? Missy and I both tend to listen but not repeat. We hear a lot." "Would you feel bad about passing the gossip on to me?" "No. I don't think so." "Okay, what do you know about Jim Shear that I should know?" "Well, before I married my husband, we've only been married for six months, I dated a guy who was an electrical engineer in R&D. He said that if something wasn't how we had done it for the last twenty years, Jim wouldn't approve it." "Did he give you a for instance?" "Yes. Al (that was the guy I dated), was really hot on fiber optics, like they're using in some phone lines. He pitched using fiber optic devices to Jim and Jim said that as long as he worked here we'd never use them." I had to laugh. "That's one thing I know Missy is going to pitch to Jim. She and I were talking about it the other day. I was trying to get my old company switched over to fiber optics before I left there. Missy's going to win on that one." "Al also said that he had designed a fairly elaborate circuit for controlling the frequency that boxes are released from a merge line. He said there are these things you can use to, I think he said 'breadboard', a new circuit. He asked Jim if they could get some of them so he could breadboard his circuit. Jim told him no. He said he didn't believe in them. He said he wanted all circuits to have all soldered joints." "That's a waste of time. When you have to change a component if takes forever. Brenda, this gives me an insight into Jim that would have taken me months to discover on my own. I really appreciate your telling me." "That's okay we hear a lot of gossip about who is sleeping with whom and who is having money problems and the like, too. Are you interested in that kind of thing?" "Only if it's something that affects the department. I don't like gossip, but sometimes it can be useful. Use your own judgment as to whether you should tell me something or not." Brenda nodded. "I guess I should get on down, and get my stuff packed. I want to thank you again for giving me the opportunity." I told her she was welcome, but that she wouldn't have to sweep the floors or shine my shoes. Then I watched her leave. I felt as good about getting her as a PA as I did about getting Missy into engineering. Later that afternoon, I told Barbara I wouldn't be needing her any more, that I had hired a permanent secretary. When she left the office she wiggled her massive hips and said, "Well, you win some and you lose some." Edited by TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 4 Week 2 - Tuesday Brenda was already there when I came to work. She followed me into my office and as I was turning on my computer, she asked, "So, Boss, what is my first duty?" "Well, your first duty is to quit calling me boss. My name is Ed and that's all I'll answer to." "Okay, Ed." "I want to tell you the opinions I've formed since I've been here and I'd like for you to tell me if you think they're right or wrong. Would you be willing to do that?" "Sure, for what my opinions are worth. I've been here a few years, but I haven't been closely associated with many of the people in engineering." "That's okay. Close the door... No, why don't we go down to the cafeteria. I function better after a few cups of coffee. This time of the morning the cafeteria is almost empty." "Okay, should I bring anything with me?" "No. That's fine. This is very informal and very confidential. I wouldn't want it to get back to any of the people we talk about." We got ourselves some coffee and we took my corner table. When we were seated, I said, "First off, let's talk about the guy who isn't here any more. I spent a couple of weeks in very close contact with Pete. He assured me that there were absolutely no problems in engineering. All of his managers were white knights in shining armor riding on white chargers, and all of his engineers should have been given the Nobel Prize for physics. He told me that relations with other departments were top notch, also." I sipped my coffee and watched Brenda's reactions. She smiled and said, "And Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny make regular visits to all of the good little employees." "Obviously his evaluations were somewhat optimistic. I'm afraid Mike Severt's evaluation of Pete Welsh was a little rose colored as well. I've only been here a few days, but so far I've learned that Pete sexually harassed at least some of his female employees. He allowed his department to become seriously understaffed because of a non-existent hiring freeze. He covered over problems between engineering and purchasing. He showed favoritism to some employees. Can you think of anything I've left out?" "First off, let me respond to what you just said," Brenda said, then took a sip of her coffee. "The sexual harassment wasn't just Missy. I know of three other women who claim to have been sexually harassed by Pete. I don't know anything about a hiring freeze, but I have heard talk of engineers threatening to quit because they are overworked. Favoritism? Would you be referring to Dave Jarchoff and Sly Westover? There may be others, but those are the two I can think of, right off the bat." "I didn't know about Jarchoff, but I know Mel isn't too happy with him." "As for the purchasing thing, I really don't know. There was a very vague rumor a couple of years ago that Pete might have some extra money coming in. Maybe that ties in, but it would be a reach." "I don't know about Pete, but I'm pretty sure Al Jackson in purchasing is getting kickbacks or something for purchasing components from specific vendors." "I wouldn't be surprised. Al Jackson is a slimy... character." "It's okay, Brenda. You can say 'bastard' in front of me." Brenda laughed and said, "It's true, that is exactly what I think he is. I think the only reason he hasn't hit on every woman in the plant is because he doesn't have the guts. He's always making off-color remarks. He seems to think it's cute." "Unfortunately, you find people like that wherever you go." "I guess you're right, and we seem to be stuck with Mr. Jackson." Brenda and I discussed the managers, engineers, and support people. She really didn't know much about any of them. We did seem to establish a good rapport, though. ------- I ended up having lunch with Missy, again. This time she didn't even ask, she just brought her food over to my table and sat down. "I guess I shouldn't be sitting with the vice president," she said with a smile. "People might get the wrong idea." I had to laugh. "You mean they may think you're using your nubile young body to curry favor from your boss's boss?" "Exactly. Anyway, I really wanted to thank you for what you did for Brenda. Being your secretary would have made her very happy. Being your PA has put her over the moon." "Missy, she's way too talented to be wasting herself as a secretary. I only did what her talent and experience seemed to warrant." "Well, whatever the reasons, I thank you." "You said you aren't from around here. Where are you from, Missy?" "I was born and raised in Muncie, Indiana. Actually, outside of Muncie. I was a farm kid." "Hey, being a farm kid isn't bad. I grew up on a farm about twenty miles from here. It wasn't the kind of farm you're used to, but it was a farm nonetheless." "What kind of farm was it?" "We had two hundred acres of blueberries. We also had a few cattle, and we raised a big garden. Mom and Dad still run the farm, but I'm afraid they may have to give it up before long. Dad had a stroke last year, and he's never fully recovered." "That's a shame, Ed. It's hard to see something like that happen to someone you love. My favorite uncle started having heart attacks about five years ago. They tried every kind of medication imaginable and nothing helped. I don't think the doctors even knew why it was happening. His last one was about six months ago and it killed him." "That's a hard thing, Missy. I've worried about heart attacks, too, so I started trying to get the exercise I need. I'm trying to eat right, too. That doesn't always work, but at least I feel like I'm doing something positive." "Yeah, I started running while I was in college. As for eating right, I had my cholesterol checked a while back and it was 170. I think I could eat about anything and it'd stay the same." "You'd better watch out, young lady. It may catch up with you in a few years. Our metabolism changes as we age." Missy giggled. "Yeah, I could just see myself at thirty, weighing three hundred pounds and whining that I hardly eat anything." I had to laugh, too. ------- I got a call from Phil in the afternoon. He said he wanted to meet with me to talk about the purchasing situation. I told him I had a meeting in the morning, but we could get together after lunch if he'd like. I spent the afternoon preparing for my meeting with Gene, in the morning. I asked Brenda if she knew anything about any of the engineers in Controls. "Well, I don't really know any of them. There are a couple who have bad reps, though." "Who would that be?" I asked. "Remember, this is gossip. I wouldn't want you to make a decision on anyone based on wild stories." "I really wouldn't do that, Brenda. If you have heard things, it would give me a reason to check out the validity of the story. That's all." "Okay. I have a friend who dates one of the electrical installers. He says that Patrick Miller is never on the job site when they have a question for him. He says that Patrick is usually in his hotel room when they try to find him, but sometimes he'll be at a movie or something, and they'll have to wait until he shows up." "Thank you. I'll have that checked out. Is there anyone else?" "Yeah. Jim Belmont. Jim is by all accounts a ladies man. He brags about all of the women he has bagged at different job sites. From what he has told people here in the office, he sets up a new screen name on AOL when he knows he's going to be commissioning a job. It's usually something like Jim_in_Atlanta or something like that. Then he starts chatting up the women in the area he's going to. He tells them he's being transferred to the area and by the time installation and commissioning starts, he has half a dozen dates set up." "Okay, that's reprehensible, but it's a moral issue rather than an engineering issue." "Well, the installer I was talking about says Jim will show up on a job site in the morning, but will disappear within half an hour or so. If they have a question, they'll look for him, but he's never around. If they ask him about it, he says he's been there all day and they've just been looking in the wrong places. When the job is finished, he changes his screen name, and disappears. There was one job where he had to be on the site for three months. He claims to have had sex with twelve different women during that period." "I will definitely check this one out. What he does in his personal life is his business, as long as it doesn't reflect badly on the company. If he's spending the time he's supposed to be working, out getting laid, then that's our business." ------- Week 2 -— Wednesday I really kind of dreaded this morning. I liked Gene, but he seemed to be having more problems, with personnel and otherwise, than any of the other managers. I asked Brenda to sit in on the meeting with us, and she agreed. "So, Gene," I said. "Before we get started talking about each of your people, give me a rundown on any of them you think are problems, or potential problems." "Well, you're aware that Sly Westover is a bit of a problem. I would like to replace him, but there's no hurry. The only other problem is Marty Dunn. Marty goofs off a lot. He gets the job done, but he misses things. Sometimes we have to pay penalties to get things to a job site, so the job can be done on time." "What's Dunn's problem? Why does he goof off. Is he just lazy?" "I'm not sure. It may be that he's just lazy. I think it might be because he's bored, though. From what I've been able to find out, he has an IQ around 160. He got his engineering degree at Stanford and had a 3.97 grade point average." "Maybe he'd work out better in R&D," I said. "That's where he was when he first went to work here. He didn't get along with Jim Shear and after about three years, he asked to transfer over here. I knew he was extremely bright, so I snapped him up." "Okay, let me think about it. I may have an interview with him in the next day or two. Are those your only two problem people?" "Actually, we have one support person I'd like to replace. Jenny Divers is a nice middle-aged woman. She's pleasant to be around, but she isn't too bright. She has a hard time following instructions, even if she writes them down. I hate to get rid of her, but she just isn't pulling her weight." "You didn't recognize these things before you hired her?" "I needed a new support person. I put in my request to personnel. They transferred Jenny in from the production floor. After I realized her deficiencies, I complained to personnel. Martin Babcock told me she was my problem now." Okay, so that made me a little angry. I'd seen it before, where personnel would shuffle a person around from department to department. No one wanted to take the steps necessary to get the person fired and no one made the effort to find out if there was someplace the person would actually fit in. "I'm going to want to talk with Jenny, too. Is there anyone else you consider a problem?" "Not really. There are a few I feel could do a better job, but I think they'll shape up as they get more experience," Gene said. "What about Patrick Miller? I've heard rumors that he's never at a job site when he's supposed to be." "I've heard the same rumors. But he always gets the job done, and there have been no official complaints about him." "What about Jim Belmont?" "Uh, I don't know of any problem with Jim." "I've heard rumors that he's a real ladies man." "I think those are just rumors. Besides, it isn't our business if he dates a lot." "It is if it keeps him from doing his job. The rumors also say he is missing from job sites a lot. Have you heard those rumors as well?" "Rumors, yes. No one has complained about him, though." "Gene, I want you to look into Belmont. Talk to our installers. Find out if this is hurting his job performance." "Uh... I might not be the best one to do that, Ed. Uh... Jim is my wife's brother." "I'm sorry, Gene, but this is another case where you're falling down on the job. Number one, you should never have a relative working in your department. Number two, you should have checked out these rumors as soon as you heard the first one. The only way it can ever work if you have a relative working for you, is if you're harder on them than you are on anyone else. I want you to report back to me in one week about this. Where is Belmont now?" "He's doing an installation at Consolidated, in Phoenix." "Who is the installer on site?" "That would be Fred Bateman." "When you leave my office, I want you to call Bateman. Ask him where Belmont is. If he isn't at the site, I want to know what he's doing. Get back to me as soon as you find him." "Okay, Ed." We spent some time going over his other employees, but I'll admit I didn't do as thorough a job as I did with my other managers. Although Gene was a nice guy, I was really starting to have doubts as to his ability to manage his people. After Gene had gone, I asked Brenda her opinion of things. She had been quiet during the entire meeting, but now she made me feel like I had definitely made the right choice when I made her my PA. "Well, Gene is a nice guy. He's well liked by everyone who works for him. I think he is a bit of a wuss, though. I've met his wife. She is a very dominant woman. I'm afraid his submissiveness has carried over from his home life, to his work life." "I didn't know about his wife, but it fits. Do you think I'm doing the right thing by forcing him to look into Belmont?" "Yes, but I'd do my own checking, too. Would you like for me to call the installers as well? That way we'd have it straight from the horse's mouth rather than have it filtered through Gene." "That's an excellent idea. When you talk to the installers, ask them not to mention that we talked to them about Belmont, too." "Will do, Ed. What else would you like for me to get into?" "Why don't you see what all you can find out about Jenny Divers. I'd particularly like to know where she worked in production, how long she's been here, why she was replaced in production, and was she happy at her old job." "Okay. I think I see where you're coming from. Should I talk to the installers first, or find out about Jenny first?" "Go ahead and see what you can find out about Jenny, first. That way Gene may have already talked to some of the installers." ------- I saw Missy at lunch. She said hello, but didn't stop to eat with me. I had to admit I enjoyed her company, and I kind of missed it. Since she had gone to work in R&D her personality had changed dramatically. My meeting with Phil James was interesting to say the least. Brenda brought us coffee and got us settled, then she left. "Ed, I'm afraid we, or maybe I should say I, have a real problem here. I have a friend who is a bit of a computer hacker. I asked him if there was any way he could check on Al Jackson's finances." "Okay." "Well, it seems Al is doing quite well for himself. I didn't ask my friend how he found out what he did. I don't want to know, because it might not be completely legal. Anyway, he says Al is depositing around five thousand dollars a month in a dedicated bank account. I know how much Al makes; and there's no way he could afford to do that, on his salary." "Okay, so you think he might be taking kickbacks?" "It would seem so, but wouldn't that be a large amount even for kickbacks?" "Actually, no. Take PLCs for instance. We do hundreds of jobs every year and almost every one of them has at least one PLC. Some of the really big systems we've put in have had a hundred or more PLCs. When you consider that a PLC can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $50,000 or more, including the I/O, PLCs alone represent a large chunk of business." "I never realized we spent so much on PLCs." "Another big electrical expenditure is for photo-eyes. A typical installation for us, can use a hundred of them. A small installation can run as few as eight to ten, and a large one can have thousands of them. They cost between thirty and a hundred dollars each. I can see a company paying a pretty good kickback to be our primary supplier." "Okay, I suspect Al, but I don't have any proof. Do you have any ideas about how we could get proof?" "I might. I'll have to do a little checking before I know for sure. I have a friend who works for a company that makes photo-eyes and motion detectors. If we could get them to cooperate with us, we might be able to catch Jackson soliciting a kickback. If it were done skillfully, we might be able to find out who is supplying the kickback from the company we're buying from now." "Okay, let me know what you find out. My initial reaction was to just fire his ass, but I'd really like to nail him, if we could. Maybe we could even recoup some of our losses." "I really doubt we'd be able to recover anything. We might be able to get some good pricing in the future if we threaten to ban the company who is paying him. Then again, I'm not sure I'd want to buy from a company that is disreputable enough to pay kickbacks anyway." "Whatever we do, we need to do it quickly. I don't know how long I'm going to be able to hold off without firing him." "I'll give my friend a call this evening, and see what he suggests. In the meantime, just try to avoid him." Gene never did get back with me to say he had gotten hold of Belmont. ------- Week 2 - Thursday Brenda came into my office the next morning, just after I arrived. "I've found out a little about Jenny, and have made some calls about Belmont," she said. "Hold those thoughts. Let's go down to the cafeteria and get some coffee. I'm never fully awake until I've had a cup or two." "That must be a man thing," she laughed. "My Dad was like that and my husband is, as well." Once we were seated at my favorite table, I asked, "Okay, what did you find out about Jenny?" "Jenny has worked for Belding for almost twenty years. For most of that time she ran one of the metal folding machines. She was good at it. She had a very high throughput, and a low scrap rate." "Okay, so why did she want to transfer off of it?" "That's just it. She didn't. For some reason, her foreman moved her over into maintenance and put a young man in her place. The young man doesn't have near the throughput Jenny had, and his scrap rate is much higher. I tried to talk to her former foreman about it, but he wouldn't talk to me. He said it was none of my business." "Okay, I'll have a little talk with Mark Mathews this morning and see what I can find out that way. What did you learn about Belmont?" "Well, I talked with Fred Bateman and three other installers yesterday. All of them gave me the same story. Most of the installers start work at 7:00 AM. Belmont usually shows up around nine, looking like he hasn't slept at all. He hangs around the site for anywhere from half an hour, to three or four hours, then he disappears. He doesn't say he's leaving or where he can be reached... he just isn't there any more." "What do the installers do when they have questions?" "If Belmont is gone, they just make decisions on their own. Most of our installers have been with Belding for years. Some of them know more about the installations than the engineers do." I thought for a minute, then I said, "Get me a ticket to Phoenix for this afternoon or evening. I'll also need a hotel for Thursday and Friday nights and a return flight on Saturday. I'll need directions from the hotel to the site." Brenda smiled and said, "So, you're going to rattle the young man's cage." "I may fire the young man. This is a ridiculous situation, and I blame Gene for it. Maybe that's wrong, so I'm not going to do anything rash, but I am definitely going to be following Gene closely from now on." "I don't think you're wrong. Gene would be hard to replace, though. You have a meeting scheduled with Jim Shear for tomorrow morning. I'll go ahead and reschedule it for Monday if you'd like." "Monday will be fine, but don't call Shear until tomorrow morning. I'd just as soon no one in the department knew where I was going or that I was gone at all, until tomorrow." "Okay. Has Gene gotten back with you? You said for him to tell you as soon as he contacted Belmont yesterday." "No. That makes me think he didn't manage to talk to him. I'd say he'll come in within a short while since it's after nine. We'd better get back upstairs, so we'll be there when he does." ------- I called Phil right after Brenda left and let him know I'd talked with my friend. "His name is Frank Wilcox and he's going to be giving you a call this afternoon. Whatever the two of you work out is fine with me," I said. It was almost eleven before Gene came into my office. "Did you ever get hold of Belmont?" I asked before he could say anything. "Yes. He was in the frozen foods area most of the day yesterday. He said there had been a glitch in the PLC program for the merge and it took him most of the day to figure it out." "Did you talk to any of the installers about him?" "Yes. There were a few complaints, but we get complaints about all of the engineers. These weren't any different than what we usually hear about our people." I thought for a moment. I didn't want Gene to put Belmont on guard, so I said, "Well, maybe the rumors were a bunch of hogwash. Let me know if there are any serious complaints about him, but otherwise, forget it." I could see Gene brighten. Damn it, why does anyone think they can have a relative work for them. I know it works sometimes, but more often than not, the relative takes advantage of their boss. "Brenda has been checking into the Jenny Divers situation. Hang in there and we'll try to have it taken care of by the end of next week. You should be looking for replacements for her and for Westover." "Okay, Ed," Gene smiled. "Is there anything else?" "No," I said. I really felt bad, because I had made the decision I was going to replace Gene as soon as I possibly could. ------- I gave Mark Mathews a call and explained the Jenny Divers situation to him. "My PA tried to find out from her former foreman why he had transferred her, but he told my PA it was none of her business. I was just wondering if you could find out for us. I hate to fire the woman since she's been with the company for so long." "I'd be happy to find out for you, Ed. It sounds like there's something a little fishy here. I don't think the foreman will tell me it's none of my business." I had lunch with Brenda. Missy went by and said hello again, but she didn't join us. "I wonder what's gotten into Missy," I said. "She had lunch with me several times, then all of a sudden she stopped." "It's probably because of Jim Shear," Brenda said. "Missy told me last night that Jim had been making comments about her sucking up to his boss." "I was afraid it was something like that. My first impression of Missy was that she was, excuse the language, a bitch. Later, after I found out why she was so bitter, I found I really like her. It's a shame that we can't be friends because of our different positions in the company's pecking order." "That's true. If Missy was in another department, there wouldn't be a problem. If Jim Shear wasn't so paranoid, it wouldn't be a problem. Oh, well. Who knows what tomorrow will bring." ------- I was thinking a lot about tomorrow. Brenda brought me my tickets a little after noon. I had a five o'clock flight, so I'd have to leave early so I could pack a few things and get to the airport. I called Mike Severt and let him know I was going to be visiting a job site and that I wouldn't be in tomorrow. He didn't have a problem with it and didn't even ask me why. It was late in the evening when I got to Phoenix, so I found my hotel and turned in early. Edited by TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 5 Week 2 - Friday I was out of my room by a little after six, and availed myself of the hotel's continental breakfast. It wasn't much, but I wasn't all that hungry. I was on the job site by a little after seven, and I found Fred Bateman in his trailer. I introduced myself and Fred seemed really pleased to see me. "You're the first vice-president that's ever been on one of my installations," he said with a big smile. "I take it Pete wasn't big on visiting sites," I said. "I've worked for Belding for ten years, and I never even met Pete. I think I've seen Gene at a site twice, during that time." "Well, you'll be seeing me a lot more often than that. The reason I'm here today though is Jim Belmont. We've been getting a lot of complaints about him, and I thought I'd check them out for myself." "Well, I've complained to Gene several times, and to my boss. I know my boss has passed the complaints on to Gene and even to Pete, but nothing has ever come of them." "Okay, day before yesterday, Gene tried to get hold of Belmont all day. Belmont told him yesterday morning that he had been in the frozen foods section all day." "Bullshit. I had two men in that area all day. I made half a dozen trips into the area myself, checking on my men. Belmont was not in that area." "Do you have any idea where he was?" "Probably out screwing himself blind. He's been at this site for two weeks and I heard him bragging to one of the men that he's screwing four different local girls, already. He'll be here another eight weeks or so, and if he can be believed, he'll have been with eight or ten women before he leaves." "Jesus! I know morals have changed over the years, but that doesn't seem possible." "You know, I actually believe him. He makes each of them think he's going to be the manager of the new facility. He chats them up for weeks before he gets here, and he makes them think he's fallen in love with them before he even meets them. Then, when he does meet them, he makes them think they're the only one he's seeing. He's a real bastard." "Does he brag about this to you?" "No, but he does to a couple of the guys who work for me. One of the guys has been with me a lot of years, and he passes it on to me." "When do you expect he'll get in?" "Oh, it'll be another hour and a half or so. He usually passes through around nine o'clock. If you weren't here, he'd be gone by ten." I had to laugh. "He may be gone by ten, anyway. If he can't come up with a better story than being in frozen foods all day, I'll fire his sorry ass." "You know, I think I'm going to like you," Fred said with a grin. ------- Fred was right. Belmont came wandering in a little after nine. He asked Fred if he needed anything, then he asked me who I was. "I'm Ed Delany," I said. "I'm the vice-president of engineering at Belding. I came out here, just to talk to you, Mr. Belmont." "Uh, what did you want to talk to me about?" "I wanted to talk to you about your absences from the job site. I understand you were not at the site on Wednesday and you were gone most of the day yesterday, as well. Please don't insult me by saying you were in frozen foods. Fred had men in that area all day, and no one saw you there at all." "Well, uh... I was, uh... I was in my hotel room making some changes to the PLC software. I worked all day, both days there. It's much more comfortable working in my room because I have a nice chair and a desk to work at." When Belmont had come in, he was carrying a notebook computer. "Is that the computer you were working on?" I asked. "Uh, yes." "Plug it in and turn it on for me, please." Belmont started to comply then asked, "Why?" "I just want you to show me what you were working on." "Okay." When the machine had booted up, Belmont started to start the PLC programming software, but I stopped him. "Let me see if I remember how to do this," I said. I started the program and called up the revision history. I think Belmont knew right away that he was dead meat. From what I could see, there hadn't been any changes made to the program in the last two weeks. "Mr. Belmont, according to this, you haven't made any changes to any of the modules in this program in the last two weeks. Do you care to comment?" "No." "From what I've heard, your conduct has been reprehensible. It's bad enough that you have been cheating the company. What you have done to the women you are dating is something you should be horsewhipped for." "What I do away from the job is none of your business," Belmont said defiantly. "Yes, but being away from the job site when you're supposed to be here, is my business. I can't do anything for the women you have duped, but I can fire your ass. I want your company credit card and ID card, NOW." Belmont fumbled in his wallet and gave me the cards. "You will be on a flight home this afternoon, or you will have to find your own way home. You will be out of your hotel by noon, because we are calling the hotel and telling them the company will not pay for anything after noon. We will call the car rental company and tell them to report the car you have as stolen if it hasn't been turned in by 5:00 PM today." "You bastard!" he said. He started to pick up the notebook computer, but I stopped him. "This computer belongs to Belding. You no longer work for Belding, so leave it alone." "There are some personal things I need to take off of the computer." "Just leave them. We'll have someone wipe out anything that doesn't belong there." "But..." "I don't want to hear any more from you. I want you off of the site, NOW." Belmont glared at me and for a moment I thought he was going to attack me. Then he saw that Fred was on his feet and was watching the proceedings closely. He turned and stomped out of the door. "Well, that went well," Fred said with a smile. "Yeah, just peachy," I said. "Can you make it without an engineer on site until Monday?" "I've made it without one for the last two weeks. Three more days will be a piece of cake." "Okay, can I use your phone to call in? I need to make some arrangements." Fred handed me the phone and I dialed the office. I talked to Brenda first and asked her to take care of the hotel and the rental car. Then I asked her to put me through to Gene. "Hello, Gene. This is Ed." "Hi, Ed. Where are you? I asked Brenda a while ago, and she said it was confidential." "I'm in Phoenix. I just fired Jim Belmont." "What? Now just a damned minute!" "Gene, don't make things worse for yourself than they are. I decided I wanted to check things out personally. In the two weeks Belmont was out here, he spent less than ten hours at the site. When I confronted him about it, he said he'd been programming in his hotel room. I checked his computer, and none of the PLC files had been changed in the last two weeks." "Well, that still doesn't give you the right to go firing my people without even telling me." "I'm telling you now, Gene. I'm also telling you I think you've been covering for him. If you want to get through this, and keep your job, you'll do exactly as I tell you." Gene paused for a long time. Then he said, "Yeah, go ahead." "I want another engineer here at this site by Sunday evening. He will be able pick up the company computer with the PLC files Monday morning at 7:00 AM, from Fred. I don't care who you send, but he had better be competent. You need to tell him that he is to be physically present whenever Fred is on site." "Okay." "Monday morning, you and I need to sit down and have a talk. We need to figure out a way to ensure that something like this isn't going to happen again." "Okay, Ed." ------- Week 2 - Saturday The trip home seemed longer than the trip out had. I was mentally exhausted when I finally got home, so I collapsed early. ------- Week 3 - Monday Gene stuck his head in my office before I had even managed to sit down. "I have a meeting with Jim Shear in a few minutes. We'll talk after that," I said. Gene nodded and took off. When Brenda came in, I said, "Let's get some coffee." When we were seated at my table, I asked, "You didn't have any problem cutting off Belmont's hotel or rental car, did you?" "No. Belmont must have called Gene, because he came around, bitching about it though. He said Belmont couldn't get a flight until the next day, and was going to have to pay for a hotel." "He's lucky I didn't cancel his ticket," I laughed. "Belmont's a real piece of work." My meeting with Shear started out better than my meeting with Gene at least. Brenda and I started going over his personnel with him and since he had a lot fewer people than there were in Mechanical or Controls, it went a lot quicker. "Have you been looking for new people?" I asked. "I've put out some feelers, but I haven't gotten any response yet. I did want to talk with you about Missy Gerard though." "Okay. How's she working out?" "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I don't think Missy is going to work out for us." "What seems to be the problem?" "Well, she is a personable young woman, but she's a little too pushy for our department." "For example?" "Well, I started her off looking at our service manuals and some of the schematics of some of our proprietary hardware. She immediately wanted to start making changes to things." "What kind of changes?" "Well, for one thing, we have a relay board we've been using for ten years. It's nothing fancy, but it does the job it was designed for. Missy thinks we should redo it using solid-state relays." "Okay, Jim. What is your objection to that?" "Well, as I said, it does the job it was designed for. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. For another thing, solid-state relays are more expensive than mechanical relays." "Okay, Jim. I know solid-state devices are more expensive, but they last about ten times as long. They're also just about as easy to replace as the mechanical ones. Did Missy give you a reason she thought it should be redesigned? Has she been offensive in some way about this?" "She hasn't really been offensive. She says she talked to purchasing and they say the relay we currently use is being discontinued. There is another relay we could use if the one we use now is discontinued, but she just won't let it die. She's the same way about this fiberoptic crap. I told her there was no way we were going to go to that, but she won't let that drop either." I sighed. "Jim, where I worked before, I proposed going to fiberoptic devices. I worked for over a year before I finally convinced my boss that fiberoptics was the way to go. Now I'm in a position where I can dictate where we go. I hope I don't have to resort to that. Why don't you give a listen to what Missy has to say? Have her prepare a justification for their use, and then the two of us can go over it." Jim sneered, and then he looked me directly in the eye and said, "I should have known you'd take Missy's side in this." "What do you mean by that?" I asked as calmly as I could manage. "Well, everyone has seen you having lunch with her. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on between the two of you." I was angry, but I could see Brenda was close to a boil. "Just what do you think might be going on between the two of us?" I asked. "Well... You know... She's your girlfriend." "Jim, I'm trying very hard to control my temper here. What I do with my life and with whom, is none of your business. For your information, Missy is not my girlfriend. Even if she was, it wouldn't be any of your business. I have a folder that has to be three inches thick with the information I gathered when I was trying to prove to my boss that fiberoptics are the way to go. I'd show it to you, but I don't have to justify myself to you. I'd suggest you leave my office right now. If I personally hear, or if I'm told by others that they've heard you say anything derogatory about me or Missy Gerard, you'll be fired so quickly you won't know what's happened to you." Through this whole speech I managed to keep my voice low and controlled. I was very glad Brenda was there to witness it. "Uh..." Shear started to say. "Out!" Brenda said emphatically. After Shear had gathered up his papers and left, Brenda looked at me and grinned. "I always wanted to throw someone out of someplace." I had to grin too. "Brenda, would you see if you can get Missy to join us for lunch? I think we need to warn her about what Shear is saying." "I'll call her right now. Why don't you go on down and save us a place?" ------- It was still a little early for lunch, so I just grabbed a cup of coffee and staked out my table. Brenda showed up first and sat down across from me. "Missy's on her way," she said. "Okay. When we leave here, I want you to get me an appointment with Mike Severt as soon as possible. The more I think about this, the angrier I get." "Okay, Ed. I'll get you an appointment. Just be careful in what you say. I know you're angry, and I'm going to risk making you angry with me also." "I don't think that's possible, Brenda." "Oh, yes it is. I'm going to ask you a question. Are you angry with Shear because he thinks you're dating Missy; or are you angry, because you think it might prevent you from dating Missy?" For a moment, I was stunned. I had started out hating Missy. Did Brenda think I had changed to the point I wanted to date Missy? Did I want to date Missy? My feelings for her had certainly changed. I no longer hated her. She is bright and funny and beautiful. I had never thought of her as a prospective mate. At least I didn't think I had. "What's the matter, Ed? Cat got your tongue?" "No, I just don't know how to answer your question. Until you asked it, I'd have thought I was mad because Shear thought I'd let a personal relationship influence my job. It's a moot question anyway. Missy has made it quite clear that she hates my guts." "Yeah, right. Missy has it as bad for you as you do for her. By the way, here comes the lady in question, now." Missy came to the table and when she had set down, she asked, "Am I in trouble?" "What makes you think you'd be in trouble?" I asked. "Well, I've been summoned to a meeting with the vice-president of engineering, and his PA. Add that to the fact that I saw my boss a few minutes ago, and he gave me a look that would have curdled milk." "No, you're not in trouble, Missy," I said. Then I went on to tell her about our meeting with Shear. Missy just sat there for a minute, then she looked me in the eye and said, "Ed, I never meant to cause you any trouble. I guess I should have realized the rumors would start over me having lunch with you a couple of times, but I didn't. If you'd like, I'll resign right now." "No! Damn it, you're much too bright for us to lose you. You are going to be a fine engineer. My first inclination is to fire Shear. I didn't do it because I wanted to think it over first." "Thank you, Ed. Maybe I have been pushing too hard about things. It's just that I feel like an R&D department should be evaluating new ideas, not trying to keep things the way they are." "You are absolutely right. This is just between the three of us, but I think I'm going to have to replace Mr. Shear. When we were going over his personnel, there wasn't anyone who stood out. Can you think of anyone in the department who could take over if Shear was no longer there?" "Not really. I think most of the other engineers in R&D are drones. I probably shouldn't say that, but it seems like most of them just don't want to rock the boat." "Okay, I'll have to look into that. Missy, I'm sure if Shear had the impression about us that he did, others must be thinking the same thing. I'm sorry if I have sullied your reputation." Missy laughed. "Sullied my reputation? Rumors like that would make my reputation. Every woman in the company that I've talked to, thinks you're a hunk." Brenda giggled then said, "That's true, Ed. The women all do think you're a hunk." ------- When we went back upstairs, Brenda went off to get me an appointment with Mike Severt, and I decided to see if I could talk with Marty Dunn. I called him and asked him to come to my office. I had gone over his personnel records, but I had not met him as yet. He was about my age, and at first glance, I'd have thought he was a football player rather than an engineer. Marty was one large individual. "So, Marty, how long have you been with the company?" I asked. "I've been here about five years. Three in R&D and two in controls." "Which area did you like better?" Dunn hesitated before he answered, then he answered with a question of his own. "Why do you want to know?" "Well, Marty, I've been told that you seem bored in Controls. I was just wondering if you'd be happier back in R&D." "R&D would have been very interesting if we had been allowed to work on new things. As it was, I spent most of my time there writing service manuals, and reworking old designs we could no longer get parts for. I was almost as bored there, as I am here." "If you could work on new designs, would you want to go back?" "I don't know how to say this without sounding like I'm just trashing someone, but here goes: I couldn't go back there as long as Jim Shear is head of the department. Jim shot down every idea I had, for three years. I'm sure he'd still be doing the same thing." "I saw in your personnel files that you have degrees in Electrical Engineering and in Management. Have you ever been in a managerial position?" "No. When I went for my degrees, I was hoping to be in a position like yours someday. Things just haven't worked out that way." "Okay, Marty. I'd like to talk to you some more at a later time. We need people like you, but we need them to be focused on their job. From what I hear, you tend to goof off a lot. That has to stop. In addition to your regular work, I'd like for you to write up a proposal as to how Controls Engineering could be streamlined. I want you to tell me how we can insure that the right components are ordered for each job, and how we can be certain they'll be there when we need them." "I have a lot of ideas along those lines, but no one has wanted to listen to them." "I want to hear them," I said. ------- "Mike, I have a couple of serious problems," I said. "I need some advice." "Okay," Mike said hesitantly. "I am having problems with a couple of my engineering managers. I had to fire an engineer in controls, last Friday. He was using Belding as a dating service, and was spending next to no time on the job site he was supposed to be commissioning. It turns out that Gene Reynolds has been covering for him, since the man is his brother-in-law. Gene is a good engineer and a very likable guy, but he is definitely lacking in management skills." "What do you propose to do about him?" Mike asked. "I'd like to see if we can get him to thinking more like a manager, than as an engineer. It may work, and it may not. If it works, we'll have a manager we can depend on. If it doesn't work, we'll have to let him go." "That sounds reasonable." "My other problem is with Jim Shear. I don't think Jim should be working in R&D, let alone managing it. I've had reports from at least four different people that Jim will not accept any new ideas. R&D is where we should be developing new ideas." "You are absolutely right on that. I questioned Pete on Jim's suitability a couple of years ago. Pete thought he was fine for the job and said he'd try to get Jim to open up a little." "Now comes the sticky part: I don't know if you were aware of it or not, but the temporary secretary who was assigned to me when I first got here has an engineering degree. Jim was short on people, so I suggested he interview her. He snapped her up immediately." "So far, that sounds good." "Missy is a ball of fire. She went into R&D and within a couple of days, she was making suggestions as to how we could improve our designs. Since moving to R&D, Missy has stopped and had lunch with me a few times, if I was sitting alone. The first time, she wanted to thank me for getting her the interview with Jim." "There's nothing wrong with that." "Well, Jim thinks there is. We were going over his personnel this morning and he said Missy wasn't working out. I asked him how, and he said she was pushing too hard for changes. When I asked for an example, he said she was pushing for us to go to fiberoptic photo-cells and the like." I looked at Mike, trying to gauge his reactions, but I couldn't read him at all. "I had done a big study on fiberoptics at the last place I worked. I told Jim that I had to agree with Missy, that they were the way we should be going. He said he knew I'd take her side. When I asked him why, he accused me of having an affair with Missy." "Oh shit," Mike said. "Oh shit, is right. I managed to hold onto my temper, and didn't fire him on the spot. There's nothing going on between Missy and me. From what I've read in the company policies, the company wouldn't think it was a problem, even if there was something going on between us." "If I remember correctly, the policy is that a manager can't date someone who works directly for them. It's to prevent a manager from coercing someone into dating them. The original founder of the company married a woman who had worked in the secretarial pool. That's probably why the policies were set up the way they are. In this case, the woman isn't working for you, so technically you're right. It is a close thing, though." "So, you agree that if I did want to date Missy, the company wouldn't have a problem with it?" "Other than the fact that the gossip mill would go crazy, no. The company wouldn't have a problem with it. What do you think should be done about Shear? Do we have anyone we could replace him with?" "I am hesitant about firing Shear, because he's been with the company for a long time. I'd like to offer him a chance to be a project manager. Maybe if we got him out in the field for a while, he'd realize things are changing rapidly in the field and eventually, we could move him back inside. Maybe even put him in charge of the project managers." "That makes sense. He is going to consider it a demotion though, and he might quit." "That would be his choice. There is an engineer in Controls I'd like to give a chance as R&D Manager. His name is Marty Dunn. He spent three years in R&D before moving over to controls. The reason he moved is because he couldn't get along with Shear. He has degrees in engineering, and in management." "Do you think he's ready for management?" "I think so. We'll never know until we give him a try, though." "Okay, do what you think is best. I do have one question for you though. You said nothing is going on between you and Missy. Would you like for there to be something going on?" I sighed and said, "I don't know, Mike. When I first met Missy; I hated her, and she hated me. Since she's been in R&D, her personality has changed completely. She's a much more likable person now." Mike grinned and said, "Well, the founder of the company hasn't been the only one at Belding who married someone he worked with. My wife was in production, when we started dating." Edited by TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 6 I decided to not talk to Marty about the possibility of him becoming the manager of R&D, until the next day. I did bring Brenda in, and we discussed it. "You know this is a pretty good-sized gamble, don't you?" she asked. "Yeah, I know it will be hard for him, especially right at first. He's kind of laid back, but I think that's because of where he has been working for the last five years. Shear stifled him, then he moved into controls. The job there is just not challenging enough. I'm hoping that moving him to a management position, will bring back the enthusiasm he displayed when he first went into R&D." "It might. Then again, it might overwhelm him and cause him to quit. You have to be ready for that if it happens." "Yeah, I know. I still think it's the best thing for him, and for the company. If we leave him where he is, we'll end up having to fire him." "Do you think being a Project Manager will straighten Shear out?" "You go right for the heart of it, don't you?" I laughed. "No. Actually, I think he'll go along with it for just as long as it takes for him to find another job. Shear is in his late forties. His ways of thinking are pretty much set in concrete by now. Basically, this is just giving him time to remove himself from the company." "I kind of expected as much. So, what are you going to do about Missy?" "I think Missy is fine right where she is. With Marty as manager, I think she'll flourish. I think we can expect great things from Missy over the years." "I meant, what are you going to do about her personally?" "That, my dear," I said with a grin, "is none of your business." ------- I finally let Gene in to talk with me, late in the afternoon. He surprised me. "Ed, I really fucked up with Jim," he said, starting off the conversation. "When I started having problems with him, I told my wife I was going to have to let him go. She told me that if I did, she'd leave me. I let that sway my judgment on how I should handle the situation." "Okay, Gene, does the fact that I fired him smooth things over with your wife?" "It probably would have, but I told her it was my idea for you to fire him. Ed, I know this is personal business, rather than company business, but I've got to talk to someone about it." "Gene, I'll be happy to listen to anything you want to tell me. I will not offer you advice on personal issues, but I'll be happy to offer you advice on company issues." "That's okay, Ed. I guess, for most of my life, I've been kind of passive. If a problem came up, I just kind of sat back and let someone else take care of it. My wife is a very dominant and domineering person, so I've kind of let her run things." "Okay." "For the most part, that was fine. She took care of things around the house and I took care of things at work. Then, a couple of years ago, she started trying to tell me what I should be doing at work, too. At home, it was to the point I practically had to ask her when I could go to the bathroom." "What you're describing is a typical Dominant/Submissive relationship," I said. "For some people, it works." "Well... I think the only reason it worked for us, is that I loved her so much, that I didn't want to lose her. It has gotten to the point that I'd rather lose her, than keep on living the way we are now. The main problem is, I let my situation at home carry over into the workplace. I became afraid to be firm with anyone." "That's one of the things I saw about you right off, Gene. You are a very likable guy. It seemed like you were afraid to be firm with anyone, because you were afraid they wouldn't like you any more. I don't care who you are, not everyone is going to like you. As adults, and especially as managers, we have to learn to accept that." "Yeah, I know you're right. I've made some positive moves at home, and I'll be making some positive moves at work. If you'll give me the chance, I think you'll see a big change in me over the next few weeks." "You'll have your chance, Gene. From what I've seen you are a very good engineer. If you can bring your management skills up to the point where your engineering skills are, you'll be a big asset to Belding." ------- Week 3 - Tuesday I had Brenda set up an interview with Marty Dunn for the first thing in the morning. We ended up with the three of us going to the cafeteria for coffee while we talked. "You're probably wondering what's going on, Marty. I'm going to offer you an opportunity," I said. "Okay," he said, somewhat skeptically. "You told me that R&D would have been interesting if you could have worked on new designs. Would R&D be interesting if you were the R&D manager?" "Uh... Well... yeah. Would I be allowed to make the decisions as to what the engineers would be working on?" "Yes. Within certain limits, of course. All major projects would have to be approved by me. There are also budget issues to be considered, and things of that nature. That means any major project would have to be reviewed by me, to see how we would pay for it. On something like that, you'd submit a proposal, along with projected costs. Then we'd go over the advantages of the design, verses the cost of implementing it." "I could live with that. I have some other ideas about R&D that I'd like to go over with you at some point. What's going to happen with Shear?" "Jim Shear is going to be offered a position as a Project Manager. All of this is confidential right now. Shear hasn't been told yet, so keep it quiet. Are you interested in the position?" "Most definitely. When would I start?" "I'm thinking we'll have the changeover take place next Monday, unless something comes up that will make it imperative to do it sooner." "Okay, is there anything I can be doing before then?" "Brenda will give you a copy of last year's budget for R&D. I've asked all of my managers to give me new budgets, based on a ten percent increase over last year. The budget proposals are due this Friday, so I don't imagine you'll have time to do much with them; but when I get Shear's proposal, we can go over that." "Okay. Will there be a chance to revise the budget after I've gotten my feet wet?" I had to smile at that. The man was thinking. "Nothing in the budget is carved in stone. If you can cut expenses in one area, you can add them to another area. Anything major I want to know about, though." Marty smiled. "I'd imagine you'll want to watch me pretty closely for a while. I don't have a problem with that. All I ask is that you keep an open mind." "Okay, but that goes both ways. I have a good friend who works in R&D. I will give you my guarantee that my friendship for this person will not influence my dealings with your department. I don't expect you to treat her any differently than you do the other people in your department. Jim Shear had a problem with this. I hope you won't." "No, I don't have a problem with it. Who is this person?" "Missy Gerard. She just started in the department a couple of weeks ago." "I know Missy from when she was working as a secretary. I'd be surprised if we had any problems." ------- I didn't see any reason to put it off, so I had Brenda set up a meeting with Jim Shear in my office at 10:00. When he came into the office, Brenda followed him in, and closed the door behind her. "When you left my office yesterday, Jim, I was ready to fire you. I didn't, because I wanted to give it some thought. What I've decided to do instead, is give you a chance to get back in touch with the real world." Shear's attitude was surly. I could understand that, but I was determined I wasn't going to let him be rude. "What do you mean by that?" he asked. "I've heard reports from at least four different people that you kill every new idea that is presented to you. I don't think you are doing that to deliberately hurt the company, so I have to assume it's because you've been out of touch with our actual installations for too long. How long has it been since you actually visited a job site?" "I was at the Victoria's Secret warehouse last year." "Did you talk with the electrical and mechanical installers while you were there? Did you talk with the engineers? Did you discuss what kinds of problems they might be having?" "Well, no. I was there to talk with the customer about their future needs. R&D is more concerned about future needs, than about installation problems." "If we have a product that is difficult to install, and hard to set up, R&D should be concerned about that. Something along those lines should be considered for redesign. I discussed this with Mike Severt. The best solution we could come up with, was to give you some field experience. With that in mind, I'm offering you a chance to move into Project Management." "What do you mean? Are you taking R&D away from me?" "Yes, you are no longer going to be in R&D. We're offering you the chance to be a Project Manager until such time we feel you are ready to get back into management." "What happens to me if I say I don't want to be a Project Manager?" "Then you'll be let go. I'm sorry, Jim, but R&D is the department where we should be examining new ideas, rather than stifling them." "I'd like to talk to Mike Severt about this. I feel you're doing this because I called you on your relationship with Missy Gerard." "You are free to talk with Mike, if he'll see you. He is fully aware of the situation." "When is this supposed to take place?" "I've set things up for you to be in your new position next Monday. You should plan to be leaving for a job site on Tuesday. I think it would be better to have you working with another PM until you get your feet on the ground. Is your budget proposal complete? Could I get that from you today?" "Yeah, I can give you my budget proposal today. I'm going to see if I can talk to Mike first, though." "Okay, why don't you get on that?" ------- I was a little surprised and very pleased when Missy joined me for lunch. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" I asked. "Well, I decided, to Hell with Jim Shear and any of the other gossips who might say something. I hope you don't mind." "No, I don't mind, and you don't have to worry about Shear any more. This is confidential, but as of next Monday, Shear will no longer be manager of R&D." Missy looked stunned. "You didn't get rid of him because of me, did you?" "Well, I guess partially I did. The main reason though, is that I've had several people who have said he is holding back the R&D department. If it had been just because of you, I'd have fired his ass. As it is, I'm giving him a chance to be a Project Manager." "Who's going to replace him?" "Not you, my dear," I said with a grin. "Do you know Marty Dunn?" "I know him, but not well. I understand from the rumor mill that the reason he moved out of R&D was because he couldn't get along with Shear." "That's true. Marty is a bright young man. He may be as intelligent as you are. I think he'll make a good R&D Manager." "Good. I know I'm the reason all of this happened so quickly and I apologize for that." "No apology needed, or accepted," I said. "Missy, if I wouldn't have wanted to have lunch with you, I'd have told you. I enjoy your company." "Thank you. I enjoy your company too." We ate quietly for a few minutes, then Missy looked at me and said, "You know how upset I got when I thought you were hitting on me?" "Yeah," I said with a grin. Missy let out a big sigh, then she said, "Well... I wouldn't think you were hitting on me if you asked me out." Okay, one of us had to say it and I was glad it had been Missy. "I understand the Cattleman's Steakhouse has a live band on Friday nights. Would you be interested in having dinner with me on Friday, and then maybe check out the band for some dancing?" "I'd like that very much," Missy said with a big grin. ------- I gave Gene a call after lunch and asked him if he had heard anything from Sly about the Atlanta job. "From what I'm hearing, they are now working seven twelve-hour days. They've made up almost a week of what they were behind, already. I haven't heard any grumbles from Sly, so I have to assume he and Baldwin are getting along better." "Why don't you make a trip down there to check it out next week, Gene? We need to keep them focused. I've had a couple of conversations with Baldwin over the last couple of weeks. I think they're okay, but I would like for you to check it out first hand." "I'll do that. Is there anything else I should know about?" "Yes. As of Monday, Marty Dunn will no longer be working for you. I'm moving him to R&D as Manager. Jim Shear will be moving into project management." "Oh? What brought that on?" "Gene, you're probably going to hear rumors about the reasons, but I really can't say right now. Just keep an open mind until we see what all of the ramifications are." When we hung up, I thought I'd better let Mel and Dale know what was happening, so I called each of them. ------- Week 3 - Wednesday Phil called me this morning before I even had a chance to go for coffee. He said they were getting ready to pull a sting operation on Al Jackson, and wanted to know if I wanted to witness it. I told him I had too much on my plate right now, and he said he could handle it. I had coffee with Brenda and she had to smilingly tell me about her interaction with Marty, both yesterday afternoon and this morning. "The first thing he wanted to know was if we had a standard spreadsheet for department budgets. I showed him the spreadsheet I had been entering Mel and Dale's budget proposals on, so he asked for a copy and I gave him one." I was smiling when I said, "It seems like this has motivated the young man. I just hope the motivation sticks." "I somehow think it will. He then asked me if I had Shear's budget for last year, so I made him a copy of it. He took off, happy as a clam." I filled her in on my conversation with Gene, yesterday afternoon. "I wonder what his wife thought about that?" she said. Then she added, "Maybe our boy Gene is kicking over the traces. More power to him, if he is." "One more thing I wanted to tell you. It will be common knowledge around the company by Monday, anyway. Missy and I are going out for dinner and dancing Friday night." Brenda smiled a very smug smile and said, "Oh, I already knew that. Missy called me, bubbling over that you'd asked her." "She was excited about it?" I asked. "Oh, I'd say that was an understatement. It seems like our little Missy thinks you hung the moon. You are her 'knight in shining armor'. Before you get your shorts in a knot, she isn't going out with you because she's grateful for what you've done for her. She thinks you are... 'the sexiest hunk she's ever seen'. Her words." I know I had to have turned a deep shade of red. I don't know that anyone had ever thought of me as sexy before. "There's one thing you should think about before you take her out, though. Missy is my best friend. If you hurt her, you'll not only lose a good friend, you'll lose your PA." "Brenda, if anyone gets hurt from this, it will be me. I know you don't know me that well as yet, but I'm not the kind of man who will intentionally hurt someone." "Actually, I think I do know you that well." ------- Shear did drop off his budget proposal. Actually, he threw it on my desk. "I talked with Mike Severt," he said. "I don't know what kind of a pack of lies you fed him, but he says he wants me in project management for a while." "This is the last time you are going to be insulting to me, Mr. Shear. The 'pack of lies' comment was completely uncalled for. If you want to continue working here, you will show me the respect my position warrants. If you do not, you can kiss Belding goodbye." Shear turned and walked out of my office without another word. ------- I got a call from Mark Mathews just before I was ready to head home. "Well, I found out what happened with Jenny Divers," he said. "It seems like I've had a little problem of favoritism being played in my department. The foreman in question moved one of his buddies into Jenny's position." "From what I've heard, the buddy isn't doing nearly as good a job as Jenny did," I said. "Well, that's not going to be a problem from now on. If you'll allow it, I'd like to transfer Jenny back into production, and put her back on the machine she's familiar with. The foreman and his buddy are both history, of course." Of course, I agreed. ------- Week 3 - Thursday God! What a boring day. I spent most of the day going over the budgets from the different departments. I had Brenda enter Shear's budget onto the same spreadsheet she had used for the others, and had her give a copy to Marty. Paperwork had never been my favorite thing. It is a necessary evil, though. When I told Brenda we should be looking at automating the budget process, she said, "I'm already working on it, Boss." I had to grin. Damn I was glad I had managed to get this young woman for a PA. ------- Missy joined me for lunch again. She gave me a thousand watt smile when she sat down across from me. "I think you should fire your PA," she said. "Why's that?" "She's teasing the hell out of me because we're going out tomorrow." "Yeah, I think she's somehow taking credit for it. You know, whether we have a good time or a bad time, I don't think we should say a thing about it when we come to work on Monday. If she asks about it, we should just say, 'Yeah, we went out.' If she asks if we had a good time, we should just smile or frown." Missy giggled. "Oh, that is cruel! We would have her climbing the walls by noon." "It's only what she deserves." "You don't really think we might have a bad time, do you?" "No, I really don't." I sighed and said, "I guess I should tell you the story of my love life. I had been working at my last job for about three years when I met a woman who I fell for. We dated for about a year and then she moved in with me. I was very much in love with her and I thought we would spend the rest of our lives together." "What happened?" "I was an engineering manager at the time. It was about a year before I was promoted to VP. One of our jobs was having problems, so I made a site visit to see if I could straighten it out. When I got back from the trip, I found her in my bed, with another guy." "Oh, shit." "Yeah. It hurt like hell. Until I met you, I haven't even been able to talk to another woman. I had sworn off women, and dating." "You've never seemed to have any trouble talking to me." I laughed and said, "That's because I started out not liking you. When we met at the party, I thought you were attractive, but then you verbally attacked me. Since I didn't like you, it was easy for me to talk to you." "Have you changed your mind about liking me?" "Yes. The more I talked with you, the more I could understand why you were bitter. By then I was already talking with you, so it wasn't difficult to continue talking with you. Not even after I started liking you." "At the party, I figured you were just another arrogant prick. Most engineers think they are better or smarter than anyone else, especially secretaries. Then, as I got to know you I realized you're not like that at all." "Thank you." Missy looked me directly in the eye and said, "Your girlfriend was a fool. One thing I'll promise you: If we ever do become close, I'll never cheat on you." "I know that going in, Missy. Of course the same applies to me. I don't believe in cheating." Edited by TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 7 Week 3 - Friday Okay, so I thought yesterday was bad. Today was even worse. Not only did I have the budget to work on, I also had the anticipation of my date with Missy. I got a call from Phil right after I got back from my morning coffee. "Well, I think your problems are solved," he told me. "We caught Al Jackson soliciting a bribe from your friend's company. Al is no longer with us. I talked to the buyers in the department and all of them say that Al told them who to buy from. I tend to believe them." "Good, Phil. I'm sorry this is going to leave you short-handed, though." "Not to worry. I have someone I think can take over the department," Phil said. "I talked with our attorney, and he tends to agree with you. He doesn't seem to think there's much chance of recovering anything." "Well, at least we shouldn't be having the problem in the future. Thanks for your help on this, Phil." "You're welcome. By the way, Al implicated Pete as being in on this. I'm giving Mike a call as soon as we hang up." ------- I didn't see Missy at lunch. I found out later, that she was out buying a dress for our date. Brenda ate with me, and we talked about the purchasing situation. She also used the opportunity to tease me about my date with Missy. Marty came by in the afternoon and asked me if I could put off entering R&D's information into my budget until Tuesday. He said he had some things he'd like to change around. I told him that would be fine. ------- I had made reservations at The Cattleman's for seven o'clock, so I picked Missy up at six-thirty. She was gorgeous. While she had been working as a secretary, she had worn dresses, or skirts and blouses. They were nice, but not elegant. After she moved to R&D, she had started wearing jeans and blouses. The dress Missy had on this evening, almost knocked my socks off. It was a deep, wine red, and was low cut in the back. It was low enough in the front that you could definitely tell she was a woman. The dress covered everything it should have covered, but it left you wishing you could see just a little bit more. "You look ravishing," I told her as I helped her into the car. She gave me a big smile and said, "You don't look half bad yourself." The Cattleman's is one of the nicest steakhouses in the area. We had a nice table and our conversation flowed as we ordered and then waited for our food. As if by an unspoken agreement, we didn't talk about work at all. "How old are you, Ed," Missy asked. "I just turned thirty, Missy. I'm probably far too old for you." Missy giggled and said, "Well, you are an old fart. I'm only twenty-five." "Old fart, huh? We'll see about that. Let's just see if you can keep up with me when we start dancing." "I love to dance. I've never had much chance to do it though. I've really only had one boyfriend in my life, so I never had a partner." "Only one boyfriend? I'd have thought you'd have had boys falling all over themselves wanting a date with you as pretty as you are." "Well, I don't know if I should tell you all this, because it might scare you off. I was a lot younger than the other kids in my class when I was in high school. I graduated from high school when I was fifteen." "In your personnel records, it said you got your engineering degree from MIT when you were twenty-two. I know MIT is tough, but did it take you seven years to get your degree?" "Well, Mom and Dad didn't want me to leave home to go to college when I was fifteen. I had a scholarship from MIT, but they insisted I go to Ball State and live at home. So, I went to Ball State first." "Then you transferred to MIT?" "Not exactly. I got a degree in management at Ball State and graduated when I was eighteen. Then I talked to the people at MIT and found out I could still get a partial scholarship from them, so I went on to MIT." "So, you have both a management degree and an engineering degree?" "Well, yes. I also have a master's degree in management." "Geez, Missy. I am humbled." "You shouldn't be. I happen to know you finished first in your class at Stanford. That's no mean accomplishment. You were also VP of a Fortune 1000 company before you were thirty. You have nothing to be ashamed of." I laughed. "You said you might scare me off. I should warn you, I find brains to be very sexy." Missy giggled. "Are the brains you are talking about raw or cooked?" "Okay, I should have said I find intelligence very sexy." "So do I." We enjoyed our steaks when the waiter brought them, then after one more glass of wine, we moved to the lounge, where we could hear the band getting warmed up. We ordered a glass of white wine for Missy and a Bass Ale for me. We sat out the opening number, which was one of those songs you just couldn't find a rhythm you could dance to. When the second song started, I extended my hand to Missy and we made our way to the floor. It was a fast song with a good beat and we really got into it. The next song was also a fast one, and I was feeling it by the time it ended. Then they started playing "Wind Beneath My Wings". Missy melted into my arms. God, she felt good. My hand was resting on her bare back, and her head was resting against my shoulder as we moved to the music. Next, they played "The Rose", which is another nice slow song to dance to. The band was a good one and they played a mix of music that included songs from the last fifty years and included rock, pop, and country. We were in heaven. Sometimes we talked as we danced. Other times we just cuddled together. All in all it was a great evening, and I never wanted it to end. When I finally took Missy home, I walked her to her door. Without hesitation, I kissed her goodnight. It was a long, tender, loving kiss. It wasn't passionate, but it held a lot of promise. Week 3 - Saturday I spent another day with Jillian. The only problem, was my mind was on Missy all day. I talked with Jillian for a while about Missy, and she seemed thrilled that I was seeing someone. Week 4 - Monday I had asked Brenda on Friday to find some place for us to have a meeting of the entire engineering department at 9:00 this morning. The only place she could find that would hold all of us, was the cafeteria. I asked all of my managers to meet me there at 8:30. Brenda and the four department managers arrived on time. "The reason I called for a meeting this morning, was primarily to inform everyone of the change in management in R&D. For your information only, I'll tell you that the reason for the change, is that R&D has been stagnating. We need to see new approaches and new technologies coming out of R&D. Under Jim Shear, that just wasn't happening." "The rumor mill says that you wanted Shear out of the department, because he was upset that you are dating Missy Gerard," Mel said. I knew it would be an issue. I smiled at Mel and said, "No, if I had been going to do something about the fact that Shear accused me of letting my relationship with Missy influence my judgment about his department, I'd have fired his ass on the spot. Instead, I'm letting him have a chance to work as a Project Manager for a while, so that he can better understand the problems the installation and commissioning people are facing in the field." "So, you're not denying that you have a relationship with Missy?" Mel asked. "No, Mel. I'm not denying it. I had my first date with Missy on Friday evening. I certainly hope it's not my last date with her. I will guarantee all of you and especially you, Marty, that I will not allow any relationship that might develop with Missy to sway my dealings with your departments. Missy is a very bright young woman. At the age of twenty-five, she has an electrical engineering degree from MIT. She has a degree in business management from Ball State. She also has a master's degree in management from... Ahh, I don't think she told me where her master's degree is from, only that she has one." "Very impressive," Marty said. "I know Missy, and I'm sure we're not going to have any problems." "I don't know about that," I laughed. "You may bump heads. If you do, you're both on your own. Shear didn't like her because he said she was too aggressive in pushing for new ideas." "Ah, a girl after my own heart," Marty quipped. "It's too bad that I'm married and she's taken." We all got a laugh out of that. Then we saw that people were beginning to file in. I went and got myself another cup of coffee while we were waiting for all of them to arrive. As I was walking back to my table, I saw Missy come in. She gave me a big smile, so I winked at her and went over to the table where she had seated herself. "Missy, could you hang around after the meeting, please? I'd like to go over a few things with you and Marty." "Sure, Ed, I'll see you then." I waited until everyone was seated, then I got up and faced the room. "Ladies and gentlemen," I said. "I've called you all together this morning so I could make a couple of announcements." I waited while everyone quieted down, then I went on. "Jim Shear has been head of our R&D department for quite a few years. He is going to be moving into Project Management, at least for a while." I saw Jim watching me, and I was ready to throw him a bone. "I haven't talked with Jim about this as yet; but at some point, after he has gotten his feet wet, I would expect he will take over as manager of the Project Managers. "As of this morning, our new R&D Manager is Marty Dunn. I'm sure that Marty would be pleased to hear what any or all of you have to say about how our products could be improved. "Unfortunately, I also have to tell you some bad news, in order to quell the wild rumors that are flying around. Jim Belmont has been terminated. This termination was due to an investigation I conducted, in response to allegations by several of our installers. It was alleged that Jim was not spending any time at job sites, while he was supposed to be working with these installers." I waited for a reaction, but there wasn't one. "Most of the engineers in this group are required to spend some time on-site for every job we do. I want it to be understood that this means you will be at the job site, not back in your hotel room, or off doing personal business. If I call a job site, I want the installer to be able to find you, and have you on the phone within ten minutes. That means you have to keep the installer informed as to where you are. I called the meeting today to pass this information to you. "I think it would be a good idea for us to meet once a month, from now on. At these meetings, the managers and I will pass on any information we might have. I would also like for all of you to be thinking about concerns and issues you'd like for us to address. Let your manager know a week before the meeting, if possible, so we can have some time to investigate your concerns." I looked around the room and decided to add one more thing. "For your information, the problems we've been having with Purchasing substituting parts that are different from what you ordered, are finished. We're working to make things better for that department. There are other changes you'll be seeing in the near future, but I'm not ready to address them at this time. Thanks for coming. Now, let's get to work." ------- I asked Marty to stay with me when everyone was leaving. I got coffee for Missy and me and Marty got himself a cup. We all went back to our table. "Marty, Missy has only been in R&D a couple of weeks, but she's already had several ideas which she pitched to Shear. He shot every one of them down without even considering them." "Are you asking me to accept Missy's ideas?" "No. I am asking you to consider ideas presented to you by any of your engineers. If an idea has any merit at all, ask them to make a proposal, justifying the change. Missy, if you have an idea and take it to Marty, if Marty rejects your idea, then it is rejected. His is the final decision." "Okay, Ed. I know where you're coming from," Missy gave me a big grin. "There are a couple of general guidelines I'd like for you to follow, Marty. Number one, I'd like for you to seriously look into using fiberoptic devices, wherever possible. Your department will need to educate Estimating and the Controls Engineers in the use of these devices." "Great!" Marty said. "I tried to get Shear to look into fiberoptics right after I went to work here. He flatly rejected the idea." "The second thing you need to look into is the viability of our existing products. Is the design sufficient to meet our expanding needs? Are the components still readily available? That type of thing." "Okay, that makes sense." "The third priority is to look at our existing products from the standpoint of cost. If we have a proprietary item, can we buy something cheaper that will perform the same function? Could we make the item less expensively if we redesigned it? Do we use enough of them to make a redesign worthwhile? Etc." "Okay." "The Research part of R&D should be researching new products and new methods. It should also be researching how our competitors are approaching the same problems we're facing. The development portion of R&D should be design and development of new proprietary devices. This could be as simple as a new type of fastener, or as elaborate as a new Sort Controller." "Those are the types of guidelines I can live with," Marty said. "Okay, Marty. I want to talk with Missy for a couple of minutes, then I have to get busy on the budget." Marty took the hint and left. I looked around at Missy and said, "Hi." "Hi yourself," Missy smiled. "I don't know about you, but I had the best time I've ever had on a date Friday night. I hope you'll go out with me again," I said. "I had a great time, too. Of course I'll go out with you again." "Do you like classical music?" I asked. "Yes. I actually play the cello. There's not much music written for the cello that isn't classical." "Well, I understand there is a concert at the Civic Center this Friday. Would you be interested in going with me?" "I'd love it." "Okay. I hope you realize that part of the reason I wanted to meet with you and Marty was to assure him that even though we are dating, I'm not going to give you any special privileges at work." "Yes, I know that. I hope that doesn't apply to away from work, though." "No. Away from work, I plan to treat you as very special, indeed." We sat and smiled at each other for a minute, then we had to get to work. ------- Brenda was busy entering budget information into her computer when I arrived back upstairs. I stood and watched her for a couple of minutes. "By next year, I want us to have a program each of the managers can use to enter their projections," I said. "I'd like for them to either put their budget on a disk and give it to us; or have them on a network, so they can dump it to us that way." "I think a network would be better." "I agree. I'd like for the program to suck up their info and put it into the departmental budget. You or I shouldn't have to touch the data until it is actually in the departmental budget." "There are some other things I'd like for it to do, too," Brenda said. "I'm thinking we really need to do it with a database program like Microsoft Access. I'll start working on something like that in my spare time, if you'd like." "Thanks, Brenda. I think that is an excellent idea." ------- I really got into 'the budget thing', that afternoon. I began seeing some interesting patterns emerging. I had Brenda do some digging for information for me. Before the afternoon was over, I had stacks of paper all over my desk. One of the most interesting things I found was the difference in travel expenses among my departments. When you broke everything down on a per-diem basis, I would have expected to find similar numbers for each department. No way. Mechanical engineering had, by far, the lowest cost per day. Controls Engineering was considerably higher, while R&D and Project Management were out of this world. For example, if you sent a mechanical engineer, a controls engineer and an R&D engineer to the same job site, the controls engineer would spend $15 more per day on a hotel and $8 more on food. The R&D engineer would spend about $10 more than the controls engineer on a hotel and another $10 on food; or, $25 more per day than mechanical engineer for the hotel, and $18 more on food. I had Brenda find out approximately how many days per year the engineers in each department spent on the road. When I completed all of my calculations, I found that we were spending over $60,000 per year, for the difference, in the daily spending. I asked Brenda to find out if there were any company guidelines on daily spending for hotels and for food. It took her all afternoon to find anything, and what she found was around ten years old. Oh, well. Something else that had fallen through the cracks. I hadn't gotten to talk much to Missy during the day, so I gave her a call that evening. She seemed pleased to hear from me. We didn't talk much about work. To quote Lewis Carroll, we talked "Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--Of cabbages--and kings--And why the sea is boiling hot--And whether pigs have wings." Week 4 - Tuesday I was at work almost an hour before anyone else was due to arrive, so I went down for breakfast in the cafeteria. They really do have some good cooks, and I enjoyed the food. I hadn't much more than gotten seated when Missy came up and asked if she could join me. Of course I was happy to see her, so I smiled at her and waved her to a seat. "Thank you for calling me last night," she said after she was seated. "I was feeling a little overwhelmed by all of the changes here at work. Talking with you helped me get my feet back on the ground." "You're very welcome," I said. "Believe it or not, being a VP is a very lonely job. I talk to dozens of people every day, but all of the conversations are work-related. Everyone here knows me, or will know me, as Ed, the VP. No one knows, or will know me as Ed, the man." "That's not entirely true. I want to know you as Ed, the man. I think Brenda has a sneaking suspicion of who Ed, the man, is, too." "Well, be that as it may, we have to keep any personal relationship away from the office. By the way, how are you and Marty getting along?" "He was so into the budget yesterday he hardly spoke to anyone. He did give me an assignment that is going to keep me busy for quite some time, though. He asked me to work up a justification for using fiberoptic devices. He wants a cost/benefit analysis, and he wants an estimate of what it would cost the company to switch to these devices on all major projects. I figure it'll take me a month, at least." "Would you like to knock his socks off and have it for him by the end of the week?" "How would I do that?" "Come up to my office when we finish here. I have a folder that is about three inches thick, where I did all of the research you are planning to do. There are even copies of my proposals, a cost/benefit analysis, and projected startup expenditures. All you'd have to do is re-calculate based on this company, rather than my old one." Missy thought for a minute, then said, "I suppose I can justify using your information. I probably wouldn't have looked up every piece of information myself anyway. Should I list you as a research assistant on the proposal?" She had a big grin as she asked that. "No, honey, keep my name off of it. I'm the one who is eventually going to have to approve this. It will be better if my name doesn't appear." ------- Missy was amazed and pleased with the documentation I gave her. We stood inside my office just looking at each other for a while. I wanted to pull her to me and kiss her in the worst way, but I knew I couldn't. Missy must have realized how I was feeling, because she touched my hand and gave me a smile before she left. Mel came by a little later, and said he had interviews set up with three different mechanical engineers this week. His first one was this afternoon and he was excited about it. My morning was shot, so I just kind of killed time until lunch. Brenda and I went down to lunch together. We hadn't much more than gotten seated when Missy joined us. "So, Missy, I hear you had a big date Friday night," Brenda teased. "I actually had a very nice date, Friday," Missy said, ignoring me completely. "The guy I went out with is a big shot VP, and I was a little concerned about how he'd feel about dating a junior level engineer. It went surprisingly well." "So, is this guy good looking?" Brenda asked. "He's a certified hunk. Besides that he's smart, funny, and he dances like a dream." "So, are you going out with him again?" "Oh, definitely. We have a date to go to a concert Friday night." "This sounds serious. So, did you let him get to second base on your date?" "Okay, ladies. That's quite enough," I said. Both women giggled, and Missy smiled and said, "I'll tell you all about it, later." ------- Gene came in after lunch and asked if he could talk with me for a minute. Of course I agreed that he could. "I just wanted to tell you I have a trip scheduled to Atlanta starting tomorrow. I'll be back Thursday evening," he said. "Great, Gene. I don't want you to go in swinging a club, but I do want you to be forceful with Sly. We are going to replace him as soon as possible, so don't worry about his feelings. The man is a pure loser." "I got a little practice being forceful this morning," he told me. "Patrick Miller is in Denver, and I got him on the phone. I read him the riot act about not being on site. I hope it did some good." "Good for you, Gene," I said. "Even if it makes him quit, we haven't lost much." "That's the way I looked at it. Anyway, I thought I'd let you know I'm going to be gone." The rest of my afternoon was spent on the budget. ------- I had just finished eating my less-than-appetizing dinner when my phone rang. It was Missy. We talked for over an hour. Edited by TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 8 Week 4 - Wednesday Missy joined me for breakfast in the cafeteria again. "You know, this could get to be a habit," I said. "A habit I like." Missy smiled and asked, "So how are things going in management?" "Pretty good, actually. I'm just about finished with the budget. Mel is interviewing engineers to bring his department up to the right staffing level. And, Gene has gone to Atlanta to check on your old boyfriend." "Huh, my old boyfriend is sitting across the table from me. Do you realize you are five years older than me, old man?" "Yeah, I realize it. Thanks for bringing it up." "I'm just teasing, Ed. My father was five years older than my mother when they got married." "Are you saying we're going to get married?" I teased. Missy giggled then said, "I suppose it did sound that way. Who knows?" 'Who, indeed?' I thought. ------- Mel stuck his head in my office a little later, and told me he had another interview set up for that afternoon. "How did the interview yesterday go?" I asked. "I think the guy will work out for us," he said. "I want to finish all of the interviews before I make any decisions, though." "Remember, you have people you want to replace, too," I said. "Yeah, I'm thinking of that. Jarchoff will be the first to go. Martin Babcock says he has several more we can interview if the present crop doesn't pan out." I told him that was great. I decided to call Dale and Marty, to see if they were interviewing as well. It was around three in the afternoon when Brenda rang me and said she had a call from one of the installers that I should take. I picked up the phone and said, "This is Ed Delany." "Mr. Delany, this is Wally Babcock. I'm the electrical installer at Gorgon Products, in Denver." "Hi, Wally. It's nice to get to talk with you. How are things going out there?" "Well, that's why I called. Patrick Miller left the job site yesterday morning, and we haven't seen him since. He usually at least makes an appearance, but he wasn't here today at all. I called his hotel and they say he checked out, this morning. I was just wondering if he'd been called back to the home office, or something." "Not that I know of, Wally. Gene told me yesterday he'd gotten onto Miller about not being at the job site when he should be. I'll check into it, and get back with you." "Thank you, Mr. Delany. There are some things we have questions on, and we really need him here." "I'll tell you what. Gene is down in Atlanta. I'll give him a call, and see if he can swing by your site before he comes home. I'll have someone let you know." "Thanks again. Miller ain't much good, but he's all we've got." ------- I had Brenda call the Atlanta site. Within a few minutes she had Gene on the phone for me. "Hey, Gene, how's it going down there?" I asked. "It's going damned good," Gene said. "They're almost completely caught up. I'm going to let them drop back to six twelve-hour days. At the end of next week, we may drop back to five." "Very good. It seems like they just needed the right incentive," I said. "I'm afraid we have another problem, though. Wally Babcock called and said that Patrick Miller left the job site right after you talked phoned, and that he hasn't been back since. Wally had some questions so he called Miller's hotel today, and they said he checked out yesterday." "Oh, shit. Has he come back to the office?" "Not to my knowledge. Don't blame yourself for this, Gene. He had to be talked to. What I need for you to do, is see if you can change your flight, so you can go to Denver. Babcock has questions that you can answer. Then, I'd like for you to see if Miller used his ticket home." "Can do, Ed. I'll get on the phone about a flight right now." We hung up and I sat there, perplexed. Brenda came in so I told her what I knew. "I'm going to call our travel agent and see if they can find out about the flight, and about the rental car," Brenda said. "Great idea," I said. "Ask them to get back with us as soon as they can." They didn't get back with us before quitting time, but I really hadn't expected them to. ------- I was just thinking about fixing myself some dinner when there was a knock on the door. The only one I could think of who might be knocking on my door was Jillian, but I certainly wasn't expecting her. I wasn't expecting the person who was standing there either. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Missy said with a shy little smile. "Not at all," I said. I know I had to be smiling as widely as I ever had. "Come on in," I added, as I stepped back from the door. Missy smiled and stepped inside. "I've never done anything like this before, but I just really wanted to see you." "Well, the feeling is mutual. I was just thinking about fixing myself something to eat. Have you eaten yet?" "No, I was going to ask if I could take you out to dinner. Do you like Chinese food?" "I love it," I said. "I especially like the hot and spicy dishes." "Me too. What do you say we go to the China Garden?" "Sounds good." ------- We had fun at dinner. We got two separate dishes and shared them. At one point, we were even feeding each other with chopsticks. We talked about a little bit of everything. Then, after we figured we couldn't delay our leaving the restaurant any longer, we took a walk along the river. We held hands as we walked, and I think both of us could feel a growing intimacy between us. We stopped under the shelter of a gigantic oak tree and shared a gentle, loving kiss. As we were driving back toward my apartment I asked, "So, how's the proposal coming along?" Missy laughed and said, "Changing the subject, I see. The proposal is coming along just fine. There's a little more work than I had originally thought there would be in changing from your previous company's numbers to ours, but I think I'll have it ready for Marty by Friday." "Yes, I guess I was changing the subject. I told you I was let down very badly by my last girlfriend. Someday, I'll give you all the sordid details, but it has left me a little shy about starting another relationship." "Oh?" "When I first met you, I took an immediate dislike to you. I thought you were pretty and sexy, but I thought your personality was that of a junkyard dog." "A bitch, in other words," Missy grinned. "Exactly. Now, I look at you and it scares me to death. It scares me, because I see a beautiful young woman with the personality of an angel. My dislike for you has changed to a very strong 'like', and maybe even love. I'm just afraid I'll wake up, and find you're just like my ex." "Okay, can I say something now?" She didn't wait for an answer, but went on. "When I first met you, I thought you were just another pompous asshole. Then, when I found out I was going to be working for you, my experiences with Pete came flooding back. I later learned that you are not a pompous ass. You care about people, and try to help them." I started to say something, but she held up her hand. "When I look at you, I see a very handsome man. Underneath, I see a loving, caring man. I see a man I could learn to love; if I don't love you, already. My only fears are that you will start thinking of me as a kid. I'm not your ex. From what you said, I know she cheated on you. I don't cheat. If I ever think our relationship isn't going anywhere, I'll tell you up front. All I ask is that you do the same for me." I pulled into my parking space and stuck out my hand. "Deal," I said. Missy took my hand and squeezed it. "Deal," she said. Week 4 - Thursday I must say I hated to see Missy go home last night. We talked for hours after we had gotten to my apartment. I told her about my ex. She told me about her previous boyfriend. We each commiserated with the other. This morning I came in late. I only had time to grab a 'coffee to go', before it was time for me to be in my office. Brenda came in soon after I was seated and said, "Well, I got a call from the travel agent. Miller did in fact check out of his hotel. He did not use his return ticket, and he has not turned in his rental car. That's all they've been able to find out so far." I thought for a minute then said, "I assume he has a company credit card. I wonder if he's using it?" "Yeah, all engineers have an American Express card with both the company name and their name on it. I'd say Phil James would be able to find out if he's using it." As soon as Brenda left my office, I called Phil. "Phil, we have a strange situation going that I need your help on. We have an engineer by the name of Patrick Miller who was on a job site in Denver. He was supposed to be there a couple of more weeks." "By saying he was supposed to be, can I assume he no longer is?" Phil asked. "That's right. A couple of days ago, he left the job site. He checked out of his hotel, and he hasn't been back to the site since. He didn't use his return ticket, and he still has his rental car. We were wondering if you could find out if he is using his company credit card." "Yeah, we can find that out. We do so much business with American Express that they are very cooperative. Give me half an hour. I'll call you back." ------- Actually, it was over an hour before Phil called me. Part of that was because of the sheer amount that Mr. Miller had charged on the card. He'd bought a good-sized trailer and had a hitch put on the rental car. Then he filled the trailer with everything imaginable. All of it charged to the American Express card. All totaled, there had been over thirty thousand dollars charged to the card in the last two days. Phil had American Express stop allowing charges on Miller's card. "What the hell is going on with him?" Brenda asked when I told her about it. "Brenda, I think our boy has cut and run. I heard of it happening at another company, but I've never had it happen to me. The guy at the other company was supposed to have been a brand new employee. Miller has been here a couple of years, at least." "What are we going to do about it?" "I'm going to call Mike, right now. I think we should report it to the police. I'll wager we never see him again." ------- I did call Mike and filled him in on what was happening. He agreed we should have Gene report it to the Denver Police and he wanted me to call the local police. I did call them. They took a quick statement over the phone, and then said they'd send a detective out right after lunch. I hadn't much more than gotten off the phone with the police when Brenda said Gene was on the line. "Good morning, Gene. How's it going out there?" I asked. "We've got all kinds of problems, Ed. There was a break-in last night. They got into both the electrical and mechanical installers' trailers." "What all is missing?" "Oh, God. We're going through that right now with the police. It looks like there are several computers missing, along with electrical test equipment, and other tools. Precision mechanical tools and a computer are missing from the mechanical installer's trailer. God only knows what else is gone." I filled him in on what we had learned about Miller. "We need for you to report Miller to the local police. He may be connected with the break-ins there." Gene agreed and said he'd get back with me as soon as he had everything squared away there. I passed him off to Brenda so she could get a list started of what we'd need to send them to get them started again. It was almost lunchtime, so I took off for the cafeteria. ------- I was sitting there, feeling sorry for myself and wondering how I had gotten myself into this mess when Missy joined me at my table. "Why so glum?" she asked. I dumped the whole thing on her. Then, I was a little surprised when she laughed. "What the hell is so funny?" I asked indignantly. "I was just thinking that this is the equivalent of peeing on your boss' desk when you quit," she said, still smiling. I thought about it for a minute then had to laugh myself. "Doesn't this idiot realize he is in serious trouble?" I asked. "He's going to be charged with burglary, grand theft, and credit card fraud when they find him." "He'll be charged with that and more, if they find him. Ed, this sounds like something he's been planning. I'll bet he has it all laid out, and knows exactly where he's going and how he's going to get away." "You could be right. Of course, Gene is blaming himself for all of this. I'll let him know your theory when I talk to him again." I don't know what it is about talking with Missy. I always feel better. By the time Brenda joined us a few minutes later, you'd have thought I didn't have a care in the world. ------- Phil's secretary dropped off a list of all of the things Miller had charged before we cut off his credit card. It went on for page after page. The total came to over $33,900 dollars. I sat there for a few minutes, looking over the list and wondering why he was buying what he did. Then it hit me. Almost everything he had bought, could be easily sold. I spent over two hours with the detective, that afternoon. I gave him a copy of the list the credit card company had supplied, and he said they'd need a list of everything that had been stolen in Denver. I also gave him the VIN number and license number of the rental car. When he left, he said they'd do what they could, but not to expect a miracle. ------- Missy and I talked for over an hour on the phone in the evening. It was getting to be a habit that I liked very much. Week 4 - Friday As I was having my morning coffee, I was thinking that today had to be better than yesterday. I hoped I was right about that. I got a call from Gene, right after I got in my office. He said the Denver Police had put out an APB for the rental car, but that the detective said he figured Miller had already left the city and probably the state. I had a long talk with Mike Severt, when I gave him the department budget. I filled him in on everything that was happening with Miller. "How badly is this going to delay the Denver job?" he asked. "Well, it's definitely going to delay it," I said. "There are no penalty clauses in the contract, though. We are shipping new computers and software today. I'm going to have someone try to recover the PLC programs from Miller's desk computer. We can also recover the programs from the PLCs themselves. I've authorized the installers to purchase tools, locally, for themselves and their men." "Yeah, we're responsible for their loss, so we'll replace the tools. Does our insurance cover any of it?" "I'm not sure. We're self-insured on some things, but I'm not exactly sure what is covered. That's something we'll have to look into. If it's covered, fine. If not, we're still responsible." ------- "Just wait until you see the gown I bought for tonight," Missy said as she joined me for lunch. "It'll knock your socks off." "Honey, you'd knock my socks off if you were in blue jeans and a sweatshirt," I said. "You mean that, don't you?" she asked, looking serious. "Yes, I do. Missy, you are one of the most beautiful young women I have ever seen. The only problem I can see with you, is that you have to be slightly insane to be going out with me." Missy giggled. "I've always thought of myself as rather plain," she said. "No way. Isn't she gorgeous?" I asked Brenda as she joined us. "She's not my type," Brenda said with a grin. "I know I'm not her type, Ed. Her husband is almost as hunky as you are," Missy said. "Yeah, right. Look, ladies... I hate to interject anything serious in this conversation, but did either of you know Patrick Miller?" "Not really," Brenda said. "I don't think anyone did. I've been doing some asking around. I can't find anyone he was close to. Ken Howard was in the next cubicle, and he said Miller was a loner. You know how the engineers go to lunch or break together? Miller never did." "I noticed in his personnel records that he's divorced," I said. "Maybe we should have put all of these things together and realized there might be a problem, but I don't see how we could have," Brenda said. ------- Okay, Missy had warned me that her evening gown would knock my socks off. When I went to pick her up, it almost knocked me out. It wasn't that the gown was so beautiful, even though it was gorgeous. It was how it made Missy look. Normally, Missy is a wholesome looking young lady. She looks like a very pretty girl next door. This gown made her look like a leading lady, going to an opening night. When she opened her door, I just stood there, unable even to speak. "Cat got your tongue?" Missy giggled. "Uh... Uh... Missy, you are the most beautiful creature I've ever seen," I finally managed to get out. "I told you it was a nice gown," she smiled. "It's not the gown, Missy, it's you. You are absolutely gorgeous." "Thank you, kind sir, now, don't you think we should go to dinner before they give away our reservations?" ------- Dinner was superb. Gibson's is a fine old restaurant that serves almost any type of cuisine you could ask for. The decor is elegant without being overstated. Dinner for two with a couple of drinks will run anywhere from sixty to a hundred dollars, or more, but it is definitely worth it. We lingered over coffee until it was almost time for the concert to start. Every time I talk with Missy, I feel closer to her. I was physically attracted to her before I even liked her. Now, I was mentally and emotionally attracted to her as well. Was I in love with her? You're damned right I was. We hadn't developed a sexual relationship as yet, but I still felt closer to her than I had ever felt with my ex. The concert was one of my favorites. The orchestra played "Four Seasons" by Vivaldi. I had always loved Vivaldi's music, especially his chamber music. Although this was written for a full orchestra, it was just as moving as his chamber music. I think Missy enjoyed it as much as I did. This had been a formal evening, so neither of us were feeling that sexual. When I took Missy home, I kissed her at her door, and then prepared to leave. I stopped and asked if she'd like to go for a drive tomorrow, and she smilingly agreed. Edited By TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 9 Week 4 - Saturday Missy called me before 9:00 AM. "When and where are we going?" she asked. "How about I pick you up in an hour?" I asked. "That's fine, but where are we going?" "Wherever the car takes us!" I said. "It's spring, and the trees are starting to green up. It's a great time of year, so let's just enjoy it." "Okay. That sounds good. I'll see you in an hour," she said, and I could hear the smile in her voice. It was just over an hour when I knocked on Missy's door. She looked like the girl next door, again. She was dressed in a nice blouse and jeans. We shared a soft kiss before heading to the car. We just started off, driving, looking at the scenery, and holding hands. We had been driving for half an hour or so when I said, "Missy, I've been giving a lot of thought to what we talked about the other day. You said you're not my ex. On that, you are absolutely right. You're nothing like her. The more I'm with you, and the more I talk with you; the more I realize I'm in love with you." Missy squeezed my hand and gave me a big smile. "The feeling is mutual, Ed. I thought I was in love before, but it was nothing like what I feel for you. Do you think they'll be any problems at work if we get serious about one another?" "Nothing that we can't overcome," I said. "I'm already very serious about you." "Are you still scared?" "No. I trust you. You are someone who says what she thinks. I now think that if we disagree on something, you'll tell me up front. You're not the kind of person who would go behind my back, or take on another lover." We had lunch at a nice little Mom and Pop restaurant and then continued. We were so deep in conversation that I didn't even realize we were getting farther and farther away from home all the time. It was a little after four in the afternoon when Missy asked, "Do you have any idea where we are?" I felt like someone had hit me with a hammer. "Uh, no," I admitted sheepishly. Missy giggled and said, "I don't either." "That's easily fixed," I said as I turned on the car's GPS. "Oh, shit," I said when the GPS told me where we were. "Missy, we're over two-hundred miles from home. I guess we should start back." Missy laughed and said, "I was afraid of that. I think I have a better idea though. Does that thing tell you if there are any restaurants or motels close by?" "Yep." "Ask it to show us where the closest motel is. Neither of us have anyone we need to get back to town for." "Okay. We can get rooms for the night. Let's see. There's a town about fifteen miles from here, that has several restaurants, and a few motels. Let's head for there." "Okay, but don't you think we could make do with one motel room? I'm ready to explore that side of our relationship, if you are." My heart was in my throat when I said, "Missy, I'm definitely ready to explore that side of our relationship. Are you sure?" "I'm sure I love you, and I'm sure I want you. Is there anything else I should be sure of?" "No, I think that about says it all," I said as I squeezed her hand. ------- We found a Holiday Inn, and they had a nice room with a king-size bed available. We checked in and checked out the room. We exchanged a very arousing kiss, then went in search of an early dinner. I won't say I gulped my dinner, but I think we both ate faster than we normally do. After the meal, we didn't linger. I paid, and we headed back to the motel. When we got into the room, we just stood, looking at each other for a couple of minutes. Then Missy stepped closer, and I put my arms around her. "I love you, Ed Delany," she said. "I love you, Missy Gerard," I answered. I leaned down and kissed her. We had kissed several times over the last couple of weeks, but none had been like this one. The kiss seemed to linger, and to gain a life of its own. It consumed me. From Missy's ragged breathing, and the trembling of her body, I think it was having a profound an effect on her as well. Missy stepped back and started unbuttoning my shirt, so I looked into her eyes and started doing the same for her shirt. I finished first, and waited until mine was unbuttoned before drawing hers off her shoulders. I tossed it onto a chair. I slid mine off and tossed it also. Missy smiled at me as she unfastened, then shrugged off her bra. She had wonderful, grapefruit-sized mounds with dark, prominent nipples. I wanted nothing more than to draw one of those nipples into my mouth, but I decided to let her control what was happening. Missy smiled at me when she saw the awestruck look on my face. Then she reached and started undoing my belt. I released the snap of her jeans and lowered her zipper, as she did mine. I kicked my shoes off, then pushed off my jeans and underwear as one. As I stepped out of them, I watched in wonder as Missy did the same. Missy was so gorgeous, I can't even begin to put it into words. I think I could have stood there just looking at her, all evening. She stepped in close, and our arms went around each other. We shared another long, loving kiss. Then we made our way to the bed. I have developed many sexual techniques over the years, and I very much enjoy performing cunnilingus, but this didn't seem like the time for that. We lay side by side, and caressed each other's body. We were just getting to know each other physically. Our kisses became more intense as we continued to caress. Finally, I reached a point where I thought I was going to explode, with no further stimulation. Missy said, "I think it's time." The feeling when my cock first touched her pussy was the most incredible sensation I had ever felt. I held still for a moment, with the head of my cock just inside the lips of her center. Missy was purring. As we locked eyes, I moved into her. It seemed like we were sharing our souls as we came together. Missy moaned, and I groaned. I slid deeper and deeper. I leaned down and kissed her lovingly when I was fully seated. Again, we paused for a moment. Missy hadn't been a virgin, but she wasn't far from it, so I wanted to give her time to adjust to me being inside her. Finally, Missy said, "Oh God, Ed," and hunched up at me. I started the in and out rhythm that was as old as time, and as young as a spring flower. This didn't seem like a first-time coupling. It was more like we were experienced with each other, and already knew what made our partner feel good. I could feel the hot, wet walls of Missy's pussy gripping me as I moved out. They were welcoming to me as I moved back in. I had never felt this with my ex, or with either of the other women I had been with. With Missy, it just seemed natural. I could feel myself building toward a climax, so I sped up my strokes, hoping to pull Missy along with me. From the feel of her response and the sounds she was making, it was working. Somehow, I didn't let my impending orgasm worry me. I sped up again, and now my pubic bone was hitting Missy's clit firmly, every time I bottomed out. Missy's movements became erratic, and her moans became louder. When her internal walls started spasming around me, I couldn't hold off any longer. It felt as though my essence, my soul, my entire being was exiting my body and entering hers. I had never felt anything, either pleasure or pain, that felt as intense as what I felt then. There was a rushing in my ears, and I felt myself losing control of my arms... then... Then... I don't know what happened. When I came back to myself, I was still on top of Missy, and we were still joined. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing had slowed. I started to move off of her; but she groaned, put her arms around me, and held me to herself. Her eyes opened and she said, "I think I passed out." "I know I did," I said. "I have no idea how long we were out, but we both passed out for a while. That's the first time that has ever happened to me." Missy smiled then kissed me tenderly. "That's the first time it's ever happened to me, too. They say the first time with a guy is never as good as it is after you become accustomed to each other. If it gets any better than that, you'll have to be looking for a new R&D engineer." "Oh, I think Mike would have to be looking for a new VP of Engineering as well. I've never felt anything like that in my entire life. I felt like we were sharing our souls." "I didn't know how to express it, but that's the way it felt to me, too." "Honey, I know I have to be crushing you. Let me move off beside you," I said. "You're not crushing me, Love, and I hate the thought of losing the feeling of you inside me," Missy said as she squeezed my cock with her internal muscles. I could feel myself start growing inside her, so I said, "You'd better watch out, little girl. If you don't let me move, we're going to end up with a repeat performance." "Goody," she said and squeezed me again. By now, I was almost at full extension again, so I moved. I was tentative, at first, but I was soon as hard as I'd ever been. Missy whispered, "Me on top." Somehow, we turned over without losing our connection. "I've never done it this way," she said when she was sitting straight up, fully impaled. You couldn't have told this was her first time in this position, by the way she was moving on me. I loved it. I could look down and watch as we meshed and separated, or I could look up and watch the expressions on her face as she pleasured us. I cupped her wonderful breasts in my hands, and gently massaged them as she rode me. This time, I was the first to climax. I think it was my seed spewing deep inside her, that brought Missy over the edge. She collapsed on top of me. I stroked her back as we came down from our orgasmic high. We made love twice more before we fell asleep, with me spooned to her back. ------- Week 4 - Sunday We made love again in the morning, before we got up. Then we had a thoroughly wonderful time in the shower, washing and caressing each other. After we were dressed and moving, we found some breakfast. After we ate, we headed home. We spent the entire day together, and ended up making love in Missy's apartment before I reluctantly went back to mine. ------- Week 5 - Monday I arrived at work early, so I went down for breakfast. Within five minutes, Missy had joined me. She looked around to see if anyone was close enough to hear her, then said, "Good morning, Sweetheart." "Good morning, Love of my Life," I smiled at her. "Thank you for an absolutely wonderful weekend," she said. "It's me that should be thanking you," I said. "We need to have a long, serious talk, Missy." I looked around too, then said in a low voice, "I love you with all of my heart, Missy. I can't stand even the thought of being away from you." "This is so new to me, Ed. I've never really felt any loss when a boyfriend went home. But when you left last night, it was like part of me was leaving, too." I don't know what we might have said next, but Brenda came up and joined us. "Good morning, guys," she said as she sat down. Both of us told her good morning. She looked intently at us then asked, "So, how was the concert?" "The concert was great," Missy said. "I've always loved Vivaldi." "Yeah, I enjoyed it, too," I agreed. "Have you heard anything more about Miller?" Brenda asked. "No. I'll call Phil this morning and see if he's heard anything more about the credit card. American Express was supposed to notify him and the police, if there was another attempt to use the card." "There was a message on my desk that said Gene would be in this morning. It said there was another engineer on his way to the site and that the engineer would have all of the PLC programs," Brenda said. "Gene seems to be coming along," I said with a satisfied smile. "Now I just have to convince him that he isn't the reason Miller ran." "Oh. Changing the subject," Missy said, "I turned my justification for the use of fiberoptics in to Marty on Friday." "Gee, why didn't you tell him that at the concert?" Brenda teased. "Well, I guess I could have told him on Saturday or on Sunday too, but we had other things on our minds," Missy smiled. "Oo, la, la!" Brenda said. "You saw each other on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday? This is getting serious." "Yep," I said with a smile. "It is getting serious." ------- Gene was in my office before I even got in my chair. He quickly sat in one of my visitor's chairs. "Evidently Miller was still in Denver when you got his credit card stopped. He tried to buy gasoline with it. There was enough of a delay between the gas pump refusing it, and the police being notified, that he was long gone before they got to the station." "That's too bad. Who did you send out to replace him?" "I sent out Roger Tipton. He's not a ball of fire, but he is a good, steady engineer. He'll finish off the job with no problems. The installers bought enough tools to get started and all of them were working Friday. I don't think we'll lose more than a day or two because of this, and we can make that up if we want to pay for some overtime." "Let's hold off on the overtime for the present. They may be able to make it up working regular hours." "I have two interviews with prospective engineers, today. One this morning, and one this afternoon. If we hire either of them, I think I'll send him out to Denver to help out. It'll be a heck of a way for him to get his feet wet." "He'll hear a heck of a story, anyway," I grinned. "It's good to see that you don't seem to be blaming yourself for Miller leaving, anymore." "Oh, I forgot to tell you. Miller kept a diary on his computer. He had the file password protected, but Ken Kline is a bit of a hacker. He was able to break in. Miller has been planning this for a long time. He was careful about not putting the details into the diary, even though it was protected. I think the man is slightly deranged. He seemed to think that everyone at Belding was against him. He ranted on for page after page of slights that this one or that one had committed." "We should turn that over to the police," I said. "Already taken care of. I transmitted a copy to the local police, and another to the Denver guys," Gene said. "Good work, Gene. How is our friend Sly doing?" "He started his complaining about the PM as soon as I got down there. I told him to keep his damned mouth shut if he wanted to keep his job. It seemed to work," Gene smiled. ------- I had lunch with Missy and Brenda. I had just gotten back to my office when I got a call from one of my Project Managers. "Mr. Delany, this is Phil Brown," he said in greeting. "Hi, Phil. Please call me Ed. Where are you, and what can I do for you this morning?" I had met Phil briefly and had talked to him on the phone a couple of times, but I couldn't seem to get him to call me by my first name. "I'm in Lakeland, Florida, at the Advantage Autoparts job," he said. "I called you because I'm as mad as a wet hen. Jake Lebaron threatened me with a knife this morning, and I want him fired." I knew Jake was the mechanical installer on the job. I had met him too. From what I understood, he was one of our best installers. "How did this come about, Phil?" I asked. "I was telling him some things that needed to be done, and he just pulled his knife out and cut my tie off just below the knot. Then he threatened me that I could get seriously hurt, if I didn't watch myself." "Did you provoke him in some way?" I asked. "No, like I said, I was just telling him some things that needed to be done." "Okay, Phil, I'm going to have to look into this. Jake has been with us a long time, so I can't just fire him, until after I've investigated the incident." Phil didn't like it, but he finally agreed. ------- I called Mel and asked him to come to my office. "Is this about the Lebaron/Brown incident?" he asked as he entered the room. "You got it, first try," I said. "Have you heard Lebaron's side of the story, yet?" "Yeah. Jake called me right away. I also talked to two engineers who witnessed the altercation." "So, what happened?" "According to Jake and the two engineers, Brown was getting on to Jake about something that needed to be done. Jake told him it was the next thing on his list to be taken care of, as soon as they finished what they were working on then. Evidently, this didn't satisfy Brown, because he started in again. Jake just turned and walked off." "That's not what Brown is saying," I said. "Oh, it goes on. Brown then ran around in front of Jake and kept up his harangue. Jake told him that what he was working on had to be finished, before the electrical installer could get into the area Brown was talking about. Brown said he didn't give a shit, so Jake turned and walked away again." "Okay." "Brown then grabbed Jake by the arm. That was a mistake. Jake pulled his pocketknife out, and cut Brown's tie off. He handed the ends of the tie to Brown and said, 'I'm the safety officer on this job, and it is my responsibility to insure that everyone complies with safety regulations. It is against the regulations for anyone to wear clothing that could be caught in the machinery. You need to watch your step, Mr. Brown, or you could get seriously hurt on a job like this.' From what everyone I talked to said, Brown turned white, and then ran for the office." I couldn't help myself. I broke out laughing. Seconds later, Mel joined me. We were making so much noise that Brenda looked in to see if we were okay. "That line will go down in the history of this company," I told Mel. "I've got a problem, though. Brown called and demanded I fire Lebaron." "You don't want to do that, Ed. Jake is our best mechanical installer. Brown is a young man who thinks he has to prove he's the boss. Yes, he is in charge, but he has to learn to listen to his installers. What he wanted to do would have delayed the electrical installer by a day and a half, maybe more; while Jake only delayed what Brown wanted done by a couple of hours." I sighed. "You're right. We're not going to fire Lebaron. I just hope I can convince Brown that he was in the wrong, without having to fire him." ------- Quitting time was 4:00. It was about a quarter after and I still hadn't figured out what to do about Brown and Lebaron when Missy came into my office. She walked around my desk and whispered in my ear, "Your place or mine?" I smiled at her and said, "Mine. I was going to make myself a gigantic chef's salad. You're welcome to join me if you'd like." "That sounds wonderful," she grinned. ------- We worked together making the salads. When I make a chef's salad, I tend to put in anything but the kitchen sink. This one included three kinds of lettuce, celery, carrots, black olives, mushrooms, croutons, and shredded cheese. I had a selection of dressings, and we each selected our favorites. I turned on a sappy movie, and we watched it as we sat on the couch and ate our salads. After we finished, we snuggled together. The snuggling led to caressing. The caressing led to kissing, and the kissing led to the bedroom... with the movie completely forgotten. After we had made love, I said, "You know, this is three days in a row that we've made love." "Yeah, I'd like to try for a record. Let's try for a little over eighteen thousand days in a row," Missy smiled. "Eighteen thousand?" I asked. "Yeah, that's almost fifty years. After that, we might slack off to three or four times a week." "I think that is an excellent idea. It would be easier to do that if we were living together, though." "Are you asking me to live with you?" Missy asked. "I think it would be the next logical step, don't you?" "I think it would be a wonderful idea," Missy said as she stretched against me. "So, your place or mine?" I asked. "Yours, I think," Missy said. "Yours is bigger, and my lease is up next month. That way we'd only be paying rent in two places, for one month." "That sounds good to me," I said, then I drew her in for another earth shattering kiss. ------- Week 5 - Tuesday I told Missy and Brenda about what had happened with Brown and Lebaron yesterday. "What I can't figure out is how to calm Brown down without having to fire either one of them. According to Mel, Lebaron is willing to let it drop where it is." Brenda thought for a minute then said, "What you might do is give him a call, and jump all over him for wearing a tie around moving equipment. Tell him that if you ever hear about him doing it again, you'll tie a can to his tail. Then explain to him that you've managed to keep Lebaron from writing him up officially, as long as he let's his complaints about Lebaron drop." "Brenda, hiring you was the smartest thing I ever did. I'm a pure genius." "Hey, I'm the one who steered her your way, Lover," Missy protested. "Lover?" Brenda picked right up on that. "You called him lover?" "Yeah... Uh... Well... Uh..." Missy stammered. "For your information, and yours alone, Brenda; Missy and I will be moving in together, within the next couple of weeks," I said. "My, oh, my. You guys are fast workers," Brenda grinned. "Yeah, but not too fast, though," Missy managed to get out. ------- I gave Phil Brown a call, and played the scenario just the way Brenda had laid it out. I think I totally shocked the young man. I threw him a bone, by telling him I'd have a talk with Lebaron about how he had removed the offending tie. Mike called. He asked me if I could meet with him just after lunch, to go over the department budget. Of course, I agreed. Gene gave me the latest update on Miller, which was nothing. Neither the local police nor the Denver Police had seen hide nor hair of him. ------- I went into the meeting with Mike prepared to defend the department budget. We got seated and Mike opened up the folder with our budget figures laid out. He looked at me steadily. "Do you think these figures are realistic?" he asked. "Yes, I do. Excepting the amount for updating and upgrading the CADD equipment, they are about ten percent higher than last year's budget. After reviewing our sales projections, and going over what will be needed for installations, it appears we are going to have a twelve percent increase in workload. We feel that by making better use of our personnel, we can make up for the two-point's difference." "What about the CADD stuff?" "This equipment was supposed to be replaced two years ago. For whatever reason, you or Pete chose not to do so. We are barely keeping up with our current workload. We will not be able to keep up with the increased load projected for next year." "What about the budget for R&D? I see it is up quite a bit from last year as well, and it isn't influenced as much by projected sales, as your other areas are." "Mike, R&D is a mess. They've been coasting along for years doing as little as they could get by with. We have circuit boards we can no longer buy parts for. We have components we are paying ten times what we'd pay to get something that is better, and which is readily available. We need to look at a lot of different things over the next year. I could double the R&D budget, and we'd probably still not have sufficient funds to cover what needs to be done." Mike was nodding as I said this. "I don't think Pete liked to give me bad news," he said. "With Pete, everything was rosy. I guess I should have looked a little closer, but I trusted his judgment. You, however, don't seem to mind giving me bad news at all." I had to laugh. "Mike, I think you need to know the truth, in order to make intelligent decisions. Whether it's good news or bad, I'll always be truthful with you." "That's all I can ask. You know, normally we'd be fighting over every item on your budget. I must say this one, though, is the best put-together budget that I've ever seen. Everything is documented, and every increase has a justification written up for it." "Does that mean you're going to swallow it whole?" I asked in amazement. "Just like 'Charley the Tuna'," Mike said as he extended his hand to be shaken. ------- Missy came in just a few minutes before four and again she came around my desk and whispered in my ear, "Your place or mine?" "How about right here on my desk?" I asked softly. Missy giggled and said, "Oh, don't tempt me." We ended up going by her place, so she could pick up a suitcase full of clothes, then we went to my place. We worked together to make spaghetti for dinner. We ate it at the dining room table. That's something I rarely did when I was alone. Sex with Missy was great. It's definitely the best I've ever enjoyed. It's the other things though: the talking, teasing, and playing that make me feel like we'll be together thirty years from now. Edited By TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 10 Week 5 - Wednesday Gene stopped by the table where Missy and I were having coffee this morning and said, "The Denver Police called last night and said they had some news about Miller. They said some of the stolen items are showing up in pawnshops in the San Francisco bay area. They've had hits in Alameda, San Lorenzo, San Leandro, Hayward, San Jose, Redwood City, and San Mateo." "So, our wandering boy has moved to California. I don't suppose there's been any news on the rental car." "No. You know, I was thinking. You can get a car painted for a couple of hundred dollars. I'll bet it's not even the same color, and I'll bet it has a different license plate, too." "You're probably right," I said. "How's the interviewing going?" "Not too bad. I think either one or both of the guys I've interviewed so far, will work out. Personnel says they have a couple more ready to interview." "That's great. The way I figure it, you are four engineers short, right now. Make that five if you replace Westover. Get them hired as quickly as possible. We'll need to send all of them out with other engineers, on their first time out." "Will do. Maybe I should just go ahead and hire the two I've interviewed. Both of them have previous experience in controls with other companies." "That's up to you, Gene. Don't hire someone you're not going to be able to work with." "Been there, done that. Never again." ------- "Could I talk to you for a minute, Mr. Delany?" a heavy set, middle aged, man asked, when he stuck his head in my door a little later. I wasn't really busy, so I nodded, and motioned him in. "I'm Sam MacDonald," he said. "I'm a purchasing agent." "It's nice to meet you, Sam," I said, "and please call me Ed." "Okay, Ed. Everyone calls me Mac. I just wanted to tell you I'm glad you got things shook up in the purchasing department. The other guys and I suspected that something was going on, but we didn't have any proof." "I'm glad I was a help, Mac." "We were told what company we could buy from. When we complained, we were told it was company policy. We knew that was bullshit, but there wasn't anything we could do about it." "Well, hopefully things will straighten out now," I said. Mac agreed, and then excused himself and left. ------- Brenda came in a little later and said we had another problem brewing. "Evidently, a few years ago, we put one of our Order Picker Systems in for E. L. Libby in Roanoke, Virginia. They just had a flash flood there. It put water up onto the second floor of their warehouse. They want us to send someone down to evaluate the system. They want to know if it can be repaired, or if it has to be replaced completely." "Man, I'll bet that's a mess. Can you imagine one of those systems, completely submerged in muddy water? Do they have power and lights in the building? Is the airport open?" "I don't know, but I'll find out. I have a contact number for the guy at Libby. I'll call him back, then let you know." While she was gone, Gene stuck his head in and asked if I'd heard about Libby. "Yeah, we'll have to send someone down there. Do you have any suggestions?" "That's a tough one. Our Order Picker System is kind of old and we haven't sold many of them recently. I think Libby's may have been the last one we installed. Marty Dunn was the engineer who worked on that project." "Come on in and sit down. Let's give Marty a call." I called Marty's number and when he answered, I asked, "Marty, who besides you knows anything about the Order Picker System?" "Well... The guy who designed the system is no longer with us. R&D handled all of the installations of the ones we did put in. I don't think there's anyone left who knows anything about them but me." "How'd you like to make a trip to Roanoke?" Marty laughed. "You must be talking about the one at Libby. Is something wrong with it?" "You might say that. It was submerged in about fifteen feet of muddy water. The insurance company wants to evaluate as to whether it can be repaired, or if it has to be replaced." "Oh, shit! I can tell them that without leaving my office. There are over two thousand different slot controls in that system. It would take far longer to clean and test one that had been in muddy water than it would take to build a new one. I'm sure the order entry terminals would have to be replaced, and you can't even buy that terminal any more. The whole system is archaic." "Oh, God. This is worse than I thought. When you say the system is archaic, what do you mean?" "Well, it was designed in the mid 1980s. It used a DEC computer that was as slow as a crippled snail, but you could hook up a lot of I/O to it, so it did the job. It used dumb terminals for data entry. The worst part is, that it used a really weird system for communicating with the slot controls. There were eight lines for communications going to each slot control. That limited you to 64 slot controllers on each communication cable. The cables were quirky and there was a lot of cross talk between lines, so there was a lot of false addressing." "How long would it take to design something that would replace the old system?" "I knew you were going to ask that. I just don't know. I wouldn't think it would take too long, though, 'specially if we could use the cases from our current slot controllers. We could make it almost transparent to the people using it, that way. The slot controllers are what would take the longest. Everything else would be set up using a few serial ports on a PC." "Could it be done within a couple of months?" "Maybe even sooner than that. It'd have to be a crash project, though. If I remember right, Libby's system is fairly simple. The slot controller lights up an LED display, showing the worker how many items are needed from that slot. There can be dozens of orders going through the system at one time; so the slot controller lights up another LED display, showing the order number. When a carton comes along that has that order number on it, the worker packs that many items into the carton. Then he sets it back on the conveyor, and presses a button to show he has completed the order." "Who do you have, that you could put on a crash project like that?" Before he could answer, Brenda came back in. I had Marty on speaker phone, so I said, "Hold on, Marty. Brenda has some information for us." "The airport is open," she said. "The bad news is that there is no electrical power to the building, and the emergency lighting is fading fast. We'll need to take our own lighting with us. Also, anyone who goes will need to wear rubber boots. The guy I talked to said there is at least a half-inch of soupy mud on everything. He also said that anyone coming down, would have to be careful of water snakes. They've had one person bitten, already." "That's cottonmouth country. I don't envy you, Marty," Gene said. "Man... Did I get dropped into a sit-com, or something? I'm scared to death of snakes, guys," Marty moaned. "Well, we'll send a big, strong, burly type with you. He can carry a stick. Now, who can you put on a redesign?" "Well, I've got one guy, Bob Roberts, who could do the programming. I've been meaning to talk to you about that. Most of the people in this department are drones. Even if I gave them specific instructions of how to design something, they'd take months planning what they were going to do before they even started it. Missy is untried and untested, but I think I'd trust her to get it done over any of the others." "It looks like it's sink-or-swim time for Missy," I said. "When you get back, we need to talk about replacing your drones. In R&D you need quick, innovative thinkers. I can see how these guys got by, working under Shear; but there's a new Marshal in town, now." "When do you want me to take off?" Marty asked. "I think we could put them off until Monday. That'd give you time to get Missy and your programmer lined out on what you want done. Pick someone to go with you, and Brenda will get with the travel agent to get tickets and hotel rooms for you. You should leave sometime on Sunday, and be there bright and early Monday morning." "Okay, will do. Let me talk to a couple of people, then I'll get back to Brenda," Marty replied. ------- Missy was bubbling when she met me at lunch. "I'm going to be working on a crash project," she said with a big grin. "Gee, I knew that before you did," I said. "I told Marty about the project and asked him who had the best chance of getting it finished. He said that would be you." "You didn't influence him on that?" "No. His choice. I'd have preferred he chose someone else. It's going to take away from our together-time." "Well, Marty's going to be gone for a few days. I may use you as a sounding board for my ideas while he's gone," she grinned. "Now that might be fun," I grinned. "Of course, you'll have to pay for each bit of information you get from me." Missy smiled. "So, when are we going to move your things over?" I asked. "I was thinking we might move my clothes and personal things over a little each evening. Once all of that is out, we can have everything else put into storage." "Starting tonight?" I asked. "Yeah, I'll probably put in a couple of hours of OT, then we could have some dinner, then bring a load over." ------- I had dinner ready when Missy got home. We sat down to eat, and talked about the project. She was as excited as I had been, when I started on my first project. After we ate, we drove over to her place. We managed to get about half of her clothes packed. We took them back to my -our- place, and found room for them in the closet and dresser. Missy decided that we really needed to bring her dresser over as well, so we planned on that. After we had things put away, we snuggled on the couch for a while, and forgot all about Belding and projects. When we went to bed, we made soft, gentle, thoroughly satisfying love. Week 5 - Thursday Missy was up long before I was. She was ready to head for work when I was still brushing my teeth. I had experienced the same excitement a few years ago. I told her to go ahead, and that I'd see her at lunch. Brenda had coffee with me when I arrived at work. "Where's Missy?" she asked. "Missy is lost in a creative fog," I said. "Marty selected her to design the new slot controller for Libby. I've been there myself so I know what she's feeling." "If you hadn't, you might have become jealous of her job," Brenda laughed. "You are absolutely right," I said with a grin. "When a good engineer is challenged, he or she attacks it with everything they have. They don't even hear anyone talking to them. I've seen engineers, who thought they were good, that could turn off the job when they went out the door. I never could believe they were fully involved in finding a solution to their problem." ------- Missy did break away from her project long enough to join Brenda and me for lunch. I could tell she was about to burst, so I asked her how her project was coming. "I think it's coming along really well," she bubbled. "I've got another problem in addition to the original one, though. Marty wants me to be in charge of the department while he's gone to Roanoke. I argued with him about it, but he is insisting. That means the junior person in the department will be in charge." "That's not always a good idea, but I think you can handle it, Missy," I said. "Marty and I have to have a talk when he gets back, about replacing some of his personnel. He says they're all drones." "I told you I dated a guy in R&D for a while. He quit and went to another company. He said the only people Shear wanted in his department, were the ones who would say 'Aye-aye, Sir', and do it Shear's way," Brenda said. "That may have been what he wanted, but it's not what we need. If I remember right, most of the engineers in the department have been there a long time. I think it's time we see about getting some new blood in." "From what I hear," Missy said, "Shear liked to get someone right out of college and break them in his way. There are twelve engineers in the department. I'll bet not a one of them has had a new idea, since their second week with the company." "So, what are your plans for the weekend, my dear?" I asked. "Oh, I'm just going to hang out with my husband," Brenda said. Missy giggled and I gave Brenda a 'goober' look. "I thought I'd work some Saturday, but I plan to keep Sunday free," Missy said. "Good. We're going to be spending at least part of the day Sunday, with Jillian," I said. "Oh," Missy looked a little crestfallen. "Jillian is my oldest friend," I said. "I'm sure you're going to like her and I know she'll like you." "I'm sure it'll be fine, Ed. I'm just not good around new people." ------- Marty came in not long after lunch, and talked with Brenda for a while about travel arrangements. Then he asked if he could talk with me. "I just wanted to let you know I'm taking Jerry Cogburn with me," he said. "Jerry is a mechanical engineer, but he's the best of the bunch over there." "Okay, the choice is yours. Do you think Missy is ready to take over while you're gone? That's a big responsibility for a young engineer." "I think she is. She's had all of the management training she needs, and she's more aggressive than anyone else in the department. I've given everyone in the department very specific instructions of what I want done while I'm gone. They should be so busy they won't have time to give her any trouble." "That's one way to do it," I said. "When you get back, we need to talk about replacing some of your people. Shear said every one of them was a jewel, but from what I gather from you and Missy, he thought they were jewels because they didn't challenge him at all." "True. The guy I'm going to have doing the programming on this project, isn't so bad. His face started to light up when I told him about the project. I gave him a set of specifications for the older version of the system. He asked if he could make improvements, if he didn't slow the project down. I told him I thought that would be fine, but he would have to clear them with Missy first, since she's in charge of the project." "Good. Let's see how he does. Maybe he'll be a keeper." ------- I was sitting on the couch, watching the evening news, when Missy came home. She walked straight to me and sat on my lap. "Hi!" she said with a smile, then she kissed me silly. "Hi, yourself," I said after we had broken the kiss. "I wasn't sure what time you'd be home, so I haven't started dinner." "I want to spend our time this evening enjoying each other," she said. "Let's just order a pizza, and eat it while we're naked in bed." "Ummm, that sounds good," I said, then I kissed her again. We spent a half hour or so just kissing and snuggling. Finally, Missy said, "Why don't you order the pizza while I get a shower? It should be here by the time I finish." We discussed what we wanted on it. I placed the order when she took off for the bathroom. ------- We had a great time eating the pizza. It seemed that drops of sauce kept getting on body parts. Of course, they had to be licked clean. We were still sticky from pizza sauce when we made love, and then we had to share a shower to clean up before we went to bed. Week 5 - Friday Missy was gone when I got up, but she had left me a note. It said she loved me, and that she'd see me for coffee before work. I had to smile, thinking about her enthusiasm. She wasn't in the cafeteria when I got there, but she joined me soon after I sat down. "So, the creative bug must have bitten you this morning," I teased. "Yeah," she grinned sheepishly. "I had this idea, and I needed to figure out what I'd need to do to implement it." "Do you have what you need?" "No, but I found where I could order it. They guarantee they'll have the parts I need to me by 10:00 tomorrow. I'm looking at this in two stages, Ed. The first stage will use the cases for the old slot controllers. It'll do everything the current system does. The second stage will have so many improvements, that it won't even be the same product. The really good part is, it'll cost less than the old system." "Good girl. How much additional design time will it take to do the second stage?" "Almost none. Unless..." "Unless what?" Missy was lost in thought for a minute with a far off look in her eyes. "I'll have to look into it, but I just had a really neat idea. Wow! Let me think about it. I can see some problems, but I can also see some marvelous opportunities." "What are you talking about, sweetheart?" I asked. "It's an idea for a totally new product. Let me think about it for a few days. It's not something that needs to be decided before this project is finished, and I'd like to bounce it off Marty before I tell you about it." "Okay," I grinned. "You can keep secrets from your VP, but I'm not sure you can keep them from your boyfriend. He has ways of eliciting information from you." Missy giggled. "Yes, I'm sure he has." ------- I talked with Phil for a while this morning about travel costs. Specifically, I wanted to talk about realistic costs for food and lodging. "Phil, the only guidelines I could find about the allowances for food and lodging, were at least ten years old. I have four groups who travel. I don't think the mechanical engineers are spending enough on food. Electrical engineers are spending a little too much. R&D engineers are spending an outrageous amount, and my Project Managers are out of this world. Do you think you could have someone look into new guidelines for us?" "That shouldn't be a problem. In fact, I think it should be done by regions. The East and West Coasts cost more for a hotel room or for a meal in a restaurant, than the Midwest or the South. It also costs more around a big city than it does in a small town. Let me look into it, and I'll get back to you on it," Phil said. "Okay, there's no hurry. I would like to establish some kinds of norms for the engineers though." ------- Mel came in, in the middle of the afternoon and I could see by the look on his face that we had another problem. "What's up, Mel?" I asked. "Well, we have a problem, but I don't think it is going to be too serious. We're doing some work for Allied Food Systems in Brighton. There are only a few mechanical people there right now." "Okay." "Well, evidently their roof developed a leak during a rain storm. It leaked down into their freezer, and right on to the belt conveyor that runs through there." "Oh, shit," I said. "'Oh, shit', is right. No one noticed the leak as no one was working in the freezer at the time. Ice started building up on the belt conveyor. Before long, it got so thick and so heavy that the motors could no longer pull it. The belt stopped moving, but no one noticed. The next thing anyone knew, the motor overloads had kicked out." "So there wasn't a fire, or anything?" "No. No fire. I guess it's a circus there right now, though. The conveyor is about three hundred feet long and much of it is covered with six inches or more of ice. Not only won't the motors pull it, they can't even pull it with a forklift. They've been trying to melt the ice with blowtorches, but it's zero degrees in the freezer, and it freezes again as soon as it hits the floor." "Yeah, at that temperature, even salting it wouldn't help. Can I assume the freezer is full of frozen food?" "To the ceiling. Luckily, this has nothing to do with us, except that our guys are trying to help them out. I was wondering if you had any ideas that might help them." I thought for a minute then said, "If they take sledge hammers and try to break it off, they're going to damage the conveyor bed. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is to use chain saws and cut down to within about an inch of the belt. They should do this every six inches, or so. Then they might be able to use crowbars to pry off the ice between the cuts. After they get most of the top clear, they could cut the belt and use a forklift to pull it off." "You know, that might work," Mel said. "I'll give them a call and tell them to try it." He took off out of the office, almost at a run. ------- Missy came in just a few minutes before quitting time, and closed the door of my office. She walked around my desk and pulled my chair back. I looked up at her and asked, "What's going on?" She grinned at me, then sat down on my lap. She put her arms around me and kissed me like she meant it. "I've been ignoring you. I'm sorry about that; so tonight, I'm all yours." I couldn't argue with that! I patted her on the butt and said, "Let's get out of here." We had more fun, both sexually and otherwise that night, than I had ever had in my life. We didn't do anything special, but we enjoyed everything we did. Edited by TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 11 Week 5 - Saturday When I awoke, Missy was still beside me. She was sound asleep. I just lay there and watched her for a while. I swear she has become more beautiful, since we've been together. Either that, or I've become so besotted with my love for her, that I see her that way. It wasn't long before Missy started to stir, so I kissed her awake. Her arms went around me and she returned the kiss with passion. "You know," Missy said after a while, "you're the first guy I ever spent the night with. I could get used to waking up like this." "It is nice, isn't it?" I asked. "It's too bad we can't wake up every morning without feeling rushed to get to work, or something." "Well, we know that's not going to happen, so we just have to make the most of the time we have," she said as she rolled on top of me. We did. ------- We took a shower together, then made ourselves a respectable breakfast. I decided I was going to go into work for a while. I wanted to catch up on some paperwork while Missy worked on her project. We took separate cars, since we weren't necessarily going to be there for the same length of time. I did stop and pick up a large coffee for each of us on the way in. I dropped Missy's coffee off to her in the R&D lab, before going to my own office. Mel had told me yesterday that he wanted to hire two of the people he had interviewed, but that he'd like for me to look over their resumés first. I was just going through the first one when a man stuck his head in my door and said, "Mr. Delany, I'm Charley Timmons, from Sales. I was wondering if I could talk with you for a minute." "I suppose so," I said somewhat reluctantly. "What can I do for you?" "Word has come through the grapevine that we are redesigning the Order Picker. I was just wondering if that was true?" "Yes, for the time being, we're just revamping it so we can make a replacement for E. L. Libby. Theirs was destroyed in a flood. Why do you ask?" "I was probably the only Belding salesman who actually sold the Order Picker system. Right after I sold the Libby system, I was told by Jim Shear that we were no longer going to manufacture the system, as some components were no longer available. Since then I've had at least a dozen requests for an upgraded Order Picker system. I forwarded all of these requests to Shear, but nothing ever came of them. I even talked with Pete about the potential for a lot of sales, but he wasn't that interested either." "What do you mean by an upgraded system?" He handed me a sheet of paper that had a list of features on it. "These are the features the potential customers wanted. None of them sounded too outrageous, but I'm not an engineer. I was wondering if we were going to start manufacturing the system again, and if these features could be included?" I looked over the list. I didn't know enough about what Missy was proposing to do to be able to respond and I told him so. "I'll guarantee you that I'll get copies of this list to the new R&D Manager, and to the engineer who is doing the redesign. They can evaluate how hard it would be to implement them." Timmons left after that, and I sat there thinking for a while about what he had told me. For the first time, really, I was starting to have serious doubts about Mike Severt. I could understand why Mike wouldn't have known about the potential problems with the engineers. But I think Mike should have known about Shear holding back the R&D department. I thought he should have known there was something fishy going on between Pete and the purchasing department. I also thought he should have known about Pete's sexual harassment. I decided I needed to be very careful of my own conduct, and very watchful of others. I don't know how long I had been sitting there, but it must have been a long time. Eventually, Missy came in and closed my office door. She sat on my lap. That brought me out of my reverie. "Hi, Sweetie," I said as I put my arms around her. "Hi, yourself. You looked like you were lost in thought." "Yeah, I guess I was. I'll tell you about it after we get home. Since you showed up here, can I assume you're ready to go?" "Yes. I was thinking that since we have both cars, maybe we could make a trip to my old apartment and pick up the last of the things I want to move to our place." "That sounds good," I said, hugging her to me. She wiggled around a little, then kissed me with as much passion as she'd ever shown. As much as I was enjoying our kissing and cuddling, I knew it wasn't appropriate behavior for the workplace. I broke it off and we headed for her 'old' place. ------- As we were putting away the last of Missy's things, I said, "You know, honey, we are in a difficult relationship. There are things I need to bounce off of someone that if they got back to anyone at work, I'd be in grave danger of losing my job. You are the only person I feel confident talking to about them, but you need to be especially careful not to let anything slip out by accident." Missy stepped close to me and put her arms around me. "You know I'd never intentionally repeat anything you ever said to me. But if you are worried about me slipping up and saying anything, then wait and talk to Jillian about it. I can give you some time alone with her, if you need it." "No, I guess I just wanted to emphasize that anything we discuss, is between the two of us, and no one else. I love you, Missy, and I trust you." I told her about my misgivings about Mike. "You know," she said, "I don't think Mike is deliberately ignoring problems. I think he is an example of 'the Peter Principle.' It may make it harder on you, but you may have to hold his hand and feed him information as he needs it." "I was kind of figuring it that way myself," I agreed. "Mike is a very likeable guy. When he's aware of something, he makes good decisions. Maybe he just has tunnel vision. Maybe he can only see what is directly in front of him. He might get to working towards a goal, and be so focused on it, that he isn't totally aware of what's going on around him." "That's a good quality for an engineer," Missy grinned as she ran her fingernails up and down my back. "It's not such a great quality for a company president." "God I hate being a babysitter, but it doesn't look like I have much choice," I said as I stroked her butt. "You could practice by babysitting me," she said. "I'd rather play with you," I grinned. "Well, we don't have anything else to do, today. What would you like to play?" "How about we play house," I leered. "I'll be the daddy and you can be the mommy." "Ooh, is it bed time for mommy and daddy?" "I think it just might be. 'I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours.'" Week 5 - Sunday We finally made it out of bed. We went to Jillian's around noon. Missy was a little hesitant for a while, around Jillian. Soon, though, the two young women were talking as though they had known each other for years. Of course, I was trashed by both of them, but especially by Jillian. She just had to tell Missy stories about when we were growing up. It was all in fun and we all enjoyed ourselves. Week 6 - Monday I awoke early, with Missy in my arms. I just watched her sleep for a few minutes. God, I loved this girl. Isn't it amazing how hate can change to love, as it did with Missy; and love can turn to hate, as it did with Lorna? Finally, the clock told me it was time to get moving. Missy was a little flustered when I awakened her. She had wanted to get an earlier start. I told her she could just have breakfast with me and start at the regular time. A little cuddling and a few kisses convinced her there were more important things than work. Brenda joined us at breakfast and she and Missy chatted about our past weekend. Brenda and her husband had gone up to Fort Michillimacinac (pronounced Mishla' mackinaw). I had been there before, and I knew it was an interesting place, especially for a history buff. I said so to Brenda. "I wouldn't say Greg is a history buff. He's more like a history nut. Sometimes I don't think he could tell you who the President of the U.S. is, but he could tell you the details of any battle in the Revolutionary War," Brenda said. "My father is that way," Missy laughed. "He's more into the Civil War, though." Brenda and I left for my office, and Missy took off to R&D. I didn't see her again until evening. ------- Gene came in not long after I got to my office to tell me he had hired two new controls engineers. "I've got three more to interview this week. If they're as good as the ones I've already hired, my department is going to have the best staffing it's had in years," he said. "Great! Baldwin was telling me last week that it looks like the Atlanta job is going to be turned over to the customer on Friday, right on schedule. Have you heard anything from Sly this week?" "No, but I expect him to call before long. I told him I wanted a status report by noon today. I want everything finished by Wednesday. If he can't tell me for sure that's going to happen, they go back on twelve-hour days." I nodded and asked, "Do you think there's any hope of rehabilitating Westover?" "I just don't know, Ed. When he wants to work at it, he's a good engineer. I'm just afraid he's been teacher's pet for so long, that he has forgotten what it takes to be a good engineer, unless someone is looking over his shoulder." "Well, let's see how he does after we get him back in the office. Do you have him assigned to anything else?" "Yes. He is supposed to be working on a job for J. C. Penney. He's going to be about a week behind on it when he gets back, so he'll have to hit the ground running." "Any word on Miller?" "No. Not really. They have had a few more things show up in pawnshops, but that's about it. No word on the rental car and no word on his location." "Well, keep me informed if anything comes up on Miller. Also, let me know about the Atlanta job." Gene said he would, then he left. ------- Mel was the next one to check in. "Did my suggestion help with that freezer problem?" I asked him. Mel laughed. "I just got off the phone with our guys out there. They said the maintenance crew worked on it all weekend, but they finally got it fixed. First they had to get the ice off the old belt, so they could remove it. Then they had to cut it, and pull it off with a tow motor. Luckily, they had enough new belting to replace the old belt. The ice had stretched the old one so badly it couldn't be reused." "I'm sure you've been in situations where you had to put in a lot of hours. I know I have. I can remember working forty-nine hours in a row once, when a system crashed. I went back to my room and slept for four hours, then came back and worked another twenty-two." "Yeah, I've done the same thing, Ed. Sometimes I wonder if our younger engineers would be willing to do something like that. Somehow, I think the work ethic that was there a few years ago is gone, now." "I think you could still find it, if you find the right engineers. I think with us, it was a matter of pride. We just weren't going to let a bunch of junk beat us." ------- It was after midnight when Missy made it home. She was so tired she was unsteady on her feet when she came in the door. I helped her into the bedroom, and undressed her. Then I carried her into the bathroom and started a shower. I got in the shower and washed her, while she just stood with her body slumped. When I finished washing her, I dried her off, then I carried her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed. "Have you eaten anything?" I asked. "Yeah, Bob went out and got sandwiches for us." "What were you doing that you couldn't get away from, to come home at a reasonable hour?" "I was bread-boarding the slot controller. Bob says he'll have something that can talk to the controller by tomorrow. I just wanted to have it..." She went to sleep without finishing her sentence. I had to smile at her dedication. I'd been there myself, a few years ago. I cleaned everything up, and turned out the lights. Missy snuggled back against me, when I slid into bed behind her. Week 6 - Tuesday I awoke first and I don't think we had moved a bit during the night. I was still spooned up to Missy's butt and still had an arm around her. I don't know if I moved or something, but Missy started to stretch in my arms. "Good morning, love," I said. "Good morning. What time is it?" "It's only 7:30. We have plenty of time before work." "I have to get in early, Ed. I managed to get a slot controller built and tested last night, but this morning I need to get the fiberoptic cables fixed up, to connect it to Bob's computer. If we're lucky, they'll be talking to each other by noon." "Okay, I guess. Enthusiasm is well and good, Missy, but you need to take care of yourself, too. You need breakfast." "I'll grab something at Mickey D's on the way in. I promise to have lunch with you, though." I sighed. I knew there was no arguing with her about this. "Okay. I'm going to go ahead in and grab a bite in the cafeteria." ------- At least I didn't have to eat breakfast alone. Brenda joined me right after I got settled. "Where's Missy?" she asked as she sat down. "Missy is giving birth to a new product. She worked until after midnight last night, and went in early this morning. From the sounds of things, they're doing very well, though." "It's a good thing you're an engineer. Most boyfriends would be stewing about her working so much." "Yeah, I guess so. How are things with you?" "There was something I wanted to talk to you about. Actually, it's about some gossip I heard." I just waited, so she went on. "Have you met Tom Higgins?" "No. He works for Mel, doesn't he?" "Yeah. He's been here a couple of years. From what I hear, he's never really made any friends here. He kind of just stays to himself. One of the girls in the secretarial pool was telling me that he had been in the Army Special Forces." "Okay." "Well, anyway, the rumor is that he's been acting kind of strange, lately." "Strange in what way?" I asked. "Remember, all of this came from the same secretary, so I can't vouch for the validity of it." "Okay." "Evidently, Jim Fox is in the cubicle across the aisle from Higgins. Supposedly, Fox says that he'll start feeling strange and he'll look up, and Higgins will be staring at him. If he says anything, Higgins will just turn around and go back to whatever he was doing." "Brenda, it could be that Higgins is deep in thought, and just happens to be looking in that direction." "Yeah, but there's more. Supposedly, some of the other engineers have said that they'll look up from what they're doing, and Higgins will be standing at the opening of their cubicle, staring at them. If they ask him what he wants, he just turns and walks away." "You've got my attention, Brenda. I'll talk to Mel about it. Maybe he knows something that we don't." ------- I didn't get with Mel right away. I hadn't even gotten seated at my desk in my office, when the phone rang. It was Jason Baldwin. "I just wanted to give you the good news, Ed," he said when I answered. "We'll be putting the finishing touches on this system tomorrow. We'll continue testing Thursday just to make sure, but it passed all of the tests we've done so far, and it exceeds the specified throughput the customer requested." "That's great, Jason. How have you and Westover been getting along?" "Much better. He's still a pain in the ass, but if we disagree on something now, he'll give in if I'm firm about it." "What kind of an engineer is he?" "Actually, he's not a bad engineer if you can get by his personality. I truly believe he thinks his ideas were handed down to him by God." "Well, that's something we'll just have to see if we can cure him of. If we can't, he can always be replaced. What are your plans when you finish there?" "I'm hoping I can come home and introduce myself to my wife. I'd like to take a week's vacation, if I can." "I don't have a problem with it. Why don't you just plan to show up in my office, a week from Monday? Don't turn the time in as vacation. Make up a time sheet and say you're working on in-house administration. I'll cover it for you." Jason thanked me profusely. We said our goodbyes, and I started trying to figure out what I should be doing. ------- Gene came in and gave me his report on the Atlanta job. Then he said there was still no news on Miller. "Yeah," I said, "I talked with Jason a few minutes ago. He says they've already gotten the system to pass the customer's requirements, but they're going to continue testing for the next two days, just to see if they can find any bugs. When do you have Westover scheduled to come back?" "He's scheduled to be down there, through next week. He'll be baby-sitting the system and training the maintenance people. He's asked for a few days off when he gets back. I don't see a problem with that," Gene said. "Yeah, Baldwin wants time off when he gets back, too. Do we have anyone else in the area who could cover, if any kind of problem came up?" "We're doing an major add-on at the GM parts distribution center in Atlanta. We have a mechanical installation crew, an electrical installation crew, two electrical engineers, two mechanical engineers, and an R&D engineer there." "Give Westover the time off as Comp Time. We can cover him on it. That's quite a crew at GM. What are we doing for them, that takes so many people?" "GM has a sorter system that is several years old. It'll handle approximately a hundred cartons a minute. We're installing a new system that will handle approximately four hundred cartons per minute, in parallel with the old system. Once the new system is in place and fully operational, we will switch over to the new system, and the old one will be removed. The deal is we won't have them shut down for more than a day when we make the change." "That's aggressive. Why the R&D guy?" "He's a programmer who developed most of the program for the new sort controller. He's there to test out his software before the changeover is made." "Nice. I hope we test it thoroughly. GM is a real stickler for meeting their specifications. They've got one of the best Installation Engineers I've ever met. He's a very knowledgeable man, and is as hard nosed as they come," I said. "It sounds like you've worked with him before," Gene said. "Several times. We've always gotten along well. Then again, all of the times I've worked with him, the projects have gone well." "Well, you can't fault him for that," Gene said just before he left my office. ------- Missy was bubbling at lunch. "The computer talks to the slot controller," she gushed. "Communication is always good," I said. Missy hit me on the shoulder and said, "Hey, give me some credit, guy. This is a major accomplishment." "Tell me about it," I said with a smile. "Well, the way the old system Libby has operates, is that the computer tells the slot controller the order number, and the quantity to be picked. The order picker counts out the number of items for the order, and puts them in the carton as it goes by. He then presses a button on the slot controller, to indicate he has completed the task. The slot controller is cleared and is ready to receive new information." "What happens if there aren't enough of an item to completely fill the order?" "Well, with the system as it is now, there is another button for the picker to press. In that case, he doesn't get to pick any of the items. I want to change that on a new system." "What do you want to do?" "I want to add a keypad, so the picker can enter the number they have actually placed in the order carton. That way, if the customer orders 24 pieces and there are only 23 available, he still gets most of what he ordered. The way it is now, he doesn't get anything." "Does the old system keep track of the number of items in a pick station?" "No, and that's another feature I'd like to add." "Okay, enough of this work shit," I said with a smile. "I love you, Missy Gerard." Missy's face lit up like a little girl with a new doll. "I love you too, Ed Delany." Just as she said it, Brenda walked up behind her. "I was going to ask if I could join you, but this sounds serious," Brenda said. Missy blushed. "It is serious, Brenda," I said. "You can join us anyway." Brenda smiled and sat down. "That was the first lovey-dovey thing we've said," Missy said. "New lovers are allowed to say at least one lovey-dovey thing during lunch. It's in the bylaws." Brenda laughed and said, "If my husband were here, I'd be drooling all over him." "We save the drooling for the bedroom," Missy giggled. "Okay, ladies, calm it down. This is a place of business." "Spoilsport," Missy pouted. ------- It was the middle of the afternoon before I saw Mel. When I did see him, it hit me that I should be asking him about Tom Higgins. I told him the rumor I had heard and he looked very thoughtful. "Ed, Tom is a good engineer. He is a loner, but I've never thought much about that. I was a bit of a loner myself for a lot of years. I'll talk to Jim Fox and see what he has to say." "This was just a heads up, Mel. I'm not saying you have to do anything about it. I'm not even saying that you should do anything about it. It may be that Higgins is just in a thoughtful mood of late, and he kind of zones out occasionally." ------- Missy was home in time for dinner, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We sat around afterwards, and talked about our day at work. Missy was still bubbling a little over the initial success of her project team. Edited By TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 12 Week 6 - Wednesday Missy even took time to have breakfast with me in the cafeteria, when we got to work. As we were eating, I said, "You know, I don't think the VP of Engineering is a good title for me. I think I should be called, The Crisis Manager." Missy laughed. "Has it been all that bad? I'm afraid I've been so involved in this new design that I've been ignoring what's going on with you." I laughed. "I guess it isn't all that bad. The biggest problems so far, have been with our personnel. Those should slow down or stop, as we get things shaken down. Then it'll be the usual boring, everyday things to take care of." "Ed, my love, I think you thrive on the challenges. I suspect that you'd go bonkers if you were stuck with the boring, everyday things." "Maybe so," I grinned. "Thank God I have one thing in my life that will never be boring." "What's that?" "You." ------- I got a call from Marty Dunn not long after I got in my office. "Ed, I've evaluated the system here and I'm ready to come home," he said. "Okay, Marty. How does it look?" "Brown." "Brown?" "Yeah. Everything is covered in mud. The flood waters came in fast, but they receded slowly. They left about a half an inch of mud on everything. There's still three to six inches of muddy water on the floor of the warehouse and we've been sloshing around in it for two days." "Is anything salvageable?" "I don't think so. Every slot controller that we opened has mud inside it. The old case we used for it is not tightly sealed and the muddy water covered even the ones that were highest up. The terminals are filled with mud and the mud is so thick on the desks that the keyboards look like just a bump on the desk. You can't even make out the keys." "Okay, head back ASAP. Missy says they are making great strides on a replacement system." "As much as I'd like to come straight home, if you don't mind, I should go by GM over in Atlanta and check on Abdul Kafir. He's our programmer for the new sort controller and I understand he's never been in the field. I think I'd feel better if I could see him work for a day in the field." "That's fine, Marty. Missy seems to be doing okay with being in charge in your absence. I think she's working a little too hard on the slot controller, but every engineer I've ever known has done that on occasion." Marty laughed and said, "Yeah, I think you've got yourself a ball of fire there. Okay, I'll go to Atlanta, today. I'll probably get back to the office sometime on Friday. I'll send Jerry Cogburn on back to the office today." ------- Missy joined Brenda and me for lunch. I told her what Marty had said and she just nodded. "How do you like being in charge?" Brenda asked. "It's not been too bad, so far. Marty left everyone with plenty to do, so I haven't had to worry about that. I've got one guy who is sneeringly calling me 'boss lady', but I'll slap him down if I have to." "Don't let him get away with too much, honey," I said. "He'll lose respect for you if you do." "Okay, I can see that. Why is Marty wanting to check up on Abdul? I don't know him at all, really, but I've heard he's a good programmer." "I think it's just because Abdul has never been out in the field. It's a different world out there, kiddo. Not only do you have to do your own programming, you also have to be sure you don't interfere with the customer." "I can see that. I foresee some of that when we do Libby. I expect I'll have to be on site there at least part of the time." "Yes, and I miss you already," I said with a grin. "Cut it out," Brenda declared. "You guys have already had your 'lovey-dovey' for the day." ------- The afternoon went quickly, and Missy came home on time. I asked her about her project. She said, "Most everything that's left to do is in programming. Bob is doing the programming for the PC, and Mike Kane is doing the firmware for the slot controllers. I really can't do anything else until Marty has approved my design." "Then you'll get a board laid out?" I asked. "Yeah. It's a fairly simple board. The worst thing about it is that it has to be laid out so it can fit in our current slot controller case." "Good deal," I said as I held her close. "Maybe you can spend some time with your new boyfriend." "I think I'd like that," Missy sighed. Week 6 - Thursday Missy and I were still at breakfast in the cafeteria, when I heard the paging system calling for me. I excused myself and went to the phone just outside the cafeteria. I called the receptionist. She said she had a frantic Marty Dunn on the line, and that she'd transfer the call to the phone where I was. "Good morning, Marty. What's up?" I asked. "Ed, we've got big time troubles. There was a huge lightning storm went through last night. It wiped out the sort controller and several of the PLCs. We haven't managed to evaluate everything yet, but they don't have enough spare parts to even start making repairs." "Okay, what do you need?" "First off, I need people. Anyone that Gene can spare. I'd also like for Missy to help out. Jim Driscol -their installation engineer- is beside himself, and he's about to drive me nuts. Do you think you could call him and try to get him off my back so I can get something done?" "I'll do better than that, Marty. I'll be on the same plane as the engineers we send. You're in charge, but I'll work with Driscol." "Thank you, Ed. I didn't want to ask you to come, but it sure would be a big help." "I'll talk with a few people here, and try to expedite getting things shipped to you. Call Gene when you have at least a partial list of what you need. He'll start working on getting things to you." "Okay. Ask Gene if he can get copies of the latest PLC programs. Some of the PLCs are completely frapped." "Will do, Marty. Remember, a lightning storm isn't our fault. Try not to let Driscol fluster you." "Will do, boss." "I'm going to have Gene take over R&D until either you or Missy gets back up here, so don't worry about your department." "Thanks again, Ed." ------- I called Gene's number, not really expecting him to be in yet. He was though, so I asked him to come down to the cafeteria, ASAP. Brenda had joined Missy at breakfast when I got back. "What's up?" Missy asked as I sat down. "How would you like to make a trip to Atlanta?" I asked her. "It depends. Why?" I filled her and Brenda in on what was going on. "How many people are going to be going?" Brenda asked. "I don't know how many people Gene will have available, but Missy and I will be going for sure." Brenda grinned and asked, "Do I book one room or two for the two of you?" "One," Missy said emphatically. Gene came in before anyone could say anything else. I filled him in on what was going on. "How many electrical engineers can you send?" I asked him. "I have four guys in the office right now. All of them are working on projects, but we can put those projects on hold. The PLC programs shouldn't be a problem. They're all stored on disk. I'll have each of my guys take a laptop." "Okay. I'm going to depend on you to expedite any parts that are needed. I'll call Phil before I leave, and get him to give purchasing a heads-up. All parts are to be shipped 'counter to counter', at the airport." "Can do," Gene said. "One other thing: I told Marty I'd have you take over R&D until he or Missy gets back in town. Is that a problem?" "No, I can handle it for a few days." ------- I called Mike and told him what was going on. "I'm leaving around noon, and I'm taking several electrical engineers with me," I told him. "I'll talk with sales. This isn't covered by any of our maintenance agreements. We'll have to negotiate something so that we're reimbursed at least for our costs on this." "Okay. I know that has to be handled, but I don't want it to delay our working on it." "I'm sure that GM is just as anxious as you are. We'll have something signed by the time you get there." ------- Brenda told me she had reservations for everyone who was going. She handed me a key and said the tickets would be in the travel agent's lockbox at the airport. I told her I'd leave the key in the lockbox. I called Missy, and she said she'd meet me at home in a few minutes. I took off so I could start packing. We really had to move to get to the airport on time. We met the other engineers there, and I passed out their tickets. When we got to the counter to check our luggage, I asked the agent if there were any first-class seats available. She said there were. I got mine and Missy's tickets changed to first class, with a couple of the many "upgrades" I had accumulated over the years. Missy was ecstatic. It was a pleasant flight. The most pleasant thing about it was relaxing in the wide first-class seats, talking with Missy and occasionally holding her hand. Brenda had reserved three rental cars for us. One was for Missy and me and the other two were for the engineers. We had directions to the site, so Missy and I headed on out there, before finding our hotel. Marty was right. Jim Driscol was frantic. I had worked with Jim on several jobs at my last place of employment, but I had never seen him in such a tizzy. I finally got him calmed down a little. I then suggested we sit down with Marty Dunn and the electrical installer, to see where we were. Missy was just standing there, so I introduced her to Driscol as I saw Marty coming toward us. "Marty, we need to sit down with Jim and go over where we are. Is there anything Missy can be doing?" "Could you go to the airport in about an hour, Missy? We have a bunch of things coming in on 'American'." I handed her the car keys and said, "Would you get the flight info, then check us in at the hotel? We may be here for a while." Missy gave me a big smile, then got the information from Marty. Sol Eacles was the electrical installer on site. Marty rounded him up, while Jim found us a quiet place where we could talk. Sol was one of our most experienced installers. Although I didn't know him except by reputation, I was glad he was on site. "So, where are we?" I asked Marty after we were all seated and had a cup of coffee before each of us. "We have four PLCs where the processor won't fire up. We have to assume the processors on those are fried. We know we have half a dozen I/O modules that are fried. There may be more, but we won't know until we get the new processors installed. The sort controller is fried. Luckily we had a sort controller in the plant that had just been completed, so they are sending the entire rack from that one. That's about all we know, so far." "How long will it take to install the new sort controller rack?" I asked Sol. "I'd say around six hours. There are a lot of wires to terminate. It won't take long to install the PLC stuff. Marty will have to load the programs in though," Sol said. "How long for that, Marty?" "We'll put one of Gene's guys on each PLC. It won't take over a couple of hours. Do you know if your maintenance people have made any program changes, Jim?" "Not to my knowledge. If they did and didn't tell anyone, they'll be looking for new jobs, tomorrow." "So," I said. "If we work the sort controller in parallel with the PLCs, we should be ready to roll in six to eight hours, even with retraining the sort controller. Does that sound right, Marty?" "Unless we uncover more damage as we go along." I looked at Driscol and he nodded. "That's a lot better than I expected," he said. "Can I tell the plant manager that he can expect to be sorting beginning with first shift tomorrow?" I knew he was asking if we were prepared to work all night if we had to. Well, I'd done it before and I expected I'd do it again. "As Marty said, unless we find something else that you don't have spares for." ------- I had Marty go out and bring back a half a dozen large pizzas for the installers and engineers. He arrived back, just before Missy got there with the parts. It was a little after six in the evening when they got the parts that had been shipped sorted out, and everyone got to work. By three in the morning, we had run product through the system, and sorted it to the proper lanes. Everyone was exhausted, but we had a sense of accomplishment that was hard to describe. Missy and I went to our hotel and collapsed. Week 6 - Friday It was almost eight o'clock when Missy and I awoke. We got some breakfast and headed back to GM. Marty and Jim Driscol were standing and talking when we got there. Both of them were smiling, so I knew everything must be going well. "So, how's it going?" I asked after we had all said good morning. "It is running full bore," Driscol said. "We lost one day of shipping, but the plant manager tells me he is going to run on Sunday to make it up. I'm really happy with your response on this, Ed." "Thanks, Jim," I said. "We value GM as a customer and we'll do everything we can to make you happy." We all stood and watched the boxes being sorted for a few minutes, then I asked if I could see the new installation we were doing. All of us climbed up one level, to look at the new stuff. Abdul had been conspicuous by his absence last night, but he was here today. He was doing something with the new sort controller. Apparently he had just installed his program PROM. We watched as he installed the processor board back into the rack. "Abdul! No!" Marty yelled, as Abdul reached for the main power switch. Abdul looked around as he pulled the big switch down. Everything stopped! I mean... everything. We had been yelling, just to be heard. Now, all was silent. "That son-of-a-bitch," Marty said as he headed toward the programmer. "I told him not to turn anything on until the wiring had been checked." "Marty!" I said sharply. He stopped and looked at me. "Get Sol, and find out what all got killed. I'll take care of Abdul." He looked for a minute like he was still going to go after the programmer, but finally he slumped and went looking for Sol. I looked at Driscol and he looked like he was going to have a heart attack. "I want that bastard off of this site," he said. "He won't even be working for Belding tomorrow, if he was told not to turn on the power, and he did it anyway. We don't want him as an employee, if that's the case." Jim nodded and turned on his heel and left. Missy was just standing there with her mouth open. "Come on, love," I said. "I want to get Abdul out of here before someone does him physical harm. He may be an idiot, but I don't want him assaulted." "Maybe I should stay here, Ed. I'm thinking of cutting his balls off." I laughed and pulled her along with me. Abdul was still standing in front of the new sort controller when we got to where he was. "What happened?" he asked. "We're not sure, Abdul. Did Marty tell you not to turn the power on until the wiring had been checked?" "Yes, but I didn't think it would hurt to turn it on to the new sort controller." "Well, obviously it did hurt. You've not only killed the new sort controller, you've also shut down the entire warehouse." "I didn't know it would do that. You can't blame me if someone made a wiring mistake." "No, but I can blame you for turning the system on, when you were told not to. Pack up your stuff and head back to the office, Abdul. GM wants you off the site, immediately." "They can't do that! This is my program. I need to test it." "Not here, you don't. Now get out of here before I get as angry as everyone else is." "But..." "No 'buts'. Get out of here!" Missy and I stood and watched as Abdul packed up his computer and left. Somehow, our hands found each other and it was at least some comfort. "This is going to be bad, isn't it?" Missy asked. "I'm afraid so, love. I don't know what happened, but with everything stopping so suddenly, it must be very bad." ------- It was bad. The installers were still wiring the system and they hadn't checked anything out as yet. One wire that was supposed to be hooked to the 5 volt bus had been inadvertently hooked to the 110 volt bus. Both the new sort controller and the old sort controller were wiped out. Everything else had stopped when the breakers tripped. Marty and Sol evaluated everything, and got back with me within half an hour. I called Gene and told him what had happened. I asked him to get a complete new sort controller rack sent out. "When I talked to them yesterday, they didn't have all of the boards they needed to make up a rack," Gene said. "That's why they had to strip one out of a complete unit. I can send the mother board, and the I/O boards, but they don't have a processor board." "Okay, get what you can on the way, counter to counter. I'll see if Driscol has a spare processor board." Next was the hard part. I called everyone together, including Driscol. He looked like he could chew up logs, and spit out toothpicks. "Gentlemen," I said, "and lady. This situation was brought on by one of ours. I know we put in a maximum effort last night, getting the system going. But that was all wiped out by one careless act by one arrogant person, who didn't think the rules applied to him. That's not going to happen again." No one said anything, but I knew everyone agreed. "Jim, do you guys have a spare processor board we can use until we can get a new one shipped in?" "Yes," he said short and curt. "A new sort controller rack should be at the airport within a couple of hours. Figure six hours to wire the new rack and another fifteen minutes to enter the training parameters we figured in last night. We should have the system up and running again within eight hours." Driscol nodded, and I said to him, "Jim, we are all very sorry this happened. We're going to do our damnedest to get you back operating as quickly as possible. I'll give Mike Severt a call later, and find out if there's any way we can compensate you for your time lost." "No," Driscoll interrupted. "If I said I wasn't upset by this, I'd be lying. I am upset. The guy who turned the power on without the wiring being checked, should be castrated. The rest of you have done an outstanding job so far, and I appreciate it. If you can get the system operational again in eight hours, we'll make up the down time." "Thanks, Jim." We had the system up and trained again, in seven hours and twenty-three minutes. We were all exhausted. Week 6 - Saturday We all gathered at GM on Saturday morning. Marty said he was going to head home. "Marty, Missy and I will be back on Monday," I told him. "We're going to spend the weekend here and make sure everything is working properly on Monday morning." "Okay." "The design for the new slot controller is lying on your desk," Missy told him. "If you approve, there is also the name of the company and the contact for getting a board laid out. There are drawings and dimensions for the board and for the positioning of the parts that have to match the case." "Okay. It works?" "Yep," Missy grinned. "The same concept will work for a system that does a lot more as well. I'll write up the specs for everything a new system will do, when I get back." "Cool. I guess I'll see you all Monday, then." Marty shook hands with each of us, and took off. I also dismissed the controls engineers, and told them to go home. ------- I lost track of how many times Missy and I made love that afternoon. At one point she said, "You are really a take-charge guy in a crisis. Do you have any idea how much that turns me on?" Well, I did have an idea and I told her so. Later, we went out to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for dinner. They not only have some of the best beef in the U.S.; their seafood, especially their lobster, is to die for. We had a wonderful meal and went back to the room and made love again. It was a heavenly Saturday. Week 6 - Sunday I don't know why I did it when I did. We were snuggling and cuddling after we woke up on Sunday morning. We had each made a necessary trip to the bathroom and could completely relax. I put my arms around Missy and I looked into her eyes. "Missy," I said, "I love you more than I ever thought it would be possible to love anyone. Will you marry me?" Missy looked totally stunned, then in a small voice, she said, "Yes." "Just yes?" I asked as I hugged her to me. "No, it's not just yes. I'm just stunned. Ed, I love you every bit as much as you love me. I just never expected you to ask me to marry you." "Why not, love?" "You are a very important man, Ed. I am just a junior level engineer, who until recently was just a secretary." "Missy, we come from similar backgrounds. We are both intelligent. I'm very attracted to you, and apparently you are attracted to me. I love you and you love me. Why in the world wouldn't I want to marry you?" "I don't know. I'm just glad you do. I want you to meet my parents, Ed. They still live on the farm, outside of Muncie, Indiana. Do you think we could go down and visit them sometime soon?" "I think that is an excellent idea, Sweetheart. My parents only live about twenty miles from where we live now. How about we go over and visit them, this weekend? I've only seen them once since I've been back from California, and I'd certainly like for them to get to know you." Missy giggled and said, "Taking you to meet my parents is one thing. Going to meet yours scares the crap out of me. What if they hate me?" "They won't hate you, love. Even if they did, it wouldn't change how I feel about you." That must have been the right thing to say. Missy attacked me as if there would be no tomorrow. Edited By TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 13 Week 7 - Monday Missy and I had a nice leisurely breakfast, then drove back to GM. I knew everything was okay before anyone even said anything to me... Jim Driscol met us with a big smile on his face. "How'd it go?" I asked. "They had to run two shifts on Sunday, but everything ran smoothly. The maintenance guys had to make one minor change in the sort controller's training, but that was a five-minute job." "Are you all caught up, then?" "All caught up. I know this is going to sound vindictive, Ed, but we don't want the young man who caused that second failure back on site. The plant manager and my boss agree. Even if it takes longer to get the new system in and operating, they want someone else to do it." "I don't have a problem with that," I said. "I'm not sure who else Marty has, who can do it, but we'll work with you." "Actually, Jerry Bostwick was the man who designed the software, and did most of the programming," Missy said. "Why isn't he the one on the job site, then?" I asked. "Jerry has a broken leg. He's in a walking cast and he gets around pretty well, but they didn't think he could handle the ladders." Driscol laughed and said, "We'll assign a cherry picker to him that he can use as an elevator. There's more than one way to skin a cat." "Okay, we'll assign someone to him to be his gofer. We should be able to get hold of a golf cart for him to get around in, at ground level," I said. We talked for a few more minutes, then Missy and I took off to catch our plane home. I managed to upgrade us to first class, again, so the trip was pleasant. ------- When we got back to the plant, Missy took off to R&D and I went in to see Mike. I gave him a rundown on everything that had happened at GM and then watched as he thought over all I had told him. "Well, it could have been worse," he said. "So, what do we do about this Abdul character?" "I don't think we have any choice in what we do with him. Mike, he didn't even seem sorry that it happened. He just said that we couldn't blame him that someone had made a wiring error. I told him we could blame him for turning the power on, when he had been told not to, and he just shrugged it off. I think we have to fire him." Mike nodded. "That would probably be best. This other guy knows the new sort controller program as well as Abdul?" "Better. Jerry Bostwick designed the program. Abdul just did some of the programming. We didn't send Jerry to the site because he has a broken leg." "Okay, fire him. How did everyone else do in the crisis situation?" "Except for being a buffer between their engineer and our people, I just sat back and watched Marty Dunn handle things. He did an excellent job. The controls engineers Gene sent down were all competent and all of them were willing to put in as many hours as the job required. I didn't hear any grumbling at all." "I understand you took Missy Gerard with you. How did she do?" "Missy was right in there working with the rest of them. As far as I'm concerned, she did an excellent job. It was Marty that requested she be there." "Are you and Missy still dating?" "Mike, I've asked Missy to marry me. She said 'yes'. Is that going to be a problem?" "Not as far as I'm concerned. As far as the company is concerned, as your wife, she can work directly for you. Congratulations, Ed." "Thank you, Mike. Missy is a ball of fire as far as work goes. I'm really proud of how she has jumped in on this slot controller thing." "Ed, I realized something when all of this information started filtering back about Pete, after he had retired. I realized I had lost touch with what was going on, in the company I was supposed to be running. I decided I needed to do something about that, so I've been keeping better track of things that are going on." "I noticed that you had missed a lot, Mike, but I didn't want to say anything." "Well, one thing I've been keeping track of is your relationship with Missy, and how it affected either of you at work. So far, I haven't seen any adverse affect at all. From what I've heard from independent sources, Missy was a house afire at GM. I also heard that the two of you acted with the proper propriety." "Thank you, Mike. Another person I should mention is Jim Shear. I've had him paired up with Alan Sharp since I moved him in to Project Management. I've talked to Alan a couple of times since Jim started working with him. So far, it doesn't seem to be working out." "How's that?" "Alan says Jim is surly and uncooperative. Alan isn't sure if it is just a personality conflict between him and Shear, but he says he's ready to stuff Jim down a manhole." "What are you going to do about it?" "Mike, I want to give him every chance. I'm going to put him with Paul Freund for a couple of weeks and see how that works out. If he can't get along with Freund, I'll have to fire him." "Your choice, Ed. Fire him now if you think you need to. When it comes time you feel you have to do it, just go ahead." "Okay, Mike. I think putting Marty in that position has been a good decision. He's tackling things with vigor. There were no complaints at all from him, when I asked him to go to Libby and crawl around in the mud for a few days. Also, he really pulled things together at GM." "I'm getting good reports on him, too. 'Sales' says he's a godsend. How is Gene doing?" "Believe it or not, I think Gene is coming along. He's had a big attitude change, and is showing some of the management qualities I'd hoped were there." "Did you know he and his wife have separated?" Mike asked. "No, but it doesn't surprise me. I heard she was a very dominating person. Gene seems happier than he's been since I got here." "I've heard that myself, in the last few days. I don't suppose we've heard anything more about Mr. Patrick Miller?" "I'm afraid not. Is our insurance going to cover the stolen car?" "I hate to tell you this, but I've found out that we're self-insured on something like this. We'll be stuck with the entire bill." ------- I decided to go to R&D and talk with Marty about the Order Picker system and about Abdul. He seemed genuinely glad to see me when I knocked and went into his office. "How's it going, Marty?" I asked. "Not too bad. Here, let me show you something." I sat down across from him and he said, "I just wanted to show you the package our most junior engineer left for me, when she went to Atlanta. I don't expect you to go through everything, but just glance through it." I took the folder and started leafing through it. There was, of course, a schematic. Then there was a drawing showing the shape and dimensions we'd need to have laid out by a design house. Next came a drawing showing where certain components that had to interface with the case were located. Everything was dimensioned, and tolerances were shown. The drawings looked like 'release drawings', rather than something an engineer had thrown together. The next sheet showed two design houses that could lay out the boards, and their costs and lead times. The next document recommended a manufacturer who could make the board and populate it for us. This also included the lead times for different quantities. Next there were documents that established the communications protocol between the main console and the slot controllers. I was impressed. I must have been showing it, because when I looked up at Marty, he was smiling like a kid at Christmas. "You cannot imagine how happy I am that Missy is working for me." "So, what kind of a timetable are we talking about on this?" I asked. "Well, it's going to be at least two weeks before we can expect the layout to be complete. Then, we'll get a half a dozen boards made and we'll install components so we can test them. Missy already has parts ordered to build them. After we're satisfied with them it'll take about a month before we can have production quantities built and are ready to start installing them." "What do you have Missy scheduled for at the end of this week and the beginning of next week?" I asked. "Nothing urgent. I'm going to have her checking into all of our current product for anything we're having trouble getting parts for." "I haven't mentioned this to Missy yet, but would it be a problem if she took Friday and Monday off?" "No," Marty said. Then he grinned and asked, "Are you planning a big weekend?" "She wants me to meet her parents. This might be the best weekend to do that." "I'll tell you what," Marty said as he stood up. "I'm going to take a walk. I'll send Missy in so you can ask her." Marty was grinning like an idiot when he left his office. Missy came in a few minutes later. I closed the door behind her. She looked at me quizzically, so I asked, "It's about a three-hour drive down to Muncie, isn't it?" "Yes... Three to four hours." "How would you like for us to drive down to your parents' place on Friday, and come back on Monday?" Missy squeaked and threw her arms around me. Then she kissed me like she meant it. "You're going to get so lucky, tonight," she said when we broke apart. "Does that mean that you want to go?" "I'll have to talk to Marty, and see if I can take the time off." "That's already taken care of, love. Do you think your parents will mind if you show up with a fiancé?" "They'll be tickled to death. They think I'm an old maid." "Well, you are getting a little long in the tooth," I said... just before she hit me. ------- I had an errand to run that afternoon. When I got back to the office, I told Brenda I was going to be gone for a while. Actually, I didn't get back into the office for almost two hours. Missy called her mom as soon as we got home, and asked her if she could come home on a visit this weekend. "Well of course, child," Mrs. Gerard said. "You know you're welcome to come home any time." "Well, this time I'm going to be bringing someone with me I'd like for you to meet." "Who's that, Missy?" "My fiancé." "Your what?" "My fiancé, Mom. I've been dating this really nice guy and yesterday he asked me to marry him. I said 'yes'." "How well do you know this guy, honey?" "Well enough to say 'yes', when he asked me to marry him." "He's not just after your money, now that you're an engineer, is he?" "Mom, this guy is the vice president of the entire engineering department. He's not after my money." "Well, your Dad and I would definitely like to meet him. When are you coming down?" "We'll be coming down on Friday and we won't be coming back until Monday. Uh... Mom... uh... we'll only need one bedroom." There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds, then Mrs. Gerard said, "Okay, honey. I hope you know what you're doing." "I do, Mom. Ed is the most wonderful man I've ever met. I'm sure you and Dad are going to love him, just as much as I do." Mrs. Gerard laughed and said, "We may, honey. But I'm sure we won't love him in the same way that you do." Missy turned six shades of red, and then she started giggling. "I certainly hope not, Mom," she finally got out. ------- Missy was right. I did get very lucky that night! Week 7 - Tuesday Missy was running late the next morning, so I went on in and got myself some breakfast in the cafeteria. I had just started eating when I saw Marty Dunn. I caught his attention and waved him over to my table. After he was seated I asked, "What do you suggest we do about Abdul?" "Normally I'd say that everyone makes mistakes. In this case, I just can't see as he even thinks of what he did as a mistake on his part." "Why do you say that?" "Well, down there he told you, 'You can't blame me because someone made a wiring error.' When you told him you could blame him for turning the power on when he had been told not to, he said that he had a right to turn the power on, so he could test his program. I had basically the same conversation with him yesterday. The only difference was, this time he started talking about 'those incompetent electricians'." "Marty, I don't think he's someone you want working for you. When you're the boss, you are responsible for whatever your employees do. You get to bask in the accomplishments of those who do well, but you share the blame with the ones who screw up." "So, you think I should fire him." "I know you're new at this management thing, Marty. If you'd like, I'll do it for you this time." "No. I'll do it. I agree with you. He isn't someone we want working for us. Uh... I am new at this. Could you maybe sit in, when I do it?" "Sure, Marty. Firing someone, or even giving them a reprimand is very hard. It's easiest on both of you if you get it done quickly. In this case, it should be straightforward, with no apologies on your part. You need to get his company credit card and his company ID card. If he starts to argue with you, just tell him you don't want to hear it." "Yeah, that's what I've read. It sounds so easy when you're taking 'Management 101', but when you really have to do it, your stomach ties itself in knots." "What ties your stomach in knots?" Missy asked as she sat down beside me. "Firing someone," I said. "Who are you going to fire?" she asked Marty. "You," I said. "The charge is fraternizing with management." Missy stuck her tongue out at me and said, "Then you should be fired for fraternizing with the peons." "What's all this fraternizing?" Brenda asked as she joined us. "That's best left untold," I said. Missy giggled. ------- I went to Marty's office with him, and we waited for Abdul. He was late. Marty had some 'pie in the sky' projects he wanted to talk about, so we batted them around for over half an hour. Finally, we saw Abdul come wandering in. Marty immediately called him into his office. Abdul stood, looking defiant. "I hope this is not more bullshit about what happened at GM," he said. "I'm afraid it is, Abdul," Marty said in a strong, surprisingly calm voice. "What you did at GM cost the company a lot of money. It also strained our relationship with a very good customer. All of that might have been forgiven if you admitted you screwed up, and resolved not to do it again. Since you didn't, we have no choice but to let you go." "What do you mean, let me go?" "I mean, you're fired. You no longer work for Belding. I need your company credit card, and your company ID card. I'll go with you while you clean out your desk." "You can't do this to me. You are just covering up for your incompetent electricians. My uncle, Hassan, is a very important attorney. We'll sue you for this." "That's about enough, Abdul. Give me your credit card and your ID card, before I have to call security." "You will pay for this," Abdul said as he handed over his credit and ID cards. Marty got up and followed Abdul to his cubicle. Missy's cubicle was right next door to Abdul's so I went over to her cubicle to wait until Abdul had gone. She looked at me questioningly, so I just pointed toward where Marty was watching and mouthed, "Abdul is fired." Missy nodded, then she looked around to see if anyone could see us, then she squeezed my hand. ------- I called Mel when I got back to my office and asked him if he'd been able to find anything out about Tom Higgins. "Well, I've talked to a few people about him," he said. "Some of them say he is acting a little more strange than is normal for him. I don't think it's anything to worry about, though." "Okay, Mel. Keep an eye on him, will you? With everything else that's going on, I worry about everything." Thank God, the rest of the morning went quietly. ------- I had lunch with Missy and Brenda. As we headed back to our respective areas, I told Brenda I had a quick errand to run. It only took me about a half an hour to pick up what I had purchased, yesterday. When I got back, I asked Brenda to come into my office, and shut the door. "Do you think Missy will like this?" I asked as I handed her the little box I had picked up. Brenda opened the box and her eyes got big. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "This is beautiful, Ed. How big is it?" "It's just a little over a carat," I said. "I asked her to marry me the other day and she accepted. I thought it was time to make it official." Brenda smiled. "She told me you'd asked. This is beautiful, Ed. The setting is wonderful. I'm sure she'll love it." "I'm going to give it to her tonight, so not a word out of you to her until then." ------- There is a restaurant in our town that is located on the top floor of the tallest building in the city. The view is fantastic, taking in a large part of the city and the river that winds through it. I had reservations for seven thirty. I had told Missy to get all gussied up, and I wore my nicest suit. When the waiter had seated us, I ordered a bottle of their best champagne and a shrimp cocktail for each of us. Missy smiled at me and asked, "So, what is the special occasion?" "I just wanted to enjoy your company after a hard couple of weeks," I said. The waiter brought out the champagne and served it to us. I held up my hand in a 'wait' motion, before Missy could lift her glass. I said, "Just a moment, Love. I'd like to propose a toast." Missy smiled and nodded. I stood up, and then knelt beside her chair. "In the seven weeks I've known you, I've come to love you more than life itself. Before I met you, I had accomplished things, but they were empty, because I didn't have anyone to share them. Now, I feel complete for the first time in my life. Missy Gerard, will you marry me?" Her eyes were bright and shiny as she said, "Yes, Ed. I'll marry you." I pulled the ring box out of my pocket, and opened it. "Will you wear my ring, to show the world that we belong together?" Missy gasped as she saw the ring for the first time. "My God, Ed. It's beautiful. Of course I'll wear your ring." She extended her left hand to me and I slipped the ring on her finger. She looked at the place we both knew it would stay for the rest of our lives, then she threw her arms around my neck and kissed me like we were alone. Sometime later I became aware that people were applauding us. Missy must have realized it too, because we pulled apart by mutual consent. I got back in my chair and lifted my glass. "To us. A couple. From now until the end of time." Both of us had tears leaking as we sipped our wine. Week 7 - Friday Wednesday and Thursday went off without a hitch. All of a sudden it was Friday morning, and we were getting ready to take off for Muncie, Indiana. We stopped before we even got out of town and got some breakfast. We weren't in any hurry. "How long of a trip is it, honey?" I asked. "Probably around four hours. That's including a couple of pit stops. If we stop for lunch, it'll take a little longer." "Well... I'll have to admit I'm not in a big hurry to get there. I probably shouldn't tell you this, because you think of me as 'Ed, the VP', but I'm scared to death about meeting your parents." Missy took my hand and gave it a squeeze. "You shouldn't be afraid to meet them, honey. They're going to love you." Missy giggled then added, "They thought I was going to be an old maid, so they'll probably offer you half of everything they own." Edited By TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 14 The drive down was really pleasant. I think Missy and I both just forgot about work for the first time in weeks. We chatted about everything under the sun except work, as we drove. We did stop for a quick lunch not far north of Muncie. I let Missy take over driving for the last part of the trip, since she knew where we were going. It was interesting for me to look at the farms we were passing. The land was as flat as a table. Sometimes you could see three or four farmhouses off in the distance. They were widely separated. Many of them had a few trees around the houses, but the rest of the land was open fields. As Missy piloted us toward her parents' farm, the roads got progressively smaller. We had turned off of I-69 onto a well-traveled two-lane highway, then onto a paved county road. Finally, we turned onto a dirt road that Missy said was their 'farm road'. We stopped in the yard of a two-story white farmhouse. There were two large maple trees in the front yard, and three huge oaks in the back yard. The farm looked to be well maintained and the grounds around the house looked like something out of a magazine. An older version of Missy came out of the house, wiping her hands on her apron. Missy saw her, and jumped out of the car. The two women hugged. I saw the older woman appraising me as I walked toward them. "Lands sakes, girl. You didn't tell me he was a handsome devil," Missy's mother said. "Mom, this is my fiancé, Ed Delany. Ed, this is my mother, Alice Gerard," Missy said. "I'm pleased to meet you, Mrs. Gerard," I said. "Please, call me Alice, or Al. It's nice meeting you, too, Ed. I was beginning to wonder if Missy was ever going to trap a man." "I think the trapping went the other way, Al. I went after her." "I like to let him think that, Mom," Missy laughed. "Well... come on inside, kids. I just made a fresh pot of coffee. Missy, your Dad had to run into town to get something or other. He'll be back shortly, unless he runs into someone he wants to talk to." Mother and daughter both laughed, then Missy said, "Dad is a talker. I probably should have warned you about him. He can talk your ears off when he's in the mood." I sat and listened as Missy and her mom talked about relatives and friends. Alice was trying to catch Missy up on what was happening with more people than I could keep straight. The only thing that kept me from being bored out of my mind, was Missy's hand holding mine. Finally, Alice asked, "Ed, are you always the strong, silent type; or are we just overpowering you?" "More like 'overpowering'," I said. "Don't let him kid you, Mom. He is strong. He's also the most intelligent person I've ever met," Missy said as she gave me a smile. "It was his brains, rather than his brawn that caused me to fall in love with him." "So, Ed. Missy says you're some kind of big shot. What do you do, exactly?" Alice asked. "I wouldn't say I'm a big shot, Alice. I'm just the vice president of engineering." "What does that mean?" "It means I get to sit back and watch all of the engineers work." "Mom, Ed has four engineering departments that report to him. I work in Research and Development, then there's the Computer Aided Design Department, The Electrical Engineering Department and the Mechanical Engineering Department. All of the Project Managers report to him, as well." Alice grinned and looked at me. "That sounds like pretty much of a big shot to me. Is there a President of Engineering?" I blushed, and Missy said, "No, Mom. Ed reports directly to the president of the company. It's very impressive to watch him work." Missy turned and winked at me. I knew she was thinking about my head going down between her thighs. "We're just simple farm people, Ed. I hope we don't bore you to death this weekend," Alice said. "My parents are farmers. I grew up on a farm," I said. "We have a blueberry farm, but I think they might have to give it up before long. Dad had a stroke a while back, and he's having a hard time keeping up with the work." "That's really a shame. I've often wondered what would happen to us if something like that happened to Paul. I'm only in my mid forties, and Paul just turned fifty, so we're far too young to retire." "That's the way Dad feels, too. Dad is just about Paul's age. It seems like people are having strokes and heart attacks at a lot younger age than they did before. When Dad was in the hospital with his stroke, there were several men in there who had bypass surgery in their early forties." Missy, Alice and I talked comfortably for a couple of hours, until Paul came home. When he came into the kitchen, I almost lost it. He was your stereotypical farmer, from his gumboots to his bib overalls. Missy introduced us and I wondered if we'd have anything at all in common. This just goes to show that looks don't mean a thing. As Paul joined in the conversation, I found myself really liking him. If I had been in Alice and Paul's position, I don't know if I could have been as gracious to my daughter's boyfriend, especially since she had announced to them that she would be sharing a bed with me. They didn't even act like it was an issue. "So, Ed," Alice said after a while, "how did you and Missy meet?" I had to laugh. "Well, the first time I saw Missy, she let me know that she thought I was lower than a snake's belly, because I was an engineer. I decided immediately that I hated her and that I didn't want anything to do with her. Then the company we work for decided in all its wisdom that she would be my secretary." Paul laughed. "That's my girl. She never did hold anything back. I think that's why she never dated in high school or while she was at Ball State." "No, Dad, I never dated during that time because I was about four years younger than the kids I was around." Alice looked at me and said, "Missy did date one guy while she was at MIT. That only lasted about three months though. I never did know why they broke up." "We broke up, because after he got what he wanted, he lost interest in me," Missy said defiantly. "After Ed got what he wanted, he just decided he wanted more." Paul laughed again and said, "Like I said, my little girl never did hold anything back." "I always did know," Alice said, "that when Missy found the right man, she wouldn't have any doubts and that it would be forever. I think she's finally found the right man." Missy grinned and said, "I sure did, Mom. Here's the proof." Missy held out her ring finger and Alice oo-ed and ah-ed over it for a while. Paul just sat back looking smug. ------- Paul had to show me around the farmyard and the barn while Missy and her mom cooked dinner. Everything was clean and everything was put in its proper place. I told him about my parents' blueberry farm. "We just love blueberries," he said. "The only problem is the ones we can get around here aren't very good. When I was a kid, my brother and I went up into Michigan one summer and picked blueberries. They were huge, and were as sweet as honey. The ones we get down here aren't very sweet at all, and they're not any bigger than a pea." I had to smile, because I knew what he meant. "The ones Dad raises are as big around as a quarter and they've got the best flavor of any I've ever found. I'll have him send you down a case of them when they're ripe." Paul's eyes lit up, but he said, "I couldn't let you do that, Ed. I'd buy a case of them though." "Just consider it a bribe for letting me marry your daughter," I grinned. Paul laughed and said, "I don't have one bit of say in that, Ed. Missy has a mind of her own. Has she decided when you're going to get married?" "No, or at least she hasn't told me if she has. You're right, though. Missy does have a mind of her own. She has one of the best minds of anyone I've ever met." I went on to tell him about her work on the slot controller, and what all she had done at GM. Paul smiled a lot. You could see how proud of her he was. ------- We had a typical farm dinner, and I found that Alice was an excellent cook. We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, with carrots, peas and coleslaw. Afterwards, we talked for quite a while. Finally, Missy asked, "Are we going to be in my old room, Mom?" "Yes, I put on fresh sheets and tidied it up a little from the last time you were here. Do you guys have any plans for tomorrow?" "Not really. I thought I'd show Ed the high school and the Ball State campus. Other than that, there's not much to do in Muncie." "Your Aunt Charise asked if we'd all come over there for dinner tomorrow. Would that be okay with you guys?" Missy looked at me and I just smiled. I had no ideas who Aunt Charise was, but I figured Alice was just wanting to show off Missy's fiancé. I didn't mind. I knew Mom would want to do the same thing when we visited them. "That'd be fine, Mom. I haven't seen Jenny or Sue in years. I'll bet they're all grown up." "Jenny is away at college, but Sue will be there. She's a senior in high school." Missy and I said our goodnights and went up to bed. I must say I was a little embarrassed to be taking these nice peoples' daughter off to bed in their own house, but Missy didn't let that slow her down when we got into her room. She attacked me immediately. After she had kissed me silly, she said, "I've been wanting to do that all afternoon. Now, big guy, get naked. You're going to get very lucky tonight." I did, and I did. We kissed and cuddled for a while, but when I started to go down on Missy, she stopped me. She rolled me on my back and mounted me like a cowgirl. I don't think I had ever seen her as enthusiastic as she was while she rode me to two orgasms. Then she rolled over on her back and told me to get on top. I had reached a point when she was riding me that I had nearly had my own climax when she'd had her last one. I wasn't going to last long and I told her so. I shouldn't have worried because she was right with me. Afterwards, we cuddled and basked in the afterglow. "I used to lay here in this bed and dream about this," Missy said after a while. "I'd dream that I met this wonderful man and that we'd fall in love. We'd get to know each other and when the time was right, we'd make love on this bed. I never dreamed or imagined that making love would ever be as good as it is with you." I hugged her tight and kissed her. "I never experienced anything like this, Missy. Having sex with my ex was good, but it couldn't compare to this." "When I had sex with the guy at MIT, I thought I was in love with him and that he was in love with me. I learned fairly quickly that all he had wanted was to bag a cherry. It completely threw me off men for a long while." "I can see how it would have," I said. "I love you, Missy, with all of my heart, now and forever." Missy had tears running from her eyes when she said, "I love you, too." Week 7 - Saturday I had felt a little embarrassed last night, when Missy had led me off to her bedroom. I figured it would be even worse this morning, talking with her parents after having spent the night with her. Indeed, it did start out that way. Alice talked with us as if we were already married and that started to relax me. Then, Paul came in from doing his morning chores. He got himself a cup of coffee, and sat across from his daughter. He looked Missy in the eye, then said, "Well, young lady, I see that you take after your mother." "Paul, that's enough of that," Alice said reprovingly. "What do you mean, Dad?" Missy asked. "Your mother gets real noisy when we're making love, too." Alice slapped him around on the back of his head, then she hugged him. Missy turned the brightest red I had ever seen her. "Paul Gerard, you just might not hear me get noisy for a very long time," Alice said, then she started laughing. "Daddy, that wasn't very nice," Missy said. Paul winked at me, so I said, "I thought it was very nice." "What he said?" Missy turned to me and asked. "No, last night," I said. Missy leaned her head over against my chest, and hid her face behind her arm. I swear I felt the heat from her face. "Men!" Alice said scathingly. "Don't you worry about it, honey. If they didn't like it, they wouldn't brag about it." ------- Missy did show me around Muncie, but as she said, there wasn't a lot to see. Missy showed me all of the schools she had gone to in the area, then she took me down McGalliard Street. It had more restaurants in a shorter distance than I had ever seen in a comparably sized town. We had lunch in one of them and shortly after we headed back to her house. Paul and Alice were waiting for us. It was time to head out, so Alice could show off her future son-in-law to her sister. Charise and Al Coleman seemed like nice people. I didn't know what to make of their daughter, Sue. She's a pretty young woman. From Missy's parents saying she is a senior in high school, I figure she must be around seventeen or eighteen. When Alice introduced us all, we all stood around talking for a few minutes. While we were standing there, Missy had her arm around my waist. Sue didn't say much at first, but as the afternoon progressed, she started talking more. Then she started teasing. Finally, she was outright flirting. ------- Later that evening as Missy and I were enjoying a post coital cuddle, Missy said, "So, you made quite a conquest today, didn't you?" "You mean Sue?" I asked with a smile. "Sue is a sweet girl. I hope I was never that obvious when I had a crush on an older man," Missy giggled. "She does seem like a sweet girl," I said. "That was quite an ego boost." "Just don't let it go to your head, big boy. You're already taken." "Thank God," I said as I held her to me. Week 7 - Sunday "Do your parents always go to church on Sunday?" I asked as Missy and I were getting dressed. "No more than about once a month," Missy laughed. "I think they want to show off their future son-in-law." "They must like me then," I grinned. "Mom thinks you are fantastic. I heard her talking to Charise yesterday. I wouldn't have expected her to say anything bad about you to me, but she would have been honest with Charise." "Well, I guess you're stuck with me then, honey." "Umm, I don't think stuck is the word I'd use," Missy purred. ------- Church was interesting, although it did seem a little cut and dried. Afterwards was even more interesting. Of course, Alice and Paul had to introduce me to at least twenty people. I couldn't remember any of their names five minutes after the introductions. Missy introduced me to one young woman, who she said had been a friend growing up. Then, she squeezed my arm and said quietly, "Oh, shit!" "What's wrong, honey?" I asked. "The bimbo with the big tits coming toward us was a real pain in the ass to me when I was a kid. Her parents have a little money, so she thought she was queen of the school." "Let's do a number on her," I whispered. "Just follow my lead." Missy grinned and nodded. "Well, if it isn't little Missy," the bimbo said. "Who's your friend?" "Barbara, this is my fiancé, Ed Delany. Ed, this is Barbara Banbridge." "It's nice to meet you, Barbara," I said. "My goodness, Missy. Your fiancé? I heard you were working as a secretary. How did you find yourself a man?" "Actually, I found her," I said. "Missy isn't a secretary. She's a Research and Development Engineer. Actually, she's the best R&D Engineer at the company we work for." "Ed is the Vice-President of Engineering," Missy smirked. "Well, you know what they say about vice-presidents. They're only second best," Barbara sneered. "Ed isn't second best at anything," Missy said. "He's the absolute tops." "Well! If you're so good, Ed, how come you're with Missy?" "Maybe it's because I'm more attracted to brains, than I am to tits," I said. "Or, maybe it's because I'm more attracted to good breeding and good manners. Or, maybe it's because I think Missy is the most beautiful woman who ever walked the face of this earth, present company included." I hadn't realized Alice was so close, but now I heard her cracking up. I looked at her. She gave me a thumbs up, as she tried to control her giggles. Barbara just snorted, and walked away. ------- When we got back to Missy's parents' place, Alice had to tell Paul what I had said. He cracked up then turned to Missy. "Daughter, it looks like you've found a man who is as outspoken as you are." We spent most of the rest of the day just talking with Missy's parents. I had been nervous to meet them, but now I realized that I was going to miss them when we headed back north." Week 8 - Monday We had a nice breakfast with Alice and Paul, then Missy and I got on the road. The trip back was uneventful, and long; but the company made it very pleasant. Week 8 - Tuesday Missy, Brenda and I had breakfast together in the cafeteria before work. "You know," Missy said, "the last seven weeks have been about the busiest I've ever experienced. They've been rewarding though." She smiled at me and winked at Brenda. "So, how did your visit to your parents go?" Brenda asked. "It went very well indeed," I broke in. "Missy's parents are nice people." Missy laughed and said, "I was afraid I might lose him for a while there. My seventeen-year-old cousin started flirting with him." "Oh, God," Brenda said. "Was it one of those 'very obvious to everyone but her' things?" "Yeah," Missy laughed. "She'd have been as embarrassed as all hell, if she realized anyone knew what she was doing, and that everyone there was smiling behind their hands." "I thought it was cute," I said. "I certainly wouldn't want her to be embarrassed." "Of course you thought it was cute, boss," Brenda said. "It stroked your ego!" ------- Mel came in right after I had gotten settled and said, "I've been keeping an eye on Tom Higgins, like you asked. I think he is acting a little more strange than normal." "Strangely enough that we should do something?" "No... I really don't know what we could do. I am going to keep a close watch on him though. He's not due to go out of the office again for a month, so that gives us a little time." "How's everything else going?" I asked. "Pretty well, actually. We have one job where we're going to be a couple of days late turning it over to electrical. We had trouble getting one type of clamp. We were almost a week late in getting them. They're very specialized. The company we get them from is the only one that makes them." "Why don't you show one of them to Marty? Tell him how they're used and see if one of his guys can come up with something that'll work instead." "Okay, I can do that. How's Marty doing?" "I think he's doing a fine job. We dumped him into some pretty deep shit, and he's managed to keep his head." "Good. I talked with Shear a bit on Friday. He's not a happy man." "Well, he is scheduled to be with a different PM this week. Maybe that'll work out better." ------- Dale Klauss knocked on my door not long before lunch and asked if he could talk with me for a minute. After he was seated, he asked, "Do you know if there is any way we can trace what drawings someone was working on with our CADD system?" "I'm afraid I don't know much about the CADD program," I said. "Why?" "Well... Yesterday, I came up on Sam Huggleston as he was supposed to be working on the K-Mart job. When I came within sight of his monitor, what he had on there didn't look like any wiring drawing I had ever seen. He quickly flipped it to a different page and when I asked him to flip back to the drawing he had there before, I'll swear that what he brought up wasn't what had been there when I had walked up." "What did you do?" "I just let it drop. I didn't want him to get all shook up and delete what he had been doing." "Why don't you give the CADD software people a call? They may have something that will do the job. Most programs have a history, but if he's smart, he'll have deleted that." "Okay, I'll do that. They may have run into the same kind of thing before." ------- After Mel left I thought about what he thought he had seen. The operator could have been just playing, or he could have been working on a project of his own. A third alternative was that he was working on something for someone else, or for another company. In any case, he was wasting our company's time. Oh, well. That brought up the bucket of worms that we had been plunged into the last place I worked: computer games. I thought I'd better get Brenda to write a memo about playing computer games on company computers. ------- Missy was one happy young lady when she joined Brenda and me at lunch. "What are you flying so high about, girl?" Brenda asked. "Marty really likes my slot controller design! When he went over the system cost with me, we couldn't believe how much less expensive the new system is going to be." "That's good," I said. "Did you guys go over the list of features the sales guy said customers wanted?" "Yeah, and almost every one is incorporated into the new design I came up with. Marty made some phone calls and offered some bonuses for early completion to the people who are laying out our board and to the people who are going to be populating it. The bottom line is that we'll have five slot controller boards to test in just over a week." "How are the guys who are doing the programs doing? Are they going to be ready when you get the test units?" "'Good', and 'yes'," Missy grinned. "At least they tell me they are." "So, in a week you are going to be a very busy lady for a few days. Why don't we go and visit my parents this weekend then?" "Oh..." Missy looked at me with wide eyes. "When I said that to you, did you suddenly feel like you had swallowed a tennis ball?" Brenda and I both laughed. "I certainly did," I said. "I didn't let it keep me from going, though." "Oh, I won't let it keep me from going, either. Give them a call tonight, and see if it would be convenient for them." Edited By TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 15 "Hi, Mom. How are you guys?" I said when she had answered. "We're doing okay. Your Dad seems to be getting stronger every day. Gee, when I first answered I wondered who this man was, who was calling me Mom. I figured when you moved back to this area, we'd be getting a lot more phone calls." I had to laugh. "No guilt trips, Mom. Getting started in a new job takes up a lot of my time. The reason I called, is that I was wondering if it'd be okay if I came over this weekend." "You don't have to ask if you can come home. You know you're welcome any time." "I know, Mom. But this time, I'm going to be bringing someone along I'd like for you and Dad to meet." "Certainly. Who is this person?" "She is my fiancée, Mom. Her name is Missy Gerard." "Fiancée? You mean like in 'someone you're planning to marry'? Is this Ed, or do you have a wrong number?" "Yes, Mom. Like in someone I'm going to marry. Sarcasm doesn't become you, you know. Missy and I have been dating since I moved back here, and we're very much in love. We haven't set a date yet, but I think it'll be soon." "Honey, I am so happy for you. I know that slut you were dating before really hurt you. I'm so glad you found someone. When are you coming and how long are you going to stay?" "We were thinking we'd come over Saturday morning. How long we stay depends on you. Missy and I are living together. If we can share a bedroom in your house, we'll stay until Sunday evening. Otherwise, we'll come back Saturday evening." Mom laughed and said, "So, you want to shack up in your mama's house? Of course you can share a bedroom. I never thought you were a monk, Ed." Mom asked me a million questions before we finally hung up. She seemed like she was really happy for me. Missy was grinning when I turned to her, after I had placed the cordless phone on the table. "So, are we coming back on Saturday, or on Sunday?" she asked with a smile. "We're coming back on Sunday. The reason I put it to Mom that way is that she and Dad have always been a little prudish about sex. I didn't know how she'd feel about her little boy sleeping with a woman he isn't married to, while in her house." "I take it she didn't have a problem with it?" Missy asked. "Oh, she called you a slut and a few other things before she calmed down," I teased. Missy hit me on the shoulder and said, "She did not." "How do you know that?" I asked. "Because you'd have hung up on her," Missy grinned. Week 8 - Wednesday Why can't things be simple? I guess after a while, simple would become boring; but I've put out more brush fires in the last seven weeks at Belding, than I did in two years on my previous job. This week didn't look like it was going to be any better. Mel was waiting for me when I got in my office. "What's up, Mel?" I asked. "We've got a guy in the hospital, Ed. Jason Aldridge was on a job at Tipton Foods, and a Pick Rack he was working on collapsed. It happened a few minutes ago, and I don't know how badly he's hurt, yet." "Oh, shit. Do we know how it happened?" "Yeah, Ron Brice is the mechanical installer on site. He said they were removing some old pick racks and that they were having some problems on the third level up. Jason went up to take a look at it. Some idiot from Tipton ran into the rack with a forklift, and the whole thing collapsed." "Was anyone else hurt?" "Ron said one of his millwrights has a broken arm, but they were the only two on the rack when it went down. The millwright managed to ride it down, but Jason was caught between some supports. They had to cut him out. Ron said he was unconscious when they took him off to the hospital." "Tipton Foods is only about fifty miles from here, isn't it?" "Yeah. I'm on my way over there right now. I was wondering if you wanted to go along." "I think I should. We'll take my car. Grab anything and anyone you need, and meet me in the parking lot in five minutes." I called Missy and let her know I'd be gone for a while. Then I called Mike. I filled him in on what was going on. He agreed that I should go over there. Brenda was sympathetic and a little shook up. She knew the guy who had been hurt. ------- Mel met me in the parking lot. He had a young engineer by the name of Tim Jordan with him. We loaded up and headed out. The trip was on the Interstate, all the way. We were pulling in at Tipton in about forty-five minutes. The place was a madhouse. Ron Brice was a very competent Mechanical Installer in his mid thirties. Today he looked fifty. "Have you heard anything more about Jason?" Mel asked. "Yeah, he's in surgery," Ron said. "All we know so far is that he has a broken leg, several broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and a severe concussion. They're doing surgery for some kind of internal injuries, but I don't know what they are, yet." We went in and looked at the collapsed rack. It was a mess. "Was the guy who was driving the forklift hurt?" I asked. "I guess he did have a cut on his forehead, but nothing other than that. He'll be hurt a lot worse, if I get hold of him," Ron said. "Why's that, Ron?" I asked. "The idiot was racing with another idiot," Ron said. "I think they were either drunk, or high on something. They were standing there laughing as we were trying to cut Jason out of the wreckage." "Where are they now?" "I don't know. Some of the brass from Tipton came out, and took them away." "Mel, would you like to go with me and shake up a few people?" I asked. Ron was grinning as Mel and I walked toward the warehouse offices. ------- It took us almost a half an hour to get in to see the warehouse manager. When we did get to see him, I wasn't impressed. Fred Schmidt was a smarmy little man, to whom I took an immediate dislike. He was all smiles when he seated Mel and me in front of his desk. "What can I do for you, Mr. Delany?" he asked. "We're here about the accident," I said. "Yes, most unfortunate," he said. "We are in a warehouse though and accidents do happen." "Especially, if two forklifts are having a race inside the warehouse," I said. "There wasn't any racing going on, Mr. Delany. I can assure you of that. Our drivers do go fast, so that they can get our trucks loaded as fast as possible, but they are very careful." "That's not what I heard, Mr. Schmidt. Were the police called in to investigate?" "No, there was no need for that. It was an accident, pure and simple." "Where is the guy who was driving the forklift?" I asked. "He was very shook up, so I sent him home for the day." "Mr. Schmidt, my installer thinks your driver was either drunk or high. Did you have him tested?" "No, of course not. I resent your implications." "Mel, would you run out and call the local police please? I think we need to have this investigated." "There's no need of that," Schmidt said as Mel got up to make his call. "I'm sure we can work something out." Mel went ahead to make his call. I think he was getting about as angry with this bastard, as I already was. "Mr. Schmidt, I'd suggest you get the young man who was driving the forklift back in here, immediately. The police are going to want to talk to him." "Now see here, Mr. Delany, you can't go telling me how to run my warehouse." "Mr. Schmidt, if you don't cooperate on this, I'm going to see if my company can't file a civil suit against you personally, and against your company also." With that, I got up and left his office. I went back out to where Ron was standing, looking at the wreckage. "Their maintenance crew started to try to straighten up, but I stopped them," he said. "Are the police going to be notified?" "Mel is doing that right now. The plant manager didn't think it was necessary." "Well, I think it is. That driver was drunk or high, from the way he was acting." ------- It was almost an hour before a police detective and a uniformed cop showed up. They were escorted in to the scene by one of the maintenance people. Ron explained to them what had happened. The detective, Axel Griffin, asked where the driver was. "The plant manager sent him home," I said. "I told him to get him back here in case you wanted to talk to him." The detective shook his head and said, "Well, that wipes out any chance we might have had to see if he had been drinking. All he has to say now, is that he was so shook up he had a few drinks when he got home. There's no way we could prove differently." "So, what recourse do we have?" I asked. "Well, I think we should talk with the young man, anyway," the detective said. He turned to the uniformed policeman and asked him to see if he could find the driver. We stood and talked about what had happened until we saw the uniformed officer, Mr. Schmidt, and a young man walking toward us. "That's not the man who was driving. The man who was driving had a bad cut above his right eye," Ron said in a low voice. The detective got a big grin on his face at that. "This might be interesting," he said. Detective Griffin listened politely while Schmidt introduced the young man as being the forklift driver who had hit the rack. "So, tell me about the accident, young man," the detective said. Again, the detective listened while the young man told about being in a hurry to get another pallet to load on the truck, and how he had come around a corner a little too fast and hit the pick rack. "I'm really sorry this happened, officer. I guess I was in too much of a hurry, and lost control." "How far along were you in loading the truck?" Griffin asked. "I was about two-thirds through, sir." "What dock number were you loading on?" "Uh... Number forty-three, sir." "Well, young man, I have to tell you that witnesses to the incident don't describe it the way you do. These witnesses tell me that the driver who hit the rack, and another guy on another forklift, were racing. They say that the driver who hit the rack was looking over at the other driver and yelling something when they came around that corner. They also say the driver at fault hit his forehead, and had a pretty nasty cut above his right eye." The detective waited a moment then said, "I should tell you that if the engineer who was hurt dies, the driver that hit the rack is going to be arrested. He could get off as easy as three years in prison for involuntary manslaughter... or he could spend twenty years behind bars, for negligent homicide. Now, are you sure you were the driver of that forklift?" I thought the young man was going to crap himself. His hands were shaking and he was sweating. He looked around at Schmidt. "You didn't say anything about going to jail. I'm not going to lie and say I was driving, if I might go to jail," he said. Schmidt looked like he was going to run, but the uniformed officer stepped up beside him, and said something I couldn't hear. The detective nodded his head and said, "That's smart, son. Who was the driver?" "His name is Jeff Lyons." "Do you know if Mr. Lyons was drinking?" "I don't know it for a fact, but he probably was. He keeps a cooler in his locker. He might have been high, too. I've seen him and another guy toking in the parking lot a few times." "Do you know who he was racing with?" "Not for sure, but it was probably Phil Brickly. He's the guy Jeff hangs out with the most." "Why did you tell us you were the one driving?" The young man looked over at Schmidt, then turned back to the detective. "Mr. Schmidt told me to. He said he'd fire me if I didn't." "Thank you, son. Give your name and address to the officer here, and you can go. I think I'd be looking for a different job if I were you, though. Even if Schmidt doesn't fire you, I don't think I'd want to work for someone like him." ------- The two police officers took Schmidt off to an office, to interview him. Mel and I decided we were going to go to the hospital, to check on our man who had been hurt. "Is Jason married?" I asked Mel as we were driving over. "Yes. I asked Brenda to get in touch with his wife before we left. I've met her. She's a nice young woman." "I don't know how much they're going to tell us, since we're not family. Maybe his wife is there by now." ------- All we could find out from the hospital, was that Jason was still in surgery. They did tell us where the surgical waiting room was, so Mel and I went there. The room was almost empty. There were just two families in the room. Mel motioned toward one of them. A young woman, who had been obviously crying was sitting with an older couple. The young woman, Patty Aldridge, recognized Mel immediately. "Hi, Patty. Any word on Jason yet?" Mel asked. "They had to take his spleen and one of his kidneys, Mel. The surgeon came out a few minutes ago and said they're closing him up now. He says Jason's going to make it, but he's going to be laid up for a while." She had been holding things in; but now, they burst out again. The older woman got up and put her arms around Patty. Mel and I just stood there while she cried herself out. When Patty had calmed down a little, Mel said, "Nothing that happened was Jason's fault, Patty. He was checking out something on a pick rack, when some idiot on a forklift hit the rack and caused it to collapse." "Patty? I'm Ed Delany," I said. "I know this is going to be hard on you emotionally, but I'm going to make sure that you and your family aren't hurt financially. The forklift driver was at fault. I'll make sure Tipton pays for everything, including lost wages while Jason is off of work." "Hi, Mr. Delany. I saw you at the going away party. If you can help, I would certainly appreciate it," she said with a sad little smile. "Worker's comp doesn't go very far, and I have a new baby, so I'm not working." "Don't worry about it, Patty. Belding will continue paying Jason's salary, and we'll advance any money you need for Jason's care. We'll let our lawyers fight it out with Tipton's lawyers. And please, call me Ed." "Thank you, Ed." Patty introduced us to her parents and told us that Jason's parents would be flying in later today, from Texas. We talked with all of them for a while, then Mel and I decided we should head home. We made a brief stop back at Tipton's and talked with Ron Brice for a few minutes. We gave him a rundown on Jason's condition. I said, "I don't know what's going to happen on this, Ron. I don't think you should do anything with the pick rack for the time being." "I wouldn't be able to do anything, anyway," he said. "The police have put up crime scene tape all around the area, and have forbidden anyone to enter it. We've got some things in another part of the warehouse we can be working on for a few days though." "Okay, keep on that until you hear from Mel. We're going to have to let the lawyers sort things out." ------- Mel and I stopped at Chili's for a late lunch, then headed home. The first person I called when I got back, was Missy. I let her know I was home. Of course she wanted to know what was going on, so I gave her the condensed version. Next, I called Mike and let him know what was going on. I told him what I had told Jason's wife. He agreed we'd take care of them. "What do you think this Schmidt character is up to?" he asked. "I think he figured out right away that his driver was drunk or on drugs, and he figured he'd be held responsible if that came out." "Well, I think we should be sure his home office is aware of the situation. I have a friend who is at Tipton corporate. I think I'll give him a call." "Who knows how much this guy might be trying to cover up? Also, be sure and mention to your friend that Schmidt tried to bring in a ringer." "Yeah, that's what pisses me off the most." ------- Missy and I spent a nice quiet evening at home. We worked together to fix dinner and cuddled, on the couch afterwards. Missy wanted the long version of what had happened at Tipton, so I gave her all the details. Week 8 - Thursday "You know," Missy said as we were eating breakfast, "We should go over and see Jason this evening, or tomorrow evening." "You're right. We won't be able to get in to see him, as he'll be in intensive care; but we should offer his wife assistance and whatever emotional support we can, personally." "That's what I was thinking. No matter how much help you arrange through the company, we need to show them that we care on a personal level." ------- I talked with Dale early that morning. He told me that there was a software company had a small program he could install. It kept a second history of the files that had been opened by the CADD software. The CADD operator wouldn't know the software was there, so he wouldn't erase it. "So, when are you going to install the program?" I asked. "I did it last night. It'll be interesting to see what he is working on." Brenda came in not long after Dale left, and said she'd been on the phone to the hospital where Jason had his surgery. She said they wouldn't tell her much, but they did say his condition had been downgraded from critical to serious. ------- Missy and I went over to the hospital that evening. Jason was still in the intensive care unit, so the receptionist told us where the waiting room was. Patty wasn't in the waiting room, but her parents and Jason's parents were. I recognized Patty's parents immediately, and they remembered me from yesterday. I introduced them to Missy, and then asked, "How is he?" "He's really doing much better," Patty's mother said. "The doctor tells us they may move him into a regular room by Saturday, Patty feels a lot better about his condition." "Good. We knew they probably wouldn't let us in to see him, but Missy and I wanted to tell Patty a couple of things. Is she around?" "She's in with Jason, but I'll go and get her for you. It's my turn to sit with Jason for a while, anyway," she said with a small smile. Patty came out a few minutes later and I introduced her to Missy. "There are a few things I'd like to tell you, Patty. Would you like to go to the cafeteria, and get a cup of coffee with us?" She agreed. After telling her dad where she was going, she led us down to the dining room. I got coffee for all of us and we found a table. "One of the things I want you to know, Patty, is that I talked with Mike Severt. Jason's salary will continue just like he was working, during the entire time he's laid up," I told her. Patty gave a visible sigh. "We were really worried about that. We just didn't see any way I could make enough working, to pay for child care and have enough left over to be worthwhile. This is going to make things a lot easier." "We're also going to cover any medical costs or any other expense you might incur because of the injury. I personally think that Jason should sue Tipton for damages. I believe the driver of the forklift was drunk, and that the manager tried to cover it up. We'll keep in touch with the police, here, and I'm sure our company attorney can recommend someone to represent you." "I'll have to talk to Jason about that. Neither one of us believe in suing someone because of an accident. If the guy was drunk, though, he shouldn't have been driving a forklift." "That's the way I see it," Missy said. "Even though the company is paying all of the expenses, that doesn't compensate you for all of the anguish you are going through, right now. It doesn't compensate Jason for losing one of his kidneys. It doesn't compensate him for the loss of his spleen. Losing his spleen means he's going to be prone to infections for the rest of his life. You guys deserve to be compensated for all of these things, and Tipton is the one who should compensate you." "I guess you're right, Missy. I hadn't thought of it that way. If Tipton kept better control of their employees, he wouldn't have been drunk." Edited By TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 16 Once we were home, I asked Missy if she was still nervous about going to see my parents on Saturday. "No... Well, maybe some. I want to meet them. It's just that I'm afraid they won't like me. I have a friend who married a guy and his mother has hated her since she met her. I don't want that. I want your mother to be my friend." Our lovemaking that night was somewhat subdued, but no less loving. Week 8 - Friday I could only hope that today was going to be a little less eventful than the last few days had been. It started off better, anyway. Missy, Brenda and I had a leisurely breakfast in the cafeteria. Our conversation completely avoided work. Brenda was of course interested in Jason's condition, so Missy filled her in. As we were discussing the incident, Dale asked if he could join us. "Well, I found out what Huggleston was working on," Dale said after he was seated. "Now, I have to figure out what to do about it." "So, the little history program worked?" "Oh, yeah. As you know, all of our drawing's file numbers start with the job number. When I looked at the drawings he had been working on yesterday, there was one that stuck out like a sore thumb. I brought it up, and it even had the name of the company it was being done for in the title block." "Then he was doing work for an outside company. That's what I was afraid of. What are you going to do about it?" "I guess I'm going to have to fire him. The trouble is, he's probably the best CADD operator we have." "Let's think on it a day or two. In the meantime, call him in and talk to him. Tell him you know what he's been doing. See what he says. He may just quit. Be up front. Tell him that we're trying to figure out whether to fire him or not, and see what he has to say." "Okay," Dale said somewhat skeptically. "I'm not sure how that will help anything, but I'll do it." ------- Actually, it did turn out to be a calmer day. Brenda and I managed to get two reports finished, that I had been really dreading. We also worked on guidelines for expenditures while traveling. As we were driving home, I asked Missy what she'd like for dinner. "I think we should go out for dinner," she said. "Then afterwards, I think we should go dancing." "Ah, youth," I said. "Always ready to eat out, and always ready to go dancing. Us old codgers need our rest, love." "Old codger, my ass," Missy grinned. "Remember, I saw you in action at GM. I've also seen you in action in our bedroom. If you're an old codger, then I never want to meet a young stud." "I wasn't fishing for a compliment," I said as I squeezed her hand. "I was just kidding around. I hope you know I love you, Missy." "Yeah, I know that. I also know that I love you, too. You know, in just a few short weeks I've come to a point where I don't know how I could live without you." ------- We actually had a lot of fun. We went to a Chinese place for dinner, and then to a local dance club afterwards. For some reason, I'm a much better dancer when I'm dancing with Missy than I am with anyone else. We had a lot of fun on the fast songs, and enjoyed the cuddling on the slow ones. All in all, it was a wonderful evening. Week 8 - Saturday Missy and I made sweet, gentle love before we got up. We took a shower together, and enjoyed washing each other. After a light breakfast, we got ready to go to my parents' place. Missy was in a much lighter mood this morning. I could only assume that she had come to grips with her fear of meeting my parents. The drive over only took about a half an hour and we spent it in pleasant conversation. Mom came running out as soon as we pulled into the yard. She gave me a big hug when I got out of the car and then turned and looked expectantly at Missy. "Mom, this is my fiancée, Missy Gerard. Missy, this is my mother, Grace," I said. Missy extended her hand and said, "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Delany." Mom grinned from ear to ear and said, "A handshake isn't going to cut it, Missy. My son's fiancée gets a hug." With that, she stepped forward and pulled Missy into a hug. "I also want to get one thing straight, right from the start," Mom said. "To you, I am not 'Mrs. Delany'. To you, I'm either Grace, Gracie, or Mom. Your choice." Now, Missy was grinning too. She hugged Mom back as hard as Mom was hugging her. "Right now, let's start with Grace," Missy said. "Later, it'll probably be Mom." "Edward," Mom said, "You should be ashamed of yourself. You never told me she's absolutely beautiful." "Actually, Mom, it was her mind I fell in love with first." "Well, you have to tell me all about it. But first, I think we should go inside, so your dad can get a look at this gorgeous creature," Mom said. She turned back to Missy and added, "I let Fred look at pretty girls, as long as he remembers who he is going home with." "I don't care how much Ed looks, Grace. I don't think I have anything to worry about there," Missy said as she hugged my arm to her. "No, I don't expect you do," Mom said. We went inside and Mom introduced Missy to Dad. He actually looked a lot better than the last time I saw him. Dad said hello to Missy, then he looked her over carefully. "You know, young lady," he said, "you have your work cut out for you. Ed has been a bachelor for far too many years." "Actually, he seems to be pretty well house-trained, Fred," Missy said. "He may not make a mess on the carpet, honey, but he's pretty well used to having his own way. Now, me, I'm used to having Gracie run things, while pretending I'm the one in charge. She can give you pointers if you need them." Mom slapped him on the shoulder, then bent down and kissed him on the cheek. We all talked for a while, then Dad suggested that we walk outside, and show Missy the blueberry fields. "You seem to be doing a lot better, Dad. The last time I was here, you wouldn't have wanted to walk out to the fields." "Well, Son, I've been going to a different physical therapist since just before you were here the last time. She works me to death, but it's helping a lot. I'm walking up to three miles a day now, and I'm regaining the use of my left arm and hand. I can pick up things with my left hand now, and I can move my fingers almost as well as I could before the stroke." "You're awfully young to be having a stroke, Fred," Missy said. "Do they know what caused it?" "Yeah, I'm not completely clear on it, but I seem to have a small hole between the two chambers of my heart. The one chamber has clean filtered blood in it that is pumped to the brain. The other chamber has blood that has been brought back after circulating through my body. That blood sometimes has small clots in it. Somehow, one of the small clots got through the hole into the clean blood and it was pumped into my brain." "Can they do anything to keep it from happening again?" I asked. "Yes, there are a couple of ways they can do it. One way is to do open heart surgery, and patch up the hole. The other way is what they are doing with me. They have me on a medicine that prevents the little clots from forming. The only problem is, I bleed like a stuck pig if I get a cut or something." "So, except for being careful about getting cuts, you should be able to live a normal life." "That's what they tell me. With this new therapist, I'm starting to believe it." Mom was smiling from ear to ear as Dad talked. We showed Missy the fields of blueberry bushes, and she was impressed. Dad wanted to tell Missy everything about blueberry farming. Mom finally cut him off before he had Missy bored to tears. ------- We actually had a great afternoon. Missy seemed to fit right in, and she looked relaxed. I know she was a hit with Mom and Dad. Mom made fried chicken with all of the fixings for dinner, and we had (of course) blueberry pie for desert. I told Mom and dad what Missy's dad had said about loving blueberries, but that all they'd ever seen were about the size of a pea. "We'll send them a case when they're ripe," Dad said. "I'll make sure they're big ones." I grinned and said, "Just a normal run, dad. If you send them all the really big ones, they'll freak out." ------- It started to get late, at least by my parent's standards, so we said we were going to bed. "I'm putting you guys in the guest room," Mom said. "Your old room still has a single bed in it, Ed. That's a little small, even for two young lovers." I had to laugh. "So my room is still the same as when I left? How about Tina's room? Is it still the same too?" Mom blushed then said, "Yes, it's still the same, too. She's going to be here in the morning. I told her you were bringing over your fiancée, she about flipped out." "How's she doing, Mom? I know it hit her pretty hard when Bob left her." "Well, she's pretty well gotten over Bob's leaving, but she's having a rough time of it. She really doesn't have any training or skills, and she has two kids to raise." "Where's she working?" "She's a clerk at the 7-11. She makes enough to pay their rent and utilities and to buy food, but that's about it. We bought them an old car, and your dad keeps it running for her. It's not a great life for them." ------- Later, when we were snuggled in bed, Missy said, "You've never talked about your sister. Why's that?" "Tina and I had a falling out when she got married. She was only eighteen. I never liked her husband, and I didn't trust him. I didn't tell her that, but I did try to talk her out of marrying him. Then I tried to talk her into waiting a couple of years so she could get some kind of training, that would have let her get a better job than being a clerk at the 7-11. This made her mad and we had a fight." "And you never saw her again?" "Oh, yeah, I saw them. I went to their wedding. By the time I saw them again, almost four years later, both of their kids had been born. Bob had already started acting like I was afraid he was going to act, from the start. I don't know what their life was like when they were by themselves; but that day, at least, he was verbally abusive to her." "And... ?" "I called him on it. He threw a punch at me, and I decked him. Of course, Tina took his side and she told me she never wanted to see me again." "I'm so sorry, honey. You do know that's a classic syndrome for a battered wife though, don't you? They take their husband's part even though he's beating and abusing them. They lie for him and make excuses to themselves for him. They tell themselves he really loves them, but that he just has a hard time showing it." "Well, that's certainly the way she acted. I haven't seen her since I knocked the bastard down. James was two years old at the time, and Cindi was about six months. He'll be around seven years old now, and she'll be five. I feel bad that they don't even know their Uncle Ed." "Well, maybe we can make up for that, now. Is there any way we can help her, Ed? Could we get her on at Belding?" "I don't know, love. We probably could, but I don't know if she'd want us to. Let's talk to her tomorrow, and see how she feels about things." We didn't make love that night. The bed Mom had put us on squeaked every time we moved, and it kind of inhibited us. It was nice to kiss and cuddle, though. Week 8 - Sunday It was a little after 8:00 o'clock when I woke up to see Missy smiling at me. "I was wondering if you were ever going to wake up," she said after she had kissed me good morning. "I think your sister is here, already. I've been hearing kids' voices for a half hour or so." "Why didn't you wake me up?" "With all you've been through recently, I figured you needed your sleep." "Well, let's roll out and see if Tina is here." ------- As soon as we walked into the kitchen, Tina attacked me. She threw her arms around me, and sobbed on my shoulder. I hugged her, and stroked her hair until she had calmed down. "I'm so sorry," Tina said when she could finally talk. "You were right and I was wrong. I think I knew it, when you hit Bob. I just didn't want to admit it." "It's okay, Tina," I said. "It's all over now. We can pick up where we left off. I love you, Sis. I always have, and I always will." Of course that brought on another round of tears. I held Tina until she had calmed down again, and then I introduced her to Missy. "So, you're the woman who has finally tamed my big brother. I've got to hand it to you, Missy. Others have tried and failed." Missy laughed and said, "He's a sneaky one. We started out hating each other, then he kept doing these nice things for me. I mean, he talked to me like I was his equal, and treated me with respect. I think he had it all planned out." "I wouldn't be surprised. He can be a sneaky bastard when he wants to be." "Where are the kids?" I asked, changing the subject. "Dad took them out for a walk. I wanted to be able to talk to you without them being around." "Would you like for me to take a walk too?" Missy asked. "No, you're going to be my sister. You have a right to know about me, and the problems I've had." "We were talking about that last night, Tina," Missy said. "Your Mom said you weren't doing too well. We were wondering if you'd like a job at Belding. I'm sure we could get you on if you want." "Would it pay more than minimum wage?" Tina asked. "The pay would be great, sister mine," I said. "Belding is a union shop. I think the starting pay is around fifteen dollars an hour." "How many people would I have to kill each day for that?" Tina asked. "We could probably get you into shipping or maintenance," I said with a grin. "There wouldn't be any killing involved." "God, I'd love it. I'd have to find an apartment over that way, though." "Boy, do we have a deal for you!" Missy said. "I've moved in with Ed. The lease runs out on my old apartment in a few days. I could renew it, if you're interested, and you could sub-let it from me." "Hell, yes! When would you know if you could get me on?" "I'll talk to Production and Human Resources, tomorrow. Give me your phone number. I'll call you right after I talk to them." "I'll give you my number at work, but if it's in the evening when you call, just call Mom and she'll bring me the message. I can't afford a phone right now." ------- All in all, we had a really nice day. The kids didn't remember me at all, but they made up to Missy and me quickly. By the time we had to leave, both of them had spent some time on mine and Missy's laps. ------- "So, what did you think?" I asked Missy after we had gotten home. "Your family seems very nice, Ed. I just loved your Mom. She made me feel right at home." "I wish the bed hadn't been so damned squeaky," I said with a leer. "Well... We could make up for lost time now," Missy grinned. And we did... we did indeed. Week 9 - Monday Dale joined Missy and me as we were eating breakfast in the cafeteria. After we had all exchanged greetings, he said, "I fired Huggleston. The only remorse he showed was that he got caught. He didn't give me any reasons for what he did, other than that he wanted to make some extra money so he could buy a system of his own, and go freelance." "Don't worry about it, Dale. I don't think he gave you a choice." "I have two interviews set up for this week for CADD operators. Both of them have experience on the software we use. One of them worked for a machine tool outfit, and the other for an architect. We'll see how they work out." ------- Brenda and I were working on some projections later that morning when we heard the scream. We looked at each other as we immediately jumped to our feet. Neither of us said anything as we ran out of the office. "Mechanical Engineering!" Brenda said as she sprinted in that direction. I followed her. As soon as we moved into the large room that housed the mechanical engineering cubicles, we stopped. Two rows over, we saw Mel standing about fifteen feet from Tom Higgins. We could only see them from the shoulders up above the cubicles, but from the tension in Mel's shoulders, I could tell something was wrong. "Tom, put the gun down," Mel said in a surprisingly calm but firm voice. "He's one of them, Mel," Tom said. "I can't put the gun down, or they'll have us all." "Take it easy, Tom. Everything is going to be okay," Mel said. "No, it's not going to be okay, Mel. You don't know what they do to prisoners of war. They only had me for a few days, but I saw what they did to others. I'll never let them take me." "Call the police," I whispered to Brenda. "Tell them it's a hostage situation." Brenda moved off, and Mel said, "We've got them covered, Tom. I'm the senior officer, here. Give me the gun, and I'll keep him covered." "I don't know... Maybe we shouldn't take him prisoner. Maybe we should just off him." "Think about it, Tom. If we take him prisoner, we'll be able to get useful information from him. That could keep the rest of us safer. Just give me the gun, Tom. You've been out on patrol, and you're tired. I'll guard him until the MPs get here." "I am tired, Captain. I don't sleep good. I haven't slept good since Sam was killed in his bunk." "You need some R&R, Tom. I'll see that you get some. How does a three-day pass sound? Three days in the safe zone? Three days without having to worry about being killed in your sleep?" "That sounds good, Captain. Maybe I'll see Joe there. Someone told me he's in the safe zone." "That's what I heard, too. Keep your eye on this guy while you hand me the gun, Tom." Mel had been edging his way closer to Tom as they talked, and now he was within four feet of him. We all watched as Tom reversed the gun and handed it butt first to Mel. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief as Mel clicked on the safety. Mel looked over at one of the other engineers. "Sergeant, please help Tom to a seat. He's worn out." "Yes, Sir," the man said, and put his arm around Tom's shoulders. The engineer helped him to the chair in his office. Tom slumped in his chair. When the police arrived a few minutes later, he was almost comatose. ------- After things had calmed down, I gave Marty Babcock a call and talked to him about Tina. "Marty, if you could find a place for her, it would be appreciated," I told him. "After she's in I'd rather no one else knew she was a relative of mine. I don't want her boss treating her any differently than he would any other employee. I definitely don't want any special favors for her." "That's not a problem, Ed. I'm sure we can find a place for her. I'm sure this is going to be a win/win situation for all of us. She'll be a better worker because of the hard time she's having." Marty asked me to have her come in tomorrow morning, and to ask for him personally. I gave him her name and other information about her. Then, I called Tina at work and told her to be here at Belding the first thing in the morning. She was thrilled. Week 9 - Tuesday Things started out on a better note than on yesterday. I had a nice breakfast in the cafeteria with Missy and Brenda. "I'm going to be very busy for a few days, starting tomorrow," Missy informed us. "The slot controller boards are due in." "Are you going to build them yourself, or are you going to have a tech do it?" I asked. I figured I knew the answer, since I knew what I'd do. "I'm going to build them myself. They're really not going to be that hard to build, but I want to make sure all of the components are handled safely. I know if I do them, I'll use all of the antistatic precautions that should be used." I grinned because I knew that would be her reaction. "Then I assume you're going to test them yourself, as well?" "Yes, to start with, anyway. I have a tech making up fiberoptic cables for them. There is a pick rack in the lab we can mount them on. Once they're mounted, Bob Roberts and I have come up with a program that will exercise and test them. We'll have a tech respond to the program in a set order, so we'll know the slot controllers are talking to the computer as well as receiving from it." "That sounds reasonable," I said. "How many iterations of the test are you going to do?" Missy sighed. "The tech is going to hate me. There are five of the slot controllers, and I'd like a hundred iterations on each one." I had to laugh. "He is going to hate you. Maybe you should have two or three different techs take turns. Otherwise, they may start making mistakes, and that will cloud the issue with the testing." "Good idea. I'll even take a turn myself. I'll talk to Marty about it." ------- Mel stuck his head in just after I got in my office and said, "I have some 'good news', and some 'better news'." "Okay, the 'good news' first," I grinned. "Tom is in the psychiatric ward at the hospital, and they are evaluating him. The doctors think he's suffering from stress from when he was in the Army. They have no idea as to how he'll be, but he is getting treatment." "Good. Now the 'better news'." "Jason Aldridge is out of intensive care. Patty says he is doing well." "Mel, I think you and I should run over there, this afternoon. We can let him know we're thinking about him," I said. Mel grinned from ear to ear. "That sounds like a great idea," he said. "I sent some flowers as soon as I heard he was in a regular room. I hope you don't mind, but I charged them to the company." "I don't mind at all. I think I'll have Brenda send a fruit basket to Patty and their families. In the meantime, try to free up your schedule for this afternoon. To me, letting Jason know we're behind him, is the most important thing either of us could be doing." Edited By TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 17 It was about the middle of the morning when Brenda escorted a very timid looking Tina into my office. "Hi Tina," I said with a big smile. "I see you've met Brenda." "Yes, she was kind enough to help me find you." "So, did you get the job?" I asked. Tina's smile would have lighted Michigan. "He wants me to start tomorrow. I'm not sure I can, though. I don't know what to do about the kids." "Is Mom keeping them for you now?" "Yes, and I'm sure she'll do it for a few days, but if I'm going to move over here, I'll need to find someone in the area." "Brenda, do you know what any of the other women do about their kids?" I asked. "No, but I'll find out," Brenda said. "Welcome to Belding, Tina." Tina gave her a smile and said, "Thank you, Brenda. Things are going to be confusing for a while for me, I guess." "Missy's furniture is all still in her apartment. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you use it for a while. We were just going to put it in storage. This'll save us some money." "She said you'd have to renew the lease on her apartment. Do you know if she's done that?" "No, we were waiting to see if you got the job or not. I'll talk to her at lunch and have her do that. I'll also ask her about the furniture at the same time. Do you have furniture that needs to be moved?" "No. We're in a furnished apartment right now. About all we have is our clothes." "Then, if Brenda can find you some daycare for the kids, you can move right over. Is your car good enough to get you back and forth until you move?" Tina laughed. "Dad spends a lot of time on that car. It isn't much, but I think it'll make it for a week or so." "Let me know if you have any trouble with it, and we'll work something out," I told her. We talked for a few more minutes, and then Tina said she should get home and get things ready for coming to work, in the morning. ------- Missy said she didn't mind for Tina to use her furniture for a while. She even said she might give most of it to Tina when we got married. "So, when are you thinking we should get married?" I asked. Missy grinned and said, "Probably before we ever went to bed together. I don't have anything new to entice you with now." "I don't know about that," I said. "You still owe me something over eighteen thousand times." Missy giggled and Brenda looked puzzled. "Private joke," I told her. "How about the first of June in Muncie?" Missy asked. "That sounds good to me," I grinned. "Mom and Dad are going to want to be there. Tina probably will want to be there, too." "My husband and I will be there," Brenda said. I had no idea at the time, but those weren't the only people from Belding who decided they just couldn't pass up the chance to see two of their own get married. ------- Jason seemed really happy to see us when we walked into his hospital room. They had given him a single room, so he had some privacy. He seemed to be in good spirits, considering all that had happened to him. Week 9 - Wednesday Missy, Brenda and I had breakfast together in the cafeteria again. When we were about half way through we were joined by Marty. "The slot controller boards are due in today," Missy told him. "I'll get started building them as soon as they arrive." "I can't imagine what you'd be thinking about building," Marty said with a grin. "What do you mean?" Missy asked. "The boards will be fully populated when we get them," Marty told her. "All you have to do is set the address switches, load the EPROMS and pop them in their cases. It shouldn't take you more than an hour." "Very nice," Missy grinned. "How did you manage that?" "It's amazing what a little incentive will get for you. I'm negotiating with the company for quite a bit of business with them. I can almost guarantee these boards will be perfect." "That's fantastic. Bob and I have come up with a program for testing them. Is there any possibility of getting five people to help with the testing? I'm afraid that if I try to do it with one or two people, they'll make mistakes." "Not a problem. You can have all of the support people for as long as you need them. This could be big for us, Missy. I talked with Charley Timmons and showed him the new spec sheet and he says he can guarantee us five systems with from 4,000 to 12,000 slots without even trying. One of the big problems with the old system was that we were limited to 4096 slots. With your design, we'll be able to hit 32,000 with one computer and Bob says he can come up with a multiple computer system that will give us a system that is virtually unlimited." "Are we talking a profitable system here, Marty?" "Timmons gave me some figures and I believe he's being honest as to what he says he can sell the systems for. Based on the projected costs that Missy came up with and on the negotiations I've been doing with the companies who are building them, we'll clear over five million on these five systems alone. Timmons says there is a huge market." "I'll have to quote my future wife here and say, 'very nice'." "Isn't it though," Marty grinned. ------- I talked with Mike for a few minutes and updated him on Jason's condition. Then I told him what Marty had told me about the order picker systems and the potential profit from them. "Pete Welsh told me it was a dead market," he said. "I wonder why he did that?" "I've been told that Jim Shear told our sales people to quit selling the system because he could no longer get some of the parts for it. This is just an assumption on my part, but I just don't think Shear wanted to work on designing a replacement system." Mike nodded. "I was wondering about that. It seems like our new firebrands in R&D didn't even let that slow them down. You did well in what you have done with R&D." "There are going to be a lot more changes in that department, Mike. Ninety percent of the people in that department think the way Shear thought. We're going to have to replace most of the people." "Your call, Ed. I can't argue with results." "For the most part I'm going to let Marty make his own decisions on this. Missy is a go-getter in electronics. We could probably use another one just like her. I think we also need a couple of mechanical engineers with the same attitude. I haven't talked with Marty about this. I want to see what conclusions he comes to on his own." "Oh. By the way," Mike said, "our attorney called me yesterday and said our friend Abdul has filed a lawsuit against us for wrongfully terminating him. The attorney says it's crap and not to worry about it." "Well, I don't see how he could claim discrimination or anything like that. He was fired for cause. It so states in his termination papers." "That's exactly what he's claiming. I don't think it'll go anywhere." ------- When Missy joined Brenda and me for lunch, she said, "The testing is in progress. We'll have at least a hundred iterations on each controller by the end of the day. We haven't had a failure yet." "Very good," I said. "You know, I'm not the only one who thinks highly of you around here. Mike Severt was talking about you today." Missy didn't say anything, but her grin was a mile wide. ------- That afternoon, Brenda and I put the final touches on our new engineering directive for spending while traveling. I was sure there would be some grumbling about it, but it was something I felt had to be done. Week 9 - Thursday "June first, huh?" I said, as Missy and I were having coffee the next morning. "Is that going to give you enough time to get things set up?" "It gives me three weeks. Mom will take care of a lot of things, so I don't have to worry about most of it. I called her last night and she's tickled to death. She said to give you a big kiss for her." I had to smile. "Are you thinking of inviting anyone from work?" I asked. "Yeah, we should invite a few people. Since it's so far away I doubt that many of them will come. Brenda and Marty should be invited for sure." "Well, we should invite Mike Severt and the other engineering managers too. They probably won't come, but at least they can't feel left out that we didn't invite them." "I guess you're right. I'll see if Mom can reserve a block of rooms at the Holiday Inn in case they do want to come." "I'm sure my parents and Tina are going to want to be there," I said. "Good. Now let's get into work. I need to start working on some other ideas I've had for the order picker." ------- Marty called me right after I got in my office and asked if we could get together sometime next week and go over their proposal for switching to fiberoptics. I told him that would be fine and set aside a couple of hours on Tuesday. It wasn't long after that when Gene and Mel came in looking as white as ghosts. Brenda noticed and followed them into my office. I waved everyone to seats and asked, "What's up?" "Something very bad has happened, Ed," Mel said. "Larry Steinhelm and Bart Maven are at Consolidated Grocers, in Los Angeles," Gene said. "Their sort controller was giving them problems, and Larry and Bart went out to see if they could find what's causing it." "Okay." "Do you know what a Pick Car is, Ed?" Mel wanted to know. "Vaguely. We don't make them any more, do we?" "No, we don't. A Pick Car is basically a platform that moves back and forth on railroad rails. It has a conveyor on it that moves boxes along and drops them down on another conveyor that runs between the rails. The picker moves the car along to a pick slot where pallets of product are stored. He picks up the correct number of boxes, slaps a label on each of them and drops them on the conveyor. Then, he moves on to the next slot where he is to pick up cartons." "Okay. That is basically what I remember about them." "These things move along at a pretty good clip and they weigh a ton... actually, they weigh several tons. We've put in all kinds of safety devices to protect the operator and to protect anyone who might wander onto the tracks. The driver has to stand on two separate footplates. He has to grip a lever with his left hand and he uses his right hand on a control that is like the accelerator on a motorcycle to get the car to move." "That sounds reasonable." "Well, the driver of one of the Pick Cars at Consolidated found a way to get around all of that. He put weights on both of the footplates, and taped the lever closed. He then used his left hand to control the cart, so he could stand anywhere while he drove it," Gene said. "He'd lean out of the car as he was coming to the proper slot and grab a box before the car stopped rolling. He was working on piece rate, and he could pick a lot more boxes that way in a day. Today he made a mistake. He leaned out too soon. His body was pinched between the Pick Car and a building column." Gene couldn't go on, so Mel continued. "It cut him in half, Ed." "Oh, shit," I said. "The plant manager came and got Larry and Bart, right after it happened. He said he wanted to show them something. They went with him and saw the mess. The body had been taken away, but there was blood everywhere. Larry is handling it okay, but Bart is in the hospital. They have him sedated." "They're trying to blame Belding for this, Ed," Gene said. "Larry was smart. He grabbed his digital camera and took pictures of the weights on the footplates and the taped hand lever. The plant manager got mad and threw him off the site." "That's ridiculous," I said. "If the guy went to all that trouble to bypass our safety precautions, there's no way they can blame us." "Yeah, but they're trying to," Mel said. "Let's go see Mike. He should know about this, immediately," I said. Brenda was looking a little green, so I told her to just sit still while we went to talk to Mike. ------- Mike was as shocked as I had been. He kept his wits about him though and asked, "Did our engineer manage to keep his camera, and his pictures, when they threw him off the site?" "Yes, sir," Gene said. "Do you know what's going on with the engineer who is in the hospital?" None of us did, so Mike said, "Gene, I think you should make a trip to Los Angeles. Find out what's going on with our engineer and try to meet with the plant manager at Consolidated. Have the guy with the pictures come on back here, and report to Ed." ------- Brenda and I were both subdued when we met Missy for lunch. I let Brenda explain to Missy what had happened. I felt Missy reach for my hand under the table. It was a long afternoon, and a longer evening, for all of us. Week 9 - Friday I woke up with Missy snuggled up to me. When I looked over at the clock I saw it was an hour before we normally had to be up. I started to snuggle back in, but when I saw Missy's eyes were open, I pulled her to me and kissed her, instead. When something happens like yesterday, I think it makes all of us realize just how mortal we are. For most of us that transforms into a need to reproduce. Missy and I made love like crazy people for over an hour. Then we had to scurry around the house, to get to work on time. I think Brenda must have had nearly the same experience Missy and I had, because she was smiling like nothing had happened when Missy and I joined her for coffee, before work. Gene had taken an early flight to LA and I didn't expect him back for at least a couple of days. Sly had been back to work for over a week, so I decided to check up on him. "How's the Penney's job coming?" I asked as I walked into his cubicle. "Just fine. I'm nearly caught up to where I should be, even if I hadn't lost all of that time in Atlanta." "Good. How did you manage to do that?" "I managed to adapt a couple of merge programs I had done for another job without having to rewrite them completely." "That's always a good idea." "I've been saying for years that we should standardize on what PLCs we use. If we did, we could write our software for it in modules that we could just glue together to suit whatever configuration a job called for," Sly said. "You know what, Sly? That, is a very good idea. If you get any extra time in the next few weeks, I'd like for you to write me up a proposal about it." You'd have thought I'd told him there really is a Santa Claus. ------- Mel came into my office a little later and said, "Ed, I think I know what's going on at Consolidated. One of my engineers is good friends with one of the maintenance people there. He called the guy last night. Their maintenance guy said someone in the maintenance department had made lead weights for the footplates on all of the Pick Cars. I think the manager at Consolidated knows that and he doesn't want anyone else to know." "That makes sense. They may have even encouraged the operators to run the machines in an unsafe manner. Would you see if you can find out anything about it?" "Sure. I'll also give Gene a call, and see if he can dig up anything." ------- Sometimes you get to feeling that nothing is ever going to go right, then you get something like the Order Picker. Marty called me before noon, to let me know that we had the go ahead from the insurance to replace the Libby Order Picker. "Do you feel comfortable that the system Missy and Bob Roberts came up with will do the job?" I asked. "Absolutely. We've tested it six ways from Sunday, and we haven't found a glitch yet." "Fantastic. Have you come up with any kind of cost estimate for designing and implementing the improved system?" "Yes. It's really not bad, Ed. Timmons called me yesterday with a firm order from Alvan Cosmetics for an improved system. I've calculated everything, and the profit on that system alone, will pay for all of the design and tooling costs. He says he has five more systems sold, as soon as we can show the new features to the customers. I believe him." "That's great, Marty. You guys can sit back on your laurels for the rest of the year." Marty laughed. "Obviously, you don't know your fiancé very well. She has a couple of more ideas that are take offs of the Order Picker system. She gave me a proposal this morning for a modularized high-speed sorter. Now I just need a good mechanical engineer who can make the mechanical end of it work." "Have you been interviewing mechanical engineers?" "Yeah, I've talked to three of them so far. All three seemed competent enough, but none of them have that spark that Missy has. I think any of the three could design about anything you gave them specifications for; but I don't think any of them would see a need, and want to find a way to fill it." "Yeah, that's a rare quality. Hang in there. I know there are good people out there." ------- It wasn't long before I planned to gather Missy up and head for home when my phone rang. I said hello, and a voice at the other end said, "You are going to die." I heard the other receiver hang up, right after he said that. To be honest, I was more puzzled than frightened by the call. I was still sitting there in a daze when Missy came in to see what was keeping me. I didn't want to frighten her, so I just said I had been thinking about a problem and had lost track of time. Week 9 - Saturday Missy and I had an absolutely wonderful weekend. We slept late both days and got up even later. We spent our time together exploring each other, both mentally and physically. Week 10 - Monday "I wonder what kind of crap we're going to run into this week," I said as Missy and I were getting dressed to go in to work. Missy laughed. "It does seem like there's been something almost every day," "Marty was telling me that you have proposed a couple of different types of Order Pickers, and a new high-speed sorter. I'd like for you to tell me about them," I said. "Well the sorter is the biggest thing. Right now, our sorter uses one CPU to position boxes for sorting. The same CPU receives the information from the laser scanner as to where the box is going. It keeps track of that and keeps track of where the box is at all times, and how long the box is, until it is pushed off of the sorter onto a ship line. The same CPU tells the sorter modules when to fire to send the box to the proper sort line." "Okay, I'm familiar with that." "As we increase the speed of the sort bed, and increase the length of the sort bed, we are approaching the limits of the CPU. What I'm proposing is that we have different CPU's do different things. One small, relatively dumb CPU would position the boxes with the proper spacing between them for the sorter. Another CPU would be assigned to keep track of where the box is, and where it's going. "Several other CPU's would be assigned to different areas of the sorter bed. When a box entered the 'area of responsibility' of one of these CPU's, the CPU would determine if it was to be diverted in its area. If it was, that CPU would take over tracking the box. It would measure the box, and would divert it to the proper lane." "Okay, but wouldn't that be a lot more confusing than having one CPU do it all?" We had finished dressing as we talked and were now in the car on the way to work. "Yes, and no. We'd use the same technology that is used for high-speed Internet connections to set up a network between the CPUs. There would be a photo eye at the start of each area. When a box blocked any of the eyes, the ID of the photo eye would be sent out on the network along with the destination of the box that was blocking it. If the box was to be sorted in that section, that CPU would measure the box length and track it to the point the diverter would be fired. If the box wasn't to be diverted in that section, the CPU would ignore it." "I guess it kind of makes sense. Let me think about it for a while. I'm sure Marty is going to be pitching it to me." Missy grinned. "Marty is open to new ideas. I like working for him." "I'm glad to hear it. I took a big gamble in putting him into that spot. He seems to be working out well though." ------- The day passed fairly uneventfully. Gene did call and tell me our guy who was in the hospital in LA was getting out today and he'd be on his way home by tomorrow morning. Gene also said he had meetings scheduled with the Consolidated manager and their attorney. When Missy and I went out to the car to head home, we had our biggest shock of the day. My car wasn't the fanciest in the world, but it was less than a year old and I was happy with it. Now, the paint was ruined. Someone had scraped the word "INFIDEL" into both sides of the car. I called the police and they came out to look at it. "Mr. Delany," the officer told me, "we'll file the report, but don't expect too much from it. Something like this is hard to prove. Do you have any idea who might have done it?" "I can only think of one person," I said. "It's the choice of words that makes me think of him. A few weeks ago I had to fire a software engineer by the name of Abdul Kafir." "You are probably right, but again it is going to be hard to prove it. Do you know the guy's address?" "No, but the personnel department should have it. I'll find out in the morning and give you a call." ------- To say Missy was angry would have been a serious understatement. The problem was, she was both angry and frightened. I spent a lot of time that evening consoling her. Edited By TeNderLoin ------- Chapter 18 Week 10 - Tuesday I went to Mike's office as soon as we got in this morning, and told him about the phone call and about someone vandalizing my car. "Do you think it might have been that Arab who is suing us?" Mike asked. "I'd almost bet on it. I couldn't tell anything about his voice on the phone, except that it was a man. I think the word 'infidel' is a pretty good indicator, though." "You're probably right, but still ... You couldn't tell if the voice on the phone had an accent or not?" "No, and Abdul really doesn't have that much of an accent anyway. Were you thinking of someone else?" "Several people actually. You have made a few enemies since you've been here. First off is that purchasing guy. Then there is Jim Shear. The guy you fired out in Phoenix can't like you very much. I'm not saying it's any of these people, but it is possible." "The person would have had to have known about the troubles with Abdul since he used the Infidel word." "Not necessarily. Ever since 9/11 there has been a lot of distrust toward anything Arabic. This might just be someone taking advantage of that." Mike didn't convince me, but he did get me to thinking. Unfortunately that left me feeling a little depressed. I certainly didn't feel like talking about fiber optics, so I put Marty off until next week. ------- I had a chance to talk with Larry Steinhelm that afternoon. I didn't really know Larry, but I had seen him around. He looked like he had aged ten years. "You wouldn't have believed the amount of blood," he said. "It covered everything. It was like the worst slasher movie you ever saw. It's something that will haunt me for the rest of my life." "I take it that it was the blood that got to Bart?" I asked. "Yeah, it almost did me in, too." "You still have the camera, with the pictures on it?" Steinhelm handed me a CD, and said, "Yes. I copied the pictures off, but they are still in the camera, too." "Good, if you can leave them on there until after our attorney says it is okay to remove them, it would be appreciated." "Actually, the camera belongs to the company. I haven't turned it back in yet. Would you like for me to leave it in your custody?" I know I had to have a big smile when I said, "That would be great, Larry. I think I'll probably leave them with Mike Severt. He can put the camera in the safe." "I talked with Bart today. He's going to come into work tomorrow. This was really hard on him." "Bart's just a young guy, isn't he?" "Yeah, but young or old, no one should have to see what we saw at Consolidated." ------- Missy was especially loving that evening. She insisted on cooking dinner, and then practically fed it to me. After we had eaten, and were snuggled up on the sofa in the living room, I asked her what was going on. "I guess I'm just a little shook up over the phone threat, and of what was done to your car. Everyone keeps telling me that nothing else is going to happen, but I can't seem to make myself believe that. I love you with all my heart, and I don't want to lose you." I hugged her tightly to me, and kissed her gently. "I know what you mean, honey. It's a little scary to me, too. All we can really do is be as careful as possible until we find out who's behind this." "I don't think there's any doubt that it's Abdul," Missy said with passion. "I think we should just hunt him down, and cut his balls off." I had to laugh at that one. Week 10 - Wednesday I hadn't been in my office but a few minutes, when Patty Aldridge came in. "Can I talk to you for a few minutes?" she asked. "Certainly, let's go down and get a cup of coffee while we talk. I'm a bear until I've had my first two or three cups." Patty giggled. "Jason is the same way. I always get up first and have a pot of coffee ready before I wake him up." When we got down to the cafeteria, and were seated at my favorite table, I asked her what she would like to talk about. "A lawyer representing Tipton Foods came by the hospital yesterday. He said that Tipton was ready to offer a settlement. He offered us $10,000." "I hope you didn't take it," I said. "No. It was tempting, but Jason and I had been talking about it. I don't know what our hospital bills has amounted to so far, but they have to be a lot more than $10,000." "You are absolutely right. I'm going to have our company attorney come by and talk to you and Jason. Mike Severt was telling me that our attorney thinks our company should be acting jointly with you and your attorney. If either the company or you guys act unilaterally, it could adversely affect the other party." "We really don't have an attorney as yet. Do you really think we need one?" "Most definitely. Don't worry about the attorney's fees. Any settlement he negotiates will include his fees being paid on top of what you get. The fees will not be taken out of your settlement. Would you like for our company attorney to recommend someone?" "Yes. That would be nice. Jason and I have never used an attorney. We wouldn't have any idea of who to see." "How is Jason doing?" I asked. Patty was all smiles, and she said, "He's doing better every day. The doctor told us yesterday that he can probably go home in another week. The bad part is, the doctor said he probably can't go back to work for at least a month." "Don't worry about that, Patty. We just want to see him get better. From what Mel tells me, Jason is one of his best engineers. He's anxious to have him back, but all of us want him to be perfectly healthy before he returns." "Jason and I really want to thank you and Mel for all you have done for us. I don't know how we could've made it through if it hadn't been for the two of you. It makes us really appreciate Belding." We talked for a few more minutes and then Patty said she needed to get to the hospital. ------- I had lunch with Missy and Brenda. I filled them in on what Patty had told me. Brenda said she wanted to talk to Patty, anyway, so she was going to try to reinforce what I had told her. "I talked to Mom this morning," Missy told us. "She's already sent out the wedding invitations." "Okay. I meant to talk with you about that," I said, trying to keep a straight face. "I was thinking that maybe we should wait another month or two." Missy looked like I had thrown a bucket of cold water on her. "But..." she said. I just looked at her. It took a minute, but she finally figured out I was teasing her. Missy looked around at Brenda and asked, "Brenda, could I possibly stay over at your place tonight?" "I think that's probably a good idea," Brenda agreed. "Darn, and here I was thinking about going out for dinner and dancing tonight." "Well, in that case," Missy grinned. "Maybe I should plan to stay at home tonight." "Isn't it amazing how quickly it became home for us?" I asked. "I guess the old saying that 'home is where the heart is', is true." "You're not going to let him off that easily, are you?" Brenda asked. "Oh, he'll pay for it," Missy said. "It may take a few days, but he'll pay. Dinner and dancing are just too good to pass up." ------- Dinner and dancing were nice. We were both in the mood for seafood, so we ended up feasting on shrimp, scallops, and crab. We spent about two hours dancing, before we felt we needed to get home. Our lovemaking was at least as nice as the rest of the evening. Week 10 - Thursday Brenda joined Missy and me for breakfast. Brenda is a lot of fun. She teased us about our date last night, until Missy was ready to strangle her. Finally, she got serious. "So, how are the wedding plans coming?" Brenda asked. "We have everything all set up," Missy said. "Mom has sent out the invitations. She has cleared the date with the church and with the minister. She has rented a hall for the reception, and has contacted a caterer. She also tells me she has reserved a block of rooms at the Holiday Inn." "I meant to talk to you about that," I said. "I intend to pay for the reception. I'm not sure how well fixed your mom and dad are right now, so I would rather take care of it." "Mom and dad have already beaten you to it," Missy said. "Your mom and my mom have had their heads together on this from day one. I don't know what all they have planned, but I think we'd both be better off just staying out of their way." I had a grin at that. I didn't know Alice that well, but I did know that mom could be a steamroller when she wanted to be. I figured the next two weeks were going to be interesting if nothing else. Mel and Gene came into my office right after I got there. "So, what all did you find out, Gene?" I asked. Gene shook his head as he sat down. "This has been an interesting experience," he told me. "If Consolidated wasn't so pathetic, they would be funny." "Yeah, I talked to our contact in their maintenance department last night, and he says the same thing," Mel said. "He says everyone there is running around trying to find something to hide behind, or at least something to cover their butt with." "So, what do we need to do?" I asked. "Nothing that I know of," Gene informed me. "Our attorney is handling everything from our end. I think Consolidated is in for a lot of grief. It has come out that the 'unofficial' policy was that their employees were to pick as many cartons per hour as it was physically possible to pick. Again, unofficially, they were to take any shortcuts they need to take to get out the maximum number of cartons." "Their head of maintenance actually modified the Pick Car for the guy who was killed," Mel said. "Consolidated has fired him, and rumor has it that the General Manager will be the next to go." "It doesn't matter how many people they let go, our attorney says Consolidated is going to be paying, Big Time, for this," Gene said. ------- Tina had been at Belding for a week now, and had moved into Missy's old apartment five days ago. Tonight she came over to see us. Missy and I were tickled to death to see the kids. Both of the kids acted like they were starved for a male's attention. I was perfectly happy to give it to them. "So, what do you think of Belding, so far?" I asked Tina. "It's not bad at all. I'm in shipping. When a customer orders small parts someone else gathers them up and brings them to me. I package them, and get everything ready to ship out. It's more or less steady work, but it isn't anything too hard. I don't think I'm as tired at night as I was when I was working in the convenience store." "Good. You managed to get James transferred into a school here?" "Yeah, it seems to be a nice one. Cindi will start Kindergarten next fall. The women I've talked to say it's a good school too." "So, do you like the school here, James?" Missy asked. "Yeah. Mrs. Johnson is nice. I kind of miss my friends at my old school though." "Well, you'll make new friends here," Missy said. "Until you do, I'll be your friend, if you'd like." Okay, I'm sure James has a major crush on Missy. He lighted up like a Christmas Tree. "So, Cindi, how do you like your day care?" I asked. "It's okay, except for Bobby. He's a poop head," Cindi informed us. Missy giggled and asked, "What makes him a poop head?" "He pulls my hair and he calls me 'Cindi bendy'. I got in trouble yesterday when I hit him." "You got in trouble at home, too, didn't you?" Tina chided. "Yes," Cindi admitted with downcast eyes. All in all, we had a very good time. It was nice getting to spend some time with my sister again. It was very nice, getting to know my niece and nephew. Week 10 - Friday I had breakfast with Missy and Brenda this morning, and then I got to meet a very unique individual. I was only in my office for a short time when someone knocked on my office door. When I looked up, I saw a very brown man. This guy was deeply tanned, with brown eyes and brown hair. He was wearing dark brown pants, a light brown shirt, and brown loafers without socks. "Can I help you?" I asked. "Hello, Mr. Delany. I'm Leonard Kline. I'm a Customer Service Engineer," the man said. He took a seat without being asked, and waited for me to respond. At Belding, Customer Service Engineering was not part of engineering. Instead, it is part of Sales. CS Engineers worked on customer problems on systems where their warrantee had expired. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Kline. What can I do for you?" "Well, I was wondering if you had any openings for a Controls Engineer. I'm getting tired of all of the traveling I have to do, and I'd like to move inside. It's gotten to the point my partner is giving me a rough time about it." "Have you talked to Gene about it? I don't do the hiring in any of the engineering departments." "I talked to Gene a while back, and he didn't seem interested. I'm probably the best CS Engineer you have at Belding, Mr. Delany. I think I deserve the chance to move into Controls." "I'll look into it, Leonard. As I said, I don't do the hiring in any of the departments. Gene has a far better idea of what qualities he needs in an engineer than I do. He'll contact you in a couple of days either way." "Thank you, Mr. Delany," Kline said as he got up to leave. ------- "So, you got to meet the 'Pink Squirrel'," Brenda grinned as she came into my office. "He got by me while I was in the restroom." "Why did you call him the 'Pink Squirrel'? He seemed more like the brown man to me." Brenda laughed. "I don't know where the nickname came from, but people have called him that for years. I think it was originally started to imply that he is gay. I don't know if anyone knows for sure if he is gay, but everyone thinks he's a little light in the loafers." "Well, that's not really any of our business anyway," I said. "The question is, is he a good engineer?" "That, I can't tell you. I think Gene probably can, though. His people are called out on problems that CS can't handle." ------- "Oh, yeah, I know Leonard," Gene admitted when he had come into my office a little later. "What did he want?" "He was wanting me to try to influence you in to hiring him for your department. He told me he is the best CS engineer at Belding." Gene actually laughed. "If he's the best, we're in serious trouble." "Are you judging him as an engineer, or because you think he might be gay?" "I could really take offense at that, Ed. It doesn't matter at all to me that he might be gay. I'm actually pretty sure that he is. On some things, Leonard is a good fixer. He has become known as an expert on our sort controller. The problem is, he really doesn't have any idea of how the sort controller works. What he does know, is that if the system exhibits a certain symptom, then changing a certain board usually fixes it. He has been around the system for at least ten years, and he has quite a list of symptoms he knows how to fix." "Okay, I can see how that approach would work on ninety nine percent of the problems that come up. That's sort of the way the first artificial intelligence programs worked. What does he do when his method doesn't fix the problem?" "He screams for us," Gene said with a big grin. "Ah ... Now I see why you don't want him in your department. You said you were pretty sure he was gay. Why do you feel that way?" "We had an interesting thing come up a few years ago with Halemark Cards in Kansas City. They called for service on a sort controller. Leonard went out to see what the problem was. It seems, they had a sort controller identical to ours, but that they had not purchased from us. Everything looked good about it to Leonard, but he couldn't get it to work for them. He called us." "Where did they get a sort controller, identical to ours, that they did not purchase from us?" Gene had a big grin as he answered, "They built it themselves. They had one of ours that they had purchased from us at one of their other distribution centers. They figured that they could put one together cheaper than they could buy one from us. The only thing they bought from us out of the whole system was the processor board. What they didn't know was that we had to program an EEPROM on the memory board. They didn't have the programmed EEPROM, so the system wouldn't work." "Did you tell them what the problem was?" "Hell no! I wanted to sue their asses, but I found out we couldn't. Evidently the patent laws allow you to build something that is patented, if you're doing it for your own use only. To me, that's a big ripoff." "What ever happened about it?" "Eventually, they purchased an entire sort controller from us. Since then, I've spent a lot of time trying to convince Jim Shear that we should have something proprietary in everything we build. Otherwise, Halemark could have built as many sort controller's as they wanted and we couldn't have done anything about it." "So how did that make you feel that Leonard is gay?" "I took Leonard out to dinner one night while we were there. I had heard rumors about him, so I took him to this really nice restaurant in Kansas City. The food is top-notch, and the entertainment is very nice. There is a constant stage show with topless dancers, and the waitresses are all topless. Leonard chose to sit with his back to the stage, and he never once stared at our waitress." Now it was my turn to laugh. "Maybe he was just trying to be polite." "Yeah, and maybe the Pope is really Jewish." ------- Mel called me that afternoon and said that he had talked with Jason. "He said that Tipton's lawyers had been back to see him," he told me. "I'll just bet they had a new offer for him," I said. "You got it. They doubled their first offer. Jason politely refused, and the lawyer started making vague threats about Tipton suing Jason. Jason said he told them that they should be talking to his attorney from now on." "It sounds like we finally got through to him. I feel a little better now. I was afraid they'd settle on this for some small amount." "Yeah, so was I. After what that manager pulled about trying to bring in a ringer for the driver, I don't want to see them get off the hook that easily. Week 10 - Saturday Since Missy and I have gotten together, I have really enjoyed my weekends. This one was no exception. We stayed in bed until almost 10:00 AM. We did a lot of kissing and cuddling, and making love. We were finally dragged from our isolation by our doorbell. "Who the hell could that be?" I grumbled as I put on a robe and started for the door. My first thoughts were that it was probably a salesperson, or someone who was at the wrong address. It wasn't either of those. Mom, Dad, and Jillian were standing there, grinning like idiots. "Aren't you going to invite us in?" Jillian asked with a smirk. "I thought I taught him manners, but I guess they never took," Mom said. I turned and left them standing there, then I yelled, "Missy, we have company!" I turned back to our guests and asked, "Are you coming in, or did you just stop by to harass us?" Jillian giggled. "Actually, we came by to see if you guys would join us for brunch." "Yeah, Jose Babushka's has the best brunch in Michigan," Mom kicked in. Dad still hadn't said anything, and when I looked at him, he just shrugged. "Why don't you guys have a seat in the living room," I said. "I need a shower, and I'm sure Missy does, too." Jillian exaggeratedly sniffed the air and said, "You sure do need a shower." Mom and Jillian started giggling. I got out of there quickly, blushing every step of the way. ------- Okay, Jose Babushka's did have the best brunch in town. They had every type of breakfast item you could think of, and in addition, you could get made to order omelets. Even Missy pigged out. Of course the main topic of conversation was the wedding. Two weeks away. Two more weeks of being a bachelor, and then I'd become a married man. I had no doubts that would be my condition for the rest of my life. Edited By Aidan McGill ------- Chapter 19 Week 11 - Monday Even if you are waking up next to the love of your life, Monday mornings suck. Saturday and Sunday mornings, we had slept late and enjoyed each other. This morning, we knew we had to get to work, so we were forced to leave our cozy nest early. Things didn't improve much when we got to work. Brenda was in a grumpy mood and hardly spoke to us during breakfast. It was almost a relief to go to my office, where I could be alone. My solitude didn't last long. I hadn't much more than sat down when my phone rang. It was Mike Severt. "Good morning, Mike. What's up?" "First off, let me say that I didn't tell you about this before, because I wanted you to act naturally. After your car was vandalized, the company hired a private detective to look after you and Missy." I thought about that for a moment, then said, "I guess I can understand that. It is an invasion of privacy though, Mike." "I guess it was, but we never looked at any of the findings of the guys who were looking after you, until last night. Last night, our man caught someone starting to vandalize your car again." "Wow!" "The problem is, it wasn't who we thought it was." "Are you going to string this out, or are you going to tell me who it was?" Mike laughed. "I want to get as much out of this as I can. The culprit is Jim Shear." "Oh, shit. What's being done about him?" "The PI held him last night and called the police. They arrested him, but I don't know how long they'll hold him. I'm sure the police are going to be contacting you and Missy this morning. The problem is, that right now, the only thing they have to hold him on is attempted vandalism." "Yeah, I guess. Even if I told them about the threat, I can't prove it was him." "True. Talk to the police, and fire the bastard. I'll talk to our lawyers and see if we or you can file a civil suit against him. In the mean time, at least we know who to watch." "Okay, Mike. Thanks for the heads-up." When we hung up, I immediately called Missy and let her know what was going on. To her, as to me, it was kind of a relief. However, it also made both of us angry. ------- I didn't have much to do with Brenda that morning, nor did the police call me. I called Mike back and asked him to call his PI and see if he could find out a case number for Shear. At lunch, Brenda was in a lot better mood. I filled her in on Shear, and she thought it was funny. I thought for a minute the she and Missy were going to get into it, but Missy finally saw the funny side of it, and joined Brenda. "You're doing real well, Mr. Vice President," Missy said. "You had one disgruntled employee piss on your desk by suing you. Another pissed on your desk by leaving the company and stealing thousands of dollars from the company. Now you have one who pissed on your desk by damaging your car and threatening your life. What's next?" "I don't know, but I think I'd rather have them piss on my desk," I said. Missy and Brenda both got a laugh out of that. ------- That afternoon, I got a call from Jim Shear. He said he wanted to discuss what had happened with me. I thought about it for a minute, then told him the only way I wanted to talk to him is if the company attorney was present. He reluctantly agreed to that, so I told him to call me back in the morning and I'd give him a time and place we could meet. I called Mike Severt and told him what Shear wanted, and he agreed we should have the attorney present. He said he wanted to be there himself as well. That suited me just fine. Mike said he'd talk to the attorney, and then call me back. ------- I think Missy and I relaxed more that evening than we had in weeks. I had no idea what Shear wanted to talk to me about, but we didn't let that bother us. Week 11 - Tuesday I had breakfast with Missy and Brenda, and we talked over what I would say to Shear if Mike insisted I meet with him. To me, it seemed a bit ridiculous to even think about talking to him outside a courtroom. Finally, we decided that the main thing would be for me to be very noncommital. Unfortunately, Mike said the attorney was all for the meeting, as long as Shear and his attorney agreed it could be taped. They had set up a meeting for us at 9:00 AM tomorrow, before the meeting with Shear. ------- It was shortly before noon when Brenda escorted a young man into my office. I recognized the guy, but I couldn't remember his name. "Ed, this is Jake Peleus. He is a Senior Mechanical Engineer in Mel's group," Brenda told me. "Hi, Jake," I said. "What can I do for you?" "Well, Sir. I was kind of deputized by the guys in Mechanical to talk with you. It's about Frank Jones." Frank Jones was one of our Project Managers. "What about Frank?" I asked. "Well, Frank has a problem with bad breath. I mean, his breath is so bad that some of the guys swear that he has shit sandwiches for breakfast." He looked around at Brenda and said, "Pardon me, ma'am." "It's okay, Jake," Brenda assured him. "Mr. Delany, one of the guys in the department talked to him about it. He just ignored him. Another guy left a bottle of mouthwash on his desk. A couple of guys got together and wrote him a memo. Neither the talk nor the memo were aimed at hurting his feelings, or embarrassing him. Nothing has done any good, so when we talked to Mel about it, he suggested we talk to you." "Okay, Jake. I'll have a talk with him. You were right in bringing this to my attention. Not only would chronic bad breath be offensive to those who work with him, it would also be offensive to our customers. Bad breath can also be an indicator of disease." Jake excused himself and beat a hasty retreat. "Just what I needed," I mumbled. Brenda responded with a giggle. "I vaguely know Frank's wife. Maybe I should give her a call," Brenda said. "How do you know her?" "I got involved with a fund-raising campaign at the hospital a couple of years ago. We were trying to get a new annex built for children's diseases. Barb was on the same committee that I was." "Well, I think you should hold off talking to her until I've talked to Frank. After all, it's his problem." "True." ------- Marty, Missy, and I spent over two hours this afternoon going over Missy's proposal for switching to fiber optics. I was a little surprised to see that the cost differences were even less than when I had made my proposal to my old company. They didn't have to convince me that this was the way to go, but I was interested in how they planned to implement the change. I should have known that my future wife would have that all figured out. Missy and Marty were proposing that the change over should be done in three stages. Marty had talked to one of our photo-eye suppliers, and had gotten some training films for our installers. As each installer became available, we would bring him back to the plant. We would show him the films, and then we would give him an opportunity to work with some of the devices in the R&D lab. The next stage would include phasing in the new devices on some of our smaller jobs. We'd do this until each of our installers had the opportunity to install some of the devices. The final stage would be when we switched over to the new devices on all systems. Our estimators would be trained along with the installers. Week 11 - Wednesday The meeting with Shear was scheduled for 10:00 AM in Belding's main conference room. Mike and I were present from Belding, along with our attorney. Shear had two attorney's with him, and the district attorney's office was represented by the ADA who would be handling the prosecution. Our attorney started things off by reminding Shear that his rights had been read to him and that he, Shear, had indicated that he understood his rights. Shear's attorney spoke next. "Mr. Shear has a prepared statement he'd like to read into the record. When he is finished, you will be allowed to ask questions." Shear gathered up his papers and looked at each of us in turn. "It has been alleged that I vandalized Mr. Delany's car and that I threatened his life. I just want it in the record that I categorically deny those allegations." Shear again looked at each of us. "I know that appears to be an untrue statement. However, there is a perfectly logical explanation for me being where I was, when I was." Shear paused again and took a sip of the water that was in front of him. My thoughts were that he was trying to be very theatrical. Finally, he continued. "I have been offered a job with one of Belding's competitors. I felt that there was bad blood between Mr. Delany and myself, so I was intending to leave a note on his car, telling him that I was quitting. I have given a lot of years to Belding, so I feel I deserve some credibility." Shear again looked around as if he were looking for someone who believed him. "If you, Mr. Delany, or Belding press charges against me, I'll lose my chance at the new job. I know things look bad, but I'll swear to God that I was only going to leave a message." "That's all Mr. Shear has to say. Does anyone have any questions?" his attorney asked. I looked at our attorney and he nodded, so I said, "Yes. I have a few questions. You said you were there to leave a note. How did you plan to do that?" "I was going to leave it under your windshield wiper." Shear replied. "When the detective apprehended you, you had a can of spray paint, a bottle opener, and a knife. How were you going to leave a note with those items?" Mike asked. "I had already written the note. It must have blown away, or the detective lost it or threw it away." "Why did you have the bottle opener, the paint, and the knife?" I asked. Shear gave me a look that would have peeled paint, but didn't answer. After a couple of minutes, Mike asked, "Aren't you going to answer the question, Mr. Shear?" "I won't answer any question when it is asked in the tone of voice he was using," Shear said. "I fully believe that the paint and the bottle opener were going to be used to mess up my new paint job. I also believe that the knife was going to be used to slash my tires. It is my intention to press charges," I said, the venom dripping from my voice. "That is Belding's intention as well," Mike added. If looks could kill, Mike and I would have been dead on the floor. ------- "What do you think his purpose was in wanting this meeting?" I asked Mike. "The only thing that I can figure is that he thought he could talk us out of prosecuting. If he could do that, he could move right into his new job, without a problem. The problem is, his excuse about leaving a note was so lame than no one would have believed it." "Well, it might not be charitable on my part, but with everything he's done, and the pain in the ass he's been for the guys he's worked with, I just don't feel charitable." "Amen to that," Mike agreed. ------- Frank Jones was in town, so I had Brenda bring him to my office right after lunch. The thing with Shear had ruined my entire morning, and it looked like this was going to ruin my afternoon. Brenda took off immediately. "Hi, Frank. How are you doing?" I asked as he was taking a seat. "I've been better, but I've been worse, too. What's up?" "Well, I don't know how to say this, except to come right out with it. I've been having some complaints about you. The people I've talked to say you have really bad breath, and I can actually smell it myself, even from clear over here." Frank sighed then said, "Yes, and I've brushed my teeth twice this morning, and I used mouth wash just before I came over here. I don't know what's going on, Ed. I saw my dentist last week, and he said it isn't caused by anything in my mouth. He suggested I see my doctor. I have an appointment with him tomorrow." "Okay, Frank. I have heard that chronic bad breath can be a health issue. It's better to find out as quickly as we can. Let me know what you find out." "I will, Ed. I feel so bad that I'm offensive to anyone. Hopefully, we'll know something tomorrow." ------- Thank God for Missy. I think I needed a good cuddle more than I had ever needed one in this lifetime. She was more than happy to oblige. Week 11 - Thursday The main topic of conversation at breakfast this morning was the upcoming wedding. It was now only one week and two days in the future. All of us were excited, and I had a lump in my stomach that felt as big as a basketball. "So, where are you going on your honeymoon?" Brenda asked. "We're not heading anywhere in particular," Missy said. "We're just going to spend a week by ourselves, going where we want to go and seeing what we want to see." "I can see everything I want to see without leaving the hotel room," I teased. Missy blushed and Brenda giggled. "Just like a man," Missy pouted. "You love it and you know it," Brenda said. ------- I went to Marty's office to talk for a while about his personnel. After we were seated, I said, "You've had some time to learn a little about your personnel. How about giving me a breakdown of them?" Marty steepled his fingers and said, "Okay, I have three mechanical engineers, three electrical engineers, two programmers, three electrical techs, two mechanical techs, one lab assistant, and one guy who is supposed to be a technical writer." "Supposed to be a tech writer?" "Yeah. Each engineer has to write the manuals for his own project. Paul Preston, the tech writer, just looks over them and corrects their grammar. He makes sure they're in the proper format, and that's it. The problem is, he and the engineers get into big hassles because he thinks he is correcting their grammar, but in the process, he's changing the meaning of what they're saying." "Is there a good way around that?" "The best way would be if all of our engineers were like Missy. She knows what she wants to say, and she knows how to say it. If she gets into a hassle with Paul, I expect him to come away bloody." Both of us got a laugh out of that, then he went on. "I could never understand why engineers thought they didn't have to learn proper grammar. Writing proposals, manuals, and operating instructions are a big part of every engineer's job. Most of the guys I knew were satisfied with a passing grade in English in college. Very few took advanced classes." "Okay. I know where you're coming from. I understand there are some very good grammar packages for technical writing. They work with most all of the major word processors. Word processors also have templates, or you can create your own, so that all manuals would follow the same pattern. I'm sure Brenda could help you get started if you wanted to try to automate the process." "That might be a very good idea. I don't think Paul actually does much to pull his weight around here." "Okay, what about your mechanical engineers?" "First off, I hate to say it, but this department doesn't have enough work to keep three mechanical engineers busy. Yes, when we're working on a big project, like a new sort bed, we might keep all three of them busy for a week or two. Most of the time we'd be lucky to keep one mechanical engineer busy full time." "Marty, I'd like to see you go over all of our mechanical designs over the next year. If you were to do that, could you keep two busy?" "Probably. I was going to suggest to you that we try something different over the next few months. Jerry Cogburn is a good engineer. If you tell him what you want and give him the specs, he can design just about anything. He doesn't have that spark that lets him see a need and visualize what it takes to fill that need." "Okay." "I'd like to keep Jerry in the department. The other two mechanical engineers are about worthless. If it's all the same to you, I'd just as soon let them go." "That's your call, Marty." "Okay. I'd like to hire one mechanical engineer. I want one who has that spark that Missy has. If I can find one like that, that's all the full time mechanical engineers I'll need. In times when I might need more help, I'd like to see if I couldn't work it out with Mel so that I could borrow one or more of his engineers for a week or so." Okay, that was a new thought for me. I kind of liked the idea though. "I'll talk to Mel about that, Marty." "Hey, I'm feeling generous," Marty laughed. "Tell him my department will pick up half of the cost of one of his engineers if we can borrow one or two on occasion." "Marty, you're a wheeler and dealer," I laughed. "That might work out nicely, though." "Okay, now we come to my electrical engineers. I'd tease you about Missy, but you already know what I think of her. The other two electrical engineers are totally worthless. I'd like to replace one of them, and I'd like to work out the same kind of deal with Gene as I want to work out with Mel. That would leave me supporting one engineer, but having access to two or more of them as I need them." "I think I need to get you and Gene and Mel together and talk this out. I think it's a good idea, and I don't see why it wouldn't work. The only problems I could see would be if Gene or Mel needed all of their engineers at a time when you needed to borrow one. To me, I couldn't see that happening very often," I said. "I have two good programmers. Jerry Bostwick is a very good microprocessor programmer. He did the last sort controller, and almost everything else in the microprocessor venue over the last five years. Bob Roberts has proved to be an excellent PC programmer on the new order picker. What I need in the way of programmers is someone who is competent in both. He wouldn't have to be the lead guy in either area, but he would need to be able to do what the other guys tell him to do." "Someone like that should be fairly easy to find, don't you think?" "I think so. Now, that brings me to support people. I have two mechanical techs, three electrical techs, and one lab assistant. The way Shear did things, they probably needed all of those people. I'd say that over the next year, we can probably get rid of one mechanical tech, one electrical tech, and the lab assistant." "Is that realistic, Marty?" "I think so, but that's why I want to do it over a year's time. So far, all I've seen the techs doing is button sorting. Part of that is Missy's fault. She built her prototype slot controller before Shear could have gotten the word to the techs that one was needed. I suspect she is always going to be that way. Really good engineers are hands on people." "I have to agree with you there. You might see if you could hire techs through a temp agency if more were needed." "I've thought about that. Most temp agencies are bonded, so we wouldn't have to worry about a tech spilling our secrets to a competitor." "Well, Marty, it seems like you have a handle on what you want to do. Are you doing anything to make it happen?" Marty grinned and said, "I'm trying. I have interviews over the next week with two mechanical engineers and three electrical engineers. Two of these guys have very impressive resumes." "Very good. It's about lunch time, so I'm going to see if I can steal your most junior engineer to have lunch with me. I think you're doing a fine job so far, Marty. Don't feel that you have to do everything yourself. We're here to help you if you need it." "Thanks, Ed. I may take you up on that." ------- Of course Missy wanted to go to lunch with me. Brenda joined us shortly thereafter. I told them what Marty and I had been talking about. "Oh, you probably haven't met our lead electronics tech, have you?" Missy asked. "No," I said cautiously. "I'll introduce you when I go back to work. John Braun is a really interesting guy. He looks like a farmer, with his bib-overalls and his flannel shirt. When I first met him, I assumed he was a bit of a dullard. He's anything but, though." "How do you mean?" "First off, he is an excellent tech. Secondly, away from work, he has some really diverse interests. He is a pilot, and he has a couple of airplanes. He's into ham radio. He has a stock car, which he races on the local tracks." "How old is this guy?" I asked. "He's in his fifties. His wife came in one day to bring his lunch. She looks like your typical farm wife." I was amazed, and I decided I wanted to meet this guy. ------- I didn't hear anything from Frank Jones, but I really hadn't expected to. Week 11 - Friday I had to talk with our attorney this morning about the Pick Car. He ended up deposing me, even though I told him I didn't know much about it. "So, what is going on with the mess at Consolidated?" I asked. "Well, Consolidated is saying that Belding didn't take due caution in their design. They say that Belding should have insured that their maintenance people couldn't have defeated the safety system," he told me. "Any safety system that can be designed can be defeated," I said. "From what I've read in the past, a company has to take reasonable precautions. Nothing more. The manufacturer of a microwave oven can't be held responsible if some idiot puts an unopened can of pork and beans in the oven and starts it up. They should tell the idiot not to do that, but they don't have to have an unopened can detector to prevent him from doing it." The attorney laughed and said, "One of my favorites is the idiot who decided to use his lawn mower as a hedge trimmer. He started the mower, and taped the bar on the handle so it would stay on. He then grasped the mower deck and curled his fingers under it, preparing to pick it up. His friends now call him thumbs." "Did he actually sue the lawnmower company?" "He sure did. He claimed there was nothing in any of the manuals that said a lawnmower couldn't be used as a hedge trimmer. Thankfully, he lost. I think Consolidated is going to lose as well." ------- The day kind of dragged by. I don't know if we were going to start getting into those boring, everyday things, or what. Maybe it was just my anticipation of my upcoming marriage. Week 11 - Saturday One week until the wedding! Missy spent most of the day on the phone with either her mother or mine. She also called her cousin Sue and asked her if she'd be her maid of honor. Sue was thrilled. Week 11 - Sunday I am now living alone again. Missy left for her mother's place just after noon. She had done most of her packing yesterday, so we spent the morning making love. Edited By Aidan McGill ------- Chapter 20 Week 12 - Monday Frank Jones was in my office almost before I was. "Well, Ed, at least I found something out. I have cancer of the stomach. They won't know how bad it is until they do some more tests." "I'm sorry to hear that, Frank. When are they going to do the other tests?" "I'll be in and out of the hospital all this week. My wife or I will keep you informed." I thanked him and wished him luck. I watched his body language as he left. I could tell he figured it was bad. ------- I had to get away from my desk, so I walked over to R&D. I talked for a couple of minutes with Marty, and another couple of minutes with Missy by phone. ------- I didn't know what to think about Frank. I didn't know if it was bad. I knew that most cancers could be cured, if they were caught early enough. I didn't know anything at all about cancer of the stomach. Week 12 - Tuesday Gene was in my office, early, but at least this time he was smiling. "I don't guess I should find this funny, but I'm afraid I do," he said as he sat down in one of my visitor chairs. "What's that, Gene?" I asked. "Roger Tipton was at Exiter, working on their sort controller. It has a problem that we haven't been able to isolate. He had the system shut off, and he was climbing over the first belt in the area that separates the boxes." "Okay." "It seems the belt he had climbed on started by itself. He fell on his butt onto the belt and he was taken down stream." "Is he okay?" "I'm getting to that. Luckily, his hands were up in the air when he got to the next belt, which wasn't running. The belt he was on pulled his ass cheek down between it and the downstream belt." "Oh, shit." "Oh, shit is right. If the downstream belt had been running, there wouldn't have been a problem. As it was, when his ass cheek was pulled down between the belts, it was pinched something terrible. He's in the hospital, but he'll be released this morning. He says his one ass cheek has a hematoma that is as big as half of a melon." "Where is he?" "He's in Fort Worth. I don't know how the hell we're going to get him home. Obviously he can't sit on the hematoma on the plane." "Is his other butt cheek okay?" "He says it is." "Maybe someone can buy him a pillow for his other cheek to rest on. That way his damaged cheek could just hang out in the air." "Good idea. I suggested he stay down there for a day or two, to give it a chance to go down some. I'm sending Larry Steinhelm out there to work on the problem. Maybe he can help Roger before Roger starts back." "Good idea. Roger is going to be off work for a while anyway. Let him stay there as long as he feels he needs to." ------- Okay, I didn't think getting a hematoma as big as half a melon on your ass cheek was that funny. Brenda did. She giggled her way through lunch, talking about it. Brenda said she thought I could use a pinch like that on both of my cheeks. I'll have to admit, a friend of mine used to tease me. He said I have a vitamin deficiency ... No assatall. The wedding seemed to intrude in every conversation now. Maybe intrude isn't the right word. Thinking about it, I know it would upset Missy. "Mom says she's received RSVPs from the wedding invitations," Missy told me on the phone. "Any from Belding?" I asked. "That's the interesting part," Missy said. "She says she's had six people from Belding reply. She also said she's had three other people from Belding write to her and ask if they could attend. How many people at Belding did you tell Mom to invite, Ed?" "Six. My four managers, Brenda, and Mike Severt." "Mom didn't say who the other three are. I'll ask her the next time I talk to her." ------- Tomorrow would be our last day here. I would leave for Muncie on Thursday. Week 12 - Wednesday My last day at work! I went in early, and had breakfast. I was sitting, quietly talking with Brenda, when Mike Severt asked if he could join us. Of course we agreed. "I just wanted to congratulate you. I think you and Missy make a fine couple and I'm sure you will have many years together," Mike said. "Thank you," I said. "It's been kind of a rough row to hoe, but we think everything will be fine now." "Well, I wanted to tell you that, because I won't be coming to the wedding. Since Mel, Marty, Gene, and Dale are all going to be gone, I didn't think it would be smart to leave as well." "I understand, Mike. We'll miss you, but I understand how you feel," I said. "I know you were planning to take a week off, but I want you to take two. Everything is running well in your department now, so indulge me and take two weeks." "I don't have two weeks of vacation coming, Mike," I said. "This isn't vacation. This is comp time. Just relax and enjoy." "Well, I thank you from the bottom of my heart," I said. ------- Brenda had set up a meeting with my managers, and they started to drift in. Mike excused himself and left for his office. Once Brenda and the rest of the crew showed up, we got underway. "Okay, people, I would like a status report from each of you. Lets hear from you first, Dale," I said. I listened and Brenda took notes as each of my managers spoke. When they finished, they looked at me expectantly. "Okay. It seems to me that you have a handle on everything. Are there any problem areas that I should know about?" I asked. Everyone assured me there wasn't. All of them wished me the best of luck in our marriage. Week 12 - Thursday The drive to Muncie seemed to take forever. I had a million things running through my mind. Was I doing the right thing? Was Missy really the right one? Would she turn out like Lorna? Then I stopped and really gave Missy the benefit of the doubt. I thought of the way she loved me and the way I loved her. She wasn't anything like Lorna. I settled a lot in my mind during that drive. When I got to Muncie, I was a lot calmer than I had been for weeks. ------- Missy ran into the yard and threw her arms around me, when I arrived. I could feel her excitement as she kissed me and then led me into the house. Her mother, Alice, was almost as fired up as her daughter. "You remember Charise and Sue, don't you, Ed?" Missy asked. I told her that of course I did, and I asked Alice what I could do to help, and she told me to just stay out of the way. Missy giggled and gave me a big kiss. "She's right, honey. We have everything under control. I'm sure Sue will keep you company though." Sue blushed, and then grinned. "Sure, come with me," she said. When they were outside, Sue yelled, "Uncle Paul, we're going to borrow the tractor!" He was standing across the yard, talking to Missy's Uncle Al. He just waved his hand and kept on talking. Sue climbed on the tractor and motioned for me to follow her. I'll have to admit I was a little reluctant to do so, but finally I complied. Sue started the tractor, and then put it in gear. We took off at a speed that I thought was reserved for snails. The tractor was a little noisy for carrying on a conversation, but Sue shouted, telling me things about the farm. She was very knowledgeable, and I learned a lot about the farm. We were probably about as far from the farmhouse as we were going to get, when Sue stopped the tractor, and turned it off. She gave me a big grin, and said, "Come on." I watched as she disappeared into a grove of trees. Reluctantly, I followed. "My sister and I used to come over here a lot, in the summer," Sue said as we stopped to look at a large swimming hole. "I couldn't have been more than ten when Missy went off to college, but we spent a lot of time swimming in the creek before she did." I didn't know what to say, so I kept my mouth shut. Sue looked like she was lost in thought, so I just let her think. "I haven't been around Missy much over the last few years, but she means a lot to me. I know from what Aunt Alice says and from the letters she has written that you mean a lot to her." She was quiet for a minute, and I was beginning to think she was through talking, when she went on. "I really hope everything works out for you guys. I hope you have a long and happy life together." "Thank you, Sue. I hope the same things for us. I also hope we stay in touch. Relatives are special people, and we should always stay close to them," I said. We walked around and talked for a while. Sue was a lot more relaxed and a lot less flirty than the last time we were here. Finally, after it was almost dinner time, we mounted the tractor and headed back. ------- Missy was still flying high, but she had settled down enough that we could at least carry on a conversation. We went to bed fairly early, and Missy informed me that tomorrow night I'd have to sleep at the hotel. It didn't surprise me, so I readily agreed. We made love gently, but with an underlying passion that couldn't be denied. When we had finished, and Missy was laying in my arms, she said, "Well, I don't think I gave Dad anything to talk about. I was actually pretty quiet." "Yeah," I laughed. "I'm sure he'll find something though." Week 12 - Friday I knew from the start that this was going to be a bad day. I knew Missy would be busy with getting ready for the wedding. I knew my family and friends would be coming in later in the day, but I doubted they'd have time for me. I watched Missy as she slept, then as she began to wake. Before she even opened her eyes, I could see a smile start to grow. She stretched, and I couldn't help pulling the sheet off her body, so I could see her in all her glory. "Good morning, Lover," she said as she reached for me. "Good morning to you. Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?" I asked. "Yes, but I never get tired of hearing it," Missy said. "What do you have planned for today?" "I'm just going to hang out and try to stay out of trouble," I said. "I don't really have any plans." "Well, I have a million and one things I need to do today. I'm afraid I'm not going to be much company." "I didn't expect you would be," I grinned. "I think I'll call in to work after while. I'm wanting to see if anyone has heard anything about Frank." "Okay, but don't get all caught up in something. Remember what tomorrow is," Missy said. "How could I forget?" I said and kissed her. The kiss led to other things, and it was almost an hour later before we made it to the kitchen. ------- Alice and Paul made us feel right at home again. At least there wasn't any of the teasing we had been put through before. After a breakfast of ham, eggs, hashbrowns, and freshly baked biscuits, Alice told me to get lost. "Paul, do you have any plans for the day?" I asked. "No, but I've been told to stay out of their way, but to remain accessible. I reckon I'd better do just that," he laughed. "I could get Sue to come over if you'd like," Missy said with a grin. "No. I think I'll just hang around the hotel. Mom and Dad should be in today, as well as the people from Belding. Maybe I'll find someone I can talk with," I said. "You just be sure to be back here by 5:00 PM," Alice said. "You're going to have supper here with the Reverend Jacobs." ------- I sat around the lobby of the hotel until almost 4:00 o'clock before Mom, Dad, Tina, James, and Cindi showed up. I helped them check in and managed to get them to their rooms, then I had to run to get to the dinner with the reverend. Reverend Jacobs wasn't anything to write home about. I had seen him when I went to church with the family, and at the time I thought of how strange he looked. He wasn't over about 5'3" tall, and what made him so funny, was that he was wearing shoes that had at least a three inch sole on them. Now this wouldn't have been so bad, by itself, but he was also going bald, and he had a comb over you wouldn't believe. Missy and I had both remarked on him after our visit, and before we sat down she gave me an elbow in the ribs. Actually, after talking with the guy, he didn't seem too bad. When he started asking questions about how Missy and I met, I was tempted to tease, but I didn't want to make Alice mad at me, so I didn't. The Reverend Jacobs finally left around 9:00 PM, and I followed shortly thereafter. "The next time you'll see me is when we are getting married," Missy said as she kissed me goodnight. "I can't wait, my love. I love you with all of my heart and all of my soul," I said. "I love you too. Now get out of here so I can get some sleep," she said. Week 12 - Saturday I had breakfast with my parents and Tina in the hotel we were staying at. Actually, I was pleased with how well it went. Tina was fun, and her kids were wonderful. "So, Tina, how's the new job coming?" I asked. "It's been wonderful so far," she said between bites. "It's only been three weeks, but I feel the job is mine. I thought at first it would be hard work, but I don't get as tired as I did at the convenience store." "Well, it is a union job. You're pretty well protected by the union. I wouldn't take too much advantage of that though," I said. "I don't plan to. I'm enjoying the job, and I found out that Belding will even help with tuition if I decide to go to college. I know I'm a little old to be starting, but I think I'm going to do that," Tina said. "You're never too old for college," I told her. "I'm sure Missy and I will be available for baby sitting, if we're needed." "That's much appreciated, but I get paid so much now that I don't mind the cost of a baby sitter. It would be nice if you could take them once in a while, just so you can get to know them," she said. ------- The wedding was going to be held at noon, with the reception immediately following. After breakfast, I had three hours to kill. I didn't know what I was going to do, so I just took a seat in the lobby. I hadn't been there but a few minutes when Brenda and her husband came in. Brenda introduced me to Greg and said they were going in to eat breakfast. I said I thought I'd join them and Brenda laughed. "I'll bet you can't find anything to do," Brenda said. "You're absolutely right," I said. "I had breakfast with my family, but they wanted to start getting ready. I'm kind of at a loss." "I know all about feeling lost on my wedding day," Greg said. "You're more than welcome to join us." We had just started in to the dining room when Jillian walked up. I introduced her to Brenda and Greg, and asked, "Have you had breakfast?" "No, I'm afraid not. Are you guys headed that way?" she asked. "Yes," Brenda said. "Why don't you join us? It might keep Ed from going completely bonkers. Jillian laughed and said she thought she would. ------- "So, who's your best man?" Jillian asked after we were all seated. "Well, I tried to get Russ Shepherd, but he was going to be in Atlanta this week. I finally ended up asking Paul Anderson. Paul's a great guy, and he said he would. I think this wedding is going to be a little fucked up. We didn't even have a rehearsal," I said. "Well, at least your best man is going to be okay. If I remember Paul, he is level headed. Is there anyone else I know who is going to be in the ceremony," Jillian asked. "Just Missy," I grinned at her. "She told me last night that everything is going to be smooth, so I'm not to worry about anything." "Famous last words," Brenda said with a grin. ------- At 10:30 I started getting ready. It didn't take but a few minutes to get dressed, and then I drove to the church. I didn't have a clue as to where to go, but I found a young man who looked like he belonged to the church, and he showed me. My best man was already waiting there for me. I gave him the wedding ring and he said, "I guess I shouldn't lose this, huh?" "You do and I'll break both of your arms, Paul," I grinned. At ten minutes until twelve, I heard the music start. It was "Water Music" by Handel. A few minutes later, the minister came in and said that he would lead everyone down the aisle. Paul and I were to follow him. When we got to the front of the church, the minister got the two of us situated the way he wanted us, and we waited for the next to come down. I think I zoned out then, because the next thing I knew Jenny and Sue Coleman were standing opposite us. Cindi was coming down the aisle, strewing flower petals. Once Cindi had made her trip, and had been rescued by her mother, the organist struck up "Bridal Chorus" from Lohengrin. Now I was waiting with bated breath. I'll swear my heart stopped when I saw Missy coming down the aisle. She was wearing a traditional white wedding gown, with a very short train. She was so beautiful, I'll swear my heart stopped. I felt Paul take hold of my arm, and his grip brought me back to myself. I watched as she made her way to her position beside me. When Missy was standing where she was supposed to, she whispered, "Move my veil back." I took hold of her veil and moved it back so it wasn't blocking my view of her. She gave me a smile that brought one to me as well. I took her hand and we faced the minister. To be honest with you, I didn't pay much attention to what the minister was saying. I did hear him say a prayer, and then he went into this long-winded thing about the sanctity of marriage, and I kind of zoned out. The next thing I remembered distinctly was when he said for me to repeat after him. "I, Edward, take thee, Melissa, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I pledge myself to you." Somehow, I made it through it. Then I heard Missy saying, "I, Melissa, take thee, Edward, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I pledge myself to you." The minister said something else, and then he said, "I now pronounce you husband and wife. What God has joined together, let no man put asunder. You may kiss the bride." Okay, that I heard. Missy and I were now married. Did I have any doubts or reservations? Not a one! I loved this woman with all of my heart, and I knew she felt the same way about me. The minister informed me that we should walk back down the aisle. We turned, and Missy took my arm. The minister said, "May I present to you, Mr. And Mrs. Edward Delany." After the applause died down, Missy and I started down the aisle. To the sounds of "Spring," Allegro, (from The Four Seasons) by Antonio Vivaldi. We hadn't gone more than half a dozen steps, when Cindi broke away from her mother and ran to my side. Tina started after her, but I shook my head, and took Cindi's hand. James wasn't going to be outdone, so he ran and grabbed Missy's other hand. She had a smile that was a mile wide as we made our way out of the church. Edited By Aidan McGill ------- Incomplete and Inactive ------- Posted: 2006-07-03 Last Modified: 2008-05-12 / 11:30:52 am ------- http://storiesonline.net/ -------