My first instinct was to tell Moira but Mike was now sitting at my desk. Reason took hold and I focused on him. But... as it was 5pm and the employees were heading out the back door and I could see the second floor group over Mike’s shoulder. I had it in mind to watch for Moira thinking it wouldn’t be hard to notice her what with her being the tallest woman on the second floor and with her red hair. I don’t know if Mike noticed I was looking past him but it didn’t make any difference. Bret returned to his desk and announced that everybody from the second floor but J J was gone. Somehow I’d missed her. At least with that knowledge I could focus on Mike.
I was almost sure he would accept the terms of employment. However, he was still ‘fishing’ for more money. He kept saying it would be a cut in pay but I finally put a stop to that line of talk by asking just how many hours he worked. He tried to slough it off by saying it varied from week to week. When I’d talked with one of his employers I’d asked what his pay had been and it was an hourly wage and depended on the amount of deliveries he had to make in a week. I then asked if it wouldn’t make it nice to know how much he’d be making each week and know just how many hours he’d be working. I saw a smile starting at the corners of his mouth. I knew I had him at that point. Monday was the first day of a new pay period so it was agreed he’d start then.
It had taken longer that I’d wanted but still had time to make the run to my parents house to get the needed part to my plan for Elle’s birthday. The family, on my father’s side, was what is called “anal” in that they kept everything. That included my grandfather’s wheelchair after he died. I got the idea to give Elle his old wheelchair as her birthday present and was on my way to pick it up. I knew I’d pay for it but I just had to do it. At my father’s house he tried to persuade me not to do it but I prevailed and managed (just) to get it in the trunk of my car.
My original plan was to give it to her first thing in the morning. However, at 7am the phone rang with a call for her to substitute teach. There was no way I could realistically pull it off so jumped in to help with getting the kids ready so she could get herself ready. There was no mention of her birthday by the kids or me which, as I look back on it, was actually better. Because there was no time to plan for care for Kaye she ended up at Phyliss’ (the neighbor) day care. I hadn’t seen her or her kids in a while. She was very cordial but in the few minutes I was there it was reinforced in my mind that she was the BOSS.
I managed to get a message to Moira to let me know if she could meet me at the diner on the traffic circle for lunch. When it got to be after 11am and I hadn’t heard from her I began to worry. I didn’t want my concern to be obvious so waited for her to come downstairs at lunch time. When she did I made like it was by accident that we met at the door. I made some sort of inane comment but managed to ask if she was headed for the diner. She smiled and said “Of course.” I was confused wondering why she hadn’t contacted me to confirm it. Since it was in walking distance I told her it would be best if she walked and I’d arrive by car a few minutes later.
She’d ordered something by the time I arrived but I could see from the look in her eyes she was excited. I told her about the call from Brucie but I had no details. In a way I was sorry she’d ordered because I had the idea to go look at the unit he’d mentioned. It was less that a mile down the road. As soon as her sandwich arrived she scooped it up, paid for it and we were on our way.
Brucie wasn’t there but the guy who was knew which unit had no furniture. I recognized it as having belonged to people we knew when we lived in the park. Once inside I was taken aback by just how much room there was without any furniture. One thing I didn’t like was there was no refrigerator. Moira didn’t say much as she walked to the back. It was a three bedroom unit. My guess was it was at least 50 feet long. I knew it was 10 feet wide so that meant there was at least 500 square feet of living space. Since Moira wasn’t saying much I asked if she thought she and her kids would fit. That brought another smile and a bit of a ‘flip’ answer... “depends on the rent.” I couldn’t help her on that telling her she’d have to negotiate with Brucie. By then we were pushing the time limit for lunch. On our way back I asked her again if there was adequate space. I remember he taking a deep breath and saying the space was fine but she was fearful about being able to make the rental payments. As I dropped her at the back door I told her I’d talk to Brucie again. Shutting the door I could see her mouth the word “Thanks”.
Knowing that Mike was to start on Monday made doing all the nuisance ‘chores’ a little easier for both Bret and I. Before the end of the day we both got a chance to look over the branch plans again but this time with Hobie. We all agreed the modifications would be a great improvement. I had a chance to chat briefly alone with Hobie and asked how he pulled it off. You would have to know the man to understand his answer... “Patience” was all he said. But, he added something that I wasn’t prepared for. The branch subcommittee had been interviewing applicants to be the manager and would be making their choice by the end of the month. Their plan was to have him work with Bret and I until the branch was ready to open. Before I could ask a question he cut the conversation off saying that was all he knew. My only thought was where would we put him.
I had asked Bret to stay to 6pm and close up because of Elle’s birthday and he reluctantly agreed. I actually left a little after 4pm. Being a Friday I knew Elle would do her grocery shopping. What I didn’t know was what time she’d get home from school, collect Kaye and be off. All the way home I was praying I’d get there before she returned. There was no station wagon in the driveway as I pulled in. I quickly got the wheelchair from the trunk, wheeled it to the house and into the kitchen. The only missing part was the sign I’d made to go with it and that was in the basement. I heard the slamming doors of the wagon as I made it to the top of the stairs. The one thing I didn’t get was the camera to take a picture of her reaction. This is the “after” one.
 | |
| This was WAY after... I did 'pay' for it but it was worth it |
No comments:
Post a Comment