Laura's Big Win (12 page)

Returning to his narrative, Roger
pointed down the drive toward the entrance gate. “As you probably
saw last night, this is a gated facility. What you don’t see is the
security fence around the rest of the property; we have a
tele-monitoring service that notifies us if anything disturbs the
fence structure, and if necessary someone goes out to check.
Usually it’s nothing, although once in a while some youngsters will
get a little over energetic and decide to visit the hard way.
Usually a little chat with Dennis or a visit by the dogs takes care
of things. We generally invite the local first responders, city and
county, to dinner at least once a year, troopers too if any are
living in the area at the time; it’s a good insurance program.
Anyway, your room card will operate the card reader at the gate, in
and out. The vehicles have remote controls, as you probably
observed. There’s just one thing, and I don’t think it would ever
be a problem or ever even come up, but if you come through the gate
and someone tries to follow you, you know, run through while it’s
opened for you, stop just inside the gate, stand on the brakes, and
hit the red button on the remote three times in quick succession.
Even if the other car tries to push you, the gate will have it for
lunch in about five seconds. The red button is like a hyperdrive
for the closer, and believe me, it is not to be operated without
cause. Anyway, I don’t think you’ll ever have the need to use it;
things stay pretty calm around here most of the time. That about
does it for the outside. This is the main entrance where most of
our clients arrive. Your rooms just happened to be closer to the
rear entrance. We’ll go in here and take a look at the office area.
The upstairs has sleeping rooms much like a bed and breakfast, with
a staircase that enters the great room; we’ll tour that
also.”

Laura was impressed by the large Oak
doors at the front entrance, easily eight feet high with heavy
metal work, but balanced so they were easily operated by someone of
slight stature. The entryway itself had the original ornate inlaid
tile pieces on the floor and the carved panels on the walls and
ceiling; it gave off a feeling of subtle opulence, warm and
inviting. One of the truly nice things about Windmere was that the
family who inherited it from the original owners did not have time,
or the interest, to change any of it to any significant degree. The
majority of the original fine craftsmanship that had been
maintained through the years remained intact. Modern utility
systems had been installed in such a manner as to be inconspicuous,
using existing access channels through the house, and even some of
the original fixtures where they could be retrofitted without
obvious change. The design and construction of the house had been
well ahead of its time, even to the generating plant for electric
lights, something nearby Conyerville would not have until several
years later. Of course, the old elevated water tank was no longer
needed now and had been removed before it became a hazard; the
newer utilities were much more efficient and dispersed nearly
invisibly through the facility. A central computer operated the
building systems as well as security features, sensing, for
instance, when a meeting room was occupied and needed more cooling,
or the lights turned off when no activity registered in the area.
But mostly, all the modern features were well hidden, humming along
in their daily tasks unseen and unheard.

Moving farther into the building, they
entered the Great Room, a combination of living room, meeting room,
recreation room, dining room, whatever it needed to be at the time.
The furnishings were certainly high end, but not overly ornate.
Clearly, this was a room where things could get done, deals made,
debates conducted. Laura was impressed, partly because the system
sensed their presence in the entryway and activated the lighting
ahead of their path, but equally by the design and furnishing of
the room. It was at once fully comfortable while remaining as
utilitarian as it needed to be. The massive stone fireplace
remained in place, almost as a counterpoint to an equally massive
flat screen display on the opposite wall. Old and new, it all
blended toward one end: serving the occupant.

“To state the obvious, this is the
Great Room. The fireplace is operational, not particularly energy
efficient, but it does have an ambience on a cold night. It seems
almost incongruous that we have had some client’s children roasting
hotdogs in it while multi-million dollar deals were on the table,
but Windmere seems to be capable of holding all those different
activities at the same time and making them look like they belong
together. It’s a feeling I can’t really describe. We can take a
look in some of the office areas if you like, but I think for now
I’d just like to show you where you would be working, and maybe a
couple of other offices. I know we’ve flooded you with information
at the moment, and I don’t expect you to remember much of it.
Mostly, I just wanted to let you see the place so you know we
aren’t a bunch of quick buck artists or rummies. Unless you have
some questions, I suggest we conclude the tour for the most part;
you can feel free to wander around later and see the other meeting
rooms, things like that, and you know where the kitchen is. I’m
sure the kids will know most of it within a day or so. Any doors
you shouldn’t enter simply won’t unlock with your card. I don’t say
that as a warning, just that we do have some permanent living
quarters upstairs, the computer room, places like that. So, any
questions?”

“No, I don’t think so. I’ll admit, it’s
a little overwhelming to see all this at one time, and it is very
impressive to say the least. But, you surely understand, in the
last 48 hours my children and I have been from one end of the
Maslow pyramid to the other; it has taken a bit of coping. So,
where do things go from here?”

“It’s mid-afternoon. Why don’t you take
a couple of hours to think things over, and we’ll meet in this area
about 5:00 to discuss the future. Okay?”

“Very much okay; thank you,” and each
went their own way for the time being. Ryan and Roger met with
Calvin and did some brain picking to get an idea what good
accounting and IT people were earning in the market. It became
clear to both Roger and Calvin that Ryan had an interest in this
woman, but it remained unclear to them, as much as it did to Ryan,
just what that interest was.

Chapter 8 – The
Offer

Laura couldn’t decide if 5 PM was
approaching too slowly or too quickly. She turned the events of the
day over in her mind while trying to listen to her children talk
about running the dogs in the woods and all the other things they
had seen and done. It was strange, she thought, that they seem to
be happier just now than they ever were at home, even though they
were among only adults and there were no other kids around for
playtime. Still, these adults treated them like people, not
chattel; maybe that was the difference. Richard never seemed to
have much time for any of them, unless he was bringing a client
home to dinner. Then it was always show time, best behavior, good
clothes, make an impression; as soon as they were shown off, it was
as though they didn’t exist anymore. Richard would depart with his
client without so much as a good night, good dinner, go to hell,
for any of them. It had always bothered Laura, but he did seem to
provide what they needed and they had all the amenities to keep up
appearances, at least they did have until recently. She did wonder
about other families and how they got along, but it didn’t occur to
her to ask a few little questions here and there. After all, she
was the devoted wife and mother. It had not yet occurred to her
that they had been used like property. Besides, that era was
apparently gone forever and she had to make choices now about her
future and that of her children.

The time to choose was getting near.
Alice would watch the kids while Laura had her business meeting; in
fact, Alice, who almost never cooked for herself, had promised them
supper at her place when that time arrived. In the meantime, she
had some grandkid games available, and some kidvids; incongruous as
it seemed, she looked forward to sitting on the floor and enjoying
herself. Kept her sharp for her own grandkids she thought to
herself.

Refreshed and ready to face whatever
came, Laura went to the office area to find Roger. Seeing her
approaching, the men rose as one from around the small conference
table, an act of habit for them, but for her an act of courtesy
awesome in its simplicity and statement.

Calvin Harrison worked his way through
college in a variety of jobs, sometimes several at once, but always
with the goal of a degree and the good job it would merit him.
Majoring in business, he interviewed for and was hired as an
assistant to the purchasing agent in the local branch of a major
manufacturing company. The PA was scheduled to retire in two more
years, but the truth of the matter was, he had already retired in
place. Mostly, he didn’t care what Calvin did, so long as it didn’t
involved much work on his part and the materials kept flowing into
and out of the plant. For Calvin, it was a golden opportunity to
learn the complete operation while still having some protection
from a senior department head. Given plenty of leash to run on, he
learned to negotiate with vendors for almost anything of
consequence in the plant, learning when to hold ‘em and when to
fold ‘em as the situation warranted. Then came the day the PA
actually did retire and left the plant, recommending strongly that
Calvin take over as PA. Everything had finally fallen into place
after a lot of hard work: good job, bright future climbing the
corporate ladder maybe to division headquarters, beautiful wife
carrying their first child, and their own home; it might be sort of
a starter house, but it was theirs to do with as they pleased. They
truly were pleased with both the house and themselves. Then the
company went offshore and shuttered the plant, taking only the
division manager along.

Calvin found a job working in a local
hardware store and although it wasn’t the income he had been
receiving, they had reined in wherever they could and things were
working out. That was where he was when Ryan had come in for some
repair parts Franz needed. The two men knew each other from charity
golf outings the previous several years, and although Ryan knew
about the plant closing, he had assumed a bright guy like Calvin
had been moved up the line and somehow protected as a valuable
asset. But the old company didn’t care about people assets, and
Calvin had to make a living, so it was the hardware store. Ryan
thought about the injustice of the situation first, but that was
quickly overtaken by his mind searching for a place Windmere could
use this man, not for charity but because Windmere needed good
people in it’s growth phase and this was a good man. Arranging an
after-hours meeting with Calvin, the deal was made, and two weeks
later he started as the power shopper for Windmere. It was a
decision Ryan would regard as one of his best. And so it was that
Calvin had been invited as a member of the interview team and
joined the other two men at the table. He was quick to notice
Ryan’s eyes watching Laura as she entered, although he didn’t read
much into it at the moment.

As usual, Roger took the lead: “Please,
have a seat, make yourself comfortable. Anything I can get for you
before we continue?”

“No, thank you; I’m fine and, I think,
ready to deal with life, at least for the moment. That would not
have been true this time yesterday, having found myself without a
home, any means of support, and a sister who wouldn’t help. Oops;
I’m sorry. That just sort of slipped out; one too many things to
keep track of, I guess.”

Ryan interjected: “Your sister? You
have relatives in Conyerville?”

“Yes, my sister, Nancy Pickett, but I
don’t want you to think she left me out in the cold or anything
like that. Actually, when we got into the bus station yesterday, I
called their house, but her husband Lennie said they were having
hard times and just couldn’t help for the moment. I called again
this morning and talked to Nancy. She was still furious at Leonard.
She said she had seen us on the late news, but by the time she
called we were gone and the night supervisor would only tell her we
were in a safe place. But, we are not here to talk about my family
issues. Sorry that came up.”

Roger continued: “Not a problem. I’m
sure in the long run you’ll work things out with your sister. And
it is true, you are in a safe place; you’ve seen how we run things
around here. But, I digress. We are indeed here to do see what can
be worked out to everyone’s best interest. Oh, I’m sorry; my
manners are terrible this afternoon; please, let me introduce you
to Calvin Harrison. Cal is our expediter for want of a better word,
does purchase contract negotiations, that sort of
thing.”

“I’m please to meet you Mr.
Harrison.”

“Please, Calvin, or Cal; either is fine
with me. If you decide to stay around here, please feel free to
yell anytime you need a hand, or have a question about something we
do; it’s how I learned a lot of this, sort of making it up as we
went along in the early days. I guess we did all right. Anyway,
welcome to Windmere.”

“Thank you. I look forward to the
adventure.”

“Don’t let that smiling face beguile
you. Ryan and I both learned Cal can be tough as nails in a
negotiation; probably why he makes way too much money for his own
good. So, cards on the table. The three of us met to consider the
situation, Windmere’s needs, things like that. We are fully aware
that you have some reservations about being able to do what we ask.
In that regard, please let me assure you that the position we are
considering is wide ranging in scope; it is still very much in
development, and we would expect you to have a lot of input as it
fleshes out. As mentioned, we are prepared to hire assistance in
developing the system, but you would call the shots for the
consultants; we can tell you what we need, how you deliver it would
be your call. Since you clearly know a lot more about that than at
least two of us, we will trust your judgment in formatting and so
on. All we ask is that you deliver product in useable format. So,
you know what we need; here’s what we are willing to trade for that
service. It makes things a little easier if we reduce it down to
dollars and cents, but that doesn’t mean there is no wiggle room.
For instance, if you elect to move to a cottage, there is a figure
that is comparable to what you would have to pay in rent for
equivalent housing in Conyerville, plus an allowance for utilities,
that sort of thing. The medical is pretty straight forward,
standard deductible although we use a disappearing deductible our
agent hates; the numbers are all there. We did assume you would
elect to buy insurance; I believe you will find the rates
favorable, but you always have the right to go shopping. Board is
spelled out, including the allowance for meals taken in the
kitchen. We pretty well assume breakfast is a given; Doris told me
she truly enjoyed feeding the kids this morning; I know she would
look forward to that being a regular occurence. Other meals are as
scheduled. I know you are looking to start at least one person in
elementary school this fall; I think we can waive any costs if he
decides to carry rather than use the cafeteria; not a big issue. If
you decide to buy your own car, there is a small offset cost for
not using a Windmere car, but since we have to maintain them
anyway, you won’t find it to be a real significant line item.
Income tax withholding and all that is pretty well determined by
Uncle Sam, as you know. There is one other item I need to clarify:
this is a corporation operating under the laws of this state; this
umbrella wholly covers the three subsidiary operations. As a
corporation, although it is not publicly traded, it does have
treasury stock available; that stock is used solely to provide
shares to employees who elect to withhold some pay to buy shares.
You may want to think about that for the future, or if you feel
confident, you can elect in or out at any time. Shares are
redeemable only upon severing your connection to the company, and
only by being returned to the company; they are not negotiable, and
will not be recognized if held by anyone not in the employ of
Windmere, Inc. I don’t mean to sound harsh, just very thorough so
no wrong ideas are conveyed. Now, having rambled on for some time,
we come to the bottom line. Here is what we offer at this time. I
know this is sudden and that you have had to cope with major
changes in the last few days, but please consider our decision
making process. You see, Windmere is a company that tends to make
good decisions, and make them quickly; the sooner a good decision
can be implemented, the sooner the benefits accrue to the company.
I don’t want you to think we’re buying a piece of machinery or an
automaton; we are very well aware of you as a person. We believe
your potential as an excellent team member lands us clearly on the
positive side of the hiring equation. Decision made. Okay, your
turn. Any questions?”