Tipping Point Ch. 03

We decided to christen our new apartment and ordered pizza for our evening meal. Jilly joined us of course. She made a salad, and as usual, we had plenty of MGD available. I suggested to Tommy that if Jilly wanted to stay over that night it was fine with me. Jilly blushed, but after looking at Tommy, she agreed. As it turned out, she had a change of clothes with her. I wasn't dealing with kids anymore. Both of them were adults and I treated them as such.

I had made a quick trip to Wal-Mart earlier in the week and purchased a four place setting of dishes and flatware. But I really didn't have a clue what I needed for pots and pans and utensils. I bought a few things like spatulas and large spoons, but that was about it. Once again, Jilly stepped into the breach and made a list for me. I could look after it on Sunday or Monday.

We all slept in on Sunday morning, not rising until well after nine. I told Tommy and Jilly that I was going skating in the afternoon and they were welcome to join me. They declined, saying they had things to do, but would make supper for us that evening. I was happy with that.

I phoned the two numbers I plucked from the rink bulletin board. There was no answer at the first, but the second was a young sounding guy who was enthusiastic about finding another player. We agreed to meet at the rink on Tuesday night when they had a game. I warned him that I was over forty and hadn't played in a long time. Furthermore, I didn't have any of my old equipment, so I'd have to rectify that before I could skate with him. That didn't seem to deter him, so we agreed to meet at 6:30pm on Tuesday.

I left for the rink early Sunday afternoon to get my skates sharpened before the public skating began. It didn't take very long and when I walked over toward the benches near the entrance to the ice surface, I spotted Teresa Croft and went to join her.

"Hi. Nice to see you again," I said.

"Hello, Stan. Did you get moved all right?"

"Yes. It wasn't difficult at all. We were done just before one o'clock, thankfully."

We were both in the process of lacing up our skates, waiting for the public skating time to begin.

"Did you find a hockey team to play with?" she asked.

"I did. I called one guy this morning and I'm meeting him Tuesday to see if I fit in. It could work out okay. In the meantime, I'm just enjoying my own space again. These past three weeks reminded me of how much I enjoy the privacy and quiet of a home."

She nodded her understanding. The buzzer sounded for the start of public skating, but we sat together on the bench until the initial rush of young people had subsided and we could walk onto the ice without hassle. There wasn't any rush and once again, Teresa took my hand as we skated.

When we took a break, I ordered hot chocolate for us and brought it back to the small table we had chosen. I found I was quite relaxed and comfortable in Teresa's presence, and I attributed that to her. She was easy to be with. Our conversation was light and contributed to my comfort.

"I looked up Katy Jurado on the Internet yesterday," she said with a penetrating look.

"Oh. Well, do you agree with me?"

"That I look like her? I suppose. I'm Mexican Indian in heritage, just as she was. The website had a couple of movie clips of her, so I got to see what you saw when you first developed your crush on her," she giggled.

"I'll admit it. I had a crush on her alright. Something about her was ... I don't know ... exotic maybe? She was so completely different from the usual Hollywood movie stars."

Teresa was nodding as I finished. "I agree. She is very different. I looked at myself in the mirror, and I couldn't see the resemblance. But then, I found some pictures of myself, and I could see what you meant. There is a resemblance, but ... I think she is much more beautiful than I am."

I was shaking my head. "I don't agree. But, it doesn't matter. It's what others see that counts. I see Katy's double. So, that's that!"

"Okay, Stan. I'm flattered, but not convinced. Can we leave it at that?"

"Sure. I wasn't trying to embarrass you. I just thought you should know that you have a double from another era."

She reached over and put her hand on mine, smiling at me. That simple gesture lifted me more than anything that had happened to me in recent weeks. When we left the rink we confirmed our meeting at her office the next morning at nine.

I arrived at Carmen's office a little early and found Teresa just opening the door to the office. She smiled and ushered me in, asking me to draw up a chair beside her desk.

"Carmen's in court this morning, so I'm on my own. I hope you don't mind, but I may have to answer the phones when we're in the middle of our conversation."

"No, of course not," I agreed.

"Good, then let's get started," she said brightly. She pulled out several papers from a file on her desk and passed the top one to me. We went through the pile one-by-one as she explained each to me and we decided if they were necessary or not. We took a break at ten for coffee, then finished up our meeting."

"There, Stan. When we file these papers, you will officially become President and Chief Executive Officer of Copely Services Inc., not to mention the only employee," she grinned.

"Yeah. I still need to deal with health insurance and liability as well. I hadn't thought of that either, but you said it was necessary. Can you suggest someone who can handle that for me?"

"Yes. Across the road you'll find Midwest Insurance Centers. They can handle anything you need, including car, house, liability, health ... the whole ball of wax. We've used them ourselves and have been completely satisfied. They are quite competitive with their rates. You should ask for Harmon Mortensen. He's our agent."

"Great. Thanks. Is there anything I've forgotten?"

"Just customers. You will have a business license and be properly insured, but you still need some customers."

I could see she was poking fun, so I laughed. But come to think of it, that was a priority now. I'd made the big step, now I had to make it work. Luckily, one of my old confederates at F & C was in the business and had confided in me about the rate structure most service outfits used. I had never been told what our billing rates were by the company, and I never saw their invoices. I'd heard it was costly, but didn't have any idea of how the company charged for the work I did.

Dave Thomas was about ten years my senior, and had left F & C almost as soon as the austerity program was announced. He was a dedicated East Coast man, and that territory provided him with more business than he could handle. He now employed two men to pick up the additional work available.

I had contacted him the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and had a long conversation with him. The upshot was that he encouraged me to strike out on my own. He e-mailed me his rate chart, asking me not to undercut him, at least in his own territory. I agreed. My interest was still centered in the Midwest, and I didn't want to start a service price war.

When I sat down and analyzed the chart, it was obvious that with enough work, I could make a very good living at this business. Much better in fact than when I was an F & C employee. If this is what they were charging my customers in the past, the service department had to be a profit center. Probably better than the sales department.

It would take some time to build the customer base, but I was reasonably sure I could live off what money I had until that was accomplished. I based this belief on what the customers had told me when I did my phone survey.

*

My thanks to ErikThread and DaveT for their editing and technical expertise. Any errors are mine.