Guilty until proven innocent

I had just returned from four days at our Roseburg, Oregon plant to my office at headquarters in Tacoma. I checked the daily reports on my computer then looked at the time. 4:25 P.M. Friday afternoon. 5 O’clock couldn’t come soon enough for me as I really was looking to get out of this suit and tie and get comfortable and mix myself a tall rum and coke. I was looking forward to seeing my lovely wife and my two children, Michael, 8 and Katie, 6 and find out how their day at school went. I wanted to talk to my wife and check with her about her week. I was also looking forward to some fun in bed with her as my return from a trip usually brought out her wild side.

I turned to look over my shoulder as my office has a large window, not looking outside but I’m able to see the main production floor of NECO, my employer. My reverie was broken as my secretary buzzed and said, “Mr. Carter, you have a visitor. I’m sending him in per his request.” I thought that was rather strange.

This long haired older man with wire rimmed glasses wearing a brown pinstriped suit walked in with a valise in hand and said, “You’re Henry James Carter, correct?”

I nodded and said, “Yes sir. That’s the name my parents gave me. How can I help you?”

He opened his valise and pulled out a manila envelope and handed it to me and said, “Mr. Carter, you’ve been served.” He turned and quickly left my office. I ripped open the envelope and it was a notice of divorce from my wife, Susie, that was sent from my lawyer. It was issued on the grounds of adultery. I didn’t understand this as I had only been with one woman in my life and that woman was my wife Susie.

I called Susie’s cell and was informed that by a robotic voice that I was blocked from calling that number. I got similar notification when I tried calling Susie’s parents, her brother or her sister. For some reason they had all blocked me.

Then my secretary buzzed me and said, “Mr. Carter, there’s a gentleman that just called and says he needs to meet you out by your car right now. He says he’s your brother-in-law.” I rushed to my car and there next to it was my sister-in-law’s husband, Tony, standing next to two suitcases but he looked at me like he wanted to kill me.

“Tony,” I queried,” what’s going on? I was just served with divorce papers from Susie and I’m at a complete loss as to what she’s talking about.”

Tony stepped forward, shouting in my face, “Don’t give me that bullshit! I’ve seen the pictures. How stupid do you think we are? You’re lucky I’m on the police force or I’d beat your ass to a pulp right now.”

I was in shock and asked, “What pictures? What are you talking about?”

He was walking towards his car now and said, “Don’t act stupid with me. The ones you had on your computer with you fucking those sluts, shithead. One of your bimbos bitched to Susie and she found a guy to break into your computer and found them. You’re lucky she even packed you some clothes. Now stay away from her and the kids if you know what’s good for you.” Tony got into his car and sped away.

I put my bags in my trunk and headed back to my office. My secretary, Kali, asked whether or not I was going home as it was now past 5:00 and I said, “It looks like I no longer have a home to go to,” as I held up the papers I had just been served. She silently mouthed, ‘I’m so sorry.’

I looked out at the production floor and thought about the first time I walked into the plant almost 13 years ago. I had just graduated high school where I had taken several machinist and metallurgy classes. My uncle Don was a CNC operator and made big bucks and I thought it was cool that he made rocket parts during the week and on weekends his boss let him use the machine to make custom wheels for motorcycles and show cars. That’s what gave me the bug to become a machinist. Uncle Don had even taken me to a couple of big machinist trade shows in Seattle and Portland.

When I had applied for work there, it was called Mattson’s Metals and Machining. Old man Mattson was a gruff old coot and very demanding of his men, though underneath held a heart of gold. He told me he’d hire me as a fill in and I thought I’d be working when someone didn’t show up. What it really meant was I was sweeping up and bringing stock up and moving partially machined parts between stages.

As I was doing this, I noticed that they were using AEI’s multi-head machines which was capable of doing six machining functions without removing the workpiece. Here they were only doing one function then having another identical machine doing the second function and so on down the line. When I asked the foreman, Burl, why they were doing it that way he said, “Listen kid! That’s the way it’s done here. Don’t rock the boat.” I stewed all day over that and had trouble sleeping thinking of all the money being wasted.

First thing the next morning, I walked into Mr. Mattson’s office and said, “Sir, since you like throwing money away, why don’t you throw some my way?”

He scowled and his furled brow let me know he was unsure how to answer me. Rising from behind his desk, he yelled “What in the HELL are you talking about, young man? I work hard for my money and so do all my men.”

I said, “Sir, down on the line, you have several AEI machines and those machines are capable of doing multiple operations without removing the workpiece. Instead only one operation is done per machine, thereby wasting hundreds if not thousands of man hours a year needlessly. Is there a reason you are doing it that way?” I didn’t tell him about the conversation with the foreman on the floor.

Mr. Mattson glared at me and said, “Come on son, show me,” and we walked down to the production floor and I explained how the AEI machines could be set up to do the multiple operations. The shop foreman was clenching his fists and giving me dirty looks. The old man looked at the foreman and asked, “Why haven’t you been using these machines to their full potential?”

The foreman stammered a bit then lied and said, “I didn’t know you wanted us to do that, sir. We’ve always done it this way.”

Mattson looked at the foreman and said, “Dammit, I didn’t spend all this money on new equipment just so you could do it the old way. Set these machines up the way they’re supposed to work or have the kid do it. That’s an order.”

The old man returned to his office and I picked up my broom and went back to sweeping. Just before breaktime, the foreman came up to me and handed me an envelope. I opened it up and there was a check and a pink slip. I was being fired for insubordination. I asked, “Does Mr. Mattson know?”

He just smiled and said, “Listen kid, I run the production floor and you pissed me off. Now git your ass off this property, you no longer work here.”

It was two days later when after dinner our doorbell rang and my father opened the door. He called to me and there was Mr. Mattson. I invited him in and he sat in dad’s recliner. He looked at me and asked, “The foreman said you quit. Is that true?” I stood and retrieved the pink slip from my wallet that read, ‘Fired for insubordination’. Shaking his head he muttered, “That son of a bitch, I thought as much.”

Mr. Mattson stood and said, “Henry, just be at work tomorrow. I’ll make up the hours you lost because of that slimy bastard.”

I said, “Sir, please call me Hank, all my friends do. What about the foreman? I don’t think he’s going to like me coming back.”

The old man smiled and said, “We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. Meet me in the break room across from the timeclock before the start of shift.” I was there before 7:00 to meet Mr. Mattson and he bought me coffee. We watched as Burl reached for his time card, only to find it had been replaced by a pink slip and his final check. I couldn’t help but snicker and Burl turned and saw us. He stepped towards us, his fists clenched and hate in his eyes. Mr. Mattson was ready as two security guards were standing just inside the break room door and stopped him and asked for his security badge and led him to his locker. We could hear him swearing at us as they led him all the way to his car.

The old man started me as a sub-foreman on the floor and within six months I was the floor foreman. He sent me to take training on equipment he was thinking of buying. He also had me taking online management training. Within a year, we were bought out by Sesco, which netted the old man a nice retirement villa in Panama and he never had money worries after that.

Sesco did a lot of work for the military and we had to put in a second shift. I was getting more and more responsibility and working my butt off. I’d see these office guys sitting in their offices drinking coffee and making time with their secretaries while I was running around the floor making sure everything was running smoothly. A lot of long hours and I finally got my associates degree in business management and filled out a resume’ with my mother’s help.

I interviewed and during the interview, I went into detail all the things I was doing on the floor, even though they were listed on my resume’. The panel, which included the CEO and a couple of board members, were rather surprised at how much work I had been doing. The CEO said, “I admire your ambition and work ethic Henry but we’re really looking for our management team to have a bachelor’s or master’s degree. After hearing the amount of work you’re doing, I am going to give you a raise and an assistant and change your title to Production Floor Manager. Keep up your studies and hopefully we’ll see you again here soon.”

Classes for my bachelor’s degree were much harder but thankfully my assistant had made my job a lot easier. Things were going great except I really didn’t have a social life. I worked and studied, studied and worked. Except for Sunday mornings when my mother would drag me to church.

I will always remember that Easter Sunday when my mother insisted I had to go with them to church. She even dragged me down the week before to Joseph A. Banks, to buy me a new suit, complete with vest, shirt, tie and wingtips to complete my ensemble. Hell, I usually went in a casual shirt and Dockers. I felt like I was a robot and walking was stiff and cumbersome.

At the gathering after the service, everyone was enjoying the refreshments but all I wanted was to get home and get out of this monkey suit. The ladies in all their Easter finery were showing off to one another but my stomach was rumbling so I decided to head to the refreshment table and see if there were any more of those Costco white chocolate-Macadamia nut cookies left. There at the end of the table on a glass plate was one left, along with several chocolate chip. I rushed to get it and as I was about to grab it, this delicate hand snatched it from the plate.

I was about to get upset over a silly cookie but when I looked up, there was an angel. A perfect angel, blond hair pulled back into a long comb that caused her hair to cascade down to the small of her back. The most beautiful blue-green eyes I’ve ever seen. A cute button nose and a smile that could melt an iceberg.

Holding the cookie up twisting it back and forth, this angelic voice playfully said, “Is this what you were after?”

My mouth was dry. I didn’t know what to say, especially to a girl who was this beautiful. Really the only female interaction I had was with the secretaries at work and with my mother. I started to put my head down in shame but as I did, I couldn’t help but notice her shapely form. She was wearing a gorgeous slim pencil dress instead of your usual spring floral big skirted one. This one showed a nice bit of cleavage; it clung to her body like paint and ended a few inches above her knees. My eyes grew big as I took in her loveliness.

“Oh you like this old rag, do you?” the angel said as she twirled around, giving me a big smile. I nodded, still tongue tied. She broke the cookie in half, handing part to me. Then she very seductively placed the cookie at her mouth and licked the underside of it a few times before taking a bite. After she finished chewing her first bite, the angel said, “Hi, I’m Susan. Susan Paulson. You can call me Susie if you’d like, my friends do. We live over on Beech St. What’s your name?”

Somehow I was able to get my mouth to finally work. “Si, er I mean Hi Susan, I’m Hank, actually Henry James Carter but all my friends call me Hank and I hope we will be friends.” The angel laughed.

Susie was 5’2”, if I had to guess I’d say about 115 lbs. and maybe a 34C-24-34. My little head was working in overdrive and I was having a hell of a time trying to hide the fact.

Susie pressed her chest tight to mine and whispered in my ear, “This is going to be one boring affair. What’s say you and I get the heck out of here. Maybe go for a walk or find something to do. Just get out of here before I go crazy listening to my mother bragging about my 4.0 in college once more.” Shoot, this angel was no dumb blond, at least so I thought.

There’s a pathway, a few blocks off of main street that has a small creek running alongside. There are several wide spots with benches and often a few ducks, waiting for someone to throw out bread or other treats. We walked and talked and found out a lot about each other. Susie was a year and a month younger than I was and was at the university on a scholarship working on micro-biology. She was determined to develop a biologically friendly packaging to do away with plastics. Actually I found it very interesting.

We’d been sitting on the bench by this pool for quite a while and somewhere along the line, we had begun to hold hands without either of us realizing it. Just then Susie’s cell phone went off. It was her mother wanting to know where she was. She wanted to leave and couldn’t find her. She sent her mother a text saying she had gone for a walk and went further than expected and would hurry back. Hand in hand, we quick-stepped back towards the church. As we stood at the red light, waiting to cross the street, Susie asked me to unlock my phone and to hand it to her. I did and she punched in her number and input her name and address. Then she used my phone to call hers and handed me hers and had me put in my info.

I guess we missed the walk light. While waiting for the next light, I chuckled and said, “Looks like we missed our opportunity, didn’t we?”

Susie smiled and said, “Maybe not.” And with that, threw her arms around my neck and kissed me, thrusting her tongue into my mouth to curl around mine. Thankfully there was another person there who told us the light was green again so we should go and we parted lips, giggling all the way back to the church. Thus started our courtship.

I never pressed the issue of sex with Susie while we dated. One I respected her, the other I was too damn busy, what with all the work at the plant and taking those advanced classes online. I was lucky to get 4 hours of sleep most nights. Not to mention that Sesco was bought out by a division of Lockheed Martin and wanted a bunch of new machinery which meant a lot of changes, besides the new machines, there was the electrical, the computer lines, new lighting, new offices and a total make-over of the front of the building. They wanted to portray a new up and coming business. I had finally received my bachelors and was rewarded by being informed that I was being promoted to vice president of production services.

I took Susie out to the fanciest restaurant in town. I had told Susie to save room as I had ordered a special dessert for us for after dinner. The meal was excellent and when our waiter asked if we were ready for dessert, Susie said she couldn’t eat another bite. I told her she needed to have at least one bite and she reluctantly agreed.

Soon, Maurice, our waiter returned with this cream puff, piled high with whipped cream, drizzled with Kahlua, light and dark chocolate plus some hot caramel. He paused behind me and I held out the ring behind my back. Maurice placed it on top of the cream puff and sat it down in front of Susie. She stared at it then looked at me. Her eyes kept going back and forth. I could tell she was swallowing hard, trying to think. Growing impatient, I stood, pushing back my chair, knelt down on one knee and took Susie’s hand and said, “Susan Marie Paulson, would you marry me and make me the happiest man on earth?”

Susie started crying, mascara running down her cheeks. An older woman across from us came over with her napkin, trying to clean Susie’s face and was giving me dirty looks thinking I had hurt her when she saw the ring. Then she got this big smile and nodded. The older woman said, “Honey, why the tears, this should be the happiest moment of your life?”

Susie reached over and took my hand as she looked straight at me, those blue-green eyes almost burning right into my soul, as she said, “Hank, I thought we were friends. I had no idea you had a romantic interest in me. You never tried anything. I’m sorry, I don’t know if I’m ready to marry you.”

I was crushed and said, “Susie, I loved you so much from the first day I met you. I wanted you so much it hurt but I was afraid if I ever tried anything with you that I would scare you off and you would think I was just like all the other guys and wouldn’t want me so I did my best to maintain my desires. What about all the kissing we did? Didn’t that tell you how much I loved you? Is that just friendship to you?”

The old gal broke in and said, “Honey, he’s got a point. I think he really does love you. Maybe you should reconsider?”

Susie sat there, the old gal holding one hand, me the other. She’d take furtive glances at the ring then at each of us then the ring again. Closing her eyes as she took a very deep breath, she pulled her hands up to her chest, reached over with her right hand and took the ring, licked the whipped cream off and handed it to me. I thought she was giving it back to me. Then Susie nodded as she extend her left hand, her third finger stretched out so I could put it on. I slipped the ring on her finger and the old gal stood up and screamed, “YES, She said YES!”

Susie didn’t want to wait. With the help of both our parents, her sister Jennie and our friends, they managed to put together our wedding in a month. I’m glad I didn’t have much to do other than to go to my tux fitting and the wedding rehearsal. I turned down my friend, Larry’s offer of a bachelor’s party, afraid that something might happen there that might upset Susan and I sure didn’t want to get her mad, especially now.

Our wedding was beautiful and we were taken by my parents to SeaTac where we headed to a week in Hawaii for our honeymoon. Susie was very naughty as this was a redeye flight, she leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, “I’m going to the back restroom. Give me 5 minutes and when you see the door unlock, come in. We’re going to join the Mile High Club.”

As Susie climbed out of her seat and headed towards the rear of the plane, I was having a little trouble wrapping my head around what was about to happen. I thought we were going to consummate our marriage in the honeymoon suite in Honolulu, not in the bathroom at 35,000 feet above the Pacific. I looked at my Fitbit. Oh hell, it’d already been six minutes and I rushed to the back of the plane and there were two restrooms, both occupied. Susie said as soon as it said unoccupied to come on in.

I watched as the one closest to the passengers turned green. As I was about to open the handle, I saw it turn and out stepped this 60ish something woman, who gave me a dirty look and said, “Can’t you hold your horses young man?”

Embarrassed as hell, I saw the next bathroom turn green saying unoccupied and quickly entered. Susie was naked, wearing just her heels. She locked the door and dropped to her knees then unzipped my slacks, undid my belt and pulled out my friend. “Ohh, nice” she said as she guided me into her mouth, her tongue sliding along the underside of my shaft. I had never felt anything like this. My legs were trembling. Only a few strokes like that and I told her I was going to cum and she stood up and said, “There’ll be time for blowjobs later. I want this in my pussy.” With that, she hooked a leg around the small of my back and guided my granite-like shaft into her shaved silky wet slit. Once she was satisfied I was mostly inside of her, she wrapped her arms around my neck and hooked her other leg around my butt and said, “Give it to me HARD, husband. Make me cum and fill me with your baby batter.”