Spirits in the Material World Pt. 14

Julie walked around and tried to envision where she wanted to put a sofa and a coffee table. Tom went to the bedroom and examined the closets. He was considering leaving some of his clothes, as he would only be two-plus weeks back home. He noted that they would have to get a dresser with drawers for their non-hanging clothes, and that would eat up some of the bedroom real estate. They met again in the kitchen and noted the wattage on the microwave (1250) so their dinky dorm room microwaves would not need to see service in this place. Tom's and Julie's thoughts were all over the place, having difficulty focusing on anything but the silly smile on the other's face.

Thanking Bruce for this whole opportunity, they checked the back door to assure it was secured, then they went back out the front door. Bruce locked up both locks and turned to them.

"I'm hoping this will be the beginning of a good relationship, Tom, Julie. Here are two keys, one for each of you. The key works the deadbolt and the handle lock on the front and back doors. Feel free to drop off what things you would like to store, and remember to get the utilities in your name, please."

As he held out the keys, Julie noticed the absence of a wedding ring on his left hand.

"Bruce, please forgive me if I'm intruding, but I thought you'd be married," Julie said looking at his hand.

A sad expression crossed his face and he sighed, "I was, Miss Julie." He half-snorted then continued, "Actually it's her niece who will be moving into the place in July so she can begin classes in August. I think the family is worried about me and have sicced her on me to watch me."

"Worried about you?" Tom picked up on the words.

"We can discuss that at a later time," Julie interrupted. "Don't eat too much McDonald's though, Bruce." She surprised everyone, including herself, when she gave him a big hug and whispered, "We'll talk later after we've moved in."

"Thank you, Miss Julie. You two be safe getting back to campus," Bruce said, his voice a little ragged at the unexpected display of concern on her part. With that, he turned and slowly mounted the stairs to his front door, entered his home, and turned out the porch light.

Tugging on her hand, Tom said, "Come on, Jules. We both have an exam tomorrow that we must finish studying for." Tom opened the car door for her, then moved around to get in the driver's side.

= = =

Alan's lunch meeting with Gil Larsen was a pleasant experience. They met at Applebee's and engaged in some small talk about things at church and the men's group there. Once their food arrived, they dug in and that was when Gil laid out some things.

"Alan, you will have four project managers reporting to you plus you will have a small team of your own to manage. Two of the project managers have consistently excellent reviews, both top-down and bottom-up. Their projects are usually on or under budget and usually on time. The few times their projects have not been on time were due to external events, some of which could have been anticipated and planned for. A third project manager has been getting mixed reviews and frequently runs over budget and timelines. The fourth one is new to project management and will need your expert guidance and example. Have I scared you off yet?"

"No, Gil, I'm up for this challenge," Alan replied. "I enjoy mentoring and guiding others and helping them grow, so this is right in my wheelhouse."

Gil chuckled. "I knew you'd be the perfect person for this. I just knew it. I was shocked when the recruiter provided your profile; I did not know you would even consider leaving your old company. I was not aware of your performance record, however. Bob Ryan said you were pretty good, but that you'd had a misstep recently."

Seeing the invitation, Alan sighed and acceded to the unspoken request.

"Gil, I went on a date with another project manager at my old company. Everything was going so well until we got back to her place. She insisted that we have unprotected sex, and I demurred. She did a 180 and kicked me out of her place, then proceeded the following week to tell other women that I'd gotten her drunk and forced myself upon her and refused all contact over the Thanksgiving holiday. Bob told me it would be easier to replace one person, me, rather than two or more, and that I should 'solve the problem'. Gil, you know my Scouting background and training, right?" Getting a nod of agreement, Alan continued.

"Do you believe I would get a woman drunk and force myself upon her? The phrase 'out of character' does not even begin to describe that. I told her, 'if the underwear comes off, the condom goes on' and she freaked out and insisted we have bareback intercourse. As I think about it now, she must have had an agenda and wanted a patsy or a fall guy. Anyway, I got my resume together and contacted three recruiters. That company has shown how it doesn't value its personnel resources. They were almost giddy when I was walked to the door last Friday. They have no idea what the brain drain costs will be. I'm told that my project team, once they were informed of my early departure, all 'got sick' and walked out. I have no idea if they got 'well enough' to return to work yesterday."

At that last bit, Gil stopped chewing his food. Swallowing, he noted, "Bob mentioned something yesterday about some sudden illness in his office. I don't think they returned yesterday."

"Well, that project was ahead of schedule and under budget when I left it. Fully documented and all project documents were in the corporate file share."

"Very interesting. Such devotion they showed for you. We might have some needs coming up. Do you have any personal communication channels to reach them?" Gil inquired.

"Just about the whole team would probably quit and come follow me. I don't know why, specifically."

"It's because you are a natural leader with excellent training and a genuine concern for your people. As you alluded, the concern for your people seems to be lacking from your old employer. Tell you what: if you can collect resumes on the side, we'll look at them after the first of the year. We don't currently have a place for more than one or two, but if we know of a pre-built team following a good leader, we can get more work and try to bring most of them on."

Alan was thinking about Gil's words. "I think it would be better if they came through a recruiter. Yes, there are recruiter fees, but it would prevent any accusations of collusion or impropriety on my part. But I can make contact with one recruiter telling them to watch out for some names and to forward them to you. And I can make personal contact and recommend they use that recruiter to consider their options. Totally above board."

Gil smiled broadly at Alan's plan. Gil was very pleased with his decision to bring Alan into his company.

"Do we need to meet again later this week, Gil?" Alan asked.

"Given what you've shared with me today, I doubt it. Any specific reason for asking?"

"Well, I've got this girlfriend, you see ..."

Gil chortled, catching the attention of other diners nearby. "Oh, yes, I understand, Alan. Are you heading back to Centreville soon?"

Alan smiled in return. "I'm not sure, yet. I just know she has to work for another week and we really don't care much for being apart. But we do intend to be in worship on Sunday as well as Christmas Eve."

"You and your boys are totally committed to our church, aren't you?"

"The church was the village that helped raise my boys. It was the village that cared for us after Laura passed on. Yes, we are committed, and I've begun to see glimpses of how Rose and the girls could come to value and be valued within the community. A Scout is Reverent."

"You Eagle Scouts. I'm envious. I did not have the parental support or push to get beyond First Class," Gil noted.

Alan allowed the subject to drop, and Gil paid for the lunch (it did count as a business lunch for Gil), and with a handshake, the two went their separate ways.

Later that afternoon, Alan reached out to the recruiter who had placed him at Gil's company. Alan recommended that if the recruiter should get resumes from a list of people, those profiles should be directed to Gil's attention first.

After a lonely supper, Alan sent a message to the personal email accounts of those he trusted, suggesting that if they wished to consider an employment change, they would do well to contact the recruiter who placed him in his new position. Then he wished them all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and wished them well in continuing the project they had worked on together.

He sent a text to Rose, asking if she was calling him or if he was calling her, but he never got a response.

Yawning, he mounted the stairs and prepared for bed. When Rose did not call by 9:30, he put his phone on to charge and went to sleep.

= = =

At 8:30, Rose texted Alan, informing him it was his turn to call her. By 9:15, Rose was irritated that Alan had neither responded to her texts nor had he called as she requested. By 9:30, she was beyond irritated edging into seriously pissed off, but she would not give in and call him. He needed to call her and he wasn't. Fine! She put her phone on to charge and got into bed, crying.

Maggie heard Rose crying and eschewing protocol opened the bedroom door and crawled into bed with Rose.

"What's wrong, Momma?" Maggie asked.

"Alan's not responding to my texts. We haven't talked and I'm pissed at him."

"Uh-oh. Mom, when was the last time you rebooted your phone? I'm only asking because I ran into this exact same thing with David and it was all because I had not rebooted my phone. David never got my texts either. Mom, we've got to let our tempers go and not get the better of us.

Ruefully, sheepishly, Rose looked at Maggie. She could not recall when she last rebooted her phone. In true Occam's Razor tradition, that was probably the source of all of her issues that night. She grabbed her phone off the charger and rebooted it. After a minute of software loading and network connecting, sure enough, her messages never had been actually sent. And then the message from Alan at 7:30 asking who was calling whom.

"Mom, the sooner we combine households, the better off we'll all be, don'tcha think?"

"Amen to that, Sister Margaret." Rose quickly typed out a message of sorrow and reconciliation, asking Alan please to call her first thing in the morning.

"Mags, come and talk with me for a bit, please. I'm sorry if I've been ignoring you recently, what with Alan and His Magic Flute. How have your exams been going?"

Maggie snorted. 'Magic Flute'! "Physics went pretty well on Monday. Calculus today was a joke, and I already knew the punchline. I should get an A in every class."

"And what about Friday night?"

"I'd like a new dress for the dance, please? One kinda like this one." Maggie showed Rose the still frame from near the end of the video of Taylor Swift in the white strapless dress.

"That's very pretty, dear. Your exams are all done tomorrow, right? We can go out tomorrow evening and try to find something and again on Thursday evening if we don't find one tomorrow."

"That will be great, Mom!