The Fall and Rise of David Beckman Ch. 02

*****

The next morning I kissed Erica as I prepared to leave for work. "You know I love you don't you? Last night was wonderful," I said.

"Play your cards right and you might get a repeat performance tonight," Erica said and then kissed me again.

When I got to the office I went directly to the Contracts and Legal Department and handed the Clinton Products proposal to Fred Allard.

"Fred, I need you to do a legal review on this proposal and then write up the contract. When you are finished, I want this taken directly to Mike's office. I don't want you to show this to anyone else. Okay?"

Fred smiled and winked at me, "No one will see this but me and Mike," he said.

I thanked him and left. I knew that Mike wouldn't see the contract until the next day so I went out to visit some customers.

*****

Thursday night wasn't quite a repeat of the night before but it was pretty damn close. It made getting out of bed Friday morning a little difficult.

"Hey, Babe, why don't we both call in sick today and stay in bed?' I asked.

"Yeah, right. Like you could stay home today," Erica said. "I know how anxious you are to get to the office to hear what Mike has to say about your big contract."

I had to laugh. She knew me too well. "Guess we better get up then."

*****

When I got to my desk there was already a message on my voice mail from Mike. The message said that I was to come see him immediately.

As I walk up to Mike's office, I had difficulty trying to remove the smile from my face. I knew that he wouldn't like me to come in there looking smug. When I got to his office, Marci looked at me and I got the impression that she was sad about something. Before I could ask her what was wrong I heard Mike yell out from his office. "Is that David? Tell him to get his ass in here."

Marci just nodded her head toward the door so I decided I would have to talk to Marci later to see what she was bothering her.

"Close the door," Mike said as I entered his office.

I closed the door and took a seat in front of Mike's desk. When Mike finally looked at me he didn't look happy. "What the fuck are you trying to pull?" He shouted at me.

I shook my head. "I don't know what you're talking about," I said.

Mike threw a copy of the Clinton Products contract across the desk at me. When I saw the contract I knew that Mike was just trying to bust my balls a little. "Pretty good, huh? Ten million over five years," I said.

"Are you totally incompetent or did you really think you could get away with this?" Mike growled.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Mike."

"You do realize that on a contract this large you have to check the customer's financial background so that we don't get stuck with a contract that we can't collect on?"

"Of course I do. I did check them out and there were no problems," I said but I was beginning to get scared. Could I have missed something?

"Well, then, maybe you can explain how you missed this," Mike said as he slid a sheet of paper across his desk.

As I read the page Mike had given me I could feel my stomach begin to roll. What he had handed me was a copy of a news article from the Wall Street Journal, dated three weeks earlier. As I don't have the article in front of me right now I'll just relate the gist of it. The story said that Clinton Products of Macon, Georgia was under investigation by the SEC. There were reports that Clinton Products had intentionally misrepresented the company's financial condition in their quarterly and annual reports. The story went on to say that if the information that the SEC had received was true the company was probably headed for bankruptcy. The story went on to say that an unidentified source had told the SEC that the company executives were pulling an Enron.

When I finished reading the article, I looked up at Mike. I didn't know what to say or do so I just sat there and waited for Mike to say something.

"Do you realize that if Bill hadn't seen this story we would have signed this contract with them? Then when they collapsed financially we would have lost everything we invested into this deal," he said.

This was a fuck up of historic proportions. Somehow hearing that Bill was the one who had discovered the news article made things even worse.

"Mike, this isn't my fault. I ran the D&B and the report showed no problems," I said.

"The hell it isn't your fault. The SEC investigation is just getting started so D&B wouldn't have any negative information yet. They won't report the problem until they get confirmation from the SEC that there was wrong doing. It's obvious that this deal was too big for you to handle. This never would have happened if you had Bill involved from the start."

"What was I supposed to do? If the D&B report said they were okay, how was I to know there was a problem?"

"Do some fucking research the way Bill did. All you had to do was do a search on the Wall Street Journal for any mention of Clinton Products and you would have found this story yourself. I suspect that you could only see the size of the deal and you almost fucked us."

"It's not too late," I said. "We haven't signed a contract with them yet. I'll go back out to Clinton next week and find out what is going on."

"That is exactly what we are going to do but you aren't going to be involved."

"But they are my customer and if this was my mistake, you have to let me try and fix it," I said.

"They aren't your customer anymore. Your performance over the last few months has been erratic and now with this fuck up I have lost my patience with you. I am terminating your employment effective immediately," Mike said. "Just wait here."

Mike left the office and while he was out I tried to understand what had just happened to me. I couldn't believe I had just been fired. I wanted to get up and run somewhere and scream but I couldn't seem to make my legs move.

I don't know how much time passed before Mike returned but when he came back he had two security guards with him. To the guards, Mike said, "Escort Mr. Beckman to his desk and watch him as he packs his personal belongings. Also collect his badge and his desk keys. When he finishes packing his stuff, escort him down to payroll so he can pick up his severance check. After he gets his check, escort him to his car and make sure he leaves the company's property."

Mike sat down at his desk and didn't look at me as the security guards escorted me from his office.

From the time I left Mike's office until I was escorted out to my car I was in a fog. I drove straight home. I was so depressed by the time I walked in the door the only thing I could think to do was to curl up in bed. I don't actually remember getting into bed that day but I woke up about three o'clock that afternoon. I knew Erica would be home around five o'clock and I didn't want to be sitting there looking so pathetic when she walked into the house. My brilliant solution to that was to drive to a shopping center about a mile from our house. There was a Chili's restaurant in that shopping center and that was my destination. I told myself I was going there to have a late lunch and that's what I did if you can consider bourbon a proper lunch food. By six o'clock I was half in the bag so I left my car at the shopping center and walked home.

When I walked in the house I could see that Erica was very upset. It wasn't because I was late getting home. It was only 6:20. I seldom got home from work before 6:45.

"Where have you been? I have been worried sick about you," Erica said.

I thought of all of the possible reasons why Erica might be worried about me and then I reviewed all of my possible answers before I gave her a response.

I said, "Huh?"

"Bill Nelson called here shortly after I got home. He told me what happened. Are you okay?" She said.

"I'm shnot okay yet but ip I could hab anutter drinky-pooh well den I'd be terripic." I said in a slightly altered version of the English language.

I wanted to say something else but I forgot what it was so I headed into the family room and sat down to wait for Erica to bring me my drink. While I waited I remembered what I had wanted to say, "Who the fuck does Bill Nelson think he is calling my wife to tell her I was fired?"

Of course I never did ask that question. When I woke up that Saturday morning I was still on the sofa in the family room. Erica had put a pillow under my head and had covered me with a blanket. I got up and wondered into the kitchen where I found Erica sitting at the table with her coffee and the morning paper. I poured myself a cup and sat at the table with Erica.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Erica asked.

"Not bad for a hung over out of work salesman," I said.

"I don't think this is something to joke about," Erica said. "What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know. I'll have to give that some thought."

"Is there any chance that Mike will take you back?"

"No, and even if he did offer to give me back my job, I wouldn't take it. I always knew the big dumb shit was an asshole but the way he treated me yesterday was way out of line. I admit that I screwed up but that doesn't give him the right to talk to me that way," I said.

"What did he say to you?"

I told Erica about the confrontation with Mike, expecting her to express anger at the way I had been treated.

"Well, what would you expect him to say after a screw up like that? It seems he has been letting some of your mistakes slide and he just couldn't take anymore."

"I can't believe you are taking his side in this," I said.

"I'm not. But you have to see things from both sides if you expect to be able to work with him again. After all, you have worked there for nearly twelve years. Are you just going to throw that all away and try to start over?"

"Weren't you listening to me? I said he won't take me back and I wouldn't go back there even if he would," I responded.

Erica and I didn't talk much the rest of the weekend and the following week wasn't much better. It wasn't because we were angry; it was because we just didn't know what to say to each other. Besides, I was so depressed I didn't want to talk to anyone anyway.

By Wednesday of that week, tension had started to build in our home. Erica asked me each day if I had looked for a job and I would reply that I was going to start the next day. The truth was I just didn't feel like I had the energy to go job hunting. All I wanted to do was sleep and, when I wasn't sleeping, I wanted to have a few drinks to dull the pain of my humiliation. I could tell that my behavior annoyed Erica but she let it slide until Wednesday night.

"Damn it, David, you have to get out of this funk you're in. We can't afford to have you out of work for a long period of time."

I didn't like the pressure Erica was putting on me but I knew she was right so I didn't argue with her.

"Bill Nelson called to see how you were doing. He offered to write you a good recommendation if it would help," Erica said.

"Why the hell is he calling you?"

"I don't know. Maybe he knows you won't talk to him if he calls you."

"Well, he's right about that."

"Why are you acting that way? Bill didn't do anything to you. He said that he tried to talk Mike out of firing you but Mike wouldn't listen to him. Bill likes you and just wants to help."

"He could have helped by not going to Mike with that Wall Street Journal article," I said.

"You know he couldn't ignore that. It would have meant his job too," Erica said.

"I know you're right but that doesn't make me like him."

The same kind of arguments occurred on Thursday and Friday. By Saturday I just avoided talking to Erica all together.

Monday started out like it was going to be a repeat of the previous week so I continued to avoid conversations with Erica. I just pulled myself farther into my shell. Then on Wednesday Erica dropped a bomb on me. When she came home from work that evening, she asked me to sit down with her because she had something to tell me. I must say that the tone of her voice worried me. I knew that whatever she was going to tell me was not going to be good news.

"My boss called me in and told me that there was an opening in a training class that he wanted me to attend. The class starts Tuesday in Los Angeles. I'll be flying to LA Monday morning and will be coming home late on Friday."

I didn't respond to Erica right away. She didn't ask me a question and I didn't know what to say anyhow. I was trying to figure out how I felt about her going away for a week under our current circumstances.

"This is a great opportunity for me. I need this class so I can qualify for promotion and I think it might do us both good if we spent a few days apart. Maybe while I am away, you will start to feel better."

I found myself to be ambivalent about the subject at hand. I couldn't seem to feel any emotion about the prospect of Erica being away for a week.

"Well? What do you think?" she asked.

I looked at her and read something in her eyes. "You already made you reservations, didn't you?"

Erica looked a little embarrassed as she answered me. "Yes. I had to lock in the seat for the class before someone else took it."

"Being that you have already decided that you are going, I guess you should go," I said.

"You could try to at least pretend to be supportive," Erica said.

"I'm sorry. I am just not feeling well," I said.

"I'm shocked," Erica said. I could hear the sarcasm in her voice but I chose to ignore it. Instead I went into my home office and pretended to read a book.

*****

I may have been ambivalent on Wednesday when Erica told me about her trip but by Sunday night I was anything but. By then my depression had turned into pure anxiety. I was worried about everything and the thought of Erica going away for a week was turning me into a basket case.

That was when I got the bright idea to ask Erica to reschedule her class. Did I say brilliant idea? Actually it turned out that it wasn't a very good idea to ask her to reschedule her class the night before she was supposed to leave. That horse wasn't leaving the gate.

It was eight o'clock Sunday evening and we had just finished watching 'Sixty Minutes' on television when Erica announced that she was going to take a bath. As she rose from the sofa to go upstairs, I put my foot firmly in my mouth.

"Erica, I was just wondering. Well, you know, I haven't been doing too well the last couple of weeks and I was thinking that maybe you could... ah... cancel this trip tomorrow and maybe reschedule the class for another time," I said.

Erica gave me a nasty look and said, "Don't do this to me now." Then she headed up the stairs.

I followed her upstairs and into the bedroom. I flopped down on the bed as she began undressing and then I tried to restate my argument for why she should stay home with me. Her reaction wasn't as positive as I had hoped it would be.

"You want me to give up this opportunity because you screwed up and lost your job? You know my job is just as important to me as yours was to you and, now that I am the only one of us with a job, it's even more important," Erica said, obviously straining to control her temper.

"I know this is important to you," I said. "I just thought that under the circumstances you could arrange to take that class later. I am not doing too well with this situation and I would like to have your support to help me get through this."

For a brief moment, I actually thought that I saw fire in Erica's eyes when she looked at me. I could feel the heat of her anger in her words when she tore into me.

"You're such a loser," Erica said. "This is your own fault. All you had to do was ask Bill to help you and this never would have happened. You just had to try and do this on your own and you fucked it up. Now you have lost your job and your self-respect. Well, don't expect to drag me down with you. In case you haven't realized this, your screw up doesn't just effect you, it effects both of us."

*****

It was at least forty-five minutes before the bathroom door opened. It was dark in the bedroom so the only light was coming from the bathroom behind Erica as she stood naked in the doorway. Erica's face and the front of her body were in shadow and the light coming from behind cast a kind of aura around her. My eyes were drawn to the light shining between her legs, highlighting her mound and making her curly hairs glow as if they were gold. The erotic view gave me an erection while at the same time my heart ached. I had made Erica angry with me the night before she was going away. A time when we should be making love, not arguing.

I wasn't sure if Erica could see me in the dark as I was enjoying the delicious view of her lovely body. I expected Erica to go into her closet to get her nightgown but she just stood in the doorway for a minute and then came over to the bed. I was very surprised when she got on the bed and laid her head on my chest.

"I am sorry, David. You are not a loser and I never should have called you one," she said. "It's just that over these last few months you have behaved strangely and I have the feeling that you need help. I no longer know what to do. I only know that I love you and that I will help you get through this. Please understand that I have to go to this class tomorrow. When I get home Friday we will figure this out and I'll help you get through this."

I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say. Erica still loved me and that was all that was important at that moment. As I contemplated that, Erica lifted her head and kissed me while at the same time she slipped her hand inside my pants and began to stroke my already hard cock.

"I see my body still has a positive effect on you," Erica said. "I wasn't sure if you were looking at me when I came out of the bathroom but, from the greeting I am getting from my friend down here, I can tell you were looking and that I can still turn you on."

Erica kissed me again and began to unbutton my shirt. She spread my shirt open and started kissing my chest and sucking on my nipples. She moved slowly down my chest while she worked at opening my pants. I lifted my hips up to help as she pulled my pants down so that she could remove them.

I looked down at Erica as she lowered her head and took my cock into her mouth and swirled her tongue around its head. Enjoying the wonderful sensations of Erica's mouth around my cock, I closed my eyes and lay my head on the pillow. I couldn't help but marvel at how different this evening was turning out from what I had expected just ten minutes earlier. I had expected Erica to come out of the bathroom, put on a nightgown and go to bed without speaking to me. I certainly didn't expect to be getting oral sex from her.

Erica had me close to climax when she released my cock from her mouth.

"My turn," she said and turned her body so that I could get my head between her legs.

When I ran my tongue over her pussy lips I could already taste the nectar of her aroused sex. The idea that she had become aroused while giving me pleasure made me want to drive her wild. I sucked her clit between my lips and slipped a finger into her and did my best to give her a quick orgasm. Her first orgasm was small but it left her wanting more and I was able to give her a second, much bigger orgasm just a few minutes later.

"Hurry, I want you inside me now," she said as soon as her orgasm subsided.

Not wanting to disappoint her I moved on top of her and pushed my flesh saber inside her. As I pumped into her, she began to talk.

"Oh, yes. That feels wonderful. Oh, God, I love you." Erica went on like that until she started to climax and then she just pulled my face to hers and kissed me hard while she came.