Transitions Ch. 04

After both had skipped out of going on two consecutive 'Family Outings', 'Her Ladyship' had to lay down the law. "You two are acting like spoiled brats. Amy, Brian does not want to talk to you, you should consider your relationship with him over. Daniel, it took considerable arm-twisting from Gram to get David to come here. It will be up to him if he wants to come back."

"Whenever we have a 'Family Outing', you will clear you schedule or it will be cleared for you. You will attend many of the local events, just like we all do, including 'His Lordship'."

Amy and Daniel could only look down at their shuffling feet, it was like they were being scolded by their elementary school principal. It was worse because they held 'Her Ladyship' in such high regard.

The following week, Amy and Daniel came back from a concert only to see a darkened house, all the 'His Lordship's' family and servants were hiding in the west wing, the exception was a Skype channel with Gram on the other side. It was agreed by everyone they would give the family ten minutes to celebrate before everyone else joined in.

The house was always bustling with activity so seeing the house darkened was a bit eerie.

As the door was opened Amy and Daniel were greeted by horns, bells, and confetti. Gram proclaimed, "Happy twentieth Birthday, Amy. You didn't think we would forget, did you?"

Amy turned beet red, "Thanks Gram, thanks all."

David and Brian were at the party; Brian was in a highly-agitated state.

Amy came over to Brian, "What is the matter Brian?"

Brian said, "Happy birthday Amy. I really thought I could do this, I really did, but I can't. I just can't trust whatever you may do the next time you lose your temper. Goodbye Amy."

Brian went out the front door and motored away. Amy ran up to her room and locked the door.

'Her Ladyship' started to follow Amy, but stopped when she saw Daniel give her a firm shake of her head.

Daniel had to address the crowd, "As you know Amy and myself don't handle rejection very well. I have seen her go into two or three days of solitude, but this one is major. I have no clue how long she will hide herself this time. Thank you for coming, stay as long as you want, but please take your presents home, she doesn't want any reminders."

'His Lordship' had enough, he promoted Aillis to Amy's position and he had to demote Amy out of the executive ranks to minimize any harm she may cause.

Amy came to 'His Lordship', "Why are you making this decision?"

'His Lordship' was offended, "Well not that I need to justify myself to you, but Aillis had been there when you go out traveling around the countryside or hiding yourself in your room like a child. Just asking that question is another black mark against you. Every employer has to learn when to cut bait to stop loses."

That night 'Her Ladyship's' maid had a long talk with Amy.

She later reported to 'Her Ladyship', "Milady, Amy now feels so marginalized that she feels she has to quit. She knows she will then be effectively 'blackballed' by the industry and can't get a job better than asking people, 'Would you like fries with that'?"

"She feels even some relationships within the family have degraded as well as those outside the family. She is very scared Milady. The last time she went to 'His Lordship' about this he gave her another black mark, that means she has at least two with 'His Lordship'. No matter what she does, she can't stop getting another. All it would take is for him to be in a bad mood."

'Her Ladyship' was very concerned; her husband could hire and fire whomever he wanted to. Amy no longer trusted 'His Lordship', she could not bring in Aillis or Daniel as they worked for him.

A week later, the mail woman rolled in three large mail carts overstuffed with identical looking envelopes. She reached into her back pocket and added her letter to the pile.

"Milord, the first thing I would do is hire several people so they can hire your executives. Maybe even a mail clerk to go through your mail."

'His Lordship' opened just two of the letters in the piles that were delivered to him; he saw Daniel's hand in this. They all would be the same.

He stepped out of his office, no laughing, not a single tap on a keyboard. It was a ghost town.

There was a letter on Daniel's desk.

"Milord, we all have seemed to have caught the two-week notice flu at the same time. I am sure we will recover quickly." when he reached the main entrance there were piles of key cards laying on the floor.

When he got home 'Her Ladyship' informed him that her maid also gave notice.

The maid said, "Milady, I feel it is incumbent for me to be with Aillis, Daniel and Amy now. I can relieve them of the household burdens. I don't know what lays ahead for me, I am sure they have a plan."

Dinnertime was like a grave, the maid left with her meal shortly after she served 'Her Lordship and Her Ladyship'. 'His Lordship' stormed out of the room, his meal half-eaten.

'Her Ladyship' was distraught, her family had just been torn apart. She went up to her maid's room and knocked, "May I come in?"

"Yes Milady," said the maid.

"I just wanted to tell you that you don't need to worry about a notice, you can go when they are ready for you."

"I would like to ask a favor of you, to write out several simple recipes for each course and how you plan for the week so I do not make a hack job of things for 'His Lordship'."

"Yes Milady, I will scan everything for you so you can even have some of the fancy stuff. I will give you a year's worth of planning sheets so you know what to get when things are in season. It is not very hard once you get organized.