Algeria Here I Come
by: E Walk
(© 2008-2009 by the Author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 43
Home At Last

We were awakened by John and Allie announcing that it was time to get ready for breakfast.  Brahim and I took a quick shower.  The two guys had made breakfast burritos. or I should say, John had made the burritos while Allie watched and poured the juice.

As we were leaving, we thanked the Hidalgos for their hospitality.  John chuckled, “Drop in anytime, it’s nice to have company.  Maybe next time you can stay longer and I can show Allie and Brahim the sites of our historic city.”

As we traveled on Interstate Highway 10 toward Houston, I commented, “I still don’t understand why we went to San Antonio instead of going directly to Houston.”

Scott, who was driving, responded, “Ed, the powers that be must know something that we don’t know.  I’m sure it is precautionary, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.  Quite frankly, I was surprised that they sent you to San Antonio instead of Dallas.  Fortunately for us they didn’t, since we did get to visit with Angela’s family at least for a short time.”

I laughed, “Yeah, and we got a great meal out of it.  Besides the trip to Dallas would have taken twice as long.  Can we swing by the airport and pickup my car?”

Angela turned around, “I don’t think we’ll have time.  We’re scheduled to be at the Shell headquarters at ten o’clock.  We’ll take you to the airport after the meeting.”

Allie asked, “Are you going to be staying with us?

Scott grinned, “Yep, we’ve been told to stick to you like glue at least through the weekend.”

I started to laugh, “That should be interesting since I live in a one bed room efficiency apartment.” 

We were approaching downtown Houston and there was finally very little traffic.  Allie asked, “Where are all the people and cars.  With all these big buildings there should be a lot more people.”

Scott answered, “Allie, it’s Saturday.  There are very few people who work on Saturday in this area.  Since it’s a long weekend, because of the Labor Day holiday, many people are probably out of town for the last getaway before their children go back to school.”

I added, “That’s why I’m surprised that we are meeting with people this morning.”

Scott shrugged his shoulders, “I’m guessing that’s precisely why you’re having the meeting this morning.  No one would ever guess that’s there would be a meeting on a holiday weekend.

Scott pulled up in front of the Shell Company headquarters in a passenger unloading zone.  “Wait here, while I go see what the security people want us to do.”

Scott returned with two armed security persons and a young man.  Scott announced, “The people are waiting for us in the President’s office.  Mr. Anderson will be taking care of the car for us.”

When we entered the building, the person at the reception desk had us sign in.  She handed everyone but me a visitor’s badge, “Mr. Waller, we took the liberty of making a new badge for you since we understand that you might not have yours with you.  Please turn in the old one when you come across it.”

We were taken to the elevators and the guard who was escorting us punched the button that would take us to the 49^th floor.  Allie looked at me. “Dad, it feels as if we’re floating on the clouds.”

When the elevator stopped, the security guard took us to an office.  It wasn’t just any office, it was the office of the company president, Mr. Odom.  The receptionist looked up, “Good morning lady and gentlemen, Mr. Odom is expecting you.  Please follow me.”

She took us into a humongous conference room which looked deserted because there were only seven people seated at the long table.  The gentleman at the head of the table came to greet us.  “I’m Adam Odom.  I’d like to welcome you visitors to our facilities.  Let me introduce the people who are in attendance.”

He started with the people on the far side of the table and then turned to the gentleman who was sitting with his back to us, “I believe that you already know this gentleman.”

“Mr. Yates, would you please introduce our guests?”

Allie threw up his hands, “Okay, Mr. Yates, I give up.  You’re here to do us in.”

“Allie, how could say such a thing?  I’m here to take you to our shack so Ricky and Roddy can take you, Jim and John deep sea fishing while your dad and brother look for some adequate lodgings.  Everyone, this is the one of a kind monster, Mr. Alexander Graham Bell Safi Waller.”

Mr. Odom shook Allie’s hand, “Mr. Allie, I was expecting someone a little older.  I don’t suppose you would give my grandsons lessons on how to use a slingshot?”

“I don’t know why not, sir, but first I need to teach Mr. Yates’ sons how to use them.  Mr. Yates, is that why we’re going deep sea fishing so I can teach the boys to catch some fish with slingshots?”

Everyone was laughing as Cal introduced Brahim.  “This is Allie’s older brother who has been taking care of Allie for a number of years.  He was also instrumental in capturing the people in Algeria, but in addition, saved the Algerian President’s life.  Not only that, he sings like an opera star.”

Mr. Odom shook Bra’s hand, “Be careful, young man.  If my wife hears about you, she’ll have you singing in the Houston Grand Opera.”

Cal pointed at me, “This is your lowly employee that this company sent to Algeria to solve and an unsolvable problem.  He not only solved the problem, with the help of the Safi brothers, but also met the Presidents of two countries in the aftermath, Mr. Edward Waller.”

Allie whispered, “Dad, why are you turning pink?”

Mr. Odom shook my hand, “Welcome home, Ed.  Thanks for a job well done.”

Cal introduced Scott and Angela, “This is Scott Summers, one of my assistants, and his wife, Angela, who works for a different agency.  They have been babysitting Mr. Waller and the Safi brothers.  They’re going to be spending the week in the Houston/San Antonio areas with their parents and families.”

Mr. Odom welcomed the Summers.  After everyone was seated, Mr. Odom started the meeting, “Ed, I usually would not be involved in a meeting of this nature, but in this case, I felt I needed to be here to greet you and the Safi brothers. You have impressed some powerful people.”

“You are being assigned as a special assistant to Vice President Reed. You will be in charge of the special projects division, which is a new division we are forming.  You will need to meet with Roger on Tuesday and also visit the Human Resources department.”

“We realize that you will have some things that you need to take care of, now that you have two young men residing with you.  I understand that both Allie and Brahim are proficient in English.   I’m guessing the first order of business will be to get them enrolled in schools.  I also understand that you will probably need to find a new place to reside, since you live in a one bedroom efficiency apartment.  Perhaps you and Brahim could look for a suitable place over the long holiday weekend, while Allie is catching fish with his slingshot.”

Vice President Reed who was in attendance handed me an envelope, “Ed, here is some information that you might want to look at before you meet with me on Tuesday at ten o’clock.  We have a department head meeting scheduled, and I would like to introduce you to the other department heads.   Ms. Lawrence, perhaps you could arrange for Ed to take care of any paperwork after lunch?”

A lady who looked as if she was in her late 40’s or early 50’s nodded,  “Ed, why don’t you plan to be in my office at 1:30 on Tuesday afternoon?   That way you can get everything out of the way in one day.  It shouldn’t take very long, since you are already employed here.”

President Odom stood, “Ed, Brahim and Allie, the European home offices are extremely pleased with what you were able to accomplish.  If you ever need any help, please come to me.   While I may not be able to help, I know a lot of people in Houston and should be able to direct you to a good resource.”

After we had shaken everyone’s hands, the guard escorted us to the foyer.  Mr. Yates turned to us, “Ed and Brahim, your luggage that was sent from Washington is at the office of your apartment complex.  They are expecting you to pick it up today.  I’ll take Allie with me and have him back to you late Tuesday afternoon.  Our flight to D. C. leaves at seven thirty.”

Allie objected, “But Mr. Yates, I don’t have anything with me except what I’m wearing.  What am I going to do for a tooth brush?”

Cal put up his hand, “Not to worry, Allie.  I’m sure that between the four boys they will have something you can wear and I can always spring for a new tooth brush.  Besides, we do have a washing machine and dryer at the shack.”

I pulled out my wallet and handed Allie $40.00, which was all the cash I had.  “Here, this should cover any of your expenses.”

I handed Cal a card, “Here’s my card with my address and cell phone number.  After we get our luggage and I recharge the phone, you can reach me at that number if there is a problem.”

The valet pulled up with Cal’s car and he and Allie departed.  The Summers’ car arrived and we climbed in.  Scott announced, “We’ll take you to the airport, so you can get your car.  My parents don’t live too far from the airport, so it‘s no problem at all.”

Scott stopped outside the long term parking entrance, and Brahim and I retrieved our bag from the trunk.  We walked to the car which was in the first row,  I was almost afraid that it wouldn’t start, since it had been sitting there for so long.  Fortunately it did, and I paid the bill with my debit card.   I was thinking, ‘The first thing I need to do, when I get to the apartment, is check my bank balance.’

When Brahim and I walked into the office of the apartment complex, the manager’s wife Mrs. Carlisle was working, “Well, well, well, the world traveler is finally home.  We were beginning to think that you were lost.  Whose the handsome young man with you, Ed?”

“Mrs. Carlisle, this is Brahim Safi.  He and his brother are going to be living with me.  The Safis are from Algeria.”

Mrs. Carlisle scowled, “It’s going to be a little tight in your apartment isn’t it?  I guess that explains why you have so much luggage.  By the way, your luggage is in the storage room next to the office.  How old is Mr. Safi’s brother.”

I smiled, “Allie is ten.  But I must warn you, you’re going to fall in love with him.”

“Bring him on.  Where is he, anyway?”

Brahim chuckled, “He on his way to a fishing shack so he can go deep sea fishing.”

Mrs. Carlisle gave a funny look, “Look, guys, I may be old, but I’m not senile.  If he’s ten and from Algeria, how would he know anyone here in the Houston area?”

“Mrs. Carlisle, it’s a long story.  The family he is with is from Washington, D. C.  We met the family when we were on a cruise ship and they are on vacation here in the Houston area.”

Mrs. Carlisle threw up her hands, “It sounds complicated.  I’m looking forward to meeting this Allie person.”

It took Brahim and me two trips to get all the luggage to the apartment.  Brahim was looking around, “Ed, this is really small.  I thought our house in Algeria was small, but this is much smaller.  I guess I’m spoiled because of the space we had in the suite on the ship.”

“Brahim, we're going to need to clean out the refrigerator, since I was gone so long.  Do you realize that I’ve been gone for a month now.  I need to check to see if I have any money in the bank.”

I booted my desktop computer, went to my banking institution and fed in the information.  When my account summary appeared I was stunned.  It indicated that I had substantially more money than I thought.  I looked back over the transactions and there was large deposit made about the time we had caught the crooks at the refinery.

I looked at Brahim, “I’ll be right back.  I need to go check to see if I have any mail.  Something’s wrong with these records.  I don’t understand how I can have so much money.”

I went to the lobby and opened my mailbox and it was full.  There was a note saying additional mail was being held in the office.  I walked into the office and Mrs. Carlisle looked up, “Ed, I was just about to call you and tell you that we had some mail for you.”

She handed me a large brown envelope that had some additional mail.  I went back to the apartment and Brahim watched as I sorted through the mail that I had received while I had been gone.  I made three piles - junk mail, later and open now.

Brahim looked at the junk mail pile, “What’s in this pile that you’re going to throw away?  This is more mail than Allie and I have received in our lives.”

“Most of it’s credit card companies wanting me to join up or do something, people asking for donations, or advertisements for something.  There are some catalogues from companies.  Once you order or receive a gift from a company, they keep trying to get you to order more.”

Brahim was watching me, “Ed, can we get something to eat?  I’m getting hungry.”

I looked at the clock and it was almost two o’clock. “Bra, I’m sorry.  I lost track of time.  Let’s go get some lunch and go to the grocery store.”

After we stopped at an ATM, we went to small restaurant and had a sandwich and a cup of soup.  When we stopped at the grocery store, I decided to only get the necessities such as milk, bread, some lunch meat and a two steaks that I could cook on my balcony.  Yes, my efficiency apartment had a balcony where I had a small grill.

After we put the groceries away, I remembered the packet of information that Mr. Reed had given me.  I sat down on the sofa next to where Brahim was seated, “Let’s see what’s in this packet.”

I pulled the papers out of the packet.  They were attached by a paper clip with a handwritten note.  Brahim had his head on my shoulder and was reading it as I read it.

Ed,

Your starting salary in your new position is going to be $127,000 per year.  Of course, that’s negotiable.  As of now you are the only person in the division.  We have authorized eight other positions plus a receptionist.  I have included the resumes of some possible candidates for you to review.  We’ll  discuss this more when we meet on Tuesday.

                                                                                Rog Reed

I looked at Brahim, “Bra, I need to relieve my frustrations.  Let’s go christen the bed.”

Brahim looked at me with his soulful eyes, “Do we have any condoms left?”

I kissed him, “We’ll remedy that shortly.  In the meantime let’s get ready for dinner.  There’s a drug store around the corner that has the supplies that we need.”

After we had a dinner of grilled t-bone steaks, baked potato and tossed salad out of a package, we walked to the drug store and bought what we needed.  We had to take a shower one person at a time, because there was no way that we could both fit.  I let Brahim take his shower first and he looked ever so fine when he exited.

I was getting out of the shower when Brahim handed me my cell phone which had been charged, “This is Ed.”

“Hey, Dad, guess what happened.”

“Allie, I have no idea what happened.  Did you fall overboard?”

“Dad, that was mean, although I almost did.  If Mr. Yates hadn’t helped me, I would have.  I caught huge marlin.  It’s almost as big as me.  Dad, how big is our freezer?”

“Allie, the freezer in the refrigerator is very small.  Why do you ask?

Allie sighed, “I caught some other fish.  I was wondering how many of them to bring home.  The Yates boys can’t very well take any home to D. C. and Jim an John said they can’t eat them all.  Dad, Mr. Yates wants to talk to you.”

Cal came on, “Ed, your son doesn’t know how to do anything more than full speed ahead.  He’s demanded that I need to teach him how to drive the boat tomorrow.  Tonight after dinner, he kicked my wife and I out of the kitchen and he had the four boys helping him do the dishes and making sure the kitchen was clean.  Von, just told me the kitchen had never been so clean.  Allie wants to speak to you again.”

“Dad, are Brahim and I really going to get to stay here in America?”

That question made me think, “Allie, I’m 99 per cent sure you going to be staying here.  Why did you ask that question?”

“We were watching television and some people were complaining about people from other countries taking the jobs and wanted the foreigners to be sent home.”

This boy had to be thinking, “Allie, you and Brahim are not going to be taking anybody’s jobs.  You’re both going to be going to school.  You may have to start in kindergarten and Brahim may have to be in first grade.”

“Dad, that was mean.  Mr. Yates wants to talk to you.  The guys want to go swimming.  I love you and Bra.”

Cal spoke, “The guys are gone,  Ed, Allie is a very bright and insightful boy.  If there is any way possible, you need to be a surrogate dad to John and Jim.  Not only does their father have a drinking problem, there are other issues as well.  Von and I have learned a great deal about being better parents since we met you people.  Talk to you later.”

I closed the phone and was thinking, ‘What did he mean by that?’

Brahim had disappeared and I went to see where he was.

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  When I received this chapter, the description that came with it said that this was a vanilla chapter.  I guess it could be called a vanilla chapter if that is because there was no one trying to kill people, but there were certainly interesting developments in it.

I think it is safe to assume that Ed is going to need to get a larger place.  I also am pretty sure that Allie and Brahim are both going to test out to be pretty far along in school.  They are both very intelligent, so I think they will both do very well. 

I can hardly wait to see what will happen next.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 09/04/09