Love Refound
by: E Walk
(© 2008 by the Author)
 

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

Chapter 16
The Job Interview

This is Doug.

I was a bundle of nerves when I woke up.  I made it through my morning classes without too many blunders.  I stopped at the apartment and collected the bag that I had packed the night before.  I grabbed an apple and a soda and started toward Harwood.  I stopped at Uncle Howie’s place to change clothes and freshen up.

I pulled into the parking lot next to the administration building at the college.  Fortunately I was able to find a slot that was identified for visitors.  I looked in the rear view mirror and straightened my tie and

made sure that my hair didn’t look too bad.

I looked at my watch as I was entering Dr. Harder’s office and it said it was 2:55.  I approached the lady at the reception desk.  “I have an appointment to meet with Dr. Harder at 3:00.”

The good looking lady at the desk who was dressed in jeans and a western shirt answered, “She ain’t in her office.  Besides she doesn’t talk to people who come in here dressed like city slickers.  She doesn’t trust your type.”

The woman stood and looked at me, “I think I’ve seen you before.  Are there pictures of you posted in the post office or somewhere?”

All of a sudden I wasn’t feeling so good.  If Dr. Harder’s secretary was like this, what must she be like?  Our conversation was interrupted by a very good looking young woman, “Here you go Dr. Harder.  Here is the dossier on Mr. Douglas Christiansen.  Who’s the city slicker?”

“Colleen, unless I miss my guess, this is the notorious Mr. Douglas Christiansen.  I guess he must think we have a church here.  Boy, does he have a lot to learn.”

Dr. Harder grabbed my tie, “Let’s get this interview over with.  I need to go practice, so I whip young Trevor’s butt this weekend.”

Her demeanor totally changed when we were in her office, “Doug, thanks for coming.  I have known your Dean Williams for a long time.  In fact, he’s my brother.  If you will just give me a minute, I want to look through the dossier that he sent me on you.  I know this is happening rather fast.  Take off that ridiculous coat and tie, while I quickly scan your dossier.”

Talk about a nerve wracking experience.  Watching someone reading about you and uttering an occasional  ‘Wow’ or ‘Very impressive’ is very unsettling.  She finished and looked up from the file.  “Doug, I apologize for not being prepared beforehand, but our fax capability was down, and we didn’t get it back up until about two thirty.”

“I’m very impressed with your credentials.  Let me tell you a little about the college.  We’re just two years old, but we already have two thousand students attending classes either part time or full time.  They all commute, since we have no dormitories.  We’re hoping to have some in the near future, though.”

“We’re fully accredited and have an excellent facility.  Most of them are part time.  Your job, if you would choose to accept the job, would be to serve as The Dean of Admissions and the Dean of Students.  In addition, we would request that you teach at least two classes each term.”

“The person whom you would be replacing was one of the driving forces who got this college started.  His expertise will be sorely missed.  He just wants to enjoy the last few years of his life.  He just found out recently that he has an incurable disease.  Let’s go meet him.”

We walked down the hall and the door was open.  Mrs. Harder asked, “Hi Valerie, is Rob in?”

“Yep, he’s in there vegetating.  Knock and go in.  He’s not feeling real

good today.”

President Harder knocked, and a voice that sounded familiar answered, “Come in.”

When we entered, the person was sitting, looking out the window.  President Harder broke the silence, “Rob, I'd like you to meet the person who might be taking your place.  We know he won’t be able to replace you, but I think he IS the person for the job.”

The man turned around and I wasn’t sure what to do or say.  He looked at me and then at President Harder, “Doris, I’d like to talk to this young man alone.  How much did you tell Doug?”

“Rob, all I told him was that you were retiring because you had an incurable disease.”

“Thanks, I’ll bring him back to your office when I’m done grilling his butt.”

President Harder left and Mr. Robert Nixon senior turned to me, “Doug, please sit down.”

He came around the desk, “Doug, I’m not the bad guy that everyone thinks I am.  I made a mistake when I separated Robbie and Howie twenty plus years ago, and I have been paying for it ever since.  If I hadn’t been such an ass, though, I would never have had the two wonderful grandsons that I have today.  It has all worked out for the best.  I love Derek too, but I was not around him when he was growing up.  And yes, I even find Austin to be extremely attractive.”

“Even though, I’m an old man with AIDS, I can still appreciate a good looking man.  Doug, I really appreciate how you have related to Trent and Trevor, especially Trevor.  Please talk to the boys and Derek, as well, about not having unprotected sex.  I don’t want them to pay the price that I’m having to pay.”

I looked at Mr. Nixon, “Sir, why don’t you just talk to the guys yourself.  They would respond to you talking to them more than they will me.”

“Doug, I lost all credibility with them and the rest of the family for the way I’ve behaved.  Doug, you need to help me gain a little of that  respect back and perhaps some love from them, before I die.”

“Mr. Nixon, I assume that you are a Dr. or you wouldn’t be in this position.  I will accompany you when you talk to your family, but I really think that you need to personally level with them.  I will be there to support you.  It is probably going to come as quite a shock to them, but you really do need to tell them exactly what is happening.”

Dr. Nixon looked at me, “I’ll cut you a deal.  If you agree to come back this weekend and bring Derek and Austin with you, I’ll tell everyone what has happened and is happening.  I’ll arrange for Louisa to be here as well.  In the meantime, let’s go talk to President Harder.”

When we walked into Dr. Harder’s office, Dr. Nixon sat on Colleen’s desk, “Honey, what are you doing tonight?”

“The usual, hanging out with my husband and my three kids.”

“How are the kids anyway?”

“Their counting the minutes until school is out, so they can go visit their grandparents at their beach house.  I think they’re destined to be beach bums.  All they want to do is ride the waves and watch the  bikinis go by.”

Dr. Nixon laughed, “They sound like my kind of boys.  Is her highness available?”

 

“The Queen Bee is expecting you.”

Dr. Nixon knocked and Dr. Harder was sitting at the conference table having a cup of tea and a scone with jam.  “Come join me, it’s tea time.  Rob, here’s Doug’s dossier.  Why don’t you review it while you’re chowing down, and I visit with Doug about some personal things?”

Dr. Nixon started to read and Dr. Harder started on me, “Doug, first of all, I want you to call me Doris.  There will be times when that may  not be appropriate, and I’m sure that you will easily recognize them, and act accordingly.  They will be very rare though.”

“Now I understand that you are betrothed to Miss Autumn Summers.  I’m anxious to see if the ice cube you gave her has melted yet?  When are you planning to be married?”

“We haven’t set the date yet, but it will probably be sometime in July.”

Dr. Harder asked, “Where will you be living when you get married?”

Dr. Nixon looked up from the folder, “Doris, I thought I told you that he was going to be buying Spring’s interest in the horse farm.  He and Autumn will be living about the same distance as you from the campus.”

I started to laugh, “Why have you people been talking about me?  It’s as if I’m being dissected and bisected.”

Mrs. Harder chuckled, “When I told Rob this morning who was coming to be interviewed, he told me about his encounters with you.  I would've loved to have seen you groveling around while you were asking for Autumn’s hand in marriage.  We decided that you were just what we needed to help the college continue to grow.”

Mr. Nixon snickered, “Yeah, because of your good looks, there will be young women flocking to enroll and probably a lot of drooling guys as well.  I can see it now, there will be a waiting list to be enrolled in Dr. Stud Christiansen’s business classes.   You will just need to make sure you find some really tight jeans.”

“Doug, I’m very impressed with your dossier.  Doris, why don’t you lay the job offer on the table, so Doug can digest it and discuss it with Autumn and give us his answer this weekend when he returns.”

President  Harder handed me a piece of paper, “Doug, here are the terms of your contract.  Your starting salary would be $60,000 a year.  You would have three weeks of vacation time per year.  As the school grows, the salary will rise.  As I already explained, until such time as we can hire more full time staff, you will be both the Dean of Admissions, and the Dean of Students and you will teach two classes.”

“For your information, I still teach two courses each term.  I think it keeps us in touch with the students and I will miss it when it stops.  Oh yeah, I am going to add a codicil to your contract that says you and your spouse will not make me look bad at any equestrian event again.”

I decided I could dish it out as well as she could, “President Harder, that codicil would be reason enough to cause me not to accept your offer.  Trevor would be all over my case, if he ever found that I agreed to something like that.”

“Seriously ma’am, I’m flattered by your offer and this is probably just what the doctor ordered.  But I would like a chance to talk it over with Autumn.  I’ll give you my answer this weekend.”

Dr. Nixon asked, “Doug, how soon could you start if you decide to take the position, which I’m positive you will?”

“I could begin the first of June.”

“Great, that would give you and me some overlap so I can bring you up to speed and you could teach my two courses that start the following week.  That way, Doctor Butler and I can book a cruise to the Baltic  area.  I’ve always wanted to visit the Scandinavian countries.”

I stood and extended my hand to Dr. Harder.  She was having nothing to do with that.  She stood and hugged me, “Welcome aboard, Doug.”

As Dr. Nixon was walking me to the parking lot, he asked, “Doug what was in that little red package that you had in Trevor’s cup with the balloons?”

When I told him what was in the package and what the boys told me, I thought he was going to split a gasket because he was laughing so hard.  He was finally able to control himself, “Now, I can understand why Trevor and Trent relate to you.  You act just like them.”

“Mr. Nixon, I’ve already talked to Trevor and Jeff about unprotected sex.  Trevor told me that both he and Trent are virgins.  He almost choked when I told him I was a virgin also.  He commented to us, ‘I thought Trent and I were the only two virgins left in the world.’”

I arrived at my car and Mr. Nixon hugged me, “Doug, you really need to take the job.  You’ll have people eating out of your hands in no time.  I’ll need to make sure our cruise doesn’t conflict with your wedding date.”

As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I was thinking, ‘That was a very crazy job interview.’

I was on my way to Autumn and Spring’s farm and I passed Fairacres.  I saw Trevor riding the Knight.  I honked the horn and they came galloping toward me, “Uncle Doug, what are you doing here?  It’s only Tuesday.  Aren’t you supposed to be at Georgia Tech?”

I pulled off to the side of the road and got out of the car.  “I decided to come and see how you were doing and make sure that your little toy wasn’t causing you any pain from wearing your birthday present.”

Trevor jumped off of the Knight and sat on the fence, “Uncle Doug, what are you doing here?”

I climbed up and sat beside him, “Well, if you must know, I was interviewing for a job at the Harwood Community College.”

Trevor looked concerned, “That’s where Granddad works.  You aren’t going to become like him are you?”

I put my arm around Trevor, “If everything works out right, I will be replacing your Granddad.  I’m on my way to talk with Autumn to see what she thinks about me accepting the job.  I need to tell them my answer this weekend when I come back.”

“Uncle Doug, you’re not telling me everything, are you?  Are you going to bring Jeff with you this weekend?”

“Trev, that’s up to you and him.  You have his email and phone number don’t you?  If we can work it out, I’ll gladly bring him with me.”

Trevor hugged me, “I’ll talk to him and see what we can work out.  Are you going to be in the competition this weekend?”

“Trev, I need to go.  I don’t know what my plans are for this weekend.  So many things are happening at the same time.  Call me or send me an email.  Here’s my business card.”

As I pulled into Spring and Autumn’s place, Autumn was just pulling up in her truck.

She waited for me to get to her, “So, how did the job interview go.”

“Autumn, you won’t believe what happened.  I’m still trying to understand what happened, myself.  It’s like something out of the Twilight Zone.”

Autumn laughed, “Well that will keep us entertained then while we are taking care of the horses.  I hope you have some appropriate clothes with you.  You’ll frighten the horses dressed like that.”

I got my suitcase out of my car and changed in the extra bedroom while Autumn was changing.   As we were taking care of the horses, I told her what had happened.  She looked at me, “Doug, you’re not telling me everything that happened, are you?  You don’t just get offered a $60,000 a year job in these times without an interview.  I even service an elementary school in Harwood.”

“Do you see why I feel as if I’m in the Twilight Zone, now.  Let’s finish here and go grab some food before I start back.  I haven’t had much to eat today, since I was so nervous for no reason at all.”

We went to a small family restaurant that had some great food and some of the best home made pies.  The grandson of the proprietor was serving us and he knew Autumn.  Boy did we receive good service.

When we were leaving, I stuck a ten dollar bill in his back pocket.  “Here have a beer or two on us.”

The young man reached in his pocket and looked to see what I had put there.   He walked us to the door, “Make sure that you ask for Cole to be your waiter next time.  Why don’t you come every night and I can get me a car real soon.”

As we were driving back to her place, Autumn told me, “Cole is one of my success stories.  When he was in sixth grade, something happened and he went into total shut down.  He never would tell me what had happened, but I spent many hours with him over the next two years and he suddenly started to become involved again.  He just happens to be the starting quarterback on the high school football team, and a straight A student, besides.  He is totally devoted to his grandparents.”

It was getting late when we got back to Autumn and Spring’s place.  I walked Autumn to the door and kissed her. “I’ll be back Friday.  I’ll call you tomorrow night.

I watched as she went inside, and I started the trip back to Atlanta.  

To be continued...

Editor's notes: Now I guess we know a bit more about Mr. Nixon senior, don't we?  Maybe he was trying, in his own stupid blustering way, to warn the boys, young and not so young, to be careful in the way they used their personal tools. 

He has certainly not endeared himself to his family, and he has lost their respect, for the most part, as well. Seeing him act the way he has to Doug, maybe he finally realizes just how much of a mistake he made.

I wonder how long he has been infected with the virus. Depending on where he is in the process, of infection, he could still have quite some time left to him, before he succumbs to HIV and gets full blown AIDS. 

Let's hope that somehow everyone tries their best to forgive him and that he will finally understand that a little honesty would go a long way toward healing the wound he cause between himself and the family he was trying so incompetently to protect. 

Well, that was quite a chapter.  Let's hope we won't have to wait very long for the next one.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 04/03/09