Taking Texas By Storm
by: E Walk
(© 2009 by the Author)
 

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

Chapter 6 

Not Again

When we pulled into the drive at the Daniel’s/our house.  Mr. Daniels was taking two suitcases out of his trunk.  Allie jumped out and ran to him.  “Grandpa Daniels, let me help you.  Where did you go this weekend?  I didn’t know you were going to go anywhere.”

Bra and I unloaded the trunk of our car and Dr. Daniels explained.  “We decided to drive to Dallas yesterday because it was so quiet around here.  We spent the night with the grandchildren.  We found a condo that we’re going to buy which is just now being built, but will be ready by the time we retire.  Friday night, we went to visit some friends and they own a duplex.  They live in one side of the duplex and the other was just vacated.  It’s not far from here, so it’s in an ideal location.   Edie and I decided to rent it for the rest of the school year.”

Allie looked confused, “Grandpa Daniels, what’s a duplex?  I’m not sure what that means.  Is it like an apartment?”

Dr. Daniels looked at me as if asking for help, so I answered as best as I could.  “Allie, a duplex would be as if the Thomases’  house and this house were joined together.  The two houses would be separate and there would be no way to get to the other part of the house, except by going outside.”

Allie still wasn’t exactly clear on what a duplex was, “So it’s like two houses would be joined together but they were like two separate houses.  What if one part caught on fire?  Is the other part going to burn down, too?”

Dr. Daniels laughed, “Allie, there’s usually a firewall between the two duplexes.  It not only acts as protection against fires spreading, but it also helps to keep the sounds from the other side from bothering the neighbors.”

Allie looked dead serious, “Dad, we need to make sure there is a firewall around my bedroom so you and Bra don’t keep me awake at night.”

Dr. Daniels dropped the suitcase he was carrying and started  to laugh, “Allie, you should be fine when Ed and Brahim move into the master suite.”

Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival Juan and Manny Gomez.  Juan didn’t waste any time, “Good, you're home.  Everyone is going to go to work at six in the morning,  Greg is going to drive if you would like to go with us.  He’ll be picking me up at 5:15.”

I was concerned, “Is there a problem?”

Juan shook his head, no, “No, but we all agreed to be there in case one would develop.”

“Juan, who are we all?”

Juan smiled, “Well, for starters, Steve and I need to be there to make sure the new equipment works properly.  Oz and his cleaning supervisors are going to be there to assist Myrabelle and the security staff to make sure that the initial sign in process goes smoothly.  I think you’re going to be surprised, and I hope, pleased at what you find when you arrive at the building, tomorrow.”

“Juan, why don’t you and Greg pick me up tomorrow,  I’ll be ready.  I’m apprehensive about what’s happening.  I’m sure you all have done a wonderful job, but everything has been happening so fast.”

Juan added, “You can say that again.”

I hugged Juan, “Juan, I’ll be ready when you and Greg pick me up in the morning.”

Manny snickered, “Wait until I tell Mom that a man was hugging Dad?  Dad will probably be sleeping in garage, tonight.  See you tomorrow, Allie.”

After Bra and I enjoyed an after dinner drink of a special kind, we were soon asleep.  I was awakened by the alarm at four thirty and went to take a shower, since we hadn’t taken one the night before.  I made coffee and was standing on the porch when Greg pulled up.  When I crawled into the car, I asked, “We aren’t going to be doing this every morning, are we?”

Greg answered, “I hope not, but for the money the company is paying me, I’ll do what I need to do.  I won’t have to worry about how to pay for the boys’ education, if they ever go to college.”

We parked in the parking garage.  We were about the only car there.  We walked across the street to the Shell office building and we were met at the door by Myrabelle and Oz.  Oz looked at us, “M.B., I do believe the aliens have arrived.”

He pointed to me, “I’m guessing that dude will set off the sirens big time.”

The young security person took my badge and handed me another card to keep in my wallet, “Sir, this will be your pass to get into and out of the building. If you will please smile, we’ll take your picture so we can identify you and make sure you’re who you’re pretending to be.” 

When I walked into the lobby, I stopped; the marble floor was sparkling, and as I looked around I saw there was a kiosk with a banner, Shell Pit Stop.  It had a some tables and chairs in front of it.

When I approached, the young man behind the counter surprised me, “Sir, since you’re our first customer, your drink and pastry are on the house.”

I looked at the menu board, “I’d like a café latte and a Danish, please.  The young man handed me the coffee and the Danish, “There you go, Mr. Waller.”

I almost dropped the tray with the food, “Excuse me, but how did you know my name was Waller?”

“Easy sir, Oz said that you needed to be our first customer.  Now if you will excuse me, some other people are waiting to be served.”

I looked, and several people were lined up waiting to be served.  I finished my roll and went back to see if there was anything I could do because people were standing in line waiting to enter the building. I thought to myself, ‘Not everyone is a slacker. That is, unless they decide to leave early.’

It was seven thirty when President Odom appeared at the door.  He stood in line as everyone else had been required to do, and didn’t complain.  When he finished with security procedures, he headed toward me, “Waller, we need to talk.  But first I need to get a cup of coffee and a roll.  I’ll spring for your food.”

I didn’t know what President Odom wanted to talk about, but it didn’t sound good, “Sir, I’ve already had some of the coffee and a pastry, so I’m fine.”

I accompanied him to the kiosk.  When he had his coffee and roll, I sat down at a table with him and he started, “Why didn’t you tell us you were Big Al’s son?”

I was almost at a loss for words, “Sir, my Dad isn’t going to be working here at Shell; I am.  I need to be able to make it on my own,  My parents have been very supportive, but I don’t want to rest on their laurels.  I didn’t know until yesterday that Dad was on the Board of Directors here at Shell.”

“Yeah, he called me after you, Little Al and Brahim left the Double 00 yesterday.  He threatened to relieve me of some of my body parts if anything were to happen to any of you.”

I was so stunned that I had no idea what to say.

President Odom was chuckling, “Ed, I’ve known your Father for longer than you have.  We were jack off buddies when we were growing up after we found out that we could shoot semen out of our cannons.  We used to see who could shoot the furthest and the most.  We never went beyond that because we both realized that girls were more interesting.”

I had a panicky thought, “President Odom, did my Dad have anything with my being hired here at Shell?”

“Ed, I hardly think so, since I hadn’t made the connection until your Dad called last night.  He has never mentioned that his son worked here, before, when he was here for Board meetings.”

Our conversation was interrupted by a commotion at the entrance and someone was yelling, “We have an appointment to see a Mr. Waller.  We’re busy and we don’t have time to waste with this security stuff.  We need to see him, now.”

I went to the entrance, “I’m Mr. Waller and I have no appointments to see anyone that I know of.  What can I do for you?”

The two men pulled guns, “We’re going to take you out.  The bosses want to make it known that we’re going to be coming back into this company and taking our share of the profits.  Desoto and Gump were just the agents of the big guys. You’re a pain in the ass, and the bosses want you out of the way, permanently.”

They were talking too much because Oz and a security person did something that caused the two men to slump to the floor, but not before two shots were fired.  One of the shots hit me in the right leg. I was almost immediately on my way to the Emergency Room, again.

The attending doctor was Doctor Tom Odom, again.  When he saw me, he frowned, “Look dude, you need to do a disappearing act.  We can‘t have you being shot at all the time.”

I asked, “Doctor Odom, why would they bring me way out here instead of a hospital that is closer to the headquarters?”

“Probably because Dad told them to bring you here.  Now let’s get you taken care of.”

This time, I had ten stitches, and it I hurt like hell, if you will pardon the expression.  Since I had arrived in an ambulance, I had no idea how I was going to get home.  Dr. Odom answered my question before I could ask.   “Ed, when I get off duty, I’ll take you home or wherever you want to go.  In the meantime, I‘m going to give you a sedative to help you relax”

I guess I lost it because I started to sob, “Dr. Odom, I think I’d like to go back to Shell and resign.  I don’t want to be shot at for the rest of my life.  There are too many people who could be hurt.  I can’t have Brahim and Allie getting hurt again.”

The next thing I remember was, Tommy waking me, “Ed, you’re ride is here.  While you were sleeping, I took the sutures out of your other leg.  I’d like to see you back in a week to see how the new ones are doing.  I’m going to give you some pain pills, but you should not drive while you’re taking them.”

An orderly took me to the waiting room and President Odom was waiting for me.

I looked at him, “Sir, surely you have better things to do than go around picking up employees who have been incapacitated.”

President Odom frowned, “Ed, your Father made it very clear what would happen if anything happened to you or your guys. The thugs who shot you were arrested and have been singing like blue birds.  I don’t think that we’ll have any more trouble with their bosses.”

When we got to the waiting limo, President Odom announced, “Ed, I’m taking you home.” 

When we arrived at the house, there was no one there, of course.  President Odom pondered, “Ed, I don’t think you should be here by yourself.  Why don’t you put on some clean clothes and I’ll take you back to the headquarters where there are people who can monitor you. That way we can make sure you don’t have any adverse reactions to what has happened.  I’d stay here with you, but some of the hierarchy are coming from the European offices for the meeting tomorrow, and I need to meet with them this afternoon.”

Mr. Odom followed me into the bedroom and was helping me get dressed.  He snickered, “You certainly did take after your father.”

I laughed, “President Odom, don’t tell me you promoted me so you could look at my body.”

When we arrived at the headquarters, in the limo, the door to the building opened and a security person came to greet us.  I suddenly realized how much it was beginning to hurt to walk.  The pain medication must have been wearing off.  The guard assisted us into the entry point.  She giggled, “Sir, since you didn’t log out, I guess you can’t log back in, as President Odom has to do.”

President Odom took me to the kiosk, “Tommy said you should probably have something to eat.  I had one of the fruited chicken salad sandwiches on the way to pick you up and it was very, very good.”

“That’s what I’ll have, but I'm really not very hungry.  Sir, I think I need to resign.  I‘m afraid of what might happen to some of the people I care very much about.”

President Odom took a deep breath, “Ed, you’re overreacting.  You’re still suffering from the shock of what happened.  I need  to go.  Eat your sandwich and go check out the bathrooms.  They’re what everyone is talking about around here, instead of the oil business.  I’ll talk to you later.”

I was eating my sandwich, or I should say trying to eat my sandwich when Myrabelle came and sat down, “Boss, do you suppose that you could let my security people take care of any intruders from now on? You’re going to get yourself killed.”

“Myrabelle, I decided that I needed a scar on the other leg so the legs would be equal.  How did the check-in go?”

She smiled, “Mr. Waller, it went far smoother than we imagined it would.  The system is going to be great.  We’ll be able to tell who is still in the building, now, after normal duty hours.   Joe has been working on a way to keep track of the check in and check out times for everyone.  Knowing him, as I do, he’ll probably have it figured out by the end of the day.  I need to get back to work.  Talk to you later.”

I was just about finished with the sandwich and spiced iced tea when the young man who had waited on me this morning came up to me, “Mr. Waller, can I get you anything else.  I hope every morning isn’t going to be as exciting as this morning was.”

I held out my hand, “My name’s Ed.”

“I’m Tripp Wakefield.  I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to set up shop here.”

“Tripp, I didn’t have anything to do with you being here.  I didn’t know that there was going to be a Shell Pit Stop until I arrived this morning.”

Tripp laughed, “You made it possible when you appointed Oz to be your facilities and food department manager.  I wish you could have seen him in operation this weekend.  It was as if he had ten arms and legs.  He was everywhere.” 

Our conversation was interrupted by a voice, “See I told you we’d find him here.  I knew it wasn’t a good idea to have a place like this in the building.  He’ll probably move his office down here, so he can watch all the pretty girls go by.”

I turned around and Steve and Oz were standing there laughing.  I frowned, “Oz, any more talk like that and you can be replaced by a gorilla.”

Tripp chuckled, “So you you’re going to replace one gorilla with another one?”

Oz made a fist, “Watch it Tripp.  Your lease hasn’t been approved by the boss, yet.  How was business today, anyway?”

“Oz, quite frankly we were much busier than we thought we be.  We’re going to hire some additional people.  We saw people arriving this morning with coffee and pastries that they had bought elsewhere.  I’m sure that now they know that we’re here, we’ll be even busier.”

Steve asked, “Boss, do you have a minute.  We have some things we’d like to discuss with you.”

I started to stand, “Let’s go to the office, but I need to go to the bathroom first.”

I started to walk toward the men’s restroom that was in the lobby near the kiosk, but my leg  hurt so bad that I almost fell.  Steve grabbed me, “Oz, go to the nurses station and see if she has a cane or a walker or perhaps even a wheel chair.  I’ll help Ed get to the bathroom while you check.”

When Steve pushed open the bathroom door, I was amazed, “Steve, are you sure that this is the same place?”

“Yep, and every bathroom in the building sparkles like this one.” 

I had just finished relieving my bladder and was zipping my fly when Oz appeared, “The only thing that they had is a cane.”

As I was washing my hands, I noticed something on the wall.  “Guys, why is there a condom dispenser on the wall.  Isn’t that sending a bad signal to visitors who would come to this building.  Wouldn’t they wonder what kind of sexual activity goes on in this building?”

Oz answered, “That’s exactly how Steve and I feel.  We’d like permission to take them out.  First, it’s sending a bad signal to people and secondly, they’re way overpriced as are the feminine products in the ladies facilities.  We’d like permission to change the prices for the feminine products so that there isn’t a big profit.”

Steve nodded, “I checked and they were installed by the Senior Mr. Gump, to make some big bucks.  He personally stocked  them and emptied the money.”

“Guys, I’m feeling a little woozy, “Let’s go to the office so I can sit down and get off my leg.”

When we walked into the office, Tammy started on me, “Well, well, well, look who finally decided to come to work.  What are you doing here anyway?  Shouldn’t you be at home, resting?”

“President Odom insisted that I come back here and get you people straightened out.  Actually, he was afraid to leave me at the house by myself.  He brought me here so I would have people to watch over me.”

Tammy laughed, “Well, I’m not taking you to the bathroom.  You’ve had a bunch of calls.  I have been putting the messages on your desk.  I put them face down so they would be in order for you when you turn them over.”

“Tammy, call Greg and see if he can come for a meeting and get Grant and Joe and Myrabelle, as well.  I’d like to talk to all of you.”

I had turned to go into the office when Marlene arrived.  “Oh good, almost everyone is already here.  Mr. Waller, the President would like to see you in the Board room as soon as possible with the rest of your staff.  He said to make sure that all the main people who were involved in this weekend’s activities were there.”

After Marlene had departed, I looked at the people who were already present, “People, I have no idea what’s happening.”

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  Poor Ed, He just seems to continue being a target.  Let's hope they get the jerks that are behind all the violence. Allie and Bra are going to be very upset that Ed has been hurt again.  Big Al is not going to be happy either.  Let's all hope that things will get better in the next chapter.

Darryl AKA  The Radio Rancher

Posted: 12/11/09