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 19 

The Aftermath

When I woke up on Tuesday, I turned on the night stand light.  I looked at Brahim and thought how lucky I was to have had him be assigned to be my chauffer and body guard in Algeria.  I took a shower and went to check on Allie, but he wasn’t in his room.  I walked into the kitchen and he was sitting in his briefs making lists. 

I hugged him even though I was dressed only in my wet towel.  “Son, why are you up so early?  You’ll run out of steam before the day is over.”

Allie stood up and fixed me a cup of coffee from a four cup coffee pot, “We’ll need to get a bigger coffee pot before we have company.”

“Allie, the grandparents will probably be here next Monday and Tuesday nights.  Trust me, everything will work out.  But I have a question for you.  I think we should go visit Mrs. Carr this weekend, since we don’t know what Bra’s schedule is going to be after that.  Since my parents are going to be here on Monday and Tuesday, we won’t need to go the ranch this weekend.”

“But Dad, we aren’t ready for company.  How can we get ready with you working all the time and Bra going to school and singing in the opera?”

“Allie, as long as we have the basics, no one will care.  Tonight we have to be ready for the closing on the house, so we can’t do much more until tomorrow. Let’s make the most of what we have until then.”

Allie started to laugh, “Dad, I just realized how silly I was being.  I guess I’ve gotten spoiled by the good life.  What we have now is more than most people in  Algeria will ever have in their lifetime.   Dad, are you driving today?”

“Nope, Mr. Gump is driving today.  Speaking of which, I'd better get my butt in gear.”

As I was getting ready to leave, Brahim was returning to the bedroom after his shower.  I grabbed his testicles and whispered, “Make sure you don’t destroy any of the honey that’s stored in these hives.  I’ll collect it tonight.”

When I got into the car, Greg asked, “Ed, have you heard the news?”

“No, we didn’t have the radio or television on.  What’s happening?  I don’t think I like the sounds of this.”

Greg took a deep breath, “Last night about nine o’clock, Vice President  Farnum tried to enter the Shell Oil building.  The security guards wouldn’t let him enter and he started firing shots.  Fortunately a police car was in the area, and when they tried to arrest Mr. Farnum, he shot himself.”

The police went to his home and they were admitted by a maid.  Mrs. Farnum it seems was spending the night in Dallas with some friends.  The police found a note that said Mr. Farnum was going to kill you and President Odom for ruining his life.”

When we arrived at the headquarters, there was a group of reporters at the entrance.   The three guys decided that I should go to the side entrance and they would have security let me in.  When I entered the building, President Odom motioned for me to disappear which I did.  I went into my office and turned on the small television and the radio, to see if I could pick up on what was happening.

I flipped through the channels on the TV and saw the Shell building, I turned up the volume. The young man was saying, “We’re standing outside the Shell Oil building where a Mr. Luke Farnum committed suicide last night.  We are waiting to talk to Mr. Ed Waller whom Mr. Farnum claimed had ruined his life.”

“We’ve talked to President Odom and he was unable to shed any light on the incident.”

I watched as Oz approached, the reporter. “Hi sir, can I help you?”

I had seen Oz inside the building when I arrived so I was trying to figure out why he was back outside.  The reporter asked, “Sir, do you know a Mr. Ed Waller.”

Oz started to laugh, “Yes, he’s supposed to be my boss.  But he almost never gets here until about noon and then he locks himself in his office.  There’s his secretary.  She can help you more than I can.

All the reporters immediately concentrated on Tammy who had also been inside the building when I arrived.  The reporter asked, “Miss, can you tell us the whereabouts of Mr. Waller?”

Tammy sighed, “Yeah, he may or may not be in today.  He's supposed to close on the house he’s buying if he doesn’t forget.”

“Where is it that Mr. Waller is going to be living, and how can we get in touch with him?”

“He’s going to be living somewhere here in Houston.  I honestly have no idea where the house is, and I don‘t know how to get in touch with him.”

Another reporter blurted out, “Why would Mr. Farnum commit suicide and claim it was Mr. Waller’s fault?” 

“How would I know?   Perhaps the man had a drinking problem and lost touch with reality.  Now, if you will excuse me I need to clear security so my pay isn’t docked.  I need all the money I can get to take care of my two young sons.”

The staff arrived in the office with President Odom at about five after eight and Oz was carrying a cup of latte and Danish for me.  “Tripp sends this with best wishes.”

We were seated around the table in Katie’s office when Marlene joined us.  President Odom stood, “Ed, perhaps you should introduce your newest staff member before I begin.”

I motioned for Tom to stand, “This is the newest member of our team, Mr. Tom Bloom.  He’s married and has two children and lives next door to Greg Gump.  He’s going to be our financial guru.”

President Odom started, “People, I asked Ed to call this meeting to tell you again how pleased am I with what you all have been doing.  All of you except for Ed and Tom busted your butts again this weekend.  You will be receiving your bonus in your next paycheck.  More importantly, you will also be receiving another raise.  Ed, I don’t know if you have informed Tom what he would be making yet or not; but his pay will be equivalent to Greg’s.”

“Sir, I had already decided that, but I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to him about it.” 

I handed Tom the slip that I was going to give him yesterday. “Tom, this is what I was going to tell you your salary was going to be, but I guess we’ll have to wait until the next paychecks come out to see what the amount will actually be.”

I looked at President Odom, “Sir, if you don’t have anything else that you would like to talk about.  I want to go tackle the Legal Department.”

“Ed, I want to personally fire Art Kravitz.  I thought about that department last night, and I think it is time for a change.  Joe’s memo made me realize that that division was way overmanned.  I hope you can prove that the personnel were charging fees for their legal advice.”

Steve spoke, “Sir, I know for a fact that they were charging for legal advice.  An acquaintance of mine went to one of the lawyers and the lawyer defended him in a court case, on company time, I might add, and he had to pay through the nose when they lost the case.”

Juan nodded, “Sir, I also know of some people who went to legal division looking for help, but the legal people wouldn’t talk to them until they greased their palms with money.”

President Odom stood, “Everyone, I want as much ammunition as you can gather, and we’ll meet in the conference room at ten o’clock tomorrow.  In the meantime, I need to wait in my office for the arrival of Mr. Small.  Ed, come to the office and get a pager so we can alert you when the fireworks are about to begin.”

President Odom and Marlene departed, and I looked at my people. “I want to thank all of you for your hard work.  We have made some enemies, but I’m guessing we have made more friends than enemies.  Let’s get on with our work and see how much more trouble we can cause.”

At lunch time, I went to see what was happening at the former executive restaurant and there was a line waiting to get in.  I was concerned that maybe Tripp was losing business, so I went to check the Shell Pit Stop and there was a line waiting to be served. 

Oz appeared as I was standing in line to be served, “Boss, this is a veritable gold mine.  The people have an alternative for lunch and don’t have to leave the building.  Steve and Juan are going to try to have the cafeteria ready for occupancy next week.  Tripp and the Wakefields are concerned about what the rental fees are going to be.”

“Oz, you’re the hotel manager.  That’s for you to decide.  Keep in mind that we need to show a profit from the operations, but we don’t want to make the rent so high that the operators are barely scraping by.  Since you’re involved with the two parties, I’m sure you can arrange for an appropriate fee.”

Oz and I reached the order point, “What will it be, gentleman?”

Oz answered, “We’d both like the lunch special with iced tea.”

We paid for our food and moved to the pick up point where Tripp handed us our trays with the food.  “Guys, I can’t talk right now, we’re kinda busy.”

Oz and I had a nice lunch and as we were finishing, the beeper started to sound.  “Oz, I’m sorry to eat and run, but duty calls.”

When I arrived in the President’s office, Marlene grinned, “Mr. Waller, you’re to go right in.  I hope you brought some bandages with you.”

When I entered, President Odom was cordial enough, “John, this is Ed Waller, I’ve asked him to sit in on the meeting.  Ed, this is John Small who was the head of our Real Estate Division.”

I picked up on the word was but I don’t think Mr. Small did.  The President motioned for me to be seated, “John, I’m so sorry that you missed your anniversary party on Friday.”

Mr. Small shrugged his shoulders, “Sometimes the company business comes before the family matters.  We had a very productive meeting.”

“Yes, I’ve heard.  You had a working breakfast where you spent all of a minute telling everyone to be thinking of ways to increase the productivity of your division.  I hope you have the funds to pay for the breakfasts for the boondoggle, because the company isn’t paying for them.  I trust that you and your former secretary had a good time.  Now, if you will give your badge to Mr. Waller, he’ll escort you out of the building for the last time.  For your information, Roberta knows what was happening, so I’m guessing you’ll be looking for a place to live.”

Mr. Small was shaking, “Adam, why are you doing this to me?”

President Odom stood, “Mr. Small, you did it to yourself.”

President Odom pushed the intercom, “Marlene, please send the two security people to escort Mr. Small out of the building.”

Mr. Small stood and started toward me, “Waller, this has to be your fault.  Everything was running smoothly around here until you appeared on the scene.”

Two young security guards grabbed Mr. Small before he could get to me and escorted the struggling Mr. Small toward the elevators.  I looked at President Odom, “I suddenly realize why you had me here.  I’m to be a punching bag.”

President Odom laughed, “You learn fast, Edward.  How was the morning visit in the Legal Division?” 

“Sir, it seemed as if everyone was extraordinarily busy shuffling papers and supposedly talking on the phone.  It was very obvious that it was a big sham.  Mr. Kravitz didn’t even show up until after ten.  He claimed he had a court date.  Katie and Joe are talking to the people that Steve and Juan knew, who were involved with payment of fees to the lawyers.  I asked Joe and Katie to prepare a talking paper of our findings for you.  I think you will find that we have gathered enough information to hang Mr. Kravitz out to dry and significantly downsize the division.”

I went to the office and took out Mrs. Carr’s card and called the number.  It was answered on the first ring by a male voice, “This is the residence of Mrs. Leanne Carr.  How may I help you?”

“This is Ed Waller calling.  I’d like to speak to Mrs. Carr if she’s available.”

“Just a moment, sir.  She’s visiting with some friends; let me see if she wishes to take the call.”

“Hi, Ed.  Are you and your guys going to be able to come to the Big Apple?”

“We thought we’d come this weekend before Brahim gets immersed in rehearsals for the opera, if it would be convenient for you.  This may be the last free weekend he has for some time.”

“This weekend will be great.  Send me the time you will be arriving, and Randolph will pick you up at whichever airport you will be flying into.”

“Great, I’ll let you know what our flight reservations are, as soon as I can make them.”

“Ed, do you three gentlemen have tuxedoes, per chance?”

“Yes, Mrs. Carr, we do.  Do you want us to bring them?”

“It would be good if you did.  I have no idea what’s going to happen this weekend, but it is best to be prepared, just in case.  Let me know what your travel arrangements are going to be as soon as possible.  Perhaps I can make arrangements to be on the same return flight to Houston as you three gentlemen.”

“I'll let you know as soon as I can.”

Tammy came into the office with a handful of messages, “Ed, can you cover the desk for a few minutes.  I need to visit the powder room.  Everyone else is putting out fires.”

While I was sitting at the reception desk, Joe and Katie came in.  Joe sighed, “The legal department needs to be neutralized.  They’ve been hosing the employees left and right.  We should take them to court and charge them with every offense in the book.”

I must have looked skeptical, because Katie interjected, “We’re not saying that all of the employees are involved, but I would guess between a half and three quarters are.”

I pointed to their offices, “Go document what you found out, so we can give President Odom something concrete.”

Tammy returned and I asked, “Where are Grant and Oz?”

“Oz is working with Steve and Juan on plans for the cafeteria, and Grant is ripping some new body parts in the Contract Division.”

“Tammy, I’ll be in the Transportation Division.  I want to see how things are going with Tom, and I have a couple of questions for Greg.

I went to the first floor and the Pit Stop was closed.  I walked into what was the cafeteria and it looked like a different place.  Oz was saying, “So, you’re saying that we can’t remove the wall because it is a load bearing wall?  Is there anyway that we can open the area up with windows?”

Steve shook his head, “We need to get the Engineering Division involved.  This is out of my league.  It may be cost prohibitive to make too many structural changes.”

“Guys, what you’ve done so far looks great.  Let me run your ideas by President Odom.  I have a feeling that he might just buy into the program if we present it properly.  Oz you and Steve come up with some proposals that he can see.  I’m finding that he like to have something concrete before him when he’s talking about things.  Also, get some people from engineering division to assist you if you can.”

I went to talk to Greg, “Greg, would there be any advantage to having the Transportation Division make personal reservations for me and the two guys to go to New York this week?”

Greg had a funny look on his face, “Ed, I don’t think that would be ethical.  If we were to make personal reservations for you, it would be setting a precedent and everyone would be asking us to make reservations for them.”

“Thanks for being honest, Greg.”

When I arrived back at the office, Tom was talking to Joe and Grant.  They were trying to figure out how to best dock the employees for the hours that they were absent the week before.  Tom was saying, “Guys, it’s a simple matter of finding out what the salaries of the people are and figuring out what percentage of the time that they were not here for work and it will tell you how much should be withheld.”

They were talking way out of my league, so I left them to do what they were doing.  Katie came into my office, “Boss, Joe deserted me, so here’s the summary of what we were able to find in the Legal Division.”

I quickly read through the document she had prepared and all I could say was, “Wow!  This is enough to take some of these people to court and charge them with all sorts of criminal acts.”

Katie snickered, “Boss, I think this is only the beginning of what we might uncover.”

“Katie, Joe is busy working on another problem.  Let’s go see if President Odom is available.

When we walked into President Odom’s office, he was standing talking to Marlene.  “Reserve the dining facility for next Tuesday at eleven thirty, for about twenty five people.  The company will pay the freight.”

He turned to me, “What do you have for me, now?  Why don’t you and Katie join me in the office?”

After we were seated, I started, “Katie and Joe, have put together a fact sheet of our findings, or rather their findings of the Legal Division.  I think you will find it interesting.  I hope you took your blood pressure medicine this morning.”

Katie handed President Odom the document, and he started reading it.  He stopped, “Katie, did you personally talk to these people.”

“Yes, Joe and I decided that we both should be present when we talked to them.  They have all agreed to testify, if need be, to stop this corruption.”

President Odom nodded, “Ed, have you’re staff available for a staff meeting at eight o’clock in the morning.  I want you, Katie and Joe to be available when I fire Kravitz and some of his staff in the morning at ten o’clock.”

It was almost five o’clock when Katie and I got back to the office.  I looked at Tammy, “Mrs. Grimes, would you please notify our team members that we have been requested to meet with President Odom at eight o’clock in the morning.”

Tammy glared, “How come I have to do everything around here?  Oh that’s right, I forgot, that’s what I’m getting paid for.”

On the way home, Tom commented, “I finally feel like I’m earning my pay.  Guys, I’ll drive tomorrow, since Ginny needs the car the next two days.  Maybe now we’ll be able to afford two cars.”

When I walked into the house, I could smell food.  I went to see what was happening in the kitchen, since I could heard people talking.  When I walked in, Allie had Jesse and Tucker helping him. “Hi Dad, Mr. Kimball’s car broke down and Jesse and Tucker are going to eat with us.  We’re ready to eat.  Bra ate before he went to practice.  He said he would be back about eight thirty.”

We were eating with the two Kimball boys and it was a real treat.  I thought to myself, ‘My parents would get a real charge out of the two boys.  They are so innocent.’

The three young boys were doing the dishes and I was on the computer, making the airline reservations, when Katie and Spencer arrived.  They were very apologetic, but Allie assured them that the boys were no problem at all.

The Kimballs had just departed when the Daniels arrived with Dan Wicks and Mike Strong.  The contracts were signed and I was much poorer than I had been before I signed the contracts.  The Daniels were apologetic for taking the things they had, but I assured them we understood they had things that they would need and other items that  were of sentimental value.

Allie showed them the things that we had bought.  In fact, everyone was surprised that we were as organized as we were. 

Allie was already in bed when Brahim arrived.  It didn’t take me long to collect the honey that he had been storing, but both of us were exhausted so there wasn’t much dialogue.

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  It looks as if there is going to be a lot of fur flying when President Odom visits the law division.  I hope the security department is ready for the challenge.

It seems to me that by the time all the deadbeats are rousted out of the company, it will be a much more efficient operation, and it will be a much more pleasant place to work.

The only thing that I wonder, though, is, will it be just a Shell of its former self?  

 I am ready for the next chapter!

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 03/19/10