Chapter 2A

Saul Roberts was on the phone when Morgan brought him his coffee.

“What the fuck do you mean you can’t get here ‘till Tuesday. Phil we are at a standstill here, the client wants these brochures Monday morning and we still have half of them to do!” Saul shouted down the phone.

“Well fuck you then if that’s your attitude. I’ll get some other fucker to do them.” Saul slammed the phone down. “Asshole!”

“Um, Mr Roberts.” Morgan said, he was a nerdy little kid with thick framed glasses and a timid manner.

Saul’s face softened a little, he wasn’t usually prone to anger and felt a little embarrassed at being caught ranting like that. He sighed heavily.

“Sorry Morgan but I am a bit busy at the moment.”

“Uh I guess, but I think I can fix the separation Pc for you.” Morgan flushed.

Saul looked at him in surprise.

“You can?”

“Well there’s a spare Pc in the design office that’s the same spec as that one. If the hard drive on the separator isn’t damaged then I can just swap them over. If it is then I would have to install the software on the other Pc and then run the backup.”

“Backup?” Saul looked confused.

“Yeah, where the files on the Pc are saved just in case something goes wrong.” Morgan felt more confidant now he was on familiar territory.

“Well Phil comes in about once a month and does something to the accounts computers would that be it?” Saul asked.

“Uh probably not, you don’t have running backup?”

“I don’t think so what is it?”

“Um, for this you would probably use a tape streamer to record certain data, like the separated images. Then if something goes wrong you just pick a point and restore the stuff you lost.”

“How long will it take to get us up and running again?” Saul asked hopefully.

“Depends Mr Roberts. If the hard drive got fried about three hours to re install and run the separation again. If the drive is good about half an hour, maybe forty five minutes to change everything over.”

Saul Roberts smiled at the kid. “Well get on with it then!”

Morgan was lucky, after connecting up the replacement Pc he swapped over the drives and powered up the machine. He carefully watched the green characters stream down the screen as the machine went through it’s startup routine. When no error messages popped up he breathed a sigh of relief.

Thirty five minutes later the press started running.

An ecstatic Saul thanked Morgan.

“How do you know so much about this stuff.” he asked the embarrassed kid.

“Well it’s kind of a hobby, I was going to go to college to study computers, but, well you know.”

Saul felt a bit sorry for the kid. He had done his National Service with Pete and they had remained good friends so he was aware of Morgan’s story. It was a hell of a lot for a kid to go through.

“How would you feel about doing a day release course?” he asked, an idea forming in his head.

“I would love to! but I don’t think I can afford it. I mean I will have some money when I get to eighteen. Until then most of what I earn goes on rent, I can’t afford to drop a day.”

“Well I tell you what, leave it with me until next Friday. In the meantime can you find out what these tape thingies you said about will cost and how to get them installed. Ok.”

Morgan grinned. “Ok boss.”

That evening Morgan decided to go out. The local YMCA ran an under eighteens disco every Friday night and Morgan would go every few weeks, every time he would go home on his own and swear he wouldn’t go again.

The place was crowded as usual, Morgan got himself a coke and went upstairs. Finding a space at the railing he leant on it and watched the dancers below. Eventually he spotted Susan Anderson at the edge of the dance floor talking with her boyfriend. Morgan had loved her from afar for several years now, but had never got up the nerve to do more than nod and mumble hello whenever they passed each other. She always replied with a smile that made Morgan go weak at the knees, he would flush and rush away.