Chapter 25: 1996

John Milton, owner of the Javelina B&G, always showed up on Mondays to open for the week, and again on Fridays to make sure we were ready for the weekend. As a side note, his dad had been an English teacher and had named him John after the famous English poet, John Milton. Felt I needed to mentioned that.

I was scheduled days about half the time, now that it was full on spring time, splitting that shift with Lindsey. I would be running the early show today. It was 6:00 a.m. The boss would be in around 7:00 a.m. I wasn’t looking forward to seeing him. I liked my job, had since I got it. But now I was going to quit. I would not be owing the rich guy anything, not knowingly. But I needed to talk to John first.

There were other bars. But I wouldn’t just walk out on John and Lindsey. That’s what I would have done five years ago. But I guess I’d calmed down over these last few years. I would be giving notice: two or three weeks’ worth. I was hoping I could get a decent recommendation from the boss. I was pretty sure I could. I’d never missed a day, apart from when I’d donated my kidney to my daughter, and he’d let me know in the past that he appreciated that fact.

“So how did your set-to with the man go?” said Valerie.

“Not as bad as I feared. I gave him some things to think about. But...”

“But?”

“He is still ‘mucho’ bitter about the fatherhood thing. He knows it’s on Jillian not us to adjust things. But neither of us are all that sanguine about that happening in any large way,” said Herbert.

“And Herb, I do not want to pressure her. That would lead to nothing good.”

“Yes, yes, you’re right. I am going to talk to her and let her know how he feels, but I will be making no recommendations. I agree with you about pressure being a bad idea. Any changes have to come from her side of the fence.”

“Yes,” she said.

“Morning, assistant manager,” said John Milton.

“Morning boss,” I said. “Got a minute?”

“Sure,” he said.

“John, do you know a mister Herbert Cooper?” Suddenly the look on my boss’s face went from positive to seriously negative.

“Chase, I know what you are about to say. Don’t even think about saying it. I have a shotgun, and I will shoot you in the ass if you do, and still expect you to show up tomorrow and on time.”

“You know what I’m going to say?” I was surprised. The man sighed and took a deep breath.

“I’m sure you’re in the know now, if you weren’t before, that Herb Cooper and I have been friends forever. And before you even ask, yes, he asked me if I would hire you some five years ago now; and, I said that I would and that sight unseen because I trusted his judgement.

“Chase, he saw it as a hand up to a good man and a good worker. At first, I just saw it as a favor to him, and nothing more. But, over time, I saw that his perception was the more correct one. You are a good guy, Chase, and my best worker your problem with the Coopers notwithstanding. I need you, Mister Benedict. Please do not dump on me because you have a problem with them. And yes, I am well aware that he stole your wife. Don’t know the whole story; it’s none of my business, but I know enough.

“If you wanna get back at the man, find some other way, just not over my bruised and bleeding business corpse,” he said. I sighed.

Now I had a problem. The man, John Milton, had been good to me. Yes, the family stealer had gotten me the job, but Milt had not been party to any of the bad stuff. I nodded.

“Okay, John, but no more favors at the instance of Herbert Cooper. He and I are not friends, not close to that, and there is a lot more to the story than you know. But, okay, I’ll stay. And you were right, I had been about to quit.”

“Thank you, and you were, in point of fact, safe. I don’t really have a shotgun,” he said. I had to laugh, and I did.

“You say mister Milton, John, called you?” said Valerie.

“Yes, and it was a close call. You remember me telling you that I cleared the air with Chase about our previous shenanigans?” said Herb.

“Yes. So...?”

“Our man almost quit because I’d given him a hand up arranging the job for him.”

“Jesus! He’s been working there for five years, ever since he got out of prison,” she said.

“Yes, and if he had quit, he would have had a helluva time trying to find as good a job; I mean with his record of two felonies.”

“But you say he almost quit, so he didn’t?”

“No, John talked him out of it. It seems our man is John’s best employee. Actually, he said he’s the best employee he’s ever had.”

“Thank God.”

“Just a heads up. When we see Chase again, do not bring up the fact that John called me about him almost quitting. If Chase brings it up, we’ll be honest with him. But if he doesn’t, it’s a closed issue forevermore.”

“Okay, sure. Yes,” she said. “I see what you mean. No stoking the fire.”

“Yes, exactly.”

It would turn out that the woman was fifty-seven years old. She was a prostitute of declining value. And she was now an ex-convict having completed her eighteen months in Perryville. She was looking for a job.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, “what can I getcha?”

“Need a job. Got any?” she said. I took a step back.

“Well, I don’t do the hiring, but if you got a little time. The manager will be coming on in about half an hour,” I said.

I once again had the day shift: 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Lindsey had nights this month 5:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. And both hers and mine were seven days a week! We’d been wanting to hire another full timer, as mentioned, so we could cut back on the days if not the long hours, but so far all we could find were a few college kids, depending on season, to work three and four hour fill in shifts here and there. John and Lindsey had been talking about finding a reliable candidate for some time to institute a swing shift to achieve our man-power goal. The lady in front of me looked desperate, so...

“Yes, sir, I’ll wait. I really need a job,” emphasizing her initial remarks.

And then it was 4:40, and Lindsey showed up.

“We got a candidate for the position,” I said. “But, Lindsey, I think she’s a con. Not sure, but I kinda know the signs.”

“Okay, any conflict?” I knew what she meant.

“No, I’m not on parole or restricted in that way, so no conflict.”

“Okay then, I’ll talk to her,” she said. I nodded toward the woman in the booth across from us. She was paying attention to the cup of coffee I’d given her. Lindsey walked over to her and introduced herself.

I watched as Lindsey conversed with the lady. There were some sincere smiles. There were some surprised reactions to what had to have been pointed questions. Then they were nodding and smiling. It looked like we had a new employee; well, maybe we did. I would be getting the skinny shortly. I especially wondered about my educated guess as to the new woman’s history.