Chapter 5: Decisions

Monday morning, when I woke up, I could see light sneaking under my bedroom curtains. I was so tired I had forgotten to set my alarm the previous night. Still, I’d done a decent day’s work the day before so I wasn’t too worried about arriving later than usual. I’d probably still beat some of the long-weekenders into work.

As soon as I got to work, I telephoned my flat’s management company rep.

“Good morning, it’s Michael Turner. I’d like to take the new flat as is, with no redecoration or clearout.”

“In that case, please could you come round to our offices so you can sign the contract. As you’re a CornerStone employee, I’ll arrange for your phone and internet to be moved across, although that could take up to a week depending on how busy they are. I presume you’ll want to move in immediately after that.”

“Yes.”

“Have you decided what to do about the parking space? Do you want us to sublet it for you?”

I thought of Jardine organising transportation for the old lady’s clothes. They’d find a parking space handy. “I’d like to keep it for the moment.”

“Okay. I’ll get that written up and have it ready for you to sign by this afternoon. After that, you can come and sign it any time during office hours. I may not be here but there will be someone who knows what to do.”

“Thank you.” I thought his service merited it.

As soon as the phone call ended, my phone started ringing.

“Hello, Michael Turner,” I answered.

“Hello, it’s Samine Ashrief. You know, from the squash club.”

“Hi Sami.”

“Hi Michael. I’m afraid a family situation has arisen and I can’t play our squash rematch this week.”

“That’s a shame. I’ll try to rearrange my fixtures to play someone else this week, and perhaps you’ll be able to play me the week after.”

“If I can’t, I’ll concede the match,” said Sami.

“No you won’t because I’ll concede,” I insisted. “Sami, you’re a very good player and you take it seriously. You’re up at the top of our league, you’re going places. In contrast, I was introduced to squash by my school’s special needs teacher as a way to keep fit and force me to interact with new people. That’s all it is to me, I don’t care what league I’m in providing I get some good games against a variety of opponents and some good run arounds.”

“You’re impossible! How can you be in League Two and vying for promotion to the top league and claim you’re not taking it seriously. You’re going to force me to play you again, aren’t you!”

“If that prospect isn’t too unbearable then yes, I’d love a rematch.”

I heard a girl’s voice in the background.

“Suraya, he can hear you. Speak English,” Sami called out. Then, to me she said, “Sorry about that, it’s my bratty little sister. Our parents want to meet the man who took me out for a meal on our first date, and they’re blowing it up out of all proportion.”

“Perhaps we’d better have an actual first date sometime then. Should I be worried about meeting them?”

“No, my parents are cool and they really would like to meet you. Some of my other relatives are more conservative but they don’t live close.”

“Okay, I won’t run for the hills then. Let me know if your family situation gets resolved. I really do want to play you again.”

As soon as I put the phone down, I felt something brush the top of my hair. I slowly swivelled around to face the perpetrator.

“No dents in the ceiling this time,” joked Ms Altropolina. “Girl trouble?”

“Not really. I owe someone a squash rematch but she has family issues which are getting in the way.”

“I just stopped by to say well done on completing that module ahead of schedule. It’s good to see you’re not letting your development work slip. Are are you free tomorrow morning? I have someone who would like to meet you. Ten o’clock, say?”

“Sure. Is it okay if I disappear for an hour or so this afternoon? I need to sign the paperwork for my new flat.”

“Since you came in and worked all day yesterday, you really don’t need to ask.” Ms Altropolina paused, “A word of warning. The next module you’re scheduled to work on is another large one. I suggest you take things easy today and don’t get too into it because your priorities might change after tomorrow’s meeting.”

With that enigmatic information, Ms Altropolina left me to basically twiddle my thumbs all day and worry.

I perused the spec of my next module and tentatively drafted out a structure for it. Fortunately I was interrupted by Caroline, one of the support team, who was struggling with an urgent fault report that had just come in that morning. I went though it with her step by step, explaining my thought processes and showing what steps to take to check those thought processes. By a process of elimination, we managed to identify the cause of the fault and the fix was quite simple, totally out of proportion to the urgency assigned to the fault report.

“Thank you,” effused Caroline. “Now I know the cause, I can get this fixed today and with the customer first thing tomorrow. You must let me buy you a drink sometime.”

“Not a good idea,” I said, taking the offer literally. “I have a low alcohol tolerance and bad things happen when I drink.” Like an Account Manager taking advantage of me.

Caroline thought for a second, obviously not having expected my reply. “I know, I’ll bake you a cake. I like baking in my spare time. Do you eat cake?”

“That would be fine. I’ll share it with my work colleagues if you don’t mind. I’m sure Ms Altropolina would welcome a slice too.”

With that, Caroline swept up all the documentation and notes from our work on the fault report and left.

That afternoon I went to the property management company’s offices. The rep wasn’t there but an assistant was expecting me. I read through the contract and everything looked okay, so I signed it.

“Right, the deposit from your old flat will be carried over so there’s nothing to pay, subject to our team doing a final check. You already have a key to the new flat, don’t you?”

“Yes. Is it okay to access the flat to make preparations for moving in?”

“You’re a trusted tenant of good standing so that’s not a problem. I see we’re arranging for your phone and internet to be moved over. We may need to ask for the key back if the engineer needs access.”

“I understand there’s a reserved parking space. Friends of mine have offered to help recycle the old lady’s belongings. Is it okay if they use the space before I formally take possession.”

“That’s fine. The reserved spaces have their flat numbers painted on, so you should be able to find it easily enough.”

The assistant and I shook hands, then I left with my copy of the contract.

The rest of the afternoon I worked on the design of the new module and noticed something I thought warranted Ms Altropolina’s attention. However since I had nothing urgent to do and since Ms Atropolina had warned me not to get too involved with the module, I elected to leave work early and cook my own evening meal for a change. I took a detour via the local supermarket and bought the ingredients on my way home.

When dinner was safely simmering away, I rang the number Jardine had given me.

“Hello, Bottomly Hall, ground floor. Who are you calling for?” came an unfamiliar girl’s voice.

“Hello, can I speak to Jardine Flemming.”

“Just a minute, I think she’s around somewhere. Who should I say is calling?”

“Michael Turner.”

“Okay. Hang on and I’ll go look for her.”

I could hear activity in the background interspersed by the girl asking people whether they knew where Jardine was. Just as I was starting to think the search would be unsuccessful, Jardine’s voice came on the phone, “Hello? Michael? Are you still there?”

“Hi Jardine. I’m calling to let you know I’m taking the new flat as is. So I’d appreciate it if you could arrange with your co-workers to collect the old lady’s clothes for redistribution.”

“Of course. Have you any preference as to which day?”

“No. I won’t be formally moving in until the phone and internet have been moved over, which the rep reckons might take up to a week. But I’ve still got the key and the management company are happy with me using it to access the flat beforehand. And the flat has a reserved parking spot you can use. The rep said the flat number is painted on it.”

“Great. I’ll speak to the girls and let you know. I’m glad you’re leaving the decor, I really like it.”

After dinner, I did the washing up then consulted my squash fixture schedule. I identified two opponents who I though might be amenable to playing me out of turn. I called both of them but got their answerphones, so I left messages asking them to call me if they’d like to play that week.

Not used to having nothing to do in the evening, I went upstairs to my new flat. I measured the two bedrooms and found that the sizes were virtually identical, even though the particularly floral one was classed as the master bedroom. Neither had any en-suite facilities, but then neither had the bedroom in my current flat. I decided I’d move into the second bedroom, keeping the floral master bedroom for guests or, just possibly, Jardine.

The cleaners had removed the bedding, leaving bare mattresses. I should have expected that because my current flat had a bare mattress when I took it over. The mattress in the second bedroom was clean and in ‘as new’ condition with no suspicious stains or odours. It was tagged as medium firmness.

I gathered up all the old lady’s clothes from the second bedroom, an awful lot considering the room seemed virtually unused, and moved them into the master bedroom. The old lady’s personal possessions I collected from the master bedroom and moved into the second bedroom for me to sort through at my leisure. I left the old lady’s toiletries in the master bedroom, although I felt pretty certain the girls would advise me to junk them.

The mattress in the master bedroom was tagged as soft. It looked a bit dodgy so I investigated further. I turned it over and found some small stains on the other side. I decided it would have to go. I wondered what Jardine’s preferred firmness might be.

I carried my spare bedding and clothes up from my old flat and stored them in the second bedroom so I’d have less to do when I officially moved in. Then I locked up the flat and returned downstairs for a nightcap before going to bed.

I didn’t sleep very well because of the meeting the next morning: I didn’t cope well with surprises. But eventually 10 o’clock rolled round and I presented myself at Ms Altropolina’s office.

“Hello Michael. Don’t take a seat, we’re going upstairs,” Ms Altropolina said.

Upstairs turned out to be Rolf Magnusson’s office. He was there with a man in a power suit who looked mildly familiar, but I couldn’t remember ever having been introduced to him.

“Michael Turner, Kevin Nicholson,” said Mr Magnusson, making the appropriate hand gestures.

Mr Nicholson and I exchanged pleasantries then Mr Magnusson got down to details. “Michael, Kevin Nicholson is head of our Secure Services Division. They handle any CornerStone contracts that require extra security, particularly government contracts.”

I must have seen him at the Management Event. I hoped I hadn’t been introduced to him there because I wouldn’t have made a good impression.

“Kevin is here because he’s impressed with your achievements and he’d like to make you an offer for your services,” continued Mr Magnusson. “He has Ludo Moravcec’s approval to make the offer.”

“Michael, you have a free choice,” said Ms Altropolina. “Whether you decide to accept Kevin’s offer or not, nobody will think any the less of you and it won’t impact negatively on your career. Kevin, make your pitch.”

Mr Nicholson waved the flag for his division, then explained why they needed my services. “We have a defence contract with tight schedules. Development is going okay but we’ve identified the need for a good troubleshooter for when we start issuing the software to the Ministry of Defence for testing. Your record of resolving complex fault reports and fixing problems is second to none in this company.”