Gatekeeper's Secret
Copyright© 2026 by Fick Suck
Chapter 28
Grady was digging through the diaries after everyone else had gone to bed. Jessica was sleeping in Grady’s old room while Brianna and Christina were out in the bunkhouse. Bettina had finally sent a cryptic message stating that “we’ll catch up as soon. Truck got an oil change.”
February 15, 1920
This character had the good taste to come through the gate at a decent hour in the morning. His skin was shades of brown, almost like some sort of camouflage if your world was filled with mold. He was my second visitor in the last twenty-four hours, and I had not had a chance to empty the sack. He wanted to trade but he was dissatisfied with what I had on offer. Pointing to the sack, he asked what was inside. I admitted I didn’t know, having collected from a creature that dropped the sack and ran back through the gate only yesterday; he was an ugly sonofabitch. One object was a coil of thin wire that was black or blue-black in the light. My yellow friend was quite excited at the find, and offered to trade his most precious item, so he claimed. He called it a data cube. No idea what the hell that is, but I didn’t know what the wire was either. As we packed our respective sacks, I mentioned somewhat in jest I needed someone just to sort and identify these goods, and he mentioned there are beings who do that sort of thing for a living. I wasn’t surprised and bid him a safe journey.
Grady reread the entry, wondering if his ancestor had inadvertently put out a “Help Wanted” ad on the other side of the gateway. However, Grady was reading an entry written a hundred years ago. How absurd it must be to take a hundred years to hire an inventory clerk. Nonetheless, the question remained whether he trusted Z%$*&# or not. Then again, what the hell else was he supposed to do with all the crap in the storerooms? Grady saw no other choice.
“I shall call him Faraday,” he wrote in his journal, thinking himself clever. As he stared at the ceiling as he contemplated the day from his pillow, he pulled back from his decision on a name, wondering if he was always so obvious. Buying a cat was easier; it was a pity the creatures could not do inventory. His last thought was, “I need to get laid.”
Grady sat straight up in the middle of the night with a terrible thought, “What if he’s Jar-Jar Binks?” He fell back asleep, restless for the rest of the night. When he rolled out of bed, he felt nauseous and shivery. He stuck his head under the shower-head until the feeling went away.
“I heard you crying out in the middle of the night,” Jessica said. “Nightmares?”
Grady reached for a coffee cup in the cabinet. “Yeah. I’m not used to having to manage everything by myself. Much of what the ranch requires is new and far outside my comfort zone, which is smaller than I could have imagined. People expect me to have the answers, but the same people scoff because I’m only eighteen. Oh, by the way, they need an answer yesterday for no good reason. All these demands are piling on, and the hard stuff I can’t fob off on the people I hire. ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff’ is a honking load of horse apples.”
“Growing up can be painful,” Jessica said. “There are benefits too, and you appreciate them when you can. You will appreciate them even more now that you know more about the world. Speaking of that, I’m not leaving the ranch today, which I truly appreciate, but I don’t want to get in your hair.”
“I’m in town this morning, so you can have the run of the house if need be, but if you’re feeling motivated, I haven’t had a chance to survey the trails heading north, which begin on the other side of the bunkhouse. You can borrow my rifle.”
“I might take you up on that offer,” she said. “This sounds like a good opportunity to get Christina off her butt as well.”
“Any word on Kimberly?” Grady asked, letting his morbid curiosity get the best of him.
“Family Services are involved. Since her father fled with warrants for his arrest and her mother is in the hospital, they’re set on keeping her in the Women’s Shelter until either the father is apprehended, or her mother is released from the hospital. The truth: her mother will need months of rehab when she’s released, that’s if she’s not paralyzed. The hospital can’t release Mrs. Master’s condition, but you and Bettina saw her state when she was wheeled into the emergency room. At the minimum, the woman is a mental mess and probably incapable of taking care of herself. Kimberly is staying where she is, and that’s for the best.”
Grady took a sip of coffee. “Wow, and I’m bitching and moaning about stupid shit like it’s the end of the world. Kimberly’s circumstances puts things in perspective, and I guess, puts me in my place. I surmise the order ‘suck it up’ is the theme of the day.”
Jessica crossed her arms and gave him a hard look. “Kimberly’s circumstances are extreme, and they’re certainly not normal. There is no comparison to make. Your responsibilities are important to you; they keep you up at night. Gaining perspective is not a character flaw, Grady, it’s part of the adulthood process.”
“Oh, I’m adulting,” Grady said with furrowed brows. “Now everything makes sense.” He swallowed the rest of his coffee and shoved the mug in the dishwasher. “I’ll grab some breakfast in town. I’ll lock the gate when I leave, but you won’t hear anyone waiting at the gate unless you’re here in the house.”
Grady had already chowed down on two donuts and was eyeing the cruller he had bought as an added indulgence when he pulled into the parking lot. Checking the rear-view mirror for any powdered sugar on his face, he straightened his jacket before exiting the truck. He squared his shoulders and straightened his back before walking through the door to the accountant’s office.
“Grady, you clean up nicely,” the receptionist declared, not bothering with a morning greeting.
“Morning, ma’am, I’m expected this morning,” Grady said with a smile because the compliment hit home even though he knew it was a cliché. She got on the phone and after a quick conversation, told him to “go on back.”
After a briefing and a strategy session, Grady and Maddy, who was a CPA with an MBA, walked across the street to the cable company. Grady walked up to the secretary who recognized him. She started to reach for the phone when Grady laid a hand on the headset and pressed it back into the cradle. “Mr. Carsten will not be taking any calls for the next hour,” Grady said.
Grady led Maddy through the door and down the hallway to the manager’s office. The door was open. Grady walked in and invited Maddy to join him, while Fred Carsten looked up at them with concern.
“I’m not happy, Fred,” Grady said. “Let me introduce, Maddy, who is representing me this morning.” Fred went to speak, and Grady held up his hand. “You had your chance to explain yourself when I was here last time, and I vetoed the cable run to a new warehouse west of the city line. It’s my turn.”
“Mr. Carsten,” Maddy said, “After completing a forensic audit of the current books and looking back two years, a number of serious accounting errors have been identified, including overly large payments with subsequent withdrawals of which neither match the financials. There are enough of these transactions to confirm that a pattern has been established. As of this moment, you are terminated as an employee of North County Cable Company, Inc. You are to surrender your passwords, your keys, your company car, and all equipment belonging to North County Cable Company, Inc.
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