Chapter 01

Do what you do do well
Do what you do do well boy
Do what you do do well
Give your love and all of your heart
And do what you do do well

Ned Miller, 1965

Changes

In late February Morris ’Mo’ Walker is standing beside an open grave while the family’s friends file past. While watching them all give their last respects to his mother he thinks, Fucking cancer. Now there’s nothing for Dad or me here. I hope he takes the promotion they’re offering him.

Randolph ’Randy’ Walker sighs while watching the people pass the grave and he thinks, Last night Mo was right when he said we have to move on with our lives, and I can’t do that here. There are now too many memories that hurt a lot. Tomorrow I’ll tell Jim I’ll take the job and list the house for sale.

Thirty minutes later the two are talking while driving away from the cemetery. Each has lost more than half of their life. Alice Walker, wife and mother, was very good in both roles. Also, she was the main force for her family’s involvement in the community. She’d pushed them both to be involved in many sporting, outdoor, and community activities. With her death a lot of changes will happen, and they’ll likely not be so active or involved with the local community. They’ll still continue with some sports and outdoor activities simply because those activities are now too much a part of their daily lifestyle, thanks to Alice’s training of them. However, when they move to the new job some of the sports will likely change because they’ll be limited to what’s available in the new area they’ll be living in, and to what’s on the list of school sports Mo can sign up to play. Without Alice to drag them out of the house all of the time the two will probably cut back on some of the other community activities to spend more time at home with each other.

The Job Offer

Randy walks into the office of his boss and says, “Jim, tell me about this other job you want me to do. If it’s still open I’ll give it serious consideration. I want to know more about it because it’s a major change for us to move house. However, that looks like a good idea right now.”

Jim gives him a weak grin. Although Randy is the best person for what they want done he’s been refusing to discuss the matter before now. However, with his wife’s death in just six weeks from the first symptom to the end it’s been a hell of a time for Randy, so management has held off on taking any action on the job. Jim doesn’t like the idea of Randy’s interest only being due to his wife’s death, but that’s the real reason for it and it’s understandable. He stands while saying, “Right, Randy. This is really Bob’s baby and he has all of the details. So we’ll go talk to him.”

A couple of minutes later the two of them are sitting in another office where Bob, the Australian company’s Chief Executive Officer, is saying, “Corporate Head Office wants an Australian to head up the Tampa office. There are some big problems at the Tampa office and a prior manager is in prison for a number of crimes. In the last five years there’s been four managers and they haven’t been able to get the office sorted out or working right. Staff turnover is high right now, thanks to the manager just fired. HQ is aware we’ve a different way of doing a lot of things and they want to see if one of our managers can fix up the Tampa office since they can’t. I’ve looked at all of our managers and spoken with all of the senior staff. It’s our considered, collective, opinion you’re the best one to have a shot at this. We do have two others senior to you, but they agree you’d stand a better chance of fixing up the office.” He places a thick file on the desk, “This is the latest report on all of the problems there.”

When Randy goes to speak Jim jumps in with, “Due to the way the corporation is structured you’ll be transferred to the US company at your grade and then promoted one level to take over the Tampa position. HQ has no information on staff pay grades here in Australia. To entice you to go we’ll promote you one level today and another level to take the official move in two weeks. That’s a total rise of three levels so your next jump should be as the CEO of an overseas subsidiary or a Junior Vice President in Head Office, but not until after four to ten years in Tampa.”

Randy shakes his head in wonder. The pay rates vary a lot due to the different living standards and costs of each country, but the offer of three jumps in grade is more than double his current salary, which is already very good. He looks at them and asks, “Why the big pay rise?”

Bob sighs and replies, “Normally positions at that level are for three to five years on contract. Due to the recent failures they want a one year contract, but I got them to agree to a two year contract since you have to move countries. I suspect they think the issues at Tampa may be so far ingrained they can’t be fixed. So you need to be compensated a lot more than usual, or well rewarded. No matter what happens in Tampa we’ll always be glad to see you back here at your current level or any level above it. That’ll depend on what’s available then, if it happens.”

Randy opens the file to start reading the reports while Jim says, “I think you’ll be able to fix Tampa because most of our innovative ways are your ideas. Also, being US born you’ll have a better chance to fit in and be accepted than an Aussie born manager will.”

Looking up Randy says, “I might be US born and a US citizen with a current US passport, but I’ve lived here since I was five years old. I’ve no idea what life is like in the USA.”

Bob says, “Oh, that’s another thing. It’s in your file, but don’t say a word to HQ about your citizenship. I know you have dual citizenship due to your parents becoming naturalised after arrival, but the bosses in HQ only see the Aussie citizenship. So don’t wake them up about it. I’d suggest you mention being US born to your staff in Tampa in a casual way, probably very soon after you arrive, but not before.”

Randy gives a slow head shake while saying, “Well, that’s one thing Mo and I don’t have to worry about. Since we’re both dual citizens we don’t need visas for either country. We can leave here on our Aussie passports and enter the US with our US passports.” After a few minutes more of report reading he says, “Start the paperwork for the shift. I’ll take this report with me to make notes and to start thinking about the work.”

Family Talk

Over dinner Randy tells Mo about the job offer and having to move to Tampa, Florida, USA. Until now all they knew about the job was it meant a move to another city plus a higher rate of pay. But this is a lot bigger move than either of them expected. So they talk about it for a while.

Randy raises some points, “The US school system starts in August and it goes to around May. They also have some different subjects. We’ll be arriving there in March. I think it’ll be in your best interests to do home schooling with a tutor for a few months to get you up to date with the US school system subjects instead of signing you up to start at high school as soon as we arrive.”

Mo responds, “Good point, Dad. It also means I can settle into the local community before I have to worry about the school community. I hope they’re paying you enough to compensate you for all of the trouble involved with such a big shift!”

“Because it’s a promotion and transfer the company pays the cost of the move. But the pay grade is two and a quarter times more. One thing you’ll like about Florida is the age for driving over there is lower. So not only will I be able to buy you a car you’ll be able to drive it. In Florida you can get a learner’s permit at fifteen and a licence at sixteen. So you can also get that done before you start school.”

The talk moves on to what they’ll take with them from here and what they’ll sell as it’s not worth the cost and trouble to take. Both agree most of the furniture will be sold, but they each have a couple of favourite items they want packed up and shipped over. Most of their clothes and other things will be sold as well. In the end the list of what to ship is very small: family heirlooms, the good china and cutlery sets, their favourite chairs, books, sports equipment, and the best of the clothes they have. Everything else will be sold or given away.

The Move

After a few busy weeks of sorting the clothes and things to sell or give away they’ve only three days of travel clothes in their bags and they pack what else they want to take with them ready to be shipped, then they sell all of the rest. Randy and Mo are flying First Class to the USA as a company expense. Randy thinks the First Class is an unofficial upgrade organised by Bob because the company policy is for Business Class on all work travel by all staff, regardless of their level. Whatever the cause of the upgrade the two are enjoying the luxury and comfort of the seating.

They arrive in Los Angeles and they have no trouble passing through the customs check because all they have is one carry-on bag each. After a fast move between terminals they’ve a short wait for their Florida flight.

They arrive at Tampa International Airport on Wednesday morning, and take a bus to a good mid-level hotel. The afternoon is spent settling into the hotel, buying a couple of sets of suitable clothes, and checking the real estate listings. Phone calls for morning meetings are also made.

On Thursday morning the lady from the real estate company is very surprised to be taking sixteen year old Mo around to look at the places to live while another person from their office is taking Randy to look at some business properties. The files made it very clear the biggest issues at the office are work space, staff parking, and public transport access. The file has information on the current amount of work space so Randy is looking for a new office space as his top priority. Both Randy and Mo spend all day looking at properties, again on Friday, and on Saturday.

Sunday Mo tells his father about the properties he’s looked at and they have a taxi take them around the three best. They agree on a house in Seffner which is within walking distance of a good high school and an easy drive to the new office Randy wants to use in Brandon. The last manager moved the office to a slightly larger premises in the Tampa main business district, but it’s not big enough and the parking is difficult there, which is why so many people quit. Randy wants them in a place with better parking and even more space than they have now. The reports state the staff are angry at the crowding and daily access problem, so he wants both of those issues resolved first.

First Day at Work

Monday morning Randy has a few meetings. The first is during breakfast at the hotel to sign the papers to buy the Seffner house, which makes the estate agent happy about her work over the last few days. The next is at the Tampa Office with the Head Office Management people.

Five people sit in the conference room while Randy goes through the paperwork about his employment by the main company. The papers all match the email copies he has, so he signs them and the Head Office Management people sign them. Copies are given to all concerned.

Randy looks at the two men who are his immediate boss and his boss as he says, “First things first. The lease on this building is up in a month. I know the company moved in here last year, but this place isn’t big enough. Also, the staff have major parking and travel issues. That’s why so many are leaving. I’ve found a new space that’s about a third bigger and it’s a lot cheaper than here. This area has a premium rental rate for it while the one I’ve found in Brandon doesn’t. It even has parking included with a lot more parking nearby.” He places papers on the new office space on the conference table, including a number of photographs. They talk for a while then agree to the move. The cost of moving will be less than another year of the rental difference between the two offices.

Dave, Randy’s boss, says, “Randy, we’re in a major bind with this office and we hope you can sort it out. We’ve been told you can, but we need to step back to let you do it. So, as much as it pains us to do so, we’re not going to be checking anything you do for six months.”

Gary, Dave’s boss, nods his agreement and says, “For six months you’ve got a free hand to do anything you want. Then we’ll audit this office and we’ll discuss the results. Due to the move you want to make, which I think is a good idea, to allow the staff to get settled into the new office space we’ll start your six months a week after the move.” Randy agrees because he’s happy to not have them second guessing everything he does each day; at least until after he has time to get a few things organised and the place running smoothly, he hopes. They talk about many other matters before the Head Office Management people leave.

The next meeting is with the real estate agent to finalise the rental of the new building, thus making this real estate agent happy as well.

The fourth meeting is with the department heads. Introductions are made and Randy hands out plans of the new building while saying, “I just signed a three year rental agreement for this building. I want you to sit down and plan out the office layout for your areas. Work on having the space you currently have with twenty-five percent more. Get your staff involved in the planning and let them all know we’ll be moving as soon as we can get it ready. Also let the staff who recently quit know about the shift, in case they want to apply for their old jobs. The building has a lot of parking on the grounds plus a lot more nearby and it’s close to the bus routes. I also want reports on where you think we can improve the operations here. They’ve given me a free hand for a few months so I want to see what you’d like to change before I make any changes.” They all look a bit stunned. First day on the job as their boss and he’s already making some big changes. “I’ll walk through the place to talk to all of the people over the next few days. No point in trying to do much else until I see your draft plans for the new building on Friday morning. Now get busy!” The stunned managers stand and make their way out of the room to get busy planning their new office space.

It’s not quite lunchtime, yet Randy has done all he needs to do and all he can do today. So he heads back to the hotel to talk with Mo about the new house, also to go shopping for more clothes plus some things they’ll need for the new house.

First Day at Home, Almost

After his father signs the papers and hands over the cheque for the house the real estate agent takes Mo to the house and hands him the set of keys to the empty house. On the way there they stop for Mo to buy a cell phone, a digital camera, a tape measure, and a writing pad.

Mo spends the morning taking lots of photos of each room as well as sketching all of the rooms with their dimensions and the cupboards, including the hallways. He also takes notes on work to do on the house. Most of the work is to the building’s outside or in the yard, but the whole interior needs cleaning and painting right away.

With that done by mid-morning Mo takes a walk to the high school and he says to the lady in charge of the administration office, “Excuse me, Ma’am. But I’ve just moved to the area and I’ll be enrolling here next semester. However, I do need to find some tutors to teach me a few subjects you have here they didn’t teach at my previous school.”

The woman frowns as she asks, “We teach the approved curriculum, as is required by the law. How come your last school didn’t?”

He smiles at her, “Oh, they did follow the law, Ma’am. But the high school curriculum in Australia is a little different to the one here.”

She laughs and says, “That, I can understand. It might be best if we have you tested to be sure of what you do know. I can arrange a set of tests for Wednesday and Thursday, can you be here by nine each day?”

“Yes, Ma’am, I can. On a side issue, do you know of any good locals to do some house repairs and painting, plus a yard person as well?”

She grins while grabbing a pad to write a name and phone number on it before she hands it over as she says, “My sister’s family have a business doing all sorts of general home and yard work. This is their name and number and they don’t charge people the earth, either.” He thanks her and goes back to the house. On the way there he rings the number and arranges for the lady’s brother-in-law to visit to assess the work he wants them to do on the property.

Half an hour later Mo has a quote from Danny, the workman he phoned a short while ago, listing all of the work to be done on the house and the yard, plus a firm promise he can have the interior cleaning and painting started in the morning if a deposit is received for the work today. After Danny leaves Mo calls a taxi and he returns to the hotel. He arrives there at the same time as his father arrives at the hotel.

The two Walker men check an address then they leave the hotel to eat at an inexpensive restaurant down the street. After lunch they take a taxi to the nearest Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FHSMV) office to lodge paperwork for a Florida Driver’s License each. They also get a list of the approved training centres in their area.

From the FHSMV they go to check out a few furniture stores until they find one where they like the look of the furniture and prices. Then they sit down with one of the staff to plan a house full of furniture from the notes and photos Mo has. The next task is a paint store to examine paint colour cards to select the colours to use in the rooms and for the house exterior.

A taxi back to the hotel is followed by a talk about the rest of their day prior to eating dinner. Next is an after dinner visit by Danny to collect the deposit for the work on the house and the paint colour cards for the paint to be used in and on the house. Before they go to bed they talk some more about their plans for the house and what else they need to do over the next few weeks.

The next morning Randy goes to work to visit more of his new staff while Mo goes to get the workers busy on the house. Once he lets them in and he makes sure they’re aware of what paint goes in what room Mo is off to the nearest driver training school to spend the rest of the day in classes on how to drive: some theory and lots of practice on their track.

Mo smiles when he takes his break for lunch and he sees his father in the classroom where he did the theory work that morning.

Wednesday morning Mo is at the school sitting exams so they can establish his current knowledge levels, then he has driving lessons after the tests. Randy spends half of the day wandering the Tampa office to meet the staff then the rest of the day in driving lessons as well. Both of them study the traffic laws and they test each other on them after dinner.

For both Mo and Randy Thursday is the same as Wednesday.

Friday morning Mo is at the house directing the delivery of the new furniture. The delivery men place everything where he wants it. The men are amused the job is being supervised by a sixteen year-old boy.

Randy is at work in a meeting with his department heads while they all go over the plans for the new office space. Further changes are made, and when the final layouts are agreed on he signs for them to be given to the builder for the build-out. The other agenda item isn’t so easy. Each department head lists the various changes they want to make to the office operations, but they often run into problems they’ll make for other areas if all of the changes they want are made. The conflicts require a lot of discussion, and some need a lot more work. The meeting ends so all of them can have a late lunch. The initial reports and the meeting notes are given to Randy before he goes home to get his house organised.

Walking out of the room one department head says to another, “You know, we may just get things fixed right. This new guy only works half a day right now, but he’s already fixed over half of the problems we’ve had for many years. I hope he can keep up the good work.” All those who hear him nod their agreement with his assessment and wish.

Randy buys sandwiches for lunch on his way home. When he gets there he finds Mo in charge of placing the last load of furniture. Father and son take a break for a late lunch of sandwiches. The house looks totally different with fresh paint and new furniture. Randy smiles when he spots their bags are still sitting just inside the front door. They checked out of the hotel this morning and Mo brought their gear here, but he hasn’t put any of their things away yet. He must have been a bit busy with the furniture deliveries, is Randy’s thought about the situation.

After lunch Mo walks to the high school to collect his test results and to obtain a list of tutors to contact. Randy checks the outside work they’ve done plus the work being done while he waits for the locksmith to arrive to change all of the locks after he does a full security survey of the whole premises.

In the late afternoon both Walker men are in a mall buying a lot of clothes to expand their wardrobes. They also buy a lot of groceries for their new house. They have to hire a mini-van taxi to carry it all back to the house.

Saturday is another day of driving lessons for both Randy and Mo. Both are getting very proficient and comfortable with driving on the Florida roads. In an odd twist of fate it’s harder for Randy to learn the US road rules than it is for Mo to learn to drive in the US because Mo has no prior training he has nothing to unlearn first, thus his first responses are better then Randy’s first responses. However, they both do learn to drive safely on the Florida roads.

Sunday the father and son take a casual walk around the area to see what churches are around and to unwind from their busy week. They note where various parks and business are while they enjoy their walk. The activity also reminds them to think about and organise activities to keep fit.

New Life

The last Monday morning in March is the real first day of their new life in Florida for Randy and Mo. Sure, they’ve been in Florida for a week, but it was all interim arrangements. Now they’ve their own house and are ready to live in it as part of the local community.

Today Randy will take a taxi to work for the last time as tonight he’ll be driving a company car home after a full day at work. Today Mo’s job is to spend the morning collecting the text books he’s been told to get to study and to contact the tutors on the list who are available for work. Some are in full-time work and only tutor at night. He’ll try to get as many day tutors as he can so he can have more study time with them.

Randy’s first task at work is to go to the Information Technology unit to collect the new notebook computer they have for him to use. It’s all set up with the company software and passwords to link into the office network. The rest of the morning is a series of meetings with staff about the changes they want to make: he approves many of them and defers the rest. After lunch is his appointment for his driver’s licence test, and he passes. From today his day to day work is the typical range of top management tasks. Unlike many at his level he restricts his work to the regular office hours each day, so he only works later or takes work home during a major event. One good thing Alice taught him was not to work himself to death. Evenings and weekends are for the family, fun, and recreational activities, so he makes a point of scheduling them that way.

Mo’s Day

After breakfast Mo takes a taxi to the bookshop to buy a number of text and reference books to study and learn before the new school year starts. Back at home he takes them to the room he set up as a study before he checks on the workmen outside. The yard work is done and it’s now looking good, but the men are still busy with some minor repairs to the outside of the house. Something nags at the back of Mo’s mind while he walks about the yard looking at the completed work. He has a feeling there’s something else that needs doing, but he can’t say what it is. He decides to get on with the phone calls to tutors.

The first call is to a woman to teach him about the government and history of the USA as according to the state curriculum, this’ll cover two topics for him. She’s been on maternity leave and she doesn’t have a job at the moment due to her leave running out and her new job doesn’t start until August. When she answers the phone Mo says, “Hello, Missus Davis, I’m Morris Walker, an Australian starting school here in Grade Ten in August. I’ve been given your number as a tutor for the US high school subjects you teach. Are you available to tutor me during the day, and what are your rates? Oh, I live in Seffner.”

Mrs Davis is happy for the work offer because the family finances are a bit thin at the moment. She replies, “Mister Walker, I live in Seffner as well, so the location is perfect. However, I don’t have the room to tutor at my house and I’ve children I need to supervise during the day right now. I usually do tutoring at night because my husband is available to watch the children of an evening while I’m out tutoring.”

“Ma’am, please call me Mo, everyone does. Our house is quite large and you’d be welcome to bring your children here to play in the large yard we have or the lounge room. We can study in the dining room so you can watch them in the yard or lounge room while teaching me. We also have a pool, but if they use that we’ll have to study beside the pool because it’s in a walled area and you can’t see it from the dining room.” He thinks, That’s what’s nagging me. The pool! It’s walled but no roof, so the leaves get into the pool in a wind and it’ll be worse during autumn. Tonight I’ll have to remember to talk to Dad about having the pool covered.

“I wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble, Mo!”

“You won’t be. I’m reading the text books for the prior years on the subjects of US History plus Civics and Government, but I need a tutor to expand on them the way they do in class. With just me to teach I figure we’ll go a lot faster than in a normal class, but you’ll be able to watch the kids while you talk. I’ve got a large portable whiteboard in my study which I can move to the dining room for you to write on.” He gives her the address and the phone number.

“You live in the next street to me. I’ll walk around to have a look at the place at lunchtime, if that’s OK with you.” He assures her it’s OK, and they hang up so he can make another phone call.

Mo is happy because that sounds like he may have the two subjects with the most work organised. Now for the third subject. He tested out as advanced for the subjects that are the same around the world, but he’s in need of tutoring for the two US specific subjects and a language new to him: Spanish of the Hispanic variant common in Florida. This one needs to be organised for in the evening so his father can learn it as well. Mo only needs to be brought up to the level for the Grade Ten class he’ll be starting while Randy wants to do the full advanced language course.

Mo dials the number he has, and when it’s answered he says, “May I speak with Sophia Pérez, please?” They reply, he laughs while he adds, “I’m not sure which one. I need to talk to the one who teaches Spanish, please?” A further response elicits another laugh and, “You decide. I’m Mo Walker. I start in Grade Ten in August and I need to be able to understand what they teach in that grade. My total knowledge of the language is its name. Also, my father wishes to learn the language on an evening or weekend schedule so he can talk with his Hispanic staff at work.” After a little more talk they agree to someone calling in after school hours to talk to him about tutoring both of them.

The rest of the morning is spent reading text books. Mrs Davis visits while Mo is preparing sandwiches for lunch so he asks her to join him and they talk about tutoring while eating. He shows her the house and they agree for her to tutor Mo at his home on school days for the next two months.

More studying for Mo until Mrs Sophia Pérez drops in after school. She gives the house a close study while they talk about the tutoring needs because she has concerns about teaching there. An agreement is soon reached for her to start tutoring them both tomorrow night.

Alice taught both her men how to cook reasonably well so they can look after themselves. Thus it’s no problem for Mo to prepare and cook a stew for their dinner that night so it’s a good hot meal waiting for his father to get home after work. The conversation during dinner is about their day each, and Randy doesn’t take long to recount his. Mo has a big smile when he recounts his success in arranging tutors. He finishes it with, “When I rang the number for the Spanish tutor I ran into some troubles.” Randy looks up and half frowns. “There are three ladies with the name Sophia Pérez there and they all tutor Spanish. The family matriarch, her son’s widow, and her granddaughter. She’s a retired Spanish teacher, her daughter-in-law teaches Spanish in high school, and her granddaughter is a college student who tutors high school students in Spanish in the evening.” Randy laughs at the scene he envisions of Mo handling that on the phone. “Missus Pérez senior will be tutoring both of us after dinner Monday to Friday, starting tomorrow.”