Chapter 49: Further Expansion

April 24, 1987, Chicago, Illinois

We had our usual business development meeting on Friday morning. The main points of discussion were Kaitlin's new part-time role, and the new programming work we had for Belarus Tractors and Windy City Trucking.

"I've been thinking about ways to find more business," Cindi said. "I'd like permission to talk to Novell about being an official distributor. That would get us referrals from them, and it wouldn't be limited to law offices. We'd have to be properly certified and a couple of us would have to go to training for that to happen. It's not cheap, but we'd make back everything we spent fairly quickly. And we'd get referrals all over the Midwest. We'd also be able to purchase the Novell software and ISA network cards at a steep discount and then decide our own markup."

"Do you have a written proposal?" Julia asked.

"Of course we do!" she said, handing out copies. "Mario and I wrote it up."

"We'll need Elyse to look this over," I said. "I'll take it to her. She's not coming into the office until after graduation. She's pretty tired after class because of the baby."

"I can imagine!" Cindi replied, shaking her head. "She's due in a month! The numbers work pretty well, so I don't expect she'll have any concerns. Do we need Board approval for this?"

"Because it requires signing a contract, Joyce has to approve," I said. "If she thinks it warrants a full Board meeting, she'll call one."

"Speaking of Board meetings," Dave said, "remember we owe the Board a comprehensive report on how we'll handle things next year after we're done at Waukesha. The Board meeting is only seven weeks away, so we need to get that done as well."

"I'll set up a series of meetings to brainstorm," Julia said.

"When can Kaitlin start?" Cindi asked.

"I'm interviewing a part-time receptionist today," I said. "Another favor for Alderman Bloom."

"Keep doing him favors!" Mario said. "It got us Kaitlin as well as the Windy City Trucking contract. If he can direct more business our way, we'll be in good shape."

"Mr. King left me a message," I said. "An electrical contractor wants to know if we could modify the program that Brown Construction uses for estimating jobs. I think it'll pretty much work 'as is', though there might be some minor differences. Julia, can I get you to call Mr. King and talk to the electrical contractor and come up with a plan?"

"Sure," she smiled. "That is my job, after all!"

The meeting ended and Dave and Julia stayed so we could discuss the candidates that we'd seen the day before at IIT.

"Do we want to spend a lot of time on this?" Dave asked. "I know we're bringing in new business, but I'm still bothered by the situation with Tom and Debbie."

"We can't delay working on the medical software much longer, and the extra business we've acquired has us very sound financially," Julia said. "Charlie's going to be tied up with Windy City Trucking for a couple of months. And that software really is going to be a full service fleet and logistics package. All the work we did for Purina can be reused, albeit not in Prime Information. And don't forget the electrical contractor who asked about the estimation software. That's going to allow us to make it more generic and sell to more companies.

"We also have to consider skill sets. While Tom certainly has very good skills, he's a Prime Information and Advanced Revelation programmer. Are we really going to have enough work for him next year? And if we don't, is he going to be happy working on other software? Have you talked to him about that?"

"No," Dave said.

"Why don't you start there?" she said. "That might solve most of the problem."

"What? Just ask him to quit?" Dave objected.

"No, explain the situation to him. That gives him six months to find something else if he wants to."

"Do you agree, Steve?" Dave asked.

I nodded, "I think that's the best approach. Just lay it out honestly for him and see what he says. My only concern is that he might decide to leave before December. But I think he's been around the block enough times to know what's coming. I think he'll appreciate the honesty. We can offer him a bonus if he stays until the end of December."

"There's no chance they'll continue into next year?" Julia asked.

"No," Dave said. "They have two full-time programmers, plus the computer operator and the system administrator. Their plan calls for a third programmer next year. Their new director has a pretty good plan in place. We did all the design work and built the system. Now they can maintain and extend it with their own staff."

"Then I don't see how we have a choice but to have you talk to Tom," I said.

"OK. I'll go up next week. So, what about the candidates we interviewed? Are there any you reject outright, Steve?"

"You won't believe this," I said. "But yes, the girl we interviewed. She had a C in Scott's class. The other four each received an A. That's enough for me to not consider her."

"I can't argue with that," Dave said. "Of the four guys, I think the first one we talked to, Alonzo Johnson, is the best. He didn't have the highest GPA, but he used dBase and Novell for his senior project."

"I have no objections," Julia said. "It's your decision, Dave."

"I agree," I said. "I'm glad to see we're hiring a black guy."

"Why?"

"When I saw Gerald Brown a couple of weeks ago, he asked me why we didn't have any minorities except Mario, when the city is about half minority. It's a legitimate question. And because you picked him because he was the best candidate, the fact that he's black is a bonus. Look, I'm not suggesting that we set quotas or hire someone because they're a minority, but it's really easy to fall into a pattern of hiring people who look just like us. It's something Anala talked to me about when she suggested that I needed more diversity in my circle of friends. So, as long as you didn't select him because he was black, there isn't an issue."

"I didn't."

"Then we're good. Now the question is, what do we have to offer him that will get him to come work for us rather than go elsewhere?"

"I think we have a decent chance of getting him," Dave said. "He lives on the South Side, so it would be a short commute for him, and he really liked working with Novell."

"And salary?" Julia asked.

"All we can do is pay him at the same levels as everyone else," I said. "I don't want to have trouble because he makes more than someone else who's been here for a year or two. If we lose him because of that, so be it. We can adjust salaries when it's appropriate, but I want to be careful to keep compensation roughly equal for people doing the same job."

"OK," Julia said. "I'll talk to Elyse and get an offer letter drawn up. I need to call Doctor Bauer and let him know that we're extending an offer. That's another advantage — we're going to get our offer to him quickly. And we're a known quantity at IIT. Your name is still spoken in hushed tones in the CS department, Steve!"

"Bullshit!" I chuckled. "The only reason my name would be said quietly is to avoid anyone overhearing it!"

"Actually, every candidate that we interviewed knew who you were. Between Scott and Doctor Bauer, you're famous, even with students who started after we graduated. Remember, all five of these candidates started only two years after we did, so it's actually not surprising that they would know who you are."

"Good point," I said. "Let me know how it goes. What about the interns?"

"I have three recommendations from Scott and Doctor Bauer," Julia said. "I'm talking to them next week. I'll narrow it down to one and bring them in to talk to the team."

"OK," I said.

She and Dave left my office and about twenty minutes later, Kaitlin came to the door.

"Kimberly Bradford is here for her interview."

"Bring her in, please," I said. "And ask Julia to come in as well."

"Right away!" she said with her usual smile.

Julia came in and Kaitlin was back a minute later with a short, bubbly blonde girl who looked like she was still in High School.

"Hi! I'm Kimmy!" she said.

"Hi, Kimmy," I said. "I'm Steve and this is Julia." I looked at Kaitlin and said, "Thanks, Kaitlin, that will be all."

Kaitlin shut the door behind her, and Julia and I began the interview.

"Tell us about yourself," Julia said.

"Well, I graduated from High School last year, and I've had three part-time office jobs. Well, I still have one of them. I work mornings for a professor at UofC."

"Doing what?" I asked.

"Mostly typing. He does a lot of research and applies for a lot of grants. I type letters, grant requests, research notes, that kind of thing."

"On a computer?"

"Yes. A Macintosh."

"Have you used a PC?" I asked.

"Sure, at the other two jobs. I used WordStar and WordPerfect. And a little bit of Lotus 1-2-3."

"What other duties did you have?" Julia asked.

"Answering the phone and greeting visitors, but working for the professor, I don't do that. He doesn't have many visitors and someone else answers the phone."

"And you're available every day from 1:00pm to 5:00pm?" Julia asked.

"Yes. I finish at noon for the professor, so I'll be able to eat lunch and walk here with plenty of time to spare."

There really wasn't much else to ask her, given that she'd been out of school less than a year, and seemed to have the basic skills we needed.

"Do you have any questions for us?" I asked.

"My dad wasn't sure what you did here. He said that Alderman Bloom said it was something with computers?"

"We write computer programs and set up computer networks," Julia said. "Our clients are mostly doctors and lawyers, but also construction companies and unions."

"Thanks. The only other question I have is whether this could eventually turn into a full-time job."

"It's possible," I said. "But right now, it's half-days, and temporary. Is that something that would be OK for you?"

"Yes, because between the two jobs, that basically makes it full-time. If I found a full-time job, I'd probably want to take it."

"I can understand. We should know within three months if this will become full time and permanent."

"When can you let me know?" she asked.

I looked at Julia and she gave a slight nod.

"Right now," I said. "If you can start a week from Monday, we'd like to offer you the job. It pays $5.00 per hour to start."

"I accept," she said with a smile.

"Good. Stop by on Monday or Tuesday and we'll have the paperwork for you to fill out."

"Great! Thanks!"

"Welcome aboard, Kimmy!" I said.

Julia walked her out and came back to my office and shut the door.

"What is it with you and gorgeous girls?" she laughed. "That one is even better looking than Kaitlin!"

"Talk to Alderman Bloom! Kaitlin is his niece and Kimmy is the daughter of a friend. I didn't seek them out!"

Julia smirked, "No, but cute, young girls do have a way of finding you!"

"You did," I grinned.

"Shush!" she said with a smile. "If those little girls hear you say that about me, or Charlie, or Penny, you'll have more trouble than you can handle! They already know about Jesse, and everyone knows that Elyse is having your baby and that you have two wives!"

"I wouldn't call girls that were nineteen and twenty, 'little'," I said.

"OK. Young and naïve. Tasha has been around you for years and still has difficulty being around you in social situations."

"True," I sighed. "I just wish everyone would lighten up!"

"Don't bet on it. You've already seen what happens with adults."

"I know," I said, turning back to my computer. "Ask Elyse to prepare the paperwork, please."

"I will."

April 30, 1987, Chicago, Illinois

The phone rang just after I arrived home from karate.

"Hi, Yankee!"

"Hi, Peaches! What's up?"

"I know you Yankees don't get good racing news, so I bet you didn't hear what Bill did today!"

"No, I didn't," I said.

"He run a qualifying lap at almost 213 miles an hour! That's the fastest anyone has ever gone!"

"You're at 'Dega for the first race?"

"Yeah. His run was near perfect. He run the lap in less than 45 seconds and he was almost as fast as the cars at Indy!"

"Damn! Tell him congratulations from me! How are you doing?"

She sighed, "I'm hanging in there, but I don't think you should plan to come to Georgia for the race in July."

"Why?" I asked, without thinking.

"Confound it, Yankee! You know why! Red already told the team that Dover is probably his last race this season. I just get too worn out traveling."

I sighed deeply, but managed to suppress the tears that tried to come. The day I feared was coming like an onrushing train.

"I had hoped to see you at the June race in Michigan," I said.

"I can't. As much as I want to, I just can't. I have to take pretty high doses of the pain medication. By the end of May, I'll probably need morphine. So, unless you have some magic «djinn» in a bottle who can wish this away, it's going to happen."

"I don't. If I did, that's what my wish would be."

"I know. I need to get to bed. I'll talk to you in a week or so."

"Bye, Peaches," I said.

"Bye, Yankee."

I hung up and slumped back in my chair, defeated. She'd called with exciting news, but it didn't matter. Bill's team built really fast race cars, but as smart and as good as they were, they couldn't do a damned thing about Stephie's cancer. And neither could the doctors.

May 2, 1987, Chicago, Illinois

"So, Babe, now that we're back from karate, what do you want to do until the party starts at 6:00pm?"

"I think Kara's birthday idea was grand! Let's spend the afternoon in bed!"

Kara and I took quick showers, and then got into bed with Jessica, and made love to her for the next four hours. When we finally got out of bed, we showered and dressed, and headed downstairs for Jessica's birthday party. She'd requested a small party — Kurt and Kathy, Bethany and Nick, Stephanie and Jorge, Elyse, and the three of us. Bethany and Kathy had prepared dinner, because Elyse tired easily now that she was well into her eighth month. After dinner, my sister and I brought out cake and ice cream, and we all sang Happy Birthday to Jessica.

"Did you make a wish?" Bethany asked when Jessica had blown out the candles.

"She got THAT already this afternoon!" Kara teased. "From both of us! And she doesn't have to wish to be able to get it tonight!"

Everyone laughed and Stephanie and I began to serve the cake and ice cream. When we finished dessert, Jessica opened her presents. Nick and Bethany had volunteered to clean up, and the rest of us went to the sunroom to socialize. They joined us about twenty minutes later. Because Jessica had asked for a quiet evening, we all sat together, talking and listening to music, until it was time to head to bed.

May 3, 1987, Chicago, Illinois

"It's about time for me to leave. How's your race going, Tiger?"

"It's not," I said. "They red flagged it about an hour ago because Bobby Allison tried to fly his car into the stands."

"What?"

"It looked like he blew a tire coming down the front stretch and the car got airborne. It hit the catch fence and ripped out a whole section. They are seriously lucky the car didn't go into the stands and kill a couple of hundred people. Something like that actually happened during the 24 Hours at Le Mans in 1955. About 80 were killed and over a hundred injured. This could have been worse given where he would have gone into the crowd."

"Didn't you tell me that your driver set a new speed record this week?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure what NASCAR will do. The fans love the speed, but some commentators have said that they're going too fast. A 3,500 pound stock car can fly at those kinds of speeds, so I'm not sure. Maybe stronger catch fences and pushing the seats further back from the track at Daytona, Talladega, Charlotte, and Atlanta. Smaller engines or some kind of governor to limit horsepower would suck. Let us walk you out to the car."

"I need fifteen minutes to finish my conversation with Bethany. I'll come back when I'm done."

"OK. We'll be here. I'm guessing it will take at least another hour before they finish fixing the fence, and then they still have most of the race to run."

True to her word, she was back in fifteen minutes, and came to sit with Kara and me.

"Four weeks to go!" I said.

"I'm going to bring some more stuff up next weekend. The only thing that's really going to be left at the end of the month is your computer, Tiger. And we have to clean."