Chapter 13: Opportunities

August 23, 1987, Chicago Illinois

"How was last night?" I asked Jessica when Kara and I went to meet her at 5:00am on Sunday morning.

"There was a fight of some kind in the projects. Mercy couldn't take all the victims so we received four by ambulance. Stab wounds, broken bones, and lacerations, but nobody died. One guy from a traffic accident, but he was dead before the paramedics got him to us. It's usually a bad idea to run your car into a light pole at eighty while running from the cops."

"Uh, yeah. But why bring him in if he was dead?"

"Less paperwork for the cops and it's way easier if a doctor pronounces a person dead than if they have to call the Cook County Medical Examiner. Dying in front of a doctor helps in a bunch of ways, so unless it's something like a decapitation, they start IVs, do CPR, and bring them in."

"So what do you do then?" Kara asked, as we started walking back to the house.

"Intubate, put them on a heart monitor, and check for breathing, heartbeat, pupil reaction. If there are no signs of life, we call it. If there are, we try to bring them back."

"And this guy?" I asked.

"Broken neck, flail chest, massive blood loss. No chance."

I cringed, "That brings back some painful memories."

"Bethany survived, Tiger. That's all that matters."

She was right. That was all that mattered. The accident had been more than two years ago, and Bethany was recovered, happy, and married to Nick Evans, whom I considered a good friend. There really wasn't a better possible outcome. When we arrived home, I made breakfast for the three of us, and then Jessica went up to bed. Kara and I took cups of coffee and went out to sit on the porch swing in the cool morning air. The temperature for the day wasn't expected to rise above 70°F, despite the projection of a sunny morning.

"What's the plan for today?" Kara asked.

"Well, Jess is going to sleep for about five hours. We watched the Bristol race last night while she was working, so other than calling Stephie, I don't have any plans. Did you have something you wanted to do?"

"I have homework, so I was thinking of doing it while Jess sleeps so that the three of us can be together. What do you think of a picnic in the park? Maybe we could even take Jesse with us."

"I think he and his moms are going out today. I heard Josie talking about some kind of work gathering."

"OK, then just the three of us," Kara said.

"Sounds good. Why don't you do your homework? I want to write in my journal and I need to do some grocery shopping. I'm sure I can find someone to go with me so that you can finish studying."

"OK," she said.

We finished our coffee and went inside. I wrote in my journal for a bit, and then I heard someone in the kitchen. I got up from my desk and went into the kitchen to find Sofia making breakfast for herself. I asked if she wanted to do the grocery shopping with me, and she said 'yes'. I went back to write in my journal while she finished breakfast, showered, and then we went to Jewel.

By the time we returned home and put away the groceries, it was late enough in the morning for me to call Stephie. She sounded very tired and weak. She blamed the drugs, and I was sure that was part of it, but I had a feeling that she knew it wouldn't be long now, and just didn't want to tell me.

"Peaches, tell me the truth. How are things going?"

She sighed deeply, "Not good, Yankee. I'm so tired and my insides hurt like the dickens. I'm goin' to have to go on IV morphine, and that means moving into the hospice."

"Can Jason come with you?"

"He can. It'll be like an efficiency apartment. It's just I'd rather be at home if I could."

"Will you have a phone?" I asked.

"Yeah, I will, but at some point, maybe soon, I won't be in shape to talk much."

I sighed deeply, and tears formed in my eyes.

"Peaches, I don't know what to say except that I love you. I wish I could be there with you."

"I know. But it's better this way. Remember me for how I was when we was together. When we move, I'll call you and let you know. Otherwise, just call here."

"I will," I said. "I'm going to miss you more than I can even begin to say."

"I'll talk to you next Sunday," she said.

"Bye, Peaches," I said as tears flowed down my cheeks.

"Bye, Yankee."

I replaced the handset in the cradle and stared at it. Sometime, probably in the next couple of months, she'd be gone. And before then, she'd be incoherent. I knew there was nothing I could do, and I didn't like feeling helpless. I went to find Kara, who was in the Indian room studying. She looked up and immediately knew what was wrong.

"Stephie?"

"Yes. She's going to the hospice soon. To die."

"What can I do for you?" Kara asked.

"Right now, just love me. Eventually, go with me to Georgia."

"I will. And so will Elyse, and some of the other girls."

"I still don't understand why she has to die," I sobbed.

Kara put her book down and took me in her arms.

"Nobody understands."

A few minutes later, I went back to my study to write in my journal, and a glance at my calendar reminded me that today was the two-year anniversary of my engagement to Jessica and Kara. We'd discussed if the day mattered or not, but neither of my wives had said anything. I'd mention it during our picnic and I'd know pretty quickly if I'd messed up!

When Jessica got out of bed, the three of us packed a picnic lunch and headed for Washington Park. We found a nice spot in the shade to spread out blankets and set out all of our food. I opened cold bottles of Dr Pepper for Kara and me, and a cold bottle of 7-Up for Jessica.

"Two years ago, I proposed to the two of you," I said. "And I'm happy I did so!"

"I'm happy you proposed, Tiger!" Jessica said.

"Me, too!" Kara added.

"Are we doing anything special for our anniversary?" I asked.

"Just dinner, I think," Jessica said. "Like we've talked about, we don't need to buy gifts or cards or anything. I checked, and it's on a Tuesday night, so I'll either have it off or I'll try to trade a shift, if possible."

"We can work around it," Kara said. "We don't have to celebrate on the exact day. I think because of your job, we'll end up doing that quite a bit for the rest of our lives."

"That's probably true," Jessica said. "Even when I'm on a more rational schedule, I'll be on call a lot."

"So we're all agreed that the specific day we celebrate isn't that important? Birthdays and anniversaries?"

"Yes," Jessica said. "And it might impact Thanksgiving and Christmas sometimes, too."

"Christmas will be a bit trickier with Josie, Jennifer, and Elyse involved," I said. "But we'll manage. Oh, I meant to tell you, Carol had a guy with her on Friday. A professor from UofC named Stan. He seemed like a pretty nice guy."

"Good for her!" Kara said. "I suppose you don't have to worry about her any more at this point."

"So it would appear. But I'll still bring someone with me just to be sure."

August 25, 1987, Chicago, Illinois

"The Board will come to order, please," Joyce said firmly

It was Tuesday morning, and we were sitting in the union conference room, because the one in our office wasn't big enough and everyone was in Chicago — Joyce, my dad, Doctor Lambert, Doctor Dalton, Beth Pater, Elyse, Julia, Cindi, my sister, and me. All the reports were well received, and only two issues generated any real discussion: Boston Legal Systems, and Cindi's proposal to add a support person in California that I hadn't been aware that she was going to make.

"I don't see anything significant you could be doing differently," Doctor Dalton said. "You're winning more than half of the competitive deals, you're getting other new clients, and the amount that you charge is sufficient for a profit, but not out of line with reasonable margins."

"I tend to agree," Doctor Lambert said, "But I would like to see a bit of competitive pricing when appropriate."

"I believe that would be a fool's errand," Beth said. "We charge everyone according to the rate sheet. If people think that, we'll cut our price if they consider Boston Legal Systems, then every client will consider Boston Legal Systems to get a discount, and we'll risk losing deals that aren't at risk now. When we ran Four Dimensional Software back in Ohio, Steve and I talked about offering discounts to get new business. We decided against it, because all it would take is one vet telling other vets that he received a discount and suddenly we'd have a new lower price against our will."

"I generally agree," Joyce said. "Our closure rate is very favorable with our current pricing structure. If we start having trouble closing deals, then we'll look at pricing. I say we continue with our current policy."

"I agree with Joyce and Beth," my dad said.

"I think that settles the issue, unless someone wants to call for a formal vote."

Everyone shook their heads.

"Then we'll move on to Cindi's proposal. Cindi, do you want to take us through this?"

I wanted to ask why she hadn't mentioned it in our staff meeting or the business development meeting, but it didn't appear that Elyse and Julia were surprised by the proposal. If that was the case, then they had done what I'd told them to do — run the business. I listened as she made her points, and I found myself in complete agreement. The key thing was extended support hours.

"If you approve, then once we hire someone, the Chicago phones will be staffed from 6:30am and until 3:30pm with an hour for lunch. The California phones will be answered from 11:00am to 8:00pm Chicago time, with an hour break before while both Chicago and Los Angeles are being answered. That expands our support coverage from 7:30am to 9:00pm Eastern. This will help address those calls we receive after 5:00pm Chicago time, which otherwise can't be answered until the next morning."

"How do you plan to recruit and hire?" I asked.

Cindi smiled, "This actually wasn't my idea. Well, not how it's working out or the timing. We discussed this some time ago, if you remember. Barbara approached me. Her boyfriend got a job in LA and she came up with this plan so that she could go with him and keep working for us."

"Elyse, are you comfortable with the financials?" I asked.

"Actually, the only thing that bothers me is the telecommunications costs. They're pretty steep."

"We have to make it completely invisible to the customers if they're reaching LA or Chicago, and have the ability to transfer calls between the offices," Cindi said. "Part of the extra cost is because the government broke up AT&T, so we have to deal with Pacific Bell and Ameritech, as well as MCI, who provides our long distance. But, if you consider it a cost of improving our service as well as a competitive advantage, I believe that it makes sense."

"Elyse, how does this impact the income statement?" my dad asked.

"We can afford it; it's just about six months ahead of plan. We were going to do it after the first of the year, so bringing it forward isn't a big deal."

"This really would give us a serious advantage over Boston Legal System," Julia said. "They only have one support person in Boston. That's why they don't sell west of the Mississippi. Eventually they will, but for now we'll be able to offer longer support hours and say that we're national and they're regional."

"I move that we adopt Cindi's plan," my dad said. "I'd also like to see Julia and Elyse add staffing projections to the monthly financial reports."

There was a bit of discussion, and when Joyce put it to a vote, my dad's motion was accepted unanimously.

"One additional piece of business," Joyce said. "We need to update the five and ten-year plans. Julia, would you revise those and send them to all of us by the end of September?"

"Yes," Julia responded. "I do have one other thing. I'm pregnant, and due at the beginning of February."

Everyone on the Board congratulated her.

"I was going to ask, privately," Joyce said. "Because I'm pregnant as well. I'm due in March."

More congratulations were given.

"Because of that, I have a proposal which I discussed with Steve with regard to maternity leave."

She handed out sheets of paper with the proposal on it. She and I had discussed it in detail and negotiated a proposal that I could live with, and that she thought was reasonable. I wondered what the reaction of the board of directors would be.

"This is very generous, Son," my dad said.

"Well, if you notice," I said with a smile, "all of our senior executives are women. I simply don't see any reason to make them suffer a double whammy — the cost of adding a baby to their family and the loss of income. Julia and I discussed this extensively and we feel this is something we can and should do."

"I'm concerned about the overall cost of this program, precisely because we have so many female employees," Doctor Dalton said. "You can't limit this program to only executives."

"No, of course not," I agreed. "And that was never our intention. All we're proposing is that we offer eight weeks of maternity leave at half pay."

"It also says that you'll permit them to use their sick days and vacation in addition."

"Yes, so they could, if they wanted, have twelve weeks where four were fully paid and eight were at half pay."

"But you aren't legally required to do this," Doctor Dalton objected.

He was right. Another thing I wasn't legally obligated to do was to keep him on the Board. We'd discussed replacing him nearly two years earlier, and all board terms were up as of the end of August. My dad, Joyce, and I were having a shareholder's meeting after the board meeting to nominate new directors, and I was going to refuse to nominate or vote for Doctor Dalton.

"No, we aren't," I agreed. "But we can afford it and it's the right thing to do."

There was lively discussion, and as it progressed, I was sure that I had at least three votes — Beth, Joyce, and my dad. I wasn't sure about Doctor Lambert, because he was asking questions and making comments that showed him to be undecided. There really wasn't a need to convince him, because the other three were obviously in favor, but we did our best. In the end, when Joyce called for a vote, it was 4–1 in favor of the proposal.

"The policy is approved," Joyce said. "And if there is no other business, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn."

There was none, and after Beth made the motion and my dad seconded, the board adjourned. Everyone left the room except for Joyce, my dad, and me, because we were the only current shareholders. Joyce called the meeting to order, and we got right down to it.

"Steve, you have 90% of the votes, so it really is up to you," Joyce said. "But I'd like to see Doctor Dalton replaced. Some of his comments were just flat-out anti-woman."

"You noticed?" I chuckled. "The whole implication that somehow having babies makes you a less valuable employee is stupid. I had already decided that I wanted to replace him when he said that we weren't legally obligated to do this."

"Son, you shouldn't replace a Board member because of a disagreement over policy," my dad said.