Chapter 11

Delores was Cal’s secretary. When it was time for lunch she offered to bring something back for him, but Cal declined.

“I’ll just have a soft drink out of the refrigerator,” he told her.

“That’s no kind of lunch,” she scolded. “What you need is a wife who’ll make sure you eat properly.”

Cal laughed. “I’ve got to find a woman who’s willing to go out with me first.”

Delores stood in front of Cal’s desk with hands on hips.

“We’ve been through that,” she said.

Indeed, they had. Delores’ husband was Assistant Principal at the High School. She always kept Cal abreast on available young teachers. At the moment it was a cute young English teacher who was new to the school. Cal thought she sounded a little young for him.

“I’ll let you know,” he said.

Delores shook her head and headed out the door.

As he heard Delores make her way down the stairs he started thinking about what he planned to do for the Independence Day holiday. He had to admit that he had no strong desire for a date to the annual picnic and fireworks. Between Bonnie’s flirting and Delores’ hinting he was beginning to feel surrounded.

He thought about offering his father and Edwin some help on the farm. Probably not, since the hay had just been taken in and it was too early to chop the corn. Maybe if Edwin had to get up early to milk it would keep him out of trouble—so why take his place and give him an excuse not to show up? He knew that his brother’s banishment from the Dew Drop Inn was about to expire.

“If I’m going to be a politician I suppose I’d better show up at the fireworks.”

Maybe he’d drop by the Dew Drop after that. Herb Beale had invited him, after all. Besides, it was a good way to keep tabs on Edwin.

Although Delores closed the main door to the office behind her, the door between Cal’s office and the waiting room was open. He heard a clump-clump of heavy shoes sounding on the stairs. His first appointment in the afternoon wasn’t due until two. It was probably someone trying to sell something or looking for a donation. If they knocked, he wouldn’t answer. They’d get the message and go away.

The steps kept coming—heavy, but slow. The door opened and before Cal could react Homer Barlow poured himself into the waiting room. He didn’t stop there; he was heading toward Cal’s inner sanctum. Cal got up from his chair to meet him.

“Just stay right where you are, Sonny,” Homer yelled at Cal and pointed his finger at him.

In a few seconds he dumped himself in the chair in front of Cal’s desk.

“Whew!” He blew out the remaining air in his lungs and wiped a layer of perspiration from his brow.

“Want a soft drink?” Cal asked.

“No, just water.”

Cal had some bottled water in his refrigerator. He got one out, along with a plastic cup and handed it to Homer.

“You ever think about getting an elevator in this place?” Barlow panted.

“Got fifty thousand you want to loan me?” Cal replied. “That’s the cost of one. I don’t have to. This building’s grandfathered.”

“Not my problem,” Homer harrumphed and took a sip of the cold water.

Cal didn’t answer. He knew Homer wouldn’t have ‘climbed the mountain’ if there wasn’t something important on his mind.

“My problem is you callin’ Jack Ross behind my back,” Homer declared.

“What’re you talking about?” Cal protested. “I called him up, that’s all. Are you trying to say I need permission?”

Homer bit his lip. Cal might not have noticed because Homer’s teeth were hidden by his walrus moustache, and all. He was on alert, however, and that made him notice everything.

“I thought we had kind of an understanding,” Homer pointed out. “Are you forgettin’ all that?”

“All I was trying to do was find out something about this Shad guy before I called him up. I’ve got just one thing in mind, Homer. That’s getting Midco into that Annex. If you don’t mind my saying so, that should be on your mind, too.”

“What d’ya think I’ve had on my mind for the last few days?” Homer bellowed.

“I’m not sure,” Cal conceded. “Anyway, having it on one’s mind doesn’t get the project off the ground. That’s all I care about right now.”

“You just don’t know how things are done around here,” Homer growled. “You’re still wet behind the ears.”

Hidden by the desk, Cal clenched his fist, and then forced himself to unclench it.

“I didn’t mean any harm by calling Ross. I just was trying to find out...”

“You told him that ‘I was on board’,” Homer ranted, “and that’s a direct quote from Jack.”

“That’s true,” Cal admitted. “I thought you were on board. I thought we had a meeting about that at the Bluebird. Now, there’s an understanding we had. You’re not backing out, are you?”

Homer slouched in his chair.

“I just like to make my own announcements—that’s all. I’m not ready to go public yet. This Jap thing has got to be handled with kid gloves.”

“I agree that it shouldn’t be public,” Cal said. “We’re not ready for that. We’ve got to get off this thing about the Japanese. It’s a different world today; times change. If they want to make the investment, we can’t let that get in the way.”

“Oh, I’m more than ready to take their money!” Homer laughed.

“Look, Homer,” Cal shot back, “we’ve got to can that attitude. If the public listens to you talk like that, they’ll follow right along. It could kill the deal—and this is a deal we need.”

Barlow threw up his hands, as if to plead innocence.

“I’m just an old hardware store owner from a little hick town. You can’t expect me to follow all this international stuff. I don’t...”

“Remember one thing, Homer,” Cal said and pointed his finger at the older man, “the same people who elected you elected me, too. I’ve got a job to do, and nothing’s going to stop me.”

Cal’s challenge to Homer was followed a few moments of silence. A broad smile spread underneath the walrus moustache. Homer uttered something that Cal didn’t exactly remember—something about working together for the common good. Homer rose from his chair without warning and turned toward the door.

“You better think about that elevator!” he growled over his shoulder as he began descending the stairs.

In a minute he had managed to get all the way to the bottom landing and then out of the building. Cal realized that Homer was right—about the elevator—but, that’s as far as it went.

Cal’s first appointment was from a client who wanted to subdivide his land. The client was a farmer approaching retirement. Before he sold the farm, he wanted to separate a small plot to build a small retirement house. It didn’t look like a problem to Cal. The bigger problem was to sell the farm. The client agreed. He couldn’t do much about that, but he could take the step of subdividing the parcel. Cal thought it made him feel better.

Cal’s second client had the same old problem as usual, except with a new twist. Just as Cal predicted, it was a DUI that the client thought Cal could make disappear, as if by some miracle. This time, however, the offender was the client’s nineteen-year-old son.

“Why am I not surprised?” Cal asked himself.

It was the part of the job that Cal didn’t particularly like. He was quite certain that he could get the ticket reduced to ‘Reckless Driving’, since it was the boy’s first offense.

“Someday, that kid will be on a slab in the morgue, and I’ll be part of it.”

He had to remind himself that it wasn’t for him to judge his clients, only represent them.

“I hope your son learned his lesson on this,” he told the client.

Well, some judgmental attitude could be excused, if it was doled out in the form of fatherly advice.

“Oh, yes! He sure has,” the father assured him.

Cal didn’t believe him. He took the necessary information and let the client know the fee. The amount wasn’t a surprise, since it was same fee the client paid on his own account a few months earlier.