Chapter 35: Back to Work as Usual?

June 1985

[ “Your wish is my desire sweetheart. Good night my love.”]

Opening my eyes, I was basking in the bliss of still being joined with my sweetheart.

I heard a faint, “tick, tick, tick” that started getting louder and louder. Suddenly all hell broke loose with, “Bing, bang, boing” followed by multiple other loud alarm clock noises. Mary’s eyes flew open.

She grimaced at me, with teeth clenched. “Remind me to kill your brother.”

Then in the darkest voice she could get, “But I’m gonna kill him slowww ... take maybe a week!”

I was laughing so hard I had to sprint to the bathroom to keep from leaving a yellow trail behind me. I was soon joined in the shower by a still giggling Mary. It was a very playful shower that could easily have turned sexy, if not for the pinches and playful slaps from my sweetheart.

“If you keep this up, Sugar Bear, we’re never going to get to work!”

“Work, it’s a damned four letter word. I’d much rather stay in here with you for another hour,” I said trying to sound frustrated.

She said that we needed to put a move on.

I decided to get even with her and when she handed me a towel to dry her off with I just threw it back, saying, “We’re in a hurry, remember?”

So I chuckled and tried to walk away from her.

I no sooner turned my back when a rat tail caught my right butt cheek with a resounding crack.

“Be that way then,” she giggled, as I went to get dressed.

I decided to start growing my beard so I didn’t even bother to shave. I figured since the hair on the top of my head was receding faster than a snowbank in June, I’d make up for it where I could. Besides, Mary thought I would look good with a beard. So, case closed as far as I was concerned.

Joining the rest of our family at the breakfast table, the discussion became mostly about dad’s comments from last night. Greg, who was becoming the voice of reason within our group, suggested we should make up a list of everyone who knew our secrets.

Without trying to sound too serious myself, I had to agree; it was a good idea. Even Jamie, who was usually more carefree than the rest of us, said she concurred, as she felt we were letting too many people in on our secrets.

Linda and I were discussing the pros and cons of continuing the façade of her neck still being injured. Not wanting to wear the uncomfortable neck brace, she tried to justify just going without anything. She said that since Larry already knew, why not just let everyone know. Greg however reminded us that Dad thought our healing capabilities were perhaps the most dangerous and suggested a compromise.

Knowing that it was mainly the neck brace that Linda hated, Greg suggested she just put a big bandage on where the cut used to be. That way she could work while still hiding the fact that she was completely healed.

Still not liking the idea, she finally agreed it was for the best and applied a two inch by four inch Band-Aid over the spot.

On the way to work, she wondered what we would tell Larry. I told her that we’d tell him the façade was for Sam and Cindy’s benefit. She asked if we would still need Cindy, since she could easily work now. I told her that for Sam’s sake, we would let him know we still needed her help. Honestly, we still did. I knew that this week I was gonna have to have at least one meeting with Stan and we were so far behind we could really use Cindy’s help. I just hoped Cindy wouldn’t slow us down too much.

Everyone at work was shocked that Linda was even there. Sam had told them that Linda probably wouldn’t be back for another week yet. The idea of continuing the façade turned out to be a much better idea than I had originally thought.

After many hugs by everyone, Sam was hoping we would still need Cindy. I told him that as far behind as we were we could probably use her for the foreseeable future. He asked that if everything went well, would we even be willing to part with her when Art needed her for his project.

I assured him that was the plan.

After a short strategy meeting with Larry, Morgan, Allison, and Linda, I went to talk with Sam. I told Sam that Linda and I were going to mainly be responsible for doing the floor plans and elevations.

He called for Cindy to come to his office.

The poor girl was very skitterish. She looked terrified, thinking she was in some kind of trouble.

Sam and I gave each other a knowing glance before he said, “Cindy, Charlie really needs you to help him and Linda with their project.”

Cindy emitted a sigh of relief, before saying quietly, “Sure, I just hope I don’t slow them down.”

I felt I needed to put her at ease. I took her hand, looked her in the eyes and said, “I’ve seen your work Cindy, you really enjoy doing elevations don’t you?”

“Yes I do, but the last few times I’ve done them I was told that they sucked and that I should go back to using crayons.”

Damn if the girl didn’t look like she was about to cry.

Trying to shock her I said emphatically, “That’s because Sam had you working for two assholes! You didn’t know it at the time but they were actually trying to sabotage their projects. Your work was too good and it made them angry.

“They were trying to intimidate you into doing them over and over to slow you down. Please, do me a favor and cut yourself some slack. I’ll never yell at you. If there’s something about your drawings that I don’t like, I will discuss them with you and suggest ways to fix them. Can you live with that?”

She broke down in tears. Sam put his arm around her and asked her what was wrong.

“Well, well, when you called me in here, I was sure you were going to fire me,” She sobbed. “I, well I, still can’t believe you’re going to give me another chance.”

While Sam was trying to console her I noticed a drawing laying on his desk with dozens of red lines drawn through it and nasty comments. It looked like a conceptual drawing of the front of our building.

It even had an atrium on it!

I was stunned. I looked at the title block and saw Cindy’s initials. I picked it up, asking, “Cindy, did you draw this?”

She nodded meekly.

I continued, “This atrium that you drew, did Jack ask you to draw it?”

She started shaking her head before saying, “I thought he did. After he told me what he wanted, as I was headed out of his office, I was sure that I heard him saying that the client wanted an atrium. I wanted to impress him and that’s why I drew it that way. I thought he forgot that he had told me. It’s just that, when I showed him my drawing after I finished, he got all mad at me and started yelling that he never TOLD me to draw the atrium. That’s when he started going crazy with the red pen and wrote all that stuff on it. He made me do it all over again and even the next one he said was horrible.”

Again she started welling up.

I took her hands and walked her over to the desk where I’d laid her drawing.

“Cindy, this drawing is beautiful! I’ll let you in on a little secret. The client DID want the atrium and I have no doubt that you overheard Jack muttering that very thing to himself. What you didn’t hear, was him thinking to himself that there was no way the client was ever going to GET the atrium! You see, Jack wanted to make the building as simple as possible and even though the client wanted an atrium, he was never going to get it. THAT’S why he had to make such a mess of this so that he wouldn’t have to show it to the client.

“Look at me Cindy, I need you to pretend that today is the very first day you’ve ever worked here. Just close your eyes and imagine how you felt your first day. How you were looking forward to showing everybody what kind of work you could do. If you can do that, I have no doubt that you can help my team make our client the happiest man on earth.

“Come with me now and let me introduce you to the rest of our team. We’ve made some changes. You see how the front of the atrium as you drew it had those weird spaces?”

She was nodding her head, “I know, the structural drawing was so weird that I thought this was the only way I could draw it and still have it be realistic.”

I smiled at her and said, “I agree with you 100 percent, Cindy. We completely redesigned the atrium to make it so that the glass IS symmetrical. We’ve also gone up three stories with it instead of just the two that you have here. After we introduce you to everyone, Linda and I will explain a few other changes that we had to make also. Then I’m going to get you started on creating another masterpiece, just like you did with this one. Okay?”

She was still looking in my eyes and seemed to be almost in a trance. When I said her name again, she smiled at me and said, “Sure thing Boss, I’m ready!”

She suddenly had a self-assured lilt to her voice that caught me completely by surprise. When I looked at Sam, he was looking at me, equally surprised. I just grinned at Sam and still holding Cindy’s hand began singing, “We’re off to see my wizards, the wonderful wizards of ours!”

I led her, giggling, back to meet with the rest of the team.

I introduced her to the rest of the team and the six of us had another quick meeting to make sure we were all on the same page.

We were.

Linda and I spent the next hour making copies of our revised structural plan and started going over it with Cindy. Cindy asked if she could make notes on her copy and I assured her that she could. After taking copious notes and asking some very good questions she said she couldn’t wait to get started. She took her sheet and started heading off when I asked her, “Don’t you want to work in here? That drafting table right over there is for you.”

She smiled shyly, “Would you mind if I worked on this in my cube? I’ve got everything set up there already and I know you’re kind of in a hurry for me to get this done. How about if I move in here after I finish this?”

I just nodded my head. “No problem, the last thing I want to do is take you out of your comfort zone. I just wanted you to know that you’re more than welcome to work in here with us since you’re part of the team.”

She giggled spritely. “I’ll think about that. It’s funny, but I do feel like I’m part of the team. I’ll try to finish this as quick as I can. Catch you later boss!”

Linda held off until she left before breaking out laughing. Larry was smirking, over hearing what Cindy said.

Trying to sound exasperated I exclaimed, “Oh God, now I’ve got TWO of them! Geez Louise.”

Linda chuckled, “I’m gonna have to tell Mary that we have some serious competition now. You better be careful Charlie, or that girl is going to fall seriously in love with you.”

“I’m gonna have to find something constructive for you to do before you drive me crazy.”

Linda was still giggling as we went over the plans. Since Cindy was making a conceptual drawing of the outside of the building, I told Linda that we really needed one of what the proposed storefronts would look like as if standing just inside the atrium. I wanted to be able to show both of them to Stan.

Linda was just getting her drafting table set to go when suddenly there was music coming out of the ceiling. It was a nice, modern jazz radio station. Suddenly Bob poked his head in the door with his typical goofy grin on his face.

“Surprise!” he chortled.

Sam popped up next to him and announced, “I told you I had a surprise for you. Saturday morning, I had Bob install a stereo system for the entire office. Every cube and every office is now wired for sound. If you notice on the side of your drafting table, there are two jacks and a volume control. We’re going to have a meeting soon so everyone can have input as to their favorite type of music. We’ll figure out some kind of a rotating schedule so that everyone can be happy.

“When did you set this up?” I asked

Sam said, “Greg introduced me to Bob, who was still wearing his ‘Bose Authorized Dealer’ shirt at the hospital. I’ve always wanted music in the office and Bob made me a deal I couldn’t refuse.”

Bob started explaining the system.

“One of the jacks is so that you can bring in your own cassette player and play anything you want. The volume control has two uses. Turning it, without pressing down on it adjusts the volume coming over the speakers in your area. If you don’t like what’s being played over the main system you can plug your own cassette player in and a pair of headphones to the other. The headphones only work with whatever you might plug-in. That way you can always listen to anything you want and not bother anyone. What do you think? I also made a sheet of instructions for Sam to pass out to everyone.”

It was apparent what Linda thought. She flashed Bob, “You’re going to get the blowjob of your life when I get home!“

Everyone heard her giggles and saw the way Bob was looking at her and grinning.

Several people had already gathered around Bob and began cheering. Soon everyone was giving each other the business about what type of radio stations would be playing in the future.

I was just hoping that no one would want any of that ‘goat roping’ music. My comment to that effect sparked instant laughter along with a few raspberries.

Everyone thanked Sam and Bob.

Linda was still grinning at Bob, to everyone’s amusement.

With everyone back to work, I called Stan about arranging a meeting. I wanted to get his input, since the unusual structural layout did offer some unique possibilities as far as floorplans were concerned. Since we were stuck with lemons, we may as well make some whiskey sours!

Stan was surprised that I was back to work so soon, but after telling him I was fine, he began talking a mile a minute telling me all about his ideas he wanted to incorporate. I told him we were getting a couple conceptual drawings ready so he could see what his building would look like. I asked if we could get together for a meeting. He assured me we’d get together tomorrow morning. When I told him I might have the concept drawings ready, he was ecstatic. He suggested 11:00 and would have lunch brought in. I asked if he minded if I brought my assistant with me.

He chuckled, “Sure, it’s too bad that young lady is probably still in the hospital, I’d really like to meet her.”

“Actually, she’s out and is healing rapidly. She’s the one I was planning on bringing.”

“Wow! That’s great! I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I knew Linda was REALLY going to need her Band-Aid tomorrow.

I got busy making copies of the 1^st and 4^th floor structural plans, so I could illustrate my proposed ideas for floorplans. Jacks old floorplan layout was idiotic. His version had all the units being identically sized, which would make designing and building the plumbing, HVAC and conduit runs a nightmare. (The design HE had would have been hellish to build, if it even worked.)

My idea was to use the odd sized column distances to allow for different sized units. I figured that each client would most likely have different needs. If properly presented, they would feel they were getting exactly what they needed, as opposed to ‘one size fits all’. Also, it would encourage potential customers to lock in faster to assure their choice.

Larry really liked my idea, since it would make his future utility plans much simpler, thus helping to make up for lost time. He said it would also make the guys who actually had to build it much happier too.

By 3:00pm I had my drawings ready, including proposed square footages annotated. Linda was almost finished with her drawing, so I went to see how Cindy was doing.

On the way to her cube, Art literally dragged me into his office and closed the door. “What did you DO to that girl, Charlie?” he exclaimed, trying to whisper.

“Who? What girl?” I asked, thinking he was referring to Linda’s rapid recovery.

“CINDY!” he hissed.

“What’s the matter, I thought she was okay this morning?”

“OKAY? I haven’t seen her like this since the first day she was here! She’s been humming and singing to herself all morning.”

“Has she been bothering you? I can ask her to quiet down if you want?”

“QUIET DOWN!??? NO! Jesus Charlie. I’m not bitching, I’m astounded. I peeked in her cube just after lunch. You need to see what she’s drawing. It wasn’t finished yet, but I’m flabbergasted at how GOOD it was already. I had no idea she was that talented.”

“I think I better go see. Maybe a little positive reinforcement works better than criticism.”

Art smiled and was nodding his head as I went to see Cindy.

Cindy was humming “You are my Sunshine” when I got to her cube. Not wanting to startle her, I softly started singing along with her. She looked up at me, grinning and sang with me till the end of the only verse I really knew. It wouldn’t have mattered, because when I saw her drawing it took my breath away, COMPLETELY!

I was staring at the EXACT picture of what I had envisioned Stan’s building would look like. My mouth was still open when I heard, “I’m almost done. What do you think Boss?”

“Oh my God Cindy! That’s the most beautiful drawing I’ve ever seen! It sure looks done to me. Unless you’re thinking about having it framed?”

“Gosh, thanks Boss. I was just going to add some more shading.”

“Well, just don’t go adding any moustaches to it.”

She started giggling, “Moustaches?”

“Yeah! Don’t go painting a moustache on that Mona Lisa.” I laughed heartily.

She started blushing, “Oh, it’s not THAT good.

“I think it is. If you keep turning out drawings like this, I’ll have to think about opening an art gallery!”

She gave me a peck on the cheek, before bashfully saying, “That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me, thank you.”

I kissed her back on the cheek, “No, Thank YOU. I can’t wait to show this to Stan. You took exactly what I was thinking and put it on paper. I hope you like working with me, cause, after my meeting with Stan tomorrow, I’m going to have lots more things I’d like you to draw.”

“I do Charlie. You can’t believe how happy I am that you wanted me to work for you.”

“WITH me Cindy! You, me, Linda, Larry, Morgan and Allyson are a team. I’m glad to have you onboard.”

She grinned broadly, “Aye, aye Captain!” giving me a quick salute. “Let me just finish a couple more things and I’ll bring it over to your office.”

“Sounds good Matey, I gotta go see what the rest of our motley crew is up to,” I chuckled, then headed back toward my office.