Chapter 5

Paul was walking out of the club heading to his parked car when he ran into Marci who was going to the club.

“Hi, how are you doing?” said Paul.

“I am doing fine and I am glad that I have met you here. You do know that next Saturday is the annual dinner dance fundraiser for the hospital don’t you?”

“Yes I do, I do read the club’s bulletin. Why are you asking?”

“I would like to attend the function but I find myself in need of an escort. Could you be my escort to this dinner dance?”

“Do you mean me being an escort who receives all the benefits an escort can get?” said Paul with a little smirk on his face that Marci could see.

Placing her hands on her hips she said, “Do you mean what I think you mean?”

“Marci, I think you know I am a red-blooded man who thinks you are an intelligent, attractive lady with an enticing figure and a nice butt. Yes, I mean what you think I mean.”

He could see that Marci who was always in control of herself was now flustered and was blushing. She didn’t say anything for about half a minute and then she started to walk to the entrance to the club. Turning her head to over her shoulder she said, “Pick me up at six.”

At work on Tuesday, one of the first patients he saw was a patient by the name of Bill Robinson. Bill said he hadn’t been feeling good and when he called for an appointment he was lucky to get this same-day appointment because of a cancellation. Paul asked his nurse to do an ECG on Bill and afterward thought he would order a blood test. In looking at the ECG he knew a blood test wasn’t necessary because he could see where this man was having a heart attack. He quickly made arrangements for the ambulance at the clinic to take Bill to the University’s hospital and gave the EMT’s instructions to put a nitro drip into this man’s arm. He phoned the emergency room and told him to expect Bill and alert the cardiologist on call as an angiogram and probably an angioplasty would be necessary.

Later in the afternoon Don Jennings who was a cardiologist phoned Paul and told him he did an angioplasty on Bill because his right coronary artery was almost completely occluded. He said he inserted a coated stent and Bill tolerated the procedure well. He expected to release Bill from the hospital tomorrow. Paul thanked him for his call.

For lunch at work, Paul would walk over to the diner. About every other day he would wind up having lunch with Steve Brandle. They would talk about a multitude of subjects. This day the subject of investing in the stock market came up.

“I have been investing in some index funds and picking some individual stocks. While I have seen increases in my account values, the increases as they say, “Are nothing to write home to mother about,” said Paul.

“Have you thought about using a financial advisor?” asked Steve.

“I have given some thought to doing that but I have been reluctant to do it. The fee that they charge which they get whether the account goes up or down in value over time amounts to a nice buck and only seems to guarantee them an income irrespective of their results. Since the S+P 500 result seems to be the gold standard as to how well an investment does, I am thinking about just putting all my funds into that type of index fund.”

“How would you like to have a financial advisor who also does the stock investing for the Wilkinsing Foundation and has constantly beaten the S+P 500? Depending on the size of your account this adviser will either tell you what to invest in for a very reasonable yearly fee or she will do the investing for you also at a very reasonable fee. What’s also nice is that to avoid the Madoff Ponzi scheme is that if she does the investing for you, you don’t give your investment money to her. You deposit the funds in your brokerage account and you just give her the power of attorney over your account so she can do the investing. That way the reports you get on your accounts are from the brokerage so they are real and not fake.”

“That sounds good and probably is something I should do. How do I get in touch with this adviser?

“Well, you could either knock on her door or say hello to her when you meet her at the elevator.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“Eva Cranton.”

“That young lady is the one who does the stock investing for the Wilkinsing foundation?”

“That is her and she is good.”

Paul thanked Steve for the information and the advice.

The Thursday dinner with Pat Burns was very nice. After calling for her at her condo he took her to Parenti’s restaurant for dinner. There during dinner, they exchange information on each other and Paul discovered her marital status. Pat had previously expressed her condolences in hearing that Paul was a widower so she knew his status. She told him that she had been divorced for sixteen years. Her former husband had never really had grown up and wanted to see the world by working as a flight attendant. If he ever really did see the world she didn’t know or didn’t care.

The looks Pat was giving him and the questions she was asking him gave him the impression that she might be interested in him. As to what was happening with her she said her agent was working on a few things but nothing was firmed up. The time passed by quickly and it was very enjoyable to be dining with her.

When they were leaving a lady who was dining there left her table and asked Pat if she was the news lady from channel four. When Pat acknowledged that she was that, the lady asked if she could have a picture taken with Pat. Pat gave Paul a look who had a smile on his face and was slowly nodding his head. The lady handed Paul her IPhone for Paul to take the picture.

On the drive back to her condo Pat said she had a good time and would like to do something like this again. Paul said he would too but it would need to be next week. Pat said for something different it had been a while since she had prepared a meal for a man and invited Paul to come to her condo next Thursday.

On Saturday when Paul called for Marci he complimented her on her looks. This time it was a dark green strapless cocktail dress. What he thought was a little funny was the look he was getting from Marci. He thought it was a look of apprehensiveness maybe because she was anticipating what would be happening when they were back at her place.

This dinner dance fundraiser went along the line of the previous ones he had attended. Speeches, a chicken dinner, and the usual band playing dance music followed the formats of prior dinner dances. What had changed was dancing with Marci. Initially, she wanted to put space between them but when he brought her up to him and they danced cheek to cheek all her resistance faded.

When the band took a break from playing Marci and Paul left the dance floor. Paul excused himself to go to the restroom. In coming back from relieving himself he walked by the silent auction table and stopped to see what items were up for auction. He put bids for a cocktail cruise on a pontoon boat, dinner for two at Parenti’s, and dinner for two at the Embers in Lake Lancer. He was surprised to see dates with some people up for bid and knew these dates were there because Trish had talked the new members into doing this.

One of these dates up for bid was with a woman, a Rene Patterson but there no bids posted for this date. Paul read the bio that was listed and looked at the photo. The photo showed what in his opinion was an average-looking woman but maybe she would clean up well as it was sometimes said. The bio said she was an economics professor at the university. Further that she had written a popular book titled “Income for Life” and was a periodic guest commentator on a business television channel. Paul didn’t want her to feel embarrassed that no one had placed a bid on the date or Trish to be embarrassed by telling Rene this. Since it was for a good cause, Paul placed a bid of one thousand dollars for the date.

“Anything worth bidding here?” he heard a voice say.