Chapter 8

Kyle couldn’t help but notice that he received mixed reactions in doing these employee performance reviews. The employees were happy to receive the raise and hear nice words about their work. They weren’t happy to hear where they needed to improve or comments he made about the frequency of sick days taken or being late in coming to work. Overall he thought they knew where he was coming from and what he expected from them.

Sunday Kyle was watching Sixty Minutes on television. They were interviewing John Wilkinsing the internet billionaire who knew and demonstrated the value of giving back. He had established a foundation that was giving grants to improve people’s lives. Initially, they talked about the clinic in Lake Lancer, California he established and the doctors who practiced there. He explained how from that clinic came the idea for expanding the Physician Assistance program to see that every person first in California and next in other States had access to medical services.

John was asked if there are other plans being considered. He said that in two years they will have a large building constructed at Lake Lancer that will house on one side a veterinarian office and the other side will be a large fitness facility staffed with a certified physical therapist.

In his hearing that said, Kyle thought in about two years his obligation here would be over and he would be back in the States and looking for employment. He went online and looked for information on the Wilkinsing Foundation. There was quite a bit of information along with an online employment application. Instead of filling out the application and submitting it online he printed it out and completed it. That application along with his qualifications and current employment he discussed in a cover letter which was sent to Troy Kane a Director of the Wilkinsing Foundation who the net indicated seemed to be the one in charge of doing the hiring.

Three weeks later he received a form letter response from the Wilkinsing Foundation thanking him for his interest which said they would keep his application on file and review it if they required someone with his qualifications.

At work, Kyle received a phone call from Elena. After asking him how things were going she said the reason she was calling was to inform him that in two weeks there will be a fundraising dinner dance for the hospital. Since she was the Minister of Health she was to be the featured speaker. With Kyle being in charge of the physical therapy program it was expected that he would attend but he wouldn’t need to give a speech. Elena suggested they both go together.

This was the first Kyle heard of this event and it seemed there were no problems in him doing this. He thought this could be considered a date with Elena.

“Sure, no problem. Is there anything I need to know?”

“Not really, it follows pretty much the usual format which you saw at Fat Tuesday of a cocktail hour, the meal, the speech, and the first dance.”

“WHAT FIRST DANCE!”

“As you saw at Fat Tuesday, we do the first dance and after a few minutes the other people join in.”

“Let me ask you, have you ever heard the saying “Houston we have a problem.” Let me update that for you, “Elena we have a problem because I don’t do single couple dances with two hundred or so people grading my dancing ability.”

“You are a good dancer.”

“No, I am not. It’s one thing to dance when there are other people on the dance floor. I prefer to dance then since with a large number on the dance floor no one can see my two left feet.”

He could hear some frustration in her voice at what he had said when she responded.

“How about if we do some dance lessons before this dinner that would make you more comfortable doing this dance?”

“Let me think about that and I will phone you tomorrow.”

Ending the call Kyle couldn’t help but think this dancing thing was not something he wanted to do. He could understand that it was expected of him and it probably would be embarrassing for Elena if he didn’t do it. He gave more thought to doing this.

Kyle phoned Elena and said he still wasn’t yet sure if he would do this and would make a final decision after he takes these dance lessons with her. She said she would make those arrangements and let him know when and where.

“There is one more thing I need you to do before I decide on doing this dance thing, “said Kyle.

“What’s that?”

“That you go with me to the Saturday afternoon baseball game.”

“Sure, no problem as we have a booth next to the broadcast booth.”

“No, we aren’t going to be sitting in the booth, we are going to be sitting where I can get the tickets.”

Elena wasn’t sure why he didn’t want to sit in the booth but she agreed to do this. His last words of “no designer dresses, just some pants or jeans, sunglasses, and a hat” gave her pause to wonder why he said that.

Kyle now knew he needed to get tickets for the game. He phoned the office of the baseball team and asked to speak to the ticket manager. When the manager was on the line Kyle told him he needed two tickets to the game and he wanted them to be in the first row right behind the home team’s dugout. His request caused the ticket manager to laugh.

“First of all the game is almost completely sold out and those tickets you are asking for are season tickets and someone already has them.”

“I am sorry to hear that, the Minister will be disappointed.”

“What Minister?”

“The Minister of Health, you know, the President’s daughter.”

“They have a permanent booth here.”

“Yes but she doesn’t want to sit there.”

The ticket manager said he was going to put Kyle on hold for a minute. He did do that and when he came back on the line he said there would be two tickets and they would be at the will-call booth in Kyle’s name. Ending the call he couldn’t help but think of the unsaid power a person has by their position in life.

The entrance gate to Elena’s high walled home opened after he pressed the button and said who he was to the voice he heard from the intercom. Although it had been pointed out to him where Elena lived, this was his first time here. The house was two stories high and rather large. He would guess size wise it was about forty five hundred square foot. Both sides of the long driveway were meticulously lined with neatly trimmed grass, flowers, and shrubs.

Elena looked good as usual wearing dark slacks, a white blouse, and a light waterproof jacket along with a baseball hat and big sunglasses. If he didn’t know it was her and he doubted that anyone would know who she was. She however couldn’t disguise her attractive figure.

She was reluctant to go to the game in the jeep but he didn’t say anything and just gave her a look that said non-verbally that is how they were going.

Driving down the driveway of her home the gate opened automatically and she mentioned that if he ever needed to enter he could do so by punching in the code. The code which she gave him was six numbers. He thought about those numbers and wondered if they were her date of birth because if they were it meant she was only two months older than him.

Because of the crowd, Kyle could see parking was going to be a problem. Elena directed him to a spot that was right by the stadium that was reserved for the President. He parked the car there and as he was getting out a policeman told him he couldn’t park there. The officer changed his mind when Elena came from around from the side of the jeep and took off her sunglasses. The officer recognized her and said he would personally guard the vehicle.