Chapter 37

Melissa stepped out of the house and looked up at the sky. A shiver ran through her body at the sight. The heavy clouds hung low in the sky threatening all beneath them. The gray light that managed to filter through the overcast sky washed away the color giving the world a black and white appearance. Despite her heavy coat, the cold air chilled her to the bone.

She turned at the sound of Jerry and Bill exiting the front door. In a soft voice, she said, “I don’t like the look of this day. Be careful at the trial.”

Surprised by her concern, Bill asked, “Are you worried?”

“Yes, I am. I don’t trust her,” answered Melissa looking away from her brother. It hurt her to say that aloud to her father and brother.

“We’ll be okay,” said Jerry putting a hand on Bill’s shoulder in a gesture intended to reassure the young man.

“I’d like to come with you,” said Melissa thinking that her presence would prevent anything too bad from happening.

Jerry thought about it for a moment. This was the first time that she had reached out to be involved in something concerning her brother. He said, “I don’t see any reason for you not to come. I’ll pick you both up from school at noon.”

“Thank you,” said Melissa with relief evident in her voice. She had a very bad feeling about the trial. No one knew her mother better than she did and she had no doubts that her mother would try something at the trial.

Jerry pointed to the Camaro and said, “Let’s get you to school so that I can get to work in time to open the store.”

The drive to school passed uneventfully. After dropping off the kids, Jerry returned to the store. He couldn’t wait for them to move to the house so that he wouldn’t have to leave so early in the morning on those days when he had to open the store. A round trip across town during rush hour was not a great way to start the day. He imagined that the kids would enjoy not having to leave for school so early as well.

After entering the store, he went through the process of preparing it for opening. It took a little longer to open the store since he now had to boot up the computers. As the machines booted, he went through the store checking the cash in the register, unlocking the door, and turning off the answering machine. He sat at the chair and watched the computer load the sales program. It took a few minutes before it replied with a confirmation that it had connected to the server. The store was ready to open.

The noise as Martin entered through the back door shattered the quiet. Martin called out, “I’m here. Mike and Karen are on their way in.”

Having seen everyone drive up, Martin had told him nothing that he hadn’t known. Jerry called back, “Good.”

Martin made his way to the front of his store and slipped into the chair beside Jerry. He looked tired and said, “Another day another dollar.”

“You look tired. How’s school going?”

Martin was worried about passing his classes. They were far more work than he had anticipated. High school had been a breeze compared to college. He answered, “I have a test tonight. I stayed up late last night studying for it.”

Jerry laughed at the fact that Martin was complaining about staying up too late. Before going to school, Martin would often stay out late looking for women and wouldn’t complain. He asked, “So are you ready to start working part-time so that you can spend more time on school?”

The young black man studied Jerry for a minute before he answered, “Not yet. I’m not taking a full course load.”

“Do what you think is best. We’ll manage,” replied Jerry with a grin.

The telephone rang and Jerry picked it up to take the order. Martin waited by the printer for the printout to pull the order. Before it was ready, Mike had come up to the front of the store. He greeted Martin and waited for Jerry to get off the phone. When Jerry got off the phone, Mike said, “I’ve got a couple of things to tell you. First, I’ve got two candidates coming in for an interview this morning. They’ll be in around eleven and I thought you’d like a chance to talk to them before you leave.”

“I won’t have much time to interview them since I have to leave by eleven thirty if I’m going to make it in time to pick up the kids by noon,” said Jerry.

“Then I guess you should talk to them before me,” said Mike wondering if he should have set up the interviews for a different day.

“I guess so,” said Jerry.

“Second thing is that Mr. Sinclair called last night after you left and wanted to talk to you. He said that it wasn’t necessary for him to talk to you right away, but that you should call him today.”

“Mr. Sinclair called? I wonder what he wants,” Jerry mused. Wednesdays had become his normal day to report on the previous week’s sales.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you go call Mr. Sinclair now and I’ll watch the phone,” suggested Mike.

The telephone rang and Jerry let Mike pick it up. He went into the office and pulled together the paperwork that he normally used when reporting on sales. The previous day he had generated a number of sales charts using the programs that Karen had developed for him. They showed the changes in sales figures on a daily, monthly, and annual basis. The numbers all looked good.

Jerry dialed the number of his boss. When Al answered, Jerry said, “Hello, Al. This is Jerry.”

“Ah, Jerry. It’s good to hear from you. I tried to catch you last night, but you had already left,” replied Al.

The rustle of papers being shuffled could be heard over the handset. Jerry said, “I’ve got the weekly report ready for you.”

“We’ll get to that in due time. Ah ... Here it is,” said Al. There was more rustling of papers before his boss continued, “I just finished going over the third quarter figures yesterday. First, let me say that you were the first one to get your figures in to headquarters. Your paperwork looked great.”

“Thanks. I tried to be accurate,” said Jerry a little confused by the conversation.

“No, I don’t mean that. I meant that your paperwork really looked nice. All of the figures were typed and there was no room for misunderstanding.”

“Oh,” replied Jerry surprised by the comment. He had generated the report using the computer.

“You may not realize this, but I spend almost three weeks trying to make out the numbers that people sent me. Fours that looked like sevens. Nines that looked like fours. You wouldn’t believe how much work that is for me,” said Al with a chuckle. After receiving Jerry’s report, he was completely convinced that the computers were worth the investment.

“I’m glad,” said Jerry still confused.

“Your numbers were the best in the chain. Your store had the greatest improvement in sales and the lowest inventory of any of our stores. The improvements in the inventory numbers are the most significant. You wouldn’t believe how much money this company has sitting around as inventory that doesn’t turn over fast enough.”

Jerry had realized that and said, “Well, the computer has really helped us in managing our inventory. We know exactly what we have, how many of each item we’ve been selling, and how much to order.”

“You’ll earn yourself a nice little bonus, based on the end of the year figures, if you keep up the good numbers,” commented Al Sinclair. He said, “When you open your paycheck this week, you’ll find that you’ve already earned one on your performance for the quarter.”

“Wow, thanks,” said Jerry surprised by the news. He couldn’t recall ever getting a bonus for a quarterly report.

“You should be pleased. We don’t normally give out quarterly bonuses.”

The unusual nature of the bonus made him wonder how much it was. He said, “I’m honored.”

“I have another little request to make of you,” said Al. Even over the phone, Jerry swore he could hear the smile on his boss’s face.

“What can I do for you?”

“I’d like you and Karen to put together a full list of the equipment that you are using along with the programs. We’d like to try it out in another store and see if we get the same results at that store,” said Al.

Frowning, Jerry said, “I’ll be glad to do that, but it will take a little training for people to be able to use it effectively.”

Al replied, “I fully expect that Mike and Karen will make a trip to install the computers and then train people on how to use it.”

The timing of the request was horrible. It was October and he was planning on getting married. He had hoped to take a few days off for a honeymoon. Halloween was coming and Karen would want to be around for her kids. After that it would be Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Everyone would want to take as many days off as possible to do his or her holiday errands. He asked, “When will you want all this?”

“I figure it will take you a couple of weeks to get all of the information that we need. While you’re doing that, I’ll pick out a store to install it in. We’ll have to purchase the equipment and software. That’ll take a while. Don’t really want to do the installation and training during the holiday season. I figure we’ll be ready for it all at the beginning of the year,” answered Al.

Jerry’s sigh of relief was audible over the phone and provoked a chuckle from his boss. Embarrassed, Jerry said, “Good planning.”

Rather than comment on the assumption that he’d do it wrong, Al said, “Besides, you’re getting married soon. Hate to interrupt your honeymoon just so that you can cover the absence of your assistant manager.”

“Did you get your invitation?”

“Yes I did. My wife and I will be attending,” answered Al. The arrival of the wedding invitation the previous week had been a major surprise.

“Good, I’ll let Jenny know that you’re coming,” said Jerry. He glanced down at the stack of paper that he had to report and then at his watch. He hoped that he would get through this call in time to interview the candidates.

Al changed the subject and asked, “How’s Martin doing in school?”

Surprised by the question, Jerry answered, “He’s doing well. He said that he made straight A’s on his midterms.”

“I was expecting to see him go part-time on us,” commented Al wondering why Martin wasn’t putting more time into his education.

“Well, I offered it to him. He wanted to ease into school without getting overwhelmed. I can understand that to a certain extent,” said Jerry. He added, “I expect that he’ll go full time next semester.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear that. I was really impressed with that young man when I was down there after you had been shot,” said Al. Although Martin had impressed him, he was more impressed with the support that Jerry was giving the young man. The future of the company needed a next generation of educated people running the business. He felt that it was important for the managers to start developing the future workforce.

“I’m fully confident that Martin is going to do well. He’s working hard on his education and he’s doing a great job here. Mike has him trained to take over as Assistant Manager in case something happens to Mike or me,” said Jerry.

“Good,” said Al, “I’d like you to do one other thing for me.”

“Sure, what is it?” asked Jerry thinking that today was the day of requests.

“You’ve got all of your figures printed up that you’re going to read to me, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

Al said, “I’d prefer if you would fax them to me rather than read them over the phone. I want to see what reports you are using to track your progress. If I have any questions, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Sure thing,” replied Jerry relieved to learn that he didn’t have waste the time required to report his figures. The reports were very self-explanatory. They had to be for him to use them.

“Great, I’ll talk to you later,” said Al.

The phone call ended after Jerry said his goodbye. Sitting back in his chair, he considered everything that his boss had said. The morning was rapidly disappearing and he had too much to do. He went over to the fax machine and set it up to fax in his papers. Once the fax was reading the pages, he went to the door and called out, “Karen, I need to talk to you for a second.”

When Karen came into the office, he filled her in on the details of the request made by his boss. She looked surprised at the idea that she would be sent out to perform the installation along with Mike. Her surprise was also accompanied by pride at the recognition of her contribution by Al Sinclair. She said, “I’m surprised they didn’t send you to train people instead of Mike. It was your idea.”

“Well, I’m sure there were a couple of reasons why he chose Mike,” answered Jerry. The first reason that came to his mind was that his large size and gruff voice would probably scare everyone.

“Yeah, I guess so. I mean, he knows that Mike and I are married. For us to travel together is probably a lot better than if you and I went together,” she said.

That reason had never occurred to Jerry. Thinking about it, it did make a certain amount of sense for a husband and wife to travel together. He grunted, “You’re probably right. Besides, he knows that I’m getting married and setting up house with Jenny.”

“That’s a good reason, too,” said Karen with a smile.

Jerry looked down at his watch and realized that he had a few minutes to kill before he was supposed to interview the candidates. He asked, “How’s it working out with you working here?”

“Great. Mike and I were talking about it the other night. With the kids in school, my hours here are perfect. Mike and I get time together, but I also get to be a mother. The work is good and the pay is great for a part-time job. It’s nice to be able to have lunch with my husband,” she answered. The couple had often speculated about what would have happened if Mike had not returned after quitting that one time. The promotion, pay raise, her employment, and Saturdays off had changed their economic situation and lifestyle considerably.

“Good, I’m glad to hear that,” said Jerry. He thought about all of the employees and how things were in their lives. Martin and Carlos were going to school, Mike had more responsibilities than ever, Karen seemed happy with her work, and Abe had turned into a hard worker. He guessed that the biggest change was for him, he actually enjoyed coming into work.

There was a knock on the door and Jerry called out, “Come in.”

The door opened, but the man who had knocked stood in place staring at Jerry. Jerry recognized him almost immediately as Jeff Harding. Jeff had worked for him for about two months several years before and had quit after a particularly abusive session from Jerry. Jeff said, “Forget it. I’m not working for you again.”