Chapter 24: K.O.

Bolstered by the way John and Suzanne had accepted my handling of the Jack Piedmont matter, I walked into the office with a plan. I was making an appointment with HR when Wanda burst my bubble.

"Everyone's talking about the trouble you made for yourself," she said.

"What is everyone saying? Make it quick; I've got to run," I said, replacing the receiver in its cradle.

"Jack Piedmont threatened to kill you if you looked at his expense reports. Is it true that you laughed and told him to 'Fuck off'?"

"I don't remember. I may have said something like that."

"Watch your back. He's been known to do some things that defy logic," she warned.

"He's also a cheat. His expense reports show that he was taking advantage of his prominent position in the company," I told her before heading to HR.

Rita Parsons welcomed me into her office, saying that this was the first requisition for an executive position she'd had to fill in years. I knew her position had been downsized during the slowdown. In addition to losing her helper, she'd taken on additional duties.

We first discussed the opening created by Jack Piedmont. I suggested that one of the office managers might be a suitable replacement. Rita reminded me that company policy dictated we post the job and all who applied be considered. I agreed to write the job description and we went on to Mrs. Whinstone's position. I had Ruby in mind for the job, but like the VP position, the assistant's job had to also be posted.

"How long is this going to take?" I asked, fearing that Rita would want to drag it out as long as possible.

"I'll speak to Mrs. Whinstone, first to find out her reason for leaving, and second to find out what she does."

"Good luck," I said, and left her office without being given an estimate of how long the process would take.

I would have liked to interview the kid from the mail room to find out what had happened after I left Jack's office, but I didn't think I could trust him to keep our conversation quiet. There were enough rumors floating around the office about yesterday's incident as it was. Other than writing a job description for the VP position, making flight reservations for the next day, and letting my mother know that I was coming, I accomplished very little.

That evening, I told John and Suzanne about the disturbing letter I'd received from my mother.

Suzanne became alarmed. "Jane must be beside herself. How long will the hospital put up with her being away from work? You simply have to intervene."

John agreed with her, and for the next hour, they mapped out a plan whereby I would visit my hometown, and bring K.O. back with me. While the plan included Penelope agreeing to the addition of a rambunctious four year old to the household; there was no mention as to the method I'd employ to gain my sister's release of her son.

As I trudged up the stairs, I couldn't help but laugh to myself about how easy it had been to manipulate the old folks into seeing things my way.

Well, shit! They manipulated me, too. It had always been that way. They had a way of making me want to please them. Yesterday, all Suzanne had to do was to suggest that I work with HR to select a replacement for Jack Piedmont's position. Declining to serve was not an option. None of us knew the outcome would be unpleasant, but they must have known that by choosing me for the job, they were taking a chance that something would go wrong.

There was no need to pack because I was not planning to stay overnight. I went to sleep thinking how I would persuade my sister to let K.O. come home with me. Appealing to her regard for our mother was too logical. Somehow, I knew that money would be the determining factor.

The ringing telephone woke me from a deep sleep. Was it morning already?

"Hi, did I wake you? Would you like to come over?"

"What time is it?"

"It's still early, not quite midnight."

"Karen, I've got an early flight. I'm going to my hometown to take care of a family matter."

"Don't you want to see me? Kevin's not here and..."

"I'm on my way," I said, slipping into my travel clothes, and making sure I had my airline ticket, rental car reservation, cell phone, and my wallet. Just thinking of the way she'd said, "Don't you want to see me," made me disregard how annoying it must be for Ned and Penelope to hear the garage door open. I left a note on the kitchen counter, saying that I'd gotten up early and decided to take an earlier flight.

It must have been a few minutes after midnight when I climbed the wall and turned the floodlights on. It wasn't only the lights, either. Karen hadn't said anything about alarm horns blasting from all four corners of the property.

"Shit!" I said, as I ripped my pants on the metal spikes while jumping the wall for the second time.

I had started my car and was roaring down the alley when my cell phone rang.

"Yes?"

"I should have warned you. Mr. Parker replaced the motion detectors with new ones. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," I said, wondering if she was sorry for the same reason as me.

She ended the call without telling me about her date with Gary. Was that the reason she wanted to see me? I retrieved the note from the counter and returned to bed, thinking that I would find another pair of pants in the morning.

I used the two hour flight to make a mental list of items that needed my attention:

1. Find out why Karen had decided to marry Gary Macon. Find out why she had wanted me to take her anal virginity, and once we had done it, why she never mentioned it again.

2. Investigate what made Jack Piedmont anxious when I mentioned his expense reports.

3. Devote ample time and consideration to recommend the best candidate to fill Jack's position.

4. Become involved in the selection and the operation of the homeless shelter.

5. Enjoy Karen as long as possible, but be prepared to move on to number thirty when she became engaged to Gary.

Possible candidates for my number thirty:

A. Sophie Scott, Newspaper Columnist – Too easy - Disqualified – I like a challenge.

B. Penney, Atlanta Sales Office –Disqualified – Company employees are taboo.

C. Linda Joyce, Investor's daughter – Possibility, although she lives in Atlanta.

D. Ginger Osborn, Homeless Committee member – Possibility.

E. Stephanie Macon, Attorney, Gary's half sister- Definite Possibility!

Clifford's junk heap was parked in front of the house so I knew that he and Heather were waiting for me. K.O. met me at the door. He had the soccer ball and wanted to play. I handed him one of the children's books that I'd brought, and told him that we would kick the ball after I finished talking to his mother.

"What's this about, Sammy?" Heather asked before I had a chance to give my mom a hello kiss.

Was she testing me on purpose? I'd promised myself that I was not going to let her get under my skin. She and Clifford were sitting on the same couch that had been my bed so long ago. I took a seat next to my mom.

"I'm here to help resolve a situation. Why did you fire Mrs. Caruthers?"

"She was mean to my son. K.O., show Sammy what she did to your arm."

He looked at his mother, questioningly. I motioned for him to come to me, and saw a bruise on his upper arm.

"How did this happen, K.O.?"

"I fall down."

"He's lying. The bitch pushed him," Heather spat out.

I picked K.O. up and sat him on my lap. "Do you like Mrs. Caruthers?"

He nodded his head, "She nice to me."

"Heather, how many times have you seen your son since we hired Mrs. Caruthers?"

"Lots of times."

I looked at my mother and saw her shake her head. "Let me talk to her on the phone. Perhaps we can make amends," I said, and heard Heather voice her objection.

"I will not have that lady come near my son."

I asked my mother to get Mrs. Caruthers on the phone before turning my attention to Heather. "You have an obligation to look after your son. Mom needs to go back to work before she loses her job. If we don't find a solution to your responsibility today, I'll be forced to call child services."

"You wouldn't," Heather screamed, and Clifford rose to his feet.

"Don't worry, Honey, he won't do anything like that," she said, trying to pacify the big guy.

Clifford and I were glaring at each other when mom handed the phone to me. The babysitter's version of what had taken place was totally different from Heather's. She said that she had quit when Heather demanded a cut from her pay. Her account of what had happened to K.O.'s arm matched his, and when I ask if she would consider coming back to work, she said, "Definitely not."

"Sit down, and stay out of this," I said to Clifford. He must have seen that I was in no mood to repeat myself, and didn't object when Heather pulled him down to sit next to her. She'd become timid after overhearing my discussion with the babysitter.

"The way I see it, you have four options, and none of them include having mom miss more work. Option one would be to find a suitable babysitter. Option two would be for you to take care of your son. Option three would be to let child services take him. Option four would be for K.O. to go home with me. We have a lady in our home who will give him the best of care. Would you like to go home with me, K.O.?"

"Don't answer him, K.O. Why would you want to take him away from me?"

"Heather, how many times have you seen your son since we hired the babysitter? My adopted family can give him advantages he'll never know if he goes into foster care. There is also the opportunity to make some money for his college account."

Heather's eyes shifted from me, to Clifford and back to me. "How much money?"

"My friends have an invention that requires a child to try it out. It might add as much as two thousand dollars to his college fund."

"What college fund? He's just a little boy. He doesn't have a college fund."

In retrospect, this is where I should have agreed with her. It was obvious that she wanted the two grand for herself. "I put some money away for his education when I was at school. I was selling some desks that I designed, and..."

"How much?"

"It amounted to a little over three thousand dollars as I recall. Another two thousand would..."

"Why wasn't I told about this? Where is the money? What will happen to the money if K.O. doesn't go to college? Anyway, that's a long way off."

"It's in a bank in at Pontiac, where I went to college."

"Sammy, I don't like you keeping secrets from me. He's my son. You should have told me."

"I wanted it to be a surprise; anyway, it's not that much. He'll need a lot more by the time he's ready to enter college."

"How long would it take him to make the other two thousand?"

"I don't know, a few months, I suppose."

Heather looked at Clifford, and I could tell that she was wavering.

"Would you like to go home with me, K.O.?"

He considered my question for a second. "Can I bring my ball?"

"Absolutely, but you know you can't kick it while we're on the airplane."

"Sammy, will you help us get a loan? The bank says we need a co-signer."

"How much do you need?"

"Ten thousand dollars, will you help us get the loan?"

"When we talked about this before, you said you were saving your money to go into business. How much of the ten thousand have you saved?"

"We haven't ... Cliff's car needed work, and there's been so many other things that came up. Will you help us?"

"How did you arrive at the ten thousand dollar figure? Have you written a business plan?"

"What's that?"

"I'm surprised the bank didn't tell you they'd require a business plan. Have you calculated your expenses for rent, insurance, utilities, payroll, new equipment, and any work that needs to be done on the building before you open? The bank will need all that, plus your anticipated sales volume. I don't know very much about the restaurant business, but I assume you'll need to consider the cost of printing menus, licensing, the cleaning of uniforms or aprons, and advertising."

Heather's eyes became larger than normal. "Should we make the loan for more than ten thousand? How much should we ask for, Sammy?"

I looked to my mother for help, and was shocked to see her painful expression. Was she recalling the day I'd been taken from this very home? She been for a visit at the Oldham home, and witnessed the advantages that I enjoyed. More recently, we'd invited her to the Florida house. Couldn't she see that this was for the best? Was she feeling the same helplessness that had come over me?

"Mom, are you going to be okay with this? Do you know of a babysitter we can hire?"

"Yes, I'm okay with whatever you decide to do, and no, I don't know of anyone else," she said, looking resigned to the fate of her grandson.

"Heather, that leaves three options. Are you prepared to take care of your son?"

"I can't quit work. I told you we're saving to go into business."

"Shall I call Miss Baker? I assume she's still working in child services."

"NO! Don't call her. I couldn't bear to see her take him away."

I looked at K.O. He didn't understand what was happening, but he smiled at me. "It looks like you're going home with me, Buddy."

"Wait! What about our loan? Are you going to help us?" Heather asked, suggesting that my decision to help them, or not help them, was a deal breaker.

"Did you hear what I said? You'll need a business plan. I'll need to see a copy of the lease, and you need to check out the equipment to see if it runs. Get quotes to repair anything that doesn't work. Take pictures of the kitchen and dining room. Take an inventory of the dishes, glasses, silverware, and pots and pans. Why do I have to tell you these things? I thought you were experienced restaurant people."

Clifford took exception to my remark about his lack of experience, but Heather took it to mean that I was agreeing to co-sign their bank loan.

Mom was already packing a bag with a few items for K.O. to take with him when the arrangement came close to blowing up.

"Could we have an advance on the two thousand?" Heather asked.

"Have you heard nothing that I've been telling you?" Forget about the two thousand dollars. It will go into his education account, and that's final."

"Gee, Sammy, I've always known that you are a tight-ass, but I'm your only sister. Can't you spare something for us to get by until payday?"

She settled for fifty bucks, and they left without another word, not to me, not to our mom, and not to her son. I kissed mom goodbye, and carried K.O., his bag, his ball, a stuffed animal, and his new book to the car.

"Wave goodbye to your grandmother," I said, as I strapped him in to the jump seat. He waved, but I was sure that he didn't comprehend the significance of what had just taken place. I wasn't sure either, except that I knew the fifty bucks to Heather was only a drop in the bucket compared to the future demands she would place upon me. I didn't know it at the time, but my life had just been complicated enormously.

K.O. was welcomed to the house like a celebrity. He took it all in stride, and enjoyed the attention he was receiving. When he tired, I showed him the room that adjoined mine, saying that it was to be his. He showed no indication that he was impressed. It was not until the lights went out that homesickness set in.

It pained me to tell Karen that I couldn't meet her at the fishpond that night. She ridiculed me for taking on the responsibility of a four year old. I understood why she was upset at me. Hell, it had been over a week since we'd been together, and the alarms from the night before were still ringing in my ears.

I knew I shouldn't have let K.O. get in bed with me. Marcie warned me that I'd traded a short term solution for a long term dilemma. "Any time he feels lonely, your bed will become his refuge," she said.

"It worked, he fell asleep almost immediately," I argued.

"You'll see," she said. At least she understood why I'd brought K.O. home with me.

We alternated our time between three activities. Samantha showed K.O. how to maneuver the rover, he educated her on kicking the soccer ball, and I supervised their time in the swimming pool.

When Karen called on Sunday night, she said the front gate would be open, and I could drive right in. You could almost hear the need in her voice, but it was nothing compared to my need. K.O. had had a busy day, and was sleeping soundly, so I took a chance he would stay in his bed.