Chapter 13

Craig replied, "Hey, Britt. I got this envelope yesterday with a bunch of pages with chicken scratches all over them. I thought you were an artist."

"For your information, I take pictures. I don't draw. When you're done building what I drew then I'll take some pictures for you."

"OK, that sounds like a plan. I see what you have in mind from the drawings and like the idea, but let's go through each page and make sure that we understand each other."

I asked him to send someone down to the restaurant to get a box of cling wrap. He sent someone while we talked about the rollers in the floor and the sub-containers for partial loads. He loved the concept, but needed to get with an engineer to design the system. I told him that I'd make a call to Ken Parson and asked Craig to forward my drawings over to him after he started the work for the patents.

We talked about the progress of several projects and, while I was on the road, what I had seen and learned. I also told him about playing cards the night before. He told me to get back to work and to quit goofing off. I was about to hang up when Jack, one of the office guys, returned with the box of cling wrap and deposited it on his desk.

I was on speakerphone, "Jack, I want you to wrap Craig's desk in the cling wrap. You don't need to use the entire roll just start at the bottom and go to the top and then stop."

Craig rolled back from his desk and Jack finished in thirty seconds. I told Craig to open his desk drawer. He said that couldn't and he couldn't slide back under his desk.

"Craig, what Jack just used was around a dime's worth of cling wrap. If we used that on each pallet that we shipped, we'd have less stuff 'walk off' and less claims that things 'walked off'. It will also keep loads from breaking apart, and speed up the process of loading and unloading the trucks. I think we need to look at having larger rolls made and a dispenser or wrapping system that's fast and efficient."

"How do I get it off? I can't find the end of the wrap and I sat here and watched him tear the wrap from the box."

"Just use a knife." I said.

"My knife is in the desk."

"Craig, have the kid go find you something. I'm certain that your secretary has some scissors to use to cut the wrap."

"OK, call Ken and I'll send the package to him tonight."

I called and first spoke to April.

"Hi baby, do you miss me?"

April replied, "Is that any way to talk to an engaged woman?"

"Engaged? Congratulations, baby! Do I know the guy?"

"I'll tell Angus you said that."

"Are you planning to invite me, or do you think that I'll make a scene?"

"I'd have you as my maid of honor if I could. If I let Angus' cousin in as a bride's maid, maybe he'll let you be a groomsman."

"Always a groomsman, never a groom. I can plan a mean bachelor party for him. At the moment, I'm in Vegas, so maybe I can make some calls."

"Don't even get me thinking about that. You have six months to get ready. I'll call Beth, so she can enter the date on your calendar. We're getting married here in the city."

"Can I stay with you or do I need to get a hotel?"

"Britt, what am I going to do with you? I'll set you up with one of my bride's maids if you need a date."

"I'll have Beth get me a room and I'll show up at the times you want, where you want, wearing what you want. I want to ensure that this will be your special day. What do you want for a wedding present?"

"I already have a penthouse condo over-looking central park from you. I think that's enough."

"I was just thinking while I sit in my room here at the Tropicana. I could get you a box of rubbers for good luck."

"The luck was only good when they were used and Angus doesn't need to use them."

"I'll add that to my list of things to think about as I drive my truck across the country."

"You drive a truck?"

"Yes April, I got my CDL and can drive an eighteen wheeler. I've driven from Atlanta to California, and I ate at my first Dani's and had her world-famous chicken and waffles. I even remembered the two of you wearing just aprons when you worked out the recipe."

"That was a fun day. Where's the closest one to me, so I can take Angus?"

"I don't know. She said that there were fifty open and three hundred and fifty scheduled to open. You'll have to call the main office in Orlando. I need to talk to your dad if he's around. I need to do some work today besides having my wedding dreams squashed."

"I'll transfer you; please hold. Bye, Britt, baby."

Ken answered and I told him in general about my ideas and that he'd receive a package with my drawings. He said that he understood what I was looking for and would look over the drawings and come up with some ideas. I thanked him and congratulated him on April's engagement.

He said, "Thanks, Britt. I know you care about her, but wanted to put your career first and from what I see, it's doing well."

I thanked him and hung up. I thought about going back to the card room, but decided to get back to work, so I filled my backpack and went back to the truck stop. I had another order of chicken and waffles before I went to the dispatch room to look for a ride. I went north on the 15 to Salt Lake City before heading East on 80. All the even number roads go east to west and the odds go north and south as the primary direction. I-4 cuts across central Florida. I-10 starts in Jacksonville, I-20 is up in Atlanta and as you get up to Massachusetts, you have I-90. The I-5 goes from Seattle to Los Angeles. I-95 goes from Miami to Maine.

I just had a backpack with a couple of clothes changes. I wore jeans a t-shirt and then put whatever on top of that, to make it work. If I was in the south, I could be wearing a golf shirt. If it were cold, a flannel would be my choice of the day. It was late winter or early March, when I found myself in a truck with my first female driver. Her name was Cherie (Shur-ee) Perry. She wasn't old and she wasn't ugly. We had just left Salt Lake City heading for Flint, Michigan.

Cherie told me that she'd been driving for eight years starting when she was twenty. She always wanted to drive, and at age sixteen, started driving trucks on her dad's farm. She then moved to a semi and got her CDL at nineteen and has driven over the road ever since.

I asked, "Cherie, I don't want you to take this wrong, but I want to know what it's like being a woman, I mean a pretty woman, driving a truck for a living."

"Britt, we have only driven five miles together and you're already upsetting me. Don't make me dump your ass on the side of the road."

"Take it easy. They've assigned me to ride with you for the next seventeen hundred miles. I don't have a license to drive with the chemicals you picked up from Huntsman Chemical. That means we'll be spending some time together. I'm riding with different drivers on different routes to find out the good and the bad about your job, to find ways to make things better. I know that most drivers want to sleep in their own beds at night and make more money. I was just thinking that being a female they probably treat you differently.

It could be the way they talk to you on the radio, or when you're in a restaurant, or at a truck stop. It could be the loads that you receive or don't. I was just wondering if you think it's fair or if there's something that we need to change."

"I'm definitely treated differently. I feel that they treat me like a sex object. Every guy on the radio thinks I want to suck their dick and hook up with them at the rest area. I probably get better loads from the dispatchers for the same reasons. I just love driving, and I'm good at it, so I put up with the crap and don't talk much on the radio. I'm not married, so I don't need to return home as much, but it would be nice if you could predict my schedule a little better."

"Do you expect any trouble with the weather on this trip?"

"You'd think so, but when it snows in the south things come to a stop. When it snows in the north, they're well prepared to deal with it. If a big storm comes through, I sometimes have to park for a day or two, but the plows come through and we're back to work. I receive more money to drive the hazardous materials, but the roads are usually safe. If not, I don't risk it. I save most of my money, so if I take a day off, I won't miss a house payment."

"If you think of anything else, let me know and I'll add it to the list of things that we should look at to change. I'll have a policy about sexual harassment added to the list. I don't think it will stop everything, but it should make things a little better."