Chapter 16: The New Girls

Sarah let out a sigh, as she watched the helicopter leave with the U's. "Well, that ends our harvesting for a while."

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"We have only 3 teams, with only 1 that can climb, that means we can will have to eliminate our coconut harvesting duties, until another team arrives," said Samantha.

"When can we expect that to happen?"

Sarah thought for a minute. "Probably 10 days to get trained and ready, 7 days at least."

I sighed. "That's okay. We just have to suck it up and work harder. We will have to cut back on the harvesting, but we don't have to eliminate it completely."

"But boss, according to the house manual, harvesting has the lowest priority of the 4 jobs on the island," said Samantha.

"We'll just have to double up on duties. Take tomorrow; the TK's are on household in the afternoon, with the L's watching me."

The S's nodded.

"Well, let the TK's go out and collect coconuts. I will stay in with the L's, and fix supper."

Sarah looked stunned. "You know how to cook?"

"I used to help my mom in the kitchen, from time to time, when she was alive. Ellen helped more often than I, though. I'm not a great cook, but I know how to follow a simple recipe."

I ended up making what my mom called a summer salad, which is really a large chef salad that is served family style. It was pretty easy to make. It involved lots of slicing turkey, ham, tomato, and hard boiled eggs, once we got them cooked. We set plates, forks, salad dressings and drinks on the table, and that was about it.

Everybody loved it, and was very complimentary, of course. All the girls want to suck up to the boss.

After supper, I went to my room, pulled out my laptop, and checked my e-mail. There was a message from HQ, several hours old. It said that a replacement team was on its way. Their names were Rose and Roberta, and they would be there first thing in the morning. They attached a file for me to print out, and give to the S's.

The L's, who were my escorts, weren't paying much attention to what I was doing, until the printer started whirring. "What's this?" asked Lisa.

"Our new girls, they'll be here in the morning."

That got them excited. Lorraine yelled to the intercom. "Did you hear that, Sarah? The replacements for the U's are already in Hawaii. They'll be here tomorrow!"

The TK's ran into my room to join the discussion.

I nodded. "Their names are Roberta and Rose. Have you heard of them?"

The 4 in my room shook their heads.

"They must be new," said one of the S's.

"You know what this means," said Kai. "It means that one of us is going."

"How do you figure that?" I asked.

"Don't you see?" said Tia excitedly. "The only way replacements could be here so quickly is if a team was already training in Honolulu. And the only reason they would training is if they were replacements."

"But replacements for whom? " I asked.

Lisa raised her hand. "If I were to bet, I'd say it was either us or the S's."

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"We're the ones who can't climb," said Lorraine.

I saw the logic in that. "But with the U's gone, they may end up being the U's replacements, and whoever was supposed to leave, may stay."

"That's also a possibility," allowed Lisa.

I headed for the door, to take the papers to the S's. My entourage followed me.

"So, how do you feel about possibly leaving," I asked Lorraine.

She tried to be diplomatic. "Now, don't get me wrong, you are the best supervisor I've worked for. And this Hawaiian climate beats the hell out of some of the other places I've worked."

I could feel it coming. "But..."

Lisa took over. "But you aren't the most prestigious supervisor to work for. I mean, you're just a temp. This is just a summer job."

This had me stymied. "What do you mean by 'prestigious'?" I put the papers into the dumbwaiter.

"When a supervisor gets promoted to executive, he chooses a team to be his personal assistant. They stay with him for the rest of his career. This is what we all are aiming for."

It all made sense to me. That was why they were trying to become my favorite. "But, like you said, I am just a temp."

Kai butted in. "But you never know what twists life will throw you. You may come back after college and become an executive then. It never hurts to invest in the future."

An S spoke up. "These girls are new alright. They don't seem anything special, except they have a commendation for outstanding palm tree climbing."

I nodded. "That sounds like just what we need."

The next morning, I was woken by one of the L's on the intercom. "New girls coming in; ETA is 1 hour."

I looked over at the clock. It was 7 am. Guess it is better to have lots of warning.

The TK's woke with me, and we all showered together. Kai blew me, as Tia rimmed me.

We all dressed, had breakfast, and still had time to make it to the helipad. We took a Tesla, seeing that it was the traditional reception car here.

When the copter landed, the 2 girls jumped out with a garment bag and small carry-on case. They were dressed like Japanese schoolgirls, with red plaid pleated skirts, white sailor top, and blue kerchief around their necks.

When they saw us by the car, they dropped everything, and sprinted to me. They fell to their knees and gave me some formal greeting.

I don't remember what they said, because, when they got close, I was struck by their faces. They looked like a younger version of my mother. They had the same little upturned nose, and their mouths had the same arching upper lip, that left their front two teeth exposed, when relaxed. Of course, they weren't exact copies of her. Their grey eyes were slanted, betraying their Asian heritage, and their hair was dark brown with light brown highlights, not the dark red my mother had.

Their voices were too high to be hers, also. They sounded more like Ellen. I shook my head. I was seeing ghosts of my recently lost family. I needed to be professional, and not let my past interfere with the present.

They offered to strip, and I declined. I figure I'd see their naked bodies soon enough.

They told me that they had already eaten, and were anxious to get to work. I appreciated their professionalism. They had our schedule memorized, and knew the island's layout better than me.

The TK's recovered their luggage.

We drove them to the house, where the ATV was waiting.

Like all employees, they were reluctant to talk about their past. All I got out of them was that they were half-Japanese.

When we arrived, Rose and Roberta walked confidently up to the ATV, turned it on, and took off.

The TK's started for the house. I hung back.

"Something wrong, Sir?" asked Tia.

I shook my head. "Just want to make sure they know what they are doing. Let's follow them."

We got into a golf cart and followed the ATV from a respectful distance. When the new girls stopped, I asked Kai, "Are they in the right sector?"

She nodded. "They know the island's layout."

I then saw them climb. Both, but especially Rose, had the climbing skill of a spider monkey. They were better than either the U's or the TK's.

Again I was reminded of the natural climbing ability of my late sister. "It is obvious they know what they're doing. Let's go home."

Back at the house, after an hour, I checked up on how the new girls were doing.

"They're incredible, Boss," said one of the S's, who were manning the security room. "They are going at it faster than anyone I've ever seen. They should be nearly done with that sector by lunch."

Usually it took a whole day to finish with a sector.

I was officially impressed. "Maybe they could give you all pointers, later."

The TK's had the S's put Sector 8's security camera on the big screen TV, so they could watch them. They were soon oohing and aahing, like they were watching a figure skating performance. They didn't turn it off until the R's were summoned to lunch.

Tia and Kai greeted their entrance like they were rock stars. I almost expected them to ask them for their autograph.

After lunch, as was my habit, I went to the shooting range. The TK's begged for me to stay in the house, so they could watch the R's finish up the sector; but I shook my head. "You two have watched enough of your idols today. I need to improve on my marksmanship, and you are to help me."

Kai blushed. "We're just trying to figure out how they do it."

"You could just ask them, you know," I teased.

"We did," said Tia.

"And?"

"They said they would teach us," said Kai.

While we were shooting, the S's evidently took the new girls under their wing, and showed them around the island. They showed up at the shooting range and watched my abysmal shooting skills.

After about an hour of shooting, I stopped. I went back to the house, and started in on something I'd been dreading: filling out the accident report for OSHA.

I had heard somewhere that one of the few constants in the universe is bureaucracy, and I believe it. The amount of paperwork I had to fill out to cover my ass on a simple workplace accident was staggering. The fact that the U's had been wearing the proper safety equipment, and it saved Uma's life, didn't figure into the equation. I started out working on it in my bedroom, but I ended taking my laptop to the dining room. The chairs there were more comfortable.

The TK's did their best to help me in filling the blanks.

As I was filling another screen full of stupid questions, my new girls, Roberta and Rose, came in from the kitchen. They had evidently been putting up their clothes in their new quarters, and were heading to find me. They seemed very serious, and said they wanted to speak to me in private. I was relieved to be free from the drudgery of paperwork, at least for a while, so I escorted them to my room.

With that new hatch, I now had a place I could go with complete privacy. I didn't want to use it too much, but when the newest members of my island family want to speak to me in private, I figured it was one of those times. After I swore them to secrecy, I popped the hatch with my laptop. With that we had complete privacy.

It turns out these girls had not been totally forthcoming with me and their housemates. They were indeed being sent in as a replacement, and they knew who they were replacing, the L's. At least that's who they thought they were replacing. They got sent in as an emergency replacement for the U's, after just two days of island training. Now they didn't know if they were still replacing the L's or the U's, if they were gone for good.

It was a good thing that they didn't tell the household. Nothing sows chaos like uncertainty. I checked the medical records for Uma's status. Turns out she was stable, and should be out of the hospital in about a week. It said nothing about whether she and her partner were coming back here or not.

Needing more info, I e-mailed the doctor, to see what he knows. When he'd check his e-mail and reply, was another question.

"What should we tell the other girls when they ask who we are replacing?" asked Roberta.

I closed my eyes. "Tell them that you are not sure, right now. But will tell them, once you are sure."

They nodded. "That makes sense," said Rose.

I closed the hatch and called a house meeting in the dining room. There, I explained that the R's were indeed here to replace somebody, but we weren't sure who. Also I let them know that Uma was doing well and should make a full recovery.

"But we don't know if they'll be coming back?" asked Tia.

"Correct; they could be gone for good. We just don't know."

After that, there were no more questions.