Chapter 9: Sue Shows Kay What’s Expected.

Friday morning I started work and when Sue came in I sat down for a cup of coffee with her. "I think I have found someone to take over from you."

She quickly jumped in, "Really? You found someone since Tuesday?"

"Yes I did. Do you remember me telling you about the young lady I rescued the weekend I was out on my boat?"

"You said something about her getting drugged and jumping off the boat she was on?"

"That's the one. She has housing problems and is in desperate need of either a new roommate or a new place to live. I've taken her to dinner a couple of times, speaking with her about her situation and what she is doing about it. She actually brought it up to me first and I've been trying to figure something out for her as a friend. She's a nice girl, seems to have her head screwed on straight and is really in a bind."

"But what do you know about her? Is she responsible? What does she do? Why does she need a roommate all of a sudden? When can she start?"

"She's in school here, in a tough program and from what I've seen she appears to be very responsible. We've talked and I know where she comes from, what she's doing here and why she needs a roommate suddenly. I had her here last night for dinner and to show her the house. I made a proposition to her about moving in here and doing what you do."

"And she agreed?"

"Not yet, she's supposed to call this morning and give me an answer but when I took her home last night it was looking good. I gave her an offer I think she'd be foolish to turn down and I don't think she is the foolish type or any other kind of airhead."

"And you'd trust her? I don't get it. When I started with you I seem to remember you looked at me pretty hard, including actually talking with the references I gave you. You didn't even give me an access code for your alarm system until you went out of town and I was taking care of the cats."

"Truthfully I learned from you. Before you I never had to trust anyone this way. I never gave someone free access to my home and business. You've worked for me for several years now and I learned to trust from you and from the companies I work for. You've never burned me; as a matter of fact you've bailed me out a couple of times. The companies I do work for give me free and unlimited access to their networks and all the information on them. I wouldn't consider violating that trust and like I said, I learned."

"I'm glad you trust me Mr. Rob. I wouldn't hurt you or anyone else I work for. You're a good guy and have treated me more than fairly so I've been willing to do extra things for you. I don't do that with everyone. I've never had to negotiate with you because something you ask isn't part of what I do on a regular basis. I've never asked you for anything extra but you've always paid me for what I've done and never batted an eye. That and when I've told you I needed something particular for the house, you've told me to get it without question and paid me for it without ever asking for a receipt, even though I had one for each and every thing I spent money on. I've liked working for you. Do you think you're going to be able to trust this girl the same way?"

"I'm sure of it. She trusted me on the boat, she's shown me no guile, I've seen her apartment, actually been inside it and it's clean. I know she is trying to do the right thing for the people that own it. I just have a good feeling about her and I'm trusting that feeling."

The house phone rang, not my business line. Sue was closer to it and picked it up. "Lister residence."

"Unh, is Mr. Rob there?"

"Who's calling please?"

"This is Kay and I was supposed to call him this morning. He wasn't called out of town was he?"

Sue looked over at me and mouthed Kay's name without actually saying it.

I nodded my head and reached my hand towards the phone.

Sue finished her part of the short conversation. "One moment please." She then handed me the phone.

"Good morning Kay."

"Good morning Mr. Rob. Who was that? She sounded like an older woman."

"That was Sue, the woman I'm hoping you are going to agree to take over for."

"Yeah, if you still want me, I'm willing to give it a try. What's the next step?"

I smiled and flashed thumbs up to Sue. "I think the next step is for you to come out and meet Sue, maybe spend a little time with her so she can show you where everything is. That and tell me which of the bedrooms you want."

"I have some things I need to do today before I go into work so it's not going to happen today. You said she is there Tuesday, right?"

"Yes, next Tuesday will be her last Tuesday here. Do you want to come out then?"

"What time should I be there?"

"Just a minute, let me check with Sue."

I covered the mouthpiece and turned to Sue. "Does Tuesday work for you and if so, what time do you want Kay to be here?"

"Tuesdays I start at nine and I'm done by three. She can come out any time before noon and I should have more than enough time to show her everything and answer any questions she has."

I took my hand off of the mouthpiece. "Sue starts at nine but you don't have to be here that early unless you want to be. As long as you are here before noon the two of you should have enough time to do whatever you have to."

"Okay, Tuesday morning it is. I'll catch the bus and be out. Will you be there Mr. Rob?"

"I should be. I haven't got anything scheduled otherwise." I thought about that 'Mr. Rob' stuff. I wasn't expecting it and I'd have to think about it.

"I'll see you then I guess." Kay said before hanging up.

I hung up my phone and turned to Sue. "She'll be here Tuesday."

Sue smiled with a thoughtful look on her face. "Okay, I'll spend a little time today and make up a list of things to go over with her. Is there anything you are going to expect of her beyond what I do? I assume you are going to give her an access code of her own for the security system, you don't want me to give her mine do you?"

"No don't give her your code, I'll let her pick her own and then register it so it's active. I discussed basic ground rules with her last night and anything else that comes up along those lines we'll talk through when necessary. What I want you to do is make sure she knows where everything is that she'll need to care for the cats and maintain the house. If you still have the list of people and companies I use for the house, give it to her. If you don't have it, I can print out another copy, no problem. Please go over what you do and when. I don't expect her to follow your schedule but I want her to know it so she can figure out one of her own. I don't care when she does what as long as everything gets done and I've told her that but she'll need a starting point."

"I can do that, it won't take too long. Now get out of my kitchen so I can get started. I've got things to do and if I don't get them done my boss will cloud up and rain all over me and my parade." Sue smiled at me and chuckled.

"When you have a chance, while you're doing everything else, please look in the back bedroom and tell me what's back there. Also let me know what you think I need of it. I've kind of lost track of everything I've put back there and I need to clean it out this weekend. Kay may choose that room and in any case I still want a room free to use for any guest that may crash here."

"I can tell you right now you don't need anything that's back there. I haven't seen you take anything out of there in at least two years. I've seen you put stuff in but never take anything out."

"Ouch Sue, don't soft soap it for me. Okay, I know what I've got to do this weekend. There goes my relaxation sail."

Sue and I each went our own way in the house, me to get some work done and Sue to work her magic on the house.

Two hours later Sue came to me in the office. "I have to run out to the store and do a big restock of supplies so Kay doesn't have to worry about that in addition to everything else. Do you need anything I don't know about and can I use the truck?"

"I don't need anything and yes, you can take the truck. That reminds me, please make sure Kay knows where the spare keys are hanging for the truck and car. She doesn't have a car of her own so she'll be using one of mine to do the shopping and run errands for me. Do you need me to pull my parts box from the back of the truck?"

"No, I can work around it." Then she left and I went back to work. I never heard her come back but I wasn't paying attention.

The next thing I knew it was two o'clock and Sue was at my door clearing her throat to tell me to get out of her way. As I stepped out of the office she handed me a sheet of paper. I looked; in front of me was a listing of all the things (garbage) in the back bedroom and a note that I hadn't used anything on the list and I didn't need any of it. I should be able to get it all out of the room in one day. Maybe I could get in a day sail Sunday.

Saturday I spent all morning pulling the things out of the back bedroom and into the great room. I made three piles; trash, charity and I don't know. Then I went through the 'I don't know pile' again and divvied it up between the trash and charity piles. I had a sandwich for lunch and called some charity organizations; Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity, the Union Mission and a couple of others. It turned out that if I was going to get rid of the stuff that day I'd have to take it to them myself and the best option for me was Goodwill. I spent the rest or the day getting the things to the drop off. I had to take the parts box out of the truck and put the seat down for maximum cargo space. It still took me two trips. It only took one to take the trash to the recycling center. The back bedroom was clear and I was sure Sue would go through it Tuesday and make it as clean and ready as the front bedroom.

Sunday was a bust. I thought I would get a day sail in but the weather wasn't cooperating. I keep foul weather gear on the boat for when I'm already out and get caught by rain or a storm but I won't go out if it's raining before I even get started. I sail for my relaxation and pleasure, not to fight the elements, they'll win every time.

Monday I had just finished my morning coffee when the phone rang. I looked at my watch and it wasn't even nine o'clock yet. I thought to myself someone was in trouble. I wasn't wrong.

A sprawling resort area in Colorado was on the phone, their system crashed sometime early Sunday and try as they might, they couldn't get it back up. They had multiple locations and were able to keep things running in local mode but couldn't network anymore. The CTO of the airline that had me on retainer knew the CTO of the resort and when called gave him my name and number. After talking with him to try and figure out what equipment and configuration they had, I put some test equipment, tools and common spare parts in a travel box to take with me. I called a cab and before it was at my house, I checked the cats' food and water; made sure everything was locked up and left a note for Sue to tell her where I was going and that I'd be back no later than Thursday evening. It was off to the races. Calls like this one were very lucrative for me. If I fixed their problem and was a good enough salesman, I'd pick up a new regular client.

Kay's turn

Lunch shift yesterday, off today, tomorrow and Thursday, my regular schedule. It's nine-thirty and I'm ringing the bell at Rob's door. Darn, if I'm going to work for him I've got to remember to call him Mr. Rob. What am I getting myself into here? I'm running out of options at my apartment so it really doesn't matter what I'm getting into. As long as I have a safe place to stay, I can get my school work done and if Mr. Rob doesn't expect too much, this could be a good thing for me. I'll have to figure out what I'm going to tell Mom and Dad though; I don't know how they're going to feel about me being in this arrangement. The door opened and a woman was standing there in jeans and a simple blouse with a full apron on. I was happy to see what she was wearing because I was wearing basically the same get up, less the apron.

"You must be Kay, come in, I'm Sue. Did you have any problem getting here?"

"No, the bus here from my apartment runs past the college, it's easy to use and it wasn't too crowded. I take it Mr. Rob told you I was coming this morning. Is he here?"

"I knew you'd be out this morning but I didn't know what time. Mr. Rob isn't here; he's in Colorado and won't be back until tomorrow or Thursday. Would you like a cup of tea or coffee? I'd like to sit down with you for a few minutes before we get started on the house."

"Tea would be nice. I thought he was going to be here today."

Sue brought me into the kitchen and started the water on the stove. "This is one of his unscheduled trips. He left yesterday morning and as usual left me a note telling me where he was going to be and about when he'd get back. He's real good at doing that. I'm supposed to go over some things with you, the house, where everything is, what I do, that kind of thing. The house is very easy to maintain so we have time to chat a little before we get started."

"Is this more interview?"

"Oh no dear, you've got the job. I'm just supposed to make things easier for you by letting you know what all I do. Mr. Rob told me you'd make up your own schedule of what to do and when to do it. He just likes the house to be kept nice. He's very easy to work for and very fair. I have no complaints about working for him. The only reason I'm giving up the job is to go live with my daughter and take care of her kids while she goes back to work."