My Cousin Wendy (4 page)

"Give me a Kleenex, please."

I grabbed the box off the headboard and offered it to her. She pulled 3 or 4 out and held them over her pussy. I went into the bathroom and got a warm washcloth and gave it to her, then went back in the bathroom and took care of myself.

Wendy came in and threw the washcloth in the hamper, then sat down on the toilet.

"I've got to get home. I've got work tomorrow."

"Don't you want to have some dinner?"

"Nah. I'll get something at home. I need to do some laundry and put away my new clothes before I go to bed. I've been getting sleepy earlier at night the past few weeks. I just seem to need more sleep."

She got dressed, putting on her EXPECTING TROUBLE shirt. I helped her take her goodies out to her car.

"Do you want help with the top?"

"No, I'm going to leave it down. It's a nice night."

She turned toward me and we kissed. This was the part I hated. Wendy going off and leaving me alone in my bed. I'd come to accept it and didn't say much about it anymore, but that didn't make me like it.

"Hey, you never told me what June said on the phone the night we went out. She didn't say anything at the game about us."

"Oh, we just talked. She's mixed up like you were. We need to get back together with her now that she's had a couple of weeks."

"Alright, give me a call tomorrow and we'll figure something out."

"OK."

I watched her get in her car and back out of the driveway. She drove down to the end of the block and turned right. I went back into my house and put the rest of my bedclothes on the bed.



I woke up about 3:30 in the morning. The bed woke me up, because it was colder than I was used to.

Glendora's not the Garden of Eden, but I like it. It can get VERY smoggy in the summer because it lies right at the base of the San Gabriel mountains. The slogan on the population signs is "The Pride of the Foothills."

Being in the "other" valley, it can get 5 - 10 degrees hotter than downtown LA. (THE Valley is the San Fernando Valley. That's where all the porn is made and the Valley Girls rule.) Of course, the beaches are 5 - 10 degrees cooler. There are usually about 5 nights a year that the temperature goes up to 100 or more and drops into the high 90's at night. But most of the time it can go up in the 80's, 90's, 100's and cool down at night. I don't mind the heat too much as long as it's not too hot to sleep. I like my sleep.

Being too cheap to install and operate an air conditioner I only need a couple of days a year, I have a couple of standing fans near the front and back doors, a ceiling fan in the living room and a box fan in my open bedroom window (unless I'm running a hose through it for the waterbed).

We'd been having some hot days, high 80's to low 90's, so I had the bottom sheet, top sheet and a light blanket on the bed. It felt cool when I went to sleep, but I just kind of snuggled into the blanket (old guys do like to snuggle, even when they're alone).

I got up and used the toilet, got another blanket and slept between the two blankets. I also turned the waterbed heater up a bit before I got in.

I got up at 7 and put on the coffee. A half hour in the bathroom and I was ready to face the day.

My guys came by at 9 and I got their time sheets and signed work orders while they picked up their new work orders for the week and stocked up on parts. They were gone by 9:30.

I got myself another cup of coffee and started calling customers to check on the work done last week. I haven't had one customer complaint since I started doing this a couple of years ago. They may have things that weren't done to their satisfaction, but I call them before they have time to call me. I'll occasionally run into one who's been stewing about it all weekend and is ready to give me hell on Monday morning, but the steam kind of boils out of them when I tell them we'll fix it. And I don't just send the guy who screwed up to fix it. He has to go with his foreman or me and show exactly what he did, explain why he did it his way instead of our way. Independence is fine, but when you've put 25 years into coming up with a standard way to install things properly and some 19 year old know it all starts losing customers because he "knows a better way," it's time to part company.

My guys take pride in their work. I have no problem with a mistake or two. If you're constantly going to be screwing things up, go work for the government where you belong.

One customer we'd installed a phone system for last week called before I called her, wondering why she wasn't getting any calls. I had her verify that the displays were on (indicates the system is plugged in) and she got dial tone on the lines. She'd called me on her cell phone because she didn't think the new system worked. She had a flashing intercom light and could see a couple of lines were lit. I gave her the code to put the system in the day ring mode and told her she needed to check voice mail because that's where all the calls had been going. I also told her I'd have one of the installers over there this morning to go over the operation.

"And you should have been on the phone to me five minutes after you walked in the door this morning."

"I didn't want to bother you."

"How much would a real good new account make your company?"

"I don't know, maybe 5 - $10,000 a year."

"So, what if you lost three of those because your phones aren't ringing. Do you think your boss is going to be happy with you if he finds out you didn't want to bother me?"

"No."

"Call me. I don't care how stupid the question is. We sold you a phone system. You paid a lot of money for it. If you don't know how to use it or it doesn't do what it's supposed to, we haven't earned that money."

"Well, I was out last week and we had a temp. I figured my boss would tell me what to do when he came in later."

"I understand, but you're the phones as far as anybody calling in is concerned. When they dial that main number they get you. Not your boss. I want you to let me know what you need and want. OK?"

"Yes."

"Good. If I get any complaints about the system from your boss, I'm going to come after you. I'll have one of my guys over there within the next couple of hours to show you how to use the system. They should have left a big manual for the phone system, a little smaller one for the voice mail and user guides for each."

"Oh, yeah. They're in a box next to my desk."

"OK. Show him them when he comes in. Now don't forget. Call me if you need me."

"I will."

I had to go through this or something like it every 5 systems or so. I couldn't afford to leave a tech camped out at a site for days, but the customer should feel comfortable about calling in about a problem. The real problem was that the level of service has dropped as a whole in this country. When I was a boy... But it's true. When I was a boy only criminals thought they could get away with taking money and not being responsible for what they took it for. But the norm had become "things just aren't the same these days as they used to be."

I stepped down from my soapbox and got another cup of coffee. I gave Vic a call and sent him over to the new installation. I told him to make damn sure there was a night ring button programmed on the reception phone and that it was labeled. And that she knew how to use it. He didn't know if they'd done anything about labeling the phones.

I called back and got the receptionist's email address. I told her Vic would be in to show her the ropes, that he would be happy to show any of the workers how to use their phones and voice mail and that I would email some blank labels she could fill in on her computer and print out. I told her to make sure she knew what she was doing with the labels before she let Vic leave. And that he was to check in with me before he took off.

I hung up just in time for Wendy's call to come through. She was quiet on the phone, not herself.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"No, really. What's the matter."

"I'll be alright."

"OK. Nice talking to you." I hung up the phone.

I let it ring until the answer machine picked up, waited three seconds and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Why did you hang up on me?"

"You obviously didn't want to talk. If you're hurting, I don't want to talk about a bunch of crap. If you want to tell me what's wrong, I'll listen. If you want to sit there and suffer, I'll let you. But I'm not going to suffer with you."

"Damn it Pete, you don't know what it's like."

"Damn it Wendy, how the hell can I if you won't tell me? What's wrong?"

"I'm FAT." She said it with the same disgust as if she'd said "I smell like I've been dead for three weeks and there are maggots crawling out of my eyes."

"So. You were fat yesterday."

"Not like this. You don't care."

"Yeah. You're probably right. But tell me about it anyway."

"I had to move my seat back. My fat old belly is in the way and I can't get in my car. And I have to stretch my legs to work the pedals."

"OK. When did you get pregnant?"

"You know. December 25. Christmas."

"OK. And today's May 24. You're still in the second trimester."

"So?"

"So, we still have time to get an abortion."

"I don't want an abortion."

"Then maybe we can get you some kind of girdle that will squoosh the baby so you can be thin and she'll look like one of those kids from Africa they want you to adopt on late night TV."

"Damn you, I don't want to squoosh the baby."

"Then I guess you'll have to be fat for a few months so you can go through God's miracle and deliver us a beautiful, healthy baby."

"I guess."

"Are you wearing one of your new shirts?"

"Yes."

"What does it say?"

"It says MOM and has an arrow pointing up and under it it says BABY and has an arrow pointing down."

"Did anyone say anything?"

"Yeah. They all came over and were talking about how I'm showing and can wear shirts like that and a couple wished they were pregnant."

"Well try looking at yourself the way they do. You've got a second chance to be a mom and you're complaining about what you have to go through. Were you this big a bitch with Randy?"

"I don't remember."

"Well, straighten up. I like you fat. I look at you and I think 'I did that. I helped create that life my lover is nurturing until she's ready to step out into the world by herself.' And I fall a little more in love with you."

She was sniffling by this time. She put the phone down and I heard her blow her nose.

"You dweeb. I love you too."

"I know. Now straighten up or I won't take you away with me next weekend."

"Really? Where are we going?"

"Somewhere we've been before. Somewhere you'll like. I'm not going to tell you. If you behave for the rest of the week, I'll take you. If not, I'll put you over my knee."

"You wouldn't!"

"Do you really believe I wouldn't?"

"No, I guess not."

"Alright. I want you to be proud of the way you look. Do you realize what a miracle it is for a 45 year old woman to have a healthy baby growing in her belly? You should be prouder of that belly than I am. It should be a badge of honor to you, something you flaunt, just like you did yesterday when we walked up and down the mall."

"OK. I'll be good."

I'd made reservations for this weekend a couple of weeks ago. I called the motel to see if I could get another room. I was lucky and got two rooms with two double beds next to each other with a connecting door.

I spent the next half hour on the phone, setting up and rearranging things for the weekend.

During each of the three local calls I made I asked a specific question. When I got the same answer from all three, I made another call.



Friday morning I got a call from a customer of mine. He's always been a good customer except he tends to create emergencies.

I'd met him at the new building he was planning on leasing space in on Tuesday. We walked through and the wiring all looked usable. We were going to have to make a couple of long cords but wouldn't need to pull any new cable.

This guy has an amazing ability to negotiate leases. He's always gotten in at about 2/3 the going rate, just by haggling with the owner. He has to make some guarantees for how long he'll occupy the space but he always comes out ahead. I've helped him move to four different spaces. He's one of my original customers from back when I was working all by myself.

So, it's Friday morning just before a three day holiday weekend. Next Wednesday is the first of the month. The bottom line is he wants us to move him in over the weekend, ready to start business first thing Tuesday morning. By doing so, he won't have to pay a month's rent at the old place. He's willing to pay double our rate for the work. Then he pulled out the charm, begging me to help him out, reminding me of all the business he's gotten me over the years, all the work he's given me, how he helped me get established. Which was all true. What the hell. I probably would have done it for our normal rate, but I can offer an incentive to the guys who do the work this way. Of course, he doesn't trust my guys on a job this big because I'm the best phone man he's ever used and that's why he wants me to do the work. I tell him I'll try, but Memorial Day is one of our paid holidays and I don't know if anyone is interested.