Silt, Denver Cereal Volume 8 (24 page)

“
What are you really mad
about?” Jill asked.

Jacob looked away. The apple went around in
a circle in the air.

“
I can’t imagine anyone
being mad at Dad,” Jacob said. “Or saying those awful
things.”

“
Sounds to me like the
site manager was mad at himself,” Jill said. “He just took it out
on your dad.”

“
You mean like Katy and
Paddie do? He’s not five!”

“
Maybe you can add that
hating immature people to your list,” Jill said.

Jacob didn’t say anything for a while. Jill
crumpled the piece of paper and threw it at him. He added it to the
rotation along with the nasty tennis ball. After a while, Jill got
up and went back to bed.

About twenty minutes later, Jacob came to
bed.

“
Sorry,” he kissed her
lips.

“
Are you all right?” she
asked.

“
I just needed to think it
through,” he said. “Thanks for trying to help.”

“
Are you going to fire the
guy?” Jill asked.

“
No, but I’m going to ask
him about his kids,” Jacob said. “I bet something’s going on there
to make him hurt so much.”

“
Good thinking,” Jill
said.

“
Just because he says
we’re jerks doesn’t mean we have to start acting like jerks,” Jacob
said.

“
There is that,” Jill
said.

“
You’re brilliant,” he
said.

“
You’re due at work in
three hours,” Jill said. “The girls are going to be here for breast
feeding in a half hour; you should sleep.”

Just then, Katy cried out in her sleep. Jill
got up to check on her. When she was done, Sandy was there to get
Rachel for breastfeeding. Jill went downstairs with her to join
Honey and Val. When she got back in bed, Jacob was sound
asleep.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday morning—6:19 a.m.

“
So I need to ask you
something, but I don’t want you to make fun of me.” Nash blocked
Charlie’s entrance into their bathroom.

“
I have to pee,” Charlie
said.

Nash didn’t move out of the way.

“
What?” Charlie
asked.

“
Did
you . . . you know . . . with Ivy?”
Nash asked.

“
Did I what?” Charlie’s
voice rose.

“
Shhh,” Nash said. “Did
you sleep with Ivy? Was she your girlfriend?

“
No.” Charlie’s voice was
indignant. “She’s a little kid. That’s just gross.”

“
Good.” Nash moved to the
side and Charlie went into the bathroom.

“
At least I don’t think I
did,” Charlie said from inside. “You know, it’s all kind of fuzzy.
Maybe I did. Yeah, I’m sure I did.”

“
She was a little kid!”
Nash flew into the bathroom.

Charlie laughed.

“
Very funny,” Nash
said.

“
I thought so,” Charlie
said.

“
Stop talking and get
dressed!” Sandy yelled from the front room.

“
You won’t tell her I
asked, will you?” Nash asked.

“
Not a word,” Charlie
smiled and got into the shower.

Chapter Two Hundred and
Thirty-Six
Something new

Wednesday morning—9:19 a.m.

After getting everyone ready and out the
door, Delphie had gone back to bed. The late nights and worry had
left her feeling worn-out. And today she had to be on her game.

Ivy’s aunt was coming in a few hours.

Delphie heard the door to her apartment open
and footsteps move across the living room. She sat up in bed.

“
Sam?” Delphie asked
before he entered the room.

“
Sorry to wake you,” Sam
said. “I know today’s a big day.”

“
Did you come home to
rest?” Delphie asked. “I don’t think you slept at all last
night.”

Sam gave her a slight nod and sat down on
the bed.

“
I need to ask you
something,” Sam said. “At least I think you’re the person to ask. I
wasn’t sure this morning, but then we got started and I thought, ‘I
should ask Delphie; she won’t mind.’ But then I see that you’re
resting, as you should be after such a late night and today is such
a big day. Plus, I know that I must have kept you awake with my
tossing and turning and . . .”

Delphie put her hand on his leg and he
stopped talking. He looked at her for a moment. They had what
Delphie called, “The Standard Agreement.” She agreed not to read
his mind without permission, and he agreed to ask when he wanted to
know something. Of course, like most couples, she didn’t tell him
when she was reading his entire essence, and he expected her to
tell him when there was something wrong.

They sized each other up.

“
You have to ask,” Delphie
said just because she knew she should.

He smiled at her deception.

“
You’ve never asked me
about the business,” Delphie said.

“
I know,” Sam said. “I
just . . . I miss Celia.”

Sam winced at his words. He closed his eyes
to avoid seeing what he assumed he would—Delphie’s pain.

“
I miss her too,” Delphie
said.

Sam opened his eyes to look at her.

“
I loved her absolutely,”
Delphie said. “I don’t mind that you did too. I would expect you to
miss her because I do too.”

“
You’re not offended?” Sam
asked.

“
No,” Delphie said. “I
tell you that all the time, but
you . . .”

“
You’re not second best to
her, you know,” Sam said. “Our life, this relationship, it’s
different . . . Celia was . . . and
we’re . . .”

“
More like friends,”
Delphie said. “I know.”

“
I don’t ever want to
diminish you or our life,” Sam said. “Because you mean the world to
me. Our life is really wonderful. You make
everything . . . work. I couldn’t do all of this
without you.”

Delphie smiled.

“
But you’re not Celia,”
Sam said. “You’re softer, kinder, more fragile and
less . . .”

“
Bossy,” Delphie
nodded.

“
And right
now . . .”

“
You could use Celia’s
help,” Delphie said.

Sam looked at Delphie with sorrow-filled
eyes.

“
I’m sorry for hurting
you,” Sam said.

“
You’re not,” Delphie
said.

“
I’m not?”

“
You’re not hurting me at
all,” Delphie said. “Now, let me freshen up a bit, and we’ll see
what we can figure out.”

“
You’re sure
because . . .”

“
I’m sure,” Delphie said.
She got up and went into the bathroom. “You have to trust me more,
Sam.”

“
I’m . . .
discombobulated,” Sam said.

Delphie washed her hands and came out.

“
Did the kids get to
school?” Sam asked, because he knew he should.

“
Did the sites open?”
Delphie smiled.

“
You’re right,” Sam said.
“I’m off the point.”

Delphie went to her kitchenette. She filled
her kettle and put it on the gas burner.

“
What do you need to know
from Celia?” Delphie asked.

“
Celia . . . “ Sam started. He leaned close to
Delphie. “Is she here?”

“
She’s always around you
or me,” Delphie said. “She only leaves to watch out for Katy or
Jackie.”

“
I guess I knew that.” Sam
nodded.

“
What’s going on Sam?”
Delphie asked.

Just then, the kettle squealed and Delphie
got up to make tea. When she came back with two steaming mugs, Sam
seemed to have made a decision.

“
We started this business,
this construction thing, together—Celia and I,” Sam said. “I wanted
to be a carpenter. I’m a pretty good carpenter
but . . . We would have starved. Celia taught me
everything I know about running a business. Her family has
successfully run businesses since . . . well, the
beginning of time.”

Sam nodded. He looked up and took the mug of
green tea that Delphie offered him. She navigated them into her
living area. He sat down on the couch and she took the soft chair
she enjoyed. She had just sat down when Cleo, Sandy’s cat,
scratched at her apartment door. She got up to let in the cat.

“
What’s this?” Sam
asked.

Cleo gave him a regal look and sauntered
across the room.

“
Miss Cleo comes in the
mornings to sit on the window sill,” Delphie said.

Cleo looked at Delphie and jumped up onto
the sunny window sill.

“
That’s a good spot,” Sam
said. “I might take it from her.”

Cleo gave a loud meow as if to complain and
Delphie smiled.

“
Can we talk about this in
front of . . .?” Sam discretely pointed to
Cleo.

Delphie smiled. With the cat in the room and
his tea in his hand, Sam felt more grounded and whole.

“
What is it that you want
to know?” Delphie asked.

“
Celia would know just
what to do with this whole mess,” Sam said. “She’d have known what
to say to those awful site managers last night. She’d have had just
the solution to make everything better. Hell, she probably never
would have gotten into this mess. But Jake and me,
we’re . . .”

He fell forward with his elbows on his
knees.

“
We’re not Celia,” Sam
said. “I can’t shake the feeling that this is the big test. We have
to commit to being employee owned.”

“
That’s why it has been
presented to you,” Delphie said.

Sam looked at her for a moment.

“
They want your little
experiment to fail,” Delphie said.

“
The old board members?”
Sam asked.

Delphie nodded.

“
They always have to be
right,” Sam said.

Delphie nodded.

“
I can feel it in my
bones,” Sam said. “This is the moment that will either mean a long
life to this company or the end of it. I don’t know what to do
and . . .”

“
Celia would.” Delphie
nodded.

“
She’d have told off that
so-and-so site manager and . . . I don’t know what,”
Sam said. “I feel beaten down. I want to crawl into a hole and
hide.”

“
You felt like that when
Jake bought the company,” Delphie said.

“
I hadn’t thought of it,
but yeah,” Sam said.

“
Well, that’s some of it,”
Delphie said. “Decisions made in a moment of desperate grief carry
that same quality.”

“
That’s good,” Sam said.
“Celia?”

“
Me,” Delphie
said.

“
You
are
wise,” Sam smiled.

Delphie grinned.

“
What would Celia make me
do that I won’t want to do but is the exact right thing to do?” Sam
asked.

“
She would take the entire
situation with the site to the employees,” Delphie said. “Celia was
absolutely fearless. She believed secrets only aid existing power
structures. She was hell bent on breaking
those . . .

“
Archaic misogynistic
power structures,” Sam and Delphie said together.

“
Yes,” Sam said. “I
remember that.”

“
She
believes . . . “

Sam jerked at Delphie’s use of the present
tense. Delphie gave him a slight nod.

“
Celia believes in the
goodness of people,” Delphie said.

Sam groaned.

“
You know I’m right,”
Delphie said. “She wouldn’t put up with this chaos and bullshit.
She’d tell the site managers to bring it to their
employees . . .”

“
And fire anyone who
didn’t.” Sam nodded. “Yes, that’s what she’d do.”

“
Rather than put up with
crap, she’d tell them to ask their employees what they wanted to do
and bring the answers back to her. Employees are the true
stakeholders of any company because their lives are on the line.
They’re more invested in the company’s well-being because of
it.”

Delphie nodded.

“
It sounds good to me,”
Delphie said.

Sam gave her a long wry look and she
grinned.

“
What will happen if I do
that?” Sam asked.

“
You’re asking me?”
Delphie asked. “It’s kind of close to me so
I . . .”

“
Oh come on,” Sam said.
“You don’t give a crap about the company. You only get fuzzy over
stuff you really care about like whether Ivy’s aunt is a decent
person.”

“
Valerie’s going to help
me with that.” Delphie nodded.

“
You’re avoiding my
question,” Sam said.

“
Because I think you
should try it and learn for yourself,” Delphie said.

“
Celia told you to say
that,” Sam said.

Delphie smiled. He shook his head at
her.

“
What will happen?” Sam
asked.

“
You’ll find that your
employees trust you,” Delphie said. “If Jake thinks the site should
move, then it should move. Period. They don’t care about the power
politics. They want to make sure they have jobs tomorrow and the
next day.”