The Life We Lead: Ascending (25 page)

The next day at work, James was speaking with
his boss, Todd, about how to best position two new thermodynamic
fluids. They ran through a few different points, including the
current market, how the company’s current chemicals were perceived,
and where the value-add really was from the customer’s point of
view.

The two men had differing viewpoints in a few
areas. James was trying to stay respectful in the discussion, but
his argument was logical and it was frustrating arguing against
phrases like “I feel” or “In the past.” They had just finished
talking about pricing and had agreed it should be done based on the
market, not cost, when Todd gave a deep sigh.

“I think it’s time we terminate this
internship,” he said.

James sat up, rather shocked. “But wait,
why?”

Todd raised his eyebrows and began to speak
just as James quickly cut in. “I have to say, that seems harsh. I
realize this is your business and your call, but you asked what I
thought. And it isn’t like there were others in the room as we
talked. I will do what you think is best, but …” James was
surprised to hear Todd chuckle.

“I want to hire you full-time. Right now. But
I can’t because of the potential merger, so I’m making you a
consultant. Same principle as the internship, but looks better on
the resume and you get paid more. Just no time and a half,” Todd
explained.

“Oh,” James said, rather confused but
regaining his normal thought process in the blink of an eye. He
found himself analyzing why the thought of losing this job had
caused so much distress. Yes, he’d have had to rework a lot of
preparations he’d already done, but then he realized he wasn’t
distraught about that at all. It was the thought of Carissa and
maybe not seeing her again. This worried him, and the worry must
have shown on his face.

“Sorry, that was a bit mean. I was really
just teasing you for a moment. You have a lot of talent. If you
didn’t, I certainly wouldn’t have you going all over the place,”
Todd said with a smile that asked for forgiveness and delivered
reassurance at the same time.

“Yeah, no problem. Just caught me off guard,”
James said with a small laugh.

“I don’t mind you and I discussing things
openly one on one. I assume that if others are around, you’ll
follow my lead, unless I ask for your opinion. People are going to
talk about you. They already do.”

James frowned slightly.

Todd continued, “Not because you’ve done
anything wrong, but because you’re doing a lot right. That means
change, and people don’t like that. So a target will be painted on
your back until they get used to you. Just keep it low key, do what
you need to, and let me handle the rest. Come on, let’s go grab
some food and hash out a deal.” He clapped James on the back as
they walked out.

James felt better. He was getting a rather
nice deal and a considerable amount of money for a first job, more
than most people with more experience and an advanced degree. No
benefits, but he was still young and healthy. He also had a lot of
responsibility for strategy, market research, customer needs, and
cost analysis. It meant a lot of time in the field and in the
plants, and not so much behind the desk, which was exactly what he
wanted. Plus, he set his own hours and technically didn’t have a
boss.

Over the next few days, James got everything
set for the trip to Aberdeen, but there was one last thing to take
care of before setting off—Tim’s pizza party.

***

James pulled up to the gates and headed for
the central complex. It looked like a ghost town until he got to
the building. Tim had invited the entire community to the party,
and as they had nothing better to do, they all came.

James laughed as he walked in the door and
saw the crowd. Good thing he was getting a raise so he could pay
for all this.

Byron greeted him enthusiastically as he came
into the main area and pointed to Tim, who was wearing a suit and
sunglasses. When he saw James, Tim lifted the sunglasses off his
face, gave him a wink, and put them on again.

Laughing a little to himself, James waved and
winked back before turning to find something to drink. He ran into
Scott at the drink table, who was trying to regulate how much soda
residents were having and failing miserably.

“Hey, man, this party was a great idea.
Everyone is really excited and having a blast. Tim is definitely
the man of the hour tonight. Everyone has been going up to him and
talking to him. Normally, they just keep to themselves, but I don’t
know, tonight everyone is just jazzed. Must be Dan the DJ doing his
thing,” Scott laughed.

Once again, James pictured Scott holding a
surfboard on the Californian shore.

Korey came over to James and Scott dragging
her daughter, Heather, behind her, her son, Lance, by her side. “Hi
guys,” she said.

“Hey, Korey, how you doing, little man and
little chick-a-do?” Scott asked in his mellow way.

Heather hid behind her mom but apparently
Lance thought he was being spoken down to.

With a roll of his eyes, he said,
“Fiiiiiinnne” in a drawn out, sullen way.

“That’s enough, Lance,” Korey said, throwing
Lance a dirty look.

She redirected her attention to James. “Don’t
worry about the party tonight. It’s been taken care of. Tim got a
bit carried away, and Andy …”

James stopped her quickly with, “It’s all
good. Glad everyone is having a good time. Thank Andy for me,
please.”

Lance sniffed audibly at James’s comment, a
scowl on his face.

“Knock it off, Lance,” Korey said in a deep
undertone, and James recognized the growl of an irritated mother.
He had heard it many times from his own mother, usually because of
something his older brother had done.

Trying to keep the peace, James asked Lance,
“How did school finish for you?”

“Okay,” he said in a bored way.

“What’s okay? Like all A’s and B’s?” James
asked.

“I am not an idiot. Seriously, who gets B’s
in any class that matters?” Lance shot back.

Korey grabbed her son by the shoulders and
said, “Boy, you better be respectful.”

“I was,” Lance said, slipping her grip. “It’s
not like I asked him about that stupid haircut, or if he has a
decent game at Mortal Kombat.”

“Lance, no one cares about those damn video
games. I swear to God I’m going to toss that whole thing when I get
home.” Korey was starting to get loud.

Scott walked away, clearly wanting to avoid a
confrontation, but James decided to take the kid on.

“What system?” he asked.

“N64, what’d ya know about it?” he asked.

“I like Mario Golf,” said Tim, who had just
walked up.

“Now that’s a good game; I play it with
Bowser,” Lance said to Tim, his whole expression changing. And they
were off, talking about the games.

Korey and James talked separately, Heather
still hanging on to her mom for dear life.

Releasing a deep sigh, Korey began to
apologize. “I don’t know what to do with him. If it isn’t about
video games, he’s sarcastic and mean-spirited. His father is no
help. His skipping a grade I think has also caused some
issues.”

James felt his whole body tense up. He
dreaded these conversations. He never knew what to say. He found
such experiences draining, and the things he did say sounded
ridiculously cliché and boring.

He also thought people generally preferred to
complain about their lives instead of just figuring out how to
apply a simple fix. When he offered a solution, people typically
reacted like it was the best idea in the world, as though they
couldn’t have come up with it themselves. James often felt bad
because, half the time, he was replying in a sarcastic manner and
felt people could see right through it. But they didn’t, and they
kept coming to him for advice. It made social interactions a
task.

He liked to socialize, but he also valued
alone time, so he could recharge. He knew this was a characteristic
of being an introvert, but he didn’t really care. Personal
conversations like this were just daunting, though he didn’t seem
to mind the ones with Carissa and a small select number of
others.

Korey had been going on for nearly thirty
minutes with James giving mere “Hmms” and “Yeahs” when Lance came
rushing back.

In a soft but determined voice, he asked his
mother, “Where’s the bathroom?”

James pointed behind him, near the patio
doors, and Lance took off running, holding his bottom.

“Lance,
Lance!
What’s wrong?” Korey
chased after him, dragging Heather with her.

Tim walked over, smiling. “Well, it’s obvious
isn’t it?”

“What’s obvious, Tim?” James tried to see
what was happening in the direction of the bathrooms.

“Why he ran off,” Tim calmly replied,
selecting a Dr. Pepper.

James glared at Tim.

Tim rolled his eyes and said in an almost
bored voice, “Well, obviously, we were having a farting contest. He
lost. It’s supposed to be just gas you pass.”

It was a good thing James didn’t have any
liquids in his mouth, as he would have spat them out. He gave an
initial roar of laughter before covering his mouth.

Tim merely giggled a little, though James
suspected he was laughing at him and not Lance.

“He likes that Mortal Kombat game like the
other kids” whispered Tim.

James, regaining control, whispered back
“What other kids, and why are we whispering?”

Tim gave James a confused look. “Should we
not whisper? I thought others weren’t supposed to know about,
obviously, ‘the trip,’” He made quotation marks with his fingers as
he said the final words, a habit he had picked up from Noi.

“We shouldn’t talk about that, but tell me
quickly in general what you are talking about, please.” Tim now had
James’s full attention.

“It was what some of the boys were asking me
to play, you know, at ‘the place.’” Again with the finger
quotes.

“Why didn’t you mention this before?” asked
James.

“I did. I told you they kept asking me to
play.”

“Oh, right, got it,” said James quickly.

“They said if I won I got a happ …” Tim
began, but James placed his hand over Tim’s mouth, and then quickly
released him.

James gave a wink and said, “Got it.”

Scott called out “7:54 group.” About ten
people stopped what they were doing and made for the door.

“What’s happening?” James asked Tim.

“The party ends at 8 p.m. We can’t all fit
through the door at once,” Tim said, now waiting for Scott to call
his group.

“But it started at 7 p.m.” James was
confused.

“Yeah, how long does it take to eat pizza?
People have shows they want to see, obviously. They are leaving
based on how long it takes to get back to their place to see their
shows at 8 p.m.,” Tim explained.

Scott called “7:55” and Tim walked out the
door with Byron and Dan.

Apparently when Scott said “man of the hour,”
he meant it literally. James shook his head in wonder. It was so
simple, and it worked for this crew. He just wished more people
operated this way.

The next
day, before heading to the airport, James went over his notes in
preparation for an important phone call. For a moment, he pondered
his three goals.

The first was to get all of the kids and any
cooperative young adults out safely. Second was to level that place
with the Tan family in it. This meant taking out Noi Rasa too.
Last, he needed to see what information he could extract from the
Tans’ system. He would possibly be able to leverage information on
prior clients before allowing justice to find them, too.

James had his own set of rules for life. One
of them was never to be in debt to anyone without a plan to pay
them back tenfold. This meant that before calling in a favor, he
tended to have a rather large bank of favors already rendered. He
knew he’d need a full squad to accomplish his three goals, but he
only trusted one individual to take on something like this.

James took a deep breath and hit the send
button on the phone.

“Hello, this is Major Ian Doyle,” came a
voice.

“Major, now? Last time we talked, you had
just made captain. Must be sleeping with the right people,” James
said.

“Son of a bitch, you have some timing!” the
major said in a boisterous voice. “How you doing, James? Damn, it’s
been a while.”

“I was just thinking the same. So what’s his
name?” James asked, laughing.

“Kiss my ass. You know damn well I don’t
swing my bat that way. But yeah, I just got this promotion last
week. And you’re right, last we talked you were calling to
congratulate me on captain. Knowing you, calling today isn’t a
coincidence, ya son of a bitch,” the major said.

James smiled and set the record straight. “In
all honesty, my friend, this
is
pure coincidence. And before
I do forget, congrats on the promotion. I’m sure it’s very well
deserved.”

“Well, aren’t you a sweet talker n’ that.”
The major typically was very good at hiding his origin from Western
Pennsylvania, but occasionally it slipped out as he spoke.

“How are your parents doing, and how is
Melanie?”

“Oh, Melanie is good. Enjoying work, but
we’re still having issues having a baby. Mom is doing all right.
Cancer still in remission, thank God. Dad is ornery as ever ‘cept
now with him retiring a month ago, he’s driving Mom up a wall. She
kicked him out of the house the other day and locked the door for
four hours.” Major Doyle started to laugh.

James was laughing too. “What? No she didn’t.
Why’d she do that?”

“Said he was getting on her nerves, so she
tricked him to go out for the mail and locked all the doors. You
know the old man. He bitched up a storm at the door through the
mail slot. Mom turned up the TV to drown him out, so he went in the
backyard, got out the chain saw, and cut down a tree.”