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“I’ll make you something to eat. What time are you leaving?”
“Tony is picking me up at two.”
She stopped walking and turned around. “Who’s Tony?”
“The driver.”
“The driver? Uh-huh, you do know I’ll be here when you leave?”
“Mom, it’s my job. Will it make you feel better if I have you on speaker phone the entire ride to the airport?” I teased.
“Yes.”
“Mom…really?”
________________
It was very late when I crawled into bed. I was exhausted and not sure if there’d be a chance for sleep on the flight. When I woke up at ten thirty, I brushed my teeth and headed down to the kitchen. I came around the corner and saw my mom sitting at the table. I coughed and she looked up. “Morning sunshine. What time did you finally go to sleep?”
“Four.”
“Want some coffee?”
“Yes, please.” I sat down and she placed a large white mug in front of me and kissed me on the forehead. After the first sip, I let out a deep sigh. “That’s good.”
“How about some eggs and toast?”
“Please. Thank you.” After breakfast, she helped me finish packing. I looked at the clock and it was one, and I needed to get dressed.
At one forty-five, the doorbell rang. I opened the door and swallowed. Standing in front of me was a bald, dark chocolate human wall with a beard, wearing a black suit. I swallowed hard and looked at my mother. She cocked her head and folded her arms in front of her chest. I knew that meant she’d be in the car behind me all the way to the airport.
I let Tony in and showed him where the bags were. It took him a couple of trips to load everything into the car. When he returned, he asked, “Are you ready?”
“Excuse me,” my mother jumped in, and Tony looked at her. “Exactly who are you?”
“I’m Mr. Marchant’s driver.” Tony looked more like his muscle.
“Is that all?” My mother’s follow up question.
“Yes. Miss Townsend, we need to leave.”
I hugged my mother. “Have a safe trip…call me.”
“I will.”
“Love you, baby.”
“Love you, mom.”
Phillippe
I took this job with the understanding that I had the full support of the board and the senior management. Now, I find out, that’s not true. The Senior Vice President of Facilities failed to inform me about the situation in Seattle. This whole thing has made me a little leery about the validity of his report.
Now on top of everything else I have to deal with, I have to relocate an office. How is it possible no one knew what was going on with that building?
This situation is just another example of how out of date the operations are. If the upper management had been communicating with each other, I’m sure someone would have picked up on the problem.
I’m grateful I was able to buy some time with the new owner. It meant forfeiting the lease buyout money, but I can live with that. What I couldn’t live with was the twenty million in lost revenue if the facility had to shut down. I’m not exactly pleased with the temporary location, but that’s why it’s temporary. At least I can get everything moved and only lose about three million.
