Texas Gal-Chapter Chapter Fifty-Three Jeff City By C.Sprite Posted By Permission By Stanman63! Synopsis:David is a young boy who is forcibly introduced to cross-dressing by his sisters, and their friends. The experience quickly changes his life, as he discovers what has been missing in his short life, for so long.

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Following the meeting on Tuesday, we returned to the ranch. Over the years there had been many times when I was bored and anxious to return to the ranch so that I could be with my family, but this was the first time I could remember that I would have been content to go anywhere, simply to get away from Brandon. Once home, I wanted to play 'ostrich' for a few weeks, sticking my head in the sand as often as possible so I could try to forget about the situation in Vermont. But that wasn't possible, so on Wednesday morning I said goodbye to my family and headed for JC when the company jet arrived to pick me up. The trip to JC was just an hour and half from home. That was the one personal advantage to having our headquarters located there.

A pool car from the plant had been left at the airport for me, with the keys being left in the FBO's (Fixed Base Operator) office. The woman at the counter hesitated when I requested them. She had been told that the company president of Piermont would be picking up the keys and she looked around to see who else was with me. It was refreshing to encounter someone who didn't know who I was. In the limited circles in which I traveled, it didn't happen often. I told her to call either the plant or the office building and ask for a description of me if she didn't believe that I was the president of Piermont. She finally turned over the keys after disappearing into a back office for a few seconds and checking with her supervisor. I didn't get angry because I appreciated that they were careful not to give out the keys to just anyone.

There were two cars with the Piermont logo in the lot. The last three digits of the license plate matched the numbers on the key tag and I had no trouble with the vehicle. The other vehicle was for Bob and Bill, who would be joining me here sometime today. Earl had returned home after I left and I was fully capable of driving myself around JC for a few days rather than having him drive an all-nighter to get to Missouri in time to meet me.

The guard in the lobby was the same one whom I had met when I stopped there to meet the courier a few weeks earlier. I hadn't had a chance to check the personnel files to learn his name, but I promised myself to do just that as he came to attention and saluted me as I entered the lobby. I would have felt pretty silly returning the salute, so I said 'Good Morning', smiled, and nodded as I walked towards the elevators.

I guess that the guard in the lobby called upstairs because Ellen DeFranco, the executive floor receptionist was standing at the elevator door when it opened at the fourth floor.

"Good morning, Miss Drake," she said. "Welcome back to Jefferson City."

"Thank you, Ellen. You've heard the news, I'm sure, that this is to be the new headquarters of Piermont Paper?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Mr. Phillips called yesterday. Everyone here is very excited."

"I wish it were happening under different circumstances. I'm as distressed over the loss of so many jobs in Brandon as I was when we had to furlough the headquarters employees of Mo Paper."

"Yes, ma'am. That does diminish our excitement a little, but I know a few former employees who will be delighted if offered the chance to return to work here."

"Mr. Phillips will be contacting former personnel first once we determine our needs."

"Yes, Ma'am. Can I get you anything? A cup of black tea, with milk and honey, perhaps?"

"That would be nice. Thank you."

"I'll bring it to your office. You remember the way?"

"Yes, thank you."

I followed the same corridors to the office that we had followed the last time I was here. The way was lined with doors of solid Oak stained to a Light Honey finish, surrounded in frames and trim coated with black, glossy paint. Thick and thin accent lines in various colors traveled along the wall near the ceilings, in places dropping to the floor at irregular angles. My association with the lumber business had given me an appreciation of wood products, and an understanding of quality wood material. Roy Blu certainly hadn't spared any expense in the executive suite and the wood products in evidence were made from the best product available. The carpeting was a royal blue, and seemed to get deeper and thicker the closer I got to my office. I wondered if the color had been selected because of Roy's name. Whether it had or not, the color schemes of the walls, carpeting, and accents worked perfectly.

When I came to the gleaming, raised brass letters that spelled 'President,' I knew that I was at last at my office. It seemed farther than it had the last time, perhaps because I walked slower to appreciate the construction. My outer office was just as I remembered it, with eight visitor chairs just waiting for occupants. I had never had to make a visitor wait for me at Brandon, perhaps because I had so few and because I was there so seldom.

The inner office was also just as I remembered it. Twice the size of my office in Brandon, it seemed large enough to get lost in. I had checked out the outside deck on my last visit, and I took the time now to examine my bathroom and small kitchen. The conference table could seat sixteen comfortably in the heavily padded swivel chairs waiting there, and probably double that number if normal straight-backed chairs were substituted.

In the past I had spent so much time sitting and laying on the sofa in my office that the informal area of my office tugged at me to inspect the sofa and chairs. I know that some people love leather sofas, and they are exceedingly easy to clean and maintain, but I find them generally uncomfortable. The black leather sofa in my new office was top quality, but I determined to either replace it or supplement it with a comfortable fabric sofa at my earliest opportunity. There was certainly room to add another sofa, or even six more if I so chose.

A knock at the door signaled Ellen's arrival and I said loudly, "Come in." Ellen entered, looked around to identify where I was, then brought the tea to where I was sitting. As she placed the tea on my coffee table I wondered how long it would be before the surface was so covered in trade magazines that a cup wouldn't fit there.

"Is there anything else you need, Miss Drake?"

"Not right now, Ellen. Thank you. If Mr. Warren and Mr. Marshall arrive before I finish my tea, please send them in. After that I'm going to take a walk through the building starting with the basement."

"Yes, Ma'am. I'll tell them when I see them."

"Thank you, Ellen."

My tea had cooled considerably by the time I finished it. I'd been hoping that Bob and Bill would arrive before I went exploring, so I'd sipped at it very slowly. I'd spent the time thinking about the problems of getting the new headquarters on line.

Ellen smiled at me in acknowledgment as I arrived at the elevator bank and pressed the button to summon a car. As the door opened, I moved towards the car and almost bumped into Bob Warren as he was coming out.

"Bob, welcome to JC," I said before noticing that Bill Marshall and Gerard Deveraux were about to follow him out. "Hi Bill. Hi Ger. Welcome all."

"Hey, greeting is my job," Gerard said smiling. "This is my region after all."

"Hi boss," Bob said, "Ger decided to come out with us in the G1 and then fly up to Owosso tonight or tomorrow," Bob said.

"Great. I was just about to take a tour, starting with the basement. Did you want to grab a coffee first?"

"No, I'm good," Bob said. "We must have drank three pots on the way out. Having the galley immediately behind the cockpit keeps the aroma of freshly brewed coffee uppermost in your mind when you're flying." Smiling he added, "Bill kept my mug filled the whole way, so I was able to satisfy my caffeine addiction."

"We've lived on the stuff since Saturday morning," Bill said. "I'll probably sleep for a week when I wean myself back to my normal consumption."

"Then you'd better stay as you are until this headquarters operation is established," Gerard said jokingly.

"God, by then I'll have a case of coffee nerves that will keep me shaking like San Francisco."

"I hope that it won't take that long," I said. "I'm counting on being up and running within thirty days."

"It all hinges on IBM and their delivery of the new computer system. And their ability to get it set up quickly so they can turn it over to our people. I contacted them yesterday and told them to ship the new system to us here."

"Has Stan given any indication of his plans?" I asked.

"He'll definitely come here to work until we're set up," bob said. "We'd be in a real mess if we lost our DP Director before we got the department back up and running. As to whether he'll relocate, he hadn't decided before we left. He might want to see if he likes the city before he makes a commitment. He's unmarried and rents his house, so there's nothing to keep him in Brandon now."

"That's fair," I said. "Under the circumstances, I'd want to see where I'll be spending a good part of my life before I moved there. Shall we begin our tour?"

Descending to the basement, we stepped out into near darkness. Other than the light provided by the elevator car, just one dim light, reminiscent of emergency lighting, lit the corridor near the car opening. Fortunately, Gerard had been down here before and he managed to locate the light switch quickly. Florescent lights in the corridor began to flicker on until it was as well illuminated as the hallways on the top floor. A long, wide corridor stretched out in front of us, while another led to the left and a third led to the right.

The corridor to the left eventually brought us to a door marked 'Power Room - No Admittance.' It was locked, but Gerard, as Midwest Regional VP, had picked up a set of master keys during his last visit.

Inside, the monotonous hum of heavy-duty machinery filled the room. We looked around the enormous room briefly but there wasn't much to see except pipes, boilers, and control panels. Another door near the back led to an electrical distribution room. Again the room was filled with a hum, but this time it was the sound of power transmission.

As we retraced our steps back up the corridor, I stopped at the only interruption in the wall between the elevators and the power room.

"Is this another elevator?" I asked Gerard, while pointing at polished steel doors.

"Yes," he said. "It's a freight elevator."

Pulling out his keys he inserted one into a small panel that would normally contain a button for the elevator and turned it. The door opened to reveal a darkened interior. As he stepped inside and flicked a switch on the car operation panel, the interior lights came on. The car was huge. Where the entrance doors to the regular elevators were perhaps three-and-a-half-feet wide when open, the entrance to this elevator had to be six-feet wide at least. And the interior looked to measure eight-feet square with a ceiling height of ten-feet.

"After a half-hour of non-use, it comes here to the basement where it sits until summoned by someone with a key. The shaft is close to the loading dock at the rear of the building, so that makes it easy to move furniture or equipment in and out."

My curiosity about the doors satisfied, we continued up the corridor past the two passenger elevators until we encountered a door marked 'Records Storage.' It was locked, but again Gerard was able to open the door with his keys. Inside, we found a large room with several empty, heavy-duty utility tables. On the far wall was what looked like a bank vault door. If it had been locked, we couldn't have opened it with dynamite, but fortunately all Gerard had to do was turn a large wheel that looked like something from a ship, a large ship. The action retracted steel bars inside the door that locked the door and sealed it tight. Gerard and Bill then tugged on it until it swung away to reveal a cavernous storage room that was virtually empty. The concrete ceiling in the room, supported by massive concrete posts, had to be twelve feet high, and the far wall had to be a hundred feet from where we stood at the entrance. Along each wall on both left and right sides of the storeroom were half a dozen steel doors. We discovered that each led to another storage room, albeit considerably smaller than the main room. They were probably designed to further separate records for different departments or sections. Only one of the smaller rooms, whose steel entry door was locked but yielded to Gerard's keys, contained file cabinets and cardboard boxes of records on steel shelving.

"This doesn't make sense," I said. "The door where we entered appears to sit at the point where the building's foundation should end. So this area would seem to be outside the building's framework."

"That struck me as odd also," Gerard said, "when I first saw it, so I checked the building plans with the senior engineer over at the plant. This storage area is completely outside the building foundation. It actually sits under the grounds and parking lot in front of the building. That's the reason for the massive concrete columns. If the building here caught fire and collapsed, it still wouldn't endanger the records storage. You'd simply have to dig down and break through the concrete roof. Of course, it will probably take you a week to get through this roof unless you use dynamite."

"Good God," Bob said, "what was Roy Blu afraid of, a nuclear attack? Nobody builds like this, except maybe the government– or perhaps the casinos in Las Vegas– or the big banks in New York."

"One thing is for sure," I said. "We needn't ever worry about losing anything stored in this area to fire."

"If the Russians ever attack," Bill said grinning, "I'm going to find a reason to work late down here. Maybe we should fill one of the smaller rooms with food and water."

"The trouble is, the door locks on the wrong side for this to make a good fallout shelter," Bob said, getting into the spirit of the banter.

"It doesn't have to be locked," Gerard said. "You can just pull it closed and seal it. There's a wheel on the inside that will engage or disengage the steel bars in the door. And if the door is locked from the outside, you can still get out."

"But why is this area so large?" I asked. "You could store the records of a thousand companies in here."

"Roy Blu certainly wasn't stingy with space," Gerard said. "He envisioned this as his world headquarters, so perhaps he wanted to impress visitors. He did seem to go overboard in everything associated with this building. Look at your office size; you could hold a small convention in there. Bob's office is about the size of your office in Brandon, and the other offices sizes are definitely– generous. Or perhaps Blu simply wanted to insure that he only built his headquarters once as his company grew."

"Impress visitors?" I said. "With what, his waste? I don't need an office as large as our aircraft hanger in Brandon. And this storage room, as magnificent an engineering feat as it is, will remain mostly empty as far as I can see." I paused to sigh. "Okay, we've determined that we have a wonderful fallout shelter. Let's look at the rest of the space in the basement."

"The only thing left is the DP department," Gerard said. "There's the computer room, a data entry room, an office section for the programming staff and operations managers, and rooms for forms storage and peripheral operations."

"How is it for space compared to what we had at Brandon?" I asked.

"No comparison. The space here is at least three times what we had before."

"Figures," Bill said.

"He definitely had grandiose plans," Bob said. "But he was just a bit short on sagacity. That's why four of the paper plants we acquired in the Mo Paper buyout are still shuttered. I can't imagine what he was thinking when he purchased them. I wonder what he paid for them. Whatever it was, it was too much."

"Since we bought the company, and not just the assets," Bill said. "I'm sure that information is contained in our records. Remind me once we're set up again and I can look it up for you."

Since it had never been utilized, the data processing area was pristine. Gerard hadn't exaggerated when he said it was at least three times the space we'd had in Brandon. I would have put it closer to four. It was another example of Roy Blu allocating more space than was necessary, or perhaps it was simply poor planning. My understanding of computers was that they continued to shrink in size with each new generation. I had seen pictures of the first computers, built for the military in the 1940's. Their vacuum tube processors, far less powerful than the average computers of today, consumed entire buildings. Subsequent generations shrank the size tremendously, while increasing capability. The invention of transistors allowed a giant leap forward, and the current crop of computers, with solid logic technology made the first transistor models as outdated as dinosaurs. The way things were goings, people would probably be carrying computers around in their pockets or pocketbooks one day.

After finishing in the basement, we continued our tour with the first floor. In one office section we discovered a crew of salespeople busy at work on the telephones. We received a few surreptitious glances as we walked through their area, but no one challenged our right to be there.

In the Accounting office on the second floor, half a dozen people were industriously working in one small section. They were the people handling the paperwork for the JC plant. Roy, generous to a fault with space in the office building, hadn't allocated any at the plant for the required accounting effort. Messengers carried a steady stream of paperwork back and forth between the plant and the headquarters building as employee timekeeping records, product orders, shipping manifests, and packing slips were prepared by the small staff here. We encountered another vault door, but this one only secured a fireproof room about ten by fifteen-feet in size. It was for overnight, secure storage of documents currently being processed, and for bookkeeping items used daily, such as ledgers.

The third floor, devoted entirely to office space, was completely deserted. Fortunately for us, it was also completely furnished and ready for use. We finished our tour on the top floor, and I had an opportunity to see all the offices reserved for the top executives. Roy had remained true to his generous use of space there. The office for the Executive VP was, as Gerard had said earlier, as large as my office in Brandon had been. It was located in the Southeast corner of the building, and while only half the size of my new office, it had an outside deck comparable to mine. In Brandon, the office of the Executive VP was directly next to mine, so Bob could pop over in a few seconds. Here, the walk through a maze of corridors would probably take several minutes.

If Roy Blu's intention in building this headquarters had been to impress visitors, I would say that he succeeded. I was certainly impressed by the size and grandeur of the building. But it was probably one more reason why his small company foundered. In his defense, I'm sure it was designed, and construction begun, while he was still riding high from Appalachian Paper's downward slide towards oblivion. I felt a momentary twinge of guilt for being the one who'd absorbed his small empire, but it passed quickly. I hadn't set out to do him in, as South-Core had, just as I hadn't created the system that perpetuates the business jungle law of 'eat or be eaten.' It was true that, as with the situation in the Northwest, I had taken advantage of another's economic woes, but I hadn't intentionally caused the woes. I merely beat someone else to a casualty whose doom was assured in the international economic game. It was just Parker Bros. Monopoly, played on a global scale. But in this game, real lives were dramatically affected.

Ellen brought a freshly brewed pot of coffee to my office while I heated water for tea in a small tea kettle I discovered in my kitchen. She also provided the teabags, milk, and honey. I found a little sugar and several coffee mugs in a kitchen cabinet.

During the hours that followed we allocated space to each headquarters department. The Accounting Department received the entire second floor, even though it consisted of far more space than they required. Entire sections would be sealed off until needed. Nearly two thirds of the third floor would remain vacant and sealed, even after the Purchasing and Personnel Departments moved in. Space was allocated for Matt's Design Department, but I didn't know if they'd ever occupy it. Since we had so much room, we even assigned offices on the top floor to our Regional VPs for those times when they were at the headquarters building.

Before Ellen left for the evening, I asked her to make reservations at a nearby hotel that she recommended. When we finally wrapped up our discussion we drove to a 'surf and turf' restaurant Gerard had visited previously. The food was excellent.

On Thursday I contacted a realtor who specialized in rentals and arranged for him to send me a list of available furnished apartments in the area. I also collected information from local hotels and motels and negotiated rates if we leased blocks of rooms. Bob arranged with Ian for the loan of a few people from the paper plant. They moved desks and office equipment from the third floor to the previously empty Data Processing Department. He also had an engineer from the plant verify that electrical service would meet the demands of the new IBM mainframe and ordered a new data safe. The one at Brandon wouldn't be of any use if it had successfully resisted the effects of the fire, and certainly couldn't be used if it hadn't. Bill spent his day laying out floor plans for accounting so that people were grouped according to their job functions. Gerard took an early flight to Owosso. I don't know where the day went, but the hours slipped away.

On Friday, Bob and I drove around the city to check out the available hotel/motel establishments. A few, the ones that looked like the kind of places that rent rooms by the half-hour, were immediately crossed off my list. The ones that passed the drive-by test were subjected to a room inspection. If they passed, they were rated on a sliding scale from livable to preferable. I still didn't know how many of our people were coming, but we had to be prepared. After lunch we drove around and looked at the neighborhoods where furnished apartments were available, striking off those that didn't meet my criteria. The effort helped give me a good 'feel' for the city. I had Bob stop at a former apartment complex that had just 'gone condo' when I saw an 'open house' sign in front. They were selling studio, single bedroom, and double bedroom units. The double units each had two baths, with both bedrooms listed as 'master' size. The complex was located in a nice neighborhood, had plenty of underground parking, an indoor pool, and a sauna. Bob and I toured the open apartment, spoke briefly with the sales agent, and took offered literature which listed the units still available and the condo rules. The price on the double units was $45,999. It seemed a bit stiff, but I had to remind myself that it was 1972 now and I couldn't expect to find 1960's prices.

Bill spent his day working alongside the people from the plant that had worked with Bob on Thursday. They reconfigured the desks and office equipment on the second floor according to Bob's prepared floor plans.

On Saturday, Bob, Bill, and I were discussing moving arrangements when Ben called from Brandon. I put the phone on speaker so we could all talk.

"Good morning, Ben," I said. "How's it going in Brandon?"

"We're making progress, DD. The arson team completed their work yesterday and turned the building back over to us so we can begin recovery of our data files. There's a huge crane in the parking lot that will be used retrieve the fireproof file cabinets from outside your old office. The top floor is too badly damaged to get the cabinets out in the normal fashion, so John hired this crane from the local junkyard. It has a huge electromagnet that will literally lift the file cabinets out through holes in the roof, once they're widened a little. Then it will lift the data safe out of the data processing department once holes are made that give it a clear upward path."

"What about the files in the vaults?"

"Greg Lissum, our Comptroller, has had people working inside the upstairs vault all morning. The door was jammed, but John and his guys got it open somehow. Then Greg took over. To reduce contamination, the people in the vault are sealing everything in plastic boxes before bringing it out. Greg's in the vault, personally supervising the work to make sure that everything is itemized, stored properly, and sealed with tamper proof tape. As the boxes come down, they're being placed into a truck that will leave for JC as soon as it's loaded. John wants to clear both vaults before they start weakening the structure further to remove the file cabinets and data safe. The basement vault appears to have suffered little damage, but he wants to shore up the hallway ceiling before they begin work down there. We want to make sure that nobody is injured by falling debris."

"Yes, definitely. Safety first. We can wait an extra day or two."

"Actually, we can't. There's a hurricane coming up from Florida. It's expected to hit in two or three days. We have to get the stuff out as soon as possible because parts of the structure might collapse in high winds and even get flooded out since it's open to the elements."

"Then we'll pump it out and clear the rubble out after the hurricane passes. No one was seriously hurt in the fire and I don't want anyone hurt in the data recovery effort. Tell John I said 'safety first.'"

"Okay, boss. Safety first."

"Ben, have you got a list of the people that plan to relocate?"

"Uh, yeah, but it's a short one. Only six people have signed up to move to JC."

"Six? Just six out of a hundred-twenty-eight?"

"That's it so far."

"Good lord," I said. "I'm almost afraid to ask who signed up. Please tell me that it's not just the cleaning crew and cafeteria workers."

Ben chuckled. "No, we got lucky. Our DP Director, Stan Clark, is one, and Greg Lissum is another. It makes sense because neither man will find a comparable job in this area with headquarters gone, and so will have to move anyway. The others are two accounts clerks, a data entry clerk, and your executive suite receptionist, Nancy Pollack. All valuable members of the team."

I felt a little better than I had a minute earlier, but only a little. Six people out of a hundred-twenty-eight wasn't a very good average, but asking people to overturn their lives and move a thousand miles from home with less than three days notice was a bit much to expect.

"Yes, you're right. At least we'll have a solid core from which we can begin to rebuild our headquarters staff."

"I do have some good news. I signed up thirty-three people from those who expressed interest in temporary employment in JC. As we discussed, I didn't accept any receptionists or secretaries unless they had special involvement with our systems that make their regular skills more unique and valuable. Most of the temp people coming to JC are accounting clerks. With this help we should be able to reconstruct everything and get the systems rolling again. If we can infuse some new workers in with them, we'll be in decent shape when the Brandon group complete their temp assignments and return home."

"Yes, that is good news."

"When do you want them to arrive?"

"The data processing people aren't needed until the equipment arrives from IBM. Everyone else is needed as soon as possible. From what you've said, it sounds like we'll have the files from the vaults in a couple of days, and we should start receiving new paperwork from the plants on Monday. Bob said that he notified the post office to forward all mail here, so we'll need people pretty quick now."

"Okay, I'll make arrangements to send them out on a Tuesday flight. A number of them want to drive out so they have a car available. I've agreed to give them mileage reimbursement, up to the cost of a airline ticket. I'll telex you a list on Monday with the names of who to expect. Have you arranged for housing?"

"Bob and I spent yesterday working on that problem. Since we didn't know who or even how many would be coming, we didn't finalize any arrangements. We'll do that Monday, once we have your list."

"Sounds good. As soon as I have access to the files in the vaults I can begin contacting workers furloughed after we bought Mo Paper to see if they're interested in returning to work for Piermont. If they are, I'll set up interviews. If not, I'll place ads in the local papers and advise employment agencies that we're hiring."

"Great. Good work, Ben. We'll look forward to seeing you out here next week?"

"Okay, DD. Have a good weekend and don't work the entire time. You'll need stamina for next week when you get deluged with people who have to be settled into an unfamiliar city."

"Okay, Ben. You'd better get some rest also. We don't want you getting sick on us. We need you too badly right now."

"Right, boss. See you next week."

"Well, some good news and some not so good," I said to Bob and Bill as I hung up the phone.

"It's going to be a real chore training new people to handle all our systems," Bill said. "We've had enough experience retraining people to use our reporting systems when we've acquired new plants to know how badly people can screw up even the simplest forms. The people we had working for us at Brandon were great at detecting errors in submitted data. We're going to have to set up some additional data checks for a while, to lessen the errors that slip past new people during this transition."

"I'm a little disappointed that we only have six people relocating," I said. "I was hoping that we'd get at least ten percent of the hundred-thirty-eight."

"We may get more," Bob said, "once they have a chance to see the city. I've found myself warming to it more each day."

"Have you made a decision yourself?" I asked. Bill knew what I meant so I didn't explain.

"I'm ready," Bob said, "but I told my wife it's up to her. I've loved this job, and I'd hate to give it up, but I can't be selfish. My wife is weighing all the input, from both of us and from the kids. Naturally, the kids don't want to move, but we have to consider that they'll begin leaving the nest in a few years as they head off to college. And Jeff City definitely offers them better educational opportunities as they move into high school. The Brandon schools are good, but the smaller population there limits what coursework the high school can offer."

"Okay, Bob," I said. "I'm not going to push you. You know how much I'd like you stay on as my Executive VP, but I understand what you're going through on the home front."

"Thanks, boss."

"Okay, so we can expect the data from the vaults early this coming week. What do we do with it?"

"The files from the basement vault can go straight into our basement vault here," Bill said. "We just have to verify that everything arrived, that no tampering took place during the trip, and then organize it in one of the storage rooms down there. The files from the upstairs vault will also be checked, first for tampering, and then for completeness. Then it can be spread out and assigned to the people who normally handle it so we can begin processing. At the same time, we'll have new material arriving by mail and messenger. That will enter the regular work flow. The bottleneck will be data processing. As soon as we have data entry people we can send our data for keypunch and verification, but then the cards decks will sit there until the computer is up."

"Yes, I know," I said.

"Our IBM sales rep wanted me to upgrade our system," Bob said. "Since we're getting emergency positioning in the delivery queue, we could get the newest hardware now, rather than waiting for a normal delivery position. But I was afraid that there might be some compatibility problems with new hardware, so I opted to get an almost exact replacement for what we had."

"Almost?"

"I ordered a high speed printer to replace the slower unit we had. It's shouldn't affect the system adversely, and we'll get substantially faster throughput."

"Have we outgrown our system?"

"Not yet, but we're heading in that direction. The 360 series is incredibly slow compared to the new 370 systems. The unit we'll be getting is actually a refurbished computer, formerly leased by a customer who upgraded. They no longer produce the older models."

"You made the right decision. We can't change horses in mid-stream. If we need a system upgrade, order the new system to establish a delivery position. We'll be back on track long before we have to face compatibility issues that could cause processing delays. The computer room is so large that we can run two systems simultaneously until we're sure that the new system is as dependable as the old."

"That room is large enough to place four systems," Bill said.

"Let's take a planned conversion into consideration when we establish positioning of the hardware," I said. "Leave the most accessible space open for the new machine. The one we'll be getting now can go into the back of the area."

"Right," Bob said.

"Well, I can't think of anything else we can do before we have the files, equipment, and people to do it," I said.

"There is something that occurred to me while Ben was on the phone," Bob said.

"What's that?"

"He said that Nancy Pollack has declared her intention to relocate."

"Yes. Do you have a problem with Nancy?"

"Not at all. It's just that we already have an executive suite receptionist with Ellen DeFranco. We don't need two."

"That shouldn't be a problem, Bob. Pick one to be your secretary. Such a position has to be considered an upgrade so the individual shouldn't be displeased. And whomever you pick can sub for the executive suite receptionist when the desk would be uncovered."

"Both have good personalities. Which has the better secretarial skills?"

"I know that Nancy is skilled. I don't know if Ellen would make a good Executive VP secretary. Pull her personnel file and check her background. When you've made a decision, offer the job to the candidate. Unless you'd rather not have either one."

"Either would be acceptable, if their work is accurate."

"Nancy is fast and exceptionally accurate. I haven't had occasion to use Ellen for secretarial work. Why not give her some typing to do on Monday and see how she fares?"

"Okay, I will. I have some notes on the fire. I'll give them to her to type up for me."

"Uh, perhaps you could find something else."

"Why?"

"We haven't yet acknowledged that the fire was arson. I'd like to keep the water cooler talk about it to a minimum for a while."

"If you say so, boss. But this could provide us with a good opportunity to see if she can keep information private. The fact that arson is suspected as the cause will be released soon anyway."

After rethinking my position I said, "Okay, Bob, let her do it. But to be perfectly fair to her, remind her that any information she overhears or reads in the executive suite must remain in the executive suite. This information would make juicy gossip, so if it then makes the rounds before the fire officials release it, we'll know that we can't trust her in the future."

Sunday afternoon found us back at the office building. We hadn't scheduled a work session; it just wound up that way. I was working at my desk when the phone rang.

"Hi boss," I heard Bob say. "I figured you'd be in your office. Busy?"

"Just working on plans to house our people when they arrive this week," I said.

"Mind if I drop over?"

"Never."

"Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes."

I had time to prepare another cup of tea before Bob arrived. A light knock at the door preceded his entrance.

"Good afternoon," he said as he entered. "Gorgeous day, isn't it. It's the kind of day that makes you forget all your troubles."

"It is nice," I agreed as I glanced out the window. "Want to sit on the deck?"

"Sure."

I picked up my tea and walked to the glass door, but I couldn't get the latch to release one handed. I stepped back and let Bob do it. He was carrying his coffee mug, but he had better luck. There was a hexagonal wrought iron table on the deck, painted white, with six wrought iron chairs. I guess that Roy Blu used it for small conferences. The chairs each had thick, comfortable cushions. I set my tea down on the glass surface of the table and took a seat that allowed me to look out at the horizon. Bob took a seat two places over that allowed him an excellent view as well. Since the deck was on the corner of the building, there really wasn't a bad seat at the table. Even one that faced the building offered a good view with just a turn of the head to the left or right.

"Greg Lissum called Bill this morning," Bob said. "Once they got the basement vault open they worked non-stop with rotating groups until everything was out. The first truck from Brandon should arrive tomorrow. It's coming straight through, with a two car escort. The stuff loaded last came from the basement vault, so we have to get through that to get to the current stuff, but that's no problem. We want to get it into the basement vault here as soon as possible anyway. Greg will be flying in tonight so that he's ready to direct the unloading whenever the truck arrives. I've made arrangements for a second guard to be on duty here whenever the building is open. Because the staffing was so light, all deliveries came in the front, but now that we'll have a lot of people coming and going, deliveries, other than hand carried materials, will only be accepted at the loading dock at the rear of the building. We'll need a second guard so we don't have to pull the one away from the front lobby. It'll mean one less guard at the plant until Ben can replace him, but they always have at least three on duty anyway."

"You said 'the first truck from Brandon' is arriving tomorrow. How many trucks are coming?"

"Just two. The first one is a tractor trailer and only has records. The second is a long single body. It has files loaded in the front, and is carrying your fireproof file cabinets and the data safe from the Data Processing Department at the back. John decided to leave the safe intact during the shipment to guarantee the protection of the contents. We won't open it until the new safe arrives and is placed in our new DP area in the basement. There's an area on the loading dock inside the building where we can put it until then. It only has a five by five footprint, so it won't be in the way."

"Good. I'll rest a lot easier when our files arrive and are safely stored in the vaults here. I'm pleased that you and Bill were so farsighted as to establish proper disaster recovery procedures. We'd be in fine mess if the data was lost."

"I just hope that everyone followed the procedures," Bob said. "We won't know for sure until we actually get things flowing again and have a chance to examine the information."

"True. The human factor is always the weakest link. Maybe we should have a disaster preparedness inspection a couple of times a year, to make sure that people are following procedures. I realize that this new building is fully sprinkled, and is safe from any flood short of the one that Noah endured, but other things can happen, such as tornados, earthquakes, etc."

"That sounds like a good idea. It might help keep people who think we're being overly concerned, from taking shortcuts."

"I'll plan on making that proposal at our first meeting after the present crisis is dealt with," I said.

"Uh, I spoke with Helen last night. Actually, we were on the phone for about an hour."

"Problems at home? Are the kids okay?"

"Everyone's fine. We were discussing whether to stay in Brandon, or come to JC."

I nodded, but didn't reply.

"Neither of us really wants to move. We've been happy in Brandon. But in talking I realized that a lot of my happiness is because of the role I've had in helping to shape the company's future. If I stepped down, I'd feel less involved, and subsequently feel less happy. The weather is a bit milder here than in Brandon, and that's a consideration, but we'd be further from my family. I think you know that I'm originally from Maine. Lastly, my wife dislikes city life and prefers a smaller community, so Brandon has been ideal. But JC is nothing like Portland. It's a city, but doesn't have that big city feel or attitude."

Again I just nodded, allowing Bob the time to explain his decision, whatever that decision was.

"So we've weighed all the pros and cons and come to a decision. Helen will call the realtor we brought the house through and list it for sale tomorrow. I'll get an apartment until we can find something here."

I smiled. "I'm glad," I said. "It just wouldn't be the same without you. I feel a lot better now, knowing that you, Bill, Ben, and Tom will be remaining with the company and continuing on at headquarters."

"It's too bad that Matt and John won't be here."

"Have you heard something?" I asked.

"No, I'm just assuming that they won't move. They have far closer ties to Brandon than the rest of us. I'd be very surprised if they decided to move."

"You're probably right. From a personal standpoint, Brandon is a terrific area, but from a corporate standpoint, there are some minor compensations by having our headquarters more centrally located in the continental U.S. Ron is two-hundred miles closer and Gerard will save almost a hundred when he comes here. Jerry is now eight-hundred miles closer to headquarters, so he'll be able to attend our meetings at last once a month now instead of every two months."

"There are other compensations as well."

"Are there?"

"Yes, most definitely," Bob said. "We had about outgrown the old headquarters building, and would have had to consider either an addition or a new building. Now we have enough room for many years of growth. This building is ideally suited to being our world headquarters without any hint that we'll suffer from lack of space."

"That's true."

"And it's not only more centrally located in the U.S., it's near the most congested area of Piermont's industrial base. In the event of a serious problem, I can travel to any plant in the Midwest or Southeast Regions in far less time than if we were still in Brandon."

"Also true. But losing most of our headquarters staff and having to reconstruct our accounting systems is a stiff price to pay for the gains; not to mention the disruptions in the lives of our people."

"Yes. If the intention of the arsonist was to disrupt our operation, and quell your acquiring additional resources for a while, then I'd say he succeeded. If the intention was only to create a major headache for us, then I'd also have to say he succeeded. If it was anything else, then I have to reserve judgment until I know who did it and why."

"Based on the order of your surmises," I said, "it would appear that you believe either South-Core or Alliance was behind the deed."

"Well, it was the one-year anniversary of your last problem with South-Core. Maybe it was their way of celebrating the last time they attacked us."

"If it had to be one of them, my money would be on Alliance. South-Core still hasn't fully recovered from the last drubbing I gave them."

"Which might be all the more incentive for them to strike at you and us now, when people would be less likely to suspect them. We know that they certainly haven't forgotten or forgiven."

"Perhaps," I said.

"But you think Bobby De Forest is behind it?"

"I wouldn't actually go that far. But, strictly within the confines of the parameters you established, I would have to answer affirmatively. He has to be upset that we acquired fifteen paper plants he was intent on gobbling up at– forgive the expression, fire-sale prices."

"But would he go so far as to become involved in a serious crime to assuage a bruised ego?"

"Mrs. Moore has told me that some people, when they reach the level that he has, begin to believe that the law can't touch them. They believe that their lawyers can protect from any allegations, or even criminal charges. He wouldn't be the first to resort to illegal activities when he couldn't legally acquire what he felt was his due. Maybe he believed that we'd suffer financial difficulties that would force us to divest ourselves of properties that are, at best– marginal."

"Assuming that he was behind it, do you think that he'll be satisfied, or should we expect more troubles?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," I said. "Was this intended as a single attack, or is there an entire campaign? I think we should hope for the former, but be prepared for the latter."

[*][*][*]

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End Of Chapter Fifty-Three

To Be Continued In Chapter Fifty-Four