Ch. 18 (cont.)
Ann arrived at work as she had planned,
fashionably late as she called it as she hurried to her office with already a
hundred things to do. First off , and before she forgot she slipped into her private bathroom and slipped on the new
pantyhose , there she said to herself. ‘Flawless.’ Ann’s secretary came into
her office and announced her ten o’clock appointment was there. Ann gazed at
herself in the mirror and felt that Lee was a lucky man to have such a great
looking woman for her age.
She hurried out to her desk as this short
pudgy non assuming man was led into her office and sat before her desk. Ann
asked “Well how s the investigation going? “
The man’s voice was squeaky but matched his
demeanor as he replied, “Well Ann , Leann still lives where she did and appears
to not have anyone in her life, except her kids who visit frequently. She still
works for the same place she did before.”
“It also appears as though she may have a
slight damage to her nerves on her right side of her face but one could hardly
tell it if I had not known. You asked me to find out if she was still around
and I did and I believe that completes our agreement and if you will pay, I
will be glad to get out of your hair.” The man said
Ann replied, “No problem, I can handle it
from here , my secretary will have a check for your full expenses and also a
small retainer to forever keep quiet about all this . It is really none of my
business and less of yours. Let’s keep it that way. “And at that ,Ann ushered
the man to her secretary as she took on the next big thing of the day and that
was the final acquisition of Gunnite Corp. which was expected to commence at noon
this day here in the office conference
room where the acquiring party was expecting Ann and her brothers to sign off
on everything , and accept their initial payment of an electronic transfer of
funds to each family member , to finalize
the sale .Then it was time to finish cleaning out her office and some of the
office staff planned to meet with Lee and her later for a party to say goodbye to Ann and
wish her luck in her new adventures.
Ann went around the office collecting mementos
the Gunnite Corporation had collected over the years. Pictures of her Dad and mom
standing behind a cement mixer as they started to pour the foundation of the
office building, another picture of the
plane as it looked when it crashed in West Virginia that took her parents’ lives, all of these original pictures and plaques
for jobs well done or superior quality were being removed and stored .
Some of the employees who had been with
the Gunnite Corporation were retiring and accepted the generous buyout of their
paid pensions and chose early retirement rather than take a chance with the new
management. Ann could understand why they may be hesitant to not stay with the
new owners. Yet others were hoping that the newly opened positions might lead
to promotion from within and so stayed to see where the chips may fall so to
speak.
The
new owners’ top management officials had been in the office for the last 3
weeks and was expected to take over all operations at one o’clock assuming all papers
would be signed by then. This arrangement of women and men had been a thorn in
her side and to say a source of irritation as they would constantly pry Ann for
information on who the contract people were at various businesses owned by the Gunnite
Corporation. How efficient these people were at their jobs, and at same time
overburdening Ann with constant questions about this and that. The last couple
of days had been easier as it was now the vendors who supplied Gunnite as they
were most interested in and what type of agreement Gunnite had with each. It was
now eleven o’clock and Ann thought to herself, it will be all over soon.
Ann’s
brothers finally came out of their respective offices and held an impromptu nostalgia
trip with fellow employees , recanting tales of when they did this or that in
the milestones leading up to this day. This seemed to help the tense mood of
the employees knowing the uncertainty associated with what the new owners would
bring to them as they settled in to a period of readjustment after the takeover.
Finally around twelve and as if on cue the choreographed line of
lawyers and owners reps and new bosses paraded into the conference room and were
followed by Ann’s family lawyers and Ann’s brothers as the show finally looked
like it was about to start. Ann freshened herself and prepared to enter the
conference room and took a seat beside her brothers at the head of the long
table. A short speech by the lead lawyer, describing the instruments of
transfer prepared and already accepted by Ann’s family lawyers as well as a
description of the transfer of monies and how that would be executed to close the
deal. Basically a bank would be called and a transfer of money already agreed
to would be transferred electronically.
Papers were presented to Ann and her
brothers and soon the lawyers were assuring that the money transfers to all
accounts had went through the holding banks as agreed and now Ann was
unemployed and rich . She text-ed Lee and told him ‘all was well’, and of course
Lee as he looked up from his cell phone knew what she was talking about as he
had been expecting that text for some time. He took the grinder he had laid
down earlier and continued working finishing down the bear he had turned his attention
on. He needed to finish before meeting Ann later at the party.
Meanwhile champagne and caviar appeared at
the end of the conference room arranged by the incoming staff to celebrate
their takeover of the Gunnite Corporation, and with that a name change was in
store as Apex International was set to grace the name plates of all Gunnite
holdings within the next year. It would be a conglomerate and would serve as
the lead business into increased mining interests in third world countries
based on Gunnites experience in mining here in the United States and would supply
the Gunnites list of buyers of raw ore product already established. Apex intended
to increase their market share of rare raw ore products such as titanium and
such. Ann was just glad to be done with the nightmare of federal regulations
they had to wade through to do anything here in the U.S.. Let alone worry about
third world countries. Time for new blood, Ann thought as she sipped her champagne and
exchanged small talk then excused herself and went to her now empty office and
just sat there wondering if this was such a good thing.
She imagined the main office
would soon leave , as it would become nonfunctional to most of the new employees
as they would want a corporate center to be closer to major airports and the
modern facilities associated with a larger city , citing convenience and accessibility
as key factors in a corporate headquarters. Their building may be used as a
processing center or a maintenance facility but Ann knew their would be changes
and she asked for none of it . It was something her family had and was now
gone. People would lose jobs and some would replace those who left early, but
change happens. She just sat there in the quiet knowing all was done and she
was ready to move on. She grabbed her nameplate off the desk and Lees picture
and added them to the small box she had to carry out and then walked out with
the box and handed it to her secretary to add to the things headed for storage
. At this she fought back tears she tried to hold back knowing that it was
over.
Her secretary Ruth had never saw tears
in Ann’s eyes and soon threw her arms around Ann’s shoulders and comforted her
and took her back inside her empty office
to avoid others staring at her. Ann composed herself and took back Lee’s
picture and her name plate and was soon out of the building and in her car
again snagging her hose as she got in the car.
“DAMN,” she said loudly as she not only snagged
them but also cut her leg this time.
It was a small cut but it stained the
stockings around the cut with blood but it soon stopped.
Ann started her car and laughed. Two times
in one day, oh well at least she could afford another pair now she thought as
she headed for Lee to comfort her.
Lee was unaware she was coming and was
covered in sawdust when she showed up. He saw her car pull into the parking lot
and sensing something wrong, dropped what he was doing and met her at the car
door where she was checking her leg to see if the bleeding had stopped . It had
an Lee offered to kiss it for her and Ann declined saying it would take to long
for the quickie afterward, as she knew Lee would not stop kissing till the
whole leg felt better and in fact Ann herself
was better. She didn't have time for that and she needed to go to the party later . So
no time for that but she would take a hug and use his restroom to again change
her pantyhose.
“Don’t know if you can afford me at this
rate. Twice I snagged them what’s up with that.?”
Lee laughed
and held her tight and everything was good. Ann was content in his arms and the
rest was just that, all filler in her life.
They went to the dinner the employees were having later and ended their day at Ann’s
apartment just lying on the deck in the sun, doing nothing but enjoying each
other’s company and listening to music and planning their trip to sequoia.
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