AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mary rubbed her hands in glee.
Then, Mary heard a resounding crack as a long, sinewy arm slapped Van on the back. Who was this now? Mary looked up to check. And up. And up. Sheesh, this skin and bones guy must be seven feet tall.
“Well, if it isn’t Mr. Bossman,” the walking skeleton said.
“Not anymore, Weed, not anymore. Or at least almost not the boss anymore. How are you?” Van continued with a nod toward Mary, “The lady here is going to want to talk to you. She’s writing a book about how we got the factory bustling again and worked out the deal for you guys to take over.”
Weed slapped his knee, and Mary marveled that the blow didn’t break any of his splinter-thin bones. “Well now sure. I’d say she’s got a grand idea for a book. People’ll love it. We’ve sure had fun doing it.”
“Mary, Weed here is the meanest, most ornery and stubborn sidewinder you’ll ever find walking a factory floor. The other idiots in the plant have been stupid enough to put him at the head of the union for — what is it, Weed? — forty-five years now?”
“Two more months and it will be. I lied about my ageandgotajobwhenIwasfifteen.Itmightahelped I was near two feet taller than the personnel man.”
LolaRoseshooedthemenandMarytowardatable and sat them down. She was back in moments, slappingtwogargantuanplattersinfrontofthemen.The steakswerestillsizzling.Themountainsofbeefeater fries were bigger than even the steaks.
She placed a bowl of consomme in front of Mary with reverence. “You’ll love this, honey, but don’t dawdle with it. I swear, you won’t want to miss a spoonful, but Dover sole is finishing in the kitchen for you too.”
“Lola Rose, how could you have known — ”
“That this was exactly what you would want? Honey, they tell me I’m pretty good at figuring that out. Glad to know I haven’t lost my touch.”
Mary dipped her spoon into the rich, glistening liquid in front of her. She groaned in ecstasy. “How do you produce this nectar of the gods?”
“’Fraid I can’t tell you that. Even I don’t know. I’d say it’s a family secret, except I’m family, but not the right kind of family, I guess. The formula for that liquid magic came from my Gus’s mother. He knows I’m a sucker who wouldn’t say no to a mynah bird, so hemakessureI can’t spillthebeans.ButI’vecaught him pouring a few good glugs of sherry into the pot when he thought I wasn’t looking, so I know that’s part of it.”
LolaRosepattedMaryontheshoulder,racedaway and returned with two bottles of beer for the men and a white wine spritzer for Mary.
“How did you — oh, yeah, you’re pretty good at figuring out what people want.”
“Even when it’s not what they want, but what they think they ought to have,” Lola Rose whispered in Mary’s ear. “Van is none too fond of beer, ya know. But Weed would laugh him out of this place if he caught Van drinking anything sissified.”
Atthemoment,though,WeedandVanwerelaughing witheach other, and uproariously at that. Mary wondered how many company bosses and union bosses got along like this. Not many, if any, she figured. A good point to remember for her book.
It was interesting to watch the power of shared memories in the male bonding, or re-bonding might be a better word, happening before her. These two men had taken tough steps together in restoring Van Deventer Ventures to profitability. Such made-together memories were powerful things in friendship.
And in the relationship between a woman and her special man.
Whatashamethewomeninherfamilyhadsolittle time to make such memories with the men in their lives. The thought had never bothered Mary much before. It was just the way things were. Now she had a powerful urge to have something that mattered before it vanished.
That was personal, though. She had a job to do here too.
“I’ve been speaking with a Harvard Business School professor,” she said. “He wants to put togetheracasestudyon‘TheResurrectionandRebirth of Van Deventer Ventures.’ He thinks your story is nothing less than revolutionary. It’s a bible on how to stop exporting all of our jobs to countries with cheap labor.”
Weed guffawed. Van smiled.
“They have been after us for interviews,” Van said. “I told Tamany to trash any messages from them. Weed, have you talked to them?”
“Hell, no. Why would I want to waste my time with a bunch of ivory-tower types?”
“They do want to make everything sound so complicated,” Van said.
“It isn’t?” Mary asked.
“Well, if it is, you probably don’t have the right solution. At least that’s what I figured out once I got past being the know-it-all kid fresh out of school.”
“Sure, keeping it simple is a biggie,” Weed said. “So are harebrained ideas, like when you got the harebrained idea that management and the guys on the floor maybe ought to listen to each other as well as butting heads at the bargaining table.”
“Worked out well, didn’t it?”
