Thunder and Lightening: Chapter 25Home « Thunder and Lightening Index « Previous
- Chapter 25
Posted: January 21, 2005 - 12:11:20 am

It was summer before Jerry returned to the store. He used a cane to walk and
moved with the kind of care associated with old men. His left arm and half his
upper body was in a cast to allow his shoulder blade heal. His bullet wounds had
healed, but on occasion the scar tissue pulled when he moved. Despite the fact
that he had lost body mass, he remained a big powerful looking man.
Entering through the back door, he was greeted by everyone and welcomed back to
the shop with coffee and donuts. It was a bittersweet occasion for him. Looking
around the room, he could see that a number of improvements had been made in the
store. Mike was standing to the side looking proud of the store.
Jerry looked over at Mike and said, "The store looks great. You've done a
wonderful job running it in my absence."
"Thanks, Jerry." Mike beamed at the praise.
Relying upon the support of his cane, Jerry slowly walked down the length of the
store. His eyes picked out the changes that had been made around the store. He
paused about halfway down the aisle and commented, "You moved the faster moving
stock up towards the front of the store. Smart."
Mike said, "Well, we looked at the sales figures generated by Karen and
established that we could do that without any difficulty."
"I had thought about doing that, but couldn't figure out a way to do it without
impacting business," remarked Jerry.
"We stayed an hour late a couple nights a week and made the changes."
"Very smart," replied Jerry thinking that he wouldn't have been able to motivate
people to work overtime like that, particularly when they were short staffed.
Mike was turning out to be a better manager than he was.
He made his way to the front of the store and looked around at the sales desk. A
computer terminal had been added to the counter. He watched as Martin took an
order. The young man typed the part numbers into the computer, printed up the
order, and then handed it off to be pulled. Carlos picked up the order and
headed to the back. Karen said, "It prints the bill, updates the inventory, and
flags parts that need to be ordered. We have a complete record of what each
customer orders."
"Nice," said Jerry as he watched the system work. Although he had read all of
the manuals, he was very concerned that it was beyond him. He hoped that his
understanding of the programs was sufficient to use them. He asked, "Do you
think I can learn how to use it?"
Karen laughed and answered, "I know you can. I tested it out on my husband and
I've determined that it is idiot proof."
Jerry laughed at the obvious joke about her husband and looked around at the
lobby. The coffeepot was still in its place. Pictures of the truck were on the
wall, along with the trophy it had won. Looking out in the parking lot, he
stared at the truck sitting there on blocks. Martin and Mike had parked it there
to act as an advertisement. It was gorgeous and he would go out later to visit
it. The sight of the truck reminded him that he had to pick up the Camaro.
Martin was smiling at him when he turned to look at the store. He said, "It's a
beauty, isn't it?"
Jerry answered, "Yes, it is. I'll visit with it later."
Carlos entered the room and said, "Hello, Mr. Smith."
"Hello Carlos. Please call me Jerry. I'm sorry that I wasn't here for your first
day at work," replied Jerry.
Carlos smiled and said, "Don't be sorry. I have enjoyed working here."
"That's good. How's school going?"
Carlos broke out in a big grin and answered, "Very well, sir. My grades are good
and I'm making progress on earning the degree."
"That's great," replied Jerry. He was pleased that the work arrangement was
serving its purpose.
Mike asked, "Would you like to go into the office and catch up on some
paperwork?"
Groaning at the thought of walking all the way to the back of the store rather
than at having to work on paperwork, Jerry said, "I guess."
Walking with a slow and careful pace, he headed to the office followed by Mike
and Karen. Opening the door, he was surprised to find that his desk had a
computer on it. He frowned as he hobbled over to his desk and looked at the
computer. This was the computer that he dreaded meeting. Looking up at Karen, he
said, "Let me guess, you've computerized everything."
She smiled and said, "You'll like this. Most of your paperwork will be done in
an hour rather than two days."
Jerry wondered if the business had passed him by since he was shot. He had read
the manuals and studied them with due diligence, but he had never touched a
computer. Had the time spent studying the manuals allow him to use the machine?
It was time to find out. Sitting down in his chair, he said, "Okay, I guess I
should have you show me what I need to know."
For the next two hours, Karen explained how to use the computer. Jerry listened
carefully and tried it using hunt and peck typing with one finger. The keyboard
threw him for a loop, as he found that he had to search for the keys. After ten
minutes, he knew that he was going to have to practice typing before he would
become comfortable using a keyboard.
After a while, she stopped talking while he experimented with using the
computer. Before long, he was pulling up views on the business that surprised
both Karen and Mike. Looking up after displaying a graph of sales by part
categories, he said, "This is amazing."
"So you like?" asked Karen.
"I like it a lot," answered Jerry as he pounded on the keys for a minute while
mentally cursing the fact that it was difficult finding the proper keys. Another
graph came up on the screen. Pointing to it, he said, "These three places have
been reducing their orders from us over the past few months. The money amount is
about the same, but the number of actual orders is down. It might be time to
make a sales call and find out if there is a problem."
Mike looked at the chart and said, "I didn't notice that."
Karen looked at the chart with a puzzled expression trying to figure out how he
had displayed that information. After a minute, she realized that it wasn't one
of the canned charts that she had programmed. Shocked, she said, "You've been
studying the manuals that I sent over."
Winking at her, Jerry replied, "Yes, I studied them in quite a bit of detail.
You have to remember that I didn't have anything else to do."
"So you taught yourself how to write queries without a computer?"
"Yes," replied Jerry. For several months, he had laid in bed with nothing to do
except read and study the manuals. For the first month, the manuals had been
unintelligible, but his stubborn persistence had finally paid off. He had spent
the last month identifying the kind of information that he would like to
explore. He was happy that his understanding of the material was correct.
Mike looked over at Karen and shook his head. Here he had thought that he would
be ahead of Jerry on this, but the big man had done his homework. He asked, "So
when were you going to tell us?"
"Once I knew that I could handle it," replied Jerry as he looked at the chart.
He looked up and asked, "Can I print this?"
Karen leaned over and showed him how to print the document. She smiled and said,
"I take it you are going to want the data in hardcopy most of the time."
"What does that mean?" asked Jerry exposing the fact that he had major gaps in
his understanding of the computer.
"It means that you'll want to print it out to use it," answered Karen. Jerry had
surprised her by figuring out the system from the manuals. This was particularly
surprising since he hadn't known what half of the terms meant when she had
explained to him the software that she was planning on purchasing.
"I don't really need it, but I want to put it on paper to show others" replied
Jerry. He looked at the printed copy and smiled. Handing it to Mike, he winked
and said, "You have some sales calls to make."
"Okay," replied Mike, as he looked at the sheet uncertain that he knew what to
do with it. He had no idea what he was supposed to do when on a sales call.
"You've never made a sales call, have you?"
"No," replied Mike.
"We'll make a couple of them together this week," said Jerry. He didn't know
what the future held for him, but his recent brush with death forced him to
realize that he hadn't done Mike any favors by not training him to take him
over. He added, "You might consider training Martin on some of your job duties."
"Why?"
Shifting to get more comfortable in the chair, Jerry said, "I did a great
disservice to you. I should have trained you how to do my job. You had to learn
a lot to take over the daily operation of the store and that shouldn't have been
necessary. Mr. Sinclair came down here to help out the first few weeks. You'd
have really impressed him if you had known how to take over in my place without
his help. I apologize for that."
Mike hadn't thought about it, but Jerry was right. For quite a while he was
trying to do two jobs when he could have trained Martin to do parts of his job.
He had fallen into the same trap. Embarrassed, he said, "I didn't think of it
that way. I should have turned to Martin to help me out."
"Hey, it's hard to remember you're draining the swamp when you're up to your ass
in alligators. I imagine that you saw quite a few alligators over the past
couple of months." Jerry gave him a friendly grin and a wink when he finished.
Mike laughed and replied, "That's true. I was lucky that Mr. Sinclair came down
to help out."
Jerry sat back in his chair, his cast getting in the way of relaxing. His
shoulder was beginning to bother him. He said, "You did a good job. Both of you
did a good job."
Mike stood up a little straighter and put his arm around his wife. He said,
"Well, I better get out front and relieve Carlos so that he can get an early
lunch."
Jerry said, "I'll be out there in a minute. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to
sit at the counter for a little while."
Mike chuckled as he left the room. Once the door had closed, Karen said, "He was
so worried that you wouldn't like some of the changes around here."
"I'll admit that it is a little disconcerting to return to work and find that it
has changed in your absence, but I couldn't expect things to stay as they were,"
answered Jerry. Undoubtedly, there were some things that he wouldn't like but
he'd give them a chance. He had made changes in the past and had to undo them
when they hadn't worked out.
Jerry rose out of his chair and grabbed his cane. His leg was stiffening up on
him from sitting too long. He had just about reached the door when the office
phone rang. Karen answered it and then handed the phone to Jerry. Jerry picked
it up and said, "Hello. This is Jerry."
"Hello Jerry. This is Al," replied Mr. Sinclair.
"Ah, Mr. Sinclair. How are things going?"
"I called to see if you were still there," replied Al, "and to find out how
things were going on your first day back."
"Karen just filled me in on the computer system." Jerry looked up for a moment
and then asked, "Could you hold on a moment?"
"Sure."
"Karen, could you help out Mike in the front so that Carlos and Martin can get
lunch?"
"Sure," replied Karen knowing that his request was just an excuse to get her out
of the office.
When she had left, Jerry said, "Sorry, I just wanted to get Karen out of the
room so that we could talk about business."
Mr. Sinclair was surprised and said, "You've been there for three hours and
already have some business comments."
"Yes. First of all, I think Mike has done a really good job of running the shop
in my absence."
"I agree."
"I'd like to give him a bonus," replied Jerry.
"I've already got one ready for him," said Mr. Sinclair pleased that Jerry had
thought about it as one of his first actions.
"Oh, that's good. I hope it's a good one," remarked Jerry.
"It is."
"Second, Karen has done an outstanding job computerizing the store. I'd like to
give her a bonus," said Jerry.
Mr. Sinclair didn't say anything immediately as he thought about it. Instead of
answering directly, he asked, "It's rather new. Don't you think you might want
to wait on that?"
Jerry worked his way back to his chair and answered, "I've already used it to
identify three stores where our sales are lagging. I can tell you just about
anything that you want to know about our sales and inventory."
"You sound pretty confident," replied Mr. Sinclair.
"I'll tell you what. I am so sure of it, that I bet I can find enough ways to
improve our business in a week that the system will pay for itself," replied
Jerry. It was a sure bet as he had already identified a couple of areas of
improvement that would improve the profitability of the shop. He wondered why
they hadn't gone to computers long before that.
"You're pretty sure of yourself," replied Mr. Sinclair. He hadn't considered
Jerry to be the kind of guy that would support computerization of the store with
such intensity. Usually that was a trait of a younger employee.
"I am sure of it," replied Jerry.
"I'll tell you what. You send me some information that you got out of the
computer at the end of the week and I'll decide if she gets the bonus then."
"That's reasonable." Jerry had identified a brand of parts that sold at a faster
pace than all other brands. If they could negotiate the price down on that line
of parts, then the profitability of the shop would increase. He couldn't compare
the sales figures of the past with the current figures except manually.
"Is that all?" asked Mr. Sinclair.
"No, I would like to hire another half time employee," answered Jerry.
"Would you like to tell me why?"
"No one has had a vacation in almost six months. I need to let them get out of
the store for a week or so each," replied Jerry. He had noticed the tired looks
on the faces of his people when he had come in.
Mr. Sinclair rummaged in his desk and pulled out the list of things that he had
wanted to cover with Jerry once he got the store under control. The first item
on the list was giving the people a break from working. They had been working
overtime ever since Jerry had been injured. He checked off the item from the
list and realized that the bonus for Mike was another item on the list. He said,
"That's a good idea. I was going to suggest that myself. How are you going to
find someone?"
"I'll ask Carlos to ask around the college. I'm sure that he'll find another
student that needs some financial support," answered Jerry. He had given the
idea some thought before bringing it up.
"Sounds like a plan," replied Mr. Sinclair. "Are you sure that you just got back
to work today?"
Jerry laughed at the question and answered, "I'll admit I was thinking about
some of this while laying in bed."
"Okay, I'll be calling back in an hour to make sure that you've gone home.
You're only supposed to work half time for the next two months."
"Yes, sir," replied Jerry. His voice had conveyed far less pleasure at doing
that than any other item they had discussed.
Mr. Sinclair hung up convinced that Jerry wouldn't go home when he was supposed
to leave. Jerry climbed out of his chair and made his way to the front of the
store. For the next half an hour, he learned how to use the computer at the
register. It was actually pretty simple and he was soon handling the calls.
Martin and Carlos returned from lunch. They had gone to the restaurant where
Carlos's cousin worked. Howard had gone with them prompting a few jokes about
the Three Amigos. Mike and Karen left for lunch saying that they would return in
an hour. Jerry worked the counter handing off orders to Martin and Carlos. There
was a slight delay in printing up the order, but that wasn't that big of a deal.
The store was running smoother than ever before. It made him wonder what he was
doing there. It seemed to him that Mike was ready to run the store without him.
All they needed to do was to train Martin to take over as Assistant Manager. It
was a humble feeling to realize that you were replaceable.
When Howard came in to pick up the next set of orders, Jerry asked, "Could you
drop me off at the Crimson Rose Bistro?"
"Sure."
Jerry called out, "Martin, Carlos, I'm leaving."
Martin came out and answered, "Sure thing. I'll see you later."
Jerry followed Howard out of the store. He was unable to help him carry anything
since his shoulder was in a cast, he had to use a cane, and his leg tended to
cramp up on him. It left him feeling helpless and he didn't like the feeling at
all. Howard was able to make two trips to the car before Jerry made it there and
eased himself into the passenger seat.
Slipping into the passenger seat, Howard said, "Man, it's a miracle you're still
alive. Shot four times and you still took care of three of the five gunmen.
That's amazing."
About to ask how Howard knew that, Jerry recalled that Martin would have told
his best friend all about it. Jerry said, "I don't remember any of it."
"Sure," replied Howard in a tone of voice that suggested he didn't believe a
word of it.
Howard pulled up to the door of the restaurant and Jerry got out while thanking
him for the ride. His ride just waved and went on his way. After checking his
pockets, Jerry made his way to the door and went into the restaurant. He spotted
Jenny taking an order at one of the tables filled with three women. It looked to
him like they were debating about ordering the chocolate desert. Looking around
the restaurant, he could see that it was full except for one little table in the
corner.
The interior had not changed over the past few months since she had been busy
looking after him. He appreciated her concern and the care she had given him,
but that hadn't prevented him from worrying that the time she spent with him
would ruin her business. Judging by the crowd, it looked to him like business
was still good.
When Jenny turned around, she spotted him at the door and raced over to greet
him. She refrained from throwing her arms around him and kissing him, knowing
that it would upset her clientele. She knew that he would understand her
behavior, they had discussed it in the past. Smiling she said, "I was wondering
if you were going to come today."
"I had to see my favorite gal on my first day back to work," replied Jerry with
a smile.
She pointed over to the table in the corner and said, "Have a seat. I'll bring
out some iced tea for you."
Jerry smiled as she rushed into the kitchen. There was a nice swing and sway to
her walk that he hadn't seen in a long time. He made his way over to the corner
table, getting a variety of looks from the women in the room. Some of them
wrinkled their noses as though he smelled. He didn't care about their reaction.
Settling into the table, he waited for Jenny to return. It was less than a
minute later that she came to the table with a large glass of iced tea. As she
set it in front of him, she said, "Sorry it took so long. It's been a while
since a real man has been in here."
The rumbling laughter that rolled from him turned heads in the whole room. "No
problem."
"I told the chef to start a Chicken Caesar Salad, extra-large," said Jenny with
a smile. It was so good to see him away from the house. She had stopped by every
day after picking up Bill from school. Now that school was over she came by
after work.
Jerry winked and said, "Reminds me of the first time that I came here."
It was an old joke, but one that comforted because of its consistency. He had no
idea how much it meant to her to see him walking around again. It didn't matter
to her if he was moving slow since that would pass with time and exercise. For
now, he was coming back and that made her happy. She glanced over the restaurant
with a practiced eye and could tell that a table was ready to get their bill.
Sighing, she said, "I have to get back to work."
Jerry watched as she went from table to table working her magic. During one of
the trips to the kitchen she returned with his lunch. He started to eat, paying
little attention to the food and more attention to her.
Watching her was his favorite past time. It wasn't the big things that he
noticed, but the little things. She would occasionally chase an errant strand of
hair with her little finger and tuck it behind her ear. When faced with a little
problem, she would suck in her lower lip while she decided what she would do.
There was the nervous little patting down her clothes when she turned to greet
someone, as though she was double-checking to make sure she was presentable.
The lunch crowd slowly thinned until he was the last one in the room. She came
over to the table and sat down, happy to be done with the customers for the day.
With a twinkle in her eye, she said, "I hope you enjoyed watching me."
"Yes, I did."
"I don't think your eyes left me the whole time you were eating," remarked
Jenny. She appreciated the fact that he liked looking at her. She enjoyed
looking at him.
Jerry reached into his pocket and brought out a small jewelry box that Henry had
dropped off at the house the night before. Opening it so that she could see the
contents, he asked, "Will you marry me?"
Jenny stared at the gold ring with the small diamond. Her eyes misted and her
hand flew to her mouth trembling as it covered her parted lips. Tears ran down
her cheeks as she tried to find her voice. With her other hand, she reached out
to touch the ring as if to make sure that it was real. It was. She cried out,
"Oh, yes. I'll marry you."
He took out the ring and slipped it on her finger even as her hand shook. He
kissed her hand. She leaned over the table and hugged him, kissing him
repeatedly. In her excitement she forgot about his wounds and pulled him so that
it stressed his shoulder. He gritted his teeth so as not to cry out from the
pain. She sat back in her chair crying tears of happiness, unable to say
anything as emotions had stolen her voice.
Holding her hand in his massive paw, he said, "We'll have to set the date for a
time after my divorce is final."
"Oh, yes. I'll marry you," she replied still in shock.
He laughed at her comment and said, "I love you, Jenny."
For the next thirty minutes, they exchanged the kind of talk practiced by lovers
through out the ages as they told each other of their feelings. Jenny was
shocked by his proposal and kept looking at the ring. Every other sentence was,
"I can't believe it."
It was getting late and she had to clean up the restaurant so that the
dishwasher could leave for the day. Jerry wanted to help, but his left hand was
limited because of the cast and his right hand was needed for the cane. He
watched her clear the tables. Once all of the dishes were removed, she went to
each table and removed the linen table clothes. Never having watched her close
up the dining room, he was not aware of how much work it was to get the place
ready for the next day. She replaced all of the tablecloths, the napkins, and
silverware. Taking her time, she removed all of the flowers from the vases and
put them into a box. Noticing his attention and puzzled expression, she
explained, "I take them home after work so that I have fresh flowers in the
house every night."
"That's lovely," remarked Jerry. He hadn't thought about what she would do with
the flowers.
"Yes, I enjoy them. That's why I started setting out flowers. I realized that my
clients would expect them and I could use them afterwards at home," said Jenny.
The flowers were paid for by the restaurant, but brought her personal pleasure.
Together they left her place of business. She drove him to his house, since he
was not able to drive a standard. When they reached the house, they went up to
the door. She waved to the neighbors in greeting, getting waves in return. A
pair of scooters was parked in the yard and Jerry maneuvered around them. The
detour reminded him of how weak he felt and how slow he moved.
By the time they reached the door, Bill and Abe had opened it. The pair of them
started impersonating him, walking bent over as if they were using a cane and
were a hundred years old. Jenny laughed at their antics while Jerry pretended to
growl. Holding back a smile, he said, "One of these days I'll get even."
Bill straightened up and asked, "So did you?"
"Yes, I did," replied Jerry knowing exactly what Bill was asking. They had
discussed the proposal the day before.
"So do I have a new mom?"
Understanding that the question about concerned the engagement, Jenny answered,
"Yes, you have a new mom."
Bill shouted in joy and hugged Jenny tightly. Letting go, he grabbed Abe and, in
an excited voice, said, "We have to tell your mother. She'll be so happy to hear
that."
The two boys ran next door to deliver the news as Jenny and Jerry laughed at
their enthusiasm. There was no doubt that Sharon would be over in a few minutes
to share her excitement with Jenny. She'd want to see the ring and find out how
he had proposed. Jenny said, "It looks like I won't have a problem with my
future step-son."
"It's all an act. He actually hates you and believes that you are going to turn
into an evil stepmother."
She frowned and then realized that Jerry was teasing her. The frown turned into
a grin as she replied, "You're just jealous that he likes me more than you."
"Nah. You're much more likable than I am."
Giving him a gentle hug, she let him sit down in his chair. She could tell that
he was getting tired. He adjusted his pillows so that his shoulder wasn't
stressed and relaxed. It was only then that he realized how difficult the day
had been.
Sharon arrived and entered the house without waiting for them to invite her. She
shouted, "Girl, you got to show me the ring."
Giggling, Jenny held out her hand with the ring in the gesture that women
everywhere use to show off engagement rings, arm straight and the hand dangling
down. Jerry smiled watching the two women giggle and talk. He was pleased that
they responded to the event with the appropriate excitement.
The women went into the kitchen to drink coffee while Jenny gave all the details
about how he had proposed. The sound of animated talk from the kitchen pleased
Jerry as the house rang with happy sounds rather than the shouts and arguments
of his old house.
The only negative in his life was his daughter, Melissa. Every week he had tried
to talk to her, but she had hung up the phone on him each time. She had even
told him that she was sorry the guys that shot him were such bad shots. He
wondered if she was a lost cause and dropped off to sleep as his exertions of
the day took their toll.
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