Thunder and Lightening
Chapter 10
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

Jerry was sitting behind his desk going through paper work when 
the telephone rang. Picking up the handset, he said, "Hello. This is 
Jerry Smith at the Auto Parts House on Main."

"Jerry, this Al," was the answer over the phone. Jerry sat up 
straighter at the introduction knowing that an early morning call 
from Mr. Sinclair was not a good sign. 

"Oh, Mr. Sinclair. What can I do for you?"

"I was going over the Employment report that you sent into the 
Federal Government and noticed that you now had a woman and 
two blacks working for you." 

Puzzled, Jerry replied, "That's right."

"That's great. We've been wondering how to improve our diversity 
numbers and you came through for us," replied his boss in a voice 
that indicated surprise at the accomplishment.

"Mike's wife was looking for a job and I hired her. I offered the job 
to the two kids that live next door and they accepted. Didn't really 
do anything special other than make the offer when I found people 
who were looking for work." Jerry was confused by the 
conversation. 

There was a long moment of silence on the phone. Finally, Al 
asked, "How are things going with your employees?"

"Karen is learning how to manage the inventory. Martin is still 
learning where all of the stock is and how to look parts up in the 
book. Abe is a real good kid and has taken to being a stock boy 
without any problems. Sammy is doing good, but he's a senior this 
year so we may only be able to keep him for one more year. Mike 
is learning his responsibilities as Assistant Manager. I'm still 
looking for one more full time salesperson, but I don't think that 
will be a problem." Jerry was sure that there was some reason why 
Al was so interested in the employees.

"I meant. How are you doing with them?"

"Fine. Better than ever, I would say."

There was an awkward pause as his boss tried to figure out how to 
say it, but there wasn't a nice way. He said, "The last employee that 
left complained about your temper and threatened to testify on 
behalf of anyone that sues us concerning your treatment of 
employees."

The news struck Jerry like a fist to the stomach. Speechless, he 
didn't know what to say as he envisioned his future at the company 
coming to an abrupt end. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he 
finally said, "I guess you'll want me to leave."

"Nothing like that, yet. I'm going to come down to your store this 
afternoon and talk to your employees to find out how things are 
going. We'll have to see what we can do to improve things there," 
replied Al.

Things had been so nice the day before. He had talked to his son 
for the first time ever and helped Abe get a scooter. The house he 
was renting was nice even though it was run down and he actually 
liked the neighbors. Jerry shook his head and replied, "Do you 
want me to make sure that everyone stays here until you come?"

"If you wouldn't mind. Once I get there though, I'll have to ask you 
to leave so that they won't be intimidated by you."

Jerry sat there considering what he had been told. Suddenly, he 
realized that his boss must have flown in last night to be able to 
come in the afternoon. This was far more serious than he first 
thought. He replied, "Okay. Everyone is scheduled to come in 
today except Sammy. I'll have to call his mother to let her know 
that he is needed this afternoon. I can't make any promises about 
him showing up though. He may have other plans."

"That's fine. I can always stop by his house later this evening," 
remarked Al. 

The call ended shortly after that, leaving a stunned Jerry sitting at 
his desk. There was nothing to do except to tell everyone what was 
happening. Walking out to the front of the store, he found 
everyone working. Mike was on the phone, Martin was pulling 
orders, and Karen was going through the purchases of the previous 
two days. When Mike hung up, Jerry said, "Take the phone off the 
hook for a minute."

Surprised, Mike did as he was asked without asking a question. 
Jerry shouted out, "Would everyone please come to the front of the 
store?"

It took a minute, but everyone was soon gathered around him at the 
front of the store. Looking down at the ground, Jerry said, "My 
supervisor is coming here to interview everyone that works in the 
store. I hope that you will be brutally honest with him, as he needs 
to have a clear picture of what is going on inside this store. Don't 
sugar coat your answers or try to hide anything. I want you to 
know that no one here is in any trouble. Okay?"

Everyone looked at each other in concern, wondering what would 
bring the district supervisor to the store. It was Mike that broke the 
silence. "What's going on?"

"He wants to find out what kind of manager I am. As I said before, 
please be brutally honest." Jerry didn't want to say that, but he 
knew that if he did anything that might even hint at intimidating 
them, he'd be gone before the end of the day. Looking around the 
room, he said, "Now, I want you to get back to work. It's just a 
normal day around here, but please don't leave until Mr. Sinclair 
comes."

Walking a little faster than he intended, Jerry went back to the 
office. Once there, he picked up the phone and called Sammy's 
mother at home. It only took him a minute to convey the message 
and get word that Sammy would be by the store around lunchtime. 

He sat back in his chair and waited, knowing that he wasn't going 
to be able to concentrate on his work. Outwards, he looked calm, 
but on the inside all he wanted to do was to track down the rage 
and strangle it once and for all. For a change, the rage had retreated 
and was hiding, leaving him feeling weak and uncertain. 

There was a knock on the door and his stomach dropped. Taking a 
deep breath, he said, "Come in."

Martin stuck his head in the door and flashed a smile as he said, 
"That pretty lady from the other day is here."

Confused, Jerry followed Martin out of the office and to the front 
of the store. Once there, Martin grabbed the order that Mike was 
holding up in the air and headed to the back to pull the parts. Jenny 
was standing in front of the counter with her hands on her hips in 
an angry pose. Nervous, he licked his lips expecting to get the kind 
of lecture that his wife would give him. Terrified, he said, "Hello, 
Jenny."

"The roses were nice, but I didn't like the note that came with 
them."

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to ruin your life and figured that it was 
better that way," replied Jerry looking down at his hand rubbing 
the callous that had formed on a knuckle from fixing the car.

"You figured it was better to dump me after telling me that you 
would be there Wednesday for lunch?"

Stepping forward with a single awkward step, with his heart 
breaking and voice trembling, he answered, "Listen Jenny. You are 
a wonderful woman. I've got a terrible rage inside me that I can 
just barely control. You don't need me messing up your life."

The awkward and scared man that was standing before her was 
nothing like the angry man that had scared her the previous week. 
She could see that every word he said was hurting him. She turned 
towards the door and called out over her shoulder, "I expect to see 
you at the restaurant tomorrow for lunch."

Raising a hand, he watched her leave unable to come up with a 
reasonable answer. Turning to head to the back of the store, he 
noticed that everyone was watching him with curiosity in his or her 
eyes. In his normal gruff voice, he said, "I guess I've got a lunch 
date tomorrow."

"You can say that again," replied Martin shaking his head and 
returning to work. 

When Martin and Karen stepped out of the way, Jerry saw his boss 
standing there. He didn't know if his boss had seen the entire thing, 
but he didn't want to ask. Looking at his boss, he said, "I'll get out 
of the way now. What time do you want me back?"

"I'll call you at home," replied Al.

This was another awkward topic. "I don't have a telephone at the 
moment. You can tell Abe or Martin any messages that you need 
to send to me."

Al looked surprised at Jerry and then nodded his head as he said, 
"Okay. I'll swing by your place after I'm done here."

"Yes, sir," replied Jerry as he headed towards that back of the 
store.

At the house, Jerry had nothing to do except clean. There were two 
bedrooms that he hadn't cleaned yet, although his tools and son's 
bike were stored in one of them. After changing into jeans and a 
work shirt, he went to work. For the next couple of hours he picked 
up the trash and put it into the plastic trash bags; swept floors; and 
cleaned windows. When he took a break after scrubbing down the 
first bedroom, he heard the unmistakable sound of Abe's scooter 
coming down the street. He went to the front door and waved to 
Abe. 

Surprised to see Jerry at the house, Abe pulled up and stopped the 
scooter. Removing his helmet, he beamed as he said, "This is 
incredible. I really love this scooter."

Laughing, Jerry replied, "Really? I couldn't tell. You look as sad as 
if your dog died."

"Hey!" Abe knew his neighbor was kidding. Still curious about 
why Jerry was at home, he asked, "What you doing here?"

"Got an unexpected day off. However, they need you at the store. 
You might want to get there early and earn a little money," 
suggested Jerry.

"Did the shipment come in yet?"

"No, but it will be there soon."

Smiling, Abe put on his helmet as he said, "I'll go up there and see 
what I can do to help. Have a nice one!"

The young man didn't wait for a reply from Jerry. As soon as he 
was on the scooter, he was driving it down the road. Watching him 
weave around the potholes, Jerry knew that Abe was happy. At 
least the kid had a better-looking future than he did at the moment. 

Returning to the house, he went to clean the last bedroom. He had 
already done a little to clean up the room, but it was still a mess. 
Lots of old clothes, papers, and other debris was scattered around 
on the floor. The closet was empty except for the photographs of 
the Sharon. 

Once everything was bagged and the floor swept, Jerry sat on the 
floor looking at the pictures wondering what he should do with 
them. He was concerned about throwing them away. The bag 
might rip and some of the kids in the neighborhood might find 
them. It didn't feel right to keep them. Shaking his head, he put 
them back on the shelf.

The next half an hour was spent carrying the trash bags out to the 
curb for pickup. He wasn't sure what day they picked up the 
garbage, but the bags would disappear after a day or two. Finished 
cleaning, he checked his watch and saw that it was lunchtime. It 
would be irresponsible for him to leave the house when his boss 
might be coming by, but he needed to eat and there was no telling 
what time his boss would be done at the store. Frowning, he 
headed to his truck and went to the local burger joint to get some 
takeout.

Back at the house, he sat on the floor rather than his futon. He 
didn't want to get any food on his bed. The burger and fries 
satisfied his appetite, but the uneasiness brought about by waiting 
for bad news left the meal sitting heavy in his stomach. He almost 
went out for some of the pink stuff to settle his stomach. 

With nothing better to do, he unfolded the futon and lay down on it 
thinking about his life to this point. There was very little doubt in 
his mind that he had screwed up royally. Leaving his wife was the 
only bright spot that he could find, but he didn't know how he 
would support himself and his wife without the paycheck that 
came with this job. Getting fired for being abusive to employees 
would keep him from getting another job with the same kind of 
pay. He laughed and said aloud, "I'll have to ask Sharon about a 
job as a maid at the hotel."

A knock on the door shocked him awake and he scrambled out of 
the futon. It took him a second to fold it back up so that it looked 
like a sofa. Getting control of himself, he went to the door and 
opened it. To his surprise, it was Sharon instead of his boss. 

Seeing the look on his face, Sharon said, "Every time I come over 
here you look surprised. Is it me or something else?"

He blushed as he recalled that the last time, he had been heading to 
the bathroom to jack off from looking at naked pictures of her. 
Stuttering, he replied, "I was expecting my boss to come here to 
fire me."

Surprised, she looked at him for a moment trying to figure out 
what kind of response was appropriate. Smiling, she said, "That 
sucks."

Recalling the discussion at the DMV, he relaxed and said, "Yes, it 
does. Would you like to come in?"

"Sure." She came in and looked around the room, noticing the lack 
of just about everything that one normally found in a house. She 
said, "You want to show me around the place?"

"Ah, I think you see everything there is to see. I basically live in 
this room."

Raising an eyebrow, she said, "You've got a chair, an air 
conditioner, and a bent fender on the wall."

"Yes. I'm afraid so. Are you ready to be overwhelmed by the 
kitchen?"

"Sure, lead on."

She looked around the kitchen spotting the coffee maker, mini-
refrigerator, and microwave. At least the kitchen was spotless. She 
asked, "Is this it?"

Nodding, he said, "I have two bedrooms. One is completely empty 
and the other has a couple of things in it."

"I'll look at the bedroom." Trying to figure out what kind of crazy 
white guy had moved in next door to her. She figured that he must 
have put everything in the bedroom.

He unlocked the door and showed her the room. She saw a pile of 
his clothes, some tools and the scooter. There was nothing else in 
the room. Even the closet looked empty. Looking over at Jerry, she 
said, "You have too much junk. You need to throw some of this 
stuff away."

Laughing, Jerry said, "I was thinking about having a garage sale."

Returning to the living room, Sharon sat on the futon and stared at 
the bumper hanging on the wall. There had to be a pretty 
interesting story behind it, but she was almost afraid to ask. For all 
she knew, it was some sort of crazy white man art and he'd think 
she was stupid for not recognizing it.

Jerry stood at the door of the bedroom debating about the pictures. 
Coming to a decision, he went in the room and picked up the stack 
of photographs. He came out and faced her sitting on the couch. 
Licking his lips nervously, he said, "I was cleaning up the room 
and found some photographs. Ah… Well, I think that you might 
want them."

Puzzled, she asked, "I would want some photographs?"

Turning his head so that he wasn't looking at her, he thrust the 
pictures out to her. Confused, she took them from him and started 
to look through them. Not knowing what to do, he stepped away 
looking everywhere except at her. When she reached the end, she 
burst out laughing as she said, "That holier than thou bitch."

Surprised by her reaction, Jerry looked at her and, in one of those 
moments when all of ones vocabulary leaves them, said, "Huh?"

She laughed at his obvious confusion and said, "You thought these 
were of me. I can understand why you were so embarrassed 
yesterday."

"Aren't they?" asked Jerry confused. The woman in the picture 
looked exactly like Sharon.

"No. That's my older sister." She laughed and slapped her thigh as 
she pointed at him enjoying his discomfort. "I have an idea that 
you might have enjoyed looking at these pictures. Am I right?"

Jerry stood there for a moment embarrassed and then said, "Well .. 
."

She placed the pictures back in his hand as she said, "You can keep 
them."

"Why?" Confused, he looked at the pictures in his hand. The top 
picture was again the spread open cunt. Embarrassed, he turned the 
stack over.

"I kind of like the idea of a white guy jacking off while looking at 
dirty pictures of my big sister." Those pictures explained why her 
sister was so desperate to get back into the house after the landlord 
had locked her out. 

Jerry sat down on the floor across the room from Sharon still trying 
to make sense out of this. He had not expected this reaction at all. 
Looking up at her, the smile on her face was infectious. Grinning, 
he said, "Well. I'll do my best to make you happy."

Standing up, she went to the door. Once there, she turned and said, 
"I like you, Jerry."

Before he had a chance to respond, she was gone from the house 
with the door closed behind her. For a minute he sat there thinking 
about what had happened and wondered if she understood what she 
had suggested. If he were jacking off to those pictures, it would be 
her that he would be thinking about. He stood up to return the 
pictures to the bedroom when there was another knock on the door. 
Finding himself holding a stack of pictures of a naked Black 
woman, he looked around the room in a panic trying to find a place 
to hide them. Not finding one, he went over to the bedroom door 
and slid them under the door. 

Returning to the door, he was once again embarrassed to find 
Sharon at the door. She smiled and said, "In all of the excitement, I 
forgot why I came over. You wouldn't happen to know where Abe 
is at?"

"He's up at the store. I suggested that he could go up there early."

"Okay, thanks." She turned and headed over to her house.

He shut the door and returned to the bedroom door. Unlocking it, 
he picked up the pictures and put them to the shelf where he 
normally kept them. Returning to the living room, he sat down on 
the futon and considered what his options would be if he got fired. 
The future didn't look too good to him.

Looking around the room, he wondered what he would do to 
occupy his time if he were to get unemployed. There was the 
Camaro to finish fixing and then there was the truck. Paying for 
the parts might be difficult, but he could finish both of them in a 
couple of months by working on them fulltime. They'd be worth 
some money when he was done with them and that would offset 
being unemployed. 

Lost in his thoughts, he jumped when there was a knock on the 
door. Getting off the futon, he opened the door to find Al Sinclair 
standing on the porch looking around the neighborhood. His boss 
had stopped to look at the two cars under the tree in the front yard 
and the old truck parked in front of the house.  Jerry said, "Come 
in, Mr. Sinclair."

His boss came into the house and looked around the living room 
stopping for a moment to gaze at the bumper mounted on the wall. 
Shaking his head, he took a seat on the futon. Jerry sat down next 
to him and said, "Well, I guess you've talked to all of them."

Al was silent for a moment and then said, "You know. I came here 
prepared to have to fire you, but I don't think that is necessary."

"Pardon?" asked Jerry. 

"First that scene with the young lady touched me far more than you 
can imagine. I didn't know at the time that you were separated 
from your wife, but I could tell that you really cared for that young 
lady and was trying to do what you felt was the right thing. Maybe 
there is a rage inside you, but you demonstrated a stand-up, John 
Wayne kind of character in how you dealt with her."

Stunned, Jerry stared at his boss unable to believe that his boss had 
compared him to John Wayne. Not knowing what to say, he just 
sat there.

Al continued, "After that little scene, I talked to the people at the 
store and what I found was rather surprising. Seems that about ten 
days ago, the day after I told you that you weren't getting the 
promotion, you changed into a nice guy. Mike swore up and down 
that he'd never seen such a change in a person."

"I told them to be honest. I don't think Mike told you everything."

"Oh, you mean last week when you came storming out of the 
office ready to kill?"

Nodding, Jerry said, "Yeah, that."

"We'll get back to that a little later. For now, I'd like to say that you 
treated Mike in a good way after he quit. You offered him his job 
back under very generous terms, promoted him, and changed his 
schedule so that he could spend a little more time with his family."

Licking his lips, Jerry said, "Well, I was desperate."

"His wife said that you've been real gentle in teaching her the 
business. You haven't gotten upset once with her, even when she 
made mistakes. Now I've heard stories about you and that doesn't 
sound like you."

Scratching his chin, Jerry considered that. Somehow, things didn't 
seem as urgent or critical lately. Nodding, he said, "I guess so."

"That was nothing. Those two guys you hired talked about you like 
you walk on water. Martin said that you gave him a chance to have 
a real job, something that he didn't think was possible. You've been 
taking him to and from work, teaching him the business, and 
helping him fix his mother's Caddy."

"He's a good kid."

"Then there's Abe. You co-signed a loan for that little scooter that 
he's driving around. Then you drove him and his mother to the 
DMV so that he could get his license. That's a real neighborly kind 
of thing to do."

Jerry smiled and said, "Abe did his best to try to talk me out of 
moving into this neighborhood. I liked him from the start. He's a 
smart kid. One of these days, he's going to go to college."

"You really like them, don't you."

Nodding, Jerry replied, "Yes. I do. I've even gotten to know my 
son lately and I like him too."

Al leaned back in the futon and said, "You've changed. Maybe 
leaving your wife was what you needed, but what ever the reason 
it's a good change."

"Thank you, sir." 

Al frowned and looked him straight in the eye. He said, "There's 
still the matter of your anger. That's not good and it looks like you 
aren't in control of it yet."

"I know," replied Jerry. Deciding that he had nothing to lose by 
being honest, he added, "I don't know what to do about it. It's cost 
me so much in the past and it just can't continue."

Smiling, Al said, "I'm relieved to hear you say that. I want you to 
make an appointment with an anger management specialist. The 
company will pay for it. I think if you can work through this, you 
might be able to rise up a management level."

"They have such a thing," asked Jerry who had stopped listening 
after he had heard about the anger management specialist. 

"What? An anger management specialist?"

"Yeah, there are really people that do that?"

Al laughed and said, "Yes, there are."

"Wow, I never would have thought of that." He frowned and said, 
"They must be expensive."

"I guess you didn't hear me say that the company would pay for it," 
replied Al as he watched Jerry struggle with the idea. 

Nodding, Jerry said, "I think I'll have my son go there too."

Al stood and turned to look at Jerry. "It sounds to me like this rage 
of yours is a major thing in your life."

Jerry pointed to the bumper and said, "The last time I let my rage 
loose, I bent that into its current shape."

Al swallowed heavily not realizing that Jerry was capable of such 
strength. He wondered what would have happened if he had 
angered Jerry. Seeing the look on Al's face, Jerry said, "I'm big and 
strong. The rage seems to triple that strength. I haven't hit anyone 
since my school days, but I've torn up inanimate objects something 
fierce. This anger management idea is the greatest thing I've ever 
heard about."

Al relaxed realizing that Jerry was not upset in the least. Changing 
the subject, he said, "Would you like to have dinner?"

"Sure, that would be nice. Ah, maybe I should change my clothes."

"That would be a good idea."

Jerry changed into his business casual work clothes in the 
bedroom. Coming out, he said, "Okay, I'm ready to go."

He followed his boss to the rental car parked on the street. Before 
they reached it, Al stopped by the pickup truck and said, "This is a 
real classic. Are you going to fix it up?"

"Yeah. I'm planning on restoring it. It needs a little body work and 
a new bed, but I'm going to get the Camaro fixed before I start to 
work on it."

"I noticed that you're pulling the engine on it. What happened to 
it?"

Jerry looked at his boss and said, "That's a long story. I'll tell you 
about it over dinner."

For the second time that week, Jerry had company over a meal. He 
told his boss the story about his accident and how the bumper 
played a role in it. He finished the story by saying, "Then this huge 
bolt of lightning struck the light pole right next to where I was 
standing. Talk about loud, I thought I'd go deaf from the thunder. It 
actually knocked me down on the ground. Well, that night I bought 
the truck and figured that I'd call it Thunder."  

Al had listened to the story and said, "Let me guess, you call the 
Camaro Lightning?"

The suggestion made perfect sense to Jerry and he replied, "I didn't 
think of that, but that is the cars name from now on. I can now 
proudly say that I own Thunder and Lightning."

Al laughed and shook his head as he realized that when Jerry was 
relaxed, he was a pretty nice guy. He asked, "So what are your 
plans over the next year for the store?"

Jerry leaned forward and said, "Well, Karen has a little training on 
computers. I was going to have her investigate computerizing the 
inventory system. I figure that we can probably reduce the amount 
of stock in the store if we can track our sales better and set 
thresholds on the stock so that we can order as soon as we run 
low."

Surprised at the idea, Al said, "It might take a lot of effort to get 
the information into the computer to begin with."

"Yes, it could. I'm sure that we can find a way to speed up the 
process," replied Jerry. He added, "It's just that when I go to the 
grocery store, they have everything computerized. I know that they 
have a lower profit margin than we have, but deal with a larger 
volume. The cost should be lower for us since we have a lower 
volume of sales than the grocery store."

"Why don't you work on the idea and see what you find out. When 
you have the facts, get in touch with me." Al took a sip of the after 
dinner coffee considering Jerry. If he was able to get his anger 
under control, he could go far in the company with ideas like that.








