JC: Ed Biggers
Part 4: Adjournment
Chapter 19
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

Kelly sat down on a bench as the kids started to play on the swings 
at the school ground. Beth and Little John were giving pointers on 
how to swing to William, but the swing was just too big for him. 
He slid to the ground and stepped away nearly getting hit in the 
head by Beth who didn't realize that he had crossed in front of her. 
He would have been hit if he hadn't ducked when she swung 
forward. Kelly, seeing the near miss, started to climb out of her 
seat, but stopped when Beth said, "Don't walk in front of or behind 
someone swinging. You'll get hurt."

Now that he was standing off to the side, William turned back to 
Beth and nodded his understanding. Going over to the slide, he 
looked up at it wondering if he was strong enough to climb all the 
way to the top. Taking a deep breath, he started climbing. Kelly, 
seeing what he was doing, started to run over to the slide in the 
hope of catching him if he should fall. She stopped when William 
reached the top and then slid down without hesitation. Brushing off 
the dirt from his shorts, he stood up at the base of the slide and 
looked up at the top wondering if there were taller slides anywhere. 

She returned to her seat when William went to one of the riding 
toys and struggled to climb up on it. The youngest of the children 
was totally fearless when it came to physical activities. The only 
time that he didn't try something was when he decided that he 
wasn't strong enough to do it properly. She had never seen him 
hurt himself no matter what he had tried. 

The recess bell rang and fifty-seven seven-year-olds came running 
out of the school to play in the playground. The screams of kids 
taking a break were unmistakable. The three Carter kids stopped 
and gathered together watching the kids run over to the swings and 
other activities on the playground. Kelly watched her kids as they 
reacted to the sudden swell in playmates. This was the most 
number of kids that any of them had ever seen and it would be 
interesting to see how they would react. 

Beth went over to watch the girls playing jump rope while Little 
John directed William away from some of the bigger kids. A 
number of boys were kicking a ball around and the two Carter boys 
went over to watch. Little John looked like he wanted to join in, 
but he wasn't going to leave the side of his little brother. Kelly was 
concerned and thought that she should try to talk William into 
sitting with her so that John could play. 

As she went over to get him, she noticed him turn to look at a 
larger kid that was pushing around a little kid. This was clearly an 
uneven fight, but the teacher watching the kids on the playground 
hadn't noticed. William pointed at the big kid and, in a clear loud 
voice, shouted, "Evil!"

The volume was loud enough to attract attention from kids all over 
the playground. As the teacher turned to see what was happening, 
Beth, John, and William had moved between the big kid and the 
small kid. Standing between his older brother and sister, William 
pointed his finger at the bully and said, "You are evil! Do not 
touch that kid again."

"And what are you going to do about it?" asked the big kid as he 
looked down at the three little kids. Rather than wait for an answer, 
he moved to push William to the ground. 

Kelly started to run over to the kids finding that she running next 
to the teacher. The teacher swore, "That damn kid won't leave the 
little kids alone."

The three Carter kids had reacted before the big kid had a chance 
to touch William. Beth and John had tackled him to the ground and 
William had thrown himself on the kid's head. Between the three 
of them, the big kid was effectively pinned to the ground. Moving 
so that he was straddling the kid's neck, William leaned down and 
said, "You shall never hurt another kid again. Do you understand 
me?"

The big kid tried to hit William, but William just grabbed his ears 
and twisted as hard as he could. The shock and pain caused the kid 
to scream and burst into tears. William repeated, "You shall never 
hurt another kid again. Do you understand me?"

The kid screamed out, "I un'stand ya!"

William released the ears as Kelly and the teacher arrived. It took a 
minute, but the adults soon had the kids separated. The big kid, his 
arms held by the teacher, glared down at William who stood with 
his legs apart and his hands on his hips. Angered, the big kid tried 
to kick William. The attempt was unsuccessful and, as the teacher 
tried to restrain the kid, William retaliated by hitting him in the 
balls as hard as he could. As the big kid curled up into a ball, 
William leaned forward and said, "I shall not tolerate such evil."

In shock, Kelly stared at William and didn't hear what the teacher 
was saying to the child. She knelt down and said, "You can talk."

William just shrugged his shoulders as if to say that it was old 
news and went to stand by his brother and sister. The brother and 
sister looked at each other over William's head and made faces 
suggesting that this was news to them. Kelly watched the 
interaction wondering what other secrets the children had that she 
had no clue even existed.

After tapping Kelly on the shoulder, the teacher finally managed to 
get her attention. Kelly looked up and said, "I'm so sorry, I was just 
distracted."

The teacher, still holding onto the bully, said, "Don't worry about 
your kids being in trouble, Harold has been hitting the little kids 
ever since school started. This is the first time anyone ever hit him 
back. Are your kids okay?"

Looking over at the three kids standing together providing a 
unified front, she answered, "They are fine."

The teacher looked over at the kids and shook her head. It was hard 
to imagine that the little fellow had taken on Harold and won. She 
looked at Kelly and only then realized that she was a Druid. Her 
hand flew up to her mouth as she realized who these kids were. 
There were five children of Druids in the school and they were all 
advanced for their ages. The classes with Druid children in them 
tended to be very quiet and well behaved. Many of the teachers 
had commented on how an air of calm surrounded these kids and 
projected that calm to the kids around them. It was almost 
unnerving, but very appreciated by the teachers. She said, "I'm 
sorry. I didn't realize who you were."

"Who am I?" asked Kelly surprised at the statement.

"Aren't you one of the Carter wives?"

"Yes, I am," replied Kelly still not sure what the teacher was 
getting at.

"Your kids are here to get tested, right?"

Understanding burst over Kelly as she realized that news about the 
kids would have spread over the school. She nodded as she 
answered, "Yes. I thought I would give them a little time to play on 
the swings before they went in to get tested. We don't have swings 
at the college, so they seldom get to play on them."

"I understand. I'm so sorry this happened."

Kelly shook her head looking over at her three children. With a 
smile, she said, "I'm not. They take after their fathers, moving 
between the strong and the weak to protect the weak. They use as 
little force as necessary to stop the strong. I also discovered that 
my youngest son can talk."

The teacher could not believe that a mother would give that 
response to her children getting in a fight. It was as though she 
were proud of them. Instead, she suggested, "You might want to 
take your children into the school for testing now."

Kelly nodded and joined her kids. Together they went into the 
school, leaving behind a confused teacher and a very embarrassed 
bully as one of the kids pointed out that he had just been beaten by 
a someone that was only three.

When the children had been in the fight with the bully, Ed was 
across the country in Arizona taking a moment of pleasure in the 
pool at home. Linda was swimming in the pool with him, talking 
about how tough it was to be here without William. This was her 
first time to be away from William and it was tearing her apart. 
Unfortunately, she had a very busy autograph tour to take, which 
would end in California. While there, she would hopefully sign a 
contract to make a movie based on her book. 

Understanding how tough it was for Linda to leave William back 
in North Carolina, Ed asked, "Would you like to call them?"

Sighing, she answered, "It wouldn't do any good. The kids are 
getting tested now."

Ed said, "I sure was surprised when I found out that he could 
read."

"Tell me about it," replied Linda. How could a mother not know 
that her child could read college level material? She still couldn't 
believe that every time she left William alone with the other kids, 
he was spending the time reading.

The telephone in the poolroom rang. Getting out of the water, Ed 
went over to it and hit the speakerphone button to answer it. He 
was surprised, when Kelly said, "Hi guys! Have I got news for 
you!"

The cheerful tone in her voice was a great relief for Linda who had 
feared that the call signified some major problem. She called out, 
"What's up, Kelly?"

"Linda, you aren't going to believe this!"

"What?"

"William talked today!"

The surprise was enough that Linda almost drown. Coughing as 
she stood up in the pool, Ed asked, "Are you okay?"

Kelly asked, "What's happening?"

"I think that Linda just about drowned when you gave her the 
news."

Still coughing, Linda croaked, "What word did he say?"

Kelly laughed and answered, "I didn't hear his first word, but I 
understand that it was 'evil.' He spoke whole sentences as he was 
threatening a bully."

Confused by the disjointed fashion in which the story was 
emerging, Ed said, "Hold on. Start at the very beginning."

Linda pulled herself out of the pool and went to listen at the 
speakerphone. Both of them listened open mouthed as Kelly 
related the activities that had occurred on the playground. The 
behavior exhibited by the children were clearly that of Druids 
protecting the weak from the strong. Ed smiled with pride as he 
heard the story. Linda, more worried about the kids fighting, was 
still amazed to learn that her son could talk. It was as though a 
dream came true for her.

When Kelly hung up, Linda turned to Ed and, with tears of 
happiness running down her cheeks, said, "I have to go back, even 
if it is for half a day."

Nodding, Ed said, "Go get packed and I'll tell Cathy to arrange a 
flight out there for you."

Going into the office, Ed told Cathy, "We have a mother that has to 
go see her child. Can you arrange a flight to North Carolina for 
Linda?"

Worried, Cathy asked, "Is William okay?"

Nodding, Ed said, "He said his first word and his mommy wasn't 
there to hear it."

Relieved to hear the good news, Cathy laughed at how happy 
Linda must be about her son talking. She turned to the telephone 
and started making the arrangements for Linda to get there. 
Knowing the autograph schedule, she arranged for a flight the next 
day to the first stop on her grand tour. 

Linda flew out of the house, getting a ride to the airport from Bob. 
Ed didn't even have a chance to tell her goodbye or wish her a nice 
flight. With her departure, Ed was left alone in the house with the 
staff. Ling was competing in California and Leroy was in 
Wisconsin checking out Chronic Wasting Disease among the deer 
population. 

Moving into the kitchen, Ed sat down and looked at the two 
women dancing as they cooked. Marguerite and Shauna were 
having a good time preparing lunch. Watching them reminded Ed 
of days gone past. He laughed as he said, "I don't know what to 
think of this. Two women in here dancing on my grave and I'm not 
even dead yet from their cooking."

Without taking a break from their dancing, both women turned and 
threw foam balls at him. Their actions shocked Ed, as he was not 
expecting anything like it. Doing his best to come up with a witty 
comeback, he said, "Now that I have built up an immunity to your 
poisons, you're trying to stone me!"

The two women winked at each other and danced over to the 
counter. As one, they turned and sprayed him with water pistols. 
Defenseless and laughing too hard to flee, Ed raised his hands and 
shouted, "I give up!"

Marguerite burst out laughing at the look on his face. Giggling, she 
said, "Finally got you."

Ed was still laughing at their surprise attack. Talking between 
chortles, he agreed, "You got me, but I'll come up with a suitable 
revenge."

Shauna laughed and said, "Hollow threats."

"Since I'm the only family member here, how about I take 
everyone out to dinner tonight to Maria's?"

Marguerite and Shauna glanced at each other, deciding that they 
would cook the dinner intended for that night then next night. 
Marguerite answered, "Sure, that would be great."

"When will lunch be served?"

"In three hours, if that is okay."

Nodding, Ed said, "I'll go over to my office and return in time for 
lunch."

Shauna laughed as she said, "Good. Your negative attitude towards 
our cooking is spoiling the broth."

Chuckling, Ed went to the door as he called out over his shoulder, 
"That's it. Blame me for your mistakes."

Two wet spots showed up on the back of his shirt as the pair shot 
him a final time with the water pistols. In response, Ed sped up his 
exit followed by the giggles of the two women. Rather than be 
irritated, he was pleased to see them working and playing together. 
It meant that the staff was happy.

The walk to his old house only took a few minutes. He felt 
comfortable moving under the wide-open Arizona sky, unable to 
believe how much he had missed it. It was almost a shame to go 
into the building. 

When he reached the house, he was surprised that the door was 
locked. Fishing his key ring out of his robe pocket, he unlocked the 
door and entered finding that there were groans coming from the 
back office. Smiling, Ed wondered if the sounds indicated what he 
thought they meant. Rather than disturb who ever was in the back 
office, Ed went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of iced 
tea. 

Standing in what used to be his dining room, Ed looked around the 
office noticing a number of minor changes in the layout. They had 
moved the receptionist's desk to a side, with the office equipment 
directly behind the desk on a table. A new conference table had 
been moved into the dining room. The furniture in the waiting 
room had been improved and a number of rock samples had been 
mounted on the wall as décor. 

A huge map showing detailed geological features of the state 
covered the wall. He was familiar with every site shown on the 
map, having been present when each and every measurement had 
been taken. They had a second version of the map in the office safe 
that showed mineral deposits. This second map predicted a large 
number of sites where additional mineral deposits should occur. 

His hands traced common features of the Arizona landscape. 
Seeing the landscape of the entire state drawn out before him only 
reminded him how much he liked the desert. His attention was 
distracted by the clear sounds of a female orgasm in the office. He 
listened with a smile wondering who was in there. 

Sitting at the desk, he waited for them to finish their activities. 
Turning on the computer, he went through the financial status of 
his consulting company. Consulting jobs were down within the 
state and he had been resisting going outside of the state for other 
jobs. He had expected the downturn in consulting jobs since their 
firm had consulted with the majority of mines in the state. They 
didn't need him to come back over and over since he did a very 
thorough job when brought in to identify present and future mining 
activities. For now, they had three site visits scheduled over the 
next two months. That was barely enough to cover the operating 
costs.

The bottom line demonstrated a positive balance that was over 
seven digits. He brought up the books for his other investments and 
was pleased to see that he was doing well with almost all of his 
investments. He flagged three of them in which he would reduce 
his holdings and free up some capital for the business at hand.

The door opened behind him, which was immediately followed by 
a feminine scream, "Oh my God. He's here!"

Ed smiled and turned to see a very embarrassed Lynn Holliday and 
Terry Sharp exit from the back room. With a wide grin, he said, "I 
guess you forgot that we have a meeting this morning."

Terry replied, "That's supposed to be in half an hour."

Lynn stood behind Terry still very embarrassed by what Ed must 
have heard coming out of the back office. Even though months of 
working around the Carter staff and being around people in the 
town had changed her attitude about causal sex significantly, she 
still retained some of the inhibitions that came from years of living 
within a very repressed home. 

"We'll start early and make it up to the house in time for lunch," 
replied Ed as he turned to the computer to print up a couple of 
pages of material that he had been examining. The printer was 
slow, pumping out a few pages a minute, which forced the three to 
wait for them to finish printing.

Once they were done, Ed went to the conference table and sat 
down. Still embarrassed by the noises they had made, Terry and 
Lynn sat down on the side opposite of him. In his normal business 
voice, Ed started the meeting by saying, "Lynn, I have to 
compliment you on managing my business interests. The amount 
of money there is rather impressive."

The praise sent a little thrill through the young woman. She had 
worked hard to make sure that his investments would be good. 
"Thank you, Ed."

Flipping through the pages that he had just printed, he selected out 
three of them. Handing them to Lynn, he said, "I want to reduce 
my interests in these firms in half. Work with the owners to 
arrange a turn over of the shares back to them at a rate that won't 
kill them."

Lynn looked at the firms he had selected and knew that it wouldn't 
be difficult to do as he had asked. These firms were doing well and 
making good profits. The owners would definitely want a greater 
share of ownership on them. Looking up at Ed she said, "No 
problem. I imagine the owners will be more than happy to get 
more shares."

"I want the monies from that sale to go into operating the mine."

Terry looked up sharply and asked, "What mine?"

"The mine that we are going to open," replied Ed with a smile.

That Ed was considering opening a mine was very unexpected. 
Terry asked, "What mine?"

"Go get the map from the safe," Ed requested knowing that Terry 
would know exactly which map he meant.

After Terry had spread the map over the conference table, Ed 
pointed to a region of cattle country. "This area here has 
tremendous mineral deposits but has never been mined. I want to 
lease the mineral rights from the owner of the land. I know that 
he's having some financial difficulties at the moment, so it 
shouldn't be too difficult to get a reasonable lease. I don't want to 
pressure him, but he would really like the extra money. I know that 
he wants to continue raising cattle."

Lynn nodded as she realized that her job would be arranging for 
the lease. Terry looked at the map region that Ed had pointed out 
realizing why he had been sent there to collect samples last month. 
The samples had not been anything spectacular, but Ed had seemed 
pleased when he had called him with the results. Terry said, "I 
don't know anything about running a mine."

Looking up at Terry, Ed smiled and replied, "Call Calvin Kerr and 
ask him to set up the mining operation. If he balks, offer him a 
percentage of the action, but no more than twenty percent."

"You've got this all planned out, don't you?"

"Not fully. Once we've got the mineral rights, I want all of that 
property surveyed and samples taken. Select the one that is most 
promising and then bring in Calvin." He was tempted to add Kim, 
but that thought carried with it a little hurt since he missed 
spending time in the desert with Kim.

Lynn noticed the slightly sad look that appeared around Ed's eyes 
and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Just thinking about an old rock hunting partner," replied Ed. 

Terry knew that Kim had been working with Ed before him. She 
hadn't been as technical in the approach as Terry, but Ed always 
talked nicely about her. "You mean Kim?"

"Yes, I do," he answered in a voice that conveyed a deep longing 
that he knew it would go unfulfilled.

Terry nodded significantly at Lynn, as she finally understood the 
source of his sadness. Looking at Ed in a different light, she 
realized that when he loved or cared about someone it was for life. 
The revelation shocked her and she decided to change the subject. 
She asked, "So are there any new investments that you want to 
make?"

Putting on a very serious expression on his face, Ed leaned forward 
and said, "I want to concentrate all of our efforts on the mine. I've 
got a feeling that this is going to be big. All of my training and 
years of experience hunting rocks in that desert is screaming at me 
to develop a mine there. With regard to my existing investments, I 
want to let them ride. I don't want to consider any new investments 
until we have a clear idea how the mine is performing."

She left the table and went to get her books. Returning to the table, 
she opened them and said, "Your income from your investments 
will drop to half a million a year."

Frowning, Ed asked, "What does that make my personal cash on 
hand?"

"Right now you have a little over half a million in cash. You spent 
a lot of money outfitting that property in North Carolina."

Smiling, Ed thought about the number of camping trips that he had 
on that property. Since purchasing it, they had several full family 
trips and each one had been a lot of fun. He had gone out alone and 
with individual members of the family. Smiling, he said, "I don’t 
regret a single penny that I spent on that."

Frowning, she said, "In the two years I've been working with you, 
your cash flow has never been so low."

Puzzled by her concern, Ed asked, "What would I spend that 
money on?"

The question shocked her. She went through the books to look at 
the uses of the money that he had used in the past. Every dollar, 
except for the money that went to the property, had been used in 
investments. He paid himself a twenty-five thousand a year salary, 
an amount that was less than she was paid. She answered, "I don't 
know."

Terry had been listening to the conversation with some concerns 
and asked, "What about consulting?"

Turning to face Terry, Ed smiled and said, "I've been thinking 
about making a couple of changes in that area."

Stomach tensing at the thought that Ed was going to shut down the 
consulting activities, Terry asked, "What kind of changes?"

"I want you to take over all of the consulting activities, bringing 
me in only when there is a situation that you can't resolve. I'm 
going to allow you to expand the region of the country that the 
firm will take consulting jobs as you see fit."

Sitting back in shock, Terry said, "You are turning all of the 
consulting operations over to me?"

"Yes."

To be given carte blanche was daunting and required a little more 
clarification. He asked, "What exactly do you mean?"

"I mean that when a customer calls, you will tell him that you will 
be the individual performing the survey and data analysis. You can 
tell the customer that if there are any exceptional findings that you 
will discuss the matter with me. It is up to you to decide if you 
have sufficient expertise in the geological formations typical to 
that area to take the job. The normal consulting rates will apply."

The fact was that Ed had basically turned the company over to 
Terry and the young man realized it. So far, Ed was keeping the 
financial aspects of the company, but he would have to release 
some control over the finances. "About the financial aspects, I'll 
need some control over them."

Laughing at the understatement, Ed said, "You are going to need 
total control over them if you are to do the job correctly."

"Total?"

Ed shuffled through the few remaining papers in front of him and 
said, "Right now, the books for Biggers Consulting are kept 
separate from all other business interests that I have. I have been 
transferring profits over to my other companies for investment 
purposes. From now on, we will treat the profits and my income 
from that company separate from all of my other business 
activities."

Lynn went through the books and double-checked what Ed had 
said. She knew that all of his companies passed profits up to 
Biggers Holding Company, which then distributed those profits 
back to his companies as developmental money. She wanted to see 
what would be the impact of that. She frowned as she realized that 
would lessen his cash flow into the other investment areas by 
almost a quarter of a million a year. She looked up and said, "That 
cuts your investments into your other companies by a quarter of a 
million a year."

Nodding, Ed said, "Yes. I'm not developing any of those 
companies at the moment. All of their profits shall flow into the 
mining operation. The mining operation shall be a separate activity 
from the consulting company. We'll start up a company called 
Biggers Mining."

Surprised by the change, Lynn said, "Oh."

Continuing with the financial aspects of the company, Ed said, 
"Terry will continue to draw his current salary from Biggers 
Consulting. As soon as Biggers Mining is started, he will draw an 
equal salary from it. I'll continue to draw my salary from Biggers 
Holding and an additional salary of five thousand dollars a year 
from Biggers Consulting and Biggers Mining. You can draw an 
extra ten thousand from Biggers Consulting and Biggers Mining."

The idea of a raise of ten thousand dollars a year was tantalizing, 
but she wanted to verify that she understood his instructions 
correctly. It was possible that he meant to reduce the salaries taken 
from the holding company. She asked, "Do you mean spreading 
the extra salary across both companies?"

"No, I mean that amount from each company. You two will be 
earning it, believe me."

Lynn sat back and considered the consequences of getting a raise 
of twenty thousand dollars a year. That was a significant increase 
in her standard of living. Frowning, she said, "That's a pretty 
significant raise."

"Yes, but it is also a pretty significant increase in responsibilities. 
I'm giving you the authority and the responsibility to make pretty 
significant business decisions on my behalf. That requires fair 
compensation and I'm making sure that you have it," replied Ed.

Wondering if he could handle any more news, Terry asked, "is 
there anything else?"

"Not that I can think of," replied Ed. He looked at Terry and then 
at Lynn before asking, "Are there any other questions that you 
might have?"

As they both shook their heads signaling a negative answer, Terry 
said, "I'm sure that I'll have a thousand questions later, but for now 
I can't think of a single thing."

"Good," replied Ed with a wink at Lynn. 

Ever since her first experience with the kids, Lynn had been trying 
to come to grips with their apparent maturity and the way the 
family treated them. Many nights of sleep had been lost trying to 
come to grips with the fact that the adults were routinely naked in 
front of the children. She had finally been enlightened the day that 
she had watched a special on a South American tribe where the 
entire tribe went naked. They decorated their bodies with rings, 
piercings, and feathers as artificial means of attracting mates. 
Nudity among the tribe was nothing more than a different kind of 
clothing. 

Once she had gotten over the family's nudist practices, she had 
come to like the kids and the other members of the family. She felt 
so sorry for William who couldn't speak. She asked, "So how is the 
family?"

"Busy. It's hard to believe that with six people in one marriage how 
difficult it is for two of them to get together. I came out here with 
four of them and now I'm all alone again," answered Ed.

Having heard that Linda was here for another day, Lynn asked, 
"What happened to Linda?"

Smiling and with significant pride in his voice, Ed said, "The kids 
got into a fight at the elementary school playground. Apparently, 
they were protecting a little kid from a bully."

One of the rules of the house echoed through her mind, 'protect the 
weak from the strong.' She could understand how he would 
respond to their actions with pride. Not only did they know the 
rule; they followed the rule. She asked, "So why did Linda go 
down there? Did any of the kids get hurt?"

"William spoke."

"That's great! What did he say?"

"He spoke complete sentences telling the bully that he was not to 
harm those weaker than himself," replied Ed with pride. 

Even Terry recognized the significance of William's sudden 
vocalization. Full sentences. Who could have imagined that a baby 
that had never made a sound would suddenly start talking in 
complete sentences? He said, "That's amazing."

Ed stood and said, "Let's get to lunch. I'm taking everyone out to 
dinner at Maria's tonight. You are invited if you have nothing else 
to do."

At the looks on their faces, he knew that they would probably 
come to the dinner. He added, "There will probably be an orgy 
afterwards."

Judging by the blush that formed on Lynn's face, he guessed that 
she would probably not return to the house that night. He would be 
proved wrong in that assessment and discover that she had turned 
into a very aggressive and vocal lover. 
