JC: Ed Biggers
Part 4: Adjournment
Chapter 23
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

The truck pulled away from the mine to be replaced by another as 
a bulldozer growled its way towards the new truck. Dust hung 
heavy in the air, kicked up by the huge tires of the truck moving 
through the desert. Ed blinked his eyes trying to rid them of dust, 
but it was a losing battle that would only be won when the dust 
settled back to the ground.

Outside of the trucks, it was hard to tell that this was an operational 
mine. Shouting over the noise of the bulldozer and truck, Calvin 
explained, "We are taking the wall away a little at a time, starting 
at the top and moving down to the bottom. The soil at the top is 
being sold as landfill. The next stratum is being crushed to form 
gravel for driveways. The layer below that is the one that we are 
interest in mining and we are processing that offsite. We can stop 
mining at any time and it will look like natural erosion."

"Are we making money off each layer?" asked Ed.

"We are reducing the cost of mining. We can sell the soil and the 
gravel at market prices, which is less than it costs us to get it. We 
may be losing a little money on each truckload, but we would have 
to spend more to get at the ore any other way. Shoring up the vein 
would cost a fortune. We are reducing the cost significantly."

It was hard to hear over the noise, but Ed understood the gist of 
what Calvin was telling him. The two men walked away to where 
they had parked their trucks, finding that Jack Clark was waiting 
for them. He approached with a hand extended and said, "Hello, 
Jack. I was just examining the mining operation."

Smiling, Jack accepted the hand and shook it with a firm grip. He 
said, "Every night after they leave, I come by here to check out 
what they have done during the day. I'm amazed, you can hardly 
tell that they are mining here."

"Are you pleased with the operation? Do you want any changes in 
how we are doing it?"

"I'm very pleased and can't think of a thing that I would change."

Calvin looked relieved to hear the property owner say that he was 
pleased and replied, "You've been very cooperative and that has 
helped a lot."

"Hell, I'm making a fortune out of this," replied the rancher. He 
was getting paid a percentage of every truckload that left the place 
and the amount was shocking. He had gotten a check for twenty 
thousand dollars at the end of the first month. 

Terry, Ed's protégé that he had put in charge of this endeavor, was 
proud to hear what the rancher had to say. They had established a 
fair lease that left them with lots of profit and yet gave enough to 
the rancher to assure long-term cooperation. Ed turned to Terry 
and said, "You've done wonders here."

"Thanks, but most of the credit goes to Calvin. Without his 
guidance, we'd still be planning how to mine this site," replied 
Terry. The time spent with Ed had taught him the importance of 
sharing the credit with those that deserved it. Attempting to hog all 
of the glory had the opposite effect.

It was time to head back to the office and finish up the details there 
before leaving for North Carolina. Ed said, "Calvin. Jack. It's been 
good seeing you. I'm very happy with how the operation is 
unfolding. If there are any problems, give me a call at the Arizona 
house and Cathy will get you in touch with me."

Jack, not worried about having problems, replied, "Sure thing. I 
hope you enjoy it out east."

Calvin laughed and said, "He'll tolerate the east, but he's a desert 
rat at heart."

"You know me too well," replied Ed. Turning, he went to his truck 
followed by Terry. The young man got in the passenger side and 
buckled up his seatbelt. 

Driving away, Ed turned to Terry and asked, "So what do the early 
production numbers look like?"

"The mine pulled in a profit of a hundred thousand last month. 
That's after all expenses have been covered," answered Terry. He 
expected the monthly profit to increase since they had paid for a lot 
of the start up cost last month. 

"That's not bad," replied Ed. 

"We've been operating in the black since the second week of 
operations," remarked Terry rather pleased the accomplishment.

"Calvin knows his stuff."

"Yeah, but you found a good site to dig."

They rode comfortable with silence, each man enjoying the desert 
passing outside the truck in his own way. Sighing, Ed said, "I'm 
going to miss the desert. I've spent some time at the Druid College. 
It's nice, but it isn't the desert. The trees seem to swallow the sky. 
By the Gods and Goddesses, I missed the sky when I was there."

"So you'll be back here three times a year for a week each trip?"

Nodding to acknowledge the correctness of the summary of his 
plans, he knew that those future visits would not occur often 
enough to satisfy him. Saddened, Ed answered, "It won't be 
enough."

Terry, riding in the passenger seat, said, "Well, if you miss the sky 
too much, then you might want to take up sailing. Lots of sky over 
the ocean."

Ed looked at Terry like he had just discovered a new rock. Very 
surprised, he asked, "Sailing?"

"Sure. An ocean is just another desert with water instead of sand," 
replied Terry incorrectly remembering the lyrics to a rather famous 
song. 

Ed was quiet the rest of the trip back to the office as he considered 
the suggestion. There were some nice aspects of that solution to his 
problem. It would still be a long drive to the shore where the boat 
would be kept. It was only an hour drive to Charlotte from the 
Druid College and would be a quick flight to the shore. That was 
doable. 

They pulled into the driveway of his old home. Entering the house, 
he was struck by the fact that it wasn't filled with his old furniture. 
For a moment, he had been transported back into time to when he 
had lived there with Kelly and Beth. He really hated leaving for the 
College since this town was his home. 

Lynn, seated behind her desk, had waited all morning for Ed and 
Terry to return from the mine. She had gone through the books, 
checking and double-checking the figures she was going to present 
to him. It was her intention to give Ed a complete picture of his 
financial health before he left. When Ed had entered the office, she 
had been daydreaming of ways in which to thank him for all of the 
opportunities that he had given her. She wasn't even thirty and 
been given responsibility for managing millions of dollars. 

Startled by Ed clearing her throat, she looked up and blushed at the 
overtly sexual thoughts that had been going through her mind. 
Pointing to the conference table, Ed went over to it and sat down. 
Terry and Lynn followed him. As they settled around the 
conference table to begin the meeting, Ed noticed the tray with a 
pitcher of iced tea and glasses set out in the middle of the table 
along with a couple of bowls of mixed nuts. 

After pouring glasses of iced tea for everyone, Ed took a handful 
of nuts and gestured to Lynn to run this portion of the meeting. 
With a smile, she looked over at him and said, "The last two 
months have changed your financial picture significantly."

Raising an eyebrow, Ed wondered about her statement. He had 
reduced his investment in a couple of the more successful 
businesses and started the mine. Curious, he asked, "How much 
could it have changed?"

She said, "Well, you doubled your cash on hand and have become 
worth over a hundred million."

"How?" asked Ed, incredulous that such a change could have 
occurred in less than two months.

"The software company that you had invested in, was sold for 
twenty-five million. You owned twenty percent so your share was 
a five million," she paused to let that sink in. Getting pleasure out 
of the expression on his face, she added, "Another company just 
went public and your shares in the company are now worth about 
fifty million. One of the pizza companies has just franchised itself 
and they are opening offices across the country at a huge rate. Its 
value is now around fifty million as well. Your other company 
holdings have all increased in value to where they are now worth 
about twenty million."

That much money bothered Ed and he sat back to think about what 
he could do with it. Sipping his iced tea, his mind worked on the 
problem. As Lynn started to shift in her chair, he answered, "Sell 
the shares in the company that went public. I don't like investing in 
stocks. I prefer to invest in family owned businesses. Why don't 
you and Terry take a million each as a bonus this year? With the 
rest, set aside ten percent for taxes, ten percent for future 
investments, and use the rest for some national charity that is a 
little under-funded."

Pleased at how well she had been managing the funds, Lynn was 
totally floored by Ed's use of the money. She hadn't worked so 
hard to take care of his investments to see him give all of that 
money away. Shocked, she sat back and said, "You want to give 
most of it away?"

He leaned forward with a smile understanding the nature of her 
reaction and that she hadn't realized that she was now a 
millionaire. With a smile, he said, "Yes, give most of it away. Use 
the money so that it benefits the most number of people. Maybe 
use it to buy computers for high schools."

"But, you are giving away almost half of your money," replied 
Lynn still confused. 

Sitting back, Ed said, "Let's consider that software company that I 
helped start. That was an investment of about fifty thousand 
dollars. I've been getting about that same amount of money back 
every year since they started making money. The five million now 
is gravy that I've never seen or touched. Does it matter that I have 
it? Not really, I'm happy with what I have."

Doubtfully, Lynn said, "Okay."

"I'd rather think about what I accomplished with that money. For 
fifty thousand dollars, a young man realized a dream and produced 
a product that makes the world a better place. He now has fifty 
people working for him. Those fifty people have jobs, pay for 
houses, and take care of their families. Now that is really an 
accomplishment. Amazing what that little bit of money did." Ed 
smiled as he thought about the last time that he had visited that 
company. It was a regular beehive of activity as people worked 
together to accomplish something bigger than anyone of them 
could have done alone. 

Lynn looked at Ed, only then realizing what motivated him. The 
money wasn't anything except a tool to make things better. She 
thought to herself how she would live if she were a millionaire and 
that was when she realized that he had given her a million-dollar 
bonus for the year. She screamed, "I'm rich!"

Laughing at her sudden realization of her new wealth, Ed said, "I 
wondered how long it would take you to realize that."

Terry started to laugh and then came to the same realization about 
his situation. He was now worth a million. Ed said, "Before you 
get too excited, you had been look into the tax consequences of 
that bonus."

Lynn was well aware of the tax issues associated with that much 
money. Every week, she had to go over to the house to work with 
Cathy and the IRS on Ed's returns that he had to file every quarter. 
She would have to average that money over the past few years of 
earnings and follow the incredibly complex tax guidelines for 
paying taxes on that money. Still, the money that would be left 
over after paying taxes would be incredible. Glancing at Ed, she 
asked, "Would you be terribly upset if I chose to invest in the same 
companies as you?"

Shrugging, he replied, "Not at all. That might allow us to spread 
the risk around a little better."

The news about the money had derailed her concentration on the 
subject of the meeting. For a moment, her mind struggled to find a 
reasonable way to get the meeting back on track. There wasn't a 
good way to do that, so the change in topic was jarring. She said, 
"The mine is producing money far earlier than you expected. Two 
months ago we had halted reinvestment in other businesses so that 
you would have the money to build up the mine. Now that it is 
making a profit, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. Let's just sit on the money from the mine for a while 
and see if something interesting crops up. Use the money from the 
other investments to help other folks starting new businesses," 
replied Ed. He really didn't have any plans for the money. 
Thinking about it for a minute, he said, "You might want to hire 
some assistants with some of the money from the mine."

"Pardon?" asked Terry concerned about having to hire someone.

"You need someone to help you cover the consulting business so 
that you have the time to watch over the mine."

Lynn looked uncomfortable and said, "I don't really need an 
assistant."

"Sure you do," replied Ed as he turned his attention to her. He 
knew that she probably viewed it as a comment that she couldn't 
handle her responsibilities, but that wasn't the case. She hadn't 
been growing lately and that distressed him. He added, "You need 
someone to cover you so that you can take some vacation time. 
Also, it's time you head back to college."

The suggestion took her breath away. She had been planning on 
taking business courses in the evening hoping to get a degree in 
business. With an assistant working for her, she could leave early 
if necessary to take an extra course every semester. Rather than 
fight the inevitable, she said, "That might be a good thing for me to 
do."

Happy that all was established to his satisfaction, Ed said, "Great. 
Anything else? If not, I had better go. If anything should come up, 
call me in North Carolina. Odds are, I won't be coming back here 
to live."
 
His words made her aware of the finality of his life here. Lynn sat 
there staring at the table in front of her in dismay. Her daydreams 
for a farewell gift and a chance to thank him for taking the risk to 
hire her had fallen apart. Now, after all that he had done for her in 
the meeting today, there wasn't any kind of a present that could 
possibly convey how thankful she was for his consideration. At 
that moment, it truly sunk into her mind that he was leaving. 

Ed noticed her sudden change in mood and asked, "Are you okay?"

At the question, Lynn covered her face with her hands and started 
crying with big sobs that caused her shoulders to jerk. Staring at 
her, Ed had no idea what he had said or done that would cause that 
reaction. Looking over at Terry to see if he had a clue as to what 
was the matter, he found no answer there. Concerned, he stepped 
around the table and put an arm around Lynn in a move intended to 
comfort her. Instead, she started crying harder. After a minute, she 
stood up and ran out of the room, going into the room where all of 
the computers were kept. 

Shocked by her unexplained behavior, Terry asked, "What's going 
on?"

"I have no idea," replied Ed very confused by her actions. 
Returning to his chair, he sat down to think about what he should 
do.  Frowning, he said, "It appears that I have upset her somehow. 
Maybe you could go in and see if you can help her."

Terry left the room while Ed stayed at the table wondering what he 
had done that could have upset her so greatly. He replayed the 
conversation in his mind, but could find nothing untoward in it. 
That led him to wonder if he remembered it correctly. He decided 
that his comment about her needing to go back to school might 
have been interpreted as a negative comment about her abilities. 
He didn't mean it that way, just that she would probably want to 
sharpen the business skills that she had learned working for him.

Half an hour went by without a noise from the room where Terry 
and Lynn had retreated. Finally, Terry came out and sat at the table 
with a very unhappy look on his face. Pouring a glass of iced tea, 
he said, "She's upset that you are going away and there is no way 
for her to thank you for all that you've done for her."

Puzzled, Ed asked, "What did I do for her that was so excessive 
that a simple thank you won't suffice?"

Terry stared at Ed wondering if anyone could actually be so 
modest. "You have given us a million dollars, provided her with 
the time and resources to go to school, and you have loved her like 
your own daughter. What can she possibly do to thank you for all 
of that?"

"Just say, thank you."

His statement was met with silence as Terry tried to figure out how 
to tell Lynn what Ed had said. Sipping his tea, he stared at Ed 
wondering how he could thank him for all that he'd done for him. 
Finally, the only thing that he could say was, "Let me talk to Lynn 
for a moment."

Ed nodded his agreement and watched as Terry took two iced teas 
to the back room. He sipped his and checked his watch. Shirley 
had asked him to stop by the bar around lunchtime so that she 
could have a chance to talk before he left for good. He thought 
about what Terry had said and wondered when he had become old 
enough to be viewed as a father figure to a woman in her twenties. 
He guessed it had happened around the time when he had turned 
forty. In fact, he was old enough to have been her father.

The pair returned from the room. A very subdued Lynn said, 
"Thank you for all that you've done for me."

Ed stood up and came around to the table. Looking down at her, he 
said, "I did very little other than give you a chance. You have done 
all of the hard work."

Sniffling, she threw herself at him and grabbed him in a hug as she 
began sobbing. "I'm going to miss you."

Arms around her, Ed knew that he was going to miss her and 
hundreds of other people here in town. In a gentle tone of voice 
that conveyed his feelings on the matter, he replied, "I'm going to 
miss you, too."

She finally stopped crying and stepped back from Ed. Years of 
experience with damsels in distress had caused Ed to be prepared 
for situations such as this. He reached into his pocket and removed 
a handkerchief. Handing it to her, he allowed her the time to 
compose herself before leaving.

Shirley's bar, nestled on the street between the restaurant and a 
new fabric store, shone like a beacon of safety for Ed. Years ago it 
had been a rowdy honky-tonk with beer fights, juke box music, 
and quarter a game pool. Over the years it had evolved into a 
friendly place where the majority of clients drank cokes, talked 
with friends, and danced on the dance floor with their lovers. It 
reflected the drastic change in underlying temper of the town.

Smiling, Ed entered the bar expecting to find Shirley in her usual 
place for two in the afternoon. Instead of an empty bar, it was 
filled with the women of the town sitting around the tables, talking 
with each other, laughing, and having a good time. On entering, 
the conversations slowly came to a halt as all eyes turned to look at 
him. Thinking he had interrupted a Ladies Meeting, Ed said, "Oh, 
excuse me. I didn't mean to interrupt your meeting. I'll come back 
later."

"You aren't interrupting anything. We've been waiting for you to 
show up," replied Shirley from a table she shared with Mary, 
Maria, and Rosa. Four glasses of wine were set around the table.

Ed looked at all of the women in the room, each of them beautiful 
in their own unique way. Sherry, large as always, was smiling at 
him with a twinkle in her eyes as she watched his uneasy reaction 
to being the subject of such attention from so many women at 
once. As Ed glanced at Sherry, he knew that she was aware that he 
had slept with almost every woman in the room. Puzzled by the 
attention, Ed said, "I hope that I haven't kept you waiting. I guess 
that Cathy failed to tell me that I expected here."

Rosa giggled as she said, "Every woman in town knew that you 
would be coming over here. We just showed up."

That explained why he hadn't known that they were waiting for 
him, but it didn't explain why they were there. Rather than pursue 
the question, he said, "It's very nice to see all of you. I was 
planning to take a walk around town after leaving here and stop by 
everyone's house to say good-bye."

Eyes misted at his reference to leaving town and a few of the 
women almost broke into tears when he announced that he was 
going to visit each of them at their home. It was exactly the kind of 
thing that he would do and was half of the reason why they all 
loved him. He always took care to make each of them feel special. 
Each thought about how nice it would have been to say goodbye to 
him privately, but knew that it was wishful thinking. There were 
too many women and too short of a time for a single man to say 
goodbye in the fashion that each desired. Sherry broke the long 
moment of silence that had followed his statement when she said, 
"I think that most of us knew that and thought this might be a little 
easier for you."

Smirking, Rosa stated what was obviously on every woman's mind 
as she said, "Actually, we knew that this would be the only way for 
you to say goodbye. I doubt that even the loving Ed Biggers could 
sleep with that many women in one day."

At the reminder that even a young man wouldn't be able to sleep 
with all of the women in that room, Ed laughed good-naturedly. He 
wasn't embarrassed to admit that over the course of a single day 
that he was only good for a couple of bouts in the bed. Ten would 
be far too many for him and that wouldn't have satisfied half of the 
women in the room. He replied, "Too true, the spirit is willing but 
the body is not."

Juanita Ortega gestured for Ed to join the table where she sat with 
her mother and mother-in-law. Her confidence in making such a 
gesture made Ed realize how much she had grown since she was 
the shy young woman that had sat at the conference table years 
ago. Although she had said at that time that her mother and 
mother-in-law had wanted to sleep with him, that had never 
happened. Joining her at the table, he sat down and said, "Hello, 
Mrs. Ortega, Mrs. Gonzalez, and Juanita."

Mrs. Gonzalez replied, "Buenos Dais, Senor Doctor Biggers."

Even though Ed knew that she didn't speak English, Juanita 
interjected, "I'm sorry, but my mother doesn't speak English very 
well."

Switching to Spanish, Ed told Mrs. Gonzalez, "I don't speak 
Spanish very well, but I'm sure that you will understand me."

In Spanish, she answered, "You speak very well, Doctor Biggers."

"Thank you for your kind words. It is a shame that we haven't had 
a chance to really talk before now."

"I want to thank you for all the kindness you've shown my 
daughter and her husband."

Embarrassed at the praise, Ed replied, "I fear that I did very little. 
Manual and Joe worked hard and she stood by him through the 
hard times."

Looking at Ed in adoration like he was a superhero, Mrs. Ortega 
said, "They worked hard for many years before the day when you 
talked to them and told them what they needed to do to become 
rich. You've made my life a dream."

Juanita leaned over and said, "I wish that we could make your life 
a dream in the same way you've done that for us."

Ed leaned over with a smile in his eyes to take her hand. Kissing 
the back of her hand, he said, "Juanita, having beautiful women 
like you and your mothers as friends makes my life a dream. What 
man could possibly ask for more?"

The three women around the table blushed. Looking over at her 
mother, Juanita said, "Ed, we just want to thank you and don't 
know what to do for you."

"You have thanked me more than I deserve," replied Ed wondering 
what he could say that would satisfy the women.

Putting her hand on his arm, Juanita said, "The other women want 
to talk to you. Go to them."

Ed kissed her on her forehead and then headed over to the table 
where Sherry was seated. Looking back, he could see that Juanita 
was crying. Sherry saw where he was looking and said, "Come 
over here, Ed."

Torn between wanting to comfort Juanita and doing as Sherry had 
requested, he stood where he was. Sherry said, "Darling, she's 
crying because she is going to miss you. There's nothing you can 
do for her tears."

Head dropping, Ed went over to the table and sat down next to 
Sherry. When he finally settled himself in the chair, he asked, "Are 
you going to cry too?"

"Probably," replied Sherry with a twinkle in her eye. She knew 
how uncomfortable crying women made him and she promised 
herself that she wouldn't do it. When he looked around desperately, 
she added, "not."

He sat back in the chair and looked at her with a grin realizing that 
she had been joking with him. He said, "I've been surrounded by 
crying women this morning."

Nodding, Sherry replied, "You've helped so many of us and now 
you are leaving. It's natural for us to be sad. We are going to miss 
you tremendously."

"I think that people give me too much credit around here."

Sherry looked at Ed as if he were from another planet. Although 
she knew that he didn't think much about what he did, it was hard 
to believe that he was that blind to the effect that he had on other 
people's lives. It had to be part of the magic. She said, "Go around 
and talk to all the other women. I'll walk you home when you're 
done."

"Thanks," replied Ed realizing that he would probably need her 
calm presence for the trip home. 

Ed went over to the other tables. At each, he talked to the women 
there for a few minutes. Every time he left a table, the women 
seated around it broke out in tears. For Ed, this was a very trying 
time. After having covered the whole room, he looked around and 
realized that only Shirley and Sherry were left in the room. He sat 
down heavily, exhausted by the emotions to which he had been 
exposed. Looking over at Shirley, he said, "Can I have a coke 
please?"

Shirley covered her mouth in embarrassment and ran off to get him 
a coke. Sherry smiled over at Ed and said, "Rough afternoon."

With a sad expression on his face, Ed answered, "I'm going to miss 
living here."

Shirley brought over a glass of coke and set it in front of Ed. She 
patted his hand and said, "You'll be missed by a lot of people 
around here."

"I'm going to miss everyone in this town," replied Ed with a sigh. 
He didn't really want to leave, but his husbands and wives were at 
the college and he had courses to teach there. 

Shirley kissed him and said, "You'll visit here, won't you?"

"Three times a year."

Shirley sniffled and wiped her eyes. Noticing her action, Ed knew 
what was going to come next. Voice trembling, she said, "I'm 
sorry. I promised myself that I wouldn't cry."

Ed hugged her tightly and said, "I'm going to miss you the most."

As Shirley broke down in tears, Ed reached into his robe for his 
handkerchief and realized that he had left it at the office with 
Lynn. He realized that he should have brought several of them with 
him, but he had not predicted that so many people would be upset 
to see him go. 

Shirley calmed down and Ed broke off the hug. Smiling weakly, 
Sherry handed her a napkin from the table to allow her to collect 
herself. She also slipped one into her pocket knowing that she 
would require it before long. Shirley looked up at Ed and said, 
"You don't know what you've done, do you?"

Confused, Ed answered, "Not really."

Shirley kissed him on the cheek and said, "That's why we care 
about you so much."

Tenderly, Sherry said, "I had better take him home now."

"That would be a good idea," replied Shirley as she knew that she 
was going to have a good long cry as soon as he left the bar.

Ed hugged Shirley one last time and then left with Sherry. 
Stepping out into the bright sunlight, the pair stopped to let their 
eyes adjust to the sudden change in light. Much to his surprise, 
Father Donnelly was waiting outside the bar. He greeted the priest, 
"Hello, Father. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. I heard that you were leaving and I just wanted to stop by 
to say goodbye," replied the priest.

Winking at Sherry, Ed replied, "Glad to see me leave, eh?"

Grinning, the priest answered, "Of course. Can't have pagans 
ruining the morals of my flock, teaching them that it is alright to 
love each other and other bizarre ideas like that."

"Right," replied Ed with a smile knowing that the priest was 
joking. There was a time, not too long before, that the priest would 
have been serious. Turning serious, Ed requested, "Please take care 
of my town."

"I'll do that, Ed," replied the priest. He understood that Ed was 
asking him to help people continue to learn how to love each other 
and to be honest with one another. That was the great gift that the 
Druids had brought to this town. Now that the priest was dedicated 
to serving Love, it was an easy promise for him to make.

Sherry interrupted, "Father, I'm taking Ed home. He's been 
surrounded by crying women all day."

Father Donnelly smiled as he said, "I imagine there are going to be 
a lot of broken hearts in town when you leave tomorrow."

"Broken hearts?"

Sherry shook her head and tugged on his arm to lead him 
homeward. As they left, the priest said, "Take care of yourself, 
Ed."

"Same to you Father Donnelly. I expect to see the church painted 
next time I come to town."

The priest laughed and shook his head as he walked away. Even 
though he understood the Druids better, it still surprised him how 
much Ed and John supported the church. Looking over at the 
church, he decided that he would try to get it painted. Maybe this 
upcoming weekend might be a good time. It would help people get 
over Ed's departure.
