Happy Tuesday! We made it through a rainy Monday and have reached a drizzly Tuesday. Some say there may be sun before the day is out. Its been MIA for about three days now so a little sun might be nice. Admittedly none of the weathermen (or women depending on the channel) seem to agree on whether the sun will put in an appearance today or if it will take every ounce of energy to burn through today’s cloud cover and we’ll just have to wait for the sun to appear tomorrow. While I love seeing who is right in their predictions, kind of like pitting different psychics and their crystal balls against each other (doppler radars at the ready), the clouds make me sleepy. Coffee will soon remedy that though. So time to shake the brain awake. Pen is ready and timer set. See you in fifteen minutes.
Well that was fun. So not the story I thought I would go with when I started. Oh well, could be interesting to explore later.
Tuesday, October 13th: All these possibilities hinged on one thing.
All of these possibilities hinged on one thing. Eunice. Carl sighed. That was always going to be the tricky bit. She had her stance and she was sticking to it. She did as she had done for the past fifty years and saw no reason to change. She drank the same coffee, bought the same milk, used the same brands of everything that she had each time she went to the store. Shen the local company whose ice cream she favored went out of business, Eunice simply stopped buying ice cream. Even something like corporate insolvency wasn’t going to get her to try a new brand.
She was just as stubborn with everything else in her life. She was a my way or the highway sort of person. And because she held the corporate purse strings, almost everyone in her aegis did things her way.
Carl squared his shoulders. A life time of having everything go her was would be a hard habit for her to break, but it was necessary. He debated with himself for days, weeks even, but in the end he decided if she wouldn’t budge, he would take the highway option. When all was said and done, he would rather leave than continue on.
Carl looked at the page he held and for a moment could make out none of the words. He realized his hand was shaking, the paper vibrating slightly in his grasp, making the words illegible. This would not do. He closed his eyes. He had a list of possible alternatives Eunice could choose from. Each in their own way was acceptable. What was not acceptable was current policy. He would accept any of the changes she chose but if she chose to let policy stand as it was, he would leave. He had his savings, his education and his skills. They could ask him to leave but they could not deny the job he did here. His record would speak for itself. In the end though, he didn’t want to leave. This was his home. It was where he wanted to be. His one saving grace, his ace in the hole, was that Eunice liked having all the family around her. She didn’t want any of them to leave. While she accepted the public gratitude of owning the company that ran the town, she wanted all of her family gathered round, eager to please her, eager to vie for a place in her will.
Carl just hoped that her need for keeping the family under her thumb was greater than her need to maintain everything in the company as her father left it. Carl knew in the end that was what he was fighting. Eunice didn’t change because everything in her life was established by the law of her father Eugene. His will had been the end all be all of both the town and Eunice’s life. He was the one who advocated the family staying close and trained her in manipulating every one of the relatives into doing so. He was even the one who favored the now bankrupt ice cream company.
Carl took another deep breath and noticed his hand steadied. He has his list of possibilities. He had his reasoning. He even had his research should she feel it necessary to fact check any of his possibilities. And in the end, he had the ability to leave if it came to it. As he steadied, Eunice’s secretary came to the door.
“She’s ready for you Mr. Andersen,” She said.
Carl nodded and stood. Now it was time to see what would happen. Change would occur, which change was about to be determined.
Ten til Midnight 