by VC Angell
“That’s a great idea. What did your friend call it again, site easy?” Carol asked.
“The other way around, Easysite, with the two words run together.”
“When I asked you if you are rich, you said yes and no. What does that mean?” Carol asked with a frown.
“I still have some shares of Easysite, but I wouldn’t be able to buy another property from you with what’s left,” Jim smiled at her.
“No, no, I wasn’t looking to sell you anything more. I’m sorry if I give you that impression.”
Jim thought that Carol looked flustered. He decided to change the subject, “What about you?”
“If you’re asking if I’m rich, it’s a solid no. The commission I’ll get from selling the Johnson’s property will probably have to see me through until next spring. That’s when things will pick up around here again. Most of our sales occur between the end of May and the beginning of September,” Carol explained.
“Essentially, you’re saying only during the growing season?”
“That’s pretty much it.”
“Tell me more about yourself. I’ll be honest with you. I am fascinated with your blue eyes,” Jim said.
Carol seemed to blush before she answered, “I’ll be honest with you. Julie told me that you are interested in knowing more about me.”
“As long as we are honest, I’ll be honest with you too. I’m glad Julie mentioned me to you. I have been in Europe for the last seven years, working as a foreign correspondent. I didn’t date there. I am kind of out of practice.”
“You’re a good-looking guy. Why wouldn’t you date?” Carol asked.
Jim laughed and said, “Because I’m such a poor student of languages. I could get along fairly well in Italian and French but very poor in German. The whole thing about the German language being different whether you didn’t know someone or were your friend. I guess I was afraid the women would laugh at me if I messed up the language.”
Chapter 5
Elsewhere Ted Erickson and Ralph Hansen were talking. Ralph said, “I’m uneasy about Waterman. He could turn out to be as tricky as his brother.”
“How do we find out?” Ted asked.
“I think we just have to be careful. I wonder if Maryann might have something that Waterman’s brother Alex left with her. I can’t ask her since she’s my niece. She gets all funny when I mention Alex. You could go ask her if Alex left a file with her that’s missing from the development committee.”
“What can I say to her? She might think no one knows Alex was her sugar daddy.”
“I’m sure even as flaky as Maryann is that she suspects everyone must know Alex was sleeping with her. Just innocently asked her a direct question. Tell her you’re looking for a file that Alex had taken from the development committee. You are wondering if he might’ve left it with her.” Ralph said.
“Okay, I’ll do that.”
* * *
In all his excitement over buying a new home, Jim had forgotten about the digital recorder of his brother’s. It was still in his desk drawer at work. He took it out and looked to see if he could find a model number or name on it. It was clear it was a name brand, and the only thing close to a model number was the name DigiRecorder. He turned to his desk computer and searched for the name DigiRecorder. He found an owner’s manual in PDF format. The way recordings were stored on the digital recorder was confusing. There were folders and subfolders. In the folders, there were sessions and sub-sessions. The recorder even had a small SD card to increase capacity. The trouble was the digital recorder had no speaker. He was fiddling with the recorder when Helen came into the office. He asked, “Do you know how to work this thing?”
“No, I’ve never used it. Sometimes when Alex was out interviewing somebody, he would somehow play that thing into his computer and get a printout.”
“I know there is a voice-to-text program included in the operating system. That must be how my brother did it. You know anything about that?” Jim asked.
Helen shook her head no and said, “The computer on your desk is not hooked together with all the other computers in this place. He’d print out whatever came out of that little thing on his computer,” Helen pointed at a printer, “Like the computer, that printer is not linked to anything else.”
“That’s strange. Do you have any idea why Alex would do that?”
“I think it was just that he didn’t want to learn to use the network. He said it would use the valuable time he could spend doing more important things. You might want to talk to our supplier. They knew about his computer and that little recorder,” Helen said.
“Are they the ones who sold us the other computers and linked them together?”
“We bought the computers from them, but they had another company come in and set up everything,” Helen said.
“Do we have anybody who knows about computers and how things are set up around here?” Jim asked.
“Yes, that would be Tinker. That’s her nickname. Her real name is Susan Bjerke. She is a part-timer.”
“What did she do besides helping with the computers?” Jim asked.
“She does just about everything. She can fill in as a reporter. She can do copyediting. Tinker only works part-time because she has one child and another on the way. When she works, her mother takes care of her boy. She comes in on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Those are usually our busiest days,” Helen said.
They were interrupted by the phone on Jim’s desk. Jim answered, and a woman asked, “Are you Alex’s brother?”
“Yes.” The woman hung up without saying another word.
“That was strange. It was a woman’s voice. She asked me if I was Alex’s brother. She hung up when I answered,” Jim said.
“That is strange. To reach the phone there,” Helen pointed at the phone on Jim’s desk, “She had to ask Alice, our receptionist, to put the call through to your desk. She must know our phone system. Once she asked you her question, I don’t understand why she hung up.”
“One of the mysteries of life! We were talking about Tinker. Would you make a note to have her come see me tomorrow when she comes in?”
“Yes.”
* * *
Jim left work early and went to the grocery store. From there, he went to his new home. Jim put the groceries away, and before making supper, he looked through the closets, the drawers, and items left out in the garage. Satisfied, he made a quick supper. After which, he went into the living room and settled in a reclining chair. He turned on the TV using the remote control and listened to the news. There was nothing earth-shattering in the news.
* * *
The following day back at the office, Jim had just settled in when a young woman who was pregnant knocked on the doorframe of his office and asked, “Are you busy?”
“No, you must be Tinker.”
“Yup, that’s me. You wanted to see me?”
“Come on in, sit down. I’ve got some questions for you, lots of questions. I hear you are our computer guru,” Jim said. Tinker looked to be in her 20s. When she smiled at Jim, he could see she had dimples.
Tinker sat down and asked, “What kind of questions?”
Jim picked up the little recorder, “I can’t get this thing to work. Can you help me?”
“Alex bought it but didn’t know how to use it at first. The company is a Japanese company. I think the Japanese must have a very complex way of storing information. There are subfolders and even sub-sessions. They can be very confusing.”
“I already saw that layer upon layer. It didn’t make sense to me, and yet, it did in a strange sort of way.”
“I just told Alex to make a folder for each topic and stick everything in it. All the sub things would just be confusing,” Tinker said.
“I saw that. Helen told me that he would print out what was on the little recorder.”
“There should be a little cable in your upper right-hand desk drawer. There should be some extra chips to store data. Back to the c
able, one end connects to the recorder and the other to the computer microphone input. Here, I can show you how that works,” Tinker said.
Jim opened the desk drawer. There was a little cable with a plug at each end. He handed it to Tinker.
Tinker took the cable plugged one end into the little recorder and the other into the back of the computer, explaining what the colors meant on the jacks. She then opened the word processing program on the computer, opened a file on the tiny recorder, and pushed the play button. They both watched as words and then sentences appeared on the computer screen. Tinker explained that it would be easy to see the mistakes the computer made. If the word “to” was used, the computer didn’t always correctly guess what form of “to” to use. Tinker also explained why his computer was not connected to the system. His computer would have financial data and other things that those working for the paper didn’t need to know. Tinker told Jim it was that necessary because his computer could be left plugged in and still fully protected. She added that his brother didn’t exactly trust the computer system.
“You are saying my brother was a Luddite?” Jim smiled at Tinker.
Tinker laughed out loud before saying, “He was a super Luddite.”
The file on the tiny recorder was finally filled the computer monitor. It looked like an interview about a fishing contest. Tinker told Jim that it was a yearly contest held at the end of July. They chatted for a while more, and Jim learned that her baby was due right about Christmas time. After she left to go back to her desk, he added her due date to his calendar. He would have to get her a baby gift.
* * *
Ted Erickson arrived at Maryann’s place midafternoon. She was surprised to see him but invited him in.
Maryann asked, “Why are you stopping by?”
“You know I am on the redevelopment committee for the city. I was looking for a lost file and wondered if Alex had left it with you?” Ted asked.
“No, he never even discussed the redevelopment thing. Can I ask you a question?” Maryann asked.
“Sure.”
“Have you met his brother?”
“Yes, we had him over for Thanksgiving dinner.”
“What’s he like?”
“He seems likable enough. It’s plain he’s at a loss to know what to do with the newspaper. My daughter Pam had a conversation with him and said that she thinks he’s a nice guy.”
“I was just wondering,” Maryann said.
“You’ll have to forgive me, but I must run. I was hoping there was an outside chance you had the file folder I was looking for.”
* * *
Helen dropped a bombshell on Jim, telling him his brother Alex had been the chairperson of the Christmas Dance. She gave him a list of other committee members along with the phone numbers. It took Jim a couple of days to reach all of them. They all informed him that everything was taken care of, but he should be prepared to make a short statement at the beginning of the dance. He asked what he was expected to say and was told it was usually just a welcome to the dance and enjoy yourself statement.
Jim realized he needed a date for the dance. He called Carol. She told him she already had a visit planned to see her parents that weekend. The only other single woman he could think of was Pam. She accepted, telling him that she had planned to go to the dance anyway.
* * *
Jim asked about the finances of the Spruce Journal. Jim was surprised to find it was a woman, Joan Wilson. Jim always thought of bookkeepers as being older. Joan turned out to be a bit younger than himself. She had a business administration degree. Jim asked her, “What did you plan to do with your degree?”
“My big dream was to become CFO in some company,” Joan smiled.
Jim realized she had dimples, but her name was Mrs. Joan Wilson. “I’m sorry we aren’t big enough to give you that title. I understand from Helen that you take care of all the financial record-keeping, and so on.”
“Yes, but our accountants take care of payroll. That has become so complex that the government rules would fill all volumes of an encyclopedia. They have one accountant who does nothing but take care of payroll matters,” Joan said.
“I didn’t realize it was that complex. Overall, how is the Journal doing moneywise?”
“It’s revenues have been slowly declining like all newspapers. Because it’s a small-town paper, it will continue to survive if we watch our pennies and dimes. There are months when we are in the red. Many more of those, and we will go under,” Joan said.
“You’re right about declining revenues across the board with newspapers. I was the only foreign correspondent when there used to be a correspondent in every big country in Europe. Did my brother have any ideas about increasing revenue?”
“Alex was looking at a couple of ideas. There are two local radio stations for sale. He thought about buying one because it had both AM and FM outlets, which might add revenue. The trouble is they are in the same boat as newspapers. The Internet provides everything they do, and it doesn’t cost much to advertise there. The other thing he was thinking of doing was adding a free newspaper that had little content other than ads. They are still doing well in most markets,” Joan said.
“Wouldn’t that cut into the journal’s revenue?”
“No, and the way it works is ads are sold to appear both in the free newspaper and at the same time in the Journal. The pricing is such that producing free paper is low, and both will make money. Advertisers love the fact that the free newspaper goes to everyone with an address in the community, not just current subscribers.”
“It all sounds intriguing, but I’m still struggling with the day-to-day demands of running the Journal. Do you know if he kept anything written about these ideas?” Jim asked.
“He used that little recorder thing of his. He had several of the little microchips that he used as alternate memories for it,” Joan said.
“I have the recorder, and thanks to Tinker, I know how to get things off of it. I don’t know if you can answer the question of where he kept those microchips?”
“I remember him taking one out and putting another in a while working at his desk, but I’m not sure where he got the one microchip and stored the other.”
“When Helen and I went through this desk, I don’t remember seeing any microchips. I’ll have to look around some more. I should let you get back to work. Unfortunately, what you told me about our finances is no surprise. I can’t let the Journal fail because everyone here needs the jobs it provides. I do too. Going from just being a reporter to the owner of a paper was quite a jump,” Jim smiled at Joan.
“I am sure it is. Don’t hesitate to ask me questions. I’ll get back to work unless you have something more?”
“I can’t think of anything. Thanks, Joan, for filling me in on the finances of the Journal,” Jim said.
“You’re welcome. Anytime.” Joan got up and left.
Jim thought, “It’s worse than I thought. So many months already in the red. I have to save the Journal. I cannot be family down.”
* * *
The night of the Christmas dance came, and Jim drove to Ted’s Erickson’s home. Ted met him at the door and said Pam would be down shortly. He invited Jim into the living room to see their Christmas tree. The tree was huge, but the ceiling was at least 10 feet tall. The tree had been set to one side of the fireplace, which hadn’t been lit. It looked like a tree you’d see in some magazine or on television. It was both glittery and welcoming at the same time.
Pam walked into the living room and said, “One of the things I love about this house is Christmas. The gorgeous tree and all the decorations around the house.”
Ted said, “The Christmas things take up almost all of one of the spare bedrooms.”
“Every room on this floor is decorated except the kitchen,” Pam said.
“It has a sprig of mistletoe, don’t forget,” Ted said.
“You put that up there just so you can kiss mom,” Pam accused with a smile.
>
“You two should get on your way. After all, Jim here has the task of welcoming everyone,” Ted said.
* * *
Jim was surprised by what he found at the dance. There was a place to dance and the band, but many tables surrounded the dance floor, more than Jim expected. It was clear some people had come not to dance but to have fun with friends and socialize. Jim and Pam picked out a small table. At the appropriate time, the band played a downbeat, and Jim was introduced. He thanked the people for coming and told them to enjoy the evening. Jim didn’t make it back to the table to join Pam before an older woman intercepted him and asked him to dance. He looked at Pam, who just smiled. Jim had so many requests for dances that he thought he had danced with every woman there when the evening was over.
As the dance was going to end, Jim finally sat down and was able to talk to Pam. “I’m glad to sit down finally. I don’t think I’ve ever danced much,” Jim said.
“You’re new. That makes you a target. I’m sure you got lots of questions trying to find out things about you,” Pam said.
“That’s true. I didn’t mean to leave you alone most of the night,” Jim said.
“I got my share of dancing in,” Pam leaned closer to him and whispered, “I’m horny after watching you with all those women. I expect you to fix that problem.”
Whether it was the dancing or a genuine desire for Pam, Jim couldn’t figure out. He said, “Let’s talk about that when we get back to the car. There are too many people around.”
Pam nodded once and said, “Okay, I agree.”
The band announced they were about to play the last song, which would be a waltz. The bandmaster also told everyone there would be no cutting in. It was time for romance.
Pam held him closer than the other women had. He could feel her body against his more out of instinct than anything else. It started to arouse Jim. When the dance ended, Jim said, “I would’ve liked that dance to continue.”
Pam just smiled.
A few people came by where Jim and Pam were standing, thanked them for the evening, and wished them a Merry Christmas.