Call Me Lydia

by MaryAnn Myers

  She’d met most of them by now, so that wasn’t her concern. She wanted to know exactly who was doing what and who could be done without. She buzzed Reed when she was through. It was after eight, but he was still working too.

  “Will Reed here,” he answered pleasantly.

  She pictured him smiling. “How’s the Mago bid coming?”

  “Better than I thought.”

  “Great! I won’t hold you. I just wanted to remind you to come in early so we can meet with Jack Cox.”

  “I’ll be here.”

  “Did you find out anything about Bill?”

  “No, there’s no answer. I tried several times.”

  “Did you check the hospitals?”

  “No,” Reed said, in his don’t-you-think-you’re-overreacting voice. “I didn’t think that was necessary.”

  Lydia was quiet for a moment. “So what kind of price did you come up with?”

  “I’m not quite done yet, but it should be lower, though I still don’t know what good it’ll do.”

  “Me neither. But if nothing else, it’ll be my crutch.”

  “Care to explain that?” After all the work he had done, he would have appreciated a different answer.

  Lydia yawned. “No, not now, tomorrow. Oh, and speaking of tomorrow, I’m going to need your input when I decide who to ax.”

  “What?”

  “I’ve been going over the who’s who…”

  “And now you’re ready to ax people?”

  Lydia sat back in her chair and sighed. “For Christ sake, Reed, we have to do something. Cutting personnel is the first step.”

  Reed fell silent for a moment. “When do you plan on doing this?”

  “The office, first thing.”

  “Damn…”

  Lydia yawned again. “I want to get it out of the way so I can concentrate on the accounting. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Instead of hanging up, Lydia dialed information and got the numbers of the local hospitals. The third confirmed what she was thinking. Bill had been admitted for observation. According to the time, he’d probably gone straight there.

  “Could you connect me to his room, please?”

  “No, I’m sorry. He’d been released. It seems he checked himself out.”

  Lydia thought about calling him at home, but decided against it and left. If he didn’t come in tomorrow, she’d call him then. After all, if he checked himself out, he must be fine. She stopped at the drug store for sanitary napkins and while she was there, bought a postcard to send to Dan Morris. Please contact me, she wrote on the back, and signed it. Even as she licked the stamp, she doubted he would. Still, it beat doing nothing. Besides, she wanted to see if it would be returned.

  At home, she fixed herself a drink and was well into her second when she drifted off. Morning seemed to come as soon as she closed her eyes. She couldn’t believe the time and had to hurry. It was almost seven when she arrived at the plant. Reed’s car was already there.

  The good news was she’d remembered to put her precious cup in her purse the night before, so after rinsing it at the water fountain, she headed for the cafeteria. What was another minute of two, anyway?”

  Reed greeted her on his way out. “Good morning!”

  Lydia smiled. The sun was barely up, and still, this man looked perfect. “How do I get a cup of coffee around here?”

  “Come on,” he said, smiling. “I’ll buy.”

  A large percolator was set up on the far side of the cafeteria, and as he drew Lydia a cup, several women who had been standing by the vending machines, disappeared.

  “Who do we pay?” Lydia asked, adding cream and sugar.

  Reed smiled. “I don’t know. I always just help myself.”

  “Oh great. You, they’ll allow. Me, they’ll probably throw a fit. Maybe I should leave my wallet or something.”

  Reed chuckled, and they started down the hall. “Do you want to meet with Jack in your office or mine?”

  “Neither.” Lydia sipped her coffee. “I thought we’d do it up in the conference room. I think I’m going to move in there permanently today anyway.”

  Reed looked at her. “That’s going to drive Jan nuts.”

  “Only fair, since she drives me nuts.”

  Reed laughed, opening the door to the stairs, and they started up. “I finally finished the Mago bid.”

  “And it’s the best price?” Lydia asked.

  “Yep.”

  “Good. Have Jan type it and I’ll hand-deliver it.”

  * * *

  Lydia paged Jack Cox as soon as she sat down, and less than a minute later, he was at the door. Reed stood up to introduce them, and as Jack smiled stiffly, extending his hand, the irony of their first encounter colored his face. The instant his foremen described her as “gorgeous with nice tits and a smart mouth,” he knew it was the same woman he’d talked to at the elevator and he had been dreading this.

  Lydia shook his hand warmly, and when Reed motioned for him to have a seat, she lit a cigarette. “I’m not going to beat around the bush,” she said, taking an extra drag. “So I’ll get right to the point. I’m having some problems with our conversation the other day.”

  Jack started to say something, but she held her hand up and continued. “Now granted, you didn’t know who I was when you shared your heartfelt opinions with me. But you did nonetheless, and we have to talk about that.”

  “I’d had a bad night.”

  “I can appreciate that,” Lydia said, aware of the puzzled expression on Reed’s face. “So maybe you’d like to share…”

  “Why?” Jack said before she could finish. “It was nothing specific.”

  Lydia reached for her coffee, swearing if one more person interrupted her, she was going to scream bloody murder, and they were going to hear it all the way out on the shipping dock. “Tell me, Jack,” she said, alerting Reed with a sudden change in her voice. “What do you do around here?”

  Jack looked indignant. “I run the third shift.”

  Lydia took a sip of her coffee, waiting for him to elaborate, and when he turned to Reed, about to say something, she waved him back. “Though Reed’s not real sure what you do either, I’m the one that asked.”

  Jack’s face now showed contempt. “If you have a complaint about my work…”

  “I don’t, Jack. I’m just curious. You’re running a shift, and yet, according to your application, you’ve never even working in a shop before.”

  “I don’t see what the problem is.”

  “The problem?” Lydia drilled him with her eyes, “The problem is the attitude around here. First you, and then your line foremen. Which leads to an even bigger concern, what it does to the workers and the effect it has on them.”

  “There is no effect. My shift runs better than any of the others, so I don’t have to sit here and be…”

  Lydia did the interrupting this time. “No, that’s right, Jack, you don’t. In fact, you can just leave right now. Go ahead.”

  The implication was clear and direct. Reed knew exactly how he’d interpret it, but Jack just sat there.

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying you’re fired. And since you don’t have to answer any more of my questions, I suspect I’ve just made your day.”

  “You better believe you did!” Jack said, on his feet now and storming toward the door. “This company’ll be out of business before the month’s over anyway. Probably sooner with you running it!”

  Lydia looked at him. “Oh really?” she said, her voice low yet deliberate. “Well, fuck you.”

  Reed propped his elbow on the table as the door slammed shut and buried his face in his hand. Admittedly, under the circumstances, he might have said the same thing, but coming from a woman, it was just a little hard to take.

  “Hey,” Lydia said, when he looked up and as if she knew what he was thinking. “I’m not a woman here. Remember?”

  Reed smiled faintly; he remembered. “Boy,
when you talked about swinging your ax, you weren’t kidding, were you?”

  Lydia shook her head. “Not that I’d planned on doing it quite this way.”

  Reed found himself smiling again. “Well, to be honest, I think it was rather appropriate. In fact, I just may write it down, so I can use it verbatim someday.”

  Lydia started to laugh, but then her expression changed. “Speaking of which…” She looked around the table. “Do you see anything here from Tony? Like his past employment history?”

  Reed looked off, shaking his head. He just had to go and remind her, he thought. “I’m going for another cup of coffee. You want one?”

  Lydia nodded, handing him her cup while still looking through her papers. As Reed walked out, he heard her say, “Nothing! I’m not going to stand for this!” He feared that could only mean one thing. Tony was next.

  Chapter Seven

  Lydia had her mind made up by the time Reed returned. “Aside from Jan and the switchboard operator and one of the accounting clerks, the rest have to go.”

  “On a roll of sorts, are we?”

  “I don’t think we need anyone else. You handle all the sales and purchasing. The switchboard operator can just patch all those calls straight to you, which will open up Jan’s time. And the accounting clerk can help me with compiling the data needed for another financial report.”

  Reed smiled, wondering if she’d been holding out. All of a sudden, it sounded as if she knew what she was doing.

  “We don’t need anyone in personnel, since we’re not going to be hiring anyone. And if there’s anything as far as medical… Wait a minute, that reminds me, have you heard from Bill?”

  “I just talked to him.”

  “He’s here?”

  Reed nodded. “I just saw him downstairs. He says he’s fine.”

  Lydia took a sip of her coffee, thinking. “Anyway, as I was saying, Jan can handle all the medical forms, and if need be, I can help. Also, I want to go over the production scheduling to see if we can roll back to two shifts.”

  “Do you want me in on that?”

  “Definitely,” Lydia said. “I need you to run interference for me with Tony.”

  Reed laughed. But something about the way she’d sat that triggered another response, one he found himself mulling over in his head. So big deal, he told himself, she’s going out of her way to get along with Tony. So what? A moment ago, you were worried he was on his way out. “When do you want to do all this?” he asked.

  “Today,” she said.

  Reed rolled his eyes in anticipation, but it didn’t seem to faze her. “How accurate are our records on scrap and returns?”

  “Why?” He wondered what the connection was.

  Lydia shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m thinking about the Mago bid.” She looked at him. She wanted an answer.

  He hedged. “I guess they’re pretty accurate, though I still don’t know how you think you’re going to get anywhere with this. The contract’s lost. The door’s closed.”

  “No such thing!” Lydia said. “Come on! Surely you haven’t forgotten Dale Carnegie?”

  Reed smiled. Who could argue with such assertiveness?

  “So tell me,” Lydia said, reaching for a cigarette. “Have we lost any other contracts?”

  “No, just that one.”

  Lydia shook her head and sat back. “You know, none of this makes any sense to me. We lose one contract, which hasn’t even begun to affect us, and yet we’re going down the tubes.”

  Reed sighed. “I know. It doesn’t make any sense to me either. And while I suppose I’ve been concentrating on only certain aspects, one of my goals is to find out who Mago runs that job for. I’d like nothing more than to have a go at out-bidding them.”

  Lydia had to smile. He’d said that so gallantly, a casual listener might think it sporting. But she didn’t. She saw it as a clue to just how competitive he was. “Well, I wish you luck. Meanwhile, I’ll concentrate on making my rounds.”

  Reed nodded. “Are you giving them time? Or just cutting them loose like you did Jack?”

  Lydia was hesitant in her reply. “I don’t think I have any time to give.”

  Reed was taken with her expression. He’d seen it on her face before, when they were leaving Dan Morris’s apartment building. One of incredible sadness.

  She wasn’t looking forward to this. The prospect of pulling rugs out from under people was bad enough, but she was going to be able to sense some of their thoughts.

  “If I don’t cut back now,” she said. “They’ll have no shot at all. It has to be done. And if and when we get a handle on things…”

  “You’re talking a layoff then?”

  “No, I don’t think that’s the message we want going out to our customers. Which brings up a good question. What do out customers think? Are we rumored to be as bad off as we are?”

  Reed shook his head. “I don’t think so, but I don’t know. Why?”

  Lydia shrugged. “I just want to be prepared. Information like that could be used against us, and I’d rather it be the other way around.”

  “Why? You plan on crying poor?”

  “If I have to, yes.”

  Reed smiled and stood up to leave. “Do you want me with you when you start swinging?”

  “No, it’s probably better I talk to them alone. I’ll be the heavy. It comes with the territory.”

  * * *

  Not wanting to ruin the entire day for the people about to be terminated, Lydia decided to put it off until two and spent the morning going over production. Unlike accounting, these records were available and current. While she probably could have been given a summary, she wanted to form her own opinion.

  She spread everything out on the conference room table and soon devised a method of matching the estimated figures with those logged, stopping often to walk over and look out at the shop to associate certain phases with the various departments. When she came to a conclusion, she took a break and went looking for Bill.

  He was at his desk, studying a schematic, and glanced up as if he’d never been busier in his life. “Good afternoon.”

  “How’s the hand?”

  “Fine. It’s just jammed.”

  Hmph, Lydia thought, but it was serious enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. “Were you able to find any of the accounting receipts?”

  Again, with a glance, Bill gave the impression of being super busy. “No, and I looked everywhere.”

  Lydia had kept panic at bay with the hope that he would find something. Yet now, the result didn’t seem to matter. Bill’s evasiveness concerned her more. “How’d you hurt yourself?”

  “I slipped on something.”

  Lydia nodded slightly. He had his right arm resting on his lap, underneath the desk. “I want you to fill out an accident report and a compensation form.”

  Bill looked up anxiously. “Why? I said I was fine. What for?”

  “Because,” Lydia said, in a stuffy voice. “It’s…procedure.”

  Bill laughed, and for a moment the creases around his eyes softened. “If I filled out an accident report every time I got a little scrape, I wouldn’t have time for anything else.”

  Lydia crossed her arms, standing solid as a rock, and he laughed again. “All right, but later.”

  Lydia shook her head. She didn’t believe him. It was obvious. “I promise,” Bill said. “Now please.”

  She smiled. “Okay, fine.” Still, she was curious. “Let me see it.”

  Bill sighed heavily to emphasize what a pest she was being, and in response, she sat down on the edge of his desk with a stubborn smile. “I’ve got all day,” she said.

  Bill resigned himself to that and leaned back to raise his injured hand.

  “Holy shit!” Lydia gasped. “It’s swollen twice its size! Is it broken?”

  Bill shook his head. “No. Like I said, it’s just jammed.”

  “Is that what the doctor told you?”

  “I didn’t se
e a doctor,” Bill said, returning his hand gingerly to his lap. “It’s not that serious. I’ll be fine. It looks worse than it is.”

  Right, Lydia thought. “Well, if you say so.” He’d broken out in a sweat. “I’ll see you later,” she said. When turning to leave, she noticed a blue and white box in his slightly opened bottom drawer. It was a box of sanitary napkins. Sanitary napkins? Had she not purchased the same brand just last night, it might not have caught her eyes. But as it was, she walked away dumbfounded. Lying about not seeing a doctor was strange enough, let alone sanitary napkins.

  When she got to the conference room, she thought about calling her father. She was sure there had to be copies of the invoices somewhere, fire copies. That thought led to what would happen if there weren't? As scary as that prospect was, a picture of how it might be construed if this were all made public was horrifying. She could see the employees, running around panicking, and the customers, pulling orders for fear of becoming involved, questions being asked, investigations, and even the six o'clock news.

  She changed her mind, lit a cigarette, and walked over to the window. It was time for the terminations anyway. She’d put it off long enough. Tony came in the back door then and after stopping to talk to a woman operating one of the drill presses, walked on, tucking his shirt in.

  Lydia found herself watching him, observing the way he walked, with a slight limp, the reserved smile, his presence. She even tried reading his lips when several men approached him. She was trying so hard, it seemed only fitting that he should look up at her. For a moment, the two of them just stared at one another. Then she turned away. She grabbed an extra pack of cigarettes and headed for personnel, took each clerk aside and handled it as tactfully as she could. Then she talked to the receptionist and went on to accounting. That just left checking with Jan.

  “Yes, Miss Merchant?”

  Lydia wished to God she’d stop calling her that. “Did Reed talk to you about the added responsibilities you’ll be assuming?”

  When Jan nodded, Lydia sighed, relieved to have gotten through the worst of it. She was just about to say something relative to that, but Jan started stammering nervously about the extra duties not being a problem, and Lydia walked away to spare both of them.