THE TIMING, JOE PARENTE [ereader ebook .txt] 📗

pick up papers to follow through with my sale.”

“Congratulations on that. I’ll tell you what, I’ll pick you up at 11:45 outside the office. That should give you enough time to complete your task.”
“Ok, but”- He started to walk away.
“That’s all for now.” He said. “I’ll see you then.”

All I could see was his back and a glimpse of Jules, staring at me with that sickening smile. He looked away quickly upon my discovery. Was it my imagination that I felt that Jules was watching something, or he was watching me.

This was enough for right now, the headache was back and I was confused. I knew I had to do something about it so I headed for the bar for an ice cold beer.


THE TIMING Joe Parente


Chapter 4


The remainder of the day was a blur. After a few toddies, I managed to have lunch. It was becoming a little disconcerting to try to understand all the information that Frank was giving me.

Trying to weigh my options, I realized that I still had a job to do, so I went back to work.

It was about 4:o’clock when I went back to my room. When I got there, the light was blinking on the message center. Curious, I retrieved a recording through the operator. Not surprised, it was from the office, but it was urgent. The secretary had left Will’s cell number so that I could call as soon as possible. The call had come in at 3:00PM. I dialed, “Rhorem, here.” The Old Man sounded like he was in his usual form.

“Hi Will, this is Brad.” I was trying to be jovial.

“Brad, that contract you sent is not complete. Now I know you are new at this but I must have all the I’s dotted and the T’s crossed on these.” He sounded a little put out.

“I’m sorry boss. What did I forget?”

“It’s an initial. You forgot to get him to initial the paragraph about the ninety-day notice in case we need to give his account a little more attention. You may think that this is not something to worry about but if things get nasty, we would need that initial for back-up.” He sounded like my father.

“I can get that done at 11:o’clock on Monday. You could send that contract back and I’ll get it done, sorry for the screw-up.”

“Let’s concentrate on the P&Ls you have to get first. You can make another trip back in the week to get it done. I’m coming out there on Monday to take care of some business and want to meet up with you. If your appointment is at 11:00 then you should be free at 1:00 PM ok?” That made me nervous. “I can bring out the contract then so you can fix your mistake.”

“Sure mister Rhorem, that will be fine.” Boy, this is all I needed, more crap to worry about, “That will work out well. Do I meet you at the hotel?”

“Of course! Be there at 1:00PM on the dot. How is the study coming on that printer company?”

“Real good so far sir,” I lied. “The report is very comprehensive as usual.”

“Just get the deal, see you Monday.” he hung up.

That guy was sure an ass. I could hardly wait to see him on Monday ‘Be there at 1: 00’. Nice guy!

It looks as though my Sunday will be busy studying for my next sales call. I didn’t even know the name of the company. I’m lucky he didn’t ask. I probably should have at least looked at it. Oh well.

Not all this good news from the boss even made me thirsty. Now that was something. I was getting tired of being crapped on so I decided to look at the Quick Print’s company portfolio. About five minutes of that and I fell asleep.

If I had a dream that night I didn’t know it because I was awakened at 6: AM by some noise in the hallway. It was probably some guy coming in from having the best sex from some gal that I wished I had. All I could think about was Judy at Baetacom. She was a beauty and I was going to see her tomorrow. It would be nice to make some headway with her. I liked her, and she did have a great ass. I put my hands behind my head and stared at the ceiling as I said to myself: “Yes sir a great ass.”

Getting out of bed, I jumped in the shower, did my duty and shaved. I wanted to get a good start for my meeting Monday. Breakfast was on my mind. I could then get down to reading the required material on the printing outfit.
The door opened at the lobby and right in front of me was Jules. I acknowledged with a nod and kept right on walking towards the breakfast bar. This guy was starting to creep me out. I ordered a Bloody Mary and a newspaper. I finished and went back to the room.

Reading the information about ‘Quick Print’, I discovered that they were a company with twelve locations. The main office was located in the New York outskirts. Their business looked a little soft; in fact, it mirrored the same picture as Baetacom. The potential was there. Trimming down the labor could help with their failing profits. The troublesome thing that stuck out in my mind was that they owned most of their locations. However, not knowing the city that well, I couldn’t tell how good those locations were. They were doing about five million but with their sixty-five employees, taxes, utilities and medical, I could see some room for improvement.

I kept on reading and got the true flavor of the problems that faced this company. I looked into the ownership and circumstances of the twenty-year-old firm. I also wondered how the Old Man got all this information. Someone did his or her homework! Rhortec must be dialed in somewhere. Some of this stuff looked as though it was highly confidential. With a couple more hours of study, this one seemed like a slam-dunk, so I kept reading.

My eyeballs were getting tired. As I glanced at the clock, I saw it was 5: PM! I could not believe that I had been at this all day. Time for a break. The hostess had re-stocked the room bar so I helped myself to a beer and ordered dinner over the telephone.

Morning came early, but that was fine. There was plenty to do today. Ordering coffee, I mentally refreshed today’s schedule. One thing having to be sure of was to memorize all the data about The Quick Print Company. I was almost positive a quizzing was coming from the Old Man at 1:PM, let me rephrase that, 1:00 PM. I just had a great idea! If I could get a new contract signed with Bill initialing the proper places, the boss would probably forgive me for the past over-sight. I’m brilliant! Having some time to kill, I studied more about Quick Print.
After finishing that refresher course, I filled out a new contract to present to Bill at Baetacom. All that was needed now were the signatures. The most important thing to do today was to see Judy again. I’ll try to come on a little less strong this time. Maybe I’ll get to home base.

It was time to go, so I ordered a cab to meet out front in ten minutes. Everything was working without a hitch and I was on my way.
I arrived at Judy’s desk right at 11: AM. She was as glad to see me as I was her. She informed me that her dad had a meeting at 11:30 so I rushed in to see him. She asked me to stop by her office on the way out; she had something to tell me. That sounded great!

“Hi Bill.” I reached over as he rose to shake hands.

“How are you Brad?”

“Fine sir.”

He picked up an arm full of papers and he put them into a jumbo envelope. “It took me through Saturday to get this together. “Everything should be here to get you started.”

“I appreciate all your hard work Bill.” I lifted the heavy package from him. “There was a mistake on my part when you signed that contract Bill. To save time, I was wondering if you could re-do this one for me. It’s the same paperwork.” I showed him the copy of the original. “I had forgotten to have you initial this paragraph here.” I pointed to the spot. “I have written ‘void’ on this copy and signed it, so if you could please”--

“No problem Brad, I know how these things are, besides your boss called and made mention that you would be bringing one by sometime this week. We might as well get it done earlier.” He completed the new one and handed it back. “There you are Brad. Now if you will excuse me, I have an appointment across town.” We shook hands again. “Call me as soon as things get underway. Sorry that we don’t have time to talk right now.”

“Of course Bill.” I walked out to Judy’s desk.

She indicated a chair. “Thank you for stopping Brad. The reason that I wanted to talk to you was that—well it concerns my brother. He was a little put out when he learned that Dad had signed a contract with your company. I just wanted to make you aware that my brother needs a little extra care. That is, he somewhat flies off the handle when he is not consulted about affairs of this company. When my Dad retires, my brother, Jeff, will take over the company, and he seems very protective of things.” She seemed so sweet in her ‘matter of fact’ comments.

Speaking sincerely. “I understand, Judy, I’ll do what ever I can to let him know the honesty of Rhortec.”

“Thank you Brad, this will also help you accomplish your goals.” She smiled that beautiful way.

“You know Judy, when I came back, I thought that you were going to say something else.”

She started to frown. “What was that Brad?”

“I thought that you were going to tell me that you would accept a dinner invitation from me.” I was looking at her with ‘puppy dog eyes,’ “well?”

She paused “You have a vivid imagination, don’t you Brad?”

“If I was not interested in you, I wouldn’t have asked you to have dinner with me.” I was letting it all hang out.

Sounding a little interested in me she said: “I have been so busy with work and all that I