“Hey Gerry.” Dar said. “I missed my flight, about to board a second.”
“No worries, lady.” The general said. “Just wanted to give you a heads up, heard from the boys up the road that the president wants to meet you. Tonight, after your pow wow.”
Dar's eyebrow shot up. “Me?”
“Yes, lady, you.” Easton sounded pleased. “Didn't want to you to be shocked out your knickers don't you know. I'll let you be then, have a good flight.”
“Gerry..”
“Bye, Dar. See you in a few.”
Dar stared at the phone after it went dead. “I don't want to meet the president.” She stated. “I”m going to end up insulting his ass and they're going to throw me in jail.”
“Ma'am?” The check in agent behind the desk leaned towards her. “Did you need something?”
Dar sighed “No, sorry. Just talking to myself.” She muttered, shifting over as the agent started announcing the boarding of the flight. She debated calling Kerry, then shrugged and dialed her partner's number.
It rang twice, then was answered. “Hey babe.” Kerry's voice sounded wryly amused. “I made it up the sidewalk into the building. Mayte guarded me.”
“Maybe she should come guard me.” Dar said. “Gerry just called. Apparently the president wants to meet me.”
Brief silence. “Oh.” Kerry's mental track changing came across audibly. “Ew.”
“Mm.” Dar watched the agent step over to the ticket turnstile. “Anyway, I gotta go on the plane. Just thought I'd let you know what's waiting for me on the other side.”
“Want me to have my mother show up to guard you?” Kerry asked.
“Ker.”
Her partner chuckled softly. “Now you made me want to rush over there and hide in your suitcase, instead of be laughing that I thought you were checking up on me. We're full out nut cases, honey.”
“We are.” Dar smiled. “Okay, let me let you go.” She shifted off the counter and got into line, handing over her boarding pass as the woman scanned it. “Thanks.”
“Know something?” Kerry asked, as Dar walked down the jet way. “I really do wish I was going with you.”
“I wish you were going with me.” Dar admitted. “So let's get off the call before I run out of this airport for the second time and get gang tackled. They're not going to take my excuses a second time.”
“Bye hon.” Kerry said. “Call me later.”
Dar put her gizmo in her pocket and entered the plane, sliding into her seat in the front row after putting her backpack up into the overhead. She settled back and gazed out the window, watching the activity of the hard working people outside. She had a change of clothing in the pack, but it occurred to her that she'd be meeting the president in a pair of jeans.
Would that matter? Dar considered, and decided it probably wouldn't, and even if it did, she was going to convince herself she didn't care.
With that in mind, she pulled out her gizmo again and typed off a quick message to her parents, in case it turned out to matter and she ended up somehow either on the news or in a tabloid paper.
You never knew. She sent the note, then turned off the gizmo as the plane finished loading, and the crew went to close the door. Dar glanced behind her, seeing a lot of empty seats, including the one next to her. She buckled her seatbelt, then leaned on the center console as the flight attendant came over.
“Hi. Can I get you something to drink before we take off?” The woman asked.
“Orange juice if you have it.” Dar said. “Pretty empty, huh?”
The woman glanced back and shook her head. “People still don't like flying.” She said, somewhat sadly. “Much as I hate working overbooked flights, this is just scary.” She confided. “How can they keep going, you know?”
“I think people will start traveling again.” Dar said. “It'll just take some time.”
The flight attendant smiled briefly. “I sure hope so.” She left to get Dar's orange juice, as the plane gently backed away from the jet way and the safety video started to play.
Dar settled back into her seat and removed the copy of Skymall from the pocket, leafing through it as the plane taxied. She studied the several varieties of dog beds, wondering if Chino and Mocha would like one for their garden.
Then she had to pause, and enjoy a moment of self deprecating humor at the thought that she was sitting here shopping for pet beds and pewter giraffe toilet paper holders. What was it Alastair had told her once? That she'd become a good family person?
Wacky.
Nevertheless, she kept browsing, spotting several more items she could envision invading their collective personal spaces. She paused on one page, considering, as the plane started it's takeoff run. Garden gnomes. Did they need a garden gnome? What about one that recycled drinking water for a dog dish?
Her mind imagined Chino drinking from it, then the image morphed to Mocha sitting in the bowl, with water pouring over his head. “Maybe not.” She flipped the page, then tucked the magazine aside as the plane took off and headed skyward.
Kerry scribbled a set of notes, the last of several pages of them after this last meeting of hers for the day. “Okay, Charles, thanks.” She said. “Wow, those are a lot of projects.”
Charles Suarez, the man seated across from her nodded. “I know.” He said. “There was a lot of pent up demand internally, for these smaller projects that we don't have personnel bandwidth for, and which the bigger guys had no real interest in working with it on.” He looked apologetic. “No offense to your former employers.”
“None taken.” Kerry scratched her jaw with the edge of her pen. “I turned down smaller projects myself in my past role. There's a break even point where you can recoup enough revenue to match the resource spend and since all the groups were sized for enterprise, there wasn't much point in having them work on stuff like this.” She indicated the pages. “But that's not the case here.”
Charles smiled. “Exactly.” He said. “My company had me contact you soon as we heard, because our operations group really liked working with you.”
Kerry smiled back. “Thanks for that compliment.” She said. “I'm glad you got to me early though, I've had potential clients in here the last couple days with all kinds of requests. I 'm a little surprised, given the economy.”
“You shouldn't be.” He shook his head. “It's because of the economy. No one wants to take big risks, and everyone's looking to keep costs down. Engaging the big guys meant big costs, and engaging an unknown small firm meant big risks.”
“Ah.” Kerry tapped her pen on the desk. “I didn't think of that. We always were going to open our own business, it just wasn't the timing we'd anticipated. But here we are.”
“Here you are.” Charles agreed “So if you could quote all that, I'll take it to my leadership group and we can see if we can budget to get it done.”
He stood up, and so did Kerry. They shook hands, and Kerry stepped around her desk to walk him back over to the stairs. “I really like some of the things you guys want to do with mobile communications. “Kerry commented, removing her gizmo from her pocket and showing him. “I think these things are going to get more popular.”
“Is that the Handspring?” Charles asked, eagerly. “Can I see it?”
Kerry handed it over. “We've been using them, testing them really, for the past couple of weeks. I really like it. It lets me mix text and mail with a phone, and only have to carry one thing. I used to carry a cell phone and a PDA, this is better.”
“You bet!” Charles tapped on it. “Oh, I see there.. are those programs?”
“Basic ones.” Kerry took it back. “Dar has one on hers that tells her the tides and sea conditions.”
“Cool.” Charles nodded. “That's what we think too, that people are going to like having things like that. So we want some programs that let people with phones like that interact with us. We want to be able to send them notes about specials, and have them text us back to hold one for them, or things like that.” He said. “We're a specialty grocery, you know? It's all about local for us.”
“”I get it. I live out on Fisher Island.” Kerry said. “We have that kind of personal relationship out there, where you can call and talk to a butcher whose name you know, and who knows you. It's sort of like recreating a small town thing.”
“Exactly!” Charles agreed. “So these ideas, how to really boost up local business, and not so much on a national level, is where our local management thinks we can take advantage of the consumer mindset right now.”
Kerry saw him to the door, and waved, and then detoured into the conference room to get a cup of coffee. “Hey.” She smiled, at the cafe runner who was replenishing the cart. “Just in time.”
“Hey Kerry.” The man smiled at her. “Heard you had a scare this morning.” He said. “What a bunch of jacktards those guys are. Gary told them not to come around asking for leftovers if they were going to act like that.” He offered her a small tray of neatly sliced pound cake. “Try the lemon. It's really good.”
Kerry selected a slice and bit into it. “Oh.” She swallowed hastily. “That is good. Really moist.”
He nodded. “Exactly – I don't like it when it's all dense and dried.” He put the tray down and swapped out a hot thermos of coffee. “Your honey around? They sent over this chocolate chocolate chip muffin for her.”
Kerry started laughing, perching on the conference room table. “Boy, it didn't take you long to zero in on her, did it? Dar's on her way to DC at the moment. She'll be back tomorrow.” She took the muffin. “I'll try it for her. But yeah, this morning wasn't much fun. I have to take a lot of blame for it though, I left the door open. Kinda dumb.”
“It's a company. You had the right to? We leave ours open when we're in there.” The man protested. “Guy had no right coming in here and messing with you. Especially that guy.”
Kerry cocked her head. “Why? I heard from the police he's some kind of minister?”
The man handed her a cup of coffee. “That's what he says. From what I heard, he picked that position so he wouldn't have to get shot at, but still get all the perks of being in the military.” He wiped around the cart. “Anyway, gotta get back to the shop. Enjoy the muffin.” He winked, and took the old coffee thermos as he left her to ponder.
Kerry dropped into a seat and leaned back, breaking off a piece of the muffin and chewing it as she sipped. She checked her watch, then as if in response, her gizmo buzzed in her pocket. She put her coffee down and removed it, smiling when she saw the caller id. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Dar's voice echoed softly, with the background of a busy airport behind her. “Heading to the Pentagon. How'd your meetings go?”
“Really well, and glad you got there all right.” Kerry said. “Call me after you meet Dubya.”
“Ah heh. Yeah.” Her partner sighed. “Later.”
Kerry released the line and put the gizmo down on the table, a smile still on her face. “Hope someone takes a picture.” She said. “Hey, wonder if that's going to be a publicity thing?” She asked aloud. “That would be crazy publicity.”
She finished the muffin and dusted her fingers off, then picked up her coffee and returned to her office. “What a day.” She commented to Mayte as she crossed through the outer office. “I've got two more meetings, right?”
“Yes.” Mayte agreed. “Florida Power and Light, and someone to see you from the Qwest.”
“Ah yes.” Kerry went to her desk and circled it. “Someone who wants to sell me something rather than hire us.” She checked her mail, and opened one. “Ah.”
Her security presenter from the previous day. She propped her chin on her fist and regarded the note, viewing it now from a slightly different perspective. There was something in her that resisted having security at the door, no matter how creepy the morning had been, and, as she reminded Dar, despite what the man had threatened he really hadn't done any more than talk.
Just talk. Hot air.
Would he have done more? Kerry felt instinctively he wouldn't have, though she really didn't have any solid hard reason why she did.
A soft knock came at the door and she looked up. “C'mon in.”
It opened, and Mark's head poked inside. “Hey.”
Kerry motioned him forward. “Come. Did I say thank you to you for rushing in here to save me this morning?”
Mark chuckled and came inside, walking over and dropping into one of Kerry's visitor seats. “So listen.” He said. “No problem about the ride in. Dar was pretty freaked out.”
“I know.”
“I got this guy who's a family friend.” Mark said. “He's a freelance security guard.”
“Uh huh.” Kerry let him talk it out, though she could plainly see where it was going.
“He's also an artist.” Mark pushed his train onto an unexpected track. “He likes painting and stuff, and he does security to pay the bills. Anyway, I thought maybe you might want to bring him on for now, until we can sort out the alarm systems and monitoring and all that stuff.”
Kerry leaned back. “Like a freelance?”
Mark nodded. “He's not real corporate.” He said. “I wouldn't have suggested him for the old place, but he's a real good, solid guy, and he's got some buddies he can bring in to trade off.”
That seemed more appealing to her than bringing in a security firm. “Okay.” Kerry decided. “I like that idea. I don't really want uniformed guys marching around in here. I don't want us to have that kind of culture in this place.”
Mark nodded, and grinned. “Yeah thought so.”
“So bring your guy in and let's meet him.” Kerry said. “And his buddies.”
“Will do.” Mark stood up. “I called him earlier, so he's waiting for me to call back. Okay for him to come over now?”
“Yup.” Kerry leaned forward. “I would love to tell Dar we worked out security while she was in DC.” She said. “Before she has to go and meet the president.”
Mark stopped in mid motion and looked at her, both dark eyebrows hiking up. “Say what?”
“Yeah. She's bummed. But maybe if they make it a photo op we'll make the Washington Post and get some business out of it.” Kerry winked at him.
“As long as she doesn't pop him one.” Mark said. “That could be more publicity than we need, y'know?”
“Oh I'm sure she won't do that.” Kerry said. “She's way too smart, right?”
Mark eyed her skeptically, then disappeared out the door, shaking his head.
“Right?” Kerry asked her faint reflection in the monitor.. “She won't hit the president. She's way too smart for that.”