Page 47 of Miles. Alton & The 9:04
Chapter Fifteen- Clash
Wednesday morning arrivedwith a clash of ideologies.One, the peaceful morning Mae had enjoyed came to an abrupt halt with the arrival of a backhoe and a burly man name Jep.He knocked on the door and asked for a refill in his coffee carafe so he could get started digging.
“Diggin what...Jep?”
“Holes for the foundations,” he said, nodding his head.“You do have just plain coffee right, none of that fairy wing shit that came from the asshole of a monkey that looks like a cat on the side of a mountain in Tibet?”
“Sir, if I am to be honest, you can go to the nearest gas station and get your own coffee,” she said, frowning at the man.
“Thom always has coffee ready for me when I work for him,” Jep said.“I have two weeks.Today, I have to dig the holes for the foundations.Tomorrow, mark and lay the rebar.Friday, Thom wants the concrete poured.Next Friday, we have to start framing.It is a fast job and a man needs coffee.Can I have some coffee?”
“Leave the carafe.I'll refill it once I brew you a pot,” she said, frowning at him.
“Hey, you his girl?”
“I'm Thom's wife,” she said, squinting at him.
“You don't say!I never thought that train-collecting noob would ever settle down,” Jep said.“You collect trains too?”
“No, I drive them,” she said, looking into the yard.
Dan the Survey Man had sprayed orange all over the ground, and she assumed this man would be digging the holes for the foundation for the barndominuim and the barn for her diesel engine.
“Well, that would explain us needing to lay railroad tracks,” Jep said.“Did you know, we built this house in six months?Yep.Start to finish.Six months.Good house too.Solid.Good materials.Thom is a smart guy.He built it well.It sits on a cross plain, so in the Summer, you can open the front and back door and the wind will blow through and keep the place cool.Yep.Nice house.Real solid.”
In the other room, she heard her phone ringing.She pointed at it, nodding to Jep as she closed and locked the back door.Once the coffee was done, she'd fill the carafe and give it to the man.She made a mental note to have the coffee ready for the next couple of days as she picked up her phone.
“Mary Weston,” she said without looking at the number or who was calling.
“What the hell is going on, Mae Weston?”the deep voice yelled.“I called your office and was informed you no longer work there.Did you get fired?”
“No, Daddy, I resigned on Monday,” she told him.
“What do you mean, resigned?You quit your job?”
“Yes.I walked in, took my degrees off the wall, my name plate off the desk, and my trains from the shelves, handed in my letter of resignation, and I walked out,” she told him.
“Child, that was a good job.I can't believe you quit such a good job that was almost made for you,” Rae Weston snarled in the line.
“Daddy, see here is where you and I always clash,” she said.“You have yet to ask what those people were doing to me to make me leave the job.All you're thinking about is you're no longer being able to brag that your daughter worked on the 11th floor with the bigwigs.It is never about me, Daddy, is it?It is always about you.”
“Mae, hold on a minute there,” he said.“I'm not understanding why you just walked into your job and quit.”
