Celia's Puppies (41 page)

“
Let’s cross that bridge
when we need to,” Jacob said. His hand rubbed at the tightness
growing in his chest. “Thanks for letting us know.”

“
What’s next?” Aden asked.
“It can’t possibly get…”

“
DO NOT SAY THAT,” Jacob
screamed.

“
Jake?” the intercom to
Jacob’s office phone squawked with Sam’s administrative assistant’s
voice.

“
Fuck, always. Things can
ALWAYS get worse.”

“
Okay, Jacob, okay,” Sam
said. “You can’t let this get to you.”

“
Yeah?” Jacob said. He
pressed his office phone to speaker.

“
I’m sorry to bug you,”
she said. “But Sam asked me to take your calls since Blane’s sick.
There’s a call from your lawyer, Max Hargreaves. He says it’s
urgent.”

“
Thanks. Can you put him
through?”

“
Jake?” Max Hargreaves
voice asked.

“
I put you on speaker
because if it’s urgent Aden and Sam need to hear.”

“
Hey Sam, Aden.
Blane?”

“
He’s here,” Jacob said.
“What’s up?”

“
I had a call from a
contact at your bank last night,” Max said. “The bank’s calling
your debt.”

“
WHAT?!?” Jacob screamed.
“We have two years operating expenses in that bank! We’ve an
excellent credit rating!”

“
That’s what I said,” Max
said. “I wanted to check everything out before I called you. Your
contracts specify a week’s notice. But given the ‘national banking
crisis’, the bank says that your contract is null and void. They
are giving you twenty-four hours to fulfill your debt or, get this,
secure it with a tangible property.”

“
What the hell does that
mean?” Jacob asked.

“
They want the Castle,”
Max said.

“
WHAT?!”

“
Listen, Jake, a few of
the board members sit on the board at your bank,” Max said.
“They’re orchestrating this entire thing.”

“
Why would they do that?”
Jacob asked.

“
Hostile takeover, Jake,”
Max said.

Without saying another word, Jacob stormed
through the crowd of employees outside his office and into the
executive restroom. He flipped the lock. He made it to the plastic
chair near the sink before falling down. The pain in his chest was
unbelievable.

Gasping for breath, he opened the towel rack
where he had stashed his nitroglycerine spray. He sprayed the
nitroglycerine in his mouth and worked to catch his breath.

“
Jake?” Sam’s voice said
at the door.

“
Just a second, Dad,”
Jacob said.

“
You all
right?”

“
I just need a moment,
Dad,” Jacob said.

He had these episodes off and on since the
assault in June. Angina. That’s what the doctor called it. Daily
exercise had reduced his angina to the point where he thought he’d
kicked it.

He’d never had an episode this bad. He
sprayed the nitroglycerine into his mouth one last time before he
passed out.

~~~~~~~~

“
What’s going on, Sam?”
asked Tres Sierra, their CFO.

“
We’ve six sites down,”
Sam said. “And the bank’s called our debt. They want to take the
Castle.”

The corporate employees gasped.

“
I’m sorry,” Sam said. “If
Celia was here, she’d be angry that I told you.”

“
Thanks, Sam,” the head of
estimating hugged Sam. She added, “We appreciate your
trust.”

Sam nodded then returned to Jacob’s
office.

“
Well, that’s it,” the
head of estimating said.

“
What are you doing?” Tres
asked.

“
I don’t know about you,
but I started this company in my jeans. My team is changing into
our jeans. We’re going to the sites. If we’re going to be owners,
we’re going to start acting like them.”

The CFO and controller shared a look.

“
I’ll find funding,” Tres
said. “I’m the senior corporate officer if Jake, Aden and Sam are
gone. I’ll need to stay anyway.”

“
I can...”

“
I’ll get it done,” Tres
said. “Go change. Get the rest of the department. You need to be
ready when Jake needs us.”

The rest of the employees nodded.

“
One admin stays,” Tres
said. “Blane’s ill.”

“
I’ll stay,” the
receptionist said. “I’ll stay until tomorrow if I have
to.”

“
Great,” Tres
said.

Looking around, he realized everyone was
changing their clothing. He went to do the same. If the company was
going down, they would go down with their jeans on.

~~~~~~~~

“
Mommy, you have to help
me.”

Face down on the floor of the executive
bathroom, Jacob begged his mother to appear.

“
Please. I really need
you.”

“
I debate with myself
whether I should just let you beg,” Celia said. “You know that I’m
right here.”

She helped him roll onto his back.

“
Mommy.” Jacob wept at the
sight of her.

She lifted his head onto her lap. He felt
her stroke his hair and face.

“
I wish I knew what you
want me to do,” he said.

Celia smiled.

“
Everything’s wrong.
Everything I tried is wrong.”

Celia continued to stroke his hair.

“
Tell me, Mommy. What do
you want?”

“
I want you to be happy,
Jacob Marlowe.”

“
For your company. What do
I do with your company? I’ve tried so hard to make your dream come
true. But the board...”

“
It’s not my company,
Jake,” Celia said.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
My company was run out of
our basement. Sure, it grew into an actual office. But you’ve built
it into a million dollar company. This isn’t my company, Jake. It’s
yours.”

“
I’ve been doing all of
this for you and Dad.”

“
That may be true.” Celia
smiled at her only son. “Maybe it’s time you started doing all of
this for you.”

“
I don’t want this
company,” Jacob said.

“
Are you sure?” Celia
asked. “You seem to work awfully hard at something you don’t
want.”

“
I love carpentry,” Jacob
said.

“
Why does it have to be
one or the other?” Celia asked. “For that matter, why is ‘normal’
the opposite of psychic?”

“
God Mom,” Jacob said.
“You know why!”

“
Normal for you is being
what you are.” Celia stroked his hair. “Why do you have this chest
pain?”

“
My heart is injured,”
Jacob said. “The doctors say it doesn’t work right.”

“
Humor me. Ask your
heart.”

Jacob closed his eyes. Stretching out his
being, he asked his heart as if it was something separate from
him.

“
I don’t want to give up
the company,” Jacob said.

“
Yes, it’s your company,”
Celia said.

“
But I’ve worked so hard
to...”

“
You don’t have to give up
the whole thing, Jake. It’s not all or nothing.” Celia touched his
face. “The rest of this… drama? Tell me Jacob Marlowe, why is this
happening to your company?”

“
So the employees can act
like owners and...”

“
And?”

“
So I can sort out what I
want,” Jacob smiled.

Celia began to fade.

“
Don’t go, Mommy! Please
don’t go.”

“
I’m the voice in your ear
if you want listen,” Celia said.

The door of the restroom opened.

“
Oh my God,” Sam said.
“Get his arm. Blane just told us about the angina.”

Sam and an accountant helped Jacob into the
chair.

“
Call 911.”

“
NO!” Jacob exclaimed.
“I’m really all right. I just need a moment.”

“
When you’re ready,” the
controller said. “We’re ready.”

Jacob looked up.

“
What?”

“
If this is our company,
we’re going to fight for it,” the head of estimating said. “We’ve
changed into our jeans, called our families. We’re working until
we’ve set things right.”

Standing, Jacob looked from face to face at
the crowd of Lipson construction corporate employees. His face
broke out in a smile. He weaved, then found his balance.

“
Call all the employees
from the snowed out sites...”

“
They’re waiting in the
parking lot, Jake, “Aden said. “They showed up here to
help.”

“
We need to find
alternative...”

“
The CFO is looking for
alternative funding, Jake,” the controller said.

Jacob stopped short when Celia appeared in
front of him.

“
Son, look in your back
pocket,” she said.

Jacob pulled the postcard from his back
pocket. Reading the words, he groaned and laughed. He gave the card
to Blane, who laughed.

“
Let’s get to
work.”

Chapter Fifty-Two
How this goes

One hour later

“
I’m not sure what this
fuss is about.” Sam put his hand on the homeowner’s arm. “From what
you told my site manager, Tony, you knew about the waterline
problem. Sounds like you and your neighbors have already spoken
with the city about it.”

The man shook his head at Sam.

“
Listen, it’s snowing,”
Sam said. “You’ve had a difficult morning. Why don’t you head back
in? I’ll let you know what we find out.”

Mumbling under his breath, the man nodded
and turned back to the house. Sam jogged to catch him.

“
I heard you say you need
help with the kids?”

“
The Nanny quit. My wife’s
on bed rest. Twins due any day. My two year old would drive a saint
insane. And I have to get to work.”

“
I’m sorry about your
wife,” Sam said. “Christy thought your wife was
pregnant.”

“
Who the fuck is
Christy?”

“
She’s one of our road
girls,” Sam said. “Blonde? Pretty? She worked your corner this
week.”

The man nodded.

“
Why don’t I send Christy
in to watch your two year old? She’d be happy to help. You can get
to work and not worry.”

“
My son’s a pain in the
ass,” the man said.

“
So’s mine,” Sam
laughed.

“
You have a
toddler?

“
He’s twenty-six,” Sam
said.

The man laughed.

“
I’ll send Christy to your
house. She’ll appreciate getting out of the cold today,” Sam said.
“Can you find help today?”

The man nodded.

“
Great,” Sam said. “See!
That was easy. And don’t worry. If your son’s too much for Christy,
we’ll teach him how to fix a broken water line. That’s what I did
with my son, and now he owns the company.”

The man laughed. Holding out his hand, he
said, “Thanks.”

“
Easy.”

~~~~~~~~

Two hours later

“
When you called, I was
like no way,” the field director for the Museum of Nature and
Science said. “But, hot damn, Jacob Marlowe, that’s an entire
village. I bet we’ve got ten, maybe fifteen homes here.”

“
Settlers?” Jacob
asked.

“
Ancient. Jake, I think
it’s Clovis.”

“
What does that mean?”
Jerry Siegle, the site manager, asked. “This is not Clovis, New
Mexico.”

“
Ancient civilization.
Thirteen thousand years ancient. We’ve got an expert at the museum.
Steve Holden. He’s going to ...” The man beamed at Jacob. “You’ve
made our careers.”

Jerry groaned.

“
Yeah, glad we could
help,” Jacob said.

The man laughed at Jacob’s sardonic
tone.

“
You’re saying we have to
close the site?” Jerry asked.

“
I’m saying you can’t work
here,” the man said.

“
Ah fuck,” Jerry stomped
back toward the trailer.

“
Ever?” Jacob
asked.

“
Probably,” the man said.
“If this is what I think it is? The government will take over this
site. In five years’ time, they’ll sell tickets for the good people
to see.”

Jacob frowned.

“
I guess you probably
didn’t want to hear that,” the man from the Museum of Nature and
Science said.

“
It’s not you,” Jacob
said. “I need to talk to my guys.”

“
Yeah,” the man said. As
Jacob walked away, he said, “Hey Jake!”

Jacob turned to look at him.

“
Thanks. Really. A lot of
people would have just kept working. This is a big assed
deal.”

Jacob nodded then continued to the trailer.
As he approached he heard someone yelling. When he opened the door,
everyone was silent. Only the whir of the heaters broke the sterile
silence. The men stared at him.