A Picture Worth A Thousand Words Pt 02

A note: I realize that this could have been posted in several different categories - LW, Non-erotic, etc. Despite what my wife might claim, I'm a romanticist at heart, so I put it in romance. Thanks for reading. WR

*****

Chapter 5

The next two weeks flew by. The dinner at Joyce's was great. Her friends had been married for eons and were delightful company. I was glad I brought 3 bottles of the Chardonnay she liked.

Business was steady. I was finding that we were getting more small businesses interested in networking and I was exploring adding a dedicated network tech to the staff. My repair techs could do some of the networking, but I felt it was time to bring in a specialist.

Finally the day came when my divorce was final. You would think that there would be some sort of celebration, but I didn't feel that way at all. I felt a profound sadness at what had been, what could, should, have been as well as a sense of loss. Except for my kids who I saw every once in awhile I was alone. As I said at one time to Joyce, alone but not lonely.

I heard from various sources that Bev and Burns were having a rocky relationship. Without her 'stupid meal ticket', and his wife leaving him, they were finding things fairly tight. I guess the lovey dovey was a one way street, as long as he didn't have to foot the bill. I don't know if his employer ever did anything about the video. It didn't matter anyway, at least to me.

I finally let the staff, well Joyce and Lisa anyway, browbeat me into taking a holiday. I wasn't all that interested in vegetating on a beach somewhere, so I rented a motorhome with a view to exploring Western Canada. The thing was big enough that I could tow my car so I was able to set up somewhere then go exploring without having to pack everything up each time I wanted to go somewhere different. I had no plans, and no itinerary so just got everything hooked up and started driving.

I spent my first night at a small campground only about 250 kilometers from home. Once I got set up, I could feel the tension leaving me. Maybe it was the cool, crisp mountain air. I got some groceries from the small convenience store and cooked a small steak for dinner, accompanied by a glass of nice Merlot. I found fellow RVers quite friendly. I had several couples stop to chat about where I was going. Most were able to give me some good tips on places to see and where to camp. I stayed in that campground for two nights, just relaxing and enjoying doing nothing. Doing nothing is hard when you're used to working 14 hour days, trust me on that.

The third morning of my 'official' vacation I was on the road early. I wasn't having any trouble with my moving house, but when climbing hills you could actually watch the gas gauge go down. Whatever I saved in accommodation would probably be spent on fuel. The bonus though, was that I could stop almost anywhere and anytime I felt like it. I was assured by fellow campers that most campgrounds usually had spaces available even without a reservation. On my whole trip I never had trouble getting a site when I wanted one.

My third night was spent in what they call a 'Forestry Campground', meaning no services, no power, no running water, etc. I was okay with that, the small house I was driving was pretty much self-contained. I couldn't get over how clear the sky was and how bright the stars were. It was almost like they were helping me celebrate. I sat out late that night just gazing at the fabulous sky.

I ended up in a fairly large campground on my 4th night. I saw a few of the people I had seen from other campgrounds. It seems that's the way it was with the RV lifestyle. I had one lady, obviously travelling alone, ask me if I knew anything about computers. I assured her that I had at least a working knowledge of them, without going into details, and was able to help her with her small laptop. I told her that the biggest problem she had with it was that it was dying of old age. By computer standards it was positively ancient. She thanked my profusely and assured me that she was looking at buying a new or newer one.

I logged into my company site to see what was going on. They seemed to be doing fine without me. Joyce and Lisa would see to that, in any case. If there was an emergency they could always get hold of me. I checked my emails and was surprised to find several from Jamie. He had talked to his mom and she was regretting everything that had happened, etc. etc. etc. Oh, really? He didn't state that she wanted to try and get together with me again, but the implication was there. I received a similar email from Colleen. I thought my kids were smarter than that. The divorce wasn't even a week old yet.

Later that week I ended up in a small, family owned campground. They held a get together every evening for all their guests where they served coffee and snacks. If you wanted anything else, bring your own. I had no problem with that and wandered over just after dark. There must have been nearly 50 people gathered around the large campfire. I had brought a large glass of Merlot with me and was quite happy just to chat with fellow campers.

Off to one side I noticed a young man who didn't seem to fit in and definitely didn't seem to be enjoying himself. I walked over to talk to him.

"Hi, I'm Jack. Looks like you don't want to be here."

He looked older than my impression when I first saw him. "Well, it's not so much I don't want to be here, it's just that I spent all this money on school only to find that there's hardly any work out there for what I want to do. So, I help out my grandparents. They own this campground and I sort of do all the cleaning and stuff. I don't mind, but it seems like such a waste of my time."

"What did you take in school?" I asked.

"Well, I'm trained as a MCSE, Microsoft Certified System Engineer. Sort of we set up and administer computer networks. It's a whole bunch of technical stuff, but I did well in the training, and I try to keep up to date with all the new stuff coming out."

"This certification, did you have to go to a special school or something?" Of course I knew the answer but was interested in his take on the training.

"Yeah, almost a year at the Community College. The exams were sort of by connecting to the exam centre. I found after the first one that you had to know your shit, or you were dead. Some guys tried to do the exams by just memorizing the answers on all the quizzes. Most found out in a hurry that that didn't work."

"Sounds impressive. And there's nothing around here for you?"

"Nope, not really. I don't really want to move to a big city, either. I might have to after the camping season is over. There's nothing around here."

"What's your name, I don't think you told me?"

"Jeff, Jeff Winters. Like I said, my Grandpa and Grandma own this campground. I think they do it just for something to do and they enjoy meeting all the people that come through. They have some friends that have been coming here for years."

"Well, Jeff. Nice talking to you. I'm going to go mingle a bit and make an early night of it. See you later." I joined the group around the fire and noticed a little later that Jeff was gone.

Next morning I was up early. After breakfast I strolled over to the main building to check on whether I could stay a couple of more nights and use the campground as a base for touring around. The nice, and nice looking, elderly lady assured me that the site was mine for as long as I wanted. She gave me a bunch of pamphlets and showed me on a map the things that were worth seeing within a couple of hours drive. We chatted for awhile over the ever-present coffee and I confirmed my initial impression that this lady was Jeff's grandmother. I left, assuring her that I would be back for the campfire that night, and headed out to explore.

That night I ended up talking to the grandfather. George and Selma were great people. It was easy to see why they kept the campground open. They had lived in the area for most of their lives and knew every nook and cranny and where the bodies were buried.

I mentioned to George that I had talked with Jeff the night before.

"Yeah, the boy is getting a bit discouraged. He paid for all that schoolin' on his own. Worked here and a bunch of other odd jobs to pay for it. Luckily he could live at home at the time. He's with us now. I know he'd like to be on his own, but he doesn't want to move to a city. If he could find work in a smaller place he'd be a happy kid." I could see that George was genuinely concerned for his grandson.

"That certification thing he's got. Means a lot to him, doesn't it?" I knew exactly what it was and how hard the work was to get it, but I didn't want to let on.

"Oh yeah. Until he got that we never thought about internet or any of that stuff here or at home. He designed and built the network for the campground. Every site is hardwired and he put up a bunch of, I think he calls them wireless spots or something, so everyone can get on the internet how they want. He even set up the thing at home, but only he and Selma ever use it. I'm too old to try that stuff." He was obviously proud of the boy, well, young man.

"George, do you think Jeff would show me what he's done out here, I mean with the internet? I'm sorta interested in this computer stuff and I'd really like to see what he's done."

"Oh yeah," George laughed, "you get him goin' on that stuff and he'll talk forever. I don't understand none of it, but he does. He'd love to show it off."

"Good, I'll look him up in the morning. Be interested to see what he's done." I gave my goodnights and went back to my motorhome, deep in thought. I was wondering just how big a place it had to be before Jeff considered it a big city.

The next morning I was relaxing over a late coffee when Jeff drove by on an ATV. I waved him over.

"Hey Jeff. Want a coffee?"

"No thanks Mr. Ames. I've got to make sure all the sites are clean before people start arriving. We've got a caravan coming in this afternoon."

I must have shown my confusion. "Caravan?" I asked.

"Yeah. They're sorta like an organized group that travel together. They have what they call wagon masters and everything. We just tell them what sites they can use and they look after the rest. They're great to have in 'cause it really lessens our work load. They do all the paperwork and everything, and usually the sites are all cleaned up when they leave." He tried to explain the concept to me, a real novice at this RV camping.

"Sounds too organized for me. I went on this trip to get away from that stuff," I laughed. "Look, I was talking to your grandpa last night. He tells me that you did all the computer stuff for the campground."

"Yeah, well, I decided that I could put my training into practise. Almost everyone wants email and surfing the internet nowadays."

"I'm sorta interested in this computer stuff. Would you mind showing me what you've done?"

"Not at all, Mr. Ames. Tell you what. I should be finished all this in an hour or so. Why don't I come and get you right after lunch." He sounded really pleased that someone would take a real interest in his work.

"Works for me Jeff. I planned on just relaxing today anyway. Be interesting to see what you did."

"Great, see you in awhile." Jeff sped off on his chores and I poured another coffee and relaxed in the nice warm sunshine.

True to his word, Jeff came to get me on the ATV just after lunch. I told him that I could have walked over to the main building since it wasn't that far. He laughed and said he liked bombing around on the ATV and any excuse would do.

We arrived at the main building and Jeff lead me into the office. We spent the next two hours as he explained how he had set up the campground, run the wires, setup wireless access points and all the rest of the network infrastructure. He really knew his work and was able to explain in layman's terms exactly what he had done, and why. I was truly very impressed. This young man really knew his networking. It was really a shame that there wasn't any work near his home.

I asked him about moving to work. He told me that if he had to move to a big city to get work in his field, he would, but wouldn't like it. I asked him what he considered a big city. After telling me, I knew that our city wouldn't fall into his category of 'big'. I liked Jeff and I liked his grandparents. I was thinking maybe I could help him, and them.

"What about your parents, Jeff," I asked. "Surely they don't really want you moving too far away."

"My dad died in a farm accident a few years ago, so there's just me and Mom. She's got a small store in town that supports us. We're not rich or anything, but we're not wantin' either."

"Surely she doesn't want you to move."

"She told me after I finished my schoolin' to follow my dreams. If that meant moving away and into a big city, well, we'd just cross that bridge when we got to it. Since there's nothing around here, I guess I don't have much choice."

"Yeah, it's tough Jeff. But, you sorta have to go where the work is unless there's some way of starting your own business. Problem is, from what I've seen, there's probably not enough work around here for full time computer work."

"Yeah, I know Mr. Ames. I'd like to stick around here but a guy's gotta go where there's work. There's been a couple of computer shops start up but like you said, there's just not a big enough market."

"Sorta my impression too. Look Jeff, thanks for showing me around. You really did an impressive job. Anyone who knows computers and networking would be able to see that."

"Thanks Mr. Ames. I really appreciate that."

"Look, I'm going to go for a walk and maybe catch a nap or something. See you at the fire later?"

"You bet Mr. Ames. My Mom said she's coming over too."

"I'll look forward to meeting her. Talk to you later." I started walking along a trail that had been pointed out to me by his grandmother the day before. You had several choices of distance from 1 ½ kilometers up to 10. I opted for a mid length and did about 4 kilometers. It felt good, just strolling along and not worrying about anything but whether that Osprey would actually catch a fish. Young Jeff had given me food for thought and I decided to call Joyce later and see about setting something up without him realizing I would be his employer.

I made my call later that afternoon and explained what I'd like to do, and how we could do it without seeming intrusive. We decided that I was just acting on behalf of a friend, Joyce, who happened to be looking for someone with Jeff's skill set. Well, it wasn't really a total falsehood; we were, or at least would be, looking for a network tech. I felt that Jeff would more than fill the bill, and he wouldn't be all that far from home.

I met Mary, his mother and her friend that night. Though they weren't officially a couple, you could see that they cared for each other. She did allow that part of the reason Jeff didn't want to leave was because he was worried about her. More food for thought.

I caught up with Jeff just after noon the next day when I knew he'd be finished his chores. "Jeff, what would you think about moving to Kent if there was work?"

"Kent? What's there? I don't think there's much work for me there."

"Well, I talked to a friend of mine last night. She told me they're looking for a network guy. I've got the info if you're interested. I know it's a city, but it's not like Vancouver or Calgary."

"They want a network guy? How come they can't find one there? They must be all over the place." Understandably, he sounded a bit doubtful.

"I have no idea. She just mentioned it when we were catching up. She's an old friend I've known for years. What do you think, you interested?"

"You bet. Who do I talk to?"

"Here, I wrote it down. Her name is Joyce and she sorta runs the place. Really nice lady." I handed him the slip of paper. "When do you think you could go see her? I could sorta run interference for you and let her know when you're coming."

"I could probably be there first thing Monday. Do you really think I have a chance? Like, she doesn't know me from Adam." He was starting to sound more hopeful, even excited.

"Well, one thing I know for sure. If you don't show up you won't get the job. Sure they're might be others applying, but that's the way it goes. If nothing else, it'll get you away from here for a day or two. What have you got to lose?" I was trying to sell him on the idea without him being aware of it. Of course, he didn't know the fix was in. If he did want the job and was willing to move to get it, it was his.

"Jeez, thanks Mr. Ames. I really appreciate what you did. Nobody ever did anything like that for me. By the way, what is this place called? All you have here is a name and address."

"It's called JAC Consulting, LLC. They apparently do a bunch of different stuff with computers and networks, and like that. I've met a few of their people. They seem pretty nice."

I swear he must have floated all the way home. That night around the campfire his grandparents let me know how much they appreciated what I had done. George was a sly old fox. I don't think I fooled him for more than thirty seconds, but he never let on. He was happy for his grandson that Jeff finally had a chance to do what he trained for.

I called Joyce at home the next morning since it was Saturday and the store wasn't open. "Joyce, look. That boy I told you about. He'll be at the store Monday morning. His name is Jeff, Jeff Winters."

"This has something to do with that mysterious phone call yesterday?"

"Yeah. Long story short, his grandparents own the campground I've been in for the last few nights. He designed the wired and wireless networks for the campground. He's got his MCSE. I got him to show me what he'd done on the basis of being interested in computers. Considering he's on his own and out here in the boonies he did a remarkable job. Now what I want you to do is do the interview and go over his resume', then have him go for coffee or something and come back after lunch. Then tell him he's hired if he wants the job, and he starts a week from Monday. That will give him a week to find a place to live and get set up."

"Okay Jack. I've got it. Why are you doing this? I just have to ask. Just who is this kid?"

"I've met some great people on this little trip. His grandparents are really nice people and this young man is really impressive. He doesn't really like to blow his own horn, but he knows his networking. He has some of the same traits as his grandfather. I felt it's nice to be doing something for someone for a change."

"Okay, you're the boss."

"For God's sake, don't tell him that. He knows that the company is JAC Consulting, but he had no idea what the JAC stands for."

"Okay, boss man. We'll need to find you some angel wings," she laughed out loud.

"Not hardly, or you'll be getting the devil's pitchfork," I laughed back.

"I can tell this vacation has done you a world of good. When you comin' back home?"

"I plan for being back by next Friday, so a week yesterday. I'm supposed to return this mobile house by 4PM. Then I'll have the weekend to wind up again to face you bunch." I was laughing at her, and as she had noticed, I was relaxed and having fun. This was something almost foreign to me for the last few years.

George came over to see me the next morning. I poured him a coffee and we relaxed outside the RV, enjoying the sunshine and relative quiet.

"Mr. Ames..."

"Please, Jack."

"Okay Jack. You know my grandson means the world to us. I just have to be sure that what you're doing is on the up and up."

I paused for a second, trying to frame it so that it didn't look like the kid was being hired as a charity or something. "George, I can call you George?" He nodded, "I like what Jeff did here, and what he accomplished with the networking of the campground. I've been there, I know exactly how much work went into it. I didn't want to tell him but I have a number of certifications, my first was the same as his, MCSE."