Many thanks to Greowulf for his wonderful editing.
*****
Hours away from the warmth of his home, Dave stood staring into the darkness of the night. He was on the second floor of the building under construction. He and Scotty had visited all the floors, carefully scrutinizing the work in progress. He had spoken to the supervisors and was satisfied that they had a good grip on their responsibilities. Tomorrow was Sunday, but there would be no respite. Fred would be coming over and they would go through financial numbers to properly explain any cost overruns.
He looked at his watch. Almost four o'clock. Just then he thought he caught some movement from the corner of his eye. He peered into the darkness. There was a pile of electrical wirings and other assorted items. Nobody was supposed to be working on this wing in the night.
Gingerly, he stepped closer. His footsteps echoed softly in the stillness of the night.
"Hello, anybody there?" he called out. He switched on his torch and swung it around.
There was no reply. The sound of men working at the other wings came floating back to him on the night breeze. The beam of the torch lit up the construction material lying on the floor, but there was nothing out of the ordinary to arouse any suspicion.
He shrugged his shoulders. Maybe just a figment of my imagination, he thought.
Dave thought he had time to catch a few hours of sleep before Fred arrived with his accounting numbers, so he made his way down the staircase. The Ford pickup parked a couple of blocks down the road turned a corner and slowly vanished from sight.
A few hours later Dave was aroused from his deep sleep by the sound of his mobile ringing. He glanced at the flashing screen. It was his wife. He became alert immediately. This was the first time she had called since that fateful day.
"Hi Sherry."
"Hi Dave," she replied with a little hesitancy in her voice.
There was a momentary silence, then Sherry spoke.
"How's the work going?"
"We have those inspectors coming over tomorrow morning. I'm trying to make sure they don't find anything to write home about." The two continued to talk about his work for some minutes.
"Hmm, Dave, would it be possible for you to come over tomorrow evening after you are done with the inspection? DJ is missing you a lot and it would be nice if you could spend some time with him and ... and your medical report has also arrived."
Dave pondered for some moments. If he travelled back to the city to take a flight to Seattle, he would reach home late in the night. Because the flights were available only in the late hours, he would be wasting time at the airport. But if he left immediately by road after the inspection was over, he stood to reach home much earlier.
"I will drive down immediately after the inspection is over. It should take me about three to four hours ... should be there by seven or so."
"Okay, Dave, we will be waiting for you."
Dave felt a strong sense of relief. At least they were moving toward talking terms. The road ahead was bumpy but he was never one to shy down. He got up and made for the changing room. It was time to get ready for the marathon session with Fred.
Back home, Sherry put down her mobile and went over to DJ.
"Daddy will be home tomorrow young man," she cooed softly into his ears.
DJ clapped his hands and then rushed into his mother's open arms. He looked into his mother's loving eyes and began speaking in his childish language which he and perhaps the woman who gave birth to him could understand and decipher without a doubt in mind.
His mother hugged him, pulling him close to her chest. She felt his little heart beat against her bosom.
Her heart ached with a longing she could not fathom or did not want to acknowledge for what it was. As a mother she wanted to give all the happiness in the world to her child. She kissed her son's forehead, fervently wishing that the turbulence in her life—a turbulence that would naturally reach her young charge—would recede and disappear forever.
The day wore on for both Sherry and Dave, separated by distance and the emotional rift brought about by the repugnancy in the actions and deeds of one of the mates. But each had a duty and responsibility to perform, especially for their son. Life goes on, as they say, leaving behind only the memories of happier days gone by or a bitter past.
Back at the worksite, Dave watched Jake Newman examine the quality of the electrical wiring being installed. He was trying his level best not to show the anger building up inside him. The two inspectors, Jake Newman and Mike Callaghan, had spent the last three hours carefully inspecting the quality of the material being used for the construction of the mall. They had even gone through the report on the quantity of iron rods used in the pillars.
"You guys obviously don't care much for the safety of your workers, so how do you expect us to believe that the building you are constructing will not come falling down like a pack of cards," Jake had said with an accusatory sneer at the very outset.
The inspectors were out to get them, that's for sure. This was no ordinary visit. But so far they had been unable to come up with any concrete shortcomings. Dave had given them all the proper answers, which were backed by the superior quality of the work in progress. They had not used any substandard material, even if that meant that it would lead to budget overruns.
"Just look at the cost you guys have incurred," ranted Jake, "Don't expect the City Council to agree to any sort of upward revision in estimates and fund allocations. If you guys can't prepare a proper estimate then you may as well close shop," he bellowed, waving the reports he had been given in the air.
"Jake, cost escalation clauses are invariably put in all contracts to cover this kind of contingency," replied Dave. Despite his calm demeanour, he was seething inside.
"Don't you dare tell me what can be done and what cannot be," Jake shouted, pointing one bony finger towards Dave. "I will put in everything I have seen in my report. Then we will see who goes for the cost escalation clause," he said with pure venom in his voice.
The rest of the meeting continued in the same vein. The inspectors invariably conjured up something bad or not up to the mark in just about all the construction, even though Dave's team was meeting or exceeding specifications in every area. The inspection ended with them barely on talking terms with each other.
Dave watched them finally take their leave with a grim look on his face.
"Don't worry Dave, that fellow doesn't have anything hard on us. He can't convince the City Council against agreeing to the cost escalation clause," said Fred.
"That's right, all the material used has been as per the technical specifications given by them," said Ron, "He's just one of those guys who has never had a good thing happening in his life so he keeps going after others."
"I have a feeling that we haven't seen the last of him," replied Dave thoughtfully. He too was aware that the inspection had actually gone off pretty well. Any other person would have given a clean report, but Jake was trying his level best to throw a spanner in the works.
Tomorrow he would be having a video conference with the Head Office. They would want to know how the inspection had gone. He looked at his watch. It was almost four. If James did some fancy driving, they should touch home by eight. The last few days had been hard, real hard, and now he wanted to be home, albeit temporarily.
* * *
Sherry gave a perfunctory knock on her Editor's door and walked in. The parental child abuse story was ready and she was all set to present the work to her editor.
"Hi, Ed," she called out as she made her way in.
"Hi Sherry, c'mon in," called out Ed, giving an appreciative look at her.
She smiled at him. He gestured to one of the chairs in front of the desk. Sherry sank gracefully into it, crossing her legs, revealing a good length of scrumptious leg encased in sensuous nylon, something which her editor could not fail to notice. She looked at him from under her eyelashes. He was a well built man in his early forties with a long and pleasant face, his head of hair a perfectly swept back mane of black with some gray around his temples.
Even in jeans, a light blue Oxford shirt, and a gray cardigan sweater he looked through and through a man used to leading the way in everything he did. The greying side burns and deep piercing eyes added to his charm. He had just come out of his third marriage. Office gossip had it that he was a pretty well hung guy with a difficulty in keeping it inside his pants and marriage vows. And now he was once again single and on the lookout. Not that it was a matter of concern to her. He had always been a well behaved, gentlemanly type of boss.
"So we are all set to hit the stands with that new story?" he asked in his deep authoritative voice, his eyes looking intently into hers.
"Sure Ed, we have rechecked the stories with the tape recording we have of all of them. The interviews with the government people were also on record and we had no problem in doing a quick once over. No glitches in the story line as far as we are concerned."
"Good, I know I can count on you and your team to come up with some good solid facts," he replied.
"Thanks for the compliment, I will pass it down to the team members," replied Sherry with a flush.
She reached into her slim briefcase she had set down beside her chair and pulled some papers out and leaned over to hand them to him. As she leaned forward Ed was lucky enough to get a nice view of her bosom. His eyes remained still, savouring the feast for some moments.
Sherry looked up to see Ed admiring her cleavage. His gaze shifted to meet her eyes. He smiled, as though complimenting her on her looks, and then busied himself with the papers.
Sherry smiled to herself. The way he had behaved did not make her feel angry. She was beginning to understand why her editor was jumping in and out of marriages.
Ed carefully went through all the papers, reading again and again, giving her his value additions wherever he felt it necessary. Finally he leaned back with a satisfied look on his face.
He continued to look at her for a few moments with that deep smoulder in his eyes.
