My world, my rules. Deal with it! Mistakes will follow, although there is more of that happening in the comment section than in the story lately. Comments about the story are welcome, but those of you who choose to attack others or the Author will be removed. I hear anonymously that the small group is already yelling BUMMER! I keep posting that to let them know, and I still have to remove a few, Sorry about that. Remember, this is a work of fiction, no facts were harmed in writing this.
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My name is Dale Farmer, now 34, but I have always been a geek since high school until now, somewhere I had grown a spine and now I can stand up for myself. I took Karate to control my frustration and anger, it made me feel more settled within myself. I had always gotten straight A's in chemistry and as A result, I got a job as a chemist making knock-out gas for dentists as well as making a few specialties for the government every now and again.
I have a couple of hobbies that don't have anything to do with work, they help me unplug and take a step back when I need to. I met a good-looking girl right out of high school, her name is Shirley and she seemed like a Goddess to me then, but now she has that girl next door look, I loved her to pieces, I really did, until I stopped by to see my friend at the electronics store he runs.
"Hey there, Jimmy. I'm helping the kid next door out with a school project. Ever since his old man cut out we've struck up a friendship of sorts." Jimmy rolled his eyes and chuckled.
"This isn't another volcano thing you guys are working on, is it? The last time I sold you stuff for that, I heard the gym about caught on fire!"
I acted offended, "When you make the mountain of pompe come to life, you never do anything below par on that!" We both broke out laughing. "No, nothing like that, he wants to do an earthquake kind of thing, I know where you keep the stuff I need. But I think if we put some small cameras inside he can show how it works below ground as well as on top, so show me what you got and I'll be right back"
I picked out what I needed, and a few things I didn't, then headed back to the counter. "Ok Jim, show me what you got"
"We have the usual cameras and crap, but I want to show you this!" It was like a small cone shape with a wire hanging out on the small end, it was half an inch long in total length" They run on those small hearing aid batteries but the picture they take is out of this world for both sharp clear pictures, and you can set it up for panoramic shots as well, but the best thing is they can record the video for 72 hours before you need to change the battery! The wire out the back sends it to any monitor, TV screen, or computer with no problem."
He could almost hear the gears turning inside my head, "Tell you what I'll do, I will throw in a five-pack of the video pens we just got in. We haven't tried them out yet so you'll be our 'test dummy', what do you think?" He asked.
"You drive a hard bargain" I stuck out my hand, "You got a deal!"
He showed me how to activate the pen cams as well as the 'cone cams?' He put it all in a box and I took off to make Brian's day. I got home a couple of hours before Shirley. I played with the cameras for a while linking them to my computer like the instructions said, and then spent the next 30 minutes playing with the zoom and adjusting the lens to see how the video came out. Ok, I'll come clean, I put one on the top of my dresser and then jumped up and down on the bed for a minute. Then I put the rest of the stuff on the end of the dresser until Brian and I could install them in his project. It was Thursday and Brain and I could only do it Saturday afternoon. I left everything there and went downstairs to start dinner.
Shirley came in an hour later, she didn't look too happy. "You cooked dinner, bless you!" then she gave me a peck on the cheek while I tended to the salmon on the stove. "I'll take a shower and be back down to help"
"Sounds like somebody had a bad day!" I said.
"Can we talk about it after dinner? I just want to get a shower and relax with a glass of wine" She sighed.
"Well hurry up, I will be done soon and cold salmon doesn't taste good" She gave me a smile and a kiss.
When she came back down, I had already plated the salmon. I received a call from work and was talking on the phone to the CEO of the plant. "Come on Jerry, you know I only get to have a half day Saturday and all day Sunday off. Why don't you call Terry or Jeff to cover the demo? They know as much as I do about it, they'll do just fine" I looked over at Shirley with that 'I can't get out of it' look, Yeah-yeah, I understand. Then I ended the call.
"Well, it looks like us going out for dinner Saturday night isn't happening. We have a demonstration for a government group and Jerry made it clear that he wants me to take the lead on it. Hell, it's so simple that Erney the janitor could do it with no problems. He keeps me on call and lets the other guys slide, in the past month he's pulled this crap so often that we've only had one weekend to ourselves! I'm putting out feelers for another job, I know we've known Jerry and Samatha going on 8 years now, but I'm tired of him pulling this shit all the time!
Shirley choked on her drink of wine. "You can't do that, honey, nobody will pay you as much as Jerry does. Besides, who would let you get away with working on your hobbies on company time? Dale, baby, let me call Samatha and see if she could get him to lighten up on you, just don't do anything crazy until I talk to her, ok?"
"I guess, but don't take too long or I'll just quit and walk the fuck out on him! I'm tired of getting the shaft all the time" Being so pissed off at the time, my mind didn't understand how she knew that I worked on some of my projects at work? The next morning I wanted to call the guys up and tell them to finish up all the old projects because I wanted us to try something new. I came out of the shower and dried off, I picked up the house phone and got the shock of my life!
"...You know how much I love sucking that big fat cock of yours, but if you don't back off a bit he will quit his job and walk out. With what he knows about chemistry and understands how to mix them safely he won't have any problem getting a better job. He'll be here all the time and that will stop our little 'get-togethers' because we can't have them with him here" She sighed, "In a year or two when he gets his big promotion I'll take him to the cleaners in the divorce, then a couple of months later you can kick that bitch Samatha to the curb. Then we can have her arrested after we plant the evidence and then we're home free!"
"He's so smart but so dumb! If he hasn't caught us in the past four years he never will! I want to puke when I have to play the friend act with him. I should have had him killed, instead of telling you of the plan. You blew it up into something from a crime novel! We would already have the monies coming in from his patents and living on a beach in Aruba. But you wanted it all before leaving, I just wanted you! You want all the money, instead, you just put me and my big cock on the back burner until you want to play with it again." Jerry said.
"That's not true, lover. I'll show you how much on Saturday after he leaves for work! He's due to tromp down the stairs expecting me to have his breakfast ready, just keep thinking Saturday" Then she hung up. "Honey, you're going to be late so hurry it up" she yelled up the stairs.
I shook myself awake, then I put down the receiver in my hand slowly. Then hardly noticing it, I finished getting dressed and went downstairs, she put two eggs and two slices of bread along with a couple of pre-cooked sausage links on a plate setting it in front of my chair then she poured some coffee into a mug and set it beside the plate.
"I'm not hungry anymore, thanks" I picked up my briefcase and started for the door.
"What about my kiss, baby?" she had a confused look on her face.
I opened the front door as she came hustling around the table towards the door, Just as she got there and pursed her lips, "I'm running late" I said and pulled the door closed. Don't ask me how, but I got into the car and a second later, I was pulling into my parking spot at work. I saw Jerry he was holding his hand up to the phone so no one could hear. He kept looking at me, he had the look of someone trying to figure out a problem.
Around 11 am, Jerry came into my office, "How's it going, Dale? you look like you have something on your mind, anything I can do for you, Buddy?"
I got up from my chair and walked right past him, then I headed through the door of my office, "I'm working, I have to check on a few things" I just left him standing there. I found our processing manager, "Hey Reggie, your son-in-law still a PI?"
"Yeah, he's still working at it, hopes he'll get a solid case so he can play in the big leagues" He looked me in the face, "You look like you want some help with a problem, Dale," He wrote down his address, "I'll give him a call and let him know you're coming, anything else?"
"No, my friend, just getting my ducks in their proper rows if I need them. I leaned in closer, keep your head down when it gets nasty here" I gave him a pat on the shoulder, then walked away.
Reggie and I had known each other since the 7th grade. He knew something was going to happen here, and it was going to be big. He knew I never did anything half-assed.
I walked back up to my office and grabbed my jacket. I told my secretary that I might be a bit late coming back from lunch. "You never take a long lunch, you always come back 10 minutes early. So spill the beans, Dale, you know I care about you, heck, I always had your back"
"Lisa now isn't the time to talk, but can I give you two things to think about. First, how much do you value your job here? The second is, do you have the courage to walk out of here with just your own, with just your confidence that you will find one shortly after walking out?" I leaned in close, "There's a shit-storm coming, and I worry that you might be found 'guilty by association' I've got your back as well. Think about it and then give me your answer by the end of the day, ok?" I walked out for lunch knowing she was giving me a thoughtful stare.
First I drove to the bank and got everything ready to go, It helped that Skylar had a son who I had also helped out as well and we became very close friends.
I went to a lawyer who was recommended by a friend for the divorce. I spent a half hour there first telling him what I wanted to be done, which took ten minutes
The other 20 minutes were giving him tips on how to brew better beer. He had pictures of him brewing, all over his office wall.
The last thing I did was to stop by HR so I could give them my new account info how much to send my investment counselor and how my 401K was going to be divided up and sent to the right places I had indicated.
After all that was taken care of, I ran across the street and ordered two sandwiches with fries and a couple of sodas. then I took the elevator up to my office. As I walked up to Lisa, "One ham and cheese with extra mayo and fries" Then I pulled a can of her favorite soda out of my jacket pocket, "I would let that settle down a minute before opening it" Then I went into my office and got ready to eat my roast beef sandwich with extra horsey sauce and extra cheese, I had a side cup of mayo to dip my fries in.
