Chapter 3 – Implosion
To the people who had been reading this, I apologize for the break in chapters. Due to personal illness, a death in the immediate family and the holidays I lost my way for a while. Personal depression is no excuse and I will try to get the rest of the chapters out in a timely manner. Thank you for your patience JDC. I suggest you read chapters 1 and 2 to get the background you need for this story.
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John finished his one self-allowed beer and went into the house to dispose of the bottle. He heard Jill coming down the stairs and emitted an exasperated sigh.
John wondered to himself if Jill actually married him because she loved him or it was just a ' fuck you' to her old man. John had 15 years in his enjoyable journey through life until six months ago. Things were going very well in their marriage until something flipped a switch six months ago.
Their marriage got off to a kind of rocky start when, for whatever reason, Jillian's birth control failed and she became pregnant two months into their marriage. To say Jillian was unhappy was an understatement. Of course they also had to listen to her parents bemoaning the fact that she was already pregnant that early in the relationship. John was ecstatic. Luckily, her pregnancy ran through the spring and she gave birth during the summer break. John secured childcare for the infant with a young neighbor woman who was a new mother herself, but a stay-at-home mom. She gladly took in the infant Trainor, which was a blessing for John and Jill. They settled into their new house together with Jillian, using what she was learning in interior design to lavishly decorate their humble home.
The furniture John accumulated over the years was quality, but cost them nothing. John would take throwaways from other people and fix what was broken in his very artistic way. John was happier than he ever been in his life. He loved Jill with all his heart and felt he was the luckiest man on the earth.
The only devastation happened six-months into their marriage during Jill's pregnancy when John's beloved grandfather, Enis, died unexpectedly. John was visiting Enis at his house and they were having a normal conversation: Enis stood up to say something and just dropped dead. John performed CPR on him, but by the time the paramedics arrived it was too late. John was devastated and morose for four to five months after until the baby was born. The birth of his son John Junior, JJ, forcefully removed John from his depression. To say Jill had postpartum depression would be an understatement. John was forced to endure three months of pure hell.
John fit significantly into his role of father. Nocturnal feedings, diaper changes, and dressing JJ was considered a privilege by John and torture by Jill. John was so proud of his son, but always had a slight undertow of remorse that Enis never got to meet his great grandchild. John never complained about Jill's actions during that time. When Jillian wanted to spend a month with her mother a couple months after the birth, John felt it would be good for her.
Although he was lonely when she took JJ with her and left him alone at the house, John immersed himself into his latest foray into his favorite woodworking hobby – carving. Ever the studious woodworker, John got several books and sought the mentorship of several old woodworker friends of his grandfather. It didn't surprise those men when John displayed an innate mastery of the task. He carved several small religious statuettes that he sold at a local craft show.
John continued through the years to build furniture and carve. Word-of-mouth allowed John many side jobs for prominent people in the area who wanted custom furniture built. John loved what he was doing and actually wanted to do it for a living, but Jillian vehemently opposed that idea.
"You can't make a living breathing in sawdust, and you've got a wife and child to support, " Jillian would say whenever he would bring up the subject. JJ followed his father around like a lost puppy dog. John couldn't go to the local Home Depot or hardware store without taking JJ with him.
During this time Jill was a wonderful wife and a great mother. One thing that didn't suffer in their continued years of marriage was their sex life. Jillian, who went to work as an executive assistant at an insurance agency, would often come home and initiate sessions of rampant exciting sex between her and John. They averaged three to four times a week, with some sessions expanding into two to three times in the evening. Unlike most men, John's sex life was better than he could hope for.
During the early years of their marriage, John's good friend Mac was in Chicago making her name in the art world. She had several successful showings and sold a large of paintings for a pretty decent living. However, she chose to come back to live in Fullmer. Her parents converted an old sunroom to a painting studio for her and she lived with them to help care for her ailing father. Through osmosis, or shared familiarity, Mac and Jill developed a strong friendship. It wasn't uncommon for Jill and Mac to meet two to three times a week for lunch.
John continued to prosper in his job at the factory. He developed a reputation as the go to guy for mechanical problems that were occurring on the factory floor. He could usually anticipate what he was going to need to fix a given problem within two minutes of examination. John never failed to take overtime or to do more than was asked of him. It didn't go unnoticed by supervisors and Mr. Simmons as well. Hank Hanover, director of engineering, was retiring after 30-years of service and recommended John as his replacement. Although he was younger, with less seniority than over half the engineering department, some with college degrees, John got the promotion with a large increase in salary.
The other men in the department could bitch, but they couldn't deny that the position was tailor-made for John. The first thing he did was to go to bat ordering more of the replacement parts they needed for the common machines that went to fix regular wear and tear. Hardy Simmons, CFO and the owner's son was college-educated without practical knowledge of the manufacturing process and what John's dad George called a bean counter. He only looked at the next quarter and the bottom line. John had Mr. Simmons' ear and convinced him that he lost more in down time when every replacement part had to be ordered and waited on to fix machines.
The other thing that John realized early on in his new position was that preventive maintenance was a necessity to keep things running efficiently 24 hours a day. Hank was old-school, using the age-old philosophy
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'if it ain't broke don't fix it'. It became John's mission in life at the factory to prevent the breakdown before it happened. He had monthly meetings with the rest of the directors, the owner, and the CFO. He explained that regular maintenance would prevent breakdowns but it wasn't cost-effective to do it during the day. He devised a plan of machine shutdowns on the third shift, which meant that the engineering department would have to switch to that shift to do the shutdowns and preventive maintenance.
Again, Hardy Simmons fought this tooth and nail because of what it would cost in shift differential. John was ready for this by having spreadsheets showing the difference in salaries from down time on dayshift and the costs from loss of production and that it would make no difference in overall employee salary differential outlay. John proposed that one senior engineering person be allotted to each shift for unexpected emergencies and the rest of the engineering staff work third shift.
Mr. Simmons was not unaware that John had a great idea and that they could expect an increase in productivity annually if they went with his proposal. John's idea was accepted with a only small revolt in engineering eliminated by pointing out the shift seniority positions and seniority staff receiving the choice weekly schedules and pay differential.
George told John he was crazy for making himself work third shift, but John wasn't concerned. It became a win-win for John and Jill because it meant less outside babysitting her JJ. John would work his four 12 hour night shifts and spend his three days off in quality time with his family. John will get home before Jill went to work and didn't need to leave until after she was home. He would have dinner ready for her and JJ and this was their life or several years. They made this work extremely well for them and gave Jillian a chance to work a sideline as an interior design consultant.
John used some of Enis' trust money to set up Jillian in her side business; Visions by Jillian. It didn't make much money and John paid for stationery, business cards, and limited advertising. Not being densely populated, Fullmer was not a hotbed of need for her side business. Jillian's success was very limited, unlike John's, which made him a few extra thousand dollars a year. This frustrated Jillian, although she barely let on that she was upset.
During these years John became quietly frustrated with the fact that Jillian didn't become pregnant. Their sex life was fantastic as far as John cared. He rarely failed to have sex as often as he wanted it and he never failed to keep Jill in orgasmic fulfillment. He always considered himself lucky to have the married life of his dreams except for the lack of more children. To this end he doted on JJ and concentrated on raising him as properly as possible. This instilment of values caused a rather tense few moments around the Trainor household.
The few times that JJ was allowed to go unaccompanied to the Sinclair home in Culver caused the rift between John Trainor and Boston Sinclair to widen. JJ would always come home angry and say he didn't want to go back to his grandparent's house. When questioned as to why by Jillian, JJ would explain that his grandfather constantly badmouthed John. This incensed John, although it had little effect in changing JJ's admiration and love for his father. John had finally had enough of this one time and called Boston Sinclair on the phone.
"Sinclair here."
"Boston this is John and I need to talk to you."
"Spit it out Trainor, I'm a busy man."
"I'll be short and sweet Boston (Boston Sinclair hated to be called by his first name, especially by John and John knew this.) If you have something to say to me or about me have the balls to say to my face and not in front of my son."
Sinclair didn't even have the respect to try to lie or deny it, just saying, "I'm not saying anything that isn't true and you know it Trainor, my daughter married beneath herself."
"I'm giving your daughter a good life in a good home and just because it is not to your snooty standards doesn't mean it isn't happy."
"Happy is your word, my daughter might have a different opinion."
"Well, Boston, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, but if you ever want to see your grandson again I suggest you tone down your rhetoric."
"Listen to me Trainor, you motherfucker, I'll see my grandson a damn time I well please. You can't stop me."
John hung up on him with that and John told Jill that JJ would be making no more trips alone to her parents house. This caused a big argument between the two and Jill refused to speak to John for almost two weeks. Finally, JJ finally broke the tension by looking at Jillian one evening and saying:
"Mom, you shouldn't stop talking to dad just because grandpa is being a dickhead."
"John Trainor Jr., on not have you talking that way."
