

The Glass Ceilings Tile Company

By

Charles E. White

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

 Chapter 2

 Chapter 3

 Chapter 4

 Chapter 5

 Chapter 6

 Chapter 7

 Chapter 8

 Chapter 9

 Chapter 10

 Chapter 11

 Chapter 12

 Chapter 13

 Chapter 14

 Chapter 15

 Chapter 16

 Chapter 17

 Chapter 18

 Chapter 19

 Chapter20

 Chapter 21

 Chapter 22

 Chapter 23

 Chapter 24

 Chapter 25

 Chapter 26

 Chapter 27

 Chapter 28

Chapter 1

"So we have an hour according to my watch before quitting time, where you want to go tonight," asked Zane to his long time friend and co-worker Carlton.

"Shit, I don't know, I'm sort of tired, it's been a long day and I'm not yet over last night's hangover," responded Carlton.

"Naw, we gonna go some dam where 'cause I don't aim to sit in front of no dam television all night, so help me decide where WE are going," said Zane.

These old boys go way back with each other, all the way back to the first grade down in Anvil, North Carolina. Their mamas drove them to school the first day and stood in line for what was most of a morning to get the boys registered. Eva Mae and Bo-nell had jobs making labels to put in fancy clothes neither one of them would ever be able to afford. Shit, you couldn't even find a store in Blake County that sold the clothes they made those labels for, but at least they had jobs. They had to take half a day off to get the little darlings enrolled. Bad enough they had to take them to school and miss a mornings pay, the principal wouldn't even let them smoke while they waited for two hours in that freaking registration line. Sometimes a parent just had to do these things.

It didn't take long standing in the registration line for Zane and Carlton to get acquainted. Pretty soon they were whooping and hollering to beat all so Eva Mae and Bo-nell had to do some yelling of their own to quiet the little shits down. Eva Mae threatened not to take Zane by Burger Heaven on the way home while Bo-nell followed up with a threat of equal proportions to Carlton.

All through elementary school the boys were pretty much joined at the hip. Wherever one went the other was right there. Whatever one did the other did the same. They sat in church on Sunday together. They attended scout meetings together. They were on the same little league team together, but they did play different positions. They asked for the same toys for Christmas. When their moms took them shopping for their back to school clothes they much bought the same dam clothes, even wore the same sizes. It was almost freaky how much alike those boys were.

Now high school was another story. While Zane and Carlton attended school most days they didn't do a hell of a lot in class except make smart ass comments to the teacher and the other students when they were engaged in meaningful verbal exchanges regarding the day's lesson. Zane nor Carlton never provided a correct answer to any question they were asked. Their favorite class was vocational agriculture with their best marks coming from their shop assignments. They did quite well when they were asked to tack nails into wood or saw one board at a time. Reading and math posed challenges, so they both laughed and farted their way through any class requiring reading assignments of more than one paragraph or math calculations with more than two digits. Class records indicated Zane and Carlton collectively turned in a maximum of 11 homework assignments in the two years they attended Anvil Central High School. Rumor had it that one of their most hated teachers had been quoted several times in the teachers' lounge that, "those boys don't have sense enough to pour piss out of a boot with the directions on the heel!" The boys just didn't give a dam and they told to everyone who would listen they didn't give a dam, including all the teachers, the principal, the guidance counselor, the cafeteria manager, and the coach. Zane turned sixteen in April of his sophomore year and dropped out to devote more time exploring other opportunities. Carlton was slightly younger so he had to wait until June before he could join his dropout friend. Both boys had high expectations after they dropped out of high school of a more exciting and fun filled life. Their immediate focus was to get some needed rest, so they spent the next three months lying on their asses at home until threats were voiced by Eva Mae and Bo-nell concerning their stay at home lifestyles.

One day the boys met down at Burger Heaven to outline out a plan of action designed to hopefully lead to an upper level management position somewhere in downtown Anvil. They concluded that perhaps the best way to get hired was to find out where the job openings were and then go apply. The boys had no work skills to sell to a prospective employer, but neither boy expected those deficits to pose a problem. First, they drove around Anvil checking out potential places to work. The first consideration was how close their work might be to Burger Heaven, which was the joint they planned to have lunch every day. After driving up and down the main drag twice they saw only five possibilities. There was a tailor's shop, an attorney's office, a real estate agency, a drug store, and palm reader's office. They thought the palm reader probably required the most education to open a professional office. They seriously doubted any of the other tenants knew as much shit about their clients as the palm reader. They went home and after much thought concluded they did not possess any skills necessary to secure jobs at any of the offices they drove by earlier. Their job search was extended from downtown Anvil to the far reaches of the city. There were several factories on the outskirts of town, one was the label factory where Eva Mae and Bo-nell worked but that was out, no way would they work in the same place as their moms. There was one factory that held some interest for these aggressive job seekers, the Bunn's Commode Seats Company. This plant was relatively new, fairly small and was currently being housed in an old automobile dealership that had been sitting idle since 1957. With just a little remodeling the building was in tip top shape at least for the twenty-five or so workers who made commode seats. The goal of plant management was to expand the operation in a year of two and move to a larger location. With any luck they might be able to build their own specially designed facility. Zane and Carlton fixed their sights on this company for what they hoped might be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. They hoped they would have their own offices with large windows and maybe their own restrooms. After driving around town for hours they decided to head back to Zane's to discuss strategy. The only work either boy had ever done was working in the tobacco fields through the long, hot, humid North Carolina summers so working in a factory would be a totally different experience.

After opening a couple of soft drinks the boys began their discussion. "Well," said Zane, "what we should do first, I mean like go by and ask if there are any jobs or maybe go in and tell them what job we want?"

"What should we wear?" asked Carlton.

"Wear?" Zane questioned, "What the hell do you mean, wear, we wear what the hell we always wear, jeans and a tee shirt!"

"I heard some of the boys at school talk about getting dressed up before going to look for a job," said Carlton.

"Shit! Ain't doing that," said Zane, "do that on Sunday and that's the only time I'm getting all dressed up."

"What if they want us to be a boss man, I'll bet the boss men have to wear ties, button down shirts, and white socks," replied Carlton.

"As I said, no ties and jackets and wing tips, or any of that dressy shit, just ain't doing it," said Zane.

"Ok, we'll just drive over there and then what?" asked Carlton.

"Well," said Zane, "for sure I expect they will have us fill out some kind of application so we might as well go over there and do their paperwork, I just ain't changing my clothes."

"Ok," said Carlton, "we'll just go over there and complete an application."

"I wonder, what job do we apply for, I mean we don't really know what kinds of openings they have, suppose they ask us what we want, what do we tell them?" said Zane.

"Here's what we tell them," responded Carlton, "we tell them we want a job doing pencil work."

"Pencil work?" Asked Zane, "What the hell is pencil work?"

"Hell with all boss men that's the shit they do, something that requires using a pencil, they walk around and talk to some folks and explain some shit by using their hands, then go back to their office and write some shit down, then it's time to go home," replied Carlton.

"OK, that sounds like what we want so we just go in and ask for an application and if asked about what kind of job we are applying for, we say pencil work," responded Zane.

"When are we going over there?" asked Carlton.

"We might as well go after we finish these drinks," said Zane.

The boys quickly downed the soft drinks and headed out the door. They drove to the old auto dealership building and parked the car in a lot next to the building. They went inside and found a lady about the age of Eva Mae sitting at a desk looking out the window. When she turned to see who entered the office the boys noticed her facial expression was one of "I wished the hell I was somewhere, anywhere other than this shit ass commode factory." She did manage to squeeze out, "may I help you?" The boys told her they were there to apply for a job and she leaned over, opened a file cabinet and pulled out several application forms and gave one to each boy. She enquired as to the types of jobs they wanted and Zane told her, "pencil work." She appeared puzzled with his answer, but proceeded to explain the various sections of the application. She gave them pencils and pointed to a table in the corner next to a rack of brochures where they could sit and complete the applications.

The boys sat down and completed the line by line application. Most of the information requested was pretty simple to understand. Halfway through the form both hesitated when they were asked to circle their highest year of education. Near the end of the application there was a question about being in trouble with the law. Zane wrote yes in the space on his application because last year he had been cited by a police officer while he was urinating over the side of a bridge of some historical significance on the southwest side of town. It was quite embarrassing to get caught and even worse when he had to appear in court with his mom to enter a plea of guilty and pay the fine. Eva Mae threatened that if he EVER did such a thing again she'd "cut his tally whacker off." He heard her. He wrote a brief statement about the incident on the application. Carlton's worst offense was taking down a small bird on Christmas Day with his BB gun in the city limits of Anvil, which was a bird sanctuary. Carlton was required to appear before the part-time mayor to hear a prepared lecture on the proper use of BB guns which didn't include killing helpless birds. Carlton wrote a brief paragraph about the incident on his application and while he wrote he hoped that crime, though isolated, would not prevent him from employment at Glass Ceilings. He thought the whole affair was initiated by Bo-nell's lack of parenting skills for a responsible parent would never purchase a BB gun for their child.

When the boys finished their applications they returned to the desk and handed them to the melancholy woman. They asked the lady when they would begin work. The lady told them they would start IF and WHEN there was a job OFFER and they would be notified by phone or mail if any such an offer was forthcoming. She thanked them for coming in and they left headed in the direction of Burger Heaven to get some much needed burgers and fries.

The boys returned to their respective homes and waited for a response from the commode factory. They waited through the next, day, then the next week, then the next month, but still no contact from the commode factory. They were willing to be patient and wait for a response, rather than pursuing other employment possibilities, even after repeated threats by their moms. There were no such threats from their dads since Zane's dad ran off with a third shift employee at Burger Heaven several years ago. Carlton had never seen his dad, other than a picture of him in his prison black and whites. He was pulling down 15-20 years for stealing every piece of copper he could round up in five counties. The judge had seen too much of this kind of theft and had to put his foot down. As the judge gave his final sentencing he gave a made an unforgettable statement about such pervasive stealing when he said, "this shit has GOT to STOP!" Eva Mae had a man friend down at her work, but she had hopes that something, anything better would come along if she could just hold out. This guy seemed to be satisfied with the relationship built on church on Sunday and afterwards filling his face with Eva Mae's good southern fried chicken. After a big lunch he would doze off in front of whatever game was in season and when he woke up two hours later, he got up, thanked Eva Mae for the chicken and left. He was in it for the chicken, not sure what Eva Mae was in it for. This relationship was deep into the fifth year and Eva Mae just didn't have the heart to end it. He was nice to her, relatively harmless, and she enjoyed his company sometime, but she also cherished her "me time."

Now Bo-nell was another story. It was rumored around Anvil that Bo-nell had "been with many men" mostly inside the city limits. "Been with many men" could mean different things to different people. The kids at school were sympathetic to Carlton by not bringing up they heard his mama had "been with many men." Word was Bo-nell just didn't give a dam about what she did or who she did or even who knew. Since Bo-nell's husband was caught red handed with a shit load of stolen copper in the wee hours of a cold winter morning several years ago she felt she had been dealt a wad of shit having to live without a husband to help her raise little Carlton so she felt she was owed something by somebody. She believed she deserved as much as she could get and if part of the package was a good time, and then she'd be up for it.

As these men approached their twentieth years of life they worked together, lived together and played together and they thought they were happy with their lives given their model of what a good life was supposed to be. They had been together as close friends since the first grade.

Finally, after several weeks Zane got a call from the sad lady at the commode plant informing him that a departmental supervisor wanted to talk with him about a job at the plant. Later that afternoon Carlton received a similar call from the sad lady asking him to come in to talk to another supervisor about a job. The next day the two boys left their homes headed for the commode plant. Zane had an interview first, while Carlton sat in the lobby area until he was called. The boys were excited about the prospects of landing positions at such a prestigious plant. Zane emerged from the interview with a job offer and he told Carlton he was offered him a job, but not doing pencil work, which is what he expected. He warned Carlton not to expect a job doing pencil work either. Carlton asked Zane what kind of job he was offered and he said the crux of job involved using a special tool to write on the bottom of each toilet lid seat the words, "don't fall in!" This "don't fall in" phrase was like the company's slogan etched on every seat that was manufactured. Zane sat with Carlton in the lobby until Carlton was directed back to a supervisor's office for his interview. Carlton was gone about 10 minutes and when he returned he informed Zane that he too had been offered a job loading commode seats into boxes for shipment to customers. Both boys agreed the jobs were guaranteed to be boring as hell but at least they had jobs and maybe just maybe, with hard work they could move up in the company. When they returned home they planned to research to see if Glass Ceilings was a Fortune 500 company.

On the way home Zane told Carlton that his supervisor asked if he had any "great ideas" involving Bunn's Commode Seats and Zane said that in fact, he did have an idea. He told the man after many years of sitting on a cold commode seat every day, sometimes 2-3 times a day, he was dam tired of sitting on a cold seat and perhaps he could to come up with a way to heat the seat. He told the man that for the right money he'd be happy to lead a research team to develop such a "hot" seat. The man told Zane he'd get back to him, but for now just make sure he did a good job marking "don't fall in," on those commode seats. Zane told Carlton he felt confident that within a month or so he would be moving up in the organization, but first he thought the supervisor needed time to develop a budget for his research team. He told Carlton he would not forget him as he moved up the ladder.

The boys couldn't wait for their moms to get home so they could tell them they were gainfully employed! Eva Mae heard the news first and was very pleased that her son had taken some initiative to seek employment. She asked Zane what his duties were and how much money he was expected to make. When he told her she said well at least he had a job. Bo-nell got the news about the job at about one o'clock in the morning after she got let off at the curb in front of her house. Carlton was determined to stay up 'til she got home to give her the good news. Bo-nell was elated because never in this world did she think her boy would get a job.

As the weekend was coming to a close the boys were ready to begin their new jobs. They had lots of time to talk about their key issues last week while waiting to start work. Among the topics they discussed was saving enough money to be able to rent a place together. If they could manage to save enough money, there could be several positive results. They could come and go as they saw fit. They could have women over if they could convince any to come over and they could have as much beer in the refrigerator as they could pay for.

On Monday morning Zane arose earlier than normal to make certain he had time to shower, get dressed, and eat a hearty breakfast prepared by Eva Mae before picking up Carlton. He dressed in jeans and a tee shirt for there was no particular dress code for his assigned department. Eva Mae cooked him a stack of five pancakes, two scrambled eggs, two sausage patties, and two pieces of buttered toast. Usually the only time Zane saw such a spread on his breakfast plate would be on weekends when Eva Mae had an exceptionally good week at work, which was rare. After finishing his breakfast Zane said his goodbyes to Eva Mae and bounded out the front door. He jumped into his ten year old car and drove to Carlton's house. When Zane arrived he did not see Carlton standing next to the curb as he had requested the night before. He pulled up to the curb and turned off the car. He looked down at his watch then looked at the front door of Bo-nell's house expecting to see Carlton coming out, but he saw no one. He waited five minutes, ten minutes, still no dam Carlton. Zane had left his house earlier than necessary to allow plenty of time to get to work, but the wait was creating unnecessary first day anxiety. Finally, he saw Carlton stepping off the steps at the porch and headed in the direction of Zane's car.

"What took you so long? I've been sitting here, just sitting here," yelled Zane.

"What's the rush? We aren't supposed to open up, they aren't going to pay us anymore if we arrive early, so what's the big deal," replied Carlton.

"Well, I just want to get off to a good start on the first day," said Zane.

Within twenty minutes the boys entered the parking lot at the east end of the old building. They got out, locked the car doors, and walked to the side door of the building, which was the door they were instructed to enter. Once inside Zane looked for his supervisor while Carlton had to walk down to the end of the hall and through another door to get to the packing department. Zane saw his boss man talking to another worker and walked over and said "good morning." The boss man finished his conversation with the other worker and escorted Zane to his work area. He gave Zane fifteen minutes of on the job training after which Zane was pronounced competent to begin work writing "don't fall in" on as many toilet seats in eight hours as he could. For about thirty minutes Zane felt good he was finally working and getting paid. By the end of the first hour he was already bored and spent the rest of his shift eyeballing a large clock on the wall which would indicate when he could leave. The more Zane looked at the clock the slower it seemed to turn. Over in another part of the plant Carlton was having a similar experience, bored silly after the first few minutes.

When lunch time arrived Zane and Carlton drove to Burger Heaven, their regular choice for lunch when they had money. They always ordered the same meal, a hamburger deluxe (lettuce, tomato, and mayo), French Fries, and a chocolate shake. They knew what they liked. This same meal usually took about twenty minutes to eat and this day was no different. After finishing their meal they sat and discussed their morning at work and wondered just how long they could tolerate such boring jobs. They figured if they could hang on long enough to get a promotion to another department perhaps they would be willing to stay. If not, they needed to expend the energy to find another job.

The same daily work schedule for Zane and Carlton continued for an unbelievable three years. By the time the boys had celebrated their nineteenth birthdays they knew it was past the time for seeking more rewarding careers. They reassessed their education and work experience and concluded they still had little to offer except their traits of dependability and responsibility in performing the menial tasks they had been assigned. Their original plans called for saving enough money to eventually move out of their mother's houses. They felt like time was approaching where they had to take some action on finding new jobs and securing new living quarters.
Chapter 2

One morning Zane purchased a morning newspaper, which he seldom did, to review available employment opportunities. There was one ad which got his attention. The company was called Glass Ceilings (The Glass Ceilings Tile Company) and the job openings called for new hires to work installing ceiling tiles. The pay was slightly better than Bunn's and if hired, according to the advertisement, workers could begin immediately. When he picked up Carlton for work, which he had done for the three years they worked at Bunn's, he shared information about this new job possibility. Carlton listened, but Zane felt he was comfortable being complacent in his current job and might not have enough motivation to pursue a new job. During the years of their friendship Zane was always the one who took the lead in everything they did so this time was be no different. He was up to the task. He assured Carlton it would huge if they got new jobs and a new place to live. Carlton was comfortable having Zane in a leadership position.

At lunch break Zane called the ceiling tile company to enquire about the job he had noticed in the newspaper. The person on the other end of the line told him the job involved putting up ceiling tiles in businesses, private residences, and once in a while in a factory. The work hours were the same as the commode plant, but the pay was five dollars per hour more than either boy was currently making. When Zane hung up the phone he was so excited, he couldn't wait to tell Carlton the details of the job. When he returned to his table at Burger Heaven he told Carlton about the job and he seemed about as interested as he ever was about anything.

"When we leave work today let's go by and apply for those jobs," said Zane.

"Well, are you sure we should do this now?" responded Carlton.

"We can't keep waiting and waiting, we have to make this happen, it's now or never, Carlton," said Zane.

"Alright, dam it, let's do it" said Carlton.

Within 30 minutes after finishing their work at Bunn's they were inside Glass Ceilings completing job applications. After they completed their applications they were interviewed individually by the boss man. They were offered jobs immediately and agreed to go to work as soon as they could part ways at the commode factory. Later that evening they told their moms they had new jobs and soon they would be moving to an apartment. Eva Mae was skeptical about the move because she had heard this before. Bo-nell was elated for she felt she had lost many a man because she had a teenage son living with her.

The next day Zane and Carlton gave two week notices to their boss men at Bunn's and couldn't wait to be leaving the commode factory. After work they stopped by several apartment complexes in Anvil to gather information about available rentals. There was one complex, the Savoy, which they were particularly interested in because it was furthest away from their mothers yet fairly close to Glass Ceilings. The unit they were shown had two bedrooms, a bathroom, a large living area, and a galley style kitchen. All of the apartments featured patios or balconies depending on the particular floor level of the unit. Zane and Carlton decided to make a deposit on a unit and planned to move in within the month. When they got home with news they had secured an apartment Eva Mae and Bo-nell were "happy" and they admitted they would miss "their sons being around." The mothers figured that since both men liked home cooking they doubted much time would pass before Zane or Carlton came by for a home cooked meal.

Two weeks later and Zane and Carlton started their new jobs at Glass Ceilings. They were given fifteen minutes of training, issued a few tools and assigned a truck they checked out each morning. Buford, the boss man and owner of Glass Ceilings, took them to the supply room where boxes of ceiling tiles were stored and showed them how to check out these supplies. Buford told them to take the rest of the day off and come in fresh the next morning to receive their work assignment. That night they had dinner at home then went out to the Corkscrew on Ridgeton Street as it was amateur night. They left the Corkscrew shortly after ten o'clock and returned home to get a good night's sleep before starting their new jobs.

Zane and Carlton arrived at work a few minutes before Buford. When Buford arrived they were given their job assignment for the day, then they picked up their tools, got keys to the assigned truck, and loaded ceiling tiles onto the truck. Within thirty minutes they were driving away to a new and hopefully more rewarding career. Zane and Carlton were assigned to an elementary school a few miles south of Delbridge. They arrived at the school at about nine fifteen, parked the truck and walked to the principal's office to announce their arrival. The principal logged them in and escorted them to the halls where they were to replace the existing tiles. At ten o'clock they were well on their way to removing the old tiles and by one o'clock they were ready to install the new tiles. By four that afternoon they had finished the halls and cleaned up the remaining mess they had left on the floors. Once they got the truck loaded they returned to the principal's office to tell him they were finished. The principal walked with Zane and Carlton to the halls to inspect their work and he seemed to be well pleased with the finished product. Both men breathed a sigh of relief on their first job. While downing another home cooked meal that evening they told their moms about their day, watched a little television and retired for the evening.

Two more weeks passed and Zane and Carlton were very comfortable with the work they were performing. They were now ready for their next big activity, the move into their new apartment. Buford allowed them to use one of his Glass Ceilings trucks for the move. They decided to move their few possessions on Saturday morning. The only furniture either man had was the bed each slept in which technically belonged to their moms. The moms agreed to let the men take a few other pieces of their furniture, but neither woman had much furniture to share. Zane and Carlton managed to obtain an old couch and a really small kitchen table with two ramshackle chairs. They were also given two table lamps and one end table. Neither mom had an extra TV to provide. By the time they finished the loading they had a full truck. They purchased several feet of rope to tie down their valuable possessions on the back of the truck. By mid day all the furniture and boxes were moved to the apartment and the truck was returned to Glass Ceilings. Zane and Carlton were now separated from their moms, but they both admitted they would miss seeing them every day. They were on their own now and the task of living together and making it work began.

After working all day Zane and Carlton quickly learned when they got home dinner had to be prepared or they would have to eat out every night, which got expensive. Zane and Carlton had never so much as heated up a can of soup so they had quite a bit to learn. They also realized they had to wash their own clothes. There was no washer/dryer in the apartment, but there was a Laundromat on the premises. They also had to learn how to clean their apartment since they had never performed any cleaning duties at their mom's homes. By the end of the month they had most of these routines down, they seldom cooked, they washed clothes after they had worn all their clothes two or three times, and they cleaned the apartment when things got so dirty they couldn't stand it any longer.

Zane and Carlton's lives became quite routine, work all day, grab dinner on the way home most nights, take showers when they got home, change clothes and head back out to some "clubs." These clubs were more like joints, the kinds of places where customers might have to shoot their way out of upon their departure. These clubs were where one went to drink, be seen and heard, and be raunchy around women. Hopefully if one was obnoxious enough some female might think they were funny, cool or something and want to be around them. Zane and Carlton figured most women liked guys who talked shit, were rude, and totally over the edge. The origin of this social model remains unknown to this day. These characters also liked to be loud around the pool tables and the pin ball machines because being loud shifted the focus away from their shitty lack of skills at these games. They could be seen most nights at one or more of the area clubs. One of the regular venues was the famous Newman's Dance Club on South Sunset Street in Delbridge. According to the legend Ty Newman was a big time bootlegger in Blake County. Maybe he was maybe he wasn't, but the perpetuators of the legend always managed to supply a few interesting stories about Ty. Anyway, Ty opened his own dance club and it became so popular he eventually got his own variety show on Saturday nights on a local TV station. For many blue collar people Ty Newman's Dance Club was be place to be and was a good example of the type of club where one might have to "shoot their way out." It was not unusual for gunfire to be heard on a Saturday night if you happened to be in the vicinity.

Another popular joint was the Losers Drive In also on South Sunset Street. This drive in was not your typical shakes and fries drive in. Beer could be ordered and brought to your car and hopefully if you sat in your car long enough and drank enough you might eventually "get up with something." This place was best described as "rough." Adjacent to the Losers Drive In was the Beachcombers' Club which was open every night to satisfy the urge to dance and to get drunk. This club provided excellent opportunities to "get up with something" by the end of the night. The "something" as previously mentioned was a disrespectful term used to describe females who frequented these "clubs." "Getting up with something" as spoken by Zane to Carlton or vice versa referred to one's ability to arrive alone at a club and leave with "something, anything," any desperate female.

Not far from the Losers and the Beachcombers', also on South Sunset was Pole Kitty, another popular club on the South Sunset "Strip." Customers visited Pole Kitty, including Zane and Carlton, because the club featured young women performing exotic dances and moves around and on a cold, metal aluminum pole. For some reason men paid money to see this shit. These performers were not professional dancers.

On Ridgeton Avenue Zane and Carlton made cameo appearances at the Boredom Club, a small, intimate, yet mostly boring place to visit. The last club Zane and Carlton stopped by was in Spiteful, named the Get It Up Club, which was just another joint that sold the same brands of beer and played the same songs on the jukebox as all the other joints. Several years ago the management at the Get It Up hired a local band to play for the customers, but when they got booed off the stage in the first fifteen minutes the owner went back to the jukebox as the appropriate background music for dancing and drinking.

Zane was much more adept at "getting up with something" than his sidekick, Carlton. Carlton was more reserved and generally spoke only when spoken to which seldom happened, especially when it came to women. The usual strategy for "getting up with something" was to look for two women who appeared to be alone and/or desperate. The ideal package was for both women to be physically similar to beauty queen contestants, but for women with those credentials to give the time of day to these two losers should be viewed as rare as a meteor shower in downtown Anvil. Zane and Carlton usually settled for any women who would smile and provide any semblance of a positive response to any one of the stupid ass questions Zane might ask. Questions such as, "do you women like monster truck shows," or one like, "hey, don't I know you from high school, I think I used to sit behind you in chemistry class," or "my friend over there would really like to meet you, he's too shy to come over, but the guy is real smart." If Zane and Carlton were lucky and it had to be pure luck for any women to reply to this shit, they would pull up chairs and act as stupid as their capabilities allowed. Rare was the time they were allowed to buy women drinks, exchange phone numbers, or extend the evening for any other reasons. On most nights Zane and Carlton left the clubs feeling worse than when they arrived because they drank too much and they almost always failed to "get up with anything."

One morning at work Zane analyzed the present situation involving himself and Carlton. Fact #1, they both had dead end jobs so as long as they remained at Glass Ceilings they would never do more than install ceiling tiles. Fact #2, they were renting an apartment, but they did not make enough money to buy decent furnishings which cycles back to Fact #1, they had dip shit jobs with low pay. Fact #3, they had no marketable skills, they had worked as zero skilled employees at the Bunn's Commode Seat factory and they were currently installing ceiling tiles which also took no real skill. Fact #4, which was huge, they still had not "gotten up with anything" leading to any long term commitments and there were no prospects on the foreseeable horizon. They had been to the same joints so often everyone else who frequented these establishments already knew them for what they were, real assholes. Zane decided that it was time for another brainstorming session with Carlton to discuss their plans for the future. On the way home from work one day Zane suggested to Carlton they have a talk sometime over the weekend to review their options. When the weekend arrived Zane was reluctant to initiate the meeting so he waited until Sunday afternoon while they were listening to a ball game on the radio. He went over and turned the radio off so he could be fully engaged in a discussion with Carlton.

"Carlton, tell me what are your thoughts regarding our problems?" asked Zane.

"Problems?" replied Carlton, "I don't know what you mean, problems."

"Hell, yes you do, the problems, we have dip shit jobs, a small apartment with no furniture, and no women, those are the main problems," explained Zane.

"Oh, those problems, well yes, you are correct in identifying the key areas of concern, so what do you suggest we do to solve these problems?" asked Carlton.

"I always have to be the one to suggest what we do, right?" asked Zane.

"Well, you did bring this up so you must have some ideas as to what you think we should do, correct?" responded Carlton.  
"Okay, actually I have no solutions I just think unless we change something this shit will continue for the foreseeable future," offered Zane.

"I can't really disagree with your assessment but right now I have no clue as to what to do, I do know I don't like the work I do, I don't like the pay, I don't like the furnishings in our apartment, hell we don't even have a TV, we are listening to a dam game on the radio, the radio," yelled Carlton. I certainly don't like it that I can never get a date, well, with a nice, smart, pretty, fairly well to do, educated woman."

"Looks as though we are on the same page then Carlton," said Zane. "We need to develop ways to alter the directions we are headed, now I'm not a master planner but I think we must develop a list of priorities, ah, from the most important task to the least important task, and then focus on one task at a time until we experience some improvement."

"I like the sound of this Zane, what do you propose we do first?" asked Carlton.

"What about a beer, do we have any left in the refrigerator?" asked Zane.

"I dunno, I'll check," said Carlton and he went to the refrigerator, opened it, and found three bottles of Needa Buzz beer remaining, so he opened all three beers and grabbed two frosted mugs and set them on the coffee table in front of Zane.

They proceeded to drink the Needa Buzzs while they brainstormed without knowing they were brainstorming. After about two and a half hours they decided to drive to Burger Heaven, grab a burger and some fries and then return home to resume the deliberations. While they were sitting in Zane's car he mentioned he was getting dam tired of visiting Burger Heaven so often and he thought that shit needed to cease. When they returned to the apartment it was nine thirty and upon mutual agreement they decided to suspend their discussion until a later time. No date was set for the next meeting. They retired for the evening as they had a big job in the morning. They had to get up earlier than usual because they had an hours' drive to Monkey Rock to begin their first installation of the week.

On Monday they drove to Monkey Rock, put up three ceilings in three separate stores, and then drove back to Glass Ceilings, parked the truck and drove home to the Savoy apartments. They were tired but neither would say to the other, "I'm tired," so they took showers, put on clean clothes and drove to Burger Heaven. When they finished their meal they headed to South Sunset Street for the Losers Drive-in and a few Needa Buzz beers. Embracing Needa Buzz presented some feeble opportunity for them to express themselves via their unique tastes. After the third round of brews an old station wagon pulled up beside them. It took Zane and Carlton about 30 seconds to realize there were two females in the wagon. They increased the volume on the radio hoping the women would embrace their tastes in music. Zane and Carlton concluded the women apparently did not like the music because they rolled up their windows. Zane and Carlton sat in the car motionless, except to raise their arms to pour in more Needa Buzz. They were about ready to call it a night when they noticed the woman next to Zane's side of the car was rolling her window back down. She stuck her head out the window and spoke. "Hi, I'm Cora, I hope you guys didn't think I was being antisocial by rolling the window up, but my friend over here needed to tell me something and I couldn't hear her because of your freaking loud music."

"Oh, sorry it was too loud, we were just sitting here drinking beer and mellowing out to the radio," said Zane. "My name is Zane and this guy over here is Carlton."

"Okay," said Cora, "interesting name you possess, I've never heard of a Zane before, did you just make it up in case this is a one nighter and you don't want to use your real name? Are you sure that is your dam real name?"

"I swear it is," said Zane. "Zane is a family name that was given to me at birth. My father was a Zane, my grandfather was a Zane, and my great grandfather was a Zane. So be nice."

"Where are you boys from?" asked Cora.

"Anvil," said Zane.

"Currently all the men I know from Anvil are freaking greasers," said Cora.

"Well, I'm not sure what you mean, but we have a place to live and we go to work at a real job every morning," said Zane. "We've never stolen anyone's stuff nor have we killed anyone or done any time or any of that shit, so if we don't meet your standards you can leave the same way you got here, in that piece of shit station wagon."

"Hold on, I didn't mean to offend you, I said everyone I knew in Anvil prior to right now is a greaser, I didn't say you guys were greasers," offered Cora.

"Sounds like you're reserved the right to call us greasers and you don't know us, said Zane. Besides I think you are getting a little ahead of yourselves thinking I need to give you a false name, I've never needed to do that kind of shit so I don't plan on tonight being my first night, especially with you! Whatever made you think either of us was even the least bit interested in meeting your fat asses anyway?"

Zane was talking tough and Carlton was getting nervous that Zane might chase these women off with his strong language. Carlton tried to make eye contact with Zane to let him know to turn the vitriol down a notch or two or they would lose a chance to "get up with something."

The next thing they knew the station wagon next to Zane's was backing out of the parking space at the Losers. The last thing Zane and Carlton saw from the station wagon as it pulled out were two raised middle fingers pointing at them. "Looks like you've done it, you've screwed us up," stated Carlton rather emphatically.

"What the hell do you mean asshole," replied Zane. "Who initiated the contact in the first place, who did all the talking, not you, what did you do, not a dam thing!"

"Okay, I suppose you got me there Zane," responded Carlton. "I was hoping we might finally be able to get up with something and now they are gone."

"Shit, let's go home," replied Zane.

When they returned home neither Zane nor Carlton had much more to say about their evening, but privately they realized they needed to make some major adjustments in their shitty lives.

The next day the men were at work at the appointed time and put in a full day's work of installing ceiling tile after ceiling tile. The schedule was the same after work, drive home, get cleaned up, drive to Burger Heaven, then on to one of their favorite clubs. On this night they drove to the Get It Up in Spiteful since they hadn't visited in several months. They parked the car and went inside and ordered two Needa Buzzs at the bar. They looked for an empty table, but none was available, so they continued to sit at the bar. After a couple of beers they spotted a vacant table so they walked over and sat down. They commenced to looking for available females, pretty much women who might give them the time of night. After ordering another round from the waitress Carlton spotted two women looking around for available tables. Carlton suggested that Zane go over and offer to let them sit at their table. Zane gave Carlton a hard look, still thinking about what he heard from him last night regarding the women at the Losers Drive In. He decided to amble over since he knew dam well Carlton never would. Zane rehearsed the introduction he would deliver to these women; he would turn down his "cool" a few decibels and just try to act normal, which would be hard. He would offer the ladies seats at their table and that would be it, just let things happen. He got up from the table and sauntered over to where the females were standing. As always he looked at the appearance of each woman and concluded he would in fact offer them a seat at his and Carlton's table. Zane was unaware the women were doing the same thing, sizing up these two characters.

"Hello ladies, my friend and I have two additional seats at our table. Would you two like to join us, at least until another table is available," asked Zane. He was really trying not to be pushy and thought his demeanor was gentlemanly. The women looked at each other and then gave their consent to join Zane and Carlton at their table. When they were all seated Zane introduced himself first, and then he introduced Carlton. The women introduced themselves as Alice Jean and Nadine, who lived in Sexlon. For the first time in quite a while Zane and Carlton were seated with two women at a table in a club, let the evening begin.

After the introductions Zane opened the conversation by informing the women he and Carlton were long time friends and shared an apartment in Anvil. He mentioned they had known each other since the first grade, but did not let on that both men were high school dropouts. He explained where they worked and the jobs they performed. Then it was time for Alice Jean and Nadine to present their profiles. Alice Jean began by informing Zane and Carlton that she was originally from Ciscoe, North Carolina and that her parents had moved to Sexlon when she was in elementary school. She liked living in Sexlon much more than Ciscoe, especially now since she was older and out on her own. She mentioned she was a graduate of Ciscoe Consolidated High School and at present she was a second year nursing student at Final Chance Tech just south of Delbridge. She had her own one bedroom apartment in Sexlon. Nadine was born and raised in Pine Branch and had moved to Sexlon to work as an administrative assistant in an ice cream plant. She had also enrolled part-time at Final Chance Tech in a business curriculum to improve her chances of leaving the ice cream plant. Nadine had an apartment in the same complex with a swimming pool, which is where she met Alice Jean last summer. They spent much of their free time together, attending movies, eating out, bar hopping, shopping, and in the summer lying around the pool. Carlton was last to comment, but he had little more to offer other than what Zane had provided regarding where they both worked.

Zane, the big spender, ordered beers for everyone, Needa Buzzs for the men, and Needa Buzz Lights for the women. After the drinks were served the conversation between the four turned to music, car racing, dancing, current work and the vision for a more promising life. As the evening wore on the subject of education resurfaced when Alice Jean asked Zane which high school he graduated from and he confessed he was a dropout. The table got a little quiet and the conversation became awkward as Zane gave some feeble attempt to justify his dropping out in the tenth grade. Zane's key rationale for leaving high school was the teachers didn't know how teach, thus he simply couldn't learn very much. Carlton was listening, but was mute, he was not about to go there until he was asked about his schooling.

Nadine tried not to embarrass Zane, but she did suggest he explore the feasibility of getting a GED. He didn't know about the program, so he listened as Nadine provided the sketchy information she had. She suggested he contact the continuing education department at Final Chance Tech and ask about the GED program. She was confident someone could get Zane connected to the right person. Carlton then perked up and said he was a dropout also and that such a program might interest him, especially if these classes consisted of working folks like him who had dropped out. Zane also voiced his approval if the program enrolled "people like him." At about ten o'clock the women told Zane and Carlton they had to leave because they had "things to do." All four repeated "see you around" as they left the club. No phone numbers or addresses were exchanged.

The next day at lunch break Zane managed to find a phone booth nearby and after thumbing through a torn up phone book he found the numbers to Final Chance Tech, in particular, the number to the continuing education department. Zane told the person on the receiving end that he wanted to see about getting his GED. The lady told him to hold and she would connect him with someone in the Basic Skills Department. Within 30 seconds a pleasant voice came on and asked how could she help him? He asked her about getting his GED (General Educational Development) so she briefly explained the procedure and provided the locations of the current classes. She told Zane he could go to any site of his choosing and register for a class. Once he was registered he would be administered a series of tests to determine his placement so the correct study guides could be issued. He was told he would be strictly on his own preparing for the GED tests and could set his own pace working through the study materials. He could come to class as he saw fit and when he was ready, based on completion of appropriate preparation materials he would be given a pre-GED test to determine the probable outcomes on the real GED test. If he performed well on that test he could go to the testing center, register and pay the fee and sit for the series of GED tests. Zane thanked the lady for her time and information and couldn't wait to get back to work to tell Carlton the details of the GED program. Carlton's first question was, "is there any math on this test?" Zane told him he really had no idea what topics were covered on the test as he didn't ask and the lady didn't tell him, but he knew it would be easy to find out. While Zane was excited and ready to attend a GED class site, Carlton was vacillating and expressed some trepidation about the whole thing. "What if we failed the test," Carlton wondered, "what then," but Zane did not have the answer for his sad, no self confidence little friend. Carlton still was squirming about going to class because his recollections of being in the classroom environment had not been positive experiences. Zane assured him the class would be different; everyone would be working on different subjects at their own pace. There would be no teacher standing in front of the room telling you shit to remember, it would just be different, but Carlton wasn't sold on this GED stuff. They finished their work and headed home for a meal of frozen dinners. Neither Zane nor Carlton wanted to go out that night. After dinner discussion was resumed about attending the GED class. Zane mentioned how appreciative he was of Nadine mentioning the GED classes and he felt; actually he was certain he was going to attend a class. If Carlton was reluctant then he could just sit on his ass and stay stupid!

One day on lunch break Zane had time to drive to Final Chance Tech. Once on campus it took him a while to locate the continuing education department. He parked the car in visitor parking and walked to the building. Once inside he noticed a departmental directory on the lobby wall. He moved his eyes up and down the directory until he saw the word, "Basic Skills – Second Floor Room 5." He looked for an elevator, but when he didn't locate one he headed for the EXIT sign and took the stairs. Once on the second floor he looked for Room 5, which was located at the end of the hall. He walked in and stopped at a receptionist desk to ask for information about GED classes. A woman opened a drawer in her desk and withdrew a GED packet. She explained the brochure about the GED series of tests. There were five sections (Reading, Writing, Social Studies, Science and Math) to prepare for and each section of the test was timed. To obtain a GED, one must earn a minimum of 2250 points for all five tests with no score on any test below 410 while an average at least 450 on all five tests must be maintained. She also gave him a brochure which listed all the GED class sites in Blake County. Zane was amazed at the number of the sites. It seemed Final Chance Tech had a class on every corner in the county. He scanned the list and found three locations within five miles of the apartment. He thanked the receptionist and returned to his car and headed back to work. After work he shared the brochures with Carlton then made a bold statement to Carlton, next week, he Zane, was going to sign up for GED classes and if he, Carlton, wanted to go with him that would be fine, if not, he had made his commitment, he wanted a better education to give him a brighter future. Carlton sat silent then told Zane he would think about it and let him know before the night of the first class.

On Friday night Zane and Carlton returned to the Get It Up in hopes Alice Jean and Nadine would be there, but to their disappointment they were nowhere to be seen. Zane asked the bartender if he had seen them, but the bartender replied he didn't know who the hell they were. They sat at the bar and guzzled a few Needa Buzzs before returning home to rest before the next day's work. During the weekend they finally managed to purchase a TV for the apartment which provided some needed entertainment when they didn't do the clubs circuit. It wasn't much of a TV and since they couldn't afford cable service they used the rabbit ears that came with the TV to get three local channels, two in Delbridge and one in Dufous.

The next Tuesday night Zane was ready to attend his first GED class. Carlton had yet to commit to the class and Zane decided he was not going to bring it up any more, if he wanted to go he was on his own. "See you later I'm headed to class," said Zane.

"Okay, see you," responded Carlton.

"I guess he's not going," muttered Zane to himself, "fine with me."

When Zane got to the class site, an old store front three blocks off the main drag in Anvil, he had no problem parking as there were only two other vehicles on the street. He entered the front door and noticed four people seated around a large, rectangular table with plenty space between each person. They all had their heads down reading some sort of workbooks. No one at the table looked up. Over in the corner was an older woman who looked to be well past fifty seated at a desk. The woman appeared to be correcting some papers. When Zane walked over to her she looked up, smiled, and said "hello," to which he responded, "hello." She asked if she could help him and he told her he was interested in preparing for the GED. She told him she was the class instructor and gave him the same information he received at the Basic Skills Department last week. He was patient and pretended this was the first time he had heard any of this. When she finished she gave him a registration form. He went over to the rectangular table and commenced to filling out the form. After he finished he returned to the desk and presented the form to the lady. She examined the form to be certain he had completed all the spaces. Next, she told Zane she would give him a series of placement tests to determine where he needed to begin his preparation for the GED. The first test was a reading test and the second was a basic math test. Zane completed the reading test in about twenty minutes, then he was administered the math test which took a little longer to finish. He sat over in a corner and waited while the instructor scored his tests. In a few minutes she motioned for Zane to come over to her desk. She had him take a seat next to her desk while she explained his test results.

The instructor explained, "Your reading test indicates you are reading on an ninth grade reading level and since the reading level on the GED is geared to about that level it shouldn't take too long to prepare for that portion of the test. Now, the math is quite another issue, you are at a sixth grade level so your main focus in the class will be math and I will devote most of my attention for you on the necessary preparations to improve skills in math."

She told him the reading, social studies, and science batteries of the GED tests were mostly about interpreting what he read rather than being tested on knowledge of previously learned facts. If he refreshed his reading skills he should be successful in passing those three batteries. She further explained that one part of the writing test was an essay and he would be working to improve his existing writing skills. If he displayed the right attitude and was willing to do the work she was confident he could pass the entire GED tests with flying colors. She was reluctant to give him a projected test date when she thought he could be ready. She issued appropriate workbooks and directed him to a vacant seat next to the other four students. The class ran from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and students, being adults, were free to come and go as they desired. Zane stayed the entire three hours and by the time he left he had completed the first fifteen pages of the reading skills workbook. As he drove home he was determined not to mention a word about the class unless Carlton brought it up. He didn't. When Zane walked in the door Carlton was asleep on the couch with the TV on. After Zane switched off the TV he went to the kitchen and made a sandwich, since he didn't have time for dinner before class. When he finished he went to his room and went to bed. He laid in bed feeling pretty good about his first night in class. He had indeed taken an important first step in improving his wellbeing and he didn't intend to look back. The hard part, the first night, was now over.

When Zane got up the next morning he did not to mention anything about the GED class to Carlton. While he very much wanted his friend to enroll he was tired of leading Carlton around like a puppy dog. Carlton had always allowed Zane to take charge of making decisions about everything, but on this one, no, Zane was not going to take him by the leash to the class. As they drove to work both men were very quiet. When they got to work they punched in their time cards, loaded ceiling tiles, checked out the truck, and drove to their day's work in Delbridge. When they got off from work they went by the Loser's for a Needa Buzz and decided to grab a sandwich before going home. After they got home both men decided to stay home and watch TV. As they retired to their respective rooms Carlton had still not asked Zane anything about the GED class.

When it was time for Zane to attend his GED class the next Tuesday evening he still had no intention of asking Carlton if he wanted to go with him. At 6:00 p.m. Zane told Carlton he was leaving for class and Carlton responded, "Okay, see you later." Zane arrived to class early, even before the instructor arrived to unlock the door. He noticed a young woman who appeared to be about his age standing in front of the building with workbooks under her arm. Zane walked up and spoke to her and she responded. He asked how long she had been coming to the class and she said about two months and she hoped that by midsummer she would be ready to sit for the GED tests. Zane asked where she was from and she said the Whitlock area. She currently lived with an older sister since she didn't have a job. He asked her what she intended to do once she got her GED and she told him she planned to attend a community college but had not yet decided on which school to attend, but given her current circumstances it would most likely be Final Chance Tech. She asked where Zane was from, where he lived now, and what kind of work he did. She did not seem overly impressed with any of his answers nor had he been impressed with hers. They continued to chat until the instructor appeared just behind them to open the door. The three walked into the classroom together and once they got seated the instructor spent a few minutes with each of them to get them started on their respective assignments. As the first thirty minutes passed several other students trickled in and seated themselves at the rectangular table. When the instructor noticed the late arriving students she had brief meetings with each to discuss their work. When the girl got up to go outside to take her break, Zane followed her out. During the break they had another pleasant conversation and Zane thought she seemed like a nice person. He realized he didn't even know her name.

"I didn't get your name earlier, my name is Zane," said Zane.

"Josie, my name is Josie," said the girl. "My folks didn't know whether I would be a boy or a girl so they picked a name that would fit either a male or female baby. I don't particularly like the name but it's what they hung on me," she said.

"Well, I like it just fine, hey, I don't particularly like Zane either, but it's a family name and my parents desired to extend the Zane name in the family line so they named me Zane, but I'm used to it," replied Zane.

"Do you like this instructor?" Zane asked.

"She's okay," Josie responded, "she really doesn't have to do very much unless we hit a snag in a particular workbook. I suppose she's more of a motivator than anything and some nights I certainly need that. Some nights I just don't want to be here."

"What caused you to drop out of school and what school were you attending," asked Zane.

"I attended Whitlock High School and I dropped out because I got pregnant," Josie explained. "After I dropped out I had the baby and it died in the hospital. I live with that every day of my life. My parents were supportive through all of it and were more than willing for me to stay with them until I could get on my feet, but after my sister made an offer to let me live with her I accepted because I thought the change would be good. She has certainly been sweet enough to allow me to stay there. I try not to be a burden and I help out whenever I can. After getting pregnant I felt ashamed to return to school so I just hung out and stayed at my sister's house. That's pretty much my most recent history, any more questions?"

"Err, no," replied Zane, "that was quite a bit, thanks, you have been through it, and I can't imagine having a child then losing it before getting to know it."

"Right, you can't, unless you've been through it you have no idea," said Josie. "I think I'm going back inside, nice talking to you Zane."

Zane stood outside for a while longer thinking about all the things Josie had told him and he realized that things for him could have been better, but he had experienced nothing like the loss of a child. He thought Josie must be a strong person. He thought he liked her, maybe in time he would get around to asking her out, but for now he needed to do some more work before returning home. When Zane got home that night he mentioned to Carlton he had met a nice girl and hoped at some point he would get around to asking her out.

For the rest of the week Zane spent most of his free time thinking about Josie. Why in the hell had he not asked her out or at least gotten a phone number or an address or something. Dam, he was stupid. He vowed that next Tuesday night things would be different; he would get this information and he would ask her out. It seemed like an eternity to Zane for Tuesday night to finally arrive. After work he went home, showered, put on clean clothes, splashed on some after shave, grabbed his workbook and ran out the door. He stopped by Burger Heaven for a burger on the way to class. Zane arrived early, but he didn't see Josie standing outside. He sat in his car wondering when she would arrive. Soon the instructor arrived and unlocked the door, but still no Josie. Zane wondered if Josie was a one night wonder like the girls, Alice Jean and Nadine, he and Carlton met at the Get It Up. Zane went inside and tried to focus on completing his assignments, but he couldn't keep his eyes off the front door. "Where the hell is she?" he thought.

A few minutes after eight o'clock the front door opened and Josie walked in. Zane looked up and when they caught each other's eyes they smiled, but Josie's smile appeared strained. Zane sensed Josie was dealing with something. She sat down and opened her workbook. The instructor came over and chatted briefly with her and then returned to her desk. Zane scribbled a note; "is everything okay?" folded it and placed it in front of her. Josie opened the note, read it, looked up at Zane and shook her head back and forth. Zane got her message, everything was not okay. Until he could talk to her all he could do was wonder what was going on. He speculated maybe she had just broken up with someone. Maybe her sister was kicking her out of her house. Shit, it could be any number of things. He would just have to wait until they took a break to find out, but Josie might not tell him, after all they had only talked briefly during class break last Tuesday.

At eight thirty Zane needed to take a break to get some fresh air. After being outside for about ten minutes he peered through the large front window and noticed Josie had left her seat and was approaching the front door. He walked over and opened the door for her. "Good to see you again tonight," said Zane.

Josie looked at Zane but said nothing. "Can you tell me what's going on?" asked Zane.

"Do you have a cigarette?" Josie asked. "I quit smoking several years ago, but there are times when a smoke is still what I need."

"Nope," answered Zane, "that's one vice I don't have."

"You mean you have vices?" Josie asked.

"No, that comment was not meant to be taken literally, I am jesting here, actually I think I am a pretty moral person," responded Zane.

"Oh, you seem like a nice guy, I'm just pissed," said Josie.

"Well," said Zane, "I am a good listener and comment only when asked, so shoot, that is, if you want to."

"Thanks, that's sweet of you Zane," said Josie. "Okay, here goes, two weeks ago I applied for a job at a discount store here in Anvil and I expected they would hire me like within a week. I mean, I need a job so I can save enough to be on my own. Anyway I called today to find out where they were with filling the position and the sons of bitches told me they had filled the position! Shit, sorry for this, but it pissed me off, why hadn't they called me or sent me a letter about their decision, but I had to call to find out. The worst part was I found out who they hired and that woman is bad news, I mean, she a piece of crap! I know her and she's been in all sorts of trouble, but they hired her and not me and I'm pissed. There, that's it."

"That's it?" asked Zane. "Well, I certainly know you're upset and disappointed, but employers can hire whoever they want, when they want, and they can notify all the other applicants as they desire. It's just the way it is and it's their call, so I suggest you move on, look for something else."

"That's not what I want to hear, but what you say is true," said Josie, "I'm just disappointed, but yes I can and will get over it."

"Hey, after class let's go have a beer or if you don't drink beer maybe some sweet tea or something," offered Zane.

"Oh, that's nice of you, but I'm not sure I'd be good company tonight," replied Josie.

"You'd be great company," said Zane, "hell, I have some ideas of other places you could apply to, and we can maybe talk about other things too."

"We got to get back inside," said Josie, "let me think about it and I'll let you know when class is over, anyway thanks for listening, you are a good listener."

When class was over Josie declined Zane's offer and they departed for their respective abodes. Zane still had no phone number or address, but he felt he was making progress with Josie. He knew she didn't have a boyfriend or a job and lived with her sister, but she wanted to move out of her sister's house as soon as she could. He felt Josie thought he was a good listener and he even offered to help her with her job search. So, all was not lost and while the hoped for changes in his life were moving at a snail's pace he felt they were moving. He knew would eventually get his GED, then pursue some higher education and get a better job. He liked Josie and he would get to know her better. He had a new thought on this night as he drove back to the apartment; he decided to lease his own place as soon as it became financially feasible. As much as he liked his friend, Carlton, it was time they parted ways. Now was not the time to bring this up with Carlton, but soon Zane would break the news.

As the spring wore on Carlton and Zane continued to get up every day and go to work putting up ceiling tiles. The work never got more interesting and most days the eight hour shift seemed like eight months, yet the paychecks allowed them to pay their bills. Carlton still had no interest in attending the GED class while Zane had completed four of the five preparation workbooks and his preliminary tests on those four areas suggested he would be successful on the GED tests. He continued to see Josie when she came to class as she had gotten into a pattern of attending every other week. When the two of them were in class on the same nights they talked at break but that was about it. She had recently gotten a job working the register at a gas station so her time was more limited. She was saving as much money as she could so she could move out of her sister's house and into her own apartment. She told Zane that perhaps by Memorial Day she would have enough money to move out. Zane talked a bit about his work and told Josie that while he was bored with the work his plan was to remain with the company at least until he got his GED. They never talked about going out together.

During the week Zane and Carlton continued to mostly eat out after work, but their nightly club visits became more infrequent. At this point both men were getting increasingly tired of the routine, but they both yearned for frequent female companionship. One night at the Beachcombers' there was a local band so Zane and Carlton decided to visit. Most of the crowd was on the floor dancing while a few singles were lined up against the wall hoping to get the nerve to ask someone to dance or hoping to be asked to dance. Zane realized he would have to take the lead in asking someone to dance but he was becoming increasingly tired of assuming the overall leadership role in meeting women for both he and Carlton. He decided if he saw a woman he wanted to ask to dance he would go over and ask her to dance. Carlton could do the same or he could stand in a corner and play with himself until it was time to leave. Zane was tired of the "package deal" where he had to make introductions for both of them. It was time for him to be free of this continuing aggravation. After a while Zane noticed a nice looking woman standing over near the door to a hallway which led to the restrooms. She appeared to be alone but he waited a little longer just to be sure. After observing for about twenty minutes he decided to walk over to where she was and ask her to dance. "Hi, would you like to dance?" enquired Zane.

"Well, I'm really not much of a dancer," she responded.

"That's okay, I'll lead and get you through it, come on, it'll be fun, by the way my name is Zane," he said.

"I'm Sherry, well okay, but take it easy on my feet," she said.

They got through the dance just fine and since it was a "slow song" the steps were easy to master. After the band finished the song they announced they were taking a twenty minute break. Zane walked with Sherry back over where she had been standing and started up the standard introductory conversation. Sherry told Zane she was from Haga in Rooks County and had moved to the area recently to begin a job as a paralegal at a law firm in East Delbridge. She had graduated from high school in Haga and had received her associate's degree from Haga Tech. She indicated she lived in an apartment complex off Slain Avenue. She had a roommate but seldom saw her since she was employed as a registered nurse on the night shift at the local hospital. She slept by day and worked by night. Zane told her all about himself. He was reluctant to tell her he was preparing to take the GED tests, but he had decided since he was on the path of improving himself he didn't care what people thought so he told her. Sherry didn't appear to give a shit about Zane's GED preparation. They drank a few beers, danced to a few more numbers, and at ten thirty Sherry told Zane she had to leave and this time he asked her for her address and phone number which she promptly gave him. Well now, he thought, maybe things were looking up. He walked Sherry to the door and they said their goodbyes culminating in a brief kiss and then she walked into the darkness of the Beachcomber's parking lot. Zane walked over to Carlton whom he had completely forgotten for most of the evening and asked if he was ready to leave. Carlton replied that he had been ready to leave two dam hours ago. On the way home Zane could tell Carlton was pissed, but until he had something to say Zane was going to ignore him.

On the way to work the next morning Carlton finally told Zane he was a little pissed at him for not helping him "get up with something." "Not helping you?" asked Zane. "Isn't it about time you stepped up and took control of your own needs? I'm, tired, dam tired, of taking care of you. I help you get a job, help you find a place to live, a place to eat, a place to drink beer at night, and women to dance with and talk to. Isn't it about time for you to begin doing this? As a matter of fact the time is now, I'm giving you a notice, and I'm going to look for another place to live, alone!"
Chapter 3

The news of Zane's forthcoming departure was the first time he had mentioned to Carlton he wanted to be on his own. Carlton didn't take to the news very well and for the rest of the day and night he did not speak unless Zane asked him a question. Zane was proud of himself for telling Carlton he wanted out of their arrangement, but he also realized he wasn't quite financially ready to break free and become totally independent. He vowed to come up with the necessary money and there was no turning back now. He would sacrifice, skimp, and he would survive. Carlton would have to figure out what he intended to do, that was his problem not Zane's.

The next week was a busy week for Zane what with work, class, and trying to find time to explore new apartments while analyzing his budget to figure out how to pay for an apartment. He hoped Carlton was trying to figure how he was going to manage but Zane was not going to worry about Carlton. It was time for Carlton to grow up.

Zane found a new apartment on Highway 701 North a few miles north of Anvil and closer to Delbridge. The apartment was a one bedroom, but it provided sufficient space, plus all the utilities were included. After crunching his monthly budget numbers Zane was one hundred dollars short. Where would he get the money? He didn't expect to get a pay increase installing ceiling tiles any time soon and he didn't care to work overtime or get a part time job on weekends to earn the extra money. Where would the money come from? Perhaps Eva Mae could assist her only begotten son with some temporary financial aid. It had been a "month of Sundays" since he had seen Eva Mae, although they talked on the phone at least once a week since he moved out of her house. Now was the time for a home visit. Maybe Eva Mae would ask if he needed anything and if she did he planned to ask her for the additional money.

After work Zane called Eva Mae and after a brief update chat he offered to take her to dinner at Perkinson's Fish Camp on Thursday night. On Thursday nights Perkinson's featured an "all you can eat" plate for $5.95 so Zane thought this deal was too good to pass up. Eva Mae sensed something was up because Zane had never offered to take her anywhere for any reason and now he wanted to spend his money buying her dinner? "Um, something is fisher than the fish at Perkinson's," Eva Mae muttered under her breath. "OK," she said, "what time do you want to go?"

"Oh," said Zane, "it's up to you, whatever time you want, what's good for you."

Eva Mae thought for a moment and then replied, "6:00 p.m. is fine, come at six."

"See you at six," responded Zane.

Call it woman's intuition, motherly instinct, or "I smell a rat," but Eva Mae sensed there would be more to Thursday evening than a fried fish platter. She thought she must prepare herself to be under control and try not to overreact when the "shit hit the proverbial fan." What mothers won't do for their children!

On Thursday night Zane arrived at Eva Mae's about fifteen minutes early so he had to wait as she was not yet ready. Thirty minutes later Eva Mae came out of her bedroom fashioning a tasteful cotton dress she seldom wore because she seldom went anywhere. Zane got up from the sofa and gave his mom a hug and they headed out the door to the car.

"How's your work going Zane?" asked Eva Mae.

"It's fine, boring, but okay I suppose. I have started GED classes down in Anvil and by summertime I hope to be ready to take the tests. I really want to get another job after I pass the test, then I want to get more education, but I'm not sure which program I want to take," explained Zane.

Eva Mae was pleased that Zane was taking steps to improve his life. After they had driven ten miles the Perkinson's Fish Camp sign came into view and Zane slowed to make a left turn into the large parking lot, which was almost full since it was "all you can eat" night. They got out and walked to the door and noticed a line of folks hanging out the door. There was a host taking names and the number in your party so it appeared it would be a while before Zane and Eva Mae could get a table. They stood to the side and continued their conversation. Eva Mae told Zane she had recently gotten a raise in pay and a promotion at the label plant. She was promoted to first shift supervisor over six other women in her department. The pay raise she received after taxes was about fifty dollars a month, not much, but she aimed to keep every dam nickel of it. Zane offered his congratulations. Zane told Eva Mae he was planning to move out of the apartment he shared with Carlton. Eva Mae wanted to know why and he told her it was time to be free of Carlton as he was tired to taking care of him all the time. Eva Mae said she certainly could understand that and she asked if he had found a place. Zane mentioned that he had a place in mind that he really liked closer to Delbridge. Eva Mae was pleased Zane was making all these positive changes and liked what she was hearing, that is until Zane spoke again.

"Well, I have a slight problem with that apartment, I mean I like it, utilities are included and for now it has all the space I need," exclaimed Zane.

"What's the problem?" asked Eva Mae, "Rent too high?"

"Now how did you figure that out?" asked Zane. "I didn't mention anything about the rent."

"I'm the mother and I just know what to anticipate when we have these conversations, but you've been good about such things and you have never asked for much. That's what you're doing here right; you are going to ask me to help you pay the rent. How much do you need, I hope you don't need my entire raise," said Eva Mae.

Zane was embarrassed at this point to continue this conversation, so he just stood and looked out toward the street wishing he had another solution. Then Zane turned around to face Eva Mae and said, "I need one hundred dollars."

"You what?" she raised her voice. "You need a hundred, for what, the security deposit?"

"No," said Zane, "I need a hundred dollars more per month to pay the rent."

"A hundred dollars more a month for this place, a hundred more than you currently pay?" she said. "You have to have this place at this time? Aren't there cheaper places, can't you continue to room with Carlton until you get your GED and a new job, why must you do this now and why must you ask me for the money? How long do you expect me to help you with this?" Eva Mae asked.

Zane wished he had never called her, never drove her to Perkinson's, and never brought up the issue of the money, but here he was and there she was and he didn't know how to put closure on this conversation. Why did things have to be so difficult he thought? He had to respond, he had to say something as Eva Mae was waiting for some response.

"I guess I could look for a cheaper place, but I really like this one. Maybe I could take you to see it," replied Zane.

"Taking me to see it won't make me believe any more that this is where you need to live when I have to pay for it," said Eva Mae.

"Okay," said Zane, "then forget it!"

The fish camp host called their name and escorted them to the table. For the next fifteen minutes the only words spoken were to inform the server they wanted the all you can eat buffet. They sat there and looked away from each other until the server brought their plates for the buffet line. They got up and went to the buffet line and within two minutes their plates were overflowing with nice fried fish, flounder, oysters, clam strips, shrimp, and crab cakes. They put their plates down on the table, sat down and commenced to eating these fried delights. A pitcher of sweet tea was brought to the table by their server to help wash the grease down. After fifteen minutes of stuffing their faces Eva Mae initiated some additional discussion about Zane's request for money.

"You know," started Eva Mae, "I've worked hard since your daddy decided move on with that young tail and I've tried to give you unconditional love and some of the material things you needed growing up that I was capable of providing. You have been out on your own for some time now and I've been able to pay off some old debts and almost get out of the deep hole your sorry ass daddy left me in and now you want me to go back down the hole. Can I help you? Sure, I can, but shouldn't you be figuring out how to finance your needs?"

There was silence for a few moments before Zane responded, "I agree totally, but can't you see I've been trying. I've had a job since I moved out of your house and I'm trying to get my GED. I've been responsible. I show up for work every day and I pay my bills. I don't do drugs, but I do drink some beer. I drive a really shitty ten year old car. I don't even have a girl friend, so what else should I have done?"

Eva Mae responded, "I don't know what else you should have done, we talking about the present and you want me to give you a hundred dollars a month for who knows how long."

"Would it make you feel better if I set a limit of how much you give me or a deadline as to when you cut me off," Replied Zane.

"Why don't you go to the bank and borrow about a thousand dollars to get you through one year? By then maybe you will have a pay raise or a new job?" offered Eva Mae.

"Are you about finished with your meal, I'm ready to go because this dam conversation is over," said Zane.

"I want some banana pudding before I leave so don't rush me. You invited me out for what I hoped would be a nice dinner with my son. Had I known money was all we were going to talk about I could have stayed home," responded Eva Mae.

"I'm sorry, okay forget it, and let's talk about something else before we leave. I think I'll have some dessert too, I'll go get two bowls of pudding for us," said Zane.

Eva Mae went to the ladies room while Zane went to the dessert buffet to get banana pudding. While Eva Mae was washing her hands she looked at herself in the mirror and shed some tears and asked herself what should she do? She wiped the tears from her face and dried her hands and returned to the table. When she got there Zane had returned with the banana pudding and had commenced to eating his portion, which was larger than the bowl he got for Eva Mae.

"Oh, by the way I have met two interesting women lately, one at my class and one at the Beachcombers', but I have yet to ask either one out on a date. They are busy and I am busy. I don't know which one I like more or if I even like them at all, I just had nice conversations with them and they seemed pleasant," said Zane.

"I'm glad to hear that at least you have at least been around some women. I will admit you have not been in a big hurry to enter into a relationship. Speaking from my experience there is no need rush about these things. If anyone should know about such things it would be me so take all the time you need," suggested Eva Mae.

"Okay, Zane," said Eva Mae. "I've made a decision, I will give you $500 up front and you can use the money to help with the rent any way you like, $100 per month or $50 per month for a longer period or whatever. This money is a gift from me to you, not a loan. I personally think it is bad policy to loan your kids or relative's money. I have too many antidotes with sad endings about loaning money to family members. So, it's done, I'll write you a check when we get back to the house. I'm fine with it and I can do this now without being strapped, my gift to you."

"I accept your gift mom and one day, soon I hope, you will be proud of me and I can repay you perhaps in ways other than money," replied Zane.

"Son, I'm already proud of you," said Eva Mae. "I've finished my dessert and from the looks of your bowl you are finished so I guess we're done here. Thanks for bringing me here; it's been a while since we have done anything together."

Zane called for the check and once he examined the amount he left cash on the table to cover the bill and the tip. Zane drove Eva Mae back to her house and waited for her to write the check for five hundred dollars. He thanked her, gave her a hug and left for his apartment. When he got back to the apartment Carlton was engrossed in a ball game. There was an empty pizza box on the couch and two Needa Buzz beer bottles on the coffee table. Zane sat down and watched a few minutes of the game before retiring to his room. While he lay in bed he had much to think about, a new place to live, his education, hopefully a new job in the near future, and maybe even a long term relationship with Josie or Sherry or maybe someone he had not yet met. He realized he had challenges ahead, but he was confident he could meet them.

On the way to work Zane told Carlton he had looked at some apartments and there was one he was particularly interested in, but he had not made a final decision yet. He cautioned Carlton to give some thought to what he intended to do, either find a new roommate or be prepared to assume the entire rent payment soon. Zane just wanted Carlton to be prepared to take charge of his own affairs. Carlton's said he understood and he would think about what he wanted to do. Maybe he would consider moving to a new, smaller apartment, he just didn't yet know.

Tuesday night Zane arrived early as usual to class and stood outside until the instructor arrived. They chatted briefly as both entered the classroom at the same time. The instructor told Zane how pleased she was with his progress and said she felt certain by summer he would be ready for his GED exams and would have no problem passing. He was glad to hear her evaluation of his preparation and the short pep talk provided some needed support. He sat down and opened his math workbook and began working some word problems. At about seven o'clock the front door opened, causing Zane and the other students to look up to see who was entering. Josie had arrived for the first time in several weeks. She walked over to the table and sat down in the remaining chair. Zane and Josie made eye contact and smiled at each other. Zane jotted a quick note and passed it to Josie. The note asked Josie to meet Zane outside at the first break. Josie read the note and nodded to Zane and then opened her workbook to begin an assignment.

At the break Zane and Josie walked outside together. Zane spoke first and asked Josie where she had been. She told him she had car problems that caused her to miss class. Zane said that if they had exchanged phone numbers she could have called him and he would have been happy to pick her up. She thanked Zane for his offer, but still did not provide a phone number. He told her of his plan to get a new apartment and she seemed happy for him, but had little interest in the details of the apartment. As Zane walked back into the class he wondered if these terse conversations at class breaks were as far as the "relationship" was going. He felt he was the one asking most of the questions and doing most of the talking. His conclusion was she had no interest in him beyond talking to him at the breaks. Right now that had to be fine, he had a full plate, and he didn't have the time to figure Josie out. Something would happen between the two of them or to hell with it.

On Friday Zane drove by the apartment rental office at lunchtime to take a final look at his new apartment. After a close inspection he concluded the time was right to move. He wanted to be more independent and he wanted more privacy. He pondered his financial situation and decided to take fifty dollars per month from Eva Mae's gift to apply to the rent which would force him to reduce his normal monthly spending by fifty dollars. He could reduce some of his eating out or his clubbing and either should easily make up the other fifty dollars. He could do this! The sooner the better! After leaving the apartment he walked back up to the rental office, completed his application, and paid his deposit. He planned to occupy the apartment within the next two weeks. He left feeling a big decision had been reached and he was not looking back. The time was right, he was ready, and knew he could financially manage it. After lunch while Zane was loading up the truck with ceiling tiles for the afternoon job he informed Carlton he would be vacating the apartment within the next two weeks. Carlton shrugged his shoulders and continued to load the tiles. Neither man had much to say for the remainder of the afternoon.

That weekend Zane drove to the ABC Store to get some boxes for packing his things in preparation for his move. He didn't need many boxes since he had few possessions other than his clothes. Carlton was not at the apartment for most of the day. He told Zane he was going over to Bo-nell's for a while. By early afternoon Zane had the bulk of his stuff packed except his work clothes and some of his leisure wear. That afternoon Zane thought more about his future plans. The move to a new apartment was the first step, followed by a successful passing of the GED battery of tests. Somewhere in between the move and the GED test he considered asking Josie out. He realized he really didn't know her very well, but thought maybe that could change after a date. He couldn't tie down a particular evening to arrange this date, but it was an action item he needed to check off. He also intended to take a hard look at the employment situation to see what jobs might be available requiring a high school diploma, but he didn't expect to find many opportunities. He had settled on pursuing further education once he received his GED. One step at a time, but he was moving in the right direction. Carlton returned to the apartment around 5:00p.m. and asked Zane if he wanted to go out to a club and Zane declined citing further packing time was needed. He was bullshitting Carlton as he had finished packing earlier that afternoon.

Two weeks later Zane borrowed a truck on a Saturday morning from Buford's Glass Ceilings Company to transport his belongings to his new apartment. Carlton offered to help and Zane took him up on his offer. By mid morning the truck was packed and they were ready to go. When they arrived at the new apartment Zane went to the office to pay his first month's rent and pick up a set of keys. When he returned to the truck Carlton was already setting boxes on the ground. They used a hand truck, borrowed from the rental office, to move the boxes faster. Zane's apartment was located on the second floor. There was no elevator, so they had to pull the loaded hand truck up two flights of stairs. By 1:30p.m. The boxes and the few pieces of furniture Zane owned were inside the apartment. When Carlton returned to his apartment he quickly realized he had an enormous amount of empty space, but the TV was his as well as his bed and the kitchen table and two chairs. The time had come for him to review his options.

That night Zane agreed to go out to a club one last time with Carlton before he spent his first night alone in his new apartment. At the club that night they reviewed their long term friendship while downing a few Needa Buzzs and agreed it was really time for both men to move in different directions, but they intended to continue to socialize together, but maybe not as often. Zane outlined his plans for the future and strongly suggested that Carlton not to let "too much water flow under the bridge" before he made some changes in his life. He cautioned Carlton that if he continued to work much longer installing ceiling titles pretty soon it would be hard for him to get other jobs. Zane also suggested Carlton start a GED class, maybe not the same location he was attending, but somewhere and soon. Carlton told him he was seriously considering the class and he expected to make that move soon. Zane finished his presentation by telling Carlton he planned to severely reduce the number of evenings spent at clubs. He now saw the time spent going to clubs over the years as having been largely unproductive. He told Carlton they had seldom met any women, probably drank too much, and since they usually left clubs late they did not get enough sleep to perform a good day's work the following day. Zane's final comment was that he intended to change every facet of his existence and in time everything would be better.
Chapter 4

On Monday morning Zane arose from his bed in his new apartment. He looked outside from his window which had no blinds, shades or curtains and he liked what he saw. He made himself a cup of coffee and downed a couple of two day old doughnuts before picking up Carlton. He realized he should have talked to Carlton about being picked up for work every day. Zane realized now he had to drive out of his way to pick up Carlton and he did not want to continue to make that stop. Hell, why had he ever been the one to drive them to work each day? Carlton had a car; although it was old it was a car and it did run. Carlton had no problem driving his car anywhere else he wanted to go so why not to work. Zane concluded it was his fault because he originally offered to drive them to work. Carlton never offered and Zane never proposed they take turns driving to work each week. He would tell him when he picked him up that starting the next day Carlton would have to drive himself to work.

When Zane picked Carlton up he immediately told him this was the last day he would drive him to work. Zane went on to explain that Carlton's apartment was out of the way and he just couldn't continue drive the extra distance. Carlton seemed fine with the decision and the issue never surfaced again. When the men finished their shift Zane dropped Carlton off at his apartment for the last time and drove to his new apartment and there he sat, alone. He went back out that night for some Asian takeout which he brought back to the apartment and for the rest of the evening he worked on some exercises in his math GED workbook. He ran into a snag with his math exercises so he put the workbook down and sat quietly on the couch thinking about various things. He thought about calling Josie to see if she could assist him with his math until he realized he still didn't have her phone number. He was NOT calling Carlton since he was the one who moved out and he didn't want Carlton to think he was lonely already. He could call Sherry, he had her number, but he hadn't talked to her since that night at Beachcombers'. Yes, he would do that, he took the slip of paper bearing her number from his wallet, then reached for the cordless phone at the end of the couch and dialed the seven digit number. The phone rang until a recorded message began to play. Zane opted not to leave a message. He hung the phone up and sat on the couch staring at the bare wall in front of him for what seemed like hours, but when he looked at the face of his watch he noticed only 30 minutes had elapsed. With nothing else to do he took a shower, laid out his clothes for the next day, turned on his radio beside the bed and laid down on his bed and listened to the softest music he could find. He thought about where he was and where he hoped to be in the near future until he dozed off. He next thing he knew sunlight was streaming through the window across from his bed. He could hear music on the radio because he had fallen to sleep without turning it off. He got up and switched off the radio, visited the bathroom, got dressed, and went into the kitchen. He made a cup of instant coffee since he had no coffee maker and ate the last two stale doughnuts. Wow thought Zane, so this is what it's like to be alone, but independent in this wonderful new apartment. He decided he needed to break down and spend some money he didn't have to buy to things for his place. He would do what most people do; he would buy whatever the hell he needed, put the purchases on his credit card, and worry about paying for those things later. He wouldn't have any time that day to shop, what with work followed by class, so he decided to do some serious shopping over the weekend. He needed the rest of the week to make a list of things he would purchase. He had heard about thrift shops so maybe he could find some cheap used items he could get by with until he could do better. He had to get to work. This was the first day Carlton would not be riding with him.

Zane left work late on Tuesday so he only had time to drive by Burger Heaven before attending class. He still arrived late, which was a first for him. As he entered the front door he walked over to the instructor's desk and chatted with her briefly regarding the difficulty he was experiencing with his math exercises. After she explained the steps of the computations he walked over and took a seat at the rectangular table. Josie was seated at the table and looked up from her workbook and smiled at Zane as he said "hi" in a low voice so as not to distract the other students. About ninety minutes into the class Zane motioned to Josie to take a break with him. Once outside they got caught up with each other's lives since the last time they saw each other. This time Zane was determined to get Josie to agree to a time they could see each other away from class. His first offer, which he had made in an earlier class, was to go some place after class and have a drink. Josie was again hesitant, but Zane insisted they meet somewhere even for just a few minutes until finally she agreed to meet him after class at a club on Southeastern Avenue called the Sad State of Affairs Club. Josie and Zane decided to leave class at nine. Josie followed close behind Zane in her car to the Sad State of Affairs Club. Parking for a Tuesday night was at a premium, but after driving around the parking lot several times they found parking spaces. Zane waited near the front door for Josie to park her car. They went in and managed to find a table. A waitress took their order, the usual Needa Buzz for Zane and a margarita for Josie. They sat and watched people dance to the music from a jukebox since bands only appeared on weekends. When the waitress returned to the table with their drinks they raised their glasses to a toast and had their first sip. Josie said her drink was fine and Zane's Needa Buzz was the same as it always was. They talked about the frustrations of not being satisfied with their current employment. They shared information about where they lived; Zane gave details about his new place. Josie reminded Zane that she was still living with her sister, but she expected to be moving into her own place soon, but was not sure where she would move. She said she got along fine with her sister, but like Zane, she wanted her own space and to be independent. They both talked about future careers, but neither was specific as to the type of work they could envision. After forty-five minutes Josie told Zane she really needed to leave because she had a long day tomorrow. He asked her would she like to go shopping with him on Saturday to help him pick out some things for his apartment. She thought for a moment and told him she would go shopping with him. She gave him her sister's address and Zane told her he would pick her up at nine a.m. They both left the club together and headed to the parking lot. Zane escorted Josie to her car and repeated the time he would pick her up on Saturday, then they hugged each other and Josie drove away. Zane walked to his car, got in and drove to his apartment. When he got to the apartment he took a shower, selected his work clothes for the next day, and went to bed. As he laid in bed his last thoughts before dozing off was how much he enjoyed the time he spent with Josie and he hoped she felt the same.

Saturday morning Zane picked Josie up at her sister's house at the appointed time and they drove to a nearby shopping mall. When they entered the mall Zane noticed many of the stores were still closed. Since he almost never shopped he was not familiar with the opening times of most stores. They walked around and window shopped until stores opened. They stopped at a fast food counter and ordered sausage biscuits and coffee and decided to sit on some benches and finish their snacks. By ten o'clock most of the stores were beginning to open. Zane got out his list and showed it to Josie to seek her advice as to which stores he should go to find the listed items. After about an hour and a half Zane had most of the items and was ready to leave. While walking back to his car he asked Josie did she have time to go with him to a furniture store? She told him she was free and would be glad to go with him and provide her input he if wanted it. They drove west from the mall to a furniture store approximately ten miles away. Zane wanted to look at small kitchen tables with at least two chairs and a comfortable recliner for his living room. The store did not have a large collection of anything, but at that point he wasn't too picky, he mainly needed a table to put his food on and a more comfortable seat to sit in at night when he got home. He managed to negotiate with the owner for a 10% discount, but by the time the tax and delivery charges were added the final amount was about the same as before the 10% discount. The store manager told Zane he could deliver his furniture next Friday and someone needed to be home. Zane asked for the time of delivery and was told around 2:00 p.m. Zane would need to leave from work early, but since he never missed work he didn't anticipate any problems getting off early. Josie told Zane since she didn't go to work until six next Friday she would be happy to accept delivery of his furniture. Zane thought for a moment and told her he appreciated the offer, but he couldn't let her do that. He told the man the day and time for delivery was fine, gave him his credit card, got his receipt, and then left with Josie to drive back to Delbridge. On the drive back to Delbridge Zane asked Josie if she wanted to see his apartment and she said, "Sure," so Zane drove to Highway 701 South to his apartment. By the time they were close to the apartment it was one o'clock so Zane suggested they drive to Burger Heaven, grab some fast food and take it to the apartment. Josie was fine with his suggestion and within twenty minutes Zane was ordering burgers, fries, and shakes. They drove back to the apartment and sat on the couch and ate their lunch. After eating Josie helped Zane install shades on his windows, replace the old sheets on his bed with new ones, wash the new set of dishes, and put the new towels in the bathroom. It was a full afternoon. Zane offered to take Josie out for a nice dinner and she accepted. She told him she would like to go home, take a shower and change clothes before going to dinner. Zane told her he wanted to do the same before they left. Josie told Zane she would walk around the grounds while he "cleaned up." When she returned Zane was waiting and he drove Josie to her sister's so she could shower and dress for dinner. Zane met Josie's sister who had a personality similar to Josie's.

After getting "all spruced up" Josie and Zane headed to a steak house for dinner. Zane seldom ate at "nice places," but he wanted Josie to know how much he appreciated her help and he also wanted to make a good impression with her on his choice of restaurants. They arrived about seven and since he had no reservation they had to wait forty-five minutes for a table. The meal was worth the wait and Josie enjoyed her dinner. She told Zane she had never been to this restaurant and it was a good choice. It was after nine o'clock when they left the steak house in the direction of Josie's sister's house. He wanted to give a good impression so he took her home rather than asking Josie did she want to go back to his apartment. They arrived at her sister's around ten. Zane walked Josie to the door. They stood there on the top steps and thanked each other, Zane thanked Josie for helping him shop and Josie thanked Zane for a wonderful dinner. Upon going down the steps Zane thanked Josie again for helping and told her he would see her next Tuesday night at class. As he drove back to his apartment he hoped he would have more days like this.

Summer time was upon Zane before he knew it. With temperatures in the nineties and that lucky old sun steaming through insulation free roofs they installed ceiling tiles under, summer had indeed arrived. Buford had recently given him a dollar per hour raise; consequently Zane was feeling rich. He and Josie were getting along quite well and were either seeing each other every day or talking on the phone for hours when they got home from work. Zane managed to add a few more items to his apartment including a color TV. He had worked hard to learn several basic recipes so he could cease eating burgers every night. His diet now included more green things and fewer yellow and brown things. His GED instructor told him she was confident that he would be successful with the GED tests any time he wanted to take them. While he was pretty confident there were still a few areas, particularly science and math, where he wanted to improve his skills. He planned to study until after July 4th, then he would register to sit for the battery of GED tests. He seldom saw Carlton outside of work, but they were still close friends. Carlton had finally enrolled in a GED class held in his church basement, but since he only attended class once every other week he had not yet mastered the skills needed to pass the GED tests. Zane stopped going to clubs during week nights unless he was with Josie, but the new clubs they visited attracted a different clientele. Josie recently moved out of her sister's house to an apartment near the university. She still couldn't afford a place on her own so she moved in with another female she had known for several years. Zane never thought about the possibility of Josie moving in with him. He liked his independence and assumed Josie liked hers as well. He assumed if they progressed in their relationship to the point they needed to live together they would be married. Simply living together was not an option Zane wanted to consider and he assumed Josie felt the same. He knew many people his age who had moved in with the opposite sex but such an arrangement was not an option for him.

Zane invited Eva Mae to his apartment one evening for dinner. He also invited Josie since Eva Mae had never met her. He prepared a simple dish called chop stick tuna and made a salad from scratch. He bought individual slices of cheesecake from the local grocery store deli and made sweet tea. His guests enjoyed the meal or at least they told him they did. Eva Mae and Josie had pleasant conversations throughout the evening and Eva Mae left about an hour after dinner. Josie told Zane that he had a really "cool" mom, which pleased Zane. They watched TV until ten and then Josie left for her apartment. Zane spent the rest of his evening working in his GED workbooks because he had decided next week he would register for the GED tests.

The next week at lunch break Zane went by the testing center at Final Chance Tech and registered for the GED tests and paid his fee. The assigned testing day was Thursday and he was told to arrive at 8:00a.m. and bring photo identification and his Social Security card. For the remainder of the week morning he used all of his spare time preparing for the tests. He went to bed early Wednesday night and got up at 6:00 a.m. Thursday morning. He arrived at the testing center at 7:30 a.m. He parked his car and walked around the campus since the only building he had visited was the continuing education building. He had time to see practically all of the remaining facilities. He was impressed with the campus and expected to enroll in a curriculum program that fall, assuming he passed the tests, but he had not decided which area of study he would pursue. He was familiar with student services and thought it might be a good idea to set up an appointment with a program counselor to discuss program choices. He stopped by the student center and got coffee to go and walked back to the testing center. The front door was open so he walked in and sat down in the reception area. When he finished his coffee he walked up to the receptionist to announce his arrival and showed her his driver's license and Social Security card. She told him he would need to show his id's one more time to the testing technician and she gave him a copy of his registration fee receipt. He followed her directions to the testing room. When he walked inside he saw the testing tech's desk so he walked over, identified himself and showed his id's and registration fee receipt. She assigned Zane a seat and gave him several sharp pencils to use for his tests. He asked how long it might take and she told him there were five separate tests and it should take most of the day. She also told him the minimum score for each section was 410 with a required average of 450 on the five tests with a total of 2250 points needed to pass the entire battery of tests. She said he could repeat any section he was not successful with rather than taking the entire set of tests again. There were fifteen other students in the room and once their proofs of identification were checked the testing tech closed the door and read the instructions. She issued some scratch paper students might need for the math portion and asked did anyone need more pencils. She returned to a file cabinet next to her desk and unlocked the top drawer and pulled out a stack of booklets. She went down each row and laid a booklet on each student's desk. When she finished and walked back to the front of the room she said, "Open your booklets and begin your tests, good luck to all of you."

It was indeed a long day in that room. Zane finished the entire five tests at about 3:30 p.m. and gave his test booklet, pencils, and scratch paper to the testing tech and left the room. He was relieved and felt pretty good about how he did as he walked to the parking lot. He drove straight home and called Josie, but she was not in so he had to leave a message. He called Eva Mae who had just walked in the door from the label plant. He told her he had finished the tests and felt good about the results. Eva Mae asked when he thought he would know the test results and he told her the testing tech mentioned it might take up to six weeks before he would know the scores. He would just have to wait. Next he called his friend, Carlton, and told him about the tests. Zane gave him a pep talk and offered to assist Carlton in his preparation. After talking to Carlton he went to a beer joint close to his house and had a couple of Needa Buzzs while waiting to call Josie again. As he nursed his third Needa Buzz he went to a phone booth and called Josie again, this time she was home, so he gave her his testing update and asked her to go out with him to dinner to celebrate. She told him she could be ready within the hour so Zane told her he'd pick her up by 6:30p.m. He hung up and finished his third Needa Buzz and decided to drive home and get cleaned up himself. As he drove home he felt good about his long term plan and sincerely believed that through hard work everything would eventually end up just the way he envisioned it. Zane thought six weeks was a long time to wait for the results of his GED tests.

During the six week waiting period Zane managed to find the time to meet with a college student services counselor at Final Chance Tech to discuss curriculum program possibilities. The counselor suggested a standardized interest test which could help Zane focus on an area or areas he had interests in since he didn't have a clue as to what program he wanted to enroll in. The counselor told him he could drop in at any time to the testing center and ask to take the test which would last about an hour. Zane appreciated the suggestion and told the counselor he would return after he received notification of the results of the GED tests. He left thinking he should already have some idea of what program he wanted to pursue.

The six weeks wait to receive his GED scores seemed like six years to Zane, but there was nothing to do but wait it out. When he became overly anxious about his results he kept telling himself that even if he failed one or even two of the test areas he could retake them. He knew if he passed some of the components at least he would be headed in the right direction, but he hoped he'd be successful in all five areas. He continued to get moral support from Josie, Eva Mae, and Carlton. All three were aware of the time and commitment Zane had made toward getting his GED and they expected him to pass with room to spare. The highest score attainable was 4000 with a minimum of 2250 and no component score could be less than 410, so Zane had some room.

Josie expected to sit for her GED tests before the first of August. She felt very confident in all five areas, but wanted to finish one final set of workbook exercises before registering for the tests. Zane had prepped her on what the tests were like, but the GED class site had ample materials and other aids that proved to be most helpful. Josie wanted to pursue other jobs, but she realized her work experience and education thus far still wouldn't make her an attractive candidate for the jobs she was most interested in. She and Zane had discussed their future quite often and both were convinced more education would gain them better opportunities. The hardest part was the waiting to get from here to there, but they both understood the process.

Five weeks had passed and still no GED tests results for Zane. Every day he told himself he was one day closer and he still held out hope that the results would be mailed sooner than indicated by the testing technician. He also needed closure on which program he wanted to pursue at Final Chance Tech. One day at lunch break he returned to the student services office at Final Chance Tech to talk to a program counselor. The counselor told him that on average a four-year degree over a life time of work would yield greater income than a GED or an associate's degree, but in the current job market there were some highly skilled jobs requiring a two-year degree that paid good salaries. The counselor again mentioned the interest survey to assist Zane in narrowing down his program options. Zane told the counselor his plan was to take the interest survey after he received his GED tests results and he expected those results within a few weeks. The counselor showed Zane a rack full of program brochures and encouraged him to select a few to review for possible program choices. The counselor told him that he could enroll for most of the programs offered in the fall term right up to the end of the first week of classes. This policy would give Zane even more time to decide, but he was frustrated because after all this time he still was not certain of the career direction he wanted to go.

The week ended and still no GED tests results. Over the weekend he examined closely each program brochure he had picked up at Final Chance Tech. He made notes of pertinent features of each program. When Josie came over Saturday afternoon he had her review the brochures with him. She told Zane maybe he should make a list of his strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, and relate them to his current work situation. Zane thought Josie had a good idea and he wondered why he hadn't figured that out. By the time he completed the list one key "likes" came to the surface, he was happiest when he was in control of his work situation. While he listened to his supervisor and always performed his job according to the directions given by his supervisor, he thought he was best when he was in control of things. He began to think about working for himself, owning his own company, and making all the decisions, now that sounded good to him. What in the world kind of business would he start? At that point he had no clue. Josie tried to help him narrow down areas he felt comfortable with, but this was a slow process. He re-examined two brochures, the College Transfer program in Business Administration and the Associate Degree program in Business Administration. The College Transfer program allowed for all the credits to transfer directly to a four year school while some of the courses in the two-year program would not be acceptable in transfer. At that point Zane was thinking four-year degree in Business Administration. The program would take him a while to complete since he would have to continue to work while attending evening classes. A longer time to complete the program would give him time to sort things out as to the area he wanted to enter, but he knew he wanted to be in charge of whatever occupation he chose.

Zane was most appreciative of Josie's assistance and rewarded her with a nice dinner at the Roast Duck Café on Ridgeton Street. While eating their dinner Zane told Josie, "you know Josie we have been seeing each other for quite a while now and I want you to know how special you are to me. You are always there for a kind word, a helpful word, a patient word, and I like spending time with you. I wish we had more time together, but right now we will enjoy the time we have."

Josie listened intently to Zane's remarks and at one point reached for a tissue to help dry her eyes. She told Zane she thought a lot of him and cherished the time they spent together. They both seemed comfortable with the things they said and the things they did and neither was interested in pressing any unnecessary buttons. They approached their relationship one day at a time and both were comfortable with that.

The arrival of the work week found Zane hard at work driving to and from jobs installing ceiling tiles by day and by night thinking about beginning a program in Business Administration at Final Chance Tech. He managed to have time to talk to Josie by phone most nights, but with her work demands the calls were often short. By Wednesday Zane still had not received any word on his GED tests scores. He called the testing center and all he got was some moral support, which was nice to near but not the results he wanted. Another week ended and still no scores. It had been six weeks since he had sat for the battery of tests and still no results. He turned the page on the calendar to August and realized he didn't have much time left to enroll for his program. He had to be patient. Thursday after work he went by the Post Office and as he leafed through what was mostly useless marketing pieces he noticed an official looking envelope near the bottom of the pile. The return address bore the name General Educational Development and once Zane saw those words he knew the contents contained the scores of his GED tests. He threw the remainder of his mail in a nearby trash can and ripped open the envelope. He noticed two pages, one was a detailed explanation of the results and the other was an area by area individual score with the summary score at the bottom. He read the scores: Social Studies -630, Science – 560, Math – 505, Reading – 670, and Writing – 720 for a total score of 3085 and he needed at least 2250 total points. He did it! He passed and would not need to retake any of the sections. He couldn't wait to call Josie, Eva Mae, and even Carlton. He needed to celebrate! When Zane got home he went to the refrigerator and took out a cold Needa Buzz and opened it while he called Eva Mae. He figured she would be the first to get home. He would call Josie later and Carlton, well, he would call him sometime. Eva Mae picked up the phone and heard more excitement in her son's voice than she had heard since the Christmas he got a new bike. Eva Mae told Zane she was happy for him and proud of his tenacity in reaching his goal. She offered to take him to dinner, but Zane told her he would take a rain check on dinner. He felt a real sense of accomplishment.

He called Josie later and she was ecstatic and offered to come over, but Zane thought it was too late so they decided to celebrate over the weekend. Josie also told Zane she had registered for her GED tests earlier in the week and would be taking her tests in two weeks. She told him she wanted to enroll in a computer curriculum at Final Chance Tech, but had not made her final decision on which particular program. She had talked to the division chair of all the computer programs and was told scholarships were available. If Josie could make a certain score on her GED tests she would be eligible for some aid. While she thought it would be great to receive money to cover some or all of her college expenses she knew as did Zane, she would still need to work to cover her living expenses. They both knew they would ride in the same financial boat as the majority of the other enrolled students. This was the way normal people without family money financed educations, they worked, attended school when they could, and paid loans back over several years.
Chapter 5

Zane enrolled in two College Transfer courses for the fall semester during the evening hours at Final Chance Tech. He worked by day and attended school by night. Josie sat for her GED tests and made a total score of 3545 which made her eligible for scholarship money in the computer programs. She enrolled in two courses on the same night as Zane so they could ride with each other and at least talk to each other walking to and from class. They enrolled in two classes each in the fall and spring terms and two more classes in each of the two summer sessions. By the beginning of the second year both Zane and Josie had accumulated 24 semester hours each while working a full time job. It would take another year and a half for both to complete their course work. They graduated together in the spring semester of their third year at Final Chance Tech. Josie was immediately employed by a local company designing and managing web sites for the various departments of the firm. Zane looked at the available job options, but he was still interested in starting his own business, but as of yet, he did not know what the business would be. He applied to the State University and was accepted as an evening student in the Business Administration program. He continued to take courses in the evening hours, sometimes on weekends, and again in summer school and within 3 years he completed his requirements for a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration. Josie continued working at the same company managing their websites and managed to pursue a Bachelor's Degree over a longer period of time than Zane. By the time Josie and Zane completed their undergraduate educations they had been dating seven years. Both lived in separate apartments and maintained completely independent lives. They had their own jobs and own money and all they did together was enjoy each other's company and support each other in any way necessary. Zane continued to receive raises at Glass Ceilings; in fact, Buford reimbursed him several times for his college tuition because he realized Zane was a valuable employee. Buford told him that in time he would come up with a plan to further "involve" Zane at Glass Ceilings. Zane told him to take all the time he needed and when he was ready he would be glad to listen.

Carlton took five years to complete his GED tests and moved on to another job as an automobile salesman. He became very successful at selling a line of cars that most people planned to buy before they set foot on the lot. He had no real interest in furthering his education. Carlton finally managed "to get up with something" and within a year married the young lady, three years his junior, after "knocking her up." The two of them moved into a small cottage east of Anvil. The last time Zane visited the happy couple they were eagerly awaiting the arrival of their first child.

Eva Mae had just completed twenty-five years at the label factory and was now a supervisor over two departments. As a single woman she was on a sound financial footing. At the time she had no interest in sharing her life full time with a man, but she was still young enough to want male companionship, but she sure as hell was not stressed about it. Bo-nell did remarry and proceeded to be miserable for two years before calling it quits with a much needed divorce. After many discussions with Eva Mae on the subject of marriage Bo-nell decided it would have to be a very cold day in hell before she remarried.

As Zane contemplated his future career he finally realized his strengths. He was reliable, conscientious, loyal, and patient for the most part, organized, and very efficient with how he used his time, both at work and away from work. Might he be able to create a new service to offer companies that used all of his strengths to help make their operations better? What could this service be and could he convince enough business owners that he could help them be more efficient? He jotted these thoughts down in a composition book and often added to his entries. Josie continued to do well in her new position and had been given several salary increases. Zane and Josie managed to see each other on weekends and called each other during the week. He continued to have conversations with Buford at work, but Buford had not yet presented Zane with any proposals as to how Zane might become more "involved." Zane kept returning to his idea of a professional efficiency expert, a person who might get to travel all over the country helping all sorts of organizations operate on a more sound footing. They needed to tighten things up but didn't know how, they called Zane and he came in and within a short period of time he presented a proposal, a plan for improvement, a way to be more efficient. He would make his presentation in a board room in front of everybody who was anybody in the company. When he finished his presentation they would stand up, clap and cheer. They would ask questions and Zane would always have the answers. They would stand in single file as he exited the room to get a chance to shake his hand. He could afford to wait 'til he returned to the office to prepare their bill because he didn't need the money. He would have more firms than he could service. After his initial proposals he would get repeat calls and letters from former customers and they would continue to beg for his time and his great ideas. He would later be asked to return to evaluate their progress and would enjoy telling them they were "making progress" while he made notes regarding his charges for billing purposes, then he would catch the next flight back to Delbridge-Dufous International Airport. Wait! He was fantasizing; none of this was real, but it sure as hell was a great fantasy.

One night Zane got an idea about how to get started in this efficiency business as he was eating Chinese takeout. Since he was very close to Buford why not ask him for permission to do a limited efficiency study of one or two departments. He wouldn't perform this service during his normal work hours unless Buford allowed him. If Buford approved the proposal, Zane would make a general analysis of a few departments at Glass Ceilings within the next few weeks and prepare a report of his findings. If Buford was pleased with Zane's report he might allow him to do a full detailed analysis of all the departments during his regular work time. Zane thought if he could pull this off and Buford liked it, this could be a steppingstone to starting his own business.

Zane was able to get an appointment with Buford for the next Wednesday to present his efficiency study proposal. When Zane arrived at Buford's office on Wednesday he was excited at the prospect of doing this efficiency study, if even for just a few departments. He knew he needed to be convincing for Buford was not much for bull shit. Buford asked Zane what did he need to talk about and Zane segued into his efficiency proposal. Buford listened and actually took some notes, but had no questions during Zane's presentation. After Zane finished Buford was silent for a few moments before he spoke.

"Zane I appreciate what you offer to do here and most of what you mentioned I agree should have been done years ago, but I was too focused on getting through the day to look at how anything at Glass Ceilings could become more efficient. Now you offer your services to help tighten up this company. I will allow you to pursue this plan with two departments. If you can't get your job done during the week because of this study you will need to work weekends. As long as the work gets done I can bend a little as to how you use your time here. When you finish your study I want a full report with recommendations as to what we need to do to become more efficient," said Buford.

Zane decided to use his rain check for dinner Eva Mae had given him a few weeks ago. He called her and she told him she would be glad to prepare dinner on Wednesday night. Zane said it was fine and he would see her around 6:00p.m. Eva Mae asked Zane if he wanted to invite Josie and he declined. Zane planned to return the $500.00 Eva Mae had given him several years ago. When Eva Mae gave Zane the money she told him it was a gift, but he told her at the time that some day he would pay the money back. After dinner Zane got up and went over to the coat rack near the front door and retrieved an envelope from his jacket with Eva Mae's name on it. Earlier he had stopped by a store and picked out a nice card. He walked over and gave Eva Mae the card which contained five, one hundred dollar bills. When she opened the envelope the bills fell on the dining room table, but she didn't notice as she was more focused on the words Zane had written on the card. After she read the card she got up and gave Zane a big hug and told him how proud she was of what he had accomplished. She noticed the money on the table and thanked him, but she told him again she was not expecting to get the money back.

When Zane returned to his apartment that night he reviewed the draft of his efficiency report he had been working on for several weeks. He wondered if he would get to talk to Buford about his report this week. If Buford liked his mini report he might permit him to perform a full analysis of the all the departments at Glass Ceilings. Before going to bed that evening Zane called Josie and told her he had dinner with Eva Mae and returned the five hundred dollars. Josie told Zane she had saved enough money to lease her own apartment. Her roommates over the past few years had been great, but she could now afford her own space and would be looking into moving soon. Zane offered to assist Josie with moving her belongings when the time came and she was appreciative of his offer.

That night as Zane lay in bed he wondered what it might be like to be married, specifically, what it might be like to be married to Josie. He reviewed the years they had been dating and realized they had always gotten along. They almost never had disagreements and if they did, they were quickly resolved. Josie had never mentioned going out with anyone else, but Zane thought since they were not in an "official" relationship he guessed she could have dated someone else. Anyway, if she did, she never mentioned it and he was never going to ask. Maybe at some point, not now, he would ask Josie to marry him. But his immediate action item was to offer Buford his report as soon as he could.
Chapter 6

The next day Zane went to Buford's office when he arrived at work and asked for an appointment. After checking his existing appointments Buford scheduled the meeting for Thursday afternoon at 2:00p.m. Zane would have until Wednesday night to put any finishing touches on his report and he hoped he would receive a positive response from Buford. On Wednesday night Zane reviewed his report, made a few minor changes, and called it a night. He didn't even talk to Josie before he turned in. The next day he was up a little earlier than usual to give himself time to look over the report one more time.

After lunch on Thursday Zane went out to his car to get the file containing the report, then went back inside to make copies. At 2:00p.m. The receptionist summoned Zane to the conference room where Buford was already seated at the head of the table.

"Hi, Zane," said Buford.

"Hello sir," responded Zane. "I appreciate your time today sir. I hope my recommendations are something you feel can help Glass Ceilings."

"Sure, let's see what you have," said Buford.

"Well, I have some ideas in my report on how to make all departments more efficient, thereby increasing the profits of Glass Ceilings which is what you are in business to do," explained Zane.

Zane told him that an overall efficiency proposal called for an examination in detail of every department, including pertinent documents and interviewing key staff to determine where the waste and inefficiency might be. He said depending on the requested depth of the review such a study could take from a few days to several months. At the end of the study there would be a report of findings with recommendations as to what steps to take to improve the company. As far as the general report on two departments Zane hoped he had supplied enough useful information to get Buford interested enough to give him the green light to go ahead with a full blown assessment of the company. Zane handed Buford the five page report and sat patiently while Buford perused the document. Buford never made eye contact with Zane, but continued to turn page after page until he read the final page. Buford was silent for a few moments before he spoke.

"The information you have in your report is well prepared and all of your recommendations are changes we should have already made before now. As far as delving into a full blown study of how Glass Ceilings could be made better it seems to me the first thing to do would be to admit we have problems and there are few companies, including this one, that would want to do that."

Buford went on to say if he admitted the company had problems some people within the organization would be reluctant to expend the effort to help the company to get better. They would continue to be focused on their day to day work and might be intimidated with proposals suggesting changes designed to make Glass Ceilings more efficient.

"You have some good ideas here in your report, Zane," Buford told him, "but honestly I don't know how we pull it off."

Then Buford did what most bosses do, he told Zane he would think about it and get back to him. Zane was disappointed, but he realized he had nothing to negotiate. All Buford had to say is "No," and that was it. He was the boss and didn't have to provide explanations. Zane left thinking this was just another "sit and wait" exercise. How many times did he sit and wait for someone else to make a decision that impacted his life.

Zane took Josie out to a new steakhouse in North Delbridge on Saturday night. They had a long, pleasant dinner and discussed their work. Zane shared with Josie in detail his plan for his efficiency project for Glass Ceilings. He hoped Buford would give him a green light to use Glass Ceilings as his "guinea pig" because if Zane intended to pursue opening his own business offering a professional efficiency service he needed some experience with turning a company around and Glass Ceilings could be that company. As Zane shifted the focus away from what he hoped to do at Glass Ceilings to discussing his ideas about starting a business efficiency service, Josie listened intently. She provided her expertise with what she knew most about, marketing on the Web. She felt "getting out the message" especially in the beginning would be critical for Zane's business. She stated she didn't think Zane could open an office in downtown Delbridge and expect customers to flock in without an effective marketing plan. His concept would have to be marketed over a wide region for Zane have a chance. She said that in working with her company's various departments' websites she showed the department heads data on hits to their sites, then after revisions were performed to their web pages how the hits to their departments' sites increased. She documented that business had picked up among the departments where she made revisions to their web pages. Zane and Josie also discussed other marketing tools learned in their undergraduate course work. Zane was in full agreement that a comprehensive marketing plan would be a key component of his business plan. He privately thought he and Josie would make one hell of a business team. They went back to Zane's apartment for a while and watched TV. Before he took Josie home she told Zane that she expected to be moving into a new apartment within the month, but she had not done any detailed searching for a place other than looking at the web sites from area realtors. From what she had seen it was a renters' market with lots of choices all over the Delbridge area.

The weekend was over and Zane was headed back to work. As he was driving to work he hoped Buford would see him early that morning and give him a decision as to whether or not he wanted him to continue with his study. When Zane arrived and parked his car he walked in the building past Buford's office. He noticed his door was open so he looked in and saw Buford on the phone so he just waved at him and kept walking. Since he had been promoted several times in the almost ten years of work at Glass Ceilings he was now a work supervisor of a staff of ten men and he had his own office. One of his chief responsibilities was to schedule the tile installation jobs for these ten men. He had done a good job because he had worked as a ceiling tile installer himself, was organized, and had good people skills. He made sure the work teams were good matches and thus far he had been correct with all of his staff pairings. He opened his office and started to review the week's jobs. Most of the jobs were in the Delbridge area, but there were a few in other towns requiring workers to drive for an hour or more to get to the job site. Workers got extra pay if they had to leave earlier to get to a job. Zane always thought Buford was a kind and reasonable person and he had learned quite a lot from him about how to manage people.

About mid morning Buford buzzed Zane and asked him to come to his office. When Zane arrived Buford motioned for him to be seated while he closed the door. Buford told Zane he wanted to discuss further his efficiency proposal for the departments. As Zane re-emphasized his stratagem to get the project done Buford asked several new questions and made a few points. One of Buford's key points was that if he went along with the expanded the study he wanted Zane to be sure that the people working there didn't think there was "a problem." Buford felt if that seed was planted they might begin to feel insecure about Glass Ceilings and worry there were going to be some wholesale changes that didn't include them. Zane heard Buford and he understood he would have to be delicate with his project or he could jeopardize what was already a good operation. He also realized if he wasn't careful he might risk his own job. Zane thought, how could he get information from people without them getting overly concerned or without taking his project too lightly? Buford ended the largely one sided conversation by telling Zane to "go with it" and just keep him advised along the way with his progress. Zane left Buford's office feeling pretty good about being allowed to move forward with his study. He was committed to making sure this project would be a success.

Over the weekend Zane reviewed and revised his efficiency plan approach. He checked and double checked the employees he needed to interview as well as the questions he would ask. He analyzed the documents he needed to examine. He planned to cover as many nooks and crannies he could access. By the end of his study he would not only have a handle on the interworking of Glass Ceilings, but he would have a good idea if this was what he wanted to do as a full time business. Josie came over on Sunday afternoon and Zane talked with her generally about his plan and she said it made sense to her. Josie had always been very supportive of everything Zane attempted. That afternoon they drove out to look at apartments. They returned to Zane's apartment and prepared a pasta dish for dinner and managed to consume a bottle of red wine. About 9:30p.m. Josie said her goodbyes and returned to her apartment while Zane read over his plan for the last time. Tomorrow morning he would be off and running, but not at the expense of his regular job, as Buford had made it very clear, Zane would have to fit his project around his normal duties. This directive did not bother Zane in the least since he was organized and efficient with everything he did undertook. As he turned off the lamp next to his bed his final thoughts were about Josie and about how much she meant to him. How much longer would this relationship last without further commitments? He realized that a relationship like theirs was rare. He wondered had it been seven years, eight years since they started seeing each other? Zane knew of no one who went seven years without couples moving in together, getting married, or breaking up, yet he and Josie had been together for almost a decade. He had to give this more thought, maybe it was time to "pop the question" and get Josie's reaction, but with his project looming as a possible pathway into his own business he didn't need to create additional pressure on himself or on Josie.

On Monday morning Zane arrived thirty minutes early to his office. He wanted to review the week's work schedules before his work crew arrived so he could get them out to their jobs early in order to begin work on his project. This would be like an extra job but Zane was excited about initiating the project. By 8:30a.m. all the workers had dropped by his office to receive their assignments and had either left for their job sites or were loading their trucks with materials. Zane dropped by Buford's office to tell him he would be starting on the efficiency project in a few minutes and were there any last minute questions or concerns. Buford cautioned Zane not to let the project get in the way of his normal duties, but as soon as he said those words he realized Zane was so responsible with everything he did he wouldn't expect a problem. He offered his support in any way he could and with that Zane returned to this office to initiate the project.
Chapter 7

The first task of Zane's project was interviewing employees. There were currently about fifty-five employees at Glass Ceilings. There were three clerical positions and two employees in the business office. There were three workers in the supply room and three full time mechanics that maintained Glass Ceilings' trucks. There were thirty ceiling tile workers with two workers per truck. Zane planned to interview all of the work supervisors, the supply room workers, the clerical workers, the business office staff, the vehicle maintenance staff, and all of the thirty ceiling tile installers. Zane expected to take a least a month, if not longer, to complete his interviews, especially since each day most of the tile installers would be away on jobs. He began his project by summoning the first of the three clerical workers into his office. He had a short introductory slide presentation containing some general information about efficiency projects for everyone he interviewed. The first interview lasted thirty minutes. By lunch time he had interviewed the clerical staff and the business office staff. By the end of the week he managed to interview the vehicle maintenance staff. The second week he interviewed the remaining supervisors and the supply room staff. By the end of the third week he had interviewed ten ceiling tile installers. He had completed interviewing the remaining ceiling tile workers by the end of the fifth week. During the sixth week Zane reviewed files from the business office. In the seventh week he examined records in the main offices and in the eighth week he inspected files in the supply area. The last department he reviewed files was the shop area which took about three days. Into the ninth and last week of his examination he met with Buford on three separate occasions to interview him as owner of the company. By the end of the ninth week Zane felt he had a good picture of the entire Glass Ceilings operation and now he was ready to analyze and summarize his findings and prepare a final report. He wanted to do a good job on his report so he expected the preparation would take a while.

Over the weekend Zane read over all his notes from his interviews of employees in each department, including Buford. He looked for consistencies in the comments from each department. Did employees in the same department have different perceptions of what the problems were? Did they agree on the strengths of their work areas? By the time he finished reading all of the comments and summarizing the positive and negative comments from each department he felt he had a good understanding of the work environments of each department. He reviewed his notes from the documents he inspected and found most of the documents reinforced the comments made by employees. Finally, he read over his notes regarding his "on the ground" inspection of each work area. Did workers have a good physical environment in which to work? He had a lot of information to work with and his final report would take some time. Since he had no deadline he could spend as much time as he needed

On Saturday afternoon Zane went with Josie to look at apartments. By the end of the day they had seen ten apartments. Most of the apartments had similar features so Josie narrowed her choices to three that were closest to her job. She made some notes, took some pictures, and picked up brochures and took them back to Zane's. The rest of the afternoon Zane tried to help Josie make a final decision on which apartment she wanted. They stopped for dinner and went to an Italian restaurant on Southeastern Avenue and continued their discussion of which apartment Josie wanted. By the end of dinner Josie decided to go with an apartment on Southeastern Avenue because it was within five miles of her office. Zane did not say much about his work project other than he had finished data collection and was preparing to write his final report. He told Josie he planned to spend Sunday working on his report so they shouldn't plan any activities for that day. Josie was okay with that and told Zane that on Monday she planned to go by the apartment office and pay her deposit and firm up a day to move. She would let him know later on Monday about moving day. They kissed each other, hugged, and said good night and Josie left the building. Zane went back to working on his report. After he laid out all of his notes on the table he looked at the stack of papers and decided to leave it there. He turned on the TV and watched the end of a movie then went to bed. The report could wait.

Zane was up bright and early Sunday morning, ready to tackle the report. He made a pot of coffee and grabbed his favorite unhealthy breakfast, two, three day old doughnuts. He began to recall some of his thoughts going into this project, not all employees were happy campers and not all existing policies and procedures were the best for Glass Ceilings. Buford might not be pleased with the final report, but he did give Zane the green light to pursue his project. Zane strongly believed Buford was a good guy and once given the findings he would be open to do whatever he could to make things better.

Zane decided the report should focus on his recommendations. He believed Buford would not be interested in the comments made in each department, but the summation, Zane's recommendations. The notes from the clerical staff suggested they were confused about who they reported to. It seemed to them they had too many bosses. Everyone who worked at Glass Ceilings was giving them work to do. They felt the work needed to be channeled through departments or supervisors, but not from all the employees. Most of the staff had been there for many years and realized that the work had changed and the employees had changed, but they just kept doing whatever came across their desk regardless of where it came from. Zane thought it might be time to review their job descriptions, that is, if they had one to review, which they didn't. Job descriptions for the clerical staff needed to be developed. Perhaps there was a need for an organizational flow chart for Glass Ceilings to clearly define the company's leadership hierarchy. Zane made a note to include this idea somewhere in his report.

His notes from the business office expressed concerns over wanting to move away from a paper accounting mode to a total computer generated operation. All of the purchasing and billing was done by hand which took a lot of time. The two employees also had to maintain payroll records which included withholding for state and federal income taxes, Social Security, and medical insurance. They also maintained the various tax records for Glass Ceilings. The business office staff also requested to have one additional person hired. They did not mention clarifying their duties, but Zane, upon his observations and review of the work flow planned to include developing job descriptions for the department. They did express displeasure in being all things to all people, thus they would like a supervisor to be identified their department staff. Zane was beginning to wonder how this report was going to be received by Buford. Had he gone too far? Had he bitten off more than he could ever chew? Well, it was too late to turn back, he was committed.

The notes Zane logged on the supplies department concluded they were the most intimidated by the presence of someone asking questions and observing their work. They were reluctant to voice opinions about their department or about any other department at Glass Ceilings. Zane found the department had no system in place to record the amount of supplies that went out the door. When tile installers backed their trucks up to the docks the supply department workers loaded trucks until someone yelled, "Stop!" The staff placed new orders for tile when they were almost down to the last box which often caused delays in installers getting jobs completed because they had no tiles. Sometimes crews would have to wait several days before a shipment of tiles arrived, resulting in lost wages and pissed off workers and customers. Zane concluded there needed to be some system of recording supplies that were loaded on trucks along with inventory checkpoints as to when new tiles needed to be ordered. Someone needed to be in charge of the department because they all thought they were supervisors.

Zane had a few notes on his interviews of each mechanic in the maintenance department, which was the least amount of time spent on interviewing any of the previous employees. Their chief complaint was they either had too many trucks or too few at a time to service. They were either too busy or had idle time. Zane asked if they had a maintenance schedule for the fleet of trucks and none of the three mechanics knew what the hell he was talking about. They complained about needing some new tools and one man expressed an interest in moving the shop to more computer diagnostics, but he doubted Buford would be willing to fork out the money for such an undertaking. Zane had asked the mechanics if they could detect any abuse of the vehicles when they were serviced, but no concerns were mentioned. They all said they would like more money in their paychecks, but overall they thought Glass Ceilings was not a bad place to work.

Zane read over his notes from the interviews of the two other work supervisors and summed their concerns up with one word, "money," they were satisfied with what they were paid to do, they just wanted more money. Each supervisor told Zane they had no problem whatsoever with Buford arbitrarily selecting Zane as the lead work supervisor, no problem at all, especially since he had worked hard to get a degree neither of them had. Money to them was important, just pay them more money as often as feasible and they would be happy.

Zane had interviewed the tile installers by crews, a crew being two men assigned to a truck. He privately interviewed one man from a crew, and then called the other man in to interview. Overall their biggest complaint was the boredom of the job, but they understood the job was installing ceiling tiles and nothing could be done to change the day to day task of putting up framing then installing the tiles. Zane reviewed time cards for errors or fraud, but found nothing out of the ordinary. He asked the men about their tools and they all indicated they had all the tools they needed to do their jobs. The last installer Zane interviewed suggested it would be nice if Buford had a meeting with all of the installers and maybe gave them some motivational speech. Maybe he could provide a catered lunch or something because the installer didn't think most of the men felt all that appreciated. Zane thought the man had a great idea and wondered why he had not thought of that suggestion

After weeks and weeks of interviews, notes, more notes, and a series of drafts he was down to including his notes from his session with Buford. Zane's notes indicated Buford thought his installers were a hard working group of men who gave him a day's work for a day's pay. Buford said the clerical staff did a good job putting up with him, the other supervisors, the mechanics, the installers, the business office, and the supply room workers, so he didn't have any issues with who they were or the work that they did. Regarding the business office, Buford mentioned ther4e would be no Glass Ceilings if they were screwing up, so, yes, he thought they were doing a great job. He said he seldom saw his three mechanics since they were in the garage, but they must have been doing a good job because the trucks rolled out every day and the jobs got done. Lastly, Buford commented he had three very good supervisors and highlighted Zane was the best of the three. He said he gave all of them rewards when they deserved it.

By late Sunday evening Zane had put the final touches on his project report and planned to try to present it to Buford as soon as he could. The next day he managed to catch Buford in his office early and requested a time to meet with him to present his report. Buford told him to come to his office around three and if he needed to reschedule he would let him know as the morning wore on. By three Buford had not contacted Zane with a change in the meeting so Zane made two copies of the report and walked down to Buford's office. After Buford greeted Zane he proceeded to explain his recommendations one by one. He recommended that at least once every three months Glass Ceilings have some social activity for the installers. There should be some activity for the workers' families in at least one of the quarters. The details could be worked out later if Buford approved the basic recommendation. The second recommendation called for a systematic review of pay raises based on some method of performance evaluation which was not the way workers currently got pay raises.

With the second department, the mechanics, his first recommendation called for a calendar of regularly scheduled maintenance on all the trucks rather than when the drivers or the mechanics thought it was a good idea. Next Zane recommended Glass Ceilings explore the feasibility of purchasing diagnostic equipment over a period of several years. He felt like a gradual phase in of new equipment and training would be more tolerable.

For the clerical staff, Zane recommended developing job descriptions and identifying a method for determining a supervisor for the department. He expanded this recommendation to propose clearly defined job descriptions for all Glass Ceilings employees.

The fourth department was supplies and Zane recommended purchasing a computer and training the men to keep computer records of all supplies checked out to whom and for which job. His second recommendation was connected to his first recommendation which called for supplies to be ordered every time inventories reached a certain level. His third recommendation called for one of the supply men to be named as supervisor of the department.

The fifth department was the business office. Zane's chief recommendation was to fully computerize the entire operation. This recommendation would require purchasing new computer hardware and new software, as well as extensive training for the staff. Zane also suggested one additional person to be hired for the office. His last recommendation was to name one employee from the staff to serve as supervisor of the business office. Zane realized everyone reported in some way to Buford, but having an established chain of command was more efficient.

His recommendation for Buford's was he become more of an "overseer," to get out of his office more, observe, talk to workers, talk to customers, read summary reports, but cease to do the grunt work. Expect supervisors to report to him by predetermined deadlines rather than picking any day to decide he wanted a report and then being pissed off because no one had it. And his last recommendation called for an organizational flow chart to clearly describe the leadership hierarchy of the company.

Zane finished his report to Buford and now he needed some feedback. For a few moments Zane and Buford stared back and forth across Buford's desk. Then Buford spoke, "Zane you have done a masterful job assembling this report. There is not one dam recommendation in your report that I disagree with. These are things I should have taken care of years ago and yes, we all get involved in day to day chores and don't take the time to look at the big picture, which is what you did with your report. I think the best plan is to prioritize these recommendations, and then over time get them done. Maybe you could develop a time line to get these done, like a few each year over a five year span. Thank you for this important work for which you didn't get any additional compensation and I'm assuring you today we will get these recommendations done in time."
Chapter 8

The rest of the week Zane arrived early at work, performed his responsibilities as he usually did and tried not to think about when Buford might initiate some his recommendations. On Saturday morning Zane and Josie ate breakfast at a downtown restaurant. Along the way Zane asked Josie which day she was planning to move to her new apartment. She told him she expected to move within the next two weeks and she would like for him to help her with packing when he had time. Zane mentioned stopping by the ABC Store later to pick up some boxes to use for her packing. Josie didn't have many belongings, so her packing shouldn't take too long. After breakfast they drove over to the rental office and got the key to take a peek at Josie's apartment. She wanted to get a better idea of where to place the few pieces of furniture she had. She measured the windows for blinds she planned to buy later. She made a list of other items she needed to purchase. They returned the key to the office and drove to a strip mall to buy Josie's needed items. After lunch they attended a movie then went by the ABC Store to get some boxes for the move. They returned to Josie's and Zane assisted Josie with packing some of her off season clothes and paperback book collection. Later they drove to a nearby seafood restaurant for dinner. During the meal Zane, who had seldom asked Josie about her past, asked about her adolescent relationship that led to her pregnancy. Josie told him that it was interesting that he brought the subject up, but she would share her story.

"Zane, I've never kept anything from you that you wanted to know about, you ask, I tell you," responded Josie. "This chapter of my past I'm not proud of, but I have moved on and learned from those mistakes and that's what they were, mistakes. I started dating when I was a freshman in high school because a young man asked me out. I asked my mother could I go out with him and she said "yes," and we began to see each other on a regular basis. At the time he was a junior and had his driver's license. We dated all through his junior year, mostly going movies, dances, and ball games. The relationship evolved to a point where before he took me home after our date he found a place to "park." We "made out" and I will be not be more graphic than that. Into his senior year we were still dating and one thing led to another. As I mentioned to you when we first met at the GED class I delivered the baby and it died three days later at the hospital. The baby had multiple health issues that I do not want to talk about. I had just turned sixteen at the time and as I was rushed to the hospital by my parents I thought to myself I had no idea in this world what to do with this baby, but once it was born I would do whatever was necessary to be a responsible mother. As far as the father of my baby we discussed marriage, but what is that? I mean, when you are fifteen going on sixteen and almost eighteen as he was what the hell does marriage mean? It's a word; it's an adult word for some kind of legal contract between two parties. Did we love each other? What is love, another word in the lexicon of life that didn't mean jack shit to either of us? What is sex? Is sex something you do because, because what, you're bored, everybody else is doing it, it feels good; or maybe to start a family? I can't tell which reason we selected except we made a baby and neither of us had a clue as to how to go about caring for a child. He was mostly embarrassed about the whole thing, although he did offer to marry me, how kind of him. I declined his generous offer because a marriage was not remedy for this situation. I thought about an abortion or perhaps giving birth, then giving the baby up for adoption, but quickly dispensed with either of those options. I was going to have that baby! After the baby died I had a difficult time wanting to return to school having gotten myself pregnant and losing a child, so I dropped out and sat around my parent's house for months trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. The young man finished high school and the last I heard of him was from a mutual friend that he joined the U.S. Army and was planning to make the service a career. After I lost the baby we never saw each other again, although for a while we did talk occasionally on the phone. My parents were very supportive throughout this difficult time and allowed me to make my own decisions about what I wanted to do. They never gave advice unless I asked for it and I seldom did. I have always been an independent thinker, usually electing not to do or think what everyone else does, and I like to make my own decisions. My parents were fine with me continuing to date the guy if that was we wanted and we both agreed we didn't. We parted ways as "friends."

"So, that's pretty much the story," said Josie. "My parents taught me a valuable lesson early in my life, when things don't work out as you planned, try to analyze the situation to determine what actually happened and then ask the question, did I "learn anything?" If you didn't learn anything you might be apt to repeat a similar experience and maybe next time the outcome might be worse."

"Here's what I learned and this is for you," exclaimed Josie, "relationships may come and go as does a sunset late in the afternoon, you can count on sunsets, and for the relationship to be meaningful one has to be able to count on it, like the sun setting each day. You can't afford to spend time worrying about a meaningful relationship because if you do you don't have one in the first place. Second, love takes care of itself. When you're in love you know and the other person knows without either having to say it, when love is there it's implied. Sometimes people get wrapped up in semantics, but I'm not one of them. Lastly, sex, sex is a part of a relationship with another human being. Being sexually intimate is part of the relationship, not THE relationship; it's not what the relationship is mostly about, but a part of it and a dam small part at that. So there, need I say more?" asked Josie.

For a moment Zane sat across the table in silence as he looked into Josie's eyes. She looked back at him and they continued to stare at each other in silence.

"Time to respond," said Josie, "that is, if you want to or you feel some need to, but this is who I am, who you have seen and heard is Josie."

"Who I see now pleases me a great deal," responded Zane.

"Thanks for sharing your story, it certainly reinforces my understanding of the wonderful person I first met at the GED class years ago,' said Zane. "You have so many wonderful qualities I have come to appreciate and all of those were present in your story. We know how we feel about each other and for now that is sufficient."

"For now, what do you mean for now," asked Josie, "are you suggesting you might need "something else" later?"

"What I mean is it is sufficient for now and forever," replied Zane, "you are the one and as long as we are in this relationship, together, that is all that matters. Have you ever wondered why I have never asked you to spend the night or why I haven't asked you to move in with me, ever wonder about any of that," asked Zane.

"Yea, I've thought about it, wondered about it, but if you had asked me to stay over or move in I would have said no," responded Josie.

"And I figured you would, but that is not who I am and I think you know that," replied Zane.

"Would you like some dessert?" asked Zane.

After dinner Zane and Josie returned to her apartment to do more packing. Zane left her place about 11:00p.m. When he got home he sat on his couch and thought about Josie's account of her past and he felt so sorry for her that so much happened at such a young age. He knew in time, the right time, they would become man and wife according to society's law, but for now their relationship was secure. He couldn't locate his TV remote so he decided he would turn in for the evening. All day Sunday he helped Josie finish packing for her move.
Chapter 9

Lately Zane had been thinking about purchasing another car, but what with work and helping Josie pack for her move he didn't have the time to visit any dealerships. He decided to communicate with his old friend, Carlton, who was still selling cars at a dealership on Forest Road. At lunch he called the dealership and asked to speak to Carlton. After a few moments Carlton came on the line and they got caught up before Zane had a chance to tell him he was interested in purchasing another car, not necessarily a new car. Carlton helped Zane to narrow down the criteria and before long Carlton concluded Zane wanted a small car, similar to the one he still owned after all these years. He told Zane he had four of five cars on the lot which would meet his criteria, but he would check his new car inventory to see what other cars might have just arrived which might interest him. Zane agreed to come by the dealership after work to look at the cars Carlton had to show him. Shortly after five Zane left Glass Ceilings driving in the direction of Pine Forest Road. He arrived at the dealership around 5:50 p.m. and went inside to find Carlton. Carlton was in his cubicle talking with another customer, but when he happened to see Zane standing in the showroom he told the customer to excuse him for a moment and he went out to greet Zane. Carlton seated Zane in an empty cubicle to wait until he was finished with the other customer. In about twenty minutes Carlton returned to the cubicle to escort Zane to the car lot. While they walked they talked about how things were going, at work and at home. Carlton seemed to be satisfied with his work and was enjoying being married and being a dad. He told Zane he was working hard to save enough money for a down payment on a larger house. He had asked Bo-nell for some financial assistance, but since Bo-nell still had the same job she had since the first day she went to work at the label plant she said she could not help him. Zane thought about the time Eva Mae provided the money so he could move out of the apartment he shared with Carlton. Zane was glad to hear that Carlton had a plan for improvement and was working to reach his goal. Carlton showed Zane about seven cars that met his criteria and Zane elected to test drive three of the cars. When they returned to the showroom Carlton asked Zane what he thought about any of the three cars and did he want to see any more cars on the lot. Zane told him he liked two of the cars and could be satisfied with either since he didn't get overly excited about several thousand pounds of metal that in a few years would be totally worthless. All Zane needed was a reliable vehicle to get to and from work and to and from Josie's house. One of the cars was similar to the one Zane currently had, so he was leaning toward purchasing that one. The car was two years old with only five thousand miles on it. It was light brown in color and had the usual options. Zane asked Carlton how much allowance would he give him towards a trade and Carlton said the sales manager would inspect his car and determine the trade-in value. Zane told Carlton to go ahead and get a quote as he was not expecting much on a 12 year old car with 150,000 miles on it. Carlton had Zane sit in his cubicle while he got the sales manager to evaluate his car. In about twenty minutes Carlton returned with the trade figure and Zane thought he could live with the quote so he told Carlton to prepare the paperwork. It took about an hour and a half for the paperwork to be completed plus the complementary car wash before Zane could drive away. It was almost 8:30 p.m. when Zane drove off the car lot headed south toward his apartment. On the way back he decided to detour by Josie's apartment to show her his "new" car. By the time he arrived at Josie's it was past nine. Zane sat in the car debating whether or not at this late hour to bang on Josie's door or just drive home. He decided to drive home. He had nothing to eat so he went by a fast food joint on the way home. It was almost ten o'clock by the time Zane was back in his apartment. He was happy to have a new, used car and was pleased with himself he had not spent much of his earnings during his years of employment on buying cars. Even though he took out a car loan he had a substantial savings account. His next big purchase would be a home, but not until his career was settled. Perhaps by year's end his career direction would be clearer than it was that night. The week was almost over and Zane thought about his dinner date with Josie on Friday evening. They hadn't discussed a plan for the weekend yet, but maybe they could work on that over dinner. He had only talked to her once since Sunday. He already knew their plan the following week was to move her belongings to her new apartment.

After taking a shower and putting on some clean slacks and shirt Zane picked up Josie for dinner on Friday night. They drove to a BBQ restaurant in North Delbridge. Zane hadn't eaten BBQ in months and his taste buds had been yearning for some eastern North Carolina vinegar based BBQ. In the western part of the state the BBQ sauce is tomato based while in the east the sauce is vinegar based. Both areas have historically maintained their BBQ was tops. Josie went along with Zane's choice of food, but she was not particularly fond of BBQ, whether it was eastern or western. Josie told Zane she called the apartment rental manager about moving some things over to her new apartment early and he told her she could move anything in a box, but no furniture until the first day of the month. Zane told her he would help her move as much as she had time and energy to move. They decided to get started on Saturday morning around nine. Since they didn't have a truck they would use their cars and make several trips since neither car had very much room. They moved boxes until five o'clock then drove to Zane's for drinks. After Zane had his usual Needa Buzz and Josie a Margarita they decided to have a cookout on Zane's balcony. Josie drove to the grocery store to pick up some streaks while Zane cleaned the grill. After dinner they watched a little TV then Josie returned home. She told Zane she expected they could finish the move next Saturday in about an hour since all she had left was a small amount of furniture and a few boxes. She was going to borrow her dad's truck to move the furniture. She was looking forward to freedom and privacy she never had. On Sunday Josie spent the day hanging out with her roommate since this would be the last weekend they would share an apartment. They had gotten along just fine for several years, but it was time for Josie to move on. Zane spent most of Sunday at Eva Mae's catching her up on the goings-on in his life. She told him how proud she was of his accomplishments and she had no doubt whatever happened in his future would be because of his hard work and sense of responsibility for his actions. For the first time Eva Mae mentioned talk of retiring and doing something else. She had no idea yet what she would do if she retired, but she had recently given serious thought to that notion. Zane told Eva Mae he hoped to be in a position to buy a house within a year. He also told her when he did buy his house she was welcome to come and live with him. She smiled and thanked him, but she thought it would be best for both of them to maintain their separate places for the foreseeable future. Zane said he understood. He also told Eva Mae he talked to Josie about her past, especially the pregnancy, but he did not elaborate. Eva Mae, being the tactful mom did not ask any questions. She had learned parents were better off listening to their children rather than giving too much advice or asking too many questions. She did tell Zane Josie was a really nice woman and she was glad they enjoyed each other's company. Zane hung around awhile after dinner and then returned to his apartment shortly before eight. When he got back home he called Josie and they talked about their day. Josie told Zane she was going to work late Monday morning then working that night because see had to meet with some employees from second shift regarding their web sites. They agreed to call and talk to each other sometime late Monday night.

Chapter 10

When Zane got to work Monday morning he went by Buford's office, but he was not in. Zane went down the hall and asked the other two work supervisors had they seen Buford. The supervisors told Zane they had not seen him and assumed he had not come in. One supervisor told Zane he noticed that for the past three months or so Buford seemed to be out of the office quite a bit. He assumed he was visiting more work sites, but he admitted he really didn't know for sure. Zane thanked him and decided to talk to the clerical staff about Buford. They corroborated the opinion of the work supervisor that Buford seemed to be out much of the time. As Zane left that day he was confused. Why was Buford out so much? Were his absences work related or not? Anyway, he drove home still in the dark about Buford.

On Tuesday morning Buford met Zane at the door and told him to come down to his office as soon as he went over the daily schedule with his workers. As Zane walked to his office he was anxious as to what he might hear from Buford. Shortly after nine all of Zane's work crew had left on their job assignments. Zane went by the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee before heading to Buford's office. When Zane arrived Buford's door was open so he tapped on the door molding to get Buford's attention as he was looking down at some papers. Buford looked up and motioned for Zane to take a seat. "Hey, Zane, how's it going this morning," asked Buford. "Did you get the men off alright this morning?"

"It's going okay I guess and yes I got everyone off on time," responded Zane. "There is only one truck working outside the Delbridge area today. How are you doing this morning Buford?"

"Zane, I'm not doing so well, I've got some health issues," said Buford. "I don't know whether you were aware of it or not but I've been in and out of the office quite a bit over the past few months. If you didn't need me you probably didn't notice, but it's been an average of at least two days a week. I've either been to doctors' appointments or I've been at home because I just didn't feel like coming to work. My cardiologist told me I have congestive heart failure. Do you know what that is?"

"No, I don't think I've ever heard of it, what is it?" asked Zane.

"It's when part of your heart isn't functioning, the doctor tells me most likely it was the result of years undiagnosed high blood pressure," said Buford. "Since I have never gone to a doctor all these years unless I was really sick, of course I had no way of knowing I needed medication to control my blood pressure, now part of my heart is destroyed and I can't get it back. The medicine I take allows me to function, but not to the level I want. One of the medications is a diuretic to remove the fluid buildup in my body and it causes me to have to go pee very often. This becomes a real pain when I have to meet with clients or go out to a job site and then every twenty minutes I have to pee."

"Well, sir," said Zane, "I'm sorry to hear this, is there anything I can do?"

"Actually there is Zane," replied Buford, "I've got a proposal for you to consider. First, as I've mentioned to you for quite a while I wanted to get you more involved with Glass Ceilings. Well, I've done some of that with pay raises and the promotion to work supervisor, but now I am ready to propose the next step and I hope I can get you to accept my offer."

"I will not be able to continue working 40 hours a week as I have for all of these years, I just can't physically do it anymore," said Buford. "I have a proposal for you to consider: I am prepared to place you under contract to be the CEO of Glass Ceilings. I will continue to own Glass Ceilings, but you will oversee the day to day operations of the firm, making all of the key decisions. All I will do is provide my signature for all major financial matters and maybe come to the office when I can. I don't want anyone else who works at Glass Ceilings to run this business but you. I cannot continue and if you aren't interested then Glass Ceilings will be offered for sale."

Zane was completely nonplused. He sat in silence as he attempted to process the information he had just been given. "I'm very sorry," said Zane, "I had no idea you were having health issues. I am flattered and pleased with your confidence in me. I have always tried to do a good job for you all these years and I do appreciate your offer."

"I don't expect your decision today Zane," said Buford, "I know this is a lot to consider and you need ample time to consider my offer. I would like your decision in at least a month. We can meet within two weeks to discuss any additional questions you may want answered to help with your decision. Perhaps I too will have additional comments to make."

"What about my report?' asked Zane. "How would my recommendations come into play if I accept your offer?"

"I liked your report," responded Buford; "it was well developed and very detailed. As I told you in our earlier meeting I agree with the findings in your report. Once we get this larger issue settled we will prioritize the items and implement them over a period of time."

Zane replied, "That is more than acceptable to me and I think down the road it will put Glass Ceilings on a sound footing for years to come."

"Okay," said Buford, "we're done here, think about my offer, give it some time, and let me know if you need any more information at our next meeting in two weeks. I hope you decide accept my offer to become CEO of Glass Ceilings, but in the event you decline I hope you stay with Glass Ceilings, but I certainly would understand if you decided to explore other opportunities."

Buford and Zane arose from their chairs at the same time and shook hands as Zane walked to the door. As he walked back to his office he was numb. He had no idea the meeting with Buford would take the turn it did. Zane got back to his office and called Josie. He told her he had a very interesting meeting with Buford and asked her to dinner so he could discuss the details with her. She was available and Zane told her he would pick her up at 6:30 p.m. He was glad Buford didn't want a quick response because he needed time to consider the biggest career decision to date. He had worked hard at Glass Ceilings and had improved his education plus his work skills and was confident he would continue to be successful with Buford's company or even in his fantasy efficiency services business. Would he stay with a secure position or would now be the best time to venture into uncharted territory?

Josie was ready when Zane picked her up at the apartment. She listened attentively as he told her about Buford's congestive heart failure. She was sad for Buford as he seemed such a nice man and had been so kind to Zane over the years. On the way to dinner Zane outlined the offer Buford had presented earlier that afternoon. By the time Zane finished explaining the offer they were halfway through their dinner. Josie said she knew he had a lot to consider but did he have a gut feeling as to the direction he wanted to take. Zane responded quickly that he didn't have a clue. Josie reminded him that making a list of pros and cons on a sheet of paper had always helped her. She mentioned that once she saw the list written down it was easier to move to some final decision. Zane remembered she had made that suggestion before and thanked her for reminding him. They discussed Josie's final move to her apartment on Saturday. She said everything, including borrowing her dad's truck, was set and all they had to do was load up the furniture and the rest of the boxes and head out to her new place. They talked about how different it was going to be for Josie to be living alone, but Zane knew she was ready for the change.

When Zane returned home after dropping Josie off, he got out some paper and a pencil and tried to write out his list of pros and cons, but after ten frustrating minutes he tore up his draft and threw it in the trash can under his sink. He decided to turn in as it had been an action packed day and he just didn't want to think any more about what he had to do. He got up the next morning and went to work and tried to stay busy enough not to have to think about Buford's offer. He noticed Buford's door was closed every time he passed by his office, so he assumed that Buford had not come in at all that Friday. That night Zane stayed at home in front of his TV until bed time. He was supposed to meet Josie at her apartment Saturday morning around 8:00 a.m. to get the truck loaded for the final move. Josie's plan was to have the moving done as early as possible so she could have to rest of the day to get things arranged. Josie and Zane had decided once they got to her new place they expected to be there the rest of the day and would have pizza delivered for their dinner. Zane was happy about the timing of Josie's move as he wouldn't have time to think about making his decision on Buford's offer. By 10:00 a.m. all Josie's belongings were inside her new apartment. They left to return the truck to Josie's dad and grabbed a burger on the way back to her apartment. For the remainder of the afternoon Zane and Josie moved furniture around until Josie was satisfied with the placements. They unloaded most of the boxes and placed the items in suitable places around the apartment. Around six they stopped to rest and have a Needa Buzz. Zane placed an order for a pizza to be delivered. When the pizza arrived they opened another Needa Buzz and consumed the entire pizza within ten minutes. Zane stayed at Josie's until eleven. Josie felt good about the progress they had made and told Zane she would do the rest herself after work over the next few days. At this point she was tired and she wanted to take a shower and go to bed. They exchanged their goodbye kisses and Zane left for home. As he drove to his apartment he thought about the decision he had to reach and was glad for the hiatus from thinking about it. By the time he got home he decided since tomorrow was Sunday it might be the best time for him to collect his thoughts, alone with no distractions.

Zane woke up early Sunday morning, got dressed and prepared a full pot of coffee on his coffeemaker. He wanted to be certain he had enough to get through this tough mental exercise he was about to begin. After a breakfast of frozen waffles and three cups of coffee, Zane reassembled his paper and pencils at his kitchen table and sat down and stared at a blank sheet of loose leaf filler paper. He sipped some coffee and continued to stare at the paper. He finally managed to write in the left margin the word, PRO, and on the right margin the word, CON, then he drew a line down the center of his paper. Then he sat and stared at his paper and sipped some more coffee. He still didn't know how to start. He thought if he could just get started, just make an entry, anything, just something, then he'd be off and running. Thirty minutes passed and still no entry and Zane was on his fifth cup of coffee and second pee break.

The phone rang and it was Eva Mae, providing Zane with a good excuse to procrastinate even longer. She was just checking in to see how things were going with her son and to tell him she had met a new man. This man was in her Sunday school class and she had actually known him for a while. She mentioned they had talked several times before, during, and after their class each Sunday. She told Zane for some reason she thought he was married, therefore, she didn't think much about the possibility of seeing him outside of church. About a month ago the subject of marriage was the topic of a Sunday school lesson and after the class Eva Mae and the man were discussing some key points about the institution of marriage mentioned in the class. As their discussion continued the man indicated he had been married for fifteen years, but his wife became ill, mentally ill, and had to be moved to an institution. She was still alive and while he continued to see her he had been told she would never be the woman she was. For a long time he was beset with guilt, should he wait and hope one day a miracle would happen and she would be her old self or should he continue to care of her as best he could, but seek a life outside of his marriage license. He chose the latter and told Eva Mae he had dated several women infrequently over the past few years, but no lasting relationships materialized. After their conversations in Sunday school they went out several times and Eva Mae confided with Zane she felt she could be intimate with him, but she had not yet done so. Zane told her that was information he did not need to hear, but she was an adult and she could do as she pleased. Zane felt his mother deserved to be happy and if being with this man made her happy he was supportive of it. After this news Zane told Eva Mae Buford had offered him the job as CEO of Glass Ceilings and if he accepted the position his report recommendations would be done over an unspecified period of time. Zane elected to share the further details of the position with Eva Mae at a later time. Eva Mae thanked him and told him how proud she was of his offer to become CEO of Glass Ceilings. She told Zane at some point she wanted to invite him and Josie to dinner to meet her Sunday school friend. Zane told her they would be glad to meet him, but later would be better, what with his work in a state of flux and Josie still needing to get settled in her new apartment. Eva Mae and Zane ended their conversations and Zane went back to staring at his blank sheet of paper.

PROS, what were the positives of Glass Ceilings Zane wondered. "Okay, I've got it now," he said to an empty room. He wrote down GC- good work environment, GC – security, GC – job benefits, not be best, but I do have medical insurance, GC – chance for promotions, if I am CEO of Glass Ceilings, pretty dam good promotion!, GC – working relationship with current employees, probably better than most places. Now to the CONS, GC – work most days boring and not challenging. Zane made no further entries under CONS. He looked at the list he'd compiled and saw what he already knew, with Glass Ceilings he had security and boredom and if he left Buford's company he "might" have an opportunity to enter some exciting, challenging, and somewhat creative new field. His success or failure would depend on his willingness to work hard to make it happen. Then he shifted his eyes back to the list of Pros and the security of a continuing relationship with Buford. If he stayed with Buford he would certainly have a quicker path to a new house he desired to own and perhaps getting together with Josie sooner than he might if he went out on his own. He felt he really needed to make a larger commitment to Josie soon or risk losing her, although Josie had yet to speak of a change in their relationship. Now that he thought about it she seemed fine with their loose association, so maybe he could just let this relationship issue remain as it was a little longer. Decisions, decisions, decisions, dam, but he knew he was in a good place.

It was approaching lunch time so Zane decided to take a break and go for a drive. He drove by Burger Heaven and picked up a burger and fries and decided to eat while he drove. He drove past Glass Ceilings and thought about what it might feel like going to work every day as the main man. As he thought about the position he wondered if he'd feel much different from how he felt going in each morning as a work supervisor. He would still walk through the same front door, see the same people, and have the same service to provide to the customers. He would have more people to manage, more money to oversee, but he'd still be involved with ceiling tiles. As he turned around and headed back in the direction of his apartment he decided to drive into Delbridge to get a feeling of where he might open an office if he decided to open his own business. He drove over to the Bygone Village area, where most of the space was built decades ago. An office here would be fairly central location for customers to get to. He drove down Ridgeton Street and decided it was too congested, especially around the university, so he ruled that area out. He drove to downtown Delbridge and while he thought it might be neat to have an office downtown, parking presented problems. By this time he was tired of looking and decided to return home.

Once he got home he had another thought about going into business for himself, money. What would he do for money until he got the business established? He admitted to himself he had been in denial about this most important piece of the puzzle. He had his own bills; therefore, he would need cash flow to cover his personal obligations plus the additional expenses of the business. He had managed to save some money, but he wanted to use that money to make a down payment on a house. If he left Glass Ceilings he would get one last check and that would be it. He needed to figure out how to survive financially until he was established. His thoughts returned to staying with Buford, at least until he could save more money. Buford might not agree to his staying on under this arrangement, unless of course, he didn't know Zane's plan. He couldn't do such a thing to Buford, but he had no idea where the startup funds would come from. He wondered about borrowing money from Eva Mae again, but he had no idea what her current financial situation was. Zane thought if he and Josie were together, either living together or married, then she could support them until he was on a firm financial footing. Zane realized he couldn't do that to Josie, not after all those years of a wonderful relationship. For him to suggest such an arrangement so she could front his business expenses would really be disgusting. Enough thinking, after all he had an entire month to give Buford his decision, and he felt he would need every minute to make his decision. He drove home and watched TV the rest of the day. He called Josie Sunday night and gave her his progress report. He told her he had listed his pros and cons and came up with two key points, the known security of staying put with a familiar environment weighed against leaving the nest to be completely independent while rowing his canoe into shark infested waters. He also told Josie he needed a financial source to start a new business while he continued to pay for his current obligations. She agreed it was a problem and mentioned the possibility of a small business loan which Zane recalled from his undergraduate courses in Business Administration. Josie was stating what Zane already knew but didn't want to admit, if he wanted to start a business he might have to go in debt to finance the operation. After talking to Josie Zane's decision was to go to bed.
Chapter 11

The next three weeks flew by for Zane and he was down to his last week before giving Buford his decision. He had been busy at work, which was good. He seldom saw Buford and they had not talked about Buford's offer since their meeting three weeks ago. Buford had cancelled his earlier meeting at the two week point because of continuing health problems with his congestive heart failure. Zane continued to see Josie mostly on the weekends. Josie had settled into her new apartment and had purchased some new furniture. She was glad she moved away from her roommate, but they still continued to communicate with each other and had a great relationship. Josie was enjoying her job and felt good about her contribution to the employees. As she endlessly listened to Zane grappling with trying to reach a decision she wondered privately if it took that long to reach a conclusion, how in the hell was he ever going to make any future decisions about anything else? She thought once a person had all the facts available from which to make a decision, then they needed to make a decision. The decision would be either the correct one or it wouldn't and then the individual would just have to live with it, case closed. But here Zane was, she thought, three weeks into the process and still he was no closer to a decision than he was the day he left Buford's office. Then he shifted gears from whether or not to accept Buford's offer to thoughts of his long time fantasy of starting his own business.

Zane cited money woes as being his biggest problem with starting a business, but Josie thought he should give some thought to a detailed marketing plan. Without money he certainly could not start a business, but without an effective marketing plan Josie felt he could sit in his new office for days, weeks, months before anyone would express an interest in his services. The more effective the marketing plan the sooner the bucks would roll in the door. She didn't want to act like a know it all, but sometimes she thought he only saw part of the picture. Finally when Zane paused to take a breath after rambling on for what seemed like hours, Josie mentioned a marketing plan. A puzzled look came across Zane's face. It was clear from the expression on his face that he had not given a thought to marketing. Josie shared what she had been thinking which got Zane's attention. He motioned with his hands that Josie had a good point. He told her the thought of marketing had not entered his mind and for sure it would have a play a significant role in his business. Josie offered to develop a web site as part of his marketing plan. He had spent too much time thinking about the end result, but practically no time with the startup details. Without the details of a business plan how could he resign from a secure job, especially one where the boss offered him a leading role? Zane was down to the last week before giving Buford a decision. What would he do without Josie? She always seemed to be there for him especially when he saw the light in the tunnel but not the train about to hit him in the face. Josie suggested he begin work on the specifics of his business, the business plan to include financing, marketing, and the details of the services he planned to offer. Unless he had those areas resolved Josie didn't think he should consider going into business for himself. She wondered why with he didn't know these things especially with an undergraduate degree in business. Josie surreptitiously questioned Zane's real commitment to starting his own business. She imagined an analogy of wanting to learn how to swim, but avoiding the water. Maybe, Josie thought, he was hoping someone, maybe her, would talk him out of pursuing this venture. Maybe Josie needed to assess where she was with this relationship, was Zane the man she really wanted a long term commitment with? She was on her own, had her own place, and a rewarding job with great potential for the future. Josie gathered Zane had not been happy from day one at Glass Ceilings even though now he had been offered a position as CEO. It seemed to her he wished he was working somewhere else. Why didn't he just look for another job if he was unhappy? Now he was in a quandary, would he leave Glass Ceilings to launch his own business or stay and continue to be dissatisfied?

As Zane prepared to drive to work Monday morning he reminded himself he made minimal progress with his business plan, but he still didn't feel totally comfortable, maybe he never would. When he arrived at work he walked by Buford's office and noticed he had not arrived. At ten o'clock Zane went to the kitchen to get coffee and he could hear Buford yelling about something. He poured his coffee and as he walked past Buford's office Zane noticed Buford had a distressed look on his face. Buford appeared to be experiencing some discomfort, so Zane walked in and asked, "Buford, are you alright?" Buford appeared to be laboring for breath as he tried to tell Zane he was having chest pains. Zane asked if he could get him anything and Buford said, "I think you need to call 911." Zane rushed to the phone on Buford's desk and dialed the number. He rushed out to explain the situation to everyone within sight and they all dropped what they were doing and ran to Buford's office. They crowded around Buford's desk while he continued to gasp for breath. Zane directed one employee to go outside to meet the Emergency Services and direct them to Buford's office when they arrived. Within ten minutes the EMS vehicle arrived. The paraprofessionals were inside the building and attending to Buford within one minute. The EMTs decided to take Buford to the local hospital because based on their preliminary tests they believed Buford had suffered a heart attack. They got Buford onto a gurney and loaded into the EMS vehicle and were out of the parking lot within three minutes. Zane told the other employees he was going to follow the EMS vehicle to the hospital and he would call the office as soon as he knew something. When he arrived at the Emergency Room entrance he parked the car and ran in and told the front desk receptionist who he was and the patient's name. Since Zane was not a member of Buford's immediate family he was told to sit in the waiting room. Within thirty minutes Buford's wife, Bessie arrived and when Zane saw her he got up to provide her with what information he had. She told Zane she had been called by someone in the business office and told Buford had been rushed to the hospital. She identified herself at the front desk and had a very worried look as she was escorted back into the examining rooms. Zane sat in the waiting room for what seemed like another hour before he saw Josie coming through the entrance. Zane had called her and told her what happened and she left work to lend support to Zane in any way she could. While Zane was concerned about Buford's immediate status, the thought entered his mind what if Buford didn't make it. After all people died from heart attacks all the time, so it wasn't like it would be unusual, especially since Buford had congestive heart failure. How would his death come into play in Zane's decision to remain at Glass Ceilings? Maybe if Buford died so would his option, since Buford told Zane their discussion regarding the CEO position would remain in his office. Should Zane assume Buford didn't share the offer with Bessie? If Buford did not discuss his proposal with his wife the offer could die with him. If Buford died Bessie might decide an entirely different direction she wanted to go. Buford needed to live; at least until Zane could make up his mind about accepting or rejecting Buford's offer. Zane felt very selfish about having all of these thoughts, but he couldn't help it. What happened to Buford had a profound impact his life so he had to be thinking about possible scenarios.

Two hours later Bessie emerged from the examining rooms to tell Zane and Josie that Buford did have a heart attack, but according to the cardiologist who examined Buford the episode was a minor one, but still the attack traumatized Buford's already weakened heart. Buford was moved to the Intensive Care Ward on the fourth floor. Zane and Josie accompanied Bessie to the fourth floor. Zane and Josie went to the waiting room while Bessie went to the desk to get directions to Buford's room. Two hours later Bessie walked into the waiting room and told Zane and Josie Buford was stable and resting comfortably. She informed them the doctor expected Buford to remain for several days while they administered further tests to determine the extent of the trauma to Buford's heart. The doctors had no intention of discharging him until they were comfortable with the prognosis. Bessie told Zane that Buford expressed to her he wanted Zane in charge of things for the foreseeable future and if he needed anything he was to contact her. Zane told her he would be happy to do that and she need not worry about Glass Ceilings. Zane told her if she or Buford needed anything to let him know.

After Bessie finished her conversation with Zane and Josie she went back to sit with Buford and Zane and Josie decided to leave the hospital. Zane and Josie chatted briefly in the parking lot before they got in their cars and drove to their respective apartments. While driving home Zane was back and forth with his thoughts on the current state of affairs. He knew that as long as Buford was lying in that hospital bed Zane's career plans were suspended. No way in hell would he decide to leave now to embark on a new, but scary business endeavor. No way could he discuss the option Buford had presented earlier until his health improved. Zane could continue to plan for his business, if he really wanted to, but for now he had to focus on keeping Glass Ceilings functioning. Zane thought since he would be serving as an "interim boss" he could get a really good feel for the role of CEO of Glass Ceilings. This interim status might just be a great training opportunity. He just might embrace the role, and when Buford was better they could have that meeting and Zane would accept Buford's offer. For now he needed to get to bed and rest for tomorrow he wanted to be ready to assume the duties as boss man of Glass Ceilings.

When Zane arrived at work the next morning he gave his work crew an update on Buford and then issued their work assignments. He summoned the other two supervisors to his office to give them a status report on Buford and told them he would communicate with Bessie later than morning to find out if there were any changes in Buford's status. He told the men he was asked by Buford to serve as interim boss man until Buford returned and they should expect things to continue as normal for the foreseeable future. He told them to explain the situation to their work crews and asked for their support and understanding during this time. When the men left Zane's office he called in the clerical staff, then the business office staff followed by the supply room staff and lastly, the mechanics and told them all the same thing. By ten o'clock Zane had met with all Glass Ceilings employees except the remaining installers who were to be informed by their work supervisors. Shortly after ten Zane called the hospital and was connected to Buford's room. Bessie answered and told Zane that Buford had a restful night and so far all was going as well as could be expected. She was waiting for the doctors to make their rounds. When she received their updates she would try to call Zane, but she cautioned the call may later rather than sooner. Zane knew she had to be tired, but she was right there by Buford's side. When Zane hung up he looked over Buford's schedule for the day. He returned several calls Buford had planned to make to informed customers about Buford's heart attack and reassured them the work they requested would be done according to the schedule. He placed two calls to cancel scheduled meetings. The rest of the day Zane reviewed the long term work orders and tried to decide which work crews were to be assigned the jobs. After lunch he met with the business office staff to get an overview of the processes and to attend to any financial issues normally Buford would take care of. He next met with the supply room workers to make sure needed materials continued to be ordered and were stocked in a timely fashion. He elected not to meet with the clerical staff and the mechanics. By five o'clock Zane closed his office and headed to his car. He felt like he had already put in a full week, but he expected tomorrow would go a little slower. On the way to his apartment he realized Bessie had not called him back. He hoped the reason she had not called was because she was trying to catch up on her sleep rather than some setback with Buford. He decided he would call the hospital after he had dinner. He was quite hungry especially when he realized he had not taken a break for lunch. He hoped skipping lunch would not get to be a habit. When he got home he called Josie, but she didn't answer, so he assumed she was still at work. After a frozen dinner and a dozen cookies Zane called the hospital. The call was transferred to Buford's room and after six rings Bessie finally answered. She apologized for not answering sooner but she was helping Buford with his dinner. She told him Buford was stable and had a good day. The doctors told Bessie he was lucky as his attack could have been worse, but they told him he really needed to step away from the stress of working. The big issue was the congestive heart failure and if he pushed himself too much it might trigger another heart attack and next time he might not be as lucky. The doctors told Buford as long as he took his medications, ate properly, and did some low impact exercising he should expect to be around a while longer. Zane spoke about the tasks he performed filling in for Buford and Bessie seemed pleased. She told Zane she would tell Buford everything at work was under control. Zane ended the conversation by telling Bessie to call him if any there were any changes and he would call her when he got to work the next day. It was now eight thirty so Zane placed another call to Josie, but still no answer. Zane wondered where she was. He didn't remember Josie telling him she had to work over, but he also thought she didn't need to tell him of her whereabouts all the time. He tried to watch a ball game on TV, but had a hard time trying not to think of work and Josie's whereabouts. He began to have second thoughts about his efficiency services and wondered if he was really "pissing in the wind" about having his own business. It would be hard to focus on starting a new business when he was being counted on by so many people. He dozed off and when he woke up it was past eleven. He decided not to try Josie's number again and went back to sleep.
Chapter 12

The next day was a full day at work. During the morning Zane had to mediate an unresolved dispute between a work supervisor and an installer. After listening to both sides he concluded that they both just needed to take a deep breath and try harder to like each other a little better. He met with someone from the business office about experiencing difficulty in collecting payments for several past jobs, some even dating back to last year. Zane reviewed efforts to collect these charges and the responses from the customers. He wondered why this problem had not been identified when he did his efficiency project interviews. Maybe there were other problems employees had not shared. Maybe this place was more dysfunctional than he was made aware of. He told the business office worker to send one more bill requesting immediate payment and if payment was not received within two weeks then make a phone call and inform the customer if the payment was not received within five days Glass Ceilings would turn the unpaid amount over to a collection agency. The business worker told Zane they'd never had to make direct calls to delinquent customers before and that this new course of action might not go over well with the staff. He told her all unpaid bills affected the financial operation of Glass Ceilings and simply could not and would not be forgiven. The worker left Zane's office seemingly pissed off with the answer. When Zane was free he called the hospital to get an update on Buford. Bessie told Zane all was going as well as expected and the doctors told her Buford might be able to return home next week if he had no setbacks. She said he was having a hard time being told he couldn't continue to work, but she went on to say the two of them had been talking about him either retiring or pulling less time at the office for several years so it was not like this was the first time the subject was discussed. All Zane could do was stay the course and do the best job he could until Buford's health improved and they could resume deliberations about the offer.

That night Zane was able to communicate with Josie. She told him she had been out with her old roommate and some of her friends. When Zane quizzed Josie about whom the "friends" were she asked Zane why it should matter to him who they were. Zane paused for a moment to think about Josie's comment, "why should it matter?" and told Josie she was absolutely correct it should not matter. There was a pause on Josie's end of the line until she said, "correct," then she said "look, I got to go, talk to you later," and hung up. What the hell was that about thought Zane? He was still trying to figure out his future, his boss had a heart attack, and now his "girl friend" if that was what Josie was, wanted to be short with him. Well, he didn't have time for this shit. He thought to himself that he and Josie had no real commitment, probably no more than Zane had with his old friend, Carlton. Zane moved on and Carlton moved on, but they were still friends. Maybe it was time he and Josie moved on or maybe he was making the proverbial mountain out of a molehill. He knew she was as free and independent as any female he had known and she had always done what the hell she wanted, which is one of the traits Zane admired. He decided to just let "shit happen." Their "relationship" would continue to evolve or it wouldn't, but one thing for sure he had no intention of bringing up that phone conversation again.

As the weeks passed Zane's job of serving in the interim for Buford had settled in and he felt good about his management of Glass Ceilings. Buford had been discharged from the hospital and was now at home. According to Bessie he spent most of his days looking out the window, watching reruns on TV, and wondering what was going on at Glass Ceilings. Bessie told Zane on several occasions that Buford had every confidence in Zane's abilities, but he still missed being at the office. She also told Zane that while Buford had spoken often about retiring or reducing his time at work he never really spent much time thinking about how he would spend his free time if he did decide to cut back. Now, the time had arrived and he wasn't prepared for the change. Zane started coming to visit Buford at least every other week to provide Buford with updates from the office. He provided financial status reports, discussed new customers, and talked about some of the day to day problems and how he solved them. Buford listened intently and offered little in the way of feedback, so Zane assumed he was in agreement with his actions. These visits went on for several months, Zane providing updates and Buford listening and making few comments. During these visits Buford never made mention of the offer he had made to Zane. As time passed Zane wondered if maybe Buford had totally forgotten he had made an offer to him to become CEO of Glass Ceilings. Zane didn't feel it was appropriate to bring up the offer so he just continued to focus on keeping Glass Ceilings running.

Over the past few weeks Zane had communicated less and less with Josie. The phone calls were less frequent and when they did talk they were usually finished within ten minutes. Zane spent little time away from work worrying about what Josie was doing. As he continued in his interim status at Glass Ceilings he knew he was picking up valuable work experience in case he opted to open his own business or if he was ever officially named CEO of Glass Ceilings. He had recently finished a draft of his business plan, including a marketing plan. Strange, he thought, Josie seemed so dam ready to help develop his web site and now they hardly ever communicated. Maybe he'd never ask her to do a dam thing! He thought their current relationship had become much like it was when they were in GED class, not much contact and then not a hell of a lot to talk about. He wondered what in the hell he saw in her in the first place. He answered his own question, she was smart, hugely independent, resourceful, friendly, witty, kind, and empathetic, that's what he saw in her in the first place.

One Sunday Zane decided to visit Eva Mae so he called to be sure he would not impose, after all she was seeing someone. Eva Mae was glad to hear from Zane and before he asked if he could visit she invited him to dinner. Zane decided to stop by a flower shop on the way and buy Eva Mae a large bouquet of flowers since it had been over six weeks since he had seen her. He also stopped by the grocery store and picked up a six pack of Needa Buzz and a bottle of white wine. Zane arrived around 4:30 p.m. and parked the car in front of her small, but extremely tidy house in a modest neighborhood of Anvil. He tapped on the door before walking in and found her in the kitchen in the initial stages of preparing their dinner. After hugs and kisses Zane presented Eva Mae with the flowers and the bottle of wine. Zane put his six pack of Needa Buzz in the refrigerator to let it get cold. He put the bottle of wine in the freezer to get a quick cool down for Eva Mae was ready for a full glass. Zane asked Eva Mae where her man friend was and she replied "what man friend?"

Zane replied, "That man you told me about over a month ago, you know the one who wanted to get intimate and I closed my ears so as not to hear the rest, that man."

"Oh him," responded Eva Mae, "well, he's another in the long line of losers, yea, intimacy, he wanted to be intimate, but the shit he wanted me to engage in well, let's leave it, he's out of my life."

"Okay," said Zane, "that's all I need on that one, how's your work?"

"Work is fine," replied Eva Mae, "and you know I'm beginning to think more and more about retiring in a few years. I've managed to make a good living which has helped me pay my bills and when I retire I will have a good pension plan along with health insurance, so I'm thinking the time may be right in the very near future. I want time to travel more, garden more, read more, and just do nothing before I'm too dam old to do nothing but rock and drool and wonder when my tray will be delivered."

"I think you have a longtime before all that," said Zane, "but the other things, yes, I can understand why you'd want more time to do those things."

"How's Josie," asked Eva Mae, "obviously you didn't bring her with you this time. Call it women's or mom's intuition, but I'd say things are strained right now."

"And you'd be right on the money mom," said Zane.

"I don't know what happened but a few weeks ago, actually it was during the time when Buford was in the hospital I called her three times one night and she never answered," said Zane. "When I finally made contact the next day she just said she was with her old roommate and "friends" and that was it. When I asked about the "friends" she basically told me it was none of my business and since then we have had little contact with each other. As a matter of fact I have only seen her one time since that phone call, so you tell me, what the hell?"

"Well," began Eva Mae, "women can be an enigma, but so can men, so I can't present any more than you have already figured out." Eva Mae continued, "I will mention here the obvious, she is "involved" with something or someone else. If the involvement was the something, like church, school, clubs, or work then we both know she would be willing to tell you about those activities, so it's not the something. If it involves someone, then she's much less likely to tell you, but rather assumes you will find out on your own or just go away. I might assume here that since your relationship has changed like overnight at this point she probably doesn't really give a dam as to what or how you find out. Maybe she wanted a more long term commitment, but when you didn't offer it she got tired of waiting. Too bad you two can't talk about how you feel."

"That's just it, we had a long talk a while back," said Zane, "and after our conversation I thought we were fine with where we were. Josie let on that words were not as important to her as actions, so I decided to focus on the things we were doing together."

"Maybe then that's what happened," said Eva Mae, "you both just wanted to spread your wings and have your space, but enjoy each other's company some of the time not all of the time and both of you claim to be comfortable with that. If you are not cool with that then you should talk to her. You shouldn't feel put out because she is living her life right now the way she wants, not the way you might expect."

"Thanks mom for your assessment, I'm not disagreeing, I guess really, I don't know what I want to do about seeing her," said Zane.

"Good, and since you aren't sure, do nothing, and if it is supposed to work out it will anyway in time," said Eva Mae. "What I've learned, if anything about relationships between men and women is that there really is no rush, but most of us don't operate by reason, but by emotions and when we do often someone winds up being hurt. There's nothing easy about it, but you know, a person can get by just fine being alone, but I will admit usually it's better if there are two," said Eva Mae.

"Let's talk about something else," said Zane.

"Fine by me," replied Eva Mae, "how's Buford doing, is he back at work yet?"

"He's doing as well as expected given the circumstances, but he's done with work, the doctors recommended he not return to work," said Zane. "I have been managing things and at this point I feel very comfortable with running Glass Ceilings."

Eva Mae returned to the kitchen to put the finishing touches on her Beef Wellington, which was

Zane's favorite dish and a dish Eva Mae had made so many times she labeled it her "signature dish." After the main course Zane was treated to banana pudding, one of his favorites. They returned to the living room and finished off some after dinner drinks before Zane told his mother he needed to head home. Eve Mae told Zane to continue to work hard and if he did that there would be positive outcomes. He reminded her she had taught him many years ago to be accountable for his actions and if he screwed up, come clean, then fix what needed fixing and move on. She told him she had the utmost confidence he would always do the right thing. As far as Josie, Eva Mae suggested he try to arrange a date and just talk it out because until he actually heard her side he shouldn't assume anything. Zane agreed with Eva Mae, but as he drove off he was still pissed at Josie for seemingly being so distant recently. When he got home he popped the top on another Needa Buzz, sat down on the couch and stared at his phone. Should he call Josie and try to confirm a date or just sit there and drink his beer? An hour passed and he hadn't moved. As he got up to go get another Needa Buzz the phone rang. He went over to his phone to view the caller ID to determine if he wanted to talk to the caller. It was Josie, but he let the call go to voice mail just to see what she had to say. While the machine was recording Josie's message Zane went to the refrigerator to get his second Needa Buzz. When he returned he hit the return button on his voice mail to hear Josie's message, "Hey Zane, Josie, hadn't talked to you in a while, just checking in to see what's going on, call me."

"Shit, now that tells me a lot," said Zane out loud. "But at least she called me, so that's a plus," he said again out loud to the four walls. Then he thought, should he call her now, wait, or just not call at all. Shit, he'd sit back down, turn on his TV and see if there was a game that interested him. He could wait, she did.

"What am I thinking?" Zane blurted out, "I don't have a problem with Josie, she told me on that famous enigma evening when I called that she had been out with her roommate and some friends, and so what's my problem?" He picked up the phone and returned Josie's call. They talked on the phone for the next two hours as if nothing between them had changed. They cited busy, busy, and busy and after a date was confirmed for Saturday night they hung up. Zane turned off the TV and prepared for bed, breathing a sigh of relief after finally getting to talk to Josie again. The subject of her "night out" was not brought up in their phone conversation and Zane had no intention of ever mentioning it again. If it was important to their relationship he would know in due time. He needed a full night's rest because Monday had the makings of a full and stressful day.
Chapter 13

On Monday Zane drove to work thirty minutes early to review the work schedules and the weekly financial report. The business of installing ceiling tiles had certainly not dropped off since Buford's heart attack, as the financial report showed a 5% increase in profits. Those were numbers Buford would be pleased to read. When the work supervisors arrived he gave them their work schedules, and then met with his own work crew to discuss their assignments. Next he spoke to the business office staff and thanked them for an excellent weekly report. He got a cup of coffee and went down to speak to the supply staff, and then dropped by for a brief chat with the mechanics before talking to the clerical staff. As he returned to his office he thought things were in good shape to start the week. Zane planned to visit Buford on Wednesday to give him an update and discuss any other matters Buford brought up. Since Buford returned home from the hospital he still had not brought up the matter of the Glass Ceilings offer he had outlined to Zane some time ago. Zane was trying to be patient and was determined not to bring up the issue with Buford. Zane was still fairly certain that no one else, not even Bessie, knew about the offer. While Zane was willing to wait it out he continued to work on his plan for a business. When he saw Josie on Saturday he expected to bring her up to date not only on work at Glass Ceilings, but the status of his dream business. He knew he could effectively manage Glass Ceilings, as he had been doing it for over a month now, but the big question still to be answered, did he really want to run a ceiling tile installation company for the rest of his life? Most days Zane still felt he didn't want a career in ceiling tiles. Zane had managed to save enough money from his pay raise for a down payment on a home, but as far as having sufficient funds to leave a full time salaried position and start up a new business, he was not there yet. He would continue to do some figuring as to how much money he needed and how long it would take to save his estimated amount. Buford had given Zane a substantial raise that would remain in place as long as Zane was serving in an interim capacity. Until Buford decided to bring up the earlier offer things with Zane were still unsettled.

On Wednesday Zane met with Buford to provide a status report on Glass Ceilings and Buford seemed happy with the information he received. For the first time since before he was admitted to the hospital Buford mentioned the offer he had made to Zane weeks ago. Buford reiterated the offer, which was for Zane to become CEO of Glass Ceilings with Buford continuing to own Glass Ceilings and signing off on all major financial decisions. After listening to Buford, Zane concurred that was his recollection of the offer. Then Buford switched gears completely. He told Zane that he appreciated all he had done for him since he was hired and he especially appreciated the work he was currently doing as interim CEO, but he had a change of heart after talking to his wife. Buford had decided to put Glass Ceilings up for sale. Zane sat in silence and just looked at Buford as if to say, "Buford, WTF?"

Zane understood the ramifications of the sale of Glass Ceilings. It meant his ass would be out on the street, so much for company loyalty. Before Zane departed to return to the ceiling tile company he loved so much Buford told him he would offer him a severance check when Glass Ceilings was sold. Buford told Zane he would understand if he opted to leave early, but if he did there would be no exit pay. Smoke was coming out of the top of Zane's head as he left Buford's house. "The son of a bitch," muttered Zane to himself, "that's the thanks I get after all this time and especially now." "Why didn't the asshole ask one of the other supervisors to do this shit, why me?" asked Zane to himself. "Now he takes his original offer off the table and wants to give me a check when Glass Ceilings is sold, but he was dam careful not to specify an amount so to keep my ass in suspense, the son of a bitch!" Zane's blood was boiling as he drove into Glass Ceilings parking lot. He went straight to his office and closed the door. He sat there staring out the window and wondered why he hadn't pursued other employment possibilities earlier. Now after spending all these years working for Buford he felt he had been deceived. He was so mad he was tempted to draft a letter of resignation right then and there. That would serve Buford right for screwing him. After about an hour Zane had calmed down and tried to reassess the situation. He realized if he got a decent check upon the sale of Glass Ceilings it might be enough to kick start his own business, but since he didn't know the amount Buford planned to give him he might work at Glass Ceilings for a long time before the company was sold, and then receive a paltry sum. At that point he could view his decision to stay on as a big mistake. He now realized all along Buford made decisions based on what was in his best interest not Zane's or for that matter any of the other employees. The system Buford had in place was called free enterprise; the owner made the decisions based on his needs first, followed by everyone else. Zane came to the conclusion it was time to think about himself and less about Buford. He didn't owe Buford a dam thing. Buford had gotten his money's worth and now he was showing no loyalty whatsoever to Zane, so he decided it was time to be selfish. He was going to look out for his own ass from now on and maybe this latest decision by Buford was all the sign he needed to finalize his business plans. He just needed to finish his work day at Glass Ceilings and get away. He needed a sounding board, he needed a good listener, and he needed Josie. He called her before he left work and asked if she had time to listen to the latest shit storm from his work and Josie told him, "sure," so Zane told her he would be at her apartment by six to pick her up.

Zane picked Josie up shortly after six and they drove to a downtown sushi bar. When they were seated Zane reached across the table and grabbed Josie's hands and said, "I've missed you, thanks for agreeing to come out with me tonight and listen to the shit I'm about to tell you."

"Zane," said Josie, "I care about all that happens in your life and I'm here for you."

At that point Zane got up from his seat and went around the table to Josie's seat, leaned over and planted the "mother of all kisses" on her soft, waiting lips.

"Wow," was Josie's response.

"Josie, let's cut the crap, I love you, I love you!" said Zane.

Josie sat in silence for a moment as she smiled at Zane across the table. They joined hands in the middle of the table as the server placed their menus on the table. This was an epiphany, an awakening; Zane told Josie how he felt! This was huge!

After Josie and Zane placed their orders for 2 California rolls, 2 Phoenix rolls, 2 Philadelphia rolls, 2 hot and sour soups, and some sweet tea, Josie said, "You know Zane, it's simple, I love you, and I love you more than anyone!"

It was a precious moment. After all this time, all the dates, the dinners, the phone calls, the weekends and finally Josie and Zane shared with each other how they felt about each other. The rest of the evening was special for the couple and after Zane took Josie home that night while driving home he realized he could deal with anything. He could deal with Buford, or he could create and successfully operate his own business because at the end of the day he would be with a person who really cared about him and that person was Josie, who Zane had known for some time was the love of his life.

When Zane got back to his apartment he jumped for joy and pounded his fist, "Yes!" He was ecstatic about the evening he spent with the girl he loved. He knew his future would be spent with someone who genuinely cared about him. They would plan their life together. Did he want to start a business? Well, if he decided to, Josie, his love, would be right there by his side to support the move. How good was that? Shit, maybe tomorrow he would take some of his savings and buy Josie an engagement ring. Um maybe, he should wait until things in his life were clearer than they were that moment. He still had to deal with Buford's shit. What should he do, stay or go? There was simply too much heavy shit going down for Zane. He needed a Needa Buzz so he went to his refrigerator and pulled out a can. He popped the top, grabbed the remote, and sat down on his couch. It was time for reflection. He knew he didn't have to make a quick decision about Buford's latest decree, after all Zane was going to think about his needs first, everyone except of course, Josie, had to wait. The loyalty to Buford was off the table, screw him! After a second Needa Buzz Zane retired to his bedroom to think about what had recently transpired. The most important happening was his affirmation of his love for Josie, truly the love of Zane's life.
Chapter 14

The last two days of the work week were largely uneventful for Zane. There were a couple of customer complaints which were quickly dispensed with by a nice discount off their final bill. Amazing sometimes how discounts work. He had a meeting with the business office supervisor about a small glitch in their billing procedure, but other than those problems he had a nice ending to the week. At dinner Thursday night Zane asked Josie out for Saturday and Sunday evenings. He realized how much he had missed her and now he wanted to see her as often as possible. On Friday afternoon at five Zane was the first person out the front door. Shit, loyalty was nonexistent, every man and woman for themselves, that's how Buford felt and that was how Zane was feeling. He drove by the grocery store to pick up a six pack of Needa Buzz. When he got home he popped a top and turned on his TV. He decided to order pizza delivery since he had no interest whatsoever in going back out on a rainy night. After a few more Needa Buzzs he called Josie to confirm their dates for Saturday and Sunday evenings. He talked to Josie another twenty-five minutes before hanging up to open the door for the pizza delivery man. Zane didn't especially like pizza, but it was quick and filling and some days that was all he needed. After he ate his thin crust pizza he opened the file folder of his business plan and reviewed his notes. What he still needed was an estimated budget. He wanted to develop a business budget for at least six months. He would need to rent office space. He would probably rent office furniture in the short run. His other expenses would include utilities, Internet service, and an office phone. He planned to use his own laptop which would allow him to take his work home, if he so desired. He would need to budget a considerable amount for his marketing efforts. Josie planned to develop Zane's web site and he would also need business cards, brochures, and might even place some ads in the local papers for the few people who still read papers. He would send mass mailings to local companies to peddle his services. Later he would market statewide and perhaps nationwide. For now he needed some baseline budget numbers. Zane thought it would be nice to know the amount of Buford's exit check. He wondered if somehow he could squeeze that information out of old Buford. As Zane closed his eyes he was feeling good about a lot of things.

Saturday morning Zane got up early to work on his business budget. He was planning to pick Josie up to take her to breakfast so he only prepared morning coffee. At nine o'clock Zane left to drive to Josie's apartment. When he got there she was standing at the curb in front of her apartment. As she got in the car she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. They drove to a pancake house a few miles away for breakfast. The restaurant had Saturday morning blueberry pancake specials so Josie and Zane got a stack of pancakes each and ate every last bite. While they ate they talked about Zane's business plans and about his eventual departure from Glass Ceilings. Josie listened well, as always, and offered few suggestions. Zane told her he expected to have some final budget estimates for the business by the end of the weekend.

Josie told Zane, "I know you can do this, you are ready for this move and believe me in a few years you will hardly remember you ever worked at Glass Ceilings."

After breakfast Josie and Zane drove to a business supplies store and later a furniture rental store to get cost estimates for the items he needed to buy for his business. They drove out to a business park, looked at some office space and talked to a rental manager regarding figures on the monthly rents of the available spaces. They drove to a movie matinee to see a first run movie and ate a tub of popcorn for their lunch. After the movie they went back to Josie's to see her new furniture. They hung out at her place until dinner, then drove to Perkinson's Fish Camp, a restaurant they hadn't been to in a while. After dinner Zane took Josie back to her place and they continued to talk more about Zane's business. Josie encouraged Zane to set up an appointment at a local bank to find out about the possibility of a small business loan. If he could get the amount he needed and have it financed over a long period of time then he would have a more manageable monthly budget. Once he got the business going and did well financially he could pay the loan back ahead of schedule. Zane agreed Josie had a good point and he told her he had considered that and would visit a bank soon to get the details of a small business loan. He told Josie he really wanted to know the amount of his exit check from Buford because if it was substantial obviously he would borrow less money, if any at all. Josie suggested Zane try and sit down with Buford to negotiate a set amount or a percentage of the final sales price of the business. Josie told Zane it would be nice if he had some leverage in the negotiations, but she doubted he had any. Buford owned the business and he could do what he dam well pleased. Zane didn't feel he had anything to negotiate with Buford. If he was too demanding Buford could take his offer off the table. In fact, if Buford got too pissed he could tell Zane to pack his bags. Zane concluded he would have to tread lightly unless he could come up with another solution for dealing with Buford. Zane left Josie's apartment at eleven o'clock and drove back to his apartment. When he got home he dressed for bed and turned in. He simply had no more energy to spend on his business plans or on negotiations with Buford.

When Zane got to work on Monday morning he realized the other employees of Glass Ceilings had not been informed of Buford's plan to sell the company. He certainly didn't think it was appropriate to tell them just yet without finding out from Buford how he wanted this news articulated. Zane wondered if he could find out Buford's wishes by phone. He postponed his decision until he got his work crew and the other work crews started for the day. As he looked at his schedule he knew he needed find out about the small business loans. Shit, he had to care for number one, every man for himself, he'd just take a long lunch break, visit a bank and find out about those loans. After nine o'clock he called the bank to set up an appointment with a loan officer during his lunch break. Zane expected to have a good idea about the details of a small business loan by the time he returned to his office that afternoon. The loan information could go a long way to determining how much longer he would remain at Glass Ceilings. If he could secure the needed funds and the monthly payments were tolerable he might just abruptly resign. Buford could figure out his own dam problems, Zane was taking care of number one. Zane wondered just how long it would take to sell Glass Ceilings and how many prospective buyers would be attracted? He hadn't thought of any of this until now, but his employment at Glass Ceilings was he thought fragile at best.

Zane got to the bank early and told the receptionist he had an appointment with a loan officer. She told him to have a seat and the loan officer would be with him shortly. Zane picked up several brochures about loans and read over them while he waited for his appointment. Approximately twenty minutes later a lady appeared in front of Zane and introduced herself as the loan officer. She escorted Zane back to her office and offered him a seat. She asked Zane what she could do for him. He gave her a copy of his business plan and explained the details of the service he intended to provide. She asked Zane how much available cash did he have and told him she would have to check his credit. He told her he had on deposit $5,000. He asked if he would need collateral for a loan and was told it would depend on his credit and the final amount he borrowed. The loan officer gave Zane examples of monthly payments given various loan amounts. She told Zane by the end of the week she would know how much money he could borrow and whether or not he would need collateral. Zane told her collateral would be a problem because other than a used car and a few pieces of furniture he didn't own anything. She asked did he think he could get a co-signer in case she couldn't get him a loan without collateral. He thought for a moment, and then wondered if this was something he might talk to Eva Mae about. He would hate to do that again because he remembered the last time he asked her for money to move to his apartment. Those conversations were not all that pleasant and unless he was pushed against a wall he would not want to ask her. He told the loan officer possibly his mother could co-sign, but he would be reluctant to ask her. The loan officer told Zane hopefully collateral would not be needed. Zane realized this was just another one of those "hurry up and wait" days. An important decision he needed to have resolved was in the hands of someone else and he had to wait, just like old Buford making him wait. He thanked her for her time and told her he would anticipate an answer by the end of the week. The loan officer told Zane he should expect to have his answer by sometime Friday.

Zane drove back to the office after a two and a half hour lunch break. When he got to the office there were five voice mails he had to attend to along with three written messages on his desk from employees. It took over an hour to respond to the voice mails, all from existing customers and prospective customers. He responded to the employees' messages in short order. He realized he still needed to call Buford and ask him how he wanted his employees to be informed about the imminent sale of his business. He sat in his chair for a few minutes thinking if he was approved for a loan, especially one which didn't require collateral, would he be ready to leave Glass Ceilings and start his dream business? He looked down at the phone and decided to call Buford. The phone rang and rang before Bessie answered. Zane asked to speak to Buford and Bessie told him Buford was taking a nap, but she would have him call when he woke up. She asked Zane if there was anything she could do for him and Zane told her no. After shuffling a few more papers and answering some calls from prospective customers Zane noticed it was four thirty and Buford had yet to return his call.

By the time five o'clock rolled around Buford had still not called. Zane left the office to go by the grocery store before going home. When he got home he put his groceries away and popped the top on a Needa Buzz and sat down on his couch. He wondered if he should call Eva Mae and give her some updates and maybe "test the water" on the possibility of having her co-sign a loan. He figured he needed to know her position in case the loan officer informed him he would need a co-signer. It would be nice to know now if the co-signer option was available. Shit, he would try and call her later, but right now he just wanted to take it easy for a few minutes. He thought he needed to call Josie and fill her in with what he found out about the small business loan. Too many calls! After consuming his second beer Zane dozed off on the couch and was awakened by the sound of the phone. He looked at caller ID and saw it was Josie so he picked up the receiver. Josie wanted to know about the loan meeting and he told her he was feeling cautiously optimistic about qualifying for a loan, but if he needed someone to co-sign it might pose a problem. Josie listened and after he finished Josie made a shocking offer to Zane. She told him that she was prepared to give him some money or perhaps she could be his co-signer. Zane thanked her for her most generous offer, but told her he just couldn't allow her to do either. They talked about their weekend plans for a few more minutes then they hung up. Zane sat on the couch thinking about Josie's offer and wondered why in the world he had ever questioned her love. He was wide awake now and since it was not too late he decided to call Eva Mae as he had planned to do earlier. He rang her phone several times before she picked up. Zane gave Eva Mae the details of his meeting with the loan officer. During his explanation Eva Mae asked no questions. After Zane finished he asked Eva Mae what she thought about providing collateral or be willing to co-sign on his loan. Eva Mae responded very quickly to Zane's questions: no to providing collateral and no to co-signing a loan, but she would be willing to assist with giving him some reasonable amount of cash as she had done before for his apartment rent. Zane enquired as to what "reasonable" was and she told him once he gave her a number and she agreed to that amount then it was a reasonable amount. Zane was now well aware of Eva Mae's position. He thanked her for listening to him and told her he would keep her informed as he moved forward. He realized he needed to let Eva Mae know about his latest developments at Glass Ceilings. He told her about Buford's offer to make him CEO of Glass Ceilings months ago, and then how he abruptly took the offer away recently. Zane asked Eva Mae what would she do at this point and she told him to follow his instincts. She asked him not to be too hard on Buford, after all the man had been very nice to him and could have just as easily not given him pay raises or job promotions. She advised Zane to work to be objective and try to make decisions based on the facts at the time rather than allowing his emotions to drive his decisions. She also agreed with him that if he thought now was to time to cut ties with Buford, and then do it, but give him a sufficient notice, be gone and don't look back. They told each other they loved each other and they would talk soon. It was getting late and Zane had still not heard from Buford. He decided he would try to reach Buford in the morning.

The next morning the first call Zane placed was to Buford. Bessie picked up the phone on the second ring. She told Zane Buford was finishing his breakfast, but if he could hold a minute Buford would come to the phone. Zane told her he would wait. While he waited he reviewed the key questions he wanted to ask Buford. The first question was how did he want the remaining employees notified about the sale of Glass Ceilings? The second question would be about the specifics of Zane's payout and depending on the answer to that question he would attempt to do some negotiating. The last question had to do with whether or not the remaining employees would receive any kind of pay out when Glass Ceilings was sold.

Zane had his questions ready. All he needed was the boss man, Buford, to come to the phone. After what seemed like five minutes Buford came on the line. First, Zane asked how he was doing and Buford gave a standard response for someone in his condition, "I'm doing as well as can be expected."

Zane asked his first question about how Buford wanted the remaining employees informed about the sale of Glass Ceilings. Buford responded that it was a good question and he hadn't given it a thought. He asked Zane for a suggestion and Zane told him since they didn't have sufficient space for a mass meeting he recommended to go around and speak to each department. Buford agreed and permitted Zane to move forward with the announcement as soon as he could. Then Zane asked Buford about his payout and Buford quickly responded he hadn't thought about a particular amount. Buford said he was committed to pay something, but he didn't know how much. Zane asked Buford to consider giving him a percentage of the sales price of Glass Ceilings in lieu of an amount of money. Buford told him, "absolutely not!" Then Zane asked Buford did he plan to provide a payout for everyone else and Buford took all of five seconds to respond a resounding "no." Buford told him he hadn't considered at any time giving everyone a payout. Buford told Zane that whatever money he got from the sales price of Glass Ceilings he would have to live on those funds until he died and then Bessie would need to survive with whatever was left. Buford said he was the one who had taken the risks, borrowed the money, bought the land and equipment and hired the people over the years; therefore he should reap whatever benefits that had accrued. He finished with one important fact, "he who takes the greatest risks in a business should reap the greatest rewards." Then he laid down one final mine in his field, he told Zane that he had just decided not to give him a payout he had previously offered because it wouldn't be right for him to be the only one to get anything. Buford concluded by stating once the employees were informed about the sale of the company they had the freedom to seek other jobs. When Glass Ceilings was in new hands, Buford contended there was a good chance that all of the remaining employees would be offered positions, therefore, he had no plans to give anyone anything at the point of sale of the company. Decisions had been made and Zane heard them all. Over the past month or so Zane had been told many things, had been made several offers, and now it was as if none of it ever happened. Zane told Buford he would begin immediately to inform the employees of Buford's desire to sell Glass Ceilings and he would keep him informed of any flack coming from the employees. Zane left the house and got in his car and headed back to the office. On the way he reviewed the latest round of vicissitudes and tried to remain positive. He told himself he had received some good experience being a manager of people plus he had received nice pay raises and maybe that was enough. He would try to remain professional at work, think whatever he wanted, but keep it to himself. He tried not to get caught up in second guessing or criticizing Buford nor would he allow the employees to drag Buford through the mud when he met with them. He needed to continue to reflect on what Buford had told him, the employees had been taken care of, they all had options and would have sufficient time to seek other employment, and quite possibly they would be offered positions in the new company.

When Zane got back to his office he tried to decide which department to address first. He decided he'd start with the two work supervisors. He summoned them to his office and told them straight up what was going on. They wanted to know how long he had known and once he told them they wondered why it had taken so long for them to be notified. Zane told them he couldn't inform them until Buford gave the go ahead and he just gave that permission. They seemed a little pissed, but asked no further questions. He told both of them to assemble their workers before they headed out on their jobs in the morning and he would come down and address them as a group.

Zane summoned the mechanics to his office and relayed the same message he gave the work supervisors. They had nothing to say except one mechanic did tell Zane he had applied for another job and was interviewing next week so the sale of Glass Ceilings might not have anything to do with his future.

The supply department was next, then the clerical staff, and finally the business office. All of the remaining employees heard the same message and had nothing to say, at least while they were in Zane's office. By the end of the day Zane had spoken to all of the employees except the tile installers and he would speak to them in the morning. It was a long day.

As the work week was coming to an end Zane was still waiting for a call from the loan officer as to whether or not he could get an unsecured loan. It was now five o'clock on Thursday and still no call from the loan officer, but she had told him to expect an answer by the end of the week. When Zane got home that day there was a voice mail message on his machine. He rewound the tape to the beginning of the message. When he played back the message it was from his loan officer informing him he was approved for a small business loan for up to $30,000 with monthly payments of $500 for ten years. He was approved for $50,000 with a co-signature. The loan officer ended the message by stating if he had further questions to call her at the main bank number. He put the phone down and did a short dance around his apartment. He immediately called Josie to give her the good news. She answered and Zane was so excited he had to repeat himself three times before Josie completely understood. Zane called for a celebration and Josie asked what he had in mind. He told her why didn't she come over and he would cook for them, yes he would cook steaks or something and he would get some liquor and mix up some fancy drinks. She said she could get there around six thirty if he was okay with that. Zane also called Eva Mae with the news of his loan approval and she was so happy for him and told him she was proud of him. Zane hung up and raced out to the grocery store to pick up needed items for his most basic dinner of steak, French fries, salad, rolls, and deli cheesecake. He got back home and opened a Needa Buzz and settled into making his salad. By the time Josie arrived Zane was preparing frozen banana daiquiris. When Josie came in she gave Zane a big kiss and looked into his eyes and told him how happy she was for him. She also told him that things were fitting into place on his business and once he got it going it would be a great success. They got into drinking the banana daiquiris and within thirty minutes it was time to blend a second batch. Josie started the gas grill while Zane made more daiquiris. When Josie returned from the balcony she put the rolls in the oven while Zane poured them another drink. When they finished dinner they went out on the balcony to take in the sunset and let their dinner settle before eating their dessert. Zane told Josie about the meetings with the employees regarding the sale of Glass Ceilings. He said he still needed to talk to the tile installers in the morning, but he didn't expect any flack from them. After eating the cheesecake Zane told Josie he would like for her to go out with him on Saturday to look for a suitable office. He mentioned he was mostly done with his business budget estimates and office space would be his largest expense since he would expect at least a one year lease commitment. Josie asked if he had a time frame as to when he might consider leaving Glass Ceilings. Zane thought for a minute and told her that once he got firm expense figures finalized so he would know exactly how much money he would need to borrow it could be very soon. Zane told Josie he would give Buford thirty working days notice once he made his final decision about resigning. Josie told Zane that given his contributions to Glass Ceilings a thirty day notice would be most generous. It was getting late so Josie got up from the couch, grabbed her jacket and headed for the door. Zane and Josie kissed and she told him she'd see him Saturday. Zane cleaned the kitchen, finished the banana daiquiris in the blender and went to take a shower. After his shower he pulled out his business notes and crunched some numbers on his expenses.

The next morning Zane stopped at a local fast food restaurant and had two cups of coffee and a sausage biscuit before he arrived at his office. The first task at hand was meeting with the two crews of tile installers. The first crew came into Zane's office and huddled around his desk while he explained the situation. Several of the men were expressed concern because installing ceiling titles was all they had ever done so in the event Glass Ceilings was sold they wondered where they might find employment. What if the new owners decided they didn't want a ceiling tile business, the installers wondered what then? Zane could offer no solace, he told the workers they could stay on in their present positions and wait to see what the new ownership intended to do or they could tender their resignations and move on. Several of the men were really pissed and left with a tirade of curse words, many of which Zane had never heard. Zane ushered in the second group and before he could get started one of the men spoke up and said he knew why they were called to Zane's office. The rest of the men listened to Zane's talk and when he was finished, no worker had anything to say. When the men exited Zane's office the body language told him all he needed to know, these men were frustrated, disappointed, and scared because their means of making a living for their families was in jeopardy. After the last man left Zane sat in his chair with his head down feeling sad that the livelihoods of all the employees of Glass Ceilings, including him, might soon come to an end. Thank goodness it was Friday! Zane went home and ate a TV dinner, watched a few hours of TV, and went to bed. Tomorrow he was to pick up Josie and go pore over some office space. What a week!

Saturday morning Zane went by a fast food joint to get a bag of breakfast biscuits to take to Josie's apartment. When he got to Josie's he parked his car and walked to her apartment building. He rang her bell and within a few seconds she opened the door to let him in. They had a brief morning embrace while walking to the kitchen. Zane put the bag of biscuits on the kitchen table and went over to the coffee maker to get a cup of coffee. Josie opened the bag and inspected the contents which consisted of a variety of breakfast biscuits. She pulled out an egg biscuit and asked Zane what he wanted. He told her anything would be fine so she got him an egg, sausage, and cheese biscuit. While they consumed the biscuits they discussed what office complexes they wanted to visit.

By the end of the day Zane and Josie had visited ten office complexes all around Delbridge and Zane's conclusions reinforced what he already knew, you get what you pay for, if you want space in high profile, upscale areas you paid more. Zane needed to decide the amount he thought he could afford to spend for rent within a fixed monthly budget. If he borrowed $25,000 it was simple, he had approximately $2,000 per month to work with and most of that figure would be consumed renting office space. He wanted to work within this figure because he didn't want to borrow more money and he certainly didn't want to go back to Eva Mae and ask for money. As generous as Josie was in offering to provide some financial help, he was not going to ask her.

When Zane returned to work on Monday he was still trying to decide if he wanted to live with the $2,000 per month business budget. If he did then he could borrow the money to get started at any time now, pay the loan back over time, and still hold on to most of his savings. He still had a job with a decent salary and until Buford had a serious buyer nothing was going to drastically change at Glass Ceilings. As he continued to speculate about what might happen with Glass Ceilings he realized just because Buford wanted to sell didn't necessarily mean there was a willing buyer on the horizon or for that matter, one on the planet. The employees of Glass Ceilings, including him, might be working at Glass Ceilings for years before anything happened, but he knew he needed to be prepared for that possibility and he thought he was getting there. That morning he tendered resignations from two employees, one mechanic and one employee from the supply room. They could manage being short an employee in the shop and one in the supply room at least for awhile, but how might they replace those people? If they announced job openings would the positions be temporary jobs and if so would anyone be interested? Zane needed to contact Buford to see what he wanted done. After getting the installers started on their jobs he called Buford. This time Buford answered the phone, which was the first time since he got home from the hospital that he answered a call from Zane. Zane told him the situation and Buford's response was to "let it ride" for a while and see if the existing staffs could take up the slack. Zane cautioned that such a decision might not sit well especially since they had been told Glass Ceilings was being put on the market and now they're were being asked to take up the slack due to departed employees. There was a pause in the conversation and Zane assumed Buford was trying to come up with an alternative. "Okay," said Buford, "here's what we'll do, offer to pay existing staffs in the supply room and maintenance shop one dollar per hour more for their normal eight hour day, offer overtime pay if they are willing to work longer shifts or work on weekends, and if that's not acceptable then we will either contract out on a full time basis for these positions for the short run or look to hire people on a part time basis."

Buford had given Zane a number of options to work with, but he was in agreement with them and thought they were reasonable staffing alternatives. Zane walked down to the shop to explain the alternatives to the remaining mechanics and both agreed that once the other man left the shop they would accept the one dollar per hour raise and hopefully the two of them would be able to perform the work. If they couldn't get the work done they would request Zane secure additional help. Zane thanked them and said he appreciated their willingness to work with him to keep all the vehicles operating. Zane then walked back to the supply room to talk to the supply workers. After meeting with them they were happy to take the extra pay because they told Zane their biggest stressor was all the trucks wanting to load up at the same time. If that situation occurred being shorthanded was a larger problem. They were willing to work with a limited staff for a while to see if things worked out and if not they too would request the additional help. They raised a key question, what if they took the raise, and then later Zane had to hire another employee, would they still get the increase or would their pay revert to the current rate? Zane told them their pay would revert to their current rate of pay. Zane returned to his office and returned phone calls until his lunch break. At lunch time Zane drove to Burger Heaven for his old standby meal, a burger and fries, something he seldom ate for lunch anymore. He sat in the parking lot eating his meal and wondering what the next issue would be at Glass Ceilings. When he returned to his office he noticed his voice mail light was blinking so he rewound the tape, and pressed play to hear the message. Zane recognized Buford's voice and the message was that Buford had been contacted by his real estate agent because he had someone interested in looking at Glass Ceilings. He asked Zane to make himself available at 2:00p.m. to show the prospects around and answer any questions they might have. Nothing like advanced notice thought Zane, but he certainly would contribute as needed to provide as much background about Glass Ceilings as the prospects wanted. If they decided to buy Glass Ceilings Zane thought a lot of things would clear up. When the real estate agent arrived with his prospects Zane greeted them and escorted them to his office. The three prospective buyers were from South Carolina and owned two other ceiling tile companies and were looking to expand their operations into North Carolina. They told Zane that Glass Ceilings was well known in the Palmetto State and when they noticed the company was up for sale they called the listing agent to schedule a visit. After some brief discussion about their other operations Zane provided an overview of Glass Ceilings. He issued the most recent financial statements about the fiscal health of Glass Ceilings. He provided the details about the fleet of vehicles including summaries of the age of each vehicle and the history of maintenance. He showed a flow chart depicting the organization of Glass Ceilings. He took the group around the physical plant and answered questions along the way. The visitors seemed impressed with what they saw and what they heard. The visit took the remainder of the work day, so when the prospects left Zane departed from his office shortly thereafter.
Chapter 15

 The next few weeks turned into the next few months and were fairly uneventful. Zane went to work and did his job. He communicated with Buford at least once per week, if not more. He continued to see Josie mostly on the weekends. Zane always spent a little time on the weekends reviewing the details of his anticipated business. Josie had prepared the framework for his web site and together they had developed rough drafts of the other marketing pieces. There had been no additional interest in Glass Ceilings since the visit from the South Carolina entourage and thus far they had declined to make an offer. Since Glass Ceilings continued to turn a substantial profit each month Buford was happy, all of the employees were happy and most of them forgot all about Glass Ceilings being up for sale. Zane was happy as he was able to continue to put away money in his savings account. The more he saved hopefully the less he would need to borrow IF he ever decided to start his business. At this point maybe time was on Zane's side. Since work had become routine Zane began to focus more on his relationship with Josie. She had been there for him through thick and thin and had provided numerous helpful suggestions plus she produced the web site for his fantasy business. Maybe the time had arrived to pop the question; maybe Zane would ask Josie to marry him. Shit, maybe he'd go buy an engagement ring and propose to her over the weekend.

During mid week instead of taking a lunch break Zane opted to drive to a jewelry store in Anvil. He looked at many rings and asked many questions. The price ranges for rings were from really cheap to ridiculously expensive. Some had large stones, some small, and some had no stone at all. At that point Zane realized he was oblivious to Josie's taste in jewelry, in fact, he'd never noticed if she even wore jewelry. Maybe he should slow down just a bit and take this engagement thing one step at a time. Over the weekend he saw Josie on Saturday and Sunday and made mental notes about the type of jewelry she was wearing. He made a point to stop in front of a jewelry store while they were in a mall and quiz her on which jewelry she preferred. When he got home he went online and looked at even more jewelry based on the styles Josie indicated she liked. Zane reached the conclusion Josie didn't wear much jewelry because it was just not as big deal to her as it was to most other women. Second, the small amount of jewelry she wore plus the types she pointed at in the stores was very simple. There were few designs, curly cues, colors, basic, that's what she preferred, basic, simple design and mostly fairly cheap, which Zane liked. Zane was certain Josie made a personal prognostication he was making plans to give her a ring soon.

Zane made a visit to Eva Mae's during the week to share his latest news. He brought over Chinese takeout rather than expect Eva Mae to cook. Zane told Eva Mae Glass Ceilings was still running at full capacity. The jobs kept coming in and the customers were satisfied with the finished product. Since the first prospects from South Carolina visited there had been no other interested buyers for Glass Ceilings. Zane told Eva Mae he did not need collateral or a co-signature to get his loan, which made her extremely happy. He mentioned the longer it took to sell Glass Ceilings the more money he was saving, so he expected to wind up borrowing much less to finance his business venture than he originally anticipated. He knew he could leave Glass Ceilings at any time now, but instead he decided to go with the flow. He asked Eva Mae her opinions on jewelry, specifically engagement and wedding rings and she reinforced what he already knew, it's mostly personal preference, and women had very different tastes when it comes to jewelry. Zane told Eva Mae Josie wore simple jewelry and when they went to a jewelry store, Josie looked at predominantly simple, no frills jewelry. Eva Mae asked why then he was seeking her opinion about jewelry for Josie. Zane told Eva Mae he fully intended to ask Josie to marry him. Eva Mae was elated! She told Zane to get Josie what he knew she liked a simple ring. Eva Mae told him she thought they were the "perfect couple" and that she liked Josie very much and looked forward to having a daughter.

Eva Mae told Zane next summer she and a friend from work were planning to take a cruise to Nova Scotia. Eva Mae had been out of North Carolina a few times on trips to Myrtle Beach, so this trip would be a new and exciting adventure. She said it was also a test to see if she liked to travel all that much since she had mentioned earlier that travelling was one thing she planned to do when she retired. He was happy she had booked the trip. If there was anyone who deserved to have some fun it was Eva Mae. After they finished the takeout they had bowls of ice cream Eva Mae had in her freezer. Zane told her he had to leave and for her to expect to hear the "official news" real soon, as soon as he proposed to Josie and she accepted.

For the next few weeks whenever Zane had a few extra minutes he either looked in jewelry stores for rings or looked online. He managed to reduce his choices to three rings, two of them were in the same jewelry store in Anvil and one was an online discount outlet. He wanted to trade locally because if there were sizing issues it would be much easier to get that taken care of from a nearby store. He got up one Friday morning and decided he would go to a local jewelry store at lunch and buy the ring of his choosing and present it to Josie when they went out to dinner Saturday night. He drove down to the jewelry store at lunch and when he went inside he requested to see the ring one last time before the asked the merchant to wrap it up. Yes, that was definitely the correct ring. The merchant took the ring from the shelf and gift wrapped it in some fancy paper. Zane paid for it and left the store and put the ring in his glove compartment. When he got home Friday afternoon he took the ring into his apartment. He wanted to take one last look at his purchase, but since the merchant had done such a good job wrapping it he hesitated to remove the wrapping paper from the box. Shit, he wanted to see the dam ring so he carefully removed the paper and slowly opened the box. He took the ring out of the box and held it in the palm of his hand for a few minutes. He hoped she would like it as he had spent a lot of time finalizing his selection. Then Zane had an anxiety attack, what if for some reason, Josie would not accept his ring? What then, would he do? He thought of as many unnecessary reasons why she wouldn't accept the ring as he could think of then reason prevailed and he placed the ring back in the box. He knew there was no good reason why she wouldn't accept the ring and his proposal for marriage. He wrapped the paper back around the box as best he could, but on one end of the box the paper was torn slightly, but he hoped Josie would open the box so quickly she wouldn't notice the tear. Tomorrow would be another big day! Zane put the ring down on his coffee table and went to the refrigerator to get his favorite, a cold Needa Buzz. After Zane opened the second beer he decided he was too tired to go out for food so he called for pizza delivery. After the pizza arrived he popped the top on a third Needa Buzz and proceeded to eat the warm cheese pizza. At about nine o'clock he got a call from Josie wanting to alter their Saturday evening date. Zane did not take too kindly to the requested change, but he held his frustration in check. Josie's parents had called, which they seldom did, and invited her and Zane too, if he would come, to their house for dinner. Josie hoped Zane would be willing to go with her. Josie asked Zane if could they go out to lunch and then go to her parents for dinner. Zane thought for a moment and then suggested they go out Sunday night because he wanted an intimate, romantic location for his presentation of the ring and offer of marriage. Josie thought for a moment and told Zane she could do that.

On Saturday night Zane picked Josie up at her apartment at about 6:30 p.m. and drove to her parent's house. Zane had only seen them one time previously. He remembered them as nice, laid back people and he hoped they liked him, they better for little did they know he just might soon be part of the family. They arrived just after seven and pulled into the driveway. The house was brick and from the outside appeared to be a good sized house. They rang the doorbell and walked inside as Josie's mom, Lois, came to greet them. She hugged Josie and shook hands with Zane. She took them into the family room to see Josie's dad, Mork, who was reading. He got up and gave Josie a hug and shook hands with Zane. He offered them a seat and asked if they wanted an adult beverage to which they responded they did indeed want one. Mork offered beer or wine and Josie requested a glass of red wine while Zane took what he usually drank, a beer, but not a Needa Buzz. As the beverages were served everyone got caught up with the latest news while Josie's mom put the finishing touches on dinner. At about seven thirty Lois called everyone to the table for dinner. The main dish was baked chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans as the sides. After the meal they were served pecan pie and coffee. When all had finished Josie helped Lois clear the table while the men returned to be family room to have a glass of brandy. Soon, Josie and Lois joined them for an engaging conversation until about ten when Josie told her parents she and Zane needed to leave. Josie and Zane thanked her parents for a wonderful evening. Zane took Josie back to her apartment and told her he'd pick her up Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m. Zane drove back to his place and before he turned in he looked at the box containing the ring one more time before he turned off the lamp and went to sleep. Tomorrow, he thought, tomorrow will be the day; a big day and he hoped nothing else would interfere with his plans.

On Sunday afternoon Zane pulled out his business folder, reviewed all of his documents and remained satisfied with his plans. All he really needed was his motivation to give Buford a thirty day notice and put his business plan to work, but he was still willing to bide his time and take things day by day. If there was an offer to purchase Glass Ceilings things would indeed move rapidly. At least he had a plan for what he intended to do if a sale became reality. He also thought of another possibility, what if the new owners wanted to keep him on their payroll, but maybe in a different position? It was entirely possible such a situation could happen and if it did he would have to consider the offer.

At five o'clock on Sunday Zane took a shower, put on his best cologne, his newest slacks and shirt, and then opened a Needa Buzz while he sat on his couch admiring the small square box he would present to Josie at the restaurant. He suspected Josie had some idea of what was likely to take place that evening, but she did not ruin the occasion by hinting at anything earlier. This was going to be a memorable evening, a nice dinner at an upscale restaurant with a bottle of wine, some dessert, and then the BIG EVENT. He arrived at Josie's at about six. When she opened the door he grabbed her and planted a signature kiss, then stood back and admired her for she looked ravishing! They hopped in the car and drove to the restaurant. When they were seated the server brought menus plus a wine list to the table. First, they looked at the wine list and decided to order a $45.00 bottle of French wine. The wine steward returned with the bottle of wine and poured a small amount for testing and confirmation. Josie and Zane confirmed that it was, in fact, wine. They sipped on their wine while they perused the menu. Josie selected a tuna steak while Zane ordered the pork tenderloin. They talked about their work, the local news, and what was on sale at their most popular stores over the weekend. Soon the food arrived and they ate their meals as they talked about how lucky they were to have met years ago. When the meals were finished, the server brought the dessert menu and after reviewing the choices Josie ordered the raspberry sorbet and Zane ordered the apple crisp with vanilla ice cream. As the desserts were being consumed Zane realized that the time had come for him to make his presentation. When the server came to remove the dessert dishes he asked if there would be anything else and Zane told him to bring two Bailey's with coffee. Zane thought they needed something on the table to consume during his proposal. The server returned with the drinks and placed them in front of Josie and Zane. They looked at each other and had a sip of their dinner drinks. Zane realized it was show time! He reached into his coat pocket and placed his hand around the box containing the ring. He pulled his hand slowly out of his coat pocket and placed the box on the table. Zane presented a short chronology about how they met, how well they got along, about Josie's unwavering support of him through all of his ordeals at work, and lastly Zane spoke of his love for Josie, then he picked up the box and handed it across the table to Josie.

Josie looked at the box, then looked at Zane and smiled. Of course she knew the contents of the box; it was an engagement ring. She slowly removed the paper from the box, opened the lid and saw a nice, plain ring. She pulled the ring from the box and held it up before her eyes and at that point Zane spoke, "Josie, I love you, Josie will you, will you marry me?"

Josie looked at Zane and then looked at the ring, and then looked back at Zane and replied, "Yes!"

They got up from the table and hugged and kissed each other then Josie placed the ring on her finger and they sat back down. They held hands across the table and continued to look in each others' eyes and were silent for several minutes. The server brought the bill and after Zane reviewed it he placed his credit card with the bill on the tray. Zane and Josie chatted briefly about dates and locations for the marriage, but realized they had plenty of time to decide the details of the ceremony. It would be a fun time and there was no rush to finalize their ceremony. Nothing would change how they felt about each other. Zane took Josie home and stayed at her place until eleven. Tonight had been a special night to remember for all time. Josie and Zane would become man and wife. When Zane got home even though it was late he decided to call Eva Mae and give her the news. As soon as she heard Zane's voice she anticipated his news and immediately asked if Josie accepted his proposal and Zane replied, "Yes! I asked Josie to marry me tonight and she said, yes!" Eva Mae said that was indeed great news and asked if they had set a date. Zane told her no they didn't talk about any details, but they looked forward to planning the wedding over the next few months. Eva Mae told Zane she was happy for the two of them and she was happy, now they could go to bed and sleep well.
Chapter 16

 The phone rang four times, five times, six times before Zane was alert enough to roll over and pick up the receiver. On the other end of the line was Bessie. She was calling from the hospital where she had been for some three hours. Buford had been taken to the emergency room again and Zane could detect grave concern in Bessie's voice. She said they were "working on him" and she was told Buford suffered another heart attack. There were three doctors in the examining room with Buford. Zane told her he would be there just as soon as he could. He jumped up and put the clothes on he had thrown on the floor several hours ago, grabbed his wallet and keys and ran out the door. He arrived at the trauma center within thirty minutes. He parked his car and ran inside to the waiting area. He saw Bessie sitting over near a snack machine and when she saw him she got up and hugged him as he approached her. Bessie told Zane this heart attack was worse than Buford's previous one. The doctor's were adjusting his medications to try to stabilize the situation, but they weren't optimistic the adjustments would be sufficient. Bessie told Zane she was glad he was in charge of Glass Ceilings so at least she didn't have to worry about the company right now. She informed Zane that Buford had told her he had decided to make Zane the permanent CEO of the Glass Ceilings if the company was not sold. The news about a possible promotion it didn't mean much to Zane right now as he was more concerned about Buford's health.

Bessie returned to the examining room while Zane got a cup of coffee from one of the vending machines as he expected he would be there for a while. He wondered what kind of shape he would be in when it was time to go to work. About an hour and a half later Bessie came to the waiting room to tell Zane Buford had been moved to intensive care and she was taking the elevator to the fourth floor. Zane went with her to intensive care. When they arrived on the fourth floor Bessie went to get Buford's room number from the receptionist while Zane walked down to the waiting room. Bessie went by the waiting room to let Zane know she would come back as soon as she could to provide an update. There was only one other person in the waiting room so Zane pulled another chair over to put his feet on and tried to take a nap. When he awoke the sun was shining through the windows and his right leg had an awful cramp, so much so he could barely stand up. He tried to walk off the cramp before looking for the coffee dispenser. Bessie never came back to the waiting room that night so Zane assumed she had spent the remainder of the evening in Buford's room and he hoped things were stable. Zane walked out into the hallway and noticed a coffee pot near the reception area so he walked over and asked the person on duty if he could have a cup and was told he could. He poured a full cup, added cream and sugar, and then he placed a lid over the top and returned to the waiting room. As he stood looking out the window he realized he had no idea what time it was getting to be. He found a clock perpendicular to the window and noticed it was approaching seven a.m. He knew he had time to make it to work to get the work schedules to the tile installers, but he really wanted to speak to Bessie and get an update on Buford before he left. He decided he would wait fifteen minutes and if Bessie had not come to the waiting room he was going to look for her. He finished his coffee and got a refill before he walked back to the waiting room in search of a sugary snack from the vending machine to supplant a normal breakfast. He managed to find a three pack of small doughnuts covered with powdered sugar and thought they would be good to eat with his coffee. He inserted a dollar bill into the slot and punched the required number and letter, and then waited for the package to drop to the bottom of the machine. He pushed the plastic door in at the bottom of the machine with one hand and grabbed the package of doughnuts with the other hand. By the time he began eating last doughnut he saw Bessie approaching the waiting room. Zane noticed she was visibly tired, but she did manage to smile when she saw Zane, so he interpreted that as a positive sign. She told Zane the medication adjustment appeared to be successful and the doctors confirmed Buford did have another heart attack. The doctors told her that the medications could only go so far and every time Buford suffered another trauma his heart would get weaker until at such point the medications would not be effective. Bessie told Zane she fully understood Buford's doctors and was not living in a fantasy world that he would get better, but she just hoped his life could be prolonged as long as possible. Zane told her to try to rest because if she didn't she couldn't help Buford. Bessie replied she was well aware of that. She said she planned to return home for a while after the doctors made their morning rounds. Zane told her he was going to work and would check with her later in the day.

When Zane arrived at work the lack of sleep was evident as he reached the door to his office. He sat down and reviewed his installers' work schedules before taking the remaining schedules to the other work supervisors. The work at Glass Ceilings had increased over the last several months, maybe because of Zane's excellent leadership or maybe for some other reason. He was still unable to answer a key question for himself, how much longer did he want to continue working at Glass Ceilings? The more he thought about it the madder he got because he could not make a decision. Zane realized procrastination was the easiest decision.

Zane managed to find time at lunch to call Josie and tell her about Buford's latest setback. Josie told Zane she would come over to his apartment after work and maybe cook dinner, that is, if he had anything in his place to cook. Zane told her he would go by the grocery store on the way home and pick up some things if she would tell him what to buy. Josie told him to surprise her. Later that afternoon Zane was able to call Buford's room at the hospital and talk to Bessie. She told Zane there were no changes, but Buford's heart had experienced further weakening and he would be staying in the hospital longer than the first time. Zane told her he would be over to visit when he could. She said Buford was alert and asked about Zane. Bessie told him Zane had been at the hospital all night and was now at work. Buford seemed relieved and said he needed to talk to Zane soon. Meanwhile it was now fifteen months since Glass Ceilings was first offered up for sale and still no offers had been made. Zane wondered just how much longer it would be before the issue was resolved. Of course, if he decided to leave with a thirty day notice his life would change immediately.

The next day Zane elected to take a longer lunch break to drive to the hospital to check on Buford. When he got to the desk he asked the receptionist did she know if anyone was in the room with Buford and was told there was someone with him and they would try to get word they had a visitor. Zane went back to the waiting room and waited for about twenty minutes before he saw Bessie coming through the door. This time the look on her face was one of sadness. She hugged Zane and told him that Buford was comfortable but the doctors told her there was a good chance Buford would not leave the hospital. They had done all they knew to do and the medications were doing what they had been designed to do, but his heart was simply playing out and at any time it could beat its last beat. Bessie had accepted the inevitable and communicated with their three daughters, who all lived in other states and Buford's siblings who lived in the immediate area, as well as his key remaining cousins. Everyone was prepared for the end. Zane thought about Buford's Glass Ceilings offer, but he knew this was not the time to talk shop unless Bessie brought it up. At that point there wasn't much left to say or to do, but just let things happen. Zane said goodbye and told Bessie he was returning to work, but to keep him posted on Buford. While driving back to the office Zane was still conflicted as to which direction he wanted to go, but he knew he would remain at Glass Ceilings at least until Buford passed and Bessie had time to express her wishes about the future of the company. Perhaps Buford had a will that stated some other plan for the company. Zane would have to manage Glass Ceilings as best he could while doing whatever needed to be done for Bessie, then let the chips fall where they may. It was just a matter of time before there would be some changes at Glass Ceilings.

It was late afternoon when the call came in to Zane's office; Buford had passed away at 3:35 p.m. One of Buford's daughters who had flown in that morning made the call to Zane. She told him the details of funeral arrangements were incomplete, but the funeral would be in two days. She told Zane she would keep him advised of the arrangements, but right now they were focused around caring for their mother. Zane expressed his sympathies and told her he would alert the entire Glass Ceilings family of Buford's passing. Zane hung up the phone and sat motionless for several minutes while past thoughts of his relationship with Buford streamed through his mind. It was Buford who hired him, Buford who gave him raises, Buford who promoted him to work supervisor, Buford who moved him to interim CEO, Buford who allowed him to do his efficiency project at Glass Ceilings, and now, now that Buford was no more. Zane was sad and shed some tears briefly before refocusing on the task of informing the Glass Ceilings staff of Buford's death.

Zane left his office to inform the employees of Buford's passing department by department. He told them funeral arrangements were incomplete, but Buford's daughter said they expected the funeral to be in two days. One employee asked if the company would be closed on the day of the funeral and Zane told him he didn't know. As he returned to his office he thought about the closing and wondered who should make that call? He didn't think this was the time to ask Bessie or the family, so he would just think about what made the most sense and just do it, make a decision and live with it. The more he thought about it the more concerns surfaced. What about the tile installers, they were wage earners, so no work, no pay. How would the tile installers make up the hours they missed? Should there be a mandatory closing or just make it optional so people could work as they normally did or take a half day off. What about customers and deadlines to have jobs completed? What about this, what about that? The more Zane thought about it the more questions entered his mind until he decided not to think about it for the rest of the day. He had not called Josie to tell her of Buford's passing so when he called he would he'd offer to take her to dinner and she could help him figure out what to do about closing Glass Ceilings or keeping it open during Buford's funeral. He also needed to call Eva Mae and tell her about Buford's death.

When Zane called Josie to tell her the news about Buford she said was sorry but not surprised Buford had passed. Zane had kept her apprised of Buford's health so she knew his death was eminent. Zane and Josie agreed to have dinner at seven. Zane was able to reach Eva Mae and tell her about Buford and she was sad and realized she never met Buford. She had heard so many positive things about him over the years Zane had worked for him so she felt like she had lost a dear friend. She told Zane she would make plans to attend the funeral and to let her know the details of the arrangements. Zane called Carlton since he had worked for Buford years ago. While Zane was dialing Carlton's work number he had several flashbacks of the time he and Carlton lived together, worked together, and played together, now it seemed so long ago maybe it never happened. When Carlton came to the phone Zane asked how everything was to which Carlton gave a standard response of "fine," then Zane told him Buford had passed away. There was a pause on Carlton's end before he responded. He mentioned some of the thoughts about their times together which had a few moments ago passed through Zane's mind. They reflected on those times for a few more minutes. Zane told Carlton he didn't know anything about funeral arrangements other than the funeral would be in a day or so. After Zane finished his conversation with Carlton he put away a few things on his desk then left for home. When he got home he showered and put on clean clothes before leaving for Josie's apartment. When he arrived Josie just got in from work so he had to wait for her to get ready. Forty-five minutes later Josie emerged from her bedroom dressed and ready to go to dinner. Zane drove to a restaurant which catered mostly to college students on Ridgeton Street. He parked the car within two blocks of the restaurant and they walked to rest of the way. When they were seated Josie asked Zane if he had any news about the funeral and he told her no, but was expecting a call any time. Zane asked Josie her advice about closing Glass Ceilings on the day of the funeral. Zane went back over the points he had previously made to Josie on the phone.

"I heard everything you said and there is some rationale for any of your choices, but here's what I think," explained Josie, "no one in Buford's family wants or needs to make any kind of decision about anything having to do with Glass Ceilings right now, so to ask the family to decide for you is in my opinion not a good thing to do. Buford put you in charge and you have made most of the key decisions at Glass Ceilings since Buford stepped down. I know you told me he had final say on financial matters, but he allowed you to make the remainder of the decisions about company matters. If he was here right now he would expect you a make the decision, so Zane, what is your decision going to be?"

Zane was quiet as he pondered Josie's comments and knew he didn't disagree with her. Once again, she told him what he needed to hear. He wondered why he seemed to always need a sounding board before he made every key decision. He was angry with himself and he knew he must more decisive in the future. Josie looked at Zane and waited for a reaction. Zane finally spoke and told her he would mull this over and decide when he got home since no one at Glass Ceilings would need to know until the next day. They ordered their dinner and talked for a while about their wedding plans, which had been put on a temporary hold because of attention to Buford's declining health. They agreed after the funeral they would get back to finalizing the details of the wedding. After dinner Zane and Josie went to a nearby mall to walk around and get their minds off things.

When Zane got home he had a voice mail message from Buford's daughter informing him the receiving of friends by the family was scheduled for the next night from seven to nine at the Anvil Funeral Home. The funeral service was scheduled for the same location on the following day at 2:00 p.m. The last message was a request to Zane to serve as a pall bearer. Zane hadn't thought about serving as pall bearer until the message, but of course he would available since it would be the last thing he would ever do for Buford. Before Zane went to bed he decided he would close Glass Ceilings for the entire day of Buford's funeral. He knew current customers had to be contacted and told their projects would be suspended for one day, but he couldn't imagine anyone having a problem with the workers taking a day to attend their bosses' funeral. The first thing in the morning he would make the rounds and personally tell everyone of his decision. As Zane lay in his bed he had all kinds of thoughts about the future of Glass Ceilings twirled around in his head. Buford was dead, what would really happen to Glass Ceilings? What would be Bessie's role in the company? Would the company continue to be on the market? Would Bessie appoint Zane as the permanent CEO? Maybe one of the daughters wanted to assume the leadership of the company. Maybe he waited too late to start his own company and now he would have a hard time leaving Glass Ceilings. He knew for the short run he had to continue to go to work every day and perform his responsibilities as best he could.

The next day Zane made the rounds at Glass Ceilings to announce the company would be closed the next day to allow employees to attend Buford's funeral. He also mentioned the receiving for Buford's family would be held that night if people wanted to attend and express their condolences. He assumed every employee would attend the funeral, but he had no intention of taking attendance. Several installers asked if they would lose a day's pay since they were on a time sheet and he told them no, they would be paid their regular hourly rate for eight hours. That night Zane and Josie attended the receiving and extended their sympathies to the entire family. After they passed through the receiving line they spoke to a few employees from Glass Ceilings and left for dinner at a nearby restaurant. After dinner Zane took Josie home and returned to his apartment.

The next day Buford's funeral was to be held. It was partly cloudy, but according to the forecast the sun would be shining when Buford was laid to rest. Zane laid out his only suit and checked the pants and coat for any holes or stains. He seldom wore a suit so one was all he needed. He found a tie that was a little outdated, but the colors blended with his suit. He got out his wing tips and found some liquid polish to rub across the shoes. He was supposed to arrive at the Anvil Funeral Home by 12:30 p.m. to assist with helping direct people to available parking and escorting folks to the funeral home's chapel. By 2:00 p.m. the chapel was overflowing with people, many of whom Zane didn't recognize. He was unaware Buford had so many friends. When the music started two of the pall bearers closed the chapel doors then the six pall bearers marched side by side to the front of the chapel. After all pall bearers were seated the service began. One of the daughters spoke and read some of Buford's favorite Scripture from the New Testament. Zane never knew much about Buford's religious leanings, but since the service was not in a church he concluded Buford did not regularly attend church. The service continued as several family members got up and spoke about what Buford had meant to them and shared a favorite story about him. The service lasted for about forty minutes. After one of Buford's cousins sang a song the pall bearers arose and took their positions around the casket. In a synchronized fashion they picked up Buford's casket and carried it out the chapel door to the Hearst.

When the Hearst got to the Anvil cemetery the pall bearers carried the casket to the grave site to be loaded on conveyors to be lowered into the grave. Final remarks were given by Buford's three daughters. After the service Zane expressed his sympathies individually to each family member seated, then left the service for a bar on Ridgeton Street where Josie was to join him after work. Josie had elected not to attend the funeral. By the time Josie arrived at the bar Zane was on his third drink. Josie could tell Zane had a little buzz. Josie ordered a vodka tonic while Zane ordered his fourth Needa Buzz. Josie asked Zane if he was trying to drown the last fifteen years with drink. Zane told her he wasn't, but Buford had been a prominent part of his life and it would take a while for him to come to grips with the loss. Zane told Josie that by the weekend he wanted to refocus on their marriage plans. Josie told Zane she was glad to hear their impending marriage was returning to a priority status.
Chapter 17

The next day Zane arrived at work early as usual to review the installer schedules. The rest of the day Zane was focused on returning phone calls from customers who didn't get the message that Glass Ceilings was closed the previous day. Several customers threatened to raise hell because the installers never showed up, but once they heard about Buford's passing they were calmer. Zane also took some calls from people expressing their sympathies over Buford's death.

A month passed since Buford's burial and Glass Ceilings continued to operate as usual. Customers contacted the company and Zane set up a schedule for the tile installers to perform the requested work. The money came in, employees received their paychecks, company bills got paid, and Glass Ceilings continued to show a nice profit. Nothing had changed involving the operation of the company. There was still no interest in anyone purchasing Glass Ceilings. Zane continued to provide the same financial statements to Bessie and he either called her or dropped by to discuss any major decisions with her. So far she seemed fine with the way Zane was handling things and he decided he was not bringing up Buford's earlier offer. He knew he could leave anytime and set out with his own business, but until he did he would continue to save his money, review and revise his future business plan and wait to see what happened at Glass Ceilings. His focus now was on his marriage to Josie. They had decided they would be married in October on Sharks Teeth Beach in North Carolina. They planned on a small wedding with only family and close friends invited. They had not yet decided on a honeymoon location.

On weekends Zane and Josie spent time talking about what their life would be like after they were married. They discussed where they would live for they knew their current arrangements as single people living in small apartments would be coming to an end. They spent much time gathering information about townhouses and condominiums, then about houses, all types of houses in a variety of developments. Once they were married they would pool their financial resources which would give them more flexibility in choosing their housing options, but the question remained as to what type of house, where, and how much space would they want? After many, many weekends they decided after they were married they would purchase a townhouse close to each others' work. They would be owners rather than renters, so hopefully they could build some equity. Neither Zane nor Josie enjoyed working outside, so they didn't want a yard to maintain. They wanted a townhouse with a two car garage which had some storage space. They found quite a few areas that featured townhouses, but not in South Delbridge, which was their choice of location. Zane was ready to spend some of the money he had saved for his business on a house because the business was still in the very back of his mind. Josie had gotten several raises since she was hired, so between them they had substantial savings accounts. On the last weekend in August they had narrowed down their list of townhouses to two, one was on Jiggs Ferry Road and the other was in West Spiteful. Both properties had similar square footage and amenities, so the choice came down to where Zane and Josie wanted to begin and end each day. They drove out and looked at both townhouses again and took pictures and made copious notes. They went back to Zane's, ordered a pizza, opened up some Needa Buzzs and proceeded to deliberate on which townhouse they wanted to make an offer. They committed themselves to make a decision before Zane took Josie back to her apartment that night. They prepared a comparison spreadsheet as an aid to their decision making. Two hours later with the pizza eaten and the beer consumed Zane and Josie decided they would make an offer on the townhouse in Spiteful. Both would drive further to work, but they loved the townhouse. The next day they drove to the sales office to make an offer. The salesperson had them sign an offer to purchase contract and pay the earnest money. They wanted to close on the townhouse when they had time to set up joint bank accounts after they were married. Things were moving along now. As August turned to September Zane and Josie spent several weekends before the wedding looking at furniture for their new place.

Zane was now into October and with the wedding only two weeks away there were still no changes at Glass Ceilings. He was thinking after the wedding he would arrange a meeting with Bessie to try to get a sense of what she was thinking about the future of Glass Ceilings. Once he and Josie were married Josie's paycheck represented some additional financial security in case he got a surprise from Glass Ceilings. He didn't expect to live off Josie but it was nice to know he had a financial partner.

Zane took off the entire third week of October for their honeymoon trip. Zane and Josie decided to honeymoon in Apptrail, South Carolina for a week after the wedding which was to be on the third Sunday of the month. They were married at sunrise on Sharks Teeth Beach. Their feet were at the water's edge when they both said, "I do." After the ceremony the newlyweds and invited guests were treated to a breakfast buffet at a nearby restaurant. After breakfast they opened their wedding gifts and when they had finished they made remarks about their love for each other and the importance of supportive family and friends. Prior to the ceremony an announcement had been made that after the opening of the gifts Zane and Josie wanted to say goodbye one by one to all of their guests. They also made it clear no rice needed to be thrown and no tin cans should be tied to their car's rear bumper. By the time Zane and Josie had finished saying their goodbyes it was almost twelve noon. They went to their motel, changed clothes and drove south to Apptrail, South Carolina to begin the honeymoon.

While in Apptrail, they visited several sites of historical significance. They ate quite a bit of sea food and walked around the many city parks several times. They returned home and decided to alternate living in each other's apartment until their month's notice at each place was up and they could move.

Zane and Josie switched their bank accounts to joint accounts. Their mortgage loan for the townhouse was approved and during the second week of November they closed on the townhouse and became official homeowners for the first time. By the end of the month they started to move their belongings out of their apartments and managed over two weekends to move everything to their new townhouse. Zane and Josie settled in as a married couple living together under one roof in a townhouse they jointly owned. Life was good.
Chapter 18

Six months had come and gone since Buford's passing and Zane was no closer to any resolutions involving his status at Glass Ceilings. Zane's plan had been to arrange a time to talk to Bessie after he and Josie were married and now was the time; he had to set up that meeting. During the meeting with Bessie he would try to be specific, did the family have a plan as to what they wanted done with Glass Ceilings? If the answer was yes, then what was the plan for him and when would the plan be implemented? If the answer was a no, then how much longer did he want to work at Glass Ceilings? He felt he had expended sufficient patience with Buford and now with Buford's family over his future and it was time for a response. But what the hell, it was Wednesday, he might as well wait until the first of next week since he had waited this long. He would spend a nice weekend with his new bride and do some fun activities and worry about this work shit next week.

On Saturday morning Zane and Josie drove to the mall to get a jump start on Christmas shopping. It was already November and within two weeks they would be celebrating Thanksgiving so they didn't think it was too early to shop, especially since many stores were featuring sales. They bought gifts for Josie's parents and Josie's siblings. Zane bought a few things for the office staff. When they left they felt good about the purchases they had made. When they returned home they focused on Thanksgiving and where Thanksgiving dinner would be held now that their family, his and hers, had expanded. Josie mentioned she thought her mom might like to serve as host, but nothing was confirmed. Zane told her Eva Mae had not mentioned it, but in the past he always had Thanksgiving dinner with her. Josie wondered if Eva Mae was expecting the both of them for Thanksgiving dinner so she suggested Zane communicate with her to find out. Josie told Zane that since she and her siblings left her parents' house the family had been on a rotating basis and maybe that's what they were expecting this year. Josie suggested since it was their first Thanksgiving together maybe they should start their own tradition. Zane said if they resorted to her plan perhaps family members might get their feelings hurt. They both wondered why things needed to be so complicated. Before they went to bed they agreed to call their moms first thing the next morning to get a feel for each mom's Thanksgiving dinner expectations.

When Josie and Zane got up Sunday morning they resumed their conversation about who was hosting the Thanksgiving dinner. Josie spoke first saying both families already had traditions, her family was rotating each year among her mother and her sisters, but she had not been in the loop because she was not married and didn't have the space her sisters and mother had. Maybe this year since she was married and now had more space with their townhouse, maybe this was the time to become part of the rotation. As far as Zane's tradition with Eva Mae Josie suggested they eat with her on Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving, thus having two Thanksgiving meals with each of the families. Zane asked why Eva Mae should have to wait a day or two after Thanksgiving to serve her dinner. Josie thought a minute and said, "Well it's an issue if your mother says it an issue, but if we have dinner with a family on Thanksgiving for dam sure we don't need two Thanksgiving meals on the same day!"

Zane agreed that they didn't need two big meals on Thanksgiving. He reviewed the options they discussed, maybe the host could rotate each Thanksgiving until everyone had their turn then start over or have separate meals with each family on different days starting Thanksgiving Day through the weekend. The third option was for Zane and Josie to start their own tradition of having Thanksgiving dinner at their house. They agreed that the best plan was a rotation since everyone in the two families lived in close proximity to each other. Josie initiated the calls to her family and within an hour she had received input from her mom and her sisters and they had no problem with alternating the hosting among two additional households, especially since that had been their custom. There would be two additional years Josie's mom and her sisters wouldn't have to serve as host and they liked that. Zane needed to contact Eva Mae to get her thoughts on the subject. When he called Eva Mae she was not in and since it was Sunday morning Zane immediately assumed she was probably at church. Zane called Eva Mae again after lunch and this time he was able to reach her. Zane listed the Thanksgiving dinner options while Eva Mae listened. Her first response was that she had enjoyed preparing the meal for him and since there were only the two of them she always looked forward to their little family tradition. She further mentioned that things change and since he was married things probably needed to change and that was good. She told Zane the rotation idea sounded fine except she would feel a little uncomfortable around Josie's family at first because other than some brief interactions at the wedding she had not been around them, but she didn't see this as an overwhelming obstacle. Eva Mae agreed to the hosting rotation for Thanksgiving, and then she asked about their Christmas plan and Zane told her they had no such plan yet.

Zane arrived at work on Monday morning planning to call Bessie to set up a meeting to discuss the future of Glass Ceilings and the future of Zane at Glass Ceilings. If Bessie was noncommittal he was prepared to demand deadlines for her to present plans or he was history. He felt confident as to what his contribution to the company and to the family had been, but he was also feeling very confident about starting up his own company. Zane called Bessie several times that morning, but got no answer. It was about two in the afternoon before Zane was able to reach Bessie. She apologized and said she was out shopping that morning with one of her daughters and had just returned. Zane asked for a meeting and Bessie enquired as to what they needed to meet about. Zane told her he wanted to discuss the future direction of Glass Ceilings and his role with the company. She responded with an, "oh," and told him she would meet with him Tuesday afternoon around three and Zane told her he would be there. He hung up and thought once again, "it's hurry up and wait," but what alternative did he have. He figured the meeting was probably a waste of time for he seriously doubted Bessie had a dam clue as to what she wanted to do with the company. Zane was already frustrated because he knew she wouldn't have a clue as to what the hell she wanted to do. He'd leave her house with no answer and continue to go to Glass Ceilings every day and work in limbo.

When Zane got home that night he told Josie about the impending meeting with Bessie and Josie told him to be strong and say what he intended to say, but just be polite and be willing to compromise. If he wasn't satisfied with what he heard Josie suggested Zane be prepared to part ways with Glass Ceilings for if ever there was a best time to leave Glass Ceilings it might be now. She said they could certainly live on one paycheck, hers, until he got his business up and running and if he decided to borrow some start up money that too posed no major problem right now, so he was in the driver's seat. Zane always appreciated Josie's perspective on things and once again she had come through at the right time to support and encourage him. He felt he was as ready as he'd ever be to meet with Bessie.

Zane drove to Burger Heaven for lunch on Tuesday. He returned to his office and sat for a good while reviewing his years with the company, what he expected to hear from Bessie, and what he was prepared to do based on what he heard. He still believed if he stayed at Glass Ceilings he could make an impact, especially if he implemented his efficiency recommendations. At 2:30 p.m. Zane left his office to drive to Bessie's house.

Bessie was glad to see Zane and offered him a recliner in the family room. "Zane it's so good to see you, how's Josie," asked Bessie. "Josie is fine and how are you?" enquired Zane. They talked a few more minutes about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday and exchanged stories about how their respective families usually spent the holiday. Bessie said the holiday would be hard for the obvious reason this year, but the family was determined to celebrate as usual while they remembered the spirit of Buford and what he had meant to the family. Zane told her what his "two" families had decided about Thanksgiving.

"So, what do we need to talk about today, Zane? Do you have some financial reports or something for me to look at?" asked Bessie.

"Well," said Zane, "I want to talk to you about the direction of the company and how I might be involved down the road," said Zane.

"I'm sure you will be surprised, but my family and I have actually talked about what we want to do with Glass Ceilings," said Bessie. "As you are well aware Buford wanted to sell Glass Ceilings and now we are into our second year with no prospects, but thanks to you and the other employees the business is doing very well. We discussed at length whether to continue to try to liquidate Glass Ceilings or to continue to install as many ceiling tiles as we can. Of course you want to know where we are and what is to be the extent of your involvement."

"Yes, I would like to know what my future with Glass Ceilings is going to be," said Zane.

"As you plainly know I know absolutely zero about ceiling tiles and none of my children know anything either, but they do know what the bottom line is because I show them the financial reports you prepare for me," said Bessie. "I also know what my husband thought of you and the respect and confidence he had in your abilities. In his last days he told me that once he was no longer in the picture to reconsider selling Glass Ceilings and if I did, then make sure Zane was taken care of. Zane, today I'm prepared to make you a clear offer to become a major part of Glass Ceilings. My family is okay with my decision and Buford gave it his blessing during his last days. Zane, I want to offer you 25% of Glass Ceilings. This means that whatever the value of the company is now or will be later if you stay with us, 25% of it is yours and 75% comes back to me. If the company is sold during my lifetime or my children's lifetimes after I'm gone, 25% of the sales price will be yours. If you agree we will begin the necessary legal papers to make this all right and proper and we can all move on with clearer expectations about the future of Glass Ceilings."

For a moment Zane was silent as he was totally blown away with Bessie's generous offer. The wheels were turning in his mind. He could make this company more than it had been by making Glass Ceilings more efficient. He knew he could make the company better and more profitable and maybe later they could consider diversifying their services. Before Zane could speak Bessie made another proposal, "and if you accept my offer, Zane, upon my death you have the option of purchasing the remainder of Glass Ceilings at 10% less the appraised value of my part of the company at the time. My children have requested that upon my death they would not desire to continue being involved in any way with the firm. In the event you wouldn't want to buy the company they could sell it at whatever price they could get and you would still walk away with 25% of the purchase price."

Bessie also went on to say that all major company decisions, especially financial decisions would be made by a 3 to 1 vote with her holding the majority decision making rights. Bessie would leave it to her legal staff to determine which decisions would be "major" decisions. All of this would be contained in the contract they would eventually sign.

Zane was yet to say anything as he privately wondered should he tell Bessie he needed time to consider or did he just need to make the decision before he left Bessie's house. Maybe he spent too much time over analyzing everything. He felt he needed to carefully read the fine print of the agreement, maybe even hire his own lawyer to review the contract, after all this was a business arrangement rather than an agreement between "friends."

Finally Zane spoke, "Bessie, as you know I have worked for Buford for many years and I have been a loyal employee, so loyal in fact Buford put me in charge of Glass Ceilings when his health prohibited him from working further. I have performed as he wanted me to and I kept him as informed as needed while I was able to increase the profit margin during my time at the helm. I would be honored to accept this most generous offer, in principle today, that is, until the details of such an agreement are prepared, read, and signed."

"Well, that indeed is good news to me," said Bessie. "I will proceed with all due haste to have my attorneys prepare the contract."
Chapter 19

When Zane got home he was on cloud nine. He could pretty much operate Glass Ceilings as he wished. After he signed the contract he would own 25% of the company. He could implement his efficiency recommendations as he had hoped he would get to do. When Bessie died he would have the first opportunity to purchase the company. He wouldn't have to put up any money to get part of the business. All of this sounded too good to be true. He thought as soon as he got home he would run it by Josie, as she could pick it apart and tell him if there were any problems with the offer. Josie was good at being objective. This had been a long, hard journey since the days at the commode factory, but Zane knew he was where he was by hard work.

He called Josie at work and told her to be ready for a big announcement and dinner out when she got home. She told Zane she couldn't wait and did he have a restaurant in mind. He told her Perkinson's Fish Camp and Josie said Perkinson's was fine with her. Zane also called Eva Mae's house and left a message on her machine that he had some great news and he would call her later to fill her in.

By the time Josie got home Zane was already on his third Needa Buzz so he asked Josie to drive to Perkinson's. Zane allowed the tension to build as he withheld his news until they got a table at the fish camp. He explained Bessie's offer to Josie and as always, she listened intently to what Zane had to say. When Zane finished he asked for her input and her main question had to do with his liability should Glass Ceilings go bust. Did he think in any way he might wind up absorbing any losses because of his 25% ownership of the business? Perhaps Josie had raised a key question which stymied Zane's thoughts of what a great package Bessie had offered him. He asked Josie to consider that Bessie was giving him 25% of Glass Ceilings and he wouldn't have to purchase his 25%, it was free if he agreed to assume official duties as CEO. He wondered why that was not a good deal. Josie thought for a moment then said, "well, I guess if you start with 25% of the company and paid nothing for it, then later if you lose your 25% what did you lose, zero, I suppose." Josie asked Zane another question, "will you be OK with Bessie controlling the major decisions with her 75% voting rights?"

Zane responded, "She's giving me up front 25% of Glass Ceilings without me having to pay a dime, so how could I have a problem with her still being in control?"

"Okay," responded Josie, "since Bessie owns 75% of the company she can decide to sell anytime whether the company is in a strong financial position or a weak one, therefore she will always control what you receive in the end. This is really getting complicated the more we talk about it and I guess you need to think long and hard about the implications of that 25% which sounds too good to be true. I just don't think we want you to wind up in a deep hole somewhere down the road because we didn't think through this clearly."

Zane thought he understood what Josie was saying and the more they discussed this offer the shakier Zane got. What he heard Josie suggest was taking the 25% was a risk, that he got, but wouldn't borrowing money to start his own business while giving up a nice salary from Glass Ceilings a risk also? Getting out of bed every morning was a risk as he might fall and break a leg. He concluded that no one could go through life without a risk; he just had to be as sure as possible his risks would be minimal. Zane summed up in his mind the proposed offer, 25% of the company without a buy in, a higher salary, though Bessie did not mention a particular number, the authority to move the company in a more progressive direction, and complete operational decision making power. If Bessie decided later she wanted to sell the company then Zane would own the 25% without an original investment and would receive 25% of the purchase price of the company. Zane realized even though he had a degree in Business Administration and had been the interim manager of Glass Ceilings now for several years he knew nothing about partnerships, which was the form of business Bessie was proposing. He felt he needed to contact an attorney before going any further. He decided to call a lawyer the next day. By the time work settled down Zane noticed it was past three and he still needed to contact an attorney. He didn't know anyone to call so he consulted the phonebook for business lawyers and found several listed in Anvil. He selected the one with the largest ad and the most lawyers listed in the firm. He assumed they did quite a lot of business in the area. He was unable to secure an appointment that day since it was late in the day, but did manage to get an appointment at ten for the next day. That night Zane and Josie assembled a list of questions to ask the attorney. A new question emerged in their conversations, what about Zane' liability in case of negligence either by him or another employee, could he be sued and if so, for how much? Was there insurance he could purchase as protection against such a claim? What if Glass Ceilings had to borrow a lot of money, and then the company was unable to pay it back, would he be liable for that? Liability was a new concern for Zane. It seemed the more he thought about Bessie's offer the more complicated things got.

Zane found out the benefits of owning business liability insurance for individuals in partnerships were many. In the event the business owner was sued, business liability insurance provided coverage for the damages in the suit and the cost of legal fees. This could add up to considerable savings and save the assets of a small business, as well as protect an individual's money and property.

When Zane got to the law firm he noticed it was a large two story building with plenty of parking space which implied they had many clients. Once he found the office he announced his arrival and had a seat. He waited for what seemed like thirty minutes before a rather small man came out and introduced himself as Masse Jurgensen. He seemed a pleasant sort and Zane immediately felt very comfortable as Masse listened to Zane explain Bessie's offer. He mentioned his concern about his liability under the arrangement and Masse suggested some form of general liability insurance which would protect Zane from claims against him. Masse recommended Zane review the current liability insurance policy or policies at Glass Ceilings to make sure the company was currently covered against all types of litigation and also check to see if perhaps they already had a current policy on him. Masse also told Zane as far as the offer was concerned he thought it was a good one, but nothing was 100% foolproof, but the written agreement, the contract, would go a long way to solving most of the potential issues. Masse suggested Zane forward a copy of the contract to him to read to make sure it included everything that should be contained before Zane signed it. Zane told him he would provide a copy as soon as he received one from Bessie. Zane left feeling a little better that business insurance would cover potential liabilities. When he got home that evening he shared the results of his meeting with the attorney with Josie and she seemed more comfortable that at least he wouldn't be putting himself in a precarious situation. Zane felt all he needed now was a copy of Bessie's contract for Masse to review.  
It was about two weeks before Zane got a call from Bessie informing him that the contract was in the mail and he should expect it any day. Zane told Bessie he had talked to his lawyer and he would have him review the document after he read it. Bessie told him she certainly expected him to do that to hash out any potential problems from either party. Bessie said she was more than willing to work with Zane on some of the details, but some things would not be negotiable, like Zane's percentage of the ownership of Glass Ceilings. Zane told her he would be looking for the contract and when he got it he would hand deliver it to his attorney.

Zane received the envelope containing Bessie's contract late Thursday afternoon. He pulled the contract out and quickly perused the five pages one by one. As he read the document there was a lot of legal jargon, but the points Bessie made orally at her house were contained as she stated them. The contract specifically stated Bessie would give Zane 25% ownership of Glass Ceilings upon signing the contract. If she later sold the business Zane would get 25% of the profits from the sale. Upon her death if Zane desired he could purchase Bessie's 75% share at 10% less the appraised value established at the time of the sale. The contract spelled out Zane's new salary, which was 25% more than he currently made, and further stated he would get periodic raises contingent upon the profit of Glass Ceilings. If Zane left the company while Bessie or a member of her family still owned 75% of the company Zane would forfeit his 25%. This stipulation was designed to keep Zane with Glass Ceilings as long as Bessie was alive or her family owned the controlling interest in the company. The final clause dealt with the company insurance and listed all the types of insurance the company would provide, but it did not list any insurance designed to cover claims against Zane. When Zane finished the contract he thought his major concerns had been addressed and he was comfortable with what he had read. He wondered what Masse might think about the contract. He made a copy of the agreement and left work early to take it by Masse Jurgensen's office. When he arrived he had to leave the contract with the receptionist because Masse was out of his office. Zane asked her to make sure she put the envelope in his hands as soon as he returned because he wanted a quick response. She told him she would see that he got the papers in his hands.

Two days later Masse called and told Zane the contract had some unusual stipulations but the details were clearly written. He suggested Zane might want to negotiate a little about the part where if he left the company before it was liquidated he would forfeit his 25% ownership. While he understood Bessie's intent, what if Zane were there for years and Bessie continued to live, and then a new business opportunity presented itself for Zane and he wanted to leave he would have to give up his 25% and walk away with nothing. Masse suggested under that scenario Zane was sort of "holding" the 25% for Bessie. Masse suggested Zane press for at least some guaranteed percentage which would be his when the contract was signed. Zane responded that while Masse had a good point he was concerned because Bessie had already told him that point was "nonnegotiable." Masse told Zane everything was negotiable and just because she told him that may not mean she wasn't willing to negotiate. Masse went on to say with these contracts there has to be a beginning, then a period of give and take until both sides reach some agreement and walk away feeling like each party got something from the negotiations. Zane thanked him for his time and told him he would think about his suggestion and he would deliver a final copy of the contract for his review.

When Josie got in Zane hated to jump right into his latest Glass Ceilings drama. Too bad he didn't have a job like Josie, just go in do your job, deal with some people, and come home. Zane felt like he had spent years trying to get to some state of work normalcy and every dam time he thought he was close there was another hurdle to jump over. He had a contract, but the contract needed to be revised and how long would that take and in the end what would it look like and could he accept it? He decided he would not talk about the contract unless Josie asked if he had received it. He decided he would focus on whatever she wanted to talk about. Josie's first question was about dinner and before Zane could respond, Josie said she was not cooking, so he would have get take out or they would be driving somewhere, anywhere, she didn't give a rat's ass, to eat dinner. Zane took the path of least resistance and took her to Johnson's Buffet, where for $7.95 you could eat until you couldn't "see straight." Josie was fine with the choice because she knew once they got a table they could walk to the serving lines and start filling up their plates. They ate their first plate without ever looking up at each other because both were hungry. By the time they returned to their table with their second plate they set aside some time for some discussion of their day. Josie told Zane she had a hell of a day because too many people simply wanted everything when they wanted it and they all wanted it before five o'clock. She did the best she could and managed to get to most of them, but she admitted most of her days were not like that. She suggested soon, maybe the upcoming weekend, they get out of town. It seemed to her all they did was work, come home, eat, go to bed, get up, and repeat the cycle. Zane agreed with Josie that they needed more from their life than work all the time. Zane asked Josie if had a suggestion and she told him she would like to go to the beach, any beach, and lay in the sun most of the day and eat seafood at a restaurant overlooking the ocean. Zane thought that was a grand idea and suggested Sunscreen Beach since from their house they could be on the beach within two and a half hours. Zane asked Josie could she take Friday off because if she could he would take a day off and really make it a long weekend. Josie told Zane if she could finish up with updating websites for the remaining departments tomorrow she thought she could feel comfortable taking Friday off. They left Johnston's with a plan for the weekend and for the rest of the night they discussed taking more long weekends in the future.
Chapter 20

For the remainder of the week Zane focused more on the upcoming weekend at the beach with Josie rather than Bessie's contract. Josie was able to get away from work on Friday so their long weekend was confirmed. By the time Zane left Glass Ceilings he still had not received Bessie's contract although she had told him it might take a while to prepare it. He was going to try extra hard not to talk about the contract over the weekend. The next morning Zane and Josie left early for Sunscreen Beach so they could have as much time as possible on the beach. They arrived and checked into their rather small room in a motel on the beach they had made reservations for earlier in the week with a great view of the Atlantic Ocean. They changed into shirts, tee shirts, and scandals, grabbed some sun screen, sun glasses, hats, and bounded out the door for the beach. Once on the beach they walked for most of an hour, just taking in the sights and sounds of the ocean. There were quite a number of people on the beach, for the weather was warm and it was the weekend. By early afternoon they returned to the room for some sandwiches made from groceries they had purchased before leaving Spiteful. They decided to attend a matinee at a local theater and did some light shopping after the movie. For dinner they drove to downtown Sunscreen Beach and ate at a restaurant on Licker Street. The downtown area was busy with many young people moving about doing things young people do on Friday nights. After dinner they walked on the Seagull Walk then decided to return to their motel. It had been a long day so they prepared themselves for bed and sat in front of the TV until they fell asleep. On Saturday they visited a battleship in Sunscreen Beach harbor, and then drove to Thong Beach for the afternoon. That night they ate dinner at a seafood restaurant with a view of the ocean. On Sunday morning they had packed up their belongings and checked out of the motel before they went to Majestic Gardens. After lunch at a restaurant on the ocean in Sunscreen Beach they drove back to their townhouse in Spiteful. During the entire three days there was no mention of Glass Ceilings. Before they went to bed Sunday night they agreed they should have more weekends like the one they just experienced.

Chapter 21

When Zane arrived at work Monday morning his thoughts returned to Bessie's contract. He still wasn't sure what his position should be, but he thought he needed one before the contract arrived. Once he got the schedules to the work supervisors for their installers and made a few phone calls he got back to thinking about the contract. He got out his pad and drew a line down the middle of a page. On the left side of the paper he wrote COMFORTABLE and on the other side he wrote UNCOMFORTABLE. He jotted down what points of the oral agreement he was comfortable with, and then the ones he wasn't comfortable about. Under the Comfortable heading Zane listed, responsibility over company, higher salary, chance to implement his efficiency recommendations, and part owner. Under the Uncomfortable heading Zane wrote 25% ownership but not sure what the ramifications might be especially if the company should go bankrupt and the second item Zane listed was the concern over liable suits, in short he was once again concerned with job security. Once he had his points written down he realized how easy it was to draw a conclusion of uncertainty which was the key reason why he had procrastinated about starting his own business. At that moment Zane knew what he wanted to do, stay on at Glass Ceilings as CEO working for Bessie or a new owner. He could work hard to make Glass Ceilings more efficient and more profitable, but he didn't want to have to worry about the debts, possible lawsuits and all the other crap that came with being an owner of a company. He could gain experience which should be valuable in the future if he decided to change jobs and since he expected to make a nice salary he and Josie would have a good life which was really the most important thing anyway. OK, Zane had it down, no big deal when the contract was delivered, he was prepared to refuse Bessie's offer and counter with his offer which he felt certain she would accept. He felt like a load had been taken from his shoulders. He decided to call Josie and tell her of his decision, but he decided at the last moment to wait until they both got home that evening.

The week ended with no contract in Zane's possession, but he wasn't anxious about getting it anymore because his decision was made. Over the weekend Josie and Zane visited Josie's parents on Saturday for a cookout. On Sunday afternoon they went to see Eva Mae and the three of them went for a hike at Pine Cone Park. Zane caught Eva Mae up on the "negotiations" he had entered into with Bessie and she told Zane she had learned the most important things in a job were a day's work for a day's pay, be responsible for the work you did and if you screwed up fix it, and perform work you think is worthwhile. Zane told Eva Mae he remembered her saying those same things many times over his life and he had come to believe they were worthwhile principles. Eva Mae told them she was looking forward to her upcoming cruise with her friend and she was still leaning toward retiring in the next few years. Zane asked Eva Mae if she had a new "man friend" to which she responded, "what's a man friend, heaven's no, what would I need a man friend for?"

Bessie's contract was in the office mail when Zane got to work Tuesday morning. He took the envelope to his office and put it on his desk. By two o'clock that day the envelope was still lying on Zane's desk unopened. After Zane finished speaking by phone to a prospective customer he decided he would open the envelope before he left the office. He opened his desk to retrieve his letter opener and slid the sharp end of the opener just under the top part of the envelope. He withdrew a five page document. As he started to read the contract much of the verbiage was legal mumbo jumbo he didn't understand. The details were listed as Bessie had stated orally in their earlier meeting. The line that Zane focused on was the one about Zane receiving 25% of the company if he signed the contract so at such point when Glass Ceilings was dissolved Zane would receive 25% of the purchase price. The statement also mentioned that in the event Zane left the company early OR for some reason had to be terminated the 25% would revert to Bessie. It seemed to Zane the last part was suggested by Bessie's lawyer because she did not mention the "early departure" part when they met, but he did remember her comment, "If you stay with us." After Zane read the details he stopped as he had no real interest in reading the remaining pages. He folded the contract and put it back in the envelope and dropped it into his desk drawer. He elected not to take it home to show Josie because he knew there was no way he'd ever agree to it. His plan was to call Bessie the next day and tell her he could not accept the offer, therefore, would not be signing the contract. He intended to ask Bessie for a five year contract for a substantial raise for more than she was offering, with an option to renegotiate his salary at the end of the contract. He would also ask for her to purchase liability insurance for him, increase the 401K company match, and pay his entire health insurance premium rather than the current 50% of his premium. Everything else as far as he was concerned could stay the same. She could have final say on all key decisions and he would continue to provide her with the same reports he had furnished Buford unless she requested something different. He also requested that in the event he was discharged for any reason not involving negligence, fraud, or moral turpitude before the term of the contract was up she would pay him the remainder of his contract. Should he tender his resignation before the term of the contract was up he would give Bessie a 30 business days notice before he left. If Bessie would agree to those conditions then Zane was ready to begin a new chapter at Glass Ceilings.

When Zane got home Josie was already there so they took a short walk around the neighborhood. While they walked Zane told Josie he received Bessie's contract, but he had no intention of signing it. Josie asked had he thought about a response and Zane told her he wanted a five year contract, liability insurance, and an increase in his 401K match, and to pay 100% of his health insurance premiums. Josie thought those requests seemed reasonable in lieu of 25% of the company Bessie had offered. She asked Zane when he planned to contact Bessie to respond to her contract and he told her probably tomorrow.

On Wednesday Zane called Bessie shortly after he got to work to inform her he was not accepting the contract. Zane essentially told her he could not accept the part ownership clause and when Bessie pressed him as to why he told her his attorney advised against it. Bessie asked what changes did the lawyer recommend and Zane just restated that he would rather work for the company rather than be a part owner. Bessie told Zane she could certainly understand that. Bessie said the contract was written that way to hopefully keep him at the company until it was sold; it was to be seen as a long term investment and commitment to both sides. Zane said he appreciated her offer, but still he was uncomfortable with it. Bessie then asked Zane what he needed to stay on at Glass Ceilings. He explained to Bessie he had four requirements, a five year contract for a substantial raise with an option to renegotiate the agreement at the end of the contract with a stipulation to pay the remainder of his contract if he was terminated early for no good reason, liability insurance, increase his 401K match, and pay all of his health insurance premiums. Zane had to go slowly because Bessie was writing down all of his requests. Once Zane finished Bessie told him she would talk to her family and her attorney and get back to him as soon as she could. Zane told her he would really like to get this resolved soon and Bessie said she felt the same and hoped it could be resolved quickly. Zane ended the call by telling Bessie things were going well at Glass Ceilings and he sincerely hoped things could be worked out soon.
Chapter 22

By the end of the week Zane still had no communication from Bessie regarding his counter proposal to her contract. It was more hurry up and wait, but he knew he had no control of the situation. The weekend was uneventful as Zane and Josie hung out around their townhouse and got some needed rest. By Monday morning both were well rested and ready to take on the week's challenges.

When Zane got to work and issued the work schedules to the supervisors he reviewed his schedule for the week. Most of his week would be spent on site visits to several large projects across Blake County. This was a part of his work he enjoyed very much because it allowed him to get out in the field and see the work done by his installers. It was also a chance for Zane to return to where he started as an installer. By the middle of the week he had completed all of his site visits and other than one location he was satisfied with the work being done. He had the installers at one business completely redo one section of a ceiling because he was not pleased with the way the tiles were hung. The installers were a little pissed, but they respected Zane's opinion and always knew he had their back. When Zane got back to the office he had a voice mail from Bessie. He returned her call just before Glass Ceilings closed for the day. Bessie answered the phone and the two exchanged pleasantries before getting into the reason for Bessie's call. She told Zane his requests had been reviewed and discussed by her family and her lawyer and they would consent to his requirements, but since he didn't give any numbers for his pay increase request or his 401K request he could give her the numbers or he could wait and respond to her numbers. Zane asked what her numbers were for he knew he could easily compare them to the ones he expected. Bessie told him to hang on while she retrieved them. When she returned to the phone Zane was ready with his pencil and pad to write down the numbers. Bessie read out the salary to be paid for each of the five years and the 401K match. She also included a clause which had not been discussed before by either party. The clause stipulated that if Glass Ceilings had a 20% or more increase in annual profits by the final calendar year of Zane's contract Glass Ceilings would pay Zane a nice one-time bonus. This was an incentive clause added to the contract because Bessie wanted to be sure Zane understood his importance to the company. After she explained her numbers and the incentive clause she asked Zane what he thought and did he need some time to have his attorney review the latest offer. Zane responded by thanking Bessie again for her support and this most generous offer and no, he didn't need any more time or reviews by his lawyer, he was accepting her offer as outlined and he would sign the contract. Zane offered to drive over to Bessie's house right then and there and sign so this ordeal would be over for both of them. Bessie thought that was a great idea and told Zane to come over and she'd have the contract ready when he got to her house.

It took Zane thirty minutes to drive to Bessie's house. He was relieved that in a few short minutes this wheeling and dealing would finally be over. He drove into Bessie's circular drive and parked his car. He walked up on the large front porch and rang the bell. Within seconds the door opened and Bessie greeted Zane with a hug. Bessie showed Zane to her living room and offered him a seat. She went to the kitchen and returned with some iced tea and cookies. Then Bessie gave Zane a copy of the contract and reviewed it with him sentence by sentence. When they finished reviewing the contract Bessie got a pen and they both signed the contracts on the appropriate lines and each kept a copy. After a few more minutes of conversation Zane thanked Bessie for working with him and assured her he would continue to work hard to make Glass Ceilings a company she would be proud of. As Zane drove away he breathed a sigh of relief that his employment was set for the foreseeable future. He would continue to have a steady well paying job with good benefits. In five years he could renegotiate his contract if necessary. His benefits were consistent with those he was familiar with in the public and private sectors. It had been long hard journey, but now he was breathing a sigh of relief, at least until the company was sold.

When Zane got home that night he told Josie he had signed a five year contract with Glass Ceilings. He explained the details of the agreement and Josie was happy for Zane that things had been resolved and he was comfortable with his decision. Josie told Zane she recently had thoughts of making a job change, but had not yet decided the direction she desired to go. She knew designing and maintaining websites was not what she wanted to do for many more years. Zane told her he would be there to help her if she needed him. Josie was reasonably sure she would continue to work in the computer field. Later that night Zane called Eva Mae to let her know of his new agreement with Glass Ceilings. She told Zane she was pleased he had reached a decision about working there at least for the next five years. Eva Mae told Zane she was scheduled to leave on her cruise in two weeks and was really excited to finally experience a part of the world other than the label factory in Anvil. Zane told her he would try to see her before she departed.

On Tuesday morning as soon as Zane arrived at Glass Ceilings he was off and running. The first order of business was to prepare a memo for the entire staff announcing he had officially been made CEO of Glass Ceilings. He was very careful to choose his words and concluded the memo with a paragraph about the direction of the company and how he hoped to involve everyone in the growth of the company. He made copies of his memo and placed them in the office mailboxes. As the morning wore on Zane had several employees coming by the office to give him a "thumbs up" and they assured him they were on board with his vision for the company. Zane retrieved his file on the efficiency project because he thought a good beginning might be to make some of the changes he had recommended. Before the day was over Zane had written tentative dates on the company calendar of social activities for his tile installers. His original recommendation called for some social activity every quarter with at least one of the events to include installers' families. He needed to work out the details as to the estimated cost of the event and the location. Zane reviewed his second recommendation for the installers which called for a systematic review of pay raises based on some method of performance evaluation. He realized this one would take a while and since it involved money Bessie would have the final say. He went down to the maintenance shop to speak with the mechanics about developing a calendar of regularly scheduled maintenance for the fleet of trucks. The men agreed as they had months ago that this plan was needed, but they told Zane they hoped he didn't want it soon. Zane told them to prepare a tentative schedule and have it on his desk within a month. He also asked them to develop job descriptions. Before he left Zane decided to change the deadline to two months for the two assignments. The mechanics were confident they could meet the deadline. Zane stopped by to meet with the clerical staff on the way back to his office to discuss development of an organizational flow chart and job descriptions for the department. He told the staff he wanted them to develop a tentative organizational flow chart for the entire company since they had the concern over having too many people to report to. Zane was curious as to what their final chart might look like and at least it would give him a place to start. After some brief interchanges with the staff Zane got them to agree to submit proposals for the flow chart and job descriptions within six weeks. Zane next met with the supply room staff and requested a plan to ensure supplies would be ordered before inventories reached a critical level. He also asked the staff to develop job descriptions and present recommendations how they preferred him to select a supervisor for the department. He told them to have these action items on his desk within two months. He left the supply room to meet with the business office staff. He told them to prepare job descriptions for each person in the department. He also told them he would pursue hiring the new employee they had requested as soon as he received a job description. His last action item was to seek their input as to how they wanted their supervisor selected. By the time Zane left his office that day he felt he had put in a full day's work as the official CEO of Glass Ceilings.
Chapter 23

As several months went by Zane was completely settled into his new role as permanent CEO of Glass Ceilings. The action items from the departments were being submitted, but he had not reviewed any of the reports. He had talked to Bessie several times regarding his recommendations requiring financing. Bessie had approved the hiring of an additional business office employee and she had approved purchasing some of diagnostic equipment the mechanics had requested. She told Zane she needed more time before deciding on the other projects which required an outlay of cash. With the help of Josie, Zane had developed a web site for Glass Ceilings and had begun monitoring the views to the site. When he attracted new customers he surveyed them to find out how they learned about Glass Ceilings. After several months he found most of his recent customers cited the web site as how they became aware of Glass Ceilings. Profits for the first two months since Zane was named permanent CEO were up some eight per cent. Bessie was very pleased with the bottom line.

Josie and Zane continued to have more long weekends together as they had committed to earlier. They spent time in Figurative, Whimsical, Contemplate Junction, and Crotchton, Virginia. The trips allowed them some quality time away from the stresses of work. They were able to reflect on where they had been and where they hoped to go. On their trip to Crotchton, Virginia, Josie brought up having a family for the first time. She asked Zane did he desire to have children and he responded he did, but he wasn't sure the time was right. Josie pressed him for "when then, when would be the best time?" He told her he wanted to be more settled in his job and maybe even get them into a house before they made such decisions about expanding their family. Josie told him he might never get "settled" in his job. She wondered how one got "settled" in a job that changes every day. As far as a change in addresses she said she wasn't as concerned about a new house as he seemed to be. Zane asked Josie if they had a child how long did she intend to be out of work. Josie replied that she would be out until she was comfortable leaving a baby and would not be in a rush. She said they could certainly manage on Zane's paycheck which was increased after he was named CEO of Glass Ceilings. She told Zane he was continuing to be too concerned about financial security which she thought was impossible maintain consistently. She also mentioned to Zane "that a house is not a home." Zane was quiet for a few moments before he responded. He told Josie she was correct, but without some degree of security what would they do if "shit hit the fan" as it always would at some point, what then would they do without some financial security. Josie told him he could figure it out for it was not something she was concerned about. Zane asked Josie if she had concerns about getting pregnant given the loss of her first child. Josie quickly responded, "hell no, not one dam concern." Zane was silent before saying to Josie, "okay, then, let's have a child or two or three or whatever." This sarcastic response pissed Josie off so she went outside and sat on the big porch at their bed and breakfast. For the remainder of their weekend trip they had little to say to each other.

A few weeks after the long weekend Josie began experiencing "strange feelings" so she made an appointment with her OB/GYN. She had taken the home pregnancy test which confirmed she was pregnant, but she wanted 100% confirmation from her doctor. Josie had gone by her doctor's office several days before her scheduled appointment to have blood drawn and was told she should have the results by the day of the appointment. On the day of the appointment Zane took half a day from work to go to the appointment with Josie. When they returned from their long weekend in Crotchton they knew the time to start a family was as good as it would ever be. They were young and could financially afford to increase their family size. Waiting a few more years would not necessarily give them more of an advantage. They tried to get Josie pregnant and now the time had come for confirmation. The appointment was set for 9:00 a.m. on Thursday morning at a clinic in North Delbridge. Shortly after nine a nurse came into the waiting room to direct Josie to the examining room. Zane elected to sit in the waiting room. Josie sat in the examining room for what seemed like thirty to forty minutes before her doctor came in. After exchanging pleasantries the doctor asked Josie some questions, then examined her and had some blood work done. After a few more minutes a technician returned with the results for the doctor to share with Josie. Yes! Josie was indeed pregnant for a second time. She couldn't wait to get to the waiting room to tell Zane. As soon as she opened the door from the examining room Zane could see the results on Josie's face. He got up and rushed over and kissed her and they embraced for several minutes. Josie had taken the entire day off so she was planning to go home and rest and think about the next few months. Zane called his office to tell them the news and also tell him he was out of the office for the remainder of the day. As soon as they got home Josie called her parents and her sisters to tell them the news and after she finished Zane called Eva Mae. Everyone in both families was extremely happy for Zane and Josie and also for themselves. Zane and Josie were happy and knew some things needed to change quickly. Josie needed to stop the alcohol consumption, improve her diet, get some consistent exercise, get proper rest, and reduce her work stress. Within a few weeks they began remodeling the bedroom they had selected as the nursery. The final touches would wait until the sex of the baby could be determined.

The first few months of Josie's pregnancy went according to the textbook. Josie did everything her doctor told her to do. She continued to work full days and experienced no extra stresses. Zane did everything he could on his end, including learning how to cook more healthy dishes and doing more of the housework than he normally did. He also made sure Josie got to bed at least by nine every night except weekends when he let her stay up 'til ten. Eva Mae was knitting little pink and blue caps and shoes, and other items of clothing. Josie's mother Lois had a baby shower and invited everyone she had ever known to the event. Josie received so many gifts she had to make two trips to get it all to their townhouse.

As the first trimester came to a close Josie began to experience bouts of depression. She had flashbacks to her first pregnancy and how all along everything seemed fine until the birth followed by the death. Things seemed to be going much the same way this time as before and every time she visited her doctor she needed constant reassurances that this time everything was fine. Her doctor continued to make note of Josie's concerns and the frequency of depression she reported. The doctor finally prescribed a mild anti-depressant for Josie and told her to take it as she needed it. Zane did all he knew to do to reassure Josie that all was well and this time this baby would be fine. Josie talked often with her mom concerning her feelings about how she thought she would lose another baby. She became so obsessed with these dire thoughts her doctor recommended her to a psychiatrist, but she refused to make an appointment. By the end of the fifth month Josie began to talk openly in Zane's presence that maybe this pregnancy wasn't to be and maybe it wasn't in the cards for her to be a mother. She told Zane she knew of many women, several in fact at her work who had tried to have kids, but never could. She said when these women talked about not having kids there was a void in their lives they could never fill. Josie didn't want to experience a void she could never fill. Losing her first child was devastating and she would never forget it. Zane had never witnessed Josie talking this much about her first pregnancy. All he could remember she ever said was that she got pregnant in high school, dropped out, but the guy was willing to marry her, and the child died. She never talked to him about her emotional state at the time and he never quizzed her about it. Now, she was putting it all on the table and he was really trying to figure out how to mitigate her feelings, especially now since she was carrying his child.

Zane didn't know much about ante partum depression, but he had read about it in his undergraduate psychology class. He never allowed himself to think Josie could do something rash, but as he thought more about it he reached the conclusion that he really didn't know very much about this person he had married. He never delved into Josie's past and was content to leave it where it was, in the past. Perhaps she had more baggage he wasn't aware of, but here he was, in a marriage with his first child on the way. All he could do was try to be supportive and provide Josie with whatever she needed and see what happened.

One day after work when Zane got home he found Josie passed out on the living room couch after consuming an entire bottle of Chardonnay wine, something he had never seen her do. He chastised her for consuming alcohol while being pregnant. He told her those actions were totally unacceptable and all he got in return was, "kiss my ass you son of a bitch." After dinner Zane decided to call Lois but he didn't want to call from the house so he told Josie he needed to go back to the office to get a file he needed to review before the next morning. He drove several blocks and pulled into a gas station to call Lois from a phone booth. He told Lois the details of the depression and the drinking and asked if she could provide some insight. Lois told him Josie had a hard time after her first pregnancy. She was young and confused as to what had happened. Lois told Zane she didn't think Josie was totally over the death of her first baby and she could understand her anxiety over this pregnancy. Lois had no suggestions other than contact her doctor, but said that was probably a waste of time since her doctor had already prescribed antidepressants and had referred her to a psychiatrist. Zane ended the conversation by telling Lois that he would be there for Josie and do whatever he could do to see her through this. He hoped somewhere out there some health professional could provide something to alleviate her depression.

Josie's depression was having an impact on her work. She was receiving numerous complaints for not meeting deadlines and for failing to do the requested departmental web site revisions. Her supervisor had met with her several times and advised she consider taking a leave of absence until after the baby was born, but she refused and the complaints continued. She was arriving to work late and leaving early. Most days by the time Zane got home from Glass Ceilings Josie was already deep into the wine bottle. He gave her the same speech every night about taking care of herself and everything was going to be alright. He talked to Eva Mae and she was empathetic, but she had no new suggestions as to what Zane should do. Zane began to monitor her antidepressant medication to see if she was even taking the prescription and every time he examined her prescription he found an almost full bottle of pills. He finally encouraged Josie to allow him to make an appointment with a psychiatrist, but after the first appointment she had great difficulty making scheduled appointments unless Zane took off from work and drove her to the office. He decided he would take her to the appointments every time because he had no confidence she would go on her own. Zane was getting frustrated because all the doctor did was to listen to her for thirty minutes then send her home. Once in a while he would change the medication she failed to consistently take. Josie's depression was beginning to take a toll on Zane. He was missing work to take her to the doctor. He was leaving early from work each day to try and beat her home so he could keep her out of the wine bottle. At the end of the sixth month of Josie's pregnancy her OB/GYN examined her and did some routine lab tests. The lab report revealed the presence of alcohol in Josie's blood. The doctor gave Josie a stern lecture about how she must stop the drinking right away because continuing down this irresponsible path could lead to the baby's premature birth, low birth weight, and developmental problems. Josie listened to the doctor but had no response. The doctor then chided Zane for not doing enough to see that Josie was taking care of herself and her baby. He got defensive and walked out of the examining room. When Zane and Josie got home they had their first major argument since they met. Zane accused Josie of not taking care of herself and his baby, Josie accused Zane of not understanding what it meant to be pregnant and lose a child and then be pregnant again and worry about losing a second child.

Finally Zane stormed out of the house and drove to Pole Kitty. He decided he needed to get away to think things through so he returned to one of his past safe havens. When Zane walked in and seated himself at the bar the bartender, who had worked there forever, greeted him with a "one on the house" Needa Buzz. After Zane caught the bartender up with his life since he was last seen there he had another Needa Buzz. As Zane poured his can of Needa Buzz into a frosty mug he happened to turn and notice a familiar face near the end of the bar, a face he hadn't seen in several years. He saw the seat next to the woman was empty so he walked over and sat down.

"Excuse me, but I think I know you," said Zane. "I met you years ago at Beachcombers' and your name is, err, ah, Sherry, correct?"

The woman turned and looked at Zane, smiled, and said, "Well, yes, hello Zane, yes I remember you, we danced a spell that night. I had a nice time and before we departed I gave you my address and phone number, but you never called me so I assumed I was the only one who had a good time."

"No," said Zane, "I did enjoy the evening and I did call you, several times, but you never answered so I quite trying. Are you still working as a paralegal and do you still have the same roommate?"

"Yes to the first question and no to the second question," said Sherry. "I severed ties with my roommate two years ago when she got married and moved out. I live alone now and I have an apartment in North Delbridge. What about you what has been happening to you?"

"Well," said Zane, "I went back to school and got my GED from Final Chance Tech, followed by a four-year degree in Business Administration from the State University, and currently I am CEO of Glass Ceilings, a ceiling title company."

"Wow," said Sherry, "you've gotten a lot done in these last few years, CEO of Glass Ceilings; I'm familiar with that company."

"I also found the time to get married," said Zane.

A puzzled look suddenly came over Sherry's face. "You got married and tonight you decided to come to Pole Kitty. Okay, I know why most men come here, especially the married ones, it's obvious they come to get some strange, so why are you here tonight, married man, to get some strange?" said Sherry.

"Not quite," said Zane, "I'm not looking to "get" anything, I'm here to drink beer and I happened to see you at the end of the bar. Actually, my wife, who is pregnant, and I had a little disagreement and I needed to get away for a while so I drove here because I used to enjoy coming here years ago."

"So why the hell are you here?" asked Zane. "Are you hoping to get picked up for a fast evening or what?"

"Okay Zane," responded Sherry, "I asked for that I shouldn't have pried since it's none of my dam business as to why you are here tonight. I'm here because I'm lonely; I recently broke off with a man I had been seeing for three years. We talked off and on about getting married but he never asked and I found out why, he'd been seeing a married woman during the nights he wasn't seeing me. I decided he needed to be with her or me, he chose her, so some nights I come here because the apartment is simply too quiet. I have a few drinks and drive back to my apartment. On occasion a guy will buy me a drink or maybe even ask me to dance, but that's as far as it goes. I don't really need a quick romp in the sack so I replay my message to them early and like most men they move on. Would I like some male companionship, sure, but I'm not desperate, at least not yet."

"As I said," replied Zane, "I'm here to drink beer, but while I'm here, let's just have some pleasant conversation and enjoy each other's company until we decide to leave. I can't see any harm in that."

"Yes, yes," said Sherry, "you're correct, we need to just enjoy talking and don't take it past that."

Zane and Sherry sat at the bar and talked until 11:30 p.m. Zane looked up at the big Needa Buzz clock over the bar and realized he needed to get home in case his wife gave a dam. Before he left he asked Sherry for her phone number and address and she told him she would not give it to him as she didn't think it was proper to share those with a married man unless he was willing to share his, which he wasn't. Sherry told Zane if he ever needed to call her for some reason he could reach her at the office, Wood and Forest, Attorneys at Law. Zane gave Sherry a hug and thanked her for talking to him.

By the time Zane got home it was past twelve and Josie was already asleep. Before he turned in he went to the kitchen to get a light snack. He noticed another empty bottle of Chardonnay on the counter. He picked up the empty bottle and just looked at it before throwing it into the recycling bin. He was thinking the time bomb was ticking and he was running out of options. What in the hell else was he supposed to do? If Josie got through this pregnancy and the child was healthy would she settle down and be her old self again or would this depression and excessive alcohol consumption prevent her from being a wife to him and a mother to their baby? Would he need to divorce her and try to get full custody then go through visiting rights and all the other stuff divorced couples with kids go through? He just had to ride this out and be ready to do what was in the best interest of his child. He went to bed hoping Josie would snap out of what was bugging her and return to her old self.

The next morning Zane and Josie continued their argument from the previous night, but this time the discussion was mostly about where Zane went and why he was gone so long. Zane never told Josie where he went, he just told her he went out to drink beer. Josie refused to accept Zane's answer and told him to "go straight to hell." She picked up the phone and called her office to inform them she wouldn't be in that day but that she fully expected to be back the following day. Zane was furious and slammed the door so hard on the way out a picture on the wall near the door fell and broke into many pieces. When he got to work he was no mad he was short with everyone he came in contact with, including customers who called. He knew he had to get a grip on things before it was too late. As the day wore on he decided to stay later at the office so he could call Eva Mae and talk to her about what to do about Josie. He trusted Eva Mae's judgment and maybe she could offer some insight into this mess. Zane called Eva Mae just after five hoping she was home. He rang her phone five times, six times, seven times and still no answer. He hung up and arranged some files on his desk for fifteen minutes, then called Eva Mae again. The phone rang and rang, but still no Eva Mae to pick up the phone. Zane waited until five thirty before he called again. If Eva Mae was not there this time he would forget it and go home. Maybe he could find a way later to call her from home without Josie knowing. He dialed the local Anvil number for a third time and this time Eva Mae picked up on the third ring. She asked how he was doing and Zane immediately spilled the beans, the whole fifty pound bag in Eva Mae's lap. Eva Mae listened and said little except to request clarification on some of Zane's comments. Eva Mae wanted to support Zane's ranting and ravings, but she was a woman and understood from a woman's perspective how Josie was feeling, something which was impossible for Zane to grasp. When Zane had finished his tirade he paused to allow Eva Mae to respond for what he hoped would be the answer to all of his problems, but that was not what he got. Eva Mae told him that based on what she heard there was not much to do but ride it out and hope things turned out in the end, if not then Zane had done all he could do. She told him she believed when people had problems they could seek professional help and sometimes that was all they needed, while others needed more help, but one thing for certain if the person didn't want to accept some of the responsibility for turning things around there was not a professional in the world who could make a difference. She believed a person would have to want to change before anything could happen and there were times when that were not going to happen. She told Zane to be strong and do what had to be done and try to "numb out" his emotions in order to do the required, the doctor visits, filling the prescriptions, providing good food in the house, trying to get her to rest, and keeping the wine away from her. If he did all those things he'd be responsible and the rest Josie would have to do. After Zane finished his conversation with Eva Mae he told her he appreciated her insight and hoped to see her soon.

Zane got home shortly after six and noticed Josie was not at home. He knew she called in to her office that morning to tell them she was not coming in so she wasn't on the way home from work. He noticed another empty bottle of wine on the counter which troubled him because he thought he had poured out all the wine he could locate. Zane saw no evidence of any dinner plans so he thought Josie had either gone to the grocery store or to buy some takeout. He also had another thought; maybe she had gone for more wine. A few minutes later he heard the door open so he went to see if Josie had returned. Josie had several bags in her arms so she yelled for Zane to come and assist her. He grabbed two of the bags and immediately smelled the scent of fried chicken so he knew what his dinner would be. He put the bags on the kitchen counter and went back to help Josie with the remainder of the bags. From the shape of one bag Zane knew it was wine so he had to brace himself for yet another round of arguing as he planned to immediately open the bottle of wine and pour it down the sink drain. Josie had gone to the bedroom to put up her purse and jacket and when she returned to the kitchen she saw Zane pouring the last drops of her wine down the drain. She yelled and ran over and started beating Zane in the back with all the force she could muster. Josie had never hit Zane for any reason, but now she was attacking him as if he was an intruder. Zane was able to get turned around and managed get behind her to put his arms around her arms to keep her from swinging at him. He held her for a few moments and tried to calm her down but this time she hit him with a barrage of curse words. When Zane let her go she told him she would just go get her purse and drive back out and get more wine and this time he better not pour the wine out or she'd find something to hurt him with. Zane got in front of the door to prevent her from leaving, but once she saw him standing there she turned and ran out the back door. Josie was able to get to her car and once inside she locked all of the doors making it impossible for Zane to gain entry. She started the car and backed out of the driveway. Zane stood outside until he saw which direction she was going and once he saw her make a right turn at the corner he assumed she was driving back to the same grocery store. He ran back inside and grabbed the phone book and began searching the yellow pages for grocery stores. Once he got to the correct page he searched for the grocery store number. He called the number and when someone answered he requested to speak to the manager. Zane was put on hold for what seemed like ten minutes before a voice came on, "may I help you?" Zane asked if he was the manager and the person on the other end of the line said he was. Zane told the manager not to let his wife buy any more wine. He begged him to stop her or at least not sell her any until he could get to the store. If he would do that he would take care of the situation and try not to cause a scene at the store. The manager told Zane he was uncomfortable with his request but he would try to prevent the sale of more wine to his wife until Zane got there. He asked Zane how long would it take for him to get to the store and he told him about fifteen minutes. The manager didn't know Josie so he asked Zane for a description. When Zane finished Josie's description he hung up the phone and dashed out the front door to his car. When he made a right turn at the corner he briefly lost control of his car and almost hit another car coming from the opposite direction. When he regained control he pushed the speedometer to 65 miles per hour, thirty miles over the speed limit. When he got to the grocery store he looked for Josie's car, but he did not see it parked in the lot. He jumped out of his car and ran around the parking lot searching for Josie's car, but still no car. Zane entered the store and went to the customer service desk, found the manager, introduced himself, and then ran up and down the aisles of shelves stocked with wine, but still no Josie. He went back to the front of the store and thought maybe she had stopped somewhere else first so he could catch her when she entered the front door of the grocery store. Zane waited fifteen minutes and still no Josie. He was beginning to doubt she was driving to this store. Josie had tricked him, he thought, maybe she decided to drive to another store, but what store since they both almost always shopped for everything at this store. Zane stood at the front entrance of the grocery store trying to guess where Josie was, but he had no clue. Rather than drive all over town when he had no idea where she might be Zane elected to return home and wait for her. When he got home he called Eva Mae and told her Josie left the house in anger and she told him to call the Anvil Police Department. He called Lois and asked if they had seen her because he suspected she was out somewhere buying wine to replace the bottle he had poured out. Lois told Zane they had not seen her, but would try to reach her by cell phone.

Zane waited and waited at the house for Josie to return until he finally dozed off on the living room couch. He was awakened by the sound of the door bell and as he gathered himself to walk to the door he noticed the hands of the clock in corner of the living room were on the eleven and the fifteen, it was 11:15 p.m. Who could this be and where was Josie? Perhaps she had returned while Zane was asleep and went to bed so as not to wake him up. Zane opened the door to find an Anvil police officer standing on the doormat. He introduced himself and told Zane there had been an accident and the driver of the vehicle had been killed. Zane's could feel his pulse rate increasing as he looked back in the direction of the bedroom, thinking that if he walked to the bedroom he would see his wife, his Josie, asleep in their bed, but before he could move a step the officer told him the license found in the purse on the seat of the car was Josie's. He told Zane he regretted to have to be the bearer of bad news, but at this point he was pretty certain the body at the morgue was his wife. He asked Zane to accompany him to the morgue to make a positive identification. Zane asked the officer about the baby and the officer told him the impact of the crash caused Josie to be thrown through the windshield and he stopped there. Before Zane left the house he went back to the bedroom to be sure Josie was not asleep in their bed and instead he found a bed still made up from the morning. Zane began to weep as he walked with the officer to the patrol car. As they rode to the morgue Zane retraced the evening as well as the past few difficult months. When they arrived at the morgue Zane followed the officer into the office and from there they were escorted back to the morgue. The person on the night shift looked at several identifying tags until he came to the one bearing Josie's name. He pulled out the refrigerated drawer as Zane moved closer. The worker pulled back the sheet covering the body and Zane saw it was Josie, his beautiful Josie. The officer went on the tell Zane the skid marks measured suggested an estimated speed of over ninety miles per hour and Josie was not wearing a seat belt. Several broken bottles of wine were recovered at the crash scene but the officer could not corroborate alcohol was a factor in the accident. Zane was completely numb as he stood there looking at the remains of his wife with his deceased unborn child within her body. He didn't know what to do but just stare at the body. He needed to call Josie's parents and his mom, Eva Mae, even though it was approaching twelve midnight. He asked to be taken to the office to use the phone to make his calls. The first call was to Josie's parents. Lois answered on the third ring as most parents are light sleepers. Zane told her to wake Mork up as he had some bad news. In a few seconds Mork was coherent and Lois put the phone on speaker so they both could hear what Zane had to tell them. "I'm sorry to have to tell you but Josie's been in a terrible accident," said Zane.

"Is she in the hospital, is she O.K," Lois asked.

"No," replied Zane, "she was killed in an automobile accident. She ran head on into a tree going over ninety miles per hour."

Zane could hear Lois and Mork totally falling apart, but he could do nothing but hold the phone until they gathered themselves. They wanted to know why she was alone and Zane told them about their earlier argument regarding his disposing of her wine. They wanted to know where the body was and Zane told them. They told him they would get dressed and be there as soon as possible. Zane told them he would be there when they arrived. They asked about the baby and Zane told them the baby was also killed on impact when the car collided with a tree. When Zane hung up he called Eva Mae. It was twelve thirty, but he had to let her know about the accident. The phone rang and rang until finally on the sixth ring Eva Mae answered and asked, "Who is this at this hour?"

"It's me mom," replied Zane.

"Is everything alright son," asked Eva Mae.

"No, mom, I lost Josie and the baby tonight, she was in a bad car accident," responded Zane.

Eva Mae wanted the details but Zane couldn't go back through everything, so he told her he would tell her the rest when he saw her. Eva Mae asked where he was and after Zane told her she said she would get dressed and drive over to be with him. Zane thanked her and told her he needed her now more than ever.

Josie's parents arrived within the hour, were taken to the morgue to see the body and broke down and had to be escorted from the area. Eva Mae met Zane in the lobby area next to the office. She hugged her son and held on to him for several minutes as they cried on each other's shoulder. When Eva Mae saw Josie's parents they exchanged hugs and tears as they continued to express total shock over the terrible tragedy. Everyone left the morgue at about two in the morning. Zane told the police officer Eva Mae would drive him home. When Eva Mae and Zane left he told her to just drive to her house and he would sleep there. He didn't think he could go back home that night. By the time they got to Eva Mae's house it was close to three in the morning. Zane knew he wouldn't get much sleep. He had to get up early enough to call his office to tell his employees what happened and that he wouldn't be at work. He planned to spend the day preparing some type of service which would be hard because he was alone.

Zane slept about three hours, got up and got dressed in the same clothes he wore the previous night. Eva Mae heard him, so she got up and made some coffee. She asked Zane did he want her to drive him back to his townhouse and he told her maybe later. Zane asked Eva Mae to take a day from work to help him with the arrangements and she told him she would.

By nine o'clock Zane had placed the necessary calls to employees and friends, especially Carlton. Carlton expressed his utmost sympathy and offered to be of assistance in any way Zane saw fit. Zane selected a funeral home to have the body transported to that morning. He set up an appointment with the funeral director to discuss the service. Eva Mae drove Zane over to his house so he could take a shower and put on some clean clothes before going to the funeral home. Zane told Eva Mae he wanted to drive to the funeral home alone. Eva Mae told him to call her later if he needed anything. She told him to plan on eating dinner at her house.

When Zane arrived at the funeral home and opened the front door he realized this was the first time he had ever been involved in any way with the final arrangements of a loved one. He had attended funerals and he was a pall bearer at Buford's funeral, but now he had a new role, one he never thought he'd have, planning a service for his wife. The funeral director introduced himself as a Mr. Graves and led Zane into his office to discuss the details of the service. Mr. Graves gave Zane an overview of traditional funerals emphasizing along the way that most people preferred the traditional service. He asked Zane where he planned to bury his wife and Zane told him he didn't know since there was no family plot at a church since they didn't do church. The director mentioned their cemetery was non-sectarian and quoted Zane a price for a plot. He went on to mention head stones, coffins, programs, preachers, singers, organ players, snacks until Zane was so completely overwhelmed he told him to slow down a minute and give him a moment to think. He gathered his thoughts and told Mr. Graves he wanted the remains cremated and put in an urn. Mr. Graves was taken aback, but said cremation was a service they provided and more and more folks were electing to go the "cheaper" route. Zane told Mr. Graves he was not interested in any of the shit he rattled off. He said he planned to prepare and present the service. He would develop the order of the service and have programs passed out by a friend as people arrived. Zane wanted a celebration of Josie's life and wanted the service to be as upbeat as possible, focusing on the happy moments in her life and who better to share those moments than her husband. The service was set for two in the afternoon the next day. Zane spent the remainder of the day preparing the service. He called Carlton and asked him to pass out the programs prior to the service. Zane opted not to have a night to receive family and friends either. When he called Josie's parents to inform them of service arrangements they were not happy campers, they said some mean hurtful things like, "you son of a bitch, you disgusting piece of shit!" They felt like their daughter deserved more and they expected the traditional funeral with all the bells and whistles, but Zane was not having it. After the service was over Josie's parents never communicated with Zane again. Zane tried to maintain some sort of relationship, but her parents made it clear as they left the service that their daughter married the wrong man and they had no plans to ever lay eyes on him again. Zane didn't expect to be the receiver of their anger, but he elected to honor Josie's life as he saw fit. Most of Zane's employees attended, but he did not close Glass Ceilings for the service. Many of Josie's friends attended and stayed around to express their condolences. Zane noticed Sherry was in attendance, but she left before he got a chance to speak to her. Eva Mae told Zane after the service he did a wonderful job in sharing Josie's life with those attending and she thought it was too bad Lois and old Mork couldn't see that, but let it be. She told Zane he had been a wonderful husband and would have been a super dad and her parents shouldn't try to take that away from him.

After the service Zane took the urn with Josie's ashes back to his house and placed them on his mantel. He was not yet sure what he intended to do with the ashes, but he knew people often kept ashes of loved ones for years so he was in no rush to dispose of them. One day perhaps he would select a special place they had shared and scatter the ashes. Zane sat on his couch the rest of the afternoon retracing the brief time he had with Josie. He told Eva Mae he would be at her house to eat dinner by five so he had to get ready to leave soon. He sat and thought, sat and thought, about Josie, his better half. She was always a good listener and maintained her objectivity in trying to help Zane make some tough decisions, but Zane would never get her assistance again. He wished he could have figured out a way to help her deal with her depression. He thought about their child he would never know. Had the baby been a girl he might have taken her to ballet classes or helped her count boxes of Girl Scout cookies she planned to sell. If he had a son maybe he would have yelled at an umpire making a bad call at a little league game or maybe he would have taught him how to ride a bike.
Chapter 24

Zane arrived at Eva Mae's just after five. Eva Mae had done most of the preparations for dinner so they sat in the living room discussing the marriage, the accident, and the service. Eva Mae was drinking wine when Zane arrived and offered Zane a glass, but when he said it might be a while before he could look at another glass of wine Eva Mae poured the remainder of her glass in the kitchen sink. Zane retrieved a Needa Buzz from Eva Mae's refrigerator. Zane told Eva Mae he had decided to sell his townhouse since it represented the beginnings of his life together with Josie and now that she was gone he just didn't think he wanted to live at that location. Eva Mae told Zane he was welcome to stay with her for as long as he needed to if he thought it would help. He thanked his mom, but told her he could make it for a while. Zane had no idea where he might move; perhaps back to Anvil to be near his work. Maybe he needed to rethink his work too. Maybe now was the time to sever ties with Glass Ceilings and open up his dream business. He realized he was back to the drawing board.

After Josie's service Zane decided to take the rest of the week off to try to reassess where he was with things. On Thursday he called a realtor and told him he wanted to come by before the end of the day Friday to sign the listing agreement to sell his townhouse because selling the townhouse was his number one priority. He needed a change of scenery and the sooner the better. He packed up all of Josie's clothes and most of her other small insignificant items and donated them to a public school thrift shop. He boxed up all of her pictures except the few he treasured and stored them in his bedroom closet. He removed the sheets off their bed and took all the towels from their master bathroom and boxed them up to be taken to the thrift shop. He decided to keep the furniture Josie moved from her apartment. Zane got down their special papers box and rummaged through all of Josie's papers. He found a signed beneficiary document from her work naming him as the primary beneficiary in case of her death. The statement read, the beneficiary, Zane, upon presenting a notarized death certificate would receive an amount worth one month of Josie's pay. He also found a copy of a life insurance policy Josie had taken out when she was first hired. Within the pages of the policy he noticed an addendum naming him the beneficiary. The policy was for $100,000. Josie left Zane $100,000. He looked at the paper and started crying. $100,000 could never make the hurt of losing Josie's disappear. For her to do that for him was another sign of just how much she loved him. Also in the box was Josie's 401K enrollment form and primary beneficiary statement. Zane looked those documents over and found he was entitled to the current balance of Josie's 401K fund. He would need another notarized death certificate to receive the payout. He found a quarterly statement on Josie's fund balance for the previous quarter and saw the existing balance at the time of the statement was $15,000. Josie had left Zane in good financial shape. On Friday he took copies of the official death certificate to his bank to be notarized. He mailed the documents that afternoon to the appropriate authorities. Zane stopped by his realtor's office to sign the listing agreement to put his townhouse on the market. He had finished the week taking care of things that needed to be dealt with and now for a long, lonely weekend.

On Friday night Zane called Eva Mae and she suggested he come over for dinner and maybe spend the night and he told her he would. Over dinner Zane informed Eva Mae he was selling his townhouse. He elected not to tell her anything about the money Josie left him. After dinner they talked more about what a special person Josie was and that it would take Zane some time to adjust to the loss. Eva Mae cautioned Zane not to devote the rest of his life to grieving. She said he should always remember Josie as he would other loved ones, but Eva Mae thought Josie would want Zane in time to have a life with someone else. Zane asked Eva Mae generally how long people grieved and she said there was no particular rule, but she figured from six months to a year would be the proper thing to do. She said some people grieved for years, but she didn't think that was healthy. Zane talked about rethinking his position with Glass Ceilings, after all the company was still up for sale and at any moment he could be out of a job. Eva Mae agreed she certainly saw nothing wrong with taking another look at his options because if the company sold tomorrow he couldn't be sure of his employment status. He told Eva Mae he would begin to do some soul searching about his work future and maybe review his business plan yet another time.

Zane made it through his first weekend without Josie, and then got to work early Monday morning. He spent most of his morning returning phone calls from existing customers and new customers. He got a call from Bessie telling him to take as much time as he needed to deal with his loss. He thanked her and said his work helped get his mind off Josie's death. Bessie told Zane that within the past week she had received two groups of prospective buyers, one group from North Carolina and one group from Georgia. She said thus far all they wanted was information, but once they reviewed the prospectus they might be back in touch. Zane told her that was exciting, while quietly thinking it might be a good time to review his notes on his dream business. When Zane got home that night he called Eva Mae and told her about the latest interested buyers at Glass Ceilings and Eva Mae told Zane it might be a good time to review his contingency plan.

A month passed and Zane continued to work more hours primarily to keep from having to go home. He had three showings on his townhouse, but so far no serious offers. He had no further news on the people interested in Glass Ceilings so he settled in to working hard to make a nice profit for Bessie. Several times in a weak moment he thought of calling Sherry at her work, but he didn't.
Chapter 25

One night Zane called his erstwhile friend, Carlton and they talked for several hours. Carlton told Zane he was getting tired of selling cars, but since he had no real education past his GED he doubted he could get another job making what he was making selling cars. He said he couldn't afford to take less money especially since his wife was pregnant again with their second child. Carlton thought he was between a rock and a hard place. Zane privately thought if Carlton had more education maybe he could find a position for him in his business, if he ever started his own business. Carlton asked Zane if he would like to go out to some clubs one night, like in the past. Zane thought for a moment and told him he would like to have a man's night out. Yes, they would go out, visit some clubs, like Losers, Pole Kitty, and maybe even the Beachcombers'. What the heck, they were friends, adults, responsible people who weren't interested in "getting up with something." Carlton told Zane he would pick him up next Wednesday night and they would make the circuit. On Monday Zane abruptly called Carlton from work to cancel their night out on the town. He decided he wasn't yet ready to go out with anyone anywhere; he just preferred to be alone.

It had taken several months for Zane to settle up on Josie's financial affairs, but he finally received the life insurance payment, the net amount of her last paycheck, and the balance on her 401K Plan. The total amount came to $118,000 which Zane promptly deposited for the time being in a Money Market Account. With that amount of money he could make a down payment on a house, open his business, or even take a trip around the world several times, but he still didn't have Josie, so the money would never supplant his wife.

One morning at work Zane received a call from Bessie. She rarely called, but when she did it was usually important so Zane got his pad and pencil ready to jot down notes. Bessie told him she had a follow up call from the prospects from Georgia who had requested information about Glass Ceilings several weeks ago. They wanted to visit and tour the facilities as soon as possible. Zane told Bessie he was flexible as far as a date of the visit and would do everything he could to help sell her business. She suggested next Tuesday and told Zane she would call him back once she confirmed the appointment with the prospective buyers. Bessie called Zane back mid afternoon to confirm the visit from the prospects. Zane told her not to worry as he guaranteed he'd make a good impression on the visitors.

The realtor and his clients from Georgia arrived at nine o'clock on Tuesday. Zane greeted them at the entrance, directed them to his office and provided them with a brief overview of Glass Ceilings. He shared copies of financial statements over the past five years as well as the monthly financial statements for the current year. The entourage was impressed with Glass Ceilings' bottom line. Zane also explained the layout of the buildings and showed them copies of the blueprints. After entertaining several questions Zane took the visitors for a tour of the physical plant. They were also given a meeting with representatives from each department who answered questions and commented about their job assignments. Once the tour was completed they returned to Zane's office for an exit meeting. Zane was patient with the prospects although some of their questions he considered chicken shit, but he realized he was still working for Bessie so he had to do the best job he could to help her sell Glass Ceilings. The realtor and his clients left Glass Ceilings shortly before twelve noon and they expressed their appreciation to Zane for a thorough presentation of the company.

Several weeks passed since the Georgia prospects had visited Glass Ceilings and Zane had almost forgotten the visit. The phone rang in Zane's office and as he picked up the receiver he recognized the excited voice on the other end was Bessie. She had called to tell Zane she had received an acceptable offer to purchase Glass Ceilings from the group from Georgia. She went on to say the prospective buyers wanted to close on the purchase with all due haste. Bessie mentioned she made a strong request to have them keep all current employees on the payroll at least for "a certain period of time." She told Zane as soon as her lawyer reviewed the offer she would be ready to sign the contract. Zane asked was there anything he needed to do in the interim and Bessie told him he needed to think about whether or not he desired to stay and work with new owners or explore available jobs. Zane asked about his existing contract and Bessie told him she requested the new owners honor Zane's current agreement. Zane offered his congratulations to Bessie and thanked her for all she had done. He hoped after the sale Bessie's worries would be mitigated. Bessie thanked Zane for his comments and told him the sale of Glass Ceilings was bittersweet given Buford had created the company from the ground up and now the last chapter was being written. She said the money from the sale would allow her to live in the lifestyle Buford had intended. Bessie told Zane there was no way she'd ever spend all the money so she planned to leave generous amounts to her children. She did manage make one more point with Zane, she told him she wished he had taken the original offer of 25% of the company because now he would have received a nice check. Zane told Bessie he understood that and what was done was done and he was at peace with the decision he had made. Bessie ended her call by asking how Zane was coping with his loss. He told her he was managing, but the pain of the loss was as prevalent as the night of the accident. He said he was working hard to carve a new life for himself, but Josie would forever be a part of his life.

After Bessie hung up Zane thought about the 25% payout he would have received if he had accepted the original contract offer, but he thought the money at this point really didn't matter, what with Josie being gone. He realized as he prepared to leave the office for the day it was time to "shit or get off that pot and let someone else in the stall," regarding what his next move should be. Should he be prepared to leave Glass Ceilings before the new owners took over or should he wait to see what happened once they took charge? Should he prepared to launch his company, especially since the money Josie left him would allow him to open his business without borrowing money. Maybe he should seriously consider leaving the area and move to an entirely new location. What about exploring jobs with other companies, especially since he had a wealth of management experience? He vowed to spend the time thinking this thing through. He was still relatively young and had his life ahead of him. He was a hard worker and had always been responsible, so the way he approached any job would not change. He decided to call Eva Mae to find out if she was available to go to Perkinson's for dinner. By the time he reached Eva Mae she already had "plans" which included dinner with a "new" man friend, but she told Zane she would be glad to have dinner with him the following night. Zane agreed and told her he would pick her up the next night at six.

That night Zane got out his paper and pencil and sketched the T-chart Josie had suggested years ago to assist with his decision making. On the left side he listed the strengths of staying with Glass Ceilings and on the right he listed the weaknesses of staying. By the time he finished he conclusion was similar as all the times before, if he remained at Glass Ceilings he expected security vs. the unknown of starting a new business. He went to bed thinking he would stay at Glass Ceilings and see how things panned out with the new ownership. Maybe he would find himself in a better situation than he had been in with Buford and Bessie. Zane concluded there would be no rush on this, just take it easy and see what transpired, but he would talk to Eva Mae tomorrow night to see if she could suggest another avenue he hadn't thought about.

The next day at work Zane got a call from Bessie informing him that the contract for the sale of Glass Ceilings would be signed on the first day of June. Zane was surprised, but at least he knew the day when things might change and change fast. He had heard all the "maintain the status quo" shit, but once the new owners had possession of Glass Ceilings they could do what they dam well pleased. This was business and maybe they had some ideas of their own about how things should be. The more he thought about staying at Glass Ceilings the more he wondered if the new owners would be satisfied to let things "stay as they are."

After work Zane stopped by his townhouse to shower before picking Eva Mae up for dinner at Perkinson's Fish Camp. When he got to Eva Mae's house he had to wait for her as usual to finish getting dressed. He had flashbacks of being a kid running around the house slamming doors as he went outside to play. Eva Mae had been a good mother and had raised him without a husband. Zane wondered what would have been different in his life if his dad hadn't run off with a third shift employee at Burger Heaven. The sorry piece of shit, Zane hoped the ass hole was happy wherever he was. Actually, he hoped he was totally miserable every day of his shitty life. He was well aware runaway parents later in life suddenly and without invitation show up at their kid's door wanting back in, but no way in this world would this piece of shit ever be allowed back into Zane's life. Zane looked up and noticed Eva Mae coming into the living room announcing she was ready to go to Perkinson's. As they drove to dinner Zane provided Eva Mae an update on the impending sale of Glass Ceilings to the folks from Georgia. Zane told her he had no impressions of the group of prospective buyers one way or the other, but he hoped they were good to the current employees. Zane told Eva Mae he intended to stay at Glass Ceilings until things got settled before deciding whether to stay or go. Eva Mae asked if he was still interested in starting his own business and he told her he continued to entertain thoughts of being in business for himself and still expected at some point to give it a try. Eva Mae mentioned what Zane already knew, but he needed to hear it from someone else, security, she told him security had been a vital part of his decision making involving work over the years and if he decided to go in business for himself he would need to come to terms with the security issue. Zane agreed with her but mentioned staying at Glass Ceilings under new ownership didn't necessarily mean security either. He told Eva Mae that Josie had left him some money and he felt that those funds coupled with the money they had saved should be enough start a new business without needing a steady paycheck until the business got established. Eva Mae said that was a good situation to be in. Driving back after dinner Zane asked Eva Mae about her "new man friend." Eva Mae said so far he was about like all the rest, after a nice evening out he expected to stay over for "dessert," but was sorely surprised when she told him no "dessert" was being served. She hadn't heard from him since they went out a few nights ago.

When Zane returned from Eva Mae's he had a voice mail message from his realtor. The realtor told him he finally had an offer on his townhouse and please call him back as soon as possible. Since it was past nine in the evening Zane decided he would wait until the next morning to return the call. He turned on the TV, popped open a cold Needa Buzz, and sat on the couch thinking about the sale of Glass Ceilings, the call from his realtor, and of course Josie.

Zane called his realtor as soon as he arrived at his office the next morning. The realtor told Zane the offer was just under his asking price and did he want to make a counter offer? Zane told him no, he wanted to sell his townhouse at his listed price. The realtor mentioned how long his property had been on the market and this was so far the only offer. Zane told him he would give the offer some consideration and call him back. He knew if he took the offer he could move out of the house he and Josie had selected together, but he didn't want to take less, so what should he do, take the offer or wait and if he waited for a higher offer how long might that be? He finished his work and went home to think more about the offer. He decided late that evening maybe he would accept the lower offer; at least that headache would be over. He would contact his realtor first thing the next morning.

Zane placed a call to the realtor's office before he left home the next morning and left a message he would accept the offer on his townhouse. By mid morning the realtor had not returned Zane's earlier call, so Zane wondered what he was doing. Zane went to Burger Heaven for lunch and when he got back he had a message from the realtor that the prospective buyers had come in with another offer, this one was for Zane's listed price. What about the message he left his realtor that morning, Zane wondered why he did not mention his earlier message. He checked the number he had called and realized he had called the realtor's home number instead of his office number. Since the realtor hadn't listened to the recorded message Zane could accept the latest offer. He felt bad now about accepting the higher offer, so he called his realtor and told him what he had done and agreed to accept the original offer. Zane's realtor called the prospect's realtor and told him Zane had accepted the original offer rather than the latest offer because of his phone message mistake. Later in the day the prospective buyer's realtor called Zane's realtor to tell him they were touched by Zane's frankness and countered with an offer to split the difference between Zane's original asking price and their first offer as a good faith gesture. Good vs. Good, and Good won, how good could it get? Zane's realtor got in touch with him and explained the prospective buyer's latest offer because of Zane's candor and he agreed to accept the negotiated price. He stopped by the realtor's office on the way home and signed the offer to purchase agreement which had been signed by the prospective buyers. Zane had sold his townhouse and would close by the end of the month so he had to immediately start looking for a new place to live.

By the closing date on his townhouse Zane had decided to store most of his belongings at a storage facility and rent a small studio apartment in downtown Delbridge at least until his work status at Glass Ceilings cleared up. The rent was reasonable and included the utilities and Zane didn't have to sign a long term lease. Over a weekend Carlton helped him move the small amount of furniture he needed, a bed, a couch, a table, a chair, and a TV to the new apartment. It was late in the day when Zane and Carlton finished moving the furniture. They decided to go out to one of their old "clubs" for a well deserved shortened version of a night on the town. Carlton told his wife he would be a little late and she told him to have fun since she knew he seldom saw his old friend. They drove out to the Loser's Drive In and sat in the car while they drank some Needa Buzzs and downed some greasy fries and a hamburger deluxe. Zane brought Carlton up to date on the sale of Glass Ceilings and told him every day was wait and see until he saw what the new owners had in store for everyone. Carlton told him Zane should certainly consider opening his own business, since he had a plethora of knowledge about how to manage a company. Zane told Carlton he felt he was going to do it, but still wanted to see what the new owners had in mind. Carlton asked Zane if he was ready to start dating. Zane replied that he had not thought much about dating since Josie's death, so his answer was "no," he guessed he wasn't ready. Zane remembered he thought about calling Sherry, but elected not to. Carlton asked who Sherry was and Zane told him she was the one he "got up with" one night at Beachcombers' and Carlton was so pissed because he didn't "get up with anything." Zane also told Carlton he had seen Sherry at Pole Kitty the night before Josie's accident. He had left the house one evening after one of Josie's bouts of excessive drinking had pissed him off. Zane said they drank some beer while they chatted and he admitted he asked Sherry for her phone number and she refused, but he wasn't sure why he asked her for her number. Zane mentioned he saw Sherry at Josie's funeral, but didn't get a chance to speak to her. Carlton advised Zane to continue to remember his wife, but also continue living, for part of living included being around women. Carlton was now talking like an expert, a man among men when it came to a philosophy of life. Now Zane was sitting in his car at Loser's being lectured to by his old friend, the professional consultant on females. Carlton picked up his car from Zane's apartment parking lot and Zane and thanked him for his help moving and his expert advice.

During the middle of May the new owners contacted Zane and told him they wanted to meet with him before the sale of Glass Ceilings transpired. Zane figured they wanted to talk him about his position with the company. He knew Bessie requested the new owners honor his existing contract as part of the terms of the sale of the company. Zane hadn't seen a copy of the final contract so he decided to call Bessie and get an update on the terms of the sale of Glass Ceilings. When he reached Bessie he asked her point blank, was his current contract going to be honored by the new owners? Bessie stuttered before responding and told him she was unable to get them to accept that request. She said their stance was all employees would continue working under their current job description drawing their current pay until the end of the fiscal year, then "everything would be on the table. The owners told Bessie that Zane would continue in his current position drawing his current salary until the end of the fiscal year and at that point "things would change" and she had no clue as to what they meant. Zane had nothing else to say but, "thanks" and hung up. He sat at his desk totally dumbfounded as to why Bessie had not called him before he called her to tell him about what the new owners had decided about his contract. Dam, so after all this time, she left him hanging, he was so pissed he got up and left the office at two o'clock and didn't tell anyone he was leaving. At this point what did he have to lose? So this was how the game was played, worked your ass off, was responsible, put up with a bunch of shit, and this, this is the thanks you got. He would never know for sure if Bessie even brought up anything about his contract, maybe she was just thinking about herself from the outset and it took this long for him to find out. Shit, now the new owners wanted a dam meeting with him, what the hell for, to sack him? Maybe he wouldn't give the new owners an opportunity; maybe he would tender his resignation to Bessie before they took over, what could they do about it, not a dam thing!

When Zane got home he got the Needa Buzzs started. He needed to talk to someone, but Josie, his key confidant, was not available, so who could he share this latest pile of shit with? Well, he had Eva Mae and he had Carlton. Maybe now was the time to pick up the phone and call Sherry, but he only had her office phone. He realized since he left work early perhaps she would still be at work. Shit, why not call, he knew he couldn't spend the rest of his life wallowing in it, he loved Josie and always would, but she was gone forever and he needed to move on. He reached for the phone book to locate the number of Wood and Forest, Attorneys at Law. He dialed the number and when someone answered he asked to be connected to Sherry. In a few moments Zane heard a "hello" and he responded with a "hello, this is Zane."

"Hi Zane," said Sherry, "nice to hear from you, sorry about your wife. I attended the service, but I didn't get a chance to speak to you before I left."

"Thank you for coming, I saw you there, but it was hard to get around speaking to everyone before they left," said Zane.

"So, how have you been these past six, is it six or seven months since her death," asked Sherry.

"Actually it's been eight months since her death and I'm doing alright I guess," responded Zane, "Sherry, I called to ask you out tonight or any other night of your choosing. I think we had a good time that night at Beachcombers' and more recently when we saw each other at Pole Kitty, but for some reason we haven't made contact since. Sherry, my wife is dead, but I'm not dead and I want to live and be fully involved with other people. I would like to see you and I hope you would like to see me and we can go from there. I'm not expecting anything more than one day at a time. When we had a conversation at Pole Kitty the vibes I got from you were that you weren't looking for anyone, weren't desperate, and weren't in any big hurry to get into a relationship, but were willing to let nature take its course. So, I think we might be on the same page and if I'm wrong tell me now and I'll hang up."

"Zane, you are right on target, I'm not looking, not desperate, not in a big hurry, but yes I would like to go out because remember what I told you that night in Pole Kitty, I would like some companionship, but past that I don't know," said Sherry. "Oh, what the hell let's go out tonight and see what happens, pick me up at seven at 205 Upscale Apartments in North Delbridge, see you then," responded Sherry. Zane told Sherry he'd be there at seven sharp and then he hung up. He grabbed another Needa Buzz and sat back trying to figure a way to have one simple day in his life. He surmised things at work would be coming to a head soon, either the new owners would clear things up as to what his future was to be or he would be starting the business he had procrastinated about for so long. Maybe he could have a pleasant evening with Sherry and forget about this work shit for a few hours. He realized he was going out with a woman he had seen twice so maybe he should lower his expectations. He reviewed his game plan for the evening; the entire night must not be just about him, but he must focus on getting to know Sherry for if anything was to come of this evening he mustn't come across as a needy widower in search of a shoulder to cry on or a bed to sleep in. If anything should come of this evening it would take time and patience.

Zane picked Sherry up at her apartment shortly after seven and they drove to a nearby steakhouse. They were escorted to a quiet table near the rear corner of the restaurant, quite suitable for conversations. After they ordered their drinks Zane asked Sherry to talk about herself. Sherry recounted that she was originally from Haga and had moved to an apartment on New Age Avenue which she shared with a roommate until the roommate got married two years ago, and then she moved to the apartment she currently lived at in North Delbridge. She told Zane she had a two-year paralegal degree from Haga Tech and had been working at Wood and Forest since she moved to Delbridge after graduation. She went on to say that her parents were from Haga and that her mother had passed away three years ago from a premature stroke, as there was a rich family history of strokes in her mother's family. Her father still lived in Haga and had not remarried and presently was not in any meaningful relationship. She mentioned that one day soon she expected to return to college on a part time basis to obtain a four-years degree, probably in a prelaw curriculum as she had a goal of one day becoming an attorney. She said she had dated off and on for years, but had only one long term relationship with a guy she expected to marry until she discovered at the time he was also seeing a married woman. She concluded by telling Zane she had one brother in the service she almost never saw and one sister who lived near Johnson Heights. She told Zane she felt like he was interviewing her to see if she was worthy of his company. Zane quickly responded that he just wanted to know all about her and that he didn't want to monopolize the evening talking about his life. Sherry told Zane she understood and asked him to tell her some things she didn't already know about him. Zane told her about his mom, Eva Mae, and his sorry ass father. He told her he had one really good friend, Carlton and they had been friends since childhood. As the evening wore on the "weapons were holstered" and they moved a little closer in their booth to share a dessert. Before they left Zane managed to put his arm around Sherry and steal a kiss or two, something he never did during his early dates with Josie. They left the restaurant at nine thirty and drove back to Sherry's apartment. Sherry and Zane agreed to see each other over the weekend, but did not confirm anything.
Chapter 26

The new owners arrived at Glass Ceilings at nine o'clock on Thursday morning to meet with Zane in his office. Zane gave a cheerful greeting to each man and offered seats around his desk. Zane started the meeting by asking the team how he could help them. They reiterated that within a few short weeks now they would own Glass Ceilings and things would be changing. Zane got to the point and asked for specifics about the changes. They said they planned to go in a new direction with the company. They planned to expand services by offering not only the installation of ceiling tiles, but also floor coverings. Since no one at Glass Ceilings knew anything about floor coverings it would be necessary to hire additional staff qualified to do the work. In time they could cross train existing tile installers, but the quickest way to get started was to bring in skilled people and a skeleton crew would soon be relocating from Georgia. They told Zane their decision was to bring in their own "hired gun" from their Georgia Company to serve as new CEO of Glass Ceilings. They were prepared to let Zane stay on as work supervisor as he had been before Buford elevated him to his current position. His salary would be the highest salary of the three work supervisors since they were appreciative for all he had done for the company. Zane asked why they wouldn't consider keeping him in the present position as CEO. They told Zane he had no experience in floor coverings, but the man they were bringing in from Georgia not only had the skills and expertise in floor coverings he had the knowledge and skills Zane possessed in ceiling titles. Well, shit, Zane thought, that just about does it, doesn't it? Zane had no more to say and the men had no more to say to him. The answer to his big question had been addressed and Zane was not in their plans, except to go back to a job he held years ago. After all this time things were finally clearing up, Zane would be leaving the company he had at worked at for years. He had given them everything and now they offered him a deal he couldn't accept. He was a little pissed at Bessie because he would leave thinking she had known what the owners planned to do yet she failed to tell him beforehand. He was pissed at himself for not taking Bessie's offer of 25% ownership of Glass Ceilings. He had been too overly concerned with security and now, now none of that security shit was worth a tinker's dam. He was out, but he understood how the free enterprise system worked. "What have you done for us today?" was the motto and if you hadn't done enough on any given day then your ass would be out the door. Forget hard work, responsibility, loyalty, extreme patience, and all the other principles, they had nothing to do with any given day. Screw the whole lot of them! Before Zane left Glass Ceilings for the day he drafted a letter of resignation to Bessie, signed it, and dated it effective on the last day before the new owners took over. Nothing else needed to be said or done, it was over for Zane. He decided to drive by Bessie's on the way from work and hand deliver his resignation.

Bessie greeted Zane at the door and escorted him to her living room. Once they were seated Zane handed Bessie his letter of resignation. She opened folded the paper and read the contents, then looked at Zane with an expression of sadness. "I know what you're thinking," said Bessie, "I did the best I could for you, but after repeated attempts to negotiate with the new owners about maintaining your position and salary I had to back off, it's as simple as that. I tried three times and the last time they threatened to withdraw the offer to buy Glass Ceilings. At that point I had to do what was best for me and my family. You have your life ahead of you and mine is passing me by every day, so I have to take the money and run. Don't expect any apology because you not getting one."

Zane responded, "I don't hold any animosity toward you Bessie nor do I need an apology, all I wished was you had communicated with me when you knew what their intentions were. I have to admit that one hurt."

"Well, you got me there Zane," said Bessie, "I have no good excuse, and I knew several weeks ago and said nothing and I should have. My question to you is, if you knew two weeks ago what would you have done about it, given me a notice sooner than this one? Having extra time would have just given you more time to stew about it than you presently have. So, I guess I thought I wouldn't be doing you any real favor my telling you early and if you think I was wrong, that's your opinion."

Zane replied, "Well, that's your opinion and it's just water over the dam at this point, I suppose, so let's just leave it. I'm leaving, I am pleased with the work I did for you and Buford so I don't walk away with any regrets or misgivings. I knew my days were numbered after Buford told me he intended to sell Glass Ceilings. I can't criticize what both of you did you me, you offered me 25% of the purchase price when the company was sold and if I had accepted the offer I would leave with you on the first day of June in a sound financial position. Thank you for all you did for me and I hope everything works out on this deal and that you have a happy and healthy rest of your life." Zane got up and went over and hugged Bessie and walked out the door for the last time.

Zane went to his apartment that night feeling very insecure. He felt strongly that he had reached the upper level of his professional advancement at Glass Ceilings and had crashed headlong into a proverbial glass ceiling. He now lived in a rented apartment while not long ago he owned or at least had a mortgage on a townhouse. He used to be happily married and now he was a widower. He had worked for a company for most of fifteen years and within a few days he would be unemployed. He had dated Sherry one time, but had no earthly idea if he would ever have anything special with Sherry like he had with Josie. How did he get to this place in his life? He felt it was time for an upturn in his life soon, but he had no rational reason to think anything would soon change. He sat there feeling very alone and very insecure about what the immediate future held for him. Drinking more Needa Buzzs or calling Eva Mae wouldn't change anything or make it go away. So he just sat for several hours staring at the blank walls in his studio apartment. He needed an immediate action plan because in a few days he would be unemployed. He had a place to stay and he had money, but the money wouldn't last forever. He needed to make some big boy decisions on his "dream" business, the one he'd been fantasizing about for years. He got out his notes and reviewed once again his business plan. He quickly realized the prime designer of the marketing plan, Josie, was not available. Josie was to prepare the marketing piece, the web site, the brochures, mass mailings, and newspaper advertisements. Shit, what would he do now without her expertise in those areas? He sure as hell had no idea what to do about marketing. Would he have to go out and find a professional to develop these marketing tools? He felt uneasy about hiring a complete stranger to do his marketing. Maybe he should call Bessie and ask her to destroy his resignation letter and just go back to Glass Ceilings as a supervisor of tile installations; after all he would still have a real job to go to every day. Why did things have to be so difficult?
Chapter 27

Thank goodness it was Friday and Zane would have the weekend to relax and sort things out. He arrived at Glass Ceilings and went straight to his office. There was a message from one of the new owners concerning a call he got from Bessie regarding Zane's resignation. He requested Zane please return the call as soon as he got to work on Friday. Zane wondered what the hell he wanted now. The three owners told him what his new role was to be at Glass Ceilings and he wasn't interested in more conversations. He decided he would return the call even if he didn't want to, but it would be later in the day because he had to visit job sites that morning. As Zane drove to the sites he thought about the call and still wondered what could they possibly want now? He speculated they wanted some additional data about Glass Ceilings and couldn't obtain from any other source. Zane thought about spending some time over the weekend to review his business plans as the time was getting near for him to "fish or cut bait." He also remembered he and Sherry agreed to get together over the weekend, but he had yet to call her back and confirm anything. Zane returned to his office after three that afternoon and decided to return the call to the new owner. He listened to the voice message again so he could jot down the phone number. He dialed the number and the phone rang several times before a female voice answered. Zane told her he was returning a call to that number and the woman told him to hold for a moment. Zane drew circles and squares on his scratch pad while he waited for the owner to come to the phone. Finally the owner came on and apologized that Zane had to wait. Zane asked what he could do for him. The owner told him Bessie called him at his home last night and made a strong request for them to rethink how they intended to use Zane's services at Glass Ceilings. She made a convincing case about how important Zane had been to the success of the company, in particular the steady increase in the profit margin since he became CEO of the company. Without him after Buford died according to Bessie she sincerely believed the company would have gone out of business. The owner told Zane that unless they kept him in the position as CEO of Glass Ceilings Bessie was now refusing to sell the company. Wow, thought Zane, just when he was ready to throw Bessie over the cliff she came through or so it seemed. Zane knew he had to listen to the rest because the "rest" just might be more screw ball shit. The owner told Zane his new position as CEO of Glass Ceilings would include managing not only the ceiling tile business, but also the new floor coverings business. Their floor covering man from the Georgia Company would remain at that store, but would travel to Glass Ceilings once per month and stay for a week until he learned the ceiling tile business while teaching Zane the floor covering business. Their long term plan would be to expand the Georgia operation to include both the floor coverings and the ceiling tiles. After talking to Bessie then reconvening among themselves to discuss the leadership of both operations they decided they had two good managers so to demote one and face the risk of Zane's departure while putting additional stress on the Georgia man would not be in their best interest. Zane would have the new title of Chief CEO over ceiling tiles and floor coverings with a 25% increase in his current salary. Zane was totally flummoxed with what he was hearing, actually he'd been completely nonplussed for the last several months, but likely this shit was true. He thanked the owner and told him he would consider the new contract after allowing his lawyer to examine it. As soon as he hung up he immediately called Bessie to thank her for having his back. Bessie told him it was the least she could do. She told Zane that after he left her house she got to thinking about all he had done for the family and decided it was more important to do the right thing by him than it was to sell the company. She also said her worst case scenario (which was good!) was for Zane to continue as CEO and she would not sell Glass Ceiling unless the prospective buyers were willing to budge. Zane thanked her and told her to hold on to his letter of resignation because he didn't know what he wanted to do at the moment. Right now he just wanted to get away from the office to regroup and think about all this drama.

Zane elected to stay at his apartment on Saturday and spend some time sorting things out. He went back to his pros/cons T-chart to help him and when he finished his conclusion was the same as always, the security issue, while the idea of venturing out on his own had some appeal, security still reigned supreme. The new position would give Zane an opportunity to learn a new product as well as train a new person for the ceiling title business. He decided to call Eva Mae over the weekend and seek her input. Saturday afternoon he decided to drive around South Delbridge and Anvil to look at housing possibilities. He had recently sold his townhouse and made a few thousand on the sale, but the small rented studio apartment was too cramped. He first drove through several housing developments and while they were nice he wondered if he wanted to spend his weekends mowing grass and maintaining all the other things that go with home ownership. Maybe he just wanted to keep it simple, but just have more space so he turned his attention to condominiums and townhouses. He found a nice condo complex on the north side of Anvil and stopped by the sales office to speak to a salesperson. The person on duty was happy to show Zane a model and he was impressed with the space and amenities. There would be a small monthly common ownership maintenance fee, but Zane had no concern about the fee because he had little interest in the fix up and clean up part of home ownership. The prices of the available units were a bit higher than Zane's townhouse, but right now money was not his issue. The salesperson gave Zane some brochures to take with him and told him to phone if he had further questions. Zane thanked him for his time and headed back to Delbridge.

Zane called Eva Mae after he returned to his apartment to fill her in with his latest developments. She listened as usual and all she said was Zane needed to make some final decision on this work thing because she thought it was keeping him from focusing on other things in his life which were equally important. She told him he needed to try and get out more since he was still young and maybe even do some travelling. She told Zane she certainly intended to spend more of her free time with travel adventures as soon as she retired. She told Zane her cruise was wonderful and after she returned home she knew she desired to spend more time travelling and less time working so the time was rapidly approaching when she would hang it up for good. Zane agreed with everything Eva Mae said and he knew it was time for him to finalize his decision on where he wanted to work. He was concerned about how he would relate to the new owners. Would the owners be easy going like Buford and Bessie or be hard asses, never being pleased with anything? If he decided to venture out on his own just how long would it take for his business to be on a sound financial footing? How much of his current savings would he need to invest and what if he lost all of it trying to get the business off the ground? The third option Zane had was one he never thought much of, that of exploring new job opportunities working for someone else. He decided to go out and buy a newspaper and peruse the job ads just to see what types of jobs were available. When he returned with the paper he opened to the wants ads section and started to browse the listings. Most of the positions were in the Delbridge area and most were sales type positions which he had no interest. Maybe he should sell cars like his friend Carlton. He knew of many automobile salesmen, who made a lot of money selling cars, but he wanted something which would allow him to use his education and experience and one didn't need much of either to sell cars. Zane didn't see any job that attracted his fancy so he laid the paper down and got back to thinking about the two available options he had.

Zane didn't call Sherry over the weekend nor did she call him. She wasn't on his mind at any time during those two days. As Monday approached Zane was now leaning toward opening his own business, if he didn't try now to start his business would he spend the rest of his life wondering what could have been. If he continued to work for Glass Ceilings it would always be what it was, someone else always calling the shots while he sat in the shadows. As CEO he knew he would never make enough profit to satisfy these new owners. It was now or never, so when the contract arrived he decided he would attach a letter declining the offer along with the unsigned contract and send it back to the owners. He would call Bessie later and let her know his decision.

Zane received his contract on Wednesday and sat in his office and read the entire document. There was no need for his lawyer to review it for he was not signing it. He communicated with Bessie to let her know of his decision and she said she understood. For formality sake he asked her to "officially" accept his letter of resignation she still had in her possession. Zane called the new owners in Georgia and spoke to the first one to the phone. The owner was not happy with Zane's decision and told him. He said they had changed their plans several times to honor Bessie's requests and thought they had presented a very reasonable offer and now he was opting out. The owner didn't ask Zane to reconsider and told him it would now be best if he resigned to Bessie before they assumed ownership of Glass Ceilings. Zane thanked them for their offer and informed them he had tendered his resignation to Bessie. Zane called Bessie back and shared the details of the conversation he had with the new owners. Zane told Bessie to forward a copy of his letter of resignation to the new owners. Zane would no longer be an employee of Glass Ceilings in nine business days. This time the decision was made and there would be no second guessing. Before Zane left work he called Eva Mae and told her of his decision and she said he hoped now he could have some peace.
Chapter 28

For the next nine work days Zane took off several half days to visit commercial rental offices to secure his new office space. He decided on an office complex in North Delbridge. The complex was more expensive, but he wanted to be in a newer part of town. He paid his deposit and first month's rent. He contacted the phone company to set up a time to have phone lines installed and called the utilities companies to have electricity and water turned on. He contacted an Internet Service Provider to have this service set up. He drove to an office rental store and picked out some slightly used office furniture which would be delivered within the week. He then went to an office supplies store and ordered some letterhead stationery, envelopes, and business cards which would carry the company logo of Josie had designed for his company several years ago. He contacted a web designer and met with her to begin work on his web site. Josie had prepared a file that included the details for design, thus the new person had no problem understanding what was called for. She told him she could have the site up and running within ten days. Zane drove by a newspaper office to place several large ads with the ad department scheduled to start within two weeks. He bought half page ads designed to run every day for one month. He also contacted a temporary employment agency to get some help to prepare a bulk mailing to announce the opening of his business. He employed a sign painting company to paint a business sign on the front door of his office. Within the two weeks Zane had done quite a bit of work toward starting up his business which he named Efficiency Experts, the name he and Josie had decided on years ago.

On Zane's last day at Glass Ceilings he made the rounds thanking all of the employees for their hard work and support throughout his tenure and he wished them all well. At about four that afternoon Zane was summoned to the clerical area and presented with a gift, a leather briefcase, from all the employees. He was also given a card signed from the employees with well wishes, then they all had a slice of store bought dry cake and some watered down shitty tasting punch. Zane was forced to hug everyone close to the door and left Glass Ceilings for the last time. He got in his car and drove out of the parking lot for the very last time. He had no regrets whatsoever for his train was now on schedule and he was excited about the journey.

Before Zane opened Efficiency Experts he decided to take a short vacation to a small North Carolina beach. He and Josie had taken a weekend trip to the beach after they were married and had a wonderful time. They vowed to have more long weekends. Zane wanted to get away to a quiet place, reflect and prepare himself for his new undertaking. He loved the sights and sounds of the beach and wondered why he hadn't ever thought of moving there. Perhaps someday he would relocate to the coast, but for now just being there a few days was enough. He took his business files and his laptop as he expected to do some more planning. He called Eva Mae from the beach and she told him it was a good thing for him to get away.

As July and a new fiscal year started Zane was settled in his new office in a large professional complex that included real estate, attorneys, dentists, insurance, and financial planning offices. Zane's web site was up and running. His newspaper ads were displayed in the local paper and his temp had stuffed envelopes and mailed out several hundred notices about his new business to potential clientele in the area. Zane expected the start up would take awhile and he had no clue just how long it would take before he would acquire customers. He had hopes that somewhere in the future he could expand the operation to other locations, but for now one office seemed quite sufficient.

By early August Zane had five substantial customers, all five were mid size firms and all were very different which presented Zane with diverse challenges. By November he had completed his initial reports for the five companies and they all gave glowing evaluations of his recommendations. He was on a retainer for all five companies. He had begun work with ten new companies as December approached and by the first of January he had completed his work with those ten with many more interested customers waiting in the wings. Zane had no idea if his new company would take hold so soon, but he was doing very well and the money thus far had surpassed what he would have received had he stayed at Glass Ceilings. He had been so busy he didn't had time to secure a new place to live, but hoped in the New Year he'd have time to identify a place. At least he knew he wanted to live in North Delbridge near his office. During those months he had no contact with Sherry, perhaps it was over, but it never really started. Zane even paid for Eva Mae to travel to Hawaii as gift for her enduring love and understanding throughout all those years. Eva Mae was scheduled to retire in the spring so she would be free to do whatever she desired.

Several years later Zane was in demand all over the southeastern United States and had begun to receive inquiries from as far away as Oregon. Zane had been talking to Carlton for several years since Josie passed regarding coming to work for him at some point and he knew Carlton was within a few courses of securing an undergraduate degree in business administration. Zane told him once he graduated he thought they should explore the possibility of Carlton coming to work with him. Carlton was elated over the prospect of being reunited with Zane and assured him he was not the same dork he had to take care of when they were younger. Carlton felt he had learned a lot about dealing with people and what with being married and having a family he had matured and become more responsible. As they continued to talk both were feeling more and more like it could happen and they would have some measure of independence from working for others, although having clients was "working for others."

Eva Mae had been retired from the label plant for a while and had settled in to travelling, gardening, reading, doing some volunteer work, and socializing with her small circle of friends. Zane was consistently having dinner once a week at Eva Mae's and they looked forward to these occasions. Eva Mae sometimes asked Zane if he was "seeing anyone" and Zane would answer "no" until she stopped asking.

As Zane's client base continued to increase he was to the point where it was becoming harder to effectively service continuing clients and new clients. He didn't realize how much time would be involved in the maintenance of his existing customers because once his recommendations were presented and implemented, he was being asked to return to evaluate the companies' progress with their changes and to make further suggestions as to the directions they should go. In Zane's view it was important to do a good job with the existing customers because if they liked his services they would continue to call him as new problems arose. Zane was getting where he was going to have to say no to new customers unless he hired someone to help him.

Zane managed to convince Eva Mae to work part time some in the office three mornings per week until he had time to search for and hire a permanent office assistant. Eva Mae wasn't too excited about working again since she was retired, but she was always willing to help her son when he needed it.

As summer approached Carlton finished up his degree during the first summer session. Zane had told him once he was graduated he would hire him and train him to perform efficiency assessments. Carlton was excited to be leaving the car sales business and glad to be back with his childhood friend. By July Zane hired an administrative assistant to manage his office which was a tremendous help. Eva Mae was able to return to her retirement. Carlton was put on the Efficiency Experts payroll in early August. As Zane approached the last quarter of his fourth year as owner of Efficiency Experts he was very proud of the success he'd attained. He was now marketing his services nationwide. He had made several trips to California to meet with clients and had requests from Washington, Arizona, Illinois, and Iowa. Efficiency Experts had indeed become a national company. Zane was very surprised at how quickly Carlton caught on to the work. For the first two months he visited clients with Zane and by early November he was given his own clients. Carlton's early evaluations from clients gave him glowing reviews, which pleased Zane immensely. By the end of the year both Zane and Carlton were out of the office most of the time and were meeting with out of state clients several days per month. It was getting increasingly harder to meet clients, perform the assessments, and have time to write and present the reports. Zane began to wonder what his next move needed to be as he didn't want to get to where he was not efficient since "efficiency" was his business.

Zane's administrative assistant was an asset to Efficiency Experts and the clients liked her very much. Zane wondered if she could take his notes and maybe even Carlton's notes from their client assessments and prepare the preliminary reports. Zane approached his administrative assistant, Ana, and asked her what she thought of the possibility and she very open to expanding her role with the company. If she could perform that assignment well then all Zane and Carlton would need to do was read the reports and make final edits. This might be a real time saver. Ana had a two year degree and was pursuing a four year degree in the evening and told Zane somewhere down the road she would like to be considered for an efficiency expert position with the company. Zane made no promises, but he did appreciate her interest in being more involved with his company.

On New Year's Eve Zane invited Carlton and his wife, Ana, Eva Mae, and Bo-Nell to his condo for a small wine and cheese party. He also invited Bessie but she preferred not to be out late on New Year's Eve. Zane had plenty of room so Eva Mae and Bo-Nell stayed over until New Year's Day. Zane had gathered around him the few people that mattered most in his life and as he thought about the past few years he realized he was on the path to mending. He still missed Josie, but her spirit would always be with him. Eva Mae had always been there for him in times of good and bad and now Zane hoped she'd be around for a long time while enjoying her retirement. Zane and Carlton had come full circle, from being best childhood friends to being alienated to being back together as coworkers.

As twelve midnight approached and everyone's glass was refilled Zane happened to have the TV turned to the local news and as the newscaster summarized the evenings' headlines there a was breaking news report that caught Zane's attention, "Glass Ceilings, the ceiling tile company located in Anvil, just south of Delbridge, which had been in business for thirty-five years was closing its doors effective at midnight." Happy New Year!

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About the Author

Charles White is a retired educator. His professional education career spanned forty years as a high school social studies teacher, a coach, and a community college administrator. He has a bachelor's degree in economics from N. C. Wesleyan College and advanced degrees in education from Campbell University and California Coast University. He lives near Pittsboro, North Carolina.

