Future Writer Chapter 10 (5 pages)

Chapter 10

After I received the ledger, I began reading about the South American experience, and how much it seemed like a dream. I could tell by my penmanship, the times when I was writing to create the perfect environment. or the time when I was catching up with events that had taken place. It seemed that the Yanomamo headman was true to his word. If I lost the battle, he would return the ledger. At the time, this ledger was worth the risking of my life, but know it's nothing more than a journal of my travels. I can't believe that I thought that I had something to do with writing the future. I went back to the offshore oil rig leaving the ledger at my apartment. While there I realized that I could have used the ledger to pass the time by writing, or reading about my grandfather. As it stands there are very limited activities on the rig. During your spare time, you could eat, sleep, watch what few television stations were available, work out at the weight room, or play cards. I found myself sitting by the railing watching distant storms on the horizon and working out at the weight room. I found that I had a lot of time to muse or day-dream. I began thinking a lot of Alexia. I don't want to settle down. I've always enjoyed my life the way it is. I've always longed for adventure and this job fills that longing. If I settle down with a girlfriend, all that would be over. But looking back on my life I realized that South America seemed to exhaust a lot my desire for adventure. In fact, I've even applied for promotion that would lead me away from the life  that I now live. It just so happened that I didn't get the promotion because somebody in the corporate office had a friend who needed a job. Although I accepted the politics of the situation, I was not happy that somebody with no experience was hired over me.

The next time I went to shore I decided to look up Alexia. She was still working at that Japanese company and life for her became very routine. She once told me that New York city is where she longed to be. There she felt very accepted. Here, although she liked her job, she felt like an outsider. I wanted her to feel welcome here, so, I developed a scheme to give her the welcome that she had never received. I remembered that she told me about the fresh 'Farmer's Market' food from her country.

I drove to a produce market ten miles outside of town, There the produce was less than two day from being picked. A local farmer's son was there trying to sell baby bunnies. I knew that a bunny would keep her from being the lonely person she appeared to be. I decided to abort that idea. A quick internet search revealed the she lived in an apartment and pets were probably not allowed. I purchased a variety of produce and arranged it box to give a decorative appearance. I picked some flowers from the garden and I attached to the flowers a note which read:

Alexia,

You once told me of one element that you missed from your country.

I can't make Corpus Christi your home... <over>

Then on the back side I wrote:

... but I can try.

Sam

I took the package to her apartment. The time was eight fifty p.m. I calculated that, at that time of night she would still be awake yet slow to answer the door in fear of what strangers might lurk in the dark. The light in the window was dim, if not out, and the thought occurred to me that she may not be home. I walked to the door without being seen. From the other side of her door I could

hear movement, and that the television was on at a very high volume. Then another thought occurred to me, "What if she has a boyfriend in there with her?"

If that were the case then this little scheme would cause her to have explain what this was all about to him, and that wouldn't do me any good. I stood there for at least ten minutes waiting to hear an interaction of voices. I heard none. She must be alone. At nine o'clock p.m. I knocked quite hard on the door so it would be heard over the television then I ran like hell. I ran to a shadowed area of the lawn and rolled myself into a ball while holding perfectly still so passers-by would see me as being bush in the shadow. After five minutes I went back to her apartment and the package was gone. I knew that package had been received. I only hoped that it was her that had received it. Several days passed before I received a response. The delay in response told me that she either did not get the package, she did get the package and thought it came from another guy named Sam, or she received the package and disapproved, which I thought to be most likely being that I did not fully research the situation.

Either way the play was in her hands now. Even if she did not respond, I could take that as a reaction. She did, however, responded by sending me an e-mail which said:

Hi, Sam

Thanks for surprise. That was pretty nice and sometimes actions like

yours do please people but...  I'm afraid there is some kind of

misunderstanding. I'm not quite sure what is going on, but whatever it

might be, neither of us do need this. Each of us has our own life and

better not to make it complicated. I hope you do understand me.

Thanks again for your concern.

Regards, Alexia

This was, without a doubt, a rejection. What was behind it? My guess was that she was involved with somebody else. She indicated the opposite of that in our conversation. I have to admit, this was a very mature response. Now I had the play. The next move was up to me. I approached her and apologized for placing her in a awkward situation and left it at that.

The time came for me to go back out to sea. This time I took the ledger. I read the conversations which I had with Alexia and nothing made sense. She seemed so alone, as if ... as if to long for acceptance and possibly companionship. I decided to continue writing in the ledger. If I were to write in the ledger, I thought if best that I fill in the events up to this point. I had Clancy begin writing. Just after I had finished writing the part about Daniel's (my) thoughts of Alexia, Jose came into the stateroom saying that his mother had taken ill and that the doctors were skeptical about her chances of survival.

He was crushed. After he left the room, I interrupted the sequence of events in the ledger to add Jose's mother. In this segment I wrote that she would miraculously recover from whatever ills her. I continued the events up to the present. I took a break from writing so I could clear my thoughts. When I returned I decided to test the ledger. I wrote (not Clancy), in the ledger that I came back from clearing my thoughts to find mail sitting on my bunk. In the mail was a clean crisp one hundred dollar bill.

When I finished I began opening my mail. The whole time I envisioned what I would do with one hundred dollars. Envelope after envelope I opened each one hoping to see what awaited me. Then I saw exactly what I had asked for, a clean, crisp one hundred dollar doctor's bill (Invoice). I didn't think of it being a bill that I would have to pay.

I knew it was just coincidental. I was silly to think otherwise. Then it dawned on me. Clancy didn't write it, I did. So this time I had Clancy write Daniel (myself) a deserved promotion because that person in the corporate office who hire his friend was misrepresenting his friend's ability.

I was tired so I stopped for the night and went to sleep. The next morning we mustered at our

work stations to begin the new day when my supervisor handed me a letter from the corporate office. The letter said that I have been accepted for a management position at the corporate level of the engineering department.

I felt thrilled that I received the position and even more thrilled that Clancy was on a roll again.

The following week the corporate office sent a helicopter to take me to shore so I may report to my new job. The first thing I did was to go home and change into the only business suit that I had then headed over to the office. I noticed that I had several messages on the answering service. I did not review the messages for I was too busy at the time. At the office I was, right away, slapped in the face with my new duties.

"Hello," said a woman whom I've never met before while walking into my new office, "Are you the new Assistant Director of Engineering?"

"Yes," I said to her, "My name is Sampson McKain, but most people call me Sam."

"Do you see this?" she said to me while throwing a folder on my desk. "This is the Stats Report for the third quarter stress test result for the 13605G. Do you see whose name is on it? Bob Maxwell. This is my report. All he did is access the data. I had to set up the algorithm. I had to create the format. I still have to present it while all he does is sit on his butt, read the newspaper, and play golf with the boss. I want him fired or I'm quitting. We'll see who will write the reports then."

Without giving me a chance to get a word in edgewise she stormed out of the office slamming the door behind her.

"Nice to meet you too," I mumbled as she raged through the other offices.

In the fax machine was a memo from the southwest office stating that a decision was needed ASAP on the Hilliwig account.

"What was the Hilliwig account?" I asked myself. I continued reading:

... If we lose this account we could stand to lose seventy

five key employees and thirty five million invested capital.

I had no idea what was going on. I was placed in a position to make major decisions, yet if I made the wrong choice I would cause drastic losses for the company. I asked around to gather what information I could on this instance only to find out that there were hundreds more instances just like this and the only person that knew anything about it was the person whose position I filled. He

was not going cooperate due to the nature of his termination.

I went home that night stressed and exhausted. I tried to sleep but I couldn't get my mind off of work. Near two o'clock in the morning I went into the kitchen to grab a midnight snack, hoping that it would help me sleep. I noticed the light on my phone flashing so I played the messages. The first message I heard was the good news about Jose's mother. He was so happy he was choked up on the recording. I walked into the bathroom to use the toilet and when I came out I heard the tail end of Alexia voice on the answering machine. I quickly hit the 'message' button to replay the message.

The message was three weeks old, and said:

Hello Sam,

I've re-considered about what I've said in, the e-mail

which I sent you. Give me a call. I'd like to get together.

There were many more messages, but most of them were people selling home loan and things of that nature. The message took my mind off of work enough to go to sleep.

Three hours later I awoke to the sound of the dreaded alarm clock. I went back to the office to find the same fate as the day before. The following night, just as the night before, I could not sleep. This whole time I kept telling myself that this is just a temporary condition due to the catching up I would have to do to cover the damage that my predecessor had done. Several huge paychecks

later I was still going home to a restless sleep and waking up tired. This promotion I had Clancy write provided me with the position, prestige, and cash that I had expected, however, I never planned on the stress, sleepless night and no time of my own. On the brighter side Alexia and I have been seeing each other on a mutual bases, nothing serious yet, just enjoying each others company.

I thought it best to fill in the event into the ledger as I went along so I would not leave anything out. I began skimming through the past events that I had entered and I realized that everything that I had Clancy write had come true, however, looking at the holistic view I could also see that everything had a price. I looked to a picture of Alexia and I said to myself,

"Some things are worth the price."

Unlike on the off shore oil rig, I found that I had little spare time. What little time I could gather I tried to spend with Alexia. About once a month we would go out to dinner, sometimes I would pay, sometimes she would pay. We would end the dinner by walking along on the beach and looking out towards Padre Island. Once a month was not often enough for me, but under the circumstances it was what I could afford. This gave her her life. I had my life, and on rare blissful, occasions our lives would be one.

In looking at the situation as a whole, I saw that, even though I had trouble sleeping at nights due to my promotion, had very little time of my own, and more money than I dreamed of, I did have the most perfect women I could conceive. As contradictory as it seemed, life didn't get any better than that... Or so I thought.