Outrunning Shadows

Chapter 4: The Encounter

Chapter 4: The Encounter





         Wednesday. BrrrkBrrrkBrrrk. Andrew reached over and smacked his alarm clock. He was sprawled out across his bed. He was still fully dressed from the night before. Thank goodness he was in the habit of turning his alarm clock on right after switching it off in the morning. Otherwise who knows when he would have awakened. He was only in his third week of work at his new job and he had yet to be late. He had no intention of changing that track record any time soon. He reached over and clicked the alarm clock back on for tomorrow morning. He sat up and looked around. It was only 7:00 am. He got up and stumbled into the bathroom and clicked on the light. Aaaak the light hit his eyes and he squinted, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the brightness. After a shower he wondered out to the kitchen to pour a bowl of corn flakes. It was his morning ritual. Clean body and corn flakes with lots of sugar and whole milk- none of that nasty skim stuff. Around 8:30, he went out to his black Pathfinder and started the engine. He had about a twenty minute ride to work. When he moved next door to Engrid, he would only be about a ten minute commute. Traffic was never an issue around here.


         When he got to his office, he plopped down at his desk. His boss was an irascible old man with family problems. His only problem was that the only person who disliked Martin Jacobs more than his wife was himself. Andrew had the illustrious position of being this man’s charge. There were two men in the firm, Mr. Jacobs and Hershel McWilliams. Hershel was a happily married man of 35, tall sandy blonde hair. He became a family man early in life and now had two awesome children, a 14-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter. Hershel was always friendly and chatty. Darcy and Amanda were Mr. McWilliam’s assistants. Betty and Andrew were Mr. Martin’s assistants. Since it was one of only two investment advisory firms in the county, they had plenty of clients. There was always a buzz and stir around the office as clients came and went and as gossip was shared back and forth. It was a very open office with all four assistants sharing the large, open space. McWilliams and Jacobs had their own offices off to the side. All four assistants knew all about one another’s business since neither phone conversations or anything else was private.


         After three weeks employed there, he’d gotten the gist of things and many of the clients coming in knew him by name and he knew them. Andrew had scheduled a consultation this morning with Evan Grayson, the mysterious son of Myrtle Grayson whom he’d met at Engrid’s house the night before. Andrew was intrigued to say the least. Engrid and Myrtle told him about Evan. They told him what he was like; that he was well-educated  and sophisticated- at least by Deerfield standards. After the verbal synopsis he’d received the night before, he was excited to meet Evan in person. Myrtle was rapidly approaching 60 years old and she was looking forward to retirement. Evan was coming in to see about arranging a benefits package for a new manager they would hire when Myrtle finally retired. So, Evan was coming in to discuss investment options such as 401k’s or IRA’s to make a managerial position in a dry cleaning store a somewhat decently lucrative position. An Evan Grayson was scheduled to come in at 9:30.


         About 9:20, the phone rang.


         “Jacobs McWilliams Investments.”


         “Hello, is this a Mr. Garrison?”


         “Yes sir, Mr. Wimberly, how are you doing?”


         It was Andrew’s least favorite client- a man who was permanently drunk and disorderly. Today, he was up remarkably early to make Andrew’s life eventful. Somehow Mr. Wimberly had decided that he didn’t like Andrew in the least and that Andrew was completely incompetent and needed to be fired. Andrew took his assaults personally. Andrew is a wonderful person, but has a bit of a temper if you insult him long enough. Mr. Wimberly called pretty much every morning asking how his portfolio was doing. Andrew had patiently worked with the man day after stinking day to keep him happy. Mr. Wimberly and Mr. Martin were good friends from way on back in time. So, losing Mr. Wimberly as a customer was not an option, enticing as it may be.


         “I’m not doing so good, Mr. Garrison.”


         “And why is that, Mr. Wimberly?”


         “I was lookin over some nummers last ni’ht. My money ain’t doin so hot.”


         “Well, sir, the market fluctuates daily.”          


         “You said these here stocks were good ‘uns.”


         “And they are, Mr. Wimberly.”


         “Then why’d I lose money? If you’s worth yo salt son, you’d pick better uns fer me. I ain’t got money to throw away, kid. I knows you rich kids think you got somethin, but you hear me, you keep losing my money and I’ll come down there and kick yo scrawny ass, boy.”


         “Well, I don’t believe that will be necessary, Mr. Wimberly.”


         Well, the conversation devolved as Mr. Wimberly continued his verbal abuse of Andrew. Andrew’s patience was wearing thin already. Betty was sitting across the room smiling. She knew what was happening. She was happy. It was Andrew’s turn to be the brunt of his storm. It was an initiation of sorts for new employees. Whenever a new person came on staff, which wasn’t all that often, they would tell Mr. Wimberly that someone new was coming that perhaps could better serve his needs.


         She could tell Andrew was near the boiling point, he was managing to keep his voice low, but he face was getting red. The door opened and Evan walked into the office. Amanda’s was the first desk he came to, they were friends from high school.


         “Hi Amanda,”


         “Well, hi, Evan. I haven’t seen you in a long time.”


         “I know. I’ve been busy. Say, I’m here to see Andrew Garrison, is he around?”


         “Yes, he’s on the phone.” She pointed at Andrew’s desk. Andrew was managing to stay calm, but was losing the battle. He was talking to Mr. Wimberly explaining the way the free market common stock exchange works. Evan thought he was being very condescending towards whomever it was he was talking to. He’d better not talk to me that way, Evan thought. Evan sat in the chair in front of Andrew’s desk and watched him. Andrew smiled and acknowledged Evan’s presence and then motioned for him to sit down, which he’d already done.


         Evan crossed his ankles and tucked them underneath his chair. He put his hands on the arms of the chair and waiting for something else to happen. He hated business meetings. He liked working in the dry cleaning store because it wasn’t stuffy and pretentious like most offices. Andrew’s big wooden desk and black leather chair seemed over the top to Evan, whom had much simpler tastes. Evan preferred people who were just normal, everyday folk. Andrew seemed like an obnoxious city boy. But maybe he could help them with their business.


         After a few minutes, Andrew hung up the phone from talking to Mr. Wimberly.


         “Mr. Garrison, my name is…”


         “Just a moment,” Andrew replied hastily and jumped up from behind his desk and walked away. Evan sat there, unsure of what just happened. He decided that Andrew really was obnoxious if not a city boy. In a minute or two, Andrew returned. He smiled broadly and extended his hand. Evan grasped it slowly, unsure of what to make of the sudden new persona that stood before him. Andrew was no longer red faced and angry, but seemed pleasant and mild mannered. Evan was not an immediately trusting person, so wasn’t sure what to make of the sudden change in Andrew. Andrew had had a moment to calm down so as not to scare him too badly.


         “So, Mr. Grayson, is it?”


         “Yes, sir.”


         “I’m Andrew Garrison. Thank you for coming in.”


         “Well, as long as it can help my mom’s business.”


         “I’m sure we can work something out.” Andrew smiled a nice, pleasant smile. Evan returned it. It was weird, something had clicked between them.  Andrew was different now than he was just a few minutes before. He seemed like a decently nice guy, but Evan wasn’t sure. Andrew felt a spark between them. It was odd. He had clients come in all the time, but he felt differently about this guy. There was something there. Andrew could feel it, there was almost sexual tension there. He suddenly realized that Evan was talking. He was giving Andrew background information on the business.


         “…and then my mother inherited the company years ago when my father died. Ever since then, she and I have run it just the two of us. It is getting harder as she gets closer to wanting to retire. She wants to do some traveling. We have plenty of money because we’re frugal people, but she’s ready to have some fun while she’s still young enough to enjoy it. I like the customers and the business end of it, but I’m ready to move on and do something else. So, we need a manager to oversee it and we plan to open a second location. As we discussed on the phone earlier, we need to decide on some options for benefits.”


         “Yes.” Evan was still troubled by Andrew. He wasn’t sure if he liked him or not. He seemed a bit pompous. Evan could tell that Andrew had mentally checked out while he was speaking. Evan didn’t like being ignored.


         “So, what kinds of retirement or pension benefits plans can you help us with?”


         “Well, there are a variety of options.” Andrew leaned forward on his desk. Why was he suddenly so attracted to this man? Andrew just didn’t understand. Evan was sitting there sizing up Andrew deciding whether or not he liked him at all. Andrew talked too loud and didn’t listen when Evan was telling him about their family business. Andrew was not from around here. Andrew didn’t have much going for him in Evan’s book. But, he could put up with him if it would help their business so his mom could go on that tour of European cathedrals she’d been dreaming about since she was 35 years old.


         Evan sat quietly absorbing what Andrew was saying. Evan was a lot smarter than most people gave him credit for. When he would work in Engrid’s back yard, he would wear threadbare t-shirts and threadbare jeans and dirty tennis shoes. When he worked in the dry cleaning store, he wore more presentable jeans that were a little snug in all the right places and a more intact T-shirt. His mother had tried to get him to dress up more, but had failed. When he came into the office that day, he had made a conscious effort to clean up a little. He was wearing a navy blue polo shirt, tucked in with a belt, and khaki pants. It was the most anyone in town had seen Evan dressed up on a Wednesday without there being a hearse involved.


         Andrew was the complete opposite. He never left the house without buttons on his shirt or a sweater and his pants were always pressed. Andrew tried to look good. Not for anyone else, but just because, being raised in the military, that’s just how life was done.


         What Andrew considered habitual decorum Evan considered pretension. He saw Andrew as being the type who treated others like something that he stepped in with his nice dress shoes and black socks. Evan only wore dress shoes and black socks to weddings and funerals. Sometimes even then it was a showdown between his mother and him before he would wear them then. A tie was beyond his realm of reason.


         Andrew was having a completely different reaction to Evan. He saw Evan as mysterious and wholesome. Evan was intelligent, hard working, loving toward his family and friends, moral, loyal, very attractive, in top physical form, and seemed to possess all the traits Andrew wanted in a partner.  Evan was unpretentious and unassuming. Evan was one of those rare people who really and truly had no idea how beautiful and attractive they are.


         Andrew was immediately drawn to Evan because Evan seemed to have the life that Andrew wanted. Evan had a mother who loved him and would defend him to her own death. Evan had friends that he’d known since before kindergarten. Evan knew what it was like to live in the same house your whole life. Andrew marveled enviously at the stability and love that Evan was accustomed to and wanted desperately to be a part of it.


         Evan was completely unaware of what was going on inside of Andrew’s head. All Evan knew was that Andrew was looking at him strangely and that made him uncomfortable. Andrew was not only irascible and pretentious, he was also creepy. Evan squirmed in his chair and Andrew snapped out of his reverie back to real life.


         Evan said, “I was wondering where you went.”


         “What do you mean?”


         “You totally spaced out.”


         “Sorry. I guess I’ve got a lot on my mind.”


         “Well, can you help us out?”


         “I’m sure we can come up with some ideas. Since you’ve told me a little more about it, here are some options that you might want to consider. I wrote out the proposal. You can take it home, read over it and let me know if that looks like something you and your mother would want to do and then get back to me in a few days.”


         “Okay.” Evan stood up to leave and extended his hand to Andrew. Andrew grasped his hand and shook it vigorously. Evan could not figure this guy out. He was just plain weird.


         “Thank you for coming in and I hope we can help you and your business.”


         As Evan was leaving, he could not shake that weird vibe he got from Andrew. He was too weird and creepy. Evan walked down the street to the dry cleaner’s. When he got there, his mother was behind the counter ringing up a customer’s bill.


         “How did it go?” she asked.


         “It was okay. That Andrew guy is one strange bird.”


         “Really?”


         “Yeah. Some new guy named Andrew Garrison, I think that’s his name. We talked for a while. He kept looking at me with the weirdest looks. It was like he was staring at me or something. He knows his stuff, but he needs to not do that. It kind of freaks me out a little.”


         “Andrew is moving in next door to Engrid.”


         “Aw crap. I forgot- Engrid mentioned it. I thought his name sounded familiar when I made the appointment- but I was hoping.”


         “He was at the dinner last night with Penny. I met him. He’s very nice. He must have been having an off day or something. He was very pleasant and funny at dinner. He and Penny figured out what Engrid was up to and so they pretended to be madly in love. It was so funny. She fell for it too for a while, but then she got wise to their scheme and they confessed. Engrid was royally ticked off but I almost wet myself laughing at them.”


         “Funny. Well, I didn’t like him all that much.” Evan folded his arms across his chest.


         “That’s too bad. You’ll be seeing a lot of him.”


         “Hopefully not. I’ll be at Engrid’s in the morning while he’s at work.”


         “Even then, you’ll be working with him on this benefits plan thing, won’t you?”


         “I guess I have to.”


         “You really didn’t like him?”


         “I just got a weird feeling about him. He seemed uptight and fancy schmancy. And he kept staring at me.”


         “It’s called eye contact, dear.” She said absently as she was filling out a form.


         “No, this was different.”


         “Okay,” She wasn’t listening anymore, so Evan went to the back of the store to do something constructive.


         As Evan was getting ready to put spray starch on some dress shirts, he could not shake the creepy feeling he got from Andrew. In some strange way, he’d found himself drawn to Andrew. He considered Andrew an obnoxious bore with an attention problem. Nonetheless, if he didn’t like Andrew at some level, why was he obsessing about something this minute? If he really did not like Andrew, then he would just chalk this up to him being a city boy with no social grace and go about his business like he always had. But that didn’t seem to be happening for him. So Evan kept working and tried to put that strange investment guy from his mind.


         As he was swishing the iron back and forth over a shirt, his mother appeared.


         “Evan?


         “What is it?”


         “It just bothers me that you don’t like Andrew. I met him last night and I thought he was wonderful. He seemed charming and intelligent. Sort of like you, Evan.”


         “I don’t want to talk about it,” Evan replied curtly.


         She looked troubled, but decided not to pursue it any further. Her son had shut down and wasn’t going to explain further. That was just the way he was.


         The bell rang signaling a new customer in the store, so she pushed aside the piece of fabric that separated the back rooms from the front customer service areas.