It had been a brutal week for Jeremy. He had put his townhome up for sale and moved most of his stuff into a storage unit. Lenny was giving him as much time off work as he needed to get the thing on the market. His coworkers had been only too glad to help cart his things out of his house and into the moving truck. They had even come along and helped put the boxes into the storage locker. Painters had been in as well as carpet layers. Jeremy now slept in a sleeping bag in his bedroom and ate only carry out. The open house this coming weekend would probably bring an offer.
All of this had been both stressful and exasperating. Nothing churned his stomach like Lenny handing him the envelope containing all his documentation for a two-year work visa in the Ukraine. It was really final then. The IT worker had left the day before to start getting the network set up and look into the building of a computer room. The following day Jennifer gave Jeremy his plane ticket and arranged for the shipping of his clothes and other personal items to the new apartment. Yes, she had given him the address of it and given him a phone number to call as soon as he touched down. Dimitri was sending some people to help them through customs. Because Jeremy was coming there on a two-year visa he was going to need someone to help push things through.
Jeremy’s two coworkers offered to take him out for a final American lunch, but he passed. He needed to get some more stuff done before he could leave. The two employees Lenny had at the off-site data center had both been offered jobs in the Ukraine. The person with a family declined, but the younger kid fresh out of school jumped at the chance. Because he wouldn’t have a housing expense, just food and laundry, it was a major increase in income and a chance to spend a year in a foreign country.
Jennifer strolled by Jeremy’s desk and said to him, “Don’t look so sad. I will be there for two weeks with you. It’s not like you won’t know anybody.”
“The first week will be sheer hell just trying to get around. The second week I will be trying to bring in analysts. By then you will all be gone and I will be stuck there.”
“Do you want us to hire a receptionist open to ‘other related duties’ coming with the job?”
Jeremy laughed.
“Oh well, I will want to check out your apartment before I leave. Perhaps we can take care of that massage and meal before I go?”
That got Jeremy’s attention. He could tell by the tone of her voice it wasn’t a tease. He looked her in the eye.
“I’m wed, not dead,” she responded.
“You just made the trip a little brighter,” he said.
“Good, I’ll pack some stockings then.” “Won’t hubby wonder why you are packing them?” “You really are a boy, aren’t you? My husband hasn’t packed a suitcase or watched it being packed since we got married,” she laughed.
He laughed, too. “I suppose you managed to get everyone staying at different hotels so they won’t know you don’t return to your room a few nights.”
“If you must know, the others are staying at a hotel within walking distance of the new office and I’m staying at a hotel about a mile from your apartment.”
“Nice bit of planning, Jennifer. Sure you don’t want to work as an analyst?”
“No way,” she laughed. “I’ve been married over eighteen years. I’m due a fling. Since you won’t be coming back for at least a year, other than to close on your townhome, a fling is what it will be.”
“At your service, m’lady,” Jeremy said mockingly.
“Just remember that,” she said with a smile as she walked away.
The one thing Jeremy had left to do was to set up a trading account for Stacie. He put $5K of his own money in it. He had lifted her Social Security and driver’s license numbers from her while she was in the spa at Salish. He would have set up the account then, but he had forgotten to bring his notebook with him. He opted to have them overnight the forms for signature to Stacie’s apartment.
Jeremy logged into his personal email account. He sent Stacie an email giving her his address in the Ukraine and the phone number for the new office. Then he picked up the phone and called Stacie’s cell phone.
“Hello.”
“Hi.”
“I wondered if you were going to call me before you left. Missing me already?”
“Yes.”
She laughed in response.
“I sent you an email with my contact information there, but that is not why I’m calling. I took the liberty of setting up a trading account for you.”
“I don’t make your kind of money to gamble with.” “I put in $5K of my own. You will be getting an overnight delivery before 9:00 AM tomorrow. Go into work late so you can be there. You just need to sign the forms and send them back to the online broker.” Stacie was kind of floored. “So it is really your account in my name?” she asked.
“No, it is yours. There is no reason you shouldn’t profit from this as well. Besides, if you come to stay with me it will give you some of your own money to walk around with.”
Stacie didn’t really know how to respond to that. From what she knew about the play, the account would nearly double in the next couple of weeks. She knew that there were other plays going to happen after this one, and she had a general idea as to the kind of money Jeremy now had. Finally, she said, “That is thoughtful of you. I guess you will have to see if they have lingerie stores where you will be living.”
“Somehow I’m thinking they won’t have anything to compare to what you showed up with at Salish,” he laughed. “Expect the package tomorrow.”
“I will. You have a safe trip, and don’t forget about New Year’s.” “Already on it. One last thing. If you have any influence with those who are helping target sales of the Pytho software package, you should point them in the direction of Granite National Bank. They aren’t a huge bank. Operate only in the U.S. They have a large programming staff and are on an FDIC watch list right now. The savings they could get from the package and being able to let go most of their IT staff would get them off the list.” “I don’t know how comfortable I am with that, but I will see what I can do.” “Pytho needs to make a U.S. Sale to get revenue flowing. Should be a good deal for all.” “I’ll drop a hint and see where it goes.” “You really are more than a guy should ask for,” he said.
That line had Stacie blushing like a school girl. New Year’s was starting to be too far off.
After hanging up Jeremy sent an email to one of his buddies from college. The guy was doing pretty well in some sales position and wasn’t seeing anyone steady. He had been a football player in college, but not good enough to turn pro.
Hey Buddy,
You probably won’t believe this email, but it is true. I have been hooking up with Stacie from time to time. She has a pair of roomies. They want to go out as a group on New Year’s Eve to one of those all-inclusive, grand hotel celebrations. They haven’t picked the hotel yet. I’m attaching pictures of the two girls.
Since you are the first one I’m asking, you get your choice. All you have to do is make the reservation and wear a nice suit. Both ladies are on the pill and promised to do their date. Long story, don’t ask. Don’t know if they will make you wear a raincoat, though.
If you are interested, email me back and I will forward your email address to Stacie so she can put your choice in touch with you.
Jeremy
Next, he sent a similar message to another buddy from college who was running his own lawn-care and snow-removal business. Ordinarily you wouldn’t think that such a big thing, but he had some high-end homes and two golf courses in his client list. He was making way more than Jeremy’s salary now, but nowhere near what Jeremy was pulling in if you added in the stock trading.
Finally, he got back to focusing on Kyyiv. He had to hand it to the group getting the office together: they had the phones turned on already and there was supposed to be furniture in the place. He had purchased a couple of 220-to-110 power converters so he would be able to use his existing laptop until the IT guys could get him a local one set up. Those were packed in the boxes Jennifer had shipped to the new apartment. He hoped that stuff actually arrived. If it didn’t he was going to have only the two outfits packed in his garment bag until he could find a clothing store.
Now Jeremy put on his headset and began going through the Russian language software he had purchased. He had spent the last two nights learning it and imagined it would be his primary source of entertainment for the first few weeks there, or at least after Jennifer left, unless she was serious about a receptionist open to “other related duties.”
Jeremy was listening to the software say phrases in both languages to him, but his mind was going through the list of things that needed to be done. He had gone to the post office and gotten his mail forwarded to the office. Jennifer had agreed to go through it and forward what needed to be sent to him. He had logged into his credit-card Web sites and changed his billing address to the apartment in the Ukraine. Naturally that brought a phone call from the security department at each company to verify the change. Thankfully, he had cut down to two credit cards a while ago.
Moving is bad enough, he thought, but going to a new country is a real pisser. Replacing something I forget will be almost impossible until I learn the language. He had no idea what was around the apartment for stores or food. True, he could rely on some of Dimitri’s people for a while, but he was certain that kind of help was going to be short-lived. He then remembered the phone bill in his computer bag. He pulled it out and called the phone company to have his phone turned off. Then he called the cable company and went through the process again. He was just finishing up when his coworkers arrived back from lunch. Thankfully, water and power would be handled by the new owners as one of the sale conditions.
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