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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Jeremy\u2019s 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
Jennifer strolled by Jeremy\u2019s desk and said to him, \u201cDon\u2019t look so sad. I will be there for two weeks with you. It\u2019s not like you won\u2019t know anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you want us to hire a receptionist open to \u2018other related duties\u2019 coming with the job?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh 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?\u201d<\/p>\n
That got Jeremy\u2019s attention. He could tell by the tone of her voice it wasn\u2019t a tease. He looked her in the eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m wed, not dead,\u201d she responded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just made the trip a little brighter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood, I\u2019ll pack some stockings then.\u201d \u201cWon\u2019t hubby wonder why you are packing them?\u201d \u201cYou really are a boy, aren\u2019t you? My husband hasn\u2019t packed a suitcase or watched it being packed since we got married,\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n
He laughed, too. \u201cI suppose you managed to get everyone staying at different hotels so they won\u2019t know you don\u2019t return to your room a few nights.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you must know, the others are staying at a hotel within walking distance of the new office and I\u2019m staying at a hotel about a mile from your apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNice bit of planning, Jennifer. Sure you don\u2019t want to work as an analyst?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo way,\u201d she laughed. \u201cI\u2019ve been married over eighteen years. I\u2019m due a fling. Since you won\u2019t be coming back for at least a year, other than to close on your townhome, a fling is what it will be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt your service, m\u2019lady,\u201d Jeremy said mockingly.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust remember that,\u201d she said with a smile as she walked away.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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\u2019s apartment.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s cell phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHi.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wondered if you were going to call me before you left. Missing me already?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
She laughed in response.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sent you an email with my contact information there, but that is not why I\u2019m calling. I took the liberty of setting up a trading account for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t make your kind of money to gamble with.\u201d \u201cI 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.\u201d Stacie was kind of floored. \u201cSo it is really your account in my name?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, it is yours. There is no reason you shouldn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stacie didn\u2019t 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, \u201cThat is thoughtful of you. I guess you will have to see if they have lingerie stores where you will be living.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomehow I\u2019m thinking they won\u2019t have anything to compare to what you showed up with at Salish,\u201d he laughed. \u201cExpect the package tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will. You have a safe trip, and don\u2019t forget about New Year\u2019s.\u201d \u201cAlready 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\u2019t 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.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know how comfortable I am with that, but I will see what I can do.\u201d \u201cPytho needs to make a U.S. Sale to get revenue flowing. Should be a good deal for all.\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll drop a hint and see where it goes.\u201d \u201cYou really are more than a guy should ask for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That line had Stacie blushing like a school girl. New Year\u2019s was starting to be too far off.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t seeing anyone steady. He had been a football player in college, but not good enough to turn pro.<\/p>\n
Hey Buddy,<\/p>\n
You probably won\u2019t 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\u2019s Eve to one of those all-inclusive, grand hotel celebrations. They haven\u2019t picked the hotel yet. I\u2019m attaching pictures of the two girls.<\/p>\n
Since you are the first one I\u2019m 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\u2019t ask. Don\u2019t know if they will make you wear a raincoat, though.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Jeremy<\/p>\n
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\u2019t 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\u2019s salary now, but nowhere near what Jeremy was pulling in if you added in the stock trading.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t he was going to have only the two outfits packed in his garment bag until he could find a clothing store.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cother related duties.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Moving is bad enough, <\/i>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.<\/i> He had no idea what was around the apartment for stores or food. True, he could rely on some of Dimitri\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u00a0
***********************
You are reading a special promotional version of \u201cInfinite Exposure\u201d containing only the first 18 chapters. This is the first book of the “Earth That Was” trilogy. You can obtain the entire trilogy in EPUB form from here:<\/p>\n