#1
The Chauffeur (#58) The Fire
By PABLO DIABLO
Copyright 2019
CHAPTER 1
On Saturday I was awoken by my cell phone buzzing. I grudgingly got out of bed and scuffed over to the dresser to check my phone. I saw that the text was from Roger Johnson. The text read: Big Fire at an office tower in Wisconsin. CALL ME ASAP! Roger.
I called Roger as soon as I read his text message. The first call went straight to voicemail. The second call Roger picked up.
“Hey, David, not a good way to start a morning. 17 floors of our tower in Wisconsin are on fire. Since it is a Saturday, evacuating the building wasn’t that difficult. However, there was some reason the sprinklers didn’t go on, so the firefighters are attacking this fire head-on. Currently, this is a 6-alarm fire but will most likely get raised as the fire is not contained yet.” Roger tells me.
I expect that you will be getting phone calls from many of your tenants in the building such as Kraft Foods, who is the original owner of the building. I would check to see but if you didn’t buy the property in an ‘as is’ condition we should probably get legal involved,” Roger says to me.
I thought about taking the jet to the property in Wisconsin, but I decided against it since we had another bit of time with Special Agent Wade, plus the SS agents who will accompany us on this mission out in the LA desert once again. Fred, John, and I are supposed to meet up with the DEA just after 1 pm. All in all, we are supposed to have about 32 people on our side of this mission.
After I hung up from the phone, I noticed that Dakota was in my sleep bed. I tiptoed around her and saw that she was wearing panties just as Dr. Ronda had requested. I headed into the bathroom to take care of my morning duties which included a quick shower. As I had my head underneath the water, I felt the cold air from the shower door being opened. I turned around expecting to see Dakota, but instead, it was Allison. I haven’t played with Allison in quite a while, so it made me smile to see her get into the shower stall with me.
I jokingly pushed her underneath the showerhead to get her entire body wet before I began to wash her including a shampoo. As I was soaping her up, I leaned in and kissed her on the back of the neck. She reached behind her and gave my cock a couple of tugs which made me smile.
We spent several minutes in the shower together before we turned the hot water off. I grabbed two towels and we took our time to dry each other. Once we were finished with the drying, we tossed the towels into the hamper.
After putting the towels into the hamper, we went to my bedroom. She put a clean dry white tee shirt on with no pantie’s underneath. I put on my usual, a pair of shorts plus a white tee shirt. Once I was dressed, we left the bedroom to take her back to her bedroom. I opened the door and she immediately went to her closet and took out a cute outfit to wear. It was a nice yellow print top and a pair of yellow shorts. She decided to go barefoot for now, but that may change later.
When she was finished dressing, we went down to the TV room. No one was in the room, so we turned the TV on, and I selected an all-news channel to get the most information about our tower in Wisconsin on fire. Sammy came out to the TV room and asked Allison what she would like for breakfast, she asked for scrambled eggs and grits. Sammy also asked me what I would like. I told him one of his great bacon and cheese omelets with some fried potatoes on the side. He told that my breakfast would take about 20 minutes and that he would put it on the dining room table when it is ready.
I sat down on the couch watching our tower in Wisconsin burn. My real thankfulness was that it was a weekend day and virtually no one had to be evacuated from the building. I texted Jennifer to turn on the TV when she gets up to see our tower in Wisconsin burning. We needed to pull the legal contracts as well as the records for the fire suppression company on how recent the fire suppression equipment had been checked. I also wanted a list of tenants to be contacted and find out when the fire department is finished for them to let us know what was able to be salvaged out of their offices.
I switched back and forth on the TV from one news channel to another trying to get better shots of the building burning. I put a call into the Fire Department in Madison Wisconsin asking them about my building that was on fire. I got a very nice lady who told me that there really was no additional information at this time, and she said that they already had my name and number to be reached once there is something to tell me. I thanked her for her time and hung up.
As I sat on the couch with Allison, my phone buzzed once again. It was from Roger again. This time his text read: Husband murders wife in Chicago in one of the Pinetree hotels. Local law enforcement will be sending us copies of all the Police reports.
I just shook my head thinking that he was very prophetic in his first text message telling me that it wasn’t a good start to the day.
I put my arm around Allison and pulled her into me as we watched the news. Although I prefer FOX news, I did watch CBS news to try and get a different camera angle on the fire. One thing that I noticed was a whole lot of firemen standing around by the fire trucks. I wondered to myself why so many people were just standing around.
After about an hour of watching the fire on the news, FOX switched away from the fire and did a piece on the murder in Chicago in a Pinetree. They clearly pointed out that it was a domestic violence case as the husband had been arrested multiple times before.
My phone buzzed once again. This time it was Special Agent Wade of the DEA. She said “calling off the desert issue as we don’t have enough agents to handle this group. Thanks for the offer of help”.
I kind of exhaled knowing that my people won’t be put in harm’s way. I went over to the SS Agent and show him my phone and the text message. He thanked me for the update. I texted John and Fred that today’s time with the DEA is off. A few minutes later Fred texted back that he appreciated the update.
As promised, Sammy delivered Allison her eggs and grits along with a fresh cup of coffee. He also delivered me the omelet that I asked for along with some fried potatoes. He had also poured me a glass of juice. He put my plate at the head of the table and the one for Allison right next to me where Dakota normally sits.
Since the DEA event was off for the day, I dialed up the jet crew and let them know whenever they get ready, I would like to fly to Madison Wisconsin. After hanging up from them I went and woke Dakota and Jill. Since neither one had any coffee, yet they were both very grumpy. I already had Allison pouring them coffee.
I flicked on the TV in my bedroom. Both Dakota and Jill let out small gasps at seeing our tower burning. I suggested to both to pack an overnight bag, just in case we end up staying over.
I ask Allison if she would like to go to Wisconsin, she asked if it would be OK if she skipped the trip, which I kissed her and told her it would be no problem, but to stay here at the Chateau as I didn’t want anyone out roaming around with the Mexican Drug Cartel not playing nice with us nor the DEA.
I texted Diane telling her that we were making a trip to Wisconsin and that I would like her and John and Jennifer to join me in the jet. It took a couple of minutes, but I finally got two text messages. One from Diane telling me that she and John were getting ready and one from Jennifer telling me she would be ready in less than a half-hour.
I also texted Fred to let him know that the DEA event today had been canceled. In my text message, I let him know that we were heading to the jet to make a trip to our tower in Wisconsin.
Diane and John were the first to arrive at the dining room table. John asked for his usual kitchen sink omelet. Diane wanted scrambled eggs and a cup of coffee. I reached into the fridge and gave her a bottle of water as well.
About the time Bobby was finishing John’s omelet, Dakota and Jill came out to the dining room leaving their overnight bags at the front door. John ate at his normal speed shoveling the food into his mouth as quickly as he possibly could.
Since Dakota and Jill were both going with me, both female agents and one male agent accompanied us. They each had an overnight bag ready and they set them by the front door. A few minutes later Jennifer joined us. I looked around the room and counted John, Diane, Jennifer, Dakota, Jill, myself and three SS agents. It seemed as if we all were there. However, we only had a town car in the garage, so we had to take a couple of cars. Tina offered to drive Diane, John, and Jennifer. Fred took Jill and her SS Agent in the town car. That left Dakota and her agent to ride along with me and my agent. Donna volunteered to take Dakota, and me along with our security agents to the jet.
When we all arrived at the jet, I gave Fred some information about our return so we would be better prepared with a full-size limo or two to head back to the Chateau. Everyone grabbed their overnight bag and climbed the stairs to enter the jet. Once we were all into the jet, they closed the door and locked it in place. The jet slowly moved from its parking spot towards the runway. We waited in line to get on the runway. There were three jets in front of us, although once the three jets took off, we lined up for takeoff as well.
We paused for a moment then we felt the delicious acceleration of the plane. Before we got to the end of the runway, the nose of the jet took a sharp upward angle putting us in the air and on our way to Madison, Wisconsin.
Dakota got up and came over to sit by me. She turned around and flipped her tee-shirt up from the back to show me that she was indeed wearing panties, which made me smile. Dakota sat with her legs on top of my lap. She leaned her head into me as we leveled out in the air. I gently began to rub Dakota’s legs and feet.
On the other side of me sat Jennifer. John and Diane sat on the love seat with Diane leaning her head onto John’s chest. Jennifer put her arms around me and put her head on my left shoulder. We ran into some turbulence as we passed over Utah and Colorado, however, once we passed those two states the flight smoothed right out. The flight to Wisconsin was right at the three-hour limit. Dakota pulled her legs and feet off me when the plane began its descent to land.
Unfortunately, we had to circle the airport a couple of times before the tower gave us permission to land the jet. Finally, we got the plane on the ground. We taxied the jet to the private plane area. I saw the two limos that Dakota had ordered up for us to ride in while in Wisconsin.
Our pilot was able to park the jet amongst other private planes. We got the door open and went down to the limos. Jill, Dakota and I along with three SS agents got into one limo with Jennifer, John, and Diane getting into the other limo. Both of our drivers knew where we were headed. They shut the back doors and headed the limos down the road towards the burning towers. I could see them a couple of miles before we got to the towers. As we arrived, there were several TV news crews filming the fire and taking interviews with people who had nothing to do with the tower, they just happened to be standing close, so they were interviewing them.
CHAPTER 2
When we pulled up to the roped-off area by the tower entrance, I put my best face on to talk to the TV reporters about the tower. Lots of questions were asked of me. I looked for and finally found the Fire Chief. I asked him if everyone was OK and that there were no people left in the tower. He told me that they got everyone out and that only property damage, no human injuries, which made me feel good.
I did manage to inquire about when the fire investigation would begin. The representative from the Fire Department told me that no investigation would begin until after the entire fire was completely out.
I got a phone call from Special Agent Wade. She told me that she got into a bit of trouble for allowing my group to assist her DEA agents in taking down the Mexican Drug cartel. I apologized to her for getting her into a bit of trouble, but she told me to not worry about it.
We pulled the two limos just a few feet away from the TV news vans. I got out with Jennifer and Dakota by my side. We answered as many of the questions as we could, but we did stress that we were thankful that there was no one inside the office towner and that we will be happy with getting the results of the fire investigation.
One of the cameramen told us that it will be closer to 12 hours before the fire is out then they will begin the investigation. I thanked him for the information and asked where a good diner is that’s not too far away. He recommended a mom and pop diner that was about 8 blocks removed from the fire. When we arrived at the diner, both drivers parked the limos at the far corner of the parking lot. We all got out and went inside.
The place was virtually empty, but one of our drivers told us all that the food was good, so we took his suggestion and decided to stay. With there being a total of 9 of us, we pushed two tables together and sat down. A nice older waitress came over to our table and started taking drink orders. She discussed the special of the day, which was eggplant parmesan with a small side salad and a large slice of garlic bread.
Jill wanted the special, Dakota ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with a bowl of tomato soup. Jennifer ordered tuna salad on toasted sourdough bread. John and Diane both ordered the special as well. I went in a totally different direction; I ordered a BLT on white toast with mayo and two slices of tomato. I ordered a Coke and everyone else ordered a soda as well. I didn’t hear what the SS agents ordered since they ended up sitting at a table next to us.
So, it ended up being 6 of my playgroup and 3 agents. I quietly told the waitress that I was picking up the bill for the protection team that was sitting at a different table. Since the restaurant wasn’t all that busy, the meals came quickly. One thing that I noticed was that anyone who ordered a sandwich, such as me only got the sandwich. When I pressed the waitress, she told me that you must order French fries or a side salad otherwise you only get the sandwich. The waitress trying to appease all of us brought a big plate of French fries. Dakota, as usual, put some of the fries on to a small plate and slathered them with ketchup before taking some and stuffing them into my mouth and giggling all about it.
It didn’t take long, but the SS agents finished quite quickly their meals, while my table was still working on their meals. I guess the fries arriving late helped slow us down.
The waitress noticed that all the SS agents where carrying firearms. She asked how come they had guns. I explained that they are protection agents for me and Jill and Dakota. The waitress shrugged and walked away, clearly; she didn’t understand what I had told her.
John was eating like a madman. When Diane got through with her meal, he finished it as well. She just smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek. He in-turn, kissed her back putting a bit of ketchup on her cheek, which made both giggles as well as the rest of the table.
When three very loud teenagers came into the restaurant, I saw that the SS agents got a bit nervous. The teens sat down a few tables away from us. One of the agents moved her chair over next to Dakota and Jill. The teens noticed her do that and made a loud comment about how ridiculous they thought my protection detail was. They decided to provoke the agents by taunting them verbally. The agents didn’t say a word but when one of the teens got up and walked over to get in their face, the male agent stood up and asked the teen to go back to his table. Instead, he decided that he would do what he wanted to do and there was nothing that the agent could do about it.
Just as the teen decided to take a swing at the agent, the teen had his face bounced off the table and was handcuffed in seconds. That only escalated the situation. The waitress demanded that the agent release the teenager. The teenager only threatened the agent more. Now all three agents were involved, and they asked the teens to go back to their table and just leave us alone. The teens decided that they were right and took a swing at the agents. All three agents took the teens down like calves at a rodeo. All three were lying face down on their table with the waitress yelling at the agents that she’s about to call the police and that they would find real trouble as the Sherriff doesn’t like strangers who cause trouble. At this point, Dakota stood up and told the waitress that we can get bad service and unruly teenagers at any diner in the world and that she should stay out of our business.
I asked for the bill, which the waitress had to add once again. I got up and went to the cash register to pay the bill, but she was too busy running her mouth with the cook. I looked at the total on the bill and threw down enough to pay the bill but only left her a 5% tip since she decided to interject her nose into our business. Dakota took a snapshot of the money next to the bill, so she couldn’t call the Sherriff and tell him that we did the old Dine and Dash routine. I asked the SS agents to release the teens, which they did, but they were ready to re-cuff them if they decided once again to put their nose into our business.
The nine of us walked out of the restaurant with the waitress telling us not to hurry back. Dakota was quick to tell her that we wouldn’t come back if the food was free. That made all of us laugh as we left.
We got back into the limos and headed back to the towers to see if the fire was under control yet. When we got there, we saw that the tower was still on fire, but it appeared to be much more under control at this point. Most of the new vans left with only the one from FOX news remaining.
We all got out of the limos and stood there watching the firefighters attacking the fire on several floors.
Dakota, Jill, Jennifer, and I started making tenant phone calls. Everyone was informed about the fire and that the tower may not be open for several days. I asked the people from Kraft why the sprinklers didn’t kick on; they had no answer for that question.
I dialed up our legal department to have them pull all the paperwork on the acquisition of that office tower. They told me that it would take a couple of days, but they will send me copies for me to look over. Our top legal attorney for property acquisition told me he would send me his analysis of the paperwork and tell me if it was an ‘as is’ purchase or something else. I thanked him and hung up the phone.
As we stood there making phone calls, the reporter for FOX news came over to one of the agents and asked who to speak to about this fire. They politely pointed at me. The reporter, named Ashley Johnson, was gorgeous and polite. When I finished my phone call, I turned off my phone and put it in my pocket. She asked me several questions while I was being videotaped. She thanked me for the individual interview and left with her cameraman. I asked one of the fire department captains when they thought it would be completely out. He told me that it will be at least late tomorrow and possibly into the following day before they will have the fire completely out and able to begin their investigation of the fire. I thanked him for his time and gathered my people to head back to the jet.
It took several minutes to get to the jet but once we were there, we all walked the steps and got into the jet, happy to be leaving this city. The co-pilot closed the hatch and took us to the runway. The jet once again accelerated down the runway and into the air to head back home. I knew that the flight would take another three hours, but I was ready to take a little nap. I stretched out and found Dakota curl up into me as the flight went towards home.
Once again, we experienced some small amount of turbulence over Colorado and Utah, but once we hit California, we were in the clear and it was smooth sailing from that point on to LA.
CHAPTER 3
As the jet went from a level flight to a descent preparing to land, Dakota rolled off me and I opened my eyes. I asked the SS agents if they think anything will come of the teenagers, they didn’t believe anything would, but they said that they would check in with local law enforcement just to make sure.
It was only a few minutes before the jet made a sharp downturn to land. Apparently, that part of the flight always makes Dakota nervous as she squeezed me tightly just before the wheels hit the runway. As we taxied around to where our limos were waiting, I saw Fred standing stoically outside one of the limos. I heard Dakota tell Jill that when Fred is driving the limo, she feels much better. Jill agreed with her.
The pilot and co-pilot taxied the jet around to the side of the airport that other private jets were parked, and our jet was parked right next to them. Once the jet came to a stop, the co-pilot extended the steps down and we all began to get off the plane.
Jill, Dakota, and I along with our three SS agents got into the large of the limos and John, Diane, and Jennifer got into the second limo. Fred started our limo and the female driver, whom I didn’t know started the other limo and we all headed to the chateau. The drive didn’t take long at all since it was still Saturday.
“Hey, Fred, who’s the lady that is driving the other limo?” I asked.
“That is Rebecca. She’s only been with us for a week. We recruited her from one of our competitors. She seems to be enjoying the job and I know that she is making good tips,” Fred tells me. I smile when I hear that new employees are being successful.
“Well, that’s great to hear,” I say to Fred.
“How're things with you and Mom?” I ask.
“Oh, we're doing just fine, thank you for asking. She’s really made a friend with Tina’s Mother Deloris which I think is good for her. I mean, she loves all the youth in our house, but it is nice for her to have someone closer to her own age to share life experiences with,” Fred tells me.
“I agree completely,” I tell Fred.
Fred asks, “How bad was the fire up close?”
“Well, it looks as if the tower will be burning for at least another 24-36 hours. After they finally get the tower put out, only then will start the investigation,” I tell Fred.
“David, you know about the domestic violence case in Chicago, don’t you?” Fred asks me.
“Yes, I know. Not really the great start to the day. Our tower in Wisconsin on fire and a domestic violence murder in Chicago at a Pinetree, kind of like a one-two punch.
My phone buzzed. It was Allison calling me.
“Hey, Darling, what’s up?” I ask her.
“I’m really not feeling good and wonder what I should do,” She asks me.
“Are you still at the house?” I ask her.
“Well, um….I’m at the store,” she tells me, which kind of annoys me.
“What store are you at?” I ask.
“Macy’s. I thought I would look at their sale on some winter attire but once I got here, I started feeling poorly,” she says to me.
I direct Fred to head to Macy’s to pick up Allison. I have Dakota calling Dr. Ronda to let her know that we will be bringing Allison to see her shortly. Dr. Ronda tells Dakota to just get Allison and take her back to the Chateau and she will meet us there.
Dakota tells Fred what Dr. Ronda said to do and he acknowledged it. It was only a few minutes before we were pulling up to the Macy’s. Allison was standing outside the door leaning against the building. Fred pulled up and one of the security agents got out and gathered her up and put her in the limo. Allison crawled over to me and put her head in my lap, which kind of worried me.
“Darling how much water have you had today?” I ask her.
“Um, some. I don’t really know,” she says. Now I’m worried about her.
Fred is racing the limo back to the Chateau. I am just stroking Allison’s head hoping that it will soothe her. Fred pushes several yellow lights before he finally gets us back to the Chateau. He pokes the necessary buttons to open the outer gate then open the inner gate. I see Dr. Ronda’s car already in the courtyard.
Fred pulls the limo up to the front door. We all get out. I carry Allison inside the house and lay her down on the couch. Dr. Ronda comes over to her and begins taking vital signs, checking blood pressure, listening to her heart and her breathing. She puts on the blood pressure cuff.
I sit there worried with Allison’s head still in my lap. I am stroking her hair. Jill is standing close by, Dakota is standing close by, as well as John, Diane, and Jennifer. Everyone is worried about our little Allison. Although I’m annoyed with her leaving the Chateau, I’m more worried that there is something dramatically wrong with her.
Dr. Ronda believes that Allison has something such as an infection. She wants us to take her to City Hospital for a few days stay. I carry her back out to the limo and one agent goes with me. Dakota also joins me in the limo along with a female agent to protect her. Jill decides to stay at the Chateau.
Fred gets the limo racing towards City Hospital with Dr. Ronda right behind the limo. Dr. Ronda pushes several yellow lights and even and red light. Getting to City Hospital took about half the time it normally does. Fred just pulled the limo right in front of the ER entrance. Dr. Ronda parked her car in the physician parking lot and hurried into the ER.
Dr. Ronda took control and guided us to an exam room. Once we were in there, she put an IV into Allison’s arm and attached a bag of the saline solution so that she would begin to rehydrate.
A nurse came into the exam room to assist Dr. Ronda. They asked Allison if she was allergic to anything. Allison told her that she was allergic to morphine and a couple of other drugs. Dr. Ronda ordered a different pain medicine to help Allison. She also ordered a blood draw as she suspects that Allison has some sort of infection but needs the lab work to confirm that.
Allison is drowsy, and I just stand there caressing her hair which sort of makes her smile. The two agents that came along to guard Dakota and I are standing like guard dogs right outside the exam room doorway.
Dr. Ronda tells us that she will stay overnight at the very minimum but may end up staying as long as a week. She expects that Allison has an infection of some sort but that won’t be confirmed until the lab work comes back in about an hour.
I see Dakota texting someone at the Chateau what is going on with Allison. When I ask whom she is texting, she tells me that it is Tina and that Tina will tell everyone what is happening with Allison.
As expected, Dr. Ronda has the nurses arranging a room for Allison. When the transport guy comes to take her, Dakota and I follow close behind along with our two SS agents. We walk through the maze of the hallway until they get to room 1708 where they put Allison in the room. It is a single room, so Allison won’t be sharing with someone else. I suspect that is because she has an infection and the hospital doesn’t want her spreading the infection that she has with some other hospital patient.
Allison isn’t in the room very long before Dr. Ronda comes in and checks on her. Dakota is on one side of the bed and I’m on the other, but when Dr. Ronda comes into the room, Dakota changes sides of Allison to stand next to me allowing Dr. Ronda space to do her examination of Allison.
Dakota texts Tina the room number that Allison is in so people from the Chateau could some visit with her. Dr. Ronda estimates that Allison will be in City Hospital about a week. I am worried about Allison, but with Dr. Ronda in charge of Allison, my fears are minimal.
The two SS agents once again are standing outside the hospital room much like guard dogs, both Dakota and I find that a bit humorous. Allison is sound asleep and I’m caressing her hair. I’m worrying about Allison, but only to a certain amount of worry. My main worry is wondering how Allison got this infection and is there something that we need to address at the Chateau to keep others from acquiring this infection.
I told Dakota to help me set up for the HR convention that we will be having on Monday of next week. I need some Plan B people just in case some end up getting fired or quit on me.
It dawns on me that maybe we should have fewer HR people and have all new employees processed through one department.
Sitting in Allison’s room, the TV still showed the fire from Wisconsin. You could see that the fire was now under control, but not out just yet. I shook my head watching the news clip about the tower.
When 8 pm came around, the announcement that visiting hours were now over, and it was time to make your way out of City Hospital. Visiting hours would begin at 9 am tomorrow morning. Dakota and I got up and went to the charge nurses’ desk to make sure they had both my cell phone and Dakota’s cell phone numbers. I also saw Dr. Ronda coming out of another patient’s room. I went over to her and gave her a passionate kiss which caused her to respond in kind.
Dakota and I along with our two SS agents left City Hospital and walked outside the front main entrance to find Fred waiting for us. We got into the back and Fred closed the door. When he got the limo moving, he asked how Allison was doing. We told her that they believe that she has an infection and will be in the hospital for about a week.
In the back of the limo, I stretched my legs out. Dakota switched seats and snuggled up to me putting her head on my chest.
“Darling, how are you doing?” I asked.
“Well, since I’m here with my Daddy, I’m doing just fine,” She says to me.
I caress her hair as I hear her drift to sleep while laying on my chest.
It doesn’t take too long for Fred to get us back to the Chateau. He drops us at the front door and parked the limo in the garage. I let the SS agents know that I will most likely make another trip to City Hospital to visit Allison tomorrow morning. They thank me for giving them a head’s up about the visit.
Dakota and I head inside, and we smell something delicious. It occurs to us that neither Dakota nor myself have had anything to eat since about lunchtime. We both head into the kitchen where we find a crockpot filled with beef stew. Both Dakota and I filled a couple of plates and carried them over to the dining room table to sit down and eat.
Tina comes over and tells us that Jill went to bed early as she was just tired out. Tina gives me a kiss, very erotic and passionate. Fred walks through the front room to head down the hallway to Mom’s room. I heard the door open and then close. I just smile happy that Mom and Fred have been seeing each other for quite a while no. We haven’t found a gentleman for Tina’s mom just yet, but we will.
CHAPTER 4
When I woke up the next morning, Jill told me that she thought she would stay in bed for a while. I asked if she thought she should go see Dr. Ronda, but she fussed at me. When I finished my morning duties in the bathroom, I texted Dr. Ronda that now Jill wasn’t feeling good. She texted right back that she will come to visit Jill before she heads to City Hospital to see Allison.
I turn on the TV and see that the fire in our tower still is the lead story on the morning news. However, it appears as if the fire is almost out. I call the Fire Department in Wisconsin and ask how far along in putting the fire out they might be. The lady at the fire department tells me that it is about 90% out and they are checking for any hot spots since there is so much paper, plus they are checking the floors both above and below where the fire took place. I thanked her for her time and hung up.
I go out into the dining room and see Sammy and Bobby making everyone breakfast. Sammy asks me what I would like for breakfast. I just tell him once again that my normal omelet would be just fine. I see John eating one of his everything but the kitchen sink omelets, but Diane was just having a slice of toast and a coffee.
I texted Dr. Ronda that Diane was not feeling well either. She texted me that she would look at her as well. I pulled Dakota over to me and whispered in her ear to have Tina keep an eye on Diane throughout the day. She kissed me and told me she would do just that.
After I eat my omelet, we load up into the limo. John, Dakota, and I along with two SS agents get into the limo. As usual, Fred is our driver and weaves his way through the traffic to get to City Hospital as quickly as he can. I think about how well Fred takes care of us.
When we arrive at the hospital, Fred drops the three of us off at the main entrance. The two SS agents that came with us also get out at the front door to the hospital. The five of us weave our way through the maze of hallways to get to Allison’s room number 1708. When we arrive, Allison is eating some grits and some scrambled powdered eggs. She has a glass of OJ as well as a bad cup of coffee. She puts creamer and sugar in the coffee to try and help the taste, but they really don’t help at all.
I hug Allison to relax her. She tells me that she really doesn’t feel all that different than when we brought her to the hospital. I take a look at the chart the nurses and doctors have written their notes into. They all seem to indicate that Allison is suffering from an infection although they don’t mention where the infection is located in the body. I see her vitals that they keep talking and they show that Allison’s blood pressure is a bit high and that her white blood count is extremely high. Dr. Ronda ordered some antibiotics along with another bag of fluids to keep her hydrated.
It makes me think about the ladies that are back at the Chateau. Are they all dehydrated? Is there something that is being passed around? Do we need to do a complete scrubbing from top to bottom to eliminate any germs in our house?
After we visit with Allison for a while, we all head back to the limo for Fred to take us back home. Dakota reminds me that I have the HR meeting tomorrow morning at 9 am at the convention center. I ask her to group every HR person by where they are in the country and to print out potential names as replacements in case some quit or get let go tomorrow.
After visiting with Allison, we get back into the limo and Fred drives us back home to the Chateau. Because I was intending to wake up about 7 am I headed to bed at about 9 pm. Jill still wasn’t feeling all that well. Dr. Ronda stopped by the house about dinner time and ate with all of us. She took vitals of Diane, Jill, Tina, and Dakota. Jill and Diane were still feeling under the weather. Tina and Dakota were feeling just fine.
Dr. Ronda prescribed some antibiotics for the ladies, strong enough to attack the virus, but gentle enough to not hurt the babies. She had them sent to Walgreen’s. Tina went to pick them up after two hours.
On Monday morning, I woke up with two things on my brain. One, how are the ladies doing? Two, how many HR people will we lose today?
I get up and do my morning duties in the bathroom, including taking a nice hot shower. No one joined me in the shower stall, which was a nice relief for me.
I put on a nice dress shirt, black slacks, and a tie. I brought my suit coat along, but I wasn’t sure if I felt like wearing it or not. I met Dakota and Tina at the front door along with one female and one male agent to protect us. Fred took us to the convention center where he dropped us off at the main entrance.
I head inside and chose a seat on the stage. Dakota also took a seat next to Tina with the two SS agents standing off to one side but keeping close proximity to Tina, Dakota, and myself.
As 9 am rolled around, the massive number of HR people entered the main doors of the convention center room. The people at the front desks were directing the HR people to sit together by district, which they did. They seemed excited that they were sitting together.
I purposely began the meeting a bit late so everyone had the opportunity to find their seat and not miss anything that I wanted to say. The first thing that I talked about was how many new employees were not processed properly into our system. I pointed out that it costs us hundreds of dollars extra when we don’t set up a new employee properly. They expect to be paid on payday-like everyone else, but if they are not set up correctly then we have to rush paying them with a paycheck and overnight mail it to them. Instead of them getting direct deposit.
I pointed out the districts that were not being successful and having the most special cut checks for new employees. I also pointed out just how many people were still in our system that had already been terminated. Most of the HR people gasped when I told them how many employees this mismanagement of payroll and new employee processing cost the company along with how many people, we overpaid by not terminating them as they should have been.
I publicly thank Rob from IT and his team who individually verified each and everyone that worked for us was still on the proper payroll, some wanting a paycheck but most of them wanting direct deposit. I pointed out that the prior 12 months we overpaid non-terminated employees almost $600,000 in addition, we had to cut nearly $300,000 worth of overnight paychecks, which also caused a lot of gasps.
I asked for a commitment from each district to do a better job in terminating departed employees and processing the paperwork for new employees to put them on the payroll.
Most every HR person committed to doing a better job at handling new employees. I started with the top 10 troubled districts in our company. I didn’t name any names, but several people who knew that their district was not doing the job properly got up and left their work keys on the table. I watched as they walked out the door and left. There was a lot of whispering about people quitting, which didn’t both me. We had only two districts that the entire district quit and thankfully it was the bottom two districts of the entire company. Once they got up and left, I had Dakota and Tina collect their company keys off the tables.
As we approached lunch, I saw the delivery drivers from Jimmy John’s bringing in boxes of sandwiches and chips along with coolers of soda and water.
Dakota went to the food and got 5 sandwiches and 5 drinks. She handed the two SS agents their sandwiches first and their drinks then sat down with Tina and I to have lunch. Oddly enough, we had a few people who wanted to sit with us to pick our brain on what we were going to do about the HR people who quit and just walked out. I explained that we have people waiting in the wings to be promoted, plus I wanted to reduce the overall number of HR people in our companies. They seemed to agree with me on my plan.
After the lunch was over, I called out several people and promoted them to become HR personnel. I still call these people my Plan B people. They all are excited that they have been recognized as promotable people in our company. When I announced people’s names, I got lots of squealing and clapping. At 4 pm, I ended the HR convention by thanking everyone for attending. When I left the stage I received a standing ovation, which made me smile. I gathered up my two ladies and the two SS agents and headed out to the limo. Where Fred was waiting patiently to take us home.
I asked that we stop and see Allison at City Hospital. Fred made the necessary adjustments and was in front of the hospital in just a few minutes.
We got out of the limo and went inside the hospital to see Allison. We arrived just as the foodservice people were dropping of her dinner tray. She didn’t seem all that enthused about dinner. She told me she is missing Sammy and Bobby. I kissed her and we headed home.
IF YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER OF THE CHAUFFEUR, PLEASE LEAVE ME A COMMENT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED READING……PABLO DIABLO.
