My Novel: Chapters 4, 5 and 6

Chapter 4:

 She decided that with her lil' chat with Lorriane that she would offer to watch her grand-daughter for a week-end and give her a break. Ok..now she had to get her thoughts back to "speaker mode". She walked around the table making sure that everyone had received a folder that she had placed in front of everyone. These folders were the layout for the meeting that would last the rest of the afternoon. Sitting down she said, "ok everyone, thanks for coming and now please open your folders. The first page you'll notice that I have noted each person and also what that person is responsible for, so that each of us can get to know each other a bit better. Now I realize that we've only started the new and improved advice columns and I'm excited to hear from everyone and what's the outlook on the progress." "Does this mean we have to stand up and say our name and tell what we do here at THE DAILY?" asked Kathy. "Well that sounds like a wonderful idea Kathy, why don't you be first to do just that and we'll just go around the table." Kathy sort of rolled her eyes for opening her mouth at first because she thought it was actually sort of 'schoolish' to do such; she was actually just being a lil' 'smartie' when she brought it up. "Ok" said Kathy. "Well you may or may not know me; some do and some don't; but I am Kathy and my duties here at THE DAILY include but not limited to the advice column for 'Crafty Solutions'; you see I have been 'crafty' almost all my life and enjoy being 'crafty' so therefore I do indeed LOVE my job here. Ok now who's next?" Kathy said. "Well let's hear from Pearl, she's the person to your right isn't she?" asked Shelly. (In a very southern drawl) "Hi, ya'll name is Pearl and I've been with this newspaper for almost 8 years now. I've done just about every job you can imagine here but I've enjoyed my 'new' job the best I think. I write the advice column on 'Gardening'." Now mind you that Pearl has been gardening for almost 50 years. Shelly figured Pearl to be about 77 or 78 and was always taking care of the plants at the office. They had had so many requests for people wanting advice on plants and gardening that Shelly decided that Pearl would be the 'perfect' candidate for the job; and she had been right. Pearl seemed to thrive as her plants did when 50 letters came in addressed to 'Adice on Plants/Gardening'. Now as Pearl began speaking you automatically notice that she has a certain 'tone' about her voice; not the southern twang but something else...perhaps her age gave that to her, but none the less it was a very stern tone to say the least. "Now if ya'll have any questions about gardening then just come to me; if you don't then I'd just assume you leave me alone." Kathy looked over at her then at Shelly...'eyeroll'. Shelly said, "Well I thank you very much Pearl for also looking after the plants in the office, they look beautiful." Pearl looked and just nodded her head, "that's my job" she replied. "Ok now let's see; ok Margaret you're next" Shelly said. Well now Margaret had a presence about her that was 'refined' but yet very 'friendly'. Margaret stood as she spoke, she felt that if one was going to speak that they should be heard and by standing it gave you a bit more than just 'sitting' and speaking. "Well now I'm Margaret and I've been married for 30 years now with 2 grown boys and they both live at home with me and my husband. I also write and report on the advice column here for 'Schools'. Now mind you that this column has advice from pre-school age all the way through college so it's not an easy task. In earlier years I owned and operated a pre-school/day care. I had 6 workers under me and 60 students enrolled in my school. I am actually 'honored' to have had the experience of having 2 boys now 32 and 35. They're really good kids and someday they'll find that 'someone special' to marry and have children." "Ok so who's next?" blurted out Kathy. Margaret shot her a look as if to say she was 'not' finished but decided to sit down anyway. "We have plenty of time to talk about our families a bit later if you'd like to." Shelly said. Shelly leaned back in her chair and put her hands together in front of her and stretched them over her head. She felt stiff after sitting here. "Ok everyone, stand up and jiggle" Shelly said. "Stand up and what?" said Kathy. "JIGGLE" Margaret said, "you heard her." So here they were all standing to their feet pushing in their chairs and now stood behind their chair. "Hit it" Shelly said to her assistant. The music blared a disco like tune and everyone jiggled. "Flop your arms around and just jiggle all over, it helps your blood flow to your brain" Shelly said. "Ok enough jigging for me" Pearl said "I'm old and I don't need to jiggle as much as ya'll" "Ok nonsense Pearl" Shelly said, "It really does get your blood flowing" It was quite funny as Shelly looked around, Margaret had her arms over her head jiggling..shaking her hips from side to side. Lorraine was more of a 'slow' jiggler, she moved very slowly from side to side with her arms moving in front of her as if she was in a luau somewhere. Now Kathy; she wasn't just a jiggler, she got really 'into' it. She was dancing just like Ellen from the Ellen show. She was always the life of the party and Shelly was glad that she was there because Kathy was going around the room dancing with each person there. "Wahooo...let's boogie baby" Kathy said. "Oh please can we stop this now?" said Pearl. "Ok, ok everyone now let's get settled back down so we can hear from the others; I just wanted to get everyone up and out of their seats a bit" Shelly replied. "Oh wait Shelly, I'm just gettin' started" Kathy said as she laughed. "Ok Kathy one more time around the room and then please let's get back to the meeting" Shelly said. "Whew..that sure got my blood flowing..now I'm hungry." Kathy said as she sat down. "We're having a catered late luncheon soon, you'll enjoy it because I ordered your favorite shrimp dish" Shelly said. "Oh boy" Kathy said. "So who's next?" Kathy said. "Well Margaret was last so who's next to Margaret?" Shelly asked. "Hi, my name is ... (to be continued)

Chapter 5:

 "Hi, my name is Lorraine, I'm on the advice column for "Marriage. I've got the experience in 'keeping' a marriage alive and that includes with children and grandchildren as well. Been married for 30 years and 2 wonderful children and one grand daughter that's 7 we're raising: which is a very long story." and with that Lorraine sat down putting her hands up to the sides of her hair smoothing it down; Lorraine was always neat as a pin. "Oh one more thing" Lorraine said, "I would be happy to help anyone else if they need it because my column isn't getting much attention; which isn't a bad thing actually; that means that more people are working things out with their marriages." "Well that sounds great Lorraine, I'm sure that we could all use some help from time to time." Shelly said. As she looked at Lori she noticed that she 'did' seem worn completely out; she had dark circles under her eyes and she just didn't seem 'herself' at all. She wanted to go ahead and break for their luncheon and perhaps speak with Lori and see if she was ok. She stood up, "I'll be right back you guys, I'm going to check to see if our lunch is ready because I'm famished." She left the meeting room and stepped over to her assistant's desk to see if the luncheon was ready and as she walked up to the desk she noticed that Bonnie (her assistant) was on the phone but when she saw her she quickly hung up ... "who was that?" asked Shelly. "you got some hottie tootie you're not telling about are you missy?" Bonnie just laughed and said, "Heavens I wish; but no that was about the luncheon; its ready" "Oh great; because I am starving. Why don't you call down and have the service answer the calls and you come and eat with us" Shelly said. "Oh I'd love to because I could really use a break, these phones haven't stopped since 8am this morning" Bonnie replied. "Then that's settled; c'mon and I hope you're hungry because I ordered then entire right side of the menu with the exception of the fish; (only the shrimp because they all enjoyed the shrimp dishes)..come, come, let's get the others and go eat" Shelly was turning and talking at the same time and saw that Bonnie had already made the call for the service to answer the calls and was getting up from her desk. As Shelly and Bonnie walked back to the meeting room Bonnie touched Shelly on the shoulder and asked, "Can I talk to you in private when you get a chance?" "Why sure Bonnie...if you want we can talk now? I hope nothing's wrong is it?" "Oh noooo..nothing like that; just something that I wanted to run by you, but after you've finished up with your meeting or even in the morning would be fine" Shelly stopped walking and looked at Bonnie, "Bonnie if this is something serious the meeting and the luncheon can wait." "Oh no really nothing's wrong; but I do want to talk with you and tomorrow would probably be better because I know you don't have any meetings until like 10am ok?" Bonnie said and smiled. "Well alright then Bonnie just pencil yourself in for us to talk from 9am to 10am ok?" "Ok" said Bonnie. They were at the meeting doors and Shelly just peeked in and said, "if anyone is hungry our lunch is here" "Finally" said Margaret, "I am starving" you could hear like an echo of "me too" all around the room. As they walked down the hall to the lunch area you could smell the food. The home-made yeast rolls, the potato skins, shrimp, "Mmm it all smells good" Shelly said as the doors to the lunch area opened. Now this area was just as immaculate as the meeting area. Her father had spared 'no' exspense to be comfortable in every part of his business. This room had a real wooden floor; the color she recalled was called 'blonde'; it was a very light wood and her father had hand picked out everything in the building. The tables...(to be continued)

Chapter 6:

The tables had the finest layered style linens; the first layer which was on the bottom was a deep choclate color, the edges were trimmed with a strip of chocolate colored satin. The next layer was what her father had described as 'sand'; to Shelly she had always looked at it as tan, but her father always referred to it as 'sand'. He always said that "comfort colors; Shelly, comfort colors will always make people 'feel' more at ease, more comfortable." He had always felt that when it came to eating that their should be no talk of work, just the enjoyment of 'food' on one's palate. "Down time" he had always said. "You must have 'some' time within the office that you can relax and enjoy a 'good meal'" Her father never had gotten the chance to see his finished work; but had left precise instructions and plans and blueprints as to how it was to be. The tables were always topped with a fresh cut arrangement of flowers; always. Today the flowers were sunflowers with what Shelly thought looked like 'twigs' but it was impressive. The chairs were a 'match' for the tablescape, they had chocolate and tan slip covers over each one. Her thoughts once again slipped to her father; the precision he had used when he ordered these, he wanted his slip covers to match each and every table scape, everything down to the napkins much match accordingly. As she continued to look around; it actually made sense because the room did have a 'comfort' feel to it; inviting. There was two large tables enough for a seating of twelve and three other tables with seating for four each. The plate chargers were square and were the exact same chocolate color as the fine linens on the table, the china that sat atop the chargers were also square and a simple tan color. The napkins were of the same chocolate but had rings made of little sunflowers to give the tablescape a 'pop' as her father had referred to so many times before. "There has to be a touch of 'color' to a table; a 'pop'" he had said. And pop their was because the lovely arrangement of fresh cut sunflowers added a 'pop', but the napking rings added just right amount of 'pop' that made one notice. Oh and the silver and the crystal were just as immaculate as everything else. In fact the letter "D" had been engraved on every piece of silverware and stem ware to be found in the building. Her father's 'trademark'. The room was not at all stuffy as one might have thought of a luncheon area to be in a such a large office building, her father had made sure of it before knocking out all of the walls and replacing them with glass. The glass was a tinted amber color. This was a huge project her father had taken upon himself with many hurdles he had to overcome from contractors and getting the correct building permits. You see...this area of the building was the highest point you could go; because it was the tip top...the roof actually. But her father had made it into a lovely area for luncheons with a panaromic view of the city and it's surroundings. "Bringing the outside in" her father had said. He had designed the entire room literally from floor to ceiling. Very modern. Everything in the kitchen area was all stainless steel appliances with granite counter tops. Oh what an ordeal this had been. The contractor had brought in the 'wrong' colored granite and her father had a huge fit. *to be continued*