"I think that was supposed to be my
line," Alex replied with an equally warm smile.
"My name is Alex May and I'm here about the
ad you posted in the hardware store."
"Well that was quick," she said as her
face seemed to beam even brighter. Please
come in. I'll have to ask you to excuse the
mess, I really wasn't expecting anyone today.
No, that’s really not true, the house would
probably be just as messy if I knew you were
coming. I'm Marilyn Crawford, by the way, but
I'm sure you've already figured that out for
yourself."
As Alex followed Marilyn into a large
cluttered living room, she had to admit their
introduction had gone pretty well. No comments
about how surprising it was to have a young
woman applying for the position. More often than
not, Alex spent much of an introduction just
convincing people that she was serious.
Marilyn cleared some of the books piled
on the sofa so that she and Alex could sit down.
"I tend to take books off the shelf and
forget to put them back," Marilyn apologized as
she sat next to the younger woman. "Anyway,
down to business. I'm sure you want to know
what the jobs all about."
Alex nodded in response. She quickly
decided she liked this woman. She listened
intently as Marilyn explained what she was
looking for.
"I moved here about year ago to get
away from the insane asylum were I used to
work." She began. "Most people seem to grow
up in small towns and can't wait to move to the
big city. I was the reverse. Grew up in probably
the busiest city in the world and against all the
odds wound up in the top of my field. Made a
lot of money, but it was 24/7 existence. Not
much time for a personal life or anything else."
Marilyn paused for a breath as a far
away look filled her face for a moment. She
seemed to be thinking of someplace, or
someone else.
"Then one day my world seemed to
come crashing down. I had a friend, an
associate actually. No, make that a friend, she
deserves to be remembered that way. Anyway,
one day the pressure got to be too much and
she stepped in front of a cross-town bus. I've
never been able to decide if she was just too
tired or preoccupied to know what she was doing,
or if she just lost it and didn't care anymore.
Either way, if I didn't take that as a wakeup call, I
don't know what else would be."
Marilyn paused a second time, noting
that she was going on and on and had totally
forgotten her manners.
"Would you like something to drink?"
she asked.
"No I'm fine." Alex responded.
"Well to get to the point," she went on.
"I needed to make a change in my life, a big
change or else one of these days I might be the
one under a bus."
"How did you wind up here, if I might
ask?"
"Well most of the people around here
think I'm the crazy city lady who was stupid
enough to buy the old Gallagher place," Marilyn
grinned. "Truth is, I'm a Gallagher on my
mother's side and the house belongs to a
cousin. He's been trying to sell it for years and
was happy to practically give it to me. I had the
major work the place needed done by some big
contractors, enough to make the place livable
at least. That and a few modifications to let me
continue the work I used to do, at least on a
smaller scale."
"I noticed the satellite dishes and the
extra power line outside. What kind of work do
you do Ms. Crawford, if I might ask?"
Of course you might, it's nothing
clandestine or anything like that." she laughed.
"I'm what's called a freelance market analyst. I
do demographic and psychographic studies for
companies, as well as acquisitions analysis.
The latter part usually consists of identifying
where good markets are and if any small
suppliers exist that are ripe for purchase."
"I have no idea what any of that
means," Alex said. "So I guess I'll just take
your word that you're good at what you do."
"Well I was good enough for a great
many of my clients to still want to have me work
for them, even if I'm no longer close enough to
actually meet with any of them. That’s the
wonder of this age of telecommunications. I can
do my job just as easily a thousand miles away
as I could when my office was just a few blocks
away. Of course I've scaled down my workload
somewhat. I make less, but now I find I have
time for other interests. All in all, I think it's a
fair trade off."
"Not that I haven't found all of this very
interesting, Ms. Crawford," Alex said as politely
as she could. "But I'm still not exactly sure what
you might want to hire me for."
"You're right, I have been rambling on,
haven't I?" she laughed. "l really don't have a
lot of visitors out here and I guess I just got
carried away a little. I like my solitude, but
sometimes I miss having a real person to talk
to. At least one not on a computer screen. Not
many of the locals are interested in what I do,
but judging from your accent you're not exactly a
local yourself are you?"
"No, I'm not a local." Alex replied.
"Well, what I'm looking for is someone
who can fix some of the little things around
here, as well as help restore some of the beauty
of this old house. I could have some big outfit
come in, but I really don't want to turn this place
into a work zone. I'd much rather have the work
done a little more slowly and still maintain my
privacy. Do you think you could handle that?"
"I'm sure I could," Alex said as she
reached into the small red backpack she had
been carrying when she came in. "I have a few
letters of recommendation and a list of ..."
"I've always considered myself a pretty
good judge of people," Marilyn interrupted. "You
can hold onto those. What say we try it for a
week and see how it goes?"
"Sounds fine to me," Alex said. "But I
should tell you that I really don't usually stay in
one place too long. I'm the type of person who
likes to stay on the move."
"Well, like I said, lets give it a week and
see how it goes. Then we'll take it a week at a
time if everything works out. That sound fair to
you?"
"I think we have a deal." Alex smiled
and reached out her hand.
"One thing though," the older woman
said. "My mother was Ms. Crawford, I'd rather
you call me Marilyn."
"Okay, Marilyn." Alex replied.
"Have you found a place to stay in town
yet?" Marilyn asked.
"Well as long as the weather stays nice,
I usually just camp out in my van." the younger
woman said.
"Well we can forget about that," Marilyn
said. "Not while I have four empty bedrooms.
We'll just considered it one of the perks of the
job."
"You won't get any argument from
me." Alex said, thinking how nice it would be to
sleep in a real bed for a change.
"Well it looks like all we have to decide
is where you should start." Marilyn said.
"Might I suggest the doorbell?" Alex
said.
Marilyn laughed. "I knew I was making
the right decision in hiring you."
CONTINUED |