The 'Cousins'

Part Twenty: Greg Meets Jennifer

Yocum nodded his agreement.

‘Can I do a deal on this without it coming off your commission?’

‘I guess so, but I’ll have to talk to the Bank.’

‘If you do that, service it like you said and put new rubber on I’ll give you $5000 for it today. You do take Amex don’t you?’

Yocum grimaced. ‘They charge too much commission. We only take it if we have to and I’d have to talk to the Bank about it as well.’

‘You do that Mr. Yocum and give me a call at Bill Elbury’s office. If the Bank goes for it they’ll pay the credit card charges, plus I’ll not need a rental car from you. If they don’t, then I will- unless you can find me another truck like that F-350 over there.’

                                                                              *   *   *

Greg declined Al Yocum’s offer of a ride to Bill Elbury’s office and decided to walk through the town to find his way around and gather some inspirations for future trades.  The clouds had parted to allow shafts of sunlight to pass through and brighten the dullness of the atmosphere. People were coming out into the streets, their presence creating a vibrant atmosphere. He looked in shop windows as he passed noting the goods for sale and their prices. He found two interesting shops selling used goods and stood looking in the window of ‘Daniel’s Cave’ for so long that Daniel came out and invited him inside. 

‘Another time thank you,’ he replied affably. Greg was encouraged by what he had seen and strode briskly to Bill Elbury’s office stopping only to buy a local newspaper.

The office door was open. Greg wondered if it ever closed?  Inside, the room seemed more crowded than before with ever larger piles of papers strewn about the furniture and floor space. Elbury was deep in thought, pacing the two or three steps backwards and forwards behind his desk, dictating to an auburn haired woman in her thirties with shapely legs who sat with them crossed, on a chair in a corner of the room surrounded by piles of papers that she had obviously moved from the chair.  Greg stood back out of sight until he heard Elbury say ‘Yours etcetera’ and followed his single knock on the door into the room. 

‘All you have to do now is find the computer and printer under all this junk and you can get that letter out Miss.’ Greg joked to the woman through a huge grin, she returned it with a gape of surprise.

‘Greg, come on in,’ Elbury followed his expansive greeting by adding, ‘ meet Jennifer.’

‘Please to meet to you Jennifer, I’m Greg Mitchell,’ Greg held out his hand. Jennifer smiled to show the tiniest and most even teeth Greg had seen in a person, they were like two rows of tiny white pearls. He stared at them, fascinated, as he shook her hand. Her voice focused his mind back to the moment.

‘Hello Mr. Mitchell. Pleased to meet you. I’ve heard a bit about you.’

Bill butted in from behind the desk before Greg could reply. ‘And all of it bad. Jennifer helps with the office work.’ Elbury followed it up with a loud guffaw and stood smiling amiably with his hands on his hips. He was in short sleeves with the cuffs rolled above his wrists and no tie.  Greg ignored him, glancing around the office with disdain and spoke to Jennifer.

‘How ever can you work in a place like this?’

She put her hand to her mouth and giggled. ‘ It’s the system and you get used to it. I have my own office down the hall where I do my stuff.’

Bill laughed again and waved his arms around in front of him to take in the room.

‘It’s all in here somewhere.’ Then spoke to Jennifer. ‘ We’ll send out for a working lunch. Do you want to join us.’

‘No thanks Bill, I’ve some shopping to do. I’ll get your letters ready for signature this afternoon.’ She turned to Greg with a pleasant smile. ‘Can I get you anything from town while I’m out Mr. Mitchell? ‘ She asked in bashful tones with a slight flutter of her eyelids. Bill laughed from behind the desk to add to her embarrassment. Greg ignored him again and fished out his list.

‘Actually I’ve quite a list of things I need to buy. It’s quite a lot and maybe too much to ask.’ Jennifer took the list and studied it solemnly while Greg thought ‘she doesn’t wear glasses,’ then wondered why he thought that. She folded his list and held on to it.

‘I can get this for you. It will not be a problem.’ Greg fished out two, one hundred dollar bills from his wallet.

‘Thank you very much Jennifer, I’ll be much obliged. Do you think two ‘Franklins’ will cover it?’

She covered her mouth again to stifle her laughter as she took the notes and spoke from behind her hand. Greg saw her shoulders shaking with mirth.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

She took away her hand and laughed openly. ‘Wherever did you learn that expression Mr. Mitchell? I’ve only heard that in gangster movies.’

Greg felt his face heat up to show his embarrassment. ‘I think I must’ve heard John Travolta say it in Pulp Fiction.’

‘Never mind,’ she said with a smile, ‘I understand what you meant and yes, it should cover your purchases. I’ll be off and see you both later.’ She fluttered her eyes again at Greg as she left and Bill acknowledged her departure with a limp wave of his wrist.

‘She likes you!’ Bill said as he pulled up the waistband of his trousers after she had gone.

Greg waved a hand casually in front of his face and joked.  ‘It happens all the time. It must be the English accent.’

Bill dumped a pile of bulging paper folders from his desk onto the floor and picked up another. He removed a paper file from half way down, dropped it on his desk and dumped the remaining pile back on the floor. He pointed at the chair where Jennifer had sat and ordered ‘Sit!’ 

Bill Elbury was back on the job. Greg looked at the folder; he had learned to read upside down from his years of facing clients and prospects across their desks. He saw the folder was labeled ‘G.MITCHELL’ in red capital letters and was already an inch thick.’

‘Our boy has been doing some work,’ he thought as he followed instructions and sat in the chair still warm from Jennifer’s presence. He made himself comfortable and crossed his legs to wait for Elbury to open the proceedings.