Brad and Gloria Edwards appear to ‘have it made’ by most standards. However, ‘having it made’ does not exempt anyone from life’s situations, and the Edwards family is no exception.
Excerpt
CHAPTER TWO
Back to Reality
Later that evening, with the mail done, the clothes unpacked, and an early supper eaten, the phone rang just as Brad was getting ready to watch 60 Minutes. They had two phone lines, and as Brad answered it on the kitchen extension, he noted that it was his office line ringing.
“Mr. Edwards? This is Zack Smith. I’m the assistant manager at store fifty in North Augusta. I don’t believe we’ve met.”
“Hello Zack, you’re right, we haven’t met. You just came to work for Big South this past week, correct?”
“Yes sir, Mr. Williams hired me last Tuesday.”
“What can I do for you?” Brad asked.
“I hate to tell you this, but Mr. Williams just called and said he was quitting.”
Brad was stunned for a moment, and then found his voice.
“How much notice is he giving?”
“He said he was done as of right now.”
After another moment of stunned silence, Brad spoke once again.
“I’ve been on vacation this past week. Did Darryl give you any indication that he was thinking about this?”
“No sir,” Zack replied. “Today was the first I had heard about it. He asked me to tell you that he sent you an e-mail with some details in it. He didn’t work yesterday either, but I thought he was just sick. I had to work opening to closing.”
“Zack, I have to be in Atlanta for a meeting in the morning, so it’s going to be around noon before I can get there. Are you familiar enough with things to handle them until I get there and go over some things with you?”
“Yes sir, Mr. Williams went over the opening and closing procedures with me.”
“Okay, Zack. I’m sorry you got thrown into the deep end your first week, but we’ll talk more tomorrow. Feel free to call me if you run into any problems. Oh, and I appreciate your taking on the extra responsibility and hours.”
“Thank you Mr. Edwards, see you tomorrow.”
Brad hung up the phone, leaned on the counter, and put his forehead in his hands, 60 Minutes forgotten in light of this new development.
Gloria came in from the den and asked, “Who was it, Brad?”
“That was store fifty in North Augusta. Darryl Williams just quit. No notice at all.”
“You mean he just called and quit, right out of the blue?” Gloria asked.
“He didn’t even call. That was the assistant manager, Darryl called him and he called me. He did say Darryl sent me an e-mail. I’m going downstairs to read it and see if I can make some sense of this.”
As he went downstairs the phone rang again, it was for Sherri this time. Going into his office, he flipped on the lights and his computer. Waiting for it to boot up, he thought to himself, if vacation wasn’t over before, it is now.
A few minutes later, he had downloaded his e-mail, and was reading the one he had primarily come to the office for. He was not surprised at either the tone or the content, considering the source.
Brad,
I guess you have heard by now that I’m quitting. This has been coming on for awhile now, the news that Big South was cutting stores just made my decision easier. I am not going down with a sinking ship. To add to that, I have not had a raise in almost two years, thanks mostly to you and the lousy evaluation you gave me last year.
I already have another job, so don’t bother calling and asking me to reconsider.
Hasta la vista and good riddance.
Darryl Williams
Boy, he does he have the nerve, Brad thought. While Darryl Williams had been a capable (but slightly lazy) store manager, he had been a thorn in Brad’s side since Brad had been promoted to District Manager. Brad had no intention of asking him to reconsider, as for the ‘lousy’ evaluation, it was probably more lenient than Darryl had deserved.
Darryl had probably put the ‘good riddance’ in just for spite. He had told numerous people in store 50 that he should have been the one promoted to district manager three years ago instead of Bradley.
Oh well, Brad told himself. It’s past history now. He deleted numerous other e-mails not worth reading, and then noticed that he had several from other store managers in his zone. They all were concerned about the news of store closings and were looking for more information. Brad wrote one e-mail to all, telling them he would be in contact with each one of them after Monday’s meeting.
He also had several phone messages. By the time he returned calls and shut down his computer, it was after 8:00 P.M. Going back upstairs to the den, he noticed a Disney movie on the Family Channel, but had no interest in television at the moment. He was thinking about the two hour ride to Atlanta in the morning, then a three hour ride back to North Augusta. Add to that the time the meeting would take, and his day would be two-thirds gone.
That’s why they pay me the big bucks, he joked to himself as he sat down in his recliner. He really didn’t feel overpaid; the humor was an effort to keep from being too serious about things. It didn’t work, most of the time.
He noticed that Gloria was working on lesson plans for the next day, while Sherri was sprawled out in the floor (one of her favorite places) reading a chapter out of her advanced composition textbook. As usual, the television was on mostly for ‘noise.’
Pepper came in and plopped down beside Sherri while giving Brad a mean look and switching her tail. (Pepper gave them all mean looks at times; it was nothing personal, just a ‘cat thing.’)
Brad momentarily forgot his thoughts of the next day, and spent the next few minutes being silently thankful for his wife and daughter. (And even for Pepper!) He considered himself a blessed man, no two ways about it.
The next thing he knew, Gloria woke him up with a gentle nudge.
“Brad, it’s 10 o’clock, let’s go to bed.”
“I guess it’s time. I’ve got to get up about 4:30 in the morning”
“That’s right,” Gloria replied. “You have to leave by 6:00 to make your meeting on time.”
“I might try to leave a little sooner in the morning, if I can get motivated. Where’s Sherri?”
“Right here,” she said, coming into the den.
Any time they were all home at a normal bedtime, they always prayed together before retiring. Given the fact of their differing schedules and activities, one of them was sometimes absent, but the others carried on just the same.
It was as natural as breathing to them to end the day in that manner, and they all looked forward to it. They did not follow any formula or ritual, sometimes one of them prayed aloud, at other times silence prevailed. Sometimes one of them would read some scripture or an interesting devotional. Whatever form it took, it helped them all remember where their first priority was, as well as make the day complete.
Read more about 130 Savannah Lane - North Georgia Days and Ernest Howard Wigington and Kristin Wigington Cardwell HERE.
Copyright 2008 Ernest Howard Wigington and Kristin Wigington Cardwell. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
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