A Short Story by John Daly

Copyright © 2009 by John Daly
This revised version was originally published in The Fiction Writer and Other Short Stories, which is copyright © 2007 by John Daly. No part of this story may be used without permission of the Author.

David did complete the assigned work and he loved doing each job. It was more play than work. He wondered why he had not done this all his life. He had no idea how much Florence was charging for the service. He didn’t care. It was much better then going on hopeless interviews. He had a lot to tell Janet. She had just seen him arrive in a truck, change clothes, receive a phone call, and leave immediately in the truck again.

“I’ll tell you all about it when I get home tonight,” he said over his shoulder. Don’t wait dinner for me. Go ahead and eat.”

After he had finished the last job, he tried to call Florence, but her line was busy.

“She is probably checking with the customers,” he thought. “I think I did all right though. Everyone seemed pleased with my work. I have to take the truck back there anyway. I don’t want to be responsible for her son’s tools. First I was involved in safeguarding my father’s tools and now Billy Joe’s.”

The ring of his cell phone interrupted his musings.

“Hello, this is David.”

“David, this is Florence. Congratulations! The customers liked your work and your personality. You got stunning reviews! They were so good I only called two of the three people. Where are you now?”

“That’s great news Florence! I’m in the truck on my way to your house. I’ll be there in about 15 minutes.”

“Good. I think now is the time to talk about my idea.”

When David arrived, Florence suggested they talk in the kitchen over a cup of coffee.

“Here is my idea David. You and I will form a partnership. We will divide the profits equally between us. You furnish the labor and I will furnish the customers, the office work, and any credit needed. You pay me 50% of the value of the truck out of your share of the profits. You can make the payments over a long period of time. The nuts and bolts of the partnership we can decide upon as we go. I have an attorney who can draw up the partnership papers for us. We can pay his fee out of the profits. I don’t see any problems for us that we can’t resolve. I told you I have a good feeling about you.

However, I do have one thing that I must insist on. When my son, Billy Joe comes back, and he will come back, I want to give him my share of the partnership without any objections from you. I will continue to work in the office, without pay if necessary, in order to make the partnership a success. He is handy with tools and I believe that you two will like each other. He is a very hard worker and the two of you will probably eventually have to expand the business by hiring other employees. I believe, starting tomorrow, that you will begin to make more money than you have ever made. So what do you say?”

“I say yes! Let’s do it. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.”

“Thank you David for being the person I thought you would be. Go home and tell your wife what you have decided. I will write you a check right now for $1000 against future earnings to show you that I believe you are about to be financially secure. I’ll call you tomorrow morning with the day’s assignments.

Please take David’s tools out of the truck. You have your own tools, I’m sure. He will need them when he returns.”

(To be continued…)