The ‘work truck’ was a massive International 4300 that used to be owned by a power company. Arthur had bought it wrecked and even though it was over a decade old, it looked brand new. It had taken Arthur six months to rebuild it. Gone was the yellow paint job and it was now black. Painted on each door was a huge muscle-bound man, strangling a donkey in one hand and an elephant in the other. Below the painting in bold letters read, ‘No Politics Construction’.
When Arthur had asked her to paint it, Wendy had laughed so hard she’d wet her pants. They loved their country, but not those that ran it. Wendy didn’t consider herself an artist, even though she sold painting and crafts. All in all, they were over five different companies and hadn’t made a profit, according to their books, in the last decade.
“So, we are taking that and not your pickup?” Wendy asked.
“Hell, yeah,” Arthur sang out and started blabbering, explaining why.
Stepping over to him, Wendy raised her finger and put it over his mouth. “Hun, you’re taking your Adderall today,” she told him with a stern face.
Giving a groan, Arthur stepped back and stormed off toward the house. “I hate taking that shit!” he shouted.
“Then stop talking so damn fast and moving like the people in the Matrix!” Wendy shouted after him. “You make me tired when you do that!”
Wendy chuckled as Arthur held up his middle finger as he opened the back door and her black labs ran out. “Here, Kit. Here, Kat,” she said, clapping her hands. Kit, the male reached her first and sat down. As Wendy started petting him, Kat, the female sat down.
“Were Don and Daisy bothering you?” Wendy asked, petting Kat. Don and Daisy were Arthur’s Rottweilers.
Taking off at a jog, “Come on,” Wendy said over her shoulder and the labs took off after her, beating her to the back door. Walking in, Wendy found Arthur at the sink drinking a glass of water. Seeing a medicine bottle on the counter, she grinned and walked over to wrap her arms around him.
“How about we go to the bedroom and you make me feel like a woman before we leave,” Wendy purred.
The next thing she knew, she was scooped up in Arthur’s arms as he carried her in a run to the bedroom.
Chapter Two
Life is good
April 2
Looking around the boardroom, Zhang gave a grin at seeing the other thirty senior executives from Tong Shipping, the largest seafaring freight shipping company in the world. Every office was represented from Rome to Los Angeles, thirty-four in all. The most senior of the outlying executives was James Taylor, over from the London office.
When the senior vice president called for a break, Zhang stood up and turned to James. “So, will you be joining us tonight?” Zhang asked, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand.
“Are you kidding?” James laughed. “I haven’t missed a gathering after a meeting since I’ve been with the company, and that’s over ten years.”
“I’m glad tomorrow’s meeting starts at noon,” Zhang laughed.
Glancing at Zhang’s tag, “Zhang, that’s why they start the next three days late,” James laughed.
Tilting his head to James, “If you don’t mind, can I stay near you?” Zhang asked in a low voice. “I don’t know how to act in an executive gathering.”
Holding his hand out, “Mate, if you don’t have a blast, I won’t ever attend another gathering,” James bet.
Shaking James’s hand with relief, “Thank you,” Zhang said relieved. “I don’t want to be noticed as the new guy.”
“You’ll have a blast,” James laughed as everyone moved over to a table filled with refreshments. Running a finger around his collar, James wiped his forehead with his hand. “Grab me a cup of coffee if you wouldn’t mind, Zhang. I’m going to find the thermostat and turn on some air.”
“Yes, it is a bit warm,” Zhang chuckled, even though he thought it felt nice in the boardroom.
As James walked away, a visitor he didn’t want had embedded in his nasal passage. The unwanted visitor had a communicability level of over ninety percent, so anyone close to Zhang would receive the slow, deadly visitor. James just got it faster.
Arkansas
Riding on the tractor, Arthur looked behind him at the plow. He looked ahead and slowed as he neared the fence. The garden was on the east side past the fish pond and was ten acres, surrounded by ten-foot deer netting. They had found out last year that the netting worked on elk as well. However, Arthur had still had to put up an electric fence to keep the black bears out of the beehives they had put in the garden.
That was a lesson he had learned seven years ago, when he’d started keeping beehives. One bear had decimated his four starter hives in one night. Then two days later, the bear had gotten into the chicken coop. Unfortunately, that same bear had come back a week later after Arthur had brought four more beehives home, and had died suddenly of lead poisoning.
Not satisfied with a normal electric fence, Arthur had made his own controllers for his electric fences. He’d only forgotten one time when he’d bumped into the electric fence he had put around the chicken coop. When he’d woken up a few minutes later lying on the ground, Arthur had hung engineering ribbons on the fences, so he wouldn’t do that again. After that, he’d never had bear problems again.
That couldn’t be said about raccoons. He had always heard they were smart, but he had gotten a lesson those first few years. After losing half his chickens to the bear, Arthur had lost the rest to coons in the same week. Buying more chickens,
