Page 34 of A Light in the Dark
“If you have problems at your work, come visit me. My company doesn’t participate in that nonsense. We hire good people. And since you’ve been at the same place since moving in, I’m assuming you fall solidly into the good people category. Good people are priceless, and they make or break companies.”
As having additional work options was always a good thing, I replied, “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“What do you do, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I handle all the paperwork that comes into a bookkeeping firm. I make sure the right accountants or legal people get the correct files, follow up with corporations if they forgot to send us things, and so on. We handle tax preparation, too.”
Joel shot a look at me. “That’s pretty important stuff. You made a comment about your education level? What’s that about?”
“I’m a high school graduate, but that’s it. Instead of pursuing education, I took my grant and bought my house instead.”
“If you got the education grant, you scored well in school, especially if the grant was enough to pay for an entire house in Stonecreek.”
“I got the house for a pittance. But I thought it was a better fiscal choice to have a home, paid for in full, than it was to get more education. I could afford my house with a job being a janitor, but I moved up in the company in a hurry. I stayed a janitor all of two weeks, and then they doubled my pay and opened the position I’m now in.”
“That’s great. It sounds like they saw you were a good employee and made better use of you. And with your property paid off in full, you wouldn’t need to earn nearly as much as those struggling with mortgage payments.”
I nodded. “I invested everything left over from the purchase into shoring my home, and I put the rest into savings. If it wasn’t for the Hunters helping out with parts of the bill, I would be clearing out my savings on the new shoring work, but I understand the importance of safety during the floods.”
“I suspect your house is going to be even better shored than mine by the time you’re done.” Joel laughed. “Maybe I should come over and visit you right before the floods start next time. Then I’d have good company and not just pace around worrying about how much damage I’ll have to repair.”
“You’d have to sit in the bay window with me, reading books and keeping an eye on the flood waters for anyone in need of rescue. It’s strenuous work.” I snickered at the thought of a self-proclaimed reader being forced to relax and read. “It might be too much for you to handle.”
“I am sure I can handle such challenging and difficult work. I am an experienced reader.”
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to prove that to me, Joel. This is very serious business.”
“How am I supposed to prove my reading experience?”
I grinned at the thought of putting Joel to the test. “You’re going to have to show me your library and reading nook, of course.”
“Wait. I’m supposed to have a reading nook? I’ve been reading in bed.”
“While beds are an excellent place to read, a truly experienced reader has a nookanda library.”
“My library is on my digireader. Does that count?”
“I suppose. But you should at least have a small collection of paper books in a variety of subjects. I have an entire room in my home dedicated to paper books.” I lifted my chin and sniffed. “Paper books do not require electricity, and I keep a stock of candles and a lantern in case the electricity goes out.”
“I have two backups. One is a fancy battery that can last several days, and the other is a gas generator.”
“I really should get a generator one of these days, but tell me more about this battery.”
“I can do better than tell you about it. I’ll show you. They sell the portable one at the camera store, and they’ll order the household ones on request.”
“This camera store is about to launch a sneak attack on my wallet, isn’t it?”
“Tsk, tsk. No, it’s about to launch a sneak attack on my wallet. I already promised to pay for our indulgences today. Kidnapping victims just have to come along quietly and enjoy the ride.”
I clapped my hands to my cheeks. “Oh, no. I’ve been kidnapped. Whatever will I do?”
“You are at high risk of enjoying yourself and emerging with a story to tell,” Joel informed me in a solemn tone. “You might even end up with vegetables for your garden and some flowers to enjoy.”
“The horror!”
“You might even have to cope with eating steak at some point today.”
“Was my love of all things beef that obvious yesterday?”
