08.19.08
Orphan fighter, pt. 6
A few hours of downing expressos later, I was pretty amped up for the meeting with my prospective boss. The place was not at all like the LCO. The LCO was like an old haunted house or something while Dale’s was like business office. I walked in and the receptionist at the front desk asked me if I was looking into adoption. When I told her that I was here to see Dale, she buzzed him over the intercom and he was out to greet me. He had the air of a car salesman about him, and he greeted me like an old friend.
“Jack… so glad you could make it.”
“The pleasure is mine,” I said. I was being as polite as possible.
“Come with me, I’ll show you the way to my office.”
We walked down a brightly lit hallway and stepped through the door at the end of the hall. I waited for him to take his seat and gesture for me to sit down before taking a seat at the desk across from him.
“Now, let’s talk business.” He leaned forward in his chair and brought his hands together over his desk. “I have a few questions regarding your performance the other night.”
“You want to know how I did so well in betting?”
“Nothing gets by you, you know that?”
“Least of all flattery.”
“Ha! I like you, Jack, you’ve got moxy.”
He was laying it on real heavy like that, so I figured I’d just let him have the enjoyment of buttering me up.
“Well, if you really must know, I just called them like I saw ‘em.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt that. But I wonder where it is you got them eyes.”
“You ever have backyard fights as a kid?”
“Can’t say I have, Jack. Can’t say I have.”
“Right, well I grew up in a house with 5 older brothers. We were always knocking heads.”
“So you’re saying that you’ve got experience with this.”
“Let’s just say that I never lost a match.”
“I gotta say it Jack, you sound too good to be true.”
Another half-an-hour of small-talk later, we were ready to get down to business.
“What I need from you is your eye for talent. We’ve got a lot of kids down at the house, and it can be hard to find the ones who will put up a good fight on the stage.”
“What do you get for putting out a winner?”
“There’s a competition among all the orphanages in the tricounty area. Let’s just say there’s a lot of business on the line.”
“Oh, that’s fine. I was hoping you wouldn’t get all technical on me.”
“You think you could take a look at some of our kids some time this week? The next fight is at the end of the week, and we need to make a replacement in our lineup.”
It all sounded easy enough to me, so I told him I’d give it a shot. I didn’t bother quoting a price or anything, figuring I’d do a job first to see how it was. Didn’t want to make any commitments until I’d tested the waters.
He told me that the building where we were was mainly just the business branch of the company. The actual place where the kids were kept was out in the country. He said he’d arrange for us to take a trip out there and check out the kids, and I told him to call me when it was all good. After that, I left office and ran all the way to the nearest restroom. I recommend not drinking way too much coffee before important meetings.