Wednesday, March 10, 2010

All that nonsense sounded fine in theory, but then I got a real bite of reality. No I didn't bite it, reality bit me in the ass. It came in the form of my first retirement direct deposit. To talk about a drop from forty-five K to thirty-five K is one thing, but to see what it is after tax and insurance get through mauling it is quite another.

My bank deposits had been about just under three thousand a month before the retirement, After the papers got processed it dropped like a rock. My latest deposit was well under two thousand. In the present inflationary economy, It would have been impossible to maintain my previous standard of living. If i had not cut my expenses drastically after the heart attack, I would have been scrambling to do so after that first bank statement.

My mortgage, after deducting the rent Molly had damn well better pay me, came out to less than a hundred a month. That had proved to be a good investment, but only if Molly paid her rent on time. After she finished school, I would be forced to search for a new tenant. That was not a pleasant thought.

Then there was my utility expenses. I was on the leveling plan, and my half of the duplex was very small, so my year round natural gas payment was only a little over $100 a month. For some reason my Electric payment was more. I didn't have an air conditioner so I could quite understand it. It was possible they based the estimate on the previous year, which had nothing to do with me. My car expenses were a major issue. A ten year old car had a high likely hood of expensive repairs popping up from time to time. I just didn't know how to budget for those. Then there was car insurance at almost a hundred a month. Even with my best laid plans, it looked as though I needed over half my income for fixed or likely expenses. I hadn't even figured in food and hobby related expenses.

The only good news was that the retirement deposit was after the payment for my health insurance had been deducted. However, if I were to get sick, I would have all those damn co pays to worry about. That could very quickly eat up my savings. I was beginning to get a bad case of buyer's remorse about the retirement. I could exist on my pension but I could not do anything but exist. Exist was probably all I ever did, but it didn't cost me money to fill a large block of my time. Actually it was the opposite.

I knew damn well that I needed to reevaluate my future. All that hobby stuff sounded like a good idea before I saw that bank statement and the reality of my situation set in. I most likely needed some sort of income, not a lot and not full time employment, but something to at least pay the cost of my toys.

The search for semi gainful employment lingered in my mind. I didn't begin an active search because thing got in the way. One of them was a visit a few days later by an older man. He wasn't elderly by any means, but he was several years older than me.

He was standing on my porch, when I returned from my morning walk. I got a good chance to assess him as I got out of my car. He had to be seventy at least. He stood tall and straight, so he wasn't worn out like most of the seventy year old men I knew. Not only that, he wore a suit at ten am, which meant he was either still working, or he was just one of those really old school guys. The quality of the suit was evident, so I deduced that he had some resources. Yeah, Yeah the shiny new Mercedes was also a hint.

"Detective Abba?" he asked extending his hand to me.

"It's just John these days," I said as I shook his hand.

"Well John, I'm Herbert Seymore."

"Mary's husband?' I asked.

"Thank you for that, I am actually her father."

"How is she doing, I kind of lost track of her I'm ashamed to say."

"She is out of the hospital, and fit to return to work."

"Good for her." I suggested "So what can I do for you?"

"It's actually what can you do for Mary, and what I can do for you," he replied.

"Oh really, how so." I fought to control my temper.

"Yes, Mary is having trouble getting past the experience. She bursts into tears for no reason at all."

"That sounds a lot like PTSD. A good therapist should get her past it."

"I didn't come for that kind of advice," he snapped.

"Ah, I should have guessed that you had gotten that advice already."

"So what is it you think I can do?"

"I actually don't think you can do anything. Mary suggested that we give you a job now that you are retired. I think she would feel safe enough to return to work, if you were there. You might have to go to court with her as well, at least for a while. In other words do whatever it takes to make her feel safe. Anything except get involved with her. She is vulnerable at the moment."

"Well Mr. Seymore, it is true that I am retired. It is also true that I could use a part time job, but what you are talking about is more than I have in mind."

"It would only be for a few weeks I'm sure. After she realizes there is nothing to fear , You could either leave, or we could find some part time things for you to do."

"It's sounds Ideal, but no thank you. She needs real help not a Band-Aid."

"Then I suppose I will just have to give Samuel Adams the OK to go ahead with his legal action."

"Ah so the stick comes out. I suppose you plan to join him?"

"No, it is quite obvious that Mr. Jane shot my daughter. It is also obvious that you gave Mr. Jane his just reward,. Chip on the other hand believes he has grounds for a negligence action. He plans to name you. I could convince him to just name you as a witness and lay the negligence in the sheriff's yard."

"All I can say is he is welcome to my half assed pension, if he can get it."

"He probably can't, but he can drive you into poverty defending yourself. I have a feeling that is his real desire in bringing you into it."

"Probably, the Chipster doesn't care for cops," I bit my tongue so as not to say that the feeling was more than mutual.

"How about a compromise," Seymore suggested.

"I believe in compromise. What do you have in mind."

"I call skip off and you try the job or thirty days. If it doesn't suit you, or if Mary is alright with it after thirty days, we all part friends."

"It strikes me that your compromise was a little easy to come up with. I have a feeling it is what you really wanted all along. However it does leave me some room to save face. I guess I will have to drive to Williams every day."

"Yes."

"That is going to be a problem. I walk every morning. It's an hour of my morning, so add a thirty minute drive to that and I'm not going to be on time."

"So what time could you make it, and by the way add an hour for the drive. My office is downtown and that is not an easy commute these days."

"Ten AM would work well enough," I suggested.

"And do you have to run home for anything at the end of the day?"

"No ending hours are pretty flexible."

"Do you have a compensation figure in mind?" he asked.

"I would think we could negotiate that after I know what I'm going to be doing for the money. If I'm sitting on my dead ass like one of your lawyers, I wouldn't expect much. However if I have to slay imaginary dragons, the price is going up."

"That sounds reasonable to me, one more small thing," he added.

"What?"

'Will you supply your own weapon, or shall I?"

"The price just went up," I said with a smile.

"I assure you, it is just for show." he said seriously.

"No offense intended Mr. Seymore, but if a man goes armed, then he has to be prepared to use it. It's why hermits don't own cars. Is there some reason you feel I need a weapon."

"Mary is my only child, lawyers have enemies, we deal with thugs a lot of the time, she has a psychotic ex husband, she is terrified since the shooting, I realized how fragile life is that day, just pick one."

"So what are you going to tell her my job is?" I was just curious since I didn't plan to do much of anything anyway."

"Well you will just be hanging around, so I thought I'd just make you head of research. We have clerks to do the legal research, but we could use people like you to find witnesses and even serve papers now and than."

I had previously heard the part about the need for someone to serve legal papers. The job offer came on the heels of the realization about the budget pinch. Them both coming at the same time seemed to be an omen. Also, I wanted to get some experience in the legal profession outside the cop arena. It looked to be a good deal for everyone. "So when do I start?"

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