Thunder and Lightening
Chapter 39
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

Bill drove up to the store on his moped and parked it around the 
backside of the store where it would be out of sight. He walked 
into the store through the front door and found Mike sitting at the 
counter. Giving him a wave, he said, "Hello, Mike. How's it 
going?"

"Fine, Bill. Your dad is in the office," answered Mike gesturing 
towards that back of the store. With a grin, he said, "We're 
expecting Abe to show up in about twenty minutes."

"Where's everyone else?"

"Everyone else is back with your dad," answered Mike. The 
telephone rang and Mike turned his attention back to business. 

Bill walked to the back of the store to where his father's office was 
located. On the way, he passed by Martin who was pulling an 
order. He stopped and asked, "So how is Abe doing?"

"He is pissed about having to work on his birthday," answered 
Martin with a laugh. 

"I'm sure he is," said Bill understanding how important birthdays 
were to people his age. The young man watched as Martin returned 
to work. 

Entering the office, Bill could see that it held more people than had 
ever been intended. Of course, his father and Henry took up the 
space that six people would normally occupy. His father was 
seated behind his desk while Henry occupied a corner of the room. 
Karen was seated at the other desk. Carlos was seated in one of the 
chairs leaning back and chatting with Sue, the new woman who 
had just started at the store. Sammy had stopped by the store, 
taking an afternoon out of college, and was talking to the other two 
college students. 

Two of the kids from the neighborhood, Denzel and Leo, were 
leaning against the wall, watching the others talk about school and 
work. Bill watched them for a moment and realized that the 
expressions on their faces conveyed unease at the environment. 
These young people had never been inside a real work 
environment and didn't understand much of what they were seeing 
or hearing. 

When the discussion had turned to inventory control, Denzel 
turned to Bill and asked, "What the fuck are they talking about?"

Laughing at the question, and the way that it had been put forth, 
Bill gestured to the door and said, "Let's talk over by the couch."

The three kids left the office in time to see Shauna arrive. She shot 
a worried look at Bill and then went over to Leo. The young black 
man put an arm around her and gave her a kiss. Denzel asked his 
question again, "What the fuck were they talking about?"

"They were talking business," answered Bill. He ignored the 
interaction between Leo and Shauna, recognizing that she had 
made her choice. He explained, "From what I understand, having a 
bunch of stuff in the store waiting to be sold costs money, but you 
can't sell anything if you don't have stuff in the store. So I guess 
the big deal is to keep the right amount of stuff in the store so that 
you can sell it, but not so much that it costs you money."

"Fuck, that sounds complicated," confessed Leo with a frown.

Bill shrugged his shoulders and said, "I guess that is why Martin is 
going to college. He needs to understand that kind of stuff before 
he can become a manager."

"Bullshit, they ain't gonna make no nigger a boss," exclaimed 
Denzel. His use of the word nigger earned him a dirty look from 
Shauna. 

Martin appeared behind the boys and, in a stern voice, said, "Hey, 
kids. Would you mind keeping the language a little less colorful? 
This is a place of business."

Denzel stared at Martin as if he had a third arm or something. He 
retorted, "Talking like an Uncle Tom."

The comment made Martin angry. Stepping up to Denzel, he 
grabbed the kid by the back of the shirt and dragged him out the 
backdoor. Leo shouted, "Martin's gonna kill him."

Half convinced that they were going to see a fight, the other three 
kids followed them out the door. Once outside, Martin said, 
"You've got no fucking idea what you're talking about. This is a 
job and you do what the job requires or you don't work. It pays 
money. It pays good money. They don't give a shit if I'm black, 
white, or orange. They pay me to work."

Denzel gave Martin a look as if the man was a fool. He countered, 
"Fuck, what you want to work for? All you got to do is get enough 
money to have a little fun."

"You're a fool. You want easy money, great. The last guy in our 
neighborhood that wanted easy money is dead. He died when he 
was only two years older than you," said Martin wondering why 
the kid couldn't see the stupidity of his worldview.

"Yeah, but he got a lot of pussy."

Martin barked a laugh and replied, "You don't get pussy in the 
grave, asshole. I've gotten more pussy since he died than he got in 
his entire life."

"But you're acting so white!"

"You like living in our neighborhood?" asked Martin with scorn. 

"No, but it's the man keepin' us down that's the problem."

"You're even dumber than you look. I'm getting good money to do 
my job for forty hours a week. Guess what? I work for a white guy 
and he isn't keeping me down. He's teaching me the business so 
that I can run it some day," replied Martin. He glanced over at the 
other three kids and noticed they were nodding their heads in 
agreement with him. 

"Forty hours a week? Shit, that's slavery."

"Do you think the white guys don't want to sit around all day doing 
nothing? You bet they do, but they don't do it. They come to work 
for forty hours a week and make enough money so they don't end 
up living in shit holes like our neighborhood," said Martin. 
Anticipating the kid's next statement, he added, "Believe me, they 
work just as hard as I do here. Shit, Bill's dad works harder than 
me and he's running the store."

"Yeah, but you're working for him!"

"Pull your head out of your ass and look around for a change. The 
guy started as a stock boy when he was your age. Hell, he's been 
working in that store longer than I've been alive. Of course, I 
fucking work for him," retorted Martin. Dismayed at the density of 
the young man's brain, he turned and went into the store.

The earlier shout by Leo had attracted Jerry's attention. Going out 
to investigate what was happening, Jerry had seen the three 
teenagers go outside. Instead of charging outside, he had stood at 
the door listening to the conversation. He'd heard what Martin said 
starting about the time when Martin was explaining how the man 
wasn't keeping him down. Rather than interrupt, Jerry had stayed 
inside. Jerry stayed by the door for another minute.

On entering the store, Martin had been surprised to find Jerry 
standing by the door listening to what had been said. At first, he 
thought he might be in trouble for stepping out of the store without 
telling anyone, but Jerry had just winked at him and flashed him an 
okay gesture. Martin nodded and went back to the counter, leaving 
Jerry listening at the door.

Surprised at Martin's treatment of him, Denzel turned to Leo and 
asked, "Can you believe that shit?"

"Yeah, I can. He's right, you know," replied Leo. Martin had sold 
him on the comment about not getting laid when you're dead. He 
knew that you didn't get laid in prison either. 

The whole time that Martin had been talking, Shauna had thought 
about her future. Her mother had given birth to her while in high 
school and had dropped out of school to raise her. Since then, her 
mother had taken just about any job that she could get. Of course, 
most of the jobs available for a high school drop out were pretty 
bad. Money was always tight. Shauna had even caught her mother 
having sex with the landlord to pay the rent on one occasion. She 
knew that it wasn't the first time and hadn't been the last.

Looking at Denzel like he was an idiot, Shauna said, "Look at the 
future I'm facing. If I don't get my shit together and get a real job, 
I'll be sucking cock and fucking for money for the rest of my life. 
Martin's right. I'd go in there and give everyone blowjobs right 
now if I could keep that from happening to me."

Leo wasn't a stupid person and he had watched what was going on 
with Martin and Abe ever since Jerry had moved into the 
neighborhood. He'd taken the time to look up how much Abe's 
motorcycle was worth and had been impressed. He commented, 
"You know, Abe is doing pretty good for himself. He's been riding 
that scooter of his around while we've been walking or peddling 
our bikes. Now, he's gonna be riding that motorcycle and we'll be 
riding the bus for the next ten years at the rate we're going. 
Martin's got a brand new truck. My momma ain't ever had a new 
car in her whole life. You might think they're acting white, but I'm 
not convinced that's all that bad."

Jerry had listened to the conversation thinking that Martin had 
started to help them, but it wasn't enough. He wished there was 
something he could do to finish the job. It was possible that he 
could move Abe over to part-time sales so that he could hire a new 
stock boy, but that would only help one of them. He wished that he 
could hire all three kids, but it just wasn't possible. Denzel needed 
it the most, Leo had the best attitude, and Shauna was the most 
desperate. 
 
While pulling an order, Martin glanced towards the back door and 
saw Jerry standing in the same place that he had been earlier. 
Rather than listening, the big man was thinking about something.  
It was obvious to him that Jerry was trying to figure out what he 
could do for the kids. Going back to work, Martin was confident 
that Jerry would end up helping all three kids, even Denzel. He 
thought to himself, 'Was it the man keeping them down? No, those 
kids were keeping themselves down.'

Jerry opened the back door and asked, "Any sign of Jenny?"

"No, dad."

"Would you mind keeping an eye out for her? She's bringing the 
cake," requested Jerry.

Looking at the other three teenagers, Bill said, "No problem. We'll 
watch for her."

"Great," said Jerry as he returned to the store. He had expected 
Denzel to look at him with suspicion, but the kid had remained his 
normal self. 

It was just a few minutes later that Jenny pulled into the parking lot 
with Melissa in the car. The pair got out and opened the back of 
her car. There was a cake and a cooler of soft drinks in the trunk. 
Looking over at the three boys, Jenny asked, "Would you like to 
give us a hand?"

Without the least bit of hesitation, Bill answered, "Sure. I'll help 
you."

"Good. If you carry the cooler, I'll take the cake," said Jenny with a 
smile at her future stepson. When he reached the trunk, she 
wrapped an arm around him and pulled him in for a hug. Grinning 
at his obvious discomfort at the affection in front of the other kids, 
she said, "You're a good boy."

Bill blushed and then reached into the trunk for the cake. Leo 
started to make a wise crack, but Shauna elbowed him in the side. 
Bill stood up and handed the cake to Jenny, letting her know by his 
thoughtfulness that he had appreciated the hug. As she accepted 
the cake from him, Jenny said, "Thanks."

After Bill grabbed the cooler, Melissa dug into the trunk and 
removed three presents. There was one large flat box, a medium 
size cube, and a small box. It was awkward balancing all three of 
them. She turned and found Shauna standing next to her. Shauna 
said, "Let me give you a hand with those."

Surprised by the gesture, Melissa said, "Thanks. If you could take 
the top two that would help a lot."

"No problem," replied Shauna taking the top two presents. Before 
grabbing them, she believed that the big cube contained a bowling 
ball based on its size and had been thinking that it was a strange 
present to give to Abe. When it was far lighter than she had 
expected, she realized that it was a motorcycle helmet. 

Denzel was about to make a comment that he liked Melissa better 
when she was green when Leo hit him lightly on the shoulder. 
Anticipating his friend, he said, "Be nice."

"Shit," answered Denzel. He wasn’t really upset, but disappointed 
at the chance to make what he thought would be a joke. 

"Why don't you get the door for everyone," suggested Leo to his 
friend as he went over to the car. Winking at Shauna, he said, "Let 
me shut the trunk."

Since moving away from the influence of her mother and 
grandmother, watching men and women interact fascinated 
Melissa. With a smile and a hug, Jenny had Bill doing all kinds of 
things for her without complaint. Leo was clearly interested in 
showing his girlfriend that he could do nice things without being 
asked. The fact that Bill respected Shauna's relationship with Leo 
surprised her more than anything else did. She wondered if Leo 
knew that Shauna and Bill had been having sex with each other.

The break area where the couch was located had been transformed. 
Jerry had set up a small table to hold the cake, paper plates, and 
soft drinks. Jenny had set the cake on the table and was busy 
removing the box around it.  Melissa and Shauna added the 
presents to the small pile that was on a chair. Leaning against the 
boxes of parts that had been delivered earlier that day, Jerry 
watched the activity with a broad smile. Abe was going to be 
surprised.

Henry entered through the backdoor and, in his deep rumbling 
voice, observed, "Looks like everyone is here except for the 
birthday boy."

"Who you calling boy? He's got more hair…," started Denzel 
before coming to a halt upon catching sight of the look Henry was 
giving him. He grumbled, "No one has a sense of humor today."

After setting down the stack of presents he was carrying, Henry put 
a hand around the back of the neck of the young man and pulled 
him over to his side. Bending so that his mouth was next to the 
younger man's ear, he explained, "There are times for some kinds 
of jokes and times for different kinds of jokes. Right now, it's time 
for polite jokes. There are ladies present."

Awed by the sheer size of Henry, Denzel swallowed heavily and 
said, "Okay. I didn't think about that."

Melissa and Shauna had stepped away from everyone to talk where 
they wouldn't be over heard. Jerry watched them as they whispered 
to each other, wondering what the two young women had to talk 
about. He smiled when they stepped apart from each other with 
identical puzzled expressions on their faces. It appeared to him that 
neither one of them understood the other, but at least it wasn't a 
hostile misunderstanding.

Seeing that everyone was present, Jerry said, "I'm going up to the 
front to greet Abe when he comes in."

The noise of people moving around so that they wouldn't be seen 
from the front of the store followed Jerry down the aisle. Reaching 
the front, he greeted Mike and Martin who were watching the 
counter. Mike grinned and said, "Abe wasn't very happy about 
having to work on his birthday."

"I can imagine," said Jerry with a laugh. He added, "I plan to bust 
his chops a little when he comes in, so play along."

"You're going to lose," commented Martin with a grin.

"Lose?"

"Trying to match wits with Abe when we all know you're 
defenseless. You're going to lose big time," Martin quipped 
provoking a laugh from Mike. Jerry just stood there shaking his 
head.

A few minutes after four, Abe showed up riding his motorcycle. 
Jerry watched him park the bike by the front door where it was 
visible from the street. He smiled at the obvious pride that Abe 
took in his work. Before the young man had a chance to see him, 
Jerry replaced his smile with a frown.

Disappointed at having to work, Abe entered the store spotting 
Mike, Martin, and Jerry at their normal places. He was about to say 
hello when Jerry grunted, "You're late."

Surprised by the unfriendly greeting, Abe said, "I told you I was 
going to be late today."

Jerry attempted a snarl and then said, "You got all kinds of boxes 
in the back that need to be dealt with."

Feeling a little hurt, Abe said, "It's my birthday."

"Really? How about that? The sooner you get back there, the 
sooner you can celebrate," said Jerry pointing down the aisle with 
his thumb. 

Shocked, Abe walked down the aisle to the back of the store like 
his dog had died. Even Martin had looked surprised by the way 
Jerry had treated him. He mumbled, "Not only do I have to work 
on my birthday, but I get treated like…"

His comment was cut short by the sound of everyone shouting, 
"Happy Birthday."

Abe looked around and saw everyone smiling at him. Shocked at 
the crowd of people smiling at him, he shouted, "Oh my God! I 
can't believe it!"

Jerry's rumbling laugh filled the air. Realizing that Jerry had gotten 
him good, Abe spun around and, shaking his finger at the big man, 
said, "I'm going to get back at you."

"Got ya!"

"I can't believe you did that," replied Abe shaking his head. His 
friends and co-workers quickly surrounded him and led him over 
to the table. He looked at the huge pile of presents, unable to 
believe his eyes. Overwhelmed, he stood in place and said, "Oh, 
you guys. I can't believe you did this."

As Abe laughed and joked with his friends, Martin stepped over to 
Jerry and said, "I couldn't believe you did that. Even knowing that 
everyone was here, I was shocked."

"Did I go too far?" asked Jerry looking over at Martin.

Watching his brother smiling, laughing, and jumping around, 
Martin answered, "Not at all."

"I'll watch the front for a while. Go wish your brother a happy 
birthday," said Jerry before turning to head up to the front of the 
store. He walked up the aisle chuckling.

Jerry pulled parts while Mike took orders. They could hear the 
laughter coming from the back of the store and knew that Abe was 
having a good time. Karen came up to the front of the store with 
two plates of cake. Setting one of them in front of Mike, she said, 
"Go on back and join the party, Jerry. I'll pull orders."

"Thanks Karen," said Jerry.

As soon as he reached the back of the store, Jenny handed him a 
plate. Sharon had arrived and was laughing as Martin explained 
what Jerry had done to Abe. Throughout the story, Abe was 
grinning, shaking his head, and saying, "I'm going to get him 
back."

"You're so bad," teased Jenny with a smile. She knew just how 
much Jerry cared about Abe.

"Can I invite you to my office for a second?" asked Jerry.

"Planning on taking advantage of me?" asked Jenny with a wink.

"Always," said Jerry with a smile. 

Inside the office, Jerry said, "That black girl, Shauna, is the one 
that dyed Melissa green."

"Really? They were talking with each other in a friendly manner."

"I was wondering if you could hire her for a couple of hours after 
school to help you straighten up the restaurant and do little odd 
jobs for you. Maybe give her a chance to learn a little about 
business," said Jerry.

The request was totally unexpected and Jenny looked at him 
wondering what had motivated it. Puzzled, she asked, "Why?"

Jerry looked down at the floor for a moment before he answered. "I 
heard her talking with the other kids. She said that she faced a life 
of prostitution if she didn't get her act together and get a real job. 
She'd do anything to get a break."

The idea that a teenage girl could possibly believe that the only 
future for her was being a prostitute shocked Jenny. Her breath 
caught in her throat. Finally, she managed to say, "I can't do that at 
the restaurant. Everything is basically done by the time she'd get 
out of school. How about I have her help me with the books for the 
waterfall company?"

Surprised that he hadn't thought of that, Jerry burst into a smile and 
said, "That would be perfect."

Excited, Jerry went over to the office door and opened it. He called 
out, "Hey, Henry. Can you come here for a second?"

"Sure," answered the big man. He patted Abe on the shoulder and 
headed over to the office.

When Henry had joined them in the office, Jerry said, "Henry. I 
just asked Jenny about hiring Shauna to work for her and she 
suggested that Shauna help her with the books for the waterfall 
business. I was thinking that it might be a good idea if we hired 
Denzel to help with some of the construction work on the 
waterfalls."

"Denzel? Not Leo?" asked Henry surprised by the choice. He 
figured that Leo wouldn't be nearly as difficult for Jerry to deal 
with as Denzel.

"I'm gonna hire Leo to take over Abe's job," said Jerry with a 
smile. Seeing the expression on Henry's face, he said, "I know 
what you're thinking. I just believe that Denzel will listen to you a 
whole lot more than me. He needs someone like you in his life."

Jenny asked, "What about Abe?"

"I'm moving him up to part-time salesman," answered Jerry. 

Henry studied his friend for a minute and said, "You've thought 
about this, haven't you?"

"A little. I didn't know what to do for Denzel until Jenny suggested 
using Shauna in the waterfall company rather than her restaurant," 
answered Jerry.

The big man laughed when he realized what his friend was doing 
and said, "I think that Mr. Atkins is going to raise a statue in your 
honor if you keep this up. Some scrawny white guy gives five 
black kids a boost out of that neighborhood… Yeah, he's going to 
raise a statue."

Seeing the shocked reaction on Jerry's face, Jenny burst out 
laughing so hard that it almost hurt her sides. It always amazed her 
when they made fun of the other's size. When her laughter 
subsided, she asked, "When do you want to ask them?"

"How about after Abe opens his presents?" suggested Jerry 
realizing that he needed to talk to Mike.

"Great," said Henry as he opened the door to rejoin the party. He 
held the door for Jenny and Jerry considering himself a lucky man. 
It was humbling to think that he had a friend like Jerry.

Abe opened his presents. Henry and Sharon had gotten him a cell 
phone and an Amex debit card to use for gasoline. Martin had paid 
six months of his insurance, a gift that meant a lot to the young 
man. Working had made him appreciate the value of money. Jerry 
and Jenny gave him a leather motorcycle jacket with an Indian 
Scout logo on the back. Bill had given the helmet while Melissa, 
much to Abe's surprise, had given him a pair of leather riding 
gloves. Shauna gave Abe a key ring. It wasn't much, but it was a 
lot coming from her. Denzel gave him a gift certificate from the 
burger place while Leo gave him a gift certificate from Poncho's 
Tacos. The folks at the store had gotten together a little care 
package for the motorcycle. 

Jerry had ducked out for part of the time while Abe was opening 
presents to talk to Mike about hiring Leo. Mike had a chance to 
talk a little with Leo although the young man didn't realize he was 
being interviewed. For the stock boy position, it didn't matter much 
about automotive knowledge. He did ask about his school and 
outside interests. Getting the go ahead from Mike, Jerry was 
standing by when Abe finished with the presents.

For Abe, this had been an exceptionally rich birthday and he had 
found the experience a little overwhelming. He took a moment to 
talk with his brother and noticed when Jerry approached Leo, put a 
hand on his shoulder, and then led him off to the front of the store. 
He turned to ask a question of Denzel and noticed that Henry was 
walking out the back of the store with his hand on the boy's 
shoulder. Puzzled he looked around for Shauna, but didn't find her. 
Wondering what was going on, he asked Melissa, "Where's 
Shauna?"

"Jenny took her in the office," answered Melissa absently. 

"Oh," said the young man in response. He didn't know what to 
make of all his friends getting led away from the party. 

Melissa felt a little uncomfortable standing next to Abe without 
talking about something. She looked at the helmet that Bill had 
gotten for him and latched upon it as a reasonable topic of 
conversation. She said, "Bill said that he ordered that helmet on the 
internet."

"It's a great helmet, top of the line. I can't believe he found one the 
same color as the motorcycle," said Abe picking it up and looking 
at it. He glanced over at Melissa and saw that she was a little 
uncomfortable. Changing the subject to something that he thought 
she would enjoy a little more, he said, "I saw you talking with 
Shauna a little earlier. I hope that you two are getting along."

"She's pretty nice, actually. I have to admit that dying me green 
was an amazing revenge," said Melissa. "I would never have 
thought of it."

Chuckling at the memory, Abe said, "Sure surprised me."

In the front of the store, Jerry stopped and said, "Leo, I've got an 
opening for a stock boy. It's the same job that Abe has been doing 
for the past year. I'm promoting him to part-time sales. Are you 
interested?"

Dubious, Leo looked at Jerry with a wrinkled forehead. He asked, 
"Are you offering me a job?"

"Yes," answered Jerry.

The simple answer burst through Leo's normal reserve like a hot 
knife through butter. The young man jumped up in the air and 
raised a fist as he shouted, "Hell, yeah!"

Sitting at the counter, Mike was on the phone with a customer. 
When Leo reacted, he burst out laughing. Once Mike had 
recovered, Jerry overheard him tell the customer, "Just offered a 
job to a young man… You heard him… Yeah, he's a little excited."

Chuckling, Jerry said, "You can start tomorrow. Come in after 
school, fill out an application and the tax forms, and then Abe will 
show you the ropes. Mike will explain the rules about working 
here and some of the benefits."

"This is so great!"

Jerry waited for the usual question, but Leo was so excited that he 
wasn't thinking about working. He was busy celebrating his good 
fortune by dancing in place. After a minute, a very amused Jerry 
asked, "Do you have any questions?"

"I'm supposed to come here after school tomorrow, right?" asked 
Leo wondering by Jerry's question if he might have misunderstood 
something.

"That's right. Are you sure that you don't have any other 
questions?" asked Jerry.

"Like what?" asked Leo feeling very confused. His excitement 
ratcheted down a notch at the thought that he had missed 
something important.

"Like how much you are going to get paid," suggested Jerry with a 
smile. 

Blushing at having missed the most obvious question that he 
should have asked, the young man answered, "Oh yeah. I forgot 
about that. How much am I getting paid?"

"Five fifty an hour," answered Jerry. 

"How many hours will I work?"

"About ten a week," answered Jerry.

"Wow, that's not bad. Fifty-five bucks a week," Leo mused.  

Jerry patted the young man on the back and said, "Let's rejoin the 
party."

"I can't wait to tell Abe that I have his job," said a very happy Leo.

"I haven't told Abe that he's getting promoted yet," said Jerry.

"Even better," said Leo, prompting Jerry to laugh. 

As they walked back to where the party was being held, Jerry said, 
"You might want to talk to Abe about buying his scooter."

When they reached the back room, Jerry looked around. Jenny was 
talking to Sharon while Shauna was excitedly talking to Abe about 
her job. Sorry that he had to interrupt, he called over to Abe, "Abe, 
can I talk to you a minute?"

"Sure," answered the young man. He whispered something to 
Shauna that prompted her to laugh before going over to where 
Jerry was waiting for him.

"I gave Leo your job," said Jerry in a very serious voice. It was 
hard keeping himself from breaking into a smile.

Grinning, Abe shook his head and said, "You got me once today. 
You're not getting me a second time."

"I'm serious."

Abe's confidence was severely undermined when he heard a very 
excited Leo exclaim, "I got Abe's job. I'm now the stock boy!"