Malcolm Looked Over At The Counter, Where Thea Was Angrily Scribbling On A Clipboard. Excuse Me, He Said

Malcolm looked over at the counter, where Thea was angrily scribbling on a clipboard.  “Excuse me,” he said to Raven, and walked back to his other employee.

“I want to apologize again,” he said.  “Raven said you’ve worked really hard to make this place great.  I’m not about to barge in and undo all your work.  I want to be involved, yes, but I’m not going to try to change things.  It sounds like you’re doing a great job.  Can we work together, maybe?”

Thea’s angry expression softened ever so slightly. “You’re not going to take over?” she asked. 

“No,” Malcolm said.  “I promise.  I’ll probably check in every couple of days, and I’d like to help with sales if I can, but basically, you’re still in charge.  If you want to be.  I just want to be in the loop.”

Thea reached up and fiddled with her glasses for a moment.  The corner of her mouth tilted up just for a second. She held out her clipboard.  “If you want to help, take a look at this and make sure I didn’t miscount anything.”

Malcolm took the clipboard and smiled.  “Will do,” he said with a nod. 

After a few minutes Malcolm got his temper under control.  He picked up the phone again and dialed the number for Club Dante. He didn’t know if the employees would be there, if they’d been told to close until further notice, but it was worth a try. 

The phone rang four times before someone finally picked it up.  “Hello? Club Dante,” said a man’s voice. 

“Hello,” Malcolm said.  “This is Malcolm Landgraab.  I’m the owner of the club.  I was hoping I could walk over this afternoon and visit for a bit, just to see how the club is doing.  Would that be all right with you?”

“I guess so,” the man said.  “It’s just me and the DJ here right now.  Technically we’re closed until further notice.”

“Let me guess, a lawyer called to tell you that I’d probably want to come and change everything?” Malcolm said.

“Er, well...” The man sounded nervous.

“It’s okay,” Malcolm reassured him.  “I’m sorry if it stressed you or the DJ out at all.  The lawyer was out of line.  I’ve talked to him.  I’d like to talk to you and the DJ in person about my plans for the club.  Can I come by for a few minutes?”

“It’s your club,” the man said.  “We’ll be here until around six, I think.”

“I’ll head over in a little bit, then,” Malcolm said.  “See you then.”

“We’ll look forward to meeting you,” the man said.  “Goodbye, sir.”

holleyberry replied to your photoset:After checking the inventory, Malcolm excused...

I bet there’s some backlash from that conversation. I have a bad feeling about this Fleming guy.

He’s certainly a creep.  I wasn’t intending him to play this big a part, but (as often happens), things spun out of my control. We’ll have to keep an eye out for Fleming and whatever he’s up to.

After checking the inventory, Malcolm excused himself to the office to use the phone.  He was pleased to see a bulletin board on the wall over the desk with several phone numbers, including the one for Club Dante down the street and Fleming’s law firm’s number.  He dialed the number for the firm first.  It took him several minutes to connect to the right secretary, and then a few more minutes to get her to connect him to Fleming. Finally, the lawyer’s monotone voice said, “Howard Fleming.”

“Hello, Mr. Fleming, it’s Malcolm Landgraab again.”

“Ah, Mr. Landgraab, hello.  I trust you’re enjoying your first day back in town.”

“I’m having an interesting day,” Malcolm said. “I’m actually calling from the electronics store.  I had an odd conversation with the employees here and I wanted to clear up a few things with you.”

“What did they say, sir?” Fleming asked.

“Among other things, they said that you told them to shut down until further notice because I might want to change things. Both the ladies here were kind of upset about that.”

“My apologies, sir.  I assure you, I had your best interests in mind when I instructed your employees to await your orders on the business.”

“Why was that your job?”

“I was doing it on your behalf, sir.”

“Well I’d appreciate it if you didn’t do things on my behalf anymore,” Malcolm snapped.  “Did you call the people who work at the club too, tell them to shut down until I got there?  You’re losing me money, Fleming.  Shutting down my businesses so I can come in and possibly make changes is just going to lose money. And it’s going to turn my employees against me, which is just going to make it harder for me to work with them.  What made you think that you could do things ‘on my behalf’ in the first place?”

“I do sincerely apologize, Mr. Landgraab,” Fleming said. “Rest assured, I will not take your affairs in my own hands any more.  I thought what I was doing was in your best interest, as I was uncertain how involved you wished to be with your family businesses.”

“I’m going to be as involved as I can be, Fleming, in every aspect of the legacy.  You’ve done your job.  I’ll call you if I ever need you again. Keep out of my affairs.”

Malcolm slammed the receiver down before Fleming could say anything more. He really had to wonder what that guy thought he was really doing.  Hopefully he wouldn’t hear from the lawyer again any time soon. 

“Hey!  It’s great to see you again!”

“You too.  You ready to eat?”

“Sure.”

“Here, you keep the pictures we took.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, but you get to keep them next time.”

“Next time?”