New Adventures of Starr Gazer (eBook)

Chapter 3

Rescued

Brad decided to spend a little time at work prior to going to the convocation. The convocation wasn’t till 2PM and though it would take him a couple of hours to get there, he still figured that he had till about 11AM before he had to leave. Since it was only 9AM now, he could get a couple of hours of work in, and at the same time he could check on who was actually in plant this particular Saturday. As he was walking around some of the engineering cubicles, he saw one particular engineer in her early 20’s, and seeing the name Natalie on the cubicle wall decided to strike up a conversation.

“Good morning, Natalie,” said Brad in a professional, yet friendly voice.

With an extreme look of surprise, the girl looked at Brad and opened her eyes wide.

Seeing that he must have startled the poor girl, Brad spoke back up. “I’m sorry, did I surprise you?”

Once Natalie got over her shock, she replied. “Yes sir. I just don’t normally see too many people here on Saturday.”

“Do you work most Saturdays?”

“Since I’m not married and don’t have a family, I thought I’d work and learn as much as I can while I have the time.”

“Good philosophy, Miss Stewart. Keep up the good work.”

“Thank you sir, I will.”

Brad left Natalie to work and walked a little more before returning to his office. He started thinking about Natalie as he walked and thought to himself, “Nice girl, Natalie. Good work ethic. I’ll have to check on her salary and engineering grade level.”

When Brad got back to his office he brought up Natalie’s records on his computer which had a wireless interface. Brad spoke to himself as though there was another person in the room. “Says here she just graduated last May, and this was her first job out of college. A few modifications here, a few there and presto. She just got a promotion, raise, and an achievement award. I bet she’ll be surprised when she gets her next paycheck.”

Brad always liked to reward employees that he thought were particularly industrious and loyal. That’s some of what the employees liked about him.

After another hour, he decided it was time to head off to the convocation. As he drove along, he thought about some new inventions and decided to record his thoughts using his in-car computer microphone that provided pretty good speech-to-text even with considerable background noise. He had found this program on-line and found that the author was a 16 year old boy named Jim Skyler from Kentucky. Brad offered the boy a summer intern position a few years earlier and the boy worked for him every summer since. Brad really liked him and decided to offer him a full 4 year scholarship to any college in the country. Jim liked Brad as well and took him up on the offer.

On a normal day Brad would have parked in the parking garage but on this particular day being the guest speaker, he was allowed to park much closer to the event. As he got out of his car, he was met by one of the students specifically assigned to meet his needs.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Crawford,” declared a young man in a professional business suit. “I’m Michael Gibson and I’ve been assigned to get you safely to your destination and meet any particular need you have before commencement.”

“Thank you, Michael. I don’t have too many needs. Point me in the right direction, show me where the bathroom is, make sure I have some water available and I should be just fine.”

“Right this way, sir.”

As they began walking toward the building where the commencement was to be Brad decided to find out a little bit about Michael.

“So, Michael, tell me a little about yourself.”

“I’m a junior here at UVA majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Physics and specializing in holography.”

“Well, that sounds like a promising career. How’s your GPA?”

“It’s currently at 3.76, and I’m hoping to bring it up next year. I’ve signed up for graduate courses during my senior year, and I’m hoping I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew.”

“I’m sure you’ll do just fine,” replied Brad. “Do you have a job for the summer yet?”

“I had one with G Labs, but when they started laying people off due to a contract loss, they had to rescind the offer.”

“You seem like a smart lad, how’d you like an intern position with Crawford Enterprises this summer?”

Michael stopped in his tracks and didn’t speak for a few seconds since he was totally in shock.

“Do you really mean it?”

“I never say anything I don’t mean.”

“Yes, I would love the chance to work at Crawford Enterprises for the summer.”

“When can you start?”

“Would a week from Monday be okay? I’ll need to finish up here and coordinate getting a place to live.”

“That’ll be fine. Call my secretary, Evelyn Markham, on Monday, and she’ll arrange everything for your arrival the following Monday.”

“Thank you sir. My volunteering for this assignment turned out even better than I thought.”

“Truthfully, anyone that volunteered to follow me around for the day deserves something for the effort.”

That started Michael laughing, and even Brad chuckled a little.

By this time they had arrived at their destination, and Michael directed Brad to where his seat on the stage would be. Michael whispered to Brad that the person at the podium arranging his notes was the president of the university, Dr. Tom Mitchum. Michael and Brad walked over to the podium, and Michael proceeded to work on the introductions.

Looking at Dr. Mitchum and pointing to Brad, Michael said, “Dr. Mitchum, this is Mr. Crawford.” Then pointing to Brad, Michael said, “Mr. Crawford, this is Dr. Mitchum.”

“Very nice to meet you, Mr. Crawford. The ceremony is just about to start and as you can see, the students are just filing in. Once they’re seated, I’ll begin the ceremony, and once the graduates receive their diplomas, I would appreciate it if you would say a few words.”

“How long will I have?”

“If there’s any way you can keep it to 15 minutes, I’m sure all the students and their families would appreciate it.”

“Shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”

The basic ceremony was uneventful, but the whole group seemed a little uncomfortable since this was an outdoor ceremony, and the temperature was close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

As Dr. Mitchum finished his speech, he began Brad’s introduction.

“Most of you know of the man I’m about to introduce. He has revolutionized the way we prepare our meals and is known for being a man of integrity with good business sense. He began with virtually nothing and in a few short years, he’s one of the richest and most powerful men in the world. I introduce, Mr. Brad Crawford, CEO of Crawford Enterprises.”

The entire assembly stood and applauded. Brad went to the podium, shook the hand of Dr. Mitchum and began to address the crowd.

“Thank you Dr. Mitchum, and the entire assembly for the opportunity to speak to you today. Oh, by the way, the last time I checked, I was the richest man in the world,” Brad said chuckling.

Brad then turned back to the audience. “Believe it or not, as college graduates, you are now considered adults by the majority of the world population. In short, this means you have a responsibility to act like an adult. In other words...act your age, and you will gain the respect of the people you meet.”

“Just because you’ve graduated, it doesn’t mean you should stop learning either. I recommend going further with your education, whether it be a Master’s or Doctorate, a second Bachelor’s or even technical certificates. The world is waiting for your contribution to society.”

“What does it mean to contribute to society? Yes, you can make money by inventing something that people want or by providing a service that is for something frivolous, but if you want to make lots of money and feel a true sense of satisfaction, you need to make something or provide a service that the world really needs...in other words, something that it can’t do without. This may or may not be anything that you’ll do right out of school, but it is important that you continually look for these opportunities. The moment that you stop dreaming about ways to improve society, that will be your downfall, and you’ll likely amount to nothing and may even be close to an early grave.”

“Keeping fit is another thing that will help you in the long run. A sharp mind is developed and enhanced by what you eat and how well your cardiovascular system is maintained. A calorie of sugar and a calorie of protein isn’t used by the body the same way. Your body needs a variety of good food to help you work, and a couch potato that eats popcorn and empty calories will not be...