Relic Rupture (eBook)

1
Garden Oasis

Jack awoke with a start. His first thought was, “What day is this?” His second thought was, “What time is it and am I late for something?” After a brief contemplation, he realized it was Wednesday—hump day—not that being midweek meant anything to him or his job. Working non-stop on his latest project for nearly eighteen months now, in just three days, he would finally be complete with this project and moving on to the next. Well, at least that had been the plan. This project was to be eighteen months long and would launch his business, Jack Roberts Construction, into the next project that would be even bigger and grander. Reality had since set in and, yes, he was fulfilling the first part of his dream. The latter had not come to fruition. When he was done with this project on Friday, he had no place else to go.

Fortunately, Jack, at fifty-three years old, wasn’t a person to dwell on what might or might not come in the future. He had a job to do. It did not matter that he possibly had no future work. He was determined to complete this one hundred percent to perfection. That brought Jack to his next thought. His crown jewel of the project was finally arriving today. Jack had searched for this item for nearly the entire length of the project. At the outset, he had thought that tracking down what he wanted would have been as simple as search, click and order on the Internet. The actuality was that he could not locate what he wanted anywhere he explored. It was not on the Internet, local shops, or with all the contacts he could remember from his past to reach out to. That is all but one. He couldn’t have called her… could he? No. In the end, he let sleeping bears lay as the saying goes or something like that. Anyway, no one anywhere had exactly what he was looking for. That is, until last week when he was on his weekly phone update with the owner of the airline that he was currently working for.

John Holden owned Benchmark Air, the newest airline in the business, and a very successful one in a very tough business to turn a profit. John began his business flying in the southern states, etching out a client base with a selection of planes with just the right number of common-sense perks, not big or fancy or even new ideas, which appealed to travelers. He just seemed to know what people wanted and provided it at a fair, not the cheapest, price. The traveler got every penny they paid for that even an average family could afford. It wasn’t rocket science. He designed his airline with simple things, like comfortable seats with leg room and no middle seat, two seats only on both sides of the aisle. There was no first class or coach. Everyone was treated equally. His team provided a tasty drink made to order, ample snacks, and free Wi-Fi included in the ticket price with no hidden fees added on after you book the flight. The most important piece, though, was the people—his team. Yeah. Right. Every business state that ‘people’ are the key somewhere in their business model, usually on the first page in bold letters right next to a smiling face of an actor hired for the campaign. John was different and truly believed in his philosophy. He lived by it. Every employee in his company did as well. If they didn’t, they didn’t work for Benchmark Air. Simple. No nonsense. Every person in his company breathed customer service, wore a smile from ear to ear every day, and was empowered to take care of the customer, with no questions asked by management. All were paid extremely well. Each person was content. It was no wonder that Jack had seen John’s face on nearly every magazine cover in recent months. Any measurement rated his company very high.

Jack thought back to the conversation he had the beginning of last week.

***

John had called Jack on that gray morning as he had every Monday for the last eighteen months for an update on the project, a new terminal hub for his fledgling airline. This was not to be any normal run-of-the-mill traditional hub. This was to be an experience for the traveler to ensure their flight to wherever was an enjoyable flying event from start to end. John could not control everything about his passenger’s trip, but he could control this piece of it. He had to. He had seen what would happen if he didn’t, not a vision he ever wanted to experience again in this lifetime.

Jack answered his phone in his customary fashion, “Good morning, John, and how are you doing this fantastic day!” Jack always answered his calls this way with excitement and exuberance no matter what he felt inside, which on this day he was as low as he had been throughout the project. Not that the project wasn’t going well. It was on time and on budget. Jack was extremely worried because he had yet to locate his most important piece of the project, the sitting area seating. John may not be thrilled with him by the end of this conversation.

John cheerfully answered back, “Good Monday morning to you, Jack. How’s my favorite contractor doing this morning?”

“I believe I am your only contractor currently,” Jack playfully answered back, “but I am doing well as is the project.” Jack briefly gave John an overview of the current status, including the endless inspections by this agency, that agency, and some agencies Jack never knew existed. All had passed with only a few minor issues that were already resolved or soon would be to obtain the final operating permits.

“That is great news, Jack. Have all the business owners begun moving into their areas to be good to go for soft opening?” John had recruited some, for lack of better terminology, unique businesses to be in his terminal. They all catered to the traveler, as you might expect, but none of them were mainstream corporate-owned cookie-cutter storefronts. Every one of them was a small business owner whom John had met over the last two years to sign them on board for this endeavor. All had met his strict philosophy of people first. With that as his mantra, he could build his oasis amid chaos, otherwise known as the Manchester–Boston Regional Airport. As airports go, this one was fairly new and had certainly been growing over the last couple of decades. It was far easier to access right off the Daniel Webster Highway than Logan in Boston, with all the traffic congestion a bigger city has. This airport was exactly what John envisioned for his company. He had made his pitch for a new terminal four years ago. After many meetings, negotiating and red tape, John got what he was after—a new terminal for his airline.

“All have been diligently preparing their areas and training their staff. You certainly found an interesting group of business owners, John, but every one of them has been a joy to work with. Not one complaint from any of them and full cooperation on every issue, even with the endless inspections that were added to the punch list,” Jack informed him.

“Excellent! That is what I like to hear. So, if there isn’t anything else, I’ll let you get to it,” John said, about to end the conversation.

Just before John pushed the proverbial button, Jack said flatly and without his usual humor, “Ah, there is one thing, John.” Then he hesitated.

“Yes, Jack, what is that?” John prompted when Jack didn’t go on.

“Um, I have one problem,” Jack began hesitantly. He then let it all out in a rush, “I haven’t been able to locate the seating area benches you have in your diagrams and drawings. I’ve searched everywhere and can’t find the perfect ones to fit the garden area. We have all the other seating in place throughout the terminal, but I know how you feel about the garden and wanted to make sure we had just the right look there. I have failed to find the right fit.” Jack ended and waited for the explosion on the other end of the call.

The detonation never came. John answered calmly, “Jack, my boy, I appreciate your due diligence for my vision. I knew when I hired you that you were the right person for this job! Another contractor would have found something in short order that may or may not have worked on my drawings. They may have been perfectly fine seats in comfort and functionality, especially for an airline terminal, but you are one hundred percent correct in your appraisal of the importance of the garden area. That is the crown jewel of the entire project! If we miss on even one aspect of the presentation there, I will have failed to have the perfect traveling experience for my customers, and that just wouldn’t do. I knew that on one of these calls, you’d be bringing this issue to light. I thought it might have been a few weeks back since we’re almost at our opening, but I am glad that you’ve realized it finally.” John gauged Jack’s reaction.

“You knew I’d fail to locate the seating?” Jack asked suspiciously.

“I suspected that you’d eventually realize that you needed my guidance for the garden to come to its full potential, and I am glad that you did.”

“Okay,” Jack answered, a little dumbfounded. “So, what are we going to do for seating?” he asked.

“I think I have the solution to that. In my possession are six unique benches that I’ve acquired over the last several years, which I have at my home in my private gardens. I have been thinking this through for some time now that these need to be shared with the world and not hidden in my...