Gifts and Consequences Read Online Free

agreement.”
    Dexter swallowed hard.  He had no desire to find out what else the man was capable of. 
    Gaze fixed on Dexter, he continued.  “If you fail in any point of the contract Tracy will never graduate from Columbia.  I will see to it.  Whether I permit her to finish at another school will remain to be seen.  In addition, if you fail to keep the terms of the contract, you’ll never work another day in real estate.  Not title, real estate, mortgages, appraisals, or even home inspections.  Once you give me your word, do not break it.”
    It didn’t take Dexter long to make up his mind.  He almost repeated, What choice do I have ? but instead he said, “I choose to accept the terms of your offer.  And I’ll comply with the terms.”
    The man shot forward, smiling and suddenly full of energy.  He offered Dexter his hand.  “Good man.  I believe you will.”
     
    *****
     
    Jonathan finished the story.  “Dexter spent a week in backhoe training in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.  That was two months ago.  Though he steers a wide circle around his daughter’s grave, he does as good a job as any gravedigger ever did.”
    Jonathan paused, hoping Susan would ask a question for clarification or follow up.  He was greeted only by her simple smile.  It was a beautiful, genuine smile, the first thing he had noticed about her when they met.
    He concluded the story.  “Tracy is registered for fall classes at Columbia.  She won’t miss a single day of class.  In twelve months she’ll graduate with a degree in psychology.  The end.”
    Still smiling, Susan said, “That was a nice story.”
    The two sat a few minutes in silence. 
    Jonathan asked, “Is there anything I can get you?”
    “No. No thank you.”
    Giving her hand a soft squeeze he reached up and wiped an invisible smudge off her cheek, just next to the corner of her mouth.  The gesture made her smile.
    “Goodnight, my love.”
    “Goodnight.  Jonathan.”
     

 
Chapter Five
     
     
    When Jonathan entered Control the next morning he felt a familiar, quiet buzz.  The three night shift workers—Barsaat, Bob and Britney were engrossed at their workstations.  The Busy B’s, as the other shifts called them, didn’t appear to notice him enter.
    Eighteen work stations were spread across the open space in Control.  The Busy B’s occupied three adjacent stations in the corner furthest from the elevator.  Techs on the other shifts always worked with at least one desk between them, but not the B’s. 
    It struck Jonathan as unusual that the night owls would band together.  He would have expected them to be individuals.  Loners.  Especially considering their varied ages, genders, and ethnicities.  They worked superbly together, as productive as any four of his other techs.
    Jonathan crossed the space to their workstations and looked over Barsaat’s shoulder and the huge headset he wore.  The Skype logo was at the top of the monitor on his left, and pages thick with text filled the monitor on his right.  Bob was typing word after word into various search boxes.  He switched from one program to another so fast Jonathan wondered how he could register, much less analyze anything.  Jonathan could explain the other two being able to work at lightning speed.  They were both raised in the digital age, but Bob was ten years Jonathan’s senior.  PCs hadn’t become household features until Bob was out of college.
     Britney’s two monitors were divided into four quadrants each.  One of the quads displayed what appeared to be signal strength; another flashed red, bolded words once every few seconds.  The third quadrant displayed a map with a stationary blip on the right side.  The remaining screen space was taken up by lines of text.  Jonathan noticed a large number of interspersed emoticons and abbreviated words.  She must be monitoring text messages or chat rooms. 
    Jonathan walked past them, not disturbing their technological trances,