Free Candy

Chapter Thirty Six

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Mr. Hashimoto came out of retirement to get the Quack City office back in order. He spent the next two weeks working twelve hours days, and realized that his heart just wasn’t in it. He called his daughter into the office to discuss the situation.

“Suzi, I am too old for this business,” Toshi told his daughter over coffee. “Can you take it over?”

“I can’t do it, I’m not going to stop practicing dentistry and I have my art,” she told him, doing her best not to feel guilty.

“I need to find someone I can trust,” her father said. “Can you think of anyone that could handle the job?”

“I have someone in mind,” she told him. “Let me make a couple phone calls and I’ll get back to  you tomorrow.”

Suzi called Marie at the espresso cart and asked her if she wanted to make a change in her employment. Marie got Suzi to come to the Six Pound Cleaver that night so Steven could be in the discussion. 

“My dad really needs to take it easy,” Suzi explained to Marie and Steven.

“I’m excited,” Marie said. “I’d really like to be in charge of my own hours.”

“Your hours can’t get too crazy,” Steven said. “The customers are still in charge.”

The next day, Suzi rolled into the parking lot and introduced her father to her friends. Mr. Hashimoto gave Steven the once over and then waved him over. He grabbed Steven’s shoulder and told him that the job was his if he wanted it. Steven was so excited that he konked Mr. Hashimoto in the head when he tried to execute a formal bow, almost knocking the old man over. 

Marie was busy in the foyer measuring the space that she was going to convert into an espresso stand. She sold Suzi and Toshi Hashimoto on the idea that she would always be in the office to answer phones and sell some coffee on the side. Steven ran out of the office and picked Marie up in a big bear hug.

“What is your deal?” she got out before Steven squeezed the wind out of her.

“This is my dream job! Think of all the crazy tours I can put together!” he shouted.

Toshi showed Steven around the office while they waited for the Quack City drivers to roll in at the end of the day. Sheila was excited to hear the news, but the other drivers were a little confused about the changes. Once they were convinced that their jobs were safe, they all shrugged their approval and walked off to drive their boats to the garage. 

Horatio Willis bailed Little Cecil out of jail and paid for the damage to the boat canopy, so Mr. Hashimoto dropped all the charges. After seeing how frail his father had become, Big Cecil moved back to the old mansion on Capitol Hill, reuniting the Willis family under one big dysfunctional roof. 

Gretchen hated it when Horatio ate dinner with the Cecils in the turret room. The two younger men insisted on communicating with Horatio by shouting, and since they were always wearing their headphones, they had no idea how loud they were. 

This annoyance had a silver lining as Gretchen got to spend more time at Suzi’s house. Suzi dumped Tom, and got back together with Gretchen.

Steven used the excuse of carpooling efficiency to move in with Marie and had a graffiti artist repaint his van to look like a miniature DUKW. He loved his new job and talked it up with everyone he ran into. Since he got to pick a stage name for the rare occasions that he drove an actual group of tourists, he was able to recycle his name tag. 

He wrote some new jokes for any of the drivers to use, but he came up with his own catchphrase. Steven took over the helm of Quack City #4 and was always the first boat out of the garage every morning. 

Today his boat was full of Microsoft contractors that met some sales goal for the quarter. He was going to push the envelope a little bit on this tour since all the customers looked a little bored. He straightened his cap and looked into the rear view mirror. 

He grabbed the microphone, jumped out his seat and yelled, “Good morning everyone, I’m Killer Jones and I hope everyone is ready to get wet!”

<<<<>>>>