Just One More Thing
Originally posted on October 5, 2009
Asher: Don’t tell me – Mums for fall, right?
Eron: Yeah, just like Grandma always insisted on.
Asher: Nice colors.
Eron: Glad you got here before I left - I have something I want to run by you. You got a minute?
Asher: Sure. What’s up?
Eron: You know I’ve been trying to find someone to take over the shop for me, right?
Asher: Yeah, you told me about that. Have any luck?
Eron: In a way. Laurelin helped me locate a good candidate.
Asher: I bet she’s pretty motivated to get you freed up here.
Eron: Got a lot of motivation myself.
Asher: Eager to get back to the west coast? Missing Eli, are you?
Eron: Uh…. not exactly.
Eron: But it sure would be nice to be able to stay out there longer without worrying so much about things here. I even found a job, working at a research facility. The work there is everything I’ve always wanted to do – and they were good enough to hold the position for me until I can get the situation here settled.
Eron: …So yeah, you could say I’m motivated to resolve the management problem for Grandma’s business.
Asher: You called it “Grandma’s business.” Sounds like you’ve finally admitted that running it is not what you want to do.
Eron: Does that bother you? Eli didn’t seem to care.
Asher: No, it doesn’t bother me at all - just making an observation. You should have made a move like this a long time ago. Running the homeopathy shop was never your first choice, was it? Not enough digging around in the dirt.
Eron: That’s right. So you don’t mind that I am basically handing over the shop to a stranger? You don’t think…. you don’t think Grandma would be upset, do you?
Asher: I think Grandma would have kicked your butt out the door a long time ago, told you to do what makes you happy and forget about the business.
Eron: I couldn’t do that. I knew she wanted me to keep it going. It was her dream, and…
Asher: Exactly. It was HER dream, not yours. You kept things running the whole time she was sick and after she died, and you’ve made it even more profitable since then. Even now you’re not looking to sell out, but just to pass the day to day operations on to someone else. You know as well as I do that Grandma wouldn’t want you to sacrifice your happiness for HER dream.
Eron: I guess. Anyway, it’s not necessary to sacrifice in this case, thanks to this guy Laurelin found to take over. He’s going to need assistance with the financial side of things, but the sheer amount of background knowledge and experience he has will more than make up for that.
Asher: So what’s his name? What’s he like?
Eron: His name is Onóndur. He’s a rather…..uh….. interesting fellow. Serious. Really intelligent, has a reputation as a hard worker. He’s got plenty of “presence” so commanding respect from the part-time employees and my regular vendors ought to be easy for him.
Asher: Well, good for you. Sounds perfect for the job.
Eron: Oh yeah, and just one more thing…..He’s also….… um …….….an elf.
Asher: Say what?
Eron: You heard me. Problem with that?
Asher: *grinning* Nope, not me. Do me a favor, though. Let me be there when you introduce him around.