A Blessing to Cherish by Lauraine Snelling

Author:Lauraine Snelling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction;FIC042030;FIC014000
ISBN: 9781493422838
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2020-06-04T00:00:00+00:00

David was getting mighty tired of board meetings. He thought briefly of that garden plot the girls called his weed patch, and they were right. There was not a weed to be seen in Ingeborg’s garden. How he yearned to make his own garden look like that, to invite people for a meal and serve them vegetables from his own labor. With a sigh, he entered the boardroom and called the meeting to order. Sitting down in his padded leather chair, he thought that perhaps he would bring this chair with him to his office in Blessing.

Arnold was already seated, his piles of papers neatly stacked in front of him and his notepad open. He cleared his throat and read the minutes from yesterday’s meeting. He had summarized some of the discussion very nicely.

David looked around. “Additions or corrections?” Silence. “Approved?” Bored silence. “Passed. Old business?” No one offered any.

“Very well. Since none of you seem to have done anything worthy of reporting, we will move on to new business. I have decided to retire earlier than I first intended. The company is on solid footing, and I will remain a major stockholder. Before I leave, I want to—”

His receptionist stuck his head in the door. “Mr. Gould? An urgent phone call.”

“Thank you, Roger. Excuse me momentarily. I shall return as quickly as possible.” He left the room.

Out in the hallway, the receptionist, Roger Dawes, sat at a small table with a mahogany-encased machine containing a round fabric-covered speaker. He smirked at David and threw a switch. “Let’s see if this newfangled listening device works.”

Instantly they could hear what was going on in the boardroom. The sound was scratchy, but they could make out most of the words.

David whispered, “But they cannot hear us, right?”

“Right.” Roger did not bother whispering. “No speaker in there. I hid the microphone in your chair.”

One of the board members spoke. “I knew he’d retire soon, but I wasn’t expecting it quite yet. Not with his landship idea just getting started.”

Thomas’s voice was clear. “The first thing I’m going to do as chairman is dump that idiotic project. We’re not going to spend a lot of money tooling up for a foolish idea like that one. Tanks. Honestly.”

Another voice, too far from the hidden receiver to be clear.

A closer voice: “I agree. The social duties he talks about corporations having are all right for small companies, but we are expected to turn a profit, not make some common laborer’s day happy.”

Another: “You’re both wrong! What he’s doing is excellent, and we should pursue it. You do want to go to heaven, don’t you?”

“Baxter, Martin Luther proved you don’t have to do good works to get to heaven. When I retire, I want a nice fat bank account to curl up and rest on.”

Other voices chimed in, shouting and arguing.

David wagged his head, especially since Thomas’s voice was one of the loudest. “Less than five minutes, and they’re at each other’s throats already. This whole board needs to be replaced.

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