Incest Justin Thyme by Callicious

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"Morning, 'Mike'." Pete gave Michael a crooked grin as he stood to shake hands. "Phil, Connie, please let me introduce you to Michael Borden. He does not like to be called 'Mike'. That was a private joke between the two of us."

Ben took over the meeting quickly. "Michael, please have a seat. Help yourself to juice or water if you like. Those are fresh pastries, too." Turning to Phil and Connie, he said, "Thank you both for coming in early this morning. I don't know how much Pete told you about what happened yesterday, but after an incredibly rude response to Michael by David Abernathy, Pete and I both knew something had to be done. I pulled Pete off of vacation and flew him to Tucson to pick up Michael and they flew to one of the Chicago area offices to meet with Abernathy, only to find out Abernathy was changing our orders for new locomotives and pocketing a significant amount of cash. He has been arrested, and further arrests will be made at Electromotive and some of their suppliers. I'm not implicating Electromotive! This was done without corporate knowledge."

"You two obviously are in the running to replace Abernathy, but that is not the purpose of this meeting. I would like to discuss IT operations with each of you at a later date, and discuss what needs to be done with your department. It may be Abernathy will not be replaced, but his duties will be split between the two of you. Phil, you have seniority due to Connie taking leave a few years ago, but at this level I don't look at seniority as the final determinate. Both of you have done a tremendous job for the railroad, and I want this transaction to be as smooth and as amicable as possible."

"Back to the purpose of today's meeting. Michael is one of two young men responsible for the discovery of all of the gold you heard about in the news a few days ago. That is not why he is here, and please don't let his age fool you. Michael is a very astute young man who wrote a program for his father while in high school that Pete and I, as well as millions of other investors, use to help track and plan our investing. Pete and I both thought it might be possible he could do something similar to help us with our scheduling difficulties. He has been asked as a consultant to take a look at what we have, and to make recommendations, and/or develop a new program that will make us more efficient and better able to serve our customers."

"Please don't look at him as a threat, but as an assist to your operations that can possibly make your lives easier. Michael is to be given full access to anything he asks for and I expect full cooperation from everyone in the IT department."

"Just to be clear, Michael is not a 'snot nosed kid with no real world experience in transportation', neither is he "the world's greatest programmer who is going to get rid of your jobs and make your department obsolete' as your former boss said to him. He is here at Pete's request, with my full concurrence, to see if there is something else we can be doing. He is looking at our programming from an outside perspective. Sometimes I think we are so ingrained in our own little worlds we can't step back and take a look at things from the outside. Our customers see us and our foibles from the outside everyday, and frankly, we frequently let them down. I want to change as much of this as we possibly can."

"Michael is not looking for a job, let alone yours. He really doesn't need one. He is here at our request, albeit somewhat reluctantly as he has other things ongoing. He is here to assist you, and not as a threat."

Phil nodded his head and scooted forward in his chair before speaking. "Just two questions, if I may. Michael, you look rather young. Just how old are you?"

"I'm nineteen, sir. I'll be twenty this summer."

"I see. I'd like to talk with you about your program and how you did it if I may. I think I might learn quite a bit from you. Just how old were you when you wrote it?"

"About sixteen. My Dad was having trouble understanding a program his broker gave him to use. He was so frustrated he about quit trying to track his stocks and just put his investments in CD's. I just played around with what Dad needed and came up with a little thing for him to track his stuff. He showed it to his broker, and the rest is history. I've had to improve it a good bit before it could go commercial, of course."

"I see. My second question. I thought the guy who found the gold was named Thibodeaux. How do you fit in there?"

"My name is Thibodeaux. Dad is Jeff Thibodeaux. My mother's maiden name, and my middle name is Borden. I got tired of all of the hoopla that went around about Dad and started going by Michael Borden. Mom and Dad are fully in favor of me doing so, and understand. I'd really appreciate if you kept this between us. I've had more than enough of the limelight to suit me."

"I'd change my name, too, but then I'm a 49's fan."

Pete stood, bringing the meeting to a close. "Shall we get this show on the road? Time is of the essence as I have to be sure Michael is on a plane to Phoenix about four-thirty. Do what you can today, send home whatever you need to with Michael. He has signed all of the necessary documentation. Most importantly, introduce him to your staffs and make sure they know it is in their best interest to work with him fully. That's all. Thanks, 'Mike'." He laughed as Michael made a face at him and slapped Michael on the back as he turned toward the door.

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