29

I put the folders of those we have already had on the lanai in a drawer. I don't think we want more than that number now.

I am honestly not sure how many we will eventually need in the field. There are too many variables. Each variable has a number associated with it but, how it all plays out is not clear. Certainly, we will need a second group after this first group and we can work on that later. But before we go further with Dian's plan, we have logistical issues. OK, Dian, where do we put all these people? We are building a dormitory but, it will not be ready for a while.

Sir, I think you do not understand the circumstances these families live in. I do not wish to insult you. You know many important things but, about this you are bobo.

OK, now that I am aware I am stupid... where do we put them?

Bahay kubo¹ Sir. You can buy these on the highway to the north.

I know where you mean. The cost is about ₱30,000 each for a good one.

Yes, but if you buy, say ten of them, I think you will get them for under ₱20,000 each. You can sell them later for at least that amount.

There are more than ten families.

Sir, bobo again! You can put four women in each and the children in separate ones, eight each! That's four families for two of these units. You can take twenty families at once. There were seventeen families, correct?

Yes.

How many left? Fifteen?

Fourteen.

One rejected?

Yes. Not much misses you.

Sir?

Never mind.

We need a big CR. Outside by the huts.

OK, I don't see a problem. So, we really only need seven of these huts.

Sir, you will need more later, if there is another group, until your dormitory is built. The girls can live there, even after you select them.

The young ones will be OK with that?

Oh, yes, Sir! That not a problem.

OK, so you are saying get more than seven now because we get a better price for all?

Yes, Sir. Sir, you don't want to be the one to get the huts. Me and Maria should do this. We get a better price.

Yeh, that makes sense. We will discuss the building of the CR's tonight at dinner. I will contact Jake and Joy about the change in the plans once we have also discussed this tonight. I am not putting it to a vote but, I think I need to tell everyone before we act on it. Of the fourteen, I suspect, after what I have seen so far, that we will only be able to retain ten. Four will not work out.

Sir, may I ask, which one not work for you?

Dian, I am not sure it is fair for me to tell you that.

Sir, I think I know, that is all. I see who you have here and I think there were only two who not work. I sure about one of these.

Who are you sure about?

Her name is Ladylyn. She has a daughter who is bad and she is not good either. The little one, maybe she is OK. Hard to know but, I know Ladylyn and the older child. If you see her, I am sure you will reject her.

I'll be damned. OK. Yes, it was Ladylyn. So out of the next fourteen, you think thirteen will be OK?

Yes.

Who is not?

I not know this one's name. I only know what she looks like.

I pull the folders of those selected out of a drawer and put them on the table. There are pictures in each folder. Which one and why?

Dian goes through each folder and moves on through eight, before she hands me a folder and says, This one, Sir. She is the one. The child, yes she may be smart like the folder say but, that not her real mother. I know this woman. She not have these children.

How do you know this?

Sir, Jun and Jake, they not from here. Their ears not good on our dialects. Joy and Cherise should know! Joy is from northern Mindanao and Cherise is a local girl. I not know why they not hear this. I have a good ear. The children speak Visayan now, like their 'mother,' but I believe they are native Maranao speakers. I hear the mother talk with the younger one when we first in line to be interviewed by Jun and Cherise. Cherise interviews me but Jun does her. Joy not there. Maybe Joy never talk to her. I talk to Joy the next time I come back for the second interview. I never see them again until they are on the lanai. Then I hear both kids. They both have this accent. I am sure, the children are not hers.

I had just gotten done telling Dian I would wait to call Jake and Joy tomorrow. But now I pick up the phone and make the call.

Afternoon Jake. ... Something has come up and I would like you and Joy to listen to what Dian tells you. Following that, I would greatly appreciate your thoughts. … Yeh, OK, I've got time. ... I tell Dian that we are waiting for Joy. Yeh, it's a better day. We are keeping Dian and her girls. She has schooled me in better HR management! … Yeh, I do like being around bright girls. … Yeh, we are making changes. I will tell you about them tomorrow so just hold off until I talk to my group and get things straight on this end but, it's all OK. ... Just as I have switched over to our speakerphone we hear Joy as her voice comes over Jake's speakerphone. Jake is filling Joy in on what I asked. Finally Joy, a little put out says, What is this about, Dian?

Dian proceeds to explain what she heard with the dialect inflections. I hear Joy cuss. I hear Jake ask for their original work product folder. I am not surprised that one exists. I have learned enough about Jake to know that all contemporaneous notes during the interviews were most likely preserved in some format. In this case, it's paper. I hear Joy call Jun to come over to Jake's office. Evidently Jun is tied up and can't. Jake says they might not need her. We wait as they get organized.

Finally Jake is talking. He's got the record in front of him. Evidently it was Jun only who spoke to the family each time and as it was determined that the older child was in the picture, Jun put the family in the suspension for age group. Which meant that they were interesting but didn't meet the format due to an older child.

In this case it, it not does mean that I won't take them, however the matter is troubling enough that it requires the type of investigation that I am not set up to do. Jake says it is their place to do this as they sent me the folder. Joy and Cherise will follow up and get back with me. He asks if Dian can hear us. She can. Dian, I want to thank you. You did not call the mother good or bad. You did not pass judgment. You heard something that was odd and you reported it. I suspect that you are with Gordon right now because he has made an assessment similar to the one I am forming of you. Good work!

I agree with Jake and thank him for the assistance before ending the call.

Sir, I will go if you have other things you need to do. But if you have the time, I would very much like to know your plan, in detail.

I think the 'in detail' piece was a gentle dig at my comment to her earlier but, it doesn't hurt. I smile. I do have the time. I pull out two maps I have marked up with routes, ports, dialects/languages, populations and current competition in retail, and cartage companies. I put on the desk a book containing the system architecture for the integrated modules I am deploying along with a reference schematic flow chart for the modules. These, Dian, are the plan details and reference materials. Is this what you really want, or do you want an overview?

Dian, is quiet. She looks at both maps and my legends. She takes a long look at the flow chart and compares it with the contents pages on the book. She looks at me as if she has just discovered that there really is a tooth faerie, a Santa Claus, and ... an honest man, before saying, Sir, you don't need to give me an overview. This has already done that. I would like to study these. May I?

How do you know when you have a prodigy on your hands? Dian may be one. I will only know by allowing her to do this. There is enough room in my office for her to set up and review all she wants while I go about what I need to do. So, that is what happens. I get some things off a table I use for laying out large drafts of work processes and get her set up on it, before leaving her alone and getting back to work I have left to resolve from earlier.

Sir, may I have a notebook?

A computer?

No, Sir. Just paper to write in.

You are going to make notes by hand?

Yes.

No. I know this is the Filipino way but, this is not a Filipino office. In this office we take notes electronically so we can search, reorganize, and edit them later. I have a light weight unit I use on trips when I need less weight and not as much raw power. Do you know how to type?

Yes, Sir.

Good, here use this. I power up the little Dell XPS 13. I have Open Office installed on it and it is set up to save all data to a “cloud server.” I can access it from anywhere I am. She can make all the notes she wants and I can read them at my leisure on my laptop later.

The rest of the afternoon passes without another word between us. We are both working.

I get a text from Pia.

Please come to dinner, Gordon. We are all here.

I text back that I am coming.

Save your work Dian, it is time to shut down for the day and have dinner.

She says nothing. Her computer is turned off and she is ready.

We descend the stairs together. As we set out onto the first floor, we are greeted with a chorus of Hala! And, You said you were going to work today!

We have been working, in my office, and with the suggestions that Dian has made, we have a great deal to discuss tonight. Following that, Dian will join me in the bedroom. But for now, it is business we will be discussing!

And as dinner progresses, with all at the table including Maria, Anja, Pia, Renelyn and Raya, we discuss the problems with what I am doing and Dian's suggestions. I mention the contacts I received from Giselle and Joo. We talk about the bahay kubo's and a design for a workable CR. Zelle says she will buy the huts as most of the staff goes to her operations. She will also have the architect who blew it with me earlier, do penance by designing and supervising the construction of the CR. That makes me laugh.

Everyone is complementing Dian. I announce that I am breaking the tradition I have established and am accepting her without further consideration. There is no dissent. Anja then says, I know you are the smart one when we are on the lanai.

I look at Anja and ask, How?

She knows exactly what you are doing. She is comfortable and tells us we are lucky to be here. There is only one who is rude to her and bad talks. There is one who goes to the other side of the lanai and does not talk. But the rest of us listen to her when you are here inside.

The one who is bad to her. That was LadyLyn?

No, she is the one who goes to the other side of the lanai.

Who is the one who is arguing?

I not know her but, she is different.

Why?

How a mother who speaks Visayan has Muslim children?

Huh?

They speak Visayan with a Muslim accent. I think their native tongue is a Muslim dialect. I not understand this.

Yeh, Dian doesn't either. What was the argument about?

The lady say this a scam to get free child labor.

I see.

I think we are done with this conversation but, Dian has other ideas.

Sir, may I ask, how many buyers you have and where they are from?

Alona, Zelle, you two want to respond to this?

I get some surprised looks but I am just as in the dark as they are. Zelle goes over the requested information.

Ma'am, Sir, I think maybe there will be a problem.

Zelle is about to get her back up. I think I know better than to get defensive with Dian. I get my voice in before Zelle responds. OK, Dian, you have been looking at my designs and plans for a good three hours. What are you seeing that we may have missed?

You have a design for a national roll-out of Bayan Na. But Bayan Na is buying based on tastes in a unique region of Mindanao. There are different preferences in other provinces. Your buyers will have no idea how to buy for customers in those other places.

Zelle is frustrated. We can't have buyers from all those places! Other stores are national, why can we not do the same thing?

Ma'am I am not saying you should have buyers from all those places. But the reason you do so good even though you are more expensive than the national operations is that you do know your population. Sir, Ma'am, you have the roll-out plan backward. You are planning on rolling the trucking out as you put up retail operations. That is wrong. The data you can collect from your trucking operation can be used to learn buying patterns in areas before your retail operations get built. Once you have an idea of what is being stocked, you can also send your buyers to see if what is being sold is of a quality that will compete with the quality and price point you are designed to serve. The trucking and logistics services will be your intelligence service!

Zelle's mouth is hanging open. Not a word is emerging. Cynthia says, Damn! If you don't keep her here, I will hire her in a New York minute. That is wicked smart. Never in all my life has anyone told me that I am doing my job all wrong and made me a believer. But I'm a believer now. She is right.

Yeh. Don't you like how she is so nice, as she tells you how stupid you are? She did that to me this afternoon. I already learned my lesson then. That's why I cut you off Zelle. I had a feeling she was going to do it again. She spent the last three hours before we came to dinner going over my plans. On her own. I didn't explain anything. She was going over the source material. Just three hours and she tells us we have the plan upside down.

But, Sir, it's a very good plan. Bayan Na will be the biggest high end retail for home furnishings in the Philippines and GLS will take over a market segment that doesn't even exist today in the Philippines. Yes, there are rapid shipping companies and there are traditional trucking firms but, marrying the information and expedited handling to traditional trucking isn't done now. Sir, it is brilliant! You have a real wonderful plan. The design for the data collection services are already in your plan. I see that. And Ma'am I think your buyers will do a good job once they know a little about the regional differences.

Zelle has gained a bit of composure. So, Dian, you don't think it's a problem with the current stores, even the new ones. You just don't think we should branch out much further without the new information, correct?

Yes, Ma'am.

Gordon, I have, with my family, been in business discussions as long as I can remember. I have never had such a conversation as we have had tonight. I have never had as much powerful business knowledgeable people as are in this room, you and Cynthia and now Dian. It is a little scary. I realize that I am very lucky to own a business that is not competing with all you!

Ma'am, I do have one other thing, I think it will be OK with you.

Zelle, takes a long drink of water, puts it down, closes her eyes for a bit, opens them before saying, OK, Dian, I think I am ready. What is it?

Giselle and Joo want relief, and you are going to have thirteen more mothers here. Of those, we should train four for Bayan Na. Nine for GLS. Once we have them trained here. We can start sending them out to be under the training of Joo and Giselle. You and Eve can spell those two and all four of you can be involved with training them. Once they are trained, they are the trainers for the next group you run through. When you are done, you will have about ten or twelve employees who can open up new stores in teams of four each, and train local employees before moving on. That means you can open up three stores at a time with good staff and allow for relief and rotation back here for each of them every month. The balance of the staff we train needs to be for GLS. Once the trucking operations are fully deployed, Sir, can start working on using that same staff to start the shipping company.

Dian, you got all of that from reviewing the documents in three hours?

Ma'am? I make a mistake?

Noooo. I am not saying that. It is just that it has taken me months to grasp the fine points of Gordon's plan and I am only seeing some of them now that we are deploying the remote sales apps.

Yes! I read about that. It is so great! You can know exactly when the customers will need things before they know, using the metrics from the buying experiences of other customers doing like things in the same market. That is way special!

You figured that out this afternoon? Did Gordon tell you that is what we are working with right now?

Ma'am. I do something wrong? Gordon leaves me alone to study the plans. I saw that module in the flow chart. I not understand what it means and so I go to the book on that module and read it.

Wait! This is Cynthia. You read and understood the module design enough to see about heuristics in buying patterns?

Ma'am, I have to look up what heuristic means on-line. I not understand that first.

Shit! Gordon, she's a fucking genius!

Yeh, welcome to the fan club. And I get to bed the wench tonight!

And that is what is happening now that dinner is over. Dian and I retire to the bedroom early. We have a different type of work to cover tonight. I know Dian is a genius when it comes to many things but, how will she be in bed? At this point it can be a disaster and I probably will not care. She has earned her place here.

Once we get into the bedroom, there is no sexy vixen like design to Dian's behavior. She is talking about the interpersonal dynamics of the dining room table as she in workman like fashion undresses and hangs up her clothing on hangers in my walk-in closet. She makes a face and finishes taking my clothing off in an equally wifely like fashion. There is no sexy message. It is the message of comfort, familiarity and ease.

Once done she plops on the mattress and asks, OK, Gordon, what are you into? I know not to play the little girl! You don't like that! You want a wife, whore, a sweet dumb one? You like your cock sucked? You want to do anal with me? The girls say you are not kinky, so you will not wear ladies things or ask to be whipped. I can tell you, my nipples are not very sensitive so you can get rough with them. My clit is a little sensitive so be careful, OK? I do have a G-spot, and if you hit it good, I will squirt. I think anal is OK but, you should use lubricant, OK? And my period ended five days ago. My pussy discharge right now is clear and stretchy. I am ovulating. If you want me pregnant, tonight's the night.

I have to laugh. What else is there to do? I mean have you ever in your life had a girl talk to you like this?

I do wrong Gordon? I am sorry!

No, Dian, you didn't do wrong. I have never been with anyone like you. There isn't anyone like you out of bed and, I suspect, in it. I think we will enjoy each other. OK, Dian, I like a variety of positions but, nothing painful. I believe a woman, after she has lost her hymen, can and should have two or three orgasms before I have mine. Once I have mine, while I can pay attention to you, I will not be able to reenter for quite a long time. I don't like the term foreplay. I want love making to have meaning in every way, not just a lead up to the act of fucking. Yes I like getting head. I also like eating cunt. Yours looks very good for eating! I like anal and I will use lube. But this will not happen every time. It will not happen tonight as my cum will be in your cunt. My nipples are sensitive so be careful. You can grasp my scrotum, you can even squeeze tight but, do not jiggle my balls. It hurts. I like to kiss. It means something to me. I want to make love with you, not just fuck you. You OK with that?

Did I just hear the last part right, Gordon? You want to make love to me? You want to really feel and give love?

Yes.

Oh shit, Gordon.

What, Dian?

You can and I hope you will love me. I will love you and be yours. But Gordon, you can't love all the girls that are coming your way. That is not going to work.

Yeh, I know. And I won't. But I suspect you and I are going to be together for a very long time.

Oh, Gordon, you have no idea. Now come make love to me.

We reach out to each other and what happens first is what I guess needs to happen first, we kiss. We ignore the flesh below the neck and concentrate on lips, tongues, breathing, and with hands in each other's hair, we spend a wonderfully long time kissing deeply, then nibbling lips and ears and eyelids, and kissing deeply again. Dian is a partner, she is playful, she is all there for me, she hides nothing, she needs everything, and all we are doing it kissing. How can this be?

She bites my lower lip, she bites my nose! She licks my eyebrows. She then whispers in my ear, Bring Anja and me to bed with you. I think we will be a good team for you Gordon. A very good team. You did good taking her. She was the best of them.

Dian, that is what Anja said about you.

And the kissing begins again. A hand snakes down and grabs my rod. Educated fingers play with me in a way that makes what is already hard, much more rigid. She pulls me on top of her and I slide into a hot wet cunt. This is the most straightforward sex I have had on a long time. No side trips but, it doesn't matter, there will be many other nights. She whispers, OK, Gordon, time to get me pregnant.

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Chapter 30