Merriton

“I told the Thunder Brothers that I didn’t want them to work more than 40 hours a week.” Randy and Kevin were in the living room. Randy was at his computer desk and Kevin was sitting on the futon with his laptop heating his legs. Randy had seen very little of Kevin ever since it started snowing. It seemed like he was always with Roscoe now and Randy felt jealous. Quiet moments with the two of them on their computers were few and far between lately.

“Ah… the ‘80 Hours And Hatin’ It’ speech.” Kevin smiled. “I remember when you gave us that speech at Zerbitz. None of us believed you until two weeks later when you called us into your office one by one and reamed us a new one for going over.” Randy laughed. It had been a long time since he had given his “80 Hours and Hatin’ It” speech.

“Funny thing is, the Thunder Brothers acted just like you guys did.” Randy stood up from his desk and plopped onto the futon next to Kevin. He changed his voice to sound like a child whining, “Sure, that’s fine when we’re slow like this, but when it’s crunch time, you HAVE to put in the extra hours.” Kevin tilted his head to the side. “The Thunder Brothers said the words ‘crunch time’?” Randy laughed, “Oh no! They said spring and fall and talked about how when it’s harvest time, you can’t just go to bed because you have to get the crops in. Sounded just like programmers to me, though.”

Kevin looked at his computer screen and turned it around for Randy to see. “Did you read this?” Randy recognized the Valleywag website and read the headline. His smiled turned into a guffaw and he read it out loud, “Kevin Tso Turns Expatriate?! I have to read this one!” Randy took the laptop from Kevin while Kevin paraphrased, “It’s just the rumor that I am going to compete in the winter Olympics skiing for the Chinese. Stupid old Jerry talkin’ about stuff he doesn’t know anything about.”

Randy’s laughter turned to anger as he read the words, “Kevin’s hours on the slopes have nothing to do with escaping the Zerbitz fiasco. He wouldn’t be tempted away from them even by an offer to work at Zaunter. This rumor that he is being courted by the Chinese Olympic Ski Team is looking more viable every day.” He handed the computer back to Kevin, seething. Kevin was confused. “What’s the matter? It’s supposed to be funny.” Randy stood up and walked to his desk, but just stood by his computer. He paced to the foyer and turned around, facing Kevin, “Jerry needs to keep his fucking mouth shut.”

Kevin stood up, “Jesus, Random, calm down. It’s just Jerry. I don’t care what he tells Valleywag. I showed it to you because I thought it was FUNNY!” Randy walked back to the foyer, grabbed his coat and screamed up the staircase, “Sierra! I’m going Up North. You need anything?!” Kevin stood in front of the door. “She’s outside taking care of the goats, Random. Chill out, dude.” Randy easily pushed Kevin’s small frame away from the door with one arm. “No, Kevin! I won’t chill out. I chilled out the first time Jerry blabbed his mouth at Valleywag.”

Randy opened the door to a flurry of huge snowflakes. In the comfort of his warm living room, Randy was hot with anger, but faced with the blast of cold air and seething snow, he delayed. “Listen to me, dude! You won’t get past Emigration in this storm without chains. If it’s too stormy for Roscoe and me to go out and work, it’s WAY too stormy for you to drive Up North.” Kevin’s words sunk in and he allowed Kevin to shut the door. Kevin walked back to the futon and left Randy at the door.

Randy stared at the closed door. This was not how the conversation was supposed to go. Kevin was supposed to ask about the Thunder Brothers and how they were going to only work 40 hours a week in the busiest time of the year. Then Randy could tell him about his idea for Kevin and Kevin could tell him that he was thinking about moving out. He took off his coat and hung it up on the coat rack. He stared at the coat rack. It was something that he never needed when he lived in The Valley. Now, he couldn’t imagine a world where it was spring all year. How did he ever survive there without winter?

“You okay?” Kevin called from the futon. Randy turned around and headed back into the living room. “Sierra heard from Angie who heard from Curly who heard from Roscoe that you’re thinking about moving out.” Kevin sat on the futon with the laptop still showing the Valleywag article. He tried to justify it. “Dude… Roscoe told me about these apartments on the north side of Emigration and they are CHEAP! I mean like cheaper than Valley Fair! And nice! Man, it’s like living in a mansion and they have an indoor swimming pool and it’s so cheap that I could live there forever on my IKEA money. Don’t look at me like that, man. I just…”

Randy collapsed into the futon next to Kevin. “I understand, Kevin.” Randy could hear the fan on his computer fire up, cooling the CPU. “I just had this idea and I thought maybe you’d be interested in it.” Kevin bounced on the futon and shut his laptop with a snap, “I KNEW IT! I knew you were cooking something up! Is it like Jerry said?! Is it online backups? I’ve been working on an algorithm to streamline download times and I thought maybe it would help because it takes a lot of bandwidth to download a copy of everything. Plus, I’ve been thinking how we could have a program that will just send the changed documents to the download when the computer isn’t being used so it doesn’t interfere with…” Kevin realized the look of horror on Randy’s face and his voice trailed off. “What?”

Randy didn’t know what to say. His real plans for Kevin were nothing compared to Kevin’s hopes. How was he going to ask Kevin if he wanted to work on his corn farm after Kevin had made so many grand plans? Quick, think of something to say. Quick, quick, but he couldn’t think. Where was Sierra? She was the quick one.

A rush of cold air flew in from the foyer and Sierra walked in with muddy boots. When did she get those boots? Why had he never noticed those huge, hulking boots before. Randy stared at the mud and muck. Every day, she disappeared from the house and spent time with those goats. “Sierra! Randy just told me that he has an idea he wants me to work on. Tell me if you think this is cool. I’ve been working on an algorithm to cut download times in half, so that when he does the online backups, it will take half the time to download.”

Sierra took off her gloves and plopped them on the top of the coat rack. She wiped her nose on the sleeve of her huge down jacket. When did she get that jacket? Sometimes Randy felt like he was walking around in a dream world, not seeing all the things around him. Sierra turned to Kevin, “Randy had me work up a non-disclosure agreement, so you can’t tell anyone what we are doing here. Did he have you sign it?”

Kevin became even more agitated at the words “non-disclosure agreement.” He bounced over to Sierra. “I KNEW he was working on something. He was just about to go Up North to kick Jerry’s ass.” Kevin turned to Randy. “Dude, let’s kick his ass where it counts, buddy!” Sierra gave Randy a confused look behind Kevin’s back. Randy replied, “It’s not like that, Kevin. This has nothing to do with Jerry or Zaunter or online backups.” Kevin wiggled with joy, “Even better!” Randy tried to calm him down. “No, Kevin, it’s not nearly as exciting as you’re thinking.”

Sierra finally got her bearings and took control of the situation. “Kevin, listen to me. I talked to Roscoe. He told me that you are pretty much guaranteed the ranger position that will open up when Jeff retires. The problem is, it’s just a winter position. The summer portion of Jeff’s job is going to some off-roader that only comes to Merriton during the summer.” Kevin nodded and answered, “Yeah, Moe from Up North.” He looked from Sierra to Randy and back to Sierra. “We thought that you could work on the Thunder Brothers’ Ranch during the summers. During slow times, you could work on whatever projects you wanted and whatever you create will belong to you, not us. We are also currently in negotiations with several ethanol distilleries, so we need you to not tell anyone about anything that goes on at the ranch. That’s why we needed an agreement. We can’t pay you what you would earn back in San Francisco, but we can give you a room at the Thunder Brothers’ Ranch if you want your independence.”

Kevin’s exuberance deflated. He looked from Sierra’s face back to Randy’s for verification. “You want me to be a farm hand?” Randy cringed at Kevin’s words, “You said you wanted to be a part of whatever we were involved in. We’re growing corn. The Thunder Brothers are going to need a lot of help during planting and harvest. Sierra and I aren’t enough. Even if you help us, we’re going to need to hire at least five or six other people to really help them during their busiest times.”

“80 Hours and Hatin’ It?” Kevin ran his hand over his face the same way Randy did when he was tired. “I’m the new coder? You’re bringing me in early so I’ll be able to be up to speed by the time they need me?” Randy nodded, “Yeah, I’m sorry that’s not as cool as all the things you’ve been planning for me, but we are working on this and we want you to come along with us.” The room was quiet except for the sound of melted snow dripping off Sierra’s boots.