Ne'er Do Well

"Jesus, man. Have you been drinking or what? I promised you would be appointed Adjutant General if I was elected and now you are. Are you trying to tell me you've changed your mind here or something?"

"No, I just, Adjutant General? I'm just trying to get my head around it is all."

Cedric laughed and relaxed before he said, "I understand. Hell, I felt that way when they announced I won the election too. You'll get over it. Now, when can you get up here?"

"Day after tomorrow be soon enough? I have to do a couple of things here tomorrow and I want to bring Kathy so she'll need to arrange for someone to pick up her work."

Garrett hung up the phone and almost collapsed back into his chair. His face was almost white. Kathy walked over to him and worriedly asked, "What's the matter, Honey? You look almost sick."

Garrett sort of shook himself and looked up at her. He reached up and pulled her into his lap then said, "I just got a new job."

"That's great! What is it? Is that why we have to go to Jefferson City?"

"Yeah, but that's not all. We'll be moving there for at least the next four years and maybe eight. You need to either close the café or find someone to run it. Oh, and the shit's gonna hit the fan tomorrow morning. I'll come to the café to help you shovel it."

"Why would we move? I like it here and I thought you did, too."

"Well, I do, but the new job is a full time one and I have to do it in the Capitol. Cedric thought when I gave him the campaign money I was cutting a deal with him when I told him all I wanted was to remain in the guard in a senior and responsible position. He has appointed me the State Adjutant General. Unless I fuck up by the numbers I will have eight years assuming he's reelected. After he leaves office we can retire and come back here. Take it from me, the retirement for a Major General is much, much better than that of a lowly Colonel."

As he expected, the café was a madhouse the next morning. To make matters worse, the news release about his appointment to Adjutant General also mentioned he was the sole owner (with his wife) of the largest property management company in the southwest part of the state—RKM Properties.

When Garrett walked into the café that morning the noise stopped and everyone there turned and stared at him when he took his customary seat. You could have heard the proverbial pin drop. Finally, the brash Trevor broke the ice. He said, "You sneaky bastard, you OWN RKM Properties and none of us ever knew. You told us you were a maintenance man. And you're a damn General in the Guard? Why the hell didn't you tell us? You were always telling us you gave the soldiers things to do then went around and made sure they did it. Hell, you let us believe you were a damn sergeant or something."

"Well, I didn't lie to anyone. I did do maintenance for RKM in my spare time and I did give the soldiers jobs to do and I did check on them. I just didn't toot my own horn and tell anyone what I actually did is all. Hell, it wasn't important. I had my friends and I lived my life as I wanted to live it. I got to hunt and fish and do the things I wanted to do. If I had sat in an office and managed the company I would have been too busy to do those things. We had hired help to take care of the management and my mother in law and Kathy kept up with the books and general management."

Slowly the noise level rose to the normal din. As might be expected, Garrett was the topic of conversation with the local paper being passed around heavily. Every time he looked up Garrett found someone staring at him.

Kathy promoted her head cook to manager of the café and small store when she and Garrett moved to Jefferson City. Neither Garrett nor Kathy ever became fully comfortable living in the capitol or attending all the high level parties and functions his position demanded he attend. They did enjoy the opportunities to travel that his position gave them. When Garrett went somewhere for a meeting, he took Kathy and they managed, usually, to turn the trip into a mini vacation.

During the seventh year in office, Garrett and Kathy had a new house built on the farm to use for their retirement home. When the governor left office, Garrett let it be known he was retiring and they needed to find a new Adjutant General.

One of the first things Garrett did when he retired and returned home was purchase a new Jon boat to use for fishing. As soon as the fishing season opened, he and Kathy could be found putt putting up and down the river, fishing and enjoying their twilight years. Both their children followed Garrett into the Guard and were working in the business for a civilian job. Many times they, too, could be found fishing and lying around on the riverbank. It appeared as if Garrett had raised another generation of ne'er-do-wells. This generation, however, was talked about by the community because it was now known they had money and were just goofing off instead of splashing it around.