THE "RIGHT" MAN FOR KAREN

Karen pulled off the street and over to a corner when her chief called on her cell. “I have a rather difficult problem,” he said. “A famous old soldier is visiting our town and it is necessary to provide a party for him.”

“When?” Karen asked.

“At 8 pm.”

“Where?” she asked.

“In a room I’ve got in a wing of the Grand Hotel.”

“Size?”

“It’s a large party room.”

“No, the size of the crowd. ”

“Maybe 50…So have 50 chairs, and 12 small tables.”

“Food?”

“Finger food.”

“OK,” Karen said.

“But you didn’t ask one question,” the chief said.

“What?”

“No, you didn’t ask “Why.” the chief said. “ This famous old soldier can help our product supply problem. He knows someone in a distant colony who can help us.”

“OK,” she said, “I’m on it now.”

“I don’t imagine you like this, Karen,” the chief said, “But I always know I can depend on you. Don’t you agree?”

“I guess so,” she said.

“You are beyond compare…”

 Right, she thought. Compare me on payday. But she said: “So now that means I’ve got to hurry. Bye bye.”

There was one more question I did not ask, thought Karen. I didn’t ask “how.” It was now 4pm on her car’s clock. In just 4 hours those people will be streaming into the party room at the hotel, and this process is all mine. Thus, she thought, I will create it all, now. There was no time to ask the hotel for help.

Then the car hit a train rail that was high over the road. She could feel it in her bones. Something in the front of her car was broken. There was too much danger now to operate the car any more. But her real fear was that she might let her chief down.  Things looked bad.

But, an idea hit her. She called her neighbor, Michael, who was a cook at a place by the lake. This was his day off.  He was sleeping.

“Michael?” she said.

“Right,” he said, with sleep still in his voice. “I thought you were the alarm bell.”

“Michael, you said you wanted to get to know me better.”

“Right…” Michael said. But he was not sleeping now.

“How would you like to go to a party?”

“With you?”

“Of course. But there is one string…”

“Right…” he said. “Anything you want…almost anything.”

“We have to take food for 50 people.”

She waited for 10 seconds for his answer.

“Right…”he said, “It’s good that I have the day off.”

“Great!,” she said.

“You pay?” His mind was sharp now.

“Right!” she answered, and laughed.

“I’ll call you back when I have it ready,” Michael said, “I’m thinking about serving some meat in thin pieces they can eat with their fingers. I’ll have to rub it with something good. I have tubes of things that are good for that. Then I’m thinking about a rich, thick corn dish they can eat with the meat, and some fruit I will have to wash, of course. The fruit will tie it all together.”

“Gosh, Michael…” Karen said, very happy. “I called the right person.”

“Right,” said Michael.

“And just one more thing?” Karen said.

“Sure,” said Michael.

“My car had a breakdown here. Could you also pick me up and help me take it somewhere?” Now she waited another 10 seconds for his answer. She wondered what he would say. And she smiled when she heard it.

“Right.”

Ready-to-Use

a. corner: at the corner; where two streets cross. "The downtown bus stops at the corner."

b. agree: agree with somebody; say they are correct.  "She agreed with him that the sun was hot that day."

c. famous: famous from something; because you did something great. "He was famous from being in the Olympics."

d. fear: have a fear of something (, like cars in the street that can hit you). "He has a fear of busy streets."

e. fruit: fruitful business..grows good fruit (makes money). "She became rich from her fruitful business."