As Conor made his way up the stairs and along the walkway to his apartment, he found Yuri waiting outside. At fifteen, Yuri was still a bit short for his age, but was quickly maturing. Conor felt like he was a little brother he never had.
"Conor! You're home!"
"What's up Yuri? Everything ok?"
"You are not going to believe this! Mr. Nuri managed to get me a spot at the Bayan Gaming Convention this weekend! He says mom can take me and I will be able to present the game! This is HUGE!!! All the top companies will be modeling the new games and systems there! If I can get one of them to like 'Song of Dragons', we could go multiplatform and, and..."
"WHOA WHOA WHOA, slow down Yuri!" Conor chuckled, "I am excited for you. But take it one step at a time. I am thrilled you get to go to the convention but make sure before you make any decisions you talk to Mr. Nuri. His team knows how contracts work. Let them be the ones to negotiate anything, understand?"
Yuri hung his head but then piped back up, "Conor will you be able to come this weekend? There will be other games to try out, but I don't know if anyone else has an open world map like mine!"
"I am sorry, but I am likely going to have to work. I just started this new job at Jackson Furniture and am looking for another part time job in the evenings. I am likely going to be very busy."
"Aw, that sucks. Well, when I make millions, don't worry, you will not have to work so much. I will buy you and Jess a nice house."
Conor chuckled. "Alright, you do that for us. I look forward to it. And tell your mom hello for me."
Conor passed Yuri and entered his apartment to find Jessica at the kitchen counter, a slew of papers scattered all around her. "Busy day, honey?"
"Huh? Oh, Hi, Conor. Hey, come take a look at this! You specialized in marketing, right?"
Conor strode over and looked at the documents. Jessica had a series of images and ad plans, most of which seemed focused on the family Cochan mall on main street.
"Is this part of the Chamber of Commerce marketing plan?"
"Yea... how did you know about that?"
"Oh, I hear things. I still have a few friends in town. Who is the photographer?"
"This great new company AperturePhoto is doing a tourism campaign with the Chamber. They are planning a full tourism scavenger hunt around town. After talking with everyone today I was able to secure our mall as being at least one of the locations mentioned! Do you know that there is a huge graffiti mural along the side of the building of a pair of dragon wings? My dad has been wanting to paint over them for years... but this! This could really help drive traffic again!"
Conor grinned from ear to ear and just hummed along as his wife excitedly chatted about her meetings. "Did the photographer show you any photos from around the mall?"
"Oh... umm, yes, there was one. He had a model in a tan suit. It looks really good with the dragon wings fanned out behind him. I am not sure why he had him dip a hat in front of his face, but the result is amazing! I can see this attracting a lot of people who want to duplicate it!"
"Hmm, well, I'm thrilled it is working out. How did your father take it?"
"Well... I think he is reserving judgment. He is willing to let me take on the project and see what happens, but I don't think he is convinced."
"Well, I am sure you will do amazing. I have heard good things about the owners of AperturePhoto, so I am sure your partnership will do great for the mall." Conor snuck a kiss to the back of Jessica's head as he headed off for a shower.
Conor woke the next morning feeling excited for the day. Jessica was well on her way to getting very needed advertisement for the mall, Peter Miros would be getting solid business from the city council and chamber of commerce and Yuri seemed set for a big launch of his new game this coming weekend. Things were definitely looking up for the week. Conor knew full well that while these things were going well, he still had only a few days left to make up the remainder needed for their bills by the end of the week.
Conor was making his way to Jackson Furniture when his phone rang.
"Hello?
"Mr. Brantley, this is Jarad, with Mr. Nuri's office. I am working with Abby Weiss today and we got a call from the spice shop near GrizlHut. It seems the Spice of Life mix is doing really well, and the owner is asking for some part-time help with some of his taste testing events. Would you be interested in the work?"
"Umm, yes! When is he needing me? I am working eight to three today at Jackson's Furniture."
"That should work. If you can get there around four this afternoon, Mr. Arroz is planning an event this evening and would love to meet with you. It seems business is quite good!"
"Thank sounds excellent. Thank you, Jarad!"
"Not a problem, Mr. Brantley. Celia's blessing and wisdom be upon you."
"And on you."
Conor arrived at the furniture store, thinking about the many possibilities that continued to open up. However, his chipper mood was muted as he walked in to meet today's manager.
"You must be my new labor force... Conor right?"
"Yes Sir!"
"Well, you're late. I am Mr. Henly, the manager while Mr. Matthews is not here. Hurry up and get started in the back. We have several clients coming into their orders today and they all need to be moved to the bay doors."
Conor frowned and looked at the clock. 8:01 A.M. 'REALLY?' Conor brushed it off and went to the back to work for the day. Near the end of his shift, the gentleman from the day before came by to pick up his large sofa.
"Hey, I need you to load this into my truck."
Conor and another worker both looked at him and then at the huge sofa. The dock supervisor said, "I am sorry sir but policy is for us to bring it to the edge of the dock but it's up to the customer to load any pickups."
"Look I know the owner, just do what you are told, and I will make it worth your while."
Conor looked at his supervisor and then suggested, "If we have him sign a waiver taking responsibility and have Mr. Henly sign off, I suppose we could."
"Yes, do that!" the man shouted. "Hurry up, I have places to be."
Conor went and found Mr. Henly and explained the situation. "Yes, make the customer happy. That is how we do things," he said.
Conor held out a waiver, "Will you please sign then?"
Conor jogged back out to the dock, signature in hand. He passed it over to the client and once he signed, Conor and the supervisor worked on moving the huge couch out onto the dock. Carefully they lowered it to the back of a truck bed that was barely large enough to hold it.
"There you go, sir! Do you have straps or anything to tie it down?"
"I know what I am doing. Go back to pushing pallets around."
"Ok, umm, please sign this to confirm you are sure you have everything and are taking responsibility for the load from here." He signed quickly and started to drive off.
"Be safe sir," Conor called, waving as the truck spun out of the backlot. A loud CRASH reached them a second later.
"Hmm, wonder what that could have been?" shrugged the supervisor before stepping back inside to grab another load.