General Fiction posted April 26, 2024

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Finding Warren

A chapter in the book What We See

What We See - Chapter 37

by Jim Wile

Background
A high school teacher wrongly accused of sexual assault reinvents his life.

Recap of Chapter 36: Alan and his patent lawyer, Harold Carmody, pay a visit to Wilson Fraleigh of Fraleigh Medical, who filed the patent application first after Warren had sold the stolen device and notes to Wilson Fraleigh’s brother-in-law, a vice president of the company. Wilson Fraleigh had not known of the sale because he had been on a medical leave of absence.

Alan has brought proof that he was the inventor of the device as well as the videotape of the theft, which he shows to Fraleigh. To avoid a lawsuit and to express goodwill because he would like to manufacture the device, Fraleigh decides he will revoke their patent application and vows to fire his brother-in-law, who has demonstrated poor judgment and unscrupulous ways other times as well. He also promises Alan a good deal if he would consider Fraleigh Medical for manufacture of the device. Alan and Carmody are greatly pleased by this turn of events.

Chapter 37

When I got home after work today, Ginnie’s car was in the carport, but she wasn’t downstairs. She was probably upstairs, changing out of her scrubs. Tommy and Callie Lyons were in his room together, supposedly studying, but I think they spent most of their time playing games on his computer. We did insist that his bedroom door remain open when Callie was here. I peeked in and said hi, then went to find Ginnie to tell her the good news.

“Well?” she said when she saw me.

She was only half-dressed at the time. I went over, grabbed her, and swung her around.

“You’re in a frisky mood. Must be good news, huh?”

I went to put her down then, but she grabbed on with her legs around my waist and wouldn’t let go. “The best! Fraleigh agreed to withdraw his patent application without a fight. In fact, he was very apologetic that it had come to this, and it sounds like he’ll be firing the guy who was responsible. Said it was his brother-in-law.”

“Ooo, that may not go over so well with his wife.”

“Sure sounds like the guy deserves it, though. Sounds like he’s a screwup and just lost the company 100 grand to Warren.”

“Oh, I’m so happy for you, sweetie.” She laid a big smooch on me then and finally let go with her legs.

I didn’t let her go, though, and smooched her again. “How about we go out for dinner tonight and celebrate. Maybe Tommy will want to invite Callie to go with us. What about some Mexican at Chico’s?”

“Sounds good. Didn’t feel like cooking tonight anyway. Why don’t you go tell Tommy and see if Callie wants to come too, and I’ll finish getting dressed?”

“How about a few more smooches first?” I said, as I kissed her again.

“Mmm. Let’s save that ‘til later tonight, okay?” as she fended me off. “Now go ask your son and his girlfriend.”

We’d had a fun time at dinner last night at Chico’s, where we celebrated the good news from yesterday. I didn’t mind sharing it with Callie, who went with us. She was quite impressed by the invention, which I brought with us. Tommy used it to read the menu, and Callie gave it a try too. We all got a good laugh as it pronounced everything with an Americanized accent. Thus, Camarones Guajillo came out as Cama-roans Gua-jillow, and quesadilla came out as qwezza-dilla. It was apparent the speech synthesizer needed a little work.

This morning, the first order of business was to complete the provisional patent application form that Mr. Carmody had provided me.

It had taken a couple of back-and-forths with him to cover all the bases. He understood the need for speed, so he was very prompt with his revision recommendations, as was I with the necessary revisions. I completed the final modifications and overnighted them to him.

He called the following day to tell me he had received them, checked them over a final time, and sent them in to the patent office. Now it would be a waiting game for this application to be approved. It could take up to six months, but at least I now have the earliest known date of the invention on the books. Even if someone else were to seek another patent request for an equivalent device, mine would be the one granted because it was first in line. I could finally relax.

But not totally. I still wanted to get the hard drive back that Warren had stolen because there were a number of other ideas documented on it in separate directories from the ones for the glasses.

For example, there was one for short-distance wireless communications, which I had contemplated adding to the glasses should it prove impossible to make a sufficiently miniaturized version of the “computer” where all the processing would take place. I didn’t want to have to run wires from the glasses to the computer held in the user’s pocket, as happens now, and would rather the communications between devices be wireless. Such technology didn’t exist yet, so I had preliminary plans for building it. It was nowhere near patentable, though. There were several other devices in early development documented on that hard drive too, and I wanted to put an end, once and for all, to Warren's ability to profit from my ideas.

I don’t know which is worse: people blaming me for things I didn’t do or people taking credit for things I did, but I’ve had enough of both. I’m determined now never to let either one happen again.

Once I get the full patent for the glasses, I’m going to go after the best deal I can for their manufacture because I know it works and it will help a lot of people. And in the process, I should make good money from it. And so I don’t have to go through this hassle again, I’m going to get that hard drive back and nail the son-of-a-bitch for his theft. But how to find him?

I didn’t have much to go on. He didn’t answer the phone at his place in Grantham, so maybe he had moved back to Fort Wayne, where he said he had worked previously. Perhaps he had family there.

Only one way to find out: I made a trip there the next day and stopped at a service station where I’d seen a phone booth. There was a phone book in there, and I looked for the name Meyers. Fort Wayne has a population of almost 250,000 and, to my dismay, there were tons of Meyerses in the phone book.

Then I had another thought. I remember he’d said his old boss had retired and was trying to sell his shop by the same name. Maybe he was still here. What was that name? It was a composer’s name, but I couldn’t remember which one right away. It wasn’t a very familiar one, like Mozart or Handel; I know that much. Mussorgsky perhaps? No, Sibelius? Then it came to me: Dvorak. New World Symphony. That was it. Much less common. I looked it up, and there were only six in the book. I could handle that.

I called each one, asking if they had owned an electrical repair shop that was now closed. I struck paydirt on the fourth one. Samuel Dvorak had owned the shop and was wondering if I was interested in buying it.

“Uh, no, Mr. Dvorak. The reason I’m calling is because I’m trying to locate a former employee of yours, Warren Myers.”

“Yes, Warren worked for me for several years. Good worker too.”

“He worked for me too at my store in Mason for several months. I believe he got into some trouble and never showed up one day, and I’ve lost touch with him. He doesn’t respond to my phone calls, and I was wondering if you had some sort of home address for him here in Fort Wayne when he worked for you? Or perhaps you know of a relative who lives here who might know where he is.”

“I believe he lived with his mother, if I remember correctly. Let me see if I’ve got her address. Hold on just a moment.”

That was perfect. If anyone knew where he was, it would probably be his mother. Dvorak returned to the phone in a couple of minutes and said, “Yeah, I found his address. It was 421 Alpha Street.”

“Would you happen to know his mother’s name, Mr. Dvorak?”

“He might have mentioned it once or twice, but I don’t remember it.”

“That’s okay. If she’s in the phone book, I should be able to find her number. Thank you very much for this. I appreciate it.”

“Hope you find him. Good fellow, although he seemed to have a bit of a gambling problem, truth be told.”

“Alright, then. Thanks again.”

Once more, I looked through the Meyerses, hoping to find an address on Alpha Street. Sure enough, there was an Elizabeth Meyers who lived at 421 Alpha Street. I called the number. It rang about ten times before it was answered.”

“What do you want?” came the response from a raspy female voice.

“Is this Elizabeth Meyers?”

“Who wants to know?”

“My name is Nathan Caldwell. I’ve been trying to get ahold of your son, Warren, for a while now with no success. Have you spoken to him lately, and do you know where he might be?”

“I have no friggin’ idea where the bum is. Is this some card shark he owes money to? Skipped out on his debts again, huh?”

“No, ma’am. I’m the pastor at his church in Grantham. I’m worried about him and wondering where he is.”

“Son-of-a-bitch got religion now, huh? Well, the big turd stole money from me to pay off someone or other he got in trouble with, and he up and left me high and dry months ago. I don’t know or care where he is now.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Does he have any other relatives who might know where he is?”

“He’s got a good-for-nothin’ brother lives down in Arkansas. Two of a kind. Both no good.”

“Do you have a name and phone number for him by any chance?”

“Name’s Dennis, but I don’t have no phone number for him. Never calls me, and I don’t call him neither.”

“Do you know where in Arkansas he lives?”

“Just outside Little Rock in a podunk town called Macon.”

“Do you think he might have gone there?”

“Have no friggin’ idea. What you want him for anyway? He owe you money too?”

“No ma’am. He’s been coming to Bible study regularly, and he just stopped coming. I’ve been trying to call him to ask him why, but he doesn’t answer at the number I have for him.”

“Well, he prob’ly skipped town like he done before when he gets in debt. If you find him, tell him his ma says, ‘Go to hell.’”

“Alright Mrs. Meyers. Thanks for your help.”

Well, at least I discovered where he might have gone. I think I’ll discuss this with Ginnie before deciding what to do with this information. I got in my car and headed home.

(5 more chapters to go)

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CHARACTERS

Alan Phelps: The narrator of the story. He is a 28-year-old high school physics and natural science teacher in Grantham, Indiana in 1985.

Archie: David's orange tabby cat

Tommy Boardman: Alan's 12-year-old next door neighbor. He is dyslexic like Alan.

Ginnie Boardman: Tommy's mother. She is 30 years old and is an ICU nurse.

Artie Intintoli: Tommy's friend who also lives on Loser St.

Ida Beeman: Alan's first customer. She is a nice old lady who lives on Loser Street.

Leroy Beeman: Miss Ida's grandson and Tommy's friend.

Mrs. Dunbar: Tommy's 7th grade English teacher.

Callie Lyons: A nice girl in Tommy's class at school.

Trent Lyons: Callie's father, who is a lawyer.

Warren Meyers: Alan's assistant in the repair shop.

Abby St. Claire: Callie's cousin who is a math major with an engineering minor at Penn State University.

Harold Carmody: A patent and infringement attorney.

Wilson Fraleigh: The owner and president of the company that bought the patent from Warren.

Samuel Dvorak: Warren's former employer.

Elizabeth Meyers: Warren's mother.

Dennis Meyers: Warren's brother.

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Finding Warren

A chapter in the book What We See

What We See - Chapter 37

by Jim Wile

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