idioms...sayings understood by native speakers part fifty three

Rick stood watching his Uncle leave. John was the youngest...he also was the most dangerous. Not like his dad who chased skirts, not like Carl's dad who controlled people by violence, John loved to play games. He always worked things to his advantage. He was better than the White House press secretary in the way he could spin things. Here he was with flowers in hand, playing the concerned family member. None of this bode well. l

Rick turned and headed back towards the girls and Charlie. So the contracts magically disappeared. No one knew about those except... he pulled up, stopping in his tracks...Steve Hauser was the one who suggested turning those contracts over to legal and accounting. Rick was looking down at the beige floor of the hospital. The scenarios all entered into his mind as he calculated the results and answered all the what ifs. Rick was startled out of his musings when he saw Charlie crawling along the flood.

"Charlie???"

"Wick, Charlie will help."

"Er, um, help with what Charlie?"

"Wick lost his contacts. Charlie will help find them."

Lynn was standing up with Jenny, confused because Rick did not wear contacts... Then, she realized. Contracts.... not contacts.. and they were lost. Lynn glanced at Rick kneeling down beside Charlie, helping him up.

"Charlie, don't worry about it. Okay?" He sighed and turned to Lynn and Jenny, feeling like Lynn was looking thru him.

"Lynn, I think it is time to get everyone home. Sara won't wake up till tomorrow. Jenny will stay with Carl tonight. And we," he sighed, "Both have work."

"Charlie has work, too."

"Just a minute, Rick." Lynn opened her purse and pulled out some cash. "Jenny, here. You are going to need this if you stay here. Food and stuff." She shoved it into her hand, then gave her a hug. "Call me, if you need to talk. I will be back here after work. We might be able to go see Sara together."

Rick went to the information desk outside of the OR. "How can I keep my loved ones safe here if they have been assaulted."

"Ah, that is simple. We just make them a no information patient."

"How does that work?"

"We will accept up to four contact names, and they must have the password to get information. But sir, if we do this, no one else will find out anything. Nor will they be able to see the patient unless a contact is with them."

Rick nodded. "It is imperative that Sara and Carl Matthews are placed on the no information list. And, these are the names of contacts." He paused as the clerk pulled out a legal pad. "Rick Richardson, Lynn Johnson, Charlie Johnson, Jenny Lundstrum."

"So what would you like the password to be?"

Rick sighed glancing back at the trio talking amongst themselves. "Contracts." was all he said.

---

Tiredly entering the house, Charlie got a quick bath and settled into Rick's room. Lynn sat beside Rick as he pulled up his presentation, going over it.

"Rick?"

"yeah?"

"Who was that guy at the hospital? He looked sort of familiar."

"Ah, that would be my Uncle John. He is one of the board members, you probably remember him from your presentation. Why?"

Lynn looked at him. "No reason."

Rick glanced at Lynn, seeing her lost in thought.

"What are you thinking about?"

The girl looked down at her hands and clenched them.

Rick closed his laptop and put it into his case. He got up and pulled Lynn off the couch into a hug. "Listen." He whispered into her ear. "Lynn, I know you. Don't worry. All I have to do is get thru tomorrow's presentation. I think they want me where they can keep an eye on me, so I probably won't lose my job."

She narrowed her eyes. "What the twins told us." she whispered. "Are you a replacement?"

He pulled Lynn's chin up and lowered himself to look into those deep brown eyes. "Don't say another word. I won't go down without a fight." He paused, kissed her on the cheek and then said out loud, "Good night, Lynn." He turned and headed into his bedroom.

Lynn tossed and turned. She pulled her cell phone. "Joe? It's me, Lynn. What time are you planning to be at the warehouse?"

"Could you be there by seven? Mr. Matthews had ...an accident last night and won't be coming to work. I need to do some things at the office."

"Um, he is all right. He needs to stay at the hospital for a while for observation."

"Good." She paused. "I should be able to get there at noon."

"Great. Thank you."

Then she went through her phone list contacting her friends in legal and accounting. She smiled as she accessed the company directory and found it. She placed her cell on her charger and then turned off the light. She tiptoed to Rick's door. Opening it, she felt at peace when she saw her brother asleep on the roll away with his bear.

She crept in. As she neared Rick's bed, she stood there, suddenly very unsure of herself. The man was laying on his back with an elbow across his forehead, he opened one eye, noting Lynn, clad in her flannel pjs standing there staring at him.. He did not say a word, but scooted over and lifted the covers. She crawled in.

"I couldn't sleep." Lynn stated, quietly.

"Shut up. You don't do things for yourself." He turned over to his side and pushed her onto her side. "I will never figure out how you know what I need." He possessively placed his arm around her waist and pulled her close. "Now maybe, we can both get some sleep."

---

Carl woke up as the nurse took his vital sighs and did his neuro checks. He yawned as he squeezed her hands for the umpteenth time tonight. Then he saw Jenny, her head beside him on the bed, sitting in a chair.

The nurse sighed. "I did not have the heart to tell her that visiting hours were over. She gets up every couple of hours of so and goes to check on your mom. Your fiance is a keeper, I think."

"I think you are right." Carl took his finger and traced the line of her temple to her jaw. Then he took his index finger and twirled it in her long blond hair, noting the satin feel.

Jenny sighed, sat staight up. Rubbing her face vigorously and then smoothed her hair. She stretched. Then rubbed her eyes some more. She opened them and smiled as a sleeping Carl lay there on the bed. She timidly reached up pushed those stubborn bangs he always tried to train out of his eyes and gingerly trailed her finger over his bruised face, wishing she could take the hurt away.

"Carl. Get better. I am going to visit your mom now." She started to get up and felt herself being pulled forward. She found herself beside the man and he held onto her. "it's three am in the morning. We all need our rest, you included. Get a couple hours of rest, the nurse said she would wake you in time to leave before the dayshift gets here."

---

Lynn  yawned and blushed a little, as she realized she wasn't dreaming. Rick was beside her, resting his arm across her stomach, sound asleep face down. She glanced at the alarm clock and started to get up. The arm seemed to reflexively apply pressure as he turned onto his side. "Going somewhere?"

"I have to get up before Charlie does. I don't want to answer questions."

"Why? Nothing happened."

"i know. But his Li Li doesn't sleep with men."

Rick smiled. "And you still haven't."

"Shut up." As she headed out the door to prepare for the coming day, closing the door as she left.

"Wick?"

"Yes, Charlie."

"Li Li is funny."

He smiled and shook his head. "I know."

"Wick?"

"Yes, Charlie."

"You really like Li LI."

"Yes, Charlie."

"Good." was all he said, as he turned back and fell asleep.

Rick noted the time and wondered how a few hours of sleep could have felt like ten. He closed his eyes to catch a few more ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ's. The alarm went off. He got up to head for the shower. Time to greet the new day.

---

Mrs. Smith stood just beside the corner of the building watching the pretty young assistant climb out of the cab.

"Miss Johnson?"

"Oh, Mrs. Smith. Thank you for meeting me so early."

"No problem. If what you say is true, then the boss is in trouble." She paused. "I will go ahead. Come up to the executive office when you get past security. It would not look good if we walked in together. I have some ideas about where those contracts might have gone...Okay?"

Lynn walked in with the security guard. "Thanks." She went up to her office and sat down at the laptop, waiting for him to depart. She sat for five more minutes then she took the stairs up to the tenth floor. Out of breath, she entered into Mrs. Smith's Office who was no where to be found.

"Mrs. Smith?"

"Come in, Miss Johnson."

She entered into the CO's office. "Mrs. Smith?"

"Help me." Mrs. Smith was wearing plastic housekeeping gloves and threw a pair to Lynn as she was going thru some boxes with magazines...Lynn looked at some of the covers and started to blush.

"Miss Johnson, a business man is all about money. So those contracts would have not been destroyed. They want to make the boss look bad. But they want the money. So, where is the best place to hide something? Amongst the garbage, " as she reached down into the deep box and pulled out a folder. "See? No one would dare touch that old man's porn. For him, this would be the perfect place to hide the boss' contracts." She shuddered. "I am going to have to go home and take a shower after this."

Lynn laughed. "Mrs. Smith. You are a genius."

She grinned back at the young girl. "What executive assistant worth their salt, isn't.. and please. Call me Bonnie."

"Great. Call me Lynn."

They put the contracts onto a wheeled basket cart and headed downstairs to Legal and Accounting.

The two assistants got off on the seventh floor with the filled basket. They were greeted by two others who looked at the basket, wide eyed.

Lynn gave them her best smile. "Thank you both for meeting me this early. We found the misplaced contracts. I know this is short notice, but these have to be cleared by ten today. The sales and distribution manager is making a presentation and need these to be approved." She looked at the surprised faces of the two women.

"Lynn, we came in to help you look for them. It would not look good for our department to be blamed for losing these."

"Yeah, but, we are only assistants."

Mrs. Smith gave both girls a sly smile. "Stop being modest. You two are experts in your field. Your bosses rely on you both to do the footwork. I can stay and help. So can Lynn. Between the four of us, we should be able to get this done and approved by both managers... right?"

---

Rick took a sip of coffee as he prepared a quick breakfast for his ... family. He knew today would be tough, but this strange peace that entered him was almost mind boggling. He laid the plates of scrambled eggs and toast out on the table and then spied a note.

"Something came up. Went onto work. Please drop Charlie off at the Warehouse. Love, Lynn."

Rick slammed his coffee down on the table. "What the hell?"

Charlie emerged from the bathroom to the kitchen. "Wick?"

"Charlie. We have to hurry."

"Where is Li LI?"

"Um, your sister went on ahead." He swallowed hard. "Get dressed. We will eat in the car." As he placed the eggs on the toast, making sandwiches, he placed them in zip lock bags, the he pulled out two old travel cups filling one with orange juice, the other coffee.

Charlie came out dressed.

"Here, buddy." He handed Charlie a bag and a cup. "We have to go."

---

Rick quickly parked the car. He had to find Lynn. Scenarios all ending badly kept filling his head.

"Ah, Good Morning, Rick."

"Good Morning, Steve. You seem to be here awfully early."

"There is alot to do today to get ready for the Deaf and Blind school trials."

"Really? Then I would think that you would have gone onto the warehouse. They are already at work."

"Ah, Rick, it is way too early in the morning to be this awake."

"Steve?" Rick looked him in the eye. "Do you know anything about any missing contracts?"

"Me? I don't know anything. As far as i know, you still have them in your trunk."

"No. I took your advice and dropped them off to legal and accounting."

"Really?" He paused and retrieved his briefcase from the back seat. "Then they must have lost them." As he straightened up, he looked at his friend. "Let's go in."

Rick walked silently to the office, wondering if this guy had betrayed him. Rick looked at his watch. It was seven forty five. He needed to find Lynn. As he waited on the elevator, his cell phone went off. He sighed. "Rick, could you please come up to the office?"

"Yes, Chairman." He hung up, then tried to get ahold of Lynn for the twentieth time this morning only to be greeted by her voice mail. He stepped onto the elevator and got off on the tenth floor.

to be continued.