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"Well, I hired this team!" Mildred Alfreda Zukiger's voice approached being shrill, her face growing white and expression growing stiff.
JD nodded. "Sure, Mom. You assembled a good team. And if you are dissatisfied with the performance of anyone on the team, I'll take over their contract. But I think you had some other plan you wanted to discuss."
Mother gave son a look of distress and sat heavily on the sofa. After a short minute to recover, she explained. "Well, I thought we could do it more like a contest. We could get full resumes until a deadline, I could pick the best twenty, and you could pick the one you want from there."
"The only difference between that and what we have been doing so far is that you'd have a lot larger catalog to choose from, Mom." JD smiled slowly. "Mind you, you found Millie for us already. Perhaps if she and I had gotten a better start, ..."
He looked sideways at Millie. Millie looked up and gave him a single non-committal nod.
"Okay, maybe, under this scenario, we could go over the lists together, Mom. But it isn't one I favor."
Sherry went to the blackboard and joined Sheliah in erasing it, then started summarizing Mildred's plan on the whiteboard while Sheliah sat down.
"Well, Sister Zukiger, using that format may incur more legal obligations." Ronnie spoke up as she thumbed through search results on her table. "Contests have rules. We might need to set up a website to explain the rules and procedures. And if we aren't careful, JD might end up legally compelled to offer marriage to one of your finalists."
"Well, of course. He has to quit running away from this. I have full confidence in my judgement."
As she wrote, Sherry said, without turning around, "We are sure you would judge well, Mrs. Zukiger. But, as JD's long-time friend, I must say that you are likely to miss some things that are important to him."
"I think not."
Sherry finished writing without responding. "Does this summarize your ideas, Mrs. Zukiger?"
Mildred looked at the whiteboard for a short minute, then grudgingly admitted it did. Millie took a picture, and Sherry started erasing it.
"So, JD, what do you think?" She finished erasing and turned around. Millie joined her at the whiteboard, and Sherry handed her the marker.
"Well, as everyone knows, I really don't like all this fuss about finding me a wife."
"As your friend and business partner, I must say, you need a partner for your life, not just your business."
Millie spoke up. "Sherry, that's not fair. Under your own rules, you can't give him that kind of advice."
Sherry and Millie locked eyes for a long moment. Then Sherry slowly nodded. "You're right. Forgive me, Millie." She turned to JD. "Sorry."
JD rubbed his forehead. "Well, never mind. So we can't go there."
"No, JD, you can't go there. Sherry is not a good match for you." Mildred's expression was dark, but had traces of triumph written in them.
"Sister Zukiger, if you want your son's cooperation, ...," Sheliah stood up. "If you want any of us to cooperate further, you need to back off at least that topic."
Mildred had nothing to say to that.
Millie turned to JD. "So, if you had to have something to suggest, Joseph Daniel, what would you suggest?"
JD looked perplexed. After a short minute's thought, he said, "This all seems, well, like one of those silly old-fashioned romance novels set in days long gone, or like a piece of one of those reality show house parties."
"You would also be averse to a house party?"
"The Church runs youth and single adult conferences. They look a lot like house parties."
That got some laughter from most in the room.
"But they seem much more appropriate to the purpose, partly because the primary focus is not supposed to be on finding a mate." He thought a moment more. "I mean, yeah, my mom set me up with you, and maybe we'll revisit that, but focusing on the question of mating just screwed the whole thing up the first time around."
Millie laughed. "Maybe so. But let's say we did have a house party. Would you be willing to join it?"
JD looked around at the group, then he focused on his mother. "I could do that, depending on the activities, if there is no making promises that anyone ends up getting together. There has to be some relief from the big question, or people go crazy."
Mildred's expression become thoughtful.
JD continued, "If we advertise it as having to do with millionaires, we should invite some other rich guys -- and gals -- as well. Now he looked back at Millie, who raised her eyebrows. "Millie and Sherry are invited." He thought a moment. "Four total? No, four more woman and five more men from the rich crowd."
Millie busied herself writing on the whiteboard.
"Mom can figure out some possibilities about who to invite from her connections, but they have to be approved by the whole team, and the invitations vetted by George and Hank. And I'm going to ask Sherry and Millie to join the team for that." He paused again.
"And we put out a public call for participants from all classes. Money isn't the only balancing factor in contracts of this nature. We'll choose up to twenty men and twenty women from those who apply, in even numbers."
"Have I got it so far?" Millie examined her work.
"That looks right. Sherry, can you get a picture of that?"
"Got it. But I'm not sure I agree to it."
The door opened.
"I thought you guys were going to wait for us?"
"Hi, Dad. Hank. George?"
"I'm here, too." George walked in behind Hank.
"Hi, Dad Z, my big chair's open."
"Thanks." He sat in Sherry's big chair.
The two lawyers sat on the sofa.
"Me, too!" Krystal Karen Zukiger trailed in. "I came to cheer for Mom's side."
JD laughed as Krystal waltzed over to his desk and perched on it.
"You got the projector, Sherry? Let's go over what we've covered so far."
Sherry and Millie looked at each other, then Sherry went to her desk and got a projector out of a drawer.
"Millicent!" Krystal looked startled. "You look different! I like it!"
Millie and Sherry laughed as they set the projector up.
"Thank you. I'm in a different role today."
"Well it's cool!"
"Yeah." JD gave his little sister a hug. "Now we need James. I'll go get James."
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Copyright 2019 Joel Matthew Rees
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Keep it on topic, and be patient with the moderator. I have other things to do, too, you know.