The most recent edition of the local newspaper had eight pages. Odds were good that only one of those pages was actually going to be read by anyone. The whole first page of the paper covered a story exposing a price fixing scheme that affected the prices that farmers got for the crops. Farmers had been getting ripped off for years according to the article. The article named names and gave in-depth details about how it had been done. Hundreds of people were going to be sent to jail as a result of the investigation.
Considering that the towns of Millville, West Millville, East Millville, North Millville, and New Millville were right in the heart of corn country this was big news. A simple trip to the store took five times as long as usual since everyone was talking about the scandal. Even the bank was running slow that day.
Karen stepped up to the counter and said, "Hello Mel."
"Hello Karen. How much have you got for us?"
"Ten million and thirty dollars," Karen answered.
"That's a lot," Mel said. "I hope that the ten millon isn't from a food company."
"It is from a high tech company in Boston," Karen said.
"I take it you've heard about the scandal," Mel said. She glanced at the check and then ran it through the machine.
Karen said, "That's something, isn't it?"
"I was talking to one of the farmers in the area who has a very large farm. He said that he might make an extra half a million dollars next fall if he gets realistic prices for his corn for a change," Mel said. She grabbed a receipt slip and slid it into the machine. There was a zzzt sound when the amount of the deposit was printed on the receipt.
"That's a lot of money," Karen said. Everyone in the area knew that large amounts of money were involved in agriculture. Crops brought in a lot of money, but the debts carried were equally large. It was often joked that it cost more than a million dollars to raise a million dollars worth of crops.
"According to one of the news reports on television last night, the farmers should have gotten paid ten percent more than they received," Mel said. She held out the receipt for Karen.
"That is incredible. People might actually make a living out of farming for a change."
Mel said, "That is the difference between keeping and losing the farm. This is going to be real good for the bank. We'll have fewer foreclosures and more equipment loans."
"It is going to be good for every business in the area," Karen said. "I'll see you next week."
"Great," Mel said.
Upon returning to Solutions Incorporated from the bank, Karen asked, "Has Magus arrived yet?"
"He hasn't come in yet," Claudia answered.
"That's odd. He's always here first thing in the morning," Karen said.
Claudia said, "I know."
"Did you know that he had a ten million dollar check for me to deposit today?" Karen said. She had nearly wrecked her car on the way to the bank. She was nervous at the idea of carrying a check worth ten million dollars.
Claudia said, "One of the Fortune 500 companies came in Tuesday. For you or me, he charges us ten dollars. For one of them, he charges ten million dollars."
"It sucks to be them," Karen said.
"It sure does," Claudia said with a laugh.
Karen asked, "Speaking of things sucking, how's the divorce going?"
"I signed the papers earlier this week. We still have to wait for it all to become official," Claudia said. Her husband was not being very cooperative.
"That's good," Karen said. She didn't really know the process by which people were divorced. She figured any progress was good news.
Not wanting to think about the misery that her divorce was putting her through, Claudia asked, "How does it feel to have your husband at home?"
"It's great. I can't tell you how much I missed him," Karen answered. Don had returned three days ago and they had spent nearly every minute that they were alone in the bedroom. She had been very happy that her daughter was still in school and Stephen was spending the entire day at the office. This was the first time since he had returned that she had left the house for more than twenty minutes.
"I thought you were walking funny," Claudia said.
"Hush," Karen said. She tried to look severe, but broke out in giggles.
Claudia asked, "What is he doing while you're at work today?"
"He's visiting Doug. He hasn't seen Doug since he was wounded," Karen answered. Wanda had told her that Doug was going to be returning to work soon. Mary had already moved out of their house.
"I'm sure that Doug will appreciate the visit. He must be bored sitting around the house," Claudia said.
"He's going back to work soon," Karen said.
"That's nice. I bet he's looking forward to it," Claudia said.
Karen said, "His injuries shouldn't be a problem since he works in the office of the feed store."
"I imagine that it is going to be very busy there in the near future," Claudia said. Spring was coming and farmers were preparing for another year of work. "It is going to be even busier this year because of the article in the news paper."
"You wouldn't believe what it was like at the bank today. Everyone was talking about that article," Karen said.
"I find the whole thing incredible. It is hard to believe that they were able to rip off so many farmers from all over the country. Imagine being able to control the price of corn, soy, and milk like that," Claudia said.
"Someone really busted that whole crop price fixing scheme wide open."
"That's the biggest news in agriculture since the invention of the plow," Claudia said.
Karen said, "I bet farmers everywhere are jumping for joy."
"You bet," Claudia said. "I heard they were going to hold a parade here in town. It wouldn't surprise me if all of those crooks are hung in effigy and carried down Main Street."
"You should have heard the talk at the bank," Karen said. "Mel was telling me that the farmers could expect as much as ten percent more for their crops this year."
Claudia said, "That's a big deal around here."
"It makes you wonder who managed to expose it," Karen said. It had been a very sophisticated plot in which government reported numbers were fudged one way, then fudged in a different way, and then corrected after all of the transactions had been performed. The farmers lost money on the sale and the consumers paid too much money on the purchase, but the middlemen made out like bandits.
Claudia said, "It had to be someone smart. I mean, he had to show how some of the crop report numbers got double counted, then under counted, and then correctly counted without looking like an obvious fraud. Those guys were able to do that for ten years."
"Those crooks walked off with four billion dollars every year just from corn. I don't know how much they stole from the dairy farmers and the soy farmers, but I imagine it is just as much. It might reach ten billion dollars once they finish the investigation," Karen said.
"That's a lot of money stolen from farmers," Claudia said.
Karen said, "You don't think..."
"Nah," Claudia said.
Startling both women, Magus entered the office. He said, "Ah good. You are both here."
"Yes we are," Claudia said expecting Magus to scurry off to his office. Instead, he just stood there smiling at the pair of them. He looked excited for a change. She entertained the idea of slipping around the desk and trying to give Magus a hug. The way he would waddle off waving his arms over his head was always worth a laugh or two.
"Claudia, I need you to set up the home schooling high school senior exit exam for Stephen for Monday. The Principal of the high school needs to administer it. Remind him that he owes me a favor," Magus said.
"Okay," Claudia said. She grabbed a notepad and scribbled a note to that effect.
"Already?" Karen asked. It took a minute to realize that Stephen was in the wrong year of school to be graduating. "He's only a junior."
"He's a senior. He passed the junior exam two months ago," Magus said.
"Does he know that?" Karen asked. She hadn't heard anything about him passing his junior year.
"I might not have mentioned it to him," Magus said. "We wouldn't want him to get a swelled head, would we?"
"Aren't you pushing him a bit? He can't be ready to graduate high school yet," Karen said.
"He's ready for it. Besides, I've already got him accepted at Harvard," Magus said.
"Harvard?"
"Yes, Harvard."
"We can't afford Harvard."
"He's got a full scholarship," Magus said.
Karen stood there open mouthed trying to think of something to say. Stephen hadn't ever earned the kind of grades that would get him into Harvard much less a scholarship for it. Finally she asked, "Are you paying his scholarship?"
"Me? No. When I mentioned to the President of Harvard that Stephen was my protégé, he couldn't do enough to get Stephen to go there. They offered him a full ride from pre-law through law school," Magus said.
"I can't believe it," Karen said numbly.
Magus said, "Of course, his essay comparing and contrasting The Red Badge of Courage, To Kill a Mockingbird, Oliver Twist, and King Lear was brilliant. He got full scholarships to a couple of universities based on that alone. His introduction in which he stated that the differences were obvious but the similarities were sublime was a particularly nice touch. I wept while reading it."
"What other schools did he get into?" Karen asked.
"Some Podunk little schools like Yale, Stanford, Cornell, Duke, and Princeton. Why would he go to one of those places when he can go to my old alma mater?" Magus said.
"Who would want to go to Princeton?" Karen asked trying to keep her mouth from hanging open. Claudia giggled.
Magus said, "Can you imagine what he would have done if I had given him more than two days to read the books and write the paper?"
"Two days?" Karen asked. No wonder Stephen came home from school every night and collapsed on his bed. She had thought that he was just acting.
"I can't wait for him to graduate with a law degree like me. The world will never know what hit it when Magus and Titus join forces," Magus said. He even followed it up with a slightly evil laugh.
"Does Stephen know this?" Karen asked. It was difficult to believe that Stephen could have kept something like that a secret.
"Of course not. He's got to gradate high school before I tell him his college plans. We wouldn't want him to slack off on the test Monday. I plan on telling him Tuesday," Magus said.
Karen said, "That makes perfect sense to me."
"Don't breathe a word of this to him," Magus said. "I want it to be a surprise."
"Okay," Karen said wondering if she could keep something like that a secret all weekend.
"I suppose you can tell your husband," Magus said.
"Thank you," Karen said. She didn't need Magus' permission for that.
Magus patted his pockets for a few seconds before he located a folded sheet of yellow paper in his shirt pocket. Handing it to Claudia, he said, "The guy whose name appears on this piece of paper wants to interview you for a job on Tuesday. I told him that you'd be there."
"Are you firing me?" Claudia asked. She knew that Magus was not comfortable around her, but she couldn't believe that he would get rid of her like that.
"No," Magus said. "It is just a shorter commute to work than if you stay with Solutions Incorporated."
"I don't know about that," Claudia said. She now lived within walking distance of the office building. The only shorter commute was to work from home.
"Well, I don't think you want to commute to Boston," Magus said.
"Commute to Boston? Are you saying that you're moving to Boston?" Claudia asked.
Magus nodded his head in the affirmative. He said, "I finished the job here. I've got a new one in Boston."
"You're moving to Boston?" Claudia asked. She looked around at the reception area. She had finished decorating it less than a month ago. He couldn't be moving to Boston.
Magus turned to Karen and said, "I'll need you to start boxing up my files next Friday. You might get Stephen to help you. Speaking of Stephen, he's turned into quite a scholar. You should be proud of him. Did I mention that he got accepted to Harvard?"
"Yes," Karen answered.
"I can't wait to tutor him through college. Harvard has no idea who is coming to the campus. Watch out Harvard," Magus said.
"I must be dreaming," Karen said. She pinched her arm and said, "I'm not dreaming."
Feeling incredibly sad all of a sudden, Claudia said, "I'm going to miss you."
"I'll be here for two more weeks. I'm sure that you'll be tired of me by then," Magus said.
"I don't know about that," Claudia said. She had gotten used to be around the chunky fellow with the odd sense of humor.
Magus smiled at the two women. He said, "I must be running. Igor is waiting for me in the van. We've got to get hurry up to the house so we can wait for the moving company."
"You really are moving," Claudia said sadly.
It dawned on Karen that she was about to lose her little part-time job. She didn't know how she felt about that. Now that her husband was home she didn't need it, but she had gotten used to coming in once a week and working.
Magus looked at Karen and said, "You once asked me if I ever got any interesting problems. Last year a fellow came to me and said that he felt like he wasn't getting paid enough money for his crops. Now that was a good problem."
Karen said, "Oh my God."
"That was you?" Claudia asked dumbfounded.
"That was a hell of a lot of work for just ten dollars," Magus said. He turned and left the office. After a minute, he stuck his head back in the door and said, "By the way, did I mention that I'm moving to Boston?"
"You told us," Karen said.
"Good." Magus left and then stuck his head back in the door. He said, "Karen, I knew I was forgetting something. There are some tickets on my desk for you and your husband. I thought the two of you might enjoy spending the weekend in Vegas together. Mary has agreed to watch your kids. She owed me a favor. You know Mary, right?"
"The woman who used to live with Wanda," Karen said. There were a lot of women named Mary and she knew it would be a good idea to clarify which one he meant.
"That's the one."
"I know her," Karen said.
"Well, have fun in Vegas," Magus said just before ducking out the door again.
Claudia stared at the door wondering if Magus was going to pop his head back in a third time. She looked over at Karen and said, "That's a shocker."
"Yes it is."
"I guess I have a job interview to go to on Tuesday," Claudia said. It was hard keeping from crying.
"I guess so," Karen said. She was feeling sat that she was going to be out of a job soon.
"I liked working here," Claudia said. She touched all of the little knick-knacks on her desk.
"You could commute to Boston," Karen said.
"That would drive him crazy," Claudia said. For the first time since Magus had announced that he was moving, she smiled. "That would really drive him crazy."
"Yeah," Karen said.
"I've never been to Boston. For that matter, I've never been out of this state," Claudia said.
"Harvard is in Cambridge. That's pretty close to Boston," Karen said.
"They are across the river from each other," Claudia said.
"That's what I thought," Karen said. Still unable to believe what Magus had told her, Karen said, "My baby is going to Harvard."
"He's a smart kid," Claudia said. She had watched him struggle with nearly impossible problems to solve.
"Too smart," Karen said. It was hard to believe that it wasn't that long ago that Stephen had dropped out of high school. "At least Magus will be watching over him."
Claudia said, "I hate to think what he's going to be like after being around Magus for six more years."
"Now that is a scary thought," Karen said with a horrified
expression on her face.