Adam Blake - 66. Chapter 66

I went to my room for the night. I was tired, it would be so nice to have a lazy day but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I called Marie to pick up where we left off. I told her about hiring the chef and now all of my open positions are filled except my computer instructor. It took a while to fall asleep but when it came it was a deep sleep. I awoke in the morning like I did when I was in high school.

I grabbed a glass of orange juice and headed for the track. Today I was going to push it. And I did, when Johnny and the runners came out, they kept calling me to hurry up and catch up. “Come on Doc, you run like an old man.” This is my army.

As I ran I wonder what the world would be like in 20 years when these kids would be holding positions of prominence, authority, and leadership. I knew I had future kings, future prime ministers, ambassadors, and wealth beyond my imagination. I had the future in my hands and that was a lot of responsibility. But I thank the powers to be, that I am here. I guess I was dreaming too much.

“Doc, Doc are you falling asleep running?”

I just looked at him and smiled. I wonder if he knows what kind of impact he’ll have on this world. “Cool down lap and then I’ll see you all for breakfast.” I finished my cool-down lap, then the cool-down exercise. “Good morning coach, how is everything today?”

“It’s so much better today. My wife is coming to visit.”

“Excellent, be sure to introduce her to me.”

Unlike the previous tenants, I allow husbands and wives to stay in their rooms when they visit. Families should be together and, unfortunately, the school doesn’t have married quarters for staff. Maybe that will be a project next year. I need to start a file of projects for the future.

Returning to my rooms to get ready for the day, I saw Jane in the test center. I knocked on the window and waved. Showered, shaved, dressed, I was ready for the day.

I walked into my office, set down my briefcase which I’d need when the Ambassador and our guests arrived. “Going for coffee?”

“What time is our guests coming today?”

“I don’t know. Are the apartments ready?”

“Yes, all of the unoccupied apartments were cleaned and stocked with orange juice.”

Walking into the dining hall, “Good, oh look he has the Oath finished. He did a fine job. I’m going to have to pay him for this.”

“Pay him, I thought he draws a wage?”

“He does but that’s for kitchen work, he needs to be encouraged for his artistic work. I pay Angelo so why not him.”

He smiled. I got my coffee and headed back to my office with James when Richard stopped me. “Good morning Richard, how are you today.”

“I’m fine sir. I wonder if we could have some of that seafood for dinner today.”

“I have a new chef starting in a week, how about I ask him to prepare a seafood dish as a way for the Knights to judge his cooking skills.”

He smiled, “May I tell the other Knights?”

“Are there any secrets between the Knights?” He whispered no.

I smiled as I rubbed his shoulders.

“James, please let the staff know that we’ll have important visitors today. Here are the papers for the new Chef, can you see that the payroll clerk gets them.”

“Are you still signing all invoices?”

“Yes, and I intend to do that for a while. I’m thinking about hiring a purchasing manager to negotiate contracts with suppliers.”

“Isn’t it risky to have only one supplier?”

“Yes, that is why we’ll have two suppliers and be sure that they both share in our orders. Most of our orders involve food. The other items we can buy locally or if it amounts to a lot, we can have a contracted price for that item on a one-time basis,”

I was in my office with the architect's prints looking at the space under the building that appeared to be blocked off. I was tracing service lines to see if any went in that space. I noticed quite a few but didn’t see where they exited unless they were underground. That’s where I will attack next.

“Doc, incoming”

I put on my jacket and went to the front to meet our guests. I saw the Ambassador explaining something, I waited until they were close to the front door before I went to greet them. “Hello Ambassador, it’s nice to see you again.”

“Dr. Blake I would like to introduce you to Mr. Cameron and Mr. Thorn.”

I knowledge them and welcomed them to the academy. I knew they were faked names. “Gentlemen, you’re almost in time for dinner. I can give you a short tour of the first floor while our Knights receive their dinner. Then we can join them. This room was the office of Dr. McMillan, it will be our computer lab.”

“You are going to teach or just let them use it.”

“The commuter lab will be a teaching environment, they will learn to not only use computers but to program them as well.”

“Have you selected the computers?”

“Yes, we have. We will be using Apple computers with a satellite connection to the internet.”

The Ambassador nodded his head, “Dr. Blake, will you show us your office.” I knew he knew where my office was.

“Certainly follow me.” James saw me coming and headed to the Dining Hall. “This is my office, gentlemen.”

They looked around, “I thought the Presidents office was quite large. This is almost a cubicle.”

“The President's office is quite large but it currently is undergoing some renovations.” Even the Ambassador raises his eyebrows at that. “I’m having all personnel files moved from the basement back to the area before the room was enlarged. In addition, there will be a secretary’s office which I understand was in the original design. I’m also going to put in some study carousels for specialized instruction.”

“Who is going to teach that specialized instruction?”

“I am”

Walking down toward the Dining Hall, “This room was blocked off and we just recently had it opened. It’ll be a quiet study room equipped with textbooks and large tables. If you have ever been in the Staff Dining Room, the table from that room will come here along with a new table of the same size.”

“Who is doing the painting, it’s beautiful.”

“Our resident artist, Mr. Angelo Rosello”

“Rosello is your resident artist. He’s famous for his murals.”

“Yes, Angelo couldn’t find any churches in this country to paint, so the school hired him as a custodian.” I watched as they looked at each other. I’m glad they didn’t see the smile on the Ambassador’s face.

“You certainly are not going to let him go back to being a custodian.”

“No sir, he’ll be teaching art here and at the college.”

I now led them to the Dining Hall. This gentleman is where our students and staff eat. We have breakfast from 7 to 8:30, dinner from 12 to 1, and supper from 5 to 6. They weren’t listening to me, they were looking at Camelot and then the square table, Richard saw his dad, I saw the slight nod, he went back to eating, I saw the medals come out. I did have an army.

“This is a Rusello as well?”

“Yes, sir, he has signed this one as you can see.”

“What is that under his name?”

“That is his protege who just finished the Oath.”

They went and read the Oath, looking at the Ambassador, he smiled. I looked at my boys they were quietly eating but nothing missed their eyes.

“Gentlemen, would you like to have lunch now or continue the tour?”

They decided to have lunch, I walked with them through the line, while they got their food, Looking around for a place to sit, I saw what the boys had done. “This way gentlemen” As we came to the table, all of the boys stopped eating, stood, and remain standing until we sat down. They then sat down and continued eating their dinner.

A few boys got up, took their used plates and utensil, got a clean plate, and had seconds. “Are the boys allowed seconds?”

“Yes, sir, this is the main meal of the day and they are allowed as much as they want with the one proviso, what they take, they must eat.”

“What is that medal they are wearing?”

“James, please tell our guests about that medal you’re wearing.”

James stood, I thought they are pouring it on. “Sir, we are the Knights of the Square Table, we have taken an Oath as old as the 13 hundreds. These medals, we wear with pride, represent brotherhood, and friendship forever. We will never be without a brother Knight of the Square Table.” Before he sat down, the other Knights stood, “Brotherhood” and sat down.

Even the Ambassador was impressed, I saw him whisper something to Richard, Richard shook his head no.

“Gentlemen, you may have seconds but what you take you must eat.” They all laughed and I could see smiles on the boys, my army of Knights.

When we finished the boys came and took our plates. “Thank you, gentlemen.”

“The second floor?”

“This way,”

“ What is on the second floor?”

“Before you answer that Dr. Blake, could you show us your rooms?”

Now I was reading the Ambassador. I thought I was before, now I’m certain. “Gentlemen, my quarters are on the third floor in one of the towers.” As we walked up the steps, one of them said you would have to be in shape to go up these every day.

“This room to your left is our testing center. We found that sometimes a student doesn’t have sufficient time to finish a test. Classes are only 30 minutes, and some students find this is insufficient to finish and so they obtain poor grades. With the test center, they come here and have sufficient time to finish. My education policy is knowledge is important not how fast you write. The center is monitored by one of the staff from the previous administration. These are my rooms, feel free to enter.”

I stood outside and listen, “Why did they give him these rooms?” Then I heard the Ambassador, “Probably thinking he would revolt and then they could fire him.”

They left the apartment and started down the steps, “Do students come to your rooms?”

“Not normally and if they do it’s Noah’s ark, two by two. I will not entertain any single student in my rooms, I don’t think my fiance would like it.”

“I didn’t know you were engaged?”

“Last weekend she agreed, but it’ll be some time. She’s a doctor and runs a clinic. So it will take time to find her replacement.”

Arriving on the second floor, “The sections facing the front are the classrooms, the area facing the back are the dorms and staff apartments.”

“May we see a dorm?”

“Certainly, let’s try this one.” It was Richard’s. I knocked on the door

“You don’t just walk in?”

“No sir”

I saw Richard open the door. He hugged his dad, “Richard, these gentlemen would like to see what a student's dorm looks like. May we enter?”

“Yes sir”

We followed Richard into the room. The room was spotless. They looked around, Richard stood next to me, I had 5 coins in my hand. I nudge him with a coin, he put his hand behind, I placed five coins in his hand.

“May we see the staff apartments?”

“Yes, thank you, Richard.”

I opened the first door, it was McMillan’s apartment. “This is the apartment of one of the past Directors, This is where one of you will stay tonight. The next three in this row are identical. This is a typical staff apartment, opening the door, it was obviously better than mine.

The Ambassador asked where the infamous pantry was. I showed him the door, there was a sign, Quiet Room. He looked at me, " What is that.”

“As you know we have a large mixture of students of different faiths. It would be impossible to provide a place for every faith. So we have a quiet room, where a student may go and pray or contemplate.”

“Is this the whole school Dr. Blake?”

“Yes, except for the basement where the Custodian quarters are and storage areas.”

“I don’t think we need to see those areas. Is there an office we could use?”

“Certainly, you could use Dr. McMillan’s office. If you would like coffee or tea, just hit 21 on the phone and I’ll send someone to take your order.”

Walking into my office, “ How was the tour?”

“I think it was ok, The Ambassador is slick. He had an agenda. The boys were great. What a group of showmen, did you do anything?”

“I told some of the boys that we had important visitors.”

“Well, it worked. I was so proud of them, My army of Knights.”

“They are in McMillan’s office, I told them to dial 21 if they wanted anything. I need to see Abel. They were impressed with his Oath. I think the Ambassador is going to take a little ribbing about that.”

“I’m going to get a cup of coffee, Be right back.”

I went and got two cups of coffee. I saw Able at the snack machine. “Abel, you know where my office is, come and see me when you have a break.”

“James, here is your coffee. I asked Abel to come and see me.”

As I was laying out the Dining Hall sign, the phone rang. “Doc, they would like to see you.”

I looked at James, he smiled. I walked to the office and knocked on the door. “Come in Doctor Blake, have a seat. You’re a smart man and I’m sure you know that we are not who we said we were. You gave us an honest tour and your boys certainly are impressive.”

“Thank you, sir, I’m not sure I know who you are but I did suspect you were giving me false names. That didn’t matter, if you sent your butler, he would’ve been shown the same courtesies I have shown you. All humans desire dignity, that’s one thing we teach here in a most indirect way.”

“We understand you’re going to auction off the special products you found in the pantry. We have no problem with that and wish you success. We also understand that you plan on issuing an annual report as well as the newsletters you have been issuing. Knowing what we have seen, I’m assuming the report will include an outside audit of the financials.”

“What you have said is correct. Once all of the computers are up and running, monthly reports may be made through the internet. I haven’t thought that through yet. The annual reports will be mailed to all parents and guardians of the students as well as the Trustees.”

“It was a pleasure to meet you, you have a strong friend in Ambassador Damon, he can’t sing your praises enough.”

“I appreciate his support, but I don’t deserve all of that praise. I do what is right and anyone could do that but I have a great group of boys. They would make any king proud to have them as their Knights. I’m very proud of them.”

“Adam, we appreciate your preparation for us staying but we must get back. The helicopter should be here in about 30 minutes.”

“May I get you anything before you leave?”

“No thank you.”

“Then I’ll leave you for a few minutes, and I’ll see you off.”

I told James and when we heard the copters, the boys were to line up in front. As I walked out with our guests, the Ambassador looked at me. “Richard, please come forward and say goodbye to your father.” The boys came to attention, as Richard walked to his father and hugged him. I saw the Ambassador say something to Richard. He took what appeared to be a letter and step back as the copter landed. We watched as the men entered the copter and took off. The boys headed back, I went to my office. Richard came in and said his dad gave him this envelope for him to give to me. I thanked him and watched as he walked away.