Handling Things (working title) by CE Dalton

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Chapter 16

Beth walked up to Gwenny, their senior female handler, and sat down at her table with a sigh of complaint. The older woman smiled at her. Oh, to be nineteen again and have drama that made no sense to amuse you. "Huge problems?"

"I think I don't know how to be a girl. Or at least a woman. I knew how to be a girl, way back when, but now I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. It's not like there's fabulous clothes at my age."

"There are, you just have to go to different stores to find them."

"I went where Hilda suggested, because Antonio asked for me. I found a few nice work things but nothing that made me look more than like I'm a kid playing dress up. Nothing made me look more than cutesy."

"You're a bit petite but you don't look like a teenager anymore, Beth." She pulled out her phone to show her a picture. "Okay, in that outfit, you do look like a high schooler in her first business suit." Beth nodded, waving a hand so she looked at the others. "Who did you run them by?"

"Celia. She had a huffing text copy and paste day." She grimaced. "I wanted to be a bit more fashionable, like a hipper version of a young woman so maybe I'd get something more than 'what's fencing besides that stuff you put around the yard' from guys."

Gwenny smiled. "I can't say as I ever had that problem, but I played softball so that's a whole different thing." She handed the phone back. "Have you tried to look in the more hip stores?" Beth nodded. "Not in your price range?"

"Not in my boob range apparently. All the shirts rode up or were seriously showy."

"Beth, are you going with Dala to that event?" one of the other handlers called.

"He's never asked and I think he was looking for someone that they'd believe was actually on his arm," she called back. "I look like I'm going to the prom in any evening gown." Gwenny giggled but nodded, stuffing her mouth again. "I don't know how to do this, Gwenny. Help? Please? Even Bill's said stuff and Al is giving me funny looks. So is Richard's wife. I thought I looked okay today but I got the memo of doom about cleavage, even with it pinned together."

"I don't know why." Beth sat up straighter instead of leaning on the table. "Oh, that reason. Yeah, it's a bit not-exposed but showy definitely." She ate another bite. "Why did you get that one?"

"Button up shirts are supposed to be a wardrobe standard. It's the only one I found that would fit."

"It is a classic, professional piece of wardrobe," Gwenny agreed. "I can help you look. Have you done any online shopping?"

"Nothing ever fits. I have to buy my fencing jackets and chest protectors way too big and have them tailored down due to...." She waved a hand at her breasts. "They're a curse that still won't get me dates. I can look like a slut and not get any attention. I realized that the other day when my brown shirt's buttons kept coming undone and I didn't realize it was for about an hour until some girl hissed at me in the caf at the campus. Still, no one looked."

"There's ways of doing that without looking trashy. Did you fix that shirt?"

"Yup. Button hole is much smaller now." She grimaced. "Thankfully I had on a skin colored tank top under it in case I had to take it off, but still lots of cleavage and no guys looking. A few girls gave me interested looks and that was nice at least."

"Lesbians are more picky than guys are. I have no idea why they don't stare at you. You have a great shape."

"I don't know. Maybe I drove them off by pointing out football wasn't really more than a masculine fertility ritual of childbirth."

Gwenny choked, gulping her water to try to clear her bite of pasta salad. "Oh, god," she muttered while coughing. Beth reached over to pound her on the back. She waved a hand and one of the caf people came over to check on her. They helped her by taking Beth's patting place for her. Gwenny finally cleared her throat. "I don't want to know how you got that."

"Sociology class," she said dryly. "It's all about the ritualized experiences of everyday life according to that teacher."

"Yeah," Gwenny said with a nod. She coughed a few more times. "Okay, we can fix it so you're closer to a womanly girlish girl, Beth. Before you say that to some guy and he chokes."

"I had to explain it in tiny words when it confused a football player. The coach overheard me and walked off muttering about lesbians. Which I don't have a problem with. Really don't have a problem with," she said more quietly, glancing around.

"It's good you figured that out." She patted her on the hand. "I'll get some of my favorite sources together so we can figure out what you should go look at and where. There's Richard."

"Hey, Richard," Beth called. "And Amanda." She smiled at the couple. "This is Gwenny. She's our senior female handler. I'm interrupting her lunch to whine about not being girlish." She sighed. "It sucks."

"You'll figure it out, dear," Amanda, Richard's wife, said with a pat for her shoulder. "You're a lovely girl."

"Amanda, I had a button malfunction at the campus for over an hour and guys didn't even look," she complained.

"That's weird. College guys are all about the boobs and the beer," Richard said dryly. Beth nodded. "Are you actually looking for a date?"

"I... well..." She glanced around then at him. "It's nothing serious," she said quietly. "He said so. I'm trying really hard not to be clingy but you know about first relationships."

"Yeah, I remember being a clingy guy who always had to have a hand on her," Richard agreed. "I'm lucky I didn't lose that hand earlier with how often it was on her butt. Her daddy hadn't been real impressed with me." His wife kissed him and he smiled. "You're much smarter than the backseat slut I used to see, dear."

"Of course I am. Didn't she marry the second string tight end or something?"

"Yup, he knocked her up and her daddy insisted at actual gunpoint. Brought his sheriff buddies with him and the preacher. Boy was his daddy upset that his future was ruined." He grinned. "Everyone else learned from his mistakes and bought the better condoms."

"That is something I never want to have to think about happening," Beth said. "Never, ever, ever. No babies."

"Bill will be displeased he doesn't have a second generation to train," Richard teased with a grin.

"Not really. He's vowed to stand and laugh while I struggle with the kid. Of course, I was sixteen then."

Richard texted Bill. A few minutes later Bill strolled in. "Richard, do you need to take a long vacation from training?" he asked. Beth started to laugh. "Really, it sounds like she's driven you to think strange things."

"Richard suggested that you'd be heartbroken not to have a second generation to train," Amanda teased with a smile of her own.

"I deny the existence of any possible grandchild that may ever come," Bill said. "She's not allowed to spawn and give me little demons to try to train manners into. At least Beth had a lot when I took her in but I could not stand babies. So no, no second generation of any kind. If so, I'll wish her well and only visit when they're somewhere I don't have to see them until they're old enough to learn manners and use them." He walked off. Beth was still giggling.

"Wow," Richard said. "Most parents want grandkids."

"I don't want kids anyway," Beth said. "Kids get in the way of training and work."

Gwenny nodded. "Yes they do. My stepdaughter does often but she's ten. So we're having a lot of girl talks right now as she transitions, plus she hates sports." She grimaced. "She wants to be a computer hacker when she finishes growing up, if I don't kill her for her taste in awful music." She went back to her pasta salad. "Richard, what do you think about Beth's usual outfits for the last week?"

"I think she looks like a dowager. She wears a lot of old lady clothes."

"I tried."

"It doesn't fit right," Amanda said, looking her present outfit over. "Where did you get that?"

"Where I used to go for business clothes. Over by the mall but that little side street? That colorful shop on the corner. It looks like it's hipper clothes."

"Hip and fashionable clothes are only for those skeletons pretending to be healthy," Amanda snorted, patting her on the wrist and smiling at her. "Real women can't be in those things. They look wrong on us. Real women, classy women, wear what looks good on them and is at least slightly in fashion." She looked her over again. "You have a nice figure. When's your next day off that you can go shopping?"

"Probably three weeks. My day out of the center is presently spent on campus dealing with tests and the like." She grimaced. "But I'm nearly done with my summer classes a few days early for each semester."

"That's an accomplishment. I couldn't do that when all I did was college," Gwenny said. "When do you sleep?"

"I get a good six hours a night."

"Uh-huh. That's not enough," Gwenny said. "You know that."

"I know it catches up to me on holidays and breaks, but they demand I'm at least half time and this summer I could get a lot of the pointless mandatory stuff out of the way at once. This fall I've got three classes and one's my mandatory PE. Swimming for jocks."

Gwenny grimaced. "I remember that class. It was so pointless. I took running."

"Their track and field team took up all the spots."

"Ah." Gwenny nodded. "That makes sense."

"But you're an athlete," Amanda said.

"Even if you're on that school's teams, you still have a PE requirement," Gwenny said dryly. "I was on their softball team to pay for my college career. Still had one."

"I don't take enough hours even if they had a sport I could play," Beth said. "And they don't think fencing is really a sport even if it's in the olympics. A lot of the college has that viewpoint. Which is why I got into a discussion about football actually being a male fertility and childbirth ritual."

Gwenny groaned, drinking some of her water. "That's better than one of my girlfriends that called it gay sex in teams," Amanda said, choking Gwenny up again. "Sorry, dear." She patted her hand too.

"I have to tell my boyfriend that. He used to play ball to get his degree." She got up, clearing up her stuff. "I'll find my favorite catalogs for you, Beth. We'll see what we can do to help." She tossed her trash and went back to her office to recover. Plus have some chocolate. Chocolate was important after a lunch meeting like that one.

Beth looked at Amanda. "How do I quit being cute and start being a woman?"

"Grow a foot?" she said with a smile. "A lot of it's attitude, dear. You seem very tired."

"Three more weeks," she sighed. "Then I get a week off classes." She smiled. "Finally!"

Richard shook his head. "I can't imagine having the schedule you do, Beth."

"I have to, or else they can fire me. Since the board of directors hates me for all the attention I brought thanks to that family, I have to play by all the rules I can. After this fall, I have about ninety left out of my one-fifty."

"Nine hours a semester," Richard said, considering it. "You should get the degree right before you retire."

"Probably. Yup. And if I do ascend to a senior handler thanks to finally getting the degree, I'm no longer allowed to compete."

"But....Jason."

"Got fired," she said. "He made a national team and they fired him."

"That sucks," Amanda said. "It's what every athlete here wants to do."

"Yes, but we're handlers, not athletes. I get dirty looks for paying dues so I can practice here."

"That really does suck," Richard said. "What if it comes down to your fencing or your job?"

"I'll start paying dues somewhere else." She smiled. "It might even be cheaper if I could find a nearby fencing club."

"You don't get a discount for that?" Amanda asked. Beth shook her head. "The other trainers use all the facilities."

"We're allowed to use the pool, the gym, that stuff as long as they're not wanted by the regular athletes, but any other training facilities we have to pay for," Beth told her. "It sucks a lot since most of us are still in training shape but we don't have a say and that's pretty much standard at all the centers."

"What if you have to go to one of them instead?" Amanda asked.

"Well, I'll need an apartment since renting one of the ones here for a reduced rate is a perk."

"You pay rent for those dinky things?" Richard asked. She nodded. "Why?"

"Because living around here is about a grand a month for something that's barely the size of a hotel room." She grimaced. "We don't pay a high rent but we do pay rent. Any employee can apply to have an apartment if there's one open."

"Do others pay rent?" Richard asked.

"Bill does. Solice does."

"Solice?" he asked. "Which one is she?"

"You've seen the lady who looks like an uptight Thai goddess? Her. Though, that's not a bad solution to Dala's problem. She sent him a text that started with 'ask Handler Solice to go to the awards with you'. "She's just broken up. No one in the press can say anything about her or to her. She's a really good choice for that." She put her phone back in her pocket. "As far as I know, all of us who live on campus pay the same rent per bedroom."

"Are you thinking about leaving, Beth?" one of the younger handlers asked from her table.

"No, they were asking what sort of perks they give to handlers instead of trainees." She smiled. "I'll leave when they kick me out and I'll try to bring all my athletes with me." Richard smiled but nodded at the young thing. "Where did you get that outfit? I've been trying to find more fashionably reasonable clothes."

"The Gap."

"Oh, never mind. Their stuff never fits me right. I've got a flat butt and boobs, they hate that."

"Yeah, they have a lot of stuff for women without any curves. My mother bought it for me. I had been having fantasies about being one of those women who guys like to push against the wall to have ardent times with while wearing stockings. She proved me wrong."

"I used to read those same books," she said with a smile. "Bill sat me down to have a realistic talk about what dicks most guys my age were and how ladies like that were usually paid for it." The girl laughed. "It's was sweet of your mom to find you clothes that worked and were cute. Bill buys me gift certificates so I can get new clothes. I'm kinda hoping he'll buy me one so I can get new fencing boots. Mine have holes in the soles again." She huffed. "And I need new sneakers too." Richard grinned at her. "Seriously! You guys get to wear nearly anything to comps. I have uniforms I have to comply with."

"That does suck but at least it's not like Celia's gowns," he said.

"True. I don't have to talk to any designers about spangly bodysuits with skirts."

"You'd look cute," the junior handler quipped with a grin for her higher up. "But not for work. Maybe on Halloween with wings?"

"Maybe. Though, we're not allowed to do costumes until the party that night, none in the center during the day. They say it takes away from our professional atmosphere."

Antonio Dala strolled in, leaning over Beth's head to look down at her. "Which one is Solice?"

"The Thai looking goddess."

"Oh, her!" He nodded, going to find her. She might be a good cure to his escorting problem. She was pretty and his type. Plus able to kick him around if he got stupid.

Beth grinned. "Great idea." The couple grinned back at her.

"Do we have to do those?" the younger one asked in a near whine.

"Sometimes an athlete needs a safe escort," Beth said, looking at her. "You don't *have* to if you're asked. If you do end up going, use great manners, get something cute but not flirty, and have Gwenny help you with the checklist of stuff you should carry in your clutch purse. She gets to go to a lot of award things because she's polite, has manners, has great table manners, and they all like her because she's pretty but doesn't take shit from anyone."

She smirked. "Three years ago, Gwenny had to turn and nearly take out a basketball player who would not leave her butt alone. She went from 'no thank you' to 'do you need the morgue' with him in about twenty seconds. The guy she had been escorting stood there and laughed, clapping at her kicking him around. Thankfully the director didn't get onto her about it because I was having a crisis with that stupid family sending me jewelry."

"Jewelry?" Richard asked.

"Yeah, a pretty ruby necklace. Bill still gets an eye twitch each time he sees rubies."

"They're so cranked," Richard complained, looking at his wife.

"Thankfully we don't have a daughter they might like, dear," she said dryly, smirking at him.

"Yeah, or else I'd have to let her have a boyfriend. I'd never allow that." Beth giggled, swatting him then getting up to go up to her office with a pastry. "Eat more than that, Beth."

"I had lunch already. This is just a snack."

"Uh-huh." His wife smiled at him. "Lunch, dear?" She nodded, letting him go pick them something to eat. The others in the cafeteria smiled at the couple. They were cute and Richard liked that about his wife.

Beth headed up to the director's office like the text had told her to. "You wanted to see me, Director Bell?"

"Beth, the board has issues."

"It has many issues. Is one of their issues with me again?"

"My assistant said you were talking about moving off campus?"

"No. Richard asked me about the perks so we were talking about the apartments and how I'd have to find a new one if I got fired for competing."

"They can't do that. It looks bad on us."

"They think me having a national bronze does too," she said dryly. "They need to make up their minds. Before I go nuts from all the work I do."

"You're the only one who's doing college classes right now."

"No I'm not. My helper, Amanda, is. So are Sascha, Greggy, and Paul. I believe Aarron will be next January when he finally graduates."

"I did not know that." He looked those handlers up, shaking his head. "They should be it appears." He looked at her.

"They hate me for having problems with that family."

"Point." He looked at the other handlers, sorting by their degrees. "There's seven that should have degrees and don't."

"Two are in high school, sir."

"Good point." He grimaced. "We have to work that out. You're exhausted."

"I have a week free of classes in three weeks."

"Which you have to go to LA with Dala during."

"I suggested he go to Solice, sir. She's more glamorous."

"She is." He looked her over. "Didn't you just shop?"

"This is new," she agreed. "I'm trying to be more pretty, sir."

"You're fine, Beth. Just a bit old for your age. Ask Dala to help you?"

"No, I've asked Gwenny to help me. She knows how to dress like a real woman."

"That's fine then. As long as she doesn't mind." He looked at a few other things then at her. "Do you think you can finish your degree this decade?"

"Unless I quit working to just go to college, that may depend on the summer schedules since I can get more going at a time. Fall and spring I can only do three classes a semester." He winced. "I'll be at just over fifty in three weeks if I pass everything. Then nine more by the holidays."

"That's not a bad progression. No one can say you're not working hard toward it. What's your GPA?"

"Three-point-two at the moment. I tend to stay around there thanks to some of the mandatories I don't get along with."

"That's more than good enough, Beth." He considered it. "You look tired." She shrugged. "I know, not much you can do about things. Is there?"

"Sure, let me not need the degree. Make it go on practical skills or how long you've been here."

"I wish I could some days. It'd make a lot of junior handlers happy." She nodded. "Would you want to stay a junior handler?"

She shrugged. "I don't mind. It means I don't have a lot of scowling or expectations about my competing."

"They're not going to ease up on that, Beth."

She smiled. "I can go to another center to work out instead."

"Don't you dare. Bill would skin me."

"Possibly." She smiled. "I'm not giving up my sport, sir. Otherwise I'd have went to a regular college and done a regular degree to go work in an office somewhere."

"You could do that very well." He sighed, leaning back in his seat. "There's a lot of talk about us merging with another center."

"I don't think it'll do us any good, sir. Most of the nearby centers aren't as good as us, and one's frankly disgusting, and the others are just as good but on the west coast mostly."

"They're talking about merging with the Woodblind."

She shook her head. "That's a bad choice considering they're being sued for allowing a sexual assault to go on." She called up that newspaper article, letting him read it.

"That's disturbing."

"Yes it is," she agreed. "Which is another strike against them in many people's books. Frankly, if we have another time with Eww's handlers, I'll leave and move to a facility on the west coast myself, sir."

"I understand that hesitation."

"There's no hesitation. I'm not their target and I hate having to hurt people. I'll do it a lot if they show up here, but I hate to do it."

"I'd hope they wouldn't do that now."

"I hoped they wouldn't do it when I was seventeen, sir, but they did. I spent three weeks beating people off my ass then."

"I remember that. I came back from vacation to find a stack of forms about that." She smiled sweetly at that compliment. "I'll see what we can deal with over the school issue."

"Thank you. It'd be great if I had a night of full sleep."

"Is Al helping with that?"

"It's not that cohesive, Director. We're friends who occasionally find some relief."

"Oh, that's fine then. Are you looking for someone?"

"Yes, but they'll have to live in the closet because my bed's only a full and unlike some I probably can't sleep on top of them."

"My wife hates it when I do it to her and we have a king size."

"Mine's pushed against the wall on one side to make room for the dresser."

"That's bad. The apartments are that small?"

"Haven't you been in one recently, sir?"

"No."

"You can come look at mine. I need to do laundry but it's not a horrible mess unless someone's broken in again." She looked at her phone, getting into an app. "Celia's on my couch with an ice pack but I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

"I can do that later. I need to talk to the board."

"If not, maybe you can talk someone into starting a new center, sir. Most of us would follow. Including the athletes probably." She left.

He nodded. "They probably would." He went to the board meeting upstairs when it was time, shaking his head as he walked in. "A few issues have been raised by a number of handlers," he said as he sat down.

"What sort? Do we need to add them to the meeting minutes?" one asked.

"Yes. One of them is about the proposed merger with the Woodblinds center. Including that they're presently being sued for allowing a sexual assault on a few athletes to happen. Also that most of my staff refuses to work with theirs because of that sort of problem coming from their handlers. Most of my staff calls them 'eww' as a nickname."

"We heard that we had a revolt when they offered a handler trade," the head of the board said.

"No, no revolt, but seven different staff members voiced a problem with working with theirs, with some other athletes saying the same problems. Though one said he worried about puddles of STD's laying around over there." One of the members winced. "Exactly. My staff will not work with them at all. Also, they've got other problems that are probably pushing them to want to merge."

"Many of the board have interest over there. We've never heard of any of this."

"Let me have someone send me that article she found." He sent a message and she sent the address. He pulled it up on the in-room projection system's computer, letting them see it.

"I see their director needs an audit."

"It might help," Director Bell agreed. "We also must talk about a few other problems with the junior handlers. How do you expect young twenty-something kids to do a full time handler job, which is often sixty hours a week, plus college? I talked to one, she's taking extra hours since the summer schedule overlaps sessions, and nine hours this fall she'll have to take on campus plus her work here."

"That is a bit much," the head of the board admitted. "Which handler?"

"Beth DeSandra." That got a grimace. "She does that, her own training, that she pays dues for, and works more than most senior handlers do. Bill gave her an trainee handler to work with since she's got five athletes and a soccer team."

"How on earth?" the head of the board demanded.

"Two shooters, a figure skater, the female soccer team, Antonio Dala, and she took over a runner who never needs her to fill out forms for them when their original handler quit due to stress." The director looked at them all then at the head of the board. "There's seven junior handlers who need to be taking classes."

"We should only let them have jobs when they already have the degree."

"Most of our best handlers started as late teens," the Director corrected. "We have two in high school who are going to end up not going on past college levels and want to be coaches or handlers. We do great training them to be our later staff. It's just that they have a full time job plus college."

"She could give up competing."

"She's promised to go to another center if we fire her for competing since it's not stated that junior handlers can't compete and it does look good on us to have someone who took bronze at a nationals event on staff."

"She did?" one of the usually quiet members asked.

"Yes." Director Bell smirked at him. "She had been fifth in the nation before but she was hiding her skills because of the politics and those two that had hogged the top two spots for about a decade. She got one to quit sooner because she asked about a uniform change rule based on pictures the other woman had posted online. The other's vowed to retire next year. Beth's going to try for the national team and 2016. We have two other fencers who aren't staff but the female is about sixth in the national and the male is about the same level. They all practice against each other."

"Is she that one's handler?"

"No. Though she will pass on forms and the like if Cecily wants her to. She's got to pull them up anyway."

"Doesn't she have a handler?"

"No. She hasn't wanted one. If she needs help, she goes to her adoptive father, Bill."

"The major is a strict father. I heard he has another one?"

"A young woman whose father thinks that women in sports is immoral but she's very good. Even after her brother stabbed her in the hallway. We had a day of reissuing passes and codes."

"Did she press charges?"

"Yes. He was arrested in the ER after his father found him." He smirked slightly. "Her mother didn't want to let Bill have her daughter but the young lady in question was being ridden hard for daring to be a girl who did sports. Her father thinks that her doing sports is what warped her brother into stabbing her."

"I've seen parents like that," one of them agreed. "At least we know Bill's good at that sort of situation. Apparently DeSandra is one of our best and brightest up and coming handlers."

"Who is at fifty hours as of the end of the summer session, as long as she passes everything, out of one-hundred-fifty hours. Also, that college doesn't exempt from PE for even their own athletes."

"There's another college we work with."

"They told her they don't accept gay athletes and since she hadn't had a boyfriend yet they decided she fit that category. Sports plus strong will plus no lovers by then equaled lesbian to them."

"Pity. It's an easier program."

"I'd like to find others. They all need about the same level of classes and I'm not sure all hers would transfer anyway."

"I'll look into other programs." The head of the board made himself a note. "Any other huge problems?"

"We may need to add on some facilities. We're usually short a gym unless we adhere to a schedule. We have gymnasts sharing a gym with a volleyball team and the soccer teams take up two different gyms."

"So we may need to upgrade. Anything about new machines?"

"No. My people hate the high tech machines because they can hurt an athlete if they're not set properly. Woodblind has a lot of those from what our head trainer Toby said."

"Good to know," he said, making that note as well. "Lawsuits?"

"Probably hushed up. I haven't looked."

"I can do that and it'll look like a good reason for the audit." He looked at him. "What would you suggest about the junior handler classwork issue?"

"You could give credit for time worked. You could let them go up in status after a set number of years. DeSandra's nineteen and she's been with us since she was almost sixteen." The head of the board winced. "Thankfully we think that family has finally been stopped after they tried legally questionable actions to get her to their country again."

"I heard about the kidnaping."

"They also tried to have her deported using faked marriage documents and tried to have her injured at the courthouse via gunman attacks. Twice."

The head of the board nodded. "I'd hope they had stopped them as well. Why did we have agents a few weeks back?"

"A few of the handlers you guys sent down turned out to be gold diggers who hated Beth for having casual friendships with her athletes. One tried to complain that she had eaten dinner with Bill, tried to say it was an improper relationship. She took her eating with her first two athletes, who are very good friends, and turned it into a torrid affair, then one kidnaped her from the gym changing area to the State Department building in New York City. They dropped her on the doorstep then went to try to charm Dala into going with them somewhere warm, sunny, and fun. The agents had them arrested as soon as they found out what had happened. Beth came home with Bill after he picked her up."

"Does she always have these sort of problems?"

"No. Just that family and the bimbos. They all thought she was in the way of them getting to Dala because she was being a good handler."

"We had another attack of them."

"Yes, we did," the director agreed, smirking meanly. "Which may have led back to that family's bounty on Beth's virginity. They had some tenuous links. Including Al's ex-wife and her attempt to plant pot in Beth's office."

"Why?"

"To discredit her."

"Figures," the head of the board complained. "Is she a good handler?"

"She's a great handler, sir."

"Why is she living in the building?"

"She applied for an apartment when she moved out of Bill's spare bedroom. With the pay grade she has, she couldn't afford to live within a reasonable distance."

"Do we underpay?" the quiet one asked.

"A tiny bit. We have better perks than the other centers but we do underpay by about seven thousand a year." They nodded. "Ten for the upper level handlers."

"So, she pays dues out of her paycheck," the head of the board said.

"She pays rent, her groceries, her laundry fund, all that plus dues out of her paycheck," the director corrected. "The apartments are partially discounted but aren't free. They're not anything special but they do the job."

"Let the board look into the issue of the pay rate," one of the members said, looking at the head of the board.

"Yes, I can agree with that investigation. It shouldn't take too much time." Director Bell smiled and nodded. "Any other grievances from your staff, Director Bell?"

"Right now, no. Though they will not work with the Woodblinds' people. Most of my staff has stated that view."

"I can agree with that sentiment over their safety if those allegations are found true," the head of the board said. The Director pulled up incidences with the borrowed/loaned staff in the past, letting them see it. "I can see why. Who was that?" he asked. "They have nineteen counts of self defense?"

"That would be DeSandra having to protect herself," Director Bell said. "I came back from vacation to all those thanks to one of the female trainers over there trying to force herself on Beth."

"Wonderful," the head of the board sighed. "Has she fixed that problem that got that family onto her?"

"Yes. Now she's looking for someone to date, if she only had time."

"How is she doing so many credit hours?" another member asked.

"The summer sessions are of varying times and can overlap," another said with a smile. "I did that to fill in my second major."

"Exactly, and she's doing most of hers online. She's having some classes on campus this fall if she's still taking them. We have five junior handlers who're needing degrees to ascend status. Plus two in high school who will have this problem within two years."

The head of the board shook his head. "We take them in that young?"

"Yes. Mostly they're realistic and know they can't go on past college levels so they want to be coaches or handlers. They trained with us or a relative has. I'm thinking that the one Bill's watching over now may end up being another one."

"How did he get DeSandra to agree to be a handler?"

"I'm not certain since he put her in a rigorous school, put her on their soccer team as well as her fencing training, and put her in a martial arts when the all girls school got on her nerves." He grimaced. "Which was why she never had time to date and that family focused on her. I'm fairly certain Bill won't be as stringent with Sophia."

"I've heard we had an officer visit?" the head of the board asked dryly, leaning back looking smug.

"Toby and a few others warned the other females who might be chosen for such honors that it could happen and what they were looking for. One of the younger athletes got a bit worried and told her friend, who talked to her mother, who thought we'd be arranging to find her a suitable spouse. The officer looked over the files on all that mess and agreed it was a good idea to warn them it could happen. The officer went back to the worried mother to assure her it wasn't what she thought."

"So they are aware?"

"Yes, sir. We've since found out one of the teenage athletes we have training for track and field events has gotten a few letters of interest but nothing like a family vowing to take her in and give her support if she'd come join them. We've also talked to a few worried parents after that talk, who agreed it was very odd but something to keep in mind if they had that notice pointed at their daughters."

"If it was mine, I'd suggest it too." The head of the board looked at the others, who all shook their heads. "Have they stopped that new girl's problems?"

"I handed those to the same State Department agent that came after they had to rescue Beth the last time. He apparently had a few words with the new ambassador. They're embarrassed at that movement."

"At least it doesn't have official sanction. But DeSandra won't have those problems?"

"She shouldn't. That whole family was punished by their people for the assassination attempt at the courthouse."

"Good." He smirked. "Any others?"

"Not yet. The bimbos hate that she's effective and nice. That's been their problem all along."

"Some girls are competent and some live on their wiles," the quiet member of the board said dryly. "Any other issues, Director?"

"Not at the moment as far as I know."

"Then have a great day and let us get on with those investigations."

"Have a good day, people." He left, going back to his office to have a congratulatory cup of coffee. They hadn't fussed at him or anyone else. It was almost miraculous.

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