Handling Things (working title) by CE Dalton

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Chapter 9

Al and Celia walked up to Beth's office, looking around before walking in. "They killed all the spiders, right?" Al asked, not coming in too far.

She smiled at him. "They have. The nice crime scene people even checked the vents."

He grinned. "Thanks for that worry being gone."

"They got Tappa's office too."

Celia winced. "Did she get to eviscerate someone? She stated she would be if they came after her like they had you."

"She's off today. The director called her and gave her the day off so no one would have to clean up blood." They both grinned at her. "What's up, guys? I'm only doing paperwork." She leaned back in her desk chair.

"Want to go to a high end club this weekend?" Al asked. "It's nice, it's clean, and it's a hip club. Maybe you could find someone nice there?"

She shook her head. "I've got practice Sunday." They stared at her. "I do."

"Cecily is pouting," Celia said quietly.

"FIE judges went over the Nationals match with a fine tooth comb. She got a yellow card violation during one that wasn't noted. They also talked to us both by phone about the uniform rules. They're posting them next week when they're finalized."

"So new jacket?" Al guessed.

"Fifteen hundred for a great one," Beth agreed with a grimace. "With new gloves and embroidery."

"I'm so glad my sport doesn't require fancy uniforms," Al quipped. "Celia spends tons on her costumes. You spend tons on yours every few years when they change the rules."

"Yours spends a lot on other things," she pointed out. "I don't want to spend thousands for costumes but it is expected and mainly necessary." Celia looked at Beth again. "Come out with us."

"I.... fine. I might have to redo my drug test from Nationals. They were talking about that. I had to admit I would pop positive now due to the dinner we had that night having poppyseeds." Al winced. "They said they weren't going to do them over unless they found fault in theirs. They haven't looked into them yet."

Celia shook her head. "Would that change matters?"

"Not really. We all know not to take things that could get us popped. We hate the medal removal stuff too, just like all the other sports."

Al grinned. "I doubt they could for you having poppyseeds with dinner."

"Hopefully not." She smiled back. "I'll go out but I'm not drinking a whole lot. Maybe one drink." They smiled and left with Al winking at her. Maybe she'd have a good night off. She could use some stress relief.

***

Antonio Dala popped into the shooting range, walking over to Al's spot. "If you're going to the Orchid, it's under Vice watch," he said quietly. "I'm not sure how close they are to busting it but the officer's very obvious. Two more clubs that have the same ...qualities have second job people from the NYPD but they'll still bust for underage drinking or anything. Try this one." He handed over a card with a grin. "It's usually safer, has private security, and a back room center that has some fantastic things for rent." He left.

Al looked at the card then shook his head. "Okay," he decided. Richard and the female shooter in there with them laughed. "We're taking Beth out this weekend."

"She could use it," Richard agreed. "I'd introduce her to some nice people but none of the ones I hang out with are, and they wouldn't want someone her age."

"She tried to flirt with a few of the people she's taking classes with but they're the sort that think football's the only true sport," Al said. Richard shuddered. Beth came wandering in and handed them all sheets. "Center memo?"

"Yup. And a survey about what you'd like to see changed around here." She smiled at them. "We're getting sixteen new guards, even though we only lost four." She left again to go back to handing out letters. She and the two trainee handlers were doing it so they didn't overlap. They were the youngest so things like this got given to them. She walked into the ice rink, waving the papers. "Bett, Sira. Center memo and survey about things you'd like to see updated or changed." She put them on the chairs. One of the coaches held out a hand so she gave him one too. He shook his head. "Ladies, we're getting new guards in the next week."

"We heard they had to fire some," one of them said. Her english was tinted toward Chinese and she looked like a little doll with the way her hair was up and the costume she had on.

"They had to fire four," Beth said with a smile. "We're getting about sixteen. Also, there's probably going to be some press people here and there sometimes. We've had Antonio Dala sign up to get back into shape for a few things. You know how some of them follow him." The ladies and coach nodded. "He said he'd try to discourage them." The ladies both snorted but skated off. "Let me finish my rounds. Need anything today?" she asked the coach.

"The music system has no speakers on the east wall," he said with a point. He was clearly formerly from an Iron Curtain country by his looks and accent.

"I'll make that note." She smiled and walked off calling the maintenance guys. "It's DeSandra. The ice rink's east wall speakers are out. One of the coaches just reported it." She hung up and finished her rounds in the pool. They had four swimmers who trained here and now a diver. She put down the memos on their bags. She waited until the current 'race' was concluded. "Memo and survey, guys," she called with a point. "Also, new guards in the next week. We're getting about sixteen guards." They nodded and so did the two coaches in there. "Let me know if you guys need anything. I know most of your handlers are out today."

"The diving board's got a crack," Antonio called.

"I can report that. That'll take specialist fixing so it might be a day or so, Antonio." She called maintenance again. "It's DeSandra again. I'm told that one of the diving platforms has a crack. I know that'll take an outside person but you guys have to call them, not me," she said in a chipper voice. "Thanks." She hung up and went to the front desk to look outside. "Sure, he won't be bringing press," she muttered, walking off. "All my memos are handed out. How are the two trainees doing?"

"One's done and in her office," the head of security said. He looked over the cameras. "I can't see the other one. Last I knew she was on three west."

She nodded, heading up there to check on her. She was only fourteen. She ran into one of the soccer players trying to make time with her and pulled him off by his ear. "Beyond the fact that she's fourteen, and that's statutory rape in this state, no matter if she wanted it or not, I doubt she wanted you to sexually harass her and there are rules against that in this center, Mr. Chrial. I don't know how they do it in your originating country but here, women have the right to say no and mean it." She handed him to his coach, who was wincing. "Did your team get the memo and surveys?" she asked with a smile.

"He stopped her to flirt on her way out, Miss DeSandra."

"Then perhaps his elementary education in counting is faulty?" She stared at him. Then she walked off to talk to the young one. "You good?" she asked as she walked her out to the hall so they could finish her rounds.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Beth. He wasn't going to hurt me."

Beth stared at her. "He's violating center rules, Ginger. There's not supposed to be any fraternizing between handlers and athletes." The younger one grimaced. "Beyond that, at your age, it'd be a felony." She shrugged at the heated look. "Unless he's within two years of your age, it's a felony in this state."

"Shoot."

"Try one of the guys you go to school with."

"They're all...boys. They care more about bimbos in games than a real, living one."

Beth nodded. "I remember those and I went to an all-girls' school." Ginger laughed. "It's not professional for you to hit on the athletes. You can *flirt* with some of them to make them grin and seem less uptight but there's a really fine line there. It's like telling dirty jokes."

"I got warned about that."

"Some of our people are a bit uptight," Beth said. "Lizzie up in PR will have an absolute fit about that stuff or if she sees us wearing a shirt that shows cleavage."

"I got warned about her especially." She looked at her. "What if we have athletes here who are around my age?"

"We have a few but that's still fraternization. Which is a violation of the professional conduct code. Some people get away with it, some don't," she admitted. "But if something happens and you break up in a bad way it causes stress. That stress then spreads to everyone else and we end up losing trainees."

"I get that," Ginger sighed. "I still need a boyfriend."

Beth patted her on the shoulder. "If you're worried about the people that want me," she said quietly. "They'd only want people who could be on their olympic team. They specifically go after people in the top ten of their sports, always non-strenuous sports instead of full contact or the body spoiling ones. They have never went after a gymnast that I've heard. Divers, swimmers, a few track and field but that's pretty rare, things like shooting or fencing."

"So I'm probably safe," Ginger quipped with a grin.

"Probably. Your sport protects you there. If they want someone in gymnastics they offer to the backup players out of the former communist systems or someone from China. They tend to score higher and they're chasing medals to start their country's olympic record."

"Why don't you have a boyfriend?"

"All girls' school, practicing for junior nationals, I was on the school's soccer team and we went to championship every year but I'm not better than college level there." Ginger shook her head. "I had an almost boyfriend before Major Bill took me in but he wouldn't have stayed with me for very long. He didn't want the hard stuff, just the 'having someone to show off' part of dating. I had medals in the junior nationals and he could brag."

Ginger nodded, grimacing. "There's a few of them in my school. They're on the basketball team."

"There's a few of them in my college and they didn't think fencing was a sport because it wasn't football," Beth said dryly. Ginger cracked up, grinning at her. "Between work, training, and college courses I still don't have time for one. You make time for one."

"I can do that. I'm probably going to do college the normal way and be on their gymnastics team. That way I can pay for it easier."

"A lot of us have and then got rehired afterward, or went to one of the other training centers. It's hard but we do what we must to be splendid women who handle big messes for our trainees."

Ginger smiled. "Not modest at all, are you?"

"No. I grew out of modesty." She grinned back. "Just be yourself. Guys will come."

"Thanks, Beth. Let me finish my rounds."

"Okay. We're both done so go back to doing your usual handling job when you're done." Ginger nodded, walking off. Beth went back to her office, smiling at Alba since she was waiting. "What's up?"

"Would other handlers have been there the same way?"

"Depends on the handler. Most, no." She sat down. "A lot of them don't get too attached to their trainees. They don't want to make friends with them. They keep it at business level. A lot of athletes do the same thing with their team's coaches."

"I've seen that. It sucks."

"New friends are good to a lot of us," Beth said with a grin. "I need more friends, not less."

"You are kind of trapped here."

"No, I get to escape for college courses twice a week," Beth quipped, cracking her trainee up. "What's up?"

"That young one got flirted with by one of the guys on their soccer team?"

"No, they were mutually flirting until I noted her age and I reminded her of the professional conduct stuff. It wasn't a fault situation like we've had in the past. Thankfully they managed to handle that before she got hurt."

"So trainers aren't allowed to flirt with us?"

"We have a fine line. Plenty of us would flirt some, but not mean it. A few would flirt and mean it but if they get caught they can be fired."

"That makes sense. No workplace romances." Beth nodded. "Okay. I actually hunted you down to check on the paperwork to the judge."

"I sent the last set." She pulled out that folder. "I need to do the upcoming trip in a month but I sent the one for two weeks. I faxed it over." She showed her the cover sheet. She called the judge to make sure he had it. His assistant didn't always gather the faxes, they'd had this problem once before. That's why Beth date and time stamped them. The judge found it and approved so she could relax. Beth grinned and went over the upcoming travel restrictions. They were going somewhere that had a few stricter rules. Some countries were a lot more uptight than the US was about certain issues. Plus it was nearly time for tryouts for the national team. She had to arrange for a few of her team to go there.

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Handling Things (working title) by CE Dalton [Reviews - 0] Chapter or Story Table of Contents - Text Size + Chapter 9 Al and Celia walked up to Beth's office, looking around before walking in. "They killed all the spiders, right?" Al asked, not coming in too far. She smiled at him. "They have. The nice crime scene people even checked the vents." He grinned. "Thanks for that worry being gone." "They got Tappa's office too." Celia winced. "Did she get to eviscerate someone? She stated she would be if they came after her like they had you." "She's off today. The director called her and gave her the day off so no one would have to clean up blood." They both grinned at her. "What's up, guys? I'm only doing paperwork." She leaned back in her desk chair. "Want to go to a high end club this weekend?" Al asked. "It's nice, it's clean, and it's a hip club. Maybe you could find someone nice there?" She shook her head. "I've got practice Sunday." They stared at her. "I do." "Cecily is pouting," Celia said quietly. "FIE judges went over the Nationals match with a fine tooth comb. She got a yellow card violation during one that wasn't noted. They also talked to us both by phone about the uniform rules. They're posting them next week when they're finalized." "So new jacket?" Al guessed. "Fifteen hundred for a great one," Beth agreed with a grimace. "With new gloves and embroidery." "I'm so glad my sport doesn't require fancy uniforms," Al quipped. "Celia spends tons on her costumes. You spend tons on yours every few years when they change the rules." "Yours spends a lot on other things," she pointed out. "I don't want to spend thousands for costumes but it is expected and mainly necessary." Celia looked at Beth again. "Come out with us." "I.... fine. I might have to redo my drug test from Nationals. They were talking about that. I had to admit I would pop positive now due to the dinner we had that night having poppyseeds." Al winced. "They said they weren't going to do them over unless they found fault in theirs. They haven't looked into them yet." Celia shook her head. "Would that change matters?" "Not really. We all know not to take things that could get us popped. We hate the medal removal stuff too, just like all the other sports." Al grinned. "I doubt they could for you having poppyseeds with dinner." "Hopefully not." She smiled back. "I'll go out but I'm not drinking a whole lot. Maybe one drink." They smiled and left with Al winking at her. Maybe she'd have a good night off. She could use some stress relief. *** Antonio Dala popped into the shooting range, walking over to Al's spot. "If you're going to the Orchid, it's under Vice watch," he said quietly. "I'm not sure how close they are to busting it but the officer's very obvious. Two more clubs that have the same ...qualities have second job people from the NYPD but they'll still bust for underage drinking or anything. Try this one." He handed over a card with a grin. "It's usually safer, has private security, and a back room center that has some fantastic things for rent." He left. Al looked at the card then shook his head. "Okay," he decided. Richard and the female shooter in there with them laughed. "We're taking Beth out this weekend." "She could use it," Richard agreed. "I'd introduce her to some nice people but none of the ones I hang out with are, and they wouldn't want someone her age." "She tried to flirt with a few of the people she's taking classes with but they're the sort that think football's the only true sport," Al said. Richard shuddered. Beth came wandering in and handed them all sheets. "Center memo?" "Yup. And a survey about what you'd like to see changed around here." She smiled at them. "We're getting sixteen new guards, even though we only lost four." She left again to go back to handing out letters. She and the two trainee handlers were doing it so they didn't overlap. They were the youngest so things like this got given to them. She walked into the ice rink, waving the papers. "Bett, Sira. Center memo and survey about things you'd like to see updated or changed." She put them on the chairs. One of the coaches held out a hand so she gave him one too. He shook his head. "Ladies, we're getting new guards in the next week." "We heard they had to fire some," one of them said. Her english was tinted toward Chinese and she looked like a little doll with the way her hair was up and the costume she had on. "They had to fire four," Beth said with a smile. "We're getting about sixteen. Also, there's probably going to be some press people here and there sometimes. We've had Antonio Dala sign up to get back into shape for a few things. You know how some of them follow him." The ladies and coach nodded. "He said he'd try to discourage them." The ladies both snorted but skated off. "Let me finish my rounds. Need anything today?" she asked the coach. "The music system has no speakers on the east wall," he said with a point. He was clearly formerly from an Iron Curtain country by his looks and accent. "I'll make that note." She smiled and walked off calling the maintenance guys. "It's DeSandra. The ice rink's east wall speakers are out. One of the coaches just reported it." She hung up and finished her rounds in the pool. They had four swimmers who trained here and now a diver. She put down the memos on their bags. She waited until the current 'race' was concluded. "Memo and survey, guys," she called with a point. "Also, new guards in the next week. We're getting about sixteen guards." They nodded and so did the two coaches in there. "Let me know if you guys need anything. I know most of your handlers are out today." "The diving board's got a crack," Antonio called. "I can report that. That'll take specialist fixing so it might be a day or so, Antonio." She called maintenance again. "It's DeSandra again. I'm told that one of the diving platforms has a crack. I know that'll take an outside person but you guys have to call them, not me," she said in a chipper voice. "Thanks." She hung up and went to the front desk to look outside. "Sure, he won't be bringing press," she muttered, walking off. "All my memos are handed out. How are the two trainees doing?" "One's done and in her office," the head of security said. He looked over the cameras. "I can't see the other one. Last I knew she was on three west." She nodded, heading up there to check on her. She was only fourteen. She ran into one of the soccer players trying to make time with her and pulled him off by his ear. "Beyond the fact that she's fourteen, and that's statutory rape in this state, no matter if she wanted it or not, I doubt she wanted you to sexually harass her and there are rules against that in this center, Mr. Chrial. I don't know how they do it in your originating country but here, women have the right to say no and mean it." She handed him to his coach, who was wincing. "Did your team get the memo and surveys?" she asked with a smile. "He stopped her to flirt on her way out, Miss DeSandra." "Then perhaps his elementary education in counting is faulty?" She stared at him. Then she walked off to talk to the young one. "You good?" she asked as she walked her out to the hall so they could finish her rounds. "Yeah, I'm fine, Beth. He wasn't going to hurt me." Beth stared at her. "He's violating center rules, Ginger. There's not supposed to be any fraternizing between handlers and athletes." The younger one grimaced. "Beyond that, at your age, it'd be a felony." She shrugged at the heated look. "Unless he's within two years of your age, it's a felony in this state." "Shoot." "Try one of the guys you go to school with." "They're all...boys. They care more about bimbos in games than a real, living one." Beth nodded. "I remember those and I went to an all-girls' school." Ginger laughed. "It's not professional for you to hit on the athletes. You can flirt with some of them to make them grin and seem less uptight but there's a really fine line there. It's like telling dirty jokes." "I got warned about that." "Some of our people are a bit uptight," Beth said. "Lizzie up in PR will have an absolute fit about that stuff or if she sees us wearing a shirt that shows cleavage." "I got warned about her especially." She looked at her. "What if we have athletes here who are around my age?" "We have a few but that's still fraternization. Which is a violation of the professional conduct code. Some people get away with it, some don't," she admitted. "But if something happens and you break up in a bad way it causes stress. That stress then spreads to everyone else and we end up losing trainees." "I get that," Ginger sighed. "I still need a boyfriend." Beth patted her on the shoulder. "If you're worried about the people that want me," she said quietly. "They'd only want people who could be on their olympic team. They specifically go after people in the top ten of their sports, always non-strenuous sports instead of full contact or the body spoiling ones. They have never went after a gymnast that I've heard. Divers, swimmers, a few track and field but that's pretty rare, things like shooting or fencing." "So I'm probably safe," Ginger quipped with a grin. "Probably. Your sport protects you there. If they want someone in gymnastics they offer to the backup players out of the former communist systems or someone from China. They tend to score higher and they're chasing medals to start their country's olympic record." "Why don't you have a boyfriend?" "All girls' school, practicing for junior nationals, I was on the school's soccer team and we went to championship every year but I'm not better than college level there." Ginger shook her head. "I had an almost boyfriend before Major Bill took me in but he wouldn't have stayed with me for very long. He didn't want the hard stuff, just the 'having someone to show off' part of dating. I had medals in the junior nationals and he could brag." Ginger nodded, grimacing. "There's a few of them in my school. They're on the basketball team." "There's a few of them in my college and they didn't think fencing was a sport because it wasn't football," Beth said dryly. Ginger cracked up, grinning at her. "Between work, training, and college courses I still don't have time for one. You make time for one." "I can do that. I'm probably going to do college the normal way and be on their gymnastics team. That way I can pay for it easier." "A lot of us have and then got rehired afterward, or went to one of the other training centers. It's hard but we do what we must to be splendid women who handle big messes for our trainees." Ginger smiled. "Not modest at all, are you?" "No. I grew out of modesty." She grinned back. "Just be yourself. Guys will come." "Thanks, Beth. Let me finish my rounds." "Okay. We're both done so go back to doing your usual handling job when you're done." Ginger nodded, walking off. Beth went back to her office, smiling at Alba since she was waiting. "What's up?" "Would other handlers have been there the same way?" "Depends on the handler. Most, no." She sat down. "A lot of them don't get too attached to their trainees. They don't want to make friends with them. They keep it at business level. A lot of athletes do the same thing with their team's coaches." "I've seen that. It sucks." "New friends are good to a lot of us," Beth said with a grin. "I need more friends, not less." "You are kind of trapped here." "No, I get to escape for college courses twice a week," Beth quipped, cracking her trainee up. "What's up?" "That young one got flirted with by one of the guys on their soccer team?" "No, they were mutually flirting until I noted her age and I reminded her of the professional conduct stuff. It wasn't a fault situation like we've had in the past. Thankfully they managed to handle that before she got hurt." "So trainers aren't allowed to flirt with us?" "We have a fine line. Plenty of us would flirt some, but not mean it. A few would flirt and mean it but if they get caught they can be fired." "That makes sense. No workplace romances." Beth nodded. "Okay. I actually hunted you down to check on the paperwork to the judge." "I sent the last set." She pulled out that folder. "I need to do the upcoming trip in a month but I sent the one for two weeks. I faxed it over." She showed her the cover sheet. She called the judge to make sure he had it. His assistant didn't always gather the faxes, they'd had this problem once before. That's why Beth date and time stamped them. The judge found it and approved so she could relax. Beth grinned and went over the upcoming travel restrictions. They were going somewhere that had a few stricter rules. Some countries were a lot more uptight than the US was about certain issues. Plus it was nearly time for tryouts for the national team. She had to arrange for a few of her team to go there. Previous Next You must login (register) to review.

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