50. Infamous Act 2

50. Infamous Act 2
“Oh! I apologize if it has caused you any embarrassment.”
“Never mind. You are not at fault. Kindly correct the misleading information. The auction will take place this coming Saturday at 1000 hours in the complex.”
“I got it. I will correct that at once.”
“It's all right.”
Capt. Trenton cut the call and searched George's face. He was happy that he was satisfied.
“That is a good one. We will have a free advert for the event,” George said, and the others laughed.
They were still laughing when the Head of the Media Department got a call and they halted. He looked at the caller and smiled before he picked up the call.
“Hello, MD,” he greeted.
“Before I forget, is there any contact person for the public to contact concerning the auction?”
The Head of Media looked at the General Manager for his approval and he advised, “Give him my secretary's details.”
“Yes, MD. I will forward the details to you right away.”
“That would be fine. Kindly give the pictures of the cars to be auctioned. It would boost the announcement.”
“Consider it done. I will supply them right away,” he promised.
The General Manager supplied the contact of his secretary and the Head of the Transport Department supplied the pictures of the cars. Without hesitation, he shared them with the MD.
“There should be a deadline for registration. Otherwise, we will not have the space for the number of bidders that we will have,” George advised and the house agreed with him.
Capt. Trenton called the MD back and informed him of the deadline and he added it to the jingle. Afterward, they got up from the table and George followed them. They got to the Secretary's office and met it empty.
“Thank you, Corporal, for this," he appreciated them happily.
They smiled broadly and responded, “Consider it as nothing, General.”
Laura was standing by the door and waiting for the new furniture to arrive. She was annoyed when she heard the Corporal address him as a General.
“Is there anything else you want us to do for you, General?”
“Nothing for now,” he responded and it baffled her.
She looked at him before looking at the Corporal and asked, “Are you not refurbishing the office again?”
As though he did not hear her question, he instructed, “You can return to your office, Corporal.”
“Okay, General.”
Now, they were out of the office and Laura tagged along. They saw the furniture in the corridor.
“Move them away from here quickly,” he instructed.
“Okay, General,” they answered and moved them into the lift and left while Gilbert returned to the waiting room.
Meanwhile, George left for the Production Department. The General Manager got to his office and informed his secretary of the latest and she was prepared to receive calls from the interested bidders.
Laura's House
Pa. Dickson was unaware of how he got back to his house that day and met his worried wife. She had been waiting for him and hoped that he would come back so that they would have their breakfast together.
“Welcome back, hubby. You scared me. What kept you? Did you see them? What did the school authority say?”
She could not help but ask all the questions at the same time. Her husband looked at her and quietly took his seat. She sat beside him and, unknown to her, her husband was a little deranged, and she repeated her questions.
To answer, he summarized them by saying, “Fine.”
At that point, it occurred to her that her husband was not in his right state of mind and scanned his outlook.
“Oh, my God! What happened to you, my husband?”
Now that she was calm, Pa. Dickson could speak. He took a deep breath and cast a worried look at her.
“They are not in their school,” he stated calmly.
She withdrew her hand from his shoulders and leaned back on the couch. She allowed her tears to flow freely. Likewise, her husband was lost in thought too and remained calm. The room was quiet and only their heartbeats and the ticking of the wall clock could be heard.
After some minutes, Madeline asked, “How do you know that they were not in school? I mean, who did you speak with?”
“I spoke with the Commandant. He looked through his book and discovered that they left school a week ago and had not returned.”
“That is serious.”
“Serious is an understatement. He was angry with us for keeping them at home longer than expected.”
“Oh, my God! I hope he did not talk rudely to you?”
“That would have been better than the injunction he gave to me.”
“Injunction?”
“Yes. He said that if they fail to return to school today, they will face expulsion, and we will keep them to ourselves for as long as we want.”
Madeline's face beamed, and she asked, “Where do we see them?”
“That is the big question. The Commandant sounded as though we deliberately kept them at home.”
“And we have no way of denying that,” Madeline added.
“You are right. They may even arrest us if we can't produce them.”
Madeline cried out in pain and her husband was so distressed to console her. She wept until she had no strength left. Nevertheless, Tim must take the blame.
“Why must this good-for-nothing cause us so many sorrows? If not for his death, this thing wouldn't have happened.”
Her husband looked at her distraught face and added, “After killing our grandchild, now, our children are missing because of him.”
The Auxiliary Armory PLC
Meanwhile, the General Manager got to his office and informed his secretary of the latest and she was prepared to receive calls from the interested bidders.
To everyone's surprise including Stephanie, the media houses had corrected the erroneous publication of Laura through breaking news. They boldly apologized and asked the public to ignore such information.
Afterward, they gave the auction loud publicity. Unfortunately, they had no story about it and used the only available one which was George's interview. At the end of each announcement, it would be stated, (For more inquiries, contact Miss Stephanie Benjamin on 0333 444 ----.)
“Why is my name there? What of the President's Secretary?” Stephanie asked herself.
Nevertheless, she was not the only one asking such a question. The netizens, especially the female chauvinists who had been restless after Laura's interview went off the air were not left out.
However, they were a bit comfortable. It would have been termed the subjugation of women if she were replaced by a man.
On the other hand, the calls began to come immediately, and Stephanie became busy answering their questions.
Howbeit, Laura was befuddled. After they moved the items into the lift and left. She looked at George, who was about to board the lift with the other managers for a clue, but got none. She walked back to the empty office and was unsettled.
“Where do they want me to sit before the new furniture arrives?” She asked herself.
She looked out through the window to see if the truck bearing the new furniture had arrived but she saw none.
“This boy must be stupid. Why should he give such an order when the goods have not arrived?" She grumbled and paced up and down in the empty office.
However, she was not current with the happenings in the office because she had no television.