The Kindness

By William Powers

The Kindness is the story of Garrett Penquite, a professional business consultant who helps floundering companies avoid bankruptcy by analyzing their finances, assets and staffing. He then helps in the difficult task of implementing the recommended changes and getting his client back on solid footing.

When malicious accusations threaten his own business, Garrett strongly suspects an acquaintance of making the claims. After a lengthy investigation all charges are dropped without him ever knowing for sure who his accuser was. Throughout the ordeal he tries to maintain a charitable attitude.

Garrett slowly rebuilds to an even more robust business but soon finds allegations dogging him again. This final showdown will completely ruin his business if it does not acquit him once and for all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Powers
• Release date: Feb 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301695508

William Powers

William F. (Bill) Powers worked in electrical machine design for most of his adult life but has written articles for a number of years and recently branched out into writing books and short stories.His first book is a children’s story titled The New Blue Zoo, a story written in rhyming verse about a town which loves the color blue and decides to build a zoo to showcase their little community. All the animals are blue, except for the Dweekers of course. Available now in paperback from Amazon.com and directly from the publisher, Tate Publishing.com.Two other children’s books are in the works and like The New Blue Zoo, they also follow a color theme: The Amazing Green Flying Machine (about an imaginative boy and his plans to build the best, fastest airplane in the world) and The Pretty Purple Princess (about a young princess and her misguided passion for her favorite color.)Bill’s recent efforts include 5 short stories and a novel, all of which may be reviewed at http://www.williamfpowers.com/. One of the short stories is available free as a sample of Mr. Powers' writing style; you can download it in PDF format at that web site. The novel and the other short stories also have several sample pages to give you a flavor of each of those works. Several of the short stories are available one SmashWords.comAdults will find the short stories engaging, but they are also suitable for mid-teens.The novel, Streams of Mercy in the Valley of Shadows, is about a young American soldier who returns from Vietnam in the early 1970s only to watch his life fall apart in front of his eyes. Through a series of events he comes to find peace, hope and redemption. Several Vietnam veterans have reviewed it positively and given it thumbs up for its authenticity. Like the short stories, Stream Of Mercy is suitable for mid-teens and up.Bill and his wife, Jerian live in southwestern Ohio. They have eight children and eleven grandchildren.

Book preview

The Kindness

A Short Story by

William F. Powers

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Copyright 2012 by William F. Powers

***

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This work remains the copyrighted property of the author and may not be reproduced, copied or distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

This book is a work of fiction; the characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, businesses, places or events is coincidental and unintentional.

***

Thanks to you, my reader, for downloading and reading The Kindness. I hope reading it is as enjoyable for you as writing it was for me. Also, a plethora of thanks to my precious wife Jerian for her editing and critical skills. Last but most important, thanks to God for giving me the skills and imagination from which this story emanates. May He be honored in all I do.

Enjoy!

* * * Start * * *

The Hard Part

Please Mr. Penquite. I can’t afford to lose this job. I just now got caught up. Haven’t I been doing a good job?

Bob Abernathy was laid off almost four years ago when the plant where he worked shut down. It had taken him almost eight months to find this position on the loading docks at Moreland Industries, and now the whole nightmare was repeating itself.

Sure, Bob, you have been doing a fine job. It’s just that we must stop the hemorrhaging, and that is going to require us to reduce the staff. Please don’t take it personally; it’s just a matter of survival for the company.

Moreland Industries had brought in Garrett Penquite several weeks ago to evaluate their company, and, well, trim the fat was the phrase the board of directors used. He had done that kind of thing for seven years now, assessing and cutting, then moving on to another company. Each successful operation had enhanced his resume as well as the demand for his services.

Interestingly enough, Garrett’s first week at Moreland was the same week that Bob celebrated catching up on all his bills. Bob took his wife out to dinner at a little Chinese restaurant they liked; it was