Bertha

By Dwight W. Hunter

The character of Berth was introduced in an earlier novel, Kate, when she became office manager of Modern Investigation Agency.
Bertha was born, as her mother was dying, during the pre Civil War era, in the isolated community of Coopers Bend, Kentucky; located on the Ohio River, where her illiterate father and partner built wagons.
Wet nursed by neighboring women, weaned on cornbread soaked in cow’s milk Bertha was mothered by a black woman, found on the riverbank, and educated by a woman holding only an elementary school diploma. She possessed a determined personality coupled with a ferocious appetite she read and extended her education by consuming all the books and newspapers she could find.
When demand for wagons out grew her illiterate father and partner’s management capabilities; at age sixteen, Bertha took over as manager and continued to grow the wagon manufacturing business until a Rebel raid obliterated Coopers Bend, killing everyone except Bertha.
Bertha moved on to restore an ill-managed hotel and was forced to flee for her life when caught in as vicious political scam. During a series of moves and name changes she managed two gentleman clubs and ended her career as co-partner of Modern Investigation Agency.
Along the way she fell in love with and left a myopic business partner; became rich and retired with a United States Deputy Marshall.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dwight W. Hunter
• Release date: Feb 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301509423

Dwight W. Hunter

I was born and reared on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation in Northern Idaho, graduated from Nezperce High school in the class of '50, spent a four-year tour of duty in the Navy which took me to California, Tennessee, Japan and Alaska. After leaving the Navy I received a B.S. Degree in Engineering from Indiana Institute of Technology at Fort Wayne, Indiana and subsequently spent thirty years in the Aerospace industry and private business Shifting careers in 1986 I received an A.S. Degree from the Allied Health Department of Mission College at Santa Clara, California, followed by ten years as a Psych Nurse with the California Department of Developmental Services. Soon after retirement I revisited Idaho, to keep a blind date with Mary, who subsequently became my life partner. We pooled our money, bought a used van and RV trailer and became RV’ers. One day, while enjoying the sun and sea at Morro Bay, CA State Park, I made a comment that someone should write bodice ripper romance novels about retired senior citizens. Mary replied with a question. Why don’t you? In answer to her question I authored my first novel about a strong-willed retired lady and a less then bright snowbird cowboy. Like most nascent writers, following the birth of my first book I self published and quickly discovered potential readers were not scrambling to purchase this newly minted masterpiece. Setting aside my dreams for instant fame, I continued to write for my own amusement. In six following novels I shifted time frames to the post-Civil War era and younger women protagonists. To date I have written seven titles in the Sisters of Destiny Series. Members in this fictional sisterhood possess a common gene, giving them the chutzpa to out think, out shoot and out maneuver ego driven men thoughtless enough to stand in their way. After completing my seventh novel I learned about e-books and a friend offered to create a web site to market my books in their original print format. Unfortunately she died unexpectedly and the web site project suffered a still-birth. A couple of years later I heard about Smashwords and quickly learned my initial attempt at website marketing books, in their print format, was not the way to bring books to market. Mary and I have given up full time RV’ing and settled down in the quasi frontier town of Pahrump, NV. Since becoming domesticated, I have devoted a major portion of my time to converting books into Smashwords format for publication.

Book preview

Chapter01 - Birth and Survival

Cold blustery spring winds sweeping down the Ohio River set roof shakes to rattling and whined around uneven corners of a single room log cabin. Indoors, gusts of wind blew down the stick and mud fireplace chimney sending frequent puffs of smoke into the air and oak-wood ashes drifting across the dirt floor.

The Payshett cabin was one of eleven dwellings clustered in the small settlement of Coopers Bend on the Ohio River’s east bank, eighty odd miles downriver from Louisville, Kentucky. On this unrecorded morning in the first week of March 1837, two hours before daylight, three home dipped candles were lighted to illuminate the culmination of a lethal pregnancy. Amidst shivering wind drafts and flickering candles... lusty wails pushed from the lungs of soon to be named Bertha Payshett announceding her citizenship into the world while blotting out the last weak death rattles of the woman, spent of strength, pushedin Bertha into life.

Cold blustery spring winds sweeping down the Ohio River set roof shakes to rattling and whined around uneven corners of a single room log cabin. Indoors, gusts of wind blew down the stick and mud fireplace chimney sending frequent puffs of smoke into the air and oak-wood ashes drifting across the dirt floor.

Although Bertha’s first voice lacked syllabic articulation, it would have been safe to interpret its meaning. Move over all you weak-kneed blowhards to make way for Bertha, because I’m going to make my mark on the world.

Bertha was the third child born to Wilbur and Bernadette Payshett. Fred, born three years earlier, a second child failed to thrive. Bertha’s father, Wilbur, typical for his place and time, was an unlettered man. He was however, a master blacksmith and all-around fix-it man.

As if knowing Bertha would face a multitude of life dealing challenges intent on limiting her right to function as an independent person, Providence granted her a double measure of determination, a quick mind, a tough stomach and strong muscles

Wet nursed by a pair of obliging neighbor women until Bertha took her first faltering steps, when she was weaned from crib and human milk. Cut off from breast milk, Bertha survived on mashed stew and corn bread softened in cow’s milk. No one was exactly sure about which day in March Bertha was born, or the exact date eighteen months later, when Wilbur found a middle age black woman lying on his doorstep.

Mildred arrived at Coopers Bend with no known history other than her telling how after the crew of a passing keelboat finished with her, they tossed her overboard shortly after dark and she somehow managed to flounder her way to solid ground, staggered to the Payshett cabin and collapsed at the door. Mildred was saved from freezing by the loud baying of Wilbur’s blue tic coonhound, causing him to awake shortly after falling asleep.

In keeping with the time, Mildred’s mental status was considered odd and not very smart. Two hundred years into the future, she would have been diagnosed as having a low, but functional intelligence, with memory and communication deficits. Mildred became a good housekeeper and a loving surrogate mother to eighteen-month-old Bertha and her older brother, Fred.

Chapter02 - From School Girl to Company Superintendent

During her formative years, Bertha became a quintessential true tomboy. She liked the outdoors and preferred wearing a shirt and pants to a dress. Endowed with an abounding source of energy, she was seldom able to remain still. Ever a quick learner, young Bertha was responsible, stubborn and pushed herself into a position of being in charge. Her older brother, Fred, was mild-mannered and found it more profitable to give way to his younger aggressive sister than to stand his ground. By the age of ten Bertha was in full charge of the house, with Mildred as her loving servant.

During the summer when Bertha turned twelve, Coopers Bend added two new families to the small self-sufficient community. One of the family’s came in search of land for farming and settled further inland. Albert Whitburg and his friend, Carl, set up a wagon manufacturing business next to Wilbur Payshett’s blacksmith shop, where Albert could take advantage of Wilbur’s metal working skills.

Both of the Whitburg’s grandparents were teenagers when emigrated from Germany to settle in New York City. When Albert turned twenty-two, he married Freda and six months later they moved to Pittsburgh and Albert found employment in a factory, building wagon chassis and boxes. Freda entered domestic service to an upper income family as a nanny caring for two daughters, ages nine and eleven. A male tutor visited the family three days a week to instruct their girls in literature, grammar, penmanship and arithmetic.

As nanny to the young girls, Freda taught them to speak German and became an observer student to the girls’ tutor, affording her the opportunity to gain additional education and improve her English diction. During Freda’s three-year tenure as nanny, she lost most of her German accent and acquired sufficient knowledge to become an elementary level teacher.

When Albert Whitburg felt he had absorbed all the skills the factory could teach him, he began acquiring woodworking tools in preparation for moving further west to fulfill his dreams of being a wagon builder.

During his three-year employment, Albert bought three worn-out wagons, sorted through factory rejected wood components and purchased necessary metal parts to rebuild the three cast off wagons. Two wagons would haul woodworking tools and metal parts, the third would carry household items.

A year before leaving the wagon factory Albert made friends with a forty years old itchy-footed fellow co-worker. Carl talked little about his past other than to mention a few jobs and places where he once worked. By the time Albert was ready to sail, Carl’s feet were itching, calling for a change in scenery and agreed to join Albert on his coming adventure. Carl claimed to have prior river experience and was familiar with float rafting... a valuable addition to Albert’s coming enterprise.

With the coming of spring high water, Albert and Carl began searching the riverbank for logs and timbers suitable for building a raft large enough to support the weight of three loaded wagons. By late spring sufficient logs and binding material were collected to construct the desired raft. In early summer, with the river nearing its normal level, Albert hired a team of horses and a driver to move two wagons loaded with tools and wagon components, and a third wagon holding household effects onto the raft. The following day, Albert his wife and Carl cast off the raft’s mooring lines, and poled it out into the river’s main current. Drawing on Carl’s prior raft experience, he tended the bow (front) steering oar and Albert took the stern (rear) oar.

Soon after launching their craft the two amateur sailors discovered their raft was not sturdy enough to withstand the rigorous fast flowing center current. Following a quick conference they elected to trade speed for less stress on their craft by veering closer to the bank and floating in slower water.

During a bank side overnight stop, a week out of Pittsburgh, the crew admitted they were tired of river travel in general and their rickety raft’s integrity in particular. By unanimous consensus, they decided to land at the next settlement. At midmorning two days later they arrived at their new home, Coopers Bend, Kentucky.

While securing their raft to a tree stump, its crewmembers were greeted by Coopers Bend resident blacksmith, Wilbur Payshett. The two men, Wilber Payshett and Albert Whitburg, immediately recognized a kindred spirit in each other and agreed to form a cooperative venture... building wagons.

A day following the Whitburg’s arrival, community members held a meeting to decide on land allocation and organize a ‘house raising’ to build the Whitburg’s a log cabin. Logs from Whitburg’s raft, augmented by community collected driftwood and logs cut from the nearby forest served as construction materials for the new resident’s one room cabin.

With an oak forest close at hand, Wilbur and Albert combined their skills to build a horse powered reciprocating-blade sawmill with the capability to produce dimensional lumber for use in constructing wagon chassis and boxes.

When settled, Freda Whitburg became the settlement’s first schoolteacher and Bertha immediately became Freda Whitburg’s, first and most promising student. She took in learning like a sponge soaking up water. Penmanship demanded most of her time practicing the technique of creating cursive letters and connecting them into words. Next she learned to conjugate verbs, how to construct smooth flowing sentences, separate thoughts into paragraphs and connecting paragraphs into prose. When Bertha reached her fourteenth birthday she had absorbed all the knowledge Freda Whitburg was able to impart.

From early spring until late fall, keelboats owners made regular stops at Coopers Bend to purchase farm produced fresh foods, lumber and have repairs made to their boats. When a keelboat arrived, Bertha became the community’s unofficial greeter and beggar of newspapers, books and other printed materials.

In the summer of 1851, Bertha’s brother, Fred, turned seventeen and took over as manager and operator of the company sawmill allowing Wilbur, Albert and Carl to concentrate on building wagons. Bertha became the interim schoolteacher when Freda Whitburg took vacation to care for her first child. Preferring commerce to housework, Bertha also became the accounting clerk for her father’s blacksmith shop, Albert Whitburg’s wagon manufacturing business and adjacent sawmill.

Wagons manufactured by the fledgling builders, Wilbur and Walter, were sold to passing keelboat owners, who in turn resold them at stops further south along the river. The remainder of their output was bartered to farmers living within a fifty-mile radius. Surplus lumber, produced by the company sawmill, brought in additional hard currency from eager buyers among keelboat owners.

Following a two-year maternity leave, Freda returned to teaching and Bertha, now sixteen, devoted full time to filling the position of business manager at the wagon plant. During the following month Bertha prepared a business plan for merging the three businesses. Wilber’s, blacksmith shop, Albert’s wagon manufacturing and the sawmill into one overall business, operating under a single name.

Bertha further argued the three businesses were now at their limit of production and needed a new steam-powered sawmill if they were to meet increasing demands for their products in a timely manner along with additional manufacturing facilities and employees.

A plan and time schedule was needed for increasing manufacturing space, purchasing additional production tools and the purchase of new sawmill. The old horse-powered sawmill was broke down twenty-five percent of the time, creating a large backlog of lumber orders.

A new circle-saw-blade steam-powered sawmill would have the capacity to quickly satisfy their backlog of lumber orders and improve wood components quality needed to produce a larger quantity of wagons. Additional employees would also be added to operate the new sawmill and keep it supplied with logs.

Wilbur and Albert agreed their current facilities were incapable of meeting the demand from steadily increasing lumber orders and they further agreed more manufacturing capability was needed, but they were unsure about how to make it happen.

Since both men were functionally illiterate, other than for limited arithmetic abilities they recognized a need for an educated manager to guide the expanding business, but were ignorant about how to hire a manager and were fearful about trusting someone they didn’t know. In the end both men agreed Bertha was correct and accepted her proposed business plan, including a name for the new company. Bertha’s suggested a name incorporated the first letter of each founder’s Christian name, it became... A & W Mfg. Co.

Bertha, wearing boy’s style of clothes and short cut dark hair became the unofficial superintendent of A & W Mfg. Co. When signing company related documents, she used the name Bert A. Payshett to give the appearance of being a man.

During the next eighteen months, A & W Mfg. Co. purchased and put into operation a modern sawmill consisting of: a steam boiler, steam engine, a circular saw with supporting mandrel and powered carriage capable of cutting boards from twenty-four inch diameter logs by twenty-feet long. When in full operation the new mill produced more lumber in a single day than the old mill was capable of cutting in a month. With a limitless supply of lumber at hand, A & W Mfg. Co. constructed a building large enough to triple its covered manufacturing space.

Chapter03 - Tragedy

Coopers Bend continued its commercial growth to the point of becoming a scheduled steamboat stop. With regular steamboat service, the settlement attracted more residents and subsequently more wagon and lumber orders. By this time A & W Mfg. Co. was free of debt and making more money then either Wilbur or Albert ever thought possible. Both men now lived in new frame houses and were foremen rather than laborers.

Albert’s friend, Carl, once again developed a case of itchy-feet grown from a perceived need to discover country across the river and left in late spring. Both Bertha and Wilbur were recovering from Mildred’s death during the winter, after having been a part of the family for seventeen years. A new maid was hired to take Mildred’s place, but she was never able to replace sweet gentle Mildred in Bertha and her father’s hearts. Fred now married and a father, twice over, was busy managing the steam-powered sawmill and catching up on schooling he spurned when younger.

Bertha, now nineteen was held in high esteem, by her father and Albert, for her ability to organize and guide the company as it progressively increased its level of business. She was now accepted as company manager, causing Wilbur to worry about his daughter becoming an old maid. He believed more effort should be put into finding a qualified male manager.

If Bertha was relieved of her manager’s position, she would be more presentable as a prospective wife. In her present position, and wearing a shirt and pants, she came in contact with men every day yet she hadn’t noticed or talked about having nesting urges maturing young women were supposed to develop. She kept telling her father how much she enjoyed her work, with no desire to become housebound and producing children; but she would let him know if and when mothering urges became a bother.

The subject of Bertha becoming a bride was settled in an unexpected and tragic way during the early fall of 1855. Dusk was falling with a half-moon beaming dusky light over the river when a keelboat drifted in and tied up to an empty floating dock, common practice for boats and rafts of all descriptions.

The boat’s four crewmen’s were a scruffy looking lot and typical of men following the boat trade. Keelboat crewmen lived a life surrounded by water, but gave off an unwashed smell equal to that of a desert prospector. The crewmen of this particular came ashore, wandered about looking at the surrounding and exercising their legs.

They soon found solace in the settlement’s saloon where they lifted a few friendly drinks and traded stories with other patrons. When they quit the saloon the moon was riding half-high and pouring out semi-bright white light, creating long dark shadows.

After supper Bertha decided she wanted to finish some correspondence, she wanted to put aboard an upriver steamboat due early in the morning and returned to her office. Having completed her work she closed the office and walked about a hundred feet when confronted by the four scruffy and smelly boatmen. With quick sudden movements and little noise she was struck on her head, rending her temporarily unconscious. A folded rag was tied over her mouth and carried aboard the waiting keelboat.

The boat’s cramped deckhouse barely provided room for a makeshift kitchen, a square table, two benches and four fold-up bunks. Bertha was laid on two straw-tic mattresses, one of the men tossed on the floor. Her shirt was ripped off, as pants and underwear were pulled free. Stripped of clothes, Bertha’s arms and legs were tied spread-eagle to wall mounted bunk frames. When secured and unable to move, each man took his turn raping her until satisfied.

When the rapists were finished, Bertha laid limp and barely conscious. One of the crewmen quipped, they should throw her overboard so the fish could have their turn, but he was overruled by the remaining three.

While one pair untied the boat, a second pair, with one man taking her hands and the other her feet, carried Bertha to the boat gunnel and swing tossed her onto the dock.

When Wilbur noted Bertha was late returning home, he set out searching for her. Passing the dock he noticed moonlight reflecting off her bare legs and thighs. Still addled and in shock, Bertha was unable to remove the folded rage tied over her mouth. Quickly assessing the situation, Wilbur removed the gag from Bertha’s mouth, picked her up in his arms and carried her home.

Bertha remained housebound for two weeks recovering physically and mentally from the assault. She spent a third week by herself walking in the forest armed with a small rifle, accompanied by the family dog, hunted squirrels and wild turkeys as she gained strength before returning to work. Naturally the settlement was saturated with gossip about why Bertha suddenly went missing from work without an explanation forthcoming from Wilbur. No one in Coopers Bend, other than Wilbur and the housekeeper knew Bertha’s reason for remaining at home.

Community members concluded an unknown traumatic event must have befallen Bertha causing her to remain in seclusion for so long. After returning to work everyone noticed she was not the same outgoing Bertha as before. She was withdrawn, tended to her work and engaged in a minimum of conversation. Wilbur never again brought up the subject of Bertha giving up her job to find a husband.

Time passed with the seasons, causing little to change in Coopers Bend other than the occasional arrival of a new family. A & W Mfg. Co. hired more employees and began producing a larger mix of specialty wagons and personal vehicles. Faster growth placed added demand on the sawmill requiring its expansion. A second boiler and engine were added to power a wood-planning machine and other wood milling equipment. Larger, modern power-driven woodworking tools and a steam engine were integrated into the wagon manufacturing facility.

On the first Tuesday of October 1858 a man of twenty-seven years silently arrived in Coopers Bend and took a room at the combination saloon and inn. The following morning he rented a hack with horse and each morning thereafter until Saturday, he traveled about the country without presenting himself to anyone and spoke only when addressed. On Sunday morning he attended the community church and again didn’t allow himself to be drawn into conservation.

At ten o’clock Monday morning, the stranger entered the office of A & W Mfg. Co. and announced himself.

Good morning, my name is Walter Bergman. If possible, I would like to have an audience with Mr. Bert Payshett.

Good morning, Mr. Bergman. Bertha responded, in return to his greeting.

You’re speaking to Bert Payshett. However, as you can see, the he you are seeking is a she. My real name is Bertha Payshett. Bertha stood up, moved from behind her desk and offered her hand.

How can I be of service to you, Mr. Bergman? Please take a chair and make yourself comfortable.

Bergman was somewhat taken aback from discovering Mr. Payshett was in fact an attractive young woman, at least ten years his junior and dressed like a man.

Thank you, Miss Payshett, I will, and it’s most kind of you.

After seating themselves, with her chair facing Bergman, separated by four or five feet of empty space, Bertha sat with her pants enclosed legs crossed.

Am I correct in assuming, Miss Payshett,that you are the actual manager of A & W Manufacturing Company? Bergman asked, with a raised questioning eyebrow.

Let’s say I serve at the pleasure of my father, Wilbur Payshett, and his partner, Mr. Albert Whitburg.

Please forgive me, Miss Payshett, for being at somewhat of a loss, having never found myself in a situation such as this before. I trust you can appreciate my position, faced with conducting business with a woman obviously younger than I is quite out of the ordinary.

Yes. I sense your discomfort and sympathize with you for finding yourself in an unexpected social anomaly after having been acculturated to accepting the prevailing male attitude of women being considered a subservient object. I can further appreciate your bewilderment in having to adjust yourself to a situation where gender roles have been reversed. Bertha explained, this time it was she who raised an eyebrow.

I agree. You summarized my predicament most succinctly and accurately.

May I offer a suggestion? Bertha asked."

Please do. Else we may find ourselves verbally stumbling around until noon, first, refer to me as, Bertha, and I will reciprocate by using your Christian name, Walter. With formal name protocol out of the way, try to visualize me as having a male neck and face above my shirt collar and if you have need to express yourself more fully with a few words of profanity, by all means fire away. Having matured among men and lived apart from cultural gentility, I suspect my profane vocabulary equals or perhaps exceeds yours. She ended with a smile.

Bergman considered her suggestion for a few moments before answering.

Bertha, I believe your suggestion has merit. The clothes you wear help to some extent. I suspect in time I can make the necessary adjustments to my thinking.

With my cultural gender violations reduced to workable proportions, I’ll repeat my original question. How may I be of service to you, Walter?

In keeping with my earlier thumb bumbling up to this point, I’ll bluntly state my reason for being here. I have a college education, half-dozen years of supervisory and bookkeeping experience. More simply put, I’m here seeking employment.

Walter, you just delivered the biggest surprise I’ve received... since I can’t remember when. From community gossip about you during the past week and you seeking me out by name, I assume you knew something about Coopers Bend before deciding to pay us a visit. And, since your arrival you have obviously purposed yourself to learn about the community. My two questions become, how did you learn about Coopers Bend and what motivated you to settle here.

"I can’t point to a single particular reason for deciding to investigate Coopers Bend. I had the misfortune to be employed in a family business located in Cincinnati... a combination foundry and metal machining company to be exact. It was through your orders placed with us for metal wagon components I learned about Bert A. Payshett and A & W Manufacturing.

Two months ago my father died and the company was inherited by, my brother, the eldest son of the family. This brother can best be described as a dilettante; with a great proclivity for spending money. He was either ignorant or unconcerned with the business aspects of how money is acquired. Within two weeks after gaining control of the business, he sold it. Naturally the new owner wanted no part of prior management. Especially former family members and I was told to seek employment elsewhere. I knew your company was located in a small community known as Coopers Bend, downriver from Louisville. Having gained my fill of big city life and its associated politics, I decided to try my luck at living a simpler live and here I am."

"Tell me, Walter. Where did you fit in the company?

When beginning secondary school I worked in the foundry evenings and Saturdays wheel borrowing slag out and hauling charcoal in to fire the furnaces. After secondary school, I went to college and worked during summer vacations. Graduating from college, I began as an accounting clerk and over time I advanced to being in charge of bookkeeping encompassing, order processing, purchasing and receivables.

You obviously have extensive business experience. I suspect you understand a small isolated company could hardly add to your experience nor be in a financial position to equal your past salary?

Yes. I have given these conditions considerable thought. And, there is another looming factor which you may not be aware... the possibilities of a coming civil war.

Bertha added, I’ve read in newspapers, finding their way here, about serious political debate over the issue of slavery; but I haven’t read anything about the debate being settled by use of a civil war.

I agree newspapers are not reporting the true nature of this debate. Most of my information was gained from quiet talk among moneyed people beginning to consider hedging their bets. During the past ten years, blood has and continues being shed along the east and southern borders of Kansas. When Kansas is admitted to the union, slave states want it added as a slave state and abolitionists want it to become a free state.

My goodness! Bertha said, I had no idea, about the volume of nasty politics afoot. Why do you feel it would be safer living in an isolated community such as this rather than in a big city?

Bertha, I have a feeling it won’t amount to a hill of beans where I live. I’m just fed up with bigness in general.

Judging from your past week’s activities spent looking at Coopers Bend and surrounding country, you must have decided to cast your lot here?

That’s a safe assumption.

Walter. Do you have a family?

Not any more. I married soon after graduating from college, a daughter was born to us a year later and the following year, both my wife and daughter died from typhoid. I have never had the urge to try marriage again."

Walter, I’m sorry to hear of your loss and I can empathize with your feelings; my mother died birthing me. The woman who mothered me... whom I miss very much... died this past January. Following a short pause, Bertha continued.

Walter, do I hear you saying, you are willing to forego the advantages a big city has to offer in favor of a dull boring life here in Coopers Bend; where the primary amusement is a mixture of work, gossip and various kinds of hunting. Water nodded and Bertha warned.

You must also consider another important aspect of living in a small community... reconciling yourself to a complete loss of privacy. In Coopers Bend there are no secrets. When there are no individually committed foibles, personal indiscretions are frequently invented for no other reason than to stir up a subject for conversation. With you being a single man, your actions will automatically fuel at least half of the community gossip. Until now, a major portion of public conversation has centered on me finding a husband, which I’m in no mood to do, nor need.

The extent of my experience with gossip came from wagging tongues at work. Walter added.

Let me suggest a method for holding accusations against you at bay, Bertha added.

Never deny anything, no matter how far fetched or ridiculous. Always agree with whichever wild tale comes your way and embellish it for all you’re worth. Never ever let outrageous talk get your goat; if you do, talk will never end.

Bertha, I think you offer sound advice and I thank you for your suggestion. Returning to the question of my employment, what do you think my chances are for becoming employed by your company?

Let me ask you an important question first. Do you hold to being a gentleman, or are you willing to get your hands soiled?

A practical question, Walter remarked with a smile. As I said earlier, my first job was driving a wheelbarrow and growing blisters. I see no problem with getting my hands dirty, so long as I don’t have to wear a three-piece suit while doing it.

Good answer. It just so happens my father may view you as an answer to his prayers; because he feels through my filling of this job, it has let to my spinsterhood. Walter, I suggest you come back this afternoon around four o’clock. In the meantime, I’ll speak with my father and Mr. Whitburg about you. Fair enough?

"I couldn’t ask for anything more. Thank you, Bertha.

Chapter04 - Manager and Talk of War

At four o’clock in the afternoon, Walter entered Bertha’s office.

Good afternoon, Walter, please come in. Walter Bergman, this is my father, Wilbur Payshett and this is his partner, Mr. Albert Whitburg.

"It's my