by Melissa Good
“Business there, boss?” Mark asked.
“Valentine’s Day,” Dar responded without missing a beat. Her eyes twinkled a little at his blush. “Back at the old place Ker and I were pretty low key. This isn’t ILS. We own this joint so I don’t see any point in not being open.” She glanced at Carlos. “If you have an issue with that, speak up now.”
Carlos shook his head. “I’m fine with it. Mark told me.”
Dar cleared her throat. “Okay, so cameras. Now we’ve also got to secure the data. I can write the encryption into the database schema, but what about the physical side?” She looked over at Mark. “I don’t want people to be able to load up external hard drives, or thumb drives, and walk out of here.”
Mark nodded. “I got a schematic to protect the server room.” He pulled out his own page and pushed it over to Dar. “And it’s gonna be a pain in the ass, but we’re going to certify all the local storage and not allow any transfer to any device that ain’t coded in.”
Dar studied the page and grunted in approval.
He pointed at one of the racks. “The big data store, here? We should only allow remote access to. Work in a virtual session with sandboxing. No local transfer at all.”
“So the work will actually take place on the main system?” Kerry asked.
“Yeah. I have dot1x on the net, and it’ll be an encrypted session,” Mark said. “They can check code in and out, it’s like they’re working local, but everything stays inside the big box.”
“I like this,” Dar said after a long silence. “Good work, Mark.”
“Once we get an offsite datacenter, I’ll do a real time sync over the wire to it,” Mark went on, a pleased expression on his face. “That place I told you about? It’s lit from three directions.”
“Nice.” Now Dar was smiling. “Thanks, guys. You made me feel like I can take Kerry on a month vacation in a little while and not worry about things back here.”
Kerry acknowledged all the smiles with one of her own and then leaned back in her chair in a relaxed pose. “Yeah, so then I can look forward to shooting the rapids with Dar coding in her head,” she said. “Someone remind me to not let them give her a paddle.”
A round of easy laughter went around the table.
Dar’s phone rang and she pushed back from the table a little, pulling the device out and answering it. “Dar Roberts.” She paused to listen. “Hey, Dad.”
Kerry chuckled and picked up the paper, pointing at the picture.
Dar rolled her eyes. “Thanks. It was all right. Got good press from it.”
The group tactfully got up and busied themselves at the coffee station, giving Dar at least a facade of privacy. “Dar’s mama and papa must be so proud,” Mayte said, as she got herself some tea. “The last one was the paper calling, wasn’t it, Kerry?”
“Yep. Business section of the Herald.” Kerry also got some tea. “They remember us from the cruise ship debacle,” she added wryly. “I blocked off a two hour session for them tomorrow morning.” She glanced over at Dar. “Probably with more pictures.”
“Good thing we got the sign up then,” Mark said. “Boy, I tell ya this is so much damn fun.”
“It is, isn’t it?” Kerry said. “I mean, we’ve been lucky so far. Things have fallen in place in our favor.”
“But even if they had not, it would still be more interesting than the other place,” Maria said. “It is so in the energy, yes? To have to make everything new and not to be listening to the same things the same complaints all the time.”
“You got it,” Mark said. “Not have to be in the same old box all the time. This is great.”
Kerry thought about that as she leaned against the wall, listening to the chatter and watching Dar from the corner of her eye. Dar had a distinct blush showing and had that look of half pleasure and half embarrassment that meant she was getting praised by her parents.
It was good. She was glad she didn’t have to suffer the same routine day after day, meetings and conciliations with Marketing, and taking customer complaints about service. It was nice to have everything be new all the time, though she knew eventually that, too, would change and there would be another set of routines to get used to.
“Hey, Ker?” Dar held the phone out. “They want to talk to you.” She got up and passed the phone over as she traded places with her, pulling open the small refrigerator under the coffee station and issuing a satisfied grunt as she removed a chocolate chug. “Good job, people.”
“We aspire to take after our bosses.” Mark grinned at her. “Your pop see the pic?”
Dar opened her milk. “Yes, he did. He’s not a fan of the current administration, but he did say he was glad I learned my lesson well from him about at least pretending respect to authority.”
Mark laughed so hard he almost choked.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what my mother’s reaction was,” Dar said. “I heard her through the phone. They’re out in the BVIs right now at some tiki bar.”
“They coming back any time soon?” Mark asked. “I figure if your pop shows up, we won’t have to worry about those guys much after that.”
“They’ll be back in a couple weeks,” Dar said. “They’re going to stay at our place while we’re gone. My mother said she painted a few canvases for our walls here.”
“Oh, Dar.” Maria held a finger up. “Uno momento, por favor. A person from this area came in this morning and gave me some information about a bed, and that we must get in and ride in it.”
Dar blinked at her. “What?”
“Down the street, yes. All of us together, but not until September. So we have time for it.”
“Oh the bed race,” Carlos said. “Yeah, that’s a lot of fun.”
“Bed race?”
“OKAY, COL, YOU got everything you need?” Kerry finished zipping her overnight case. “Thanks for staying over.”
Colleen was seated on the love seat, her own overnight bag next to her. “No problem at all, Ker.” She was flipping through a People magazine. “It’s never a hardship to stay here on Fantasy Island you know? But you’ll do me a favor while you and the Mrs. are partying in Mardi Gras and see if you can find me a man who can buy me a place out here.”
“Do my best,” Kerry said. “What happened to that guy you were seeing...Arthur?”
“Meh.” Colleen glanced up. “He’s all right, but he’s a bit of a bring to church on Sunday, if you catch me.”
“Ah. Yeah. Kind of like Brian was for me.” Kerry’s eyes twinkled a little. “I’ve never been to Mardi Gras. Hell, I’ve never been to New Orleans but I’ll see what I can find for you there.”
“Take pictures,” Colleen said. “Hey, you intending on flashing your tatas to get some of those lovely beads?”
Kerry stopped in mid-motion and looked at her. “What?”
Colleen chuckled. “What what? Haven’t you seen those programs about Mardi Gras? All those tourists standing on the sidelines, lifting their shirt up to get the ladies on the floats to toss sparklies at them?”
Kerry put her hands on her hips and stared at her friend. “Colleen,” she said. “It took me months to casually take my clothes off in front of Dar, alone in our bedroom. I don’t see me doing it on the street for The Travel Channel for plastic beads and coconuts.”
Colleen snickered and covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.
Dar entered from her office, carrying her own overnight bag. “What was that about plastic beads and coconuts? Are we talking about what I think we’re talking about? Our hotel’s on one of the parade routes, and we’ve got second floor balcony rooms.”
“Nice,” Kerry said. “That means I don’t have to take my shirt off to get party favors, right?”
Dar stopped in mid-motion. “What?” She gave Kerry an incredulous look. “Babe, I’ll buy you a whole damn float if you want. You don’t have to take off anything, honest.”
Colleen fell over on the couch, guffawing silently.
Kerry mo
ck sighed. “Oh, good. C’mon let’s get out of here before I get myself into any more trouble.” She shouldered her bag. “Bye, kids. Be good for Auntie Colleen.”
They escaped out the front door and got in Dar’s truck, throwing their bags in the back seat. “This is going to be fun,” Kerry said, as Dar started up the engine and backed out of her spot. “Especially after this week. Holy cow, Dar, we’re going to be out of space for new employees in six months at this rate.”
Dar waggled her eyebrows and grinned. “I figure once we get the data center going, we can move the IT people there. The support groups we’re going to need, unless we can get more space around our office. To be honest I had no idea we were going to take off like that.”
“Six new clients in the last two days.” Kerry shook her head. “Unbelievable. Even with that press,” she said. “Wait until the Business Monday piece runs.”
“And none of them current or previous ILS customers.” Dar looked satisfied. “That’s a good thing, since we don’t need any more hot pokers to shove up the ILS board’s collective ass.”
“Was that Alastair who called you before we left?” Kerry asked. “I guess they saw the story.”
“Yeah, they saw the story,” Dar said. “He’s about tied up everything there. Figures he’ll be out by the end of next week. From what I got from him, we’re very persona non gratis.” She pulled up to the ferry dock and put the truck in park to wait for the next ferry. “They’re fuming over not getting a piece of that action.”
“They wouldn’t have gotten it anyway,” Kerry said.
“No, I know,” Dar said. “Besides, that’s not the direction we’d been taking the company. They stopped doing a lot of custom software a few years back. They don’t have much to be pissed about, especially since Gerry renewed those support contracts with them. Alastair said he made sure they knew why.”
Kerry was quiet briefly. “How are the new guys doing?” she finally asked.
“My replacement has been busy shooting off hot air in Houston,” Dar said. “Sees himself as a tech evangelist. Your replacement brought in about a half dozen of his own people and is cleaning house.”
Kerry exhaled. “Damn.”
“If it’s any consolation,” Dar said, “Alastair said Jose told him in the men’s room he really misses us.” Kerry smiled. “He said he thinks this guy’s a bigger ass than I was.”
“Oh Lord.” Kerry covered her eyes with one hand.
“The test will be the first major issue they have,” Dar said. “Lucky for them, we built up a lot of resilience these last few years, but problems will happen eventually. Once that happens, either they’ll be able to handle it and start making things their own, or they’ll lose it and the shit will hit the fan.”
“Well. If they’re cleaning house, chances are they‘ll let go the people who were closest to us,” Kerry said.
“And we need people. Synergistic.” Dar took the truck out of park and drove onto the ferry. “Sometimes things work out like that.”
Kerry settled back in her seat. “Sometimes they do. But let’s worry about it next week. After Mardi Gras.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“TAXI, LADIES?”
“Sure.” Dar steered Kerry toward the proffered conveyance. “Royal Sonesta.”
The taxi driver smiled. “You bet.” He closed the door and then trotted around the front of the cab to get in the driver’s seat. “Beautiful night to be flying into NOLA.”
Kerry looked around at the packed airport pick up area. “It’s really busy.”
The driver glanced in the rear view. “You all did know you were comin’ in last weekend of Mardi Gras, right?”
Dar chuckled. “We knew,” she said. “We’ve just never been here before.”
He smiled again. “First timers. Lordy, lordy.”
“Got any recommendations?” Dar asked. “Hate to be a typical tourist if I don’t have to be.”
The driver cleared his throat. “My view is, first time you’re here, be a tourist. See all the stuff, do all the stuff, ‘specially if you’re here for Mardi Gras. Ain’t no other purpose for that than tourism, know what I mean?”
“Okay.” Dar looked out the window, hearing the blare of music that fell behind them quickly. “Good point.”
“Second time,” he said, “then you can start being choosy.”
Kerry read the plastic covered map fastened to the back of the seat. “Oh, Dar, they have a ghost tour. Can we do that?”
The driver laughed throatily. “Careful with that one if you get scared easy. There’s plenty of old spirits here.”
“Sure,” Dar said. “Why the hell not?”
“Why do you have a lot of old spirits here?” Kerry asked. “Because the city’s so old?”
The taxi driver met her eyes in the rear view. “You fooling with me? You ain’t never heard of all the hoodoo and voodoo and things like that here? For real?”
Kerry looked over at Dar, who shrugged and lifted her hands in supplication. “No, I don’t think I have. I don’t know that much about New Orleans. Do you, hon?”
Dar remained silent for a bit, then cleared her throat. “Well, I’ve heard a little bit about it. My father’s folks come from Alabama, remember.”
“Whereabouts in Alabama?” The driver asked with interest. “Got family there.”
“Small place near Ozark,” Dar replied. “Nearest big town is Montgomery.”
“Lordy that is deep woods Alabama.” The driver chuckled. “My folks are just north of Mobile.”
“Oh, yeah,” Kerry said. “I remember that story he told us when he came back from his sister’s wedding. You know, maybe we should have brought him and your mom here. Between his ghost tales and her being a pagan, we could have had some real fun on this tour.”
“Next time,” Dar said. The taxi slowed down and into a part of the city that had narrower streets and a lot more people. “Is this the French Quarter?”
“Yes, ma’am, it sure is.” The driver relaxed as the pace slowed to a crawl. “Just get yourselves a good look now. We got plenty of time before we get to the hotel.”
Kerry felt like a kid, her eyes taking in the scene on either side of the car. The streets were filled with revelers, dressed in everything from casual clothing to lurid masks and paint. Or just paint. “Dar...is that...?”
“Woman naked? Yes.” Dar peered out her own window. “Is that legal?”
“That’s what them Fleur-de-lies are there for,” the driver replied with a chuckle. “You got to have the illusion of something, see what I mean?”
“Oh. Yeah. I see what you mean.” Kerry put a hand on her cheek. “My Midwestern roots are curling up and screaming.”
Dar patted her leg. “Breathe, babe.” She heard music through the window, brassy and penetrating, a rhythm she knew only slightly, new and raw. “Here’s the hotel.”
Kerry’s eyes lit up. “Oh wow.” She studied the building, which wrapped around a corner and had old style wrought iron railings on the floors overlooking the street. “We’re in one of those rooms, Dar?”
“We are.” Dar opened the door as the driver got hastily out. She handed him a folded bill. “Keep the change.”
“Yes, ma’am, and thank ya.” He gestured to the hotel as he handed them their overnights. “You all have a good old time now, hear?”
“I’m absolutely sure we will.” Dar paused as a man on stilts rambled by between them and the entrance.
“Wow.” Kerry tucked her hand inside Dar’s elbow and they advanced cautiously through the crowd. “Hope you packed earplugs or we’re not getting any sleep.”
“Didn’t figure we would anyway,” Dar said as they got inside the door. “I’m sure there’s coffee here.”
The lobby was filled with people, but it was quieter inside. Kerry kept her grip on Dar as they eased through the crowd to the check-in desk. She turned when they got there to survey the interior while Dar attended to the necessary procedures.
The space was full of old fashioned furniture and trim, heavy velvet draping and chandeliers. Everyone in the lobby seemed to be holding a drink of some kind. Some had layers and layers of beads around their necks.
Kerry turned back around as Dar put a hand on her arm and indicated the stairs to their left. “Might as well walk up,” she said, regarding the crowd around the elevators.
They climbed up the old fashioned sweeping stairs and walked along the hall until Dar stopped at a set of double doors. She opened them and they went inside, presented with a suite of rooms as traditionally decorated as the lobby was.
“Wow.” Kerry put her bag down and went to the French doors, which opened out onto a long balcony. “This is all ours?”
“Yep.” Dar looked out to see Bourbon Street stretching out in front of them, filled with people and music and parties, along with the smell of garlic and sugar. “Hungry?”
“Hell, yeah.” Kerry walked out onto the balcony and put her hands on the cold, dark wrought iron. She looked out over the crowd. “This is wild.”
“Let’s go to that place.” Dar pointed. “I can see the sign that says shrimp and grits.”
Kerry started laughing. “Okay, shrimp and grits. Then we go ghost hunting.” She regarded the busy street with a relaxed and totally engaged grin. She turned, put her arms around Dar and squeezed hard. “Thanks.”
Dar returned the hug with a happy grin of her own. “Let’s go have fun.”
Kerry added a festive burgundy silk scarf to her leather jacket and ran a brush through her hair, then followed Dar out the door of their snazzy suite and back down the steps.
The crowd was dense, the restaurant packed, but Kerry negotiated that with ease and fifteen minutes later they were seated and examining a rustic menu. “Holy pooters. I can see I’m going to be putting on ten pounds this weekend,” Kerry remarked. “I want one of everything.”
Dar regarded the drink menu. “Milk punch. Do I have to try that?”
“I think you do.”
A waiter arrived shortly with no pad or pen, just an inquisitive eyebrow. “We’ll share a large seafood plate to start,” Kerry told him. “I’ll have the catfish pecan, and my friend here wants the red fish on the half shell.”
