Dallas, Texas

"Daddy? Julie told me you wanted to see me as soon as I got in?" knocking and entering his father's office, Bobby closed the door behind him and walked toward his father's desk. "I did. Take a seat", following his father's hand motion and verbal instruction, he did as he was told. Observing his father then standing, walking over to the bar and making two drinks, his stomach turned; although it was clear his father wasn't angry with him, he also didn't seem to be in an extremely good mood and with the way things had been lately he wasn't sure what to expect. Staying silent except for the few words he spoke as he accepted the drink offered to him, he mentally gave himself a pep talk, calmed down a little and waited for his father to begin speaking. Nervousness was pointless right now, because really, what was the worst that could happen? He had already resigned from his position at Ewing Oil and he was confident that he was in a sound legal positon when it came to his future at the ranch, so while his father had been considering his response, he had also really just been delaying the inevitable.

Handing his youngest son a drink, Jock took a sip of his own drink, sat down in his large, leather chair and opened his top drawer, pulling out a brown manila folder marked 'Robert "Bobby" James Ewing – Employee Personnel Record'. "I'm sure you know why I asked to see you, so I'll cut to the chase. As the president of Ewing Oil, I am prepared to accept your resignation and as the sole owner of Southfork Ranch I am also prepared to allow you to increase your hours and responsibilities there. With that being said though, I have a couple of requests of my own before I talk to Ray and sort out everything regarding your increased presence at the ranch. Firstly, as per your contract with Ewing Oil, you specified in your letter of resignation that you were giving four weeks' notice; I'd like to request that you remain here for another six weeks so that we have enough time to find and train a suitable replacement. Secondly, since this is happening earlier than expected, I'm still working here at Ewing Oil and I won't be able to dedicate quite as much time to teaching you the financial side of the ranching business as I had planned. Because of that, I don't think you're at the level of understanding needed for running a business like the ranch and since I don't think it's fair on Ray to have to teach you everything as well as run the ranch fulltime, I want you to consider finding a mentor or applying to grad school. It's completely possible that you could learn what you need to without returning to college, you already have a degree and a good understanding of the basics of business, and I certainly succeeded without a formal education, but things are different now. As both an employer and an employee, I have seen the benefits of an education in the work presented to me and the results generated, so I'm supportive of you doing what you have to now if it means you'll have a better chance of understanding how to succeed in the future. If you don't want to do that though, then I'd like you to find a mentor. I don't want you leaking our confidential business information to anyone who could possibly be untrustworthy, so naturally I'd have to run some checks and approve whoever you chose, but as the more practical, hands-on option, I understand if you wish to do this instead of returning to college".

Taking another drink, Jock watched his youngest son intently. He trusted him and he loved him, but as well as being a father, he was a businessman and he knew that he had to do what was smart for the health of his business, which in this case meant not throwing an inexperienced and ill-equipped man in at the deep end and expecting him to just succeed. He needed to assist Bobby to succeed and preferably he'd do it just like he had over the last decade with JR, by working with him and training him himself, but as Bobby had jumped ahead in the plan, he now needed to re-evaluate and redesign his plan of action. Bobby would be a successful, independent man one day, but it wouldn't be an overnight change and it was naïve to expect it to just happen without some kind of guidance.

"I..." beginning to respond but then pausing to reflect, Bobby stayed silent for a little while longer before he finally did speak again. "I'm not going to argue with you and I'll do whatever you think is best, but I do have to ask why? Why is it that JR is set to become the next president of Ewing Oil and is surely capable of making business decisions without going to grad school or having a mentor, but when it comes to my business needs you're unavailable to assist me? Why do you think JR needs you more at Ewing Oil than I do at the ranch? As I said, I'll do whatever you think is best, so if you wish me to choose someone external, then I will, but to be completely honest, that would be my second choice, because if I'm going to learn from a mentor, I'd really like it to be you. If you want me to go to grad school to learn more theory that I'll be able to apply in the future, then I'll gladly do that too; my opinion is still the same though, I'd really like to learn about running a Ewing ranch from another Ewing, you". Explaining his hesitations, Bobby hoped his father understood at least some of his perspective. He liked Ray and he had learnt a lot from him over the past few months and he was sure he would continue to learn a lot from him in the future, however, Ray wasn't a Ewing and despite being the ranch foreman, he wasn't the one in complete control of the business. Jock Ewing was the man he had always looked up to and had always been sure he would one day follow in his footsteps, and technically, he was, because his father did make his presence known at the ranch, however, his plan for a hands-off approach to future training was disappointing and truthfully, a bit hurtful.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, but understand the position I'm in now too. You may have been planning this for a while so in your head it sounds easy for me to drop what I'm doing at Ewing Oil and instead focus on you and the ranch, but that's not the case. JR is capable of running this company, but he shouldn't have to, not yet. I had a plan in place for my retirement; there were timelines prepared and everything, but all of that has gone out the window with your resignation and request. I haven't had nearly as long as you have to consider the situation and I have responsibilities as the president of Ewing Oil that I need to attend to and cannot just be handed over to JR to deal with, not when he has his own tasks to complete and especially not with the way the oil business is now. The timing of your resignation may have felt right to you, but to everyone else, it's a big disruption and not something that can just be fixed or taken into consideration immediately. I'll train you and work with you eventually, and Ray will continue to work with you as he has been and will eventually diversify what he's been teaching you, but you have to give it time. If you wish to change your timeline then that's fine, I accept that, but you need to remember that you're just a small piece in a large puzzle; you have to fit in around everything else, you're not the whole picture". Taking a drink, Jock hoped his youngest son understood where he was coming from, because if he didn't then they had a problem, and he already had enough problems to deal with without adding another one to his plate.

"Daddy, I…" beginning to respond, Bobby silently cursed the intercom as it began to buzz. Of course his father would get the last word in the conversation for now, he usually did. Listening to the message Julie was relaying, he knew his father's morning was about to get hectic and they wouldn't be able to continue their conversation until later. Luckily though, with JR now living away from Southfork, he didn't have to compete for his father's attention at home, so hopefully they would be able to take some time alone to talk after dinner. He had a few things to say in response to his father's remarks about his expectations, and he wanted to make sure that they figured out a new plan they were both comfortable with before he moved any further.

To be continued…