Running the Place
Chapter 2
By BakaDaz
Disclaimer: Don't own Quatre, or any GW characters that might be mentioned in this fic. I do own just about everyone else, though...
The door to the Winner home was opened and two people came in, one girl with brown hair that came to her shoulders, and an older woman with short black hair on her head. "Cook," the girl said. "This is a lot of stuff, why'd we have to buy so much?"
Cook tried to get her bag through the door. "Tasha, I haven't been to the store to get food in awhile. I completely forgot that we were having a guest." The girl name Tasha, gave a little sigh as she trudged her way to the kitchen, Cook right behind her. But before they left the area, they passed by Cheryl.
"What's up, Cheryl?" Tasha asked as soon as she saw the look on her face. Cheryl was red with anger and looked really frustrated...and sounded it too.
"Don't go upstairs! There's a bear up there!" She yelled as she stomped over to the closet by the door. Tasha and Cook looked at each other before they shrugged and kept walking.
Donna looked up as stacks of folders were dropped on her desk. She looked up to see Quatre looking at her, breathing deeply. "Did you really read them all?" she asked him suspiciously.
Quatre nodded his head. "Well, I skimmed. I was halfway done before anyways. But you know, I really don't understand why I have to read them. Someone sends them to me, I read them and send them to someone else, the do the same thing until they get to Minister Darlian. I know Miss Relena has a lot of work to do, too, but she still looks at them."
Donna chuckled. "Well, you sound happy. Look, Cheryl came by and told me to be a little careful around Mr. Benford. I'm not sure why." Quatre nodded his head and she took that as a sign that he knew why. "Also," she decided to add to see his expression. "Cook is back, and I hear dinner is going to be spaghetti." Her reply was a grin from Quatre. Quatre started walking away. "Hey," Donna called after him. "Where're you going?"
Quatre turned his head to look at her. "Oh, I think I should go...taste test it. You know."
Donna shook her head as Quatre ran off.
"Master Quatre, if you don't get out of this kitchen I am going to throw you out!"
Quatre laughed. "C'mon, Cook! Let me just try a bite!"
"No! You want me to throw you out?"
"Go make friends with the bear upstairs," Tasha said. Quatre looked over to her.
"Bear?"
"Yeah, Cheryl said there's a bear up there."
"...She must be talking about Mr. Benford. I guess I should try to speak to him. I was sort of going to wait until dinner, though."
Tasha, sitting at a little circular table with a cooking magazine layed out in front of her, raised an eyebrow. "By the way she said it, I don't think I would want to meet him."
"Hm," Quatre replied, looking over to Cook. "How much longer until dinner's ready, Betty?"
Cook Betty shrugged. "Fifteen minutes."
Quatre nodded. "I'll talk to him then, see?"
Cheryl was down on her hands and feet, scrubbing the floor of the hall with a sponge. She scrubbed the floor hard, trying to remove anything. She moved forward a bit and her sponge came in contact with a shoe. She looked up to a heavyset man. "Mr. Benford," she growled. "You're standing right in my way."
Mr. Benford looked down at her. "Pardon me, but I am walking, and you are in my way."
"I was here first."
"But I am more important than you."
Cheryl was real hurt now. "Move it."
"Don't talk to me in that matter," he replied in an ill-tempered voice.
"And don't talk to me in that matter! I am not the lowest creature in the world!"
"Really? Because right now I'm looking down on you."
Cheryl scowled as she pushed her bucket over and moved out of his way. "Hurry up and pass, I don't have time to wait all day."
"And neither do I, I could be late for dinner."
As Mr. Benford walked away Cheryl mumbled under her breath, "It sure wouldn't ihurt/i you in any way."
"Mr. Winner, sorry for being so later," Mr. Benford said as he came into the dinning hall where Quatre was sitting at the long table.
"Don't worry," Quatre replied with a reassuring smile.
"But that girl needs to learn some manners."
"Girl?"
"Yes. The maid with the wavy black hair."
"Cheryl?"
"Oh, you know her name," Mr. Benford looked real surprised. "I'm impressed. Usually wealthy people like ourselves don't have the time to learn their names." He got a quizzical look from Quatre, but didn't notice and kept going. "As I was saying, she does need some obedience."
"Obedience?" Quatre asked. He hated that word. His father used that word a lot. Usually obedience was used toward animals, but even some animals didn't deserve such a low word.
"But, I shall not begin on that."
Tasha came out of the kitchen with two plats in her hand; she sat one down in front of Mr. Benford. "If you want seconds," she said as she went over to Quatre and sat the other plate down in front of him. "Don't be afraid to ask." She went somewhere in the middle of the table and gave them both smiles. "I hope you enjoy it."
Mr. Benford looked at it for a minute and shrugged. "It looks fair."
Quatre tried to pretend he didn't hear that as he began to eat. "Um...Mr. Benford. That thing you said, about obedience..."
"Don't worry about it, Mr. Winner," he responded. "I think you can do it. Although I think it's odd...why do you allow these people to call you by your name?"
Quatre shrugged. "It's what they like to call me."
"Yes, well...they should call you by your last name, it's more formal. They do work for you and they are of lower class..."
Quatre slurped up a spaghetti string and looked at him. "Lower class? What do you mean?"
"Well, they are lower class than us wealthy people."
Quatre got a little short tempered. "But they are people, Mr. Benford. They disserve as many things as you and I."
"Yes," Mr. Benford sneered. "ipeople/i."
Quatre tried to keep from glaring at him. "Well, you know, some of my best friends are of 'lower class'."
"They are? You mean you don't make friends with rich people?"
"Well, sure. But most of them are snobs."
"'Snobs?' What a funny word." Mr. Benford chuckled as he used a spoon to swirl spaghetti around his fork.
Quatre sighed and shook his head.
"You know what, Mr. Winner? I have come to a decision," Mr. Benford said suddenly.
Quatre sat up. "You're leaving early?"
"Of course not. Actually, I think I'll stay longer just so I can teach you the real way to run this place."
"Oh no, Mr. Benford, you don't have to..."
"I insist."
Quatre groaned. He didn't feel as hungry as he had been before, not even for one of his top 5 favorite foods.
"You'll see," Mr. Benford said. "I'll start correcting your mistakes tomorrow..."
i8:45 a.m. the next morning..../i
Meg looked at the man, very exasperated. "Mr. Benford..."
Mr. Benford put his hand up. "Listen, I just want to know. You will be cleaning my room and making my bed, correct?"
"I will be dusting and vacuuming."
"But you will not make my bed?"
Meg sighed. "Look, Mr. Benford, usually I only work for Mr. Winner. And he's up, gotten his bed made, eaten, and out on his morning exercise before I even get here in the morning. I don't do beds, I don't do windows."
Mr. Benford shook his head.
"I come in, dust, vacuum, got to the next room and do the same thing. Then, when I have all the rooms cleaned, my work is done, and I can go home. Now, Mr. Benford, please, would you leave?"
Mr. Benford sighed. "All right, I'll go! Maybe there's something good for breakfast." And he left his room, leaving Meg by herself.
"I just can't believe it," Cheryl complained. "I mean I'd rather Master Quatre's friends staying over than serving that barbarian."
Geoffrey nodded. "Is he really that bad?"
"Wait until you see him. He acts like a king. Times like this I wish iall four/i of Master Quatre's friends were here. I mean, that Trowa one is quiet..."
"Uh huh."
"That Heero one is grumpy, but he doesn't order you around..."
"Yup."
"That Wufei boy yells at you, but he's fun to fight with, especially when you have people to take your side..."
"Yeah..."
"And Duo, the only thing he ever wants is food, and he always gets that himself."
Geoffrey laughed. "Yep, that's right. Well, if Mr. B is harder to handle than the four of them, I don't want to meet him."
"Trust me, you don't."
"You, maid, move."
Cheryl glared at the person who had said that. "My name is Cheryl, Mr. Benford."
"Yes, but you're a maid, and you're in my way."
"Well," she replied sarcastically, "pardon me!" She stepped over to the side by Geoffrey and watched him go by.
"Oh, that was mean," Geoffrey, said. "'Maid', is that your name now? 'Maid'?"
"Oh, shut up."
Mr. Benford was at the long table in the dining room, eating, when he heard the doors open. He glanced up to see Quatre come in wearing an old gray sweatshirt that looked about a size or two too big for him. His face was red, and he was breathing heavily. "Mr. Winner," Mr. Benford said surprised. "Care to join me for some breakfast?"
"No," Quatre replied. "I already had breakfast, but thanks for asking me."
Mr. Benford took a bite of his bacon, look at Quatre as he came over. He swallowed and pointed his fork at him. "What's this?"
"Huh?" Quatre looked down. "Oh, it's just a sweatshirt I found one day. I go out on walks every morning and wear this all the time. Good thing I did today though, it's chilly outside."
Mr. Benford raised and eyebrow. "Why would you need to exercise every morning? You're the most fit person I've ever met."
'Yeah,' Quatre thought, 'and how many people have you met?' "Really? I didn't think I was...besides, I'm used to it by now. Get up at 5 a.m., eat, watch the new, check the weather, and go out on my 'morning stroll' as I like to call it."
Mr. Benford shook his head. "I couldn't walk that long, I don't understand that. But...I suppose there's nothing wrong with it. I'm going to be watching you, Mr. Winner. Don't have so much mercy." He wiped his mouth with his napkin that had been lying on his lap, and then dropped it on the table.
Quatre reached down for the plate. "Oh, I'll get that for y--" Mr. Benford slapped his hand away.
"Lesson 1," he said. "Don't do things for your workers." Quatre gave him a hurt look, but he started out of the dining hall.
"I'm going to go get out of this shirt, and go work in my office. If you need me that's where I'll be." Mr. Benford nodded to him as Quatre left, shutting the door behind him.
"Master Quatre!!" "Master Quatre!" "Hey, look at this!"
Quatre was interrupted of his typing on his laptop to look up. In ran Trisha, Cheryl, and Geoffrey. He was a bit irritated that he was probably not going to finish his work at all, but there was something about the grins on their faces.
"Master Quatre! You just got a letter!" Tasha cried as she held up an envelope that was addressed to him on it.
Cheryl pulled it out of her grasp. "I want to give it to him!"
Geoffrey pulled it away from him. "Let me give this to him, cuz, guy to guy, you know."
Cheryl gave him a look and pulled on it. "No! Me! Let go!"
"I saw it first!" Tasha whined.
Quatre felt a headache coming to him. "Guys..." he mumbled. But they all kept fighting over the envelope, trying to prove who wanted to give the letter to Quatre the most. Quatre narrowed his eyes and raised his voice. "Guys." But they still weren't paying attention. Quatre didn't want to do this but he felt a migraine coming on. "GUYS!" And it was suddenly silent in the room.
Quatre rubbed his temple and looked at them. "So...what is it?" Each one of the three, holding at least a centimeter of it, sat it down on Quatre's desk before him.
"It's a SWAK letter, Master Q," Tasha said raising an eyebrow.
"...Swak?" Quatre asked, sure he's heard that before.
"SWAK," Cheryl said slowly. "You know S-W-A-K?"
Quatre looked a bit confused.
"It's sealed with a kiss," Geoffrey said in a singsong tone.
Quatre blushed beat red as he opened a drawer of his desk, pulling out an envelope opener, and cut the top of the envelope. He seemed to fumble a bit with the sides as he opened it up and pulled the letter inside out. The paper was folder 3 ways, so he carefully unfolded it. The other three starting to loose their patience. Quatre looked at the letter, and instead of skimming it like he normally did, he read all the words. Of course, somewhere in-between the beginning and middle they saw his face drop and his blush become even redder, how that was possible they didn't know.
Quatre dropped the letter down. "You all shouldn't jump to conclusions like that," he said. But it seemed they didn't hear what he said.
"What did it say? What did it say?" they chanted. Quatre groaned at their child-like behavior. He pushed the paper over to them and they looked down to it.
"It's from one of my sisters, she said she misses me." Quatre tried not to laugh as the other three looked at the letter in shock, Tasha picking it up and reading it, Geoffrey studying the envelope.
"That is wrong," Geoffrey commented. "We love making accusations and conclusions! She tricked us with one."
"We're right a lot with accusations," Tasha said, a bit dazed.
Cheryl didn't seem too effected by this. "Aren't you ever going to get a girlfriend?" was what she asked him irritated.
Quatre had gotten his laugh for the day, but felt like adding onto their irritation they already had by pointing to the door.
"But-"
"I wave work to do," Quatre convinced. They slumped their shoulders and trudged out of the room. Quatre, shaking his head with a smile on his face, he refolded the letter, put it back into the envelope, and put the envelope into his desk. Then he turned back to his laptop.
'Tests have proven children who live in the colonies, are better educated by 25% than those children who live on the earth. No one is sure how this has happened over the years, but there is sure to be a meeting about it on--' Quatre stopped reading what was on the laptop when he heard a noise. He looked up to see Mr. Benford coming in.
"What was that parade about?" Mr. Benford asked him.
"Oh...nothing really, they were just bringing me a letter."
Mr. Benford nodded and sat down in a chair in front of him. He reached into his shirt and pulled out a lighter, and then he reached into another pocket and pulled out a cigar. "You don't mind if I smoke do you?" he asked.
"Actually I d-" Quatre was interrupted by him lighting his cigar in his mouth, and puffing out a circle of smoke. Quatre tried to keep his disgusted look from surfacing. He was always taught how important health was, and he knew for a fact that tobacco wasn't a good thing at all. But he dare not say something like that out loud. "Mr. Benford, is there a reason you're here?"
"Yes," Mr. Benford replied, holding his cigar inches away from his mouth. "I was wondering where one of your televisions might be."
"Oh, well..." Quatre said. "There's one in the small living room."
Mr. Benford put his cigar in his mouth and then reached into his coat, putting his lighter away, with his teeth biting down so as to hold the cigar in his mouth, he managed an "Is that so?"
"Oh!" Quatre said suddenly. "The small living room is located out the door, turn right, down the hall, and it's the 3rd door on the left." Quatre gave him a big smile.
"Yes..." Mr. Benford said. He got up and breathed out a ring of smoke. He glanced around at his desk and then went to the door. "I'm going to be keeping my eye on you," he warned before he left.
As soon as Mr. Benford left, Quatre started coughing, trying to get the smoke out of his lungs, what he'd been holding in while Mr. Benford was in the room.
Quatre jumped out of his seat, ran over and opened the window. "Air! Gee!" he breathed in and out deeply a couple times. But suddenly, there was a yell, a very loud yell, a yell from Mr. Benford. He immediately ran out of his office and down the hall.
"Mr. Benford!" Quatre yelled as he ran into the small living room, hoping there was nothing wrong. "Mr. Benford, are you alright?!" He came to a sudden stop at the doorway.
Mr. Benford was standing up in front of the television staring at it. At the sound of Quatre's yelling he turned around slowly. When he saw Quatre, he looked terrified. Quatre noticed that he was watching the news. "What's wrong, Mr. Benford? Did an accident happen that caused a bunch of people to die? Is there another war starting? What's wrong?"
"It's terrible," Mr. Benford replied. "Can you believe it Quatre? Look at that stock! Look at how much it dropped! Who's running that thing?"
Quatre stared at him for a minute, as if he was a total idiot. He tapped his fingers on a nearby wall, looking at him stressfully. "Mr. Benford...is that all you're yelling about?"
"Is that all?! I want to know who's running that! The Dow dropped a whole 15%!"
Quatre sighed and shook his head. "I thought it was something important," he mumbled.
"You mean people dieing and wars are important to you?" Mr. Benford asked, obviously hearing Quatre's comment.
"Of course. Life is the most important thing in the universe."
"Hm. I don't know...money's very important," Mr. Benford growled. "I wouldn't seem to care if some middle classed person was killed."
Quatre glared at him. "Mr. Benford..." he trailed off. The man's comment made Quatre practically speechless. Quatre thought that life was very important, just being able to live was a good thing. Whether you were born early, late, or in a test tube..."A fool and his money are soon departed." Quatre quoted the famous line. He thought it fit quite well here...it fit well with Mr. Benford.
"You believe that?" Mr. Benford asked.
"I live by it," Quatre replied. Then he turned and left the room, walked down the hall, and back to his office. Leaving Mr. Benford alone and confused.
The end of Chapter 2! I should have this thing finished by the end of the month! Oh, yay! How's it comin'? Could ya review? Please? I'd much appreciate it. Thanks!
