Free Minerva's Ghost by Danielle Elise Girard

home here, though he’s originally from Illinois. We have a US sales manager named Dana Toles. She grew up here. Lydia Beaumont, our international sales manager went to school with Dana. She is a multi-lingual black woman who was Dana’s roommate at college. She is here just for the meeting. She lives in Paris normally. Justin Hart is our VP of Finance. He has a ‘Harvard MBA with Big Five Experience’. His wife does not like Alabama at all. Our personnel manager, Martha Collins hired him. She said he was what we had to have because the company is getting so big. Martha’s only been with us for a couple of years. She is an aggressive, unfeminine feminist. David Benton is distribution manager. He’s from here, too and has a family. I suppose they all have their faults, but they have also all contributed to our success.”
     
    “Who is the most ambitious?” Greg asked.
     
    “Martha and Justin would be more restless than the others. I think the rest are pretty content where they are for various reasons. They are all well paid and get good bonuses and perks. Justin is more used to a business model that rewards higher stock price, not the bottom line profitability we expect from our privately owned company. He’s had trouble with the differences. He tried to patronize Minnie, but she ignored him. She told me he was full of manure.”
     
    Gabe grinned and asked, “Is that a direct quote?”
     
    “Yes,” Amanda confirmed with an answering grin. “That’s exactly what she said. I think she was annoyed with him fairly often. She said it was like trying to restrain a freight train. He didn’t know about listening or about how to build a business by actually doing business. He’s big on financial finagling, but Minnie said he could fool us right out of business if she let him.”
     
    “Martha and Justin are pretty obvious conspirators if the problem is in personnel.” Gabe said. “It would set off alarms in any financial department that was paying attention.”
     
    “I’m pretty sure Justin has left Minnie’s controls in place. ” Amanda was as sure as she could be, considering the disarray in accounting.
     
    “What about Michael’s Allison?” Gabe asked. “How does she fit into the picture?”
     
    “She prepares and submits Michael’s payroll reports, but she does not prepare or distribute checks. They all come out of payroll at the main building. She’s really Michael’s link to the world other than farming. He’s a born farmer. He gets along well with the outside people, but every time he comes over to the office side of the operation he seems lost and frustrated. He hates Martha. She’s not good at hiring his people. He has certain requirements and she just looks for strong backs and no education for his group. I just ordered that Allison do all his hiring last week. I didn’t think the situation could wait until after this meeting. Minnie viewed Michael’s operation as vital to our success, but some of the ‘staffies’ see it as no better than an anachronism. They view their jobs as ‘Important and Big’ and his job as both uneducated and unsophisticated. John Wilder went to the University of Illinois where there is a school of agriculture that’s well respected. He gets along well with Michael, but he’s the only person who does. Michael deserves respect. He has a degree in horticulture and a minor in business and he’s a great farmer. He has trouble getting along with people. He doesn’t want to waste time on interpersonal skills. Allison plans to hire people with a genuine interest in growing plants. If they share his interests, he’ll get along with them better. We also use some migrant workers who seem to do a good job. Allison also plans to hire more women and look for people who are trained in horticulture.”
     
    Gabe glanced at his watch. “We’d better go.”
     
    Minnie’s factory and business offices were nearby in an old spinning mill. Amanda drove Minnie’s