DOUBLE ENTRY

Excerpt

A thunderous applause erupted from the audience as Melvin continued, "And it gets even better, people. Here's what I want you to all to do. I want you, if you can, to save a hundred dollars out of one of your paychecks over the next few months. Why? Because you're going to need that hundred to buy one hundred shares of stock in our company at a fraction of our IPO. That's right, everybody: We are currently putting things into place which will allow us to go public!"

The applause this time was even more deafening than the last round of applause. Dana looked around at her coworkers. They were whooping and hollering, standing on their feet and clapping, cheering their boss on. Melvin's words had a resounding impact on them all, and they stood behind him as if they would have walked through fire for the man. Melvin's ability to inspire couldn't have been on brighter display. Dana couldn't help being impressed.

"This can't be the Melvin I used to know." Dana mumbled to herself. She still couldn't believe it. He was so confident and at ease with himself in this environment, nothing at all like the insecure boy who constantly needed her approval and support. The old Melvin whined nonstop about how ignored and unappreciated he was at high school and at home, starving for approval from his peers and family. This Melvin didn't seem to have that problem at all.

"Aliens must have kidnapped the old Melvin and replaced his brain with this guy's," She mumbled.

After the meeting, She walked up to Melvin as he was gathering his materials to leave. She noticed that Melvin was always the first one in and the last one out, whether it was with business hours or with meetings. It was a little thing that said a lot about Melvin's dedication to his company.

"That was a good speech," she said as she approached him, "you really got them going."

"Thanks," Melvin said modestly, "You have to keep your employees motivated, and remind them from time to time that they are doing well and you are looking at them. It reassures them and gives them confidence, and it also deters slackers."

"You seem to really be in your element when you're doing business," Dana pointed out, "I think being a business leader might be your calling."

Melvin grinned, and humbly shrugged. "Being a leader means nothing if you don't have good workers behind you who are good at what they do," he said.

Dana nodded. "We didn't get to go to lunch," she said, "how are you and Roy doing?"

Melvin smiled, "We're still at work, Dana. Doesn't this violate our agreement?"

Dana smiled and shrugged, "I'll let it slide this time," she said, "I'm in a good mood. Roy's been a lot better behaved since he's started hanging out with you. His grades are back up, too. He seems to really enjoy being around you."

Melvin shrugged again, "I just try to do right by him, letting him know that his old man isn't a complete jerk, like he may have thought."

"So, you've told him?" Dana asked.

"Told him what?"

"That you were his father."

Melvin made an embarrassed face and rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, uh," he stammered, "You see, it's like this…"