Confabulation Read Online Free PDF Page B

immediately if it happens again."
    "Thanks, Doc." Carolyn left the office and climbed back into her car. She adjusted her mirror and stared at her eyes. "Nothing wrong with you guys, eh? That’s good. I was probably just tired." She adjusted the mirror to see behind her again, and she pulled out and headed toward her house.
    Carolyn drove with top down in her Audi convertible on the sunny day, and decided to take a more scenic route home than usual. Driving always relaxed her. Gave her time to her own thoughts, but still have something to do.
    She found herself traveling some familiar roads. On her right, she passed the Bandai Corporation headquarters where she had taken her first job after graduation. She’s started low on the ladder in public relations, but progressed to management soon. Her career was going well, but something gnawed at the back of her mind during her time there.
    She believed in the company and the environmentally friendly products they produced, but she kept thinking that her skills could be put to better use. After speaking with a former roommate over lunch one day, she found herself fascinated with Debbie’s work with the disabled. After that, she volunteered a great deal of her time to local charities.
    She wrote press releases, updated web pages, and helped organize fund-raisers when she had time. Spent more time on that work than her day job. When she was offered the opportunity to work full time, she couldn’t resist. Sure, it’d be less money, significantly less, but she looked at her finances and knew she could do it.
    That’s what led to her interest in investing. She had saved a good deal of money in her brief time at Bandai, but letting it grow on its own wasn’t going to get her to early retirement. That 403(b) contribution just wasn’t cutting it.
    At first, she invested in aggressive mutual funds, while watching the stock market. Watched it dive a few years back. That hurt. One day, she was watching market news, and she could swear she remembered a story about a stock that was a good bet. She couldn’t place it thought. Next day, the stock jumped. Next time she heard a good tip, she jumped on it. It worked.
    She watched lots of market news. It became a hobby. She took in so much, sometimes she couldn’t even place where she’d heard the tip. She invested mainly in construction companies. Found that her information was most reliable with them.
    When she got back home. she pulled carefully into her garage that was littered with half-finished home improvement projects. She meant to finish them, but work always got busy and the projects got dropped. She set her keys on the kitchen bar after keying in her alarm code, and then made her way to the front door to pick up her mail.
    She leafed through the stack of small envelopes, and decided to deal with them later. The drive had done wonders for her mind, but the feelings in her shoulders and back told her that her body needed some of the therapy that her mind had received.
    She undressed and stepped into the shaded sunroom on the back of the house and started the hot tub. She walked back to the kitchen to pour a glass of wine, and picked up a Nora Roberts novel she had purchased recently, but not had the time to read. She never seemed to take the time to read anymore.
    After a few minutes, she slid into the warm bubbles and let the tension slide away. As she settled in and reached for the book, her mind quickly reviewed the recent events. "I’m sure it was nothing. A couple of days from now, this will just be a relaxing day that I wish I could relive."
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 7
     
    Henry ended the call and ordered a blueberry muffin from the waitress. Dennis was understanding as usual when Henry told him he’d be out of a work again today. He’d been worried his lame excuse about a headache would meet some resistance. But, he kept the call short and didn’t discuss it much. He wouldn’t have gone to work