It Cannot Get Any Worse

Terrance P Hilderman the third was a talented corporate lawyer. The job was challenging and paid well. Terrance liked it well enough. He especially liked the people he met and got to work with at times. Terrence's real love was community service. He also liked to dress up as a medieval character and throw axes and knives and atlatl darts at things, but he kept that pretty quiet around work and most professional connections. Very few people knew his alternate identity as a thrown weapons master who goes by the name of Dag Dagson, viking warrior from 1098.

Terrance had tried the law firm life, but it was not a good fit. He eventually became a partner, but he was terribly unhappy. Terrance's top priority in life was his family and community, and partnership required complete commitment and utter devotion to the firm and only the firm. Most of his former partners either remained single, ended up divorced, or had no kids. Not Terrance. He was a misfit. He loved his kids and he loved his wife, He loved community service. He only liked his job, and sometimes he did not like it at all. Eventually Terrence took the pay cut to a less demanding, less stressful lifestyle as corporate counsel. He wished he had done so ten years earlier, while the kids were younger.

Terrance also loved his hobby. Terrance had fairly recently become a thrown weapons master in the Society for Creative Anachronism. The SCA is a group of mostly adults who like to dress, act and live like medieval characters. They carefully avoid connections with Live Action Role Play groups because SCA saw themselves as a historical re-enactment society, not a fantasy group. Terrence had learned early on that if you want a lecture, you only need to say SCAdians are LARPers. SCA is much more serious than that. They prefer to dress up in realistic historically based armor and hit each other with wooden swords.

Terrance had gotten involved in the SCA five years earlier because his kids were interested in it. They wanted to go to a giant camping event in Pennsylvania where ten thousand people spend two weeks living as middle ages persons, so Terrance went along. He would do anything for his kids. Much to his surprise, he found he enjoyed it, probably more so than his children did. His bad knees prevented him from wearing heavy armor and hacking at people with a rattan sword, so he became involved in thrown weapons.

He had become proficient with throwing axes, excelled with throwing knives, but his true love was atlatl - throwing seven foot long spears using a long stick with a hook on one end. Although he had no affinity for archery, throwing giant spears taller than him, was just a blast. He especially loved trail hunts where decorated bales of hay or straw were stuck in various points along a trail, and a group of atlatlists went out and “hunted” the bales.

Of course other family members were involved as well. Everyone could throw an atlatl dart, or stick an axe. Some were more involved than others. Terrence was always in close competition with his fifteen year old son Quentin for top awards in atlatl competitions. All of the kids became reasonably proficient. At first, some of them thought it was silly, but atlatl is one of those things like golf, you really cannot understand why it is so addicting until you try it.

When it came to throwing knives, no one was as good as Terrence was. Not just no one in the family, no one at all. Despite his natural talent for it, Terrence did not love throwing knives as much as he loved atlatl, but he was frequently called upon to demonstrate or teach axe and knife throwing. Today was one of those times.

It was Saturday, Terrance was hosting a small barbecue for his SCA friends. There was an axe and knife throwing range in the back yard, an archery range in the back woods, and an atlatl course running across the front yard from woods to woods. Fortunately if you missed the target, it was usually easy to find a seven foot long atlatl dart, even in the woods

Today was a small event, only eighteen people had come. Some were new to throwing, some had never tried atlatl. Kaja, the barony archery marshal and the best archer Terrence had ever encountered, came to the barbecue as well. She just wanted to make certain Terrence did not get any more kudos with throwing than she got with archery.

Terrance had asked Quentin to oversee atlatl in the front yard. Quentin's older brother Danny was home from college for a time, and they were sufficiently competent to teach the two beginners as well as oversee the other two experienced atlatlists. Terrence was handling the axe and knife range with four people, three of whom were reasonably competent. Kaja had five people shooting crossbows in the woods while she shot tennis balls out of the air for a fawning audience of two of her fans. Kaja brought a fan club with her everywhere she went, especially if Terrence was there. Terrence did not ever see her fan club do much of anything except fawn over Kaja. He suspected they could not even shoot a crossbow. They were good at fawning though.

Kaja and Terrence were in fierce competition in their different sports. If Terrence hit a grape with a knife at twenty feet, Kaja would hit a thrown ping pong ball with an arrow at ten yards. Terrence and Kaja had a deep mutual respect for each other which had grown into a close but competitive friendship.

Kaja did not like Terrence's archery range. It was too short, only forty yards and not sufficiently challenging. There were some pool noodles standing on sticks at thirty-five yards that made somewhat interesting targets, but Kaja pulverized the noodles quickly. Now, Kaja had her fans tossing tennis balls for her to try to hit while she kept an eye on the cross bow team. Kaja thought crossbow was kind of cheating, but still they needed a team for the competition, so she was willing to train them. All five of them were doing very well. Kaja had hit four tennis balls in a row, she was in a good mood.

Terrence was not in a good mood. He missed the bullseye twice when throwing knives, something that had not happened in years. Several axes just bounced off the target and did not stick. He was distracted. He could not let go of what had happened at work and he needed to think and decide how he would handle it. His heart really was not in throwing today.

The other throwers were competent, and acting safely, and Terrence remembered the big oak tree out near the road had several poison ivy vines growing snugly along the trunk Terrence had tried to remove them with a rake, but they were too snug to the trunk to get a grip on the vines with a rake. Terrence told himself to remember next time he was out throwing, to see if the thick sturdy blade of a throwing knife would slide under the vines and allow him to pry them loose.

Terrence thought this would be a good time to try to remove the vines. He needed to get away, needed to think. Terrence waved to Forester Kaja and pointed to the throwing range. Kaja understood and moved to a location where she could watch both ranges. Not technically following the rules, but safe enough. Kaja had a sharp eye.

Terrence walked to the front yard and watched Quentin and Danny showing off and trying to best each other at atlatl. Most of the other throwers were just watching. Danny, a college athlete, was a very strong thrower but nowhere near as accurate as Quentin. They were throwing at the furthest straw bale, fifty yards from the throwing line, all the way across the driveway near the woods on the other side of the yard. Five seven foot darts were sticking from the bale. Most were Quentin's.

“Danny, Q is whipping you it seems.” Terrence joked.

“Well mine go right through the bale, watch” Danny nocked a dart in his throwing stick and cast at a closer bale, no more than twenty yards out. Danny's throw was amazing, powerful and with no arc at all, like a bullet the seven foot dart, shot straight through the bale, glanced off the ground and launched into the woods hitting a tree with a loud crack

“If you break my new basswood darts, you are going to pay for them” Terrence muttered. Then to Quentin, “Be sure everyone gets some time to throw. It is not just about you competing with your brother.”

Quentin nodded. Tall and slender, Q knew he could not compete with his brother athletically, but on the atlatl course, Q would hit any bale on the course at least one time in three. In atlatl that is remarkable accuracy, especially at longer ranges. Only Dad was a more accurate atlatlist. But no one threw the darts as hard as Danny. A nine time national champion rower, Danny was solid muscle. He was no giant, but he did not need a jack to change the oil on his little car, he just lifted up one end and kicked a log underneath. Rowers are amazing bundles of strength. In atlatl that translated to a shot that would not be stopped unless it hit the ground or a tree (and usually broke the dart). Terrence loved watching Danny throw, although it would be neat if he could hit something smaller than a car at fifty yards. He did have one dart in the fifty yard bale - that was pretty good, but it likely took a dozen throws. A straw bale is a small target at that distance.

Terrence wandered down to the big oak tree. He realized he was still carrying five throwing knives, so he stuck three of them lightly into the tree and began poking at the poison ivy vines with the other two. Terrence was lucky, poison ivy did not affect him at all. However he would need to remember to wash off the knives, so someone else did not get a rash or worse. Terrence had a cousin visiting last year who ended up in the hospital from a nasty allergic reaction to poison ivy toxin that was on Amber. Just petting the dog after she had been walking in the woods was enough to send Cousin Johnny to the hospital for three days. Some people have a severe reaction to poison ivy. Apparently it is pretty common, Terrence had heard about another guy who spent a full week in the hospital after taking a girl into the woods at a party. Apparently, the poor guy laid in the poison ivy buck naked without knowing he was allergic.

Terrence had a lot to think about. Recon, the construction company he worked for, was involved in a very large project for the Benchman Corporation. They were building a special school for children with autism or other learning disabilities. Benchman was embarking on a massive program to improve its image. A former chemical company, Benchman was once considered a synonym for pollution. Now Benchman was an everything company and needed to improve their reputation. This school was their answer to better public relations. It was being built from the ground up on some empty Benchman property just outside of Detroit. Just the construction of the school was contracted for over two hundred million dollars. It was a big investment.

Terrence knew the project well. He had negotiated the terms of the construction contract with Benchman and had gotten to know their general counsel Theodore Manning extremely well. He and Theo often had a drink after work and they had become quite close. Terrence had also become good friends with Benchman's new vice president of public relations Cassandra Toller-Lehrer who was in charge of the project as a whole. Cassandra had even attended Terrence's SCA Queen's Champion ceremony and asked him to teach her to throw knives. She was the only person Terrence knew professionally, who knew about his involvement in the SCA. Terrence had invited her to come learn to throw knives this Saturday, but he was not sure they were still friends. She said she was coming to learn to throw knives, but that was before the pictures came up. Cassandra had not come.

Shortly after the school project started, three equipment operators working for the grading subcontractor had suddenly become ill. They claimed something on the project had made them sick and made a claim for worker's compensation coverage. Two of them died within the next two months and litigation was pending over the deaths and illness. The insurance company claimed they both had a preexisting condition. Terrence's employer, Recon Construction arranged with Benchman to hire a special consultant to inspect and test every inch of the project site to see whether there was anything that could have caused the illnesses. After performing fifty thousand dollars worth of testing, the consultant found nothing and said the site was clean.

A month later, a plumber and one of Recon's superintendents became ill and started coughing up blood. Benchman had the site checked again, and nothing was found.

When yet another employee took ill with similar symptoms, Terrence ordered work stopped on the project. Cassandra called Terrence and she was very angry about the shut down. She insisted nothing was wrong with the project and the delay could push the work into the winter without the building being sealed up and that would be a disaster for the project. She was uncharacteristically hostile and repeatedly told Terrence ”this is on you.” Terrence promised Cassandra it would only be a short shutdown to give him time to ensure there is no problem on the job. “Our company is our employees and our subcontractors are our partners. Safety is everything to us” he explained. Cassandra was not mollified at all, the property had been checked twice and now they were wasting precious time and more money on a third inspection and testing. Terrence started to explain this time, Recon was hiring their own consultant and would pay all of the costs. Cassandra had hung up on him.

Based on a hunch and remembering a case from ten years ago Terrence had ordered copies of all historic aerial photographs of the site. They arrived Friday morning. Terrence dug through the pictures depicting the site from 1947 to the present. The early ones were difficult to make out as the resolution was terrible. Originally a farm, and then subdivision housing, the property had been cleared by 1965. It sat empty until 1972, then from 1972 to 1978 there was a small metal building on the site. Terrence had IT enhance the photographs and allowed him to read the name Benchman Chemicals on the front of the building. The yearly photographs showed a growing greenish blue pond extending from the back of the building. One shot showed several tanker trucks with Benchman Chemicals logo on them parked in front of the building. A 1977 photograph showed some dark shapes at the edge of the pond, which the IT department's photo enhancement showed what appears to be dead or maybe sleeping deer. Terrence was betting they were not sleeping. As far as he knew, deer do not sleep laying down, or out in the open.

In 1979 the building was gone. The pond remained until 1983 and then it also disappeared. The property slowly became covered in trees and the later pictures showed no further activity on the site.

Terrence was convinced he had found the problem. Both the grading crew and the plumber who had become ill were working in the back of the property, where the former pond was located when they were working on the project.

Terrence called his friend Theo and told him they needed to meet with Cassandra immediately. They met at Benchman's office and Terrence showed them the photographs and then the location of the work being performed by most of the workers who got sick. Terrence explained he felt it was unsafe to continue the project and if testing of the soil in that area revealed toxins, they certainly could not build a school on that property. Terrence explained he was planning to keep the project on hold and would contact a drilling company that specialized in hazardous soil drilling to take some deep core samples of the area where the pond was shown in the 1970s. He explained he wanted to give them a heads up so it did not become a media nightmare for either company. Cassandra became very angry again. She said they had already spent seventy two million dollars developing the school and initiating construction. She said this was nothing but supposition and completely stupid. Terrence assured her that, if the soil testing came back clean, he would tell Recon management to proceed with work and accelerate at our cost to make up for lost time.

Theo asked Terrence whether he had ordered the drilling already and Terrence explained he would not be able to contact them until Monday. Theo asked if he could take the copies of the photographs Terrence had brought with him to show to upper management at Benchman Corporation. Terrence said that was fine, he had electronic copies on the company server and could just print new copies on Monday. Cassandra suggested they arrange a meeting between the principals of both companies first thing Monday morning to discuss what if anything needed to be done, before proceeding with yet more testing. Terrence said there was no point in getting that dramatic about it without confirming information from the test reports. He explained he was already going to be in enough trouble for ordering work stopped and getting the drilling done if it turns out to be nothing. If it is nothing, I will take the heat and we will get back to work on Tuesday.

Theo suggested they go out for a drink since it was Friday. Cassandra angrily excused herself. Terrence thought it was a good idea to maintain the friendly relationship, especially if this turned out to be a serious problem. He agreed. Theo said he had to make some phone calls and would meet Terrence at the Anchor Bar in half an hour.

At the bar, Theo was extremely gracious and told Terrence he thought he had done an amazing job researching the issue and it was very clever to think of the historic aerial survey photographs. They had a couple of drinks and talked family, vacations, and careers for about an hour. Theo was very interested in how Terrence was dealing with empty nest syndrome now that all his kids were gone and his wife often worked nights and weekends as a librarian at the township library. Terrence did not bother to correct Theo that the nest was only almost empty. He just discussed how lonely it felt with so many of the kids gone. He explained that on weekends he was able to get a lot done since no one was around to distract him. This made Theo very happy, he said he could not wait for that opportunity to be all alone on weekends. Terrence thought it was odd since Theo was at least ten years older than Terrence, but he decided not to say anything. Theo talked about his kids, but never mentioned their ages. Theo said he hoped Terrence did not find it too lonely tomorrow, and if he did, he could give Theo a call and they could go out on Theo's boat for the day. Not wanting to tell Theo he planned to put on a Viking era tunic and throw axes and knives at things all day with friends (also in Tunics), Terrence just said he thought he would be fine on his own tomorrow. They departed with a hearty handshake and Terrence returned to the office to find, it being Friday, everyone had gone home.

When he arrived home Friday night, Terrence had called Recon's vice president of operations, Jordan Barnes to discuss the situation and fill her in on Terrence's plans. Jordan seemed distracted and did not really respond, simply asking Terrence to send her copies of the pictures and discuss it with her first thing Monday morning. She said the president of Benchman had called her and was extremely angry. She promised they would go back to work on Monday. She told Terrence they could always shut down again if the drilling found anything. They would keep the workers out of the back of the property where Terrence said the pond was.

Theo called him just as he hung up with Jordan. Theo told him he talked with Benchman's owners and they said the property was the Benchman family's hunting and fishing property for about forty years. The pond was a fishing pond they made on the property for private fishing and the deer were a herd of deer the family had come upon while hunting, It seemed the deer were all drinking at the pond and the family shot them all and had venison for months. Theo said he thought that would clear up the mystery so they could get back to work on Monday. Terrence said he would still have the testing done just to be sure, but they would likely be back to work on Monday anyway. They would just keep workers out of the area at the back of the property. Theo asked whether the testing was just a waste of money that would impact Terrence's bonus at the end of the year. Terrence told Theo safety of the worker is worth his entire bonus, even if they were just making sure. Theo was very quiet, he muttered something like "That's it then." When Terrence asked him what he said, Theo just said he had some calls he had to make before it got too late, and said "Goodbye my friend." It was odd. Theo sounded very sad almost like he was about to cry. He was really upset about the sick workers or the possible loss of the project, Terrence figured.

Terrence nearly forgot about sending the pictures to Jordan because he was tied up cleaning and setting up for the SCA get together in the morning. When he went online, he found the Recon servers were down- again. It always seemed to occur at the most annoying times. Probably IT doing a patch. Well, he would just have to remember to try again on Sunday.

Now Terrence was puzzling over what to do. He felt he was right in shutting the job down and ordering the deep soils testing. However the testing would be expensive and he went out on a limb to order work stopped on a major job and spend the money for a third round of testing. He had authority to order the testing by a different company, but he had better have a damn good explanation for doing so. As he poked at the poison ivy vines with his knives he thought through in his head exactly what he would say to Jordan on Monday morning. He needed to be careful about the wording. Terrance looked up annoyed at the distraction as a gray Cadillac pulled up to the roadside and rolled down the window.