"Mr. Sartoriousson, is everything alright?" Marie Rackham asked as soon as she'd entered her boss's office.

"It's Roland, Marie..." the overweight skunk grumbled, as he gestured to the empty chair in front of his expansive and cluttered desk and bade the white tailed/musk deer mix to sit. As Marie did so, he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.

"Uhhh...I apologize for that outburst....uhhh...Henderson's just informed me that they're no longer doing business with us and refused to elaborate...and I...uhhh got a little emotional...for lack of a better word..."

"Refused to elaborate? Does this have anything to do with Sommersville?"

"I'd put money on it."

Just over two weeks ago, Mason Motors had completed an "urgent" repair/tune up job on two of big business tycoon, Emerson Sommersville's personal vehicles; A Mercedes-Benz SLR Mclaren and an E-class sedan. The job was simple enough, almost routine, but the constant phone calls for updates by the beaver's subordinates, set everyone on edge. Somehow, Roland had gotten word that they'd gotten ahold of the personal phone numbers of a couple of his mechanics and had put his massive foot down (more than one furson had wished it was on the beaver's head). Sommersville had also raised a stink about the bill which again was resolved by the skunk (no fur had cared to ask for details). It was a given that the tycoon would have attempted some sort of petty revenge. No doubt he had used his influence to force companies to boycott Mason Motors.

"Henderson's the second company to do that so far, if any more follow suit, we'll be in trouble. I've already contacted Mrs. Hartoh-Mason about this, and she'll get back to me. The sooner we put a stop to this nonsense, the better."

Marie scratched an antler, "Well....this is very ill timed under the circumstances, but Aurora has requested that the racing team compete in the Spontoons roughly six weeks from now."

Roland lowered his eyebrows, "You weren't kidding about this being ill timed, was that what you were discussing with her in your office before -?"

The deer glanced towards the open door of her adjoining office, "Yes that's right -" she began but stopped as the subject of the conversation appeared in the doorway.

"Umm....Boss...are we in trouble?" Aurora asked.

"Well...full disclosure," Roland gestured for the reindeer to sit down, which she did. "I was able to find out that there's a rumour going around that we're using sub-standard parts which is complete and utter nonsense but that's what's happening right now. We're going to do a full audit of all inventory items, especially the parts we used for repair jobs in the last four months-"

"Roland, did Sommerville say we used sub-standard parts?" Marie suddenly blurted.

"He hasn't come out and directly said it, but he is heavily implying that it is so."

"Betcha he had his boys switch parts after that job we did."

"Aurora!" Marie admonished but added, "I don't think he would do such an obvious trick...would he?"

Roland pinched his brows, "Back on topic, we're doing an audit of inventory items for the last four months, I'm thinking it should include parts disposal as well." He moved to dismiss both deer but paused when Aurora raised her hoof.

"Hey, Boss...I know now's not a good time, especially since we're basically in crisis mode here, but -"

"No promises, Aurora, but I will discuss it after this crisis, as you put it, is averted."

Aurora's shoulders slumped, "Sure, Boss."

Marie noted the crestfallen expression on the reindeer's face, but said nothing as Roland dismissed them both.

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Characters ©  Major Matt Mason and  EOCostello

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Oooch, this took too long. I've been really busy at work. I also kinda feel this isn't up to scratch, but we'll see how it goes.

[Update] Minor story fix that bothered me upon rereading this last night (2023/11/10).