Living Without Dreams

Chapter 25 - Habits

Monday brought an early morning as it usually did in the Abernathy household. Greg was up first, getting Zackary and Jessie up and urging them to get ready for school while Susan showered, dressed, and came downstairs to make them all breakfast. Greg showered after the family ate; and so it wasn't until later that he went in search of Susan, intending to talk their experiment the night before. He found her at her computer in their attic office, searching through emails, making notes on a pad, and fully absorbed while consulting a calendar.

"Good morning ... again," Greg greeted her with a kiss on the cheek as he came to see what she was doing.

"Good morning," Susan replied glancing distractedly up at him with a smile before returning her attention to her computer. "Greg, do you have something scheduled you need to do at the end of this month? Or is that in November? I've been trying to remember."

"It's in November, the weekend before Thanksgiving. I'm going to New York for the opening of the Australia movie," he reminded her.

Susan nodded. "And you'll continue to have meetings every Thursday in Burbank until then?"

"Not every Thursday, why? What's this about?" Greg asked.

"I got an email from Carolyn this morning," Susan began.

"Who?"

"My manager at Ingene Pharma, the company I worked for before the crash," Susan reminded him. "They know I'm back in the country and they need to see me. Carolyn sent an email to me this morning asking if it might be possible for me to meet with them within 30 days of the date we arrived, which will be by October 15th if at all possible."

"And they're just contacting you now?" Greg asked in surprise. "Today is October 8th Susan. The 15th is only a week away."

"I know, but they didn't have my personal email address before now. Apparently they've been trying to contact me through my work email address which I've just discovered is still active. Maggie just gave her this one yesterday," Susan explained.

"It is?" Greg asked in surprise.

Susan nodded. "I haven't used it much since St. Augustine's, so I was surprised too ... so anyway, that's the reason I'm just finding this out."

"Why do they want to see you? You don't have your social security number reactivated yet. You wouldn't be able to work for them until it is ... that is, if they're interested in rehiring you," Greg said.

"Yes, but apparently because I disappeared while traveling on company business, I'm still on their employee roster. My internal accounts have never been deactivated," Susan said.

"Why ever not?" Greg reacted in surprise. "When both the US Government and the airlines both declared us dead?"

"She says it's because the actual notification issued by the government was one of 'lost and presumed dead' instead of simply 'dead'. Because extra survivor benefits are involved for the families of employees who die while traveling for work, our corporate legal department has their own definition of when to accept an employee is dead," Susan read.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, there is a waiting period of one year before such benefits are paid out. The employee's account remains active during that time and an assessment is made as to whether or not it has been used or if there is any other indication the employee in question might still be alive at the end of that time. I suppose the assumption is someone who disappeared in such a manner would make some effort to contact them within that time," Susan said. "Carolyn goes on to say my account is still active and those benefits were never paid because my account was used before the end of the waiting period, which ended one year after RDW Airlines declared us dead."