The Andre Miller Saga

Andre Miller 67 The Picnic

Another 3 months had passed and business had maintained a steady, and overwhelming, pace. Tilly and Janice had to hire a third, and then a fourth, cashier for the Infinity Brand Ltd. storefront. Wally Kilmeade and Gloria Gagnum now worked 6 hours a day each Monday through Friday with Tilly and Janice covering the weekend.

During the week Tilly and Janice were still at the store, they were just making rune plates and talisman bases that Tilly could convert into active magical items to use during their installations.

Andre and Caleb were summoning 10 to 12 hours a day and Conroy 5 to 6 hours a day as his constitution allowed.

Frankie, Kirby, Kitty, and Amanda were doing 5, 12-hour days a week and taking weekends off except for emergencies.

Kyle had started teaching at the local magic academy and was divested from the business for the most part.

Kris was working 10 to 12-hour days making potions as fast as they would brew. She had installed a third distilling station in the summoning building, which they had taken to calling the workshop as it was no longer just a summoning building.

Celeste had been moved from public school to the magic academy as she was developing her magical abilities far faster than was expected for someone her age. At 9 years old she had learned 10 different basic spells, most children her age knew 3 or 4. She was enrolled in the AP courses at the academy and still seemed to be several steps ahead of her contemporaries. She was forbidden from pushing her spells through the runes while in class as it gave her an unfair advantage. The fact that she came from a family of mages wasn't considered.

"I think we need to move the store and summoning business to strictly a Monday to Friday thing. None of us are getting any rest." Said Tilly. "We've been going for 6 months all out and we're running out of steam."

"I'm with Tilly," said Frankie, "I mean I don't do installation on the weekends, but I still wind talismans, cut rune slates, and lift and carry for everyone else. We also need to cut back to 8 to 10-hour days. Kirby, Kitty, and Amanda are starting to feel the burn too. Everyone is happy for the money, but the constant overtime doesn't leave us any time to breathe."

"You are right." Said Andre, "Kris, update the website, business hours for the store are Monday to Saturday, 8 am to 8 pm. Installation hours are 10 am to 8 pm. Summoning and active potion-making hours are going to be 9 am to 5 pm. We're not accepting new clients or work orders for the next month until we get some of this backlog cleared out. Insert apologetic language here. Janice, get a hold of the messaging service and tell them the same thing, for the next month all service and interview requests are to be turned back, the same reasoning as the website, and make a form letter to be sent out as needed. Emergency cases will be considered on a case-by-case basis. AnyoDoes anyone issue with the hours as proposed?"

There was a collective sigh of relief, no one had any objections.

"On a separate thing, Dad, you're out of the summoning rotation for a while. You've been pushing too hard and it's showing. You haven't been out of the wheelchair in a month and even with it you're having problems with your hands. I think we've all noticed, but I've been too locked onto the get-it-all-done mindset. That's my fault and I'm sorry. I kicked off this nightmare by having Hoziha drive off those protestors, and now we're going back to a sustainable way of doing things."

"I'm going to object, and I know you won't listen, but this is me objecting." Said Conroy.

"I know you want to keep up with Me and Caleb, Dad, but you're 96 years old. You don't have the resources to give in your body that you did years ago. Hell, Caleb and I are pushing beyond our physical limits most days."