The following week seemed to drag by for Jordan. He trained his replacement, Mike, for 10 hours a day, then went home each night to pack his small condo.
He lived a fairly Spartan existence, and everything would fit into a pile of boxes in his living room, except for his bed, dresser, television and a futon that doubled as his sofa and guest bed.
He figured that he would have to take the following weekend away from his new family of Bigfoot to get himself moved. He would have to ask a friend for some help loading the bigger items in his truck, but he could move the boxes himself. He estimated 2 trips, and possibly a third to come back and clean.
Jordan felt bad for leaving his work in such a bad place. Mike wasn't an ideal candidate to replace him. He couldn't read a soil compaction table to save his life, and Jordan was constantly correcting Mike's mistakes, only to watch him make the same ones.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Jordan was called out to a job site where a commercial job on a hillside had started to settle. It wasn't his or his company's mistake, but he brought Mike along in the hopes that his replacement could fix it. He had to hold the man's hand, figuratively, while he figured out the retaining wall and pylons that would be needed to permanently stabilize the foundation and support the load of the building and parking lot.
He climbed into bed, exhausted each night, and called Megan before he fell asleep. She hadn't calmed down yet about her experience the previous weekend. She had written a report to her superiors in the organization, and was receiving a lot of professional attention, which she was loving.
Megan was spending the week preparing for their next visit, and was full of bubbling energy, which Jordan found infectious, in spite of his tired state. She had her first ASL lessons planned, with grape rewards for participation. She had special bands made for her fit bits that would stretch big enough for the Bigfoot, and she had a smartphone app that could read multiple sensors at a time.
Megan also had gotten a portable ultrasound device to check on the status of the pregnant females and measure their development. She was especially thrilled about this, because no one had ever studied a pregnant female Bigfoot that wasn't under sedation, and no one had ever managed repeat visits.
Friday night finally rolled around. Jordan made his usual shopping trip, stocking up on provisions to feed his family of giants. He spent over $150 on groceries, and had a cart piled high with meat, fruit, vegetables, grains and dried fruits and nuts.
He packed them in his saddlebags, and tried to get to bed early. He had agreed to meet Megan at 10 in the morning, which meant leaving at sunrise. He was too excited to sleep, and woke often to look at the clock.
***
Jordan sprung awake at 4:55 AM the following morning, 5 minutes before his alarm was set to go off. He was showered, dressed, fed and packed by 5:30, and decided to get on the road to beat Megan to the trading post where they were supposed to meet.
She was there at 9:30 when Jordan pulled up. She crooked her finger at him, and gave him a big kiss before she asked him to join her in her jeep.
"Dr. Stein has a bunch of stuff he wants to talk to us about. I think we've made his life this week pretty hard. Interesting, but hard. He's waiting on our call." She said.
Megan pulled out a tablet, and pulled up the Skype application. In a minute, Dr. Stein's face appeared on the screen. He wore dark glasses this time, which somehow made him look more distinguished.
"Good morning Jordan and Megan. I hope you're both ready for another exciting weekend of research." He said cheerfully.
"Of course, I could barely sleep last night I was so excited." Megan bubbled.
"Great. Listen, I've got a bunch of things I want to talk with you guys about.
"Jordan first: Your permits have all been approved and signed off on for the building of your cabin. The inspections are complete and on file with the county." He said.
"Don't you need the floor design and specifications of my cabin? I don't even have the foundation in yet. How can you have it approved already?" Jordan wondered.
"Jordan, you're a civil engineer, right?" Dr. Stein asked. Jordan nodded. What's the recommended roof load capacity for the elevation at which you're building your cabin?"
"Above 9000 feet elevation, they recommend 70 pounds per square foot, but the winds get pretty bad, and given the damage done to my other cabin by the local wildlife, I was going to plan on doubling that. I have some CAD drawings, but they aren't completed yet." Jordan answered.
"I think you'll be fine. Inspections are so some yahoo doesn't try living in an unsafe structure. I have no doubt what you build will still be standing in 200 years. Send us those CAD drawings when complete, and we'll get the county's file updated.
"We also have approved a little gift for you. Megan tells us you estimate another thousand pounds of dry cement mix and 300 pounds of rebar for foundation and septic tank?" Dr. Stein asked. Jordan nodded. "A national guard helicopter will be delivering a pallet of supplies tomorrow around noon.
"When you hear the helicopter coming, we want you to wave the orange flag Megan has in our care package, and plant it where you want them dropped."
"That's incredibly generous. Thank you!" Jordan answered.
"There's more. A moving team will show up at your house on Friday morning before you leave for work. Leave your keys with them. Once you are moved out, a cleaning crew will come by to take care of your condo. We have already vacated your lease, so when you are done with work on Friday, head straight for your new apartment in Gunnison. Megan will give you the address." Dr. Stein said.
"This is too generous. I don't know how I can repay you for everything you are doing for me." Jordan said.
"Jordan, we asked you to keep a secret, and you did. Then we asked you to share your time and land with us, and you agreed. We also asked you to quit your job and move half-way across the state to go back to school and get a degree so that you can come work for us, and you did.
"We take care of our own. We have considerable resources at our disposal, and I don't think you understand what an incredible resource you have been, and will continue to be in the future. We are investing in you, and we expect that it will pay dividends." Dr. Stein answered with a kind smile.
"But, permits and National Guard helicopters, tuition, movers and building supplies? That's a lot." Jordan said.