Chris Whalen, CPA (CW, CPA) was sitting at the desk he had sat behind for the past 73 years.
It was 2063.
He called out for his assistant, TerryChet.
"TerryChet, bring me the Jenkins file right away."
What was taking TerryChet so long? He got up to walk to the reception area only to find the reception desk empty. He grabbed the Jenkins file himself and brought it back to his office and sat back down at his desk.
TerryChet knew that he was supposed to tell him whenever he was leaving his post!
He opened the Jenkins file and started to add a column of numbers. He still had an adding machine with the white paper tape that had both black and red ink for positive and negative numbers. He loved when it showed if someone was really “in the red" or "in the black."
He loved his work so much. He felt he was doing good work for his clients that was meaningful and helped their lives in the long run. He felt so gratified having his own CPA firm.
The best part was that clients wrote checks to his name! One of the first business books he read at 12 years old said to “get as close to the money as possible.” He had lived this credo from the moment he started his first business as a teenager.
There were a few checks on his desk all reading “Pay to the order of Chris Whalen, CPA”…. aaahhh perfect. He proudly thought to himself, “Can’t get any closer to the money than that!”
TerryChet walked into his office. “Did I hear you call for me sir?”
He asked softly, but sternly "TerryChet, haven't I asked you a million times to tell me when you're leaving your desk? Do you know how stupid I sound to the rest of the staff and all those clients in the reception area when I call out for you and you're not there? It makes me look like a senile old fool who's losing his mind!"
TerryChet "I'm sorry boss. I'll try to never let it happen again."
Out of the corner of his eye he saw three female clients, the Whalen sisters, in his reception area. They were talking to TerryChet who had just left his office.
He didn’t recall scheduling a meeting with them.
Daughter # 3 "Doctor, so how's our father doing? He just had his 98th birthday. Is he driving everyone crazy?”
Doctor aka TerryChet, "Physically he's as strong as a horse. But his dementia has a very strong hold on him as you know. We have kept his desk set up just the way he likes it, and we added an old small desk outside his room because he kept asking what happened to his receptionist’s desk.
We show him your pictures all the time, but he still thinks that you're some of his clients. I know that's painful for all three of you but it is the fact. You may have heard him call me TerryChet. We were able to find out that Terry was the first assistant he ever hired when he started his CPA firm back in 1990 and Chet was the last one from 2020 - 2045.
So it seems he has blended the memories together of these two important people that worked for him and combined their names. So I, and the rest of the staff, now answer to TerryChet. Overall he's extremely happy and still has the strongest work ethic of any man I've ever met. We give him as many old folders we can find and fill them with papers that look important. He takes hours and hours to review them and to make notes on them. He is still a whiz at spreadsheets and posts at least two podcasts each week to the fake website we set up for him.
We try to get him meetings with other residents as often as possible.
And no, he is no bother to anyone. All the other guests find him very entertaining.
They call him The Chris Show."
Daughter #1 "Doctor, you can't know how much we appreciate you keeping him busy. It's good to know he's happy all day. We wish he could live with one of us but he’s better off here. We know he gets constant care and attention and in his mind the other guests are his client base! Deep down he must love that!"
His three daughters entered his “office" which was the living room of his adult assisted living facility unit.
CW CPA’s living room had a direct view of the activity room (his reception area) so it was always full of his “clients.” His unit door was always open as his office hours were 24/7.
98 year old CW CPA "Katie Megan and Jessica! My three favorite sister clients! So how's business, young ladies? Fill me in on everything that's happened since we met last. But please remember, this is billable time."
He boomed "TerryChet!, get me the Whalen sisters' files."
