Super: Origins by Palladian Page A

According to the summary in the paperwork, they could send me anywhere in the US.”
    Kurt fell silent for a moment, then thought aloud, “Well, if they ask you to transfer and you don’t want to go, can you get out of your employment with them?”
    “As long as we all agree it should be ended.”
    “In that case, I wouldn’t worry about it. If anything goes too far wrong, you could just make a big enough stink that they’d agree to drop you. I could help you with that, of course,” Kurt said, a hint of laughter in his voice, “but that’s three years in the future, anyway. Lots of things could happen between now and then.”
    “OK, OK,” Lex said, sighing slightly. Sometimes she felt he took things too lightly in life, but she guessed she could see why. Having his name and the weight of his family behind him had opened lots of doors in his life, and he hadn’t usually had to settle for any sort of situation he didn’t want to.
    “The last thing I wanted to let you know about is the on-call expectations they have,” she continued. “Basically, from what I can tell at this point, I’d be on call pretty much 24-7. I don’t know how often I’d be called, but their expectation is that I’d be at their facilities and ready to go within an hour of getting a call, and that I’d always have to have a mobile device on me. I guess that’s not much of a problem where we’re living now, but I just wanted to let you know. It could end up being a hardship if I get called in all the time, or if we decide we want to move.”
    She could hear Kurt laughing now. “I’ve heard of this before. This is a pretty standard thing for some law enforcement agencies to have in their contracts, that you can be on call all the time. In reality, what ends up happening is that you have a rotating schedule, or you only end up getting called in once in a blue moon. You remember my brother-in-law, Charlie? When he started out at the FBI…”
    Lex spaced out a bit as Kurt went on with the story, which she was familiar with. She found herself wondering whether this situation would be similar, but worried that it might be a lot different. Lex felt puzzled but pleased at Kurt’s reaction in general. Maybe he just figures I’m determined to work and is happy I’ve found something that sounds promising. That’s probably it. She smiled to herself and tuned back in to his words.
    “…hardly ended up getting called in at all. Once he’d been there several years, he wasn’t even on the on-call list anymore. So, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Is there anything else worrying you?”
    “Well, there are some other things I’ll need to review in more detail and think about, but that’s pretty much what I wanted to talk to you about since it would potentially impact the both of us.”
    “Hmmm…secretive already, huh? Well, that’s OK. How much are they offering?” Kurt asked.
    She told him, and he whooped. “Take the job, already! That’s some great money!”
    “I know, I’m just worried because the pay is so high! I’m wondering what the catch is.”
    “Probably some of the stuff you already told me: they want you to live onsite for six months, you’re supposed to be on call all the time—you know, the usual. At least they’re offering to compensate you decently for the inconvenience.”
    Lex grinned at his enthusiasm. “I’m sure you’re right. Thanks for talking this through with me. I really appreciate it.”
    “That’s what I’m here for,” said Kurt with a laugh. “Just let me know if there’s anything else you end up wanting to talk about. I think it’ll be a slow afternoon, so if you need to call later I should have some time to talk.”
    “OK, sweetie, thanks a lot,” said Lex, smiling to herself. “I should probably let you go now so that I can make it through the rest of this crazy paperwork.”
    “Just don’t forget to eat lunch. You get really cranky by the time I get home if you’ve forgotten