A small face was peering into mine. Big brown eyes were but an inch from mine when I opened mine, making me see double. I blinked a couple of times then pulled my head back and smiled. Bonita said in a loud whisper, "Get up, Chuck, be quiet so you don't wake up Grandma Beth. Come on, get up and play with us. I want to eat breakfast."
Beth hugged me tight to her and said, "I'm awake, Bonita. I just like to snuggle with Chuck. He's very snuggly, don't you think?"
Bonita said in a very serious tone, "He won't let me snuggle with him, Grandma, he only lets older ladies snuggle with him. I don't think he likes us little kids, or at least us little girls."
I sneaked my hand out and grabbed Bonita around the waist and pulled her to me holding her spooned against me with the sheet and blanket between us. "I like you just fine, Bonita, but you always come in when you're trying to wake me up. How about snuggling and going back to sleep for a while?"
"No, I'm up, I'm awake, I don't want to go back to sleep. Cuddle me for my nap or put me to bed tonight, but not now." Bonita wiggled until she was free and stood up next to the bed with her hands on her hips. "You, you, you adult, you man, you make me so mad. Come on, get up, let's eat breakfast. I want to go ashore to play with the other kids."
"Go tell the moms that I'm getting up and I'll be there in a few minutes."
Bonita looked over me at Beth and said, "Don't help him take a shower, Grandma Beth. It just makes him take longer. Momma helped him and it took forever to get him clean. He should be big enough to do it himself."
Beth was giggling so hard that she was shaking the bed. As I pulled the covers back, I said, "I'm up, go away, Bonita, I'll get a shower and get dressed, by myself."
The little scamp was checking me out, but when she saw I wasn't standing tall, she ran from the room. I was on the way to the bathroom when Beth asked, "Are you sure you don't need help with a shower? I could probably help you."
"All of you are teases, or at least you talk teasingly. You really aren't teases since you do snuggle very nicely."
"You could have woken me up last night; I wouldn't have pushed you away."
I smiled at Beth, "I probably knew that, but it was warm and snuggly wasn't it."
"That it was. It was what I really wanted last night, thank you. You are nice to have around."
I showered, shaved, and dressed quickly, noticing that my clavicle wasn't hurting much and my arm movement seemed to be getting back to normal. A couple more weeks and I would be as good as new.
At breakfast, Steve asked me, "You know, Ben said I should ask you if you wanted in on some of the ventures Dewey and I are working on. He said you have some capital you might want to put to work. Michael wanted to be in on this one, but you can get in on it too if you want. Dewey and I have another property we want to look at on the big island near his current hotel that will definitely be a winner. If you want to get in on that, I'm sure Dewey will welcome you."
Since we were pretty much alone, I confided in Steve. "I want to use some of my money to help others. I didn't earn it. It was given to me because someone else was very stupid and caused me to sue them. The only thing they know is the loss of money, so I willingly took it. The thing is, I didn't earn it and I want to use it to do good. I suppose I could invest half and use the proceeds to benefit others over a long run."
"Tell you what, Chuck," Steve said, "I'll help you back home with helping some underprivileged folks help themselves, but you should use what money you have to make more by investing it wisely and using the profits from the investments as continuing revenue to help others. As long as you continue to invest the principal, and continue to invest some of the profit as well, you'll be able to contribute to those less fortunate for the rest of your life. My philosophy is biblical, 'give a man a fish and eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats the rest of his life.' Sue and I have worked hard to teach folks how to sew, weld, become electricians, plumbers, equipment operators, become mechanics, and work on assembly lines. You could sponsor some students in the legal profession, like legal secretaries, paralegals, or even peace officers. My friend Bear and Hap run our security service and have expanded it to where they now have contracts with many companies, protecting other properties. We'll let you help some people begin learning in those areas. You sponsor them until they finish a course of study and then assist them in getting a job. I'll bet you know some of the people from the federal employment office that would help you place them. They might even know people who would be good candidates for classes. One of the ways to contribute is to contribute your time. You might even be able to teach or assist teaching a class. Maybe your office could work together in teaching one class, that way it wouldn't be that difficult to cover the classes and it would let all of your people enjoy the satisfaction of helping some people step up."
I was smiling, "I knew you would have an answer for me. I really didn't want to just dump money on people, as they wouldn't know how to use it for their future. When we get back, we'll work on some of your ideas. I think I'd like to help some kids go to college too. I'm sure there are qualified kids that can't afford to go to school. Perhaps they get a partial scholarship, but will still need help with books and other fees. I think I can help there."
Steve was happy with my suggestion, "S&S has been doing that with a few dozen students every year. We have some high school counselors that help us find those that should go to college, who receive some partial scholarships but can't afford all of it. We help those kids with the fees and books and help them find a part time job during the school year so they have spending money, and a full time job during the summer if they don't take classes."
"Great, Steve, I want to help with that. That's the type of activity I want to be involved in."
Mercy came in and sat with us. She said to me, "You are a good man, Chuck. Because you're the way you are, you are so open, I hear almost all of your thoughts. What you were discussing with Steve was broadcast to every mentalist in the area. Mom came to me to find out if I was listening. I think it's wonderful you will be working with Steve to help others."
Steve laughed, "Mercy and Missy are always listening to me, even when I'm not talking. Those two hear everything."
He said to Mercy and me, "I can't get Chuck away from being a deputy, but now I get to work with him doing something else. Everything works out, doesn't it? Did you have something to do with this, Mercy?"
Mercy shook her head, "No, if I had thought of it, I would have, but Chuck did all of this on his own. He's talking to us a lot lately though. You'll have to watch him as he may jump in your head too."
"I hear him," Steve said, "he does think of me and you ladies a lot. All good though. The way he loves the kids is nice too. You and Missy need to keep cultivating his ability. He'll be able to do good deeds with that, as well as with his money."
I spoke up, "You know I don't need any strange mental abilities. I'm glad you and your mom can hear me, but I don't want to influence anyone else. It would be nice to be able to tell those I'm not with that I'm thinking of them. Other than that, no, I don't think I want the ability to get into someone else's mind."
Mercy leaned over and gave me a one armed hug, "We'll see. Your ability is too strong to limit. Now that it's coming out, you will exercise it without even thinking about it." She looked at Steve, "Do you think we should take him to a casino with Dewey? We could see how he does with cards."
Steve said, "These aren't casinos like the Riviera, these are Indian type casinos with low dollar games."
"That would be perfect to find out whether he can anticipate cards or other games of chance. It could be useful, just like it was useful to you and mom before. That money went to good use."
"That it did, Mercy. We'll do that. Dewey wants to go play cards anyway. He's quite the gambler some times."
Mercy said, "He just likes your luck, Steve. He follows you around like a puppy dog."
"It just seems that way, Mercy."
Sue came in and said, "Did I hear the word casino? Oh boy, all of us girls just love to play the slot machines. I wonder if the casinos here have them?"
Steve said, "We're going to move to the Oahu next. We'll be close to Honolulu and can go over there for an evening. Other than the night life, I'm not that interested in Honolulu. Too much like a city."
After breakfast, the families went ashore so the kids could run and play and the men could go solidify the resort program. They met with Martin the entire day making their plans and getting the personnel in place to begin the transition and remodeling. Dewey found a general contractor from the big island that flew over to begin looking at what would need to be done. Martin knew an architect that he said was fair. The contractor seconded the architect, as he knew him, so the plan was set in motion. They had a conference call back to the states so Martin could be introduced to Tiny and Henry who would be his direct contacts when he needed an answer.
Martin had a long conversation with Michael after lunch, then accompanied the men back to the boats. There, Martin sought out Gloria and brought her in front of the adults. Martin held Gloria's hand and said, "I know this is really quick and probably too fast, but I want to ask you, Gloria, will you remain here in Hawaii with me? I don't want you to leave. I want you to be my wife."
We all thought Gloria was going to faint. She staggered, but Martin caught her. She said, "Martin, you don't know me well enough to ask me that. I don't know you well enough to give you the right answer. My heart is racing, and says yes, yes, but isn't it too fast, too soon? How would we know it's the right thing to do?"
"Stay here. Be employed by the hotel, the resort, or the golf course. Give us a chance to become closer. Somehow I just know you're the one I've been waiting for all my life."
Gloria frowned and looked down. When she looked up, she had tears in her eyes, "What if the master and mistress won't allow me to leave their employ?"
Martin spoke up quickly, "I've already spoken to Michael and assured him my intentions were honorable. To keep you here, we could marry immediately. We can have the Captain marry us, or even Steve or Dewey, as they are the Captains of their boats. Michael even suggested that you might want to just remain here until you learn whether we are a hundred percent compatible."
Gloria was smiling, "Yes, I want to stay. Yes, I want to be your wife. Yes, I want us to be compatible, but I guess we have to find that out. Thank you, Michael, thank you, Chanda. You two are very generous to allow me to leave. I know Serene has medical training, but you need a nurse practitioner. You should advertise here so you have one for your boat."
Chanda said, "I've already contacted several employment agencies in anticipation of the need. Michael and I are very happy for you. I hope this works out for both of you."
Martin was beaming. He said, "May I assist you in gathering your belongings. We'll move you into one of the owners' suites until we decide if we should marry."
When they left, Chanda said to me, "You know this is your fault. You've slipped Serene into our close family and last night you brought the two of them together. Are you some kind of matchmaker?"
I was puzzled, "I don't think so. I felt the two had something going last night, and I only took them out on deck and left them together. They took it from there. As far as Serene, I couldn't have had anything to do with that."
Missy was next to me and said in a hushed whisper, "You might be surprised. Your telepathy can be pretty strong sometimes."
I looked at her very sternly and all she could do was grin.
Steve said, "I think we'll move to the big island tomorrow, Dewey. Can we anchor out in front of your hotel, is the water deep enough?"
"I think so, but I'll call the hotel manager and find out." Dewey said. "They do have several boats in slips there, so it probably is plenty deep enough."
Soon it was arranged that we would be leaving this hotel and moving to his original Hawaiian hotel. When we finished checking out of the hotel where we were, Dewey had the manager with him and announced, "Please, meet my new manager, did you get that, my new manager Mr. Siam Thieu. Mr. Thieu is now in charge of remodeling the hotel so it will be one of the nicest on the island, along with the resort. Martin and Siam will work together in the future as our restaurant is the closest to this hotel. We will be adding a restaurant here and we will be building a large dock area so we can accommodate sailing and boating visitors. As you can tell, this has been a very successful trip."
We did sail over to Dewey's other hotel, where we tied up together again, with Dewey's boat in the middle. Dewey insisted that we use the big suites in the hotel as they were empty right then. We would move out of them if they became desirable to paying guests.
Steve, Sue, Dewey, and Sheila had some romantic connection to the hotel as they had come here when they had first married. Dewey and Sheila had become an item here, and it was the beginning of Steve's and Dewey's long friendship.
While eating breakfast the first morning at the hotel, among a throng of children, Dewey asked me, "How about you and Steve coming with me this morning to look at a property just down the road. It's similar to what we just bought on the other island, but the owner is in a bad way and is forced to sell. We can buy the place cheap, along with some adjoining properties that include a golf course and a clothing optional resort that also has a golf course. I have an idea for the place, but I want both of your opinions. If the ladies will join us, I want to have a look at the clothing optional resort too, as it is one of the few located on the island and in Hawaii."
The three of us took a hotel limo to look at the resort that was for sale. The business climate was not the right time to have to sell a Hawaiian resort and golf course, but then that is what luck and opportunity are. It just happens.
Upon completing the tour of the resort hotel, Dewey asked me what I thought in front of the resort owner. I said, "We found out the place was just remodeled and still has an outstanding debt for some of it. The appraisal for the properties when the remodeling started was almost triple what you can buy it for right now in this depressed market. In my opinion, if we can buy the property, less the amount of the outstanding debt, we should make the deal. If the debt is included, we have to think about it."
You could see the owner's face fall as I'm sure he was expecting his asking price, plus the amount of the debt. Steve and Dewey looked at each other and nodded to me, with Steve saying to the owner, "We'll get back to you. We need to discuss this a little more."
The man appeared desperate, he said, "If I paid the debt with the proceeds, how fast could we close the deal?"
Dewey looked at me and Steve and said, "It depends how long it would take to get a title search and set a closing. I have attorneys here in Hawaii that we can use, but that's what it would take."
The man said, "We just had a title search done in order to borrow the money for the remodeling. I didn't have the money to buy the casino license so the area for the casino is still unused and is not decorated yet. If you can purchase the license, you would be very profitable very fast."
Dewey offered, "Let me have my attorney come out here so we can get you some money, since it seems you are having trouble."
The man said, "I am desperate. I have a major note due on the resort next door. The place is very profitable, but I'm just not the person to operate a clothing optional resort. The resort is very popular for newlyweds and some groups from the mainland. We are slowly becoming a place for locals to come to enjoy the lifestyle. Part of the expansion was to build a condominium and a few cottages for long term rental. I'd dump that place in a heartbeat if I could find someone to take it off my hands."
Dewey asked, "What would you take for a quick sale of the place? We would have to consider what you owe on it as well."
The man said, "Come back to my office and we'll dig out all of the paperwork for the resort next door. I'll show you the most recent appraisal, along with the outstanding note on it."
After looking at the documents the man showed us, Dewey said, "The attorney should be here in a few minutes. We're going to step outside for a few minutes to discuss the clothing optional property."
Outside, Dewey looked at me and asked, "Want to own a nudie resort? The place must be huge, considering the acreage and all the rooms it has. The main hotel has a huge nightclub and is open to the public in the evenings. The main restaurant is also a popular public place. They must have other clothing optional areas for the resort goers in order to have the public venues too."
I asked, "Would we put both resorts into one pot or is it better to have separate corporations?"
Dewey and Steve both immediately said, "Separate corporations." Dewey continued, "We're buying two completely different businesses here. Both should be successful, but each one will have totally different management with different management styles. We'll have to hunt for a special type of person for the clothing optional place and a very good man, similar to Martin, for the other place. We'll need someone ready to handle a casino, as well as a big restaurant, since we will have to have both a large restaurant as well as a diner style place for the casino goers."
I was amazed, "There's a lot to this business, isn't there?"
Steve said, "I'll bet the managers for these places already work here or they work near here. All we have to do is to find them. What do you say, Chuck, want to go in with us on this whole package?"
"Do you think I have enough money? I may not have enough."
Dewey did some scratching on his pad and said, "Considering what we should be able to buy everything for, your part is going to be about sixty mil. We'll need at least another two million each in operating capital and money to get the casino open. Can you do that?"
Steve assured me, "We'll quickly be turning profits from both of these places, so you'll have money for what you want to do fairly fast. Besides, I told you to give your time, that's probably more important than your money."
After scratching my head, I said, "I'm in probably up to a max of eighty. I think that will be all of it."
"Shoot fire, you should have gone in with us over on the other island. You could have joined us on that deal too."
"This is enough, guys. This is a wild thing I'm doing. Like I told Steve, this is investment money to help others."
Dewey said, "You're helping others. You're helping the existing owner a great deal, and helping all the employees at both golf courses and both resorts. That's a lot of people."
"If this guy closed both places, there would three or four hundred people out of work," Steve said.
I was nodding when I said, "I hadn't thought of it that way. Investors do keep a lot of people working don't they?"
Dewey's and Steve's attorney showed up as we were going back into the office to talk to the owner. After the introductions, Dewey asked, "Is your property title for the clothing optional resort in as good a shape as this one, with a recent title search?"
The man nodded and said, "Just to get out from under the debt and the worry, I can make you a decent deal if you buy both. I can retire and enjoy life for a change. I won't live high on the hog, but I'll have enough to be comfortable for the rest of my life. I have worked long and hard just to be in this position, I would be happy to bring all of it to a conclusion. I'm young enough to enjoy life now instead of the pressure I was under for so long."
Dewey explained to the attorney what the two deals were. The owner began digging out all of the papers that he had concerning the two properties. The attorney was told to keep the two venues separate, but the holding corporation would be the same for both. He was to incorporate the holding group as Dewey, Steve, and me, plus apply for the casino license for the main resort property.
We all shook hands, sealing the deal. The attorney, Sam Perkins, yep, I said Perkins, asked me for my driver's license for my name and address. I had to ask and did, "Do you know anyone named Sarah, who is also a lawyer?"
"You mean the little dynamo money hungry divorce lawyer in Tampa, Florida? I know her, I grew up with her. She's my sister, and she thinks she's God's gift to women in a troubled marriage. How do you know her? Did she take you to the cleaners in a divorce?"
"She represented me in a non-divorce action that brought both of us some luck. She's helped one of my employees too. She is a real dynamo, isn't she?"
The man laughed and said, "If you have some money, which you must have to hang with these guys, I'm surprised she didn't offer to marry you on the spot."
I began laughing at that, and he said, "She did, didn't she? She tried to marry you. She's older than you but that wouldn't bother Sarah. She'd just divorce you later anyway and get everything you had."
"I don't think Sarah and I will be getting married. We have an understanding. I think we understand each other just fine."
Sam said, "You know she's from here. Our dad was in the Air Force and was stationed in Tampa for a while before coming here to retire. Sarah didn't like the divorce rate here, so she moved to Tampa and took the Florida Bar exam. I'm in business law only. If Dewey keeps it up, I'll only have a need for one client, him. Steve's attorney, Ben Phillips, is a good guy but he's about like most lawyers. His life is money. He's an investment attorney almost exclusively now. Do you use Ben, too?"
I nodded and he said, "That'll make it easier to get funds transferred for these deals. You're not in that other deal, are you? How come?"
"Steve had to talk me into going in with them, since I really didn't think of the all the ramifications of being in business with these guys."
Steve said to Sam, "Chuck is a Deputy U.S. Marshal. He's on convalescent leave right now, healing up from being injured on the job. We're happy he has the bucks to go into business with us. He's a great friend."
Sam said, "Let me work with this guy and get all this put together. We'll close on this as soon as I can get all the titles done and confirm the payoffs of the existing loans. We'll need to check with the subcontractors to make sure there aren't any other liens on the property. It everything is here, my office should have it all put together by day after tomorrow."
The three of us went back to the big hotel where we were staying. We joined the girls and children for lunch then went with them as they put the children in a relaxed atmosphere for a short nap and some quiet time.
While we were sitting around out on the patio of the suites, Steve told all the girls about the deals we had made this morning. Mercy was grinning at me, and finally said, "With both you and Steve in on the deal, it has to be a good one, and probably turned out better than Dewey could have imagined."
Dewey did say, "It did turn out to be bigger and better than I would have expected today. We ended up with two resorts for about what I had thought we would pay for one, and you know what? One of them is a clothing optional resort. We haven't taken a good look at it yet, so perhaps we should all go over and have a good look. I'll bet the kids would love it."
Steve and Sue looked at each other and nodded. Juanita said, "I don't know. We're pretty relaxed but I'm not sure about being naked in front of bunch of people I don't know."
To comfort Juanita, Kathy said, "You know, Nita, we've been almost naked out on the beaches since we've been here. I'm sure you can keep a swimsuit on or even just your bottoms if you want. It's a clothing optional place. That means you don't have to wear clothes if you don't want to. Don't you remember how much we enjoyed those beaches on the Riviera?"
Beth said, "Wouldn't that be neat, to play golf nude? I wish Ben were here, he would have a blast, or that is, we would have a blast."
Sue asked me, "Would you feel uncomfortable nude, Chuck? You don't seem to be self-conscious in shorts, so I guess you would be okay."
I said, "People look when they first see my leg, but they quickly get used to it and then I'm just another guy."
"You've already been to a naturist park, haven't you, Chuck?" Missy asked.
"I have, and it was fun for the most part. There were a lot of very nice people there."
Sue and Mercy perked up, Sue asked, "Where did you go, which place did you go to?"
I smiled, "The place next to one of your new factories, Sue. I know one of the property owners there. As a matter of fact, I know Tom, the man you bought the property from."
Mercy asked, "What happened out there that you didn't like, Chuck?"
"That's kind of personal, Mercy. I'll tell you about it sometime." I felt Mercy probing my memories for the answer, but I cautioned her mentally, "Wait for it, I'll tell you later."
Sheila and Sheena said they wanted to go, so Dewey said, "Let's make tomorrow our initiation into a naturist park. We'll go over there, and if anyone doesn't want to be nude, they don't have to be. I personally think us guys will have more problem than any of you girls."
That night the talk was continuously about how they thought the kids would react. Sue said that Stevie might remember the Riviera. Kathy's older kids said they thought it would be fun. Barb said the boys only wanted to ogle all the women. Ben said, "We get to see most everything every weekend for breakfast. I don't think we can see any more than what is shown at home. I used to have to hide because I was embarrassed because I would get excited, but now I can look and my body doesn't show off any more."
This night was very nice. Missy met me as I was going into my room off the suite. She said, "Would you allow me to sleep with you tonight? I'm only looking for intimacy, for some warmth and cuddling. You are so very comfortable to cuddle with."
That's exactly what we did; we cuddled and slept soundly all night.
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious