I surprised myself my waking up at an early hour. It was only a little after seven. After a quick shower, I walked down to the huge patio to see if the place was as full as the first time I had been there. It was as full, if not more so. As soon as I approached the door nearest the street, it burst open, pushed by Ben excitedly saying, "Good morning, Gerry, glad you came for breakfast. Come in and have some coffee and something to eat. I have to leave right away, but my mom and the other mothers were just talking about you."
After a nice hug, he pulled me across the room to the bar where he drew me a cup of coffee from a big pot. Sue was there and gave me a big hug, saying, "Nice to see you this morning, Gerry. We were just talking about you."
Sue sat me down at a small table with her husband Steve and a guy name Charlie, along with one of the short redheads and Juanita. Steve introduced me to Charlie and Shawna and asked, "Ben said you have almost completed a degree in metallurgy, specializing in alloys and composites."
I smiled and said, "I still have eight hours to go that are important. Both classes are graduate courses, but really make up some of the most interesting information about the new alloy composite field."
Steve asked, "Would you like some help in getting in the university? Sue's dad is a major supporter of the USF and I'll bet a request from him would go a long way. Are you going to need financial assistance to go back to school?"
I was looking at Steve, trying to think of which question was the most important, when Charlie said, "Jesus, Steve, why don't you ask a bunch of questions at one time? At least let the girl have a sip of her coffee."
I smiled at Charlie, but turned back to Steve, "Yes I would love help to ensure my credits transfer and be able to get in the school and no, if I continue to earn as much as I have been, I should be fine for this last semester. If I go to grad school or think I need to, that could stretch my finances, but if I watch my money, I'll be fine."
The big tall guy, Tiny, that I had met before, was standing next to Steve and said, "You should get with Steve's father in law. If you need help making your money stretch and grow, the man is a wizard. He's handling a lot of the company's investments and is doing a hell of a job."
Juanita, who was sitting beside me, patted my hand and said, "See, you've met a bunch of people who will make your life happier. I'll be back. I have to get some of the kids on the school bus and some up to the rec center for home school."
Ben leaned down and said, "I have to get going to make my class. If you're around this afternoon, maybe we can do something together."
I smiled, "I'd like that. I don't have a lot to do today and even thought about going in to work this afternoon. I want to make as much as I can before the next semester starts."
Ben said, "If your car is home, I'll knock, or you can come down here."
Ben and Juanita took off and Steve was pushing his chair back. He said, "You should meet Dennis over at the R&D center, and you definitely need to meet Jeff who is working with our version of an alloy fiberglass composite. He could use some help with alloy metals that are stronger than regular steel, but weigh less."
"That would be neat, I'd like that," I answered, actually enthusiastic about seeing practical applications within my educational interest.
"Go over to the R&D center and speak with Dennis. He'll take you to our main shop, and I'll tell Jeff you might stop by. Just a second," Steve said, and hollered and waved at a guy getting ready to leave the patio. "Hey Dennis, come here a minute."
A young guy came over to us, and Steve said, "Dennis, this is Gerry, a new resident out here. She's still in school, but one of her majors is in metallurgy, specializing in metal alloy composites. I told her to go visit you so you could show her our applications. After you show her the R&D center, take her to the shop and show her Jeff's operation. He's out of town setting up a new plant in Italy right now, but you know enough about the operation to show her around."
Steve turned back to me and said, "You know you don't have to dress up to see our plants. What you have on is fine. How about going over to R&D then to the main shop right now?"
"I really would rather have some pants and a decent top on. Let me put on some jeans and a better top, along with something other than sandals. I can do that in five minutes. Would that be alright, Dennis?"
Dennis shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sure, let me give you ride to your house and wait for you to change. I need to get in this morning to check on some engines in the environmental chambers."
After having only a half a cup of coffee and no breakfast, Dennis gave me a ride to my trailer in a cool looking golf cart. He said he would wait outside, so I went in and was dressed in jeans, a nice shirt type blouse, and tennis shoes. Back outside with only my keys, we drove through the park to the R&D building.
Dennis told a security guard that I was with him and led me through an office area into a group of labs with windows and doors leading into various rooms marked for their activities. There were two young guys pulling some kind of motor from a room marked "Sand." They were blowing excess sand from the engine before bringing it into the lab. In another of the rooms, I saw an older guy drying off an engine. That room was marked "Ocean air."
Dennis checked with the people working with the engines making sure they knew how to teardown the engines and how to lay the parts out for inspection. He turned to me and said, "This is a new engine we're making for an airplane Steve wants to build. We have already built a larger model, but it was too powerful for the type of aircraft we're building. This one should be the perfect size and we're putting it through every test we know of in order to get it certified for aircraft use. Look over here in this room. That is the same engine that has been running through tests now for right at six weeks. It shuts off every five hours for ten minutes, restarts, and then is put under load for another five hours. We service it every 100 hours of operation just like a regular aircraft engine. We want to get five thousand hours on it, but as soon as it hits two thousand, it will have passed its certification hours. That's about another six weeks."
Dennis said, "These folks are all set, let's go down to the main shop. You'll love the place, it's always interesting there."
When we drove up to the front of the building with a big S&S sign on top, Dennis said, "Over there, across the street, are two of the clothing plants. The rest of the plants are out at the business park and the new park by the naturist resort."
I asked, "Are there really three thousand people who work over there and in the other plants?"
Dennis smiled, "Probably more, I really don't know the exact quantity of employees they have, but it's enough for three shifts in most of the sewing areas. Come on in and I'll give you a tour."
We walked through an impressive showroom with a racecar and motorcycle hanging from the ceiling. There were a couple of big machines that looked impressive, along with a golf cart.
Dennis led me to an area that was obviously for manufacturing. Men were doing some welding in one area, while other men were stamping large pieces of sheet metal in another area. We walked into a room with six separate work areas, each with two people in white lab coats working on car engines. The place didn't look like a car shop, as it was bright white with no oil on the floor. All of the work areas were spotless, neat, and organized.
Dennis said expansively, "This is where they build racing motors. S&S supplies several NASCAR teams with specially built motors. We're known for our quality and performance."
The short redheaded lady that had been sitting with me on the patio this morning was directing people to do things. She must be some kind of boss.
Dennis took me back through the manufacturing area and through an area where old machines were being torn down. There were several work areas with machines in various stages of being rebuilt. They even had a couple of forklifts torn down.
We walked across a large lot to another very tall building. Through an open area, I could see some large machines being worked on, then farther on, we stepped into a busy shop with people pressing fiberglass mats into forms. Dennis said, "This is our fiberglass shop. It is also our composite forming shop. I don't see any of the forms set up for composites, but let's go into the warehouse area where some of the finished product is."
In the last half of the huge building was what looked like airplane fuselages and wings, scattered around on stands. Dennis said, "These are parts for the new aircraft S&S LSA is building. Ah, LSA means light sport aircraft. That's a special classification of aircraft that is small, lightweight, and becoming very popular. When you get a chance, you should go out to the airpark where they are putting together three types of these LSAs. The person heading up this project is guy named Wes. He was at breakfast this morning, but you just haven't been introduced to him yet. He was the guy sitting with DeDe and Star. They have been experimenting with various blends of materials for the strongest composite bodies. Steve isn't satisfied yet and wants the absolute best. But then, he's that way. Everything has to be the absolute best or he isn't satisfied."
"DeDe and Star introduced Wes to me the first morning I was here," I said happily, then thought of Steve Sharp's motto of perfection and commented, "I'll bet it's hard to work for someone like that."
Dennis laughed, "You would think so, but it really isn't. The whole company thinks that way. We do it perfect just like that sign over the door, 'Is It Perfect?'"
I nodded in agreement, but wondered whether I could produce something perfect every time. It would be a good goal.
"Gerry, I really should get back to the R&D center. We need to have the analysis of those engines complete today. Let me run you home, okay?"
Dennis drove me to my trailer and took off for the business park. I picked up my purse and headed to my car. I was just about to get in when I thought, 'Why not go to work and earn some money after your errands.'
Back inside the trailer, I showered, did my hair, and put together the outfit I would wear at work. I put on a skirt and blouse with some flats to do my errands, and took off to go to the Best Buy for a cell phone.
I ended up with a middle of the road phone that had a keyboard for text and pretty good deal on a new kind of unlimited plan. Before I left the store, I had a working phone with a home and car charger. Now I was no longer out of contact.
The first thing I did when I got back to my car is to text Ben. I wrote that he now had my new telephone number and that I was going to work and would probably get off around nine or so.
When I showed up at the Mons before noon, Cindy greeted me saying, "Glad you came in early, Tess, a couple of girls are out sick today. If you want, get ready and you can take the next set on stage."
After locking up my purse, I picked my music and waited for the current dancer's last number to finish. As soon as she had gathered her tips and was off the stage, I strutted on just as my music began. The guys around the stage were hooting and hollering, so I knew I was going to have fun today.
The day went very well with only one glitch. A customer was being ridiculous, trying to get me to go home with him. He went from asking, to begging, to becoming demanding about my leaving with him. I tried to be nice, but when he grabbed me by the arm and was dragging me toward the door, I began yelling for help.
Our huge bouncer, George, grabbed the guy by the neck and picked him up. The guy let me go, causing me to fall to the floor. Customers were trying to help me when the guy began fighting with the bouncer. That was a bad choice, as within seconds, the bouncer had the guy on the floor and was using huge tie wraps to tie the guy's hands and legs together. George picked the guy up and carried him outside, saying he would wait with him for the cops.
Gladys said, "George is really good. He'll give the guy to the cops out there so they don't have a reason to come in. The man is a first class bouncer."
The rest of the night was normal, with a steady stream of guys wanting to be teased with a lap dance.
As is usual, a lot of girls like to work the evening or night shift. They sleep all day then come in to start at seven, eight, or nine. They work all night then leave at four or five in the morning to go to an all night private club and party for a while. I like regular days and nights, so when it got crowded around seven, I asked if I could split and could gracefully exit and come in tomorrow around noon.
I went to my trailer, showered, then walked down to the patio area to see if Ben might be there. He was sitting at the bar chatting with some guys that included Dennis. I walked up to Ben and touched him on the arm and smiled when he looked at me. He smiled back, so I knew he appreciated that I wasn't being overly familiar.
After putting my purse down, I went to the beer fridge and pulled a frosted mug out and poured a beer. When I set mine down, I noticed Ben's beer was almost empty, so I poured him some more. This became an epidemic that had me pulling beers for the all the guys there. One of the guys said, "I think I've seen you before. I'm Phil and I was out with my guys the other night, and I think I might have seen you in a different setting."
The guy was being nice and not saying where he saw me so I spoke up. "You must have been at the Mons Venus. I've been dancing there for a while. Hope you thought I was worth coming back to see. I try to be good at teasing, but I also try to be discreet."
Phil said, "You know what, you were very discreet and you did tease the guys very well. A couple of the guys had you give them lap dances. You did good teasing them, but wouldn't allow them to touch you improperly. I thought that was pretty good."
"Thank you, Sir. I started dancing at the Mons because I was totally broke and needed to eat. They hired me and it gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of nice people. They don't want the girls to do anything except tease the guys that come in, but some girls go beyond teasing. For me it's perfect, I get to earn some good money and I don't have to do anything I would be ashamed of."
Ben spoke up, "Isn't she special? She doesn't pull any punches and says what she means. Can you believe this girl is almost finished with a degree in metallurgy? She's some kind of special student in composite metals."
The important guy, Steve, was with the group now, and said, "I heard you had a good tour of the shops from Dennis. I think you need to finish your degree then come to work with us. We're involved in several projects that mix metallurgy and composite fiberglass. Perhaps you can expand your knowledge while in school to include fiberglass. I think this is going to be the future in a lot of manufacturing. I want to be on the leading edge."
Ben said to me, "Listen to Dad, Gerry. He seems to always know what's next in industry. If he says to learn fiberglass, learn it."
I smiled and said, "Looks like I'll be busy in school for a while. I'll ask my professors what courses would be good to gain knowledge in that kind of product. If I have to take more classes, I'll quit dancing altogether. I've been able to save up enough to get through at least a year and probably more.
Steve said, "Dennis, get Gerry involved with your composite project and hire her part time. If she's an employee, she's eligible for our tuition assistance and could even be eligible for a stipend for living expenses. A person contributing to the company is always taken care of."
Steve reached over and touched my hand, "Please know we are interested in everyone that is trying to learn and contribute to society, especially our society and our company."
Steve seemed sincere and wasn't coming on to me like some guy bargaining for a dance. Perhaps I'm becoming a little callous. These are good people and Ben is a sweetheart.
Soon the patio was packed with people who lived around the park. Star came in and joined me in talking to the men. She said, "You're lucky you're young enough to enjoy the boys. Ben will give you some balance in life while you dance. Did I hear you correctly say that you might have to give up dancing for a heavier school class load?"
"They were saying I needed to learn about fiberglass while finishing my metallurgy degree. I'll have to find out if there is any correlation within the composite fields, since that's what I'm studying. I've saved up everything I've made so far, except for rent to you and DeDe and some groceries. If I watch what I spend, I should be fine for over a year."
Star said, "Just tell them down at the club that you're going to school. They'll work out a schedule for you. They get a kick out of helping girls get through school while dancing. DeDe and I both used our dancing money to get where we are today. DeDe took flying lessons, while I went to school. I've since learned to fly everything we have out at the air charter service, but I went to school for business management first. In addition to the air charter work, I work on special tools and their marketing with the company."
"Sounds good, Star. I'll talk to them at the club tomorrow. School starts next week, so I'll be busy after that."
Ben said, "Come on, let's get a seat at the table. Supper's ready."
"I can't freeload here, Ben. Don't I need to pay someone?"
Ben grinned, "Not a problem. You've already been told we always have room for one more for meals. The only requirement is to show up. If you want to help cook or clean up, help is appreciated. My Dad, Steve, Sue, Mercy, Juanita, and my Mom, Kathy, love to have everyone for breakfast, lunch, and supper. It's like we're all a huge family."
Some of the younger kids were sitting at the table where Ben found us chairs. As soon as we sat, a girl began talking to the boy next to her in Spanish. Ben said, "Okay, Mia, you can speak English to Stevie and CJ. This is Gerry, a new person here in the park, and a special friend of mine."
Ben turned to me and said, "The kids start speaking Spanish when they think they can say things about someone who won't understand. They used to get into trouble at school for doing it all the time."
I said to the little girl, "Usted debe encontrar otro idioma. Español es común donde vengo de." I had told her, 'You need to find another language. Spanish is common where I come from.'
The little girl and two boys all turned pink in the face and looked down at their food. The little girl said, "You have a different accent than most Spanish people from here."
A lady on the other side of Ben said, "Ah, someone who speaks with a Mexican flavor. The kids learned from a Cuban lady. We also have many Puerto Ricans in the area too. It's good the kids can't get over on you."
When we were finished eating, the kids began taking plates to the kitchen. I thought it would be good to help and took Ben's and my plates inside. Soon the kitchen around the sinks and dishwashers was crowded with people cleaning up. I really couldn't fit, so I went back to sit with Ben. He suggested that we go for a drive. A little boy and a younger girl came up to Ben and said, "Can we go with you? While we're out, you could take us to that new guitar store to see what they have."
Ben rolled his eyes and said, "Bonita is the musician in the family. Greg is learning too. They have all the instruments two kids could want, but always like to look at more."
I said, "That would be neat. I don't play any instruments, but I like to look. Let's take them."
Ben went to tell someone he was taking Bonita and Greg with us for a drive. When he came back the little girl, Mia, was with him and wanted to come too.
We did go for a drive, but fairly straight to the new guitar store and spent over an hour and a half looking at various instruments. Little Bonita entertained us playing various guitars. The store people thought it was really cool that the little girl played so well.
The store had other types of instruments including keyboards. Bonita surprised me by playing a very sophisticated classical piece on one of the keyboards. Ben explained, "Last summer, we took a vacation that included a guy that began teaching the kids how to play the guitar. He also began teaching some of them piano. Well, Bonita became the child prodigy and has been progressing at a phenomenal pace. She takes lessons a couple times a week and practices constantly. You'll meet the guy that taught her as he comes out all the time. You'll like him, he's a great guy."
When we got back to the park, Kathy scolded Ben for keeping the kids out so late. He protested that it was really difficult to get the kids out of the guitar store. The little ones were whisked off to be put to bed. I took Ben by the hand and led him outside. I asked with a smile, "Would you like to come to my place and visit for a while?"
Ben said, "I'd love to, but only for a short while. I have to study some before bed. You'll be just as busy as soon as your classes start."
We did go to my place and we visited intimately for a while. Hopefully, Ben can keep his eyes open long enough to study. I didn't mean to wear him out, but he does have a magnetic personality.
It was already seven when I woke in the morning, so I knew Ben was probably already on his way to school. I figured that I would just have some cereal for breakfast, and then do some laundry.
Along about eleven, I was on my way to the club where the first thing I did was to corner my manager to talk about school. Cindy was still on as the manager, so I sat with her a while, telling her of my school plans. When I was done she said, "When you know your schedule, we'll go over it and make sure you have plenty of time for studying and enough time to stay rested. We'll let you work as many hours as you want, but Joe wants girls going to school to work at being a student. He says this is only a vehicle to pay for your schooling."
I said, "It's been the way that I've been able to eat and pay rent and meet a whole lot of people. This place has been good to me. I guess when I finish school, I'll be like Star and DeDe and be considered one of the retired girls and only show up when you really need us."
Cindy smiled, "That's sweet you would consider being a standby girl for us when we're short. I hope you can do it. Now go to work, earn some money, and remember the rules. We've had some undercover guys in lately. I think they're watching for narcotics and for the girls that may be making dates. Have fun and be good."
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious