Steve
Still Thursday
Back at the shop, I went out to the fiberglass shop and talked to Jeff's assistant, Ken.
"Ken, you know the five mats you made up for us to test the strength of them?"
"You mean the five composite mats?"
"Right, those. Can you make up a few more just like them?"
"Sure, no problem. I have the mixes right here and we can do them and lay them tonight. They won't be cured and ready until Monday, though."
"That's fine, Ken, do three sets of them. I have an idea I want to try, so let me know when you have them ready. Have you considered whether we can make the mats denser? I'd love a mat that would be the densest you could make it, but still keep it the normal thickness, especially using the metallic composite."
Ken thought for a second and said, "I'll mix up a batch that is the most dense I can make and lay it in a mat mold. I'll give you three of them, as well. I don't know what you would do with it though, as it would be so dense it would be almost ... Hey, are you trying to make a mat bullet proof?"
I laughed and said, "You might be onto something Ken. Maybe you're reading my mind. Let me know when you have something."
Ken was speculating, "You know, if we could make a bulletproof composite, the military could make their drones out of the material and the little drones could fly slowly over various areas while the sand fleas shoot the hell out of them with small arms."
"Hey, that's a neat idea. Make some strong stuff and remember to write down your concoction so we can repeat the process."
"Done deal, Boss."
I was smiling as I walked back to main building. There was a tent set up behind the main building, in front of one of the race day trucks. Across the front of the tent was a big sign that announced, "Welcome NASCAR teams."
Now what? I walked over to the tent where one of the salesmen for the race day teams was and asked what was happening.
The salesman said, "We're having an open house to get teams in here to help us stock what we'll need for race days next year. We'll get an idea of where these folks will be testing and try to show up there if several teams will be there at the same time. We're trying to be their parts house away from home. The big Sprint Cup van almost needs a second truck now as we're supplying so much to the teams. Tiny said if we wanted the second truck to just ask. We're more than profitable so far."
I asked, "How many teams do you expect tomorrow?"
"We have twelve committed right now. We've rented the entire hotel for this event. Hopefully, we'll be able to fill it up. We're giving tours of the shop as well as tours out at the park. These guys also buy our truck bodies and RVs."
"How about us having them come out to the patio? We can get the big tent and throw a hell of a party for them."
"Great, Boss, do it."
"Okay," I asked, "when will these guys be coming in and what days are you having this wing ding?"
"Friday and Saturday."
"Let me get Tiny on it and set this up. Tell everyone that tomorrow night will be a party at the house."
I walked into the shop and straight upstairs to Tiny's office. Tiny looked up and said, "I know that look. What has to happen in ten seconds flat?"
"I just found out we're hosting a bunch of NASCAR race teams here to get a feel for what we need to provide next season. How about setting up the tent and caterer for a big party at the house? This is a big deal. We should put on the dog for them."
Tiny smiled and said, "I heard about the show, but didn't put together how big a deal it was. I'll get it done. Plan on a real party. I'll make sure our local guys are all there and get the road sales guys in for it. Phil will be pleased his men are invited."
"Hell, Tiny, they're always invited. They don't need an engraved invitation."
"I know, but they really don't understand that. Ryan tells them, but they don't believe him. Let me get on the horn and get this set up."
"Don't bug Ruth about it until later. She's boobs deep in trying to make the new office in the new hangar perfect. Tell her later. You can call the house though and let them know."
I went into my office and called Gene. "Hey, Gene, are you coming to the open house tomorrow? I know you're back in town, in your old building, for the winter, so are you coming?"
"Since I know you guys so well, I didn't think I would clutter up the space."
"No way, you come and give us your opinion. We depend on our best and oldest customer. We have a lot of questions and you and your crew chiefs can answer them for us. Oh, and you won't want to miss the party out at the house tomorrow night. It should be special. We'll probably have some of the best ribs and chicken known to man."
"You dog, Steve, for a good party, you know my wife and I will be there. I'll get the crew chiefs together and come by tomorrow to answer questions for the sales guys. You know we're starting the season with the same motors we ended with last year. They're still perfect. You're losing money building them so well."
"That's great news, Gene. It's a good thing your guys like to do a lot of rubbing so I get some cash out of panels."
"You have me there. They don't blow engines, but they can't keep a racecar on four wheels. I keep telling them "rubber side down," but they love to slide along on the top. Those eighteen percent stainless frames are keeping our rebuilds down too. You know last season we only built one new car. The rest of the wrecks were just re-panels."
"That's even better news. You see, I'm saving you money. That's our goal. Tell the other teams that stuff. You won enough to get into the top five. Maybe this year you'll win it all."
"Dream on, Steve, I have good cars and decent drivers, but it takes some kind of special luck to win it all."
"Well, you did it in the trucks, why not the big cars?"
"Hell, the trucks were easy. With your motor and the new suspension your guys, or rather girls, worked out for us, we blew the doors off everyone. Your girls came out and straightened out my crew on suspension, but the big cars just couldn't stay out of traffic. We have a new driver that may be an answer. We're fielding three cars in the Sprint cup this year. We're after it, that's for sure."
"Well, thanks for coming tomorrow and I'll look forward to seeing you and your lady tomorrow night. It'll be a good time."
I called Sue to tell her about tomorrow. She said, "It's a good thing the remodeling is complete up at the rec center or the kids would have been nuts. They get excited over everything. As soon as that big truck showed up here a few minutes ago and began erecting the tent, the kids went crazy. It was all the girls could do to get them back up to the rec building. It's almost time to come home, are you going to be late?"
"Nope, I think I've done all the damage I can do today. I'll do a quick walk through the shops to make sure the place is being cleaned up and be home."
It was four forty-five, so clean up should be in progress. For grins, I walked through the office cubicle area to make sure desks were being put into shape. Down in the rebuild area, guys were sweeping and mopping. Welding was putting tools away and beginning to sweep, while sheet metal was stacking and mopping at the same time. The motor room was in the beginning stages of putting stuff away, but two teams were testing engines. They were down to the last tests and comparing printouts. The two gay guys paid off the gay girls a dollar each. Big bet. They all hugged each other and began cleaning up. Shawna looked at me and winked, as one of her high school kids was mopping her area. This was a special place to work.
I walked out of the showroom and drove home in the five o'clock traffic. Since it isn't far, the traffic was not a problem. When I walked into the patio, I was hit by a half dozen critters that were mine. They all wanted hugs and to tell me something special. I sat down and listened to their stories and commented, until the last two left were Stevie and CJ. Stevie said, "Dad, CJ and I want to try to motocross. Dennis said he would help us and Uncle Kevin said he's a good teacher. Can we, Dad? Can we?"
I said, "CJ, you need to get your mom and dad in on this conversation, and I'll help you out on that. You need to talk to Charlie and Shawna the same way. Have you asked Greg whether he wants to do it too?"
Stevie jumped down and ran into the house. He brought Greg out and said, "Tell him, Greg. Tell Dad what you said."
Greg looked sheepish and said, "I asked Mom, ah, no, I mean, I told mom I was going to ride motocross." She got mad because of the way I said it. I was wrong, I should have asked."
"Have you told your mom you were wrong?"
"No Sir. I was embarrassed to talk to her about it again."
"When you're wrong, Greg, you have to admit you're wrong. Go get your mom and bring her here. Stevie, go get your moms, all of them, and CJ see if your mom is home now. We'll do this all at once."
The three took off in three different directions. Stevie was going to be sure to have permission as he brought Sue, Mercy, and Juanita back together. Greg came back, with his hand pulling Kathy. Kathy had a smirk on her face, knowing what this was probably about. CJ came bouncing into the patio dragging Shawna, who had a questioning look on her face.
The three boys stood there mute with the expectant mothers. They all looked at me to solve the riddle. I looked at Greg and smiled. He squirmed in place as if expecting me to talk for him. I finally said, "This is your show Son. Let's hear it."
Greg rolled his eyes looked up at his smirking mother, then looked back down quickly. He took a deep breath and then looked straight up at Kathy, "Mom, I'm sorry I spoke to you the way I did. I know you would give me a chance to do what I want if I had been more, I don't know the word, oh yeah, courteous. Like I said, Mom, I'm sorry."
Kathy smiled real big and said, "Good speech. Now ask me nice and we'll go from there."
You could see relief spread across Greg's face as he smiled up at his mom, "I want to try to ride motocross. I think the other guys are going to get to do it and I want to do it with them. Will you let me?"
Kathy paused, looked at me, then looked at the other moms, "Perhaps these other boys need to ask their mothers too, if they haven't already."
CJ said, "I already asked Mom and Dad and they said if you guys were going to do it, then I could."
Shawna said, "I think what I said was, if you boys were going to be taught by someone who knew what they were doing, you could do it."
"Okay, that's what you said, but it was the same thing, sort of."
Shawna smiled, "Sort of, Champ."
Stevie looked up at his four moms and said, "Dad said I could ride motocross if you said I could." He looked from Sue, to Mercy, to Juanita, to Kathy, then asked, "What do you say, can I?"
There were smiles all around. Kathy said, "You guys need to corner Dennis and Kevin so you can learn to do this safely. Dennis will be here for supper, and Kevin should be here any second."
The three boys ran from the created tension on the patio outside to intercept Kevin or Dennis on the way in. Sue said, "It probably isn't fair to Kevin to sic those three on him. Why did Stevie get all of us?"
I said, "I think he felt if he had you other three here, Kathy might be easier on Greg. You know how those guys are with each other. They constantly look out for each other. Greg probably knew he screwed up as soon as he said his piece to Kathy."
Kathy smiled, "He sure did, I looked at him with my mad look and he bolted. We really didn't get a chance to discuss it. I'll talk to him about it later but then, all of us are his moms now, so we'll all talk to him."
Shawna said, "CJ was begging his dad for a little motocross bike a couple of weeks ago, so you know this plan has been fermenting for a while. I wonder how many other kids will be involved in this by the time we begin?"
Mercy said, "The other kids are still trying to figure out how to be better soccer or baseball players. The three boys want to do everything, so they just get overly expectant of us. Their new method of being taught at a faster level probably has them thinking faster than they should as well. We'll have to temper some of their enthusiasm with some slower education. We're all trying to prove how slow the school system was teaching our kids."
Shawna was laughing, "Charlie and I never were great students, but we sure were hell raisers. When we were in elementary school, they kept trying to put us in different classes, but we always ended up together. Since I was a military brat, I would leave for a year then come back. Charlie was always my buddy right through high school. That's how we ended up in the small engine and motorcycle maintenance school together. I'm proud that CJ is so smart. But perhaps it's because his buddies are helping him learn."
Sue said, "That may be, but CJ is smart. He figures things out by himself all the time. He's very courteous too. See Shawna, you've been a good mom to all of our kids."
Juanita spoke up, "Because all of these kids have all of us for direction, I think they learn from all of us. It's just like the kids enjoy speaking to me in
Spanish most of the time, they have learned a lot from each of us and use it every day."
Charlie walked into the patio, drew a beer into his frosted mug and sat down beside me. "Looks serious, Steve. When you have five of them lined up like this you must have done something bad, what's up?"
Shawna laughed and plopped into Charlie's lap, "Our brats have decided to be motocross hotshots and Greg approached Kathy the wrong way. Steve decided to set them straight and required all of them to produce a mom. Stevie got the rest of the moms from his group and CJ dragged me over here as soon as I pulled in. What's the deal anyway, you guys have beer and I don't."
Kathy brought Shawna a beer as more and more people came into the patio. Kevin walked into the back door and straight into the kitchen where Susan was. He came back out and said, "I hear the boys are waiting to ask me to teach them how to ride motocross. Are you guys up for that? You know busted lips, broken arms, and such? Just ask Dennis and Tina and they'll tell you all about months and months in casts."
Sue said with grin, "I don't think we can keep them from being boys or girls trying to act like boys. As soon as the girls see Tina teaching the boys, they will be right there trying to outperform the boys. You'll see."
Susan had come out and was laughing. "That's what happened with Dennis and Tina. Dennis got pretty good and Tina felt she should be able to do the same stuff too. She did and kept doing it until she broke an arm and leg at the same time. As soon as she healed, she was right back doing flips and jumps right next to Dennis. That they lived through their competition is still a wonder to me."
Kevin said, "Both of them had more guts and talent than they should have. If I taught them how to land from a five foot jump, they were jumping ten feet or more. When I taught Tina how to jump and raise off her bike, she tried a loop the same day. It was almost too bad that she was successful. If she had crashed, she might not have done all those other crazy things. I'll teach the kids, but watch out, they'll do stuff that will scare the shit out of you, both boys and girls. You know the younger ones will instantly want to be a part of this too. You're about to take a real ride."
Kathy sat on my lap and said; "The older boys did all that stuff when we first moved down here, but didn't get that nuts over it. Barb was the best of the bunch and that probably turned the boys off. She lost interest because her brothers didn't ride anymore. Maybe she'll help teach the kids. She did enjoy showing off."
I told the group, "We'll set up an open account down at the motocross shop to get all the clothes, helmets, and pads we can. Get the right size bikes for them to start and stay current with their abilities so they don't override a smaller bike. These kids are going to stretch us, so let's be prepared and be ahead of them. We're not hurting for the cash to support them, so let's do it right and protect them as best we can. What do you think, Charlie, are we raising the next group of hell raisers or what?"
Charlie laughed and said, "Hopefully, they'll be as smart as we've been and stay independent. Or at least stay as a group among themselves. They are a hell of a group of kids, that's for sure."
As more people came into the patio, our group dispersed with Phil taking up the lead in the conversation.
Phil announced, "I've brought all of my road guys in to work with the truck people. They're going to get referrals from all the teams so they can sell to the suppliers of all the teams in all the different cities. This is going to be one hell of couple days. I'm glad we're going to have a big party out here tomorrow for the teams. This will be a story for all of the teams to carry back to the races next year."
The Andies walked through the door. Sandy and Mandy got beers and sat across from me. Sandy said, "You know, Mandy and I may be more valuable to you by being lent out to teams to track down various problems they are having. I know it would be better if we were guys, but we've already been contacted by two other teams to come look at their setups."
I smiled, "Why did I know this would happen. I knew if you were able to help Gene, his men would brag to the other teams that you helped them. You two did too good a job, so now you're gonna have to help the other teams the same. It's a good thing you two spent time at local race tracks with other teams before. Now you know too much and will be in demand as consultants. Let's get you a secretary or helper to keep your schedule in order. Is the motorhome you have okay, or do you need something more custom?"
Mandy said, "Naw, the thing is as plush as you get. With the trailer filled with our tools and parts, we should be fine. Some of these guys think they know everything until we show them a trick or two or like we did with Gene's guys. We showed them how their setup was going to get them disqualified unless they brought it into spec. The neat part was bringing that setup into spec solved most of his setup problems."
"Let me talk to Gene to find out what consultants get paid. We're going to want to get some money out of your efforts. If the team buys lots of our stuff, like frames, panels, and especially motors, we'll cut them some slack, but we'll have a base amount for consulting fees and go from there."
"Make sure you two get with Phil to see if you need to do anything special for him while he's showing off to these teams coming in tomorrow."
Mandy elbowed Sandy saying, "How about that? We get to charge these suckers for some hard work and none of it is on our back." The girls were high fiving and laughing loudly as I walked into the house.
Man, I thought, it can get busy around here without any effort at all. I was heading toward the phone to give Gene a call when Tiny hollered, "Steve, wait up. I've already talked to Gene, if that's who you were headed to call, as well as a couple of other team owners about consulting fees. I've got a brochure made up and everything with pictures of the pair, their RV, and one with a car torn apart with tools spread out around them. With the brochure and word of mouth, the girls are going to be busy. You may even need a second team."
"Brochures? For a race car consulting team? Why would we need those?"
Tiny smiled, "We'll have them with our S&S Motor brochures, RV brochures, and tool brochures. You'd be surprised how many sales we've gotten because we have brochures on the race day trucks."
"You're probably right, Tiny, I just don't think of those good old boys working around those cars as being interested in brochures."
Tiny was nodding, "They're just like all of us. They like to have a little bathroom reading material. Besides these good old boys are mostly college educated engineers that love racing and racecars, managing million dollar businesses. The crew chiefs you meet are not schleps, these car jockeys are professionals."
"You're right about that, Tiny. Gene's crew chief is an M.I.T. graduate. Well, I suppose I'm still trying to sell a couple of frame jobs at heart. The business has grown, just like we've all grown."
"Come back out to the bar, Steve, have a drink and relax." Tiny was pulling me back out to the patio.
Jack was standing at the bar, taking a big drink from a mug. He saw me coming and said to me with a foam mustache, "What the hell have you done? Mia is all hot to be a motocross queen. What have you done to my little girl?"
Kathy was standing there and said, "I think we opened a big scary door. Almost all the kids want to get involved. Even Bonita asked if she could do it too. I'm sure they have a division for six year olds, but I need to talk to her about the possibility of hurting her hands and not being able to play the guitar or piano while she heals."
Shawna was laughing as she said, "Just what we need, something else for the kids to try to injure themselves with. Sean was trying to jump her bike over three of the kids lying on the ground. If I hadn't seen them setting up to do it, she probably would have landed on Stevie, CJ, and Greg. Let's hope we can control them."
I did notice something unusual, there were not any kids in sight except some tiny ones. All the mobile kids five or six and up were missing.
"Kathy, where are the kids?"
Kathy grimaced and nodded her head toward the house. She said, "They're all in the living room plotting. The three amigos (meaning Greg, CJ, and Stevie) are having a meeting with all the kids telling them how they have to act so they can all get in on the motocross thing."
Charlie said, "I think we can get a bunch of used bikes and let them learn on them. They're going to destroy them anyway, so we might as well cut down on cost. Several kids can share a bike. They all can't ride at once anyway, so we'll get a bunch of bikes and they can just share them. We're going to have to keep them locked up when we're not around to make sure the kids don't experiment or try to practice on their own."
Mercy was smiling at everyone, "This is a big deal. We parents are going to have to be patient and on our toes to keep order."
I said, "You're right, Mercy, this is a big deal. Well guys, let's all get bombed so we're about as coherent as the kids will be."
Charlie hollered, "I second that, give me another beer."
Supper was good as always, followed by homework that was brought out without hassle by those who had any. I noticed Wes was sitting at one of the big tables with stacks of papers, trying to read through all of it. DeDe was equally interested in the papers, but Star was not with them. She was either on duty or busy doing something by herself.
The evening did pass quickly with the kids being put to bed, followed by all of us adults migrating toward or our down time. My ladies, along with Beth, Missy, and Glenda were enjoying a last beer, glass of wine, or drink together. Missy asked, "Have you guys begun planning next summer yet or perhaps a spring sailing adventure? I'd love to go to the Mediterranean again, or perhaps start farther west and go to the UK first, then on to the Med."
Mercy said, "We do need to do some sailing. I don't know whether I want to be cold for so long though. Until late April or May, the UK is pretty frigid and the water around most of the UK is cold. Perhaps we should sail south and stay around the equator and the countries around there. We could travel down to Brazil, since it's becoming summer down there but that's a long way. We would need to do some investigating of currents and wind charts before going that direction."
Sue said, "We could always go down to your place in Costa Rica, Mom. That would be a nice trip and we could stop off at a couple of other places on the way south or north."
Beth asked me, "Where would you want to go, Steve?"
"You know, there isn't anywhere special I'd like to go, but I do know I'd love for Chuck and maybe his family to come along. If they needed more privacy then I can get Chuck checked out on one of the boats and we'll sail the two big boats somewhere together. What do you think, Mercy, Sue, can we get all of us, and all of Chuck and his crew, on one boat?"
Mercy instantly said, "We would need to remodel and use the crew's quarters for big staterooms."
Missy suggested, "Why do that? Use the crew's quarters for the kids. They'd love to be together and it would give them some privacy and a place to sit at a table away from adults. The big boat has two giant master suites and there are plenty of other cabins around each. It would depend on whether his three pregnant women would be up for sailing. You know they will be pretty far along in the late spring, if not already with a baby."
I said, "Darn, Chuck may not be able to do something like that. We'll have to get all of them out here and talk about it. As our families grow and grow up, it's tougher and tougher to do some real sailing."
Sue said, "You just need to talk Chuck into having all of his women quit work and for him to come be with us. He can work on the Hawaiian properties and take up some slack at the charter service. The ladies are going to be busy with the babies, and Chuck doesn't need to be running around the country getting into shoot'em ups. We need to bring them all here so we're one big family."
I had to laugh, "That's some wishful thinking, Sue. Chuck and those five babes are all headstrong. Then you have Lisa, and don't forget Tina. Where does she fit? Keep in mind he has big Lena and perhaps the younger sister coming soon. Hell, Chuck's whole group is an organization among themselves."
Mercy was sitting with her eyes closed thinking of something. She had a smile on her face and finally opened her eyes. "Chuck is happy with his family and job right now. He knows that one of these days what he does will end and he'll probably come be a part of us. He already thinks of himself as a part of us. The girls are becoming more that way every day. We just have to be patient and we'll all be together."
I said, "Let's hit the hay. Tomorrow's a big day with all the race teams coming in."
All of us migrated toward bedrooms. I got kisses and hugs from Beth and Missy. It's always funny the way they give me some very warm kisses and snuggly hugs, then blush. I followed my harem into the bedroom and observed the wonderful uncovering of womanly charms as I undressed. After bathroom visits and teeth brushing, we were snuggled together with Kathy on one shoulder and Juanita on the other. The two older ladies were slowly caressing my chest and stomach as I kissed each.
When we went to bed, I really didn't think we would be fooling around, but the temperature rose in seconds, and in minutes all five of us were involved in pleasuring each other until the women were all satisfied and I was totally drained. What a wonderful sensation. We drifted off to sleep, with Sue's and Mercy's heads now on my shoulders.
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious