Steve
It was after seven when I woke up to an empty bed. I was still sleepy, but got up to at least start the day with everyone.
When I sat down and joined the regulars with a cup of coffee, Sue came over and kissed me good morning, "Morning, Sleepyhead. I know you didn't get back until after four, but it's unusual for you to sleep late."
"If there was not so much to do today, I would just go back to sleep for a while," I said, looking around while hugging my wonderful wife.
"I see you didn't have to go to DC yesterday," I said to Sue, before taking a sip of coffee.
Sue smiled, "We did go, but you were too busy buying helicopters and jet planes to notice. We were up and back quickly. They gave us new material specs to try out on a run. This kind of settles it, though. We're going to build our own material plant. Some manufacturer convinces the DoD to change specs to fit their material so they get the business, then the DoD gets a bunch of complaints from the field. We usually just go right back to the original material blend, but in the mean time, we're up to our eyeballs in excess material. The manufacturers make the minimum shipments huge before they give us any kind of discount. If we make the material ourselves, there will be a lot less excess lying around."
I asked, "What do you do with the excess material?"
"So far," Sue answered, "We make up a line of men's, lady's, girl's, and boy's, shorts, pants, and various tops with what we have. To date, Wal-Mart will buy just about any camouflage garment we make. We even used a huge amount of cutting scrap to make camouflage slouch hats. That was a real moneymaker. A couple of amusement park vendors even bought a bunch."
Looking around, I saw Betty and Joy. They were having breakfast with Jimmy and Angie. It was good to see them getting along and becoming friends. Betty saw me looking at them and came over to me, "Joy and I have found a place to rent right here in the park. That lady over there, named Betty," Betty pointed to another woman on the patio, "rented us a nice place, very clean, and two streets over." She pointed again toward the park entrance area, "And it's only a short walk to here."
"That's really great, Betty. It's nice that you will be able to be a part of our big family here. Today, you need to come with me over to Orlando and help mark all the equipment so we'll know how to unload it. What I will do for right now, is to move you into the offices that Wes has. I'll move him upstairs so you can be on the ground floor. You'll have access to both the helicopter hangar and the one where the Sikorsky is."
"The stuff that won't quickly integrate into our hangars will be stored in another hangar next door to ours. Hopefully, by the end of today, everything will be on its way or already here. I'll get Kevin to get some men and drive the vehicles over."
Betty asked, "Do you need Joy to come with us?"
"Sure, that way you both can get the movers to get your personal stuff and they can bring it over at the same time. Is Betty's trailer ready?"
Betty said, "It sure is, and that's a great idea. I'll be out of Orlando for good. I hate that city sometimes, and it has been nothing but nasty lately. I'm going to like it here, nice and friendly and, hopefully, peaceful."
Kevin had come over when he had heard his name and said, "It may be sort of peaceful around here, but sure isn't calm. With all these kids, there is always turmoil. They are always busy. What do you need, Steve?"
I explained about a bunch of trucks that needed to get from Orlando to the airpark right now. I asked Betty about the fuel trucks. "Betty, I guessed that both of those fuel trucks belonged to Alcam, is that right?"
Betty said, "Two fuel trucks, a van, two pickups, and a big flatbed that can carry a helicopter. You know you probably have about two thousand gallons of fuel in the ground too. The one truck is empty and the other is about half full, so you should be able to pump it all out into the trucks. The fuel is clean and the pumps are certified. You can make another trip if necessary, or maybe sell any leftover fuel to another company over there."
I said, "This field sells the fuel, but I'm sure we can work out something for him to own the two trucks. If he doesn't want them, we can use them ourselves and still buy fuel from him. He gives us a decent deal now. I would hate to have him suffer because we took over our own fuel."
Betty said, "That's nice of you. Those men from Alcam would screw their mothers out of a nickel if they could. They didn't trust anyone and they tried to steal everything. We had to buy parts with cash since the dealers didn't trust us anymore."
"Well, right now, Betty," I smiled, "we're in good with the parts vendors and have open accounts. Order anything you need. Tiny will give you dollar thresholds, but if you have to exceed them, call him for authorization. We have to rely on our people to keep the aircraft flying."
Betty waved at Joy who came over. She told Joy about going to Orlando and picking up the rest of their belongings. Joy asked, "Can the mover bring my motorcycle back with him? The trailer we're renting has a shed to keep it in. I think Betty and I will be good roommates. I'm going to be busy learning from Jimmy, so I won't be around much. I love his shop. The man seems to know everything there is to know about airplanes and what makes them fly."
Abe was sitting near us and said, "Then you haven't met our resident aircraft geek then. See that tall country lookin' guy over there with the dark headed girl? That's Wes, our geek. The man's forgotten more about airplanes than most will ever learn."
Ruth said, "And he works right next to you, and from what Steve just said, he'll have his office upstairs over Betty's."
I said, "He's engineering and building a new light sport aircraft. We are going to attempt to get into that market, as well as manufacturing and selling them as kits."
Joy said, "Wow, that will be great. That industry is about to explode. It's a lot safer than all of those experimental kites and powered gliders."
"That they are, Joy. Let me get dressed and we'll head over to Orlando and get this show on the road. We're supposed to meet the movers about nine."
I turned back to Kevin and said, "Bring the big tilting flatbed with a forklift you can stick on the back. Bring about seven guys so we can get the ladies' vehicles back here. That should do it."
I said to Ruth, "Move Wes upstairs today. I know you have the place wired up there already, so all you have to do is to move his furniture."
Ruth said, "No need, "I have about the same furniture upstairs, as down. I'll have to move his drafting table, but that's all. The alarm system is already installed up there, and is a separate zone, so he should be fine. I'll have that done and get the downstairs cleaned early, although he really hasn't had much time to get messy yet."
It took me ten minutes to do the triple S and dress. I took Betty and Joy with me to the airpark and was going to have Jimmy prep a 206 for me, but he reminded me that we were sold out today. When I asked DeDe she said, "Get Tank or someone to fly you over in a helicopter. You have plenty of those and I heard Tank say they only had flights for two."
All I could think of was, we have a bunch of aircraft and I can't even get a 172 to fly to Orlando. I found Tank and said, how about a ride to Orlando in one of the helicopters?"
He said, "I would do that, but I have a charter that I have to meet in about forty-five minutes. You're in luck, though, the little girl standing next to you has a bunch of hours in either the Bell 210 or the 206. I think the 206 is a nicer ride, but you might get off on flying in an old Huey."
I looked at Joy and asked, "So you can fly us?"
"Sure, and I know the 206 I want to use too. It's in perfect condition. I worked on it last." She was walking toward the helicopter hangar.
She had me help her push the helicopter on its rolling stand out of the hangar, then began a detailed preflight inspection. When she was done, she said, "Mount up, both of you. Betty, sit in the back so Steve can ride up front. I'll start introducing him to a helicopter right now."
Tank watched as she had completed her inspection and how she went through her startup. She was talking to me the whole time, step by step, pointing at gauges and listening to the rotors. She was smiling when she looked out at Tank and gave him a thumbs up. He smiled back with a thumbs up as well. I guess we were on our way.
With our headsets on, Joy asked for permission to access the runway for takeoff. The airpark was used to granting helicopters quick access as they would get out on the runway and head straight down the runway while climbing.
Joy called in a VFR flight plan as we headed toward Orlando. The helicopter had a Garmin GPS in it that was similar to the ones in the 172s. We didn't go that fast, only about a hundred knots but it isn't that far across the state. Joy explained that this 206 was a 206L-4, a stretched version with a more powerful engine. It can seat seven, including the pilot, and get up to a little over a hundred twenty knots
We set the helicopter down near the hangar where the office was so Betty could begin tagging stuff. I told Joy, "Why don't you get the fuel truck over here and refuel this helicopter, then fill both fuel trucks from the storage tank. Let me know how much is left so I can sell it here."
The mechanics and pilots all came out to greet us. A couple of mechanics began helping Joy, and the pilots said they could assist Betty and could help out in the hangars marking stuff as to where it needed to go.
The movers backed their trucks into the hangar and we separated stuff that we could put in our regular buildings from what would go into our storage building. The men were smart, as they began making an inventory of what we were going to store.
An hour later, Kevin showed up with two big trucks to begin hauling vehicles. The first thing was to load and chain the two big tow motors. Kevin then got with the mechanics and had them point out their tool chests and the company's special tool cabinets. Kevin personally used the forklift to gently put the chests on the one big flat bed trucks. When they were done loading tools, the big truck was loaded to the max.
They filled up the van and pickups with file cabinets and small parts, then finished filling up the other flatbed. When everything was chained down, he said, "I think I know where everything is going, so we'll unload everything and come back in an SUV or something, and help clean the place up. As the movers clear a building, we'll sweep up."
The trucks moved out in a convoy. The fuel trucks were full as were the two big flat beds. Betty's and Joy's cars were at the airport, so they sent them on to Tampa too. They figured they could get a ride from our guys when they got back.
Around noon, I had a couple of the pilots run out to get a few dozen subs. I gave them three hundred for two hundred worth of subs and a hundred worth of soda and iced tea.
About the time they came back, Kevin pulled in with his men. We were just starting on the third hangar and when I told the movers to stop and eat, they were very happy to eat with us.
We all ate while planning how to handle the rest of the day. Betty said, "I think everything is tagged as to where it's going to go. You guys are doing a great job inventorying for me, thanks. If we can get rides to our places and have the movers stop by, Joy and I can be completely moved today."
One of the pilots said he would take them and one of the movers said, "I have another small truck that can run by and pick up what's at both places. I'll have two men go so the loading will be fast. We're going to need another trailer for everything here, and I'll have it out here before we finish lunch. We'll get this done in a day. We won't get it unloaded today though. It takes longer to unload than to load."
I told them, "Bring it in the morning or come over and stay the night in the hotel, your choice."
The mover said, "We'll get a fresh start tomorrow morning about seven. We'll be there a little after nine and take the day to unload. That will work. We have to begin a pretty big office move day after tomorrow, so this gave us a nice fill in job. The men are all happy this week."
The pilots and mechanics got me off to side to talk to me. The oldest of the pilots had become their spokesman. He started out by saying, "I'm not going to embarrass you, but I have to say something for all of us."
The man looked around then back at me. After taking a big breath he said, "We will not haul or handle anything that is questionable. We want you to know we just won't do it. The first time there is something shady going on, we're gone, all of us. We went through all of that shit already and don't want any part of it. We fly and fix what we fly. That's what we do."
"Next, if you're good with that, all of us are willing to move right away. Only two of us own our homes and have families. They will be more difficult, but they are willing to move as well. We want to get moved, so all of us want to come over and hunt for places as soon as possible."
The men just stood and looked at me.
"First guys, I can assure you that you will never haul something that is illegal, or at least you and I won't knowingly haul it. We just don't do that. I respect the way you feel and agree with it. If you ever feel uncomfortable, come to me and let me know."
I smiled, "For the two who own their homes, get with our guy named Tiny. Everyone knows him. You find where you want to live and he'll work something out for financing and to buy your house here. We'll take the responsibility to get it sold so you don't have to worry about it. For the rest of you, there are condos all around where I live. For those that might enjoy living in a trailer park, I live in one, and we have a great time. I'm sure there are rentals available. Just see the manager of the park or see one of the ladies where I live. They know the gossip and will point you in the right direction."
"Now, while you are looking, you will be my guests at the Holiday Inn in front of the big business park near where I live. Plan on staying there until you find a place. When you have the place you want, again, tell Tiny and a mover will magically appear and you will be moved."
"The deal is, that you are all going to be busy very soon. Our sales and marketing group is already canvassing the area to market our helicopter charters. We'll be very busy, very soon. They will have the Sikorsky busy on a daily basis, so we may have to get some more men trained on it. Hopefully, we can keep all the other aircraft busy too."
For you instructors, there are several people to train in helicopters. Begin training with those little ones and then start right in using the Bell 206s and the 210. If we need other training helicopters, tell me, we'll get them."
Okay, for those who are the instructors on fixed wing and can teach the two jets, I have a dozen people that need to be checked out. We can do some of it on charters, but if we have to burn fuel to get everyone proficient, we'll burn it."
I looked around and asked, "So, who's going to come over and check in at the hotel tonight?"
They all huddled together and the lead pilot asked, "If we come early, can we come over to that place Betty and Joy said you have?"
"You bet. You, your wives, and your kids are welcome to come for our cocktail time and for supper. The other women will entertain the women, the other kids will suck up your kids, and you gentlemen will be beat up on by all the regulars that will be there. Go home now, get your families together and get over to the Holiday Inn on 41, just south of 54. Easiest way is to take I-4 to I-275 north. Turn left on Bearss, right on Florida, and a few miles down the road, the Holiday Inn will be on your right. Someone from the patio group will come get you. Or rather, I'll send a bunch of carts over to get you."
There were smiles all around as they high fived each other and headed toward their cars. Kevin had taken the two women to their apartments and drove back with both women. I asked, "Are you going to have to stay over to get it done?"
Betty said, "I had the most and it's moved. The van could hold mine and Joy's. They put Joy's motorcycle in it too and strapped it down. It will be waiting for us when we get there."
I said, "What do you think, Kevin? The movers have everything loaded and your guys are sweeping the last hangar."
He said, "Why don't we all make one last thorough inspection to make sure we're not leaving anything. The guys even took down the telephone system and all the paging equipment. I'm not sure why, but they did. You said strip it, they did."
We walked through the three hangars and decided there wasn't anything left. Betty looked around and said, "It's like we've never been here. I didn't think you could do it this fast, but it's done."
I said to Kevin, "Get your guys and get home. By the time you get there it will be quitting time anyway."
I said to Joy, "Let's get this whirlybird checked out and get flying. I think this is the last time we'll be here unless it is to pick up or drop off a charter."
Joy showed me every step of the preflight again. She didn't have a checklist and that was one thing I wanted to implement. When we were doing the startup, I said, "You did it differently than you did before. This morning you did some kind of reset on the instruments before you spooled the turbines."
She said, "You were watching. You don't have to do that every start. If the aircraft has been on the ground for an extended period of time, it's always good to do that. Otherwise, just begin the normal start. We have checklists for this and the other birds. We've gotten sloppy about using them. We'll have to get them back out."
"Good thinking, Lady. I want to fly perfectly safe. You'll hear me say 'perfect' a lot. That's the way things work best and how we stay in business. We strive for perfection. Everything we do, we try to be perfect."
Joy said, "I saw the signs over all the doors, "Is it perfect?"
"That's what I want you to ask yourself on every job you send out the door."
"Are you going to be tough to work for?" Joy was looking at me, while still checking instruments.
"Yes and no. I'm tough about the quality of work we give our customers. I won't ever beat you up on the time it takes to be perfect. I figure we make more by doing it right the first time. Just always do the absolute best you can. Jimmy is going to drum that into you. Tank is still learning, but he likes the concept."
As we lifted off the ground, Joy said in the headset, "I like that. I like the idea that every bird is perfect before it leaves the shop."
Joy had me work the collective and stick on the way back. The stick was like any other stick except if you pushed forward too fast the nose dipped and if you pulled back too fast the tail dipped. The collective controlled power, which you could turn into either altitude or airspeed, depending on how you moved the joystick. There was more to do when flying a helicopter, but I could see that it would just take practice, a lot of very expensive practice. I guess the big difference is that with a regular airplane you can trim it up and it almost flies itself, even without autopilot, but you have to control a helicopter all the time.
When we were ready to land, Joy said, "Okay, keep your hands lightly on both the stick and the collective and feel what I do as I set it down. I'll try to set down square on the rolling stand."
She did something I thought was different. She came down until she was about three feet off the ground, but to her side of the stand. She held the helicopter steady then slid sideways until we were over the stand and lowered the craft until the skids sat on the stand. She cut the pitch and let the helicopter settle and then went through about the same shutdown as you do with a Lear.
When I opened the door, I was impressed that she had set the helicopter down as square on the stand as was possible. When I complimented her on her landing, she said, "I've always been good at getting up and down, but have a hell of a time maintaining level flight unless I'm going balls to the wall."
Her delivery made me laugh. As Betty got out of the helicopter, she said, "These things are the perfect taxi. I can't imagine that more executives won't use our services. Did you know Joy had music playing over the headphones in the passenger area? It really made the flight very nice."
Joy just smiled as she began a check of the aircraft. She went from point to point, shaking and pulling on various parts. She looked closely at almost every inch of the machinery from the tail to the gear case under the rotors. When she was satisfied, she went looking for the fuel truck.
I walked with Betty to her new office. We walked through the helicopter hangar, and through a door that had not been used previously, into the office area. We entered into a hallway where there was a large break room to the left, and an office area to the right. Betty exclaimed, "All my file cabinets are here. All the flight records and maintenance records are already here, perfect. Look, at this nice desk, and wow, you guys have new computers. DeDe from the fixed wing charter said you have a great charter program. It tracks equipment usage as well as scheduling and maintenance. Whoever set this up left me a user's manual on the program. This is so nice."
Betty looked through her stuff for a while then declared, "If I begin messing with this stuff, I'll be here all night. I'm getting hungry. Let's see if we can find my car."
Outside, I looked across to the operations parking area and pointed. Betty nodded and said, "Yes Sir, mine's there and so is Joy's."
Tank came out from his little office and said, "So how was your ride over and back?"
"Great, Tank, you'll have to go with Joy to test her proficiency, but she seems to know what she's doing," I remarked.
"The lady should; she was an advanced instructor until she wanted to be in maintenance full time. She flew two separate tours in Iraq. The lady can fly; she just likes working on them more, kinda like me."
I said to Tank, "Well, perhaps she's the answer to your personal personnel search. I've heard several times you were too picky when it came to women. Carter told me once you almost asked DeDe out, but decided against it at the last minute."
"I didn't chicken out. She only knows fixed wing and loves those little aircraft as much as jets. I'm into rotary wing and like those jets. I figured we were two different people."
I said, "You're a riot. You'll have to check Joy out. She seems to like fixing any kind of aircraft. She likes to fly too."
Tank smiled, "Oh, I will, Steve. A lady that likes to wrench, and is that good looking, has got to have something going for her."
"Oh yeah, Tank, and did you know she rides a motorcycle? She had the movers bring it over for her today."
Tank said, "No shit; that might up her value a lot. I'll talk to her, other than about work, that is."
Betty and Joy came out of the charter office, waved at me, and headed for their cars. I was surprised to find Abe in the charter office. He said, "You having all that stuff in the spare hangar is like when you first bought all that equipment from your building at the auction. I sure hope you're as lucky with this venture as you were with your first one here in Florida."
Abe picked up a stack of papers and said, "They did a good job listing the inventory of what they brought. You know, you're going to have to learn a lot about these whirlybirds. I think we'll have to clear an area so you can land one of these by the shop. That way you can travel back and forth between here and there faster. I think your folks down at the shop will go nuts if you land one of these in the parking lot. You better learn real quick like."
"Come on, Abe, it's time for a cold one."
"I'm waiting for Alice. She went up to Philadelphia to see her sister and caught a ride with little Lisa. They should be here any minute. I kind of like that Alice can catch a ride to different places with you guys. Sometimes you can go both ways with one of your flights."
Abe kept looking out the windows expecting an airplane to magically appear. When a G5, or some other bigger passenger plane landed, there was enough noise to know they were there.
"Well, Abe, DeDe, I'll see you for supper." On the way home, I called the shop to make sure there were no emergencies that needed to be taken care of. The only person I needed to talk to was Chuck.
"Hey, Chuck, what's up?"
"I was just wondering if you were headed home soon. I'm at your place with all the women from my house, except for Lisa. They're just waiting for the men, or for some miracle to occur so they can gawk at it."
"I'm on my way right now," I told Chuck
"Good, I have a couple of things for you when you get here."
I said, "See ya in a minute."
When I pulled up, there were a lot of carts already parked. It was only four forty-five. I went in and Chuck handed me a tall Beefeaters. He was grinning at me as if he might have had too much. He waved me over to the corner of the bar and said very softly, "I think we just made a grand slam."
"What do you mean?"
Chuck was shaking his head and said, "Last night we found out that there was money supposedly stored on the Brazilian business jet."
"Okay."
"Well, Sarge and company tore the thing apart and found a bunch of money. I mean a bunch, close to fifty million."
"That's nice," I said. "Too bad we don't have it."
"That's the thing, Steve. We may get it all."
"What do you mean, Chuck, how?"
"You see, we bought those airplanes and they were paid for and title transferred to us before they found the money. Sarge says that there is an ownership problem. It may be like found money. My boss, John, called the Marshal who happened to mention it to the AG and that guy flippantly said that it was finders keepers."
"No shit. What are you going to do with it?"
"What do you mean me, what are we going to do with it? That is your airplane."
"Sorry, Charlie, or Chuck, but in this case, it's your airplane. You bought it and I wasn't intending on buying it from you. If there's a lot of money, it's all yours."
Chuck sat back in the high bar stool with a glazed look. He mouthed without saying anything out loud, "What the fuck."
I patted him on the knee and said, "I'll be right back. I have to say hi to the family and go potty."
As I went into the house, I got lots of hugs from four lovely ladies. One of which was not Sue. Glenda told me, "Sue called from Atlanta and said she was on her way."
"Atlanta? What is she doing in Atlanta?"
Mercy said, "She went up with Hannah to see about some machinery that's for sale up there. She's planning on building a material plant. She needs some special weaving machines."
Kathy said, "She already has Terrell out on the back property, figuring on how to place the new factory so it blends in with the rest of the buildings. She says it's your fault. You were the one that came up with making your own material to make T-shirts. She says if you can be successful doing that, she can be successful making her own material. She has already projected hiring another four hundred people. You better tie her down or she'll build out all that lovely property back there."
After using the bathroom, I went back to find Chuck still catatonic, staring at his glass.
I asked, "Where's John?"
"Oh, I took him down to Key West for the week."
"I thought all our aircraft were chartered."
"They were, but I flew that new Eclipse Jet. I had one of the pilots check me out in it and flew it down. It's not fast, doesn't carry many people, and it doesn't have a long range, but it does fly nice and it seems to be in good shape. I had to hunt all over to find the checklists for the thing. I don't think anyone ever used them before."
"So you're already checked out on both of the new jets?"
"Yeah," Chuck smiled, "how about that? The Brazilian jet isn't too bad to fly, but seems wobbly at slower speeds. You have to burn in when landing to keep it from wobbling. There was only about a fifteen-knot crosswind and I had to crab like crazy to land. The pilot who checked me out even said that it wasn't nice to fly in windy conditions. We'll have to be aware of that and land with some speed."
"So tell me more about this money, Chuck."
"That's about it, Steve. Sarge and the Marshal asked a federal judge to make a ruling. The Service isn't even bitching about it. You and I both know that it's money that they came about illegally, and it probably came from out of the country."
"Don't worry, Chuck, you'll have to pay probably close to half of what was found in taxes. Hey, if you have enough, let's fly to Hawaii and see if there're any deals over there."
"No way, Steve. Let me learn to deal with being a resort owner over there first. How am I going to tell my family I found fifty, or rather twenty-five, million dollars after taxes?"
"Why tell them. Just buy something that will make their lives that much happier. You have a new home to pay for."
I took a big swig of my drink, "Hey, you know what you could buy. You could buy that boat down in Miami and take a cruise. My family will go with you. Let's get that boat, have it fixed up the way you or the girls would like, and sail to Europe. I'll bet you could get some kind of special envoy status to do that."
"I don't have my captain's license. I didn't take the test."
With a smile, I said, "So find out when you can take it next, anywhere in the country, and fly there and take the test. You might want to study a little, but you have a great memory."
Chuck said, "I could do that. I might do that."
He was thinking hard and said, "Damn right, I'm going to do that."
I laughed, "Well, are you going to buy that boat and sail to Europe?"
"I can do that too. You know what, I might just do that. You have to come along. I hope the boat is big enough for all of us."
Chuck was such a pleasure to be around. Mercy came strolling up and asked, "Are you two discussing my favorite passion."
Chuck looked at her questioningly and was almost embarrassed. Mercy grinned and hugged him, "Sailing. That other stuff is another thing I like."
I gave Chuck the entrée, "Look inside his head, Mercy, see what's going on in there."
"He's trying to keep me out. He doesn't want me to know something. You better watch it, Buster. I'll sneak in there when you're thinking about it."
Chuck said, "We were talking about me buying a boat and both families going sailing."
Mercy said, "It would have to be a big boat."
Steve said, "How about if he bought a hundred and sixty-five foot Magellan."
Mercy's head came up quickly, and her eyes narrowed, "Where would you get the only hundred and sixty-five foot Magellan ever made. And it's not a hundred and sixty-five feet, it's a hundred and seventy-five feet. We couldn't even afford something like that."
Steve said, "I think Chuck has the inside track on the boat."
Mercy said, "Wow, if you were to get that boat, you would have to remodel it to fit your needs. If you were to take us with you, you would probably have to make it into like two separate units. Wow, wait till Sue hears about this."
"I don't have it yet, Mercy," Chuck said, "It's still a maybe."
Mercy was excited, "With the luck you've been having, it isn't too much of a maybe, it's more like 'when.' Chuck, Steve, I'm getting excited, where will we go?"
I said, "Chuck and I thought we might go to Europe. We could stop to see Michael and family, go see the new Italian factory, and stop over on the Riviera. You know, similar to our first trip there."
Mercy asked Chuck, "Do you have your captain's license now?"
"No, Ma'am, but I'll have it as soon as I can find out when and where the next test is. I'll get Steve and maybe you to take me out in your small sailboat and get used to sailing. I need to learn to do it myself."
Mercy said, "I'll go log on to the website and find out when and where. They have them almost weekly somewhere around the country."
Chuck used his cell phone, and from my side of the conversation, I heard, "John, Chuck. Nice, huh? Glad you're enjoying the place. Yeah, the lady took it pretty good. She did a good job remodeling. Stay down there as long as you like. I don't think the place will hold all of my people. It could, but it would be packed. I have a favor to ask. You know I may get that money, right? Well, even after taxes, I might have enough to buy that boat in Miami. Steve said it would be the perfect boat for me and my family. Anyway, if you can put in a good word for me, I can probably just pay cash, after taxes, of course."
"Neat, enjoy, and make sure you walk down to the beach. Find out how much it is to join that fancy beach club as a day user. You don't have to pay for it, I'm flush, and you know that. Thanks, John, appreciate it. Bye."
Chuck looked at me and said, "He said that you have first pick, as you said you wanted it first. But he did say we were going to hear about it quick. He's heard that they did a number on the boat trying to find more money. They did find lots of gold and jewelry in the safes. He said they actually found bags of cut diamonds."
Chuck said he thought of something and called the Orlando FBI station. When he got the chief agent on the phone, he asked, "How are the two men that got hurt? Good, glad to hear that. Was the guy that was killed married? He wasn't? That's good that you don't have to worry about that. Oh, he was? Wow, he had a big obligation. Well, do me a favor. I don't want to act like a high roller, but let me know what it takes to do a trust for them so they can be assured they will be taken care of. Yeah, I'm serious. I have some money and tell me, what better way to use it is there? Good, just let me know and don't broadcast it. Thanks a lot. Just send it to my office and Wanda will give it to me. You guys did a good job over there, even if you did get jumped. Yes Sir, I think the place is totally cleaned out. You can pull your guards. Thanks again."
Chuck was smiling when he got off the phone. He said, "That's better. I can do something else with that money. Tell you what, Steve. I have a bunch of places to visit in the next few weeks. If the boat comes through and you want to let me buy it, get your girls and my bunch together and design what needs to be done with the boat. If we can, we should probably try to get the original builder to do the remodeling."
"You got it, Bro. That's exactly what you should do. The builder is right there in Miami. If you get it, we'll all go down and make sure we design it the way you want it."
Chuck and I leaned back in our chairs, sipping our drinks.
"Hey, Steve; hey, Chuck; everybody sure has been busy today." Tiny came in and slapped me on the back. "Steve, you're never going to guess what I did today."
"No, so tell me, Tiny, what have you been up to?"
Tiny had poured himself a mug of beer. He took a big swallow gave an "Ahhh," then said, "The company just bought two more distributors out west today. We made an offer on both of them a couple of years ago. The owner just accepted seventy-five percent of the original offer. He says he's ripping us off, but trust me, Steve, we'll have both of them making money quickly. I'll have men out there teaching our methods and have the buildings remodeled to meet our standards."
I asked, "Which two did you buy?"
"The only two out west with the same owner," Tiny said.
"Oh," I said, "you bought us Las Vegas and Reno."
"That's right. Now we can bid on all that highway work they are doing out there. We can set them up on maintenance to keep them running and make a killing. Our field guys know how to do that. I have to get someone to fly me out there so I can close both of them, but that won't be a big deal. I'll have them closed by the end of next week and have them remodeled in a month and profitable in two months."
Ruth came in and said, "I'm glad you told me to fix up the upstairs out there when we built out Wes' office. That went quick. I was there when Kevin brought her files in. The movers will bring the rest of Betty's stuff tomorrow, so she'll be in business. Phil's guys already have work for us. They're concentrating on utility work, but will promote charters soon."
Chuck was smiling at me, "You have so much going on all the time, Steve. You amaze me."
"No more than you, Buddy. You're busy in your own way. So where are your women?"
Chuck looked around and said, "You know, I don't know. They were here earlier, but must have left again. I thought they would be here when you came out, but they're not here." Chuck closed his eyes and Mercy came out of the house.
"What, what do you want? Don't ask me, ask them. You don't have to yell either."
Chuck grinned sheepishly, and said, "So where are they?"
"I'm not their keeper," Mercy said with a smile. "It was just the five anyway, then Tina came looking for them. Call them on their cell phones."
Chuck dialed his cell phone and waited. He must have gotten voicemail, as he hung up and dialed another number. The same thing happened, so he put his cell phone in his pocket. He looked around and said, "You know what, Juanita must be with them. That's why we're short of women around here."
Shawna had come in and said, "If I'm around, you're never short of women. I'm enough for a crowd."
Chuck closed his eyes for a while and then his cell phone rang. He smiled and answered, "Hi, Brandy, what are you up to? You did, really, that too? Just wanted to tell you I was back from Key West and was at Steve's. Should I meet you at the house? Okay, I'll be here." He closed his phone and put it away, smiling.
Mercy said, "You told her to call you, didn't you? Why didn't you do that in the first place?"
Chuck said, "I never know whether I'm doing it right or not. I try to just use mental pictures and not words. Sometimes words are misunderstood."
Mercy nodded and his patted hand. "Make sure you work with Lisa."
Chuck looked confused, "Lisa?"
Mercy said, "Talk to her, she's listening. She can talk back to you, I'm sure. You two share a bond that has opened her mind. Talk to her."
Chuck smiled and said, "I'm thinking of lovely Lisa, the Airplane Maid. I can hear Lisa laugh. Whether she is really laughing where she's at, I don't know, but I'm smiling."
Mercy said to all of us, "What do you want to bet, that he rocked her wherever she is."
Chuck went for a tall beer, and I said to Mercy, "We may be throwing too much at him at one time. He knows he has your gift, he just doesn't feel he should use it."
Mercy told me, "He needs to use it, learn about it, and be comfortable using it. He can help people and help himself with the power of the gift."
The owner of the airpark came in the patio and saw where I was. He came back to our group and we offered him something to drink. He ended up with a vodka Collins made by Ruth. He was sitting where Chuck had been when he asked, "Are you going to begin supplying your own fuel? I saw the two trucks you brought in."
"Nope, not unless you want me to. You supply the fuel. Those are full because we brought them from Orlando as part of a package deal we got from over there."
Paul said, "I heard that Alcam was raided by the feds and all their property was confiscated. Is that where you picked up all the helicopters?"
"That's the place, Paul. Chuck Johnson, the Deputy Marshal bought everything to use here. He and I are going to be partners in the helicopter business."
"It's good to know that I won't lose your fuel business. That's one of my big revenue areas. We sell our fuel as cheap as Zephyrhills so we get a lot of transient business. With the extended runways now, we get a lot of South Florida G5s stopping in to load up before they go across country. We're almost a dollar cheaper than the Miami area."
I told Paul, "I don't want to be in the fuel business. You keep it, you sell it. As a matter of fact, Paul, how about you taking those two tankers when they're empty. I'll probably use up the fuel in them in the next couple of days at the most. We're flying a lot lately."
"I know," Paul said. "Thank you for shifting a lot of your rental and lesson business our way. This airpark has become the place to come for instruction."
"What else do you have on your mind, Paul? You didn't come over just for the fuel issue."
Paul smiled and said, "The fuel is important, but I wanted to ask you if you wanted to buy those two hangars that are on the backside of yours. If you bought them, you wouldn't owe any rental on the one you want to store the stuff from Orlando in."
"Sure, come up with a fair price and make sure you figure in the land cost so we own the property as well as the building. You know that I'll have to remodel, so you might take that into consideration. That way I won't need the new ones we were talking about so soon."
Paul asked, "You still want the other property though, right? So you can build the additional hangars when the time comes."
"I do." I leaned close to him and said softly, "Do you need a partner out there. Is cash a problem?"
"It's always a problem. From anyone else, I wouldn't even consider an offer like that, but from you, Steve, it would be an honor to be in business with you. How about I sell you forty percent of the airpark? I get to remain as property manager, but your accounting people can take care of that stuff for me. I know you get good advice from them."
I motioned to Tiny to come over to us. When he was there, I said, "You know Paul, right?" Tiny nodded and stuck out his hand and smiled.
"Paul could use a partner and wants to sell us forty percent of the airpark. He'd remain manager, but we would provide our accounting people. Does that sound good?"
"Sounds great, Steve. Paul, I'll have Ben Phillips, our attorney work out a contract and we'll get money in your hands right away. If there are funds that are needed for operation or for improvements right away, let me know and we'll work something out. Now we'll be paying ourselves those airpark fees, at least forty percent of them, anyway."
"I'll bet you can recommend a better insurance company than who I have right now," Paul said, in pleading voice. "Rates have just jumped again. Hopefully, we can make a better deal."
Tiny said, "No sweat, we've been working on that problem and have made some great progress on costs. We'll get the underwriters to work on your package. I guess that's our package now."
Tiny and Paul shook hands, then Paul and I shook hands. You could see some worry lines leave his face and some smile lines appear. Paul thanked us for the drink and said he should get home to his family.
As soon as he left, Tiny said, "You know, I knew that was coming, but I didn't think it would be so fast. He's not in trouble yet, but he's anticipating that it's coming. With our increased business out there, we're going to be fine, even with doubling the number of aircraft."
"We'll be fine, Tiny. We have all the lucky people on our side and besides, we do it perfect."
Tiny smiled and toasted me with a near empty beer stein.
The ladies called supper. The tables weren't jammed yet and I saw why. The new pilots and mechanics weren't here yet, nor were the two new ladies. I called over to the hotel to find that the bellhops were running errands and couldn't bring the folks over. I got a bunch of guys and we ran over to the hotel where eight guys were waiting. Four had wives and two had kids. We hauled them back and seated them. I apologized for not getting them earlier, and said, "Eat up, and after supper we'll go through all the introductions."
Chuck didn't want to eat until his girls got back so he could eat with them. They should be here any second. Kathy and Juanita were with them, so they should be here any second.
We could hear a car pull in on the other side of the big house. There was a commotion from that area, then through the living room of the big manufactured home, a stream of women appeared. First came Juanita and Kathy, who immediately came to me for a hug. After kissing me, they passed by Mercy for a kiss, and hugged a lot of kids on the way to find a seat at the table.
Next came super tall Lena, along with Tina. The two were smiling and joking about what a crazy day it had been. A surprise was Zena Parks and a lady that looked like her older sister. Those two were followed by the redheaded Shannon, who always looked cool on the outside, but gave you the impression that she was a smoldering volcano inside.
The diminutive Joanie came prancing in, arm in arm with the darker pixie, Tiani. The two were very cute together.
Then came the dark Nancy, with Judy and Frieda. All three were holding their bellies as if they were caressing themselves. Brandy brought up the rear and looked as if she was totally frazzled. She looked at the table of food then over at the bar. I could see the indecision, but the bar won. Brandy walked over to the bar, put ice in a tall glass and began pouring Beefeaters into it. When it was almost full, she put the bottle back and raised the glass to her mouth. With her eyes closed, she took several swallows.
As she pulled the glass away, the corners of her mouth curled into a smile and a calm came over her face. Brandy caught me looking at her and she said, "Herding this bunch through the store, choosing fixtures and tile, is more than one person should be expected to do. If you want indecision, you should have eleven women with opinions."
I was laughing and said, "Come over to the table and sit. We'll eat something and you'll feel better."
Chuck had gotten up and went to hug her. She was smiling as he led her back to the table. As soon as Chuck sat with her, all the girls launched into a description of their day.
We heard another car stop and a car door close. Sue and Hannah came through the house and said to everyone, "Hope there's some left, we're starved."
Sue gave me a hug and kiss and Hannah gave her family hugs, then they both sat and began loading plates.
There was another car that pulled up, but this one stopped behind the carts. Lisa jumped out of her car and hurriedly came in to the patio. She gave Brandy and Chuck hugs, then asked Chuck to make her a drink while she used the restroom. A couple of minutes later, it appeared everyone was accounted for.
As I ate and listened to Sue, I was at peace, feeling the immediate threats were gone and happy that many new people had joined us. Our group had outgrown our patio, but we would just continue as not everyone showed up at once. If they did, people would have to eat sitting on the couches or in the easy chairs. As it is, people sat at the bar and ate often.
After supper, all of us sat around and just chatted for a while. Chuck suggested to all of his people that they return home for an early night. His women made the rounds, giving hugs to everyone, and kisses to many. Chuck's entire household had integrated with, and been accepted by, our group very well. It will be nice when they do live just around the corner.
Chuck shook my hand, and with crooked grin said, "Think we can have a peaceful night? I'll see you tomorrow so we can make a plan."
Later, while I was talking to Tiny, he said, "Jeff told me he delivered a full set of parts to Wes for his air coupe design. He also delivered the parts for Wes' redesigned biplane. I guess we're going to find out whether this idea is any good."
I said to Tiny, "It will be. I'm not going to do much more than answer questions and get what's needed for everyone out there. I think Chuck may be rising as the leader and manager of all of those people. As he does that and assumes more control, I wonder if he'll stay a deputy. He mentioned that he has a bunch of running around to do, so I think we're going to see some activity out of him with the charter companies. Let's let him assume as much leadership as he wants. I want to see how and what he does."
Tiny was smiling about the situation and enjoying a cold mug of beer.
Our day was done.
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious
Additional Helicopter Knowledge by Rotorhead
Last one through — Deenara2000