Chapter 33

Steve

Perhaps things are getting back to normal, or for what may pass as normal lately, and that has been near chaos.

Everyone at the shop that had some activity to report visited with me, until Ruth looked in on me and said, "Its lunch time, and Sue has called to make sure you come home. DeDe said you are scheduled for a flying lesson this afternoon too. What's that about? I thought you could fly already."

"I can, Ruth, but I need to be checked out in the new aircraft, and I have to learn how to fly helicopters. I guess now is as good a time as any."

At home, I ate lunch with all four of my ladies. They all seemed in a good mood. Sue said she was excited because she was taking a helicopter lesson today at the same time I was. After a great lunch, we all went to the gym for an hour. Freshly showered, Sue and I headed out to the airpark together.

Today, Sue was going to be taught by Joy, and Tank was going to work with me. This was almost like when I first began learning to fly in the Cessna 150s. Everything was new to me, all the names of parts and functions. The only thing that was familiar was the foot pedals and the stick. The name of the stick is the 'cyclic' control. The pedals actually do sort of what rudder pedals do on fixed wing aircraft, but are called 'anti-torque' pedals. Then there was this thing called the 'collective.' Since we were in the little helicopter, the left-handed collective had a twist grip for power like my bike.

Tank took me through explanations of all the parts of a helicopter and how they worked. We sat in the cockpit to get the feel of the controls then he started the helicopter. Once started, he said through the headset's intercom, "We're going out in the field and practice lifting off and setting down. We'll also try to hover, as that is actually one of the more difficult things to do."

For over an hour, I gently lifted off the ground went up about twenty feet then slowly set the aircraft runners back on the ground. Hovering was a real challenge. You have to work the pedals and the cyclic constantly. I think the big problem was that there is a lag between when you tell a helicopter to do something and when it does it. To go from side to side the rotors actually have to tilt. That doesn't happen at once but a split second or so later. So you are constantly overcorrecting.

Tank did let me get up in the air about two hundred feet so we could go forward at about thirty knots, turn, and go back the way we came. He had marked a circle out in the field that he wanted me to try to land in. The circle sure seemed small while I was trying to get the helicopter in the middle of it. I was able to sit in the middle without touching the outer lines four times straight. When we went back to the hangar, Tank took over and landed on the tiny wheeled platform, amazing.

When Sue was done, she told me, "That was fun, but the darned helicopter wouldn't stay still and would keep moving more than I thought I was telling it. This is going to take some practice." I told her, "My first instructor said to hold the cyclic with just a couple of fingers, and stabilize your right hand — your "cyclic hand" — by resting it on your right thigh. Then just think about moving the cyclic, without actually trying to move it, and it pretty much goes the way you want without so much danger of overcontrolling."

We both made appointments for another two hours of instruction tomorrow and went home. There, we both made calls to make sure our businesses were running the way they should. Sue and I began discussing her plan to build her own material plant. She said, "The biggest thing is the weaving machines. They really require some space, plus trained people to run them. I have a list of people from where we are getting the machines. Hopefully, we'll be able to get the right people to move here who can train the others. I'd like to have the machines working twenty-four hours a day. We can make enough material for our product, plus make material for other manufacturers."

I asked, "Is your cash flow sufficient to handle a major expansion like that?"

"Henry says it is, even after Terrell gave me the estimates for what the building is going to cost. This is becoming a larger venture than I thought, but I'm determined to do it. We're wasting time waiting for material, plus we're paying a premium every time they change the specs. Now we won't have the extra cloth from buying and having the specs change. I think the manufacturers do that to us just so they can make more money. What they don't realize is that is how the industry has been run out of the country. The Chinese won't let you change your specs until the whole run is finished. Here, because we are a U.S. company, we are slaves of the Pentagon's whims."

"What other type of fabrics are you going to make?" I asked, "Just military products?"

Sue said, "The next fabric we're going to work on is the quality fabric we use for our basic blouse. It would be neat to be able to get our cost down even lower than what it is. I've made some good contacts with yarn and thread manufacturers and will be receiving samples soon. We'll work with whoever can supply the best product."

Debbie called to tell me that Wes was looking for me. He wanted to show me something.

I called Wes, who said, "I just heard you were out here taking flying lessons. I wish you had stopped in. I want to show you my progress, come out for a few minutes if you can."

Back out at the airpark, I went through the maintenance hangar, through the new helicopter charter office, and into Wes's hangar. There sat an unpainted biplane. It looked complete except for paint. A little ways away was a low slung air coupe. The gear seemed very short, but then the whole aircraft wasn't that big.

Wes was standing there with a huge grin on his face. His two men were with him and were equally as excited. Wes said, "The biplane is complete. We could fly it the way it is, but we'll take it apart, paint it, and put it back together. We have an exact list of all the parts, complete with videos of how each section is put together. We've done the same with the air coupe, but we may modify the model a few times before we're done."

I was looking over the biplane and stepped up into the cockpit. While sitting in it, I pushed the pedals and shifted the stick to see everything working the way it should be. Wes showed me how the flaps worked, and then he showed me where the ballistic recovery handle was. This would release a parachute that would, in theory, let the plane settle to the ground without injury to the pilot and/or passenger. Wes said, "The only thing to add would be if the owner wanted more avionics. This type of aircraft is more of a seat of your pants aircraft like the one you have now, but this one should be faster and stronger. There are a couple of EFIS (Electronic Flight Instrument System) flat panel devices that put all the flight and navigation instruments and commo control in one flat screen that look really slick and are actually cheaper and lighter weight than the old fashioned 'steam gauges' and radio heads."

I went over to the air coupe. The front cowl for engine access was open. Wes pointed out a couple of modifications he wanted to make and he also had a different manner in which he wanted to route his wiring harness. He showed me his control cable routing and how good the feel of the surface changes were. Sitting in the air coupe was different. Even though it was small, there seemed to be sufficient room in the cockpit for two fairly good sized men. Wes explained the aircraft could be equipped with either a stick or a yoke, depending on the builder's preference. This one had a yoke that felt very good and was very easy to manipulate.

Wes said, "I made a small scale model of this bird and took it over to Scientific Atlantic for some wind tunnel testing. It did very well and it should do well in full size as well. I'm going to lengthen the gear, as the way it is now it would be to easy to touch the tail to the runway when landing. Another foot higher should be fine. It won't create that much more drag, so we should be fine. Too bad we can't have retractable gear, or we could make this thing into a two hundred mile an hour fun bird."

"We can always play with one later as an experiment. Right now, we're trying to come up with an inexpensive aircraft for a group of people who want to fly." I looked up at Wes and asked, "So when will you have the air coupe ready for its first test flight?"

Wes waved at the bird and said, "I'll lengthen the gear and finish the mods I want, then we'll paint it up, and have the FAA inspect it as experimental being made for manufacture. I guess Jimmy gets to fly it first so we can see what else it needs. I'm concentrating only on what we want to include for our basic aircraft. Give me a week and we'll be ready to fly this. The biplane will be about a week also."

Pointing to the rear of the hangar, Wes said, "I had Jeff make another set of air coupe parts for a second aircraft, but it will be with more avionics. We should have all three ready for Sun and Fun out in Plant City. If we can get certification, you can begin taking orders. I'll need more people then, but we should be able to be building at least four aircraft at once."

"That's unbelievable, Wes. You've really done a job on this project. What else can I get to help you?"

Wes said, "Nothing, Steve, you've made my life really easy. The computer design system you gave me is perfect. Jeff says it's easy for him to be exact with the specs that come from the finished design. I use the designs in sections so the guys can see exactly what fits where and what tensions and torque to use. We're really producing quality, along with being innovative."

Wes was pushing the cockpit cover over the cockpit when he said, "This and the windscreen is Jeff's newest creation. He said the girl that is still in school, Gerry, worked with him to create a clear material that can be used as a windscreen and cover. She is using a product that is like Polaroid or Transition eyeglasses have to make the cover and windscreen darker in direct sun. This will keep the cockpit cooler, as well as aid the pilot. Jeff and his group are very innovative."

"Well, Wes, let me know if you need anything else. I'm really proud and happy with your progress. You're going to make another S&S group successful."

When I left Wes, I stopped by Jimmy's and asked, "Are you ready to be a test pilot?"

Jimmy smiled, "You bet. This will be the first brand new airplane I will test. I've tested some other experimentals that people have put together in their garages, but none that were newly designed and built like this one. I can't wait to fly that biplane. Wes put the larger engine in it so it should be really hot. Hopefully, the aircraft will be as strong as Wes and Jeff both say it will be so it can be used for aerobatics."

I asked, "Jimmy, how are you doing with the increased manpower and the additional aircraft, especially the helicopters."

"Great so far. We're keeping up with the prep on the helicopters and have been logging a lot of hours on them. Listen," we both heard the heavy thump, thump, thump, thump, of a big helicopter. Jimmy added, "Here comes the Sikorsky after a hard day's work moving buoys. The Coast Guard has us tied up for this week and next. We also have a couple of machinery lifts to make downtown, and one in Lakeland. Your salesmen are out beating the bushes for us."

"When you see Phil, you congratulate him. He'll be happy to hear you're happy."

"Hell, Steve, I'm not the one to be kept happy, it's you. Let me get the Sikorsky in and do the nightly maintenance on it. That thing is so big it takes two men a couple of hours to do it right."

Jimmy looked at me with a serious expression and said, "Betty and I were talking about a few FAA things that we're not in compliance on. As far as maintenance, I'm factory certified for Beechcraft, Bombardier, and all of the Cessna Citations. One of the other mechanics and one of the new guys is certified for Bombardier, the Eclipse and the Embraer. We're probably in good shape as far as keeping the aircraft in compliance but we will need to be sending guys to schools."

He took a deep breath and had trouble looking me in the eye and said, "You fly all of the G5's with two pilots but you don't use a right seat in the Lear all the time. That's going to get us in trouble. I saw that DeDe knows the rules and is even listing a second in the logbook. If she gets caught, we'll lose our certification to fly passengers."

"Steve, I know you play by the rules and usually always do the right thing so you have to start using a second person in the Lears. You only have to have a single pilot in the Citation, the Eclipse, and the Embraer but you are supposed to have someone with at least a commercial license in the right seat of the Lear."

"Lisa and Chuck are both good pilots and very capable of flying that aircraft by themselves but unless you can get some kind of special authorizations from the FAA for single pilot operation, you're going to have to have that second pilot. Hell, put on a bunch of newbie just reached commercial pilots that need the hours. They can learn and fly right seat. Get them Lear training when the school comes around again. Bombardier is using us as a tech training center so we're in good shape with them to keep using our field for training."

I said, "I know you're right Jimmy, I'll talk to Chuck. He's the one that is always on the go and if anyone is breaking the rules it's him. Lisa would just as soon have a right seat all the time when she has passengers except up in the Citation. We really can't take a chance on losing our certification."

Jimmy said, "Good deal Steve. I knew if I talked to you about it, you would know what was right and would take care of it. This place is too cool to screw up."

I did go back into the helicopter office and visit with Betty for a few minutes. She was happy to see me and showed me her week's charters. She said that she had begun scheduling lessons as well. She assured me that Sue, Chuck, and I were being given preferential treatment as to lesson time. She did say we might need at least one additional instructor pilot for both charters and lessons. I told her to call the federal employment office and talk to Frieda, Chuck's friend. She handles military personnel who are leaving the service.

I said to Betty, "I talked to Jimmy about us not always using that second person in the Lears. I'll get it taken care of and make sure we are in compliance. Thanks for getting with Jimmy and DeDe about that. Your observance and suggestion is a help to the company. Again Betty, thank you."

Betty blushed and said, "I didn't want to come off sounding like a know it all or want to be a shit disturber. I just wanted DeDe to know that if the FAA gets down on you, you don't keep your certificate. That was happening over in Orlando. But those guys didn't abide by anyone's rules."

Back home, I sat on the patio with a beer and some chips, pondering how well everything was going. Somehow, I felt that I was missing something. There was an opportunity out there that was waving at me, but I wasn't seeing it. I was still thinking about what it could be when Mercy came and said, "Have you heard whether the Magellan is ready to be sold yet?"

"Nothing yet, Mercy. I'll call tomorrow to check, but I was assured we would be called as soon as it was ready."

"I want to go see it, Steve," Mercy said. "I want to see a hundred and seventy-five footer that is as nice as our Magellan. That has to be an amazing boat. Can you fly us down there to look at it? Do you think they would let you look at it?"

"I don't know, Mercy. I'll try to call Chuck at work to see. I think he's out flying today though. He's using that new Embraer Phenom he bought. According to Jimmy, that thing is fast and nice to fly. We'll see how efficient and economical it is."

Mercy was thinking hard and looked at me with a smile, "Chuck says what he's doing is none of my business. I suppose I have to honor that. He does have things to do that are none of my business."

"Good girl, Mercy. Don't piss him off. The man has a lot of things working right now. With everyone pushing him about this house Terrell is starting, I'm sure he feels a little stressed. He does do a good job standing up to the pressure though."

It was now a little after five and the patio was beginning to fill up. By six, the place was packed including all of Chuck's family, here sans Chuck. They said he had called and was due in any second.

Henry talked to me about the projections he had come up with for Sue. He said, "I've overestimated on everything so we won't be caught short of cash. I've tried to factor in every adverse contingency there could be, to make sure we could do this without making the rest of the company suffer. It looks good, Steve, at the absolute worst, we will make a profit within two years. At best, we should have a first year profit in fabric manufacturing and the sewing plants should realize about a twelve percent increase in profits."

"Wow, Henry, that's sizeable. I didn't think making our own fabric would make that much difference."

Henry said, "You wouldn't think so but after putting all the numbers together, that's what it looks like. It's going to take six to nine months to build the plant even with everyone working on it. Sue's made a deal for some equipment that is fairly new and is hiring the manufacturer to relocate it when the building is ready. She's saving better than fifty percent on the equipment. Nancy is going to be going up to Atlanta to try to find the people who used to work for that company. If we can, we want to bring down a core of experienced people for both operating and maintaining the equipment."

"That's the way to do it. Find people who know what they're doing and learn from them. Look at what Jeff has done. He's begun fiberglass shops here, St. Louis, Canada, Ireland, and now, Italy. He's become knowledgeable in making various other products and composites that will have an effect on all of the rest of the company. We just have to keep our minds open to new opportunities and take advantage of them."

Abe came in and poured a beer. Alice was already sitting in a glider, with Glenda sitting in the one next to her. The ladies were having a conversation as their men gathered with the other men. Abe said, "Let me get Alice a beer, then you and I need to talk."

Abe came back and said, "I think Jeff has come up with the perfect body composite for military vehicles. It's a hell of a lot lighter than steel and appears to be almost as strong. The good thing is it doesn't bend when explosives hit it but it does have recoil that can be dangerous. The real neat thing that Jeff and Gerry have come up with is the clear composite that tints in the sun. The composite probably borders on the strength of Lexan. So far the only round that penetrates the glass is a fifty caliber and it only wedges itself into the sheet. We tried from fifty, one hundred, two hundred and five hundred yards. All the same, only a couple of rounds stuck in the sheets. I think it's time to go after the military market. If we don't get manufacturers to let us make their bodies, we should make our own. We'll come up with our own vehicles and engines that will work and present them. I'll bet if we don't sell them to our own military, we'll be able to sell them to the Israelis or one of the other NATO nations."

I said, "That's an idea I didn't think of, Abe. If we can't sell it here, we can sell it somewhere else. You already have a gas engine, do you have a diesel engine too? How about one of the diesels from one of your compressors or generators?"

Abe replied, "Those aren't designed for the rigors of a vehicle. I do have an engine I've worked on for a while that should work. This has been an experimental diesel engine for about three years. It's very efficient, but isn't as powerful as a tank engine. Since our vehicle will be so much lighter, it would work in that for us. Let me put one together to work in our homemade Humvee. We should probably come up with our own vehicle design and possibly some form of a tracked vehicle, such as an APC. We can get armament from that gun manufacturer that's down between Waters and Benjamin right here in Tampa. He's got an exclusive with the feds, but we should be able to at least get copies to use. If we show him our vehicle, he'll get excited that he'll have another way to sell his product."

"What do we need to get this going, Abe?"

"Nothing really, there's enough space in the big building to put a couple of vehicles together. I'll get to work designing them and get some help from a couple of ex-army armor types we have in the company. We should be able to come up with something."

I suggested, "You know if you were to make a tank, or something like a tank, you could build a steel frame to hold the gun and use our composite instead of sheet steel. You'll have to test it to see how it handles being hit by rockets. If you can do that, we would have a winner."

"I'll get right on it, Steve. This could become a major manufacturing arm of the company and keep us rolling through a deep recession."

"That's the way to think, Abe. Keep everyone working. We're doing really well at it so far."

Abe went to sit with Alice, Glenda, and Martin on the gliders. Watching the four of them was a pleasure, as they enjoyed each other and the gentle action of the gliders.

Chuck came in with a smile on his face. I asked, "What are you so happy about?"

"I was able to do everything I set out to do today," Chuck said. "It's not everyday that I get to do that. I think I deserve a beer for that too."

Chuck asked everyone that was around the bar, "Where is the nearest library around here? I need to do some research." Kevin knew where one was and gave Chuck directions. We all settled down for a quiet beer before the call to supper came.

I got Chuck off to the side and said, "Chuck, you have to do something for me. When you are in the Lear, you need a second pilot, someone in the right seat with at least a commercial rating. If we were to get caught, we could lose our certification. You can fly the Embraer or the Eclipse, or the Citation by yourself but not a Lear."

Chuck screwed up his mouth and said, "I wonder if the Secret Service or the Justice department could petition the FAA for some kind of waiver. There's too many times that I need to fly one of the Learjets. I'll call John and find out if he can have some one in the groups investigate that for me. I guess between now and then, I had best find someone I can have on call to be right seat when I need. I'll have to have them run through for a clearance but hopefully I can find someone."

I said, "Thanks Chuck, I knew you'd understand."

He said, "Tell you what I'll do. If I have to have a Lear, I'll fly my own and if I get caught, it isn't a charter. It'll all be on me. I'll get John working on the problem for me right away."

That would and wouldn't work because if he got caught in an aircraft painted up like our other charters, even his personal ownership wouldn't really expunge us from problems. Hope he can get some kind of waiver.

After supper, Bonita cornered Chuck and Lisa for some help with both the guitar and piano. We heard them in the living room as they practiced a couple of tunes over and over. It always amazed me how musicians were willing to go over the same piece of music so many times to get the tiniest differences to sound just right. A little later, we heard the nearly finished product as Bonita played the piano and either Chuck or Lisa played rhythm guitar with her.

Later, after Chuck and his family left, Bonita had her mothers and me listen to her as she played Moonlight Serenade. We were all proud of her, but Kathy was just beaming. Bonita received a lot of hugs for her performance.

Later, in bed, we were all lethargic from a busy day. Mercy reminded me, "You'll call about the boat, right?"

Sue, of course, asked about what boat and Mercy said, "The hundred and seventy-five foot Magellan that Chuck is going to get and have rebuilt for our two families to sail to Europe."

Sue sat straight up and said, "When? When he is getting it? When are we going? Why didn't you tell me that boat was a Magellan?"

Kathy was up on one hand and said, "That's got to be a nice boat. I'll bet we'll have to rebuild the whole thing to make it our boat."

Mercy added, "I think Chuck wants the boat to be special so he can have his whole family, plus all of us, on it at the same time. That's going to be a good time."

I reminded everyone, "This is still up in the air. The boat has not been released yet and we don't know how bad the federal agents tore it up."

Just as I said that, I remembered, "Wow, I wonder what's happened with the sailboats and the fishing boats that were up in Daytona. I forgot all about them. That's what was nagging me earlier."

I got up and went to the phone in the kitchen. "Chuck? Steve here. Have you heard anything about what you guys have done with the boats in Daytona? You know we can use most any kind of deal on big boats right now. Our charters are full and we could rent out several more if we had the equipment."

Chuck said, "I don't know, Steve, but I'll call in the morning. I probably should call about the big boat in Miami, too. I should know by nine. I need to be gone again tomorrow, but I'll try to find out before I leave."

Back in bed, I told my ladies, "I just remembered that a bunch of boats were confiscated from Alcam in Daytona. I forgot about them because of the aircraft. The Miami charter service was just starting and I don't think they had any boats yet. It was like the office here in Tampa that was trying to open an air charter service without any aircraft."

The excitement of a sailing adventure had the women worked up. We were soon pleasuring each other and continued for what seemed a long, long, time. When we were finally sated, I received kisses from my ladies as I drifted into dreamland.

I was out at the airpark early in order to get an early start on my helicopter training. I was talking to Betty when Chuck came in. He said, "I just got off the phone with the office in Daytona. They are getting some listings together on what they have, but said that if we were interested to come over. If you go, the man to see is Terry Barker. He's the ACE. He said he would have someone take you down to survey the boats. You might take your boat guy, John, to survey them with you."

Chuck was smiling and said, "I guess I have to change my plans as the big boat is ready to be moved. They want me to make arrangements to get it moved right away."

I told Chuck, "You better call Mercy and tell her to get her butt out here. You have to take her you know. She can help you get the boat over to Magellan and then begin making arrangements for the modifications you want."

Chuck called the house, then called someone else. You could see him rolling his eyes at what he was listening to. I finally heard him say, "Metarie, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to have them all leave. They could do this another time. Okay, I promise. You can have a ride on it when we get it up to Dunedin."

When Chuck got off the phone, he said, "I was going to use the Phenom again today, but that isn't going to work. My five plus Lena and now Lisa are coming with Mercy and Juanita. I need something bigger. I guess I better see DeDe."

I went with him to see DeDe and she said, "No sweat, Honey, you can fly the King Air 1900D. Plenty of room and plenty fast enough to get down to Miami. I was going to give Lisa a job today, but since she's going with you I guess I'll let her stay off."

After Chuck made his arrangements, I told DeDe that I could take the Phenom unless she had a better use for it. DeDe looked up at me and said, "Take a Cessna 206 to Daytona, unless you are taking a lot of people."

I said, "Just John, the boat guy, and Tiny. We'll fit fine in a 206. It will be a lot cheaper to fly that anyway."

DeDe said, "If you had more experience, I'd tell you to take a helicopter. The 206 would still be cheaper."

John and Tiny showed up and we took off for Daytona. Once there, we rented a car and were met down on the waterfront by the deputy that was in charge of the boats. They had a bunch of smaller motor launches that were too small for our fishing charters. They did have one nice older forty-foot Chris Craft and two big sailboats; one was a sixty-five footer and the other a seventy footer.

John and Tiny went over the Chris Craft and declared it decent, but when we went over the two sailboats, we found they were both in very poor condition. The seventy foot boat had so much rot in the hull we were all surprised it was afloat. John told the deputy that the boat wasn't worth more then five thousand at the most.

The sixty-five footer was in better shape but the galley needed to be completely refitted. We discovered the fresh water tank was corroded, as was the holding tank. After starting the engine, John declared the boat was worth about twenty to thirty thousand, at best, because of the extensive work that had to done. We were looking at the sail and found it all to be rotten. The boat needed paint, varnish, and a ton of love and care.

The deputy made a phone call and had a couple of conversations with people and told Tiny, "You can have the Chris Craft and the sixty-five footer for fifty-five thousand, but you have to take the seventy footer, as well. In addition, you have to get all these little boats out of here. We'll give you titles on everything but it all has to be gone no later than next Friday."

Tiny said, "Deal."

Tiny came to me and said, "Call your dealer over here and have him come over. It looks like all the little boats have trailers in the lot. I'll bet your dealer would love to have a bonus. We'll give him all the little stuff to be rid of them."

"Fine, Tiny, but what are we going to do with the seventy footer? That thing probably won't make it back to our dock."

"They have a re-fitter here that I'll give it to. It'll probably cost more than it's worth to re-fit the boat, but we'll go ahead and do it. The boat will be chartered all the time as it's a perfect two couple boat with a crew. We'll come out fine. I want the re-fitter to go ahead and do the sixty-five footer first, and get it ready as soon as possible. The new sail will cost a lot, as will the electric sail lifts, gauges, and instrumentation. We'll fix the boat up with good communications and have it making money within six weeks. The other boat could take six months just to get ready."

I asked, "What does the Chris Craft need?"

Tiny said, "Someone to pilot it back to Tampa. Perhaps John could take it. If not, I'll come over tomorrow and take it back."

While I called our Daytona dealer, John went back on the Chris Craft then came back out. He said, "Let me use the car to go to the grocery store and Wal-Mart. I'll leave with it right away. The fuel's full, the water's full, and the holding tank has been recently flushed. This is a very nice, clean boat."

While John was gone to the grocery store and to Wal-Mart, the Daytona dealer showed up with one of our field techs. I showed them the boats and said, "Find the accompanying trailers and get them out of here. I'll make sure you all get the titles, but they need to be gone."

The field tech asked, "Can I use the company truck to take a boat back to Tampa?"

"Sure," I said, "but be sure to grease the wheel bearings on the trailer before you get out on the Interstate."

The dealer was calling his men to bring their pickups to take advantage of a deal. It was amazing how everyone seemed to find just the boat they had always wanted. Soon all the boats were gone except one twenty-five foot Wellcraft. The trailer for it was the last in the lot as well.

Tiny came back with the re-fitter to take the boats over to his docks and I asked the re-fitter, "Would you have any use for a 25 Wellcraft? The one sitting right there?"

He smiled, "Yeah, I do. One of my men is dying for his own boat. That would be great for him. How much can I steal it for?"

I said, "Tell you what, do a perfect job on these two boats and it's yours free."

The guy asked, "And you'll pay the going rate for the repairs? No arguments?"

"I never argue if you do a perfect job. Ask my dealer here in town. You may even do business with us."

The man said, "Yeah, I do business with S&S, they're very fair and always give us our money's worth. We have a big generator from them and our big compressors for sandblasters are from them. Thanks, my friend, I'll do a great job for you. But then, I would have done it anyway. I'll just be more meticulous than usual. The guys will hate me, at least all but one. He'll give me a hundred and twenty percent on this job."

John came back and started the twin diesels and let them warm. We disconnected all the shore water and electricity, then untied him as he idled out into the water. We saw the overhead radar antenna begin to spin and knew he was on his way.

As the two big sailboats were being gently motored to the re-fitters docks, Tiny and I shook hands with the deputy and headed for the airport. Tiny commented, "That was a good day. We added to our motor launches for the charter service, and when we get those two sailboats, we will increase revenues a bunch. We are booked completely on everything through New Year's this year, plus if you and Chuck get that other boat, I can rent your big boat. It was being held in reserve until you made your trip this year."

I looked at him and said, "Thanks, Tiny. I think Chuck and I and all our families will make the trip this year. It should be a good one."

Tiny asked, "You mentioned Europe, do you think that's where you'll go?"

"I think so. The ladies want to go see our Irish friends, and I want to see the Italian factory. We won't go to Greece as they are having too much trouble. We'll have a good time in Italy and go to the Riviera. This time we might go to both the Spanish Costa del Sol and the French Riviera. We'll see."

Tiny said, "There have been a lot of storms in the North Atlantic, so you want to stay away from there. Other than that, you should be fine."

When we set down at the airpark, we no sooner had the aircraft in line for fuel than Tank came up and said to me, "Ready for your lesson? You can't afford to get behind."

I waved bye to Tiny and followed Tank to the little Schweitzer helicopter. Today we did about the same, practicing going up and down and around in a circle. I landed within the marked circle five straight times today, always sitting down pretty close to the center. I was able to travel back and forth the length of the airfield feeling pretty comfortable at the controls. We were landing as the low fuel horn was sounding. This time, Tank had me land on the rolling stand. It took me a couple of tries to center the skids, but I finally set the aircraft down within the little stand.

Tank took me around the aircraft to do the visual after landing check. We shook parts, pulled parts, and generally double-checked any play anywhere. He declared the aircraft as airworthy and had me fuel the bird so I would know how.

While I was refueling, Sue set her little helicopter down on the rolling stand on the first try. She was dead center too. I guess women have that touch. She and Joy did the same check on the aircraft that Tank and I had done, then Joy asked if I would assist Sue in refueling the bird.

As I was pumping fuel into the tank, Sue said, "I like helicopters. They are fun and they are easy. This is really great. I can't wait to fly into mom's and dad's yard. Dad will have a fit. I'll bet he's out here getting lessons the next day."

A King Air 1900D landed and taxied up to the hangar where we now kept the King Airs. We could hear the laughter and chatter as the crowd came through the rear of the maintenance hangar. Mercy saw us and ran over to us, "You won't believe how nice that boat is. They tried to rip it apart to hunt for contraband, but you can't really hurt a Magellan. Chuck made arrangements for the boat to get over to their docks and we are going to have an engineer up here with plans so we can do our design. I told them to come Friday night and we could work on it Saturday and Sunday. I thought it would be nice to show them a good time."

Sue hugged Mercy and said, "Isn't it exciting? We're going to have that monster boat all to ourselves. I wonder how much Chuck is going to have to pay for it. Actually, I hope he can afford it."

All of Chuck's women wanted to go to our house for a while before going home. I could tell Chuck was anxious to do some kind of work, but he went along with everyone. We all headed toward the house.

Chuck and Lisa arrived at the house, but most of his women, including Juanita and Mercy, must have taken a detour. They stormed the patio a few minutes later, announcing the slabs had all been poured for the whole complex at the new house site. I said to Chuck, "Your dream house is becoming a reality."

Lisa said, "We are going to have the neatest studio around. I'm glad we went ahead and designed it to be just like the big commercial studios. We can play in it, but we can also record productions in it. I'm really excited about what we can do."

It was motocross night, so Tina, Dennis, and Kevin were out in the rear, watching kids try to maim themselves. We went out to watch the debacle. Kevin was showing the kids how to ride slow while standing on the pegs. He had them lined up several feet apart to have a slow race. All the kids were pretty good at controlling their bikes, with the little ones actually doing better than the bigger, older, kids.

When they were given the go ahead to have some fun is when the crashes started. Kid after kid crashed into one another. Both would get up, get their bikes back up and start them. Then off they would go again until they crashed once more. Some of the kids watched in front of them so they could avoid running into one of the downed motocrossers. You could tell which ones were the careful riders as they had the cleaner suits. We watched as some of the little ones were lofting pretty high on the jumps. Kathy was gasping as she watched Bonita get at least two feet higher than her big brother Greg. She came down smoothly and beat him to the corner. You could see Greg really trying to make his bike go faster.

After a motocross night, the kids have to take a bath before supper, so we usually eat a little later. The excitement and exertion from the activity willingly had the kids on the way to bed a half-hour before normal.

I was sitting with Tiny and said, "What do you think, Tiny? Do you think our boat charter business is about full of boats? How much more do you think we can really keep booked?"

Tiny said, "I don't know, Steve. I wouldn't have tried to buy anymore boats, except this became a good deal. You'll have some happy people over at the Daytona dealership, plus you now have a rep with the feds as quickly getting rid of their problems for them. John is on his way back with a nice boat that he just absolutely fell in love with, and we are about six weeks away from having another sailboat to charter. Yeah, we probably have enough. The air charter service seems to still need more aircraft, as well as pilots. So far we've kept our regulars happy and have picked up a lot of new corporate users. We're doing real well."

"I think we might be more cautious out at the airpark now that we have so many aircraft. Let's see if we can catch up with charters and pilots. I think we might be where we need to be for right now."

"You know where you need to grow don't you?" Tiny asked.

"Where?"

"Your T-shirt operation can't turn out enough T-shirts for the races and race teams. You've doubled the size of the factory, work three shifts, and we could easily sell twice what we're producing. There is space to add on again if you want, or you could move the entire operation out here."

I asked, "What would I do with that building if we moved. No one would want that thing. I wouldn't have if we didn't get it as part of the whole deal."

Tiny said, "Then add on. We can use the rest of the land to just about double the size. There will still be plenty of room for parking and if you need, you can park people in Sue's lot, or down in the utility body shop's lot. They're doing pretty good with toppers, but not producing a lot of big utility bodies. We're doing everything on an order basis right now."

"Okay, then let's build on to the T-shirt plant. I would normally say that we could farm some work out, or we could let Sue do some, but we already supply her with T-shirt material. The only way to go is out and up. Do it."

Tiny said, "I had Terrell and Darnel look at the job and they've had an architect working on some plans. We'll just have to see whether what is planned is big enough."

I suggested, "Get Sue's opinion as she has a good grasp as to what it takes to make T-shirts. The difference is we do so much screen printing."

We both yawned about the same time and grinned. "I guess it's time, isn't it? The end of another big day in the life of the patio people. See you in the morning, Tiny."

It didn't take long to put everything away and to have the place ready for the morning. All of us were in bed when Mercy said, "That boat is going to be so nice. I think we'll have the two big master suites together with all the kids up and down the gangway."

Sue said, "What about the lower deck? There are two lower decks. I remember seeing the plans for the boat as it was so big."

Juanita gushed, "It is beautiful. Even all taken apart, it is beautiful. The lower deck on one end is for the crew, but we can take that out if we want. The rest of the lower deck can be more cabins, or if we want, a gym, an office for the men, and lots of storage."

I suggested, "You know the boat is going to be Chuck's. Shouldn't he have some input on the design?"

Mercy said, "Well, we need to influence him, as he'll be so standoffish, our cabins will be at opposite ends of the boat. We need to influence his ladies for them to be near us, Maybe in adjoining cabins with doors and everything. We could have a hot tub room that separates the master suites. I just want to be able to get at his women."

Sue added, "And him too, I'm sure."

Kathy giggled, "Just think, we would have our two studs servicing us like queens. They would be so tired that we'll all have to pull helm duty while they rest."

Juanita said, "I think that would be a good trade off. Can you imagine, getting some loving from both of them the same night. I wonder how long they can keep going."

I said, "Hey, I'm right here you know. Chuck and I are not machines, and neither of us is eighteen any longer."

Mercy kissed me and said, "You will be the most satisfied man on the high seas. I'll bet his ladies attack you when they are finished with us. We'll tell them how much experience you have loving up pregnant women. They'll be all over you."

"You guys are too much," I exclaimed. "You think up all these scenarios and get yourselves all worked up."

Sue was kissing my chest, on her way south, and said, "You betcha, we love to think about it, talk about it, then take some action. Oh boy, I'm first."

It took a while but we did finally go to sleep.

Primary editing by Pepere

Proofing by Sagacious

Additional Helicopter Knowledge by Rotorhead

Last one through — Deenara2000