Day Fifty-one - Tuesday
I awoke, spooning with Sue, hugging her round pooky bubble butt into me. The clock said five thirty, so I should go back to sleep. Sue's still having her monthlies so I need to take it easy on her.
A rush of thoughts ran through my mind.
I need to call my sister and brother to tell them I'm married. When I tell them I have a place in Tampa, Florida, they might even come down to visit. We have the room. All we have to do is finish furnishing the other bedrooms.
Sure would be nice if they could meet Sue. I know they would like her.
Wow, Beth did say 'our' daughter. That could make some strange differences in why Ben's so protective. I think he's just nosy.
Hope Debbie and her boyfriend work out. I haven't seen them together yet so it's hard to get a feel for their relationship. She seems to be a good worker. Hope she's not as moody or volatile as Shawna.
Hope Ruth and Tiny are able to keep up with all these new hires. Sure is good we are receiving income so fast. Our payroll has to be getting huge. I don't want to know. Wonder what a cash flow statement would look like now.
I wonder if handling the field techs and the rebuild shop is too much for Abe. Wonder if he would tell me if it were. Maybe Alice will tell me.
I am hungry. It must be time to get up.
I kissed Sue's neck and shoulder while moving my hand up to cup the under side of one of her breasts. After a few more kisses, I said softly, "Time to wake up my little wife, a new day is here."
"I know, I was awake probably doing the same thing you were doing, letting your mind go a hundred miles an hour. I'm hungry, what about you?"
She turned over in my arms facing me giving me a few kisses, "If you keep doing that, you know what I'll be hungry for."
"I'm always hungry for you, honey." She then added, "But right now, I'm starved."
We got up and did our usual. Sue went to sit, while I started the coffeepots and came into the bathroom, pausing to unload, then into the shower to wash my bride.
Sue started a couple of pounds of bacon and sent me to the Seven-Eleven for two more pounds, a couple of loaves of bread, a couple of gallons of orange juice, a couple gallons of milk, and at least four dozen eggs. The trip only took me five minutes, but two loads to carry into the house.
Glenda was helping Sue, saying that Martin had woke up hungry as well. She said since we had a couple of boxes of Bisquick that she would use one big box for biscuits and the other for pancakes. The only problem was that the stove wasn't big enough for more big pans. Sandy was over early, took one box of Bisquick, saying she would make the pancakes.
Tiny came into the house with his coffee cup. He sat at the counter then said, "I could smell the bacon from home. Man, am I hungry this morning."
Sue and Glenda looked at each other as Shawna came into the kitchen rubbing her tummy and licking her lips, causing Sue to say, "Sure hope we have enough, everyone's hungry."
I set up the third large coffeepot out on the patio and started it, thinking that this day was kicking off early. It was barely six and the activity level was already in high gear. The light wasn't even on.
At six-twenty I turned the patio light on but it wasn't necessary to attract people. Ruth was talking to Joan and Betty while Martin, Charlie, Jim, Al, and Tom were talking to Hank and Debbie.
Two more patio people. Wonder if Abe can get another table extension.
Glenda and Shawna began bringing out food and putting it on the big table. Telling those who were hungry to save some for the others. Sandy and Mandy came back, carrying two giant platters of pancakes and a bottle of syrup with them as well.
Phil and Judy arrived with a big box of Danish rolls, saying they were starved this morning when they woke up.
Funny, all the girls were dressed ready for work this morning, even Joan and Betty. No see-through, sexy stuff for us to enjoy this morning.
By seven-fifteen there was one lonely pancake left. Even the big box of Danish was empty. Glenda said we needed to consider a way to feed everyone in the morning in the future, so everyone began his or her day with a full belly.
Everyone hustled to get going so they could open the shop by eight.
Sue said she was staying home again today as there too many new items that they were trying to get made, as well as a couple of magazine ads they were working on. She said she had another girl starting that was going to do nothing but check orders and credit card transactions. Sue thought she could use another designer so they could have another perspective on design, but was going to wait for the right person, rather than jump at someone.
Tom and Al were re-hanging the now painted frame. Abe was standing next to a small sized mobile generator with the side panels up, showing the control panels. He said he chose this one, as it was the least popular, because it was smaller. This one had a control panel that looked like it had never been used. Al said he wanted to put a set of sheet metal on a frame and have Shawna and Hank paint it. He thought it would look good hanging from the ceiling as well. I told him to do it, as we would probably be getting several customers coming by in the next few weeks to check us out, to see if we were for real.
An engine would be nice up here. Wonder if we could find one that was a junker and clean it up for show. I'll ask Gene if he has one.
Debbie was entering orders, saying there was one that she didn't understand. She handed me an order from Gene. He wanted six frames constructed with the eighteen percent stainless. I figured out what the material list would be then made the order for thirty frames and ordered the steel to construct more racks for the stainless tubing materials.
Tiny and Phil wanted me to meet the two new road salesmen they felt would do a good job. Both men were in their thirties, single, and enjoyed traveling. They both wanted to drive instead of flying, as they said it didn't matter if they stayed over a weekend at a motel or hotel, if the company didn't mind paying for it. Juan was from Miami and Mark from Mississippi.
I asked Phil if he thought two guys could handle the entire territory. He replied, "Absolutely not, but these are the two I have right now, and I will let one start at the north end and the other start at the south. Juan is bilingual so he will be especially good for south Florida. Mark didn't necessarily want to work Mississippi. He said he would prefer to work from Georgia north to include the two Carolinas. Jim said they were not going to be moving very fast as there were so many customers that had not been seen for so long, and many, many prospective customers that he wanted to develop.
Phil said he thought cars would be good for both guys or four door pickups with a bed cover could be good too. They could be painted with the S&S logo giving them a little more creditability.
I told Tiny to get it done.
Judy said she thought the six girls that she had right then should be able to handle orders and customer service questions for a while. As they became more knowledgeable of the various types of equipment, the customers were going to be kept happy.
I told Al that when he had opportunity, for him to take a frame from the staged frames, and install sheet metal on it as if it were a real car. The only outside part we might want for looks was a set of those web things for the windows. When it was done, he was to put it on some dollies and give it to Shawna and she would have Hank paint it. Shawna would do the sponsor lettering when it dried.
Shawna was finished with Gene's forty-five cubic inch flat head engine and the three speed with reverse transmission, saying it is probably a lot better than new as she didn't think there were any flatheads with ported and polished heads, and that were totally balanced.
We loaded the motor and tranny then headed out. On the way we went by Best Buy to find a digital camera. The salesman was pretty good. He sold us a Sony that took CDs to record the pictures. That seemed like a good idea.
It seemed that Gene is always happy to see me. We unloaded the motor and tranny, and put them on a bench next to the basket case he had of parts that he was assembling. Shawna looked at the rear axle from the Servicar and grimaced. She turned to Gene, "Are you going to have someone rebuild this. It is in really rough condition. I'd bet all the bearings are bad and the main shaft needs to be trued after being rusted."
"You can see that from just looking at it for a minute?" Gene asked.
"Easy, see all the rust marks on these gears, watch when you turn the wheel, this is a differential so the gears should mesh perfectly. See these little marks, the gears aren't meshing when you turn them by hand. Imagine the mess you would have with weight and fifty miles an hour. You'll probably wreck when the axle trashes itself."
"You know, Shawna, I'm not making any progress on this thing and I'd really like to show it off by riding it around at the races. This thing would be a real showstopper. Could you take all this junk and make it into a machine I would be proud of. Can you paint it up to look like one of my cars? Give it my old number seventeen. Maybe put my name on the tank. Could you do that?"
"I would love to build your trike for you. I will make you proud. Give us a hand and let's get all this stuff into the truck. I'll work on it as fast as I can and maybe Jim will help me, he loves Servicars. Do you care how much I spend on chrome and fancy parts?"
"Keep the total under twenty if you can, I don't think I could convince the IRS that something too expensive would be worth the advertising dollar."
Shawna grinned, "It won't be anywhere near that. It will be a show winner when I get done. Do you mind if we take pictures of the cars you have here so that I can have some ideas when I do the final painting?"
Gene waved his hand, "All you want kid, everyone takes pictures of the cars every race day anyway. I'll go get you some old promo literature of my old car."
We took a hundred or so pictures of all the cars at every angle. We even convinced one of his drivers to put on his suit and pose by his car. I thought I would blow that up and put it in the showroom with a bunch of the other pictures. Gene even agreed to pose with a wrench in his hand and grease on his face propped up against a car he was working on. We got another of the crew chief sticking his head out from under a car. The last was almost a joke as one of the mechanics was inside the car trying to do something by the seat. His body was inside the car and his legs were sticking out at a forty-five degree angle. It was funny looking.
Shawna and I took off for the shop with a new project for her. She was excited, as she loves building bikes. While we were going back to the shop I asked Shawna what she knew about electrostatic painting. She said that it was also called powder coating and that the equipment was relatively inexpensive but the quality depended on the prep. The item painted should have an electrostatic primer first then should be water sanded till perfectly smooth. Only then will the paint go on perfectly smooth. I asked what her opinion of the end result of the process was. She was all for it in some cases such as frames or large panels like the rebuild shop does, but she thought traditional paint was better for car sheet metal.
She said it would be easier to paint just the metal for items in the rebuild shop. There is less overspray.
I told her to investigate some decent equipment and for some training. She was happy I wanted her to learn more.
When we unloaded the pieces of Gene's Servicar, Sandy and Mandy were oohing and aahing over Shawna getting to do something like that. They said they would help as she went along if it needed to get done right away. Carl and Kurt were not into bikes but said it would be fun to see how it turned out.
When I left the motor building shop I was instantly in front of a car, or at least a frame with sheet metal added to it. "We might need a few pieces of other material here and there but not much more." Al said he only tacked and screwed on the pieces as on the NASCAR specifications and prints. He thought that should we want to remove the panels in the future, it would be easy.
I told Al to put the car on a good dolly and give it to Shawna for Hank to paint. Shawna would have to do the fancy stuff with her airbrush.
We needed more frame stands and finished product dollies. It wasn't feasible for us to build them ourselves so I headed to my office to order some.
Debbie had a stack or orders she was entering. When I asked what they were for, she replied, "Everything, two types of frames from the standard metal, the standard NASCAR frame of the eighteen percent steel, loads of sheet metal and now a total of eleven more engines."
Eleven more engines on top of our existing orders were going to take up to three weeks at the minimum. We needed at least one more team of quality motor builders and at least two more good sheet metal people. This was going to require more equipment too. The sheet metal people can't take time to share equipment.
I asked Debbie to make a list of all the companies that had ordered sheet metal from us. I wanted her to go out to the sheet metal area and write down the numbered description of each piece of sheet metal and the number that we had assigned to it. She was to get Dan and Al to give Tiny the quantity or percent of a raw panel that it took to produce each finished panel along with the estimated time of each panel if created individually. Tiny could then assign prices to each piece of sheet metal.
We needed to then get our customers to give us an exact list of what panels they were using to repair damaged vehicles and what panels were left over that they were scrapping. We needed to be able to fill in panels that were being used instead of them buying a full set.
We might not sell as many full sets but we could mark up the individual panels more than a full set just like any manufacturer.
I told her that this was a priority and I wanted to get a price list to our customers by tomorrow.
Upstairs, Tiny agreed that it was a great idea to divide the cost of each piece so we could sell just what the customer was using. I suggested that in the beginning, we would give them credit for any returned panels in unused condition. This way they could maintain full sets, but only buy what they were using.
Once we had a pattern of what was being bent and trashed the fastest, we could manufacture extras of that part and have it ready to ship immediately. Any extra we would charge would be more than acceptable if they didn't have to buy a full set all the time.
Back in my office I made a collage of the pictures we took at Gene's. I put several pictures on a new CD to take to a photo shop to get printed in 8X10's for the show room. I made Shawna a bunch of prints so she could paint our car and use the pictures as a guide for the Servicar.
I checked the material orders with the finished equipment orders to find Debbie was right where we needed to be on inventory. I called the Parts House to ask them how much lead-time they needed for the crate engines I was buying. I told them that I needed twenty right away but was not willing to pay too much toward fast freight. They said that for twenty motors they could probably get a dedicated truck if I really needed them that fast. I told them to split the order up into three shipments of seven each. That way we shouldn't get too backlogged. I asked about a larger discount and the order guy said it was automatic. With as much as we had been buying, we should be darn near at the max.
I got a call from the car builder that had blown me off because I wouldn't reduce my price or build the frames at his shop. He apologized and said he would be willing to pay seventy percent of what he had originally paid but that would be all. Again I thanked him for the opportunity to bid on his work and said that at this time our price was not negotiable. He started to get huffy over the phone and I asked him why he would be mad at me if he could buy the product elsewhere. He wouldn't answer; all I heard was a 'click.'
Everything seemed to be moving along smoothly today. I called Sue and asked if she had time for the gym and perhaps some sun. She was all for it, with lunch between the gym and the sun.
I told Debbie to call me on the cell phone if it was an emergency; otherwise I would be back about three.
My lovely wife was dressed in her workout duds, dangling her Mustang keys, when I walked in the door. I changed quickly and we went to the gym for a solid hour and a half of work.
We ate at home then put on swimsuits and walked up to the pool for some baking. We basted each other with lotion then stretched out discussing our day so far.
Sue said she had talked to Phil, Judy, Abe, and Tiny on a conference call about brochures for individual products and services as well as a big brochure that included everything. They also wanted to create catalogs both printed and on the Internet for products that we could update ourselves as far as pricing or modifying terms. She said that she was having her site builder and the commercial artist she used get in touch with Phil. Sue said she told both of those people that Phil wanted immediate action, as that was the way he was.
I told Sue about my thoughts concerning my sister and brother. She said to bring them on as we always had room for a few more. She said, "Besides, if they get in our way, we'll just get them a room at a hotel and passes to Busch Gardens and Disney."
We only did fifteen minutes a side then swam hard for about ten minutes. That was enough after our previous workout, but it was cooling and relaxing.
At home we showered quickly and she went back to her group and I went back to the shop. It was only two-thirty.
A quick trip around the place was all it took. Everyone was busy with their projects. I asked my four motor builders if they could think of anyone they would like to work with. Kurt, who seemed to have assumed a leadership position among the four asked, how many? I told them that teams seemed to be the most productive and so far had turned out the best work. So I would say our shop could handle two more teams, max.
The four huddled together acting as if they had already discussed this eventuality. Kurt said he had two teams in mind but would talk to them first and have them come in if they were interested. He asked if our health insurance covered pre-existing conditions and I said that Ruth had assured me it did. The policies should be here today.
Shawna heard me and said, "That's going to fill this place up. Two more motors or whatever it is at a time is going to take some equipment and a ton of supplies."
"Buy what you need Shawna, so far orders are outpacing our production. My only concern is that every product we turn out is better than the last. Any innovations your folks can come up with that stays within the specs for the motor is going to make you and your shop famous. Can you imagine Gene riding around on his trike with your name on it as well as the signs on the trike and on his cars, motor by S&S Enterprises."
"That is exciting Steve, I've got to get this bike done quick. I wonder if Gene will let me put our sponsor tag on his cars. I think it should say in a very small heart, 'Mill by S&S Enterprises.' Sometimes the small logos mean the most."
"Call him up and ask him, I'll bet he'll tell you to get your little butt over there and paint it right now. We need to take another motor over there to him so he can leave for this weekend's races. I need some blueprints anyway so let's load up the engine Kurt and Carl are finishing, get your paint equipment and we will make a run."
At Gene's, he said his Busch car and one of his Winston cars were running our engines. He told Shawna to only paint those two. The third car had an engine built by the old company. They were guaranteeing no problems with the motor. Gene said the dyno machine already told them it was over two hundred horsepower below ours, but he was going to run it. The other company had even offered to repay him for our cost of rebuilding, saying there was no way that we found all those problems. Gene said it was the first time a vendor was paying him to fail.
Shawna painted our logo and shot it with some clear on both cars in about fifteen minutes. We packed up and left, thanking Gene for all his business. He had given me another two sets of the truck blueprints. I wanted to start working on those frames and sheet metal as soon as we were caught up on back orders.
Tom and Al said they had been busy going back over every item their people had produced to make sure that it was perfect. They had several shipments to get out and they were a little apprehensive about it. They were confident the work they were shipping was as perfect as they could make it.
I was happy they took the extra time to triple check. Our customers were going to be surprised at our quality. That was the idea. I congratulated them on such fine work ethic.
Abe said his group was producing equipment faster than our existing orders were coming in. I told him that as soon as his men were in the field and our road salesmen were out selling, any overstock he thought we might have would be gone. He said it was really nice to have so many happy workers making good equipment.
Phil was working with the new customer service road technicians, teaching them how to fill out orders and what items were going to be hot. The techs were excited to know they were going to earn commission on what they sold and that they could sell anything we carried, anything. Phil said that Abe had their trucks being delivered tomorrow so we could fit them with the tools they needed. The Snap-On guy wanted to know if we wanted to buy stock in his company.
The road techs should be available starting Thursday, unless they wanted to wait till Monday to begin traveling to warranty customers.
Tiny was outfitting all of the road people with laptops so they could send and receive emails plus send in activity reports. This way we can track new orders coming as a result of their visits. Tiny also had made sure the guys had access to faxes everywhere they would stay so they could fax orders and warranty claims. A girl was being trained to handle nothing but warranty paperwork so it could be processed quickly and billed to the appropriate company.
Ruth had a stack of policies on her desk with the insurance lady hovering over her, explaining the policy.
I wish we had the auditorium I was thinking of so all of the employees could hear this at once. I asked the insurance lady if she could give the same talk to Tiny, Phil, Judy, Abe, Shawna, and Debbie so they could relay the information to their people. She paused, probably thinking how much money she was making from us, then said she would love to. Ruth said she would set it up when they were done.
Sue said she would like to hear this too when I called her, so she was on her way.
I checked that the air was on in the big office, as it had the big table from the old conference room to use until the room was busted up. I told Ruth to use that room and that Sue was on her way.
Downstairs, Debbie looked frazzled. She said she had ordered equipment twice already today and was getting close to a third order. When I looked over the orders, they were all from teams that we had not dealt with before. There were Busch teams and some non-NASCAR teams that were running late stock models on their local tracks. There was even an order for a sprint open wheeled frame. There was not a price on the purchase order, just the wording, "Please make it fair."
I called the company that ordered the frame to tell him we did not have any prints or specs for what he wanted. If he could supply the appropriate guidelines, we would be happy to fill his order. I told him we were a little back logged on orders and were running probably three-week delivery at the earliest.
The guy laughed, "That's fast service. If you can't build your own frame, the usual wait time is three months. Just make it as good as those NASCAR guys say you do and I'll be happy when it gets here. Do you know how much it will be?"
"Not a clue till I see a print and figure out what materials are needed and how long it will take to manufacture it. I should have an estimate as soon as I receive the prints and specs."
"I'll get them out FedEx today. You should have them in the morning. Let me know, and thanks for building one for me."
I wonder how many guys I could have working. The way the orders keep coming in it could be double what we have now and still may not be enough. I think I'm going to let things stay the way they are and build some myself to keep my touch.
Tom came in to say that there was a truck delivering so much material he didn't know where to put it all.
The materials for the additional rack were on this load so we separated that part of the shipment and set it where the rack would go. We then separated the stainless tubing into individual sets and finished up doing the same for the standard steel.
We had the truck unloaded but we had materials everywhere. I had them all help make the rack and get it set so we could store the stainless equipment then we stored all but the last six sets of standard steel.
I gave the guys direction so we could get straightened up. "Finish up the jobs you are doing then everyone work together on the six sets of material. With all of you working together, you should finish really fast and have some of the nicest work you've ever done. Tomorrow I'll show you the differences when working with eighteen percent stainless."
With Tom taken care of, I checked on Al, Dan, and Drew. They were ready to cut as fast as they could. Working together, they said they could cut three to four cars an hour, but the forming took about two hours apiece. So they figured their maximum production at six to eight a day combined. Dan said he knew of a few machines that could form more than one panel at a time but he didn't know how accurate it was. I said I thought the answer was at least two more guys that could do sheet metal and could possible switch back and forth to welding as well.
Dan offered that he knew a couple of guys that had been in prison with him that were probably decent men but made a bad decision. He said if I wanted him to, he would contact his parole officer and tell them I might be interested in them. Dan thanked me again for hiring him saying if others like him came to work, he would make sure they didn't cause me anything but happiness.
I went back to the motor shop to make sure my four aces understood my concern of taking on more people. When I told them that sure, I wanted more good techs, but I wanted them to know that they needed to be sure to check the work of new folks to make sure it was as good as theirs. I pointed to the door and said it was for all of us to ask, "Is it perfect."
Sandy and Mandy asked if Carl and Kurt could come by the house after work and bring the people that they had in mind by too. They wanted me to meet them but said they thought it would be good if my first meeting would be away from the shop.
Of course it was okay but we were getting to the max of our tables ability to hold everyone. Sandy laughed saying, "You just keep bringing more and more people into your giant family. You're some kind of Pied Piper is all."
I heard Kurt say to Carl, "He can play my flute if he wants to."
Mandy said, "Watch it you little fairy, I want to keep this guy on my side. Don't be offering him something he may like."
The four friends were laughing as they were cleaning up. It was getting close to be time to go home.
Al, Drew, and Dan, were cleaning up, but Tom and his crew asked if they could work late as they would like to see how much they could get done this evening and work on the stainless tomorrow. Dan came over and said since I had bought more equipment, he and Drew could stay too, as both of them could use the overtime.
I told them, "I'll make sure you all get supper. Thanks for the extra effort. I promise to get some more help, but we're just about out of work space to put more people."
Tom said that I had an option, there was plenty of unused space between the rear of the building and the back gate. Why not build on to the end of the building to increase the workspace. He said he knew Shawna's group was going to be getting crowded with four more techs and that Abe was close to being crowded because the equipment he was working on was large. He said welding could use some of the sheet metal space for staging deliveries and that would free up possibly a place for two more welders.
Shawna came to me to ask if Hank could work some overtime as Abe still had another two sets of panels, plus all three frame racks were full. She said that Abe's group was really putting out the work, so the paint booths were really busy. She said she wanted to stay to work on the showroom car as Hank had already painted it the solid background color.
Abe was sitting in his office with a stack of equipment orders and another stack of parts orders for the equipment in progress. He said, "I guess I don't have to worry about rebuilding too many generators. Phil has given me enough orders to darn near use up all of the trade-in equipment we have out there. I'm going to need some more broken and abandoned junk to make new. My new road guys should find some used equipment while they are traveling. I told them that it was important in order to keep this shop running."
"Abe, do you think you could use more room. Say another fifty feet added on to the rear of your shop?"
Abe smiled real big and replied, "make it a sixty foot extension and I can get another six guys in here. People are going to be easy now. Good men are hearing about us and want to work here. I have at least ten apps of guys who used to work for Onan, but were laid off over the years as the repair department expanded and contracted."
"Any of them good welders or sheet metal men?" I asked.
"I'll look at their apps and let you know. Are you really thinking of building out back?"
"You bet, there will still be enough room to store used and rebuilt equipment in the open shed along the fence and for a tractor trailer to turn around. The sides are deep enough to handle two rows of equipment or vehicles even with the office additions we will have. The extra space could enhance all of our operation. If this keeps up I'm going to have to find out who owns that empty building and property next to us."
Abe said, "Who would have thought a kid going on vacation could cause all of this to happen. Let me make sure the place is cleaned up. I sure like to come into a sparkling shop."
As I was heading up front, Hank stopped me, "Steve, Sue told Debbie your old pickup is for sale, is that right?"
"I guess it is, I don't need it with the new truck I have. It's has served me well for the short time I've had it."
"Debbie and I only have the one car plus I have a bike up in Georgia that I want to go get. The truck would resolve our vehicle problem and I could use it to get my bike down here."
"Tell you what, I'll sell you the truck for what I paid for it and that's a pretty good deal. You can pay me all at once or you can make payments. Work it out with Sue, as it needs to be something separate from here okay?"
"Thanks, Steve, I have the money for it now that we have a cheap place to live and we're both working. We can use some of the money we had kept aside till we were both working and had found a place to live. We can probably just pay for it. And thanks for the overtime, I'll use the time to make you money."
I walked outside to see if the contractor was still there. I had seen him earlier with men setting forms for the foundations and slabs. He was watching three cement mixers dump concrete in the giant slab where the first new office annex was going to go.
When he saw me coming he stuck out his hand saying he was glad to see me but couldn't believe I was adding on so soon. I told him that the additions would be filled up quickly with all the new people we had been bringing on. When I told him what I wanted to do in the rear of the building, he began laughing almost hysterically.
"I didn't think that would be so funny," I said thinking that he might be making fun of me.
"It's only funny if you think about me having second thoughts about building your patio. What person in their right mind builds a patio like that in a trailer park? But then what person would put that giant manufactured home in an old trailer park, either. I gave you a real deal on all the stuff at the park because I thought you would probably go broke doing it all but as it turns out, you've given me continuous business since. You know after you build out on both sides and in the back, you don't have any more room. You'll have to buy the place next door."
With a sheepish look, "I just thought of that a few minutes ago, do you know who owns it?"
"No, but it shouldn't be too hard to find out. The building has a red tag on it meaning that it is condemned the way it sits right now so it might be cheap. You should find out, so I can retire building for you."
"Anyway, figure out how I can extend the building another sixty feet or so. I want to make sure I can still maneuver a tractor and trailer back there to load and unload, but that's my only requirement. I think we need to extend the garage the entire side where it's at and then make the same thing on the other side. We are turning equipment pretty fast. If the one side is empty, I'll make it a place for employee parking."
"I'll work it out with the architect tomorrow. It shouldn't be difficult to extend the building and make it look like it is part of the original. You need to talk to someone about some giant air conditioners though. You are cooling a lot of space now and are planning to cool even more. You should get someone like Honeywell to give you a bid."
"Thanks, I'll do that. Time for me to go home. See you tomorrow."
As I went back into the building, I looked on the other side of the main building to see a slab had already been poured over there. Everything was moving along.
At home the nightly party was winding up. I told Betty and Joan that Tom and Al were going to work late. They said they would take their hard working husbands some food. I asked them to feed about seven others as the whole crew was working late.
Sue heard the conversation as she was welcoming me home. She said that I would have to look in the office as she had moved everything around.
When you entered the office area you are instantly amazed that there were six desks sitting together fairly tight leaving a large space in front of them. There was a professional drawing or drafting table, a large table with a sewing machine, and a stand with a mannequin and a dress form on it.
"I think this will handle it for a long time. Besides Joan and Betty, I have another clerk and have hired another designer. Between Joan and the new girl we are able to produce at least one new design a day. It takes a little to draw out the patterns for the manufacturer but we will have a program for that shortly. Isn't this great? This place is humpin'."
"From a one woman home business to this in just a couple of weeks. Wonder what made the thing go wild?" I asked.
Sue took me over to a giant mirror on the wall, "Ask the guy you see right there who made a vacation into a place that is closing in on fifty employees and made it grow like a bad weed. Go ahead ask him. You'll probably have the answer of how my little company has grown bigger. You and I are some kind of good luck charm. I like it."
Outside Mandy and Sandy with Kurt and Carl were sitting in a group with two couples. They introduced me to them as the Jennings and the Parsons, Donna and Don Jennings and Robert and Roberta Parsons. The names were almost too much but I listened. Kurt and Carl said that both couples were now building some motors for the open wheel crowd but they couldn't support themselves, so were doing some work for various dealerships and shops when they had opportunity.
Mandy and Sandy said that the couples worked together in twos or fours depending on what the job needed. Kurt assured me that all four of them were excellent technicians and I would be very happy with their work.
Don spoke up, "We are a little different as we four work together exclusively. We also live together. None of us wants you to think that we kept something from you so this is our nasty little secret. Donna is my sister. Robert and Roberta are siblings. We have lived in a poly relationship for eight years and anticipate living that way for the rest of our lives. We don't advertise that we live in incest or do we encourage others to do so. It is our choice, but if we work for you, you have to accept us as we are, just a little out of step with society."
I smiled at them, "Well let's see, I started with a little crazy redhead then worked my way up to a couple of lezbo's that swing both ways. Then I hired a couple of guys that want to hit on me instead of the babes. Why not hire a group of four that do it all together. You're a great match for the group."
"I do have a requirement that is an absolute. Everyone who comes to work with us must have the attitude and encourage the attitude that we do perfect work. Everyone helps each other to make sure what ever is turned out is absolutely perfect. We are building racing engines right now that I want to be the best in the business. If you're willing to do that, I want you as part of our group. Can you do that?"
Robert answered for all of them while giving his sister Roberta a hug, "We can guarantee that you'll be proud to deliver our work. Both of our fathers were two of the best motor builders anywhere. We learned from them and we all four went to an advanced school to learn how to build racing engines. I know Kurt and Carl are two of the best and I also know Sandy and Mandy are right there with Kurt and Carl, but I think that we are four of the best around. It will be fun to compete with each other."
Sue told them, "You're hired, even if he doesn't hire you, I will. I love the way you're excited about working with us."
As the evening wore on, the six new folks were introduced with Charlie and Jim a little squeamish around Kurt and Carl. The two new couples didn't drink but did have a Diet Coke with us. Kurt and Carl didn't drink beer but liked their liquor.
The couples left, saying that they would be at the shop at eight with their tools. When they inquired if I had work ready for them right away, Kurt and Carl, along with Sandy and Mandy were laughing, saying once you get there, you won't have time to breathe. Mandy said there were two GM crates ready to build to detailed specifications just for them.
Sandy and Mandy thanked Sue for their new shed, saying it would save them the price of the storage building down the road, plus give them more time to ride.
Tiny told me the contractor had called him about the extension I wanted on the back of the building. He thought that was a great idea.
"Tiny, how about finding out who owns the place next to us. It looks to be another ten acres like ours but with a run down building. We might want to buy it and tear down the old building in anticipation of needing more space."
"Good thinking, boss, we're going to need to invest some of our income in infrastructure or pay a ton of taxes. You can't do as much business as we are and not make money. All the new manpower we have is going to cost a lot but every time we hire someone new, our orders tick up another notch. You just keep hiring and building and I'll just keep counting and making deposits. When my old company audits us, they are going to have a fit that I let you grow so fast. With most companies I would say it was bad, with you, no problem just find more people to handle the work."
Jim and Charlie wanted to ride down to pickup Shawna and hit a few bars. Sue wanted to go with them, so we dressed to ride, then took off for the shop.
Hank was cleaning up his booths while Shawna was adding some final touches to the display race car. Betty and Joan were watching Shawna do her art.
All the guys inside were beginning to clean up. They were able to finish the work they had been doing before the big shipment and had the materials we had separated already cut, bent, tacked, and welded. They only had to clean up the welds and drill the holes before the frames could be painted. I told them it was time to clean up and go home so they would be fresh for tomorrow. They agreed and immediately began straightening up the area.
Shawna said she would leave the truck here and catch a ride in with me tomorrow morning. After locking up, we all went to Big Jim's for a beer then on to the Vanishing Point. When the choice of going somewhere else came up, we elected to head home, as it had been a long day already.
Sue and I showered off the day's sweat and grime, enjoying the mess free playtime in the shower, knowing our counterparts were probably doing the same.
Now that we were relaxed, Sue and I sat out in the warm patio and had a drink together.
Sue gave me some gossip, "Shawna told me something about her cousin and her boyfriend. The boyfriend is her cousin from her dad's side. That was the reason for them to move down here. Apparently their folks found out about them and were trying to keep them apart so they just packed up and moved. They don't know whether they can legally get married or not but they're not worried about it right now. They're just enjoying being with each other. That's kind of sweet isn't it?"
"There's a lot of that going on around here isn't there, the two couples that are going to work in the motor shop and now Debbie and Hank. The company is becoming a refuse for strange people."
Sue then hit me with a surprise, "I called Ben this afternoon after Shawna told me about Debbie and Hank. I told him I was calling to find out from him what the law was here in Florida about cousins marrying. He assured me that it was legal for cousins to marry although it was not legal for siblings. When I asked him if that was why Mom and him never got married, he almost choked to death before finally saying, 'You figured it out, huh?'"
"He actually admitted it to you?"
"Yep, but he made me promise not to confront Mom about it before he had a chance to talk to her. Those two have a lot to discuss and a lot more to talk to me about. When I asked him if he was my dad, he said to talk to my mom. It's hard to believe isn't it?"
"We don't how it started or why Sue. There may be some very good reasons. The two of them have been together for a long time, so something must be good."
"Must be. Now take me to bed and let's snuggle."
A few minutes later we were cuddled under the covers, kissing each other asleep.