When I stirred Saturday morning, about five forty-five, Mercy had hold of me and was gently massaging me into a desire to fill her once again. As I awoke, she pulled me on top of her to resume where I had left off when we fell asleep. She said, "Sue said that when you two were trying for Stevie, you two did it almost once an hour for a week. You're going to be busy, Buster, until I know I'm plugged."
When I made it to the patio about six-thirty, I visited with Glenda for a little while, until Mercy came out to sit on my lap. Glenda surprised me by asking, "Mercy, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were pregnant. You have that look. Are you?"
"I don't know Glenda, I hope so. Will you be upset if I am?" Mercy asked.
"How could I be upset with you, Child? Steve and Sue are so strange about having little girls around that it was going to happen, I know you guys don't play checkers at night and I see the love between all of you. No, Mercy, I won't be upset. I'll just be a grandmother or great aunt to one more little one."
Mercy snuggled into my lap and said, "You may not have to work so hard after all."
That day, Charlie, Hank, and I went to visit with the now almost completely recovered, Bear. When we rode in, Hap greeted us with a welcoming hug. Bear was still a little tender, so we were gentler with him. It took several beers and a couple bowls of chili to tell each other everything that had been going on.
Bear made the observation, "You're becoming a regular husband, going on two kids now. You're bikes are going to get lonely with all of your responsibilities."
I responded, "Well so far, Bear, I know I'm busy with the business and all of the new people at work, but if I didn't travel so much, I'd have just as much time as ever to ride."
Hap elbowed Charlie and said, "Yeah, but both of you have lost the eye candy that used to ride with you guys. How is your little redhead?"
"She is gonna have another kid, Hap," Steve groaned. "I'm going to be an old married guy with a bunch of kids running around. Hard to believe, isn't it? Steve and I apparently screwed ourselves into becoming dads again about the same time. The women think it's great, but it's a big responsibility."
Bear slapped me on the back with his good arm and hand then said, "Damn boy, you don't mess around when you get started. Shit, kids everywhere out at that park of yours. Your caterer said you have a bigger patio now and that you have a new house too. I guess you need more space for all your kids and your harem. You still have that California magic girl out there?"
"You know we had too many people out there for supper, and with the kids now, there needs to be some space indoors as well. Sue needed a bigger office, so we built out what we wanted in some trailer shells and doubled the size of the patio. You two should come out for supper one of these evenings. Bring one, or some, of your ladies and come visit like regular folks. If you're up early or real late for you two, come by for coffee after six or so. We usually have breakfast sandwiches; you know biscuits with sausage and egg."
Bear smiled, "Speaking of eggs. Those chickens you got for us are laying eggs like crazy. My bunch of farmer wannabes has even gotten some more chickens so we can have some roosters and setting hens. They have gone to the library to find out all kinds of information on chicken farming. First thing you know, they will be out on the highway with a 'Fresh Egg' sign. They have enough chickens now that we are having chicken for dinner about once a week."
"That is really good, Bear. I'll bet you're actually proud of them."
"I am," Bear said happily. "They did shock me with the digging up of a rather large area to make a garden. Then they said the chicken manure was good for growing things. They are turning into productive citizens lately. One of my guys is going to get a trailer out there so he can settle down with one lady. Can you imagine that? You'll have to show us how to set up our own trailer park."
I chuckled at the thought of the guys that had chased the chickens around. "When you want to do that, I'll let my park manager give you some hints. He's been managing parks for a lot of years."
Charlie, Hank, and I made the rounds of Big Jim's, the Vanishing Point, and even went over to the St. Pete clubhouse bar to visit for a few minutes. When we made it back home, we were able to relax and enjoy the rest of the day with our extended family.
Ryan and Michelle, along with Ernie and Nelda, and Abe and Alice were there for supper. It always makes a nice gathering when we can all be together.
When everyone had eaten and the tables had been cleared, I went inside to get a large plat map of the trailer park property then another of our almost complete business park. Once everything was spread out in the manner I wanted it to be, I brought out some recent aerial photos of the area.
I pointed out the business park on the photos and referenced the plat map for that. Then I pointed out the park and the plat map for that property.
Tiny caught on instantly, "Is that why you have these two plat maps tilted away from each other at the bottom? Does the park ground really come back that far?"
I began pointing out locations on the plat map, "Tiny, you see what I saw when I was walking around in the back of the trailer park. The land that we rent out actually connects the two pieces of property. I have an idea of what I want to do with that land back there. I'm going to subdivide it into a bunch of home sites for those of us that just seem to need to have a house. Abe and Alice will be here, Phil and Judy here, Bob and Mandy here, and I'm sure there will be others. I will connect all of us with cart paths and roads so that it remains a private area but is connected to both the trailer park and the business park."
Tiny said, "But Steve, how are you going to make money on this? You don't ever do anything that doesn't produce income."
"Right now there won't be a visible profit, but the benefit will be enormous. Phil and Judy will be next door, Abe and Alice will be right here with us. We'll all be together. I know Abe would love to be within walking distance to the lake back there. He and Alice could walk over there and fish in the evenings if they wanted, and they could still come for supper and coffee every day. What do you think, Abe and Alice, do you think you would like to live closer?"
Alice answered for them, "You're darn right, Steve. I've been bugging Abe for months to buy another trailer before the lots on the back of the park are sold out. If he had acted earlier, we could have had the lot next to Nelda."
Phil was getting interested, "What are you going to do with the rest of the land, build yourself a house on it?"
"At first I thought to just make it into more park land for you guys to walk around on. But I think this area would make a great community sports complex. We could have a little league ballpark with several fields for the different age groups of baseball and softball. We can have several soccer fields, and a couple of fields for Pop Warner football. Then in this area we could have a senior area with outdoor shuffleboard, horseshoes, basketball courts, and some tennis courts. The homes would be on a street on the backside of the property, separated from the sports complex by this little spring fed creek and the tree line. We will build up the tree quantities so it is very dense between the two areas. This will also give us a continuous cart path from the high density housing area down the road, through the shopping center, past here, through the sports complex, and into the business park."
Tiny's dad, Charlie, said, "It would be good for the kids in the park too. There would be another place for them to play."
I added to the plan, "We could have one of those county guys that supervise the playground and have after school and summer programs."
Tiny spoke this time, in almost a question way, "I think I know where you're going with this, but you tell me the next big benefit of doing this."
Smiling, I told them the plan, "Since we have improved the property on both sides of that property, the land value is skyrocketing. If we donate that property to the county as a completed sports complex, we will have at least a two million dollar tax write-off. We may have to bust it up for deductions over two years."
"You are sneaky, Sharp. It really won't cost you anything, as you'll have S&S buy the property from the park corporation for whatever you want, then build the complex with S&S funds. Will you donate this from the original S&S Corporation, or from the new business park corporation?"
"I forgot about that, Tiny, the park and the buildings are all owned by a different corporation than the businesses. All of the businesses, except the hotel and Sue's plant, are owned by S&S, but the park, the buildings, and the hotel are in a privately held corporation. I guess you'll have to earn your money, Tiny, and figure it out. Either that, or give it to your two assistants, and find out which one comes up with the best way to handle it."
Terrell, who had become a regular with us since he had married Deanne, said, "Can you plan on extending the cart paths on the other side of the road too. The new subdivisions over there are going to have some nice homes, and if you have the cart paths in place before they go up, they won't build the outer fence so close to the right of way. You are going to need another light, cart crossing, and cross walk, down here just on the other side of the park, for the new Denny's that you're putting in there. You'll need another up here, on the other side of the new shopping center you want to build, to get to the little plaza that you're building. Behind that plaza is going to be Pony Estates, with the big golf course and possible country club. We will have to wait to know what to do there. The developer has not shared all of his plans yet."
Phil said, "I keep forgetting that our construction company is building all over the place, and that you are developing land everywhere up and down the road here. We need to expand the cart plant. Just our local sales are taking up the capacity, and my men want a selection of carts so they have inventory to sell. Since you started to repair broken ones in the cart shop, that whole business is really busy. Better expand the cart building too, Steve."
Tiny nodded his agreement, "One of my guys said the cart factory was over sixty days behind on orders, and we are also falling behind on repairs. We've run out of booths for the mechanics, so we'll have to add on to the building, both at the plant level and in the repair area. I'll get on it and get it started."
Abe said, "Damn, it feels good to have activity like this. It's like when we started. Every time I turned around there was something being built or improved. I like it."
Tiny asked, "So, how soon are you going to do all of this?"
I answered by saying, "Ben has already received zoning for the streets, cart paths, and the residential. We have permits to join the sewers and utilities to the park system. It won't be difficult at all to do the infrastructure for the residential, and the sports complex will be on a separate electrical grid because of all the lights. The county is dancing all over the place wanting to announce something, but I'm going to make them wait until the sports area is nearly done. That way, locals won't be disappointed that it isn't ready overnight."
Abe asked, "When do you think you'll open the sports complex?"
I had to consider that a second. "Probably in time for the fall baseball, softball, soccer, and football leagues. A lot depends on whether we can get enough people to build it. I want to get the houses done first though, so everyone can move in and be neighbors."
Terrell asked, "Are you going to go ahead and build that McDonald's on the other side of Denny's, and the Burger King up near the little plaza?"
"Probably, Terrell, but I don't know whether I want to be the franchise owner. I may just lease the building to one of the big owners in the area. The demographics for the two fast food places is perfect, so it shouldn't be hard to get someone to manage a joint for us," I said.
Terrell then said, "I know you don't like those restaurants, but we do need those breakfast sandwiches, and you were able to get the zoning and permitting for them so easily, that it should tell you that people like those places."
I rolled up all the plats, then sat with Sue and Mercy, and held Stevie a little. He was getting pretty squirmy and wanted to be down on the floor all the time. He could stand in my lap, but was still too unsteady to stand on the floor by himself holding onto something. He was beginning to pull himself up though, and he could scoot and crawl across the floor pretty fast.
Hanna told Sue that she had a full seamstress class that all looked like they would make it to becoming seamstresses and machine operators. Sue told Hanna to just keep training. We would build more plant if we ran out of space, as we had more offers for contract work than we could fulfill. The plants had a reputation of quality. They were fair priced, not the cheapest, but very fair. The quality though, is what made everyone want Sue's plants to produce their goods. Joan and Betty had even gone to Sue's original manufacturer, and some of the subcontractors, to teach our method of producing goods.
Sunday had Sue, Mercy, Stevie, and me visiting the big house on Bay Shore. The grandparents were back from Costa Rica to take care of local business. Ben's law firm now operated almost completely without his presence. He had several attorneys, who were working toward partnerships in the firm, doing the grunt work.
Beth had sold her condo and lived exclusively with Ben at the Bay Shore address, in Costa Rica, and on Key West. The couple was enjoying their time together, without having to explain the sibling relationship, while they were out of town.
The dinner was excellent and still served by the house staff that Ben retained here in Tampa. He was very excited about the addition I was making to the park, even though it did not affect the park corporation's profit or loss. We all felt the additional cart traffic would be good for the restaurants. Beth and Ben had an equal share of the park, as did Sue and I. The only way to get Ben off my back was to let him invest in our businesses. The income from the park was actually many times more than enough for Sue's and my life style. Other than our airplane habit, we really didn't spend money for us personally. We did have a nice Expedition for Sue and Mercy to get around in. The two still used the original Mustang convertible when they didn't have Stevie with them.
After dinner, Ben and I played pool for an hour or so, then Beth said that Merlin and Missy were coming in for a week to play at the comedy club that Ben had used Sue's money to buy. Sue almost got huffy, but Ben said, "It was a good deal, it has just been renovated and it serves as a multi-function entertainment club. You can have dancing, comedy, or even stage shows."
Ben said it was perfect for small audiences, for popular bands or singers, and the best part, it came with a great manager. He said he would introduce us soon, as the manager was dying to meet us and to beg us to build and open an adjoining steak house. The manager wanted to make the club into a supper club for some venues, so the steak house kitchen could do double duty."
Sue rolled her eyes and tried to explain to Ben, "Dad, I'm going to have another baby. I'm going to be very, very busy. If you keep this up, I'll have to hire people just to look after my personal stuff and that's what you're supposed to do. Mom, please tell him to let up. Steve and I do not need any more investments. What we need to buy is more time."
Ben promised that this would not be a burden. Sue and I hoped not. All I could think of is, now I'll have to have Tiny check out one more place. If this keeps up, he'll have to get a third or fourth accountant.
Back home, the crew was excited that Merlin and Missy were coming to town. Most of them knew the comedy club and said it was a great place to go for an evening.
Tiny said he would get with Ben so he could meet the manager and work with him.
On Monday, Terrell began initiating all of our plans in association to building out the residential street and the sports complex. He would first have to hire at least fifty men for the Denny's and the two fast food places. He would need probably another fifty to begin the residential plan.
He needed to begin the construction of the small shopping area, down the road next to the high-end housing area. A grocery chain wanted to build with us, but I felt the big Publix I wanted to build across the road, just to the north of us would be fine, and there was also a Winn-Dixie nearby. The real estate company we were going to use for property management had requests for leases already, but we were waiting to see what kind of money we could get for the space as we built it.
By Friday, there was activity at the Denny's site, the two fast food sites, and the residential street. All of our future homeowners had been working with architects to design the home they wanted. Terrell and Deanne wanted to have a house in our exclusive neighborhood so they were involved in the planning too. Sue and I were going to carry the mortgages at low or no interest. In most of their cases, they already had the money; they would just use what they got from their own property and put some with it. A condition to the property deal was that the house could only be resold to the original landowners, Sue and me. We did this so we could keep the property within our group.
Ryan and Michelle had breakfast with us on Monday, then were back for supper with us on Friday. We were all going to the magic show at the comedy club Friday evening. Merlin and Missy had brought six other magicians to entertain the audiences with them. Mercy was included in the cast to do her mind reading and illusion show. She said she was rusty and had to practice at home a lot.
The show had begun on Thursday and would run through the Sunday after next. After the opening night, the rest of the tour was sold out. The newspapers wrote up some excellent reviews, plus one of the TV anchors who attended the first show, featured it on the local television news.
The show was great. Merlin did some spectacular tricks, including an escape while under a big black sheet held by members of the audience. The other magicians had rabbits hopping on the stage, snakes slithering across it, as well as birds flying from peoples' hair. The show was really busy.
Then Mercy and Missy were on stage together. They did what was almost a vaudeville act. They both used wands to mesmerize the audience with masses of illusions. Then Mercy had Sue and I stand, then pointed her wand at her Mom. Sue and I heard Mercy's voice clearly in our heads, "Tell her my news, tell mom what we are doing."
Sue and I must have both thought "Baby," as at that instant Missy almost screamed. She ran to Mercy and hugged and hugged her. Together they began walking off stage. Just before they parted the curtain, Mercy turned and pointed her wand at the middle of the stage, and poof, Merlin appeared there, looking confused.
He saw the ladies leaving then said, "I guess I need to entertain you folks with one more trick. He held up both hands that spewed a deck of cards from each hand until they were all in the air at the same time then he clapped his hands. The cards froze in place.
He picked a couple of people from the audience to pick out a card and hold it so he couldn't see it. Then he had the other cards fall into small baskets.
He had the two audience helpers hold the card in their hands face down and draped a small black cloth over their hands holding the cards. Merlin used his fingers, like guns shooting at the scarves, and pulled the cloth from their hands. The cards were gone. Merlin pointed at two women who had low cut tops, showing ample cleavage. One was Ruth.
Merlin turned to one of the ladies and said, "You have plenty of room to hide something," Merlin produced a wand and pointed it at the lady, then raised it. The card appeared. One helper confirmed that it was the card he had chosen.
The next guy was asked what card he had chosen. As he spoke the name of the card, Merlin waved his wand and the card rose from Ruth's cleavage. The audience loved it. I guess that was a favorite trick of Merlin's troupe.
He used that trick to conclude his act, and the house lights came on. We all went home to relieve our kids' babysitters. Our house was the perfect place for all the little ones, as the babysitters would have company, safety, and the house to use for food and entertainment.
Ben and Beth had traveled home with us so they could visit with Stevie, but he was sound asleep. They said they would stay the night, so the two of them enjoyed the bar with our crew, then went off to bed.
Misty and Merlin had come home with us, as Misty wanted more information from Mercy, and she was going to make Mercy be the one to tell Merlin.
Before the evening was over, Merlin had his arm draped over my shoulder, telling me in a tipsy voice, that he was so happy his daughter was going to have a baby. He said he had always been afraid that Mercy was going to go through life without giving them a grandbaby, but Sue and I had made it possible.
Misty and Mercy were happy, and surprised that Merlin took it so well. Missy gave me a healthy kiss and said, "It's a good thing I'm beyond child bearing age, or I would beg Sue to let you give me one too."
That'll get a rise out of you.
The mini-party slowed to a stop, so I shut down the patio and locked up for the night, joining my wife and our special friend, who had become a second wife, to hold each other before we slept.
That night, as the two lay with their heads on my shoulders, Sue observed, "Mercy, your breasts are already swelling. Since mine have finally become more normal looking, you're going to catch me soon."
As Sue reached across me and caressed Mercy's swelling breasts, she said to me, "Will you enjoy having two set of big breasts to play with? Will it make up for mine not being so big anymore?"
I hugged Sue to me and kissed her, saying, "I think your breasts are beautiful. They obviously still fascinate me, the way I'm always playing with them. They are so much softer now, they make me want to kiss and play with them even more."
I hugged Mercy to me then and kissed her, "You're growing larger breasts so you can give your baby the nourishment it will need. I'm going to enjoy playing with them though before he gets here."
Mercy pulled away and looked at me, "How do you know it's a he?"
"I hadn't thought of it, but you'll have a boy I'm sure. He'll probably pop out doing tricks, levitating, and talking to us in our minds."
Mercy kissed me back and snuggled into me, "I wondered whether you would pick up on whether it was a boy or not. You felt it on your own."
The day caught up with us and we drifted off to sleep.
Saturday morning began like so many did since the patio group had been established. We were having an extended coffee and breakfast gathering, munching on pastries and making plans for the rest of the day.
Tim had come by to visit with Bob and Mandy this morning, and came over to me to talk about an idea he had.
"Steve, you've always been good about training people to perform better than most of their industry counterparts. One of the things I've seen while doing service work has been that I'm constantly fixing and cleaning up what another tradesman has screwed up. I keep wondering how I, or you, or we, could fix that. The only way I can think to do that is to have an educational program that teaches not only how to be a welder, in my case, but how to be a good welder and to instill that work ethic in them."
Tim was becoming animated, "There is a lot of unused land in the park that we could build a school on. This would be a trade school first for welders and then if you wanted, we could add other trades like electricians, plumbers, cabinetmakers, possibly machinists, too. Since computers are becoming so important, we could even have computer classes. I think this could be a great business, and with our reputation, I think our classes would be full all of the time."
Tiny was listening in on the conversation, "Steve, that's a great idea. You could offer scholarships to high school kids that don't want to go to college, and to some underprivileged kids that are having a hard time finding work."
"Tim and Tiny, the idea is a good one. You two should get together and visit the other trade schools in the area to see what kind of space requirement you would need. We would also need someone as the head educator that knows how to run a school. If we built in the back, next to Sue's plant, we could use her cafeteria. That would keep us from duplicating services."
I turned back to Tim, "Great idea, Tim. That is some good thinking, perhaps you should be the lead instructor for the welding school."
Tim grinned happily, "I would like that. Since you taught me what my potential could be, I've been trying to teach the same to every new man that I get. I enjoy teaching our method of work."
Tiny had gotten a pad of paper and was jotting down notes. Since so many ideas came to us our on the patio, paper and pencils were always available.
Sue came out to me, holding Stevie, "I think your brother Henry is on the phone. He didn't say he was your brother, but said his name was Henry Sharp and he wanted to talk to you."
I went inside to take the call. "This is Steve."
"Hi Steve, this is Henry, your brother, haven't talked to you in a long time."
"Hey, Henry, good to hear from you. I think the last time we talked was when I called to tell you I was married, or was it to tell you about the baby."
Henry told me, "I've talked to Susan and found out that she had gone to visit you in Florida. She said she just told you they were going to be in the area and you made them stay with you for the trip. She also said you flew up and brought them down there. I knew you were learning to fly while you were in the service, but I didn't know you finished. Renting a plane for that kind of trip can be expensive."
"Come on, Henry, you know Susan told you all about my business and that I'm doing pretty well. I've had a lot of luck, plus I've surrounded myself with people who make me even luckier."
"She did tell me all of that, Steve, but it's hard to believe that the little brother that went to a welding school then took off to Alaska can be so successful. I'm ten years as an accountant with the same firm and am still busting my butt to become a partner in the firm I work for. I guess I'm a little jealous, Steve."
"No need, Henry, you and Susan were busy with your lives when Mom died, so we never had a chance to really know each other when I was younger. You two are so much older than I am, we just were not around each other. How is your wife, Nancy, isn't it?"
"You're right, you remembered. We only have the one boy and he's a freshman in Miami of Ohio this year."
"So tell me, Henry, are you ready for a vacation. Would you like to come down to visit? My wife, Sue, and I would enjoy having you. I'm sure you would have a great time."
"We would like to come down, Steve. Nancy's job has just been downsized as the company has moved their headquarters down to Tampa. That's over eight years on the job down the drain. I have a ton of vacation time that I can use, so we both feel we need a break. If we fly in next week, can we stay with you for a day or so?"
"Henry, how about I fly up and get you? You two can stay here for a couple of days, then I'll send you over to Disney to visit for a few days. After that you can come back to this side of the state and spend a few relaxing days over at the Don Caesar hotel on the beach. It will do both of you some good. If you can, stay three weeks so there is enough time for everything."
"Susan said you would want to come get us but I don't want you to have to spend so much on us. I do make decent money even though I'm not a partner yet."
"Just call to tell me when you want to be picked up. When do you think you can start your vacation?"
I heard Henry talking to someone but I couldn't make out what he was saying. He came back to the line, "I'll call the general partner now. He was bugging me to take some of my time yesterday, trying to get me to take off during our less busy time. I think Nancy can be ready this afternoon, is that too early?"
I laughed, "Nope, not too early at all. I probably won't be able to get there until noon. I'll call you before I leave so you'll have a more specific time. Give me your address so I can have someone come by to bring you out to the airport."
When I got off the phone, I asked Sue if this would be okay. She just smiled and said, "Since it is just the two of them, we have plenty of room. The way Mom and Dad are acting, they will probably stay a day or two here. Missy is going to want to be with Mercy as much as possible, so I think we will have them here too. One more couple should be fun. Do you want me to go get them?"
"I'll do it. Let me ask to see if anyone wants to fly up with me." Nelda said she would love to, but was going shopping with Glenda and Alice. The surprise was Abe; he wanted to come with me as he had never flown in a small plane. I promised him we would go up in the 172 soon, as that was fun flying. The 200 was more like a commercial airliner even though it was smaller.
Sue and Mercy fixed some sandwiches and a thermos of coffee while I made up a flight plan and called it in. While Abe and I were on the way to the airport, Sue had called a limo service for Henry and Nancy. I called Henry to tell him the limo would pick him up at ten-thirty and we would meet by eleven.
By the time I was at the Aero Park, the attendant had the plane at the ops building. He said he had done a preflight and had fired the turbines once already. He said he had shut it back down, as he knew I liked to do my own preflights.
Abe and I were wheels up at eight thirty-five, climbing to twenty-six thousand feet. The weather was beautiful all the way, with just a little headwind. We pulled up to the private plane terminal in Cincinnati at ten-forty-five.
The fuel tanker was pulling away from the plane when the limo came on to the tarmac and parked next to the plane with the S&S logo. Henry was first to get out of the car and shook my hand, then he held his hand out and Nancy got out.
The last time I had seen Nancy she was pretty big girl, but now she was a really big girl. She climbed out to surprise me as she gave me a great big hug and kiss on the cheek, saying how happy she was to see me again and how sweet it was that I would come to get them.
Nancy was a real blonde, a real big real blonde. I had forgotten that Nancy was tall, almost five eleven, actually an inch taller than Henry. Combine that with the fact she probably was near two seventy-five and you have one big woman. She had on a nice dress that gave a decent view of some bulging cleavage. Nancy was going to enjoy meeting Sue.
I introduced them to Abe telling them he was a partner in my business. Before they got on the plane, Nancy said, "Why does your plane have 'Biggirlsclothes.com' on it?"
"Sue, my wife, created Biggirlsclothes.com. It's one of her companies."
Nancy put her arms out, displaying herself and said, "This dress is from there, as are most of my good clothes. I just love the clothes they have. Whoever designs them knows how to make a big girl like me look and feel sexy. That's how I keep Henry's interest."
"You've always had my interest, Nancy, the clothes just makes me want to take them off you is all," Henry exclaimed, and blushed at his outburst.
I loaded their luggage then got them seated giving them the safety talks as I got them buckled up. I did the preflight, then the inside stuff after shutting the door.
"Want to hear the chatter while we take off?" I asked them.
Henry and Nancy both nodded their heads, so I put the radio over the speakers and fired up. A ground attendant used wands to direct me to the taxi area then the ground controller in the tower sent us toward the active runway.
Soon, we were cued up behind a 767, leading a parade of small private planes. Once the 767 began his roll, the controller had me take the active, and as soon as the big plane was off the ground, he gave me permission to take off.
We were wheels up at twelve fifteen, this time climbing only to twenty-one thousand. We had a hell of a tailwind on the way home and were touching down at two PM sharp. I taxied up to the ops building and parked so the attendant would have an easy pull back to the fuel docks and hangar. It was also the easiest way to unload luggage right at the gate.
I called home to tell Sue that we were down and should be home in about fifteen minutes. I told her to see if Betty and Joan would want to come over to meet one of their customers, as Henry's wife shopped her catalogue all the time. Sue thought that would be a great idea.
As we pulled into the park, Henry said, "Susan told me you lived in a trailer park. She said I would be surprised at what I saw, though."
I parked on the side of the house with the front door and took them into the house that way. Sue and Mercy met us, with little Stevie being held by Mercy. Nancy stopped and starred at Sue, "You're the girl on the catalogue cover and on the website. You're little, you lost weight, even after you had a baby?"
Sue smiled and said, "I'll tell you all about it later. We'll have lots of time to visit. Come out to the patio and let me introduce you to some of our friends."
While Sue was doing the introductions, Abe and I brought in the luggage. I admonished Abe, telling him he wasn't supposed to be carrying heavy stuff around. He said he was getting soft in his old age as no one would let him do anything physical anymore. I told him that both of us probably needed a few days in the shop to get our attitudes right.
Nancy was having the time of her life meeting Sue, Betty, Joan, and Hanna. Henry was just standing at the bar staring at how big the place was. When I came up to him he said, "You live here? This isn't a trailer park, this is a mansion on wheels."
I fixed him a drink about the time Tiny came through the door. It was time for the Busch races, so he was there pouring himself a beer, then was introduced to Henry. He motioned Henry over to a couple of recliners and they sat down to watch the races.
Sue came over and said, "You should get Charlie and run down to see Hap. Hap called and said he would really like for you to come visit for a few minutes. You need to ride a little anyway." She gave me a kiss as I walked out of the patio to go see if Charlie wanted to ride.
Silly question, Charlie gave CJ and Shawna a kiss and was out the door. We roared down to the clubhouse to encounter a very large get together going on. All of Bear's people were there, along with the entire St. Pete bunch. The surprise was the fifty or so men from down in Miami. As soon as Hap saw us he began introducing Charlie and me to the Miami people. He came down to the guy wearing the prez insignia on the front of his vest and said, "Do you remember this guy? You really didn't meet him, but you know him."
When I looked at him quizzically he held out his hand and simply said, "Snake."
"Ah, the man with the bike. Thank you for trading it in that day. It's given me a lot of pleasure."
He looked at me, "You still have it?"
"Sure, I just rode it over here," I said.
Before I could say anything else, Hap said, "Come and look at it. You're not going to believe it's the same bike."
We all went to look at the shovel. Snake loved the paint job and the way it had been restored and tricked out. "The only thing I recognize on the bike is the head and the forks. The gouge on the turning head was there when I bought the bike. You did a righteous job on the bike. Even better, you ride it. How come you're not part of Hap's group?"
Hap answered for me, "He's just a fucking independent. I've done everything but have his dick sucked, but he's happy to be who he is."
"He's the one that caught the asshole last year, huh. Is he the one that helped Bear out when the cops busted up that group trying to muscle in?"
Bear said, "The same. The fucker keeps saving my ass and helping me out when I need it. He may not wear the patch, but he is a brother."
Snake smacked me on the back, "Come down and visit. You're welcome at our place the same as here. We have better chili though."
That got Hap going on and on at how great his cook's chili was. Today, in addition to chili, they had ribs, chicken, and hamburgers. Charlie and I ate and drank some beer.
When I got Hap alone for a second, I asked, "What did you need me for, Hap? Something I can do for you?"
"Naw, I just wanted you to come over today to meet Snake and to be here with all of my brothers. I always like having you around, Steve. Makes me feel good, makes me feel safe when you're around. Don't tell anybody that, but it does."
After a while, Charlie and I decided we should get back home so we took off. We arrived in time for more ribs and chicken already cooking on the grill.
Henry and Tiny were tending the cooking. Henry kept saying there was no way there would be that many people come to eat that much food. Tiny just kept saying, we're big eaters.
Nancy and the girls were absent. I found out they had taken a trip over to the new plant to see if they could find some more clothes for Nancy in the plant store.
Tiny got me off to the side and said, "You know your brother is an accountant, right?"
"Sure, Tiny. I was there when he finished his CPA exam."
"I know the firm he works for. They are notorious for using a guy up, then, when he should be moving into a partnership, they just dump him saying they don't think he'll work out. I'll bet your brother is being set up for it right now. He even told me that he knows his firm isn't all that nice, but he's been figuring that he might be immune to their non-partnership strategy."
"What are you thinking, Tiny?" I asked pouring myself a beer.
"Get him to come down here and work for the company. I need a lead guy right now with some experience. We have three young guys that are doing great, but it's going to be a couple of years before they have the business experience that your brother does."
"What makes you think he might come down here?" I said.
"If you ask him, he'll come. After supper, let's take him down to the shop and show him around. Anyone who sees that place when it's all cleaned up has to be impressed. Tomorrow, we'll show him the park, then you mention that I need help and ask him he if would enjoy working down here. I'll bet he jumps at it, especially since his wife is out of work."
"Okay, Tiny, I'll do it, but you better find out from your dad if there is a place for Henry to rent until he can find a place for himself."
"I'll do that, but I'll also bet that as soon as he sees how much fun we have here, he'll want to be a part of it."
All of our crew must have smelled the ribs, as people began pouring in. Tim was back to talk some more about his school idea, Abe and Alice were here for the camaraderie. As large as the patio is now, the place was packed.
Henry loved all of the people and was made over by Nelda since he was my brother. By the time we had finished supper, Henry and Nancy felt as if they were part of the crew. When Tiny announced he was going to take Henry down to the shop to show him around, half the people wanted to go too, so they could show off their areas of the shop.
Nancy and Henry were given the grand tour. We went through the impressive showroom, then looked into Debbie's and my office to show Henry that we had monitors of all the areas that we didn't have a direct view of.
Shawna showed off her shop, with Sandy and Mandy showing Henry a motor they were working on. Shawna had an almost completed bike up on a lift, making it easy to show off her work.
Next was the sheet metal area, then the welding area. Since the body shop was now down the street in the old golf cart building, I said we would stop by there later. The welding area showed several different types of frames that were ready to ship, and in some cases, on the paint rack.
Abe gave a tour of his shop explaining that the rebuilt generators were the beginning of everything we had now. We walked across the lot, amidst trucks with huge lifts on them, waiting their turn to be rebuilt. When Henry saw the size of the super lifts, he couldn't believe that we could actually work on them. We showed Henry the fiberglass shop, and explained that we had another shop like this out at the park.
Before we went down the street, I pointed out to Henry that the big two-building plant across the street was Sue's first and second plants. He asked why it was all lit up.
"Easy, Henry, this entire plant is working three shifts. The extra shifts are an all-volunteer work force, and hardly any of the people are pulling double. Only those that want to, or need to, work two shifts. A lot of people are working a shift and half for the money but for the most part most everyone works only one shift."
Henry was impressed with our utility body manufacturing plant down the street. He looked them over thoroughly, as all men love utility bodies, especially ones so intricate with drawers and doors everywhere. I explained that we were producing bodies specific to each different trade. Henry commented that all of our facilities were so clean and that the white floors all had our logo on them. He also commented on the 'Is it perfect' signs over all the doors, saying it was admirable that we tried to keep up our quality.
Tom who was with us said, "Try? No, Henry, we don't try. Nothing goes out our doors without it being perfect. There is no other way for us. It's either perfect or we don't ship it."
Back at the house, Henry began getting the story of how I had started the business and the progression to where we were today. He and Nancy were sitting together on a sofa when he said, "Susan said I would never believe all of this, and she's right. I've seen proof that whoever S&S is, they're doing really well."
Sandy pointed at Sue and me then announced, "Sue and Steve, or Steve and Sue, is the S&S. This is the greatest company ever to work for. Do you know that Steve has given his employees a big part of his company? He's given nearly half of it away. Every employee has a 401K that owns forty percent of S&S. The profits from the company are making the plan rich. What we don't have in the equity fund is in a Fidelity plan. I think all of us original employees are going to be making as much from our plan as we do from our wages."
Nancy said, "Well, I'm unemployed. How about I stay down here and go to work for Sue or you?"
Sue answered her, "That would be nice, Nancy, but Henry would get lonely don't you think?"
The kicker came when Nancy said, "Henry should dump those skinflints he's working for. He's never going to be a partner and he'll probably end up like some of our past friends. Just about the time they can't put off making him a partner, they will find something to let him go for. Henry will just have to come down here too."
"Take it easy, Nancy, we have a home up there. You'll find another job," Henry said.
Nancy said, I think we should sell the house, we should sell it while we can get some money out of it. Our neighborhood is going down the sewer fast."
Tiny looked at me and raised his eyebrows. I nodded back at him, knowing he had probably been right. I wondered whether Susan and Kevin would want to come down too.
Merlin and Missy came back from the theater with Ben and Beth. They had been having a great time during the show and obviously afterward. Both couples were a little tipsy. It was a good thing they had taken a limo into town and then back home.
The four newcomers were happy to meet a relative of mine. When Merlin said he had met Susan and her family, but had not heard much of Henry and family, Henry said, "Steve was very young when I went off to college. We never were close, or at least I never did give us a chance to be close. When our parents died, we lost the catalyst that could have kept us close. It's my fault and I've regretted it, as even Susan and I are not that close either."
Missy smiled at him and said, "That's not what you want now, is it? Isn't it just amazing how warm and friendly it is here." Missy said this while waving her arms around the room.
Ben, in his always wanting to impress someone way, said, "Well, you lucked out, Henry, you have a very prosperous and generous brother. You should hit him up for a job."
Beth punched him, but Ben as usual was oblivious to the admonishment.
The Saturday night party wound down as we all cleaned up to get ready for going to bed.
When it was just Sue, Mercy, and me sitting on the patio, having some juice for them and a drink for me, Mercy said, "You know you're going to have them here very soon. Henry wants to ask you about moving down, and Nancy already has. You need to call Susan too. I think her family is ready to come down here too. Kevin isn't happy where he's at, their kids just love it here, and Susan just loves Sue to death."
"Mercy, you see so much that I don't. That's why you have to stay with us. You help me learn things, even about my own siblings, that I can't see."
Sue said, "Your other wife isn't going anywhere. That little critter in her tummy bonds her to us forever. Get used to it, Steve, you have two of us."
The two of them became emotional enough that I was dragged off to bed to be shown how attached to each other we were.