I really didn't want to get up when morning came, but I could hear the little ones wanting to play. Maggie and Kate were up, so I got up to help. Juanita had gone to bed earlier too and got up with me. As soon as I knew the kids were being taken care of, I laid back down between Sue and Mercy.
We woke up about nine-thirty and had breakfast with Dewey and Sheila. Little Dewey had stayed with us, so he was up early with our kids, having a good time.
Mike, Chanda, Lucille, and Margaret had skipped the wild gambling we had gotten into and were awed by the amounts of money that we had won. Chanda said she was afraid of gambling as she had a brother who was addicted and if he were left alone, he would run through all of her Dad's money. She said even her Dad had a gambling habit. Sue told them that we didn't usually wager the kind of money we had, but since we had kept winning, we ended up playing some high stakes tables.
Dewey didn't help when he said, "When Steve puts money down in a casino, it isn't really gambling. I've watched him so many times, and so far he's always a winner. Never as big as this time, but he's always a winner.
Chanda said, "Don't ever let my brother hear that or he'll want to follow you around like a puppy."
We planned on the girls visiting some of the exclusive shops here, then heading back to the boat. Dewey said he had a board meeting in Paris, so he would be leaving today as well. I told Dewey our schedule and that we were going to sail directly to England. It was agreed to by all that we would pass on going to the Spanish Riviera in order to save a couple of days. We had reservations at Brighton and travel up to London from there, and then we were going to sail to Dublin to meet Chanda's family. Mike had made arrangements for us to dock at the family yacht club there.
Dewey said that we would probably have to catch up with each other back home as he was on a tight schedule for the rest of his trip in Europe. The girls all hugged and kissed, then our two groups separated. Ed took the girls to the plazas to shop and Mike and I stayed at the hotel to watch and play with the kids.
When the women all returned, we had an afternoon meal and headed for the boats. Once at the yacht club, we parted with Ed who was going to fly back to Italy. Mike asked when we wanted to leave and Mercy answered for me. "How about as soon as we can get the engines running? We'll check the boat out, then talk to you guys before we shove off. You all can travel a lot faster than we can, so you can stay here an extra day while we head out. You'll still pass us in a day or so."
Chanda said, "I was thinking it would be nice to travel with you again. Cory and Corinne love to play with your kids so much. Do you think you could take us with you again? My crew will follow along or they can go ahead and go straight to Dublin."
I looked at Sue and she smiled, then said, "Let's get some clothes for your family as we will be almost a week getting to England."
The girls made a couple of trips between boats for clothes and food. I ordered and received a bunch of fresh vegetables from the green grocer who services the yachts. When I went to pay my bill, Mike had already taken care of it for us. He wouldn't take any money for it either. I told him that we needed to pay our way, but he just brushed it off.
Around three, I called Tiny to find out what he had going.
"Steve, I think we can be involved in some oil well wildcatting in Mexico. It may or may not be a good investment for you, but I think we can control some of our destiny doing this. Exxon has a geology team working there identifying drilling locations. Ben and I started an investment group a while ago that has been used to buy land, including mineral rights to drill on. So far we're running at around seventy percent of locations that have come in. The geologists think the other thirty percent should come in too, but will have to go deeper. To date we have been able to sell the drilled and capped wells for about thirty times the cost of purchase and drilling."
"Tiny, if you've done that well, why do you need new money? If you and Ben have sold your product for thirty times investment you should be rolling in money."
"Well, we are, sort of, but at this minute we need an additional thirty million to complete a drilling area that is already producing from six wells."
"How much do you, Ben, and the 401K have out in this right now?" I asked, concerned.
"At this minute all of the investors, including a good chunk of money of yours through Ben, all together have right at a hundred and seventy million into this. The additional will make the total right at two hundred million."
"Man, Tiny, this sounds risky as hell. I'm not happy to hear that you have so much in one pot. How much of a percentage of the 401K do you have in this thing?"
"We are at the max of the original agreed upon twenty-five percent for high risk. Ben said you and Sue are in to the max of your high risk limit. The rest of us have copied you and have invested that same percentage."
"So, Tiny, where do I get the thirty million to do this?"
"Okay, for one thing I know you just won a shit load of money in Monte Carlo. I almost wish I could send you back to the casino to get some more. The way they were talking, they didn't want to see you again very soon though. Two, I've recently transferred over twenty-five million into your and Sue's joint account. These are profits that are company excess that I have to get out of our ledgers. Three, you just received some royalty checks from some of your licensing agreements for about five million. Four, Ben says you and Sue are so cash rich right now, that he needs to put some heavy money somewhere for tax purposes. I figure you and Sue for about seventy-five to eighty million excess right now. If you were to put another thirty into this, I feel the success of it would be guaranteed."
"Where did all that money come from? Jesus, Tiny. You're throwing around big numbers like loose change."
"You have over a hundred successful franchises, dealerships, and distributorships all over the globe. All of them are in the black and anticipating good future returns. You also have three separate charter companies that are jointly owned by you and the rest of us. Steve, you have money, lots of it."
"I thought I was donating enough in Tampa to offset all this."
"That would be true, Steve, if you would quit growing. You just opened Canada and it looks like you're going to end up with about seven distributorships, a cart manufacturing facility, and two major rebuilding plants up there. We've had some inquiries from Europe for rebuilding facilities, and even for our new police cart. If you had quit growing a couple of years ago, your donation schedule would be perfect, but now it is about a tenth of what you would need to offset taxes."
"Okay, Tiny, try to protect the money going into this deal and see if you can wean the investment capital out of it and use only what we've made, you know, the profits. Since these profits are all out of country, we won't owe U.S. taxes, but we will owe Mexico a bunch. Use what you need, but leave a couple of hundred grand for me to live on and raise my kids."
I was in a state of shock to hear about all this money. "Tiny, I'm glad you're who you are. You are amazing, and if I didn't know you better I'd think you were printing money somewhere. Thanks for watching out for us. All of us."
"Ah hell, Steve, I do this for you and everyone while I do it for myself. You've made me so much, that now I just play with the money instead of thinking of it as investments. Let me go play with the Mexicans and see what we can do."
"Tiny, that is one of the things that I've been worried about. I have this feeling about the future of the economy. If you've noticed the price of oil is beginning to go up to the point where people are worried. If oil gets too high, it's going to play havoc with world commerce. I'm not smart about a lot, but we have a lot of people working and if the economy tanks, we are talking about several thousand of our people that could lose their jobs. I want to find some guaranteed, recession proof business that we can put people into. I want to prepare our investments to possibly trade commodities instead of stocks. Help me think on this and get all of the guys to do some brainstorming. If the economy shuts down, how do we keep our people working? We need to find products to make, to fix, to rebuild, anything that is recession proof. Let's even work on converting our currency into something hard, fixed, maybe even gold."
"You're serious about this, aren't you? Do you think this terrorism thing is going to do that?"
"It's the terrorism, the idiots that think the world is going to boil, the greedy people who sell the oil, the dumb investors that run some big financial corporations, all of it. I think it will come to a head one of these days and I'd like to be ahead of the game by a couple of years, not a couple of months."
Tiny sighed, "I'll work on it. You've given me something to think about. I'll bet Henry has some ideas about this as well. I'll get Ben and Henry together and we'll brainstorm a little."
"Good, go make lots more money for everyone. I'll talk to you from England or Ireland."
By five we were ready to leave, so the girls did the lines while I eased away from the dock. Mike's and Chanda's big motor yacht was going to begin following us when they were finished stocking the boat. It didn't take an exceptionally long time to get out far enough to raise our sails, but we did have to navigate around several small islands on the way to Gibraltar.
The trip was fun, with the many women having some day time sunbathing sessions and a few late night hot tub parties. I didn't feel right about leaving the helm completely, so I napped while one of the girls guided the boat.
Five days later, we were in Brighton. It was cold, damn cold. It's a good thing we had good heat, as it was almost too cold to man the boat from outside. We did find out that the inside helm was pretty nice and that we stayed a lot warmer inside.
The two families took a train to London and stayed two days, going to several of the attractions. We did see the palace and even saw the queen. While in London, I did meet with several dealers that were in the area. I did pitch them on purchasing our welding equipment, but I didn't get any great response.
It took us less than a day to go back around the southern tip of England and to get to Dublin. As soon as we docked, Chanda's father came aboard to see his daughter and her twins. The man marveled at our boat, saying he wished he had a sailboat as it was such a gentle way to travel.
We were all invited to stay at his home outside the city. Chanda and Mike insisted that we join them. The girls packed up some clothes and we were transported to a junior Irish castle that Chanda had grown up in. The place was huge, making my concerns for enough space unjustified.
That evening, Mac, short for Mackenzie, Chanda's father, and I had a long discussion. When he found out I was the owner of S&S Enterprises, he said, "I'm very glad to meet the originator of the "Perfect" theme for all your buildings. I saw an article about your business a couple of years ago, and I have a man who had some training in your main location. He raves about how everyone is in a good mood all the time because they are constantly trying to do their best. He says it carries over to their personal lives."
"Where did the man work that he had training at the company?" I asked, curious to see whom we had lost along the way.
Mac answered, "He worked in Jacksonville when he was sent to Tampa for training. He came over here, following a young lady he was crazy about. He's since married her and is employed with my company. He talks about S&S all the time."
"That's nice to hear," I smiled. "I think most everyone, in all of our locations, have taken it to heart. They really do wish to produce as good a product as possible. I think it's because of this we have been successful so far."
"While you're here, I'd like you to take a look at a couple of things, then make arrangements for a European sales representative to visit me. My business is strictly handling shipping and receiving within Great Britain's ports. Your company sells some of the giant lifts necessary to move the big containers around. We need more of them, and I need to set up a repair shop somewhere that can maintain them. I've heard you do that in the States, but it wouldn't be feasible to ship ours back there. We need something local. Now, if you were to open a shop here to do that sort of thing, I'm sure I could help you find the space, the manpower, and the customers to make it a success."
I was stunned, "You know, Mac, I've never considered having a shop similar to what we have at home, overseas. That is a decent idea and I'll have to take it up with some of my key people to see what they think. Do you think that a location in Great Britain would be able to serve France, and possibly Germany and Spain?"
"Now you're talking. A location here would be easiest for you because of the language thing. I'd bet you could draw business from all over Europe. Most of the trade done between the countries is done either by train or barge. If you were repairing big lifts here, most would probably come to you by barge. Even from London, they ship large items by barge to Dublin. It's about as fast, and it's cheaper, as a barge can take several large items at a time. A truck can only take a single lift without any other freight."
"We would need a location near a port or we would have to build a dock to support a large crane to lift the big lifts on and off a barge." I thought for a minute then said, "A waterfront location would be good, but I'm sure one of those might be difficult to come by."
Mac sat back in chair, "I have just the place. We are moving one of our factories away from the waterfront because it is too difficult for a lot of the office workers to reach. There will soon be better public transportation to the building, but right now there isn't. Let's take a look at the building tomorrow to see if it would work for an operation of yours."
"Sounds good, Mac. We'll do it."
The next day, while the ladies toured all of the shops in Dublin, Mac and I went down to the waterfront area to see his building. The building was an old converted World War II plant building. The steel structure with windows on all of the high sides was in remarkable shape. There were even some old blackout window panes still up on the walls. It looked to be a little larger than the huge building we had bought next to our original building. As I walked through the plant, I could see mostly happy employees working in clean workspaces. I thought about what it would take to completely clean the building from top to bottom, then to paint everything, including the floor. It would be expensive, but would brighten the building tremendously.
Outside, the building had covered areas that housed completed product and materials waiting to be used in manufacturing. The dock area was quite expansive, with two very large cranes. One crane was unloading a barge that was tied up at the dock, while the other crane was loading a container ship. Mac explained that he made a little extra by providing loading and unloading facilities for other businesses in the area. He said the money he made from providing these services paid for a good chunk of his operating costs.
There was a good amount of property surrounding the building that could be used for future expansion if it were needed.
Mac and I went back to his Irish castle and were sitting in his garden sunroom. It gave the feeling of being outdoors, without the cold wind that was blowing outside.
"What would I have to do to buy property here, Mac?"
"I didn't propose for you to buy the property, but to lease it, Steve. Would you really want to buy it?"
I nodded, "If I buy the property, I would be committing to be successful. If I only leased it, I would be giving myself an excuse to fail and quit. How about if we have two or three independent appraisers figure on what the building is worth and we'll deal from that point forward."
Mac smiled, "That's very fair, Steve, and I have two appraisals now. How about you getting one more to confirm these and we'll deal."
"When are you moving your operations to the new site, Mac? Is it imminent or long range?"
"We'll be moving in March. The building will be available to modify after April first. Do you have an estimate of how much time it takes to get a building ready for you to work out of?"
"I do, Mac, it usually takes a minimum of a month to completely clean the building from top to bottom, paint it, and partition the building for multiple uses. Your office area is about right, but I might open up some of it for cubicles and modify the walls to be windows, so people can be seen in the offices, and the people within the offices can observe the floor. I like the upstairs offices as they do have observation windows now, but I'd like them to be even larger. One of the things I like to do with a work area is to have it painted white. Floor, walls, ceiling, everything painted white, so it can be cleaned up to look new every day. It's my way to help the workers feel good about where they work. If they start their day in a clean environment, they will make every effort to do better work. It's an attitude thing."
"Would you put signs up like you do in the States?"
"Of course, and we would have "Is it perfect" signs over every door.
"The motto has to be an attitude and a desired procedure for it to be effective. It takes men a little time to buy into the way to work, but when they do, the sky is the limit."
Mac handed me a fresh drink, "I'm going to learn a lot from you, Steve. I've been doing this for a lot of years, but I'm going to learn how to become a real leader in my industry."
"Mac, I'm going to need some good lawyers, I think you call them solicitors. I'm going to need some accountants, and of course, I'm going to need mechanics. I will need the absolute best available. I don't want to hire them to begin here. I want to hire them and send them to our facility in Florida to learn how we do it. The main location produces more rebuilt super lifts than anywhere in the world. I want the Dublin facility to rival the Florida one."
"I think I can do a good business here with some of our carts. We have several that can be used for transportation in traffic, and I'd bet they would be popular here. I'll import a few models and see how they are accepted. We'll put the steering on the right to make it comfortable here and see how we do. I know we get about fifty miles to the gallon with our three-wheeled police vehicle, so it should be popular here.
"My design group has been working on a forklift with fewer moving parts for warehouse work. We have developed some of our own hydraulics now, so we may be able to build a lift without having to license patents from half a dozen different companies. If that gets on the ground, we can begin building them here too, and market them throughout Europe."
"Steve, have you put this all together mentally since we talked last night?"
"I've had to think this way when we've opened up other markets as well, Mac. Canada is still developing, and we had to react quickly there to get our foot in the door and to maintain a customer base. The company is sort of used to making things happen fast."
"I'm afraid I'm a little more methodical than that. I have to study things a long while before I make the first move. It seems you just dive right in."
"I guess I do, Sir. I have some strong people to rely upon who can put things together with me and for me. All I have to do is to come up with the idea and give it a push. They make it happen the way I envision it."
"As a matter of fact, I need to call my key man and get his opinion of all of this. He may wish with some others to come see it in order to figure on what's to be done."
I left Mac in his garden room and went upstairs to the room we had been given. I checked the cell phone to see if I had a signal and found it to be strong.
"Hey, Tiny, want to begin an operation in Dublin?"
"What kind, Steve?"
"To start with, a super lift sales and rebuild plant. I think we could build carts here too, and perhaps the new forklifts we are designing."
"What brought this on, Steve?"
"The lady of the couple we met in Italy has a father who is a manufacturer here in Dublin. He is an extremely good businessman and from what I've been able to find out, a good manufacturer. His company builds military products and has since World War II. He's well thought of throughout Great Britain."
I had paused a second. "Anyway, he has a building that he is giving up near the waterfront. This would be important to marketing our rebuild shop here in Europe. Most of our clients would be on the water and we could have most of our shipping done by barge. It seems to be the way they do a lot of commerce here. Very few trucks, but some rail traffic through the new tunnel."
Tiny was laughing, "You're a quick study, Dude. You go visit someone and decide to begin an entire manufacturing facility in some foreign country. What is it going to cost?"
"I have no idea, Tiny. I need some numbers help. I'll need a number cruncher if this works out, and I'll need Abe or someone like him to start the rebuild shop here. It's going to take every bit of a month or so to clean and paint the building. There will be some minor structure stuff too, but we should be able to make this work quickly if we want it. We're going to need some legal help here too. Can you call our accounting firm to see if they have any contacts here?"
"No need, Ben has dozens of contacts over there. I'll give him a call and have him call you. Like I told you the other day, we need some investments, but not necessarily foreign investments. This isn't going to take that much to get going and if it pans out, it should be self supporting quickly. I'll get on it, though."
"Ah, Steve, the Mexican oil deal is coming around. Two more wells have come through. We struck enough oil that Exxon has made an initial offer for all our holdings at about twenty-eight times investment. That includes your new investment. Without your money we wouldn't have finished drilling those wells without selling some of the other assets. I think I want to sell it all out right now and let Exxon deal with the Mexican government. I don't think they'll do it, but they're acting more and more like Venezuela every day. We could lose our investment due to the government nationalizing the oil companies."
"Will everyone make out on this, Tiny?"
"You didn't hear me, did you? I said we were offered twenty-eight times investment. Hmmm, your thirty mil you just invested is going to be worth eight hundred and forty million. All the rest of the group of investors, which includes you again, through Ben, has right at four point seven six billion to gain."
I almost choked trying to swallow the phone. "Um, Tiny, you just said that my thirty mil can turn into eight hundred and forty million and then you said just like the TV guy, 'Wait, there's more' and you said there was another almost five billion coming. Shit, Tiny, I think Exxon is shortchanging us. I think twenty nine is my lucky number. Tell them to begin transferring money if they'll do twenty-nine times investment."
"You're leaving money on the table, Steve. Since oil is going up so fast, I was thinking thirty-five times investment would be good right now. They'll make that back during the first month. I'll get Ben and we'll swing this right away. I told Ben you were anxious over the 401K money being partially at risk, so he'll work to get the deal done. Let me call you back. Keep your cell phone close."
Tiny just hung up. He didn't ask me anything else. Let's see. The thirty million I didn't know I had was potentially going to come back at thirty-five times that rate so that would be, ahhhh, shit. That's one billion, fifty million.
I sat down hard, on what I thought was going to be the bed, but missed. I sat on the floor for a minute or so, then got up and went downstairs to see if Mac was still in the garden room. He was, but this time he had a phone in one hand and a stack of papers in his lap, trying to mark on them with his other hand.
Mac motioned me to sit then kept talking to whoever it was. I could tell it was about the building and that he was attempting to get another appraisal as quickly as possible.
Did I really care how much the thing was going to cost? Shit, Sue and I just made millions and millions, from millions I didn't know we had.
A butler came and asked me if I wished something to drink. I told him that I wished a large glass of Beefeaters on the rocks, along with some celery, carrots, and broccoli, with some ranch dressing to dip it in. He nodded and vanished. Butlers do that sort of thing.
A minute later, he reappeared just like Merlin, handed me a glass, and advised me my snack would be ready soon.
While I sipped the gin, I thought that maybe we should just go by an island and build homes on it for all our people then sell off everything and subsist on the island forever and ever.
Eh! Too idealistic.
Mac's call ended and he hollered, "Brutus?"
The butler reappeared. The butler was maybe five two, and not more than a hundred ten pounds soaking wet. I was about to laugh when Mac said, "Brutus came to me after serving with the British Special Forces for ten years. I understand you served in the Special Forces in Iraq."
I stood and shook Brutus' hand. He gave me a sly smile, nodded, then vanished.
So that's what happens to Special Forces dudes over here. They become butlers. I know a guy that became a security guard, so why not a butler.
Mac brought me back to reality, "I have an appraiser working on what you want right now. I also have contacted our legal people to advise them your people will be contacting them. I'm really excited. I'm going to have the real live Steve Sharp bring his luck to Dublin. I'll tell you what. I'm sure you have Irish blood, and I just know you'll bring your Irish luck to my country."
"My mother was Irish and my father Scottish. That doesn't make me anything special, but my mother always said that my Irish blood would bring me luck. But I have to tell you, Mac, between Ireland and Scotland, there were a lot of mixes going on. Some native American, some Pennsylvania Dutch, and some beer drinking Polish even got in the mix. I'm just a hundred percent American, or as you guys say over here, a true colonial."
"Ya see, Stevie me-boy, you have some true Irish blood."
Brutus reappeared magically with a tray of veggies and a large bowl of dressing to dip them in. As he set it all down on a small table between Mac and me, he said, "I understand "Semper Fi" is in order."
I smiled, and said in a firm but hushed voice, "Hoorah!"
He smiled an uncharacteristic smile, and vanished again. Man, I have to get Merlin over here to see the way this guys does it.
Mac continued, "So did you contact your people? Are you rolling on this project?"
"It's done," I said, fairly emphatically.
"Do you mean that you've contacted your people?"
"I called and now the deal is done. As soon as we have the numbers, we'll transfer than funds or I'll give you my bankcard. It's done."
Mac sat there with his mouth open, and finally said, "You've made up your mind that fast? One day I mention the deal, we look at it, barely discuss the project, and you come back and say it's done?"
"Look, if the deal is right, why wouldn't I just go ahead and do it? Like I said before, we have a lot to do so we don't waste the space after you leave. I want as many men as can be hired to be cleaning, remodeling, and painting the place the minute you give me the key. If I mess around now, I'll be wasting time. I've made up my mind, and the only thing we're waiting on is for you to pack and leave the building, and your appraiser. You and I will make the deal after we have the numbers and it'll be done."
"Just like that?" Mac asked.
"Just like that."
Brutus was standing next to us. Mac said, "I wish to join Steve with some gin as well. Please, Brutus."
If this were a movie it would be "Flash" Brutus was gone, then "Flash" Brutus was back with a glass of gin.
Mac said, "We're usually a little more formal and have this in martini glasses with some vermouth. However, I can see the value of having a big glass with some ice. Good stuff."
My cell phone rang and as soon as I said "Yes?" Tiny said, "You are a billionaire, Ben got thirty-five times investment. I'm glad you got me out of that, as I had every dime to my name in the deal. Now I'm a very wealthy man, thank you."
"Congratulations, Tiny. What are you and Ruth going to do with all of that?"
"Count it. Follow you around and do what you do, which is watch it grow. Shit, I don't know. A few years ago, I was making a salary in a cubicle. Now I could buy the accounting firm and its nearest competitor, and still have money left over. Like I said, Steve, thank you. I think Ben is going to kiss you too. He's about to have a coronary over all the money."
I grimaced and said, "Tell him to just relax, finish up the deal, and perhaps go down to the Miami condo or to Costa Rica and relax. Tell him to go out to the house and shoot some pool. He and Abe would have fun together."
Tiny then said, "Ben is having some financial and legal people call you in Dublin. They should call you any minute, so I'm going to get off the phone. I just wanted to tell you that your employees' funds are secure again. I think we'll go buy gold or something for fun."
"Good idea, Tiny, do that. Put about half of everything Sue and I have that way too. We'll keep the other half out to work with. I'll call you later to see how you're doing. You sound tired."
"It was a big strain. Now I'm really happy, but worn out."
"Well, get Ruth and go home. Do some exercises with her, and that will relax you."
"On my way, Boss, thank you."
Mac said, "Sounds like some good news. Any word on your counsel here?"
My cell phone rang again. I answered "Steve Sharp."
The man on the other end said, "My name is Sean Kelly. I'm the head solicitor of Kelly and Kelly. A Mr. Ben Phillips has retained us to work with you here in Ireland. We also have an accounting division that will be available to you as you need us. What is it that you will need?"
I told the guy about the building deal and that I was waiting for the appraisal as we spoke. I asked to hold a second and asked Mac, "Will your appraiser bring the appraisal here this evening?"
"He will if I ask him."
"Ask him."
"Mr. Kelly, I'd like to have you or one of your people with a financial person here with me as quickly as possible so we may go over some numbers and solidify the deal this evening. I'm prepared to transfer funds to secure the building, and I'm sure the seller would enjoy that guarantee as well. Is this possible?"
"Please give me the address, Mr. Sharp, and we will be there within the hour."
I turned to Mac, "Would you give this gentleman your address and directions so he can meet us here?"
Mac took the phone and began talking. He burst out laughing, then told the man to be here and we would have a drink.
Mac handed me back the phone. but the connection was gone.
Mac was grinning, "Your man in the States has good judgment in people. Kelly and Kelly have been my solicitors since I went into business with my father."
We both laughed and raised our glasses in a mutual toast.
By the time the girls returned from shopping, the appraiser was there, as was Sean Kelly and an accountant named Riley, no first name, just Riley. We had just begun talking, when Sue and Juanita came into the garden room, with Brutus following. They had trays of coffee cups a large carafe of dark coffee and some nice looking cigars. Sue, Juanita, and Brutus helped with clipping the cigars and lighting them then made sure we each had a cup of rich Cuban coffee.
Sue smiled at all of us and said, "Now you may make your deal. This is a family tradition that should be continued even here in Ireland."
After the appraiser left, Mac and I made the deal, at about ten percent under the average of all of the appraisals on the basis that the building would have to undergo major remodeling and would not be available to me for over a month. The attorney had the appropriate papers, so I called and transferred secured funds. Mac and I shook hands and had some more coffee. He asked Brutus to bring us some Irish whiskey to enhance the strong coffee with, and we all sat back, happy to have that out of the way.
Mac said to Sean, "Less than twenty-four hours ago, I mentioned the building to Steve and now it is his. Have you ever done a deal like this, Sean?"
"My father has, but not me. Usually it's offer, counteroffer, until I'm sick of the deal. You and Steve sat right here and worked out an equitable deal on the spot. I think Riley is a little dizzy the way Steve kept having him work out numbers that only he understands. Anyway, it's done."
Brutus came in and said, "Dinner is served in the main dining room gentlemen, please adjourn, the family is waiting."
Mac got up saying, "We've been told. Come on, the food's pretty good around here."
Tonight must have been something special as all of the women were dressed formally. We guys were in our casual clothes, except for Sean Kelley and Riley. Another special occasion was the presence of Lucille and Margaret, sitting with Mike and Chanda between them.
I asked Sue where the kids were and she said that all of them were having a great time in the children's dining room. We had a traditional Irish meal with shepherd's pie and some fancy potato dish. Typically, United Kingdom folks don't have a lot of green vegetables, but there was some nice steamed broccoli and cauliflower. The meat was a juicy lamb roast that melted in your mouth.
Everyone was full and content after a hectic day. As people pushed their chairs back, in the universal gesture of the meal being complete, Mac stood to toast us all.
"Family, extended family, Sean, Riley, and Brutus, will you please join us, Mr. Sharp and all of your family and extended family; this evening is a celebration I hope we repeat many times in the future. We are fortunate to be able to entertain some wonderful people who first befriended my Chanda, her husband, her children, and her special nannies and now have captured this old castle with their exuberance and energy. To all of you, to all of us, may this happen often and again soon."
I stood, smiled at all, and held up my glass, "Thank you, it is our pleasure."
When I sat, Brutus said, "Here, here," then took his drink.
After dinner Sean and Riley left, Mac and Chanda's mother left to go upstairs to their quarters, leaving all of us with Chanda, Mike, Lucille, and Margaret.
The ladies all got up and left to put the kids to bed, so Mike and I wandered out to a game room in the house. There was a beautiful snooker table that just begged to be played. Mike said, "Fancy a game, Mate?"
I had not played that much snooker before, but I did know how to play. We played for an hour with me being only twelve points down. Not too bad at all. Mike said that Mac usually lost to him and he was very good. I was every bit as good as he was, and with some practice would be even better. I told him I played a lot of nine-ball, but he said they didn't have an American table. They did have another table but it was a table without pockets for billiards. Call me a dummy, but I had never played that before.
We went into the nice lounge and joined the girls. It was just my four and Mike's three. We sat together and discussed what our schedule was going to be.
I looked at the girls and said, "What do you think. We've done all the damage we can here, and I would really like to get home. How about we pack up and ship out tomorrow. I looked at Mike and Chanda and said, "You four are welcome to travel back to the States with us then fly home, but we wish to go home. We are all a little homesick."
Chanda looked at Mike, then at the other two ladies, "I think we'll stay home a while. My Dad is accepting Lucille and Margaret so well, I'd like to just relax here a while. I think Mike is going to try to get involved in something with Dad."
I said, "Mike, if Mac doesn't have anything for you to do, call me. I'll have several things that I'll need a pair of eyes to help me with while we get the building started."
"I'll do that, Mate. I've really enjoyed being with you folks and hope we can do some more soon."
We all went upstairs to the rooms and got ready for bed. When we settled down, still sitting up in bed, Sue said, "So what kind of deal did you make today."
"I made several actually, but what I did here was to buy a waterfront building to begin rebuilding super lifts, build our own forklifts, and to have a small cart manufacturing plant. We'll have the building on April 1st and should be able to be in business by late April or May. We'll need to do some more work on this thing, but we'll get it done."
Sue snuggled into me and asked, "So what other deal did you do."
"I spent all of the money I won in Monte Carlo and a bunch of our personal cash that I didn't know we had."
"What did you do with it?" Sue asked, not necessarily caring what I had done with it.
"I invested in a Mexican oil deal then encouraged your Dad and Tiny to sell out at an advantageous deal. Tiny said your Dad negotiated a deal that was thirty-five times investment."
That got her. Sue sat up and looked at me. "How much did you invest?"
What we invested this one time was thirty, but your Dad had us pretty deep in this already. I don't know how much, but it was a lot. The other investors were Tiny, everything he had, the 401K plan, plus I think your Mom and Dad were heavy into this too."
"How much?"
"A hundred seventy."
Sue rolled her eyes then acted like she was counting with her fingers. "So you put in thirty but got back thirty-five times that so that is ah..."
Sue mouthed to me without sound, "A billion?"
I nodded.
"I guess I don't have to worry about having a plane and a big sailboat."
Mercy said, "I like this big sailboat but I think I'd rather use the Magellan than this one. Let's switch and get the Magellan just the way we want it, or have one built. I think I'd rather have the one we have though, as it is special to me."
Sue agreed, "Me too. I like that one better. If we take another big trip, we can always use the big one if we want. The Magellan should be as big as we need to go about anywhere though."
Juanita hugged Mercy and said, "I love the smaller boat too. It is so nice and clean. So compact and it is built so strong. I feel good when we're on that boat."
"Well keep in mind, gang, you have to have it fixed up to handle five more little ones. That is a bunch of kids and you may need more help. Do we have enough staterooms to have more nannies?"
Sue laughed and said, "Should I try to get Lucille and Margaret to come help us?"
"I don't think Chanda would like that, but then she might come too. That wouldn't be bad."
One of the girls punched me. Mercy said, "I didn't know you liked redheads. All your women have either brunette or black hair."
Sue said, "He likes 'em all. Denise had blonde hair and was ready to keep Steve before she met her deputy. He does like his three redheads at home. They seem to hold his interest when they want to."
Kate said, "I have kind of mousy blonde hair, so I must be odd woman around here."
Juanita hugged Kate and gave her a kiss. "You have the softest pussy hair of all of us, and it is so sparse it's as if you're shaved."
Mercy and Sue laughed as Kate covered her face in embarrassment. "Oh Juanita, you are so bad."
Soon we settled down and slept. My head was still spinning over the big billion number by the time morning came.
I got up energized. I took a shower and dressed in warm jeans, a T-shirt, and a heavy wool shirt too. The girls saw how I was dressing and said they would join me soon with the kids.
Downstairs Mac was having coffee and greeted me, "Are you still happy with our deal?"
"You bet, even happier today knowing it is a done deal."
Brutus gave me some coffee, then sat in a chair with a cup of his own. "I get the feeling you may leave us today, Steve."
"It's time; we're all homesick and ready to get home."
Brutus sipped his coffee, then said, "Will you be returning to help with the opening here?"
"Probably, I may come over to bring some staff to look over the plant to plan the remodeling. Then I would need to come to help hire the key people."
Mac said to Brutus, "Go ahead, ask him."
"When you return to Ireland, it would honor me and this home if you would stay with us. You have been a delight to be around. Your family is so much fun, I don't know what to do next as they are so busy. Please stay with us when you are here."
"Thanks you, Brutus, and you, Mac. That's one hell of an invitation."
As the girls came down with the kids, I could see Brutus' face light up. He left for the housekeeper and the real nannies so the kids could be fed.
Mac said he needed to get to work and that he had enjoyed us. "Brutus said it all. I've never known him to enjoy someone as he has you and your family. I think you've rubbed off on Chanda, Mike, and their live-ins. I hope so. This house needs some more laughter and merriment."
Juanita gave Mac a hug and said, "The States is not that far away in time. Get on a plane and come see us. Come see how big of a party we have every morning and every evening. You best bring Brutus with you too, as he will have a great time."
Mac nodded, "I think we will do that soon. It's cold and winter here and warm in Florida. We could go to Disney World, Universal Studios, and even Busch Gardens. Do you have a mansion there?"
Mercy broke up. "We do have a mansion on wheels, so to speak. If you need the comfort of a mansion you can stay with Sue's folks. They have a mansion and a butler, plus a couple of housekeepers and cooks. We have friends who all get together and do everything together."
"Sounds like fun. We'll come."
As Mac left, Chanda and Mike came down with Lucille and Margaret. We all ate then loaded up the bus they had called for our departure. Mike, Chanda, Lucille, and Margaret, along with Cory and Corinne came to the boat with us. We had a special guest, as Brutus came with us too. We checked our supplies, then Brutus and I made a trip to the yacht club larders to stock up on fresh stuff. We still had plenty of everything.
I started the heating unit in the boat, as it was about forty degrees. Soon the boat was warming up and coats were coming off. I put on a pair of long johns under my jeans and a thermal shirt over my t-shirt. It was going to be cold for a while. Sue, Mercy, Juanita, Kate, and Maggie all redressed to be warm out on deck, as we were going to be busy until we escaped from Great Britain.
After I started the engines, there was one last group of hugs, then we disconnected shore services, took in the lines, and slowly made our way from the dock.
Sue was on the bow with her bullhorn, Mercy was on port side and Juanita on the starboard. Maggie was watching our rear, waving at the folks still on the dock. It took us five hours to really hit the open Atlantic. You could tell too, as the seas were about eight to ten feet with some very heavy winds. At least we were traveling in the direction of the winds and were making good time.