I think it was seven o'clock, or maybe it was eight. My eyes couldn't exactly register. I had a smile on my face anyway. We had a great time the night before, enjoying Daytona, the local clubs, and then ourselves. A really great night. I slid from bed and walked out into the living room. Bear was out on the couch. He had never pulled it out. Crystal was sitting with her head propped on one of his thighs, sound asleep. There was dried cum all over her face and neck. I knew what they were doing when they passed out. Both Margie and Hap were laying back spread-eagled naked. They still looked very satisfied.
Ah, I remembered the camera. I found it among Sue's stuff and quickly began taking pictures. I took close ups of Crystal's face to get close ups of the cum stains, then some neat ones of Hap and Marge spread-eagled on the sofa bed.
I opened one door to find Charlie asleep with his face in Shawna's vee. Shawna had her usual shit-eating grin. Next was Debbie and Hank. They were snuggled conventionally with Hank spooning Deb.
I opened the door to Hannah's and Jim's room to find exactly what you would expect from her. Her face was covered in cum stains and she was lying with a blanket pulled around her, but with her head resting on Jim's thigh and his dick in her mouth. She was incorrigible.
Mickey and Samantha shared a room with Sandy and Mandy. It looked like they had enjoyed themselves, as Mickey was spooned with Sandy, and Mandy and Samantha were wrapped up together.
Then I went back to my three ladies and took some more pictures of the sweetness as they snuggled together. All three were holding each other. They truly did love each other.
I called room service for some coffee and began covering everyone. I slipped my now dry swimsuit and a T-shirt on and answered the door with a ten in my hand. The man was smart; he had brought a giant vacuum bottle with a pump.
As soon as I poured a cup, Bear's eyes came open and he said, "Ah, coffee. Please, pour me some."
I did that for him as he looked at Crystal and the evidence on her face. "She did that while I was trying to pass out. That lady is vicious. Damn, I love her. She is really something."
Hap opened his eyes and said, "I want a beer, but I think coffee would be better."
Having a thought, I called room service on the phone and asked them to send up at least twenty Bloody Marys, but not on ice. Just in glasses. We wanted the ice on the side.
Hap looked at me strangely, so I answered his question. "If we put the ice in them later, the drink doesn't get diluted with ice water."
He nodded, but continued drinking his coffee. "You know, Steve, you have led me into decadence. You know, I fucked all three of your ladies last night, but it was Hannah that sucked the juice right out of me. That little one can suck."
I had to agree with him, "I know, I did the other girls too, but I was getting too shit-faced to keep a hardon. That was a wild one."
Bear moaned, "Your Sue has about the most active pussy that I've ever felt, even more active than this amazon laying here. Christ, between her and Mercy, I think my dick has been stripped of its skin. Your Juanita, for an older Latina, is a dream come true. You have three hot ones my friend, you really do."
Charlie came out of the room, staggering. "Please, coffee, aspirin, water, please."
I called back downstairs and told the concierge to make sure the bellhop brought a bottle of Advil or Aspirin.
A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. I answered the door not thinking of the condition the rest of the people were in. Two guys brought in two carts. One had all the Bloody Mary stuff on it, plus some rolls. The other cart had two huge bowls of fruit, some biscuits, some bacon and a bunch of scrambled eggs. There was a stack of dishes with flatware next to them.
The bellhop handed me a bottle of Advil and a bottle of Aspirin. I handed him a C-note and told the two guys to split it.
While the transaction was happening, Crystal woke and threw the cover off of her, then reached down between her legs and it looked like she dragged a large chunk of cum from her pussy and stuffed it into her mouth. She sucked it off and said, "Yummy."
The two guys laughed and quickly left.
I handed Charlie two Advil and a big glass of Bloody Mary to wash it down. I gave Bear, Hap, and Crystal a glass of the red juice, then I made myself one with ice and a big piece of celery. I went to the others and scooped ice into their drinks and handed them each a piece of celery. I went in to get Juanita up, brought her in naked, and sat her next to Bear. She willingly took the Bloody Mary and Advil then leaned back. As she was leaning back, she used her free hand to play with her pussy. Juanita looked down and said, "Crystal, make yourself useful. My pussy itches, please suck it for me."
The surprise came when Crystal just dove right in and kept loving Juanita's pussy with her tongue and lips.
"Oh shit," Bear said, as his dick lengthened. "I'm half dead with a hang over, and I'm getting a hardon." He reached over and grabbed a handful of Crystal's hair and was bringing her face to his crotch. Juanita slapped his hand away and said, "Let her do what she's doing so well. Leave her alone." Juanita pulled Crystal's head back to her pussy, then leaned over Bear and swallowed him whole.
"Oh yeah. You are wonderful, Juanita," Bear groaned, and while Crystal kissed, licked, and sucked Juanita, she reached over and began squeezing Bear's balls."
Shawna came stumbling into the room, scratching her red snatch and red head. I handed her a Bloody Mary and offered her an aspirin. She took both and sat down in front of me while she washed the aspirin down with the mix. She squinted at the threesome and said, "Would you look at that bitch suck. Crystal, I mean. Man, she can suck a pussy. Juanita ain't doin' bad on Bear either, but Crystal looks like a pro. She's making me horny just watching her.
Shawna turned to me and noticed I was getting pretty hard watching the goings on. She grinned at me and sucked the head of my dick for a minute to get me real hard, then stood up and sat back down sinking onto me completely.
"Ah, fresh dick in the morning, that's what I love. That and a Bloody Mary, and I'm right for the day."
Hannah came stumbling out of her room, with Jim standing in the doorway. I pointed to the Bloody Marys, aspirin, and Advil then tried to concentrate on not coming.
Hannah took a glass, made up a drink and walked over and looked at Shawna fucking me silly, then she walked over to check out Crystal sucking on Juanita who was sucking Bear. She reached down and squeezed Bear's balls and announced, "He ain't ready yet and it may be a long while."
Hannah came over and checked my balls and said, "Soon, but no cigar yet." She went over to Hap, pushed him back and put a lip lock on his dick that should have him spittin' in minutes. She sucked while his face showed total surprise. Just as he thought he was under control, Hannah stuck a finger up Hap's butt and made him come. She slurped and sucked until poor Hap was stretched out, almost unconscious.
Margie woke up, looked at the girls and Bear then at the near passed out Hap, and asked, "What did I miss?"
Hannah was smacking her lips and said, "You missed seeing me suck a nice load out of your ole' man. He was the only one ready to give me one, so I took it from him."
Marge grinned, "Too bad you didn't serve as a "property of" for a while. You would have been popular, and I guarantee you would have had more than you could ever eat."
Hannah grinned, "I doubt that, I handled my high school football and basketball teams when they were in season together. I didn't lose my cherry until that big lug," Hannah motioned toward Jim, "took it from me just before we got married. No problem though, I sucked him everyday, at least twice a day until we were married. Afterward, I still got my twice a day treat and I had him fuck me at least once a day, usually twice. Every time I sucked him he had to fuck me. A good tradeoff, don't you think?"
Jim said, "You wouldn't believe how often she's on her knees in front of me. Tia is going to think that is where a woman is supposed to sit. On her knees in front of her husband"
Slowly, all my women joined everyone else in the big room. The non-pregnant women had Bloody Marys and the pregnant ones had Diet Coke, Coffee, or in Hannah's case more cum, when she was able to coax a load from Charlie.
When Hannah went back to Jim and tried to swallow him again, he swatted her a couple of times and begged, "Please no more, Hon, you've sucked everything in me out through my dick. Give it a rest."
We all slowly came to life. All the food disappeared and we ordered another load of food and coffee, but no more Bloody Marys. While we were waiting, people made it into and out of the shower quickly and dressed, getting ready for the return ride home.
Hap was talking to Bear, "This is about the best visit I think we've ever had to Daytona, no camping out, no smelly bunch of guys, and smellier women. This is the way to do it. I'll bet the clubs aren't having near as much fun as we are."
After we ate and everyone agreed we were in condition to ride, it was decided that we go around and visit a few of the vendor displays before heading home. I went downstairs first to take care of the room, while everyone was gathering their stuff. The only extra baggage we had to take home were swimsuits, the girls said the hats would fit nested in the rear trunk of my garbage truck.
The manager wished us a safe trip and invited us back soon. We loaded up and checked out a few places, going farther and farther from the beach until we were on the way home.
The group rolled into the park about two in the afternoon. The little ones were still napping, so we shut down and cleaned up our bikes before putting them away. The girls showered and dressed in their usual shorts and tank tops, T-shirts, or bra tops. Soon the little ones were awake and jumping all over us. The girls had bought a bunch of toy motorcycles and stuffed animals, so the kids were all happy. Carson was with all our kids, meaning that Kate and Jim were having some private time together.
About five, Tiny came back, with some of the others, after having been out fishing on the Hatteras. Many tales were exchanged of the party we had in Daytona, but all the stories were pretty sanitized for general consumption.
Tonight's supper became pizza and wings. Most of us did have a salad, and not surprising was the lack of booze drinking. I think we all had enough from the night before.
When it was time for bed, Sue told me to shower and lay back for a three girl massage. As they massaged me this time, they teased and tormented me to keep me awake and aroused. By the time they were finished, I was ready to do some massaging of my own. It took a while, but I think I satisfied my trio before we fell asleep.
My internal alarm went off, but I was waking up anyway. I could hear the wind really picking up outside and it sounded as if it was raining as well. Shit, this must be the usual storm that comes through in early March every year. I got out of bed, slipped on some shorts, and went to look outside.
Someone's lawn chair just went through the grassy lot between Martin's house and the patio. I could see rain, but it appeared to be going straight across instead of falling. The back of the patio was wet, but everything on this side of the bar was dry.
The big coffee pot on the bar was just finishing, so I went into the kitchen to make a fresh pot for me. I went back out to flip on the lights to let those that would look know I was up and about.
Thinking that there was time before people began showing up, I went into the bedroom and took a shower, then dressed in work clothes. I could hear the little ones up in the other room. Thinking that they might be afraid of the wind, I went in to see what was up.
Steve was standing on the floor between the two cribs with both Mike and Liz standing up. Steve was saying, "Daddy will come to take care of us. It's all right."
Wow! What a kid. A little one his age that could take a presence as he was doing. What a kid.
As I scooped Liz up, then gabbed for Mike, Stevie said, "Have to go pottie bad. I be back to help Daddy."
Lizzy began her "Dadadadadada," while Mike thought he was being funny by saying, "Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz," his call for Liz.
I changed them both and put on the clothes laid out for them, then took them into living room and put them into the play area.
Stevie came to me holding his clothes and said, "Hep me, Daddy, pleeze put on cloz."
I helped Stevie dress, then told him to go wake up the women. He left running and yelling, "I wake up mommies." Okay, that was one way of looking at it.
Glenda came in with her raincoat over her head. "Damn, where did this come from? It wasn't on the TV last night at all."
Ruth came through the back door, followed by Tiny. Ruth was smiling, "I wonder if Sue will wear her bikini this morning."
The wind was still blowing hard and the rain was still blowing horizontally, instead of coming straight down. Folks began to appear, holding wind blown raincoats over them. Soon the patio was warm with people bitching about the weather.
Sue, Mercy, and Juanita finally made an appearance with Stevie leading them. "I get the Mommies up, Daddy, I get them up."
Sue came over to me and said, "Your son is a regular Attila the Hun. He made us all get up and get dressed, saying his brother and sister were scared."
She then added, "They don't look scared in there right now, just hungry."
I told Sue how I had found him on the floor trying to calm the two little ones, telling them I would be in to be with them shortly. Sue smiled and said, "Just like his old man, huh?"
The hotel bellhop came in his car this morning, but with some extra pastries. He said that the hotel wasn't very full last night so there weren't many people to take advantage of the free breakfast this morning.
As it neared time to go to work, the wind calmed and the rain let up. People began to leave for their assigned responsibilities, but not really wishing to leave the comfortable cocoon of their friends on the patio.
At the shop, I worked with Star, preparing some more chapters for the book we were going to publish of the special tools that our people had created, but were not marketable enough to be manufactured in bulk.
Phil was at a seminar this morning, and Judy said she had a three day gig in Jacksonville starting on Wednesday. She said she really did enjoy giving the customer service seminars, but preferred to stay at the shop working with her people.
Debbie took some time out and went over what all had transpired over the last six to eight weeks. She said she was proud of her group, as they were almost completely caught up on back orders in preparation for the new racing season that was just starting.
She said we were only eighteen motors from having filled all of the existing orders, and only twenty short of rebuilding all that were on premise for rebuild.
The frame shop was totally caught up, but the sheet metal shop was not totally ready for the new season. The welders were now cross-trained into sheet metal, and when necessary, fiberglass, so we could use all of the available manpower, all of the time.
Debbie said, "After you told me everything was going to be okay since I was pregnant, I felt so good, that I took my girls out to supper. You know what; I think they would have rather been on the patio than at Carrabas."
"Tell me when you're going to do that so I can send you to one of the big steakhouses or something. Your people are the most important asset you can have. Treat them right and they will follow you anywhere."
Debbie said, "I know, it was what I thought would be best, but they all would rather be with the group on the patio than out eating somewhere."
I told Debbie how happy I was the way she had taken over for me. She was a great asset to the company. We were all looking forward to her having another baby, as it would make her that much more valuable.
My big office was nice, but when no one else is in it, it's sort of lonely in there. Just as I put down the last piece of paper that I needed to review, Ruth came in with her second in command.
"Okay, Boss, today is something special. This is the first time in what is it, over three years, that no one has asked me to hire someone. We don't have any terminations to process and no one has put in a vacation request. You've gotta do something. We don't have a crisis this morning. We don't have anyone screaming for help. We really don't have anything to do except mundane stuff that takes about ten minutes. Do you have anything in the works?"
"I do Ruth, but it's in England, or actually in Ireland, Dublin to be exact. Should I send you guys over to work there?"
"No, it's just that we've been working at such a pace for so long when the basket is empty, we panic. We don't need anyone at the park or at any of the other facilities. We have a closet full of office supplies, so we can't go shopping. We need to figure out something to get us busy again."
"Let me go talk to Tiny for a minute, then I'll get back to you two," I said, as I got up and left my office.
"Hey, Tiny," I said as I walked in his office. He was frowning over some spreadsheets he had spread out over his desk.
"Look at this, Steve, for no reason whatsoever, these five stores are suddenly doing almost twice what they normally have done. I can't figure it out. You look at these numbers and tell me what you see."
Instead of spending a lot of time looking at the numbers, I picked up the phone and called Judy to ask her if she could have the service reps for these areas come in to Tiny's office.
"Thanks for coming in, girls. Tiny has found an anomaly in sales figures, and you guys are probably able to give us the answer. "What has happened in your areas that would increase the orders significantly enough to make us aware of it?"
One of the girls immediately said, "There are new military bases opening up in the Jacksonville and South Georgia areas. We're getting a bunch of orders related to both of those bases. We need to send a rep into both of the new bases to ensure we are selling them everything they need."
I turned to Tiny and asked, "If Phil is out of town, who do you use to go get this done."
Tiny said, "He has a guy, Jack, who should be able to handle it for him, as he has experience with the feds."
"Get him and get him to have some of his people saturate the area. Let's not let any grass grow under our feet, let's get it done."
The girl who was most vocal on what needed to be done said, "Your field reps are being stretched way too far. We need to re-align the territories and hire some new field guys. I know they are expensive as we buy them trucks and stuff, but we're missing sales because we're not being thorough."
"Hang on a second. Christy, isn't it?"
"Yes sir, I'm Christy Williams."
I went for Ruth and her assistant and brought them into Tiny's office.
"Christy, how many new field reps do we need?"
"I don't know, Mr. Sharp. If we sat down and re-aligned the territories I could tell you, but I don't know off the top of my head."
"That's a great answer, Christy. Let's get Judy."
When Judy was in Tiny's now crowded office, I asked her, "Can you work with Christy to re-align the field reps for the areas she's concerned about. There appears to be a lot of business we're not trying hard enough to get."
"Oh good, Steve, Phil keeps putting it off because he's been so busy. We'll get right on it right now."
I thanked all of those that had in been Tiny's office and said as I was leaving, "Now we'll get to the bottom of those wonderful sales."
Later to Ruth I said, "We will probably need three to five new field reps so now you have something to do. Go get 'em."
As I walked back to my office, I felt more like a traffic cop than a business owner.
Deanne was sitting at the conference table in my office with her little Latino co-worker.
When I looked at them questioningly, Deanne said, "Gene asked if you could come by his place today if you have time. He says he may have something for us."
"Do you girls know what this is about?"
"No Sir," Deanne said. "But it must be important, since he called last Friday and again this morning."
"Thanks, girls, I'll call him now."
I dialed Gene and asked for him when the receptionist answered.
"Hey, Gene, what's happening?"
"Hi, Steve, heard you sailed to Europe and back. It must have been one hell of a trip."
"It was, Gene, we are going to open another major rebuild center in Dublin because of it."
"Listen, Steve, NASCAR is coming out with a ton of new regulations and a totally new body and frame. Some of it is your fault with your new tubing we have been using, but for the most part it's just a new configuration. It's going to take a ton of time to get this thing right, but I need your help to get started. We won't even have to introduce a car with the new standards until next year, but I want one now so we can begin working with the new standards."
"Okay, Gene, do you have the blueprints yet? We'll need all of the new motor specs too."
"I have everything, come and get them and begin with a frame, sheet metal, and a motor. We'll start on the suspension when you get us a sample."
"Okay, Gene, I'll come over now, how about I take you home for lunch. Are you up for some soup and sandwiches?"
"Sounds good, Steve, come on, I'll let you drive."
I told everyone where I was going, then headed to Gene's.
Gene had all of his machinery outside, polished up and ready to head out to Daytona. Inside was each of his cars, with people doing minor things with each one. All were ready to begin testing and running the track.
Gene showed me around a little, then brought a bunch of large rolled blueprints with him as we went out to my truck to go home for lunch.
Juanita and Mercy met us at home for lunch. Sue was at the main factory, working with Hannah on a new project. We had some soup and a sandwich, then enjoyed some of Juanita's great Cuban coffee.
Gene and I discussed how fast he wanted to have the equipment. He said that he wanted a car to take to do wind tunnel tests as soon as possible, and if possible, he wanted to run a car around Daytona to test while he had the chance. He said that this would determine what modifications NASCAR would make to the original plans.
"Steve, if you can put this all together for us quickly, this will let NASCAR know how much you support the series. You might even want to build a prototype and have your gurus go over it to see what can be done for speed and safety."
"Good idea, Gene, I'll bet my bunch of monkeys would love to build a car. I'll ask them. We don't have a driver, so you will have to help there unless I or one of my people can go to driver's school."
"I'll lend you a driver, you just get a list of things we can do better or how to make the car faster and more efficient."
I took Gene back to his shop then went over to my shop and called a meeting of all of the welders, the sheet metal and fiberglass people, and the motor shop crew. There were so many of them that we had to meet in the cafeteria.
"Okay, guys, NASCAR is coming out with a new car. Gene wants a frame, sheet metal, fiberglass, and motor to match the specs laid out in the new blueprints."
"We're going to give it to him, but we're going to build ourselves a car too. While we do that, we are going to look for ways to make the car better. We want the car to be faster, handle better, safer, more solid if others hit us, and we want it to be more efficient on fuel.
"I know all of you want to be involved in the project, so work it out among yourselves and let's build a winner. Gene will lend us a driver to test our car, but the idea is to use the specs NASCAR has given us and make a better car than anyone else. When we know how to do it, we can market the ideas with the other teams."
Shawna looked at me with a frown. "You know they aren't going to do anything but that damn engine, until it's in the car. I'm sure you'll need a tranny and rear end as well. Do you think they will let you just go out and buy something? You now have a full blown project, Steve, this is going to really cost."
"Well, Shawna, since we aren't that busy, this is probably the best time ever to do this. Let's let this project make us some money and let NASCAR know that if anyone can build a car to their specs, we can."
"It'll be done, Boss. I'll get Gene's stuff out of here by Wednesday and we'll begin working on our own car through this week. By the end of next week, we'll need track time to test the thing."
Abe was looking for me. "St. Louis says they have a prototype of a new small and medium lift that they want to show us. Can we go up there real quick to look at it? I'd like to take both Jed and Jeff up there with us."
"Today, or in the morning, Abe?"
"Morning would be good. We can go early so we won't be gone the whole day."
I called out to the charter office and asked whether I could get the Lear or a small 200. Julie said the Lear was available, so I asked her to have it ready no later than eight in the morning.
A few minutes after I hung up, John called. "Do you want me to come along since you haven't flown for a while?"
"If you think I need it and if you have the time yes, sure. I can always use someone to second guess me."
"Well, if I'm not available in the morning, DeDe would love to ride with you. The lady is becoming a real asset to your company out here."
"Okay then John, either you or DeDe come along and watch my back. I can always use instruction."
At home, I called Ryan to ask him where he was this week. When he answered St. Louis, I asked, "Is this a conspiracy or what. I'm told the men have a new lift for me to look at and now you're there waiting for me. What's up?"
"Coincidence, Boss, the two new lifts they have are really good. They used the hydraulics that was developed in Abe's and Jed's shop. They do have some new and different ways to do things. We were heading out of here tonight but if you're coming, we'll stay till tomorrow. See you then."
The evening meal was nice. Having dinner with all your friends is special. There is always a lot of fun among the people and challenges over just about anything. The big talk was our own NASCAR car. Everyone wanted to have a part in it.
That night, when we were in bed, Mercy asked, "Is there something different about this car than any we have helped build before?"
"I think so, Mercy. This is one we are building to discover how to modify the plans, but remain within specifications. If we build it, we will document everything we do and can change it where we need to."
After thinking about it a second, "We'll be the most valued vendor to NASCAR if we build and know how to build a better mousetrap."
Tuesday morning, Abe, Jed, Jeff, and I went to the airport to be met by DeDe. She said John was called for backup on the big plane, so she was going with me.
We did the preflight then got everyone seated with the door closed and locked. Within minutes, I had the plane started and warming before requesting to taxi.
Once we were off the ground, DeDe said, "I'm either going to take a nap, or we can join the mile high club."
"Take a nap, DeDe."
"Thought that's what you would say. Sue told me good luck this morning, when I told her I was going to seduce you while we were flying."
Right on schedule, we landed at Lambert airfield in St. Louis, and took a limo to the new facility there. Two men had been instrumental in using some of the designs we had down in Florida and the notes I had sent out to technicians. The one leading the project said, "None of this is really original. The whole thing has been completed by using the collage of ideas you have been sending out. We used all of the various notes and designs that you guys kept sending, especially Abe's new idea on hydraulics. The one thing we did do was to bring all of the ideas together."
The team leader explained, "The small forklift doesn't look any different than most others in its class, so we used a freshly rebuilt one to check and compare to ours. We moved various weights with the standard, then moved them with the new lift. Their performance about the same, until we began getting to heavier and heavier loads.
"The new lift is able to lift more as far as its hydraulics are concerned, but the limitation is still in the counterbalance weight of the lift itself."
"This small lift has a simpler hydraulic system than its counterpart made by Onan. We used the same new system on this larger lift. Here, we have an easier comparison. We borrowed this from our neighbor. It is a brand new heavy duty Hitachi lift that is capable of lifting four tons or right at nine thousand pounds. We figured ours to be about the same and wanted to stress it to find out what ours could do. If you will watch this demonstration, you'll be proud of what we have."
They took the neighbors brand new lift and scooped up a load of weights and set the load on the big scale. It read 9,010 pounds. Then the operator lifted the load again and drove the lift with the weight onto the scale, 15,340 pounds.
He then repeated the process using his new heavy duty lift and it read the total weight of 14,890 pounds meaning the new lift was several hundred pounds lighter. This could be a problem for counter balance.
The operator brought the new lift back and scooped up the weights then brought our experimental lift out and slid the forks completely under the loaded lift then slowly lifted it off the ground about four feet. We were all stunned. Our lift just picked up over seven tons. Considering that this size lift is usually rated at five tons maximum, and usually only four tons, this was almost twice the rated limit.
The operator shut the lift down without setting the load down and said, "We did this last night and left it. We assumed the hydraulics would gradually let the load down so that it would be on the ground by this morning. When we came in this morning it was just like that."
The leader came back and said, "The hydraulics that Abe came up with are really fierce. He has a method of using the pressure to build twice as fast because of the way he feeds the fluid between reservoirs. This makes the transfer faster, yet more stable."
Abe said, "To be fair, did you try to lift ours with a load?"
"We did, Abe, and it couldn't lift it. We were afraid we were going to blow a pressure valve. The pumps on this unit won't even keep up with the demand. It isn't nearly as good as an Onan, but then, even an Onan couldn't do what you're witnessing."
"Okay, Abe," I said, looking at my dear friend and business partner, "You have what you've been wanting for a couple of years. You have all of your ideas put together in a working model."
I asked the team leader, "How close are you to Abe's prints and hydraulic models."
"Exact," the leader said. "Abe said that we had the perfect place to try to build this thing, so we took Abe's set of prints and instructions, and the only noted differences are in the wheel size and weight mass we used. The small lift is electric and the heavier duty lift is propane. Either one can run on either method."
Abe said, "Now we have to build a super lift and try it on a job. If we can do that, we will have either our own product, or a product to sell to whomever, for a bunch of money. These two lifts do not have any license fees associated with either one. As a matter of fact, we'll be licensing some of the technology we are using on these within the year to other manufacturers."
Jed said, "I can't believe all those drawings you have been working on have come to this. Abe, you are really something. You're not a technician, you're a genius."
Abe rose up and looked at me, "See, Steve, you always asked just what I was. This man just described me perfectly."
We all got a chuckle out of it. The team leader then asked Abe, "Can we build a couple more of the small ones and use them internally to see how they hold up?"
"Sure, go ahead. Bill the materials to my department, then bill the distributorship the price of a rebuilt lift. If you make them for the shop here, you can't baby them. Don't abuse them, but make them do a little more than you ask one of your rebuilds to do. Let's push them to see how they last. Oh, and make another of the heavy duty so you can ship it to Tampa to use as demo. We need to show this off to either begin manufacturing, or to license the technology as a whole."
We had lunch with all of the people from the shop and distributorship, and looked the place over while we were there. They had the attitude that makes S&S successful. They proudly showed every facet of the operation showing off their successes and local innovations.
When we left, I told the operations manager, "Your store is an example of S&S doing perfect work. I'm proud it's part of us. You are doing a great job."
Back at the airport, DeDe had the plane serviced and ready to go when we arrived. We did the preflight, then she let me handle the flight plan and all of the startup and takeoff procedures. Once we were in the air DeDe said, "Go back to the back and party with your men. There's plenty of mixes in the cabinets and plenty of cold items in the fridge. Since you and I aren't going to get it on, you might as well have some fun. I wouldn't be afraid to let you fly me anywhere. You have it down, Boss, and I'm blowing smoke up your butt."
I did get up and switch seats with DeDe, then went to sit with everyone in the rear. I opened the fridge and began passing around beer, but told them there was booze on board as well. We talked about the success of Abe's design and debated whether to go in competition with our supplier or to sell them the design.
Abe and Jed's argument was, "Onan has been building lifts for twenty plus years, but is still using other people's designs. They could have looked for a way to create their own twenty years ago, but have just let it be."
My argument was, "If we go in direct competition with Onan on this item, they will expect us to go into competition with them on other items as well, and we probably would in the long run. But if we sell them the design and they can be more profitable, they will extend to us even more discounts and courtesies."
Abe said, "How about we license our design to them for a set period of time. If they don't take the ball and run with it, we'll pull the agreement and build it ourselves."
The general consensus agreed with Abe, and it was agreed we would get the VP of Product Development down to Florida as soon as possible.
I had a question for Abe that I felt he was waiting for. "Abe, how are you coming with the design of a superlift? We might want to begin manufacturing something like that in Dublin."
"Now you're talking, ' Steve. We can license Onan to manufacture and market it here in the States, but I want to make it ourselves overseas. We should do the same with the other two lifts as well. I think we have a real winner and I'd like to see us put our "perfect" stamp on it right into the hands of a customer. Could we begin over there and see how we do?"
DeDe's voice came over the intercom, "Steve, come up here and help me land this thing. I'm not that proficient putting it on the ground yet."
As I crawled into the right seat, I said, "You know I just a had a beer and I'm not the one that should be in control of the plane."
"I watched you and you had only one the entire ride. You and Abe were more interested in some dumb forklift than booze. So just help me already, I haven't put one of these down but once, and I'm not real confident."
DeDe came in fine. She flared just right, setting the wheels down then gently dropping the nose. She dropped the thrust reverse buckets and we slowed rapidly and turned back around to head to the hanger. I smiled at DeDe and said loud enough for just her to hear, "Sweet."
When we parked, DeDe said with a little shaky voice, "That was only my second landing in this thing. When I went to the school, the seat hog I shared the plane with insisted on landing all the time. Thanks for making me comfortable. I know I'm a good jockey, I just need someone like you to tell me."
"You did good. Next time you have a flight in this thing, call me and I'll ride right seat for you if it's a passenger trip. You just need some more practice, is all."
We all climbed out of the plane while DeDe did the logs and prepared to prep the plane for its next outing. Us guys made it over to the truck and headed home to enjoy the patio before it was jammed with people.
We sat back with drinks and snacks, talking about taking all three lifts to Dublin. It took about three drinks for us to agree that Abe, Jeff, and Jed would go over to set up the rebuild shop and to start the design on the robotics it would take to set up the manufacturing lines.
I called MacKenzie to ask him about more space. It was four here, so it was nine there. After some pleasantries, I told Mac, "I don't know if there is enough open space, but we're going to need a minimum of double the space over there that we have now. We want to begin some equipment manufacturing over there. We have some original designs that won't conflict with existing patents here or over there, and we want to begin right away. I have a staff that is willing to come right over there to begin buying, building, or modifying space to do what we need. Do you know of more space where our new building is that we can get?"
"You don't give a body a chance to even think, Stevie boy. Let me think on it tonight and talk to a few folks in the morning and I'll get back with you. Will about the same square footage do, or do you need more?"
"Mac, the more the better. You and I have already talked about a cart manufacturing facility along with the super lift rebuild shop. We'll have a distributor headquarters there too, so the other facilities will be manufacturing with a lot of robotics and some steel pouring. A former steel plant in good condition would be good, but not necessary. We're going to be ducks out of water over there, Mac so we'll need to meet suppliers and labor leaders as soon as possible."
"I'll get right on this and get Mike to go out and scout all your new neighbors down at the dock. He might be able to scare something up. I'll talk to you tomorrow. G'dnight."
This night was boneless rib roast. I don't know how we deserved such a treat, but our entire mass of people was popping buttons from stuffing so much.
My evening was spent playing with the older kids and rolling on the floor with Sean, Mike, and Lizzy. The three were developing personalities and were becoming pals like their siblings and their friends. There would soon be seven more to grow and play together.
About eight, Ben called and told me, "Ernie's and Nelda's probate is coming to a conclusion. You and Sue are going to have to meet with the judge so you can complete the probate and arrange for the federal taxes. That guy has a pretty big estate. Nelda has the first dollar you gave her for the property you bought from her. She might have spent a little, but it was very little. You know you ended up buying her the first place she lived in and then you did the same on the doublewide they moved into later. Why did you do that?"
"I don't remember, Ben. I must have paid for the doublewide for them and was going to get Ernie to pay me back. I just forgot. The first home for Nelda was from my heart. No one ever helped her do anything, and I wanted to be the first."
Ben chuckled, "Well, Ernie has the last laugh. He's giving you everything he had anyway. Tiny's accounting firm has all of the taxes computed ready to present to the probate judge. You need to consider what you're going to do with the land and buildings he has. He was liquidating his property, but I didn't have it all sold yet. He has land all the way from here to Tallahassee."
"Just liquidate the property, Ben, unless there is some you would like, or that we could use some for manufacturing here. If there is more out near here, we might consider some more housing for our clothing factory workers. They will be able to afford high density housing if they want to own and if a couple of families go together, they might buy a nice house too. I'd like to give our people first shot at just about all of it, then market it to outsiders. We'll just start our own town. Instead of the old days when people would call an intersection four corners, we'll call it eight kids."
Ben laughed, "Well, make up your mind what you're going to do and we'll go make the date to visit with the probate judge. You were talking about building another entertainment area in the park with Nelda's money, how come?"
"Nelda loved it out here and loved the people. I think we'll just improve the two recreation centers we have and begin some more childcare at the center. A lot of parents have trouble during the summer, and we could help out there. Nelda would be happy that we used her money to help others."
"That will cut down on some of the taxes, perhaps you might consider expanding your sports complex. Since it's been given to the county, but you're still maintaining it, you could get better than a one for one deduction on what you do over there."
"That's good too with what's left over after fixing our centers out here. I'm sure Sue and I can help with both places. Seems you have been doing a bang up job making money lately. Tell me, Ben, when is enough, enough?"
Ben paused a long while, "I don't know, Steve, I've pushed all my life to expand my holdings and expand the wealth of others. I've never considered that someone would ever say enough."
"I'm about there, Ben, I'll work on helping out more here in the community, but pretty soon it will look like I'm a publicity hog. I would prefer if no one ever knew what I gave or helped with. Instead of concentrating on increasing what we have, how about concentrating on keeping it and converting it into some kind of secure form. I want the 401K plans to ride the market with only about twenty-five percent of their capital, but at the first sign of weakness, I want us out, totally out. Buy municipals and treasuries if they are right, or just plain broker between metals and currency. I want to secure our peoples money."
"Okay, okay, I get you. You've told me this several times in the past couple of weeks. I'll get it done for all of us so you can feel more secure. At least you're consenting to stay in the market with twenty-five percent. We'll do as always and split it between regular trading and high risk. I'll make sure the traders know that we want to withdraw at the first sign of weakness."
"Good deal, Ben. Sorry to harp on it, I just wanted you to know how I felt about Sue's and my money and the 401K plans."
Ben said, "I'll make the court date so we can clean up Ernie's and Nelda's estate. I'll probably talk to you in the morning."
When we went to bed, I spoke to Sue, Mercy, and Juanita about what Ben had said was coming up. We remembered among ourselves the good times that we had with the sweet old couple. It made us a little somber, and we just held each other as we drifted off to sleep.