Chapter 6

The phone call that threw a monkey wrench into Dan’s plans was from Ralph Easterwood. Ralph told him he was quitting practicing optometry this way and wanted to know where to leave the trailer.

“Why are you quitting and what are you going to do?” asked Dan.

“I am going to open up my own practice in this town. I didn’t tell you this but after you had that confrontation with Higgins he became interested in what and how I was doing business in working out of a small trailer. This concept of low overhead and eye examinations volume struck him as an interesting approach. He had been thinking of retiring and moving to Sun City, Arizona and setting up a practice there using our method. He made me an offer to purchase his office building and its equipment with him carrying the paper which was too good to refuse. While it is a small town I figured if it could support him or one optometrist before we came here, it could support one again. Doing business the way we do should improve the volume of business here.”

“The other problem or aspect to me doing this is a little bit of the rash of shit I get from my wife and some from my parents. Pulling around an eighteen foot trailer from town to town and practicing from it does seem to be demeaning to this professional position I went to school for to secure. I am a Doctor and not a travelling salesman. It’s one thing to be doing this in a thirty five foot trailer but pulling an eighteen foot trailer and finding a place to park it is not what I want to continue doing. I hope you can understand why I am quitting doing this.”

Dan said he understood what Ralph was saying and would appreciate it if Ralph would drop the trailer off at Dan’s home. Ralph said he would that and thanked Dan for the start he had given him which enabled him to be able to purchase this practice.

Needless to say Ralph’s comments gave Dan a lot to think about. The pulling around of a small trailer Dan could now see was somewhat demeaning as Ralph had said. While it did bring the so called clinic to the patients at the same time it took away from the prestige of the profession. If Dan had a sleepless night before he now was having more of them.

The more he thought about what Ralph said the more Dan became convinced that Ralph was right. Dan thought with the growth of Lake Lancer it should be more than able to support an optometrist full time and he wanted to be that optometrist. He was a little surprised that there wasn’t one there already.

He phoned Sally Dodge and asked her if there were any offices available to purchase or rent. Dan told her of the change in his plans. She mentioned there was a small strip mall that was being built and that the owner was going to be looking for tenants. She suggested Dan contact him. Dan did do that and came to an agreement with the owner as to what was needed for Dan to rent an office there to open his practice.

Just before Dan moved into this new office he received a phone call from Tessa Crawford who asked him how things were going. He told her what had happen with Ralph and because of that and in doing some re-evaluating he told her how he was now going to be practicing. He mentioned where it was that he was going to be opening up his office in Lake Lancer.

Tessa told him she was sorry that it didn’t worked for him with his mobile trailers but maybe it was best that it didn’t. She wished him good luck and said she would finally meet him in person as it had been a while since she had an eye exam.

In moving into his new office Dan revised his business plan. While he still planned to visit eight schools during the year, he would be doing that mainly to do eye exams for the children’s benefit. Admittedly there was a dollar to be made in doing these school visits but that was secondary.

At the office he would need to hire an optician to help him since he was going to be doing contact lenses for first time users. He planned to keep it a cost saving operation for clients. After doing an exam Dan would order the first set of contacts. When the lenses were received the optician would instruct on how to use them. After that the patient would be able to go on the internet to order eyeglasses and contacts at competitive pricing.

Business was good thought Dan after being in his new office for two months. There was a steady flow of customers and apparently the word was spreading as to the cost effective way Dan was conducting business. One week a month Dan went to visit schools which did not affect the office’s business. Katie Thomas his optician would use that time to follow up with new contact wearers to see how they were doing among her following up on billing and other things.

In doing eye exams at the office Dan met a number of people who lived here that he hadn’t met before. Among them were the Mayor Carolyn Bilek, Steve and Valerie Brandle and Brad and Tessa Crawford. He finally met Tessa in person and could see she was an attractive woman. Dan again rehashed with Tessa about how expansion of this mobile eye clinic didn’t work out and the reasons why but said he was still doing visits to schools.

Dan’s social life has improved. Pam Driscoll will periodically come and visit him at his home since being seen together in public they both agreed was not a wise thing to do. She parks her car behind Dan’s garage which prevents anyone driving by from seeing it. Pam would spend Saturday afternoons with him engaging in those activities they both like to do before she had to go to choir practice. He can only wonder what people would think or how they would react if they knew that this good looking admired and effective school administrator who is a member of the church choir is one wild sexual animal in bed. The comment that still water runs deep Dan now knows because of Pam has proven to be true.

Dan would see Judy Wallace fairly often at Ken’s West. Someone told Dan that she is in a serious relationship with a longtime boyfriend of hers. While may be true, it is also true that on the weekends when her boyfriend is away because of his National Guard duty or summer camp Judy comes over to Dan’s house with a pizza or some other type of take out. She just wants to have sex and it seems to him that she can never get enough. Judy he has come to know prefers the cowgirl position with her bending down which enables Dan to nibble on her nipples. The expression on her face when she climaxes is something he fondly remembers.

Dan has exchanged periodic e-mails with the now Captain Stacy Majors. She told him she was re-assigned from Korea to the Darnall Army Hospital located at Fort Hood, Texas. He still remembers that kiss she gave him at the campground.

It was about three months after Dan had opened his office that he received a phone call from Valerie Brandle. Valerie he knew was the head of the Wilkinsing Foundation segment that was located here at Lake Lancer and was also Tessa’s superior. Valerie asked Dan if they could meet for lunch tomorrow as there was something she wanted to talk to Dan about. He told her he could do that and became curious what this was about.