Chapter 1

Josh here. This is part of my story. The fun part. The parts about school and stupid girlfriends and all that, we can skip. This happened later when things started looking up. It’s the tale of a young man who was mentored by his grandfather and his father, the men who showed him the ways of the world, to include the finer things in life. Good whiskey, the finest of foods, the better mechanical wonders of the world, how to legally manipulate trades and manage the markets, and how to keep the fairer sex from manipulating and managing him. The ‘him’ in question would be me.

My father’s take on it was easy. Respect women to a fault, but don’t give an inch. If you want to golf, golf. If you want to make love, make sure she wants to as well, before the fact. Fine dining, flowers and jewelry for absolutely no reason help, too. Easy as pie.

My grandfather taught me to manage money and investments, watching and knowing when and how to trade. He also taught me how to fly. The latter was the greater gift, but the former made it a bit easier to do so.

Between the two of them, and the love of Nana and Mom, my father’s mother and mine, respectively, I felt pretty well prepared to go off on my own. I was not, however, prepared for how it happened. In an absolute quirk of coincidence, fate, and the evil spirits all joining hands and shitting on me, simultaneously, at the same time, and together, no less, I lost them, all four of them, in an aircraft accident. Grampa was at the controls and Dad was the co-pilot, according to the records, and as they were approaching an airport in Northern California, their vacation destination, an idiot in a Bonanza T-boned them in mid air. If someone tried, really, really hard, they could NOT have performed that feat on purpose with any accuracy. The investigation proved that the offending pilot was not completely sober. Not even close. That doesn’t explain it away, but what can one do?

Four years later, with an MBA, a CFP license, and a multitude of other milestones surpassed, I tried to get on with my life doing something other than making trades and watching my money make more money.

I shopped around for years, renting all kinds of different aircraft models, then replaced the plane, opting for a jet instead of the twin turboprop like Dad and Grampa owned. Their big Beech King Air was nice, but I wanted something a bit quicker, and money was no longer an issue at all. We were wealthy before their accident, but I took proceeds from the settlements and invested it, turning a lot of money into a lot more money and even more gold.

The replacement took six months to get my hands on, since it was a custom-made Pilatus PC-24. Everyone raved about them, and I was one of those who did so. I loved the one I was checked out on. The only problem was range, as it is with any single pilot plane. Yep, range, plain and simple. I needed just a bit more than the Pilatus came with, in its standard configuration, since we liked to vacation in some spots a bit west of California. Yeah, west. That means you have to make it to Hawaii. Once you get there, you can make it around the globe, but that first twenty-two hundred nautical miles is pretty much a requirement. It also has to be planned for, since way too much head wind will cause a problem ending in a long swim. There is the alternative, spending six days flying the other direction, but it seems so ... So ... Never mind. That is not the way to go.

In any case, I had more fuel capacity added, at the expense of losing four passenger seats. Until later in life it wouldn’t really make a difference, as I’d be able to handle six people, two up front and four in a club type seating arrangement, with a full galley and top of the line lavatory included in the deal. All in all, the best of all options, but it was just me when I bought the plane and if I was careful, again later in life, five other average sized people and I could make it to Lihue with enough fuel left over to taxi all the way over to the hangar at the FBO, so all was good with the world.

This story starts out with me doing just that. I very carefully moved all of my volatile investments, those that needed constant care and monitoring, transferring them into growth instruments, low risk and moderate gain types, and convinced myself I needed a month off. Just a month, then I’d get back at it.

While I knew I didn’t NEED any more wealth, for myself anyway, I wanted someday to have a family. That meant taking care of more than just myself, and for beyond the foreseeable future. I also wanted to provide for my heirs into the not so foreseeable future, so I put a plan together to do just that. More about that later. I lived through the vacation, just barely, so it did happen. The plan, that is.

My trip from home, then to San Jose for refueling, then on to Lihue, on Kauai, in the Hawaiian Islands, was as uneventful as one can hope or pray for. I did both, and it seemed to work out for me. While flying alone can be boring, it can also be dangerous, especially if one is distracted or overly tired. I was neither, and I stayed awake and alert, hence, uneventful.

That changed at the airport. Naturally, I wanted a rental car, since I planned on running all over the island, playing in the sands of the beaches as well as on the trails up in the hills. I also wanted to get some fishing in. A two-week stay in Hawaii provides for a generous offering of divergent activities, regardless of which island you find yourself on. I had a nice car reserved. It was a model I’d had before, and I really liked it.

I approached the rental desk and was next in line behind a young woman, quite a bit younger than me, in a heated discussion with the clerk.

“I was told over the phone that a reservation wouldn’t be necessary. Now you tell me there are no cars available because someone died? Seriously? How is that even possible?”

“Ma’am, I apologize, but hundreds of families have come in for the funeral and we really don’t have any vehicles left. There are always the taxis and such.”

“To heck with that. I wanted a bit of freedom. I don’t like relying on others. Not at all. Are you positive I can’t just get one for a few days to get me back and forth to Princeville?”

“No, ma’am, we have nothing. The other rental companies are out as well. I’m sorry, but there is just nothing we can do.”

Uht, oh, here he comes. Watch for him. The knight in shining armor. Silly me opened his mouth. “I can take you up there, miss. I’m on the way to Princeville myself. I’d love to give you a ride.”

“Then what. I’m stuck at a resort in Hawaii for three days with no wheels and no friends.”

“Poor, poor, pitiful you?” Her eyes shot daggers at me. “Sorry. Bad joke. There is a country song about that. Hey, it can’t be all that bad. Where are you staying?” I asked her.

“The Wyndham, Bali Hai. Why does that matter? I still don’t have wheels.”

“No, but I can get you up there and you can catch all kinds of rides in Princeville, to all types of places and activities. Ever been here before?”

She shook her head, frowning. It didn’t become her. She looked down at the floor. I stepped forward and did something I might have been sorry for later, but it didn’t work out that way. I held out my hand, index finger forward and lifted her chin until she was looking at me.

She opened her mouth, and I think, her heart, to me. “My sister will be here in three days, and when she shows up, me with no wheels, it’ll prove once again that she has the upper hand and she’ll tell me all about what I should’ve done. I know now what I should’ve done. I listened to the wrong person once again.” I could tell she was to the point that a tear was about to fall.

“Hey. No problem. I’ll get you up there and we can pretend you worked out a deal to have wheels and save some money. I’ll bet that’s the rest of the issue, isn’t it? She’s rolling in dough, and you might just not be?”

“To some degree. I had to scrounge for some of my part the trip. Airfare, hotel, the whole bit. I thought if I could save some money with a last-minute rental...”

“Those last-minute penny pinchers almost always backfire ... What’s your name, anyway? I’m Josh. Joshua Coats.”

“Brenda. Brenda Williams. Nice to meet you, Josh. In any case, I tried once again, and failed once again, and now I have to hear about it from BB.”

“BB?”

“Beverly Bitch. My sister. Her middle name is Belle, and she thinks that I call her BB like it was her initials. Nope. Our parents asked us to try to patch things up with a little vacation over here, so they paid for some of it for each of us, and we paid the rest. I didn’t really want to come, but ... Dad was pretty convincing. He ended with, ‘You may need a kidney someday.’ After I stopped laughing, I told him I’d come.”

“Why did you laugh at him, Brenda? That’s a pretty serious subject.”

“We don’t want one of BB’s kidneys, Josh. They are probably ... How can I say this politely? Pickled?” She smiled. It was then I noticed just how pretty the girl was. It’s amazing what a smile can do to a face. In this case, it turned an otherwise plain Jane girl into a Beacon of Beauty. My own little BB.

“My sister is a very successful, yet very young attorney in a very large firm in Denver. Her only vice is alcohol. She claims she uses it to cope with the people she defends. She’s a criminal lawyer. Whatever.”

“And what do you do, Brenda?”

“Fourth grade. I teach. I’m not going to be able to do this every six months like BB can. I might be able to pull it off once every six years if I travel with a friend.”

“Brenda, I think my earlier idea just might work. We are going to get you up the hill, then I want you to convince your sister that it was me that was in trouble, you helped me out, saved some money in the process and got a driver and guide out of the deal for free. What do you think of that?”