Chapter 51: Sharing Emotions

Saturday, November 30, 1985

Over breakfast, Jas and I replanned the weekend on the fly. Instead of Jas and me staying at Mom and Dad’s, Angie and I would, with Jas staying here. That is, if it worked for Angie and Paige.

I gave Angie a call after breakfast. She checked with Paige, who liked the idea, so we were set.

I was glad Jas proposed it, really, because it was a far easier solution for talking with Mom and Dad. That might be why she proposed it, but she hadn’t said that.

Camille and Francis were a tougher problem, one I might have to handle by calling them sometime or simply asking Mom and Dad to pass along a message. Neither was ideal, but saying ‘Don’t give us travel money’ or the like only at the last minute was also not the best thing.

We would see. It was largely a problem of my own making, and I would need to address it as such.

Once all of that was figured out, Jas and I helped Camille and Francis put up lights and get their tree set up. They were very happy for the help, and we really enjoyed it all.

After lunch (Thanksgiving leftovers, likely to be our meals for days) with Camille and Francis, I headed over to the Seilers’ house. I went in for a few minutes, saying hello to Tony and Jean, and then Angie and I headed off to Mom and Dad’s.

“So,” Angie said. “We’re telling them ... what?”

“Our seed money is fine, but we’ve been a little unclear about how and why it’s fine. I think we can make that a bit more clear. So, that, and also that we have a fairly important private investment, but not a lot of detail there. If I can keep Dad from figuring out it’s P.C.’s Limited, that would be good. He’ll track them like a hawk, otherwise. That’s fine by me in and of itself, but it won’t do him any good.”

“Hypothetically, he might spot a strategy or issue we’re all blind to,” Angie said.

“He might, but they’re not public and they don’t release a lot of information. Maybe Michael’s parents get quarterly statements, but otherwise we’re the only ones who do outside of the company. Their financial situation is a black box unless you’re an insider.”

“True, and that’ll only frustrate Dad.”

“He’ll have a field day when it’s a public company and we’re still deeply involved,” I said, chuckling.

“Oh, he will! It’ll make his day. We’ll have to try to keep him from putting all of his eggs in one basket.”

“Yeah. If he’s going to do that, I want it to be Berkshire Hathaway or Angie’s Amazing Stock-Market-Pillaging Company,” I said.

She giggled a bit at that. “AASMPC does have a ring to it! That’s the cart way before the horse, big brother.”

“I have total faith in you, little sister.”

She sniffled suddenly.

“That still gets to me, you know.”

“I know, and I know why. And I meant it.”

“That’s why it gets to me!” she said, giving me the best hug she could without affecting my driving.

“Paige, too.”

“She’s gullible,” Angie said, giggling a bit.

“‘Gullible’ is honestly not a word I associate with Paige.”

“True enough!”

“Jas and I talked about stuff. She doesn’t want me nervous about proposing, but also finds it endearing that I am,” I said.

“Oh, heck, yeah. Paige and I got pretty much to that point. She actually said we should go ahead and have a secret engagement so the proposal is a fait accompli. I pointed out that all that does is make it more devastating if the actual proposal goes up in flames. Even given her love of things going up in flames, she agreed.”

“We have to get her something really good to burn one day.”

“If Cammie and Mel actually let her burn down a house, she’ll be eternally grateful!” Angie said, chuckling. “Some loser of a house they need to get rid of to put up something better, maybe.”

“It’s on the list. Movies do it. Maybe, one day, some movie Jess is in will need a house to explode, and we can figure out how to get Paige to be the one who gets to push the button.”

“Ooooh! That would be like the best birthday present ever! We need to make that happen!”

“It would be, wouldn’t it?” I said.

We parked at Mom and Dad’s and headed in. Dad, who was at his desk doing his weekly bill-paying and record-keeping chores, looked up and said, “Hey, kids! I thought we got a different set of you.”

“Jas and Paige are staying with their parents,” Angie said. “It’s a family night. Um ... no. No! That’s wrong. It’s an original-family night. Or ... well, it counts. Original as of 1980.”

Dad chuckled at that.

“Works for me!”

Mom, coming from the kitchen, said, “It works for me, too!”

After putting our suitcases in my room (why even pretend we would sleep apart?), we wound up talking with Mom about this and that for an hour or so in the living room. Dad joined us once he’d wrapped things up, and we kept on minor subjects for a bit.

Eventually, I could tell Angie was getting nervous, which got me nervous, too. Before Dad could pick up on it — or say anything, perhaps — I said, “We have some ... updates ... for you.”

“Shoot!” he said, looking curious.

“It’s ... well. I’m going to backtrack half a year or so. Nothing has changed, exactly, but there’s some ... context ... we should add.”

“Oh?”

“So ... I said then that the accident money is still squirreled away. It is, all of it. Some of the squirreling away is investments, though, so it is subject to market volatility, but ... they’re quite conservative investments.”

True, from my point of view. Significant investment in only a few stocks isn’t ‘conservative’ unless you have a pretty solid idea of their future values, though.

Angie said, “I know Steve updated you about the money I inherited from Daddy Frank, and it’s the same. I feel like it’s safe, but ... I didn’t want it just sitting there, losing out to inflation or in some low-yield savings account, so ... that.”

Dad nodded slowly.

“Actually ... I think that’s not just fair, but wise. You weren’t saying anything untrue. I would say that I have the money I’ve invested, but I recognize the risks. You two are very good at judging risk, so I’m good with that. It’s not my money, anyway! It’s yours. You can do whatever you want with it, and you should. My concern...”

“Our concern,” Mom said, chiming in.

“ ... was that you stay aware of the great start you have in life and don’t waste it frivolously. You two have never been frivolous, though...”

Mom waved her hand and interrupted, saying, “Which is pretty amusing, considering ski trips and England. But we think those are great! But they’re great because you plan them carefully, know what you’re doing, don’t spend money on silly things ... all of that.”

Dad nodded along with Mom. When she’d finished, he said, “You might be able to tell that we’ve talked about it a few times.”

“I couldn’t imagine you wouldn’t,” Angie said.

“We don’t have to watch out for you,” Dad said. “But I think we’re constitutionally incapable of not watching out for you. You’ll see how that is, one day. Or, at least, I hope you do!”

“We have every intention of finding that out for ourselves,” Angie said, with me nodding along.

“Kids have always been part of the plan,” I said.

Mom chuckled.

“And fortunately not too soon!” she said.

“It felt like you had more,” Dad said.

“We do,” I said. “This is more of the nuanced part. I know you’ll understand, but it still makes me nervous.”

He nodded, and said, “Go ahead, Son.”

“There are a few parts. First, I should say that our simple, market-based investments are doing ... quite well. We would be well ahead just based on those.”

“I can see why, if you’re invested in companies like Berkshire Hathaway, which I know you are,” Dad said.

“Then there’s the house,” Angie said. “With the arrangement we have, all of that housing money from the university winds up turning into equity, slowly but surely. It’s free money to us, and it’s not harming the university, but it’s another nest egg slowly growing.”

“One we’re sharing,” I said. “The original six, I mean. Candice and Sherry know we’re benefiting, but they’re paying a fair price and are fine with it.”

That wasn’t a lie. It was a very careful statement of the facts, though. We owned the house, while Dad and Mom would hear it as our having a rent-to-own arrangement. But it was true as stated, and I doubted we would ever completely come clean on the matter of the house. By the time things got to that point, a house would be a drop in the bucket.

“And, again, that’s a wise move. The real estate market is ... shaky,” Dad said, “But I have faith that kids at A&M will always need housing, and I can’t see the university’s growth slowing. You picked an excellent house, in a very attractive location, and I know you’re keeping it up well.”

We both nodded.

I took a somewhat deep breath and then said, “Here’s the most nuanced part. Our money is fine, and it was fine before, and I think we’ve always felt it was fine. But...”

I paused, then said, “For various reasons, one of which I’ll be detailed about in a minute, I won’t share specifics right now.”

Dad nodded.

“A friend of ours had an investment opportunity that we looked at really carefully a while ago.”

“From all angles,” Angie said.

And, boy, was that true! Including angles no one could have had but people like us!

“It looked really good,” Angie said. “Risky, though. I might even say significantly risky.”

Dad nodded a bit.

“Still,” she said. “We thought it was too good to pass up. We ... I would say, being fair, that we approached our friend much more than the other way around.”

“Definitely,” I said. “We knew he probably needed help, and ... we’d had generic conversations about sharing investment opportunities for years.”

“So, you invested, obviously,” Dad said.

“We did. That didn’t take all of the money, mind you,” Angie said. “Not even all of any one pool of money. Still, it would have been a real loss, one that would sting.”

“But ... and I’m sure you can see this coming ... we were right,” I said. “Returns on the investment — and, I mean, money in the bank returns, not paper profits — already have us in the black. We still have our original share, but it’s now paid for. If an asteroid comes along and smashes the whole thing, we’re ahead.”

“It would take an asteroid,” Angie said, chuckling. “We’re preferred creditors and the asset value of liquidation would be a quite healthy profit. Unless it’s a non-insurable loss, we’ll come out quite well off.”

“I have to commend you,” Dad said. “You know I’ve taken risks. Oil production limited partnerships, for instance. Some pay off. Some don’t. A friend starting a business is up there, but I trust you to mean it when you said you looked at it from every angle.”

Mom nodded.

“It sounds wonderful to me! I think I would have been terrified for you if I had known, so thank you for not telling me!”

Everyone chuckled at that.

She continued, saying, “Really, I mean that. We love to know details in your life, but ... as Sam said, it is your life, not ours. We started making that separation years ago. And we know there are things we don’t know...”

“And things we don’t want to know,” Dad said, smiling.

“Oh, my goodness, yes!” Mom said. “I have a list of those in my head! I think ... much more, what matters is you wanting to share it now. We want you to be successful, and you already were, but ... more is better!”

“There’s a point to all of this,” I said. “I mean, not just because we want to share. We do! But ... well. We’ve been thinking about it, and not just recently. There’s ... we made the family decision a while back that we would give gifts where they were meaningful and special, and we’ve kept to that. That includes a few of the ‘old standards,’ because ... well, they matter because of the tradition.”

“We still might suggest stopping a few,” Mom said, chuckling. “I have more perfume than I will wear for the rest of my life!”

“I’ll make a note of that,” Angie said, smiling.

“The camera, the suitcases ... those were special. We used those every day, and we thought of you. We could have bought them, but that’s not the point,” I said.

Angie nodded and said, “The same is true for the little gifts of money you and the other parents make. We don’t need them, but they’re nice. They’re not big, and they feel special.”

Mom smiled at that.

“It’s ... Camille and Francis, as you know, gave us some money for travel last year,” I said.

They nodded along.

“We’ve been figuring that out. Hawaii and California will use some of it, and that’s appropriate. But we couldn’t very well spend it on the cruise or on England, by our standards, because we can pay for those, ourselves, out of our investments. They’re not ... special. They’re not a family thing,” I said.