Chapter 28

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

Thursday and back to the salt mines. I stretched out and woke the two babes in bed with me. They were fairly easy to wake up and agreed that it was time for our morning workout.

We were running on the three treadmills in the basement exercise room a few minutes later. The girls were getting to where they could talk and run at the same time. That's what happens after you learn to breathe right.

Katie asked, "Why are you waiting to go to Phoenix on Friday and putting Albuquerque off for two weeks?"

"I didn't want to have to stay out overnight any more than I have to. We're going to Florida next week, but it will be just us. I want to get done quickly so that I can go back to San Francisco by next Friday to make sure my new guy is okay. I don't think I need a secretary for the trip or for Florida. I'll need a secretary to do the rest of the South Central that will include Albuquerque, three Texas offices, as well as New Orleans the following week. I'll just finish up the next week if it takes more than three nights on the road. I'm going to spend at least one full day in my home office almost every week. How can I teach an Assistant to be a Manager if I'm not there? I should probably take one of the Assistants with me for the South Central tour."

Yori showed up to ride with me when it was time to leave for the office. We drove in without a lot of conversation but he asked, "Although we're here in LA, can I still continue to hang out with you while you do what you're supposed to do?" when we arrived. "I'll work on the project you gave me, but I also want to learn what you do and how you do it when you're in the office."

I wondered how Dai would take me stealing his man and if he had someone as good as Yori to take his place. Yori was special because he would work out and run with me. The man had values similar to mine, and kept his mouth shut when it was important that he do so. Would a new man be as competent or compatible if I had to get one? Only time would tell.

I knew I should probably try to go to Phoenix and do Albuquerque tomorrow as soon as the day began. Joan was trying to compete with Kelly, and there shouldn't be any competition between them yet. Kelly was trying to glue herself to Rebecca, and she wasn't ready for that type of trainee status.

I told Kelly, "Call the pilot to see if we can go to Phoenix this morning and New Mexico tomorrow morning. You'll go with me on both, and begin to train next Monday. Rebecca will be your trainer, so you have familiarity with her anyway. I'll be in Florida for most of the next week, and be back as early as Thursday so that I can run up to San Francisco and back by the close of the day on Friday."

It was dangerous to take a trip like this and not have some backup luggage. It should be okay, but who knows what we'll find at the other end. The reports were all good, and the sales had been on a steady increase for the last two quarters.

I told Yori, "We're taking a day trip to Phoenix today, and we'll fly to Albuquerque just for the day tomorrow."

I called the Phoenix office as a courtesy, and asked if I could visit with them this morning. The Manager was happy to have me come.

Kelly was ready to go, so we went out to the car got on our way to Burbank. I had Kelly reserve a car for us in Phoenix and another for Albuquerque for the next day. Kelly handed me the information and data for the Phoenix office to review as soon as we were on the plane. There were notes from Joan and Sandy about their conversations with the receptionist there. They both had learned different things that would be useful when we were there. I had Yori read everything, even if he didn't know what he was reading. I pointed out how the overall dollars looked, and then how each department contributed to them. If there was a weak spot, it was Decorating. There was very little volume, but the department was still slightly profitable.

The short flight had been productive since both Kelly and Yori learned how I evaluate numbers. I told the pilot and hostess, "We'll try to get back here before five, but we'll definitely be returning tonight."

The office wasn't far, so we were at the office by eleven. I suggested to the Manager, "Let's take a tour to say hi and so I can get the feel of your empire," as soon as all the introductions were made.

The Sales Manager was a very enthusiastic middle-aged guy who looked to be athletic. I congratulated him on the steady increase in sales. I also asked if he could get his advertising folder so that we could go over it together. This puzzled him; because he felt that he was right on the edge of spending too much on advertising. The agency he had didn't care for radio advertising and put too much emphasis on double-page ads in the newspaper. I suggested that he use my method of a quarter page in the sports section on Friday, a half page in the same section on Saturday, and a half or full page on Sunday. I told him again how successful the radio spots were, and that they were on both sports and talk stations all week, so he would be priming the listeners and reaffirming the advertising with newspaper ads in the women's and home section and TV spots on Saturday and Sunday sports programs.

"You know ten and fifteen second radio time is cheap. You can almost run an entire week of radio spots for the cost of a double-page ad on Sunday. You won't lose the customer's interest by cutting back on the newspaper ads, and will be priming the customer to watch the TV ads closer. I like to have a couple of ads on re-run channels Friday evening. There often isn't great TV on Fridays, and a lot of people watch re-runs."

The Sales and Office Managers were both taking notes. The Sales Manager said, "I can do all this and still stay within my budget. We'd better increase the quantity of inventory homes if this works. I'll also have to have daily coverage at the models. I assume that this is how you're doing record breaking business in LA."

I wanted to skip Decorating and Title for now, and we went upstairs to Finance. There were three people working on qualifying some loans. The Finance Manager said he was a little remiss in soliciting outside business this week because he was getting several referrals from a small savings and loan company who didn't have any big capital to loan right then. I congratulated him on his numbers though, as they had been more than good enough to earn bonuses.

When we went into Accounting, there was an older man at the front desk, and a small girl who looked like she could still be in junior high sitting at a desk next to him. The man was happy to see me, and said that he had talked to Connie to see if he could find out some of LA's secrets about doing the business we were experiencing. He pointed to the girl, and said, "She isn't child labor, just a tiny person. She has a sister who works in your office in LA who I've met. Janice said she's now working as an architect and may apply for an Assistant in training position. Janice has finished school and is working on her accounting degree now. She'll be valuable to the company."

The man handed me some papers that looked like what I get from Connie. I looked them over and showed both Kelly and Yori the comparisons I liked to see. He then showed me a file with a bunch of invoices that hadn't been forwarded to the home office because the sender couldn't be reached to verify the details of the invoice. He said, "There haven't been any new invoices for about two months now, so whoever was trying to sneak an invoice by may have given up."

I knew who had been sending the invoices and why they had stopped, but I congratulated the man for having sharp eyes and protecting the company's wallet.

We went downstairs and talked to the Title people. The office had four people, which was a lot for an office of this volume. I quickly glanced at the P&L and noted that this department was exceeding plan on outside closings. I was able to congratulate the manager and told her that she was a major contributor to the office. She said she liked to be busy and all her people spent part of each week soliciting business.

I wanted us to have a cup of coffee and to find out what the problem might be before we went into Decorating.

We sat around the conference table where I showed the Manager the quarterly report and the just prepared information. He nodded his head in agreement, and said, "She seems to always be busy, and I know she'll work with customers of custom homes. I'm not sure what her problem is."

"How come she doesn't have a second decorator so that they can market the department?"

"I've asked her to find a second person, but she just doesn't seem to want to work with anyone."

"Okay, let's go talk to her."

We went to the decorator's office where the decorator was getting ready to go somewhere. I asked her to have a seat for a minute so that I could talk to her. She was aggravated and said that she had an appointment soon. I asked, "Is this for a custom home or something we've recently sold?"

"Heck no, this is for one of my own customers. I found this one, not the company."

"So, you don't market yourself for the company? We do provide you with desk space, a phone, a computer, and office services. What do we get in return?"

"I kiss the ass of the custom home people. I don't mess with inventory or pre-owned home sales. Those people are probably too cheap to afford me."

"You and I have a problem. Do you remember the contract you have with the company?"

"Yeah, I have it here somewhere."

"Do you remember that there is a non-compete covenant? Some decorators more recently work on straight commission and are allowed to have outside customers, but those people with the old contracts are responsible for soliciting business for their offices. You work only for us from eight thirty to five every day unless you have an after hours customer meeting, and then you take compensatory time off to offset it since you're paid a salary and have the opportunity to receive a department bonus, as well as a share of the office bonus,."

The woman got really huffy then, and said, "Not me, Buster. I work for me, not for you or Mooney. They pay me to screw with four to six customers a month and I'm on my own after that."

The Office Manager was now very red-faced. He said, "Please clean out your desk and don't come back. Your last check will be deposited by Monday. I really didn't realize how unhappy you were here."

He asked Kelly and Yori, "Watch her. Help her if she needs help carrying any personal stuff to her car, but get her out of here."

The Manager said to me, "Come with me. We need to talk to the sales manager."

We went to the sales manager's office where the Office Manager asked, "You don't have to complain about the decorator any longer. She's leaving. Find me another one quick, and get us two while you're at it. The first thing I want done is to fix up our models. They are looking shabby, and it's difficult for your people to sell homes when they aren't perfect."

The sales manager said, "That's good news. I'll have a couple to talk to you by this afternoon. The decorator at the furniture store we use is always trying to get me to hire her. I'll have her here right away." He immediately pulled his middle drawer out and fished through some cards that were there. He raised it, smiled, and reached for his phone.

The Manager led me back to the decorator's office where she was about to leave. I grabbed the biggest box and began walking out. She was angry and followed me, carrying a smaller box while Yori followed her with another large box. As we put her things in her late model Cadillac, I told her, "It's really too bad that you have the attitude you do. Decorators at our offices make some big bucks by working within the rules. Good luck."

I walked away from her knowing that she would kick herself over losing a very cushy job.

The Manager said, "Okay, I'm hungry and I'm sure you are too. Let's run down the street to a little Greek restaurant that has great food, and is fast as it's cafeteria style."

That's what we did and had a very good and inexpensive meal. The manager said, "Thanks for pushing me into that confrontation," while we ate. "It's something that I've been putting off and shouldn't have. The other thing I like is the type of advertising you suggested. A lot more women listen and watch sports than most people think. I know the newspaper will be good for women, but a refresher TV ad on Friday evening could be the difference in getting people to come to a development. What else do you need to check?"

"Nothing. There's nothing to fix here that hasn't been addressed. I'd say all you have to do is keep encouraging your sales group and keep enough completed inventory homes that include landscaping. We're done here. One thing you could think about is putting an insurance office together. We've been able to create a very busy agency that is selling all forms of fire and casualty coverages. Call the LA office and ask for Don Ripple, the insurance office manager, if you want some hints. Another area you might want to look into is to find a small swimming pool designer and builder who would complement our homes and see if you can integrate him into your office. We've been selling a lot of custom homes with custom pools. It can be another profit center for the office."

The Office Manager smiled and said, "No wonder your office is doing so much volume. You're working every angle in order to increase your sales."

I went around back at the office and thanked everyone for a great visit. It was a way to have one more look at the departments. There was a cleaning person in the decorator's office, so the receptionist had anticipated the need and called someone in.

I said to the office manager, "I note you don't have an assistant. You've always run a good office, so how about breaking in and teaching someone. Let me know if you don't have someone you can bring up, and I'll send someone to you."

Kelly called the pilot to tell him that we were on the way. We were in the air by two thirty and in the office right at four. I spent the flight time writing my report and sent it as soon as we were in the office. I told the pilot that I wanted to leave by eight in the morning, and he suggested, "Leave earlier or later, or you'll be tied up in traffic. It's right at a two hour flight, so let's leave at seven and you might be able to come home earlier that way." We were set.

My office had been rearranged once again. Another desk was now close to the secretarial desk, but still allowed easy access to get in and out. This was getting ridiculous. I might have to have Ken design an office for me and a secretary, and one for Assistants. I suppose that I could have them in rows and even cram another desk in that way.

I made a comment to Rebecca, "I see the construction group is gone. Did they get a bigger trailer, or are they still jammed in the old one?"

The new Assistant said, "I approved a new one through the home office and used a moving group to move all the materials. Julio said this was a good move because he'll know his inventory better now. The people we hired were really good and fast. Construction will be grading and leveling the ground for the foundation and slab for the new building on Monday. Ken is getting the last of the permits Monday morning. He had to do a snake dance to get the permit for the trailer on the new lot, but you being the Kamatsu son-in-law makes you golden."

There was time for a tour through the building so Yori, Kelly, and Rebecca followed me as I checked with Matt who said that there were only eighteen sales so far today, but he assured me that his people would break twenty. He told me, "I rented a big tent for the new development with some of those air conditioners like you had for your party. I've split out some of the advertising to feature the eight to twelve million homes we will be building. The first model should be complete by the end of next week, and all that will have to be done is decorating and landscaping. We should be really strong with models to show now, considering that we've already sold two units out there.

Matt added to what he thought of the new development, "There's something I want to do out there. A development with homes that valuable should have a large fence and a manned guard shack. We can build it into a special tax district and create a neighborhood that's exclusive. Each home is on a three acre lot and most are going to have separate garages. We will be building the price and value of the home before the ink dries on the sales contract if we erect a big fence around the development, and some people will want additional gated entryways like your house. Also, to take advantage of the snobbery in our target demographic, I want to call these higher-priced homes 'Celebrity Homes', by Mooney, instead of Mooney homes. That way, the got-rocks folks will think they're getting something really special compared to our lower-priced homes, even though we build the same quality into all of them. In fact, our salesmen can pitch that as another aspect of our quality pitch on the lower-priced homes."

"Let me run that by the partners to see what they think. I like the idea, so they will probably work with me if I get behind it."

We checked on the decorators and found out that they had custom home appointments in the office this weekend. The new part time receptionists will be on duty both Saturday and Sunday. I asked Alec, "How many decorators do we have now?"

The woman proudly said, "We have ten today, so we should be okay. A lot of existing homeowners are also asking for decorating help, so we're going to be busy. We might go to an even dozen if we can find room for them."

The title office manager was stacking files to be recorded on Monday. She said that she had closed over one hundred twenty loans this past week and were not pressed really bad. We went up to Finance and heard Jimmy telling his people they had done a great job this week. The Insurance people were a little more subdued because they were worn out.

Connie was straightening up next door, and told me, "I'll be seeing you at the Rack tonight."

My phone did the beep, beep, beep reminder on the way back to my office. "Okay, let's get ready to say goodnight."

We were in the lobby when the first people began coming through. The number of people in the building now was really astounding. It's fun to thank everyone for their contribution to a successful day. I found it funny how the group of people saying goodnight had grown. Rebecca had begun to join me when she was the receptionist, with Yori always standing behind me and smiling. Kelly then began joining the group. Matt would stand with me sometimes, and Jimmy or Alec, and now even little Sandy would occasionally come to stand with me. This office had become a better place and everyone was proud of it.

I reminded Kelly that we would meet at the office at six in the morning to be at the airport no later than seven before we left. We would get to Albuquerque earlier if we were early. She said that she was going to miss visiting the offices, but excited about beginning training.

The girls were waiting for me and hurried me upstairs to change into jeans and a knit shirt for pool. I was thinking of leaving my harness and pistol behind, but put it back on so that I didn't have to listen to Yori telling me to go put it on.

We had a decent early supper of stuffed shells with great pasta sauce. The just-baked Italian bread was perfect to sop up the extra sauce. We went out to the Bentley that was at the front door as soon as we all finished. Traffic was light, so we were at the Rack by six, in time to practice before the matches began. Katie was assuring Mattie that we would be by tomorrow night, Friday, for some fun matches. I know that I was ready for some competition. I rented another table and was practicing my stroke and shots while some lesser matches were being played. Guys kept asking for a match, but I told them that I was playing league tonight and would be in tomorrow.

I was to play against another skill level seven for an 8-ball match when it was my turn. Katie had played the opponent's other seven and won, and told me that this guy wasn't as good as the one she played. You can do a break and run in 8-ball, but it's more difficult as there are more balls on the table and you have to constantly kick balls out of the way. You have to intentionally push your ball toward a pocket and hide the cue ball for a safety if you don't. I had to win five games, and was able to win five straight. The opponent said that he wanted to shoot a money game with me, so I told him to show up tomorrow night and we would do something.

I was glad to get out of there early because I had to get up early to meet Kelly at six and could use a good night's sleep.

We went into the saloon to have something to drink and sat at the bar talking about nothing when we arrived home. Jules told me, "Katie and I worked on commodity futures and were fairly successful today. No huge winners, but no big losers either. We were only up about three percent at the end of the day. The stock market is being weird with the radical selloffs and the hot names might be getting to be too high and will suffer a correction." I thought about her statement that she was 'only' up 3% for the day, and realized that if she gained 3% every day just on the business days of the year she would be up 750% for the year!

Katie said, "Jules let me make a few trades that I felt were going to be good and they turned out okay, but no big winner. I was using my own money and not the invested funds that Jules trades. She says that she'll risk her own first when she's risking funds."

We were in a towel-covered bed by eleven, and in a satisfied sound sleep by midnight.

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

I didn't want to get out of bed or to let go of the woman in front of me. The woman behind me was smashing her large top into my back, and I turned over to suck a fat nipple into my mouth. Katie groaned and pulled my head into her breast. I released the nipple and kissed her as she complained. She and Jules snuggled to each other as soon as I moved over her to get out of bed.

I did my quick triple S and dressed for the day. I was kissing the two girls within minutes, and told them to make sure that they got their exercise session in. They moaned that it was too early to talk about exercising, and promised to do their morning workout.

There was coffee in the kitchen, and Yori was sitting at the counter drinking some. He did his usual patting where my gun was supposed to be, and smiled at me. We left the house at five forty, thinking that there would be little or no traffic. We were wrong, and really pushed it to get to the office by six. Kelly pulled in about the same time we arrived. I had Yori drive us to Burbank and Kelly sit up front because I wanted to make a call.

"Hi, Mom, how's it going in Florida?"

"It's about time you called. When are you going to send me a picture of these girls you're paying attention to, or are we supposed to come out there to meet them?"

"I'll send you some pictures while we're talking. You'll have to decide how to show Dad. I know he isn't hot on mixed relationships, but just tell him to be happy it isn't a guy."

"Ha, ha, ha, that would really do it for him. You know, I think that he hasn't aged a day since we moved here. He plays golf almost every day, and I'm even playing now too. It's good exercise, although we do use carts to get around. We have two now, one for him and one for me. These people don't use cars, they use carts for everything."

"You should have a half a dozen pictures now."

"Oh my, those two are gorgeous. Which is the girl you met first?"

"I met the Caucasian girl, Katie, first and met the mixed Japanese girl, Jules, later that same day. We sort of had one of those love at first sight meetings all around. The two were roommates in an apartment and invited me to live with them when I said I was looking for a place. Well, Jules is quite wealthy and owned a huge home in Bel-Air, just outside of Hollywood, and wanted me to rent a room from her. It was a good deal, so I took her up on it and have become friends with her grandparents. Her grandfather is an important businessman here and in Japan. Her grandmother is a Geisha. A real Geisha who I've seen dressed in all the traditional apparel and makeup. She is very beautiful. Jules is the product of a black professional basketball player and a mother who was too young to have a kid. She abandoned her, and the grandparents raised her and have wonderfully spoiled her. Jules is a major investor and commodity and currency trader. I'm not that knowledgeable about that stuff, but she's taken my savings and quadrupled what I had."

"Why the call this morning? Are you going to come visit soon?"

"I'm actually going to be in Florida week after next because I'm supposed to make one last pass through the offices there. I'll be flying in Sunday, and will probably be in Tampa and Orlando on Monday. I'll do Miami on Tuesday, Jacksonville on Wednesday, and Panama City on Thursday. How about meeting me at the Marriott Sunday night, and we'll have dinner where you can meet my two beauties."

"Oh, be still my heart. We get to see you and your girlfriends?"

"Yes, so is the Marriott good for you two?"

There was a pause before she asked, "How about putting us up at the Hard Rock? We love that place and will want to stay a couple of days. They have great food and some nice lounges for us to sit and talk."

"Do you think Dad's going to freak?"

"Naw, the man has really changed. He even has a couple of black golf buddies. One of his good friends is Oriental, but I don't know whether he's Japanese or Chinese. We haven't gotten together with them yet. We've been at the others' homes for dinner and cards, and I go shopping with all the ladies."

"I'll make reservations for us for that Sunday, and you can stay through how about Thursday."

Mom said, "Can you make our reservation for Friday through Wednesday? We love that place on the weekend. They might have a package deal for a longer stay."

"I'll find out and send you the reservation number, Mom. Show Dad the pictures to see how he reacts. I really want you two to meet them. They are very special to me."

"That's so sweet, Brad. Let me know when you make the reservations."

I used my phone to look up the Hard Rock information and wondered if they shared information between hotels. I might be listed as someone special if they did. I called the hotel in Tampa. I asked if they shared information with other Hard Rock locations, especially Las Vegas, when I spoke with reservations. They assured me that they did, so I gave them my name. The operator came back to me, "Are you the Brad Johnson related to Hideki Komatsu?"

"That's me. What I'm looking for is a suite with at least three bedrooms similar to what I had in Vegas. Do you have those?"

"Our suites are all only a single bedroom, how many would you like?"

"Depends on whether you have a deal for a longer stay. Let's say next Friday through the following Wednesday as an example."

I was searching on the web to see what the rooms were like. The suites they had were nice, but I think I'll get Yori a queen room, Mom and Dad a king, and I'll get the girls and I one of the suites since I'm paying for them.

The voice had changed, and a new voice said, "We have something special for you, Mr. Johnson. Stay through Thursday night and we will only charge you for the weekend of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

"Do this for me, I want a Roxy Suite, a king room, and a queen room. The suite will have three people, and the one bed is fine. The king will have a couple, and the queen room will have only one person. Figure all that up and call this number when you have it put together."

The new voice said, "I can give you the amounts and a reservation number right now if you'd like."

I wanted to choke when she quoted the price, and I figured the suite to be close to a grand a night. She said, "I'll charge you for the weekend for the suite and the King, and will give you the queen room and the extra days."

This was for my mom and dad, so why not treat them? Jules just made me a millionaire, so I thought I might splurge. "Can you change the king room to a Savoy suite?"

The new voice said, "We are booked for all our Savoy suites, but I can give you a Fillmore suite for the same money. The change would increase the total to this amount. Would you like to register a credit card with us now?"

I gave her my personal, not my business credit card. I could submit some of the cost, but not all. I would normally stay at a regular hotel where the cost would be half what the queen room was, but I would be able to visit with Mom and Dad every evening. The Executive Airport there has a long enough runway so that we can use that to keep the plane at. It's only about ten minutes from the hotel.

Mom loves texts, so I sent her a text message with the reservation number and told her they were going to be in a Fillmore suite. My phone wasn't even back in my breast pocket when it rang. "You sweet boy. Your dad and I have always wanted to stay in one of those suites. This is going to be a weekend, as well as a week, to remember."