Chapter 42

I woke up invigorated and ready to take on the world. There were empty spaces where Jules and Katie should have been. Not knowing where they would be, I put on workout clothes and went downstairs. Auli was at the bar with a Mr. Coffee and some snacks. I questioningly looked at him, and he pointed toward the office.

I looked into the office and about fainted. The place was a wreck. There were scraps of paper everywhere. Katie was busy writing on a slip of paper, tearing it off, pinning it into a corkboard laid against the wall, and writing another slip about as fast. You could see her intensity was at the same level as Jules'. Both had phones on their shoulders, and another in their hands, as they kept calling in buy and sell orders. Willy was on the floor, rubbing Jules feet as she banged on two separate keyboards on the desk along with a total of six screens.

I backed out so as to not disturb their train of thought, and went to the bar. Auli said, "They've been at it since about one last night. Jules came running down the stairs hollering that 'It's happening', and Katie was equally as frantic. I've served them coffee and have given them some sushi and other snacks, but they haven't quit since they began."

I looked at the man who was in pants and white shirt, but other than that, looked like he'd been up all night as he had been. I told the man, "Fix us both a Bloody Mary, and make them kick. We were going to go back to LA this morning, but that may not happen. I'll drink to you and you to me, and we'll have some of this fish before it gets stiff."

Kumi came from the kitchen and looked at both of us. She said, "I have just what Auli needs. I'll get it.

Auli said, "Pussy, that's what Auli needs. I was about to plunge into one of the upstairs maids, but Jules' rampage cut me off. Your people have set this home on its edge since you've been here and have continuously kept it there. It's exciting, but it is also frustrating to be here all night while those women are on the phone to places in Europe, Russia, and China. The Japanese market opens in a few minutes and you can just see how the two of them are poised to jump in there. Jules has recently hollered that the Russian ruble against the pound was exactly as she predicted and then nothing but banging on keyboards and satisfied sighs. I hope they come out with enough money for fuel so that you can get back to LA."

I found my phone and called the home office. "Is anything happening there?" I asked the receptionist. She said the partners and legal counsel were clustered in the conference room and didn't want to be disturbed."

I told the receptionist, "Put me on their speakerphone. You know how to do it, put me there so I can talk to them all."

There were some beeps, boops, and a hand smacking the table, and then, 'What?' from Dan.

"Dan, and all the rest of you. I know you haven't let many foreign investors into our business, but you must have done something silly if you're panicked over the trading of the Ruble, Euro, and dollar. Tell me exactly what it is that you're apprehensive about and let my magic woman fix it."

There was a lot of grumbling and mumbling that I could hear, along with attempts to cover the microphone pickups. Dan finally said, "Our market guy is finally saying we may not be in that bad of shape. We were trying to make a few bucks while Russia was playing with their currency against the Chinese. Someone came swooping in and bought Rubles. I'm saying that whoever it was bought everything that every Russian carpet-bagging mother had, giving them a quarter point if it came back around. We dumped all ours into the deal and came out fairly even, but whoever made that deal probably came out a few billion ahead. We won't do that again. We'll stay right here in the U.S. of A. to make what we've kept grow. We'll never again exceed twenty-five percent in high risk capital investments."

"Tell you what, Gentlemen. Use my wife as your investment consultant. She'll make your principal grow and your holdings are never insecure. Consider how I've prospered since our association and now am prospering by doing my trades directly if you doubt her ability. She's one of only five investors who hold a seat and license in all five markets." Letting the panic out of the room there was a good thing. The men around the table said things like, 'Amazing how fast the markets come back when the world goes topsy-turvy'.

There was a lot of low volume conversation until Dan said, "Have Jules give our CFO a call. We do need someone to manage our investments. We're not doing all that well on our own."

There was a pause and then, "Um, are you coming back soon or staying over there to enjoy that wonderful weather?"

I told them, "We'll come back today if we get cleaned up after last night's debacle. I think we may not come back until tomorrow. We have the modifications to the house planned and how to take care of the new property. I'll let you know my schedule as soon as I'm home."

One of the partners said, "Why don't we just give him the reins and go somewhere to watch him make us money. He's on the other side of the world and still creating a hell of profit."

I was smiling as I hung up. Jules, Katie, and Willy came from the office area with smiles on their faces. Jules gave me a kiss, and said, "Come upstairs with us and put us to sleep. Send Auli to bed now so that he can be of help later."

On the way up the stairs, Jules told me, "Today, or rather last night, might have been one of the most profitable nights in the history of the markets. Russia and China got into a pissing contest, and were devaluing their currency faster than we can print our paper here. One was underinflating the other until there seemed to be someone paying for you to buy what they had. We bought it all and sent demand notes to both countries, and that caused an amazing market turnaround. Our shares in major companies in both countries were sufficient that we were able to sell our shares back to the original shareholders for almost five hundred percent of our cost. Think about it, Brad. We're talking major manufacturing companies willing to pay a premium to get their company's stock back in their hands.''

Katie nudged me as we reached the second floor, and said, "Wait for it. Is your heart strong enough for this?"

Jules said, "I made grandfather four billion dollars last night. I made Yuu almost a billion, and I made our family so much money that we might compete with some of the wealthiest in the world. We're talking billions, Brad. I'll never be able to duplicate what happened last night. I'm still so shook up that I may not be able to sleep."

I put the two to bed and gently made love to them, telling both how much I loved them and that we would relax today and go home tomorrow. They fell asleep with Willy giving both back rubs.

Hideki seemed a little miffed that the family wasn't ready to go when I showered and went back downstairs. I told him, "Go check your investment account to see what your granddaughter was up to last night. Listen to the market summary and to the boondoggle it went through. Come back and tell me your thoughts."

Hideki was gone for over an hour, and I heard him summon Yuu. Yuu came running down the stairs and almost dove head first into the floor when he missed a step. The most reserved man I've ever met grabbed me by both sides of my T-shirt and just stared at me. He hugged me, and then held me out from him again. "I must tell my niece how wonderful she is. I have to wake her up, but I know she is very tired. Do you know what she did?"

I just smiled at the man, knowing that he had been blindsided by the sheer volume of what had been done. Yuu took me by the arm, walked me to the office area, and waved his arm at the disaster that was there. I told him, "Jules goes nuts and trades where she can when something like this happens. How she does what she does is amazing. Help Hideki relax so that he can fly back on his own. I'll find a way back home using a different aircraft."

Yuu was still giggling as he went to find his father.

Hideki came to tell me, "I must go today to be at the meeting in the morning. I can send the aircraft back for you, but it won't be for a couple of days."

"That's okay, Sir. I'll find us an aircraft to get home in. I think we might be able to afford one after last night."

Hideki said, "Yuu and I will take care of all expenses for this property similar to your LA home. Jules will be able to have homes all over the world if she keeps winning the way she does. I don't think she wants that right now. She wants a healthy baby and to be your wife."

I went back upstairs to snuggle with the girls when Hideki left and Yuu had gone to the golf courses with his bodyguard. We slept until one in the afternoon.

Jules was wrapped around my left side and Katie was wrapped around my right. Willy lay on top of me, sleeping soundly. Jules kissed me and smiled. "It's nice that you came back to bed with us. Last night was amazing. Katie kept seeing turns in market prices, and shot buy orders off faster than I could find money. We ended up making my investment group more than three hundred percent. I told you what I made Grandfather and Yuu. You, my love, are now officially a billionaire. What do you want to do with one of your billions? I knew it could be done, but had no idea how fast it could happen. The right place at the right time. Don't make any waves until everything is at its lowest point, and then hold your breath until it crests. We did everything exactly right."

Katie hugged both Jules and I before kissing us. She said, "Let's get cleaned up and figure out how to go home. We need to get Willy home to get her mother to our house. Brad has a lot to catch up on, and you and I have to clean up all our orders, Jules. We probably spent a million on change orders."

I told the two, "Don't worry about having to be somewhere. Take your time and get all your numbers to your accounting firm. We'll owe over five hundred million in state and federal taxes if you have a billion in profit. Having exact documentation on your activities will be important. Keep me posted on how you're doing and what your timeframe looks like."

The parents and Yuu were celebrating that it was a great day when I went into the big room. Yuu was having a happy time. I asked the parental couples, "Why didn't you fly back with Hideki and Nobuko?"

The two moms came to me, and said, "We wanted to go back with our newlyweds. I know you guys stayed up all night messing with the mysterious markets. Auli just woke up and came to tell us all how crazy it was in here."

I told all that were there, "We'll leave for the mainland when the girls get their business cleaned up. Our sleep patterns are so messed up that it won't make a difference. It'll probably help for you guys to get done what you need to do."

JoAnn said, "I think all we have to do is to gather our clothes, photographs, and a few knickknacks that mean something to us. The kids will want what's left. This is a great way for the kids to take over the house and farm. Joe and I put our life into it, and it's now going to the next generation. This is great."

Freddie said, "We'll have to either sort through junk for a week, or ship everything and sort here. We do have a lot of junk that will look good on someone else's shelves. We'll have one final party with all our crazy friends, and offer them furniture and various junk. We'll ship what we want and give the balance to the Salvation Army. I want to be back here within two weeks, the same as JoAnn."

I called the airport number I had, and asked what the charter telephone number was. They transferred me instead. The first thing I did was ask for their telephone number. I asked if they had a G5 or better that could fly seven to the mainland, with four of the seven on to other parts of the country. They asked when I would need the aircraft and I advised them that it would probably be later today. I also asked if their aircraft had a bedroom as the travelers were going to be very tired.

All the answers were yes, and they can be ready, and yes some more. The person taking the order asked, "Are you interested in how much this will cost?"

I almost said, "Not really" but said, "You don't know the destinations of the other four people. Two are going to the Midwest, and two to Tampa, Florida."

"We can handle it all, Sir. I was told you would be calling and a gentleman has left his credit card number for us to use. Your trip will happen when you want to fly."

Hideki, you son of a gun. The man is constantly trying to be more than he has to be. I smiled at his generosity after finding out that he had personally gained about four billion dollars last night.

I sat on a bar stool, and asked Auli, "How about a Bloody Mary, and see if one of those wonderful cooks will make me something resembling breakfast. I'll eat about anything right now."

The three girls came into the big room and hugged everyone. Willy knelt at my feet, but I helped her up. She smiled as I pulled her to me. We hugged and she kissed my neck. Dad was adjusting his pants, and Mom winked at me. I have kinky parents.

Wanda came out and said that the table was full of food for all of us. We all found foods that pleased us. I had another tall Bloody Mary with some breakfast sushi made with rice. I also had a couple of pieces of toast with bacon and scrambled eggs. It was perfect for me.

The girls ate more conservatively and skipped the Bloody Mary. The girls tackled the office when we were finished, and soon had all the orders listed in the order they were placed. They were able to get a transaction report from the clearing houses they used so that they could verify what they had written on their notes.

Jules said, "We're ready, about three in the afternoon. Do you want to wait for tomorrow or go tonight?"

I told the girls, "The G5 we're taking has a bedroom, so we're going to sleep as much as we can. I want to hit the ground running when we get home. We should call to warn the house staff that we're on our way so we can get a ride home."

Jules leaned into me, and said, "I think our life will be like this supposed honeymoon. We are going to be pushing ourselves and enjoying each other all the time."

The parental units were ready, and the girls became ready. I called all the house staff to meet me in the big room when we were all there. Yuu was interested and watched.

"Listen to me carefully. This place is going to be a wreck for the next six months or so. Workmen will be everywhere, and there will be more dust and grime than you could ever believe. Be patient and give help when they need it. Clean up at the end of the day. That means getting all the sawdust out and dusting everything. I'd like order of some kind if I come to visit. I want all of you to promote our special home during this expansion. We're going to need at least two, and maybe as many as four more housekeepers. We're probably going to need another butler type person too. We might even need to have another cook. We'll decide that, but find these people and present them to us as you find them. JoAnn, Joe, Freddy, and my dad will be here to help select."

"I want each of you to take a week at a time to go have fun while this construction is going on. Stay if you want to stay, but I want you to know that you can go have some fun and not have to be concerned about being back in time for something. Just rotate through so that you all can have more than one week away. Any questions?"

Suda asked, "I understand Dai is sending another bodyguard to be here with me. Am I still going to be in charge of security here?"

"Yes, Ma'am. You are the mistress of security, and whoever comes will be directed by you unless you mess up. Wanda will be in charge of the outside contractors, Auli will be in charge of the house staff as far as keeping the house up, and Kumi will be in charge of the kitchen. The parents, my women, Donte, my personal guy, and I will be leaving now. We need another driver to get us all to the airport."

I had called to alert the charter company that we were on our way. We arrived and unloaded at the plane. I watched the white Escalades leave and wondered how we could trade them for Suburbans or Expeditions. We might even find a limo for that five person back end.

I didn't pay a lot of attention other than I felt the crew knew what they were doing. The two hostesses quickly had drinks for us, with the usual Bloody Marys and a snack of cheese and crackers before we had taken off. The girls and Donte had some Seven-Up while the rest of us had booze.

I suggested we adjourn to the aircraft's bedroom to get some more sleep as the girls began relaxing. This was the way to fly a few thousand miles. We slept for nearly five hours, and woke to have some coffee for me and decaf tea for the girls. I understood that we were twenty minutes from touchdown at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. I called Brindle to make sure she knew of our arrival time. She said that she was at the airport with the limo.

I extended an invitation to the flight crew and both sets of parents to come to the house for something to eat and rest before taking the parents to their home areas as soon as we landed. They all thought it was a good idea and Brindle was able to hire a small bus to follow us to the house.

I think the entire house staff came out the door to welcome us when the limo pulled up. There were a lot of hugs for all of us. Donte was going to lead the flight crew to the staff quarters, but I told our people, "Take them to rooms upstairs, and be sure to bring them back down for something to eat. I'll bet there is food prepared, so let's have something to eat and then let the crew crash. They will have a long day before heading back to Hawaii tomorrow."

The parents and girls were with me in the saloon along with Steven, Charles, and Osa, our Japanese cook, when I said, "It's almost midnight so let's get some sleep so that the moms and dads can fly out of here in the morning. I'm going to go to the office in the morning and the girls and I will go play pool for our league play tomorrow night. We'll have a normal Thursday and Friday, and enjoy our weekend. I'll try to figure out my schedule for next week tomorrow. You girls need to do some heavy duty work on taxes with the accounting people. I'm sure it's better to be proactive than to wait until the last minute and have to file an extension."

I finished my drink and turned down a refill. The folks all went upstairs talking about what it was going to take to make this move.

I said to the girls, "Let's go to bed, enjoy some honeymoon activities, and get a decent night's sleep. We'll get up at our usual time and get right back into our normal schedule."

That's what we did. The three women seemed to have bonded into a cohesive threesome to get ready for bed and to prepare the bed for some loving. The three were lying in bed with their legs spread grinning at me when I came from the bathroom with my poker leading the way. The contrast between the three was amazing. Tiny Willy, the buxom Katie, and then the tantalizing dark Oriental featured Jules, all looking at me with anticipation of some very good loving.

It took more than an hour to wring me out, but they did.

Thursday

I didn't set my phone alarm but still woke at six. I patted some bottoms, sucked a few nipples, and soon had three delicious women dressed for a workout. We enjoyed doing everything we liked to do in the morning and were leaving the gym room when Donte came in. He smiled at the girls with the sweaty T-shirts and went straight to the treadmill.

We four did a quick shower and didn't get sidetracked into any serious playing this morning. We were dressed and downstairs having juice and coffee before getting ready to go to the office.

Jules told me that she had several places to look at to see if there was opportunity to do some low end buying, and to also sell some of our oil assets that she had bought at close to twenty dollars, and oil was now nearing thirty. She wanted to sell at least half at thirty and keep the other half to see if the price bounced higher.

Donte and I left for the office after he ate. I enjoyed driving myself for a change, and arrived at the office at seven-forty-five. I opened the door and was greeted by an empty office. I walked down the hall to find my office was totally empty. Donte looked at me and said, "Do you think they really were able to move the entire office that fast?"

I locked the door and the two of us walked across the paved parking area to the front door of the new building. The marquee was scrolling the names of the companies; Mooney Homes, Mooney Insurance, etc. I saw a bunch of cars toward the back of the building and realized that I had been setup. I reached for the door and was greeted by close to a hundred people welcoming me back home.

Kelly was in front and gave me a hug. Most of the women in the company gave me hugs and the men pumped my hand. Julio was there with Rita, and he said, "We did it, Boss; we made a year and a half project into just over six months. Kelly asked us to finish it, and we did. I think it took longer to clean up than the last couple of day's work."

Kelly said, "The moving company finished on Tuesday after working to get everything from the other building all weekend. Come look at our new space."

The new building was magnificent. Everything was new and modern looking. There were monitors everywhere on the reception area walls showing videos of our developments and those that were proposed. I looked into the Manager's office just down the hall and saw how everything was arranged. There was a room across the hall with four desks that probably were all for new assistants. This was going to be something special.

I hollered so that everyone could hear me, "I'll be by to say thanks to each of you in a few minutes. Meanwhile, let's make some coffee and make this day something special."

Kelly said, "You're not going to send me very far, are you, Brad? I think I've finally figured this out. You're going to open another office farther south or north, and probably another office for condos. I want to be a part of all of it. Thank you for wanting me to share in this expansion. It will be successful if you're doing it."

That was exactly what I was thinking, but I didn't think it would work as easily as it was going to happen. Should I create the condo office or the second single family home office first? Figuring out the dollars and cents profitability would determine which was going to be where we would concentrate our efforts.

It was my first day back and in my new building, and I already wanted a meeting. I called Matt and Julio into my office and had Kelly and Joan join us at my conference table. "I'm going to split this office, but I also want to create another entity that sells condos, Matt. We both know that we can build neat little condos that are four to six units where we normally have a single family dwelling. Another method would be to build two to four story buildings with about sixteen large units to fit in that size. We could also build some high-rise buildings with a variety of units within each one. Parking would be underground for the high-rise, and the building would be easy to secure. We need to consider where this should be and whether or not we want to do this first, or after we split this office and begin building another couple of developments."

Kelly was the first to say something. "It's going to take a year or more to build a high-rise building. It will take six to nine months to build a small three or four story building, and we could be selling buildings with four condo units within two to three months. Let's find the land within commuting distance for the four to six condo unit development, and start there. We'll look for some locations that can be redeveloped for the three or four story buildings and to buy the land for a high-rise meanwhile."

Julio looked right at Kelly, and said, "You hit the nail right on the head, Kelly. We have the right parcels of land to begin with. The company bought a bunch of small parcels about five or six years ago thinking that it would be cost effective to build a bunch of zero lot line single family homes that would rival our mid-price homes. The upper management didn't want to spend the money for infrastructure for so few homes, and those parcels have sat collecting dust and costing tax money. Every one of those locations has decent highway and main street access. Pull them up on the property map and check them out. I'll bet a couple of crews could be putting up two and three-bedroom, four and six unit condos almost as fast as our better priced homes. I'll bet they sell fast if we were to put our quality into them and promote them as exclusive."

Joan said, "You know the county is tearing down all the property that was public housing because of the condition. Several complexes have been condemned and the property is going to go to auction. Most of that area borders some of the downtown area, and also adjoins a number of the movie industry lots. Just imagine some three and four story buildings with really nice condos that are protected by a concrete block fence surrounding the complex. Figure on a central multi-level parking garage and a central recreation area. Some within walking distance to the major office buildings would be popular with a huge group of prospective buyers. Put quality and some interesting architecture into the buildings, make them secure, and you'll run out of condos to sell very quickly."

I was smiling as I looked at each of the people at the table. "See, Guys, you have all the answers. Now I'll have to hunt for an Office Manager to run a condo sales office. I still want a second office here in LA, and I don't want it too close to this one. The company has land purchased all over the area, so let's see what properties we own that are far enough away from this office where we could develop and build a second sales office. I somehow doubt that we'll detract from the sales we're having from this office, and we can use our advertising dollar to promote multiple offices."

Kelly was sitting with her mouth open, and finally said, "Are you keeping me here in LA to use me for one of these offices?"

My smile said it all. "We might collectively be able to outperform the rest of the country combined if we can put these two offices I'm proposing together, Kelly. I wasn't out to show the rest of the company up, but I think I know how to do it and make it look like we just stumbled into it."

I turned to Julio, "I know you don't need more pressure put on you or your group, but you need to begin thinking about which crews we could swing into building the condo units I want to market. I have to get the architects to work on the design, and then see if we can get permits for the parcels we own. I want to have most of one parcel built out before we turn the salespeople loose with them."

I looked at the core of this office's operations, and told them, "I'll fly to Indy to present this to them and see if they'll go for it. I'm sure they will and will welcome splitting this office up. I'm not worried about this one losing momentum, and I think I can have two offices doing ridiculous numbers, and then put the company on its ear by having a condo sales office that is selling in numbers to rival the two regular offices."

"I might have to pull Rebecca back here for one of these, but I think I'll be doing something similar in San Francisco and Oakland. I want Sheila in San Jose, and will be building condos there from the beginning."

I looked around at those sitting with me, and said, "What do you think about having a meeting upstairs with the Managers of all the offices in the regions I'm working with. The South Central may not be candidates because I shouldn't have them, but I get the feeling that I'll be working them for a long while. We'll just make them profitable and self-sufficient, and I'll have a bunch of Regional Manager Assistants who travel to some of those offices."

I pointed at Julio and said, "You, Sir, are going to be a very important part of all of this. You've been putting multiple crews together and culling them to get the best of the best workers for us. Your overall management responsibility is huge, but you're handling it. You've recognized managers, crew chiefs, foremen, and forewomen, and we're going to demand even more of you now. Your income has grown proportionately and will continue to do so. I have a formula for your position that rates you by the quantity of good men you have. I know they are good men because they are still with us after ninety days. You and your people won't keep someone for ninety days if they aren't good workers. If you remember, I told you we would be able to use the iron workers, and we will if we begin building those three and four story condo units. Let those men know that I'm working on their continuing employment."

I finally got to Matt. "You have done a remarkable job motivating your people, Matt. Keep doing it, but look for management potential in that group. You found another man to be your assistant, and he's been improving the numbers. Now go out and find two more for the new sales office that will be split off from here and the condo sales office. I'm thinking that we can have the condo sales office on a part of the reclaimed land from the former housing project. We can build a building similar to the one we're going to tear down here. I want it to be similar to our usual design, but a little smaller than this one. I think the sales and marketing will be just a little smaller, so we won't need space for the activities. Be on the lookout for qualified leaders, Matt."