Chapter 44

I woke up wanting to exercise, but I sort of figured the girls wouldn't be that interested considering how late we were up the night before. We did have to be at the Rack by ten, and I needed to sharpen my stroke a little this morning. It was seven, so I went downstairs and found a coffee pot with mugs next to it on the bar. I poured a mug and set up the balls on the table for a standard drill. My stroke was there and I was making all the shots. I did a rail drill and was accurate, and then a cushion drill to make sure I could make bank shots. I had some bad breaks last night, so I practiced both eight and nine ball breaks for at least thirty breaks until the breaks were feeling good and I was pocketing a couple of balls on each break and leaving the cue ball where it was supposed to be.

I woke the girls at eight and they were anxious to get ready to go to the Rack to see how far they could get. Katie asked me if I practiced this morning, and I admitted that I did. She told me, "The competition is going to be fierce today. The best of the best will be playing in these rounds. I've practiced all week and am playing as good as I've ever played. I'm really going to try to win this. I know I won the last tournament, but this is a skill tournament as well as a straight 9-ball run for the money. I'll give that top prize of twenty grand away, but I want to win it and that Balabuska cue Mattie is giving away. I doubt I'll swap my Meucci out, but this one will be engraved for the tournament and be a nice trophy."

The girls had some breakfast before we left, and we still made it with plenty of time to spare. People straggled in until eleven, and that gave those wanting some more practice time a chance to really warm up.

I remembered my opponent from last night. He was hot and sinking every shot. He was hung over and had trouble knowing what end of the cue to hit the cue ball with this morning. I won the lag and called break first. I figured an experienced pool player would call 9-ball and I would be set. The guy chose 8-ball for the first matches. I broke and sank two solids, but not having another decent shot, I hit an object ball and didn't do anything with it. The shot was a very good safe with no way to hit anything. I looked at the angles and finally pushed one of his balls up against another of his near the rail. That was going to be tough to get out of. He did his best to kick the two balls out with ball in hand, but missed them. He finally missed so I was able to get back on the table and finish the rack.

The guy knew he was still impaired and shot a safe every chance he had. I was able to do something with one of my balls most of the time, and ended the 8-ball portion of the match up three - two. I had won the last game, so I broke the first 9-ball game and ran the rack. The one ball was loose as was the trailing ball when he racked this next time. I asked for a re-rack, and he angrily racked, but the rack was cocked by at least an inch. I called an official and asked if he would rack. He looked at the rack the guy gave me and declared me the match winner. It becomes obvious to experienced players when someone is trying to gain an advantage with a bad rack.

I found out Katie smoked her opponent, but Jules had lost her match. She wasn't that upset; she said she played longer than more than half the tournament players.

My next match was with a young guy who was shooting lights out last night. I figured he would clean my clock, but the guy kept making mistakes until I won the match. Katie won hers, so we were now just a couple of matches from playing each other again. I played some babe who was probably trying to get on the pro circuit, but couldn't put her bias toward men out of her head. I safed her when I needed to, and she couldn't get out of them so I won the match. Katie had done about the same, and we were head to head once again. This had been a long day and I was tired. I could tell Katie was barely able to hold her cue.

I won the lag and chose to break. She chose 9-ball because we could finish this off fast. Our first game was brutal as neither one of us had a decent shot on the two and then the seven, so it was a battle of safeties. I finally won that game, but my next break sucked and Katie ran the table. She broke and ran the next one too, so she was up two to one. She broke and didn't pocket a ball, but there was no chance in hell for me to hit the one, so I pushed out. My hit was too hard and gave her a shot on the one which she made. She didn't finish the rack and left the eight and nine that I was able to sink, making it two-two. I broke and ran the table to get up three-two. My next break sucked and I didn't sink anything and she ran an easy table to make it three-three. I won the last two games in nine-ball to be at five - three. I broke on an 8-ball game and was able to get down to the eight ball, but it was hidden away. I never could break it out in the cluster on the rail. Katie had it down and ran her balls and the eight ball. It went to six-six, and I had this game in the bag. I could see the disappointment in Katie's face when I went for my last ball before the eight and intentionally missed it, but it looked like a shot just a little off. Katie looked at me and actually blushed. She didn't hesitate though and pocketed her last four balls and then the eight. She danced around the pool hall telling everyone she had now beaten me two straight tournaments. She came to me and gave me a delicious hug and a kiss before whispering in my ear, "You were so sweet to do that. I really wanted that cue."

We went home via the steakhouse next door, and Katie treated us all as she had all the money. Second place won a whopping three thousand, and third won a grand. I was surprised that I had played as well as I had, but also realized that I had played a lot of substandard players. Katie later said the same thing and that it was silly the way people played the first day.

A great time was had by all in bed at home. I made sure all three had some of my offerings and a lot of my attention.

I was up early and had my running clothes on Sunday morning. Donte and I were ready to begin running when there was some thunder and the heavens opened up. We both had stretched out and were ready, but we ducked back inside. We went to the basement and used the treadmills there.

The girls and I had a leisurely breakfast, and then talked about whether or not they were going to go to the Rack for the grudge matches. Katie said she loved to take money from the ego losers who showed up for these matches. I told the three, "Go play, and clean them all out. I'll call Georgia to get her going, and I'll get out of here and get to San Antonio early. I'm done with pool until next weekend. I'll watch if there's another tournament. I played this one because I had something to prove to myself."

They decided to go to the Rack and left after giving me kisses. I called Georgia and the pilot, then drove Donte and me to pick Georgia up, and then on to Bob Hope Airport. We left at two in the afternoon and arrived in San Antonio about six thirty Central Time. That wasn't bad considering the heavy headwind we had along with the two-hour time change.

Georgia and I went over what we wanted to accomplish while we were here. I asked her to keep my required items on a page of her iPad so we could check them off as we went. We went into the fancy hotel's lounge to go over our targeted objectives. I think she was surprised that I had a drink and offered her one. I told her that we weren't really working, just preparing.

I had the Austin Manager's phone number, so I gave him a call to ask if he was willing to come to San Antonio Monday morning. He said he would meet us at our hotel at eight. He said he was very familiar with the city as this is where he grew up. It seemed as if most of the items were going to fall into place.

I called the first Sales Manager candidate and asked if he wanted to meet at the hotel lounge for coffee at nine. I called candidate number two to ask he could come to meet at the same location at one. Candidate number three had his phone off and I went straight to voicemail. I asked him to call me back to schedule a time we could meet for an interview. Georgia had used the home office investigative software to delve into the three men's past and present. All appeared acceptable, with no red flags.

Georgia and I talked about how to get someone to begin building models and inventory homes. We made suggestions back and forth until we agreed to talk to the Construction Supervisor for the new office and get his advice. We knew we had to interview the local office for the national advertising agency that I used in LA. These people would hopefully have their hands on the area's pulse as well as LA did.

I needed accounting soon as I really needed to be keeping track of our costs to open this office. The city didn't seem that big with only a million and half population, but there was a very large population in the suburban sprawl that probably made the target population closer to two and a quarter million. I had to keep reminding myself that this was Texas, and people thought nothing of long driving commutes. Our developments would hopefully be close enough to the city's business districts that our homes would appeal to upper management.

I knew from the marketing study that the average home price in the area was right at two hundred thousand with the higher end homes around three hundred fifty to four. This would mean our home prices should be between three and five hundred thousand. We would work on building premium homes in premium developments.

I suggested to Georgia and Donte that we have an early night after we had supper with Donte and the aircrew. We confirmed where their gym was, and went to our rooms. We had my usual three-room setup so that we could leave the doors open for extra security. Georgia might have thought it was a ploy to visit her during the night. I hoped she wasn't disappointed.

Monday mornings in a hotel are never good. There usually isn't a crowd yet, as that will begin tonight. We worked out, and then had a very class act breakfast after cleaning up.

Don Baker, the Austin Manager showed up at eight, looking fresh even after the seventy-five mile drive. I suppose it isn't a long drive at ninety miles an hour. I told him that we were going to be interviewing the first of three potential Sales Managers at nine. Georgia shared her iPad with our objectives over the next couple of days with him. Don had a small Samsung tablet that was also his phone. I was surprised the phone was so large.

The first manager candidate showed up, and his appearance put me off. The man was wearing a shirt that was obviously dirty, and his suit was wrinkled. His tie needed to be retied, and the guy was just a mess. He spoke clearly, and seemed to be mentally sharp with some enthusiasm ready to burst out. The man knew he didn't impress us in all categories, and told the three of us, "I've had some bad luck lately and have lost my apartment. My wife decided she needed to be alone, and I've lived out of my car for this past week because I haven't been making any money. I had to cancel all my credit cards so that she wouldn't kill me with those too. I know I could be a winner for you if you were to give me a chance. I'll have enough money to get a studio and get my clothes back in order today. I'll make a better impression if you'll give me another opportunity to meet with you."

For the guy to admit to a serious problem like that is impressive. He probably lost his bank account or the money had been withdrawn before he could divide it up if he was kicked out of his house or apartment. He knew he had been without work and apparently had found something to make somewhat of a living.

I asked what type of work he was doing, and he smiled, "The same as I've always done. I'm a real estate salesman and sold a couple of properties, but I had to wait until they closed to get paid. The wife was impatient as she says she has needs someone else could fulfill. I hate to say it, but our relationship hasn't been that good. I know she has been chasing around, but I wonder how many guys are going to chip in for her monthly bills. I can make it now. The commission I will pick up today will pay for a studio, buy gas for the car, and get me back on track. I saved my computer and necessary electronics. The rest of what I left isn't worth all that much. I have the second closing Wednesday, and another next Tuesday, so I'm going to be on sound financial ground again."

I told the guy, "Give me a call on Wednesday and we'll talk again. You have a great attitude for being in the financial condition you're in. I like that and have a feeling you can successfully lead a sales group."

Don said, "Damn, I'd hate to have that happen," when the guy left. "He had to close his business and pay off his debts for advertising and his secretary's salary. At least he didn't take the easy way out and declare bankruptcy. He probably should have, but he felt he could sell his way out of his financial quandary and he's doing it. I give the guy an A for effort."

I asked Georgia, "Run the guy through the home office investigation routine to see if we can confirm what we just heard. Some of it makes sense, because most companies' sales and processing are slow. That's why Mooney has its own financial arm and title offices. We can process a sale faster than most, and the salesman can often see his commission within two weeks if the sale is a preowned or inventory home. That's about two weeks faster than the rest of the industry."

We drove to the construction site for the new building since we had time. The Construction Supervisor was on site and was happy to see me. After introductions and a brief tour of the building that was beginning to take shape inside, I asked him if he might work on a way that I can get some models and inventory homes built. I told him that I knew he had a lot of craftsmen working on this project, but I needed construction done in the developments. The infrastructure was complete, but we were going to need crews to begin building.

The Supervisor said, "I can get several dozen men who are good craftsmen, but leadership is a problem. You have to have a foreman who is bilingual and knows how to grade his men. Building a house is different than an office building. People living in a home spot imperfections very fast. Let me hunt up a couple of men who could ramrod what you want. I don't know if they are working, but they are excellent leaders. I'll call you this afternoon."

I told Don that we may have to hunt up another construction supervisor to work with this guy for a while on the way back to the hotel. The office needed to have models and inventory homes. A new sales group can't only live off pre-owned.

Lunch was fast, light, and quick, giving us a chance to review what kind of man our second interview was. I still had not heard from our third candidate. He might have decided to either stay in business or go to work for someone else.

Candidate number two arrived and was almost too bubbly. He didn't bring a resume or any documentation of his accomplishments. The man was nice looking, beautifully dressed, and gave a great first impression, except you just didn't know who he was. He hadn't completed the online application and said he would fill out one of our pre-printed applications for us.

I didn't feel good about this guy, as he just seemed too slick. He had nothing to tell us about who he really was, other than I knew he had owned his own office in the last month and had to close because of no financing. He should have had some business records to show the type of effort he had expended to be successful if that was so.

Don said, "I think we need to have a Sales Manager training program or Assistant program like regular Managers. We have time to find more, but I'm sure you thought we would have a choice of three."

I said, "I like the first guy and can't wait to see how he shows up Wednesday. I'd like to surprise him and have him come to dinner Tuesday evening to see how he shows up. That will only give him today and tomorrow to straighten his clothing problem out, but it will be an opportunity to see what kind of progress he's making."

"Come for dinner and bring your wife if you can get a good babysitter. It's always good to see how a man interacts in groups. I'll talk to the Construction Supervisor and have him come too."