Chapter 66

I woke up in Hawaii Thursday morning realizing that I had loved my women plus one. Sumi is small, but oh so beautiful. The small beautiful Japanese woman was wrapped around Jules the same way Willy and Katie were wrapped around me. I realized how lucky a person I was when I slid from beneath the mass of womanly limbs.

I used the bathroom, then came back and sat in a chair looking at the women in my bed. I sat there thinking of how I should handle Sumi. I know my girls think that it isn’t a problem to let another girl into their circle of fun, but I thought Sumi might want more than some play time.

With workout clothes on, I went to our basement gym. June was on the treadmill and smiled as I stretched before using the one next to her. She wasn’t sweating, so she must have just begun. I was soon running at about the same pace she was, but with a little more incline. I opened a conversation and asked her, “Have you been able to enjoy the Hawaiian weather and the people who are here?”

June smiled and said, “Suda and I are always busy because JoAnn and Freddie always have somewhere to go. The guys usually drive themselves to the golf courses. Katie’s family always has somewhere to go for kids’ clothes, something for their school classes, or to take the kids to run wild at one of the parks. I think that the three families with all the kids are used to each other and enjoy being together. The kids have met the other kids in the neighborhood, and they all play together most of the time. This area is big enough that the kids can ride bikes a long way to wear themselves out. It was a real project to get them all bikes. We use an entire garage slot for them all. I can tell you that it isn’t dull here.”

June followed me to the weights rack when I slowed to a walk and then stopped. I did my lifting, and then some forms to stretch out a little. June joined me in my forms. She asked, “Have you sparred with Donte and Michi much? They said they have been teaching you for a long while now.”

“A little, but we don’t have much time to spar.”

With a smile, June said, “Come to the padded room and we can do some joint Tai Chi that’s like sparring. We can then do some challenges.”

I didn’t know what I was getting into since June had been introduced to me as someone with extraordinary skills.

We went through several dual forms that I had never done before. June was a good teacher and we were slowly doing the forms, stretching our muscles, really building up a sweat. The smaller woman said, “I’m going to go on the offensive now, and you defend. We should both keep from landing blows.”

June’s attack was like Donte’s early practice attacks. I was easily able to defend them. The attacks became more complex as we sped our spar up, and made me react faster to keep from being mauled. My response when June leaped and appeared to be giving me a head kick, was to catch the foot, twist, and shove which would push the opponent away from me. June didn’t expect my reaction and almost didn’t roll when she was heading toward the padded floor. She rolled to her feet and looked at me funny. She said, “You’re much more advanced than Michi said you were. Donte has been a good instructor. I think we’re done for today.”

We bowed to each other with a grin and went up to the kitchen to hunt for coffee. The place was a beehive of activity, busily preparing breakfast for all the people who would be getting up. Wanda came to me for a hug and told me, “The men go play golf early most mornings. The kids like to do an hour or so of school, and then go play for a while. They all have internet classes from ten to twelve, then it’s lunch, quiet time for a half hour, and school until two. It’s play time after that. They all go wild riding their bikes, playing ball in the little park at the end of the street, or swimming. You won’t believe how much energy they have.”

June and I left to clean up for breakfast and greet the day. I gave each of the four women in the bed a kiss and a shake, but only hard enough to let them know that the rest of the house was waking up. Only Jules and Sumi woke up and moved to get out of bed. Jules said, “I want to play golf with you today, but we’ll have to use carts. I don’t want to walk eighteen holes. Come on, Sumi, let’s get Brad washed and ready to go play some golf. I’ll bet we can interest him in a little play time.”

My knees were weak by the time we finished the shower. Neither woman wanted me to finish inside them, but both seemingly insisted that I spray them with what they were coaxing. They were playfully loving this morning, and both told me how much they enjoyed my attention.

We were downstairs to be greeted by all the men, the moms, grandmothers, and a pile of kids, by a little after seven. I’m really fortunate to have a good memory for names and faces, and I greeted all the kids by name. I think that I could have put the kids in their proper family package with their mom and dad.

The kids were racing up the stairs to do their early school work as they finished eating. The moms all had sly grins as they told me, “Each of them has a list of what we want them to study during this first class of the day. They’ll have an hour to play outside or do something fun before coming back to use their computers for two hours of scheduled classes. We check their boxes while they’re out playing before the internet classes so that we know if one of them is trying to scam us. They realize that we’re checking, so they are doing the work without a lot of nagging. This is a lot more fun than riding the school bus and six hours of regulated activity at school with nagging teachers. They get a better lunch and they get some play time and quiet time.”

The guys were asking me if I was going to play golf with them today, and I said that my lovely wife wanted to play a round with me. I would get a round or two in with all of them before I left on Sunday night.

Jules had us a tee time at one of the new really professional courses. She already had one of my bags of clubs and hers ready at the country club. I was surprised to have one of the club pros join us for a continuous round of instruction. Jules told me, “Katie’s brothers and your fathers are all getting pretty darn good. The pro is going to help you with your swing and build your confidence in your short irons and putting. You’re pretty darn good for just a duffer, but I want you to wow all these people. I know that you can do it and every pro who’s watched you says you have what it takes to play on the tour. I’d love to take our kids on tour with you while you light up the courses with your play. I know that’s not really possible, but I’d love to see you do it anyway.”

We played eighteen holes using a cart, and moved fast enough that we had to hold up several time to keep from running over the players in front of us. This course was supposed to be a very difficult but playable par 72, and anything under 80 strokes was considered good. I shot a 74 with Jules and the pro each shooting 75. Jules told me, “See, you’re right there. Learn to use those long irons and fairway woods better and you’re there. You’re deadly straight driving, and your putting is really improving. I think your short irons are just about as good as anyone would expect. I want you to play some rounds with the pros both here and in LA. I’ll talk to Don about getting you some practice rounds with the really good guys.”

On the way back to the house Jules said, “You should play with the guys tomorrow, and show them you aren’t a pushover. No betting or they’ll think you’re some kind of shark. Use the game to improve your long irons and really work on distance and direction. Being able to use those long irons and stay within a specific range is the key. Only practice shooting straight and none of their fancy hooking and curving. You can drive over the top of a switchback when you get the range.”

Jules came to me after a round with the two dads Friday morning, and asked, “The two Hollywood couples we had with us for a while want to come back. They called this morning to see if they could stay with us again. They said they had the best vacation they had ever had and wanted to do it again.”

I asked, “Did you tell them that we had a bunch of relatives with a pile of kids here?”

Jules nodded her head and said, “I told them how the kids would know who they were and might be a pain. They said that the kids would quickly lose interest, but they wanted to bring another couple who were as famous as they are, if not more so, this time.”

“Hey, I don’t care. I’ll be on a plane very early Monday morning, so I may not see all these famous folks at all.”

Jules laughed, “Do you think those folks plan ahead? They’ll have their limo bring them out here if I say they can stay here. They’re at a restaurant near the airport hiding from people with cameras.”

“Bring ‘em on, and tell them to order some extra steak. I’m ready for a real cookout.”

Dad told me, “You bringing these movie stars home isn’t going to loosen up the populace when the kids go to bed. Your mom and I like to do some skinny dipping with Joe and JoAnn. The neighbors sometimes come over for some wild fun. Can you tell your guests to hide in their room so that we don’t embarrass them?”

“Geez, Dad, are you guys really that wild? What does Anna think of all this?”

“Willy’s mom is having a ball, Son. She’s even talking about sampling some of the men she’s watching in the pool. She waits until Willy goes to bed and then comes out to join us.”

“Okay, Dad, I’ll tell the visitors that they have to stay in the house or turn a blind eye to your shenanigans. I can’t believe I have to cover up for our parents.”

I told the kitchen folks of my thought about having a real cookout with potato salad, baked beans, lots of veggies to dip, maybe some sushi and dip, and anything else they might think up.

That must have been the right thing to say, as both Wanda and Kumi instantly were on the phone for some additional help. Kini and Auli had a giant smoker/cooker rolled out to a concrete porch area. They instantly had a small fire going with smoke coming from the stack.

The visitors came to the door and the two butlers threw the doors open and invited them in. They took the luggage to the rooms we were going to put them in at the far end away from the parental units on the second floor. They were told that we were going to have a cookout and pool party, so they should prepare to join in.

Jules, Katie, Willy, and I were on the patio with Sumi and Mitsi watching everyone. The kids were on their afternoon playtime, and it was time for some afternoon snacks. The movie people were now sitting around the pool when the kids came running from the garage where they left their bikes. Clothes were flying and eleven kids hit the pool naked. The moms weren’t fast enough to stop the six boys and five girls, and were standing at the side of the pool with their hands on their hips.

I thought, ‘These kids are going to get it now, but the next words were a surprise.’ Get out here, collect your clothes, and put them in a pile so that you can take them to the laundry room. You know better than to scatter clothes all over the place. You kids could have asked if you should wear suits with company here.”

All you heard was a chorus of “Ah, Mom.”

I think the four movie people were all dying of laughter. The couple who had stayed here before said, “That’s what I told you. They don’t give a hoot about who we are. They’re a family who has fun and it’s only reasonable that the kids have fun too.”

The woman of the original couple stood up and said, “Well, I’m all for this skinny dipping. Come on, let’s play some horsey with these kids.”

Jules, Katie, Willy, and I were laughing at seeing the four very famous people in the pool naked and playing with a bunch of naked kids. Willy said, “That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. Look, Katie, here come your sisters and sister-in-law. I’ll bet that the husbands are following.”

The two guys were right after them, and were then joined by Katie’s and my parents. The only people clothed were my three women and me, along with the house staff, and I’m sure they all wanted to join in. Jules was laughing and asked me, “Want to get in there and play some grab ass with a movie star?”

“I’m fine. I’ll let the memory of this imprint on my mind. I’ll always remember this event if I ever see one of them in a movie.”

Jules said, “That’s why this place is so big. I want to be able to entertain a bunch of people at a time. We might have to add more cooking staff, but we should have enough housekeeping staff.”

I told the lady of the house, “Keep in mind that the Indianapolis people will be here to have a partner meeting in two weeks. I’m supposed to be some kind of consultant while they collect money from my commissions toward a partnership buy in. I’m not accepting it until I have all the offices running smoothly and the Assistant Regionals promoted to Regionals. That’ll take about two million a month or more from my income, but I don’t need to have that kind of responsibility when there are good people to handle the offices.”

I snacked on spicy sushi bites dipped in some very tasty sauce and enjoyed some Japanese beer. The girls had Michi and Sumi move their chairs next to ours as we observed our guests wear themselves out. Jules sent one of the house staff to bring some of her Hawaiian shirts or muumuus for the women to put on and some loose cotton shorts for the guys as all the pool people wore out.

You could smell the ribs and chicken on the grill, and we were then being asked how we liked our steaks. I was amazed the guys Wanda had found who could get all the food prepared so fast. We all had a nice New York strip with some great potato salad and baked beans. The steaks weren’t huge, so all the folks still hungry pigged out on the ribs and chicken wings.

All the house and kitchen staff came out to eat with us, enjoying the food and open companionship. The kids had recognized the movie stars, but our visitors’ status wasn’t important to them. They were worn out, so they went up to their third floor area to clean up and relax before going to bed. A couple of girls came down with a video the stars were in, and had them autograph the cases. That was all the stargazing there was.

I had talked to Georgia, Danny, and Kelly during the day, so I knew all was well in LA. I was sure that I would hear from Sheila to tell me she was ready for her opening. She was pushing to be a week early, and was actually two weeks early. I wonder how Andy was handling this, but he was so used to rolling with the blows from the Foxworth clan that I was sure he was ready.

I played golf with Jules and my parents at an easy course on Saturday. Mom was in rare form today making all kinds of lewd remarks. Jules and I scorched both of them. Dad said, “You must be playing a lot of golf in LA to get as good as you are lately. I’m going to have to sharpen up my game.”

Jules told him, “I want Brad to be almost pro tour good. I think he’s got the ability to really show my uncle what a good golfer is all about. That’ll be so good when Brad really trashes him. Grandfather will laugh, and Yuu will probably start lessons to keep from being beaten so bad again.”

So there it was. This was the reason for so much golf and the lessons. I also knew that the little golf I played wasn’t going to make me pro tour good. I would need to practice on the greens and short iron courses daily and work to perfect my swing. I was driving and chipping balls with great accuracy, but not pro tour good. I still had an errant ball that went wherever it wanted to, but most of my shots went where I directed them.

I played with my ladies Saturday night until early Sunday morning. My three girls were all done for, and the spare Jules seemed to want around was filled to the rim with my offerings. This girl was going to have a swollen belly like my special three if she wasn’t meticulous about her birth control.

Jules and Katie seemed to have some kind of affinity for the little Japanese girl. They made love to her as much as I enjoyed making love to them. I wanted to ask the two about it, but was actually afraid to ask because I thought I already knew the answer.

We (Sumi and I) took off for LA just after midnight Monday morning, and had the seats put down with the sound screen in place. Sumi and I slept and didn’t do anything physical. We actually had a decent night’s sleep with the exception that it could have been longer. It gave us five plus hours of sleep, and we landed at San Jose airport at eight fifteen local time. The airplane was going to stay there until we were through with the opening and take us on to LA at that time.

We were getting off the plane after freshening up when the Citation X parked next to my ladies’ airplane. The partners and Forest got off the plane with Mika leading the way. She was smiling and had a swagger that told of her confidence in what she was doing.

We went to the new office in a small party bus and were greeted by Sheila and her new Assistant, a Foxworth relative. Andy was there and welcomed everyone with him leading us straight to the salesroom. Andy showed us the board that showed Sunday with fourteen sales, and Monday with one sale that had actually been written on Sunday.

Sheila said that all the contracts were already in Finance, and Decorating notified so the new custom homes could be scheduled for a design meeting with them and an architect. I let Andy lead a tour as he introduced everyone to the home office folks. He said, “Sheila did this,” when we were back in the office. “She worked to get her staff hired and trained, and she can now see how well the office she built works. I’m really proud to be her Regional Manager.”

I shook Andy’s hand and told him, “Yes, you are the Regional Manager as of yesterday. I’m sure that you were here helping the salespeople put deals together and to smooth the way for Sheila to get ready for this morning. I’ll call the home office and make sure that they now calculate all activity with you as the Regional Manager. Good job, Andy and Sheila.”

I think the partners were more surprised than Andy and Sheila. I’m sure that they didn’t think I would so easily give up that much potential commission. I told Andy and Sheila, “Just because of this change in management doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t call me for answers. I’ll always be available for either of you. Now carry on, you two, and I’ll be watching your numbers.”

I received a warm handshake from Andy and a hug from Sheila. This was one more step in my plan to get the West Coast smoothed out. The plan was going to work.

The home office group was flying to San Antonio where they were scheduled to have lunch with Jim and Don, and then tour the new office that would be opening next Monday. They would also see the temporary office where this group did some very good business while waiting for their permanent building. I told them that the plans for the condo development in that oversized business block were sent to the home office on Friday so that they could see them when they returned tonight or tomorrow. I told them I would see them in San Antonio next Monday morning.

I had the plane take Sumi and me to LA, where Brindle picked us up and dropped us off at the office. She took our luggage home with her, and would be at the office at five unless I called her to do otherwise.

Everyone was in a good mood this morning, although it was almost lunch time. I was starving and could enjoy just about anything. Both Debbie and Georgia had a handful of papers that they wanted to discuss with me, so I told Debbie, “Let’s do all this over lunch. I’m really hungry and haven’t had breakfast yet. Call Johnny’s and get us a table.”

She did, and I then realized that I didn’t have a car. Georgia said, “Mine will work. I have an older Impala, but it’s in good shape and clean. Let’s go eat.”

Debbie had several items from outer offices that she thought needed to be answered by me. I gave her answers for them one at a time, and then turned to Georgia. She said, “I’ve been on the phone with the Office Manager’s secretary in Sacramento all morning. The Sales Manager there has gone nuts according to her, and has been a total asshole to everyone. Dino had to keep settling everyone down, including his wife, Wombi, who is ready to kill the guy. Dino is ready to fire the man for his attitude and language, but is concerned about doing it.”

This wasn’t good, and I’m sure the office and company was losing business. I should call Andy and let him handle it, but I also knew how a serious problem something like this could escalate. We ate and were back at the office where I could work on the problem. I called Dino and was able to talk to him about how the man was acting. I told him that it sounded like a chemical problem more than an emotional one. I told him to call the guy’s wife to find out if he’s taking his meds. That was a problem, because he had separated with his wife over his working so much. That didn’t sound right, but it is what they knew. I told him I would be up soon.

I called Andy and told him what was going on and said that I would meet him in Sacramento later today. We needed to resolve this now and not later. I called back and Wombi answered as she should. I told her not to hesitate to call 911 if the guy got out of hand. She should also see if she can get hold of the Sales Manager’s wife to see if she would help.