Chapter 70

I called the office to see how they were doing after we were awakened and sat upright to land. All was well, and more than well judging from the excitement in their voices. Georgia said, “Matt is dancing all over the building because he says that his group is going to outperform the entire company this week. Chica is almost challenging him because she says that she had the best weekend she thought this company had ever had with over a hundred sales. Kelly came by to sneer at everyone when she said that she already had over a hundred and fifty sales. Everyone knows that you’re on your way to Hawaii, so don’t bother to come in. Give a call to all the key people and tell the ones who need to know about the airplane use. Did I hear right that your airplane was wrecked out there?”

“The airplane is a goner, but we were able to get on the ground without crashing. We’re getting another airplane for the local folks to use. Make sure that they make a plan to travel to the various locations. Now for the important question, how are you doing, Georgia? Can you handle all this for two more weeks?”

There was a pause before my Assistant said, “It’s under control. I hired one of the Foxworth girls who were at your place Friday. She’s exceptionally sharp and worked with her dad, Andy, for the last several years. She told me that she had to stay here if I hired her because her dad has a no return policy. She was serious about that.”

“Andy does have a family problem. It seems that his and his wife’s families produce too many females, and they are constantly in search of places for them to fit them in. I want you to think about all the Foxworth folks who are around now. They could be a major force in the economy by themselves.

I told Georgia that she should have the details and direction for the aircraft by morning. It could be in an e-mail rather than by phone. I’m going to Hawaii.”

I called Brindle, and she answered that she was in the queue to get into the gate at Burbank. There were some new security rules that required the driver to produce documents and get out to be searched, along with the vehicle. There apparently was a threat, so they are being cautious. I told her that we were on final, but not in the usual airplane. I tried to give her a description, and she said, “I’ll just look for the gaudiest airplane out there.”

I called the house to tell them that we would have a couple of aircrew staying with us for the night, and that Sumi and I would be going to Hawaii in the morning.

Conner landed the aircraft as smoothly as anyone could have. I told him to find a tiedown where we can be fueled and ready to go first thing in the morning. Sumi and Debbie helped get the aircraft cleaned out and ready for the morning. Conner was satisfied with where we were parked and had ground power connected. I took one last look at this huge aircraft and smiled that it was mine, mine, mine. How childish can you get? I’ll think about it and probably get worse.

Brindle couldn’t get over how plush the airplane was. This thing was especially special with the glistening interior and the very sharp exterior. She took more thorough pictures of the interior than the photographer who made the binder. We would have to make sure it was sharp for Jules, Katie, and Willy. I had Brindle focus on me, and I told the camera. “This aircraft cost about two thirds of what the nearest comparable aircraft costs. It actually is about a third of the comparable competition’s advertised price. I’m not going to rub it in, but I will promote the brand.”

Brindle had brought the limo, which was perfect for what I needed to do. I had Debbie get her IPad out to take notes and began questioning Conner and Maggie about a second pilot and an aircraft and crew for my Department Regionals.

Conner and Maggie have a wide acquaintance network they used to find a good second pilot. Conner and Maggie both wanted to expand what I was doing. Maggie said, “I have a friend who has left an airline after working there almost fifteen years. She has been the head stewardess for long flights for a lot of years. There is a two-person flight crew with extensive experience with charter companies who might like the opportunity of a regular job. My suggestion would be to pick the one up as our hostess, use me for a second pilot, and hire the two-person crew as our alternates. We could do what you’re doing with your Gulfstreams and have us make additional trips back and forth for the golf tour company. Conner says the two G650s you have are almost always busy. The two-person crew could move back and forth between aircraft so that we can have rested crews almost all the time. The people cost isn’t that much, and would pay off with what you would be bringing in. Continue to use the two-people crew as alternates when you’re on the continent so that you don’t have to keep the aircraft on the ground while a crew rests. They can rest at forty-thousand feet.”

I looked at Conner and he nodded. He smiled and said, “It’s what she says. A second experienced pilot might be a good safety measure after the scare we just had. Either one of us can fly the Delta single, but it would be nice to have that backup sometimes. Your partners are planning on you covering a lot more territory from what I’m picking up.”

Conner was sitting in the back next to Debbie, and I was in one of the seats facing backwards. He continued, “I can get a King Air that is almost as fast as a CJ with a good range and a lot of room for a whole lot less instead of renting a CJ4. You would probably need a hostess since you’ll probably plan on several people traveling together, and that one man is in a wheelchair. It does make flights a heck of lot easier. I was figuring out whether or not this would be a cost thing, and without the benefit of my calculator or computer, the breakeven point is four passengers. Figure at least four traveling together, and it’s the same as all of them riding coach on commercial flights. You’ll probably save on hotels because they can fly home when they want rather than wait on commercial schedules. It’s a good deal if what they do improves business. I’d suggest keeping that group or even a larger group busy working the various offices. See what the costs are.”

Maggie said, “I had each of the people we might take on as employees fill out the online applications right away so that your company security people can check them out. That should be complete. Do you know how long it takes to investigate them?”

I nodded and said, “It’s almost instant. There are three scans per person. The first is the usual police thing. The second is confirming past employment with follow up calls if there’s a question. The third is the confirmation of education, credit, marital status, and the like. We can usually run someone and have an answer within two hours.” We were nearing the house, so I said to Debbie, “Check my e-mail to see if they have a synopsis on the applicants. That will tell me what to do next.”

Debbie looked up from her smart phone, and told me, “You have seven returns and I thought we only talked about six.”

Maggie said, “I forgot about having the extra hostess if we had either this aircraft or one the Gulfstreams doing quick turns.”

I asked both Maggie and Conner, “Is it possible for all these people to visit with me this evening? It’s just like when I first met you two, I like to meet and chat with people I’m going to work with, and they will be important to my safety in this case.”

The two were instantly on their phones calling each of the people they had been in contact with. I looked at Debbie and said, “I have a request of you that you have a choice about. Considering how so much is happening, would you be willing to travel to Hawaii with me for at least a few days? I think I’ll need your support while I work out a few things. You won’t need any extra clothes as the girls can loan you all you need. They’ll even stock you up on their favorite mode of dress. They do wear clothes and are not nudists. They’ll get you a swimsuit too. I want you to take their pictures when we meet these people tonight, but don’t pose them. What do you think about going to Hawaii with us for a week?”

Debbie was grinning as she nodded her head. “I’ll go. How could I pass up a free trip to Hawaii even if it’s a working vacation?”

Maggie said, “Debbie is a good secretary because she gave us each a note with your address as soon as you wanted us to call to meet these people. She thinks ahead.”

I said, “Write the names of the seven people on a pad so that I can give it to the gate guard to let them in.”

Brindle had a brief conversation with the guard when we pulled up to the gate, and motioned toward the extra man with him. She handed him the paper with the names on them. We pulled up to the door and it swung open as Charles stood there waiting for us. I herded everyone inside and into the saloon. I told them to relax, have a drink if you want, but we have coffee, tea, iced tea, and most soft drinks. I’m sure there will soon be various snacks available.”

I took Debbie into the office and sat her in the chair Jules was usually in, but the place was clean and neat without anything in a messy stack. I turned one computer and its associated monitors on, and said, “Print out the seven security reports so that I can have them as a reference. We’ll attach their photos to them later or in the morning. Are you good at using your phone for pictures?”

When Debbie said she was decent with it, I told her, “Take several candid shots to be sure, and we’ll upload them and print them for the files. The bottom drawer on the right has file folders and other office supplies. Get this done, and then I’ll have someone take you to a suite for the night.”

I went back to the saloon and watched how Maggie and Conner were checking everything out. Conner saw me, and said, “There is no way I would ever put you together with what you have here by the way you are. This is magnificent.”

Both Charles and Stephen were behind the bar at the time. I said to the two men, “How about some iced tea for now? Can you get all the staff in here for a minute? I have some special requests for tonight.”

Charles gave me a glass with ice and tea without sugar, but with lemon, the way I like it, while Stephen said something to Tina and both of them left the room. There soon were four maids, two cooks, two drivers, and the two butlers, along with Tina. I looked around and asked, “Where’s the other downstairs maid? She could have helped.”

“I’m going to Hawaii tomorrow and will probably be gone for two weeks. Because our plane was involved in an accident, I have a new one that’s going to be flown to Hawaii and used like the other two that Jules bought. I have my secretary, Debbie, with me, and this is Conner, my pilot, and Maggie, my hostess and as of now, another pilot. Show Debbie, Maggie, and Conner to rooms upstairs when this meeting is over. We may have a couple or three more stay with us tonight, but we’ll have to see.”

“What I need you all to do is to help Maggie and Conner sort and wash their clothes for them. You know where to quickly get dry cleaning done if some need that. Make them nice and fresh for tomorrow. I think all five of us have had a very traumatic few days. Get these people settled because more are going to be here in minutes.”

“Oh, where’s the other downstairs maid?”

All the staff looked at each other, and it was Charles that spoke up. “She was becoming very disruptive and insulted Nobuko the last time she was here. You should know that Grandmother is in her room resting right now, but will be out soon. She wants to travel back to Hawaii with you. One of the upstairs ladies is helping down here. I thought I’d let the staff we have handle everything since we don’t have a lot of visitors right now.”

“Thanks for handling the problem, Charles. No one should be insulted. Our home is a place of rest and happiness. Get the folks situated and back down here.”

Tina was standing behind the bar looking lost, so I asked her, “Go ahead and fix me my favorite, then see if there are any snacks.”

Debbie was standing beside me when I said, “You should go upstairs to find your room and see what needs to be done with your clothes. The staff will have them all washed and cleaned by morning.”

My secretary said, “Each of the reports is in a separate file folder on the desk. That is a beautiful office, as is this entire house.” I watched the young lady hurry out of the room and up the stairs.

Nobuko chose that moment to come into the saloon. She came to me and gave me a kiss that was a thriller from a woman of unknown age who must have had her first child at ten. The woman had to be over sixty, but she was still beautiful. She took a sip from my drink after the kiss, and then asked Tina for some white wine. She asked, “You are home early, is there a problem?”

“No problem, but I have to do some interviews in a few minutes. I had to buy an airplane because something hit our plane on the way to San Antonio. It must have been something from the government, because they still have it. Their people said our plane was a total loss, so I now have a new plane and maybe another way to handle this. I need to call Jules to talk to her for a minute. Excuse me while I use the office.”

Jules answered on the first ring. “What’s going on? Charles called and said that you were bringing your crew to stay over tonight, and that you’re having a group of people come by for what he said you described as ‘interviews’. He wanted to know whether to have the cooks fix a big dinner or just a flow of light and heavy snacks. I told him snacks.”

“You’re too sneaky, Lover. Did you know that your grandmother is here? She wants a ride to Hawaii. I think she’s afraid she’ll miss out on you having your baby. Hideki has been busy with Yuu lately, so you must still have all Yuu’s wives and kids. Is it a zoo?”

“The kids are actually all so well-behaved that it’s easy for all of us. They run and play with all the neighbor kids and they now all study together. They eat a lot, but that’s kids. They run through clothes and I think there is at least one pair of shorts, shirts, or jeans that are trashed daily. Yuu’s kids have never been able to run free like they are doing here. I know that I didn’t get to do it. You’re going to enjoy the kids. It will give you an idea what it will be like sometime in the future.”

“I’m going to try something with this new plane. I’m going to hire a second pilot for safety’s sake after the close call we just had. I know that I didn’t make too much of it before, but we were close to being knocked out of the air by something the pilot never saw and that didn’t show up on his close in radar. The people we bought the new plane from said the second pilot is always good for safety’s sake. I’m hiring a second crew that will include a hostess so that we can go back to using at least one Gulfstream for quick turns. I’m going to lease, or rather the company is going to lease, a plane for the people I’m setting up as Regional Department Managers to use so that I can get all my offices operating exactly the same way. We’ll try every new idea, but it’ll be evaluated regularly. That aircraft will have a single pilot and a hostess. We are going with a twin turboprop King Air. Part of my new job will be to check in with all the offices and work with the Managers to increase sales. This is what Dan was supposed to have been doing, but he was busy on other things. I sometimes wonder how this company was making money.”

Jules was chuckling when she said, “I don’t think they’ve ever had someone with your drive before. You push ahead while they’re trying to make their minds up. I think Kurt is a pusher, as is Forest, but he’s not a partner. So are you an owner/partner now? How much of a piece do you own?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll have a lot of answers after the partners’ meeting next week. I’m bringing my secretary, Debbie, with me for at least a week. I’m going to need her to take notes and be making calls to follow up for me. There is so much going on that I’m shortchanging Georgia a secretary, but I’ll bet she has someone back there to help her. There’s too much to do without help. Georgia is going to be like Kelly. She’s working really hard to progress and learn the business. I know that she’ll be ready for the new west or south office, so I’ll lose her too. Anyway, we’ll be hugging about this time tomorrow.”

“So have you broken Debbie in yet? Has she warmed the bed?”

“No, and I don’t want you and Katie pushing her that way. I need a secretary, not a lover. Listen to me for a change and let me have a bodyguard who doesn’t only want to guard a special part of my body. You guys did that one to me, and you may be surprised at the result. I think she thinks she achieved her personal goal of becoming pregnant. I hope you three are ready for a sister.”

“Oh, I hope so. It would be so good to have another little boy with Japanese features. You need to do Mitsi and June too. I want a houseful of kids so that we can all be moms. I told Mitsi and June they would be here from then on if they fool with you and get caught, as I want all your children to be with us. You prolific sucker. Can you imagine all the kids we’ll have running around? Go be with Grandmother before your other people get there.”