Chapter 74

The alarm went off at four forty-five which must have been a compromise between four thirty and a rushed five o’clock. We all went through the shower, dressed, and were downstairs in the kitchen by five. The four of us had the usual juice, coffee, small piece of ham steak, two scrambled eggs, and toast.

We were on our way to the airport by five thirty. Brindle avoided a mess on the highway by taking an alternate route and getting back on the main road just in time to get off at the airport. She dropped us off at the aircraft where I put our bags in the luggage compartment, knowing that they would be there all day.

The plane was ready with the APU running and the right engine already spooled up. Marsha pulled the door closed, checked our seatbelts, and told Conner and Maggie that we were ready. Our first stop was Reno where Taz was to meet us so we could all go back to the office.

The Reno office was in great shape, so we went back to the airport to fly to Salt Lake City. I called Rebecca to tell her we were on our way and there were five of us, so we would need to either rent a car or she needed to borrow an SUV. She said that she had it covered.

She did as she had a new Suburban and whisked us to her new high dollar development. The place was on the side of a mountain, with beautiful landscaping all around. Rebecca said the whole idea had been hers and that she had been allowed to do it all herself. She said that she already had a fourth of the units in the development sold in less than three weeks.

We took an office tour and were soon on the way back to the airport. We flew to Seattle where they had everything ready for us to look at. We went to Portland from there, and were just as pleased. Taz had all his offices in good shape. I told Taz, “You’ve been made the Regional Manager, not the Assistant Regional,” while on the plane to go back to Reno. “Enjoy the commissions your people will be making for you. I’m proud of you, Taz.”

We flew to Oakland and used a hotel bus to get us to our hotel. The crew was staying closer to the airport so that they could have the airplane ready when we began our tour of the offices. We were early enough to go out for a good meal. The girls ate small pieces of meat while I porked out on a large rib-eye steak that melted in my mouth.

We reviewed everything we had done for the day, and were excited about flying up to Sacramento, down to San Francisco, and on to San Jose after that. Debbie said that she had written down the conversations she had with every receptionist and secretary. Mitsi and June had used their laptops to write down what they had retained from the interviews Debbie held, and wanted to compare them with hers.

I made a Skype call to Hawaii when we were back in the room and found that Jules and Katie were tracking down some trades they felt would be advantageous. Willy said that she was done for the day because she had worked the NY Stock Exchange.

We had rented only two rooms, and I somehow knew that we would only use one. All four of us were on the super-king bed in my room. June was the aggressor as soon as the lights were low and we were in bed. Debbie and Mitsi gave each other pleasure while June showed me her enthusiastic love. We switched partners, and Debbie enjoyed my attention and kept pushing me toward her rear hole until I was centered there, and then she pushed hard while groaning with pleasure. Debbie whispered in my ear how much she loved to have me in her this way ever since she learned about having sex this way. The woman came buckets while being well fucked in her backside.

I went to the bathroom to thoroughly wash myself when I softened after coming and coming in Debbie. Mitsi was all over me in bed, and I was waving in the breeze in short order with June’s help. We made love while making as much noise as the other two, wearing ourselves out. I fell asleep wrapped up in Mitsi’s legs and arms.

Wednesday began busy since Andi came to the hotel to eat breakfast with us. He brought his lovely wife who is always on stage. I think the woman could make you laugh nonstop while at a funeral.

We toured his office at eight and met everyone worth meeting. We all went to the airport from there, where we flew to Sacramento to enjoy Dino Courtesina and Millicent, his wife and receptionist, who has ‘Wombi’ on her name tag. Their sales had been progressing until they were consistently close to a hundred a week. Wombi said that she kept hearing from their daughter Conestoga how crazy and busy they were in her office. I told her that the North office was probably going to match the LA office in sales soon.

Dino took us to the airport where we flew to San Francisco and were met by the Manager, Kenneth Martin. We toured all the departments at the office, finding everything running smoothly. John Curran, the Real Estate Sales Manager was glowing over his hundred and fifty weekend sales, and having broken the two hundred sales barrier the previous week. Kenneth said that he and John were going to be swimming in commissions.

Kenneth took us back to the airport where we took off and landed in San Jose. The office is close to the airport, but Sheila was waiting for us. She had us eat at the airport restaurant because it was past lunch time and we could candidly talk there.

Sheila said, “I wanted this office so bad to prove how well I could run it and to show the world a female Office Manager could have one of the highest sales offices in the company, Brad. It wasn’t that hard to do, and now I’m bored. I have three decent Assistants who do the work and I just go around and encourage everyone to be successful. I don’t know where to go from here, but I’m going to need something more challenging. Rebecca and I could yak all night and come up with another project, but I don’t have her here. My Assistants are good, but they aren’t the fun person Rebecca is.”

Sheila was looking down at her plate and asked, “How about replacing Rebecca and have her come here. Move me to your Hollywood office and let me work with Danny on the condos or help Georgia teach her Assistants. I know Kelly and Georgia are constantly busy with the volume of sales you guys have. The condos are going to require a whole bunch of Managers to keep the fees straight and doing the resales that will be happening after you sell out your developments. This is nuts, isn’t it? You pushed me into Salt Lake City, and then right into the fire in San Jose. You had already shown me how to make everything work, and I did it the way you and Fred told me. It works.”

I looked at the young woman and said, “Let me think about this a little. Come up with a way to break that two hundred a week sales barrier meanwhile. You know that you won’t have the income you’re used to if you give this place up.”

Sheila said, “Sure I will. I’ll sell a few custom homes or condos every time I think my bank account could use a fill up. I’m one hell of a salesperson. I show my salespeople how to do it a couple of times a week.”

We toured San Jose and it was full of excitement and enthusiasm that told me the two hundred unit sales goal would fall very soon.

I thought she could tweak her radio spots to be more exciting and to make sure her newspaper advertising was flashy enough to catch the readers’ attention. Her TV spots were all good and placed where they should be.

We were back at the airport taking off for LA by three. We would spend the rest of the day writing reports and preparing to go to Texas on Thursday. I called Jim from the air to tell him I would come to Dallas first and we would then travel to New Orleans, back to Austin, and on to San Antonio. I planned on staying in San Antonio for the night and heading to Kansas in the morning. We would drop Jim off in Dallas on the way north if he stayed with us.

Jim was excited because this would give his wife a chance to show off her website creations and begin working on sites for the individual offices. He asked if our plane would be able to handle the extra person. I thought it funny since this new aircraft was so much larger than the CJ4.

We all worked on our reports until about six, and then all had a drink while thinking of supper. Danny, Chica, Kelly, and Georgia all came to the house to have supper with us and to talk about how I was doing at touring the offices. We discussed Sheila and what she wanted to do. Danny said that she could use another good head to do some coordination of the free standing condo developments. She said that she needed to bust responsibilities up and have separate management for each Country Club, along with a person like a Regional Manager to make sure each of the clubs were marketing and operating the way they should. She wanted separate local sales offices that would handle membership sales as well as the unit sales as the condo buildings became ready for occupancy.

That would be a full time job, totally different from operating a single office. Danny was smart and knew that she had to have Managers working with the different projects.

Who would I move to Salt Lake City if I brought Sheila here and moved Rebecca to San Jose? Kelly said, “I’ve been talking to Dino and I think Yori is ready. Dino now has two other decent Assistants, so send Yori to Salt Lake. Taz will like him since Yori is such a hard worker. I’d suggest sending Conestoga, but you’re going to want her for either the new East or South office.

I hustled everyone out of there by nine so that we could get to bed. I wanted to be at the airport by six so that we could be in Dallas to pick up Jim and his wife by eight. I made sure Jim had called New Orleans to have us ferried to the office about nine thirty. I was planning on saving car rental fees as much as possible.

I spent a few minutes talking to Jules and Katie. They thought that I might be pushing too hard, but knew that I had a plan and wanted to stick to it.

Debbie was first to come down with her monthly visitor and didn’t think she would be a good bed partner. I convinced her to sleep with us anyway since we needed to get up at the same time and hustle to be on our way. Mitsi and June both said that they felt like they might join Debbie on the disabled list. I think this was the first time I’d been to bed without some loving in well over a month.

Thursday morning wasn’t as hectic as it could have been. We all quickly showered, and were dressed having breakfast by ten after five. We quickly ate and I had some coffee in a travel mug on the way to the airport. I put the bags in the luggage area and pulled the steps up and closed the door. I sat in the communication seats and began turning the two computers on that Debbie and I would use.

I knew I had e-mails to answer and went right after them. Dorothy said she had an Office Manager in Knoxville, Tennessee, who had created a great working office although the market wasn’t as big as he was producing. Dorothy told me that the man constantly said he followed all my articles and incorporated them into how he worked his office. He had two Assistants who were both capable of running his office. I had Debbie look the Assistants up and found they both had notations that they were ready for an office. The Manager, Ryan Grissom, had been asked if he would consider relocating to a bigger office. He was anxious to progress.

There was a private note from Dot that said she was sure Ryan was gay, but didn’t have a partner. I wondered how Janice would handle that, but it seemed that was going to be exactly what she wanted.

Mika had been copied on all of these e-mails and added a few comments as they passed through her hands.

I wrote Dot to have the man begin moving to Overland Park, but to have him call Janice to coordinate his move. I told Janice that I wanted to meet with her, the current Assistant, and Ryan on Monday.

I told Debbie about changing my Thursday night and Friday plans, now going back home through Las Vegas, Phoenix, and San Diego for a visit to say hi and to let them all know that they are still part of my Region. We would spend a couple of hours at the Hollywood office to get ready for next week if we got lucky.

I had almost two hours of the day’s work done by the time we landed in Dallas. Jim and wife were ready to climb on board, and we didn’t really have to shut down for refueling. The crew could do that while we were going through New Orleans. Jim’s wife, Vinita, showed me the Dallas website and generally how she could integrate each of the individual sites to be in a Regional grouping if I wanted that. I told Vinita that we would look at her work more between New Orleans and Austin.

I was impressed that the small office in New Orleans was increasing their sales as much as they were. Jim said that he had worked with the Office Manager to use his advertising money in the manner I used in my other successful offices, and that had turned the corner for them. He also said the office ran so much smoother with a strong Assistant and another in training.

We flew to Austin from New Orleans, where Don had left a strong Assistant to become Office Manager there. Jim had redirected the advertising and made sure a strong Assistant had been hired. Sales were increasing but they did need more sales people. The Sales Manager made me think he might be ready to retire and wasn’t giving it his all for the sales volume the office was capable of.

We did the quick up and down to get to the San Antonio office. Don drove us by the condominium construction site where I was impressed that you could already see how unique the architecture was going to be.

The new office was now a work of art. We did a slow tour to meet each of the department heads and to give me an opportunity to congratulate each of them on making this office a great success. The place had a feel of a long standing office and not one that had been close to never opening.

We flew back to Dallas where we did a tour of Jim’s office and looked at all his numbers. He was proud to show how he had been learning how to increase sales through the process that I showed him and Don. His numbers showed that he was now almost forty percent over last year.

I took Jim and his wife out to eat at one of the best restaurants in Dallas after having checked into our hotel. It was a good conclusion to a very busy day. The three girls and I got back to the hotel, stripped, and were almost instantly in bed. I don’t think there even was an intimate touch.

Friday morning began at six, local time, for us, and we were dressed, packed, and eating a hotel breakfast by six thirty. I called the aircrew to make sure they would be ready between seven to seven thirty to go to Phoenix first, on to San Diego, Las Vegas, and then home. We used the hour and a half going to Phoenix to write reports and answer e-mails. Mitsi and June were becoming worn out from the constant push and travel. They realized that Sumi hadn’t been kidding about constantly being on the move.

I received a call from Juanita, Georgia’s secretary, while we were touring the Phoenix office. She told me that both Las Vegas and San Diego had a small problem that Georgia felt should be attended to right away, so the twins had been sent to the offices to resolve the problem. She said that she was supposed to call me in case I wanted to skip those two offices. That was tempting, but I should still show my face. I might be able to give the twins a ride back to LA if I was in time to catch the second one in San Diego.

I had a car waiting for us in Las Vegas and went straight to the office. The twin was deep in discussion with Don Mensal, the Office Manager, and his secretary, Marjorie Houser. The problem was with their Construction Supervisor not providing proper feedback on the progress of projects.

I suggested that we talk to the man right then. Don said, “The guy isn’t the most attentive worker I have and usually goes home at noon on Friday.”

I said, “It isn’t even eleven yet, so I want him in front of me within thirty minutes.”

Don made the call and seemingly attempted to get the man to come in, but he was being belligerent. I took the phone from Don and said, “This Brad Johnson, the Regional Manager and a Mooney partner. I require you to be here to resolve an issue. Now be here as fast as you can.”

The guy said over the phone, “You don’t get it, do you? I control this joint and what gets done. I deserve the extra time off for busting my balls all the time. Now go fuck yourself and leave me alone.”

I had Don call his Accounting Manager to the meeting and advised her that today was the last day the Construction Manager would be employed at this location. I asked Dan how he felt about the crews working at the developments and he said they were all good men, but intimidated by the supervisor. This was going to require some additional time, so I had Don and the Foxworth twin clean out the Construction Supervisor’s desk and office while I called the man back. I told him, “You are no longer employed by Mooney Corporation. Your personal effects are boxed and waiting for you on the front entryway to the construction office. Do not come into the building or try to contact any of our employees. Leave your truck with the keys in them in front of the building. There will be an open space. The truck will be reported stolen if it’s not in the lot by four this afternoon.”

I had Don call his security company to have a couple of men outside in the yard over the weekend. He could decide what to do after that point.

Don and I walked to the construction trailer that was just across the parking lot. The office trailer had been fixed up to feel and look like a regular building. The supervisor’s secretary had a terrified look on her face. She kept begging us to not let the super think she had spoken against him. Tears began rolling down her cheeks when I told her the man had been terminated. The little Latin lady said, “He will probably still think I did this to him and will beat me again and again. Please have someone stay with me until it’s time to go home.”

Don pulled the little girl up and hugged her, telling her she didn’t have to be concerned. He would make sure she was safe.

The outside door burst open at that instant, and a very large man entered holding a pistol grip shotgun and yelling, “Where’s the motherfucker who thinks he can fire me? I’ve going to give him a hole big enough to watch TV through.”

I knew that June had accompanied me to the construction office trailer, but couldn’t see her at that moment. My hand had automatically reacted, so I had my pistol in my hand. While holding the gun at my side I said, “Please put your gun down so we can discuss why this wouldn’t be a good idea.” His gun had been pointed down, but was swinging up to aim at me when his head exploded.

June walked over to the very dead man and kicked his pistol grip shotgun away. She calmly said, “We should call 911 to get the authorities.”

June put her pistol back into her holster and kept standing with everyone. She didn’t seem overly upset that she had acted as she had been taught. I had been raising my pistol to shoot the man, but she was faster. This isn’t the way to relax on a Friday afternoon.

The little Latin lady was almost giddy that the supervisor was lying dead in the trailer. She had tears streaming down her face as she sobbed while still almost giggling. She choked out, “That son-of-a-bitch will never bend me over the desk and force himself into me again. That man was horrible to all us women in construction. He only kept women who were desperate to have a job.”

I picked the office phone up, dialed 9, and then 911. I explained that a man was killed when he was trying to shoot another in the construction trailer in the Mooney block. I assured the attendant that all witnesses were going to remain at the scene. I had to tell the attendant there was no need for a paramedic twice.

An unmarked and two marked police cars came sliding to a stop facing the open construction trailer door. Two men in suits got out of the unmarked car and observed Don and me as they rapidly walked toward us. We showed the men inside and then explained what all happened. The policeman wanted June’s sidearm that she willingly gave up. She dropped the magazine, ejected the round in the chamber, and caught it to put back into the magazine. She handed both to the detective who was now wearing gloves.

June had to show her permits as a registered bodyguard. She answered questions they asked and readily admitted that she shot when the man raised the shotgun at me.

The four uniformed policemen strung crime scene tape up, and then began interviewing the other secretaries in the office trailer. I gave my statement to one of the detectives, and kept my coat buttoned so I wouldn’t be questioned about my gun.

I called San Diego to see how the other twin was getting along while this was going on. He said the problem had been resolved and he was waiting to see if we would come to pick him up. I told him to get the first flight out of there and to check to see if one was going into Burbank so that it would be easier for someone to pick him up.

I knew we were going to be alright on time when I saw both detectives checking their watches. The coroner had picked up the body, and the pistol grip shotgun had been tagged and bagged. The gun was loaded with buckshot, telling the detectives that the guy was serious about shooting us.

Don said to me, “I’ll talk to all the men on the jobs and see if one of the foremen might be a candidate for a Construction Supervisor. There’s one who I’d like to have, especially since he’s a good family man and wouldn’t be a threat to the girls in the office. Talk to me on Monday, and I’ll have an answer for you or if you need to come again.”

Mitsi and Debbie were anxiously waiting for June and I to come back to the office. We walked in and assured everyone that we were fine and needed to get to the airport. We drove the rental car back to the airport after we had called the flight crew to prepare the aircraft. We were going home.

I told the twin Assistant to write an honest report on exactly what happened, and to file it as he would any other office visit report, on the way. The kid said, “Dad is never going to believe what happens down here. He’ll probably cut you off as far as more people coming to your offices. He’s really proud of all of us who have come down, and constantly tells my brother and me how lucky we were to be working in your office. We tell him that it isn’t all roses as you and your Assistant Office Managers are nearly slave drivers by the way you have us working. It’s good, though, because we’re learning. Kelly keeps telling us that you’re watching our progress. I guess you have been to know we could handle this. I’m glad June was with us though, as that man looked like he was going to shoot.”

Brindle met us with a different limousine. This one was stretched enough to have six doors with three seats in the back and the middle. It seemed that it was going to be a little cramped, so I told Brindle that my vote was thumbs down. Our driver said, “This thing handles like a dump truck and has no power. I think our regular limo is better than this, although it will only accommodate five passengers in the rear part of the car.”

We were able to get the twin to the office to get his car and observe that all other cars were gone.

Brindle drove us home and said for us to be prepared as there may be a surprise waiting for us. We were let out at the front door where it was swung open by Stephen. Charles came and took Debbie’s luggage to her car in the garage. She was greeted inside the door by Jules, Katie, Willy, and Sumi.

I asked Jules and Katie, “How did you two know that I didn’t get my fill of your love this past week. It has nothing to do with the great sex we have, but everything to do with the closeness we need to hold us together.”

Katie said, “I wanted you to remember me as my svelte self with the baby pouch since I may still be extra-large when I can’t get the weight off after giving us our baby.”

“Not to worry, Love. I love you two girls for who you are and as my lovers. I’m so very happy to have you all here for the weekend.”

Willy was still the wiry one climbing up my torso to get some hugs. Sumi waited for me to be seated before curling up on my lap to tell me how much she misses being with me every day and night.

Tonight was nice since Debbie and the flight crew all went to their homes. I know this had been a strenuous week, but that’s the way it will have to be to get to all the offices. Both Jules and Katie announced, “Come on; let’s go do some sharking at the Rack” as soon as we had settled down. You either need to get with the program or lose some major bucks, Brad. Jules and I are ready, are you?”

We had a little to eat and then traveled together to the Rack in our original limo. Brindle was laughing at how I had blown off the bigger limo and still liked the older one. I told Jules, Katie, and Willy, “No more women. We’re at our max.”

We had a great time at the Rack playing a lot of matches with people trying to prove themselves. I played a pro who was too cocky to really be good. He was trying shots I didn’t know anyone could make. He was good for two hundred. The guy I had beat at 9-ball challenged me for five Benjamins, but I talked him back to two. He didn’t play any better than he did during league. I played a couple of quick twenty dollar matches, and they were tougher than the heavy competition.

I saw how Jules and Katie were shooting with Mitsi and June when I went to the bar to put my cue up and have a drink. They were being given some competition, but winning. It was neat to know that the girls had competition in Hawaii.

Home was the place of comfort as it should be. We had some snacks and then went to bed to love each other until early in the morning.

I was up at five, dressed in workout clothes, but went to the office to finish my reports. I was finished by a little after six when my ladies showed up at the door to the office to get me to lead them in forms.

I went through the forms I thought would be good for pregnant women this morning. I suggested Jules, Kate, Willy, and Sumi survey the local dojos to find a sensei who could teach any additional forms they could use that would be good for them. The four pregnant women thought that would be good.

Jules asked me, “How about a round of golf in carts this morning?” after our workout and shower. “We’ll only play 9 holes if I get tired. You need to keep your golf abilities up the same way you do pool. I dressed in golf clothes and had Sumi be our bodyguard going to and riding around the course.

Jules and I ended up playing eighteen holes on a medium difficulty course. I finished at seventy-nine and Jules was amazing at eighty-one, considering that her baby bump was getting very large.

We had a great lunch and decided a nap would be good if we wanted to go to the Rack again later. The nap became a way to drain everything from my body and let the women of my life know how much I missed them.

We had a good time at the Rack, where one of the regulars beat me in a 10-ball game for twenty and went around the club crowing his victory. I appropriately hung my head and took on another regular who was probably better than the guy who beat me. I destroyed the poor guy by winning seven racks straight on a best of seven for twenty. Those games are more fun than the high dollar matches with heavy ego players.

Saturday night was a lot of fun as we fooled around in the saloon before going to bed. We played until after two in the morning, making sure that we all had all the loving we could stand. Sumi, Mitsi, and June were right in the middle of all the female loving while I was trying to recover. They not only knew what to do with another female, they were excited to be having a love-in with women who weren’t their sisters.

Sunday morning found me up and in the office by six-thirty. I went over my E-mails and answered those that needed answering. I made a plan and charted out a week of activity. I didn’t personally know some of the Regionals and most of the Managers, so this week would be initial greetings and getting them used to what I expected. I sent e-mails to all the offices I expected and hoped to get to. I included what I liked to do in each office and wanted to meet any and all Assistants they had. I told them to talk to Kelly or Georgia in LA to get an idea of what I like to do. I already had Connie start bringing the other company office accountants up to date with the way I wanted reports. I knew accountants liked challenges and would be ready. The last thing I asked for was to have a look at their advertising folder.

Jules brought me a mug of coffee and sat with me. She said, “You’re going to be the best partner these people have ever had. You’ve taken time to send what you’ll be looking for to all those you’ll be meeting with. I wanted to tell you to take an extra week before coming home to Hawaii. We came here to give you the chance to progress through the offices the way you want. Come home the next week and plan on only the weekend so that you can go to even more offices. This first trip through is important so that the Office and Regional Managers know you’re serious about increasing their sales.”