Chapter 37: Things going on

Chapter 37: Things going on

That weekend was the start of a very busy time for me.

First thing Saturday morning I got a lift into town with Bill to check on progress at the cinema.

Once the contract had been signed everything went to full speed ahead, plans had been drawn up and approved, builders were engaged to do the refurbishment, another firm was engaged to upgrade the front and signs. I hadn’t wanted to go by myself or with my parents as we were not known to be involved.

Bill got us into the building, despite a couple of builders asking us our business being there.

All of the chairs had been removed, it had been more expensive to replace them all, but a lot quicker than having them upgraded, having the cinema back open faster and making money again, was more important than the cost difference in just replacing them.

The new seats wouldn’t be arriving for another week or two, which allowed time for the whole interior to be improved.

The foyer had been redesigned to be more modern and appealing, as well as any repairs done.

The toilets were completely ripped out and new modern facilities inserted, plus the whole place was given a new coat of paint.

At present it looked like a shambles, but you could already notice the difference to how it had been, so things were progressing nicely.

When we left I had had an idea I wanted to get Bill started on.

“Bill, when we reopen, I think we need to do it with something big to really garner the town’s attention.”

“Good idea, what did you have in mind.” Bill asked.

“I want you to find out what films are likely to be opening the same week we will be ready to reopen.”

“That should be simple enough. Why do you need to know anyway” Bill queried.

“Because then you have the tough part to complete, I want a celebrity to do the opening, someone who is in one of the film’s opening that week, it doesn’t necessarily have to be one of the main stars, the headline names, but someone the people will recognize as being in the film.” I explained.

“Wow, when you think of something it’s always big isn’t it.” Bill laughed.

“Can you do it?”

“It won’t be cheap, I wouldn’t really know how to start, but yes, I guess it’s possible.” Bill agreed.

“I don’t want to sound like you can’t do it yourself, but if you need more muscle to get this done, use Andy. His firm has an awful lot of contacts which would be helpful, I had intended to ask him first, but this has been your deal from the outset, so I didn’t want to go over your head on this.”

“Thanks Jack, your right, I might have taken that a little badly, but your right, Andy would probably have a better chance at getting this done, so I will talk to him about helping us.” Bill admitted.

When Bill dropped me back home, it was time for a family meeting, the summer was approaching and we decided it was time to make plans for a holiday. Any later and we might not be able to get accommodation where we wanted.

We decided on a visit to Florida, it would allow us to meet up with Mom’s parents, as they visited that area every year for their own holiday. There should also be lots of activities for us to try.

I was interested in all the water activities available, most people would want to attend one of the major theme parks, but that wasn’t really my idea of fun, but then again I might be persuaded to go.

Mom said she would make the arrangements, I was told that I was to keep out of it, they would be paying for this holiday, so I would have to abide by what they came up with.

I laughed at that, but agreed, it must be hard for parents to cope with a child who had more money than they did.

That being said, I had other plans for the summer, which would allow me to spend some of my money.

I had been keeping a close eye on the investments that my new stockbroker had been investing in for the new company, he had been doing well, and I had given him a few suggestions, but had mainly just left him to it.

The accountant had been doing well with the profits, spending the money in many good causes for the local community. The company had been getting good recognition for the good deeds they were involved in, the school had benefited from the booster club contributions that they had been given. I had given stipulations on some of the money involved, like the booster club, but most of it had been left up to them to use as they saw fit.

So with some of the other profits, I had a plan I hoped would be appreciated, although it wasn’t definite.

I went to the Burns farm and got lucky, as I found out that Joy was the only person at home. She was surprised to see me, since she knew that I was aware that Rory was at work.

After being invited in and sat down with a drink, I gave my pitch.

“Mrs. Burns, when was the last time your family had a week away in the summer for a proper holiday?”

“Good Lord, let me think, I would guess it would be four years ago.” She replied.

That was the time the farming industry started to go into decline, so money had been tighter after that.

“Are you planning on a vacation this year?”

“We had talked about it. Well Bernie and I have, we were wondering if we could afford to get some people in to look after the farm for a week, so we could have a week away somewhere.” Mrs. Burns told me.

“Mrs. Burns, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but I want Rory and Chloe to have a vacation this year. If you get people here you trust to look after the farm, I want to have your family to have a good week break away where you can all relax and enjoy yourselves.”

“Jack I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t think my Bernie would like the thought of that, we may not be well off, but we will want to pay ourselves to take our family away if we can arrange it.”

“I can understand that, please believe me, I remember the time when I was young and we had times when money was short. That summer’s vacation may not have been expensive, but it had been time away with my family. All I am saying is that, let me contribute a little so that you’re able to do just something a little better than you might be forced to do, rather than what you would like to do.”

“That sounds better, but I still don’t know if Bernie will agree.” Joy determined.

That was when I got out my phone, I brought up the prices for a number of places that we had talked about for our own vacation, Joy was shocked at the cost, then I got the prices for a number of inland summer vacation parks, the prices were better, but still not cheap. It was the problem the world over, when kids were out of school, the prices went up to cash in on the expected trade.

Mrs. Burns looked disheartened by what she had seen, some of the places hadn’t been particularly great, but the prices had still been quite high.