Chapter 63: Revising Plans

Late Sept, 1986

Charlie POV:

Okay, I know the girls are up to something.

Just a little bit ago all four of them (Jamie, Mary, Sarah and Linda) were nursing the babies while sitting around in our state room. (Nothing unusual there.)

The next thing I know Bob and I were nearly assaulted when the four of them suddenly developed a major case of the ‘hornies’. While no sane man would find anything wrong with that, after everything that happened the night before, I had to wonder what brought that on.

Especially, when Linda and Jamie suddenly pulled Bob onto the other bed, leaving Mary, Sarah and I alone on the one we’d just had an orgy in all together.

I’ve had Mary in my head long enough to know there was a reason for that. Unfortunately, my sneaky sweetie was keeping her reasons a closely guarded secret. It almost doesn’t seem fair sometimes that she can keep me totally in the dark, but yet, if I tried blocking her I’d never hear the end of it.

Luckily, some of her wily ways are beginning to rub off on me.

Since I figured whatever they were planning, all four of them had to be in cahoots with, I decided to stay in Sarah’s head as surreptitiously as I could.

Aha!

I should’ve known. Earlier, when Sarah, Bob and I joined Dad up at Ibera’s, we’d forgotten to put clothes on before we left here. While Bob and I instantly remedied our situation, I couldn’t help but notice the way Sarah was taking her sweet time while making sure that Darren was getting a very good look at all of her womanly wares. The poor guy was embarrassed to death, but also couldn’t peel his eyes away from her. I knew that Sarah was attracted to Darren, but it was so out of character for her to tease him as blatantly she did.

I’m pretty sure I know what my sweeties are up to. And I’m damn sure not going to let on that I know! I’m going to drop the issue for now, but, keep ‘tabs’ on it from time to time.

We were all still on the boat, within a couple hours of Miami.

I need to get everyone together before we dock as I’m afraid some if not all of F2 might be going straight to Washington DC. I want to do like I do with all my clients who I design a home for. I want to bond with each one of them, one at a time, so I would know everything they wanted in their dream home.

Even though Willie told me they would probably only be able to come out for weekends, I want to make sure that the place we had for them was everything they could possibly want.

I will never give up hope that one day they may all end up living with us permanently.

We sat in the empty galley and pushed two long tables up against each other so all 19 of us could sit around it.

It felt like King Arthur and the Roundtable, only it was square.

Everyone seemed eager to help me incorporate their ideas into our future home. I put Mary and Linda in charge of getting the women’s ideas about their ‘realm of expertise’, like the kitchen, dining room, bedroom and closet layouts, living room ... basically everything except the garages and pool areas!

I’ve found it much wiser to just stay out of their way and accommodate their wishes.

(Remember Rule #1: Happy wives, Happy lives! All men would do well to remember that. Along with the corollary: Ours is NOT to wonder why, ours is just to do it their way ... or die! Oh yeah, and Bob reminded me: Women own half of the money and ALL of the pussy!)

Since I know Ed and Bill so well, I decided to start with Willie. He chuckled when I put my hands out but he didn’t hesitate before he put his hands in mine. When I got the picture of what he wanted I couldn’t help but grin.

He wanted a place to build another hot rod. He envisioned a garage with a pit in the floor to do oil changes, lube jobs, exhaust work and the like. He also wanted either a pneumatic or hydraulic lift. He knew I got the message and just grinned when I asked him, “So, you wouldn’t mind doing all the family’s oil changes and stuff?”

“Oh heck no, to be honest, I don’t trust anyone else to do my oil changes. I’ve seen too many times were a mechanic in a hurry double gaskets the oil filter. All of a sudden, before you know it, you lose all your oil and the engine seizes up. I wouldn’t trust another mechanic to do my family’s oil changes, either.”

I asked, “Would it be better to have a pit with a medium duty pneumatic lift then another spot with a heavy-duty hydraulic lift?”

He chuckled, “In my dream garage, absolutely. However, since beggars can’t be choosers, I’d be perfectly happy with a pit and a pneumatic lift.”

It was my turn to laugh, “That’s what we’re doing here, Buddy. I want you to picture your absolute ‘Dream Garage’, don’t hold anything back!”

That was perfect. What he really wanted was like a four car area so he can have both lifts occupied and still have room for two more cars. I asked him about tools. He said he thought he had everything he needed and just needed a home to put them in. He was more than happy when I assured him that his tools would soon have a permanent home.

Rex had been listening and snickered, “If you expanded Monte’s area a little bit, we can put two motorcycle lifts in there and I can take care of all of our bikes. Harley-Davidson has some good mechanics, but what they charge for simple maintenance is beyond outrageous.” He chuckled, “Besides, with all the experience I have keeping my ‘beast’ on the road, I’ve turned into a pretty good wrench myself.”

Willie assured him that he was looking forward to learning more about motorcycles and their maintenance himself. I had a feeling the two of them would keep all of our vehicles running in tip top condition.

It was Bruce’s turn next, and he seemed embarrassed that I picked up on what he really wanted right away.

He was into ham radio and had nearly everything he needed. What he didn’t have but wanted was an extra tall antenna. When I showed him my vision, to confirm what he was talking about, he blushed, “It doesn’t really need to be 200 feet tall, Charlie. Most places would never allow something that tall. I’d be perfectly happy with 100 feet!”

He was grinning which led me to believe that the one at his current house wasn’t probably even a third that tall.

I asked him, “Okay, but, what would your ‘Dream Setup’ be like?”

He grinned, “Okay, I’d LIKE a 350-foot tower with a 10’x15’ building right next to it for all my support gear. You’d have to get FAA approval for that, especially if there’s an airport within 50 miles. Then, I’d also like a couple shorter towers for the different bands I broadcast on. Oh, and we’d need an underground fuel tank and generator so I could transmit during a national emergency or sustained power outage. Ham radio might be the only communications possible and with a system like this, I could connect to nearly every other Ham operator in the country, if not the continent.”

The generator reminded me that we’d need one for the house, anyway.

I told him I’d look into getting FAA approval, although, a couple other possibilities came to mind. I knew cellular telephone companies were desperately looking for sites for putting up towers. I asked if his tower could be ‘shared’ like that. He said it was certainly possible and might be the best way to get FAA approval, since they would be eager to do that for us.

I’d be looking into it.

I heard Maggie giggling, “Charlie, William forgot to ask you about a running track. All of us need to stay in shape and running on a treadmill just plain sucks. We were thinking maybe you could build us one of those indoor/outdoor running tracks around the perimeter of the pool area like maybe right up against the house. Do you think you could do that?”

She flashed me an image of her idea and it made me grin, “Sure thing! If I made it eight feet wide and used that special surface they use at indoor tracks, would that work?”

Willie nodded, “That would be perfect, Charlie, even the kids could eventually use that to ride their bicycles on.”

When it came to Jeremy’s turn he just told me, “I’m easy Charlie, as long as there’s somewhere in the house I can put together a jigsaw puzzle and we could all sit and play games occasionally, I’ll be happy. Rex, Joni, Sheila and I love to play games like Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Risk and even chess on occasion. With so many of us, I’m sure there’s a bunch of other games that would be fun for all of us.”

Joni giggled, “Just be warned, all of you, Sheila and Jeremy are darn near unbeatable at Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit! But I would invite any and all of you to take them on. I just hope some of you might be able to beat them occasionally.”

I just grinned at the lighthearted banter that erupted about something as simple as all of us playing games together. To me, this was what being a family was all about. That they were thinking that far ahead made me want to ask my next question.

I addressed the group that we’ve begun calling F2, “Do you guys foresee the day that all of you might want to live here with us, permanently?”

There was a sudden silence and I noticed all the members of F2 looking at each other intently. Many seemed to be nodding at each other before Rex pointed at Willie and said, “Charlie, we’ve all been talking about that. It’s possible that day may be coming sooner rather than later. Monte came up with an idea that I think we need to let him tell you about, Monte?”

Willie stood up and smiled at me warmly. He made a show of looking around the room to make sure we were the only ones in here before he asked, somewhat tentatively, “Charlie, everybody, the eight of us, have decided that it’s nobody’s damn business to say that we have to live in DC, just because we work there. We’ve come up with a plan, but before we act on it, we need to ask, would it be all right if we all lived with you, right from the giddyup?”

I thought my heart was going to leap right out of my chest.

Everyone in F1 was nodding enthusiastically, saying in one voice, “Yes! We would love to have you.”

It was very emotional as everyone got up and began hugging and kissing each other. Yes, all 18 of us. I asked everyone to sit back down so we could discuss what Willie’s plan was and how we might help make it happen.

Willie continued, “It’s like this. I don’t think the Directors actually care where we live, as long as we all show up to work on time every day.

“It’s the damn federal bureaucrats and pencil pushers who would make it an issue if we were to have Illinois or Arizona addresses where our checks were mailed to. So, to squelch their bullshit, we decided we would keep Bruce’s address where we would keep three cars parked. Since we work for three different agencies, and we all know how the agencies almost never talk to each other, it wouldn’t send up any red flags if we all used the same address and since it’s a Washington, DC address, it would be perfect. We would simply teleport every morning into Bruce’s living room, then walk out the door, jump in our cars and head to work. That way, if anyone were to be watching us, while it might raise a few eyebrows, it wouldn’t send up any red flags. Then, after work, we would all drive back to Bruce’s house, walk in the front door and teleport directly here, or wherever you guys are living. I guess our question to you is, how soon do you envision this mansion of yours or should I say ours might be ready?”

I thought for a few minutes then said, “Well, I figure it’s likely to take at least a week or two to have the survey done and the topographical survey completed. I’m going to need that before I can even begin designing the actual structure of the house. I still have to find a builder, although, I do have a lead on one that Charlene, our realtor has given me. Then, I figure it’s going to take Linda and I at least a week to get the plans far enough along to actually begin breaking ground. Just based of the massive size, probably a good 6 to 7 months to have it built.

“In the meantime, what the 11 of us were planning on doing is to get two or three very nice, large RVs, most likely fifth wheel trailers, and have them placed on site. We can tap into the old house’s septic, water and electric lines. That way, we could live there and start getting used to the area.

“I also want to keep an eye on the construction, not so much that I don’t trust them, but if they have a question, I don’t want them to have to wait to ask it. During that time, you guys would still be more than welcome to live with us, just knowing things might be a little cramped. What do you guys think?”

Bruce smiled, “Since it sounds like much of this will be over the winter, I think we would all prefer living in a travel trailer in Arizona as opposed to freezing our asses off living in DC. Since it also sounds like it’s going to be at least two or three weeks before you guys are even out there, that will give us time to get our act together. What we’ll probably do, is for the next month, besides my place, we’ll hang on to Maggie’s place so the eight of us would just live out there until you get all the trailers and everything set up. Are you guys going to want us to kick in to help buy the trailers?”

This was the moment of truth.

I flashed Bill (Davis) on a closed channel asking for help with my next question. He smiled at me and winked, acknowledging that he was all for it.

I looked at Willie and Bruce and the rest of them, took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, “If you guys are willing to go this far, I think it’s time that we invite you to go ‘all in’.”

I noticed many raised eyebrows, questioning grins and general looks of consternation.

After a few seconds I continued, “What I’m really asking is, what would you guys think of joining all of us in our Family Charter? Bill came up with this idea that the 10 of us have already agreed on. Let him explain how it’s going to work, financially, then you let me know what you all think, okay?”

Now they were all giving each other questioning looks.

Bill started, “Before I get started, let me just say that this was actually Charlie’s idea, but it was in reaction to questions that Ed and I had. You see, sometimes Charlie is too generous for his own good. Last year he gave Ed, Gracie, Emmy, Sally and myself each $2 million. What he wasn’t aware of at the time, is that far exceeded the governments limit as far as personal gifts were concerned. Thankfully, none of us spent much of it and he is soon going to be getting with a special IRS agent to get everything taken care of in that regard. Sooo, he made a suggestion that we all take everything that we have and put it into one great big ‘pile’ as it were.

“Then, using the Family Charter, we would in essence become an LLC. This is the vehicle we would use to show income and pay our taxes. Ed and I still felt bad that the vast majority of the money in the family account was Charlie’s. He explained that by all of us kicking in everything we had, he had no problems making all of us equal partners in any and all proceeds that the family’s investments were making. This way, in essence, we’d be riding on Charlie’s coattails as far as his tax immunity was concerned. What he proposed, and we all agreed to, was that we would keep approximately $1 million cash on hand in a safe or vault in our new home. That will be our ‘pocket money’. Along with that, we would all be given a family account credit card with virtually no limit. We agreed on a 100K limit on any one item without prior family approval. That way, if I felt like going out and buying a car I could and not have to ask any questions. I would then simply give the receipt to Mary, who’s going to be our family accountant, and go happily on my way. As far as you guys are concerned, if you want to join the family charter, we would ask that you donate any and all of your current assets along with the monthly paychecks that you get for your jobs.

“That would essentially be your ‘buy-in’ to the Family Charter. In return, you would then become members of the LLC in equal partnership with the rest of us. In Bruce’s case, that would include his house. Bruce, I don’t know if you still have a mortgage on it or not, but the Family Charter would pay it off if you do, as well take care of any future expenses like taxes, utilities, repairs or what have you. All family members would draw as much money as they needed or wanted from the million dollars’ cash we’ll be keeping at home. Along with that, you will be given a family charter credit card to purchase anything else that you might need or want. Like I said before, it would be no questions asked except that you need to give the receipts to Mary so she can account for it. Now, I’m sure you have some questions?”

Jeremy asked, “Can I ask, just how much is this ‘Family Charter’ currently worth?”

Bill chuckled, then winked at me before saying, “Approximately $2.47 billion!”

All eight of our friends gasped, then Maggie asked, excitedly, “Are you trying to tell us, that all we have to do is donate our paychecks to be equal members in this charter? I guess I do have another question, will we ever have any money that will be just our own?”

Bill nodded his head, “Absolutely. Most of our investments receive quarterly dividends. Each of our members will get an equal share of one half of that amount. The other half will be reinvested into the family’s investments.” He stopped short, anticipating the next question.

Jeremy quickly asked, “And just how much are we talking about, as far as these quarterly payouts?”

Bill smiled just a wee bit bigger, “That’s hard to say, for sure, since until Charlie and the IRS guy get finished, the Family Charter only has about $350 million in it. I can tell you that the last quarterly dividend check the family received was a little over 2½ million dollars. That was divided 11 ways and came out to a little over $227,000 each!”

Bruce darn near hyperventilated, “Are you kidding us? And you’re saying that by the time the next quarter rolls around that account will have $2.47 billion instead of $350 million?”

Now Bill was smirking, “As Charlie said, I’m serious as a heart attack. Now granted, there’s no telling what the market will do in any given quarter, but based on the investments that I’ve been making and what I foresee for the future, I’m figuring that our next quarterly dividend checks will total somewhere in the neighborhood of $18 million or more. That will of course be divided 19 ways. If, you guys agree to our terms.”

It was Willie who was now shaking his head in utter disbelief, “I just know there has to be a catch, somewhere. You’d have to be a fool to turn down a deal like this. I’ll gladly turn over everything I own and all my future paychecks for a deal like that! Where do I sign?”

There was a lot of laughter as our family of 11 just grew to 19.

All of us were going to be very busy over the coming weeks. The F2 branch of our family would be busying themselves starting new jobs and getting their short-term living conditions figured out. Linda and I would be very busy once I acquired all the information that I needed to begin putting pencil to paper.

Willie, Bruce, Maggie and Diane accompanied the Directors and Judy Logan on the Agency’s Learjet back to Washington DC. Rex, Jeremy, Joni and Sheila gave us a hand teleporting all the kids back to Dad’s place before they took off to their house.

They told us that they had the better part of a week before they actually had to report for duty. We discussed whether or not they would be leaving their furniture for us to use. Even though Uncle Sam would be shipping it for them, they didn’t think it would make sense since they would simply be putting it in storage. We ended up deciding that they would leave their furniture there and only take their personal belongings with them to DC. They left us the keys so we could either use the place to stay or use it to store any other items we managed to salvage from Ed’s or Bill’s houses. In the meantime, for at least the next week or so we would all be staying at Dad’s house, as we had before.