Chapter 29: Figuring Things Out

I was heading out of the office when the principal, Mr. Hardy, sees me and asks me to come into his office. I follow him, and he shuts the door behind us. As we take our seats, he says, “Mr. Doherty (the Judo Sensei) came to see me about an idea you had. He said you wanted to start teaching swords in his class.”

“I wasn’t talking about sword fighting, and I sure wasn’t talking about giving students swords. I wouldn’t arm a class.”

“I suppose I chose my words poorly. He said you proposed to instruct the class using various sticks from the sports locker. He also said you volunteered to teach him and donate wooden swords if, at the end of the trial, he wanted to incorporate it in his curriculum.”

“That is correct. I intend to use my sudden influx of money to help others, and this is one of the ways I intend to do it.”

“He also said you convinced him to add philosophy. He said, ‘This isn’t a dojo, it’s a school. There should be more than just learning how to throw. These kids need a bit more of a scholastic background.”

“I agree. Philosophy broadens the mind. If he teaches it right, by doing this, there is a chance you may find the students improve in other subjects as well.”

“Those were some good recommendations. I’m sure some parents will take issue with their children learning about swords, but I’m willing to go to bat for you. I gave him my permission. I trust you can set it up with him.”

“Thank you, sir.

“There is one more matter we need to discuss.”

“I did my best to talk the students down. I never threw a punch. He hit me in the head, and that is why his hand broke.”

“What are you talking about.”

It doesn’t take him long to think about it before he clues in.

“No, that isn’t what I meant. Ms. Fine and Mr. Doherty told me all about that. You did nothing wrong.”

“I did nothing wrong in Fort Grand, and I still got suspensions at least every second week.”

“This isn’t Fort Grand.”

“I know, but it takes a while to break the pavlovian conditioning.”

“Fair enough ... What I wanted to talk about was the academic competitions. You agreed to. I understand you missed the math competition for national security reasons, whatever that means. There is a competition similar to the American Academic Decathlon. Unfortunately, one of our students had to drop out, and we don’t have anybody to replace him. Do you know what the decathlon is.”

“There are ten subjects chosen, and the kids are tested on each one. There is also a general theme and essays are written on the theme.”

“In this case, the essay is a group essay, and it is already written. We don’t have enough time to train anybody for the competition next month. I was hoping you would volunteer.”

“I don’t have time for practices. If it is just a matter of showing up and taking some tests, I’m game.”

“It is strictly testing. This year it is being administered in Hope.”

“Send me a list of the subjects, and I will see what I can do. I’m not promising a miracle. Some of the subjects I may not know anything about.”

“Somehow, I doubt that will be a problem. This year it is mostly physics-based, dealing with rocketry.”

Hearing that, I have a hard time, not laughing. The Principal notices and asks, “What is so funny?”

I can’t exactly tell him I built my own rocket and flew into space, so I tell him, “Rockets are obsolete. Missiles have overtaken rockets as weapon systems. The space shuttle and other rocket-based satellite launch systems will soon be phased out. They are too inefficient. Horizontally launched or mother ship launched space planes are the future.”

“That is a bold claim.”

“Not if you were to read some of my patents.”

I’m supposed to be in class, so we cut our conversation off there.

I have a quick lunch before making my next series of calls.

“Sorrel here, how can I help you?”

“Hey, its Trent”

She perks up, “Oh, hi. How’s it going?”

“That depends?”

“On”

“You asked me all those questions about the property I was looking at. Did you do anything with that, or did you just let the fat-ass deal with it?”

She laughs, saying, “You shouldn’t call him that. But yes, I did look around. I have a few more questions for you, but I don’t want to butt in on a senior agent’s turf.”

“How would you like to make a partial commission on that?”

“I can’t take your business away from another broker in this office, especially since I am the junior-most broker.”

“I have a feeling that he will disappoint me enough in our next conversation that I will fire him. He agreed to only charge a 50% commission. Accept 40%, and give him 10. That way, he can’t complain. I know, junior brokers rarely work on such large deals, so you will still make way more than you are used to.”

“I will have to think about it.”

“Don’t think too long. I am about to phone him and ask a question or two. If he doesn’t answer to my satisfaction, then he will be fired. The only question is, do I need a new broker or will you pick up all my business?”

“Just try not to get me in trouble.”

“No promises. I have some more calls to make before lunch is over. I’ll talk to you later.”

We hang up, and I make my next call

“Hello, Bill Simmons here.”

“Hey Bill, it’s Trent.”

“So when can we get together and talk?”

“Do you have some places in mind?”

“No, that is what we need to talk about.”

“Did you look into the rental?”

“I thought the oceanfront was the priority?”

“WOW, I will have to shut down if I don’t get a rental soon. It is the priority. It seems to me like you don’t want my business. You don’t listen to what I say, nor do you look after my interests. We all knew the gravel pit was likely a no-go but you insisted on focussing on your precious sale. In so doing, you lost it.”

“Wait just a minute. That isn’t how it played out. I was looking out for your interests. I spent hours trying to convince them to sell.”

“Oh, really!!! So, you are saying that we talked numbers and made an offer that. We didn’t talk numbers, and there was no offer. Strike 1: You ignored me until Gran forced you to deal with me. Strike 2: You refused to investigate what it was about the property that I liked so you could have a contingency. You knew it was likely that the deal would fall through yet didn’t have a backup plan. Strike 3: You didn’t listen to what I told you and didn’t correctly prioritize. Now my companies are at risk of being shut down. No, you looked after your petty interests and you are costing me time and money. You can either chose to hand this over to Sorrel or I can find another broker.”

“You can’t do that. I made a deal with Ellen.”

“Too bad it isn’t her company then, isn’t it? You have wasted enough of my time. Goodby, Mr. Simmons.”

I hang up before I have to listen to any more of his drivel.

When I get home, I phone Emma and let her know to start informing engineering firms that I will be taking bids for my three projects. After that I phone Sorrel.

“Sorrel here, how can I help you?”

This time she doesn’t sound so happy.

“Hi, It’s Trent again.”

She perks up a bit, “Oh, hi, how’s it going?”

“Better all the time, except you don’t sound so happy. What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

“If it were nothing, I wouldn’t have asked.”

“I shouldn’t say because it is a work problem.”

“Let me guess. A senior broker had words with you because he sucks at his job, and you don’t.”

“I don’t know what you told him, but was he ever mad at me.”

“All I told him was how he failed me three times and to give my file to you. Speaking of which, the asshole didn’t even bother looking for a rental property. You didn’t find one for me, did you?”

“Several, in fact. We should meet up and look at them.”

“How about you come, pick me up and show me some of the rental properties. I will phone my restaurant partner. When we break for supper, she can meet us at that site, and we will check it out together.

“I’m the realtor. Business meals are on me.”

“Does your brokerage pay or do you.”

“I do, but the amount of commission I will make off your purchases more than make up for it.”

“After you get your first commission check, you can start buying suppers. For now, you have to let me or I will be offended, and you do not want to offend a customer now, do you?”

“Hey, that isn’t fair. You could get me to do anything with logic like that.”

“Anything? I like the sound of that. Just drinks tonight. It will have to be at your place. I live with my Uncle, and if I bring you home, he will tease me about having a gorgeous older woman.”

“I thought you had too many women already.”

“Girl, have you looked in the mirror? It doesn’t matter how many women a guy has. He is still going to want you.”

She has a sexy little laugh, “You do know, I am already working as hard as I can for you. There is no need for the flattery.”

“Flattery is given with the intent of drawing a person’s attention and is usually an exaggeration of the truth. I may exaggerate for effect on occasion but then admit to the deceit right away. I already have your attention, and I am not exaggerating.”

We flirt for a little longer, but we need to get looking at the sites, so we end the call, and she comes to pick me up.

When she pulls in the driveway, I am waiting outside. I hop in her car, and we say our hellos, then she asks, “What do you want to look at first?”

“I already know the big properties. I may have already hired the contractor to make the improvements and I have sent word to the engineering companies so they can bid on designing my compounds. That leaves rentals. I don’t want a lease that I will have to break in a few months when I have my temporary shop ready for us to move in. Let’s look at the cheapest and work our way up until we find something that will work. For office space, I need a minimum of three desks. I could do less than that if the shop is near my home.”

We looked at a few properties but ended up at the place across from the mall that I originally looked at.

“I know it says for sale on the door, but I’m sure I can talk him into renting it. It has been on the market for a while but has had no luck. It has come down in price a few times.”

“I admit, it is a property I was thinking about even though it is a little far from home, but it is closer to everybody else. I like how it is close to a bunch of restaurants, so we can still have our mealtime get-togethers.

We come up with a fair offer and head for supper. We have such a good time that I end up feeling guilty. I know we haven’t done anything, but I feel like I am cheating on my girls. Thankfully we don’t have much time for supper as we are late for our meeting with Zlata.

I almost laugh when we get to the property Sorrel wants me to buy for the restaurant. I know the place well. In the future, it becomes a Lowes. The place used to piss me off to no end. I have always liked to build things with my hands. It got to the point where I would often forgo using power tools in favour of making things the old fashion way.

I often came here when I needed supplies but not in bulk. The problem was that their employees spent more time socializing than working. If I wanted help finding something, I would often wait 20-30 minutes to be able to talk with the assholes because they would refuse to stop socializing with a friend that wasn’t there to buy anything. Even when they weren’t socializing, they were still assholes. I remember trying to collect a bunch of fasteners from the bins when one of the employees was restocking the shelves. He could have helped me, as was his job, and I would have been gone in minutes, or he could have gone off and socialized with one of his friends, and it wouldn’t have taken much longer than if he helped. Instead, he decides to continuously get in my way. He moved as slow as molasses in winter. He would cut me off then stand in my way as he slowly took a couple screws at a time to stick in the bins. I had asked for his help repeatedly, but the asshole refused. Eventually, I threw my fasteners all over the floor and left to buy them elsewhere.

Buying this property means that store would never be built here. They would likely build it in another location, but not one as good as this. It is just north of the mall, but the mall ends up expanding into a giant shopping complex. North of the property becomes a residential area packed with houses. It is a couple blocks farther south than I would like because of where the office buildings are. They are just out of walking distance. In the long run, it is the perfect location.

Zlata complains, “I don’t like the location. There is nothing here.”

“There is nothing here now. You have to have foresight. You need to see what is beyond the trees and mall. This is centralized in the western communities. For most people, it is on their way to Victoria, so why not stop here instead of taking your date all the way into town? The mall is right there. It isn’t much now, but I envision it expanding. Behind us is a residential area. Yes, there is a recession coming but as soon as it is over the area will start expanding again and soon there will be houses bordering the property. I love it.”

“OK, I will concede that many people will have to drive by to get to town. But, if you are talking about people going on dates, then they will want something more than just food. There is no theatre in the western communities, nor is there anything else to do.”

“You have a good point. It will all come eventually but we need things for the short term. There is no better time to build than in a recession. Labour and materials are cheaper. Town council will be in a better frame of mind to approve projects. We buy the plot of land closest to the main road, over there. When the recession hits, we buy this and the property on the other side of the roads west and south, beside the mall.”

Sorrel warns, “That is a bit ambitious and doing it that way is a big risk. You are gambling on the economy turning around as you complete the project. If it doesn’t, you could lose a lot of money.”

“That would be true if I didn’t have a huge safety net. It will only be a matter of time before the economy turns around again. The project will help bolster things, and in so doing, bring the area out of recession sooner. If it doesn’t, we will just eat the losses until it does turn around. Even if it takes a while, we will make truckloads of money in the long run.”

Sorrel comments, “It looked like you were talking about doing this all on a whim, but you are beginning to sound like you have spent much time deliberating this.”

“In a way, I have.”

Zlata is pleased and concedes, “I do like the idea of putting the restaurant on the main road. It is a lot better than being isolated over here.”