Chapter 1

What to do?

JD had come to the conclusion that what he had been doing all along was a bust. In not much more than Levi shirt, pants and jacket thrown around his shoulder, he would now go out to ‘tilt’, no not windmills but the world as others saw it.

New York was a fairly big city, not as large as LA but JD felt it was a good place to start the next days of a new life acting in a new way. The La Rosita was on his walking path one day, he was hungry and they had food; ‘an auspicious start’ he thought. Eggs, chili, rice, re-fried beans and that nectar of the gods, coffee, was his order. As he ate, he looked and listened. He did this several times a day, at several places and for several days, ranging several blocks around his office. He thought he learned a lot on his walk-about.

What he learned was that the things he knew meant shit in the real world. That plus the earlier realization that his own decision making process was a bit flawed. It sort of came as a shock to learn most everything one had been told about the world was ... was wrong, or at least not what most people thought.

Things had come too easy for him, way too easy; now he was paying the price. The economy was changing, not just here but all over the globe. That vindicated his decision last year not to invest in new things and keep most of the monies he got from selling things, liquid. The old buy and sell paradigm had changed. He estimated 55-65% of his hard assets were now in liquid savings, the rest or at least 20-25% more were slated to divest within 3 months when their contracts expired; these were the ‘AAA’ business loans he had made.

He had few direct employees, much having been placed in third-party service companies such as security, accounting, HR and even the offices had been factored. Sue, Brit and Eve had been with him from day one and would continue with him no matter how much of the business was sold off. What had caused him to have this self-doubt was a combination of a bad investment, a very bad almost marriage and an even worse hiring of, what he hoped would have been a replacement for himself to run the company.

It had taken 14 months to extricate himself from all that, hence his desire to seek more liquidity rather than to make many new investments. The stories about a Sheikh losing more than $40 Billion and the current prices of some commodities, like oil did not ease his mind on that score. He was going to be 28 in a few months and had accumulated more wealth than he would spend in two or three lifetimes. He had always wondered why people needed more than that. He also was concerned that there were those who wanted to separate him from his money even now.

He stepped out of his offices saying: “Lunch?” to nods and mumbled ‘yes’s’ from Sue, Brit and Eve. Always the same if he went: each wanted 1 corned beef, 1 pastrami, cold slaw, a chocolate milkshake, chips and large coffees with triple creams. No one was diet conscience.

The Deli was near the office on Wall and Water Streets. On a day like this he enjoyed the short walk. He would get the girls something from the street vendors on the way back, perhaps a ‘genuine’ Coach or Gucci purse for $11. Yep anything you wanted was right there in New York. There were some trade offs though; it was expensive to live in most of the city but one could live well. The three girls could live well because ... because he made certain of it. They meant a lot to him and he felt that feeling was mutual; they were his family really.

The plan was to have them running the company, small as it was within 2 years. He was going to retire at 30 and his previous attempt to ‘hire’ a replacement bombed, and failed royally. He knew he should talk to them about his plan, but ... JD was never one to ask in advance for anything. That had been question number one when selecting a legal firm. ‘Is your job to keep me out of trouble or to get me out of it?’ Not many firms got the right answer.

He called it a ‘Deli’, to others is was ‘Delmonico’s’ a top rated steakhouse downtown. At lunch, the bar made VIP’s like him food to go. They saw him walk in and already knew what he wanted JD nodded and sat down. He saw her about halfway into his seat. Without thinking(not very unusual for JD) he held up a hand and mouthed ‘For Five Please’). Yep even that few seconds to turn away from her was ‘hard’ for JD to do; and no one would disagree with him; she was a ‘looker’. Tall, built for comfort and with long, platinum hair, it was instant love, lust maybe.

Remember JD’s reticence to make a decision quickly(Not) when he saw the drink in front of her, hands folded around it, head down and teardrops falling he acted. With one had he silently lifted her head up, shook his head no and with the other hand placed the cup of coffee Julie had brought over to him, in place of her drink.

She took a sip: “Needs sugar”, but gave the start of a smile. JD laughed and pointed to the packs of sugar to her left. “ I need a spoon to stir it with!”

“Man, you sure are particular!” Julie had been close by and brought a spoon and napkins over.

“Anything else Princess, cream perhaps or would you prefer tea and a biscuit?” JD took up one of the napkins and was wiping those tears away. “Now Princess, tell me about your day and what we can do to make it better. Lunch will be served in my office down the street, so finish your coffee, go to the little girls room and fix that beautiful face, then help me carry our feast that Julie has made up back there.”

Julie came over, “only a 9.2 sport, you could have given her a kiss or something. Poor thing has been sitting with that same drink since we opened.” Julie handed him 2 big bags. As he pretended to heft which was heavier, she came out. Tall, with those heels about 6 foot tall and definitely built for almost anything. He handed her one of the bags, she reached over and took the other one. JD frowned and made a face, she smiled and mouthed a ‘Thank you’ to Julie. “Please put my drink on ‘Sir Galahad’s’ tab if you would be so kind. Either that or I’ll have to wash dishes.”

JD took her hand and led her out the door, shaking his head. “So you wash dishes do you? Any chance that you know how to cook?”

She looked down at her body, big, voluptuous body and asked: “Do I look like a cook?”

“No! More like a dessert!”

They went on joking that way until they entered his office building. The doorman and guard nodded, “Hello JD! Ahhh where did you go to lunch and any more like her there?”

“She tossed her hair and said, “Nein! My sister, she is still home.”

JD broke out laughing. Not only was she a ‘looker’, she was a ‘keeper’ too.

They took the lift up two floors. JD reluctantly let go of her hand to open the office door. It had ‘JD Sloane and Associates’ on the plaque by the side of the door.

‘It’s about time, we’re so hungry we cou ... Opps!”

“Sue, Brit, Eve this is ... Ahhh... ‘Our’ new taste tester to decide if the corned beef or the pastrami is better. Miss Ahhh, meet the gang who obviously were waiting for this gastronomic treat we carry.”

Everyone had their priorities in order. Four girls carried their long awaited feast into one office and closed the door, JD went into his smiling. The girls would do a better job of interrogating Ahhh than he ever could.

The squeal at 2:20pm through his open door of: “You’re buying dinner, we need to shop for some things was from Bri first, so 6 ish at D’s.”

‘I guess things are OK’ he thought. “Make sure you get a car to...” he yelled out as the giggled out. JD made a couple of calls. He shook his head. ‘Maybe my gut instinct is not as bad as I imagined?’ he thought.

The ‘Grand Exit’ got both the guard and waiting doorman turning red. Whatever the girls mumbled as they left was never heard. The poor limo driver, their regular one, only heard the ‘Shopping’ shouted out. He already knew the 5 or 6 places by heart. He hoped there would be room enough for everything in the limo. By stop 3, Brit made a call. “JD, Bri needs a place to stay, can...”