Chapter 10

Brad and I talked, and I could tell he was really excited by the idea. He said the first could be as soon as a month and a half to two months. He would get with his people and have them start a boxed set right away, and have Mandy start the artwork. I told him to hold on and left to get Mandy. Holly and Dan were there also, and I asked Dan to watch the shop while I borrowed the girls. He laughed and said fine as I almost dragged them to the room.

They both hugged Brad and had just sat down when the door opened again. Lisa walked in, and she looked puzzled until she saw me. She ran over and gave me a big hug and kiss, and then Holly and Mandy also. “This girl had me and Frannie paged, but I had no idea what for. Is she your assistant or something, Brad?”

I laughed and wrapped my arm around Becky’s waist, introducing them and saying she was my girlfriend. Lisa hugged her, and we all sat down again. “OK Lisa, there is a reason for this. First off, have you played ‘Darkness out of the Light’?”

“Nope, not yet. I have seen it though, why do you ask?”

I then filled all three of the girls in on my newest insane idea, and I asked her to not play it, and participate in a performance to be filmed. “And Lisa, I want you in your Blues. Everybody at the table will be in uniform, we will be an all-military game group for that night. That is why I want you, Frannie, and Jacki. Everybody on the stage in uniform, it will be epic.” She nodded and said she would do it. We had another hug, and I filled her in on what had happened in the last few months. It was getting towards lunch, and I invited them all to join me at the buffet.

We grabbed Dan on the way and secured the cash box. Then stopped at the will-call desk again and had Frannie Delgado paged again. I heard “Lisa!” from behind me, and saw Frannie run up and hug her old friend. “PETER!” she screamed even louder and hugged me. Then again for Holly and Mandy, then she hugged Becky and Dan as I introduced them. We all headed off to lunch and tried to catch up on the last few months.

When we were done I asked them all to join me in our room, once I got it. With a small army, it only took a single trip to haul everything upstairs, and I looked around. Brad had not gotten us a three room suite, but a four room suite. He laughed and said that they had called him that morning and said they had accidentally overbooked, so were comping the upgrade to this one. Neither Lisa nor Frannie had gotten a room yet, so it turned the couch over to them. I left a message with the front to have Keith come here when they checked in, and I put the champagne in the fridge.

Once we were all gathered around, I made the same proposal to Frannie and of course, she accepted. “This will be so radical Pete! You, me, and Jacki together again! Any chance we can get Fred?”

“Hmm, maybe. Brad, Fred is the officer who actually started the Kadena group. He has played it, but I trust him like Frannie and Jacki to play as if it was his first time. One second, just in case let me check something.”

I called the front desk and had them page Fred Langberg. And less than five minutes I heard a familiar voice on the phone sating “Hello? This is Fred Langberg.”

“Fred, it’s Pete Culver. Get your ass up here to Room 1223, got it!” He laughed and said he would be right up.

“Brad, here you luck out. Fred is actually at Edwards Air Force Base, just a few hours away. He’s the one that co-wrote that TSR dungeon with me a few years ago.” A few minutes later there was a knock on the door, and I greeted Fred with a huge hug. Then Frannie yelled his name and they hugged also. He was delighted to finally meet Holly and Mandy, as well as Becky, Lisa, and Brad. I then brought him up to speed.

He liked the idea but questioned it being in uniform. “Hell, they have military days in uniform on game shows all the time, Fred. Go ahead and ask, but I bet that so long as we are not participating in a paid performance, and neither making money from it or involving politics they will say nothing. And this is a presentation, not a performance and none of you is getting paid for it.” He agreed and said that if we could get him tickets, he could guarantee at least a hundred spectators, maybe more.

“The group at Edwards is growing Pete, it’s kinda in the middle of nowhere, so a lot are joining. And I still talk to Dotti, she told me what all you did once you took over. Did you really donate your trophies to them?” I laughed and explained how those were copies, Brad here had arranged that, knowing I would want to leave them there as an inspiration. “She also sent me a copy of your ‘Farewell Address’, it sits inside that case also, we have it hanging in our facility also.” I then told everybody basically what it was, and that I would give them all a copy when I got home, it was still on my computer somewhere.

Mandy, Holly, and Brad took off, Mandy saying she had to get back to work, and Holly to Dan. We all exchanged hugs again, and the five of us relaxed in the lounge area. I caught Fred up on all that had happened to me in the last year, and he said it was a bummer I had to get out. But he was glad I was doing so well considering what all had happened.

“But yea, I like your idea actually. And from what you said, that should be awesome. Like a geek rock concert, I like that! We had our first con about a month ago, and all I had was the copies of your tapes so we played them a lot. Some of my guys are here also, they would love to meet you.”

I told him to invite them to the presentation tomorrow at 2. “This is kind of a test run for the concert idea. If it flops, then those will likely never happen. But I bet it will be huge. And I want you on the stage playing. We generally hold a random drawing, but stack maybe one or two seats. This time, I am stacking the deck. You, Frannie, Lisa, Holly, you are all playing. Mandy has already played it so that is why she is not being brought up. But it’s a new Kaos adventure, and I refuse to play with anybody else as Kaos unless Holly is just not available.” Fred nodded and said it sounded like it would be a blast.

I said I was going to go downstairs and wander a bit, and Becky gave me a kiss and said she was going to set up the equipment. Both Frannie and Lisa also said they would stay, so Fred and I headed downstairs.

I ran into Brad on the main floor, and I said I would see Fred later as he dragged me to the vendor’s area. There I met Harry again, and he was introduced as one of his regional distributors. We talked for a bit, and he said that if we had any leftover copies of the signed adventures, he would buy them. I said we would think about it, but that was a three person partnership so I could not make any commitments without consulting with them first. He nodded, then gave me one of his price sheets. It was about twenty pages thick, and the prices looked about what we paid in Japan to our wholesalers. I told him we were in the process of setting up a game store, and if I could get two more copies for my partners. He gave them to me, and I said I might have an order for him before the convention ended.

I left them with Mandy and told her to look through one and make a mark next to anything she thought we should sell. At that time I heard my name paged, and at the front, they told me to go to my room. Once there I hugged Keith and Jan, and he was already practicing with Becky. I called the lobby and asked them to page Deana Culver, but to report at her earliest convenience. I did not want to interrupt her if she was busy. She and dad came in about 20 minutes later with Georgie, and the girls were soon under his spell. Dee smiled and joined Keith and Becky. Becky moved down to Dee’s keyboard, as Dee was better at the triple stack than she was. And after a three count, they started Final Countdown. And it sounded great! They were starting it again when Holly and Dan came in. Keith had already taken charge, and the four of them ran through “Valley Elf”, and it was still a bit rough, but better than earlier.

Keith laughed, and said that was OK, even the original sounded a bit rough on purpose because that was Frank Zappa’s style. They did it two more times, and they had largely nailed it by the end. They decided to take a break, and I filled him in on the crazy idea that I had earlier. “So, do you think the rest of the band would go for it?”

“Pete, if Brad is paying, they would do it in their underwear, in the center of Hollywood Boulevard in winter. It’s not that we need the money, it’s more that we all love to perform. That is something I have learned from Peggy actually. She loves performing, more than being a star with a solo or the money. I have that now also. But do not get me wrong, the extra bread is awesome, but not why I do it anymore.”

About ten minutes later Peggy and Mike came in lugging their suitcases. More introductions and hugs were exchanged. “Peggy, wait until you hear this! Pete, tell her!” I filled her in on what had happened in the last few days, and she started to jump up and down. I even told them that they would actually be getting a room, and not having to sleep on the couch like we had originally planned. Peggy turned and looked at Mike and gave a rather formal looking bow, and started to talk to him in Korean. He laughed and hugged her and said of course. He then waved and left. I asked her what that was about.

“If you think I am letting them play without me buddy, you got rocks in your head! Mike’s going to get my flute and sax, I’m joining them. Now let me in on the playlist.”

I saw things were under control without me, so I headed down again. And saw Jack sitting next to Mandy. Well, well, well. Holly, Keith, Mandy, Peggy, Dan, Jan, Mike, Jack, Lisa, Frannie, Becky, and me. Ten staying in a four room suite. Things were going to be interesting I could already tell.

It was getting late and I was getting hungry, so just went ahead and stopped at the front and ordered a dinner buffet in the room. I figured Italian was fine, and since I still had the van keys I got directions to a local grocery store. Inside I bought two cases of champagne, and stopped in the vendor area to tell Mandy and Jack we would be eating soon. Jack helped me carry the cases upstairs, and I put 1 case in the fridge before making even more introductions.

Mike had already gotten back, and they were all doing a decent version of “Baker Street”, and followed it with “Mandolin Rain”. Both of them featuring Peggy on the sax. They were just messing around a bit later when there was a knock on the door and the food arrived. It was almost like a party, and we were all having a good time. I spent half the time holding Becky’s hand in mine, and just watching my friends. Some new to each other, some getting to know each other again after several years, and old friends for ages.

Frannie sat next to me as Becky was trying some songs. “I like her Pete, I really do. She cute, smart, funny, and does not seem to be jealous. Does she know about us?” I nodded, and said she did and also knew it was a fling and not permanent. Frannie nodded and kissed my cheek. I glanced at Becky, but she only smiled. “Oh, and when we all leave, I want to see your shop before I drive back to base. Becky told us all about it, and I am dying to see it.”

Mandy finally joined us, and pulled me into the bedroom with Becky. “Guys, take a seat. No, really, both of you sit down right now. Pete, after I eat some of us are taking a little trip. You, me, Jack, Keith, and any other guys. We got to go to the bank. And I am not kidding.”

She was like she was going to pop a vessel, she was amped up. “Mandy, calm down baby, what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? Dude, I already sold almost half of those adventures! I got over $10,000 sitting in my backpack! We gotta go and deposit that, I ain’t holding onto that much money!” Becky and I jumped up and whooped, and hugged Mandy tight. She was wound as tight as a string about to break.

“Mandy, calm down baby, calm down! It’s only money, it’s going to be alright. Just relax.”

“Relax my ass! I have never held this much money before in my life! I realized the cash box was full hours ago, and just started emptying it in my backpack when it got full. Then again, then again. I did a count of the adventures we sold, it’s almost even, most bought one of each. I did the count three times, because sometimes I was asked to pull special numbers. I have not counted it yet, but there has to be over ten grand in here. I was so scared coming back up by myself once I knew that.”

I poked my head out and asked for Keith, Jack, and Peggy to join us. And as Peggy got to the door, I asked her to grab a bottle of cold champagne from the door of the fridge and a glass and bring it in. When she came in, Jack was hugging Mandy, and Peggy went and did the same. Soon, they had her all calmed down. I pushed a glass of champagne into her hand, and after drinking half of it she sneezed, and finally seemed a bit calmer.

“OK, Peggy, can you go out and let everybody know everything is OK? Mandy had a bit of a panic attack, and is fine now. OK guys, we are going to take some money from Mandy, and we are each going to count it carefully, put it in stacks of $1,000. We will then swap stacks, and count again. Once we are all happy, you two are going with me and we are putting this in the bank. I have no idea how much I can deposit at a time through the ATM, but that is why Mandy freaked out. Mandy, do you want to stay here as we do?”

“No, I’m going out after I go pee. Becky, go back out with me please?” Becky nodded, and I asked her to remove all the money. She did so, and it was a huge wad of cash. We opened the cash box and removed that also. Then we started counting.

$14, 245. We were all stunned. I explained that a chunk of that was from Mandy for her art, but we could figure that out later. Jack looked at me and how we were going to do that. I said it was simple. We deduct from what was brought in from sales at the end of the weekend, any extra belonged to Mandy. He nodded, and we put the $245 back in the box. Jack took $4,000, Keith and I each took $5,000.

Well shit, the largest deposit they would take was $500. We hit ten of them in just over an hour, and emptied my pocket, then just headed back to the hotel. I had them give it all to me and I just shoved it in the bottom of my suitcase.

Mandy was much calmer now, and Becky sat in my lap as we all drank champagne and relaxed. Everybody was congratulating us on the sales, there was now no doubt we were going to sell out, and our limited edition was a hit. And I noticed that there were unquestionably four couples. Peggy tried to suggest going to the lounge, and I shook my head. “You can go ahead, but I would suggest waiting until tomorrow night. Gloria and her husband will be here, and I can promise he would want to dance with you again.” She nodded, and then I had to explain who Gloria was.

Occasionally one of our musicians would go and play around for a bit, and at one point Becky was playing around at “Come on Eileen” when Keith smiled and joined her. He hit the buttons and once again had that bagpipe sound, and then ended as before with “Amazing Grace”, and everybody applauded. It was almost exactly as Karl had done that first night. They agreed they would do that at least once tomorrow. But by around 10 we were all getting tired, so with more hugs and kisses, we all headed off to our rooms. I will admit however I was a bit surprised however as instead of heading out, Jack went into Mandy’s room with her.

Becky asked Lisa and Frannie if they were going to be OK out there, and they both nodded, Lisa adding it was not the first time they slept together. I theatrically raised my eyebrow and said “Oh, really?” That of course got me pelted with pillows that Frannie was pulling from the small closet by the door.

“Pervert! Becky, we spent many weekends in school in Pete’s RV. As in he and his girl in the back bed, Lisa and I in the front one. Sleeping! God, if I did not love you I would kick your ass. I love Lisa, but not in that way!” We all laughed, and Becky and I went into the bedroom. I watched her pull a long t-shirt our of her suitcase, then she just set it on the chair and slipped into bed nude. I slid in next to her and she directed me onto my back, curling up against me.

“Wow, this is kind of weird I have to admit. Pete, how many former lovers of yours are out there?”

I chuckled and said only three. I was not such a slut I tried to bed all of my female friends. She nodded, then asked how many would be at that military show if it happened. I kissed her gently, and said three once again, as Holly may not be there.

“Baby, let me give you a full accounting, in chronological order of any lover I might possibly meet again. Kim, Linda, Jacki, Holly, Mandy, Deb, Frannie, you. And other than the one exception, I am still on good terms with all of them. And we each know and understand it will never be repeated. Yes, I still love them in their own special way, but that love is now more of deep friendship than lust. In that I have actually been rather lucky. They have all been my friends, we did not split over a fight but circumstances, and we are still friends. And Mandy was actually right the other night. I now know looking back that her sister was using me. She was subtle though, and I was naive at the time. And Mandy is also right in that I had no idea how much I was worth. But even now that I do, nothing will change.”

“So you have done nothing with Peggy, or Lisa?”

“Nope, other than kissing Peggy a time or two and feeling her boobs a bit maybe. I told you about the kissing games, and I’m sure Holly and Mandy have also. But she was with Mandy and I was with her sister, nothing more would have happened. And Holly is in the same boat, two of her former lovers are out there also, and one apparently sleeping with Mandy tonight.”

Becky giggled and agreed with me, but suspected something like that might happen. “Oh, and on the military night there will so be at least four of your old lovers. If you think Holly will not be there, you are have rocks in your head. We both know she would kill you if she was not invited.”

We made love slowly and gently, because Becky did not want the girls on the couch to hear what we were doing. It was still delightful, even if her passion was much more muted than it was when we were at home. The next morning I took my shower, then got dressed and headed out to make some coffee. I was surprised to see Lisa and Frannie sitting at the small dining table, already sipping coffee, with three large boxes of doughnuts.

I poured myself a cup and sighed, grabbing a plate and pulling out a maple bar. I thanked both of them for the coffee and breakfast, and they asked me how that day was going to work. I told them that I had to be in the hall at 12:30, and we needed to keep apart during the morning. Then I would hand Brad their names, and they were to fill out a volunteer slip like anybody else.

“Your names will be called, but just act excited and pretend you don’t know me. Just act natural, and have fun. It’s OK to act a bit familiar with Holly, she has been meeting people at these for years and everybody seems to know her. Do not say you are Marines, just say you are from San Diego or San Francisco, and be vague about what you do. If you see Fred, tell him the same thing. Brad may get mad, but it’s not like he is going to pull me off the stage. And all four of you have chemistry with me. You Lisa, Frannie, Holly, and Fred. A lot of what I hope for on that stage is what we had before. Just remember, not to act too familiar with me. But at the end, I will let everybody know.”

They both smiled and nodded, and about twenty minutes later Becky came out, showered and dressed in a pretty tan and white dress. I poured her a cup and made another pot as she started to eat. I told her we would be spending the morning together, just wandering the floor and watching others. “But first, we need to make a stop at the bank.” They all looked at me, and Becky said she thought I had gotten rid of it all. “Nope, there is still around $8,000 in my suitcase, turns out ATM’s can only take so much at a time. Then later today after the presentation we are going to have to do it again. But if I am correct, my bank account will be around $30,000 higher than it was at the start of the weekend.

Lisa and Frannie both hissed, and looked at me in surprise. “Mandy already sold almost half of the adventures, on the first day. At a minimum of $25 each, and $150 for the framed sets, that is around $34,000. That is around 10 for Mandy, 20 for us. But remember girls, Becky and I had the expenses also. How much did we spend just in equipment baby?”

“Hmm, computers, scanner, printer, digitizer, around six thousand or so. Plus paper, toner, cover sheets, let’s call it an even eight for that and other things we did not think of yet.”

I nodded. “And that 12k left, Becky and I split that. So actually Mandy is getting more money than I am. But we are doing this again, and we might go bigger. But I really believe I need to take a chance now. We actually did all the printing ourselves on a single old HP LaserJet. It took forever, we were constantly adding more paper, removing sheets from the tray before they went all over the floor, and at around five pages per minute it was slow. But they make a professional machine, like a copier. Twenty pages per minute, and a hopper that holds 2,000 sheets of paper. But the kicker is, they cost around $25,000 for that version. But the three of us are going to be talking more in the next few months. But I think this is the way to go.”

“So are you leaving Brad?” Frannie asked.

“Nope, not at all. This started as a sideline to do something with adventures I did not sell, which also pays for the computer toys I like to have. But I am thinking that maybe we need to go big. If we get something like that, the next step is going to obviously be working as a ‘Vanity Press’ for game designers. Brad is already impressed with what Becky can do, and these were her first adventures doing layouts. Imagine you are wanting to publish a game or adventure, and you do not know where to turn, or you were rejected. Simple, you hire us. I can review and edit the adventure itself, Becky does the layout, for an extra charge Mandy does the art. We then make and ship you as many copies as you want, from 10 to 10,000. We get paid no matter what, is up to them to sell them. We already proved the concept works. But also maybe as part of an agreement consider selling some of them ourselves to offset costs. This is long term, but you get the idea.”

“And I am getting better at the software. What you see is after almost two months of trial and error and practice. But I bet Pete is right. In fact, I’m already giving this until next year. If this takes off like I think, I’m gonna quit Sears and work full time on this. I can’t believe how much money we are making, and it’s entirely part-time for me. We may even have to split the businesses if this keeps up. Believe it or not we are already in danger of outgrowing our 700 square foot space now. My garage and his dad’s garage are also full.”

I nodded and reached over to squeeze Becky’s hand. “Although this is a surprise to me, I understand what you mean. It has shocked me also. And for me, the computer side may shrink in the next year. Intel is coming out with a new CPU, and that will drive prices and demand of older systems down even more. I got lucky that I was able to buy up a store cheap where the owner wanted to retire, or I would almost be out of stock already. And the guy next to us has a lot of contacts so I can keep mining local computer stores. Offer them say $100 or so for a working used XT, then sell it for $200. Sounds great, but we also got overhead, and the supply and demand are both going to drop.”

At this Mandy and Jack both came out, and both looked happy. They grabbed doughnuts and coffee, and Mandy went and pounded on the doors, telling the other four to get their asses out of bed. “It’s almost 10 already folks, get a move on!”

I poured everybody else more coffee and made a fresh pot, then added more champagne into the fridge. I told Mandy the plan for the day, that we would take the money when the presentation was over, and take it to the bank. At that time my dad and Dee arrived, and Georgie went around giving everybody hugs and kisses. The little guy was a hell of a flirt already, as after he finished he sat in Lisa’s lap.

We told them our plans for the day, and dad said that he could run to the bank at any time. “I will even run the stand if you want to go watch for a bit Mandy. And if you think there is too much money, give it to me and I’ll take it to the bank.” I went back into the bedroom and handed him the remaining cash from the night before.

Mandy went into her room and grabbed the cart with the rest of the games and her stuff, and kissed us all before heading out the door with Jack following. Dad raised his eyebrow at that, and Holly just grinned. “I think we have a romance in bloom there, but who knows how long it will last. But Jack stayed with her last night, and I ain’t asking. Grab another doughnut and let’s go Dan, I wanna find a game and kill something.” I told her we could have lunch as we were setting up and they both nodded.

Dad then offered to go get us all lunch, since it was mostly going to be a working one for Becky, Holly, Keith, Peggy, and myself. I nodded, and Dee said she would be there also. “But I gotta go, there is a symposium I gotta catch. See ya guys!”

The three musicians decided they would practice until it was time to set up, so I went down and grabbed a luggage cart I found in the hallway and parked it in the room. I kissed everybody myself, then grabbed my backpack and headed downstairs.

I walked the open game rooms, realizing this was now taking up the entire convention space. My first one here took up only half of it. I watched some games, and nodded at Lisa at one point, then Frannie at another. Then I decided to wander the vendor area a bit. I started at the far end, and actually realized I needed to buy a bunch of stuff on the last day. Many slashed their prices then, and we could have the cabinets stocked the next week that way. Then I hit Mandy’s table.

And it was empty! Just Mandy and her artwork, and a sign with SOLD OUT written on it. She rushed over and hugged me. “Your dad is at the bank now, we sold the last about 20 minutes ago. Pete, 1,000 copies in just over a day! Holy shit! I never would have believed it!” She told me she would be shutting down to attend the presentation, but she had to tell me the news.

I went over and chatted with Harry, and handed him one of the price sheets back, with our initial order on it already. And I included our address. He nodded, and asked how we wanted to pay. We decided COD with a check was fine. “I normally do not take personal checks, but for you I will make an exception. Not only because Brad highly recommends you, but I have been following you for years and you have already made me a lot of money. And I bought a copy of your games there. Talk to me later, I think I can help distribute them for you.”

I then grabbed four of the empty boxes behind Mandy’s booth, and started filling them with stuff from Harry’s booth. Modules, game books, a little of everything went into it. I grabbed every core rule book he had for GURPS and D&D, and some others. I even laughed at one, and grabbed every single copy he had of “Yellow Journalists, Investigative Reporters, and War Correspondents”. Harry looked and laughed, saying he had forgotten I had made that. Jack looked, and I handed it to him, saying I had done it a year or so ago for GURPS.

Finally, I had six boxes full, and Harry said he would add them up and give me a discounted price, and we headed off again, Jack still my pack mule. I filled two more boxes, and one more because one guy had an almost silly price on some dice that were “defective”. There was nothing wrong with them, just that the colors were a bit weird. But I liked the look, so bought him out.

Becky came in and joined us, and I pointed to the boxes I had. “I already got that stuff, and Harry over there has our wish list and six more boxes. As soon as we get back we can have that part fully stocked. I must have ten copies of the players handbook, and at least four of all the other core books. We can be fully open on the game side on Tuesday.”

Jack found a copy of my Yellow Journalists at another vendor along with a GURPS book and bought it for himself. I looked and it was just after noon so we headed to the main hall. They had just wrapped up the presentation, and I saw Keith, Jan and Peggy in the back, all of the stuff on two luggage carts. And in the center of the room was Gloria, with Roy helping her out. Once the room was empty one of the convention staff locked the doors, and reminded us that this was closed until we were ready, other than our own guests.

I went up and smiled at Gloria, and it took her about ten seconds to recognize me. “Pete!” she yelled and gave me a hug, then I shook Roy’s hand. They of course knew everybody else once I introduced them to Becky, and Holly came in just as the staff was locking the door. They told me that Brad had already briefed them on what was happening. “You know, I may try to hire them myself, depending on how this goes today. It can be hard to find musicians who understand I want them in the background to accent, not be the star of a presentation. Don’t tell them, but this is also a kind of audition.” Becky and I agreed to be silent, as Gloria shouted out “No, not there. Here, set up here!” She then went to the stage, and Roy used some masking tape to mark spots on the stage that she wanted all the band members to be in. They were going to be on the far-right side, near the green room. She set it up so Becky on the single DX7 would face the front, Dee on stage left facing the wall, and Keith to stage right of Becky, with tapes indicating where he could wander.