Chapter 09

Sunday

Waking up Sunday morning I’ve a lot of stiff muscles. I get Sharon, Diane, and El up to join me in the shower. While I get my shorts on Sharon hustles the rest to get up. El rubs liniment into my arms, back, and chest muscles before I get dressed. I walk out just as Sharon shows the staff in with breakfast. There’s a few smiles and giggles when nude girls dash out to grab bags of clothes so they can put on their new underwear. Dad and Dee join us when we stand to the side while waiting for the table to be set up for breakfast. Nine of us means a big table.

Dad sniffs the air, and grins at me. The liniment telling him just how much I over did things last night. He asks, “How much?”

I grin, “I got a weight lifting staff member to check for me, but even he refused to let me go past one fifty kilos without a medical.”

Dad turns to look at me with a steady gaze, “You get a medical before you even consider one fifty again, got it?” I nod agreement as he’s as close to a personal trainer I have, at the moment, so I’ll obey him because I agree with him. I normally only go up to one forty kilos.

We’re soon sitting down to a nice breakfast. It’s almost nine when we finish eating and we need to get organised for the day.

Dad looks at me, “Dee is going to help me with some research this morning, OK?”

I nod. “Lia, phone and check with your father when he’s collecting you, please. After that, please check with Dad and Dee how best you can help them. When they don’t have enough to keep you busy check with Sharon.” Lia knows she’s still in the doghouse, so she just nods and heads for the phone. “Sharon, you’ve got all of the slaves to help you do the research on land and houses. Also find where we can get some personal armoured cars, plus check the laws on armed guards and handguns. Dad should be able to give you a hand with some of that, even if it’s only a case of pointing you at the websites. I need summaries to help me think over what to do about personal security. If Lia becomes free have her help you as well. There’s two laptops in my office and they’ve access to the hotel network. My computer will be free as soon as I check and deal with my emails. See if you can borrow or hire a couple of laptops from the hotel, or see if there’s a local store open today so I can buy a couple more. Look into that first.” She nods to acknowledge the orders, then she starts to assign tasks to the girls while I leave the table.

I check my emails and I’m quick to deal with the thirty messages as most only require approval of a choice of actions. One from Bryce tells me the US Securities Commission would like him in Washington on the Thursday of the week just starting to answer some questions about the AREA Trust share transactions. I send him an email telling him what I think it’s about and I’ll be there too. I’m soon finished and I log out.

When I leave the desk Dawn walks over from the door and sits down to log in as Sharon set her up with an account yesterday. Taking a copy of the latest Lyn Evans book I walk to the bar to organise a bucket of ice, a cold large bottle of Coke, and a packet of chips. Taking my plunder to a chair I sit down and start reading. A few minutes later I pour a drink and open the chips. I don’t know why, but I always have to have a drink and chips while proofreading.

On more than a few occasions I notice Lia or my slaves walking through and giving me strange looks because I sit there reading while they run about doing work for me. Sharon smiles when she sees me reading. She gives me a slip of paper with an address of a computer shop just down the street. I smile as I nod back. Fifteen minutes later I stick my red pencil in the book and I place the book on the table beside the chair.

Computer Games

I go to my room to change because I’m not dressed for outside. Once I’m ready I check with Sharon if they need anything else. She says, “Two more printers are needed, Master.” I nod and leave her to the work.

Checking in with Dad I say, “I’m on my way to get a couple more computers, anything you want?”

“Yes, please. Another laptop and a printer, thanks.” I give him a smile.

Down at the desk I ask if I can borrow a couple of staff to help me with carrying some computers. The duty manager smiles and assigns five staff to help me. The people checking out have all left and those coming in won’t be here for another couple of hours, so having them help me saves them from sitting around getting bored.

Ten minutes later we’re in the computer store. It’s a small store with the staff on duty being the owner and his teenage son. The owner almost goes mad when I set out the specifications of the computers I want: six laptops and one desktop, all with Zorin OS Linux, LibreOffice, and a list of other software, plus three photographic quality printers.

Seeing my carry crew probably has him thinking I want it all now, and he’s right. He can do most of it right away. But he almost cries when he tells me he can only do four of the laptops today, as that’s all he has.

I smile as I say, “I do want it all now, but I can manage if you can get me the last of the laptops on Wednesday.” He nods. “Good, get the rest ready now with the bill for the lot. I’ll trust you to send the other two laptops to my hotel by five o’clock Wednesday afternoon.”

The son is sent to load up the four laptops while he gets out the printers, paper, and extra cartridges. These are all stacked on the counter with the monitor for the desktop. My carriers are fast to load up and head back to the hotel. The work room is visible from the front counter, so I can see the son opening up the laptops to take out the hard-drives. He soon has two hooked up to another computer while he removes the hard-drive from the new desktop. When the owner hands me the total bill I nod at the room while I hand him my credit card.

He smiles, “We get a lot of clients who want Linux and LibreOffice. We’ve images for most of what you want ready to go. Karl is ghosting the image across, then he’ll put it back in and load the rest of the software. It’ll only be a few minutes.” He smiles when the charge goes through with no troubles at all. By the time that’s done two more hard-drives are being ghosted while the first two computers are being booted up.

I watch while Karl selects a couple of DVDs, then he starts to load software on to two computers at once. After a few more minutes he’s loading more software on four while the desktop is being ghosted. Something on one of the laptops gets his attention. He pops out the DVD and sticks in another, rebooting the system. He calls his dad in, and they look at something on the screen together. After a few words Karl turns it off while his father goes to the other side of the room. In a moment the hard-drive is out and details are being written down on a form while the owner sets up a new hard-drive to be ghosted. After a few more minutes my carry team is back while Karl packs up the first laptop.

Ten minutes later the owner is out to talk to me while Karl brings out the computers. On the box of the desktop I write ’Sharon’ as the owner says, “I’m Johan. Sorry about the delay. One of the hard-drives had a problem and we both suspect it’ll fail soon, so I’ve replaced it. I had to put in a larger drive because I’m out of stock of the size in the computer. I’ll do the warranty replacement with the manufacturer and put their replacement into stock.” I smile as I nod my thanks. On the box of the one with the bigger hard-drive I write ’Lia.’ Giving my crew a twenty each I have them take the computers and go back to the hotel as I’ve a bit more shopping to do. They smile while they walk out with their tips and the computers. Johan and Karl are very happy with such a big sale too.

On the way to the computer shop I’d seen a store across the road, and I’m now going to it. I spend a very difficult fifteen minutes trying to decide what to buy to take back. In desperation I’ve a sudden inspiration and I ask, “How much is delivery, today, for just up the road?”

The woman behind the counter says, “Anywhere within five miles for five full cakes or more is free.”

I smile and say, “I’ll take that, that, that,...” as I point at a dozen cakes, “and a dozen of those, those, and those too,” while I point at some delicious looking tarts as well. The woman laughs very hard when she starts to write down the items while both of her laughing assistants start boxing cakes. They also bring out some already boxed from the back, placing them on the counter and opening them for my inspection. While the pile of tasty treats amasses on the counter I smile, “That should keep the nine of us from starving before lunch.” This gets more laughs. I point at a lovely looking custard tart and add that to the order before passing over my credit card for payment. I move the last tart from the pile for delivery while I give the hotel address.

The woman processes the charge and says, “You’ve just exceeded my previous single sale for any day, and it’s more than my average Sunday sales, too. Thank you.” I smile while I put the credit card away and I start to eat the custard tart when I leave.

I’m soon back at the hotel desk, and I warn them of the expected delivery. They promise to have it sent up when it arrives.

Mid-morning Games

I arrive back in the penthouse to a scene of organised chaos. All of the girls are sitting around with open boxes of computers while they make notes of what the serial number etc. are. I head for my chair and book.

I no sooner get seated and pick up my book than Dad walks over, “You’ve made Dee’s day as she’s never used a laptop before, and to have one for her own use is more than she expected. The four of them share an old desktop at home.” He also looks around the room at the mess.

I smile while I glance around the room, “You think this is bad, in a little while my next delivery will arrive and then this lot will go crazy.” His eyebrows go up, so I lick my lips while I make like I’m munching. He’s just turning away with an odd look on his face when the front desk rings to tell me the delivery is on its way up.

I get up and clear away the bench type counter at the bar as well as the two large tables. I simply push the empty boxes off and kick them against the wall. This gets a few looks from everyone.

I finish in time to open the door for the Room Service staff pushing trolleys of food. They’ve taken the cakes and tarts out of the boxes to set them on trays with proper glass covers so they’ll last longer. I can see the girls salivating while the various treats are placed on the tables and bench top. One of the box lids with the nationally famous bakery’s name has been removed and it’s placed in the centre of the main table on display, so they all know where the treats come from.

I look at the staff eyeing off the food and cheekily ask, “Would you prefer a five dollar tip each or a tart each?” Before I can finish speaking the six staff are walking out munching on a tart each, oh well, as long as they’re happy with the tip. All of the girls laugh hard at their reaction.

Sharon says, “Right, everyone, morning snack time. Grab a delicious treat, a drink, and sit down.”

Knowing I’m in danger of missing out I yell, “If I don’t get at least one good slice of Golden Caramel Mudcake I’ll be spending a lot of time spanking bare bums immediately after this break.” This causes the expected laughter.

I move toward my designated target, just to see Dad beat me to it to cut himself a good sized slice. Looking straight at me he bites into it. This gets more laughs around the room. Just about everyone but Diane dives for that cake, and the area becomes very dangerous with the number of hands wielding knives over it. In seconds it’s all gone, and they all look up to see Diane and I munching on a large slice of Golden Caramel Mudcake each, with another big slice on the plates we’re holding. She’d brought them over for us. The others all look on with very wide eyes.

With a huge grin Diane says, “There’s another over at the bar.” The couple that missed out at the first cake stampede over to the bar while the rest of us laugh. Both cakes are soon all gone, or going as we eat them.

By the time the break is over we’re all happily fed with satisfied sweet teeth when Sharon sends them back to work as I sit down to read. For the rest of the morning people snack on the cakes when they go by.

Just before lunch is due to arrive I see what I can do to consolidate cake trays. Using one of the large knives left with the cakes I cut a few down to half cakes and move the halves to make a full plate, then I place the remaining less than a quarter on another plate. After I move all of the remaining full and half cakes to the bar with the two consolidated trays of tarts I’m left with one tray of cake slices, some double sized. I cut the big slices into normal sized slices and I place that tray in the middle of the top shelf of the trolley left behind for the empty trays. The four empty trays are placed on the trolley, three on the lower level, one on the top level. I also take time to stack the computer boxes in a neat pile with the packing in the boxes.

The staff arrive with lunch about ten minutes later, and they set it up on the tables for us. When they get ready to leave the supervisor asks about the boxes, and I ask if they can dispose of them for me. They smile and load what they can on the trolleys, they’ll get the rest on later visits.