Chapter 20

Thursday

We wake up to the alarm. We’re soon washed and ready for the day. We walk out to meet the rest of the group just as Room Service finishes setting out the breakfast for us. Passing Debbie I caress her arse as I say, “Tonight’s your night, if you want?” She smiles, and nods agreement, causing some giggles from my other girls.

The usual morning briefings and Rob informs me he’s gotten onto a deal for some heavily armoured coach buses. A couple are fitted out as luxury mobile homes, a couple as travel and barracks for security staff, and one as a local tour type coach. He’s organised the paperwork and payment with Randy and Bryce. They’ll all be delivered during the next few weeks and the first is the tour coach today. He hadn’t mentioned them before because he wasn’t sure they’d be available until late last night. They should make moving about as a large group much easier as well as a great deal safer for us and the guards.

Sharon has arranged for some people to see me about the land during fifth period. The five best architect companies are sending people over to get a brief on the first project so I can evaluate their work. She’d arranged the meeting for here in the hotel, but with football practice I won’t have time to travel back and forth to have the meeting. So I ask her to switch it to the school and to organise with the school if I can hire a suitable room for the meeting. She promises to work on it and she’ll send me a text message with the results. After that it’s time to get ready to leave for school and work.

Financial Fun

School today is very straight forward, except for the sideways looks I get from a lot of students and whispering when I’m around. I’d say the details about my personal wealth are doing the rounds while subject to a lot of discussion because some don’t seem to believe it. It’s all great fun.

At lunch we’ve a lot more of the girls’ classmates join us. I decide to stir the pot a bit, so I turn to Kath, “Kath, love, am I right in thinking you signed that contract with Jeff and are already doing the voice tracks of the books?” She nods. “I gather, since no one bothered to tell me, you were hoping it would be a surprise. A bit hard to do when I’m sure to notice your absence a few afternoons in a row. What was the final rate you worked out with Jeff?”

She grins, “One thousand dollars sign up, one thousand dollars per book, and ten cents royalties per sale. He included some estimates of sales and income, but it doesn’t make sense to me. He comes up with a lot more money than I do when I calculate it out.”

I grin. “So, by the time you finish the current books that’ll be sixteen thousand in up-front fees. The last estimates I’ve got have sales at the five to seven million per book over two years. I know they’ll be done as boxed sets to match the omnibus series about to be released, but your royalties are ten cents per story, so that’s fifty cents per boxed set sold. I bet you were counting it at ten cents a set.” She nods again. “Well, five million by fifteen books is seventy-five million by ten cents, gives you seven and a half million dollars, less taxes. Better find a tax accountant. Remind me, tonight, to have Randy talk to you about a trust fund company of your own.” The whole table is silent on learning the school’s ’poor’ girl is about to earn over seven million in the next two years. I wait for their eyes to refocus, “I’ll average about a dollar fifty per book in royalties and company profit, less taxes. We’re keeping the costs down to make them as cheap as possible.” More stunned silence while they take in I’m talking about earning over a hundred million in the same period, and from the same source. A few gulp when they start to grasp the size of my worth. My royalties from the printed sales are different to the audio books, but they’re over a longer period and are on earlier contracts at lower rates. It takes time for a first book to make the best seller list.

One girl asks, “What are you two talking about?”

I smile at her as she’s one of Lia’s new friends. “My company prints the Lyn Evans books. I heard Kath and Debbie reading one out to some old folks the other week, so I rang my manager to organise for audio disc versions. There’s a lot of demand for the early books, so an omnibus version of them is being released with five stories to a book. Also, the audio discs are being released as five story sets. The costs are the royalties for the author and the five readers, plus the company profit and expenses. Royalties and profit is four dollars with the manufacture and advertising costs of about a dollar per book. So we can sell wholesale at five to six dollars. The recommended retail will be nine dollars per story, or forty-five dollars plus taxes for a boxed set of five stories. Kath, Lia, Debbie, Jon, and Robert are currently doing the recordings for the books. I expect them to be released soon.” I see a few surprised looks, and a few expectant looks too. They’re the people who want to read or listen to the earlier stories which have been out of print for a few years.

The conversation now focusses on Lia and Kath, and about their work as readers. Leaving them to the limelight, a new experience for both, I move back. Pulling my phone out I call Randy to ask him to see about trust funds for everyone except Robert. He promises to talk to the lawyer who handles the Schlene’s matters to warn him about the big income for the kids. He’ll also ring Robert to recommend some people to help him handle his money matters for the best tax results.

While I’ve got the phone out I check for a text message from Sharon. It’s there. I’ve got to see the office to pay to hire one of the rooms used to teach technical drawing. I smile at the cute joke while I hurry to the office to pay them the two hundred dollars cash, and I get a receipt for it. My one afternoon class goes well.

Designers

For fifth period I go to the technical drawing classroom I hired. The teacher, Mr Swift, asks if his senior students can sit in on our talk so they can see how things in the industry operate in real life. I agree.

Four of the companies’ representatives are on time so I start at the appointed time of ten past two in the afternoon.

Six people representing four companies. They’re a bit surprised to see a teenager giving them the briefing. I smile while I hand out two copies of a one page briefing paper to each company, placing two on a fifth table because I’ve set the firms out at a table each. Sharon had invited the five best firms in the city to attend and bid on the work.

Smiling at them I start talking, “All of the relevant information is on those sheets. In the last few days I’ve exchanged contracts with Mister Ken Fredericks for his property along Etzler Road.” A man from one of the smaller firms (it’s basically him, his brother-in-law, their wives, and junior staff) glances at me with a surprised look. “I expect to be ready to lodge construction plans in a few weeks as we both want a quick sale. The back of those sheets has a copy of part of the property and part of that’s marked. The marked area goes from the current access road to Ken’s house to the eastern boundary between the road and the creek. I want you all to prepare and present proposals for a mobile home park in that area. I want something real nice people will enjoy living in. I want the proposals to be ready in ten days. On the afternoon of the Monday after the one in a few days I want your people to give me a short presentation on your proposal with a full cost estimate. I’m told such a job in such a short time would normally be charged at fifteen to seventeen hundred dollars.” I stop there when the representative of the fifth firm arrives. I wave them to their table. She picks up the paper to look at it. “I won’t repeat what you’ve missed out on. If time permits, when the briefing’s over, I’ll answer your questions, but the essentials are on the sheet.” She nods understanding while I turn back to the group. “I know you’ve doubts about taking a task like this from someone as young as myself so I’ve had bank drafts done up in your company names for two thousand dollars each.” I walk around handing them out. “This proves to you I’m serious about this being a serious job for you to present me with viable proposals. You aren’t taking any risks I won’t pay as I’ve just paid you. My business card is attached to each of those drafts, so I expect a receipt to be mailed to me with a confirmation of the ordered work by next Tuesday. Either that, or the draft sent back. I expect a good proposal from you all in ten days’ time. The firm with the proposal I like the most will get the contract to turn their proposal into full plans as well as managing the construction of the work. Thank you.”

There’s a few questions about the extent of the works, the majority of which I answer with the statement, “I’m not an architect, civil engineer, or designer. That’s why I want you people to give me proposals to look at and I’ll decide on which proposal to build.” Three of the firms leave.

The young woman who arrived late walks up and says, “I’m sorry I was late, but my boss was supposed to come. He decided, just before two o’clock, he had something more important to do so he sent me along.”

I smile, take the sheets off her, and pull out my pen, “What’s your name, please?”

“Melissa Smithers.” I write across the top of both sheets. ’Planning proposal brief assigned to Miss Melissa Smithers. Since she’s the one sent to get briefed this task is assigned to her, and only her. Others may help her under her direction.’ I hand the sheets back to her. I smile while I watch her eyes go wide because this means she gets the commission from the project, not her boss. “My boss isn’t going to like this.”

“Then don’t show him the bank draft. Take this straight to his boss and have him call me. I want to see your proposal, not your boss’ one. You can present two if you want, his and yours, but it’s yours I want to see most.” She smiles as she puts everything in her briefcase.

The other man is from Small and Little Designs and Construction, it sounds odd, but it’s their names - John Small and Brian Little. John Small asks, “I know Ken quite well, so I’m surprised he’s selling at all, let alone to someone who’s doing some development on the land. What’s the deal?” Melissa is about to leave, but she stops to listen.

I grin, “The main part of the deal is the only construction that goes in south of the creek is a few walking and horse trails with some rest areas because the bulk of the land is to remain as it is to be a private property addition to the state park. This work is a sop to get the county and city managers off our backs.”

He nods, “Yeah, Ken would go with such a deal. How much work rides on a good response from this?” I just smile while I wag a finger at him. He grins and packs his gear up. He’s a smart man, I see.

They leave at ten to three, and Mr Swift says to the students, “That’s typical of a real industry briefing.” While the students nod he turns to me, “Can I please have a copy of that hand-out to give it to the students. I want them to go over it in detail because I think it’ll make a good major assignment for the class as well. Later they can compare their attempts against what the professionals hand in, if you don’t mind.”

I pull another copy out of my bag, “No, I don’t mind. Can I have a few minutes to ask the students a few questions?” He nods his approval. “Anybody care to guess, now, what sort of proposals I’ll get from those people?” There are no takers. “I’ll make book the three to leave first will give me standard proposals that perfectly meet the city and county laws on such things, and they’ll cram in the most sites they think they can get away with. I bet the proposal from Melissa’s boss will be along the same lines while her proposal and Mister Small’s will have a lower density of sites with more room around each one. I’ll also bet Mister Small is the only one to bring in a rough model of his proposal. Melissa may, if she can get approval for the expenditure, but I’m not sure if they’ll approve it. Any guesses as to why I think that?”

One girl raises her hand. I acknowledge her, and she says, “Yes, they were listening to what you said while watching you more closely than the others. The others were going over the papers while Melissa and Mister Small were watching you and your body language, especially when you wrote on the papers for Melissa. I think you’re right in they’ll propose a plan that fits your hidden agenda, simply because they’ll now read the exact wording of the briefing paper and not what they expect to see on it.”

I nod, “Good work, Janice. I think that’s worth a couple of bonus points for in-class work, don’t you, Mister Swift?”

He grins, “I keep telling the students to watch the client to work out what they really want but aren’t expressing well through either lack of knowledge to state it or because they’re hiding it. If it’s not too much, what else is dependent upon this proposal? I know the students won’t say anything to anyone as it means a failure of the course if they do. This is because confidentiality is a big thing in this industry.”

I grin. “OK. Further west in that same strip between the road and the creek will be a set of holiday cabins and a camp ground. The whole lot will have a few pools and play areas. Also a small retail area for a couple of eateries, fuel, and a general store. On the other side of the road I expect to build my own residence and staff housing. Each of the staff housing is expected to be a couple of apartment buildings of about four hundred apartments of two, three, and five bedroom units. The road will also need to be widened and improved with an overpass to ease access to the road from both developments. I’ve no idea how much the whole lot will cost, but I expect the county, state, and city to share in the cost of the road works. The whole lot should come out somewhere in the vicinity of a hundred million dollars of construction. This will make whoever gets the contract the top local firm. And I’m willing to bet it will be John Small with him hiring Melissa away from the other people to expand his team to handle all the work.” They all stare at me as they’re all very shocked.

Mr Swift gulps, “That’s a lot of work. I gather you’ve the money to cover it.”

“Oh, yes. My recent sale of shares to Nagumi Enterprises have left me with way too much cash in bank to have it sitting around so I may as well see it invested in worthwhile works and improve the local economy.”

I leave them when the final bell goes and I head to football practice. We spend most of the time in the gym talking through the main plays we’ll be using tomorrow night. Due to the changes in recent weeks no one has a real idea of how we’ll go until we play a real game.

After practice we get in the new armoured bus to ride home as a group. I divert to do my workout before having a proper shower. An hour later I go up for a shower and to get ready for an early dinner by Room Service. When I gather the girls for dinner I find two guys setting up a lot of gear in the office I set aside for Dad, but he rarely uses. On asking I find out Rob isn’t happy with taking Debbie and Jon to the recording studio so they’re setting up a good mobile one in the office. I like it and I tell them dinner is on the way up, they tell me they’ll be finished and gone in a few more minutes. I leave them to it because Lia and company arrive back just then.

The lady with the robes for Saturday turns up, so it’s fitting time. I’m dressed and undressed several times as she makes sure everything is a perfect fit while her helpers show Makha and Mayu how to dress me. I’m too important to have to put on clothes like this myself, so I have to be dressed by servants. Then it’s time to see how the two girls look in their robes, and the cushion is produced too. The overall effect is perfect, just as I thought it would be. The clothes are put away in special carry bags and the woman sees them safely stored before leaving. I give her and each of her staff a hundred dollar bonus each, so they’re all smiles when they leave.

After dinner is a trip to the hospital by Kath, Fred, Amy, and myself with a few extras. We take the new bus with the security people on it with us. Everyone is recovering well, while some have already been released and are back at work. Jimbo is busy organising things from his hospital bed. The fence, gates, and front doors are being repaired and made stronger with a lot more sensors as well.

Off to Silver Top for tonight’s reading, with pizza arriving later for snacks. Kayla is very happy with her special omnibus book. We all have a good time, and then we go back home.

It’s homework time for everyone, but there’s not much homework for them to do today, followed by reading in the spa. We all head off to bed around eleven. Debbie does join me for bed tonight, but she’s too worried about things and is in need of comforting more than anything else, so I’ve Lia join us as well.

Sharon tucks us in and we’re all soon fast asleep.

Friday

Friday morning we wake with the alarm to get showered and ready for the day. We’ve a nice breakfast with a simple briefing about what’s been happening, and no new tasks to assign. I get some shocked looks and mixed smiles when I mention having put Randy on to organising trust funds for those involved with the reading, and why. A check of emails and, wonder of wonders, nothing requiring action by me.

School is very normal all day, even lunch is easy. No after immediate school activities, so it’s home to do homework, a short training session, and an early dinner before returning to the school for the six-thirty football game. Most of my girls are here in their cheerleader outfits, which gives us three groups of cheerleaders and makes a few people wonder what’s going on. We arrive in the bus, but only bring a dozen of the security team while leaving most of the security people at the hotel to protect Debbie and Jon.

The Game

The opposition wins the toss and chooses to kick-off. I receive the kick and start up the field while the team forms up to block on the return. Everyone knows Williams is off the team and we’ve no speed because of that. So they don’t rush to deal with us. Their mistake. The team forms a good block while we move up field, and a seam opens up just off centre on the left. I kick into a higher speed to dash through the gap before it closes again. I’m through the bulk of their team and I’m heading down the field with only three players to beat now. If I get past them I’ll score.

I don’t turn to see if anyone is chasing me as I figure those I can’t see, from both teams, are in hot pursuit. I speed up a little. Nearing the first defender in front of me I move further to the left side-line. He moves over to start edging me toward the side-line. I wait until he’s almost on me before I dart right, he stops, and turns back, only to see me pass by closer to the side-line. The double change of direction slows him down a little and it gives me the little space I need to get by him. The other two have angled over and are quick to close in. Both are in the quarter of the field nearest our left side-line.

With a grin I make a sharp cut back to the right, angling for the far side. They shift to cut me off. I kick up the speed a little. I want to do well on the return, but I don’t want to show them everything I have. They change from angling toward me to angling toward my line of advance. Now both are angling back a little toward their own goal, just to make sure they keep between me and the goal line. They open up a bit so they can cut me off if I cut back again, or if I try another double cut. When I get closer to them they close the gap between them. I angle more to the right side-line and the one on that side moves wider while the other stays closer to the middle. The gap between them widens again.

I’m back to their thirty yard line and the guy nearest me is about seven paces away with the other back near the centre of the field on their twenty yard line. I jig left, back right, and left again. The close guy jigs back and forth trying to cover me. Jigging hard left I head toward the centre, the closer guy herds me toward his mate, only to get a big shock when I accelerate to draw level with him, then I cut back to the right. He’s out of position by only two paces, but that’s all I need to get behind him to head for the corner with the last guy angling to cut me off. I can’t hear much because the crowd is going crazy. The last guy is almost on me at their five yard line when I stop dead. He has a shocked look on his face when he goes skidding past while trying to stop when two paces in front of me despite all of his efforts. I turn hard left and I race for the middle of the field, entering the end zone almost under the right hand end of the uprights. An official blows his whistle and I hand him the ball. Not bad for my first touch, a kick-off return for a touchdown.