Chapter 1

It was late May when High School ended, I would be 18 in December, he was, well, he found it hard to move about. I remember his words or were they threats, I was not certain. ‘Remember, you can’t trust anyone, not even family. You, I think you ought to care what happens since all I have will be yours someday, so start taking care of things, Ya hear me boy?’

Yep, I had made some mistakes but starting the next day we hit the banks, lawyers and three offices in Houston. Bank accounts, POA’s, stocks and Security access and with all that in-hand started things off. At 18, I was able to sign a contract and for all intents became the alter-ego for J D Williams; had his blessings and the lawyers started the transfers and joint ownership of all things he owned to me. There was plenty of money for college but little time to learn from him. They wanted me to go to classes and take tests, would you believe; that sure fell by the wayside fast.

By 20, 2 mistresses and a divorce later sort of set my mind to follow Grand Dads words about not trusting people. In business the sucessful folk always kept saying ‘You get what you pay for’ when explaining why they wanted to charge us 10-20% more than anyone else. They could never explain that reasoning to me or understood why someone else got the orders from us.

Since we started my ‘edumacation’ when I was 12, I had a bit more than a decade to listen and learn from JD; when he passed. The tax man was not happy at all when the will was read, most everything was in my name or in trusts already, stocks or off-shore accounts by then also, they mostly were like Gold. Mom, Aunts, Cousins and Uncles I had never seen or heard of were also not happy campers. Tough! First one then another found out a couple of things. First you can’t sue someone to get something that is not in a will because it was already in my name. Second, trying to sue a trust or a corporation may work if you have a lot more money than they do. Most people that try to sue don’t have much of that. It is MONEY that is king, not cotton folks.

Bill Gates, Walton and Warren had more, but I was not complaing. That nest egg placed me in the 1,500 good guy rank. Earning 7-10% after taxes was more than I would ever spend each year. Not to count the value of the long-term stock, bonds, land, building and corporations that just kept appreciating and would not be sold for a long time; no tax on profits until you sell folks.

I had a weakness though. No it was not wine, fast women and fast cars, not anymore, though that dealer tried to sell me the DB III (Aston-Martin) with a cracked block, man, a huge repair bill let alone an ex who had to have $10,000 designer dresses. Oh, right, that weakness. I had a heart. I cared about more than myself, at times. It must have been one of those days, on a Blue Moon and after a sleepless night when I was stopped by her when I was going out for lunch.

June was selling newspapers or trying to, to the people coming out of the building. It was noon and the old news was no longer real interesting to most. She looked about 12, give or take; all of 60-70 pounds of her and wearing too little clothes on a cold and windy day. Something happened. I did not see her, I saw myself as her. What I would have been if it were not for JD’s hard work.

I knew life was not fair, but ... I needed at least another good deed to keep my ‘Knight in Shining Armour’ Membership in good standing. Mom was my other good deed. She was not real happy with a house, car, vacations paid for and the $6,500 a month allowance, but beggars should not be too choosey, should they? She would not have even been happy with getting all of what JD left either.

“How are sales Ma’am?

“Oh, same old, I think I’ll sell more papers than yesterday, Sir!”

“Oh, and how many did you sell yesterday, Mi’lady?”

“Oh, same as everyday, 1 if I’m lucky. A nice old man might buy one so...”

“Wow, that many! I sure could use a talented person like that working for me. I don’t suppose you would consider a new career would you; but let me at least buy you lunch(Dinner in the South)?”

That got her lips quivering then the tears started pouring down. I got closer, extended my hand and said. “OK, let’s have someting to eat and let me try to talk you into working for me.”

She took my hand, looked up and started gasping some. I took the half-dozen papers from her hand, pulled out a fifty from my pocket and folded it in her hand, Here is for the papers. “Ok, food now and we can discuss your salary and fringes. I sure do hope I can afford you?”

Nope, not even a smile. She was a tough audience. What does a kid eat you ask? Apparently this one ate anything put in-front of her. Dino’s, a nice Italian place did just that. Soup, Pasta, Veal cutlets, salad, gelato and bread sticks that she attempted to wrap in a napkin was set on the table. It was not difficult to see a guilty look on her face.

“So, my almost new employee, how many take-aways will we need to go home and discuss this with your family?”

“Eight Sir!” as she stopped trying to tie the napkin down from flying away.

I said to our waiter, “Our meeing may last longer than expected, can we have 10 dinner sized meals to go please.”(He also boxed-up our leftovers and added a dozen fresh breadsticks.)

She looked at me like, I don’t know, like some figure in a dream. In a way, that was the way I saw her too. The Uber driver did not know exactly where to go but the GPS sent us on our way. It was not far and it was not the best of places to go. She took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry. I know where we live is not a good place but since Dad lost his job, it is all we can afford. Welfare and food stamps do not make one very wealthy.” She was still clutching that fifty in her hand, me, I was her beast of burden carrying two big bags of food. We walked up the stairs to her apartment. I got to see how the ‘other half’ survived, not lived.

Lot of reasons, some real, some imagined but the reality was they were doing just that, surviving. Their $700 a month of food stamps (Visa Card) had been used already so dinner today was going to be 1/3 of a jar of peanut butter, weak tea from one tea bag and 4 slices of bread cut in half for eight people. I handed June the bags, she handed the ‘feast’ and the fifty to Marie, her Mom and their meal was on. I made a decision.

“I am taking June with me”. To her Dad, I said: “I may need some other kind of help also so I want you and the rest of your family to live in one of my apartment buildings and take care of it for me. After a month or so we can see how much more than room and board will be your pay so do a good job for me, OK?”

I got almost two nods. They were all occupied with eating real food.

“June will live with me and take care of my house. She will finish school there. The other children will have school at your new apartment.”

I felt like I was talking to myself. A little hand covered mine. With tears in her eyes, mouth quivering again, June said, “They will do a good job for you sir, I will see to it!” One look at her and you could see who wore the pants in that family.

“Let’s discuss what needs to happen next!” We did. Imagine a 13 year-old agreeing to the next few years of a new life sight-unseen? What was I saying, she had no other life where she was now, her family certainly did not either.

Cell in-hand we went outside and worked out a deal. Amex’s conceige and the Manager of Seaside Vista and Marina, one of mine, took care of the details. Movers, the old landlord and getting June and myself home at Willow River homes took care of most of the work. Her sister May, another genius type kid now at age 12, would be lead at Seaside, while June, 13, would be pretty much in-charge of everything else. Why? you might ask. Why think a child would be able to be relied upon to do such things.

Well Partner! When you have a winning hand you don’t fold. In my mind I knew what a gold-digger, a slut and a worthless piece of shit was already. June was heads and tails above anything that had come my way before. I would make her into the best she could be like Grand Dad had done for me. Seemed like she was at a good age to get started. May also held a lot of promise.