Chapter 5

Mark thought he was planting the seeds of these PX stores selling Bifty Shoes by his making phone calls to the PX managers. He could only wait to see what the results would be as to his efforts to sell the PXs on having a Bifty Shoe display. He had contacted four PX store managers and gave them what he thought was a soft sell. He told them he wanted to send them additional information about selling Bifty shoes. Mark did mention the stores at Fort Hood, Fort Bliss, and Fort Sill that had or shortly will have displays and were selling these shoes.

He told these store managers that if they were interested in doing it after they read what he sent them, they could contact him and do a virtual call. He could then answer any questions they may have. For some reason, the managers preferred to get this information first by snail mail rather than email. At the end of the week, Mark had made contact with most of the military installations in Texas and Oklahoma.

Golfing with the General on Wednesday was halted after nine holes because of thunderstorms and lightning. Mark had lost the front nine holes and paid Cal the ten dollars. Cal used the ten dollars to purchase a pitcher of beer. Cal remarked that his wife and he had a nice time when they dined with Beth and Mark. He said that they were going to be dining at seven this Saturday at Jardine’s in Belton. If Beth and Mark didn’t have any plans maybe they could join Cal and his wife.

That evening Mark phoned Beth to tell her of the dinner invitation. Before he could say anything he heard her say, “My status at work here has gone up a few notches. That’s because when the Colonel asked me in passing what I had been doing on weekends, I told him nothing special, but I did have dinner with the General and his wife. He was floored and asked how that happened. I did give some credit to you being the General’s golfing buddy which also elevates your status around here.”

“Maybe we can jack your status up more. The General says it would be nice if we have dinner with him and his wife again this Saturday at a different restaurant. What do you say?”

“You know you can’t refuse a General’s request or maybe you can but I can’t. What time will you pick me up?”

“Maybe it would be more convenient in the long run if you were to pick me up at six-thirty.”

Beth quickly understood his reasoning for saying this and said she would do that.

Mark drove Beth’s car Saturday to the restaurant. They again dined with Cal and his wife and had a good time. In the course of the conversation, Mark mentioned his efforts to expand his selling of Bifty Shoes virtually to the exchanges. Laura mentioned that he had purchased two pairs of those shoes through the PX here and was pleased with them. She said she likes the raised heel design.

It was another pleasant dining experience that ended too soon. There was no argument about splitting the check. Mark could see and believed that Cal wanted to be treated like one of the guys, but because of his rank and his command position, that could only happen if he wasn’t involved with anyone under his command. This was where Mark came in. Mark thought Cal was a nice guy he enjoyed his friendship and his company.

After leaving the restaurant in the parking lot, they were accosted by two unkempt men. Both of them appeared to be drunk or high on some type of drug. One of them was brandishing a large butcher knife and demanding their money.

“Let me get my wallet,” said Mark reaching into his jacket pocket.

Instead of his wallet, Mark pulled out his Taser pistol and with him being less than fifteen feet away, he tasered the man holding the knife. That man fell to the ground and he dropped the knife. Mark went for the unarmed man who saw what happened, but he turned and ran away.

Mark picked up the knife and turning to Beth said, “Call nine-one-one and ask for the police to come here. Cal, you need to be going as you don’t need this kind of publicity. Beth and I will handle the police.”

Cal understood and after thanking Mark, he and his wife left.

The police arrived and Mark explained what had happened with this robbery attempt and what he had done to stop that from happening. They made a report and took this man away. They told Mark that he and Beth might be needed in court, but they would be contacted if that was necessary.

On the drive back to the base Beth jokingly referred to Mark as “My hero.” She also said she is going to purchase a Taser pistol as they are small enough to carry in a purse and you never know when it will come in handy.

With her car parked in her garage, and then being in her home, it was much longer for Beth to be in Mark’s arms and they started on the road to making love. They both knew what was going to happen and they took their time before they proceeded to the ultimate intimate act of making love. She was more loving and caring than any woman he had ever been with. That she was attractive and had a nice body were all positives, but the biggest one was that she was a very nice person. Cuddling with her in his arms after they both had orgasms only confirmed to him what he already knew, that he was a lucky man.

He made love with her one more time in the morning. In the light of the day, he could fully appreciate her physical attractiveness. That she was agreeable to making love in the light of the day was another plus.

Mark was now returning calls from the PX managers asking about their selling Bifty Shoes. Turning these calls into virtual calls, he gave a detailed explanation confirming what he had sent them as well as answering their questions. He encouraged them to phone the PX managers who were already set up to sell those shoes and ask them what their experience was in doing it. The bottom line was that he added four post-exchanges to the list of those who would be selling that line of shoes.

After patting himself on his back for having this selling success, he knew that telemarketing was a more effective approach for him in contacting military post exchanges as opposed to how he had been doing this selling. Previously, he first needed to find the stores before he could sell, but now he knew where the stores were that he could sell to. He contacted the Bifty Sales manager in another state to introduce himself and ask if he would have any objections to him selling in his assigned territory. The manager didn’t object and gave him the required information. Mark omitted to say that he was targeting military exchanges and was doing this selling virtually.

Mark wasn’t killing himself selling these shoe setup displays to the military post exchanges since he was only devoting part of three days a week to doing it. He could see that his bank account was increasing as the commissions he was receiving were being deposited into it. At the same time, because he was now selling to locations in several states, he was thinking that he needed a CPA’s help to help him comply with the various States’ laws.