Chapter 18

Wednesday

The next day at school Helen and I went into the office to check on Linda and Valerie. Valerie took us into the back room. Mrs Cranston gave us a funny look but continued with her typing.

Once the staff room door was closed, both girls turned away from us, then pulled up their dresses. They each had on a new, red pair of panties. Valerie made a noise and both girls spread their feet and bent over. The crotches of their underwear opened and they just stayed in position.

"Hmmm," I said, as I moved closer and felt Valerie's bum through the material. "Helen, check my baby Linda to see if she wet, while I check baby Valerie." In seconds my finger was following the crack presented to me and soon my finger was not only touching her clit but another was plumbing her depths.

Helen saw what I was doing and her own hand started to move back and forth. It was good that a couch was in front of them, for they had to put out their hands to support themselves. The noise of the typewriter stopped and I said, "Stand up girls."

They did and turned around to face us with smiles on their faces. I turned to the door and opened it like it was before. "I think the restaurant was good but the menu can use a bit more work. I was thinking of having Mario come down and teach them how to make authentic Italian food." When saying that I used a hand to point to my closed eye.

Linda caught on first and said, "I think the pizza would be a welcome addition to the menu."

I heard some shuffling and soon more typing. "You girls are going to cause me problems all day now. You did a very good job. Momma is proud of each of you." In a low voice I said, "We will have to make a bra soon with a large hole for your nipples to stick out." The girls turned red even though a minute ago we were moving our fingers back and forth in their vaginas.

On the way out of the room I caught Helen smelling her finger. In front of all the girls I took it into my mouth and cleaned it off, then did the same for my own. In the main office I asked Mrs Cranston if I could make a local call. Looking in the phonebook first I dialled a number.

"Hello, Stoner's Auto Body."

"Hello, is Mr Stoner there please?"

John came on the phone and I thanked him for repairing the bike. "It is not necessary, Alex. I was the one to damage your bike in the first place."

"Well, you did a very good job of repairing it. It is now better looking than it was before."

"That is great to hear but you didn't call me for just that."

"You are right. I am looking to purchase a stake truck, about four to eight tons, that is dependable and reasonably priced. I also require all the racks that go around it."

"Let me check on that. There have been a few but I don't know their condition or cost."

"Thanks John. It is going to come in handy for a lot of things."

The girls just looked at me with the Alex-type stare. Helen and I walked to the nurse's station. One boy was waiting outside and I could see him taking a good inventory of Helen. I didn't know if she saw it or not but women are sneaky and she had probably already sized him up earlier in the year.

In a few moments another boy came out with an ear-to-ear smile and walked right past us as if we didn't exist. The other boy walked in with his own smile. The five minutes were long but then the boy came out with the same grin as the one before him had.

When we came in Laura's face beamed. "Good morning guys. I figured you would be here this morning."

Helen innocently asked, "Why?"

"To see these..." She pulled up her dress and bent over like Linda and Valerie.

This time Helen moved in and used her hand to feel the panty-clad bum. She then ran her finger up Laura's opening and was inside in a matter of seconds. Laura only groaned and pushed back. I walked back and leaned against the door and watched my girls in play. I could hear two sets of heavy breathing interspersed with groans and pleads to continue with her work.

In a few minutes Laura was calling on her maker and fell forward on her desk. Helen slowed down and again sniffed her fingers and gave it a small lick. She sampled it as if she were a connoisseur of fine wine.

Laura got up in time to see Helen put her entire finger into her mouth and lick Laura's spend off. Laura just attacked Helen and kissed her like she kissed me. Soon they were groaning and rubbing against each other. I hated to interrupt but the clock on the wall would not lie.

"My wives, we have to go." They pulled apart and I turned the sink on to get some warm water. I washed Helen's face and then Laura's. "Talk later, Sweety. Got to go."

The bell just rang and we ran to class.

French was my second class. As usual, Natalie was bouncing around the class. Towards the end she sat at her desk after giving us a moment to do some of the work she assigned us. She coughed to catch my attention and I saw her sucking the two gold balls. When each was cleaned, her hand went under the desk and she closed her eyes as she wiggled a bit. A moment later the hand returned empty and she made a display of sucking her fingers.

One of the boys in class groaned at the sight. I was sure he must have had a tent under his own desk.

After class Rita waited for me at the door and I gave Natalie a very quick rundown of what had happened this morning so far. Natalie's only words were, "Laura was lucky."

On the way to the next class Rita held me close to her. She still remembered the boat trip and, I guess, would like a little more of the same even if her cramps had left.

In the course of the day I got the extrusion machines ordered along with a few tons of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and nylon. Other plastics could be substituted, like polypropylene, high impact polystyrene or high-density polyethylene. If everything worked right, I could get three finished moulds a minute from the machines. The bottleneck would be in the manual labour that would be needed to assemble the units.

Mr Creighton gave me a rundown when he had time. We talked in the back room. "The engine seems to work great. It would be nice to take it for a spin but there are no licence plates. We also figured that you would want to be there when we did it."

"You are right. That bus may look great to you but it will look simply beautiful after one of Izzy's boys puts in the veneer. What I have to do, is to get some measurements for the appliances I want, the wiring and plumbing put in and then the anchoring points for the furniture."

"Ah... would you allow me and the wife to borrow this machine."

"I want to go for a trip first to test out all the parts. You can have it later, just remember to put clean sheets on that back bed."

The teacher turned red at being caught. "I wasn't..."

"Mr Creighton, that is one purpose of that piece of furniture and it is a great way to strengthen your marriage. You should invite Mr Sotola and his wife. I never asked but the kids could go, too. There should still be lots of privacy. You did put in those hydraulic jacks to level the motor home haven't you?"

"Yes, they are in. With them in place the bus won't wobble much."

"That was the idea I had when it was suggested." This time I got another stare. He was probably trying to re-evaluate my age, or the present maturity of my body.

In draughting I congratulated Mr Clark. "The prefab buildings should be done by now and I am going to alter my deal a little bit."

The teacher looked at me seriously, probably thinking I was going to screw the people who had helped me so much.

"The final unit will be trucked out today. I will see if I can get the local newspaper to put out a story with some pictures. A list will be tabulated with all the people involved and the pay they received. The bookkeeping class will do this. All pay will be given out at another location, though; not at school."

"Why is that Alex? The auditorium is large enough."

"Did you know that I bought the Clarkson?"

The man's eyes got very big meaning that he had not heard. This really surprised me, since I knew that way teachers gossiped. "The hotel?"

"Yes the hotel. The dance floor is not as nice as the auditorium. I will arrange to have a meal made for everybody involved and we do have good seating in the restaurant but the size will still not be enough."

"I think everybody can live with that kind of change."

We went to the back room and I dialled the hotel. After giving my name I was immediately connected to the chef that usually took the responsibility for the bookings. I had not met this man yet but he apparently knew me. The next free day was tomorrow, so I put it off till the next, which happened to be the Friday after next. Just two weeks shy of the end of the school.

"My social secretary will have to contact you about the menu. Her parents own Mario's and she has her own ideas. Please listen to them very carefully. The girl knows what she is talking about."

The chef said, "I heard that the restaurant of theirs is getting very popular."

"Yes it is. He is going into franchising and the company should make at least a billion dollars by the turn of the century."

"A billion!"

"Yes, at least a thousand million dollars."

"Shit, oh sorry sir."

"No problem, I use the term myself on occasion."

I turned to Mr Clark and said, "You know the date now. There is not room for everybody who helped and not enough room for all their families and friends, even if I can manage it in the hotel. Perhaps we can have a park to feed the families and make it a picnic. Sort of a pot luck plus the two restaurants to feed basically the entire school and their families."

English was the last class and at the end I was able to give Rita the altered plans. "Did you talk to your mother about the old plans?"

Rita was very excited about being given such responsibilities, "She gave practical menu ideas. The potluck idea might save us because we simply cannot make enough pizza and keep it fit to eat. The best we can do is cook some and send them off right away."

"Well, the first thing to do is to approach the parks and recreation department and get a permit. If it is not fast enough, or someone gives you a problem, do what you think best -- but no blood. Chairs are not really necessary but tables will be. We have to get some of the mothers involved in this, or they will not have time to help much."

"I can do that through the PTA and my Home Ec class. What about drinks?"

"I will see what the chef has. You should tie in better with him, too. Your mother may help, if you get any problems. I don't want to find the chef being the main ingredient in some sausage."

"Euuuu!"

"Rita, people forget all the time. Make notes and tell the people what and when they have to do things. Get some of your girls to help. You can give directions and they write the orders out. Look at this as a small practice round for the big party for the church fund raiser when it happens."

Rita said, "Dad got some phone calls and mom said she would help. She even went with dad to a big meeting."

"That is good. Maybe you will have less to do next time but watch what your mother does and listen to her suggestions. Get your teachers to help because it is a school function. See Mr Corfu and dig in the spurs if he gives you a problem."

Rita's eyes lit up at the thought. "That might be fun but he was always nice to me."

Back in the office I phoned the Stoner's shop and got John right away. "I found a four ton truck that should do the trick. I even drove out to see it for you. The engine sounds good. It needs new tires and probably brakes. The racks are still usable. The man wants 800 dollars."

"In your opinion, is it worth that?"

"No, more like six or six fifty."

"How much to get tires and a full brake job?"

"Well that depends if I need new drums or not. Could be two fifty to three hundred dollars. That is still a lot of money."

"Would you purchase the truck for me and do the repairs? I can drop off a cheque for a thousand dollars and you can take whatever moneys you need for labour, materials and a profit. I will need more vehicles later and if you do not take a profit you will not be around later to help me."

I heard a laugh at the other end of the line, "Yes, I can do that. Come on down and we can talk about your truck first so you know what you are getting yourself into."

Before leaving the office I had a brief chat with Valerie and Linda and suggested that they spend their night making another pair of panties but cut low. I drew a line on my own body to show how the panties would look. "Make one pair like you did today and one for later, when you have to be very proper ladies."

Mrs Cranston just came back into the room to hear both girls in unison say, "Yes, Alex."

I met Rita outside again, talking to Helen. It was nice to see that they were getting to be friends. They stopped their talk as soon as they saw me and just waited for me to get close.

Helen said, "Rita was telling me that you gave her a very important job. I don't know if I could do it."

"I think Rita can handle it very well, especially if her mother helps her. Perhaps you can make some signs to post around the school to tell of the event. Since most of the school is currently involved with the projects, I think we can have all the school attend. That means their families too. So make the arrangements for a small gathering of only fifteen hundred people."

Rita's eyes bugged out. "Fifteen hundred people! There is no way we can feed all those."

I just smiled at her and put one arm around her shoulder. "Teach the chefs at the hotel to make pizza and whatever else you want. Ask your dad to hire more restaurants if he needs to. You may only need to line up some drivers to do the deliveries."

"But fifteen hundred? That is too much."

"Honey, armies are fed and entertained and they have quite a bit more than fifteen hundred people. Remember, the mothers are going to bring a box lunch. How much room will each mother need to spread out what she brings? Then multiply that by three hundred and fifty or so. You can even get the city to donate some sawhorses or barricades with plywood on top. Think of it as training for the really big things that you might have to organize in the future."

Rita still had the bug eyes and an open mouth. I would get Helen later to talk or help out. If there were problems, I would just have to hire people to do what was needed. And on the subject: I had to go to the bank. "Helen, I have to find out what rate the bank is giving. You will have to get Aron by yourself. I am also going out to John Stoner's shop to have a talk and maybe put some money down on a truck."

Helen gave me a questioning look but simply said, "Yes, Alex."

I gave both girls a good kiss and left on my bike.

The day was warm and I was sweating quite a bit by the time I got to the bank. I stopped a few doors down and walked the bike on the sidewalk. There was an air vent in front of the bank and I just locked the bike to the grate. It still felt comfortable to lock the bike even though hardly anything ever got stolen.

I walked a few more feet and for some reason noticed a nervous man sitting in an idling, black Ford just in front of the door. I just turned into the doorway and went up the first of two steps when someone ran through the open doorway and into me. I saw the mask and the two cloth bags.

My brain went into overdrive. As I mentioned before, my mind worked much better than it did in my past, or future, lives. My hand went out and I punched upward at the person's throat. I just pulled back enough to keep from crushing his trachea. Almost as if in slow motion another person came out running, right behind the first.

This one had a gun in one hand and a bag of money in the other. One of my hands pushed his gun hand up and then he got the same treatment as the first. His eyes bulged out when my fist hit him hard in the throat.

Both men were falling together. As the gun came down to my level I kept it pointing vertically and started to take it out of the man's hand. I didn't get it away until the man had completed his fall. A look inside the bank showed that there were no others with masks. Behind me the car engine revved. Looking around I saw the man with his eyes large as the gun came to bear on him. His hand pushed the gearshift up and I stepped over the two men and crossed the six feet to the open window of the car.

I heard my voice say very slowly, "Turn the engine off, now."

The man just looked at me in fright but he did not move nor did the car. It must have taken a few moments but the car engine slowed down. "Hand me the keys." I said in a more normal voice and my left hand came out to get them. It took a moment again but the man did grip the key and the engine came to a halt. He looked to be trying to find a way out of his dilemma. "This gun better not go off in the car. If the bullet does not make a hole in you the sound will deafen you. Give me the key and don't try to run."

The man swallowed then handed me a single key. "Get out of the car but come this way." The man did not move. "If I get nervous, my finger twitches and you accidentally die. Come out now."

The man moved toward me and I gave him room to get out of the vehicle. When the door opened I was behind it instead of in the open. "Now get on your knees and walk to your friends. You move fast and something bad might happen to you." The man did as I said and knelt beside his companions. Just then the alarm went off and the man and I jumped at the sound.

Someone must have gotten enough nerve to push the button finally. I said again, "You should lace your fingers together behind your head. The police are going to be coming in the next half hour or so and we may get shot. The hands came up slowly and the hands did as I asked.

The men beside him were making some odd sounds as they tried to come to grips with the pain in their throats.

I turned the gun to the side and looked at it. I said to the man, "Did you know that this safety on the left side of the slide was off? I wonder if you have nine rounds or only the eight your magazine is supposed to carry. Hitler liked this gun and as you probably know most, if not all, of his officers got this P38 to replace the P08." I popped out the magazine and then put it back quickly when the man moved.

"Just checking if you cleaned the gun recently. I can shoot much faster than you can get up." I popped out the magazine again and then pulled back the slide. There was at least no shell in the chamber. I put the magazine back in and held it pointing to the ground.

"What is your name?"

The man did not answer. "When the police get here, you will be taken away and your name will be found out. Either tell me now, or I will read it in the paper later.

"Sammy Stein."

Mr Jackson finally stuck his head around the corner of the doorway and I said, "Hello Mr Jackson. Did you get a good rate for me?"

He just looked down to the two men crawling around in pain and the one kneeling with his hands behind his head. The pistol in my hand caught his eye and stayed there even if it was aimed to the concrete.

"Wha..."

"It was mostly reflex. They ran into me and I just struck out. Sammy, here, decided that he wants to get out of the robbery business. By the way, what rate did you get for me?"

"Ah... a... I was able to get three and a half. It is better than the previous rate."

"It is but maybe you should go back and turn off the alarm and then phone him again. Otherwise I will walk in there and talk to him myself."

"But... but." He said then turned quickly and ran back into the bank.

"Well Sammy, I had some business with the bank and they were going to give me a problem with the interest rate. I can see why it would be fun to rob them but it is still not a good idea. Not only is it dangerous to you but to others. Insurance rates go up and the cost of borrowing is carried on to the people that need the money to get ahead."

People were starting to gather around now and I put the gun behind my back and leaned against the stone wall. In the distance I could hear the siren and knew the police were getting here quicker than usual. It might sound unfair but when guns were involved the police were just a bit slower. John Junior was different and they had come very quickly.

I said to the spectators, "The police will order you all back and this will make you look like sheep ordered back. If you step back now in an orderly manner, you will look like a well-behaved group of concerned citizens." Some moved back but others just stayed rooted to the ground.

"Sammy do you or your partners have any more guns?"

In a moment I heard, "We only had one gun."

"That is a good thing. I am going to do you a favour. You will know what it is later." He just looked at me not understanding my meaning.

From behind my back I popped the clip again and placed it in my pocket. With my thumb I started to push out the shells. Oddly I found only two shells in it. Without anybody seeing I put the clip back into place.

The police screeched to a halt in the road and they approached with guns drawn. I had to smile, for the two policemen were the two who helped me with John Jr's breathing. A few of the spectators were pushed out to the way quite unceremoniously. The police looked around for more threats and by then Mr Jackson was back at the doorway. He had two guns pointed at him and then away. I thought he would have a heart attack right then.

He managed to say, "Ah... it... it was only those three."

The police pointed their guns away and saw me. They gave me the look and one said, "You better get away from here, Alex. These are dangerous people."

"Ok but I have their gun. May I give it to you now?"

"You what?" The first one yelled.

"They bumped into me and I drove my fist into their throats. I took the gun before someone could get hurt and convinced Sammy here to surrender."

"Where is the gun?"

"Behind my back. Waving it around could get me shot."

He shook his head and said, "Give it to me."

I took to gun out by the barrel and flicked the safety and popped the clip one more time. "Look," I said in an incredulous voice, "There's no bullets in the gun."

The gun was taken from me gingerly, then the clip. Sammy looked stunned and I patted my pocket to bring his attention to it. He just looked up to me in a stunned look but said nothing.

One of the tellers raced through some of her co-workers and told Mr Jackson something. He turned to me and said, "Ah, Alex, the president of our bank wants to talk to you."

"Thanks, that is a good idea, getting the top dog because I still think I am paying too high a rate." While Sammy was cuffed, I bent over and looked at the throats of each of the men and felt their pulse. One was unconscious and had difficulty in breathing.

"Both of these men have to go to the hospital. One may need an operation so he can breathe properly. If you throw him in a jail cell, he may be dead by morning. Now I have to go in to fight another one who is thinking I am robbing his bank."

They let me go and as I climbed the stone steps the tellers got as far away as possible. Cheryl did, too and I stopped a moment and said, "Why are you afraid? I am not rabid and I rarely attack pretty girls."

Another girl was holding the receiver in her hand as if it would bite her. She looked at me and seemed to think the same thing. "Thanks for holding the phone for me. What is your name?"

"Joan."

"Thanks Joan. You better run to the front and see what is happening outside."

I got the receiver and she said, "Thanks."

Putting the receiver to my ear I said, "Hello, Alex Kramer here. How can I help you?"

"Well, I didn't expect that kind of a greeting but you have already helped me. Mr Jackson says that you are a very surprising young man. My name is Martin Siddeley, by the way."

"I am very glad to meet you. I had a talk with Mr Jackson and he turned white when I said I may have to talk to you about this loan."

"Sometimes employees are that way, young man."

"You should have what is called, 'an open door policy'. It is distracting and wastes some time. It gives the employees a chance to talk to you as a sympathetic employer instead of an unapproachable head of a company."

"That is and interesting idea. You are full of new ideas. First, you find a substantial amount of gold, start some businesses in your area and save a child's life. Now you stop some robbers and save our money."

"Thank you, sir but I wanted to talk to you about the usurious rates that your bank is charging my fledgling corporation. Three and a half percent is going to make you and your shareholders rich. I plan on borrowing millions soon and I need to find a suitable financial institution that is not going to demand a pound of flesh along with a reasonable return on investment."

"Three and a half is a very good rate, young man," he said indignantly. "Only our best customers get that. You should be very happy to have been given such a reasonable figure."

"Reasonable? I bought a hotel here that is, in my opinion, worth more than I paid for it. Your own people evaluated it. You have not only the building as collateral but also my generous down payment. Then you want to drive a knife into the heart of a person that is trying to revitalize this city and Ontario. Dickens must have been writing about your ancestors when he did his social commentary."

There was a pause on the other end and I heard, "I resent that remark. We at out bank try hard to further the economy of our province and our country."

"Sir, I am a Canadian, though of Polish descent. You too, I assume, are Canadian. As such, you and our countrymen are conservative to a fault. A suitable expletive would be sedate, while the rest of the world would be termed dynamic. The Americans and even the stodgy British, are more adventuresome than us and they each gained an empire. As a race, we want our return on investment in a short time and then feel glee as we continue to rake in profits year after year. We are not satisfied with a small gain that will over the years return much more in terms of a greater economy and less agony on the part of the people unfortunate enough to require venture capital to expand."

"Mr. Kramer our financial institution has taken a risk and in doing so needs a profit for doing so."

"How much risk is there when you have one hundred percent of your loan covered in gold? I will tell you, absolutely none. Canadian banks throw up so much red tape that is probably better to go south of the border to secure a loan."

"That is not usually done, Mr Kramer. There is red tape there, too."

"I am talking about the start of the biggest corporation there will be for hundreds of years. I require money to expand and to work into markets that I see are growing. Do you know what the world will be like with vaccines that will save the lives of many children and young adults? You will not find out because there is not enough venture capital out there, except in the United States. Do they have to lead the way most of the time? Will you wait for your grandchildren to be stricken by a disease that could have been brought under control if more attention had been paid to it?"

"Young man you may be right about us being conservative but being timid makes for less mistakes. This has to balance out for those who are reckless and would go where angels fear to tread. If you are starting a drug company, you need more than a grade nine education in science to make new compounds. It takes millions of dollars to bring a new drug to market."

I replied, "You may be right but I have the premier biological researcher for the entire world working for my company. In the coming months you will see what a poor, under-funded company will do without any backing from a penny-pinching government and a miserly business community bent on looking down at their toes instead of forward."

"You have a product that will come to market soon young man?" He said with a substantial amount of sarcasm in his voice.

"Sir, the medical community is like any other business. They do not like any new people coming in and stealing their thunder. Many important finds have been buried under paperwork because they are not flashy enough or sometimes not expensive enough to have a good profit made by a drug company. This factor comes up particularly strong with me and my company. I have made an important discovery and because of my age it will be discounted. I need to hide behind others till I am old enough and have the number and the kind of degrees the other researchers demand. This means that millions of people suffer and some die because I cannot get my discoveries to market.

"If you tell me in confidence I will not tell any others about what you found," he said with another chuckle.