Chapter 6

It was her sister June that asked how many kids we were planning on having.

Ok, I was in trouble here. I knew I wanted to have my three girls with her. And I knew she should have her three boys. The only difference, would be that I would be the father of all the kids. And she would be the mother. But I had not voiced my desire to her. My sweet baby saved me from having to answer.

Annette said, "Why, I think we will start having them a few years after we get married. We'll stop when we can't afford anymore."

I had shared my financial plans with her, but I don't think she really had a clue as to how much I was currently worth. Oh shit, I don't want more then six, do I? So I spoke up.

I said, "Well, maybe we will stop at six; then again, we will have to wait and see."

Bonnie said, "You know, kids are expensive. To raise six, you would need to have over half a million dollars, to do it right."

"Oh, is that all?" I asked. "And here I thought it took love, patience, understanding, and time."

The look I got from Bonnie and her brother was like I had slapped their faces. I knew Bob was greedy, I just had never known that Bonnie was a 'true sister' to him.

"I think Tim is trying to say, that he has the money part covered," Annette said.

Helen said, "You can say that again."

Helen's comment got a look from everyone at the table.

"What do you mean, Mom?" Annette asked.

Helen said, "Come on, Dear, you must know he is already a millionaire."

"I know he owns the apartment complex, and plans to open a business in the mall. But what's this 'millionaire' business?"

Art spoke up, saying, "Honey, let's just put it this way. If we follow Bonnie's rule of a hundred grand per child, you could not live long enough to have enough kids, to run out of money."

Ok, it was my turn to look sheepish.

"Annette!" Helen said. "You didn't know? I thought you were marrying him for his money?"

Annette looked at me, then at her parents.

"I thought I was marring him because he loved me."

I spoke up, "At least, that's why I am marring you, Annette. As for the money, it will only make life easier on us."

"Well!" Bob said. "I will be dammed, you caught a good one."

Annette and I both rolled our eyes at that one. Art chuckled.

Helen said, "I think Annette needs to mingle with the guests at her party some more."

She did, and that left me sitting there with Bonnie and Bob. I was not happy with it, but at least Art was still here.

"So how much are you worth?" Bob asked.

"I have no idea, at the moment."

"Come on, I know how much is in my checking and savings account every day."

"I just don't believe he has any money," Bonnie said. "He doesn't even know how much he has."

I was not going to play games with these two. "It's not a matter of knowing. I have investments that increase and decrease in value, daily."

"What's this about owning an apartment complex? You are not even old enough to vote yet," Bonnie said.

Art spoke up, "That's enough, you two. He owns just what he said he owns. As to how much he is worth, I don't even know how much I am worth, today."

Bob looked shocked to hear his dad say this. Bonnie was put out at being called by her father, on her put-down.

I just smiled politely, and left the table. There looked to be a heated discussion after I had left. Helen even came back to their table, and joined in it. I found Annette, and we visited with everyone. They greeted her and gave their well wishes to us both. It would have made me feel left out, if I hadn't been holding Annette in my arm.

Annette moved in with me shortly after her graduation. We just couldn't get enough time together. It was mid-summer when gold hit four hundred dollars an ounce. Art once again wanted to sell. I knew it was going to go higher. I had to call the professor again, and have him tell Art to wait.

The wedding plans were in full swing. Helen and Art were going all out. We had set the date for the spring of 1979. I also signed a lease agreement in a mall for a small storefront. It was of modest in size, only four hundred fifty square feet. This was going to be fun! Annette was alongside me the whole time.

Modifications to the retail space were completed two months after the contract was signed. I ordered the coin and other display cases. I set up an account with a wholesale supplier, and soon had boxes arriving daily. Our store was ready to open in November of 1978.

It was an event, let me tell you! Relatives came out of the woodwork to see the store. All of them had advice, and none of them knew what they were talking about. Sales started small the first week. We only grossed about five thousand dollars, the whole week.

Christmas was around the corner though, and people started to show up with their old coins to sell to me. Annette was amazed at my knowledge of coins and their values. By the time thanksgiving rolled around, I was spending more then I was selling. This was fine with me, as I knew I could sell the excess at wholesale, and still make out ok.

The day after thanksgiving, Annette and I were overrun with customers. Most people were just looking, but many were in a buying mood. Dated sets, Mint sets, proof sets; all were being bought up for 'year of birth' gifts. Everyone seemed to be going crazy. I looked at the horde, and knew we were going to have to hire help. When we closed up at 9 o'clock, the register showed the daily gross sales at just over twenty thousand dollars. Annette went crazy with the notion that we could make that much money in one day.

I hired two college kids looking for Christmas cash, to be sales people. Both had lots of knowledge but were only allowed to sell the coins. This left me more time to spend on buying coins from the people who walked in.

Gold had soared to six hundred dollars an ounce. Art said he couldn't wait any longer, and he cashed out. He did well. He had just over 3-mil left, after commissions and taxes. I had an auto-sell order in for eight hundred fifty dollars an ounce, so I was happy to wait.

December 17 became the day to remember. An old lady came in the store, with three of her adult children behind her. All of the children were carrying canvas coin bags. She wanted to sell her late husbands coin collection. The only one problem was that they had removed all the coins from the folders and bagged them.

I told her that to give her the best price, I would need a few days to go over the coins; or, I could just give her the going rate for bulk coins. She talked it over with her children. They agreed that the bulk price would be good. The first bag she put on the counter was cents. I looked in the bag, and saw there was a mix of wheat and memorial cents on the top. I had Annette take the bag to the coin counting machine, and run them through. I was nice and offered them 2 cents per coin. They grumbled a little, but put the bag of nickels up next. It had Jefferson and Buffalo nickels on top. I even saw some V nickels. Annette took the bag of nickels, after she brought the count of the cents to me. I offered them fifteen cents each, because the bag looked to have more buffaloes then Jeffersons. They smiled a bit more at this number. Well, I guess that when they found out I was paying them three hundred twenty-five dollars for the cent pieces, it sounded a lot better.

Next came the quarters. I looked in the bag and didn't see any of them that weren't all silver. So I offered them seventy-five cents each. They were taken away, and put in the counting machine. Next came the half's. This guy liked half's, that was for sure. There were three bags full of them, about fifteen hundred coins if I were to just guess. I offered them $1.50 each. The total was going up quick. Next came the dollars. When I looked in the 5 bags before me, they were full of Piece and Morgan dollars. I offered the going price (at the time) of $3.50 a coin. Annette ran the coins though the counter. I was getting worried. There were still six bags of coins, and I was sure I was going to have a cash flow problem if there was 'gold in them thar bags'. There wasn't, I was told that the bags had foreign coins. I shook my head and said best I could do on them was $3.00 a pound. I would end up putting them out for the kids to buy, at ten coins for a dollar. They told me to weigh them, and make an offer on the whole bunch. The final tally, and my offer, was $36,000 dollars. I think I made their day.