Chapter 21

On Tuesday, we flew up to Omaha for a meeting with the company that was making our vending machines. It was the owner, his son, Dad and me, and Virginia and her dad. I was the youngest one there. Mr. Lucas was good friends with Mr. Tanner, the owner of the vending machine company. They went back a long ways together. We were having lunch, and Dad was letting Mr. Lucas represent the company as far as negotiating for new machines. We were hoping to order six thousand new machines. The last ones Rob had bought, a year before, had cost him $540.00 each, and he had purchased two hundred of them. The new quote for five hundred machines was $580.00 per machine. Rob was surprised at the price increase.

"Jim, our budget is $500.00 per machine. We thought the price would come down when we increased the size of our order."

"It cost me the same amount to build them, Rob, and my cost for materials and labor has gone up. Anyone else, and I'd be charging more." Dad, Virginia and I just listened. I could see that Dad was disappointed in the price. I knew he had run his projections based on a cost of $525.00 per machine. Virginia spoke up then.

"We're planning a major expansion of our vending routes, but it won't work for us at those prices. We were hoping for savings from our increased order size. You must have economy of scale savings on materials?"

"Ginny, I'm already being eaten alive by bank interest on the loans I take out to buy new materials, and that's a fixed expense. We're not a big company to begin with, and we don't have prime credit. I'm not able to purchase all my material needs at once anyway, not for an order like this." Mr. Tanner was apologetic, but he knew his own costs, and how much he needed to make that many machines. He was only able to build five hundred machines a year anyway. If we went with him, it would take twelve years to get the machines we wanted. Dad wanted all of them placed, and making money for us, within three years. He was really excited by the profit potential of vending, and wanted to concentrate his expansion plans on that part of the business for the next few years.

"Jim, we're going to need six thousand new machines in the next three years. Who do you recommend we go to?"

"Did you say six thousand, Tom?" Mr. Tanner looked at Dad, not believing what he'd just heard. His son, David, looked increasingly uncomfortable, shifting around in his seat and scraping his fork annoyingly over the surface of his empty plate. David was around thirty years old, and other than saying hello to us when we first met, and shaking everyone's hand, he hadn't said one word. My father nodded confirmation that that was what he'd said. Mr. Tanner sat way back in his chair and looked over at Rob. Rob nodded to him also.

"We could expand, if we had a strong enough financial partner." The words came tumbling out of David's mouth. I saw the angry look from his father. "We're just spinning our wheels the way we're doing things now. The only people making any money are the banks and the suppliers, Dad."

"David, I already told you I don't want partners." From the angry tone of voice he was using, this was an argument that they had had many times in the past. "When it's your business, you can do what you want to. Until then, we'll do it my way. No partners."

There was an embarrassed silence at the table. Luckily we'd all had a great lunch first, so the only thing spoiled was the business discussion. Dad stepped in.

"Jim, can you build us five hundred at $550.00 each? Firm order, same specs as the last ones, and we'll pay half of it up front, to reduce your borrowing costs." Dad looked at Mr. Tanner, waiting for a response.

"Tom, $580.00 is my best price. We got half down with the last order too." David was back to moving around in his chair, upset and agitated. He could see that his father was going to walk away from this meeting without an order. Still, he didn't speak again. Five minutes later, the meeting was over, with both Dad and Rob saying they would think about it and get back to Mr. Tanner. Everyone at the table knew that the order was never going to be placed. I could see the disappointment on Dad's face. He was really anxious to get going on the expansion. He felt that it was the perfect time to be growing that part of the business. I knew he'd be going ahead with it, and that Mr. Tanner's company wouldn't be making the new machines.

By three o'clock, we were in the plane, flying back to Bolling. Dad had asked Virginia to investigate other vending manufacturers for him, getting quotes on a machine built to the specs of our other machines. She promised to have something for him to consider within a week.

It was five o'clock by the time we got back to Ridgeline. I had Dad drop me off at the club, so I could hit a big bucket or two. We arranged for Hans to come pick me up at six forty five, if dinner was at seven, and at seven fifteen, if we were eating late. I had already hit one of the jumbo buckets by six fifteen, and was deciding on whether to go get another one, when Shirley showed up, carrying her golf bag and a medium bucket. I nodded to her, and hurried down to the pro shop to get another jumbo bucket for myself. When I got back, she was busy, concentrating on her short irons. I got my driver out, and began to hit a few drives. I waited until she was almost through with her medium bucket before I spoke to her.

"Take some of these balls, I have to leave in a few minutes anyway." When she looked over at me, I picked up my bucket and refilled hers from it. She said thank you, and the sound of her voice was pleasant. That was one thing I hadn't liked about Brenda. Her voice always had a little bit of whine in it. Even when she was happy or excited, there was still a hint of whine to it. "I don't know if you remember me, I'm a friend of Jane and Grace, I met you after you finished your golf round on Saturday?"

"I remember. Kenny, right?"

"That's right, Kenny Parsons. I remember your name is Shirley, but I don't remember hearing your family name."

"It's Jones, but please don't say any jokes about the Partridge Family." I saw her blush when she said that. I'd seen the show in reruns, but I wasn't sure what she meant. I wasn't a big television watcher. Later I found out that Shirley Jones played the mom on that show.

"You have a real nice golf swing. How long have you been playing?" She smiled at me. Apparently, she liked getting that kind of a compliment.

"I've played since I was about eight years old, but only got serious in the past two years, since I was thirteen. My Dad got me a new set of clubs for my thirteenth birthday, and he took me golfing with him every weekend after that. I love playing. How long have you been playing?"

"For about a year. I really like it too. I think golf courses are very pretty. I used to watch on television, not for the golf, but for the scenery. My mother is a very good player. She shot a 62 here once. She's almost fifty years old, and she can still break par here."

"You're lucky. My mom doesn't play, and Daddy works six days a week now. We've got guest privileges from our old country club, but Daddy says he isn't going to join here, because of the expense, and the limited use we'll get. His old job paid our membership in Salt Lake City."

"We're members here. You can come play here with me once or twice during the week if you want to. We have a corporate membership, and we're allowed some free guests every month. I'm working this summer with my Dad, but I can take off to play golf."

"Well, thank you, but I don't think so. I don't think my parents would approve."

"Is it because of what Denise said about me? I don't even know her, so I don't know why she doesn't like me."

"No, it's what I told you. My parents are strict. They don't want me seeing boys yet. Even if it was only for golf, they wouldn't approve. I didn't pay any attention to what Denise said about you. I wait and form my own opinions about people. Did you really have two girlfriend's at the same time?"

"I had two friends who happened to be girls, and one of them was my girlfriend. We had a fight though, all of us, and now none of us are friends anymore."

"Denise said you were doing things with both of them." When she said that, she was blushing again, and when she hit another ball, it went sailing off to the right, almost a shank.

"We were friends, but we did kiss and touch and stuff."

"Denise said the three of you had an orgy."

"I don't know what an orgy is, but I'm pretty sure I'd know if I had one or not."

"An orgy is when three or more people have sex together, at the same time."

"I never have had an orgy then."

"So, Denise was lying?"

"If she said that Emily, Brenda and I had sex together, at the same time, then, yes, she was."

"Did you have sex with both of them?"

"No." Shirley looked at my face, trying to see if I was telling her the truth. To me, this seemed like a bizarre conversation to be having with a girl I just met. A girl I was having my first conversation with. I wondered where Denise got all her information from. I was taking the position that by sex, Shirley meant actual sex, not cunnilingus. I'd never had sex with Emily, not by that definition of sex. I didn't feel like I was lying, just not volunteering everything the three of us had done together.

"I didn't like Denise that much anyway. My father works for her father, and that's why I was over here playing golf with her in the first place. Do you know a girl named Claudia?"

"I know her. She's a friend of my ex girlfriend."

"Have you had sex with her?"

"No."

"Denise says that Claudia has had sex with every boy in this whole town."

"Denise is wrong. I've never even touched Claudia, and I live in this town."

"Where I'm from, girls don't act like that."

"I think Claudia is different from most girls. She's boy crazy."

"How come you never had sex with her?"

"I never wanted to. I don't go to school around here either, but I don't think I'd have sex with her even if I did."

"But, you do like girls?"

"I like them, but I don't understand them. I grew up in a place with nothing but boys, except for the nuns, and they aren't like regular girls."

"Do you go to a Catholic school?"

"Not now, but I used to. I was an orphan for a long time. I just got adopted this last year."

"Denise said you were very rich, and conceited because of that."

"My new parents are very well off. A year ago, I didn't have anything at all. Living like I do now is still very new to me."

"So, you don't even know Denise?"

"I saw her a couple times out by the pool. She sits with her friends, and they talk about other people. I've never even spoken with her. I don't know where she hears all this stuff she was telling you about. Maybe she just makes it up." I saw Hans coming up the driveway driving the limo. I still had about eighty balls left in my bucket. "My ride is here. I need to go put my clubs away and go home for dinner. I'm glad we had this chance to talk. I hope we can play a round of golf together sometime." I picked up my bag, after moving my bucket over next to hers.

"Thanks for the balls, Kenny. I was going to play with Denise tomorrow at nine o'clock. If I cancel with her, could you get us another tee time?"

"Be here at eight, and I'll get us out as soon as there's an opening. Dave, the head pro, is a friend of my mother's. Can you stay after, for lunch too?" She smiled and nodded that she could. I ran with my bag down to the pro shop, not wanting to keep Hans waiting. I saw Dave and asked him if he could put me down for a twosome sometime around eight o'clock. He smiled and said he'd take care of it. I ran back up to the parking lot and climbed in the front with Hans.

Hans had been going to this chiropractor that Dad had gotten him an appointment with, and his back was working well again. It was good to see him back smiling and looking happy.

"Is that your new girlfriend, Kenny?" Hans was looking over at Shirley who was now hitting balls from a tee. She was so tall and slim, and her whole swing was a real pleasure to watch. She had that good tempo that only the best golfers ever develop. Mama had it too. It was a pleasure watching both of them hit balls. I stopped looking at Shirley long enough to turn and speak to Hans.

"I just met her. We're playing golf together tomorrow morning though. Her name is Shirley. I think I'm done with girlfriends for awhile Hans. Too much trouble." Hans just smiled at me. He looked like he didn't believe me.

"Bunny used to tell me the same thing, but he always went back. Once you get started with the girls, Kenny, you never go back to the way things were. You'll see, your body won't let you." Hans had to be wrong. My body didn't control me. I knew that I could control those urges. I'd just get used to the idea of handling those things myself. It was a lot easier, and no one got all upset by it. Girls were nothing but problems. What I really wanted, needed in fact, was a friend. Someone I could talk to, and who could help me to understand how things worked. I was tired of not understanding what was expected of me. I'd gotten such a slow start, I needed to catch up. Not with sex, but with friendships, and with knowing why people did the things they did. With all the things going on in my life right then, the last thing I wanted, or needed, was another emotional entanglement.

At dinner, I asked Dad if he minded if I took off the next day because I wanted to get in a round of golf with a new friend I'd made at the golf course. Mama asked me my new friends name. When I told her that her name was Shirley, she and Dad shared one of those looks. Jane made a rude comment about me getting back up on the horse that threw me, and Grace said I'd have fun breaking in a new saddle. Why was it that everyone always assumed that I was after sex? I wasn't. I didn't even think about sex with Shirley. I was happy when Mama started talking about Uncle Bunny and Elizabeth.

"Georgia called me today. She says that Bunny has been behaving strangely towards her all week. She's worried about him. I didn't have the heart to tell her what I think might be going on."

"Good. Stay out of it. If this Elizabeth finally gets Bunny out from under that woman's spell, it will be the best thing that's happened to Bunny in thirty years. I never understood the attraction he has for her."

"Georgia's a very attractive woman."

"No, you're wrong. She's pretty, but she isn't attractive. There's a difference. Ask Kenny. Brenda is the same way. Attractive is the whole package, not just looks." Mama looked at Dad. I knew, from things she had said in the past, that she was jealous of Mrs. Connor's looks. Several times, she had made comments about Dad and Mrs. Connor. She seemed pleased with what he'd just said.

Jane and Grace were taking the next day off work too, to go to Bolling to register for classes at the two year college there. I didn't know any of the details, but Mama had arranged for them to have a small apartment in a building that she and Uncle Bunny owned in Bolling. I assumed the cost was going to be made very reasonable, if not totally rent free. They were moving out in the middle of August. I'd already be back in school by then myself.

Dad had told Mama about the unsuccessful meeting with Mr. Tanner in Omaha, including the flare up with David and his father over taking in a partner and expanding. She had already been counting on the revenue stream that Dad had been showing her, on paper, for the past week or so. One thing about Mama, if you whetted her appetite for new earnings, she hated for it not to materialize. She had made several comments already about not being happy with the current hold up. Dad was sensitive to this kind of rebuke from Mama. He liked to build her hopes up, but he must have known how hard she'd take it if he couldn't deliver what he was promising her.

"Bertie, you needn't concern yourself over this. It's simply a matter of finding someone who will be able to perform on manufacturing and delivery. Tanner can't do it. Virginia will probably have a line on someone who can any day now. There are probably any number of companies that can build these machines for us. They aren't complicated." I jumped in when he said that last part.

"Actually, they are complicated Dad. The head mechanic at the plant told me that these machines Mr. Tanner made are as trouble free as any he'd ever worked on. He told me that they had less than half the down time of other machines he's worked on."

"You see, Thomas. It isn't just any manufacturer. Didn't you base your projections on the machines doing the same thing as Rob's machines, as far as repairs and operating efficiency?" Mama was a tiger when it came to money. Uncle Bunny was more relaxed about it than she was, but even he was a stickler for performance. That was the thing they admired most about Dad, he always performed.

"We don't know how other manufacturer's machines perform. That was one repair man talking. Who knows which machines he worked on before?"

"He said he's worked on almost all of them, Dad. He said Mr. Tanner's machines were the best he'd ever seen. Almost trouble free, that's what he said." I could see that Dad wasn't happy with me speaking up like that. I guess he didn't want to get Mama really started in on this.

"It doesn't matter. Tanner doesn't have the capacity to make more than five hundred machines a year anyway, and I can't wait that long to get my locations filled. We need to get set up before everyone else sees the same opportunity, and squeezes us out of that market."

"You better not let that happen to us, Thomas. Not after promising Bunny and me those returns. You have to do something to make sure it doesn't happen. If this man's machines are so much better than the rest, we should lock up his total production of them for the next few years at least. We're only talking about a few dollars more per machine."