Chapter 24

They'd fixed Ranch Style Beans and Wolf Brand Chili tonight and plenty of frybread. I realized at once that I hadn't clued them in to what powdered milk was and how it could make cornbread worth eating. My next thought was that there probably wouldn't be time to do it before we went back.

After we'd eaten, Louise shocked me. She sat me down in the recliner and brought me a long neck. I knew damned well that she didn't approve of firewater, even though I didn't know how she knew about it. Obviously they had something similar but I'd never seen any of it back then. Still I wondered why she was bringing me a beer.

"Bill need relax, work hard today," she said, when she saw my look of surprise.

"Yes. Bill tired," Nancy and Helen agreed.

What the hell, Bill relaxed, and when I had to consciously release the tension in the muscles at the back of my neck, I knew they were right on the money.

Louise actually brought me another beer after the first one was finished and she wouldn't let me turn it down. When it was done they took me to the bedroom, undressed me and put me to bed without letting me get anything started. They kept saying I needed to rest, so I did.

As normal as of late, I woke with the sunrise and so did the girls. They got first crack at the bathroom but when they let me have a turn I told them not to cook anything. After I was dressed we hopped in the truck and headed for Daingerfield to find a cafe for breakfast. They decided they liked scrambled eggs and sausage.

We went right back to the camper after eating and Louise made Mr Coffee do its thing. At eight AM I took a chance and called Milton's number and he answered right away.

After the pleasantries that I already knew I couldn't get out of I began detailing the things that he'd need to pay today and that would be coming up shortly. That's when the first snag came up with him.

He tried to ease into it but it boiled down to his alarm at how fast I was spending a lot of money. I wanted to tell him to shove it but decided to try setting him straight before going to the bother of moving my money.

"Milton, I fully intend to spend at least five of the six million dollars in the next two weeks. I had it deposited in your bank because I already had an account there.

"I realized that you probably couldn't give me the kind of service I needed, but I was willing to let you have a chance. You just used up your last one.

"If you don't want to handle this business, without butting in, let me know and I'll move the money today. You're my banker, not my financial advisor," I said, and then shut my mouth.

Talk about a change in attitude, Milton had a conversion right before my ears. He was getting wound up to apologize but I wouldn't let him get it going.

"Don't bother with apologizing. I'm not mad, but I have things to do and even more things to buy. I won't be disposing of all the money. Before I have to travel again there will still be at least half a million, and it will just sit in the checking account. You should be able to come out with that, and don't be afraid to charge me a reasonable amount for your help. Just do what I ask and we'll all make money," I said.

He didn't give me any more static after that and he was very attentive while I explained what I needed out of him today.

A call to Carl in Woodville was next. He was happy to send a man to Lone Star with my pickup and he said he had one that could stay until it was done. I had him rent the guy a car to use while he was up here because there damned sure wasn't a motel or hotel worth shit in either Lone Star or Daingerfield. Mt Pleasant was the closest place he could get anything decent and I knew it.

After that was settled I gave Bruce a call and he said that everything was going fine. He'd hired Jack Parsons to help with the job and he had already spoken to Milton. In fact, his and Jack's welding trucks were already mine and they had their money.

I didn't have time to let him thank me, so when he tried to get started I asked him about the steel. He'd placed the orders at T&N and they said they could start loading trucks tomorrow. I told him I'd get the trucking company moving and give them his phone number. He said he could let them know exactly who to call to get the details.

My next call was Julia at Schneider. The prepayment must have done its job because all she wanted was for me to tell her was where and when. She said that the empties should be arriving at my drop yard sometime this morning since they'd had some at their Houston yard and the rest in Dallas getting empty. Julia told me she'd called the yard and spoken with one of my employees there to let them know the trailers were on the way.

I wondered how in the hell Carl had gotten a phone connected so quickly and next I wondered how Julia knew the number. I hadn't even asked Carl about it when I talked to him since I hadn't dreamed he'd be set up there so quickly. That could wait though.

"Julia, do you have flatbed service?" I asked.

"Yes, we've just started a flatbed division," she said.

"Great."

I gave her Bruce's number and told her that we would need several trucks right away and that the freight would need to be dropped at the yard too. She didn't give me any shit at all about that and even offered me a slight discount on the demurrage. Seems that they really had just started the flatbed division and that the trailers they'd ordered had begun arriving much more quickly than new drivers had. They had trailers sitting around apparently.

The last thing we discussed was tarps. I told her that all loads would need full tarps and they had to be in place and photographed before the bills were released. I also would have the tarping job inspected before they were allowed to drop the trailers and that any adjustments required would have to be done.

This was not an uncommon requirement, except for the part about dropping the trailers with the tarps still on the load. Skateboard haulers were notorious for skipping the tarping job if they could get their bills without doing it, then they usually just hoped it didn't rain on the load or that it wouldn't show later if it did.

Hell, independents would even untarp after they were made to tarp and then tarp again just before they delivered, all to save wear and tear on tarps that they had to furnish out of their own pocket. At least that wasn't going to be a problem in this case since Schneider was furnishing the tarps.

If the loads were tarped when they left and the drivers knew they weren't going to have to take them off when they arrived they damned sure wouldn't try to save the company money by untarping for the trip and retarping before they delivered.

It was coming around to lunchtime when I got off the phone with Julia, so I gathered the girls up and we headed back to the same cafe. We had burgers and fries and my little harem all thought they were grand. We were off to Longview after that, because I wanted to see John Nathan.

Forty-five minutes later we pulled up into the lot at John and Scotty's tire shop and garage. I was impressed that Scotty had already put up a new sign and even given John top billing. I was also impressed that the lot was full of cars and pickups. John was the first one I saw when I walked into one of the shop doors.

"Bill, how the hell are ya," John said, as if we were long time friends.

"Doing good, John, and how 'bout you. Looks like ya got plenty of business, today anyway," I said.

"Thank God this is a slow one. We stay covered completely up almost every day. Course that makes it profitable," he said.

"I just got back yesterday and noticed that you hadn't stayed with the terms of our agreement," I said, trying to look stern.

"What do you mean, Bill? I paid the whole note off already," he said.

"That's what I mean, you didn't deduct for that Barrett, the ammunition, or that scope I didn't even realize came with it until I started wanting to shoot it," I said.

"It just didn't feel right, Bill. I knew you didn't really want that thing and I felt bad about springing it on ya. We're coining money here and even though it was a little of a squeeze, Carrol and I decided that we couldn't take advantage of you like that," he said.

"I'm not gonna argue with you about it John. If you don't show me the invoices for all that and let me give you a check I'm gonna have the bank put it all back in your account and tell them not to take anymore from you," I said.

"Carrol told me you'd probably try something like that, right after she dug it out of me how much I paid for that whole mess," he said.

"Well I'm going to tell you something that you can't tell anyone but Carrol. That Barrett has already saved my life twice since I got it. I'd be dead if you hadn't come by that night to sell it, and I'm not going to let you give it to me. I wouldn't sell it back to you now for a hundred thousand.

"I don't have time to rassle it out right now, but I'm going to put Milton on your case and he'll make you take it all back if you don't show him the invoices and let him write you a check," I said.

"Aw all right, I'll get Carrol to take 'em down there tomorrow. I can't afford to get crossways with Milton either. Scotty and me are doing so well we're fixing to open another place across town, and Milton's doing the financing for us," he said.