Chapter 27

There wasn't a damned reason for me to jump off I-20 and head south on the industrial loop. Something made me though. Well, I don't guess it really made me, but I got a hell of an urge to do it, and not half a mile down the loop I spotted DARR equipment and had to pull in.

Hadn't I just been pissing and moaning about the way modern man had torn up the Big Thicket, seems like I remember something about it. That didn't cut no ice now though, cause into DARR I pulled.

With the damn near depression around here from the steel mill's recent condition I was nearly trampled by suede shoe operators coming out to pray that I wanted to buy something. I made them flip coins to weed them down to one.

Lone Star Steel's recent demise, as a buying entity anyway, had surely put a hurtin' on their asses, but it wasn't all the bad news. There was a hell of a slump in the timber persuasion right about now too. These fellows had inventory to share. What the hell, I had money to spend.

Whoever was doing the paying had let me know that I needed something here by urging me in off the highway, but hadn't given me a hint about what. Fuck it, I'd just buy things and leave it up to them to let me know if I wasn't going to need them.

A rubber tired loader seemed like the first and handiest thing I could have, and I told the coin toss winner to mark me down for a 930C as a small one and a 988B for more serious work. I ordered a ten yard replaceable tooth digging-bucket installed on the big loader and had him bundle a fifteen yard loading-bucket in the deal - for the hell of it I had him add a set of forks with a timber clamp to the list too.

Next on the agenda, I spoke for a D6 and a D10 dozer, and two 535C log skidders, plus the biggest tracked knuckle boom loader he had and the biggest track hoe, then I added a smaller track hoe just for luck, and a normal tractor with a loading bucket and backhoe.

I could somehow tell by feel that I wasn't done yet though, so I picked out one of the largest mini track-hoes; they're tracked but with a tiny bucket and not much larger than a big riding lawnmower. As soon as I got it out I knew that wasn't enough. Thank God they didn't have a motor grader because I couldn't run one.

Finally I spied some Articulated Trucks with large dump beds and spoke for a 725 and a 740, but still no joy. I could nearly feel that there was something else here I needed to buy, but I couldn't think of what it was, until I glanced toward a little group of pines growing on their tiny lawn, near the showroom's entrance.

"I need a damned saw head and wheeled tractor to put it on and I don't see any," I said.

He was happy to settle my hash on that and he led me around the building to show me three different sizes, I bought them all and finally felt like I had enough. It made me wonder if I'd just kept buying stuff I didn't need until I discovered what they wanted me to have. This was one hell of a lot of equipment for one man to have and I couldn't see teaching Sky to run any of it.

Spending more time on the how much to pay battle this time, I was determined to make them slice on the price. Just because I had plenty of money didn't mean I had to be generous. I was making a hell of a purchase here in not very damned much time. My buddies helped me out again, but not in the way you'd think.

When the first figure was run up the pole to see if I'd salute, it was two million six hundred and fifty thousand and some change. Two million one hundred thousand popped into my head and I knew that was what I was going to pay, so I told them.

"I don't have all day to fuck around. If you want to sell it I'll call my banker and have him wire you two million one hundred thousand. If you don't want it, say so, and I'll go on to Dallas where I was headed in the first place," I said.

Of course this was a salesman and he thought he knew just how to handle me, so he started explaining why that just wasn't possible. I did my bit by getting up and walking out. He followed, talking the whole time, but I didn't pay him any attention.

Sure, it would have been a lot different if I thought I couldn't live without the stuff, and if I didn't realize that whoever was guiding me knew the price DARR would accept. I didn't even have any worries, and I was starting to enjoy this.

"All right, we'll take it," he said, before I got out of the building.

I gave him Milton's number for the money and Julia's for the trucks and told him that the whole deal was off if they couldn't get it loaded within forty-eight hours of the trucks showing up. The sale was also contingent on a crew to get it all unloaded and reassembled within forty-eight hours of its arrival on my site.

That might not sound like such a big deal, why should it take so long to load and unload trucks; just drive the equipment on or off the trailers.

That works fine for the small stuff, but not all of that equipment could ride fully assembled. For instance, that big rubber tired loader had to have its wheels removed and put onto a different trailer. They were an oversize load on their own. No matter, he agreed and took off to call Milton and Julia I guess.

As I drove off I started to wonder what in the hell I was going to need with all that crap, excuse me, with all that fine equipment. I sure as hell didn't think I needed to start logging and I didn't have any feeling at all about buying a sawmill, yet.

All the way back to Lone Star I worried and fretted about it, until I passed the small batch plant the sand and gravel place from Atlanta had put up over here to service the mill. It had a mighty big for sale sign on it and I got a powerful urge to pull in and buy it.

It was a complete setup to mix concrete, down to and including three mixer trucks, two front-end loaders, three sizes of gravel and two kinds of sand. It even had a pretty nice portable office and, of course, a truck scale. There was more than a little bit of the sand and gravel on hand and poking around I even found a warehouse for bag cement, mortar mix, and no telling what else. No one was there though, so I wrote down the phone number.

My morning was shot to hell by now, so I went to the cafe and had a meal by myself. It wasn't nearly as enjoyable as eating with the girls, and I decided that I missed them. After finishing I drove over to Bruce's shop and he let me use his office to call about the batch plant.

This was easier than I'd expected. It didn't take long to get hold of the head man when I said I had money and wanted the plant. I asked what he wanted and he asked me what I'd pay, and how quick I could get the financing arranged.

Two hundred and thirty-five thousand popped into my head, so I told him and said he could have the funds in an hour by bank wire. He rattled off his account number so fast I had to grab a pen and have him repeat it. He thanked me for the business, said his lawyer would have the paperwork ready next week, and we hung up. I'd just picked up the phone again to call Julia to get it moved when "Don't bother" came into my head. Fine with me.

Bruce, Jack, and Randy were all assholes and elbows when I walked back out into the shop. I didn't bother them since I didn't really need anything, but I sat down in a chair near the coffee pot and then got back up to pour myself a cup. Randy took a break a few minutes later, and came over for some of his own.

"How's it going Randy?" I asked, and knew as soon as I did that he and Marilyn and their horses would be going back with me.

It wasn't an announcement in my head or anything like that. I just knew it all of a sudden.

"Hell, this is the best job I've had in a long time," he said.

"Want a better one?" I asked.

"If there is a better one I might take it after this is over. Would the working conditions be about the same?" he asked.

"Would you believe me if I told you that they were probably a hundred time better?"

"Not a fuckin' chance. I mean, they might be that much better, but I wouldn't believe you if you told me that," he said.

"How does not a cop in five thousand miles sound , and all the land in the world for Marilyn and her horses?"

"You do talk a good show," he said, laughing.

"She'd have to ride herd on a few more horses though, and a few cows if she can stand 'em. You'd probably have to build most of the fences too," I said.

"She's been asking about a damned milch cow as a matter of fact. Could she have one or two?"

"She can have fifty if she wants 'em. Can I come over and explain in the next day or two.

"Sure, I'll go call her right now," he said.

"Be sure to tell her the job requires moving, but that the housing will be furnished," I said.

He was back in ten minutes and said Marilyn was anxious to hear about it. I asked if we could go now, and he said he'd need to ask Bruce. I told him I'd speak to Bruce, and then went over to clue him in.

We left ten minutes later and it was a half-hour drive to Randy's house. I wondered how crazy it was going to sound to them but what the hell; Carroll and John had taken it in stride.

All in all it went well, but not right at first. When I first spilled the beans I thought it had broken both their jaws since they fell open so wide. Finally Marilyn got herself together.

"That's a tough tale to take, Bill. You'll understand if I'm a little suspicious," she said.

"I'd think you were nuts if you weren't. All I can tell you is that if I'm full of it, you'll waste a little time and end up with a lot of things that have to go somewhere. You'll also be doing a lot of spending in the nest week and a half. You'll need to buy a lot of things before we leave," I said.