Chapter 30

Now that all of our manpower was freed up on the reservations, we could almost keep up. Construction had been a bitch. Even with all the people called back home who had construction or technical expertise, it had been a close thing to get the first plants up and running in a year. The people who had been in the auto industry were a huge help. As it was, much of the assembly was still done manually. It would be six months before the last of the automation was fully operational.

We should have known better. The same lesson had been learned at Hazard with the computer production. Two years hadn't been sufficient to create the manufacturing capacity we needed even with all the automation. We were still barely able to keep up with the orders.

While the advances we had made in building and manufacturing techniques were substantial, they weren't enough. It was time to slow down on expansion and stabilize production.

We needed more manpower, too. That was the initial reason the shelters were started. Many homeless weren't that way by choice. There were many who had no alternative. We intended to give them one. Each of these were opened close to one of the clinics and health care was provided for anyone who needed it but special attention was paid to those who were found that might fit in. Sometimes this was an individual and other times it was an entire family. An offer was presented to those who qualified and relocation was provided if they accepted.

Our old friend Marjorie, who had helped us so much with Tina and Faith, was hired to oversee and organize a group of women's shelters, also. A place to live and a new start were greatly appreciated by many.

Only one new project would begin this year but it was immense. We had no choice but to begin now because it would take many years to complete. It was also the reason so much land had been purchased on the border. The biggest problem was getting rid of the dirt.

1978

The State football team was in what they call a "rebuilding year", meaning that they graduated almost half of their starters from the year before. They had finished 10-1 but were on probation and couldn't't play in a bowl game. People expected a lot worse this year.

Winning the first three didn't raise too many eyebrows but when we beat Penn State 41-7, people were taking notice. We won the championship by beating them again in the Sugar Bowl 21-3. The first national championship in school history was in the books.

I'd like to say that the baseball season went the same, but it wasn't to be. Rhonda, Pete, Jeff, and I had pretty good years but the team just wasn't that great. We managed to make the tournament but lost in the second round.

During the season, the UAW once again tried to get the auto plants to unionize. This time they started out with an ad campaign accusing us of being anti-union. This was easily quashed by inviting all three networks inside to interview any employee that wanted to talk to them so they could ask the people directly. They were also told that they could do a follow-up on anyone to insure that no action was taken against any employee for any reason.

With (as yet) unheard of benefits like family leave, education, and free health plans, the matching 401K, and vehicles at cost pretty much sealed the union's fate. All that was on top of the housing and other services provided. The most common response was "we'd be crazy to unionize. We've got better pay and benefits than everybody else. Why screw it up?" It helped that our employees trusted us much more than any outsider. The unemployment and poverty had been declining at an astronomical rate since we showed up.

Our production woes were overcome during the year and manpower was shifted to both the border and the Mojave Space Center. We had some ships to build and a space-based dry dock to plan.

1979

Rhonda gave birth to Amanda (Mandy) on January 20th, 1979 and with her professors' cooperation, never missed an assignment. Mandy started talking six months later and her first words were "this sucks, I've pissed all over myself again. Can I grow up now?" We went over the same territory with her as I had with Angel. She wasn't pleased, but understood the reasoning behind it. Talk about strange though, talking to (and getting answers from) a six month old like they were an adult would never seem normal to me.

Brian and Brianna launched their first project at the Mojave space center. We contracted with the government to launch and place satellites. While we were up there, we placed a few of our own. They were listed as communication units, and did that quite well. We didn't mention the defense and surveillance capabilities we were using for ourselves.

Every mission looked like a standard rocket launch. This was managed using noise and holograms. The actual ship was quiet and looked nothing at all like people perceived. There was quite a bit of extra payload that was placed on the moon surface each time. The re-entry of the ship was never noticed. Shooting stars happened all the time. There was still only one ship capable of doing this but we were still hard at work constructing more.

Like all of our other projects, this was intended to produce revenue. Part of our own satellites were for cell phones. Adam designed the handset while Angie and Angel designed the communications package. The result was a hand-held GSM phone that didn't need towers and could make calls worldwide.

Since the FCC was so slow to approve bandwidth, it would be marketed in Europe, Canada, Japan, and Central America first to force their hand. Public pressure should do the trick. We didn't fall prey to the disastrous problems that befell a large communication company that once attempted this, either. The phone was a sleek looking clamshell device with a walkie-talkie feature built in.

There was one other small item that wouldn't be known about the system. Each handset had a GPS locator installed and the satellites would be able to pinpoint each unit. The satellite would also be listening to conversations and filtering out the ones we wanted to pay attention to. We all thought Bush the second had the right idea but didn't go far enough. Hopefully, a private company wouldn't be suspected of surveillance activities.

We could have increased our auto production by a large amount in 1979 but passed. The Chrysler bailout went on as before. We considered either a partnership or an outright buyout but it just wasn't worth the headaches. First of all, we would have been stuck with the unions who were a major contributing factor to the problem they had. The other deciding factor was that we would've had to remodel all of their outdated plants. This time, I thought the government was just flushing taxpayer money down the toilet.

Before, the problem was competition from imports. This time, it was a domestic company who was at the root of the problem (us). None of us wanted to see all those people lose their jobs, however, so we made an offer to help. In exchange for stock we would share our manufacturing design and techniques for engines, frames, and body panels. We would eventually end up with 28% of their stock and have a new market for our raw materials. It took them six months, but they took the offer.

Another momentous event was upon us. The Iranian hostage crisis that helped taint Jimmy carter's presidency. We finally decided that it would be too difficult to maintain low profile in a confrontational approach and went for sneaky. Starting at midnight on November 3rd, 1979 we stealthily evacuated the embassy compound and flew all personnel back to the states.

We went in disguised as a special ops unit and convinced the Ambassador they should leave. When we explained what was going to happen the following day, he was quick to agree. George and Gene were the last ones out. They had left a little present behind. Five minutes after the doors were broken in the next morning the buildings imploded, killing 135 overzealous kidnappers.

Carter tried to play the reluctant hero by not publicly denying anything. He got condemnation from the Arab world and kudos at home, at least for a while. We hadn't intended to give the administration any credit at all. The people we had evacuated were told that we were a private mercenary group hired by a wealthy philanthropist. The evacuees were a bit confused when we dropped them off at an abandoned Air National Guard station and left.

It didn't help Jimmy much when that word leaked out. After that, people thought he'd been trying to take credit for something he hadn't had a part of. He lost the election by an even larger percentage and we got a benefit we hadn't counted on. Another embargo from OPEC boosted car sales by 32%.

We tied for the national championship in football for the 1979 season. In baseball, we fared even worse than last year, losing in the first round. There's not really much to say about the academic life, other than it was pretty boring.

1980

I finished work on my masters in the second year of college and had trouble justifying staying any longer. Because of the "three years out of high school" NFL draft rule I decided to add another degree to go with International Law and chose Psychology. I had minored in it before and always found it interesting.

There was a bit more action in the winter of 1980. I just could not stand by and let John Lennon be shot again, so I just happened to be walking by the Dakota at 10:45 PM when Chapman started to pull the .38 out. He had no idea I was behind him. I reached around and grabbed his wrist, preventing him from raising it and squeezed as hard as I could.

I heard (and felt) the bones snap before hearing the shot. I guess he must have already had his finger on the trigger. The asshole dropped the gun and collapsed. Yoko started screaming and it sounded almost as bad as her singing. John ignored her and rushed over. He had turned when Chapman had yelled to him and seen the whole thing.

The crud was moaning and bleeding profusely from a leg wound. I chatted with John a while until his wife calmed a bit. I told them I would rather not have my name mentioned but did tell him who I was and gave him the number, simply explaining that I enjoyed his music and was glad he was OK before walking away. I had never cared for his politics but musically, I thought he was a genius. Hel, I thought Cat Stevens had gone nuts when he converted to Islam but I still liked his music, too.

The morning headlines were different this time. Mark David Chapman had died from blood loss due to a gunshot wound to the femoral artery on the way to the hospital. The mysterious hero wasn't identified.

Kathy greeted me with a hug. At first she had been totally against my plan but finally realized it was something I had to do myself. She and Connie had been waiting across the street in the park, just in case. We were home by two AM, or at least Kathy and I were. Connie had to head in the other direction.

The phone rang at seven and Al was on the other end. His first words were "it was you, wasn't it?"

I admitted that it was and told him how it had gone down the first time. "Why didn't you stick around?" he asked. "Do you have any idea how big a hero that would make you?"

I sighed "yeah, but that wasn't why I did it. Besides, how would I explain flying to New York Monday evening, doing what I did, and being on time for a noon class on Tuesday? Even if you leave out the time difficulties, why was I there? Too many questions I don't want to answer, bro." He got my point but was pleased that at least I had told John who I was.

I almost felt sorry for Herschel Walker and Georgia in 1980. Without Carl and me, they would have been undefeated and national champions. Instead, it was us who beat Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. Instead of 17-10, it was 34-3. It was also our last year in college.

1981

I lucked out in the draft. Perhaps it was because I had told Jackie (who was acting as my agent) that there were certain teams that we would only sign a one year deal with if drafted.

Miami traded up and got the Jet's third pick. I went behind George Rogers (Saints) and Lawrence Taylor (Giants). I had considered trying to get drafted by New York but I didn't think Parcells would appreciate my sense of humor. I didn't really like living in large cities, either. I never did like being crowded. Carl went at number seven to Tampa Bay. One major clause in my contract involved baseball. It stipulated that I could play both.

If a game was played in both sports on the same day at the same (or close to) time I would play football. That is, unless the conflicting game was a playoff game or had playoff impact. In that case, that sport would be played.

Griese was gone, and we were stuck with Woodley and Strock. We ended up losing to Cincinnati in the AFC championship game 10-7. I was starting to make an impression though. Coach Shula had me moving around a lot on defense and it was fun.

I was having a blast playing and it showed. I was always smiling and still the clown. The mouthpieces Angel designed for me were a big hit. I had a few to choose from. There were gap tooth, fangs, gums, and hillbilly. I also played on offense as an extra tight end on third down.

I was actually kind of depressed though. We always made sure that whenever any of my wives visited, Connie was always there. Now she could make it only infrequently. I wasn't the only one who had been "drafted". Connie was uniquely talented and had been recruited by several agencies. She had degrees in Criminology and Criminal Psychology, as well as mastery of four languages.

She had picked up Spanish and French in high school and added Arabic along with Mandarin in college. That, along with her martial arts abilities and intelligence made her very attractive to the FBI and CIA. She didn't hesitate to choose the FBI. They investigated bank robberies and she was still carrying a grudge. They never caught the robbers who killed her father and she wanted to be sure that it didn't happen to anyone else.

The beginning of my rookie year with the Rangers started off a bit rocky. I made the team with no problem and got along great with Don Zimmer, the new manager. He seemed to appreciate my work ethic as much as my talent. What he didn't seem to appreciate was me asking to take a few days off at the end of the spring, but before the start of the season.

We had quite an argument about it and I think that this more than anything else, convinced him it was extremely important to me. I was not the type to cause him any problems and here I was right in his face.

Finally, I told him "look skip, I'll only be gone from March 28th through the 31st. We don't even start the season until April 9th so it's not like I'll be missing much." In the end, he let me go. Reagan would probably be happy about that if he knew. I'm sure Jim Brady would be.

So that's how I just happened to be standing next to a nut named John Hinckley outside the Hilton in Washington D.C. on March 30th when he pulled that crappy .22 out to take aim at the President. I had not only remembered his picture but where he had been standing. He was easy to spot in the crowd.

As soon as the pistol appeared, I knocked it out of his hand with a downward chop of my left hand and backhanded him across the face with the right. I must have hit him harder than I thought because he was down and out before the pistol hit the sidewalk.

Just as quickly, I was buried under three secret service agents. They almost had the cuffs on before the people who had seen the action filled them in on what actually happened. I had to put up with a lengthy debriefing and patiently explained that I was in town for business and stopped to see the president leave the hotel.

During this interview I found out there was justice in the world. Hinckley's head had smacked the sidewalk pretty hard and he seemed to have severe brain damage. I had trouble keeping a straight face when that little bit of information was related to me. I couldn't help thinking that it was a good thing this wasn't twenty years later. I would have probably been sued immediately.

I tried but was unable to keep the media from getting hold of the story. It was a useless effort since the whole thing had been caught on film. That meant another interview and I played it as self-deprecating as possible, stating the old standby "I just did what anyone else would have done."

My life story still ended up in every news outlet I saw for the next month. I was also invited to the White House to meet with President Reagan the next day. I made a call to Zim and that proved to be easy to arrange as he was a big Reagan fan.

Personally, I wasn't the first time around but had to admit he was a better leader than a lot that came before and after him. I met him in the Oval Office with just him, Nancy, and two of the agents who had been present (if you didn't count the inevitable camera crew).

He shook my hand and I drew that out long enough to deal with his Alzheimer's issues. I would have done what I had anyway but this man could be a valuable ally in the future. A great many people thought very highly of him. Hopefully the idiotic (and useless) gun control legislation that followed this incident previously would never happen now.

I hoped he was as sincere as he sounded when he told me that if I ever needed anything, I should call him. Perhaps he was, because he gave me the direct number for his personal secretary at the same time.

I had known Reagan was popular but I never realized just how much people liked him. I had gained some minor attention during my rookie football season but when I was announced on opening day at Yankee Stadium the place went nuts.

What amazed me the most is that when I cranked out a long 3 run homer on my first at bat, the Yankee fans cheered! I pitched game 2 of our three game sweep and the cheers faded away quickly. Not that I was booed or anything but no Yankee crowd was going to cheer someone throwing a perfect game against their team in his first major league start.

I finished my first series with a win on the mound and went 10-12 with four home runs, a triple, two doubles, and five singles. It was a nice beginning for the season. The ending wasn't so bad either. We won the series 4 games to 2 against the Dodgers. I finished with 53 home runs, an average of .478, and went 24-1 on the mound.

1982

In my brief off time between football and spring training I got a call from South Dakota. The plant manager told me that the tribal leaders had requested a meeting with me at my earliest convenience. I was on my way in an hour and arrived in two. Without the leaders support, the automotive division would fall apart. They had been instrumental in its success.

I met them in a large conference hall that hadn't been here on my last visit. They quickly alleviated my concerns by greeting me warmly almost as if I were a member of the tribe myself. It seemed an odd group to me. There were almost a hundred people there and hardly any of them were older than I was. I had always been under the impression that the leader was usually one of the elders.