Chapter 21

Wednesday was almost a non-event. I was still not ready to participate much in school life. Jamie invited me over to his home but I had to refuse. Mr Grissom gave me some pamphlets and even some phone numbers to try, but because Barry was now twenty, getting him educational help it was not going to be easy. There was no such thing as an adult education centre anywhere that I knew of other than at a college or university.

Ian though was coming around enough that I was able to introduce him to Janice Higgins. "My sister Susan has a birthday on the 28. The 26th is a Saturday. We are having a surprise party in her honour. Both of you are now being invited to attend. I'm warning you that you will regret not showing up if you miss it. The party is going to be special."

Sam and Gloria's relationship had cooled a bit but they were still together. At least they were not as shy now. I also asked them to attend.

I only had three classes with Jamie and decided to invite him to the party. He was quite excited about it and said he would attend if possible. I didn't feel the same thing for Alice for some reason.

At lunch, I phoned to find out what I could about educational possibilities for Barry. None of the answers looked very promising.

When school was over I found Alice ready to walk home. We had just got off the school property when James pulled up and said, "Hello, would you to like a ride."

Alice said, "No."

I didn't like her reply and I also knew that James wanted to talk. "Sure Uncle James." I turned to Alice and said, "He's already here, we may as well take advantage of it."

"Well, ok then."

We talked of inconsequential minutia until we dropped Alice off. She said, "Will you come in for a while?"

"I have too many things to do. I'm sorry Alice."

She gave me her sour/angry look and went in. James said, "She is one weird young lady."

"Yes she is. Now what is so important that you came to get me?"

I got a big smile and James said, "We are ready to close the deal on Central Automotive."

"How much?"

"He's in trouble. We got him to accept a hundred and twenty five. Twenty five of that is for the owner and a hundred thousand in debts we have to assume. The deal includes a large storage area with cars reserved for parts or for repair and resale. This may represent five to ten thousand dollars in value. The business was recently sold and there are no long-term employees to worry about. Mr Curtis, the present owner, wants to know how much you are offering him to stay?"

"Tell him we will be audits of the books monthly. He gets a three-month temporary contract. He gets paid eighty dollars a week salary. That means he has to put in his regular hours. I will put him on our corporate bonus plan but that is set at corporate headquarters and changes from time to time."

I continued, "We still have to check the books. He may be far more in debt than he stated. Do you think we can keep the sale quiet? We can claim that it will hurt the business if people think it is under new management."

James was not looking at me and actually blushing. "Out with it James. What is it?"

"I hired a good accountant. He went over the tax records and all the books. They were not kept up well but they are accurate. There are some small adjustments for taxes, water, hydro and fuel oil bills that have to be made."

"James, you keep amazing me. You are doing extremely well. How good is this accountant?"

"Pretty good, even though he's young. I know experience counts but he is hungry."

"I'll pay his bill today but offer him the same pay you are getting for future work. He will be in on the bonus plan too. He can do much of the easy stuff without calling up someone more specialised in corporate matters. Now what is keeping Mr Curtis quiet?"

"With the explanation about lost sales it should work. I'll talk to the accountant about your offer. I even think he will take it."

We were by now at my house and I said, "Let's go for a drive. I want to see the building from far off then drive up the road I mentioned yesterday."

We drove into the commercial park and went by all the properties I wanted to purchase. I was happy to see a notice posted on the gate of the paint warehouse stating the order to have the building demolished.

James said with a smile, "That went up today. Mr Mason was the one that talked to the fire marshal."

We drove by the plumbing supply business and I said, "James, will you turn around. I want to go to the plumbing shop. I need some things."

We both went inside. The clerk was quick to come forward to help.

He looked at James but I was the one that spoke first, "Hi, I need four, three quarter galvanised street elbows and four flanges with a three quarter threaded hole in them. The kind used to support the pipe as it goes through the floor."

The clerk didn't recognise what I meant. I said, "A young man is in a wheelchair. I want to mount two sturdy flanges on the bathroom wall and put a street elbow into each of them. A short length of pipe connects both elbows and I have an instant handgrip."

"Sorry, we don't have anything like that. The ones we have are not threaded and are just clearance holes."

"Can we go with one inch parts and a three quarter flange. Perhaps a plumber can tap the hole for me."

"Hold on a minute." The man got the flange and the street elbow and saw that there was enough material and it was sturdy and made of steel instead of cast iron.

"Let me see how much it will cost. You want four?"

"Yes."

He walked to the back they came out with an older man. Again I had to explain what I wanted and why.

"A dollar and a half for the four," the old man said.

"A buck and I get to watch."

The old man just looked at me and nodded his head. All four of us went into the back and the man drilled out the hole to make it the right size with a drill press then tapped the four holes by hand. When he was done I said, "I need two holes in each that have to be countersunk." The man just looked at me and did what I asked.

"There you go Sonny."

"Thank you sir." I handed him a two dollar bill and added, "For doing a good job. Are you interested in one more? It isn't plumbing but it means that you go to a house and bolt these to the studs in the bathroom then cut the pipe to the proper length and thread the ends. Not much chance of it leaking I think."

"Five bucks plus materials."

"You are an old robber. The job is worth three but an old coot like you needs to eat. You get five for the job and you take some fine sandpaper and make sure there is nothing to cut the young man's hands if he slips. You further have to get the young man to show you where it is needed."

"Old coot, eh?"

"From my perspective, everybody over twenty is an old coot. You are just a bit further along."

He smiled now and said, "You got a deal you young whippersnapper."

I gave the man a five dollar bill. "I am sorry but I need a receipt for the materials and labour. The government is going to kill me in taxes."

Both men laughed at this thinking it was a great joke. I paid for the materials and gave the address of the home. I even used the phone to call Jena to tell her of the plumber's arrival.

Before we left, I walked the aisles looking at what was currently for sale. There was some copper pipe but the majority was still galvanized black iron for water. When natural gas ever came this far the regular black pipe would be used. There were some compression fittings for the copper but the selection was limited. By 2008 all soldered connections even with lead free compounds was banned. Only compression fittings were allowed unless it was on a waste pipe.

I had drawn up the ball valve and patented it seven different ways. The fixtures here were all with washers. There were some supplies for plumbers that allowed them to install things not carried by Canadian Tire. The selection, though, was again minimal. I remembered walking down the aisles of Home Depot and seeing all the plumbing fixtures and here there wasn't even a stainless steel sink. There were no fibreglass shower enclosures or even hot tubs. The claw foot cast iron tub came in two sizes and most were the standard small size. The baked on porcelain coated sheet metal tub was not here either.

James and I trampled through a field covered in snow. He brought out a pair of binoculars and I looked at the shop and grounds. There were a lot of wrecks but some of them could be customer's cars waiting for repair.

"I see a new industry worth millions but it will cost millions to get it going."

"What is it?"

"Bathroom and kitchen fixtures. I had an idea a few weeks ago to make Camden Wood Products very busy and profitable. It does tie in with the rest now that I think of it."

"What will Camden do?"

"I know how to make a plastic counter top that looks and feels like granite. They were going to make this product and install it on very expensive cabinetry. The rich can now find a way of spending more money on their homes. Eventually they will come down to the point that even a real estate broker can afford it but it will take quite a while to pay for."

"Why would I buy it if it is that expensive?"

"Looks great, resists stains, stands up to hot pots and is strong. Women will be demanding this mainly but the kitchen will be just one more place for people to assemble. It won't be just a room to work in but a room to enjoy."

"I like it already and I haven't even seen it. Now what about Central Automotive?"

"They don't have what I want in their junk pile. Maybe we will have to find some in Toronto."

"What?"

"We take a luxury car and stretch the body so many more passengers fit in it. This makes it a real limousine. It may be too costly to cut up a new cars but perhaps two wrecks would work. One supplies the front end while the other supplies the rear. All you need is an extra set of doors if you want them."

"Who buys that? The rich?"

"Yes, the rich or those wanting to pretend to be rich. A young male on graduation night might rent one with a chauffeur to take his date to the prom and then out afterwards. It would be quite impressive and a comfortable way to travel. Think of the all that room along with a small fridge, bar and a television."

James said, "I know what you want with the lumber company and the only thing left is the plastics company."

"They make the sinks made out of the same material as the counter tops. They also make some of the basic counter tops for sale without the cabinetry. My first project though is for two small plastic spools that hold magnetic tape in a small plastic box. Now you know everything I am going to produce for sale."

"So the rest is for residential purposes and for your experiments?"

"That's it. The crusher may be used if I need a lot of concrete to build. It can also be used to break up quartz or other rock for some of my other projects. I figure if my first group of companies are going to sell to the public then it may be a good idea to make lots of my own products. I win both ways then."

Maggie and Susan swept the house for bugs one more time. I offered ten dollars for each additional bug they found. I followed the wires into the basement and located individual transmitters hidden in the ducts or in hard to see places. My searching turned up six units so I figured that Susan and Maggie were going to make money. Two of the units were actually receivers as well. So they must not be fed by wires but by radio waves.

I had a reason to smile again. Many devices used the household electric wires for other purposes. An intercom worked on it but with the sixty hertz power was just filtered out. There were in my day a lot of control circuits that used the hundred and ten volts and put the signals into the same wires that fed it. A device somewhere else in the house could then be controlled. I don't think spying was that sophisticated yet.

Paige, Jennifer, and Jane came down to find more transmitters but for all I knew they may be in the attic too. An outlet was not the only way to tap power.

It had snowed again but there were still tracks in the back yard that I had not noticed before. One set was from a young person or from a woman. The garage had another transmitter and the bug. When Susan and Maggie came running with smiles I gave the detector to the other group and had them turn up the radio upstairs. The music would get to the transmitters and the power was much easier to detect.

I hurried upstairs and inspected the television and radio but found nothing inside. A thumb print by the opening to the attic was enough for me to brave the insulation and look. There were three of them. One was over each of the bedrooms. Their power was taken from some clips that punctured the insulation on the house wiring.

The total so far was ten units. To me they were cheap units but in actual fact they were current technology. The cost of each was over what the average man would make in three to four weeks. Ten units made this thirty to forty weeks. Each unit had to have another receiver nearby and a tape recorder. They may possibly have voice-activated equipment in this year but I was not sure. Otherwise the sheer man-hours to monitor the conversation would add up to a very expensive operation.

The people that could afford this were governments, companies bent on finding out what I knew, but my guess was possibly someone out to get me personally. The only one I could think of that may want this was Goldbalm.

He had the money, he was curious enough and now that he was coming to trial he may want to find a back door to his defence. If he could blackmail me then I could be forced to destroy the crown attorney's case. Not only would he save a heavy fine but also what would happen to his name when the case was dropped.

None of the bugs had been deactivated except the one on the phone. That particular one could be looked at as a fluke. I was toying with the idea of deactivating the one in the garage and wait to see who comes to fix it. I could not monitor the garage twenty-four hours a day for weeks nor could I apprehend the person that came.

We went back to acting like we were. I taught, cajoled and joked. A written note told everybody what I was planning and what we had to do. In an hour it would be time for bed and I felt exposed with all the microphones around me.

I was barely civil at school. My focus was on making a better bug detector. I could put more amplifications stages in but it was not sensitive enough in wide areas. I could detect only certain frequencies and I needed something better than a short wave receiver. Ten bands plus AM and FM were not nearly enough. The units I saw were probably military in origin and different units could transmit in different frequencies.

Working from the other guys perspective I saw how cumbersome this set up was. The job of ten transmitters could be done with one if it switched from one to the other very quickly. This was no good for data but very good for simple voice. For the rest of the day I would be smiling. I just remembered that Bell phone didn't have this yet and when they did it would save them from continuing to lay new trunk lines, at least until these were overloaded.

I ignored my problems and worked on a circuit that would do just as I was thinking. It would give a tenth of a second to each caller and when the signal got to the other end nine exact copies would be added to it and the human ear would not hear anything different.

At the end of the day I had the telephone circuit done in rough form but not my improved bug catcher.

I saw James' car just as I got out of the school. I pointed to my right and stabbed my finger three times. He nodded and left. I didn't need any aggravation from Alice. In a few moments I heard James' car and got in.

"Hello Mr Congdon. We have some good news for you."

"Hello James. What do you have?"

"The owner of Central Auto will accept your conditions. All we need is the signature of an officer of the corporation."

"I am not feeling as smart as I should be. Do you know where Mr Mason is?"

"He should be at his office."

In moments the three of us met. After shaking hands and congratulating them on doing such a good job I said, "The board of governors has voted unanimously to have you take your proper place as officers of North American Development Incorporation."

Both men were a little stunned by this. I added, "The pay for sitting and running the corporation is very minimal. As I get more people that I trust, I can let go those that are just sitting in for pay. I don't know whether I should move the corporate office here or leave it in Toronto."

James smiled and said, "I never sat on the board of any corporation before. I don't know what to do."

Mr Mason said, "I'm afraid I'm in the same boat."

"I will have to make out a quick guide for you. Since you have been verbally informed then you can proceed with the sale. James, I want you to hide that you are on the board. I'll need you in certain events otherwise I want to keep your involvement hidden as much as possible. Too many people from this city, being on the board, will tell others that the company is really run from this city. With all the talking I have done, the ownership might get traced back to me."

Mason asked, "What are we going to do about the sale? It needs to be completed and the funds transferred."

"Well you can sign now. The account is not even set up at the local Bank of Commerce. Too bad they are closed for the day. I should have started a corporate account days ago, instead but I was too preoccupied with the bugs in my home. Set up the account tomorrow with provision for unnamed others to sign on later. I'll phone Mr Holtzman from here. I still can't trust my phone. He can work through Sebastian Forsyth, one of the vice presidents, to put some money into the account with a telephone call. I can't see the local manager objecting to this."

I paused to think then added, "I screwed myself. I could have just presented the document I got for the line of credit to this branch. Then I could draw as needed. Then again, if I did that then the manager would know my name. This would be far more than a juicy bit of gossip and he would not keep the secret for long even with threats from the head office."

Mason said, "I see your point. Perhaps this Sebastian Forsyth can just set up the account in Toronto and we can draw money from there."

"That may be best. This way the local manager doesn't know how much money is pouring into the city and can't alert his friends."

I was lucky that John was in his office. Since his name was on the line of credit, he too could manage it. He would set up the account and call tomorrow when it was done. A hundred thousand dollars would be transferred this time. It would pay off Mr Curtis and we would assume the debt for the remainder. The rest of the money would be spent on salaries for the auto business and as deposit monies for purchases.