Chapter 36

Jack was remanded for ten days in jail. We went down to see him but I did not go in just yet. Paige came out crying because her father was not better yet. I began to suspect something rotten and then consider what I could do to monitor the man. Nora confirmed my suspicions when she said, "Jack isn't getting better. In fact he still looks like he's on a drunk."

I took my suspicions to Mr Tatum the Crown Attorney. After we shook hands, he said, "What can I do for you Mr Congdon? How is your suit against the shrink coming along?"

"I have to wait my turn but I got in an injunction to keep him from disposing of his property. The man is very wealthy but I don't know if he's going to survive to make it to a civil case."

"Really? Any facts of just feelings?"

"Just feelings I guess. I came on another matter. As you must know, Paige's father had some problems that are exacerbated by alcohol. He's in detention awaiting a hearing but he still appears drunk. There is a screen between the prisoner and his visitors. His wife can smell alcohol. This contraband can be purchased in jail but he has no money. My feeling is that somebody is trying to harm me by keeping Jack from treatment."

"That's serious. Do you know who brings this to him?"

"I have my suspicions. I managed for somebody to take a peek at the list of visitors and he only has his family and the lawyer I'm trying to get him to use. I do not think it likely that those three will do this. That means somebody in the police department or in the Department of Corrections."

"Why would they do this?"

"As I said, to hurt me. I want Jack back on his own feet. To do that he needs to dry out and go through the withdrawal symptoms. This was not a casual drunk. I think he can be adequately treated if he gets a chance."

"I'll see what I can do but I rely on the police."

"Perhaps we can get him transferred to a new location. I'm afraid bail is out of the question."

Three days later, Jack was still drunk so I had my lawyers talk to the judge and get Jack moved. His hearing was postponed for another two weeks and I hoped this was enough.

Purely plutonic relationships did not work well. Paige and I went back to being man and wife with both of us worrying about our future together. Nora was supportive but she too was having her problems.

When Jack did dry out I went to visit but he was still angry at me but not nearly so much. I think by the end of the visit he had calmed down a bit more. It was a week until Jack had to have his hearing and I did what I could to keep any of North Bay's finest from coming near. Jack would not tell us who give him the alcohol.

Nora said to him from one side of the screen, "Jennifer was welcomed into our family like a daughter." Jack lowered his head in shame. "She's a good girl. Do you remember why she came to us?"

Jack did not answer. Nora said, "That answers my question, doesn't it? The man has no interest in you. He wants to lash out because his sex toy was taken from him. He found you and used you to hurt your own daughter."

Jack still did not deny any of this and I hoped guilt and shame would make him do the right thing later.

Jack could finally communicate with his lawyer adequately and the judge wanted a pre-trial report. This involved a court appointed psychiatrist.

A court date brought Jack to see the magistrate but his case was remanded. Nora had gone on crying jags that got less as her friends came over to comfort her. Her home was cleaned and painted quickly but she did not want to live there alone. Paige had her own bouts of crying and I did my best to comfort her.

I thought of finishing school many times. My time was pulled so many ways. My research wanted to take all of my life. Controlling and nurturing my empire wanted to do the same. My private life was never long enough. Hectic times were not bad, they were just me pitting myself against the world. As long I was not stomped on too badly, I felt like I was coming out ahead.

The singers and the band were doing extremely well. Through Sam's efforts and their talent they were beginning to command audiences similar to what Elvis gathered.

When the school year ended, I wanted Jamie, Maggie and Paige to join the singers for the summer. Jamie wanted to go but wanted to stay with me. All three were celebrities at school. The music class was very popular. Not only vocal but instrumental was a hot subject to take. All three not only took music in school, they had private tutors that I provided. In their free time they were planning or preparing for musicals.

Jack's trial came and I had two psychologists present their findings. Since NADI was not after blood, Jack's sentencing was put off for another month for more tests. This meant Jack would be released but have to take part in therapy and tests or go back to jail.

Jack's employer would hold the job for him but Jack was unable to go back to work. This may not happen for up to six months but the possibility was that this would be longer.

Jack had to stay with Nora and Nora was staying in the big house with us. Jack eagerly accepted this because it would get him out of jail.

It was a trying time for all of us. Jack was still not stable and Nora had her work cut out for her.

Jack said to me, "I'm sorry for how I acted. Paige is sixteen and she's getting to be old enough to make up her own mind."

"I accept your apology, Dad. I know you had problems but I was too busy to notice them or thinking of Paige. I have an apology to ask of you. I'm sorry Dad."

Jack's face was serious then he reached out and hugged me. He said, "We're lucky we have good women to put us back together."

It did not get back to normal though. Jack yelled and screamed but he did not hit Nora. Nora weathered the storm and held her husband until he calmed down. I did not interfere but Nora always needed her own support later.

Jack had to have something to do so he and Nora made furniture. Oddly the first piece they turned out was a cradle. They both gave it to Paige but I knew it was for us.

Paige thanked them and then said, "I hope it's strong. My side of the family does not have big feet."

Since she was looking at me I said, "You know what they say about big feet?"

Paige and Nora blushed and Jack had his first smile. We celebrated by going out to eat.

When the end of June came near, Paige, Jamie and Maggie prepared to meet up with the band. By now even I was amazed at how popular they had become. It was not all my music either because once it started, the audiences demanded more. They were all making money, hand over fist.

I introduced the cassette tape recorder now even though we had less than a million units. The Japanese were making them now and I had to get our brand out there first.

The band were shown in various commercials using my units and to tell the truth, it was Jamie that I think was looked at the most. When they had a break between cities, commercials were made to hit the local audiences.

Sam was selling the tapes but so far they had not taken off but this would take months. I had hoped that the laser I made would have gained the notoriety that it had the first time through. This time Sam and I pushed hard to make sure the public learned of our product.

The music was all Sam's and mine so far but he had made some deals with his fellow promoters to flog their artists and their work. The record companies had threatened lawsuits but the old contracts had nothing in them about recording on tape.

I missed Paige the minute she stepped on the plane but this was important for both of us. Two weeks later I found one then another girl trying to get close. Alice Henderson was still a recent memory. A substitute for Jamie tried too.

Edgar investigated all of them. People were spying on me all the time and as the number of patents grew so did the interest in me. So far eleven employees had been fired for being too interested in my notes that were said to be off limits.

Espionage and counter espionage were talked about openly at the meetings of the engineers. Two engineers that were caught red handed dealing with people from other companies were being prosecuted and I was going to do my best to blacklist them even if they got jail time. This I mentioned. I did not appear to be a fifteen year-old boy now but somebody that was going to be taken quite literally.

My LCD screen worked but were very expensive. The work that went into these were phenomenal and I had to patent them quickly. Other companies were working hard to beat me to the punch. I knew that the patents would be challenged and I had an extensive legal staff ready to defend me.

The family phoned at least every other day and they talked to not only me but Jack and Nora too. I was not the only one phoned because the gangs' friends and teachers also got calls.

The local newspaper got press releases so everybody could find out just how well the gang was doing.

Tape recorders and cassettes started to take off as people with some disposable income made in the summer decided to splurge.

The research teams came up with seven segment LEDs in watches and clock radios. Calculators were different in that they had pixels that formed the display. The Japanese bought this from me but I got major portions of their stock. At the same time, I bought land in downtown Tokyo to rent out.

Another Oriental incursion was made into North America. I cleared ground for a dojo that was very reminiscent of what was available in Japan. At the same time I opened my first Mandarin restaurant. Like most of my projects I built big. The restaurant just happened to be near where most of the people were working. A similar restaurant was being constructed in Toronto to let the rest of the world know about us.

Rumours started to circulate more openly that I owned all of NADI. Many spies knew of this for a long time. All it took was to check the papers that were filed. It was just that few of the locals knew of this.

John phoned me and I pushed the button that encrypted the call. His voice came through alright but it was not as good as it was before.

"Jeff, AT&T wants to buy the complete rights to your toy."

I was excited but I could hear the same excitement in his voice. "How much are you going to stiff them for?"

"Fifteen," he waited a few seconds. This was double the last offer but we could get more. He then said, "Each."

Now I was excited and said, "You putting in the pool?"

"What?"

"The gold lined pool!"

"I'd love too but I'd come home one night and find a dirty wet hole in the ground."

"What about the other stipulation?"

"The connections?"

"That's right. We need them."

"That was chicken feed but they looked at it like a trap."

"It might be."

"I know. Anyway they went for it. All of our companies that we own or have an interest in can connect electrically. All our people can do the same thing."

This was maybe the crack we needed. John and I talked a lot more as we gave some money back to the phone company as we talked. I asked, "When and where do we sign?"

"Five days in New York unless you have problems with that?"

"No, that's fine. I've to go and see the Angels and the North Birds at one of their concerts. That will be the next Friday.

I had to fly to New York and sign the papers with John. Corinne was with us and I took Nora and Jack too. They had to know what was happening but I hid behind CanAm Industries of the United States and NADI.

Thirty million bucks was a lot of money in 1961. Many banks did not make that kind of money. It was big news and I had reporters around us all the time. They bothered all of us and especially Jack.

Later that day, Jack tried hard to control himself. Nora had given him the medication she carried and he was relaxing. He said, "I don't know how you did it but you actually made thirty million dollars?"

"I made very little Dad. The corporation owns the patents. The corporation sold the rights."

"What did you get out of it?"

"My pay cheque."

"Is that all?"

"The corporation did the work on the invention. I just gave the idea. In fact my original invention was improved so much that there was nothing left of it." Jack did not seem to understand. "I made a crude device. The engineers worked on it for thirteen hours and hardly anything was left. In the next few weeks they removed any of the remainder. They did a lot better job. I'm just an inventor. I might have done the same thing given time but I don't have the education and experience that team of men had."

"You still only got a pay cheque?"

"Dad, I'm in pig heaven. I get my money but I use the corporation's money to play with. You don't understand how good that is. It's like playing Monopoly with real money." I did not want to mention the house in case that upset him.

I would have liked Jack and Nora to go to the party tonight but they would be out of their depth. They had Corrine and Al. Gregory was going to be our driver in the limo I made for John.

The party was fun but John and I had to perform. That meant I had to do the most. Adults did not take me seriously but that was common. It didn't matter what the newspapers and the magazine articles said.

With these people, I could not hide behind the corporate name. They knew who owned the corporations and had for a long time. They did want to know what direction I was going but this was very valuable information. The money was going to come out of my pocket too.

Mr Leopold showed up and we shook hands like old friends. In a way he was. He had earned his million dollars and made me a lot more.

He said in front of other businessmen, "I hear you sold your tape recorder to the Japanese. They're making your watches and even your calculator. I should have realised the gold mine you were offering us last summer."

He had got back to me after the meeting where I first met the man. He and his friends picked up on the diapers and the feminine pads. "You didn't do so bad. I'm a kid and it's hard for a person over eighteen to realise some things."

He laughed loudly and said, "I forgot. Those are the old folks you talked about. Will you tell me about your billion dollar idea now?"

I had to think about this. The effort needed some good computers but they were beginning to be transistorised. I made good ICs and small microprocessors. This project also required the telephone companies to cooperate. The banks may not like this because of their conservative attitude.

After a long pause I said, "I need to spend the money I just made to make a presentation."

"Thirty million for a presentation? This I would like to see."

"Mr Holtzman has half of that money for trusting me and flogging what I thought of. He would have something to say about that."

John said, "If you want it, use it. I could use a portion of a billion dollars."

"That's the trouble, billions per year can be made but we won't get any. Others have to make it and it's going to be the banks and the individual merchants. The phone company are not going to make lots but they will certainly gain by it."

Now I had everybody after me and I had to tell them I needed to make some more toys to prove my point. Mr Leopold and some of the businessmen in the room were anxious to help me along with some of their money.

John knew about the credit cards and in fact we had waited to play this skit. Mr Leopold had been the one that opened the door for us.

We already had the electrical engineers making ICs for us and devising processors but ours were very simple. I knew very little about computers and had to rely on pointing others in the right direction.

Talk in the car was dangerous even though it was swept and Gregory had stayed in it so we talked about less important business and hinted at what had to happen to make a few measly billion a year.

The next day I gave interviews and agreed to do an online interview on national television. It was a business related show and it was a good way to get people interested. I had done three of these shows so far but they had been on radio and over the phone.

Nora said, "You going to be on TV?"

"Not like Paige. The people watching will be the business people. Hardly anybody will watch."

"But it's still TV!"

She was too worked up and I was worried about Jack. "Sure but we're trying to get a licence to transmit in the Bay. When I get that, we put up an antenna and make our own shows. I told you about 'Tiny Talent Time' and some of the other shows."

Nora did not respond so I said to Jack, "Did you ever watch one of those shows that were strictly about business?"

It took a moment then he said, "Only for a minute to find out what it was."

"The show I'm going to be on is as boring to most people as that kind."

Later that day, I was contacted by the producer. He wanted me to sign a contract but I made up my own that listed his paragraphs by number and put in my own demands. I wanted the questions ahead of time and I did not want any other questions asked.

We had to stay for three more days and we went through two dry runs before we went before the cameras. Corrine had been on my lap for the first time but it was too boring for her.

I had the opportunity to promote some of my products while talking about the deal with AT&T. I tried to be subtle in my approach but still zing those that were not ready to help when I asked.

John saw the show and said, "You did fairly well considering your age and television experience."

"You mean I won't be asked to star in Star Wars?"

"Not unless you produce it yourself. You still did very well."

Corrine said, "I think you were good too."

I squatted and hugged the girl. "Thank you Sweetie. I could still be Luke Skywalker and you can be my Princess." I got a smile for that. Then I added, "Grampie will be the Wookie."

Corrine growled with her mouth wide like I showed her before. John seemed to just take the abuse in stride.

We toured the city and the next day we went to see the gang in Macon Georgia. John did not want to come unless we flew business class and I agreed, it was a lot nicer. I was greeted by name by complete strangers. My photograph was in many papers recently as well as on the cover of some magazines.

The business people on the plane wanted to talk to me and this more or less shunned Nora and Jack. Jack was mentioned as my business partner along with John and he was soon brought into the conversations.

The Concorde had made it's maiden flight in the late sixties or early seventies. It was not allowed over the United States because of the power of the local aircraft companies. I would not mind the plane to just get wherever I was going quicker.

If I had some specialised knowledge, I'd use it to build something like the rocket/ramjet plane that had nearing completion in 2008. It could cross the Pacific in two hours by attaining a near orbital flight path. The principles were already well known but it would take a lot of money and time for me to ever see this.

I had reserved some hotel rooms in the same hotel as the band. We checked in and went immediately to the hall were the band was playing. There was no trouble getting through the gate though there were a lot of groupies waiting.

The band stopped and my family rushed to see us. There was a lot of hugs and kisses and I saw that Nora and Jack got their share. When the greetings died down, Maggie said, "I see you got in the papers again. Quite a tidy piece of cash you got."

"You know how it goes out as fast as it comes in."

"Yes, I remember. I don't even get a chance to spend my own money. It goes into your war chest."