Chapter 150: The Business Takes a Small Step Forward

Friday, April 29, 2005 (Continued)

We all headed for the Guys' Room, joining Donna and The Boys. Prof made Dad a big, strong whiskey.

Dad asked, "Are you going to join me, Prof?"

"I've got to make an important phone call for Mark's business soon so I want to keep my wits about me. If you let me borrow Mark, we could do that now, then come back and join you?"

"Sure."

Vanessa said, "I need to be involved too, so if you'll excuse me too."

Julia said, "Can I listen in too please?"

Carol also stirred, and looked interested. Probably waiting to hear what answer Julia received.

Prof said, "I think we'd better keep the numbers to a minimum. I don't want to be distracted, and no one else should talk with me during this call anyway."

"Okay," conceded Julia. Carol gave up too.

Prof, Vanessa and I walked down the hall to Prof's study, where Prof made the call.

It took quite a while, because Prof had to work his way up the hierarchy, until he got to "The Man": Ted Binion.

Prof described what he wanted to do (to condense it: "I desperately need a million, but only have a hundred thou. I'll bet half of what I have left on a single roulette number until I win a million or have nothing left. Will you take that action, the way your advertising says?"), and Ted immediately agreed. [I couldn't hear, but Prof later told me Ted had said, "Sure, we're happy to." They were VERY anticlimactic words for such a hugely important deal for us.]

There were some details Prof wanted to discuss. For example, Prof told Ted that he wanted to use a false name because anonymity was an issue. Prof didn't mind Ted knowing his real name, but he wanted the number of people who knew it kept to a minimum.

Apparently Ted explained something to do with the number of people who had to know, but Prof waved it off, saying, "Whatever you need to do is fine with me, but I don't want my real name getting out in public. I also want to wear a hat and glasses at the time."

There was some back and forth about Prof's wanting to wear a disguise, which Prof settled with, "I want to be confidential IN PUBLIC. In private is not an issue. If you want me to go into a private room and remove my disguise, then that's fine. My only concern is publicity. It would cause me a great deal of difficulty with my family if this got out, whether I win or lose. I've read stories about people who have come to your casino like I have to, and it seems their real names are used in those stories. I know you need to know my real name, but I want to use a fake name in any publicity you do about this afterward, with all your floor staff, and everywhere else my real name isn't essential. Is that all right?" It was.

Prof checked that he could turn up to play Tuesday late afternoon or early evening. That was okay too.

Getting the hundred thousand dollars down to Vegas was discussed and resolved. Prof would wire it, Ted would transfer Prof to the person who could provide the details at the end of the call.

I heard Prof turn down the offer of a limousine from the airport. Pity, as I would've enjoyed a ride in a limo, like I was an important person, or something.

Ted explained where Prof should go when he arrived at the casino, and the next thing I knew, Prof was saying "Thanks, see you Tuesday." Moments later Prof was frantically shushing me, then writing down the account details for where he had to wire the money.

Then he hung up and said, "NOW you can celebrate, but this room isn't soundproof so be careful what you say."

My premature celebrating, the subsequent shushing, and the volume restriction, kind of spoiled the moment. I was much more restrained on my second attempt, but still smiled from ear to ear.

Prof said, "Don't whoop it up in front of your family. This is supposed to be a business, and businesses are boring. Follow my lead, okay?"

The call had taken about thirty minutes, and we were all conscious of that, so we quickly headed back to the Guys' Room, me in the rear, following their lead.

In the Guys' Room, Prof immediately said, "Sorry we took so long. Business calls can be a drag. It went well though."

Julia excitedly exclaimed, "It DID?"

In a monotone voice I droned, "Sure. I'll tell you more about it later." Which is what we always say when we mean "Not in front of these people."

Julia answered, "Oh. Good."

Carol was puzzled by the subdued reaction to a call that "went well", so she asked, "We're going to get the mansion?"

Vanessa answered, "We are one step closer to it. There are several more steps yet, but we're getting closer."

"Oh. Good, I guess."

"Yes, it is good, sweetie. Businesses don't succeed overnight, so you shouldn't expect a miracle. Just a succession of small, forward steps."

"Okay."

Prof said, "There are a couple of details I need to mention to you. The first is that I'll need Mark on Tuesday next week, for virtually the whole day and into the evening probably. He'll have to skip school, so we can fly down to Los Angeles."

Mom checked, "LA?"

"Yes. There's a bit of traveling around once we're there, but we start in LA. It'll just be Mark and me going, and I hope that's okay with you?"

"Sure. Are you going to tell us what you'll be doing there?"

"Just boring paperwork, actually. Setting up a bank account, mail service, and things like that. But my answer to your real question, is that if you want to know what Mark's business is, then you should ask Mark."

Mom looked at me, and before she could bother, I shook my head, saying, "Sorry Mom. If it succeeds, you'll get to spend the profits afterward. I think that'll be 'compensation' enough, haha. Seriously, this is one of those 'the fewer people who know the better' situations." With Mom's attitude to gambling, ESPECIALLY in this case!

Prof said, "Tuesday will be the first trip. There will probably be others after that on. I hope so anyway. We won't know about the timing for those until after Tuesday's visit. We'll also need your and Mark's investments transferred into my account on Monday morning. In the morning and as cleared funds, because I need to wire it out on Monday afternoon."

"All of it?"

That was only $5,000 from Mom and Dad, but I knew Mom was thinking of the $50,000. To make it easier on her, and without saying the actual amounts in front of Donna, I said, "90% of it is mine, Mom, and I'm perfectly happy to transfer my share over. It is needed, exactly as Prof said."

"Oh, okay then. Monday morning?"

Prof answered, "Yes please." They discussed some of the technical banking details. That's even more boring than business normally is, so I'll leave that out.

#4: <You realize that Prof could wander off with our money? Not so much the $50,000, but the $10 million if and when we win it, as it's going through his account in LA. In fact, he might be setting up the account in LA specifically for that reason.>

#2: <That's a silly thought. First he doesn't need an account in LA for that, as the casino will be paying him after he wins, whether by cash, check or wiring it to any account he wants. Second, why would he steal $10 million from us, when we'd earn it for him if he asked us nicely? Binion's might not let us keep taking them to the cleaners, but we could work out some other way of using our abilities. Third, even if he does steal from us, "So what!" We could replace it sooner or later. The need for the mansion reduces greatly if the Williamses run away with our money! Fourth... , >

#4: <I give up. It was a silly thought. It was a MOMENTARY thought. I just spurted it out when it occurred to me. I take it back.>

#2: <Good. I'll finish my last point though. Fourth, I trust Prof and the others. I REALLY can't imagine they'd steal from us. They're not that sort of people. I'm damned sure they'd lose their daughter over it, if they were so stupidly greedy. But, somehow, I can't picture them as "stupidly greedy" people.>

#4: <You're right. I'll go back to looking at Carol's breasts.>

#2: <Good choice. You're not as dumb as I thought, haha.>

Prof said, "I think I'll have that whiskey now. To celebrate our small step forward."

Dad - who sounded and looked like he'd had a few while we were on the phone - said, "I'll join you."

Mom gave him a look. Actually, "The Look."

Dad argued with The Look, something no man in his right mind would normally ever do, "You did see what I went through upstairs, didn't you? Let's see how you do when it's your turn for something like that. It's a Friday night, Fely, I can sleep in tomorrow morning, and I'm going to have one - or even two - more with Prof. I'm not badly stressed, but there's no reason not to unwind either. Unwinding would be good."

"I'm sorry. Upstairs was extreme, wasn't it?"

"If I hadn't seen that Mark was in charge of them, I would have shit myself." He was serious too.

Prof interrupted, "Do you want something soft, Felicity? Or a glass of wine? You could have something heavier if you want, because Mark can drive you home."

"I'll have a glass of white wine please."

"Me too," agreed Vanessa.

I said, "I'll have the hard stuff too: Ginger Ale on the rocks please, bartender! I feel like celebrating."

A couple of minutes later, Andrew said, "I'm intrigued by what had Steven so scared he would've shit himself. Any chance of getting an explanation?"

Vanessa said, "You can ask Mark. It's up to him."

Andrew looked at me. I answered, "I'm almost tempted to give you a DEMONSTRATION, but you're wearing nice pants."

The parents laughed.

Andrew guessed, "I don't think I'd enjoy that, would I?"

Prof said, "I'd probably have to send Robert out for more whiskey, haha."

I said, "Let me show you something else though. Pull a hair out of your head, and put a couple of knots in it so you know it's unique and so you can recognize it easily."

I'd shown "Hide the Hair" to Mom and Dad in their bedroom to relieve the tension after telling Mom off the first time for her police station tirade, but no one else had seen it, so I got everyone who was interested - which turned out to be everyone - to gather around.

A couple of minutes later they were telling each other how impressed they were by my speed (at transferring the hair from my left to my right hands). They were even more impressed when I transferred it from my right hand to under my left shoe.

Julia and Carol very quickly worked out what I was doing, because they'd seen me flying things around many times, such as getting rid of old and fetching new rubbers. Prof was right behind them in realizing how I was doing it, closely followed by Vanessa. The Boys and Donna were stumped, much to their frustration. The Boys were particularly annoyed by their inability to work it out, especially when it was obvious that their parents knew how I was doing it. The Boys were extra frustrated because they didn't know that their parents had the advantage of prior knowledge about my NP ability.

Donna also wanted very much to know how I was doing it, and she's not the most patient of people, so she didn't appreciate my, "I'm sorry Donna. A good magician doesn't divulge his tricks."

"Argh!"

Donna's lack of self-control wasn't something I was going to pander to these days, so I ignored her frustration. Because Andrew had suffered the rejection of having his inquiry about what had happened upstairs turned down, not to mention the pain of pulling a hair out of his head, I gave him the pleasure of discovering the hair tucked into Carol's bra.

Andrew's no dummy. After retrieving it, and holding it up to look at carefully to confirm it was the right hair, he said, "Would anyone believe me if I said it wasn't the right hair, and that I should keep searching Carol's bra?"

We all believed he was amusingly hopeful, but nothing else.

Robert said, "This would be a good thing to do next time Sophia or Ashley are around. It'd also give us another chance to see if we can work out how the heck Mark's doing it!"

Which reminded me of something I'd forgotten (which are the best things to be reminded of). I said, "Dad, remember this morning you said I'd be a good stage magician, and I told you I'd remind you of it?"

"Yeah."

"Imagine what I could do with what I showed you upstairs."

I don't know what ideas they each had, but there was lots of laughing, then pausing to imagine something else, then more laughing. Even several minutes later, one of the parents would suddenly burst out laughing, then apologize by saying, "Sorry, I just thought of something else for Mark's magic act."

We chatted a while long, then my parents decided it was time for them to head home.

Carol said, "Is it okay if I stay the night here please?"

Carol was asking just as a formality, but got permission easier than she expected when Dad emphatically said, "I am NOT going to say 'No' to Mark about that! Who knows what he'd dream up to do to me. Haha. Here're the keys Fely. Have fun kids. Come on Donna."

At the point of departure, Dad shook my hand, saying, "That was VERY impressive, Mark. Of course you know that already, but I don't mind telling you again. I can't say I enjoyed it - I did NOT enjoy it, that's for sure! - but it was one hell of an experience. I'm ALMOST glad I was on the receiving end. Very well done. Amazing AND smart."

Dad slapped me on the back in congratulations, then made his way to the car. Whiskey must loosen his tongue. He'll talk about "things" happily, but he's not normally so loquacious about feelings.

Mom repeated her assurance that she'd try to do better.

Donna tried, "I wish I knew what everyone is talking about?" but she didn't suddenly receive the answers she wanted, so she had to get into the car too.

As soon as the front door was closed Julia asked, "Money making on Tuesday?"

"The first visit, yes. One point seven five should be doable on Tuesday, I hope. We're getting a shot at it anyway." I was choosing my words carefully, as The Boys were around somewhere.

"Let's go upstairs to celebrate!"

"EXCELLENT idea!"

The three of us ran upstairs.

It was too early to be counting 1.75 million chickens before they crossed the bridge, but we didn't let that diminish our celebrating. And if you think Carol's period excluded her from participating, you underestimate the imaginations and motivations of three sex-crazed teenagers.

Even after we'd wound down somewhat, it was still too early to go to sleep. Julia said, "Good, I need to tell you about my conversation with Chloe."

Despite my just having a considerable amount of very enjoyable sex, I was still VERY interested in hearing about Chloe (guys are very consistent people). "Goody. I've been looking forward to hearing about this. We're getting close, aren't we?"

"Yes WE are. My guess is you'll have Chloe in this bed on Wednesday or Thursday next week."

"Oh, that long. I thought it'd be sooner than that."

"You poor guy. I almost feel sorry for you, haha. We could do it much faster, even tomorrow if we wanted, but delaying bedding her for a few more days will work out better. Let me explain what happened when I talked to her, because it didn't go as I expected."