Chapter 16

Monday morning, I had my three guys begin on one of Gene's oldest tractors. The beast had been sitting for over a year in anticipation of junking it. They stripped it and worked on the motor and chassis. The motor and transmission were completely rebuilt by the mechanic and Abe's crew, and the chroming of the entire thing proceeded. I didn't tell them not to do it, so they did it on their own. By the third day, the body was on and the interior was almost done. We put on new tires and completely rebuilt all of the air systems. The interior now looked like new, including the gauge package the mechanic had chosen. It was hard to believe it was the same truck. Shawna and Hank had painted the truck using Gene's cars and his wins as the theme. It really looked good. I hope it performed as well as it looked.

The mechanic drove it over to Gene's while I followed in the pickup. It was Thursday, and late to be leaving for the races, but he said he had a trailer leaving late because he had to take an additional car up to the races.

One of his crew chiefs would be driving the truck, and he said my new creation better make it; he was on a deadline. I told him to call if there was any problem.

My crew was fidgeting and pacing, waiting to hear from the crew chief that he had made it. Finally, Friday afternoon Gene called to tell me the crew chief had fallen in love with the truck, saying he was going to use it as his personal ride around town. Gene told me that he didn't have the fuel economy numbers yet, but the rebuilding part was definitely cheaper than buying new tractors. "Go get that other piece of junk I have out back so I can clean up the yard. Make this one for the truck team. That group needs a shot in the arm."

We went after the last truck, to find it in about the same shape as the one we had just completed. Sitting in the yard was the trailer they hauled the two race trucks in. I told Gene's shop superintendent what I was going to do, and he let me steal the trailer for a couple of days.

Back at the shop, I had the crew tear into the tractor while I had Hank and Shawna do research and paint the trailer, keeping in mind that the tractor would be in front of it. This time, the whole trailer was painted in red with the two truck numbers featured on each side. The numbers had pictures of the trucks as background for the numbers. They also listed all the race wins in cloud balloons, with graphics of the tracks where the wins had occurred. The name of the racing team was prominently displayed across the bottom of the trailer so that it was the first thing to be seen.

The tractor crew finished the truck in record time and had everything completed by Tuesday morning. We drove the finished truck and trailer into Gene's yard and spotted it where the trailer had been parked before.

While we were parking, one of Gene's men had seen the trailer come in and had alerted the entire shop. Every one of the employees, including Gene, came out back to see the newly painted trailer and truck. Gene was a little miffed that we had stolen his trailer for some unauthorized work, but was instantly happier when I said the trailer was a bonus for trusting us to create the tractors for him.

He said he would pay us from the fuel savings, as he was averaging almost four miles to the gallon better with these old trucks than his new ones. He asked if we did new trucks too. Of course we did. So Gene said, "Let's convert the three other tractors to your new body. Do one a week until you're done. I'll spread the word. You'll have a hundred orders by this time next week. Think you can handle it?"

The new department was created. They took over the section of the new building between the super lift rebuild shop and the fiberglass shop. We would need more mechanics for the rebuilding and more coachmen to build out the cabs and sleepers. Drew became the natural leader for this group, and he kept modifying the body slightly to gain less wind resistance and more useable space in the sleeper. Jeff was great; he never complained of the constant minor changes. He just modified his molds and kept coming up with ways to make the body stronger.

I now had most of the numbers for Tiny to figure out what we were going to finally charge for a rebuild and body. We needed to separate costs for the two, since some people would not want any mechanical work done. It was going to be more expensive to integrate existing gauges and cab equipment than to replace it with our own design, so that needed to be taken into consideration. The end result was that a body change, using our gauge package, would be right at eight grand, and for the body change, using existing cab equipment, right at ten. If we rebuilt the chassis and dressed it out the way we had been, including paint, it would run nineteen thousand. That was a lot better than the hundred plus thousand a new one would cost. Tiny assured me this would make us a great profit.

Gene thought the price was too cheap, but he said he would let me find out in time.

Gene asked if we were going into the truck repair business. I said that the idea had not occurred to me, but it was always possible.

While all this was happening, our visit with Dewey and Sheila was fun, as they blended into our group easily. Merlin and Missy were being wined and dined by Ben and Beth until even Merlin was overwhelmed. Sue and Mercy were spending a little of every day with Mercy's folks, so it gave everyone a chance to be relaxed with each other. Mercy was slowly convincing her parents that she was happy staying with Sue and me. Ben and Beth were a little dizzy over us having a spare babe around the house, but Mercy kept saying she was going to be the perfect nanny.

On a humorous note, every time that Ben or Beth would say something about the three of us living together, Sue didn't make a fuss. Sue would look sternly at either of them and say, "So, you think my relationship is strange, you've never heard of other relationships being a little off the wall?" Their lips would then be zipped.

Merlin had made several contacts locally and had arranged for shows in Tampa and at Disney during the coming year. He was anxious to bring some of his troupe to entertain here.

When Merlin and Missy felt they should return home, Dewey and Sheila said it was also time for them to get back up to the islands. Sue told them she could take off whenever they wanted but Dewey said, "I believe my plane is not busy this weekend, so I think we'll fly back Friday if that's good with Merlin and Missy."

We were going to miss having our friends around. Dewey made us promise that we would come up for their wedding which they were now planning for the fall. We promised to fly straight into the little airstrip on the island as soon as they beckoned.

Our last night together, Merlin and Missy were subdued, realizing their little girl had grown up. Ben and Beth were equally subdued; they had enjoyed having crazy Merlin and Missy around the house. We partied, but without a lot to drink. Dewey was only drinking beer with me, and very little liquor anymore. He said he wanted to make sure his body stayed in shape for his young wife. She was a month younger than Dewey.

Dewey's plane came into Tampa International and parked, waiting for the two couples, early Friday morning. There were lots of hugs and kisses, as well as moist eyes.

Just like the snap of a finger, they were gone.

Mercy felt she could contribute more to Sue's work than to the S&S shop, so the two of them became daily work partners, as well as evening partners at home.

One evening in early September, Sue was sitting on my lap saying, "I can't button my pants anymore. My stomach is getting too big. I've watched my diet, I've exercised regularly, and have behaved myself with my cravings. I'd kill for a beer, a pickle, and a pint of Ben and Jerry's."

Sue was sitting with her arm around me saying, "Are you going to love me when I'm big with our son?"

"Silly question, little girl. You know there is another change that I'm sure you've noticed. Instead of your chest blowing up even bigger, your breasts have actually lost the hard puffiness that made them look like balloons. They are looking more and more like big boobs. The one constant though is the size of your nipples, although they seem to be turning darker."

"Will you be upset if I don't have big ones anymore?" Sue asked, hefting her breasts in her palms.

"Not in the least," I said kissing and hugging her. "It's you, my love that I'm in love with, not your tits. I grant you they are fun to play with, and wonderful to lay my head against, but the person with them is who I'm in love with."

All of our friends had been listening to our conversation, and some offered suggestions, like, "Get a room. Take it inside. Are you gonna fool around now?" Sue just said, looking straight at Shawna, "I think that our son is going to have a playmate, or perhaps more than one playmate."

Shawna said, "I hope being pregnant isn't going to screw up productivity."

"What'd you say?" Charlie sat up and asked.

"Well, I'm at least two months, almost three and I've had to watch all those fumes," Shawna said.

Charlie stood up exclaiming, "Is that why you haven't been drinking beer? And I thought that for a while there you just didn't want to go up to the tub. No wonder. My little redheaded biker bitch is going to be a mommy. Wow, that means I'm gonna be a dad."

Shawna was looking at Debbie and Hank, who were both sitting with red faces. Shawna said, "So, when are you getting married, cuz? That kid you're working on needs married parents, and you know what? You two are going to have to get a bigger place. That little trailer is nice and cute, but you're going to need more room."

Hank asked, "How did you know? We haven't told anyone."

Shawna laughed and said, "Look at her puffy smile, and the way her little boobs have suddenly begun to grow. We're going to have some babies around here soon."

Hanna stood up and grabbed Jim's hand, "Come on slacker, let's go make a baby, or at least practice until I can get off the pill for a month or so."

Betty and Joan said that they were going to wait a little longer, as they were having too much fun with their jobs to start a family.

Sue said that both companies were going to have to work out nursery care. She was sure that several of the women had little ones, so she would get started on it right away.

Sue made the observation that she had more room and would have even more when the expansion was built behind her plant. She would need to work on the space planning.

Sue had finished her instrument rating and was itching to take a trip somewhere to use her new knowledge. She asked me if we could take a couple of days and go up to Anchorage to see John, and perhaps stop in to see Dewey and Sheila. I was all for it, looking forward to a couple of days in the air. Mercy asked if we could stop in San Francisco for an evening so she could say hi to her mom and dad.

So just like that, an adventure with my pregnant wife and the proposed nanny was set. Sue asked among our group to see if anyone wanted to come along, but everyone seemed to be content to stay right there in Tampa.

Sue made her flight plan to arrive in Alaska in three reasonably short days. We had the airplane serviced and had the ground people put the rear potty in useable condition for Sue.

We made the first leg to Kansas City and kicked back early at a hotel. The three of us needed some time just to ourselves. The second day ended in Seattle, where we again had a decent dinner and relaxed. I was making sure Sue was drinking plenty of liquids, including milk.

Sue called John again to make sure he was going to be around. He assured us he would meet us at the airport. He asked how he would know our B-200 from the others up there. We told him to look for the S&S logo and the BigGirls dot com logo.

Monday afternoon, we landed in Anchorage and taxied up to the operations building. John met us when we let the steps down. He was excited to see us and happy about the coming baby. He was most fascinated by Mercy. He couldn't take his eyes off her. Mercy seemed a little confused over his attention.

We all went out for dinner and ended up at the hotel we had stayed at before. John regaled us with tales of his adventures, and how the money we had helped him make from the gold was still supporting his lifestyle.

When we separated that night, Mercy said that John really excited her. She said that it was too bad he lived so far away from us. Sue winked at me and told me later that she would have a long talk with Mercy.

The next morning, while we were having breakfast, Sue called John and asked him if he wanted to come to Seattle to see Dewey and his new best friend Sheila. John said that there was no way that Dewey was hooked up with a lady, and he wanted to see it for himself. We had found a travel companion for Mercy.

It didn't take long to fly from Anchorage to the San Juan Islands. We landed at Friday Harbor and hitched a ride into town with a guy who was gaga over the plane. He knew Dewey, and had flown him into Seattle a couple of times in the past, so he was happy to taxi us into town.

We went to the restaurant/bar where we had met Dewey the first time. Wouldn't you know, Dewey and Sheila were enjoying the beginning of happy hour with his friends. It was a real reunion for John and Dewey, with John gushing over Sheila and saying that he was amazed that Dewey was so taken with a lady.

As the evening wore on, Dewey suggested we all go back to his boat after supper so we could enjoy just being together. We had a salmon dish with an elegant sauce that was delicious. Back at the boat, Dewey and John exchanged tales of the adventures they'd had with Sue, Mercy, and me until we were all droopy eyed.

Sue and I took the forward berth again, and wonder of wonders, John and Mercy used the never-used middle berth for the night.

"I think we're going to lose our nanny," Sue said, as we snuggled and loved before falling asleep. "It seems as soon as we get one that I want to keep, we find a suitable mate for her. This is not working out the way I thought it would."

"You're all that I'll ever need, Sue," I said, as I cuddled her in our after loving snuggle. "You've found us many nice friends to enjoy, but it always ends up with just you and me. We are together, special, in love, and forever the best of buddies."

Sue whacked me on the shoulder, "I hope I'm more that one of your buddies." She laughed, and pulled my head down to kiss me. Then she told me something that I suspected, "I really enjoy being with a girl. It is different than being with a man, in one way not as fulfilling, and in other ways more. I thought Mercy's heart was totally with us, but I guess not. I almost think Samantha wants a relationship too, but she's too young. I love you so much, Steve, but I want a woman to live with too."

We kissed and loved for a while before drifting off to sleep.

The next day, when we were ready to head back, either to Anchorage or on to San Francisco, John had been convinced to come and visit with Mercy's folks for a few days. Mercy was excited to bring John home for her parents' inspection, even though he was at least ten years older than she was. Dewey and Sheila warned John about Merlin, but after he blew them off several times, decided to let him experience the man himself.

Mercy came to me to tell me that she had fallen for John. She said she hoped I understood, but knew I did. She said she knew Sue had wanted to keep her around forever, but this was one of those things that just happen. We kissed and hugged, with me letting her know she was free to enjoy her life.

"Steve, I don't know whether this is for real or permanent, but I have to find out. Most times, John's mind doesn't communicate with me. I only receive flashes. He has a lot of uncertainties. You and Sue are, and will always be, my soul mates, but I have to find out about this."

We flew out of Friday Harbor and landed in San Francisco with the minimum of fuel reserves, after holding in the pattern for almost forty-five minutes. Once down, we had the plane checked over and refueled to be ready to fly. We planned to depart either tomorrow or the day after.

Merlin and Missy were wonderful hosts but very antagonistic toward John in the beginning. It took the entire evening before Missy was able to convince Merlin that Mercy was choosing and not being swayed by anyone else. Once he understood, Merlin became more of the traditional father-in-law figure.

Missy got Sue and me off to the side and said, "Mercy will probably be coming back to you soon. I can't tell you when, how, or why, but I feel she will. I hope you will accept her back."

Before we left, we made sure John wanted to stay in San Francisco for a while. Sue and I told Mercy her clothes and belongings would be on their way as soon as we reached home. We had a tearful parting, but it wasn't a forever parting, we were just letting each other go on with their lives.

Sue and I enjoyed flying back to Tampa in two easy hops. We stopped in Henrietta, Oklahoma to visit some of the oil fields I had worked at, and were able to talk to one of the crew foremen that I had worked for so long ago. It was interesting to see, but I was glad I was beyond working in the oil fields.

We landed back at the Aero Park on a Thursday afternoon. After doing our checkout of the plane, we drove home in my truck that we had left at the airport. As soon as we arrived, Glenda was all over Sue; she said she had worried about her flying all over the country while pregnant.

Sue assured her she was in good health and that the baby was doing well, as he was moving around quite a bit. She told Glenda that she needed to worry more about Shawna and Debbie than her.

Sue checked in with her people to find everything running smoothly, and I called Debbie to find that everything was fine, but she said, "The stupid tractor bodies are driving me crazy. We can only produce four a week, but we are receiving orders to the tune of twenty a week. You either have to quit selling them or get a bigger place to produce them."

I talked to Jeff briefly, and he said his group was out-producing what he considered maximum production. Drew backed him up, saying that the people were keeping up the quality, but he said the facilities were near bursting.

Tiny told me to wait until he got in later and he would talk to me about the problem. He said he had a couple of suggestions, one of which was to send Phil off to a desert island somewhere, so he wouldn't be pushing a product they couldn't produce for a while.

The evening began the way it always had. Charlie, Jim, Tiny, Phil, Al, Tom, and now Drew, were all on the patio, toasting another great day with a cold beer. Drew said that he had given Tiny a make up of what would be needed to go into big production of the bodies. "We started off doing something that has all of the buyers anxious to start ordering. You let the original drivers help design the sleeper and now all of the body buyers are helping design their own sleeper. We have some stock groupings that most select from, but each one is custom. That takes a little longer."

Tiny said, "I figured that in on the pricing we worked out originally. I was going to reduce the price, since we were coming in under budget on the bodies and rebuilds, but I've delayed reducing the price to keep orders down a little."

"You need a separate plant," Tiny said, with a matter of fact tone. "There's no room at our place, and Sue has used up her extra land with the new building and increased parking. I've done everything I can to buy space around us, but haven't had any luck. Let me get something and I'll show you an idea."

Tiny went to his car and brought back a plat map of the area just below the storage facility where we had started our company.

"This land is for sale at a reasonable price," Tiny said, as he showed me the section he was talking about. "There's over two hundred acres that we could use for as many plants as we could build. The problem is zoning. At present, the land is zoned agriculture, and has some kind of single family home zoning if the land is in five acre plots, but there is some kind of waiver for high density housing. You could get Ben to begin working on rezoning the land for commercial and manufacturing. If you were to bring designs that would be appealing to a zoning commission meeting, you might get it done."

"That's a lot of land. A big plant wouldn't take that much room. What would we do with the rest of it?" I asked, thinking of how large an area it was.

Tiny became more expansive. "Until you need it to begin expanding the other shops, you could just make it a very nice park area. I think we could put the tractor body plant in the rear. You will also need the facility to be large enough to have a very large mechanical rebuild shop, because that's one of the desirable qualities of getting one of your bodies. You'll need a paint shop for the other desirable part of a sale."

"Tiny, are you leading me toward a full service truck repair facility that would include a paint shop?"

"I am, and while you're at it, this space here would be for a chrome shop, and this space would be for a group of independent machine shops that would be available to make parts for us on demand. Then there is this space that would be the truck dealership, and right next to it, toward the front of the property, would be the RV dealership."

I couldn't believe he would come up with all of that, but "So you've got almost the entire two hundred acres in businesses, what happened to the park idea."

Tiny answered, "There would be a park like area around the Holiday Inn Express we would have right here, beside the main road."

"What do we want to go into the hotel business for?" I ask dumbly.

"Easy, the people having their trucks or RV's repaired would need a place to stay. We would also have a car rental facility for those that don't have a tow vehicle. I didn't make a restaurant on the property, but we could buy this little ten acres across the street and have one of the franchise restaurants open there.

"Whew, who's going to run all this?" I said, already tired just from thinking of all the people involved just at that location, much less the main location.

"We'll find them, Steve. You have the ability to find quality people. We'll find them. We probably have some managers among our own people right now. We just haven't recognized them yet."

"How can we finance that much land and that much building?" I asked.

"Right now, you could borrow just about any amount you wanted, without even a business plan up front. But with a solid plan like this, you won't have any trouble coming up with the money. Sue may want to invest in it. Ben and Beth have already indicated they would be a part of it, if you let them. What do you say? Let's do it."

I had this strange feeling, so I went inside and called Mercy. It was only three in the afternoon in California when she answered. "Hi Steve," she said before I could even begin. "I'm glad you called me about Tiny's plan. It'll work, but you and Sue will need to negotiate the land deal. An old guy that you both have met before owns it. I think he's the man you bought the land next to your shop from. He'll deal with you, but probably not many others. For some reason, he wants to donate the land to the county for a park. You'll need to find better land for the park so he'll be satisfied. If you can do that, it will remove his major objection to what you want to do."

"How do you know all of this, Mercy?" I couldn't believe her ability to perceive what was happening so far away.

"You and Sue are still special to me, and are in my thoughts and my Mom's thoughts all the time. When you're troubled, we'll know. Call us, we'll help if we can."

We talked for a few minutes and I promised to have Sue call her soon. No mention was made of John, but she seemed to be in a great mood.

Back out on the patio, I poured myself another beer before telling Tiny, "I'll go talk to the owner of the property tomorrow. We'll work out something and get started. You'd better have an architect start work on some plans, as this will come together pretty fast, if it does at all."