Chapter 36

We were in for a surprise, baby Elizabeth slept all night. When I woke a little before six, she was wiggling her little arms around, kicking her feet and smacking her lips. I quickly changed her and lay her next to Sue. I unbuttoned Sue's gown to give the baby access to breakfast after cleaning a swollen nipple.

Sue woke with a smile as Lizzy nursed. She seemed to nurse for a long time before rolling off the nipple and laying there smacking her lips and wiggling. I burped her and laid her back down to lay with Sue.

Mercy and I showered quickly, dressed, and got Stevie up to change his diaper and dress him. He wanted to cuddle with his mother too. When he toddled to the bed and looked at his new sister he reached up and it almost looked like he was patting her. He put his arms up to be put on the bed so I laid him down on the other side of Sue. She cuddled him to her and he groped for the other swollen breast. Sue said, "With all of the hungry breast feeders around here, I'll never need a pump again."

Mercy stayed with Sue while I went to start the day. Glenda and Nelda were both already on the patio with Tiny and Ruth. It didn't take long until the place was full, busily getting ready for a new day.

Dennis and Tina had to ride the school bus this week as Dennis had received a speeding ticket and was grounded for a week. Kevin warned him that another speeding ticket would have him riding a bicycle until he graduated. Dennis still worked in the shop but now split his time mostly between the motor shop and Abe's shop. Abe said Dennis seemed to have an aptitude for generators and compressors.

Tina had already picked out the car she wanted. She had found a sixty-nine Mustang fastback that was a rat, but complete. It even had a factory air dashboard. The car occupied a home in the big storage building and was slowly being torn apart in preparation to be restored. We had most of a year before it needed to be done so there was no rush. Tina had already made arrangements to be on the work program at the shop.

Merlin and Missy were anxious to play and hold the two kids. The two doted on Stevie already so I could believe they would be nuts over Lizzy. When Mercy had her little boy, I would probably have to get another mobile home to put next to ours for the grandparents.

The morning held another surprise. Around noon, another limo showed up. This time Dewey, Sheila, and their little boy, Little Dewey, got out. The couple looked great and it was a great to see them.

Sue loved up little Dewey, while Dewey and Sheila played with Stevie and held Liz. This was as good as it gets. We had all of our friends joining us. Beth was back, as we expected she would be. She wanted to be the doting grandmother and a helping mother to her daughter.

I was able to get some work done at the shop and out at the park. We were planning on trying to set up a golf cart showroom and covered lot like a car dealership. Phil had three traveling salesmen that concentrated on golf carts only. They visited remote golf cart communities and golf courses. They sold various carts to airports, large facilities such as auto dealerships, cemeteries, parks, and just about anyplace where there was too big a distance to walk, but too small an area for a full size vehicle.

An innovation from Crystal was the traveling maintenance truck for our golf cart group. The big semi traveled to golf cart communities and set up to perform preventative maintenance and do repairs on all carts, not just our own. This of course led to increased sales of our own product. Phil had buses that brought people from various golf cart communities in the state to spend the day with us once a month. A lot of the older couples used the trip as an adventure and holiday, as we provided lunch for them at the cafeteria within Sue's complex. This also encouraged many new golf cart community residents to buy our product.

Phil was pretty slick as he had the bus park at the RV dealership to let the people out. Those interested in golf carts walked across the street to the covered cart lot and showroom area. Many of the retirees from the community that came for a cart were often enticed to spend some time looking at and bargaining for an RV.

The first week of Liz and Sean's life was busy. Sue and Shawna could only try to keep up with all of the visitors and tend to their new little ones. Stevie and CJ didn't want for attention as there were so many "Aunts" and "Grandmothers" around. The boys mostly wanted to play with each other and the other two older children. The four were close enough that they were able to get along fairly well. Often you would find them in a pile sleeping together. The four sets of parents were very happy they were forming this early bond.

During our Friday night, end of the week, get together, Ben came to me with some news. He said he had invested a large amount of Sue's money, and the money I had received from selling forty percent of the company, into a venture capital company. He said he had just sold the company to GE credit for more than three times our original investment. He said that this was the biggest deal he had ever made. He said this was even better than having taken the venture capital company public, as we now didn't have to worry about management or anything.

Ben was the manager of the company 401K plan and was also responsible for investing any spare cash the company had. He said that since I had come into the family, he had grown to the point his offices now took up the entire floor of the downtown building. I was glad he had become even more successful than he had been. I know he glowed from being recognized as a good businessman and attorney.

Sue had a big day planned at the park for all of her employees. It was to celebrate the opening of the final building and to make some important announcements. The Saturday shifts had been canceled so everyone could attend. Buses were going to bring the inner city people to the park.

Saturday brought some big excitement. Sue's people had several tents set up out at the park. Instead of using the cafeteria, she used our caterer for food and beverages. She didn't have any beer or liquor, as she felt that with over a thousand people, she shouldn't complicate things.

In one of the tents were mannequins displaying all the products currently being manufactured. There were large cards in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Creole, with various histories of the company. Thankfully, the day was beautiful, without a hint of rain.

Around two, Sue climbed up on a large stage area, where musicians had played since the party started, and stood before her people. She picked up a portable microphone and looked out at the throngs of people.

"Welcome, for those who do not understand English, move to an area that has your language being translated. If you have someone who is deaf near you, please direct them to the right side of the stage where a lady will sign to them."

There was some shifting around of people before they settled down to listen.

"We have many lines of clothing now. We still manufacture big girls' clothes. We've done a great job producing some great lounge and night wear. Since a few of us have become pregnant, we now are a major provider of quality fashion maternity wear. As the new plant came on line, we began making some very nice sportswear for adults. This of course led to us creating and making some fashion sportswear for younger buyers. We even have two sewing rooms making infant and toddler clothes. I want to congratulate, and thank you at the same time, for helping this company become known for making the best quality clothing within our industry."

"I know we're not very fast, but the original workers when we bought the first plant will remember that Steve, my husband, worked with every sewing room to let them know that making a good product took time and wasn't hurried. He wanted it to be like his shop, perfect. You have his signs all over the buildings. We still want quality over speed. We love the idea that we don't have seconds. All of you quality control people are responsible to look at every garment and to only pass it through if it is perfect."

"All of your efforts have made the new factory possible. There are so many of you that I can never learn all of your names, but please, know that all of the management staff and I are available to you when you need us. We are one hell of a big family now."

"Recently we were able to complete your health insurance plan. So far, everyone seems to be happy with it, and the human resources person in charge of it says your bills are being taken care of."

"Your other benefits include paid vacation, quality productivity awards, new ideas for manufacturing awards, and fashion design awards. These will all continue. I think one of our big benefits is the free bus service we provide. I know for some, you have to make transfers, but you can remain living where you have been and still work here with free transportation. You know you could always move down the road here into one of our high density housing areas. The company has a plan for any of you that wish to become homeowners. Ask about it."

"All of you, listen to me. You have educational benefits that can help you progress in this company. We offer tuition assistance for going back to school, whether it is for your GED, for the community college, or for one of the universities in the city. Most important though is our English language class. This is free and taught by professionals, right at our plants. Regardless of your native language, you need to learn English to become successful U.S. citizens and more successful employees. Please, learn English so we may talk. Ask my original employees and they will tell you that I told them the same thing and now they are lead people and supervisors all over the company. Learn English, I beg you."

"Now for the biggy. I waited for a long time to be able to make this announcement. Our entire product line will now be known as 'Quality Wear Clothes.' We will still have brands like Big Girl Clothes and the other various brands, but right over or under those labels will be 'Quality Wear Clothes.'"

"This is important because now we are all under one name, one company, and one system. This is important to you as today, 'Quality Wear Clothes' employees are being offered a 401K plan that includes a start for each employee of one hundred dollars. After today, every dollar you invest in your 401K plan, the company will match with fifty cents. Have just ten dollars a week put into your plan and you'll see it become fifteen dollars instantly. There are some rules for the free money, such as you can't dump all of your check into the plan and leave the next week with an additional fifty percent."

The crowd laughed.

"The rules will only let you put up to five percent of your income into your plan. If you do that, we will increase that by fifty percent. Your 401K plan is for your personal retirement or some future big dollar investment you may have. Take advantage of this benefit so I know you all will be taken care of when it is time for you to retire."

"Thank you all for coming. Now I need to go feed my new baby, Elizabeth. I will bring her through the plants during the next few weeks so everyone will have a chance to meet her. Have a great afternoon, eat lots, and meet all of your fellow employees."

The applause for Sue was phenomenal. She had so many employees now that it was really unbelievable. It was amazing that our goal of quality had made all of our enterprises successful and profitable. Sue actually had to turn down orders from Wal-Mart. She sold them some basics but she couldn't make the other product in the quantities demanded by the super chain. Sue said she would have to have two or three more big plants like the one in the park with another two to three thousand employees. She didn't think there were that many people available that she could train.

Two months later, Missy and Merlin showed up for a visit again. It was getting really close to Mercy's due date, so it was reasonable that they wanted to be here for the event.

It was one Thursday evening, as Sue and I were getting ready for bed, that Mercy grabbed her swollen tummy and grunted. She had a startled look on her face and said, "Mike is coming. I think he's coming right now."

Sue had her lay down for a second and checked to see what she looked like. "My goodness, Mercy, haven't you been feeling contractions. Your baby is almost here. Steve, call the doc, the hospital and an ambulance, hurry. Get Missy and have her come in."

I went through the house flipping on lights and knocked on Merlin and Missy's door saying, "Missy, it's time, Mercy could probably use your help." Thinking I might need some help, I turned on the patio lights to attract some attention then went back into the bedroom. I still had on shorts and a T-shirt and was pulling out a pair of jeans to put on when Sue said, "Come here, Steve, you know more about what to do than I do."

Oh shit! The baby's head was out of Mercy and the shoulders were coming. "Sue, get me come alcohol, some sharp scissors, a clothes pin, and some of your heaviest thread."

Missy and Merlin came in at that moment. The baby was coming out quickly.

I motioned to Missy, "Open the second drawer from the top on the left. Give me a hand full of those clean white T-shirts. Sue had put a towel under Mercy's bottom, but I wanted something to wrap the baby in as it came into the world."

The baby came whooshing out, and I could only do what I remembered had been done the two previous times I had watched. I clamped the umbilical cord with a big flat clothes pin, clipped the cord, and stuffed a clean T-shirt into the opening of Mercy.

I laid the baby on a T-shirt and gently cleared his nose and mouth. I was beginning to panic when he coughed and sputtered. I held him face down as more gunk came out of his mouth. I turned him back over, and I swear, he was smiling. When I smiled, Mercy said, "Thank God, he's okay. He was having trouble and you helped him."

Missy helped me to gently clean him with some wipes from Lizzy's stuff. Sue was holding Mercy's hand as I placed the baby on Mercy's chest.

Glenda said, "Missy, you better check Merlin, it looks like he fainted. I'll wait by the door for the paramedics."

Sure enough, a sheriff's car, a fire truck, and a paramedic truck all showed up at once. Glenda escorted the paramedics to the bedroom and helped Missy get Merlin up and out of the way. The two professionals went to work checking Mercy and delivered the placenta. One tied the umbilical cord on the baby and put a regular clamp on it. They did a quick check of Mercy and the baby and said, "We'll transport her to the hospital, which one do you want."

Sue said, "Women's, down by St. Joseph's, please. I will be going with her."

Mercy grabbed my hand and pulled me down to her. She kissed me and asked, "Did I do okay, Dad?"

"You did wonderful, Mercy. You waited a little long though."

Mercy smiled, "He sneaked up on me. I was feeling funny all day but I didn't think it was labor."

Missy said, "She was the same way. If we didn't live damn near across the street from the hospital, I would have had her in a cab. Merlin did the same thing when Mercy was born too, he passed out."

The paramedics put Mercy on a backboard and hauled her to the truck with Sue following, carrying Mercy's hospital kit and her purse.

The porch was packed with our crew. Word traveled fast, so they all got a chance to see the baby and Mercy as they passed. There was a hearty applause for Mercy as she was put into the paramedic ambulance, and in a wink of an eye, they were all gone.

I told Merlin and Missy to get dressed and we would get down to the hospital immediately. I dressed, they dressed, and Glenda said she would stay with Liz and Steve. Mickey and Sandy said they would stay too, in case Glenda needed help.

I hope Liz didn't get hungry while Sue was gone. She usually slept all night, but you never knew.

At the hospital, it took a while for us to get to see Mercy. The gynecologist and the pediatrician both had to do their inspections before any of us were allowed to come in. We were finally allowed to come in, finding Mercy smiling while the baby was nursing. When his little head fell to the side, I picked him up and put him on my shoulder before the doc could even make the suggestion. I rubbed his back and he finally gave a little burp.

The gynecologist said, "You did a good job. You must have been paying attention when you watched your first two."

"I heard you used a flat clothes pin to clamp the cord before you cut it. Were you going to tie it too?" The pediatrician asked.

"I just did everything you guys had done before," I said. "I thought these babies were supposed to take hours of labor, not minutes like Sue and Mercy. What's with these two anyway?"