Chapter 38

Consciousness came to me slowly. My two ladies were lying against me, sleeping peacefully.

Life is good. I'm laying here with two ladies that seem perfectly content to be sharing me. I know Sue enjoys Mercy in a way that I can't provide. Mercy seems to be equally enamored with Sue in the same way. They sure don't neglect me though. I'm pretty damned lucky.

Three kids. Amazing. Who would have believed that I would have three kids that are all so perfect? Actually, it seems like I have seven kids. All of the older ones come to me to be held. They go to their moms and dads too, though. I wonder if the way we are raising our kids to be so open is bad. Probably not.

I wonder what I should do about the business. It's too big for me to do much more than to make an occasional decision or to just give encouragement to a group. Instead of a few dozen people, it's now hundreds and hundreds, spread out all over the place. Tiny and Ryan seem to have a better grasp on what's going on than anyone. Ryan showed me last week that the way we run a business can be successful in other locations. That's one thing I did do right. But just imagine. The Chicago group has almost two hundred employees, and that's just one location. I wonder how many people S&S really employs when you consider all of the remote locations and the park. I don't want to know.

I needed the bathroom so I slid from between the girls and quickly hit the john. Since it was time to get up, I took a quick shower and checked the little ones. They were still sleeping, so I guess I was a little early.

After making coffee in the kitchen, I went out to the patio and turned on the light. The air was fresh and cool, a perfect morning to enjoy a cup of coffee and the paper. As soon as I had the paper open, Glenda came in one door, and Ruth came in another.

"You two are up early," I said, welcoming them.

Glenda smiled and said, "Not that early, it's already quarter to seven. I can't imagine that no one else is up yet."

"I've been up half an hour already, waiting for someone to show up out here," Ruth said, as she settled in a chair.

A cart drove up to park near the door and Juanita came in. "Good morning, everyone, I slept late and figured everyone would already be up."

Another cart came up to park next to Juanita's. It was Henry and Nancy, with Crystal and Bear. As they came in the patio, Susan and Kevin drove up, with Ryan and Michelle bringing Ernie and Nelda.

Shawna came from across the street, carrying Sean with Charlie following with CJ. Hanna and Debbie were coming with their little ones, followed by Samantha and Mickey, who were walking with Drew, Bob, Sandy, and Mandy.

I got up and said, "Better get my bunch up and get breakfast started."

Inside, Sue and Mercy were both up and showered. They were changing diapers, getting ready to feed the critters. I gave all five a kiss and brought Stevie out to the kitchen with me so I could get him started eating. I put him in one of the high chairs next to CJ, Rob, and Mia, and was handed a bowl of cream of wheat for CJ.

I had just begun to feed CJ, when Nelda said she would feed him if I wanted to start Sunday breakfast.

After getting out a couple of the huge frying pans, I put four pounds of bacon on to start. While that was frying, I made up a huge box of Bisquick and put the first two trays of biscuits in the oven. Glenda had begun frying sausage in another frying pan, and had whipped up a batch of pancake mix. We used the big center grill on the big stove for the pancakes. Glenda and I broke eight dozen eggs open into a huge bowl to get them ready to scramble.

Juanita got out the baskets for the biscuits and directed some of the non-busy people to begin setting the table. It was then that I noticed Margie helping to get the flatware out. Shawna, Mercy, and Sue came out of the bedroom with happy babies and put them in the infant area that was cordoned off from the toddlers.

Pretty soon, I had three big platters full of pancakes, another three of bacon, and was cooking the eggs while Glenda made a huge batch of milk gravy. When it was all done and on the tables, Glenda and I stood at the sliding door, looking out, smiling. The three tables were pretty full of people. It was a great sight to see all the smiling faces dig into breakfast.

I joined the group by sitting in an empty chair between Sue and Margie. Hap leaned forward in front of Margie and said, "This is better than the breakfast at the house. I'm going to send our cooks out here so you can teach them."

"This is usually only on weekends, Hap, mostly on Sunday," I said. "The rest of the week, the menu is usually breakfast sandwiches from McDonald's or Burger King, and donuts."

"This is great, Steve, I think you may even have enough for Bear," Margie added.

As usual, when we were finished there wasn't a biscuit or a stray piece of bacon left. Every pancake had been eaten, along with eight dozen eggs. It looked like we went through about four gallons of orange juice, and another three gallons of milk. It's always good to know that people are well fed.

Phil and Judy announced they were going to get ready for church. Samantha said she wanted to go with them. Susan and Kevin said that they would take the kids to the church down the road for the ten o'clock service.

The conversation this morning became centered on Hap's and Bear's moving into the park. Crystal was a little peeved that Bear didn't let her know he wanted to move out to the park, as she would have made sure the pad next to hers would have been open.

Bear said, "That would have been good but what if one of us decided we weren't compatible. That would have been pretty uncomfortable. I thought if we had some distance between us for now, we could learn how compatible we are."

"You know, you big lout," Crystal answered him with a punch to the shoulder that made him flinch. "You're pretty smart for the big bubba you are. Who would have ever believed you graduated from Michigan. It may take some time, Bear, but I think I'll convince you we need to spend a lot of our free time with each other."

Bear's face turned red, as Hap and Margie were laughing. Hap asked me, "Would you consider helping Margie and me get married? We want to have a ceremony at the house, but we also want to have a ceremony for all our non-biker friends somewhere else. Could we have it out here?"

Sue spoke up, "That would be great, Hap. We'll get the big tent and the altar, just like the other weddings we've had. You know the caterer we can get, he's one of yours. It will be a wonderful wedding for you, Margie."

Sue had me change seats with her so she and Margie could begin planning. Hap and I went over to the lounge area to have a nice cup of coffee. Someone had turned on the fans to blow the smoke off the patio as several people had lit up. I asked Hap, "So you and Bear are really stepping down. What prompted that?"

Hap took a sip of his coffee and began, "Bear's men all want to settle down up there in New Port Richey, but Bear wants to be as close as he can get to Crystal. He's got it bad. I've wanted to step down and get out of the sights of every punk that wants to rise in the national club for a long time. I've told the others that since I'm getting older, it was time for me to step down and let the next guy take over. I want to settle down and enjoy life with Margie. We're done living on the edge. She's going to become a house mouse, and I'm going to have a regular job. Bear and I could both get some retirement money from the clubs, but we would then be under their control. This way, we retire, take a bike with us, and get sent out to pasture in a nice way. This is sort of getting out while the getting is good."

"I can understand why Bear decided to live out here, but how come you decided to come?"

"Easy," Hap smiled, "You."

"Me?"

"I feel good being around you. Margie even asked me if we could move out here near you and Sue. She says that you will watch out for us. That's funny isn't it, a bad ass biker having some GDI look out for him."

"Fucking independent motherfucker," Bear said, as he plopped down in a big chair next to us. "As bad as I think I am, I'm with you Hap. I feel a hell of lot safer out here with Steve than anywhere else we could be."

"Thanks guys, but I don't think you two need to worry about where you are. You're both leaving in good standing. Both of you have led your clubs through some pretty hairy shit. I bet your members understand that you two just want to relax for a while instead of having the constant pressure you've had on you."

Both of the men nodded.

Crystal had been talking to Sue and Margie, but was now standing behind Bear. "Come on, Gorilla, Nancy said she will help me trim you up so you will look human for your new job. Nothing like a shave and haircut to make you pretty."

"Just don't cut it all off, okay? I'll shave the beard, but I want a mustache like Steve's. He has long hair so I don't know why I should cut my hair short," Bear complained.

"Because your hair doesn't lie down," Crystal protested. "It goes in a dozen different directions. Nan and I will wash it first and see if it will lie down. If it does we'll put it in a ponytail."

Hap smiled and said, "When they get done with Bear, Margie and Nancy said they would work on me. Did you know I haven't been without a beard for nearly twenty years? Margie is going to think she's with someone else."

As soon as the two retiring club presidents left, Tiny came over to sit with me. "So how did you like the way the stores looked?"

"I only went to a few, but they all looked really good. I'm impressed that the managers have been able to bring the buildings up to our standards so fast. A couple of the managers showed me a bunch of numbers that they were proud of, but I didn't really know what I was looking at. They must be doing well, as they were happy."

Tiny laughed, "That's a good gauge. If they are happy then they must be doing something right. Actually we don't have any underperforming locations. Everyone is meeting projections, and is managing within the costs we budgeted. The next time you decide to wander around, let me know where, so I can brief you on what to look for with the numbers."

"Tiny, I have to tell you. I'm getting a little lost. The size of the company has become so large that I don't know most of the people. I don't even know where all we have stores. I can motivate and help direct. When I have all the information, I can make a decision, but I'm not the big business man."

"No one is, Steve," Tiny said. "I stay up with the overall by looking at numbers in files for each location. I have a big spreadsheet that is continuously being updated, showing expenses and revenues. The expenses are broken down in understandable areas such as payroll, utilities, shop expenses, vehicles, etc. When I see a number out of line, I pull the file and try to find out what has that number out of kilter. I'll teach you how I do that so you can review them with me. It's not rocket science; it's just plain old evaluation."

"There were a couple of good ideas out in the field that Ryan and Abe said they would implement here and the other stores. That was the best thing that came out of the trip. The Chicago stores have really taken off. The man up there said that the union is the most content they have been in years, so we are doing something right."

Tiny said, "You're doing what a good manager or owner should do. You've delegated responsibility to others. You stay in touch with what's going on but you leave the day to day stuff to those that you delegated it to. You can't run all of the shops here, much less all of the country. We're still growing, so there will be more and more locations to bring up to our standard. Ryan has become your ambassador, he mirrors your attitude to do it right all the time. I've encouraged him to begin hiring and training people under him, so he can oversee all of the locations without having to be in them so often. He will have his men do that. You have Ryan, Phil, Abe, and me to be your eyes and ears. Don't worry yourself. We will oversee those that take care of the daily stuff. We report to you. The buck still stops in your lap, but you have a lot of men making change for you."

Tiny and I got another cup of coffee, and sat back down. He began again, "Take the truck and RV shops. Kevin is managing the mechanics and service people in both shops. He takes care of scheduling, warranty, parts, and oversees all of the mechanics. Crystal watches Kevin, and watches his reports, while directing the sales people, the office staff, and Kevin's people when necessary. She also coordinates activities between the body shop and the truck store, so she has Drew working for her as well. So far, everyone gets along great while she oversees all three entities. As soon as she sees a problem beginning, she directs Drew or Kevin to head it off quickly. That's what a chain of command does. She reports to me for numbers and to Phil for sales. I put their numbers in the file and if I see something that may not be right on the spreadsheet, I open the file. It's the same with the golf cart plant and store, the same with the T-shirt plant, and the same at the utility body shop. The employees are making the company money because they are making themselves money. They get a statement on their 401K balance every month. They see it growing, so they know they are earning more money."

"Thanks, Tiny. I worry that I'm not doing enough for the company. I worry that the whole thing is now so big that it can't be managed. I feel lost sometimes."

"You know what you need? You need to go on a trip somewhere. You need to take your family and go somewhere for a couple of weeks so you can relax. Call me a couple of times a week and I'll keep you posted. Every one of your key people has been taking a week or so a quarter, so you can go without feeling guilty. Figure it out and get."

"Thanks, Tiny, I'll talk to Sue about it."

"She needs to let her people do the same for her, as her company is just too big to run any more. She has multiple managers, but she needs that one strong person to oversee the place. I'd hate to lose Henry, but he might be the one to do it. He's really good and is very cautious with a buck. But he's not so cautious that he'd let an opportunity go by. He's a good judge of character, so he could hire some good industry people to manage these divisions of hers."

Sue had been standing behind Tiny. She said, "Good idea, Tiny. I need someone like you to watch all the numbers, but I also need some more people to manage each division. We manufacture a too diverse group of clothing to be run and marketed together. Come with me to talk to Henry. He'll trust you to direct what he does."

Tiny pulled his cell phone from his belt, "Better yet, I'll call him to come over and we can talk now."

"Hey, Henry, if you're not exceptionally busy, come back over to the patio for a few minutes. We have some things we want to talk about." Tiny paused a minute, then said with a smile. "It's all good. You're gonna like what we're going to talk about."

A couple of minutes later, Henry slid to a stop in his cart. Once he was sitting, Sue began, "I need someone to look after the plants like Tiny looks after S&S. We've really grown from the first plant, to now being six times larger than we were, and are even considering more expansion. I want you to be that person, Henry. I want you to oversee all of the numbers of the different divisions. I need to further separate them so we manufacture separately, and market separately. That means you need to help find industry people to run each division. I know that is a lot of responsibility, but Tiny has confidence in you, so I do too. I think we could use an overall manager that I could work with. If you think one of our existing people could be that person, let me know, and we'll consider it. Take your time, get together with Tiny, and learn about all of the ins and outs of the business. Spend time with Joan, Betty, and Hanna. They will teach you a lot. If you think one of them or all of them should be division managers tell me, but I think they would rather design and implement production instead of pushing paper."

Henry looked at Tiny, and me, then back at Sue. "You're serious aren't you?" He didn't say it as a question, but as a statement. "You really want me to be like a CFO of your company? Amazing, I'm down here less that a year and you're already offering me this?"

Tiny assured him, "If I didn't think you could do it, I wouldn't recommend you for the job. I'll help you get a handle on it, but you'll on your own. Use me to bounce ideas off of, but it will be your job to be the watchdog so you can head off a problem before it ever starts."

While looking at Sue, Henry said, "Thank you for the confidence in me. I'll work hard to earn it. This is an amazing job you're giving me. I really can't believe it."

"Believe it, Henry," Sue said, "You'll have to take the raise that goes along with it too. You'll earn it, as my company is a monster. I hope you'll still like me when you find out how much work this will be."

"I don't mind hard work at all, Sue. This is actually better than working for S&S. Everyone there thinks I have a good job because I'm Steve's brother, but working for you, they'll know I earned it."

Tiny laughed, "You earned it all right. I've had you busting your ass since you arrived here. You've taught the three new guys exactly how to keep track of what's going on. They now know to tell me when anything shows up differently. You've done a good job. You'll have to train the guys working for you at "Quality" how you want things. Make them understand that any deviation from what you expect should be reported. That's the only way to fly."

I wanted to say something so I raised my hand like a kid in school. When they all looked at me I said, "I want you to still work with me, and I want you to still work with Tiny. One way to keep us all together is to keep working together. Use Tiny or even me to bounce questions off of. I need to still ask you to do things that may cross over into S&S but your main attention will be Quality.

"Can I go tell Nan? She's gonna shit. Do I start Monday, tomorrow?"

Sue smiled at him, "Go tell her. Tiny will work with you beginning tomorrow. Steve and I may be gone, but the girls will help you settle in. Take your time, learn our business and help us remain profitable."

Henry floated out the door and had his cart racing home in seconds.

Sue told Tiny, "Thanks, Tiny, I needed someone. You've watched both sides of the street so well, I figured you to be my guy forever. It's too much isn't it? My company is so big now, and S&S is getting huge. It needs to be split up. I think I want you to remain as a consultant over Henry if you don't mind, but you won't have to keep such a close eye on the business."

"I can do that. I have guys doing most of the work for S&S now, and I'm thinking of having a roving accountant or team to go to the stores to work with the managers on finance stuff."

Something caught my ear. I turned to Tiny and asked, "Finance stuff? Do we finance our product? Do we give credit?"

"We give accounts credit on some things, but it's only thirty to sixty days. If we gave more than that we would have to get some pretty good interest out of it," Tiny said.

"What about the trucks and RVs. I'm sure there is financing going on there," I said.

Tiny nodded, "There is, but we sell the paper to various banks and finance companies."

"Tiny, how about we set up our own finance company. We'll have to run credit checks and all of that, but that could be another revenue stream we haven't even thought of."

"It might be something to look into, Steve."

"We have surplus cash, right?" I asked.

"We do, and we put it in money market accounts, as well as in some high and low risk Fidelity accounts."

"Tiny, would the interest we could charge equal the high risk interest numbers we receive?"