Chapter 53

Friday morning

When I woke up it was only five thirty, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep. My mind was buzzing about wasting more than a day going up to Montreal to make a deal, only to have it evaporate on us. I couldn’t believe that someone who sounded so desperate could be so conniving.

I showered quickly and went out to the patio. As I left the bedroom, Kate and Juanita raised their heads to watch me leave. They both smiled. I thought they went back to sleep.

No sooner had I started coffee in the house and walked out to the patio, than Tiny walked in the back door. “You up because we were scammed?”

“I woke up and knew I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I just got up. That whole thing didn’t make sense. If the employees think about it, they are going to be out of a job, unless there is something else he’s going to do or something that he’s promised them.”

Tiny took a sip of some freshly brewed coffee, and said, “I hope they enjoyed the free meal we sent over there. I wonder what he’s going to tell them now. Perhaps some of them will break ranks and either call or send us an e-mail. Out of an entire distributorship, there has to be some good employees that are willing to work for a new owner.”

“I don’t know Tiny, the longer we were there, the worse my feeling about the place became. It’s like we were being set up to become the biggest suckers in Canada.”

Phil and Judy pulled up in their cart, with Abe and Alice, at six fifteen. Phil’s first words were, “So when can we start shipping out of our Canadian distributorship?”

Tiny said, “Not until we build it and not until you go up to Onan and sign us up as the Montreal, Canada, distributor.”

Phil was shocked, “What happened, I thought we were buying a guy out up there, the distributorship, the buildings, the inventory, the works.”

Star came in the patio with a big smile on her face. She put a large bunch of folders down on the table near me and went for coffee. The bellhop from the hotel came in with our sandwiches, so she picked up two, along with her coffee and came back to sit next to me, handing me a sandwich.

“I have twelve new tools. At least seven are marketable. Will you have time later this morning to review them? Or do we need to set up a panel to review them together?”

I nodded to her, swallowing a bite of sandwich. “We’ll look at them first, then we’ll set up a panel to review them again. This is going well. Do you think you’ll get many more?”

Star exclaimed excitedly, “I have over a hundred and fifty more homemade tools to be looked at, photographed, and taped in action. The guys are really excited about showing off their own homemade tools. They are almost all specialty tools for specific equipment, but they would have value for those folks who work on the equipment. I was working out a marketing strategy for the tools, and decided we would probably have to use industry magazines that reach the technicians, to sell what we will market.”

“Good reasoning. Let’s get a dozen or so really good tools separated and market them. Once we establish that we have good, usable, specialty tools, people will look at everything we market. We can publish a small catalog as an insert to trade magazines.”

“Thanks, Steve, this is fun. I’m really excited about the idea.”

Juanita and Kate came out and sat with me, saying that the mothers to be were stirring, so they would go back in to help get them started. Juanita said, “Sue and Mercy need a little extra sleep. I think we should make them take naps with the little ones every day. We want them healthy.”

Star said, “With those two producing five at once, they’re going to need a lot of rest. This is really a surprise for all of us. There isn’t another set of twins out here right now. In a few years it’s going to be the terror of the Sharps’.”

When everyone left for work, I had Star stay back so we could review the tools on the patio. We went through each of the tools and I chose the same ones she had for immediate production. I told her that the others were good too, but were too specific for mass marketing. We could probably produce them, but they may not be profitable.

“You know what? There is another way to do this. Let’s save all of the tools that won’t be profitable, patent them for the creators, and put them all together in a book. We’ll sell the book and perhaps make some money from it. If everything is patented, then someone could only make one for themselves and not resell it.”

Star smiled, “You always have another way for your people to make a buck don’t you?”

“I try, Star. That’s why I’m here on Earth. I’m here to make all of my family and friends successful.”

Star gave me a hug and a quick kiss on the lips. Sue and Mercy were both watching so she turned to them and stuck her tongue out at them saying, “It was just a kiss.”

Juanita said, “I have my eye on you, lady. You are on my list.”

“And what kind of list is that, Juanita?” Star asked.

Sue laughed, “It’s her I wonder if she’s fun in bed list.”

Star actually blushed, as Juanita swatted at Sue.

My cell phone rang. Tiny’s voice spoke, “We called it. The shop foreman was calling to find out what was going on. He said all the shop people had been promised nice separation bonuses and a job with us at an even higher wage. I told him the deal was in the air because we had not been told everything, so we were going to open our own place. He asked if our offer for higher wages was still valid. I told him that we had not offered anyone anything yet. We always paid fair, usually above market, for good employees. He said he represents all of the shop people and that we should negotiate through him. I told him that we would hire individually and that each man would stand on his own abilities. He came off his high horse a little. I have a phone number for him so we could use him as a starting point.”

“That’s good, Tiny,” I said, thinking that this may turn out all right. “Have you heard from the owner, Bustaine?”

“Nope, not yet. I called the lawyer we were going to use yesterday and we agreed on monies for a retainer. He’s faxing an agreement to me to look at and sign as we speak. If you want to review it, I’ll hold it for you.”

“What would I do with it, Tiny. I can barely read a contract, much less figure out what it says. That’s what you’re for.”

“Thanks, Steve. Glad I can still be of service.” He was laughing as he hung up.

I told the ladies, “I think I should be at the shop today. There are too many things in the works. Something may come up that we need to react to quickly. I’ll skip the gym today, but don’t you girls do that. You all need to go to the gym daily.”

Sue gave me a hug and kiss, “You too, Husband. You need the gym just as much as we do if you’re going to keep up with us.”

Maggie had been listening to us and said, “I’ll bet you’re happy I’m past wanting some loving. My goodness, you have a regular harem going on here.”

Mercy said, “It’s our fault, Maggie, Sue and I can’t keep our hands off someone like Juanita, and now she’s as bad as we are. None of us could see letting Kate be lonely while she’s going through the mess with her husband, so we wanted her to enjoy our man too. As long as Steve takes care of our friends, we’re happy with him.”

“I’ll show you happy with me,” I said, taking Mercy by the arm and swinging her till she was laying across my lap. I smacked her butt through shorts three or four times, not very hard, then stood her up. “Now be nice, young lady, or I’ll have to limit your access to me and the pleasure I give you.”

“Well, I don’t know about that. Sue and I really wanted some attention last night and you just fell asleep. The night before, you were up in Canada, probably flirting with all of the French-Canadian girls. You better be up for us tonight, big guy.”

“Oh my, the natives are restless. I’ll see all of you later. I should go to work.”

When I walked in the door, Debbie saw me and came out. “Tiny wants to see you right away. He said it’s important.”

When I walked into Tiny’s office, he was on the phone. He held up his hand and said into the phone, “He’s here right now. I’ll call you back.”

“Let’s get some coffee. This is getting good. We went to the upstairs lunch room and got coffee. He began, “Our Mr. Bustaine was arrested by the Canadians trying to leave the country with a large amount of greenbacks. It seems he’s performed some kind of trick on the banks up there that would have been attributed to us, but since we didn’t fall for his bullshit, he had to leave quickly before the deal was done. The cops found the money and he couldn’t explain it. When they contacted his bank, they said they were in the process of having him charged with fraud.”

“The local law enforcement up there are locking up his buildings right this minute, and apparently a couple of other employees were arrested for being involved. Can you believe how close we came to getting involved?”

Henry came in with a folder. “I have a complete employee list from up there, with their home phone numbers. How about we have an employment firm interview all of them, so we know whether or not we want to hire them? We’ll find out who was arrested from the other group as well. If we go into business quickly, we shouldn’t lose any marketing momentum that was going on. Can I proceed with this?”

Tiny said, “Do it. Call the real estate guy too and see what he has. The buildings from the old distributorship are going to be in custody for a long time. Let’s find a building, even if it’s temporary and get back in business as soon as we can. We can build a new place and use it as a marketing tool.”

Abe walked in and drew a cup of coffee. “Sounds like we have some things happening up in Canada. That country has always been a pain in the ass. I’ll bet Steve will tame it quickly and get some business out of there.”

I smiled at Abe and said, “You mean you’re not going to go up and start my rebuild shop up there?”

“Damn, if I had to do that, I swear I’d retire.”

“Abe, you could take one of the big RVs up there and give them some pointers, make sure who I hire is going to be good, and make up a plan to have them come down here for training.”

Abe thought about it for a minute, “I could do that. Put that way, it makes sense. I could pick and choose who I wanted to come down for training and see who needed factory training.”

“That’s the way, Abe. You would be able to travel around Canada a little and perhaps find another city where we needed to put a dealership or distributorship in.”

“Good idea, Steve. I’ll bet Alice would love to do that but not during the winter. I’ll go up and check out everyone, but I’m not going up there to stay for a month this time of year that’s for sure. I’d freeze up.”

I had Abe come with me into the big office where I called Star to come up with the latest stuff she had. We looked at the twelve tools and Abe picked the same ones we did. I told him about the book of other tools and he said that was a great idea. “Mechanics and technicians are always looking for a specialty tool that will make their day easier. They enjoy making them as much as using them. Great idea, Steve.”

I told Star, “For each tool we’re not going to market right now, go back to the creator and have him tell you how he made the tool. Try to get the exact measurements and exactly how he made it. We’ll want to put that into the book along with the picture. We might have to have a detailed drawing, as well. Actually, we’ll have to have that for the patents anyway. It’ll work. Make sure you put down exactly what equipment the tool can be used on.”

Phil came to me with a huge stack of papers. “These are the presentations for my seminar. I made this whole thing like a screenplay, so you’ll know exactly what I’m going to do and say when I do it.”

“How about having Star set up one of her video cameras and you can give the seminar to the camera first. I’ll watch that and we can discuss it.”

“Good idea. You and Tiny, and maybe Abe, can watch it and critique it and me. I’ll do that this afternoon if I have time.” He was thoughtful and said, “I have four and half days of material. It’ll take four and half days to tape it. Damn this is hard work.”

“Tell you what, Phil, why not practice what you’ve written, then we’ll tape the actual seminars. We’ll use the ones that are the best to sell to those people who can’t come in person. You’ll get better as you go and I’ll make sure at least one of our sales types sits through the seminar to critique you every time. You’ll probably change several areas after you’ve given it four or five times.”

Phil was smiling, “Star does say that she has three seminars just around here in January. By the time we go to Jacksonville, I should have it down pretty well.”

“You’ll probably be training our competition, but most of all, you’ll be getting even more attention for S&S.”

Ruth came to get Tiny, “Your real estate guy says he has just what you want. He’s on line three.”

Tiny said, “Let’s take it in your office. We’ll use that fancy speakerphone on your table.”

When Tiny answered the call, he told the agent he was on speakerphone. The man said, “No matter. I have a brand new building about a mile from my office that was built, but never completed. The external size is the same as the one you showed me from St. Louis, but the land is a little larger. Instead of ten acres this is fifteen. This could be good in the event you did expand. I’m having an independent appraiser go over the land and the building and should have a realistic appraisal by tomorrow. Do you want to talk to the appraiser when he’s done?”

I nodded to Tiny, “Yes that would be good.”

“The building is a General Steel building but does not have any insulation or heating yet. So far, the snow isn’t too bad so we should be able to get the building ready for occupancy in a couple of weeks. When do you want to look at it?”

I mouthed to Tiny, “Tomorrow.”

Tiny talked to the guy, “We’ll be there tomorrow to look at the property. Have the appraiser meet us after we look at the building and make sure we can do something with it quickly. We need to be in business up there yesterday. Just because it’s Saturday isn’t going to be a problem, is it?”

When Tiny hung up, I said, “Call the attorney to advise him of what’s happening so he’ll be on tap for tomorrow. The only thing we need to decide is, do we go up tonight or tomorrow.”

Ruth was standing in the doorway, “You should probably go up tonight, but Steve is going to catch hell if he abandons his harem again so soon. Steve, you decide when to go.”

“We’ll go this evening. I’ll call home and get them ready. I’ll take them all with me and let them go shopping tomorrow. Ruth, want to go to Montreal? I could use Terrell so he could perhaps corner a contractor to build out the joint quickly. Ruth, call Terrell on his cell. Better call Deanne and tell her about the trip as well.”

The first thing I did was call our charter service, “I need the Lear for tonight and the next few days. I don’t think it will be more than three.”

“You got it, Boss. John said to make sure the Lear was available for you.”

I called Sue, “Want to go to Montreal to shop? Tell Mercy, Juanita, and Kate what we are doing and if we need to take the kids, so be it. I have to go so if you guys want to tag along and shop up there, come along. We will leave in a couple of hours.”

Sue called me back, “Can I bring Hannah along? We need to try to get our products into a couple of big department stores up there. I’ll call to make sure they will see me tomorrow. Juanita will come, but Mercy and Kate are staying home.”

“Okay, pack up, we’re leaving soon.”

Tiny thought Henry should come along, so we had him invite Nancy along. We had a fairly full airplane.