Chapter 57

I woke to sound of the satellite phone ringing. When I looked at the clock it said five o'clock. I had set the clock to local time so it was like six hours ahead of home. That's eleven PM back there.

Sliding from bed and picking up the phone, I made my way into the galley where I answered. It was Tiny, "Sorry to call you at what would be a really early hour where you are, but I needed to talk to you for a few minutes."

"That's okay Tiny, what's up, everything okay?"

"Yes and no. Everything's okay here, but Chicago had a fire at the big Eastern plant. From what I'm told, it's pretty much a total loss. We're insured, but we can't insure the old stuff we've bought to rebuild. That's a major loss."

"Was anyone hurt? How did it start?"

"No one was hurt. The only person on premise was the security guard, and he turned in the fire alarm and was able to get out of the building alright, after helping a drunk from his car. That's what started the fire. A drunk lost control of his car and drove into the building. His gas tank ruptured and caught fire from the drunk's cigarette. The security guard is being lauded as a hero as he was able to pull the guy out of the car and out of the building."

"So this happened last night right?"

"Yes, I tried to call you a couple of times today, but you didn't answer. I figured that since you were landed that you were visiting and looking around. I waited till I had to call you so I could go to bed. Too much strain today."

"Tell you what, Tiny. Instead of panicking, tomorrow when you wake and get some coffee in you, call General Steel and find out who the builder is up in Chicago. Have him duplicate the new buildings up in Montreal because that store needs at least that much space. Try to arrange them on the property so that if we need to, we can build the third building.

"Tell the managers up there to spread the guys in the other plants temporarily until we can get vehicles on the road to cover the construction crews. Thank goodness it's winter so there aren't too many operating right now. Have them try to keep everyone working. If anyone bitches about the distances while we are rebuilding, we'll have to lay them off. I'll call the main store up there later today or tomorrow for you and talk to the general manager. Is Ryan up there or on his way?"

"Yeah," Tiny said. "He's up there as of about two this afternoon. He's been working with the police and the insurance adjusters. All the inventory and sales records are stored off premise at night, so no records were lost. Ryan said we may be able to salvage some stuff, but the building is generally gone."

"Well, it'll work out, Tiny, so don't worry about it. I just hope we can keep pace up there without having to lay people off. It's taken too much to get that place at a nice smooth pace. So what is else is up."

"Judy's group actually got an order from Southern Spain, near Gibraltar. The customer said he saw our logo on the sails of a big boat and remembered that he needed to order his heavy equipment for the coming season. He also purchased two super lifts. Phil's man in the Near East is making some kind of mass sale to all of the oil companies headquartered in Dubai. The sale is going to be one of our largest ever. I don't have the final number yet, but the CEO from Onan called to tell me that the order was going to take up most of next year's production time."

"Sounds big. I'd love to go there and thank them, but I'm not getting my family any closer to those guys than I am right now. Go to bed, you've told me everything, so get some sleep and don't worry about it. It will all work out."

"Goodnight, Boss, or should I say good morning to you," Tiny said as he hung up.

The call had taken over a half-hour. Now I was awake and was not going to be able to go back to bed. I made some coffee, went back to the bedroom to put on some pants and shirt, then went up into the lounge. When I went out on deck, there was a young man on the dock next to the boat. He asked in broken English, "Are you Mr. Sharp?"

"Yes, that's me," I said pointing at myself.

"Mr. Orkos asked that I bring you the English language newspaper. I have also the New York Times for you," he said this all as if he had rehearsed it several times.

I went for my wallet to tip the young man and he held up his hands, "No, no, I canna keep from you. Please, I do for Mr. Orkos."

I thanked the young man profusely, embarrassing him a little. I offered him some coffee, but he said he had to get back to the embassy. When I asked him what embassy, he said the United States that he was an intern there while he was in college.

I went back into the lounge with the two papers and began scanning the news in the local paper. It had just the usual type of local news and some articles about a new trade agreement with Spain. The New York Times was the previous day's paper. I scanned all the business section and didn't see anything of any interest, so I turned on the TV and found CNN Headline News to watch with my second cup of coffee.

Maggie came up to the lounge with a cup of coffee and asked if everything was alright, as she had heard the phone. I told her about Chicago, and I told her about the young man that had come with the newspapers. We were both amazed he had been there so early in the morning.

Missy came up to the lounge with a large glass of orange juice. She had a big smile on her face. She came over to sit by me, "No wonder there are so many pregnant ladies on this boat. I heard all that noise last night, and it didn't help me go to sleep either. I need to call Merlin to hear his voice, so that I may remain faithful. Otherwise, I'm going to be begging my daughter for a little time with her husband."

"Missy, Missy, we'll find you something that will help. We'll try to keep the portholes closed so you don't hear us."

"That's okay. I love to hear the way you all love each other. I know from the way you treat each other that it's not just the sex. My Mercy is a lucky woman to have a family like this."

Juanita was next to come up, with Kate following her. The three ladies were still in nightgowns, so they all finished their coffee and went below to get ready for the day. I made sure that Maggie was going to go sightseeing with us today and went downstairs to shower and dress for the day.

Kate and Juanita were now dressed and had begun getting the kids up. Steve and Carson were excited about sightseeing and ran from their room into the galley, hoping to find Missy and Maggie for some breakfast.

I kissed my two Mom's awake and convinced them that seven fifteen was not too early to get up. By the time they were showered and dressed, Lizzy and Mike were changed and dressed. I proposed that we go to the yacht club restaurant for breakfast and that was met by a hardy approval. Our group made it up the dock and into the yacht club to find that it wasn't very busy at all. We enjoyed an excellent breakfast and went back to the boat to await Tony's call.

Tony called about eight forty-five and asked if we were ready. Since we were ready, he said he would pick us up at nine in the front of the yacht club, and we would begin our day.

The day was very long. A tour of the Acropolis of Athina, Athens, then the Parthenon, with the accompanying museums, let us know that to see all of the various museums, we would have to stay a month. Tony and his equally tired family drove us back to the yacht club and joined us eating in the restaurant. As soon as we finished eating, Missy, Maggie, and Kate took the little ones back to the boat for a bath and bed. They were all worn out. Shortly after, Tony and Alexa said their children were equally tired, so we bid them goodnight, with me telling Tony I would visit with him a little tomorrow before we left for Sicily.

The girls were totally worn out and said they were going to get a shower and hit the sack. I said that I needed to call home before I went to bed, so I showered, kissed my ladies good night, kissed the kids, said goodnight to the worn out Maggie and Missy, then went up to the lounge in some shorts and a T-shirt with my cell phone. I made a drink and had a few sips before calling the shop. When I asked for Tiny, the receptionist said that I was supposed to call him at home.

Figuring that home was the patio, I called there. Tiny answered immediately. He said that he was relaxed now and wasn't in a panic anymore. "You did it for me, Steve. When I called you last night I was afraid to even tell you the bad news, but you just gave me a simple way to begin getting the place back up and it's started already. Ryan had a meeting with all the employees to tell them what we were going to do in the interim. He offered to let them use any vacation or sick time, but he had convinced the key people to make the commute to the central store until the new one is built. All of the trucks are okay, as they are kept in a garage across the street. So the loss isn't as bad as we thought. Ryan is going to set up a temporary supply room in the garage building so the service trucks can go out from there in the morning. We also didn't lose any of the new RVs that we have up there, as the RV sales and service building is also across the street. All in all, we're in pretty good shape."

"So has anyone been able to put a number on the loss yet?"

"I pulled Henry so he could lead a group of three guys to go over the books to pull an accurate inventory of merchandise, tools, equipment, and office furniture and equipment. Henry's preliminary figure is three point two million, not including the building. Since the building is a total loss, we will get the tax figure at a minimum, but we did insure the building to take in consideration the modernization we had done, so we should get about two and half for the building."

"Wow, you're saying we had a loss of almost six mil?"

"Right there, Steve, not bad considering we only paid ten for the entire Chicago distributorship."

I said, "That's amazing, Tiny. Who would believe a third of the Chicago stores would be worth that much and it doesn't include the vehicles and the RVs. We did get lucky."

"Ryan said that he feels the place will operate okay until the new building is up. He has already interviewed the contractor up there and will begin clearing the property as soon as the insurance company says it's okay. The guy that hit the building doesn't have any money and only has twenty-five grand of property damage insurance. His insurance company has already offered the maximum to us. We're going to let our attorney up there handle it to make sure there isn't any change on the table for us."

"That's all good news, Tiny. This time it's me that's getting ready for bed and I'm probably doing exactly what you're doing."

"What's that," Tiny asked, "having a drink?"

"You got it. I'm in the lounge relaxing before going to bed. We're leaving for Sicily tomorrow. It should be just an overnight trip and we'll meet the distributor there go up to Rome next. I'm planing on spending an eternity in Rome, so we'll probably spend an extra day in Sicily to rest before Rome."

"Oh, Steve," Tiny said. "I've just finished the first six months on the two charter companies. The air charter group is gangbusters, with about a thirty percent return on investment. We should probably end the first year at over twenty-five percent. The boat and fishing charters are not as profitable yet as they are only running about fifteen percent. We ah, paid for all of your improvements and the purchase of the boat, then sold it back to you as scrap. That way you didn't have to take it out of your personal monies."

"Tiny," I said. "You know that this boat thing is all mine, sailboat that is. You shouldn't use any of the boat charter company's money for any of my toys. The girls wanted them, so they should pay for them."

"Oh hell, Steve, you own the damn company anyway, so you do pay for them. It's just accounting, that's all. I charged you fully on that new plane. I bought back the big 200, then sold you the 1900D at what we paid for it. I made you pay for the maintenance to get it ready to charter, and we have now been paying you for the charter time. That damn plane has been flying every day and is booked for another two months. You'll have it paid for in no time.'

"That's what I mean, Tiny, you finagle the books around and what I should be paying a whole lot for, you're actually giving me money for it. That's not how life is."

"It is for you, Steve. You have some of the best accountants around. You're paying so much income tax that you should probably get a thank you from Bush. The company is paying so damn much tax, we should be getting a thank you daily from the IRS. Then there are the taxes in all of the states we do business in, plus all of the property taxes. You should get a break on some stuff. It's all legal, and we've already stood up under an IRS audit. We have a guy that we call on to run something by whenever we have a question. So far, he's given us more leeway that I would have taken. So don't worry yourself. You're only getting what you should."

"Okay, I'll let you guide me. Just don't let them surprise me. Have you heard any more about Phil's deal?"

"Phil is in the air, on his way to Dubai with the CEO of Onan, so they can finalize all of the numbers. The salesman over there is going to make about a mil and a half commission on this. We'll be lucky to keep him. He'll probably retire. Phil will call me and let me know."

"Wow, sounds like you have it all under control. Give our love to everyone and I'll call you tomorrow."

I made a second drink and sat there in the lounge relaxing. It's amazing that the company, six hours time difference, and over four thousand miles away, is doing fine without me. All I have to do is call and give some suggestions to a problem and it's all done. Sure is nice to have a group like that. I wonder how Canada is doing. I forgot to ask. They should be open for business.

I took a chance and called Ryan's cell phone. "Hey, Ryan, it's Steve the wayward S&S guy."

"Hey, Steve, how's it going."

"Can you talk?"

"I'm done talking to everyone but Michelle for the day. What's up?"

"You're doing a great job there in Chicago. Thank you for keeping the employees up there settled down. My biggest fear was losing the men that we had been training."

"Not to worry, Steve," Ryan said. "Everyone, to a man, has said they will do whatever the company needs them to do while we rebuild. They're excited that we will have a bigger and even better place."

"That's great, Ryan. The other thing I called about is Montreal. How's it going up there?"

"Peaches, or if you're Canadian, you would probably say ice crystals. We ended up hiring about thirty percent of the men from the former distributor. From them we were able to fill out our manpower requirement. We are now open for business, bringing in orders, and we have a sales group canvassing the construction companies about the maintenance agreement deal. The plan has been successful, plus we have a nice order being shipped up to Hudson Bay. I don't know how they will get it there, but it's a big order that includes a lot of welding equipment too. The second building is poured with all of the steel uprights in place. We haven't been held back by the cold too much, so they are moving right along. That was a good move to use the two contractors together. They've gone out and solicited a lot more work together. They should be paying you a commission for getting them together."

"That is really great. I'm proud of you and them. If we can do a good job up there, we'll begin to expand throughout Canada. You should probably look for someone you can put in charge of Canada, because there will soon be too many places for you to go."

"I know, Steve. I think Tiny has some kind of deal for the upper mid-west on out through Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas. The same guy owns all of the distributorships in those areas. They don't do that much business, but I'm sure if we had them, we could pump up the sales, especially our road construction sales."

"Then begin looking for another man to help you out there. You can include Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas in that group as well, as we are beginning to have a lot of stores in the eastern half of the U.S. It won't be long before you won't even be able to cover that by yourself."

"Hey, Michelle and I are doing fine. We're home two or three days a week, and are able to oversee everything now. Since Phil put us in your old 200, we can now quickly cover a hell of a lot of territory. Thanks a lot for giving us a twin. That thing is sweet. We are able to finish up all of our work for the week in the plane. No more Saturday make up time at the office."

Hmmmm, Tiny didn't tell me about that. It's for the best though.

"Well, you've made my evening here. I'm going to bed, so thanks for keeping the company going back there. Give Michelle a hug and I'll talk to you again soon."

"Bye, Boss, thanks for the plane."

The company is humming. A hiccup here and there, but it's still humming. Tiny gets too stressed when I'm not available, so I need to stay in touch more often.

I finished my drink, washed out my glass, and went below to go to bed. Maggie was sitting at the galley counter, having some hot chocolate. "I didn't know you were up, Maggie. You should have joined me in the lounge."

"You were talking business, Steve, so I made my hot chocolate and was reading my book. I'm about to go to bed too."

I went to Maggie and gave her a hug, "Thanks for being here with us, Maggie. You're a great help with the kids. I don't know what we're going to do when we get five more all at once."

"It'll be busy, Steve, but we'll take care of it. I don't think your ladies are going to let it fluster them. They'll just keep on taking care of kids like always. They may need more help, but between Kate, Juanita, and me, we should be fine."

I gave her another hug and went to bed. The girls had left me some space next to Sue on the one side, so I slid in and was instantly hugged from behind by Sue. She said, "Turnover, I need another kiss."

I turned over and we kissed softly saying, "I love you." She turned over to let me hug her from behind. This caused a shuffle as Juanita turned over to let Sue spoon her from the rear, which caused Kate to turn, and last was Mercy who was on the far side, turned over to let Kate spoon her. I wonder if this goes on all night? When one turns over, the rest follow? I fell asleep considering the humor in our sleeping arrangements.

The morning was busy with Liz not wanting to be picked up. She wanted to be on the floor and immediately crawled to something that she could stand up on. The problem was she kept trying to walk. She was probably too young to walk, but she was determined.

Steve would go sit with her and she would use him to stand. Then, while holding on to him, his hair, his ear, his nose or mouth, Liz would try to walk. She'd fall, hard, often banging her head. She would make a noise that was almost going to cry, then she would straighten up, make a determined face, and begin standing again.

Mike was trying to follow her, but he was even younger and could barely stand, much less walk. He would put his hands out and instantly fall on his face. He didn't cry though. I guess the two of them were pretty tough.

Carson had been watching Liz in her attempts to walk and went to her, took her hand, and helped her up. He did an amazing thing. He lifted her up and put her feet on top of his then he walked all around the below deck lounge saying, "Lizzy walk, Lizzy walk."

When he sat down with her, she stood up and began walking, making a noise that sounded like "Lizzy walk." Liz didn't quit, she walked all around the lounge and into the galley to catch up with Steve. When she caught Steve, she sat down, pulling him down with her, saying again what sounded like "Lizzy walk."

We adults were all totally fascinated by what we had witnessed. The determined little girl had just the right help from Carson to do it on her own. After the Mike and Liz sitting together thing, Liz stood up and toddled off to find Carson, still saying her "Lizzy walk."

Tony came by to say bon voyage to us. We gave him a bunch of S&S raceday T-shirts that we had brought along for gifts. You would have thought we gave him gold instead of T-shirts.

When he was gone, we let the yacht club attendants help us disconnect the shore services. We flushed the holding tanks one last time, pulled our lines, and gently moved from the dock. It took us an hour to get out far enough to raise our sails. Once we did, we had to navigate among a lot of smaller fishing boats that were around. We were soon on our way to Palermo, Sicily.

The next morning, we were approaching Palermo and encountered a Sicilian police boat. We put out our fenders and invited them on board. The officer in charge spoke decent English and wanted to see our papers. We showed them the ship's papers and our passports. He noted we had just been in Greece, and asked us how long we would be in Sicily. I told him two or three days depending on how long we wanted to sightsee. He asked where we were docking and I gave him the name of the yacht club we had reserved space at. He acted surprised and asked if we were from Hollywood. I laughed and said, "No, we are from Florida. Do you have to be from Hollywood to dock there?"

"Many Hollywood people stay at that yacht club. It is only for the very special. It is good you stay there, it is very nice."

As we entered the yacht basin, a motor launch came out to meet us. A man boarded and asked if we needed him to take us in or could he just lead us. I told him to lead us and if we were going to have a slip, I wished to rotate the boat and back in. I also asked if they had dockside facilities for flushing our holding tank and fueling, or was there a separate place for that. He informed us that all facilities were available at all slips. He suggested we use shore water for bathing only, but I declined to hook up the water. We would just use our stored water and make more as we needed it.

This place was fancy. They had attendants running around in uniforms everywhere. The girls only had to toss the lines out and there was someone to tie us up. In no time at all we were secure and hooked up to shore power.

The first thing the women wanted to do was to go look in the palatial building of the yacht club. Their sixth sense told them there were shops in there, so six of them took off with me keeping the kids. It was almost nap time, so I fed them lunch and put them to bed. Since they were so messy, it took me another half hour to clean up from feeding them.

I cracked a beer and turned on the computer to answer any e-mails. There was the usual what do we do with this or that and how do you want to handle something, but nothing that was difficult to answer. I wrote Deb a note that we were in Sicily and would be there for a couple of days. It was one in the afternoon here, so it was seven in the morning there. I used my cell phone and called home. They immediately put me on the speaker system so I could update them on what we had seen. I told them I would send all of the pictures from Greece in an e-mail so they could see what we had seen. Everyone was happy and healthy, wishing us a safe trip. When I hung up, I realized I was a little homesick.

I downloaded my camera then sent almost three hundred photos to Debbie. I figured she would be the best person to send them to. I sent a copy of them to Hannah, as she received her e-mail at the park. That took care of that.

When I shut down the computer, I went up to the lounge to have another beer, but I was shocked to see four uniformed attendants standing on the dock. I went out to ask them what I could do for them and they said they were there so they could scrub down the deck. They were waiting for permission to board. I thought that was a hell of a service, so I invited them up. They worked from one end going full tilt toward the back. While three scrubbed, one polished metal.

The women came back while the attendants were still cleaning. I explained that it was a service offered by the club. The girls thought it was a great service since they didn't have to do it.

They had several bags with them and began showing me all of the different garments and souvenirs they had purchased. It's a good thing the boat had a lot of drawer and closet space, as they had a bunch.

As the kids began waking, I took care of them while the women were still putting their treasures away. Lizzy immediately wanted down so she could toddle, following Steve who ran full tilt into the galley with Carson. Poor Mike, he also wanted to be down, but he could only crawl into the galley.

The four kids had something to drink before going into the lounge to play. I got out the big blocks for them and they were immediately occupied. Kate came in and relieved me so I could go up to the deck to see how the attendants were doing. They were gone, but a well dressed man was on the dock waiting for me.

"Mr. Sharp?" He asked.

I nodded, "Yes sir."

"My name is Pete Sorentino. I am the greeter for the yacht club. Welcome to our club. I note that some of your women have already been to the stores, but let me invite you to come to our restaurant and lounge. You will find it very private and well-stocked. You will be able to visit with many of your friends there."

"Come on board, Pete, come in and sit down."

Once we were settled, me with a Dewars on ice and Pete with a glass of white merlot, he handed me the basket he had been carrying. "This is full of some local fruit, a jar of our local olives, coupons for many restaurants in Palermo, and a variety of brochures of our tourist attractions. If you desire a guide, one can be provided to show you whatever it is you wish. Please enjoy your stay with us."

He took a drink from his glass and asked, "Do you have any plans while you are here?"

"Yes sir, I do." I began giving some descriptions, "I'm going to meet with a distributor of our products here, and together we are to meet with a government agency about the purchase of some equipment."

"That is good that you are here for business as well as pleasure. If we can be of service, please contact us. If you need anything, stop any attendant that is passing, or you may call us from your phone. I will leave you now. Thank you for the wine and your hospitality."

I called the local distributor who said he was waiting for me to call, as he had heard we had landed some hours before. Everyone must have spies out to know what we are doing. I told him that we were going to rest and perhaps go to the restaurant this evening. If he and his wife and family would like to join us, we would make reservations for all of us. The man was ecstatic. He said I would have to leave word at the gate for him and his wife to enter the yacht club area.

"Come about six so you and your wife can meet my family and traveling companions, and have a drink with us before we go to the restaurant."

"We will see you at six then," he said, and hung up.

I called the yacht club office to tell them that I would have two guests that would arrive at about six this evening and that I wanted reservations for all of us at seven to seven-thirty.

I went below to tell the girls what was up for the evening, and to give them the basket of goodies. They immediately were going through the coupons, saying they would have to go back into the shops as they could now get discounts on items.

Missy said she was going to call Merlin and went up into the lounge to use my cell phone. She had not talked to him in a couple of days, so I know she was missing him.

I told the girls that Salvitore Santini would be coming about six with his wife for a drink before dinner. We had reservations between seven and seven-thirty. They said that I would have to wear a jacket in the club, but I didn't have to wear a tie. They had noticed the sign stating types of apparel allowed. The funny thing was jackets were required, but jeans were allowed. Strange mix, but in the crazy fashion world, jeans had become dress clothes.

We were all dressed and ready when Salvitore Santini came on board. He introduced his wife, Maria and dismissed her to go with the women to explore the boat.

"Please call me Sal. May I address you as Steve?"

"Sure, Sal. You speak great English. Thank you, but where did you learn to speak our language so well?"

"I was a student at Oxford University in Great Britain, and I attended UCLA for two years after that."

"How did you get involved with Onan equipment and the rest of our product line?"

Sal smiled and said, "My father was a welder and began selling various power products. When your salesman approached him with your product line, he became interested and began his relationship with you. He became ill a year ago, and I came to help him if I could. I've become so involved in the business that I now take care of all decisions for my father. Regrettably, my mother recently passed away, and my father's health has declined since. He has had to be confined within a nursing home, but enough sadness, how about a drink."