Chapter 34

It was late August when Jack pulled the truck over to the side of the road. He noticed that Abby’s car was parked across the street. He glanced over at Melissa and said, “Abby’s here already.”

“Why did she want to meet us here?” Melissa asked. There were a dozen empty stores along the main street. It looked like a ghost town. The only businesses that remained were two bars, a check cashing place, and a pawn shop. Even the second hand store had closed down.

“I don’t know,” Jack answered. He glanced over at the pawn shop thinking that he still had stuff sitting on the shelves there. Of all of his electronics, the only thing that was worth getting back was his stereo.

“What did she say when she called?” Melissa asked.

“She just told me to bring you by this bar on the way home from work,” Jack answered. His eyes searched the area to make sure that there weren’t any problems. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “I’m not even sure if I’m invited.”

“I suppose we ought to go in and find out what she wants,” Melissa said. She was looking forward to getting home. There was just enough time for her and Jack to spend a little time alone together in the bedroom before going over to the community house for dinner.

“I don’t think we’ll be here all that long,” Jack said.

Jack and Melissa Dunne entered the dark bar. Jack held an arm around Melissa in a protective manner. After being out in the bright light, the sudden immersion in darkness robbed them of their sight. Holding her back a little, Jack said, “Last time I was here, I hit my knee on a chair because I couldn’t see where I was going.”

“It will just take a minute for our eyes to adjust,” Melissa said trying to look around the room.

“I wonder why bars are always so dark,” Jack said.

“There’s Abby and Mary over there,” Melissa said seeing the pair of women waving at them.

“I see them,” Jack said looking around the bar. It had been almost a year since the water pump on his truck had failed and he had wandered into this place in search of a telephone. The bar looked like it hadn’t weathered the time well.

When the young couple reached the table, Abby said, “We ordered a bottle of wine.”

“That’s good,” Jack said noticing the bottle of wine on the table now that his attention had been called to it. He would have preferred a beer, but he would settle for a glass of wine. He picked up the bottle and filled the glasses around the table. He poured a half of a glass for himself thinking that he should probably keep alert.

Curious why Abby had insisted that they meet at the bar, Melissa asked, “So what’s the occasion?”

“We got the contract from the publisher. They are going to publish our book,” Abby said with a large grin. The three women had spent the past six months working on a book about starting a modern commune. Melissa had written the historical background going back to the medieval communes as a means of self-preservation for the poor in dealing with the rich and powerful. Abby had written the sections outlining the process they had followed in setting up the commune and specific cost saving measures that could be taken in the current economic situation. Mary had performed most of the basic research and identified references while getting copyright permissions for quotes and illustrations used in the book.

Melissa leaned back in her chair and laughed in relief. Months of hard work had paid off. Despite the fact that she had no idea how many copies of the book they would sell, she believed that there was a lot of interest in the subject. Their book would be the first of its kind on the market. That had to count for something. Pleased by the good news, she said, “I can’t believe it.”

“That’s great,” Jack said thinking that as an academician that this had to be a major accomplishment that would serve her well in her career. She was in her early twenties and already had a book to her credit. Leaning over to kiss Melissa, he said, “I’m proud of you.”

Mary said, “It will be a while before we see any money out of it, but we’ll have something coming in for a long time to come.”

“What kind of sales do you think you’ll get out of it?” Jack asked. He just beat Melissa to the question.

“I think they are going to be great. A lot of libraries have started buying self-help and do-it-yourself books. I figure this will be a must have book for most of the libraries. That will mean a several thousand sales right from the beginning,” Mary said. There were over sixteen thousand libraries around the country.

“That’s outstanding,” Jack said feeling proud of the three women. They had worked hard to put together the manuscript.

“I want to hear the details,” Melissa said. Mary had done all of the research on the publication options. She had chosen to go with a publisher that provided electronic and hardcopy versions of the book. The return on each sale wasn’t as high as a hardcopy publisher paid, but the sales of electronic versions countered that limitation.

“The publisher will pay to have an editor go through the manuscript and to have the illustrations professionally done. They said that would take about two months. The electronic versions would go on sale in three months. The hardcopy versions would take another two months,” Mary said.

“When will we see the money?” Melissa asked.

“The online sales of the electronic versions will be deposited directly in our account. The hardcopy sales will be accrued over a six month period and paid in one lump sum,” Mary answered.

“That’s great,” Melissa said.

“How much money will you see?” Jack asked.

“We’ll get a twenty percent royalty on the electronic versions and the expected sales price will be ten dollars. The book royalties are ten percent, but the sale price will be closer to thirty dollars. We would have to split it three ways,” Abby answered.

“I think we’ll stand a pretty good chance of selling ten to twenty thousand copies,” Mary said.

Abby was convinced that the commune movement would spread across the country. It made sense in these economic times. She said, “Our chapter on introducing a commune in a high-rise apartment will sell that many copies.”

“You might be right,” Mary said knowing how Abby felt about the commune concept.

Melissa looked over at Abby knowing that she needed the money the most of the three of them. She said, “You must be happy.”

“You can say that again,” Abby said. She was currently taking care of eighty properties and was looking to add some more in the near future. She now had one rather large man working for her. He was more of a bodyguard than anything else. Out of the thirty dollars she was charging for each house, she was paying ten to the man working with her. Her expenses included her cell phone, car, automobile insurance, and her health insurance. After expenses and taxes, she was bringing in around a thousand a month. It wasn’t making her a lot of money, but it was paying the bills.

“So what will be the next project?” Jack asked.

“Turning the neighborhood into a gated community,” Abby answered. She had been working the numbers and had come up with plan to make it possible.

“Thank God,” Melissa said with relief. There had been another break-in and murder in their neighborhood. It had happened only three houses away from Rich’s house. Laura had seen the men break into the house and had called the police immediately. It was almost forty minutes before the police had showed up at the house. By then it was too late for the occupants. She had stayed in the house holding a shotgun terrified that the burglars would strike her house next.

Having run some of the numbers for Abby, Mary felt like the plan was a good one. She said, “There are over three hundred people in our neighborhood. If each of us chips in twenty dollars a month we can hire two men to watch the area.”

“We can hire four men,” Abby said with a grin.

“Four?” Jack asked. He couldn’t imagine hiring four men for that little money. His question was echoed by Mary who had no idea what Abby was talking about.

Abby said, “I was talking to my banker this morning. He’ll let us rent four houses for two hundred a month each. We’ll throw that into the bargain along with establishing a second commune in the neighborhood.”