Chapter 26

Once inside the bar, I found a quiet booth in the back, and thought to Adin, "Sweetheart, please bring Connie to the booth in the back, and tell everyone else to have a good time."

"Yes, Kade."

Once we were seated and our orders given, I looked at Connie, well ... I stared at Connie. I wanted to see what kind of mettle she was made of. I thought I knew, but wanted to make sure. She stared right back at me. As she did that, I could see her 'girding her sword, ' metaphorically speaking. After five minutes of this battle I nodded and smiled.

"Well, did I pass your test, or whatever that was?" asked Connie acidly.

I could see that she was not well pleased with my treatment of her and was beginning to get steamed up.

"Of course you passed. I was just confirming my original estimation of your mettle. I would wager that you are a fighter, also; and that's a good thing."

"Well then, why am I here?" she asked still in a cold acidic voice.

"You are here because I have some questions for you. One, would you be willing to run the entire business? Two, would you be willing to do some commercial buildings if a buyer came in the door; and, finally, would you be willing to be on the Board?"

I sat back as I watched Connie do a perfect imitation of a cod out of water. After several attempts at speaking she grabbed her rum and coke and took a healthy swig. She then made a terrible face, a gagging noise and then shook herself at the taste of the drink.

"I thought I asked for Bacardi's white rum not this Captain Morgan's crap. Yuk!!!"

"Well, at least you're able to work your vocal cords again," I said with a grin.

As I said that the woman raised her hand trying to get the waitress' attention. The waitress scurried over and asked if anything was amiss.

"Actually, there is. This isn't what I ordered. I requested a rum and coke made with Bacardi WHITE rum, not the dark and flavored stuff that is in this drink."

"Sorry, Miss. I just wrote rum and coke, I'm so sorry. I'll fix that right up for you."

Now that Connie was back in control of herself, she said, "I will answer your questions but first I need to ask you why, and why do you care?"

I could see that something was bothering her and did a quick scan. What I found was that she suspected that I was, in some way, hooked up to the Board and that this was a trap to finally get rid of her.

"Ok ... I did some digging because I like your company and the way that you keep your workers happy. I don't see that very often these days. Most businesses, now, are way too bottom line oriented. That kind of thinking eventually results in an unhappy work force and inferior products. Down-East has neither of those, and I'm told that you are the reason. What bothered me was the fact that there was a schism at the upper levels of the company. Then I found out that some of the management was planning a raid on the company. To put it in a nutshell, your cousin Jules has been buying stocks and options to gain control of the Board. He then planned to close the business without any warning, and liquidate everything. It seems that he hates you and all of your people. He wants to hurt you and yours by putting all of you out of work.

"I stopped him! I am now the controlling stock holder, and I was wondering what you would do if I made you CEO."

Again the cod fish imitation. However, along with the lack of vocal operation, I think her heart stopped, too. The poor woman was holding her chest and her color, fair to begin with, was now positively deathly.

I became worried! However, she suddenly took in a huge breath, and then began to breathe normally again.

"But Down-East is a family business, and each of the family members vowed never to sell."

"Well, I showed them that the constant infighting was ruining the company, and that there would be nothing to own but a very big debt ... and THAT in the very near future. Especially when I told them about Jules and his allies' plan to destroy the company."

"You must have some very good investigators working for you, because I tried to find out what that sleaze was trying to do, too; but came up empty," Connie said with the shake of her head, then continued, "Won't they still cause trouble now that you exposed them. They must be really pissed."

"What you need to understand, Connie, is that they are big fish in a very small pond. I, on the other hand, am a whale in the very big ocean! I just explained things to them in a way that they would understand, that's all. Jules and his lot are all gone and I'm the holder of all of their combined stock, around fifty-two percent.

The poor woman just leaned back in her seat and stared at me, unable to comprehend what I was saying. After several sips of her drink and some thought she asked, "Who is left, then?"

"Just the Chairman is left from the old guard, plus me; and, if you want the job, you. Also you will receive eighteen percent of the stock as a signing bonus. The Chairman and I are going to return our stock dividends back into the company for the next four years."

"You just single-handedly saved the company!"

"One thing, though. I require absolute anonymity. Only Walter and you know the truth. Let's keep it that way, ok? Oh, and you will need to fill out the board with some of your people in order to keep the state regulators happy with your incorporation. So what do you think?"

"Ah ... don't you want your own people on the board?"

"No, most definitely not! As I said before, we just help those that need it. In fact, eventually, we will sell all of the shares to you once you are able to afford them. We want you to head this company."

"Oh ... All right then! Sooo ... you asked if I'm willing to run the company. Well ... I already am so no change there. Next you asked if I would do commercial work. Now that I don't have that lot of vultures and know-it-alls around my neck, the business will do whatever a customer wants, as long as we are able to do the work. Finally, you asked if I would be willing to be on the Board. My answer to that is HELL YEAH!" she said with a huge grin.

We clicked glasses and took sips of our drinks and leaned back in our seats for a minute of personal thought.

"Now, Kade, why did you ask about commercial business?"

"Ah ... you know that last model, up in the back of the lot?"

She nodded and I continued, "Well, while we were waiting for you this afternoon, that unit kept calling to me. I saw in my mind's eye a cluster of those buildings mixed in with some family units in a sort of closed community, a real neighborhood."

Connie leaned forward excitedly as she said, "That's the way I saw that model, too! I saw the ground floor front wall cut out for store front windows and the upper floors could be apartments or offices. The only different thing from your vision is that I was thinking of an elder community."

"Why not do both? The community could be built in clusters. One for the elderly, another for new young families and finally one for young professionals just like the petals of a flower around the core town center with the shops and parks between the flower petals and forest land between the clusters. Or ... it could be like some of the newer college campuses," I suggested.

The woman lit up with excitement!

I continued, "Ok, then, you can add those to your advertising. You also need to update your web presence, as that seems to be the preferred method of people looking for houses and such these days. Oh ... I just thought of something else. I'm no engineer so this is just a thought, but what about all of those surplus shipping containers that are available? I know that they're not too good for out in the country, but what about in the urban areas or industrial parks. I read of a college that used shipping containers for student housing, plus I heard of an apartment complex that was built out of the things in some big city that sold out before the structure was finished. The architect worked it out so that not one window looked into another apartment. It's just a thought."

Connie frowned and stared into her drink. She then said, "I would need to do a lot of thinking on that. I know wood, but those steel boxes would bring a whole lot of problems I know nothing about. After all, those things aren't purpose built for living in. I can see big cities giving a variance to them, because of the need for low cost housing but small towns, I just don't know. I don't think the towns around here would go for the dimensions—I know that they are only eight feet wide, and that is before insulation and drywall are added."

I sighed and repeated, "Like I said, it's only an idea."

Then Adin spoke up, "Well, I bet you could put up a store-it-yourself place with those things."

Connie brightened and said excitedly, "You bet we could! Just lay a slab, set the containers in place, and then roof the whole thing. It would go up fast, too."

Connie suddenly yawned and then looked at her watch, "Oh, my! Look at the time! I need to get home before I turn into a pumpkin."

Adin said, "Look, Connie, you're tired. It's obvious. It would be far safer to stay here with us and then leave early in the morning with a good breakfast under your belt."

"I couldn't..."

"Of course you can; and furthermore, I insist," Adin said.

She rose and I followed. We gathered up our group and headed out. I sent Tony's group home, while we ... Adin and I ... rode back to Rose in Connie's car.

When we went to the campground and drove up to Rose, the red head became confused.

"You live here?"

That was the wrong thing to say to Adin! I could feel her getting ready to strike like a cobra, verbally if not physically. My woman truly loves The Rose! I reached down and squeezed my wife's knee. It took a bit more pressure than usual for me to get her attention as she got out angrily, "And what's the matter with Rose?"

Connie didn't even notice Adin's tone of voice as she continued, "Oh ... nothing. I just assumed that with all of your power and money you'd live in a big house, is all; but this RV is absolutely beautiful, and her name really suits her."

The pressure that I was putting on Adin's knee got through, just as Connie expressed her admiration for Rose. Instantly my wife was happy as she looked up at me with a questioning expression.

I waved her off and said, "Let's get in and get to bed. I am absolutely bushed."

Adin got some night clothes for Connie while I converted the dinette into the guest bed. Within fifteen minutes, we were all sound asleep.

It was the afternoon of the third day since Mary walked out of the meeting with Erik and Kade. Thirst finally drove the woman from her hiding place in the dark closet. She rushed to the kitchen and gulped down about a quart of water ... and immediately vomited it back up. She drank again but much less and at a slower pace. Again it was still too much for her stomach to take and up the water came again. Mary stood breathing hard, bent at the waste with her head hanging between her outstretched arms as her hands gripped the edge of the sink. After resting like that for some minutes Mary stood and refilled her glass but this time she only sipped the water. It took some time but she finally managed to get the whole glass down without her body protesting.

For the first time in three days the voices were diminished due to her biological need to survive. However, with each glass of water the voices got louder. It was then that Mary stopped fighting and just let go—when she decided to obey, the voices became less strident, just a murmuring in the back of her mind.

Mary gathered the tools needed for her mission, a twelve inch chef's knife and her grandfather's old Enfield No. 2 Mk I revolver, and drove back to the restaurant.

The young woman paused as she entered the store part of the building and stood still looking around. Instantly all were aware of the fetid smell of an outhouse. Dottie spotted the disheveled stained clothes and matted hair of her friend and exclaimed, "MARY! WHAT HAP..."