Chapter 4

The next week, I had a chance alone with dad and asked him about Kathy and Marty's behavior. "You see what happened here, because you didn't say hi in school, the two of them were afraid they would loose their happy home. Look, the trailer is worth spit, taxes and insurance are cheap, the two of them are basically a tax write off, so it doesn't cost us anything to have a couple of girlfriends ... Now, hey it would cost a shitload if you're mother was the divorcing kind, but she understands men and our needs. Now Kathy let you spank her pretty hard in hopes of making you dependent on her for your kinks. Always remember son, there is always somebody else, don't ever let someone try to tell you they're the only one that can do anything, I don't care if it's sex or in business.

I'm glad you saw what was going on there, if you can keep those two competing for your affections, you will have a full and varied sex life. Competition and fear are wonderful motivators. I try to keep that going in business too, you want to make people work harder, just go and stand where they can see you and watch. Don't smile or grimace just watch ... The honest, hard workers won't even notice you, the thieves or lazy ones will be watching you out of the corner of their eyes. The ones that worry about the boss are the ones that the boss has to worry about. Now, we've got a lot of heavy cash flow businesses, there are a lot of opportunities in those places for people to steal. To stop the theft we have to have another layer of accountants and or spotters, it's a needed business expense. Even my most trusted guy, I try to keep away from cash. He'll stay more honest if he has less chance to think about stealing. I'm thinking about you working a day a week in our various stores", he must have seen my face, "No, I meant one day a week in various places. I want to see if the cash register ring changes when people know there is an owner in the place. Anyone asks you, you act bitchy, tell em stuff like, I could be out playing and so on, all you do is work and look around. I'm not talking about playing detective. It's time you start learning where the money for your harem comes from and we'll see if the store has any changes while you're there." By now we had stopped in one of the fast food places, I had a coke, dad had coffee. He paid cash, he always paid in any of his stores. We sat at a booth far from the order desk but where we could see the registers. It wasn't 3 minutes till the shift manager was at our booth.

"Mr. Grand, nice of you to stop in, anything you need, or I can do for you?"

"Nope, we're fine, just taking a break" and as the manager turned away, dad said, "now watch". All of a sudden it got a lot busier behind the counter, someone started sweeping, another kid was out from behind the counter, wiping down tables and the manager was straightening a bunch of cups and napkins that didn't need straightening. Whatever he continued to do behind the counter he was always in a position to watch us.

When we got back in the car, dad said, "See, floor should be sweep with or with out me, same with tables and all the other busy work. Now that happens everywhere, that one wasn't too bad, now if he had kept tryi8ng to talk to me, or made a big deal out of bossing the kids around, I would start to worry about him. See, by not talking to him, we motivated him. Now next time I go in there, if the same thing happens, I'll pull him over to the side and let him know that I want the floors and tables cleaned whether I'm in my store or not. If he doesn't get that hint, he'll be history. I want to walk into my businesses and see good work habits in action, not have them start when I walk in." Now, as you grow up you'll find it helps to use much the same techniques on your girlfriend. Your mother and I have been married for over 16 years, and I love her very much, but that doesn't mean I don't try to get her to do what I want with out asking for it ... Now when I wanted to be open about having some girls on the side, I started by asking if she wanted to join a wife swapping group. She, of course, went through the roof; I was a little reserved, held off for a few weeks and asked again, she wasn't quite so upset that time. After a few weeks of me acting unhappy, your mother came up with the idea of a compromise, I could have a girl on the side, but it had to be strictly commercial, no love matches! See, I got what I wanted, your mom thought it was her idea, and that way three people were happy, right, I mean, you're happy with the girls right?"

How could I argue with my dad cheating on my mother, when she thought it was her idea, and I was getting laid too?

Dad went on,"Now with Kathy and Marty, if you tell them you love them every chance you get, pretty soon they stop trying to make you happy. Now if you were to tell or show that you liked one more than the other, the best that can happen is the number two girl accepts that she is second and doesn't try to be number one. But, more than likely you would have the two of them fighting over their respective status. By not committing, both try to win you to their side, both try harder to make you want them more than the other one. Just like it is with women, it's the same with employees, keep two guys side by side and watch them, they'll put out a lot more work if they don't know what you're thinking or two, don't know who you like best."

Somehow, somewhere, I had crossed a threshold with my father. We started to have more and more talks; maybe monologues would be a better word, because most of the time dad would do most of the talking. He explained why he had an out of state auditor look at all our books. "You know I want someone to come in here who thinks like I do. People steal, they steal for a lot of reasons that I don't give a shit about, I care that they are taking our money. The main reason people steal is they think they can get away with it. If they know that there are not only cameras that they can see but those they don't know about, if they see a person come in from out of town and dig into the books for 10 days, it gives them pause. Now the clerk pocketing 20 a day that should have been in a register is a problem, a problem that our managers should be catching, but when a manager steals that can be very big time. I'm more worried about them than I am about the small stuff. But I don't care steal a dime or 10 grand; I will see that you are punished."

One day, while we were looking for locations for a new store, dad started talking about mom. "You know your mother and I have a wonderful and unique relationship, even though your mom knows I have some other friends she is still a highly sexual woman" Now, I might be getting laid regularly by a mother daughter combination, but you want to embarrass a 15 year old, talk to him about his mother's sex life. Since the car was moving too fast for me to jump out, I had to listen. "If anything happens to me, I want you to remember that. Your mother needs a strong man in her life, and if I'm not around, I want you to be that man" I don't know if my face was turning red due to blushing or because my mind was getting ready to melt down, what was he saying, for sure? Dad continued, "I have set up the will so that you will be in charge of your mother, both her personal life and her finances. Right now, you're too young to sign checks or run the company, but the set up is that Chris, our attorney and Wilbur, the retired judge will advise you and you'll need at least one of their signatures on any checks you sign. I've told Chris about how I feel your mom should be handled by you, if anything happens to me. Chris knows about some of my friends and how I feel about you and your mom, if I should go, so he'll help you, I wouldn't talk to Wilbur about that part of your life. He's sort of an old fuddy duddy when it comes to certain things. Now, this is important, if something happens there are a couple of safety deposit keys in the safe at the house. Those boxes have got a lot of different stuff in them, some video tape, still photos, letters, signed documents, and so on. We're going to stop by the banks today and get your signatures on those boxes. In fact, they are going to be your boxes; I don't want them part of my estate, you should stay away from those boxes until you need to fix something important. Most problems here in the county, they can give you some leverage. In fact, you ought to start thinking about opening up your own box, and start saving things that you could use further down the road. Now today, I've got a time stamped video of one of our managers giving the Mexican busboy a blowjob in the back of the restaurant. His sex life is his own, I don't care, but this tape may come in handy if I need something from him or his family."

We stopped at two different banks, our banks but different companies, and I was put on the signature cards for those boxes. Then we went by the Ford store where dad presented me with the keys of a 6 year old Mustang. Six years old, but in great condition, knowing dad, I was not surprised to find it was the smallest engine available. I had been practice driving both at school and with mom and dad, so he let me drive it around the block a couple of times before it was back to the lot. Dad, called over the service manager, "On your job, he does not get this car until he shows you a valid driver's license, understand?"

"Yes sir"

That weekend was my birthday, the licensing bureau was closed on Saturday and I would have to wait until Monday. I overheard mom and dad arguing late on Friday. "Come on Doris, it's his birthday let him spend the night"

"No, he can spend his 15th birthday with his real family not some of your cast off fuck toys. Let me have him for this weekend, he's growing too fast as it is. Some you win, some you lose, dad tried, mom loved me. I had a very nice birthday, lots of gifts, it was a toss up whether the nicest one was at the dealership or out at that doublewide. Neither one was there, but I did get to the doublewide, Sunday for a special birthday. Kathy picked me up at the mall and when we got to her place I was greeted by Marty running out of the house without a stitch except for a two foot wide bow tied around her waist. When I untangled myself from Marty, I saw that Kathy had her coat off and was wearing a smaller bow, tied over her ass.