Chapter 15

Steve

Saturday

As I sipped my first cup of coffee on the still dark patio, I contemplated the state of the company and whether starting an adult toy company during a major recession was sane. S&S LSA was definitely a toy company, but had the potential to make a splash. If we can build a ready to fly light sport aircraft and sell it for about fifty thousand, we will have more orders than we can handle, even during a recession. The total startup investment won't be too bad as we were planning on building the space anyhow. The composite body is ready and an R&D project, plus the engine is really a multi-purpose engine that happens to fit this application.

The engine is something special. Abe spent a long time developing an engine that is either air cooled for one application or water cooled for another. The difference was in the cylinders, heads, and water pump. Abe said he was creating a platform engine that could be varied in size and variable in performance options. He's working on a turbocharger that will beef up the output by about twenty to twenty-five percent. He always has accomplished what he set out to do.

I guess the biggest investment is the usual, people. Wes isn't that expensive, based on his knowledge, and the other men were barely productive because of slow business in their old departments. Wes needs a girl Friday to make sure he knows what day it is and when to return calls. I'm sure Ruth will come up with the right person.

As I walked over to turn on the lights, Glenda came in, carrying her cup. She said, "How long have you been sitting out here? Did you need some privacy?"

"Not really, Glenda, just thinking about some projects."

Glenda poured herself some more coffee and sat with me. She asked, "Are you worrying over what to do in Germany? That is a great compliment from a country like that."

I said, "They probably just want some new manufacturing blood to spur their own into action. We'll probably have a rebuild shop and maybe build one of our new forklifts there. The Ireland group is building at a steady pace now, but the orders have been heavy enough we've had to ship from Onan. That wasn't our plan for overseas, but it's been working out. Onan is doing alright in new orders, but is laying off workers and contracting out in anticipation of an even worse economy. If they can't fulfill our orders, we'll have to make up the difference in manufacturing. That's another 'we'll see' type of thing."

Glenda said, "You know Martin and I are getting up there in age. Martin is just about to the point he can't do much for many people any more. It upsets him, but he recognizes he can only do what he can do. Now that Jim is taking care of the major maintenance around the property, and Mark is beginning to help people with their cars, Martin can relax and just tinker with some minor fixit things. He has to feel useful."

"What are you getting at, Glenda?"

She smiled and said, "I'm just trying to remind you that your morning girlfriend and her husband are getting older. You've made us so happy we'll probably hang around another ten or fifteen years, but you'll have to push us around in a chair."

"If you get to the point where you can't get around good, let me know and we'll get you one of those power chairs or scooters. You're getting around pretty good though, so it's going to be years before you need one of those."

I got up and went to Glenda and gave her a hug. "We'll always be around to take care of you, Glenda, both you and Martin. You two don't have to do anything but enjoy yourselves and your retirement. You still try to do too much. Let the other ladies take care of things."

"Oh, Steve, you know I have to be busy. The only thing I do is wash up some things and sometimes help with lunch. No one hardly lets me do anything any more."

I smiled, "Good, it's time for us to wait on you."

Sue had come out with a diet Coke in her hand and said, "Glenda, are you talking old again. I told you last week to cut that out. You ain't old till you're at least ninety, and you have a ways to go."

Glenda smiled and asked, "You've been having those girls of Chuck's out here a lot. Are you lobbying to have them out here for more babies?"

Sue said, "Wouldn't that be neat to have a bunch of babies again. Perhaps Dennis and his girlfriend will get hitched and start producing too. The kids make this place."

"You didn't answer the question, Sue, are you trying to get them to move out here?"

Sue grinned, "You caught me. Yes Ma'am, I am. I think the girls are about ready to come on out, but Chuck likes his place and the girls have a big house of their own. They're going to continue to work, so they need to come out here for someone to take care of those babies during the day. Susan and Nancy dote on babies and will want to take care of them full time."

The patio was filling up, when Charlie asked, "Did I hear you talking about going out to the Vet's bike show?"

I answered, "Chuck said he wanted to ride and I thought it might be good to go out there this evening. The games are in the afternoon, but the judging of the show bikes won't start till around five. If we left here a little after five, we could be out there by six and have a good time. We would be there for the auction and all the drawings, plus we could eat out there."

Shawna and Hanna simultaneously asked, "Have you made arrangements for kid watching?"

Sue said, "Kate said she would help, plus Mom is coming out this evening. Matty said she would help, so that's three. The kids can all crash here and have a slumber party."

Charlie said, "Okay, that takes care of this evening, now what about this motocross stuff? What are we going to do about that?"

The word motocross caught the ear of a bunch of kids who edged their way closer to the group of adults.

I said, "Kevin, Dennis, and Tina all said they would help teach the kids. First things first, though. This morning we can all go get safety equipment and perhaps find a couple of bikes."

Jim said, "Hannah and I scouted a few bikes in the trader and found four that are decent buys. They're all small ones, hundred cc stuff for little ones. Some of the kids will move into one twenty-fives real quick, but all the kids can start out with the hundreds."

I offered, "Sue will get you some cash so you can pick those up."

Charlie said, "That's the other thing. How do you want to handle the cost of this thing? How do you want to split up the bikes and stuff?"

I said, "Sue and I talked about it and we'll pick up the machinery. If anyone wants to buy something special later on, go for it, but we're doing real well right now, so we'll pick up the cost of the bikes and putting a track together. Terrel said he knows a guy who has built some tracks and will get a beginner's track ready for us this coming week. He had the grading and dirt moving equipment at a job last week and can move it here now. As far as the safety equipment, do you think everyone can pay for that?"

Charlie answered, "Everybody that works for you can, but there may be some other kids from out here that may not be able to."

With a smile I said, "Have them come with me and my brood to get the safety gear so I can pick it up. If we have people out here that are in trouble with jobs and such, let me know. This is our neighborhood; we don't let our neighbors get down. We'll find them a job."

Shawna said, "There is a family that's been here about six months and I heard the man lost his job last month. They were going to be short on lot rent and utilities. I was meaning to ask you if you could talk to the guy. The company he worked for moved him here then decided to cut most of the management. The guy had just been promoted to department manager and is now out of a job."

Sue asked, "Does his wife work?"

Shawna said, "That's the real rub, the guy has two kids and the mom hasn't been a part of the family for a lot of years."

"How old are the kids?" Sue asked.

"The boy is Greg's age and the girl is about Lizzie's," Shawna answered.

"Well, let's go get them so we can take them with us. If the dad will come along, I can learn a little about him. Maybe we can find him a job."

Shawna said, "Let me introduce you. We'll take your cart and bring them down for breakfast."

"Shawna, they may not be up yet. It is Saturday."

Shawna was pushing me out the door, "Hey, this is an opportunity for the guy. If he ain't up, we'll get him up. With two kids, he's probably up."

Charlie was hollering as we climbed into my cart, "See you tonight, Shawna, I have to go to work."

We drove over to the double-wides in the newer section, and stopped at a nice place. It looked well cared for with some bushes and bedding plants along the side.

The main door was open, so I knocked on the side of the screen door. "Hello, you have visitors."

A young boy and girl ran to the door, while a young guy walked over. He looked out, then opened the door. "Hey, Shawna, how are you? Is this Charlie, your old man?"

"Hey, Bart, no this is Steve Sharp. I brought him over to meet you. He's getting ready to take the kids to the motocross store to get safety gear. You talked to me about your two wanting to get involved."

"I know I talked to you about it, but we may have to pass right now. Things are getting really tight a lot faster than I thought they would. My miserable car had to have a transmission and as soon as that was fixed, I had to buy a battery. Then the TV went on the fritz. We found a cheap used one, but you know kids and TV, you gotta have one. I'm running real short, so motocross may not be realistic right now."

I said, "How about letting me help the kids out so they can get started. I'll spot you the safety gear and we're going to have community bikes, so there won't be any cost there."

Bart said, "That's kind of you, but we shouldn't sponge off of other people. I'm concerned though that if they did do the motocross stuff, I don't have any health insurance. I can't afford the Cobra amount for the health insurance I had."

"We can probably work something out for you on that, Bart. How about letting the kids get involved with the other kids that are going to be doing this?"

Shawna spoke up, "Have you had breakfast yet?"

Bart said, "I was just starting to fix it."

The little redhead smiled and said, "Come on, come down to the patio and have breakfast with us. We have a party every morning and this would be a good day for you to join us. Come on down and we'll talk about everything."

You could see the indecision in Bart's face, so I said, "There's a bunch of people down there to network with about getting a job. If there's a place for you, you'll probably find it among all the folks down there."

That made up his mind and he said, "Sonny, you and Joan shut off the TV and put on your shoes. We're going someplace to have breakfast."

The boy, Sonny, asked, "Is this the place where CJ, Steve, and Greg live?"

I said, "It is. Steve and Greg are two of my boys."

Sonny was putting on his shoes and said, "That's the place I was telling you about last night, Dad. Steve said they had a bunch of NASCAR teams over there for a party."

I asked, "Did you talk to Steve last night?"

"No, we saw him at the pool yesterday. All the kids from over there were talking about it. There's a lot of kids that live over there."

As we got into the cart, I said, "Yep, there are a lot of kids over there. You guys should join them more often."

At the house, I brought Bart and his kids into the patio. CJ and Steve saw Sonny and immediately ran to him, which meant two seconds later they were running into the house. Liz came up to Joan and began talking to her, and seconds later, they were running into the house as well.

"Coffee, Bart?" I asked, heading toward the big pot.

"That would be great," Bart said.

I handed Bart his coffee, drew another cup for myself and turned to him and the guys standing around the bar, "Tiny, Phil, Abe, Martin, Henry, Ryan, Hap, Bear, this is Bart. I'm sorry, I didn't ask your last name."

Bart said, "It's Moleson, almost like the beer, Bart Moleson."

Tiny laughed and said, "Hope you don't mind drinking Bud. That's what's on tap around here."

"You have a tap?" Bart asked.

Abe said, "Damn right. We use it right regular too, every evening. It's a tradition Steve started several years ago with Martin and Charlie. It's just continued."

I said, "It's a long story for some other time. The Charlie you mentioned is at work. Some of the other guys are working as well. How about a breakfast sandwich, I think the ladies are saving up the big breakfast for tomorrow morning."

Ryan offered, "If you haven't been invited to the Sunday morning breakfast and lingerie show you definitely have to come. It is a real eye opener."

Phil said, "It is definitely something to wake you up and get you up."