Chapter 70

Steve

As I opened my eyes, I realized it was Wednesday and we would be sailing in a week. That almost scared me, thinking there were suddenly too many loose ends for me to be taking off like that. As I thought about it a little more, I realized that it will always be that way, and that's why we have good people working for us.

I sat up and made a decision, the guys needed to get on their horses, or airplane in this case, and get over to Hawaii as they needed to be back at home while I'm gone. A couple of them could be gone, but not all of them.

Sue kissed me and said, "What are you worried about, Hun? Did you have a bad time up in Alaska?"

I kissed Sue back and said, "It was a bad time, but most of all, I just made up my mind about something else. I need to get up and get ready to have some people act now instead of putting something off."

Sue pushed me toward the side of the bed, "Well then, let's get going."

Mercy raised her head and smiled at me. She said, "Oh Master, you're home. You men were busy up in Alaska, but I knew you were safe with Chuck and Lisa. She's already told me all about it." Mercy looked at me hard and added, "Good decision. Get those guys on the road to Hawaii and back so they can take care of business here while you're gone."

That lady will never cease to amaze me. She listens to me more than I listen to myself. I thought to myself, "I sure do love that critter." My mind was immediately flooded by Mercy telling me, "I love you too, Steve."

Even though it wasn't six yet, all six of us were up and on the patio, having coffee before the light came on. As soon as I turned the light on, we heard Glenda's screen door slam, then Tiny's and Ruth's door bang. As soon as Tiny walked in the back door of the patio, he came to me and said, "I think we should head to Hawaii today and get our business taken care of before you sail. I'll bet Abe's thought about it and feels the same."

Mercy smiled at me as I said to Tiny, "That's good news, Tiny. You guys can use Chuck's Citation or the 737, whichever you would prefer."

Tiny said, "That 737 sure is a nice ride. It's probably almost as fast as Chuck's Citation and it would help if we are all rested by the time we get there."

"The 737 it is, then. I'll get you two crews so you'll have fresh people the whole route. I'm sure they will enjoy the trip as much as you guys."

Ruth said, "I figured on something like this and have already packed. We can be ready in less than an hour, but I doubt everyone else can."

While all the rest of the folks began coming for morning coffee and breakfast, Abe came in and was talking to Tiny. They were smiling when they came to me and Abe said, "It's working out. I was going to tell Tiny we needed to go now and be back before you guys sail. He says he's already talked to you. There's Jimmy, let me talk to him."

Jimmy and Abe came over and he said, "I was just about to back out of going, even though I really would enjoy seeing my folks. Next week, Wes has some test flights he'll need done Thursday and Friday. This will be great. I'll go tell Angie, so she can tell Wanda."

Tiny said, "I'll round everyone up and they can meet us out at the airpark as soon as they can get there. I'll call Crystal and Bear to tell them we're on our way."

The folks were already saying goodbye to the others, and telling whoever their working partners were that they were going. At least, that is happening for the best. Now, I have to make up my mind on the move to open up in Alaska. The building was a great deal, but if we have to put up with continued bullshit from the locals, it may not be such a good deal. What I need up there is a local who can cut through all that bull and get something done. I'll call Dewey and ask about his brother. That guy has to know someone who can ramrod our deal for us.

Chuck and all of his family came into the patio for breakfast. Everyone was smiling and looked as if they were ready for work. That's when I noticed the bandage was gone from Chuck's head and only a scar remained, along with a spot where the hair was cut off to do the stitching. I noticed that Chuck's whitewalls had just about disappeared. Perhaps he was going to grow longer hair to cover the scar. That will be interesting, as Chuck has such a military bearing. I wonder if this will relax his manner a little. My head was filled by Missy telling me, "Now don't go pushing Chuck into being someone he isn't."

I looked around, trying to find Missy, before realizing that she and her daughter just stayed tuned to me twenty-four seven so they can mess with me when they can. Mercy came over to me and kissed me on the cheek. "I don't listen in to you unless you're concerned about something. You have some kind of strange signal that goes out when you're troubled or something is happening. That's why it seems mom and I are always in your head.

Chuck came to get coffee and sat in a chair at a little round table near where I was. Chuck said, "So Lisa tells me Tiny, Abe, and the others are heading to Hawaii early. She says that DeDe sent out a request to all the pilots to ask for volunteers. She says you need two sets of crew for the 737 too. I'm glad that leaves me out. I'm sure those new retired Air Force guys and the regular crew should be enough, don't you think?"

I agreed, "They should be. I wonder if DeDe did that just to make sure no one felt they were being bypassed for the trip."

Chuck smiled, "She is pretty smart that way. She does great coordinating Betty's charters with her own. She has learned to pick up some extra bucks by adding the helicopter taxi service when a charter comes in. The limo guy probably doesn't like it, but I'm sure he gets his share."

"So you've been paying attention to what goes on out there. How are you doing that with all of the travel you've been doing?" When I asked this, I had just reached for a breakfast sandwich.

"You taught me to rely on the people," Chuck said, pointing at me. "I spend a few minutes with everyone out there and let them tell me everything that's going on. DeDe gives me a general report that's easier to read than Tiny's accounting breakdown, and son-of-a-gun, I know what's going on."

With a big smile, I told Chuck, "You're learning, my friend. That's the way to make your life easier."

Chuck's ladies who work at the employment office came to him and gave him kisses and hugs, saying they would see him this evening. They all warned him to stay out of trouble and to continue to rest. They told Lisa the same thing, but I could see Lisa had other thoughts.

When the patio had pretty much cleared, Chuck got up and asked Lisa, "Want to go down to the warehouse and help me get a tux? I don't think I need anything, but if you need some clothes, it's a great place to get some."

Lisa said, "Yes, I want to go with you. I want some suits and dressier clothes, because when I get back, I may want to see if Sarah will help me become a deputy. If you and Nightfox are deputies, I want to be one too. I know how to study and will do all those tests that Nightfox has been doing, I can back you up better if I'm a deputy too."

Wanda was still sitting with us, when she said, "That's a good idea, Lisa. I should have already thought of that. When you get done down at the warehouse, come to the office and I'll have already talked to Sarah about you. Your Secret Service clearance will be good for us too, so you won't have to wait for an investigation. You'll be just like Nightfox."

Chuck looked at Lisa and said, "You know I was even thinking I might be through with this shit, and you want to join me instead of me getting out?"

Lisa said, "I've thought about it a lot. I'm not pregnant, and I can still contribute in both of these jobs. The way we've worked together has been special, so I think we should continue, at least for a while. This vacation coming up will give us time to recharge, get our act together again, and be ready to handle just about anything that needs handling. What do you think, Chuck, want to have me as your deputy in training?"

Chuck looked at me and said, "I'll bet that's how you and Sue got together, isn't it?"

I nodded and said, "Something like that. Maybe you can hear all the stories while we're sailing. They are some good ones."

Looking at Lisa, I said, "I hope we don't lose our most frequently used pilot out at the charter service. You will be hard to replace."

Lisa thought a second, then said to me, "Steve, flying is, or was, my first love. This crazy guy here is now my first love, but flying is still important to me. I won't be going with Chuck everywhere he goes, just to some of the intricate happenings he may be chosen for. Don't worry; I'll be flying a lot of your charters for a long time."

Chuck and Lisa got up to leave, along with their three house girls. The two little Chinese girls and Maria were like hip attachments to that whole family over there.

I stretched and decided to head to the shop to see what was happening. Debbie wasn't there when I stopped in to see her, but I could hear her and Gerry giving someone a lot of their mind. I walked that way and saw Jeff sitting in Gerry's cubicle chair, with his legs stretched out and his arms folded.

Debbie was saying, "You can't just decide to begin making stuff that isn't ordered or spec'd out. How can you make anything without the engineering plans? At least, wait until we give you some size specifications."

Gerry was red in the face, waving some papers at Jeff, "These aren't specs for the thing you're building; these are specs for the air-cooled engine Abe created for the LSAs. You can't make a composite re-creation of a cast engine. You just can't do that."

Jeff saw me approaching and sat up straight, then stood. Defensively, he said, "We talked about building an engine out of composite, then replacing failed parts with metal or other types of lightweight parts. Now you have three composite engines to begin testing. All I did was use those specs to have something to go by. My people created the engine, all you have to do is to give it to the motor shop, let them make it into a running engine, then we'll begin testing. We'll replace or remake everything that doesn't work with a different type of material. Sure, it's trial and error, but that's how a lot of great ideas come to fruition."

Gerry had her hands on her hips, still unaware that I was listening. "How much did it cost to make those engine blocks? I'll bet it was thousands. How about the materials? That in itself is a lot of cost."

Debbie said, "No, it was cheap. He ground up the composites he created before and used a lot of that material for some of the components. Since he has that new grinder, he's reusing all of his mistakes."

Gerry said, "That's even worse, now you won't have a controlled content on the composite. You won't know what's really in it."

"Come on, Gerry, you know better than that. I don't have to add anything to ground up material except bonding material, and that won't make any difference. We'll know exactly what the content is." Jeff nodded his head for Gerry to turn and look at me.

When Gerry turned, she said, "Whoops! I'm sorry Mr. Sharp; I didn't mean to be yelling. I'm just too much of a perfectionist sometimes, and I don't think we are being as exact as we can be on this project."

I said, "You're both right. Jeff is correct that a lot of great ideas and inventions have come from junk. You're right, because engineering an engine has to be an exact science. Let's get the motor shop working on one of these engines so we can begin to see what the results are. Then you two can go back to your engineering plans and make any necessary modifications."

Gerry and Jeff looked at each other and grinned. Gerry stuck her hand out and Jeff shook it. Jeff asked, "Deal?" Gerry emphatically said, "Deal."

Debbie moved me back toward her office and said, "Those two are both so bullheaded about their work, you would think they were competing instead of working together. Oh well, but, Boss, there is something else we need to talk about."

Debbie rifled through some papers on her desk and found what she was looking for, "This is nuts, but I have six orders here, from six different locations, for our signature truck. All have buckets and all have already been through finance. Do you think the utility body shop can get these done? They are pretty shorthanded over there since we've been sending their people to other jobs."

I made the suggestion, "Split off a couple of welders and a couple of sheet metal guys to help. If you need more, then try to borrow one of the mechanics on the rebuild line. That should give you the manpower to complete the order. Hell, for damn near a million dollar order, we can afford some overtime on the project too."

Debbie was nodding and taking notes, "I'll do that and get it started right away. I'll let the guys down the street know about the order and see how they will schedule the project. Thanks, Steve, you always know what to do."

I smiled, as what I suggested wasn't that intelligent, but the only way to handle the problem other than hiring people, and I didn't want to do that if I didn't have a permanent job for them.

Out in the shop, life was the usual in the frame area. There weren't a bunch of people working, but there were three different types of frames being worked on at the same time. At least, there is diversity for the guys. The sheet metal guys were busy, and the motor shop was full. None of the teams were working for any racing crews this week, so all of them were busy building or rebuilding an engine. Shawna was fitting the front disk brake calipers on one of her custom creations, while her mute assistant was sitting cross-legged, fitting the pieces together for the stator. They looked up and smiled, but kept right on working.

I walked over to the rebuilding area, noting that every work area was still full. I suppose we were doing better than I thought to have that group still intact. Outside the shop was a line of equipment waiting to be rebuilt, so they were not going to run out of work real fast.

Over at the big lift rebuild shop, all of the work stations were also full and there were several big lifts waiting in the yard. There was even a flat bed trailer with two lifts at the drive down dock.

Jeff's group was busy forming contract pieces of fiberglass. Phil's men are doing a great job getting orders from other manufacturers. Jeff's people were not only busy; he was constantly training more people. He was going to need more space for some of his creations, maybe a special shop where he and Gerry could work together. That should produce some unusual products, if not enough sparks to light some fires.

Back up in my office, I returned calls and answered messages before Henry knocked on my door. I waved him in, saying, "You never have to knock, big brother. Come on in, what's on your mind?"

Henry said, "Since Tiny took off for Hawaii, he asked me to check on his men. I was doing that and noticed you in your office. I have an idea that I wanted to run by you."

"What is it? I'm always open for ideas."

Henry said, "Come down to the lunch room and get a cup of coffee. We can talk in there."

We walk across the open balcony to the original little lunch room and poured some coffee. When we were seated at the big table in the room, Henry said, "You have been active in helping injured vets get back on their feet. You've even been building special housing for them on the land behind the villages. You're trying to find various jobs for the guys and creating training programs for them. How about we begin testing the guys as they get settled, and see if we can find some that may be able to learn to become accountants? The job is all head and no brawn. Even if they have lost their hands, the computer systems available today would enable them to do the job. We could use the guys and women who are paraplegics to do audits and do a lot of the grunt work that's done in accounting. It might be expensive as a startup, but the results would be a group of men and women loyal to who helped them get back into the mainstream of life."

"Wow, Henry, you've thought a lot about this. I can see how using these folks for that kind of work would be good for both of us. What will we do with all of these accountants though? Start our own accounting firm?"

Henry smiled, "That is going to be easier than you think. I've talked to our accounting firm about the idea and they are interested, for many reasons. The partners have agreed to join with S&S as a marketing partner with their firm. We would work with them to expand their company to even more locations than they are now. We could just about expand to every location we have company dealerships and they don't have offices now. Each office would have some of the special accountants to do some of the grunt work in the beginning, but you and I know these men will grow to become really good accountants and be a part of the company. I think we could do this without a huge investment into the accounting firm, but it will be expensive to get men through school and to pass their CPA exams in the beginning. What do you think?"

I was nodding my head in agreement and asked, "What does Tiny think of this?"

"Tiny is the one who negotiated what our part of the business would be with the accounting firm. He has put together a partnership agreement that lets both companies share costs, and most of all, share profits. The accounting firm is profitable now and should remain that way for a long time. I think the idea is doable and the local VA advisors are enthusiastic about it. They will help with the financial part of schooling, and you already are getting some help for the housing. This is the next step."