Chapter 11

Chuck

The last baby had been fed her middle of the night feeding, and I was really deep asleep. Lisa was shaking me. When I came out of my fog, I heard her say, "Your cell phone is ringing. Hope that isn't a problem."

I got up from bed and hopped into my closet/dressing area to retrieve my phone from the tray I put pocket junk in.

"Johnson,"

"You son of a gun, we did just like you've been doing and let it ride, all of it, we kept letting it ride. Brother Chuck, Tiny and I have hit the jackpot. We hit it so big, they asked us to leave."

I said questioningly, "Henry?"

"Yes, Henry. You're like a brother to us anyway. We are berthed at an exclusive yacht club here in Mobile and have been doing some serious gambling until just now. Tiny and I said we would each put up ten grand to set a max for us to lose and we started out with blackjack the way Steve says you always do it. We moved through a dumb luck, lucky streak on the craps table, and finally moved to roulette. The girls had lost all of their money playing slot machines, but Tiny and I kept winning and winning. We're standing in line at the cashier's window right now, with some bozo watching to make sure we leave. How about that, we've moved into your league. I think we might have won over a million, but we'll have to see. It's hard to win a lot as they have maximum bets."

"Henry, why in the world would you call me at this time of night?"'

"Oh, Chuck, don't spoil the good mood. I just had to tell someone and Steve's next. Besides, it's almost six in the morning at home and you would be getting up anyway. Man oh man, were we hot. I'm going to call Steve while Tiny cashes out, then we're going to bed. We should be home Sunday evening. I think we've done enough damage. See ya, Chuck."

I was standing on my one good foot in the bathroom, leaning up against the sink. What a crazy call. It did give me a warm feeling for Henry to consider me like a brother. That's neat.

Lisa was standing in the doorway, "Where do we have to go, and who do we have to save?"

I smiled at the love of my life, "Nowhere and no one. Believe it or not, that was Henry, Steve's brother. He was calling while he and Tiny were in line at a cashier's window to cash out their chips in Mobile. They were big winners and he had to call someone. He's calling Steve right now. Strange, huh?"

A naked Tina came up behind the equally naked Lisa, and I could tell when Tina caressed Lisa's round bottom as Lisa's hips wiggled a little. They both smiled at me, and Tina said, "It's time for me to get up and get ready for work. How about helping me with my shower?"

I was laughing inside as I slipped my peg on so I could stand up in the shower instead of hopping around on one foot. This shower was a good one. It was over a half hour before we actually began using shampoo and soap. All three of us were very satisfied, but Tina complained, "That was so good, but I'm going to be leaking for half the day now, and will probably give off enough pheromones to attract most of the male nurses and interns on my shift. Whew! That was so good."

Tina gave Lisa and me some sweet kisses before we got out and dried off. Lisa and I dressed in Saturday morning garb, which meant shorts and T-shirt for me, and a really sexy gown for Lisa. We made some coffee so Tina could have a wake me up before leaving. When she came into the kitchen, she said, "I always stop at either Burger King or MacDonald's for a breakfast sandwich on the way to work. That way, I have what you guys on the patio usually eat for breakfast. Hope they make something good for you this morning since it's Saturday. Today is supposed to be a short day for me, so I should be home early."

After hugs and kisses, Tina was gone. Lisa came over and climbed into my lap. That was no easy feat, as I was sitting on a tall counter chair. She hugged me with her head on my shoulder. "You know I don't know whether either of us should ever marry you. Tina and I are so close that something like that could drive us apart. This way, we have each other and you too. The other girls are nice and fun to play with, but Tina and I have something special. Strange, isn't it? When you and I are together, I'm so in love with you and tuned into you like I can't ever believe. If Tina and I are alone together, there is no one else who exists. Put the three of us together and we are a smoldering volcano ready to erupt any second. We are special together."

I let Lisa stay snuggled in my lap until Julie walked into the kitchen. She said, "Did I hear your phone ring this morning?"

Julie had to be told the entire story, and after giving Lisa and me a kiss and hug, she left to get ready to go to the patio. Girl after girl, or should I say woman after woman, came in for a hug and kiss while Lisa remained in my lap. When Tiani came in with Taiying and Sing, she pulled Lisa off my lap and said, "Don't be a lap hog. We three need some attention too." It became a procession, as Tiani snuggled into my lap first, followed by the two Chinese sweethearts, one at a time.

Lisa had poured me some fresh coffee as we waited for everyone to get ready. All of us were soon ready to head to the patio. When I opened the door, I saw it was raining lightly and a little cool. I said, "Okay, Ladies, go put on a long robe or something, and make sure we wrap the critters up real good. It is a little chilly and raining this morning. If we don't drive fast, we shouldn't get wet except between the cart to the patio."

We were soon on the patio, with the waking community slowly making their way to the gathering for coffee and breakfast. Steve was behind the bar making Bloody Marys and Irish coffees. Julie joined us with an Irish coffee, while Lisa and I enjoyed a tall Bloody Mary. All of Steve's women, except Mickey and Gio, joined us in having something special. First we heard how Gio was feeling, which was good, before Steve asked, "Did Henry really call you before he called me this morning?"

I nodded my head, "He sure did. At five thirty, no less, that's like four thirty in Mobile, isn't it? They had not been to bed yet and were celebrating their big win."

Steve leaned closer to me, "Tiny told me they won close to five million in total. He said they couldn't lose last night and were finally asked to leave. Henry kept saying they were doing what you said they should do, let it ride."

I said, "That was pure luck; they didn't have Missy or Mercy with them, and I know I was home in bed. Sure hope they don't try to repeat that."

Steve said, "Tiny told me they were going to head home after sleeping a little while. He thought they should be home by tomorrow evening. If they wanted to motor straight through, it's only like twelve hours at their thirty knots low cruise speed. Depending on how long they sleep, they could be back late tonight."

Steve was smiling, "If I know those two, they'll have to stop at Panama Beach, leave there tomorrow morning, and will be back tomorrow evening. You know how those two girls are. They are going to want to shop at all of the tourist and T-shirt shops on the beach up there."

I had to smile at that. There was a magnetic pull toward curio shops on beaches. Women cannot resist them.

I told Steve, "I'm going to see if I can get hold of the guy I'm thinking of who could handle all of the local heavy decisions down in Costa Rica. If he's agreeable, I'm going to bring him up here to spend a day or two with us to get the feel of our family. I'm sure he will want to be a part of what we have after he visits here. Who can resist?"

Steve was grinning, "You know, it is one huge family, isn't it? When all of the little ones were calling all of us men daddy and grandpa, the women mommy and grandma, you just didn't separate them into whose kid was whose. They still refer to all of the women as mom or grandma, they call us men by name, and dad for their dad, but they still have their grandpas. Now that's family, isn't it?"

I said, "I'm sure my kids will all call all of you guys mom and dad, along with all of the women here and at our house, mom. At least you have other men around you."

"You have other men around too, Chuck. All of us here are looking forward to watching yours grow and become little people. Look how everyone adopted Gio's and Gina's kids. They just fell right into a slot and became part of the gang. Speaking of gang, what do you think about the Italian kids learning to use the motocross bikes?"

I waved Gina over and asked, "You know that all of the kids here go up to the motocross track on Saturday morning and race around the track for a couple of hours. They learn how to ride, how to balance, how to take care of the motorbikes, and they learn sportsmanship while competing with each other. All of the kids have protective gear, but there are broken bones sometimes. Bonita has already broken a bone, and CJ followed his dad and broke a leg. It is as safe as we can make it and they have good teachers."

Gina said, "They have not asked me. Why do you think they would want to do that?"

I told Gina, "You know how the four of them are. They know you're afraid to let them do anything that is even a little dangerous. They just didn't want to be disappointed if they asked you."

Gina was thinking about that and said, "Let me ask Giovanna and maybe my father."

Steve said to me, "You pegged that one. I know your two were asking about riding again this past week. They really want to do what all of the other kids are doing. We might have to spend a little extra time on the track with them until they are good enough to sort of compete with the others. We really don't have races, but we do have a freestyle period that usually turns into races between various kids."

Gina came back, "Giovanna said she thought it might be dangerous, but said kids have to have excitement too. My father is all for it; he says it's good for kids to get bumps and bruises. I don't agree with him, but I can see how our four would want to do what the others do. Yes, they can ride the motocross. I will tell them."

Steve and I watched as Gina told the four kids. They became animated and excited. Steve said, "You best borrow my truck and take them down to the bike shop for protective gear real quick. Take Dennis along with you as he's the expert around here. Tina is too, but she's at the hospital, right?"

I found Dennis and gathered the four to go to the bike shop. While we were there, Dennis found four used bikes that he said would be great learning bikes for the kids. We loaded up all of the gear and the four small motocross bikes and headed home.

A short time later, all of the kids were riding in carts and Steve's truck up to the motocross track. Giovanni was as excited as the kids and rode with me. It was wet and nasty out, but that is part of the sport. We figured on a lot of spills and chills while riding the wet track. Dennis patiently went through how the motorcycle had to be cared for, and what they would have to do when we finished for the day with the four new kids. It was nice and dry in the big metal barn where the bikes were kept, but it was cool and beginning to rain harder outside. Giovanni elected to watch the activity from the door of the big barn.

This definitely wasn't a day for newbies to learn to how to ride, but all four of the Italian kids would not give up and kept picking themselves and their bikes up and were going again. I think they were more tired of kick starting the bike than having to pick it up. We noticed one of the bikes didn't like to start easily and Dennis said he would fix it.

An extra attraction out at the motocross track was big Donny Wilson. He wanted to come out to watch the kids. I didn't expect that Gerry would follow along, as she usually was nose deep in something at the R&D center. Today she was spending more time gazing 'moon-eyed' at Donny than anything else.

Donny was cool with the kids. He acted like a corner worker and was constantly picking up kids' bikes and helping them get the mud from their helmet visors. Donny ended up as muddy as the kids.

After two hours of throwing mud on each other, and all of them falling multiple times, we called them in. Dennis had them wash their bikes and oil everything up. He spent extra time with the new Italian kids, helping them learn what to do. The next thing he did was funny. He had all of them put their helmets back on and lined them up outside.

Using a hose with a spray nozzle, Dennis sprayed every one of the kids to get as much mud off them as he could. When they were semi-respectable and sort of mud free, we went back to the patio where all of the kids and the adults went to change into dry clean clothes. Thank goodness there were no broken bones today, especially by the Italian kids. When they were dressed, the four excitedly told their mothers how much fun it was. I was surprised to hear them speaking English to explain what they had been doing instead of Italian.

The kids were all showing up on the patio with their guitar cases, ready to go to the rec center for their lessons. All of them, including the four new kids, went for the lesson, leaving a vacuum on the patio.

Steve asked me to join Sue and Mark at a table. Sue began, "Steve and I have thought about this extensively and want to build a clothing plant down in Costa Rica. We were thinking about putting it in or near Limon. Steve says you, Chuck, think there might be a labor shortage as you staff your resort, and I have to agree with you to an extent."

Mark thought for a second, "Do you know the whole country of Costa Rica only has a population of fewer than five million. That's not a lot of people, but more than a U.S. state of comparable size. West Virginia is about the same size physically, and only has a population of just fewer than two million, so Costa Rica has more than twice the population density in the same geographic space as West Virginia. The entire population of the Limon province is only about three hundred fifty thousand, and they have a huge refinery, a circuit board manufacturer, a good sized fishing industry, forestry, agriculture, and, of course, a lot of tourism. If I was going to build a plant in Costa Rica, I would put it in San Jose. The population there is almost two million, and their economy isn't as strong as Limon's. You would probably be a welcome addition there."

Sue looked at me and asked, "What do you know about San Jose, Chuck?"

I had to honestly answer, "Nothing, I've never been there. Mark, how do you know so much about Costa Rica?"

"There are a lot of expatriates living down there, and I've met and visited with many of them. Several come to the yacht club where we are all members. After meeting them, I researched the country extensively as I was thinking about building an R&D center on the island and was looking at what kind of technical labor pool might be available. It's really not too bad, but the majority of the population work in some form of skilled labor occupation, mostly agriculture, and tourism. The shipping industry is big in Limon, but that has its drawbacks as well. A lot of cocaine has traveled through Costa Rica, but I have to say that they are working hard to clean the problem up. The more people who are gainfully employed and happy, the fewer dealers and users there are."

I said, "And all of this started because Julie gave me an island and I wanted to put a modern power grid on it. Mark, you've done a hell of a job down there. The runway and hangars are really a nice touch. I really haven't been in your R&D building down there, but I know all of the other infrastructure improvements are going to help the island dwellers for their entire lifetime."

Mark chuckled, "Of course, we've had the usual Chuck's luck, or should I say the Steve's and Chuck's luck. We found natural gas, fresh water, an artesian well, and the geologists have a strong feeling you are sitting on oil. Clean up the dope traffic down there and get rid of the racketeering and drug dealing cartels, and you'll have one hell of a good place to live."

Without thinking, I said, "I may have a way to handle that. At least I think and hope so."

Steve, Sue, and Mark looked at me funny. I added, "I'm not going to go eradicate a bunch of bad guys, even if they are vermin. I'm going to convince them to change their lifestyle."

The mood at the table lightened and Mark continued, "Like I said, I would put a factory or plant in or around San Jose, as that would give you the greatest labor base. They do have industry there, but another plant that hired predominantly women would be a welcome addition. I'd bet the country of Costa Rica would give you a lot of help getting started now that you've been putting some infrastructure into their country."

Sue said, "We'll have to go down there and take a look. I like the idea that all of our holdings would be grouped closely together. I suppose if there aren't enough people in Limon Province, there aren't. If you consider the estimated personnel Chuck is going to need, that is really a small fraction of the entire province's population. If I build a big enough plant and can support it with orders that may be too much for the province's population. We're talking big numbers. I think I'll start slower and see how everything works out. We'll just make sure we have plenty of room to expand."

Steve suggested, "Let's ask Chuck's contacts down there to see if he feels the labor market in Limon could support your needs. If they don't think it would, then we will go to San Jose."

Mark said, "I'll ask around to make sure of my thinking and let you know what I find out. As soon as the news is out about the potential hiring of five hundred people, we're going to have people camping out waiting to get a job. You're probably going to have people from the neighboring countries coming for the resorts, and if Sue builds her plant, there will be foreigners for that too. It could be a real customs and immigration nightmare. You'll need some good people to oversee and manage that. Meanwhile, go down to San Jose just to take a look. You can tour the whole province of Limon while you're at it, and make a decision based on what you see and learn."

I told Mark, Steve, and Sue, "As soon as I'm finished doing a tour of the offices that need a visit, I'm heading to Costa Rica to check some things out. Mark, just continue prepping for the natural gas supply and water for both of the other islands. I'd say at least four good water wells on the big island, and three on the middle. You and the geologists decide. You might be able to use the brackish aquifer for landscaping if the salt content isn't high. You and someone else have to experiment and agree. It would be good if we didn't have to have a desalination plant. I was thinking we could also use some form of cistern to retain water during the rainy season. We might build one as a backup, but it would be better if we could depend on natural water.