Chapter 22

Chuck

We had come home early this evening, and Aunt Etta had wanted to talk to me. We were in my home office, both with a glass of Dewar's and both sitting in big leather side chairs, half facing each other. Etta said, "Chuck, this won't take long, but there are a few things you need to know. Let me begin."

"Something your mother and father probably never told you is that their two families are much closer than it would appear. You see, way back about the time a Tasker took up with a Johnson, a group of Taskers became angry that the rest of the family didn't simply take the woman back and preserve the family tradition by getting rid of the Johnson. This group moved away; they moved far away to the bayous of Louisiana. They associated with, and lived with, their Cajun neighbors and friends, and they became as much Cajun as the other lifelong residents down there."

After taking a drink of her Dewar's, Aunt Etta continued, "The one thing that family did not do is to allow anyone outside their immediate family to mingle or marry one of their own. They intermarried for a few generations and were able to control the homogenous state of the family. But as they became more and more closed, they began losing some of the abilities that they had desired to keep pure. The more they experienced their dislike for others, the more of their ability they lost. Their desire to maintain their Tasker purity was the undoing of the entire family."

"Down in the bayou, your mother didn't want to marry a cousin that had been picked out for her. No amount of arguing prevented the approaching wedding date. Your mother said that she took a few clothes in the middle of the night, stole some money, and took one of the family boats to escape from what was planned for her."

"Your mother was a determined woman and was able to travel to Florida, ending up in Tampa where she went to work in a rough biker bar. She apparently was tough enough to get along with everyone around her, but when she met your father, my brother David, that was the end of her days of being alone. Within a week of their meeting, they were married and had moved to a trailer park. I know now that it was this one."

"They didn't know their families were related, but they knew they were happy. Somehow her family was able to track her down in Tampa and was going to kill your father and take her back to the bayou. Your dad was more of a man than they had anticipated and sent them back to Louisiana licking their wounds. A few weeks later, more of the Louisiana Taskers came to Tampa, and this time they were all armed. Your father was able to withstand their assault again, and sent them back to the bayou with their dead and wounded."

"That was when your father decided they should move back to his home town of Taxton. They lived there fairly peacefully, and it was about then that your father was selected by a government agency to do some covert work in South America. His relationship with the CIA kept his family safe, but kept him out of the country until he decided he wanted to be a homebody. Your dad was special, Chuck. He was the most caring man I've ever met, even more caring than the man I secretly married."

I looked up at Aunt Etta and asked, "Married, you were married?"

She reached across and patted me on the hand, "You don't think I would have those two beautiful granddaughters if I wasn't married at one time, would you?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I've learned so much about my family in the last couple of days; I don't know what to believe or expect."

Aunt Etta grinned, "Now I'll throw another wrench in the works. About the time your father and mother moved back to Taxton, something happened that changed their life as well as mine. You see, I was a dreaded Johnson, but fell in love with a Tasker, Edwin Tasker. The two of us secretly went to the next county and were married before a justice of the peace. We were planning on moving to Montana because we felt no one would ever find us up there. Between the two of us, we had saved up a great deal of money, enough for us to make our getaway and buy a small piece of land."

"Sadly, the week before we were to leave, Edwin was killed in a strange hunting accident. One of his brothers' guns accidentally went off, killing Edwin. The brother who accidentally shot Edwin committed suicide because he felt so bad, but that didn't bring Edwin back. A couple of months later, I disclosed that Edwin and I had been secretly wed and that I was pregnant with his child. That sent the Taskers into a frenzy, and you would have thought I was public enemy number one."

"Chuck, your father said that I needed to leave Taxton and that he would help me. He gave me an enormous amount of money and an almost new pickup truck, and told me to go to wherever I wanted to start a new life, but to get away from the crazed town people. Knowing how Edwin had planned for us to go to Montana, I drove up there and asked around about land. I found an old man who had a place near Cut Bank who said it was primitive, but livable. After looking at the little cabin, I knew it was where I wanted to raise whatever was in my womb."

"Between what I had saved and what your father had given me, there was enough money to not only buy the place, but enough money for me to make the house livable for me. I had electricity run to the house and had the house wired. With power, I mean electricity, I was able to have a regular water pump, and that meant inside utilities and heat. I had a functional bathroom and kitchen with running water. Being pregnant got me some sympathy help from the locals since they could see that I was planning on staying around. I made a lot of friends up there and became a part of the community and the local church. Everyone who wanted to go to church went to the only one within over a hundred miles. It was, and still is, non-denominational. That's where we stopped by and helped feed some unlucky locals."

"I had a little boy, Edward David Tasker. You see, I was Mrs. Edwin Tasker and was proud of it. I used my marriage license to get my driver's license in Montana, and Etta-Mae Tasker is the recorded owner of that property. Eddy was a good boy, worked hard around our cabin, and helped me with my way of earning a living. I carved sculptures of various people and animals. My work was popular and sought after by gift shops. I had a good relationship with the Indian reservation and made miniature totem poles that they sold at their gift shop. You can see, the gift your grandfather had for carving was taught to me at an early age. That talent kept Eddy and me in food and clothes."

"When Eddy was about twenty, we traveled back to Taxton to visit with your mom and dad. Things were not good then as the elder Taskers were feeling like big shots and making life difficult for the Johnsons. Your father was angry at me for having come back, but I assured him I would leave as soon as I had visited who I needed to visit."

History repeated itself once more. Edward met a lovely young lady who was a few generations removed from his father's family. The two were instantly in love, and he was soon eloping with the girl, heading back to Montana. Your father told me that I had best leave and probably never return. He said these people were not very forgiving, and that they would not kill me, but I would wish I was dead. I left and went back to my home in the mountains. Your father and I stayed close, and it was a few years later that he was killed, along with your mother and sister."

When we returned to Montana, Edwin wanted us to change our name to Johnson in honor of his grandparents. He felt it help keep us isolated from the Taskers.

"Meanwhile, Edward and Mary had a beautiful set of twins. They lived with me in the now big cabin, anticipating us to live there forever. I still made carvings, and Edward did a lot of odd jobs. He also made a good living by guiding hunters during the seasons. He learned the woods from his Indian friends and their fathers. Our family was well known and respected by the people of the local tribes. Mary was an artist who could create breathtaking landscapes and portraits in both water color and oils. She sold many of her paintings to galleries throughout the west. Her popularity helped me sell even more carvings."

Aunt Etta interrupted, "I have to go to the bathroom. Be a dear and get us some refills."

I went to the kitchen, now abandoned, and poured us two more drinks. I stopped off to use the bathroom myself and went back to my office.

Aunt Etta came in and looked at the big clock on the wall. She said, "My oh my, we've been talking, or rather I've been talking, for a long time, and I'm not even close to being done yet."

We both sipped a little before she continued, "This next part is difficult. A few years after the twins were born, Mary and Edward had to go to a doctor in Great Falls. You see, Mary had developed some pains in her stomach, and the clinic doctor up here advised them to get some x-rays. This was before the clinic in Cut Bank had an x-ray machine. The two left Marion and Virginia with me and drove down to Great Falls. It was there that the doctors said Mary had developed large masses that they feared might be cancerous. They wanted to operate immediately, but Mary said she had to see her babies before she would do that."

"The two came home, and I can tell you that Edward was a basket case. Mary was very attentive to the girls and gave them all the attention she could. She told them that she had to go back to the hospital and might be there a long while. You know how kids are; they don't want their parents to leave, but sort of understand it has to be."

"The next part isn't really all that clear, but this is what I have been able to find out. Mary died on the operating table. Edward was going nuts and had to be restrained. He called me about that time to tell me and said for me not to tell the girls. He asked if he could bury Mary on the hillside that she enjoyed painting from. I agreed, of course, so he settled down and made arrangements for Mary's body to be shipped back home. That time of year is when the roads always have snow and ice on them. Eddy was a good and careful driver, but must have gone into a slide and crashed down a gorge and into a tree. He was killed instantly. A Sheriff's car saw his lights swerve and go over the embankment. By the time the Deputy Sheriff reached the car, Edward was already dead."

"One of the hardest things I've ever done was to have to tell the girls that both of their parents were gone. They had a tough time with it for a year, but they were young and soon adapted to having their grandmother be their parent."

"Chuck, what I'm trying to get across is that you are the product of multiple families of the Taskers. The girls are also products of that mix. I don't push them, but have watched them react to thoughts I give them. They will hear me sometimes and look around to find out where I am while I'm talking to them. They are probably old enough to be taught how to handle their gift, and with the help of Missy, Mercy, Lisa, and you, they will probably be some amazing telepaths. You see, all of you are linked to the original Taskers and the girls' gifts or abilities are manifesting themselves with your influence."

That's when I told Aunt Etta about the triplets, "Mercy has four kids. Three are triplets, and I've seen the three sitting Indian fashion looking at each other and not visually or audibly talking to each other. If I mentally listen, I can hear them talking about kid stuff and sometimes about what they have heard from adults. Mercy said the three are very invasive and spend a lot of time trying to get into other peoples' heads. Mercy and Steve just told me their oldest son has discovered his abilities and was concerned everyone would think he was crazy. You'll be able to help him as well as your granddaughters."

Aunt Etta said, "This is the perfect place for the girls. This might be the perfect place for me too. The one thing I've felt since you introduced me to all of those people on that patio is that there is a lot of love here, more than can be expected with so many different people involved."

Aunt Etta finished off her drink and said, "I'm tired and want to go to bed. I think I've told you what is important, except one last thing."

I expectantly looked up at my aunt.

My aunt began again, "I need to tell you something that you have to keep to yourself. When Edward was a teenager, he used to roam the mountains and, as he used to say, listen to what the mountains had to tell him. Eddy came home with what he thought were gold nuggets. He said we shouldn't go to the assayer's office in Cut Bank, but go to Great Falls, or even all the way to Billings, to get what he hoped was a gold appraisal. We did drive to Billings for a weekend and had his samples typed and weighed. Ed had found over two pounds of gold, and it was worth over five hundred dollars an ounce even back then."

She looked around and leaned toward me, "Ed showed me the riverbank where he found the gold. We began making regular trips to Billings and Great Falls to sell the gold nuggets he would find. Edward wanted to do something for the community, so he would get money orders and anonymously mail them to the church, since they always had a need for money to feed those in need. Ed continued to find a little gold so he could help support the household, his new wife, and give some more to the little church."

You could see the pride in Aunt Etta's eyes as she told me this part of her story.

She said, "There is more to this, and I'll tell you in a minute, but first you need to know that just before Mary took sick, Edward made a few discoveries near the cabin. He found two caves where he chipped away at what he said were gold veins. One of those caves is the one you found me in. Anyway, he took samples to an assayer's office in Great Falls a few times. Somehow, the New Wave people found out and were making themselves a problem. I think that's why they were pushing so hard to get me out of the farm. Eddy gave me a map of the areas he thinks has the most gold, but said there are other areas that he thought had gold. He thinks, or rather thought, a mining company would pay loads of money for the mining rights, but it would probably ruin the peaceful living around there. Do you think I could live here and contact that mining company Edward liked?"

I was shaking my head. Would money ever stop coming to this family? I knew she didn't realize it, but because Edward had been unselfishly giving money to the church to help the needy, more money kept coming his way. Maybe if I were to stop giving so much money away, I would stop getting so much. Hmmm.

"Aunt Etta, you can stay as long as you want. I hope that it's for the rest of our lives. You and the girls have given me back a part of my family. You will also probably bring some more maturity to my group of people."

Aunt Etta chuckled, "From what I've seen, and sort of feel is happening, I think you might have several significant others in this house. Every one of them is lost in you. You have that wonderful magnetism your father had. I swear I would have run off with him if he had allowed it. I know he felt the same about me, but he met your mother and I ended up back in Montana."

I smiled, "Let's go to bed. The girls gave you a bedroom for tonight. Is that going to be okay?"

Etta laughed, "Are you asking if I want to join your throng in one of those big beds?"

I blushed and felt the heat in my face, "No, Ma'am, I would never suggest that. But you're right about how the family attracts each other. I love, or loved, my sister dearly, and I always thought she should be the model for who I would want my wife to be."

Aunt Etta raised an eyebrow, "Is that why you're so taken with Lisa? She reminds me a lot of your sister. That, and she's a Tasker as well."

"Go to bed, Aunt Etta; we both need some rest."

When I crawled into bed and hugged Lisa's back, she reached behind herself, patted me on the hip, and whispered, "I love you."

Thank goodness I'm an early riser, as I was in the kitchen making coffee when Gio and Sophia came in and sat at the counter. They didn't have a frown, but did have a look of expectancy and concern.

"What's up, Guys?" The brother and sister looked at each other, before Sophie said, "We want to know that you're not going to kick us out now that you have a couple of real relatives here."

I must have had a surprised look, since I could see both of them calm a little.

Gio asked, "Is that lady going to be one of your wives like our mother? Will she take our mother's place? Will she be the most important lady here?"

I didn't laugh, but wanted to, "No, no, and no. I'm not going to kick you two out. I hope you feel like you're my kids, even though we haven't been together all that long. I look at you both as being my son and daughter. My aunt and two cousins are also my relatives, but they are joining us, not running you out."

Smiling at the two, I said, "No, the lady will not take your mother's place in my heart. She is my aunt and will not be what you call one of my 'wives'. Your mother has become important to me and to all the people within our family."

That got a smile from Sophia, "Thank you for saying we are your family. Timetra said you would say that, but she isn't like your daughters. Those two are kind of like younger sisters to you, right?"

"I suppose you could consider them my younger sisters. Lisa thinks of them as her sisters, since their mother helped raise her. Lisa loves Peaches and the girls very much."

The siblings were smiling and Gio said, "We're brother and sister to all of the new babies, right?"

I nodded and said, "You can't get out of that one. Remember that you're the guy, the man for them, when I'm not around. You have to watch out for them as well as your sister and Lisa's sisters."

Gio frowned, "I guess I'm going to have to go to the dojo with Sophia so I can be as good as she is."

Sophia laughed, "Fat chance of that, Brother. I'm so far ahead that you'll never catch up."

That sounded like a challenge to me. It gave me a smile. It was then that Gina walked into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes. The beautiful Italian woman came up and hugged her two kids, then came around the counter to give me a hug. She molded her body to mine and gave me a kiss that made me want more. The problem with this was that the totally uninhibited Gina was stark naked. The kids didn't think anything of it, so I supposed I was all right with it.

Gina asked, "Is the coffee ready yet? I want some coffee, then I will fix breakfast. Pour me some while I go to the bathroom and dress." She gave me another kiss and headed to the bedroom. She was passed by Julie, who was coming in. Julie did almost the same, giving both the two kids a hug, then coming around the counter to give me a clinging hug and kiss.

Gio said, "Do all of the women hug and kiss you like that? Does Aunt Giovanna kiss you like that?"

I released Julie who stood there smiling, and I began pouring cups of coffee while trying to explain. "You know that your aunt is a part of Steve's family. She gets her kisses from Steve."

Sophia off-handedly said, "Yeah, from Steve and the rest of his women."

I thought Julie was going to choke on her coffee. I ignored the comment and continued pouring drinks. I gave both the kids a glass of orange juice.

The house was waking. I did receive kisses and hugs from the other women, some clothed, some still nude. When big Tina gave me a hug, she lifted me off my feet as she kissed me. Sophia said, "Wow, you are strong, Tina. You picked him up as easily as I can pick up one of the babies."

Big Tina said, "You should see my mom and one of my big sisters. Those two are really strong. My mother used to be in the circus with my dad."

Gio screwed his mouth up, "Circus, what's a circus?"'

Tiani began trying to explain what a circus was until both kids' eyes lit up and both exclaimed at once, "Circo, you mean circo. The word is close to the same, circus, circo."

When Aunt Etta came into the kitchen, she did give me a hug, but no knee-weakening kiss. I noticed the Italian kids made note of the greeting I received. When Virginia and Marion came into the kitchen, I received a hug, as did almost everyone in the room they could reach. Marion said, "This is a wonderful place to wake up at. The floors are not cold, and there is a lot of hot water. We took a long shower and didn't even run out of hot water."

At least some people knew what their priorities were.

It was soon time to head to Steve's for breakfast. The household began traveling to the patio, but I noticed that young Gio rode with Don and Jan. I'd bet he was lobbying for some extra training.

Steve

I watched with a smile, as Chuck and his household began coming into the patio. Glenda nudged me and said, "Now that I know to look, Chuck sure looks a lot like Davey."

Not knowing who Davey was, I asked, "Should I know who Davey is?"

Glenda smiled, "Davey and Angie were some of our best friends a long time ago. If Chuck or Etta don't tell you about them, I will later. Just let the story come out. You'll see even more similarities to you two."

That was a little confusing, but I had faith in the patio gossip network; nothing stays hidden for long.

Abe came in, spoke with Chuck a little, and even gave him a hug. That was curious. When Alice wiped her eyes, kissed Chuck on the cheek, and gave him a hug, I knew there was something really important going on with these strange actions.

Sue bumped me out of my observations by saying, "You need to get together with Chuck so we can go and look at that building down in Limon. Diego has called a couple of times, asking when we were going to look at it. Could we do it today?"

When I rolled my eyes, Sue jabbed me in the side, "Don't roll your eyes at me. I want to get this show on the road if we're going to do something. I know I'm being pushy, but this is important. We have some big contracts for South American goods that being shipped from down there would mean more business. That would give us a better in with a lot of other countries down there."

With a smile, I said, "I'll get with Chuck to see what he has to say. You know Dewey's architects are still down there working with a local firm to develop the plans for the resort and hospital. Why not give them one more project and have them plan the build-out of the plant?"

I waved Chuck over to talk. "Chuck, Sue wants to look at that big building in Limon. How about us flying down to take a look this morning? You might have a chance to look at some of the architect's plans for the resort. They are frantically working at it down there."

Chuck nodded and said, "Let me talk to the family for a minute before I give you an answer. If we go, can we get back this evening?"

"That shouldn't be a problem", I answered. "We should land in Limon and have Diego ferry us to the building. When we're through inspecting the building, we'll stop by Diego's, since he's next to the architectural firm that our Hawaiian guys are working with. You know, we have enough going on down there that, especially if we go ahead with our plans for the big factory building, we should probably just station a helicopter down there for our use when we're in the area. That would get us out to the plant, or out to your islands, with minimum loss of time. Once the resort gets going, it could be chartered to the high rollers there whenever we don't need it."

Chuck left and spoke with Lisa, Julie, Brandy, and the new lady, Etta. He came back and said, "Let's eat real quick and get in the air. I want to spend as much time as I can both looking at the building and with the architects."

Sue took off into the house while I had a breakfast sandwich with some more coffee. Chuck and Lisa came over and asked, "Ready? I called the airpark to have the Citation ready for us. Let's boogie."

Tiny wanted to come along, so it ended up that we had Juanita, Sue, Tiny, me, Lisa, and Chuck. When we entered the aircraft, Lisa said, "Fly right seat and talk to Chuck. I want to spend some time with Sue."

It was a blast watching my previous student get us into the air, doing it by the numbers. I know there was a lot of training from John too, but I was proud that I had a lot to do with Chuck becoming the pilot that he is. Sue had contacted Diego by satellite phone, and he met us at the airport with the new Ford Expedition he was instructed to buy.

When we came to the gate at the former 3M complex, we were met by a guard who expected us. I was impressed that the property was being protected even though abandoned. At the fancy front main entryway to the complex, we were met by a man who was introduced as the local onsite property manager and was looking forward to showing us around.

This place was huge, over a million square feet. The factory floors were clean, without any marks or evidence that anything ever sat on or was anchored to the floor. Some of the factory areas had ceilings that were probably forty or more feet high. Some had twelve foot ceilings, and the office ceilings were all the standard height of 12 foot.

There were some natural divisions of the building. Sue picked out a section with twelve foot ceilings on the left side of the building where she wanted her primary plant area to be. The more she looked, the more space she said she could use. I sure hoped her orders kept up with her enthusiasm for the place. The rear of the area had dock level overhead doors for shipping.

Chuck thought the area on one side, in the rear of the building, would be perfect for his boxboard plant. He admitted, "I have no clue how much space it takes to make boxes or the materials to make boxes, but this should be enough." Chuck was sectioning off about two hundred thousand square feet. I figured he didn't need all of that, but space was abundant. He did have more dock high overhead doors as well as train track siding doors.

I liked the right side of the building, as it had enough space where I could have factory space to build about anything I wanted. The way the building was situated, the area would have dock high doors, as well as more of the sliding box car level doors. We were not that far from the wharfs where we would receive or ship equipment to rebuild that came in by boat or barge. I kept thinking of the idea that I needed to have a visiting barge that made tours through various ports to pick up lifts for repairs and bring them back. If we kept our costs down, we might be able to include freight in our rebuild price. It would still be a lot less than a fourth of the price for a new super lift. As far as other types of lifts and machinery, we could ship by truck or train to almost anywhere in South America. We might even reach pretty economically as far as the Gulf ports of Texas.

I wondered if Jeff might think we could assemble some of our military vehicles down here. I'll bet we could sell enough of them to justify a local production line.

Tiny asked the building manager a ton of questions about the building and seemed happy with all of the answers. It's always nice to have Tiny's blessing for any business deal.

The building manager gave us a couple copies of the building's floor plan, along with a photo catalog with the areas referenced on the floor plan. Included in the packet was a complete maintenance record for the complex, detailing everything that been done since building completion. Chuck couldn't stand it and asked, "What is the asking price for the complex?"

The manager became a little nervous and gave Chuck a number. Chuck didn't look too surprised, and stated, "I'm sure the owner will consider a reasonable or even an unreasonable offer." The man fidgeted around before Chuck asked, "If I was to buy the complex, would you and the guards stay with the building to maintain the place? That would be important to us, as hiring and training a new building manager for a complex this size could be difficult."

I thought the man was going to have a happy fit as Chuck finished his question. The man reached out and shook Chuck's hand, pumping it for over a full minute. "I can be a part of the building. All of the men and guards would love to remain as employees. If you buy the building, I'm sure we can renegotiate our salaries to be more in line with what the pay scales are in the area."

Chuck said, "We'll do that, but don't sell your services short. You have been very professional with us, and it's obvious that we want the building. Now, what do you think the place can be bought for?"

The man gave us a ridiculously low price, exclaiming that 3M wanted to be rid of the property in the worst way. He said, "They wanted a manufacturing facility here and never finished building it out. They operated in only half of the building for a year before business conditions in the U.S required them to shut it down completely. They have kept us on to keep the building from deteriorating. I think they will take just about anything to get out from under it."

Chuck turned to me, "I'm buying the place. Let's get Ben on it before we go see the architects."