Chapter 120

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT STATEMENT ALL ABOUT," Jenny yelled. It was the first time she had ever raised her voice to any of us. There was shock on all the faces around the table at her reaction.

"We have done a lot of advertising that we were a ladies-exclusive gym. It was only a matter of time until someone decided to challenge that. It's that just now is the time. Marcy also commented just the other day that the manufacture of the Marathoners was pressuring us to allow a broader test group to use them. Marcy has already agreed to one group for a complete weekend of nights." I said.

"Do we want to spend a ton of money plus be a negative in the media for months? You know that is the next place they will make a statement if they haven't already called them. We have too many other things in the works and a ton of negative publicity could destroy all of it," I said.

"Judge Slaughter, be honest with me. Can we fight them in court and win?" I asked him.

"You might but it will take years and lots of money. All the big country clubs that were male exclusive have given up the fight" he replied.

"That's what I'm saying. How long are you going to be on the Governors Task Force when the media confronts him at the next news conference? How long will I have a job at a liberal college when they get asked the same question? Is Frost Borough going to touch us with a ten foot pole when the crap hits the fan? What about the car rental and Jeanna's Bank? Sooner or later the media will connect all the names together. Right or wrong they will all cut, duck and run" I said.

"There are a lot of things we can do to discourage male members and still be legal. 8AM to 8PM for ladies, 8PM to 8AM for men, they have equal hours and both are split up between day and night. Do the same thing for Saturday and Sunday," I said. "We have a week let's think about it and sort it out. If we had said flat out no the media would be here tomorrow."

Jenny's face was still red but she was calming down. Marcy and Lorrie both started to speak. Lorrie said, "It makes sense in a way if we can have two exclusive gyms. One lady's and one men's but will it fly?"

"BJ is right and she did buy us some time. Do you think they will be back tomorrow to see if they can get a tan?" Marcy asked.

Ching Lee said, "We had better make sure Wendy knows and does a refresher in the defensive training, I don't think they will faze her a bit but she needs to be prepared. I'm sure Kim and Marsha can give her guidance."

"Maybe we need to split her time so she can work in part of both groups. With her in those thongs she likes to wear there will be lines out to the highway as soon as the word gets around," Vicky said. "How about adding a Brazilian style bikini area wax, shave or trim and nothing else for both? We have the massage room and the aid station, both with tables."

"I think that takes a license and inspections," I said. Then as an afterthought I added "Amy might have the license already for something like that, we can ask her and see if she wants to go in that direction."

"At 25 or 50 a pop she could add a lot of cash flow," Vicky said.

"Pop goes the weasel is the right word, all gooey and sticky, ' I replied.

The Judge, Jason and Dad all had their head in their hands turning red.

"Dad said, "This is too much information for me. I think it's time for me to go,"

"Thanks guys for being here for backup. We will keep you informed," I said.

After they left it was time for another family meeting while we were together.

"We need to discuss hiring employees, several of them. There is a lot of work to do between now and the first of February. I suspect that if this is the only job that Bob has right now that the second floor will move quickly and be available before then.

The car rental is most likely going to take three or four people, maybe more. Just the auditing and banking alone is going to be a full time job for one person. Then there are tags, registration, insurance and maintenance; that requires another person. Then add payroll for 200 people, workman's comp, and quarterly reports that's another person. Are we going to pay auditors 150 an hour for two or three people to do those things? I think not. Even if they have interns it will still be 50 plus an hour.