Chapter 159

I went immediately over to the gym after changing. I still had not heard a word about today's activities. Everything was buzzing with activity. Kim was working the cash window. The lobby was full of people waiting for tans. With the graduation season upon us the perfect tan was a must.

I looked into the training room - Jamie was about half way through her course with this group of five. I quietly closed the door and went upstairs. There were three sitting at the meeting table with a stack of paperwork. Marcy came out of her office and must have read my mind.

"The last one is with the doc and the other with Jason and Courtney. So far they have all checked out quite well, are very interested and appear to really want the jobs. I have the room keys for them. They are two to a room, all with double beds over at the Holiday East. Having the four women in this group worked out well," she said.

"I know you wanted to take this group to the mats to see how athletic they are but I have an interruption to that. Donald Horsey owns the property on the back side of the gym. He wants to meet in an hour with you and me about the property. Ching Lee will fill in for you while he is here. She wants the two of you to warm up on the mats before this group is finished, I think in about fifteen minutes," Marcy said.

"Have her hands healed enough for her to do that?" I asked.

"The doctor cleared her this morning. She says she is ready to work you over," Marcy replied with a wink.

"Corry and Roseanne asked if there was any study material they could have to prep for their interview on Monday. I think they really want the work," I said.

"I have learned the hard way that there was a lot of truth in the statement when you said, 'The younger you hire them the easier it is to train them like you want them.' Some of the experienced temps and help I hired still are not where I want them to be and resist doing things the way I want unless I get firm with them," she said. "Call them and have them stop by tomorrow. I will put something together for them."

"They both were in the running for the debating team until the last round and were really good in a lot of areas. I know they are good at putting reports and data together."

I met Ching Lee at the lockers and suited up. After a few warm up moves, we were on the mats. Normally we would start out with the light stuff, disarming each other with fake knives, a rubber gun or an assortment of other kinds of weapons used on the street. We would then work our way up to the more advanced stuff, ending with the pogo sticks with the leather ball on each end.

Today she wanted to start with them and started out aggressive. Within minutes we were both huffing and puffing. We had both been knocked on our ass several times. When we finally called break we had a large audience, including the four female applicants. We had been at it for over fifteen minutes.

As Ching Lee and I took off the heavy padding, I spoke to the four ladies. "What we are trying to find out here on the mats is what kind of self defense training program we need to put together for you to be proficient. It will have no bearing on the decision to hire or pass over you today," I said.

"Ching Lee and I will demonstrate then each of you will get your chance to act and react with her accordingly," I said.

Ching Lee produced a rubber knife and we began to play off each other's moves. She was thrusting, swiping and jabbing. I was blocking, dodging, and staying clear. When we ended a move in a hold and a stalemate one of us shouted, "Clear" and we both jumped back to start again.

We stopped and motioned to two of the candidates to come onto the mats. I had not been introduced to any of them yet. I only knew them from names on a temporary id tag. I felt a little bad about that but that would soon be corrected after the meeting with Mr. Horsey.

We were just about to start when I was paged to come to the office. I met Donald Horsey in the lobby and escorted him upstairs to Marcy's office. I was toweling sweat from the heavy exercise off as best I could. I would have loved to have had a quick shower first.

After the introductions, Mr. Horsey began, "My wife and I moved to Arizona ten years ago for health reasons. We came up for the funeral of my brother and his wife. They were both killed in an auto accident on the beach highway near Rehoboth, Delaware. Neither one should have been driving anymore."

"I have been trying to get my wife to agree to sell the property. Every time she agrees, by the time I get things set up with a realtor she changes her mind. We have been stuck in traffic every day at the beach where we are staying. We went to Annapolis and were stuck in another traffic jam coming over the bay bridge for 6 hours, an accident or something. She has agreed to sell again. I want a fast sale before she changes her mind again," he said. "We have no reason to come back here anymore."

"I was surprised to see this place booming when we stopped at the house a couple of times. I am hoping you might be interested in buying the property for expansion on a quick sale. There are four acres just like the lot this place is on, long and narrow, with the house next to the highway. The house is 30 years out of date. I'm sure everything needs to be replaced. We were getting ready to remodel when we were forced to move to a hot dry area," he said.

"I have a copy of the deed, tax documents, and parcel numbers so you can check it out if you are interested. I want $125000 an acre; $500 thousand total. I know it would bring a lot more if we put it in capable hands but that could take months and maybe side-lined again," he said.