Chapter 163

The rest of the week went by like a rocket; there were that many things going on. Tuesday and Wednesday finished out all the exams. Then there was graduation rehearsal, the dinners, and all the works. Graduation was at noon on Saturday. It was something to think about that nine of the graduating class either lived with me or worked for the JBG.

All my mate's moms, dads, brothers and sisters were everywhere. I felt like a pig from all the fancy dinners I had to attend. So much so that almost every night I was over to the gym afterwards working out with the men's fitness group, just so I could stay in my clothes. I even went to graduation for Janice and Lisa of the North gang.

I had intended for them to go to college but I was surprised that they both won partial scholarships to AACC, thanks to the class taught by Lisa Coles. It may have helped that Jason worked on several scholarship groups for worthy students. It also helped that their grades went from C and D to A+ with the help of Lisa's class. I was sure that I could convince Midwest Bank and MAAR to pick up the rest of the cost.

Avoiding any sexual improprieties was a challenge. There were people everywhere. The six lower guest rooms were occupied as was the four over the garage, and then there was the overflow at the Holiday East and motel Hilton.

Also, there were all the tanning sessions for all the moms and sisters. The sisters were another thing by themselves. They were all teenagers and after several visits with Wendy they were all ready to be amateur nudists.

They were doing their best to show all the skin they could and not get caught. I watched more than one pair of panties being slipped off and stashed in the bottom of a purse and then there were all the extra empty cans of shaving cream in the trash.

Then there were the accidental spread leg peeks and a wink when they could get away with it or an accidental squat with wide legs to pick up a dropped object. It was east to tell that the tanning sessions were completely nude after the first couple of days. I just smiled, shook my head and avoided staring as much as possible.

The commercial building inspector spent most of Thursday looking through every nook and cranny over at the closed shopping center that was going to be auctioned off by the bank on Friday at noon. He was going to be at our meeting tonight with a complete report. Jeanna was going to sit in since Midwest would do the financing if we bought it.

Bob's Construction had made several inspections of the Horsey property we had bought and was also going to have a plan to present after the commercial guy gave his. Bob had also made a trip through the shopping center and had an estimate for us based on the joint observations with the commercial guy.

The meeting started off with the report from the inspector. Several of the potential lease spaces would need new floor tile put down - they were worn out - including the largest one; the old Acme store. The roof had been replaced 5 years ago on the entire shopping center by a contractor that specialized in commercial buildings.

The roof had held up well and was in perfect shape. All the block walls showed no signs of stress cracks. Four of the rental spaces would need new heat pumps. When a site closed they were robbed of parts to keep the rented units going for little cost.

Almost all of the spots would need new doors and closers. The stuff was just plain worn out. Replacing them with quality new components would make them good for several years.

The biggest and worst expense was going to be the parking lot. Almost a third of it would need to be blacktopped, and the rest seal-coated and relined and the handicapped spaces redone to the new size requirement.

Bob's estimate for complete repairs, including new exterior paint, was a million dollars; over half was in the parking lot.

Bob then went into the Horsey property. We had two ways to go. Make it into office space we could use or rent out. The second one was make it into our own little motel. Gut all the bathrooms and the kitchen. Replace all the bathroom fixtures with new. Set the kitchen up like a modern hotel centennial breakfast nook. Then add a bathroom in each of the four large rooms downstairs. That would give us eight motel style rooms.