Chapter 81

I was totally bewildered by the middle of March about how to act with all of these new babies. The older kids were busy and loved enough that they didn't feel neglected or second to the bundle of new additions who were taking up all the breast time.

Lisa was back to normal, and had regained her cute shape with the exception of her bountiful breasts. She now was taking on more of a Sue persona, except that she didn't have Sue's broader profile. Our four were rapidly growing and seemed to be more aware of everything now, and enjoyed being held and played with.

I marveled at how many kids there were when I looked around the family room where they were all lying on the floor on blankets. The older kids stayed at the far end where the television screen was playing kids' shows. They weren't watching it as much as listening and playing with toys.

I tried to put a list of all my kids together.

First there was Lisa, who gave me Charles Steven, David Dewey, Angelina Etta, and Bethany Mission. Then Tina gave us twin boys named Frank and Hank. Jane gave me another set of twin boys named Dale and Kale. I thought that was cute. Brandy, who already had Daniel, gave us Thomas; Tiani, who had Samuel, gave us Mike, and Frieda, with Sarah and Farah, gave us Joseph. Judy, mother of Julie, gave us Michelle, and Nancy, who had Nitika, gave us Mitsie. Maria, who had Juanita, now had Jillian. Taiying, mother of Ji, had a daughter named Lin. Sing, whose son is Kai, has a daughter named Ling. Gina, who already had Giovanni, Sophia, and Carlo, now had Anna. Cassie added a sister to Izabelle or Izzy, named Megan.

I thought for a second then decided to put them in a better order:

Mother Ist Group of Children 2^nd Group of Children

Lisa Charles, David, Angelina, Bethany

Tina Henry, or Hank, and Frank

Jane Dale and Kale

Brandy Daniel Thomas

Tiani Samuel Michael or Mike

Frieda Sarah and Farah Joseph

Judy Julie Michelle

Nancy Nitika Mitsie

Taiying Ji Lin

Sing Kai Ling

Maria Juanita Jillian

Gina Giovanni, Sophia, Carlo Anna

Cassie Izabelle Megan

Etta Marion and Virginia

Whew! That's a lot of kids. It made me want to make sure that each of them would be taken care of if I should be gone, so I called Ben. I told him, "You probably need to assign a clerk to me for a day so that we can work out what I need to do. I want you to hold onto your chair armrests when I say this. I have thirty-one children, Ben. I had thirteen before and I've added eighteen since December. I need to set the newest eighteen up with the same trusts as the first thirteen. I really do have thirty-one now that I've adopted Marion and Virginia. Send a clerk out to the house so that we can get all this taken care of. Let me know if I need to update my will. I'm not fooling around with the agencies as much, so I'm not in danger as often. I want to be around to watch all these kids grow up into wonderful adults."

Ben said, "I'll send one of my new lawyers out to write this up. They'll know to ask all the right questions. I knew you had a bunch of kids, Chuck, but I didn't realize there were so many. Steve has a bunch, but you're ridiculous. Do you want me to buy some Pampers stock?"

"You slay me, Ben. They won't be in them but for a couple of years. The first batch was potty trained in less than eighteen months."

Ben asked, "Beth said you guys were about to go to Hawaii to see how Brandy's rebuild turned out. When are you going?"

"Next week, I hope. The women are putting everything necessary to make such a trip together. Do you want to come with us? I think Beth is planning on coming."

Ben said, "I have a couple of meetings down south, mostly about your money. The banks would like to have the leeway to do more investing, and don't know how to put a portfolio together for you. I'm going to help them structure it. I know you have a stack of those ten and hundred million debit cards, so I need to ask you though if you know how much you have in cards that you haven't touched?"

"Not a clue, Ben. Do you want me to count them?"

"Can you do it real quick?"

"Sure, hang on a second." I went to the top drawer of my desk and counted eight of the platinum American Express debit cards that each represented a hundred million. I had twenty-two new ten million debit cards, and three from before.

"I have eight of the platinum, twenty-two of new gold, and three more gold from before, Ben."

After a long pause and in a voice that was choked, Ben said, "Do you know you have a billion, fifty million in debit cards?"

"Wow, that's a lot. Should I send them to you to deposit somewhere?"

Ben told me, "You don't have to, but I'm sure American Express is charging you probably a tenth of a percent a year to keep them active. That doesn't sound like much but when you are talking the quantities you have, it's more than some people make in a lifetime. Keep one or two and let's get the rest into some form of investments. Call me if you should need a heavy duty debit card, and I'll get you one. I'll come out this evening and you can give them to me since I'm going south. I'm sure I can get a bank to enjoy having that kind of deposit."

"Thanks, Ben, I really need your advice when there's as much as there is."

Steve and I discussed when to go to Hawaii at supper on the patio. We hadn't gone anywhere since Costa Rica in September. Steve asked, "Can we get everyone on the new aircraft? We'll want to pick Dewey up too. Let's figure it out."

My group would be fifty-three with Kai, Katana, Sharon, and Elmer; fifty-eight if I bring the nannies. Steve's would now be twenty-one, with the addition of Mickey's Jo Ann, along with Beth and Missy. Dewey's family would only be seven. That's eighty-two, a plane load.

Brandy reminded us that the infant seats fit two per small seat and the older kids fit two toddler seats per one large seat. We would need ten small seats for the little guys and eight for the toddlers, so we wouldn't be filling all the seats as it was.

Steve and I figured that we would be in the luxury area that handled twelve. That would include Dewey, Sheena, Sheila, Beth, Missy, Elmer, Sue, Mercy, Kathy, Juanita, Betty, Sharon, Julie, Etta, Steve, and me. We were four over the twelve in the luxury area, but someone would need to be in the back with the big kids as a voice of authority. I told the women that I would sit in the back with the kids since this flight wasn't that long. We might get our guitars out and do a sing-a-long. Betty, Sharon, Julie, and Etta immediately wanted to join me. Problem solved.

Before we took off, our flight plan was for us to use flight level 550, initiating our descent one hundred miles southeast of FRD (Friday Harbor). We didn't have any diversions or air space problems at that altitude. I think I would have rather been the pilot, but Steve still felt that we should have the test pilots manage the aircraft.

The flight to Friday Harbor would be under two hours. We made sure they would have enough fuel for us and they said they had full underground storage as well as full fuel trucks. They didn't get that much request for Jet A except for the turboprop aircraft. The man was very excited when I told them we were flying an experimental passenger aircraft and reminded me of their thirty-five hundred foot runway.

The flight from Friday Harbor to Honolulu should take about the same amount of time, so we would go from Tampa to Honolulu in about five hours if we were only on the ground in Friday Harbor for an hour. That was less than half the usual time. The good thing would be that the pilots were rested and passengers not so cranky.

I remember that morning, as it was our first trip with all the babies. I suppose I should have been apprehensive of making this kind of flight, but I had confidence in the aircraft and my seventh sense wasn't talking to me. It took a while to put all the baby seats in the bus and then transfer them to the aircraft. That part of our journey would almost take as long as the flight.

I went to the cockpit to see how everything was as soon as we were at FL550 over the Pacific. The pilot turned to me and said, "It's as smooth as glass; not a vibration anywhere, and the skin temp is still very low. We're approaching Mach 2.5 and will probably settle there. We're at seventy-five percent power to save fuel, and should be half full when we land. ATC didn't make any comment about a sonic boom on the route to the northwest, so we might skate the whole way. I sort of thought we might disrupt a few on our descent and deceleration, but we we're fine. You could have flown this thing instead of me."

This just made me more anxious to be able to use this aircraft for our family's travels. I asked, "How was the takeoff? Were you apprehensive about the short runway?"

"Not a bit. We've consistently been lifting off at thirty-three hundred feet with a full load. This aircraft is a definite winner."

I went back to the back of the aircraft and joined with the kids in singing some songs. Dewey's kids played their guitars with Bonita and Lizzy to give us a great background to the songs we sang. The flight time to Honolulu was short enough that even the babies weren't overly upset. The altitude changes are tough on little ones. Our three plus year olds knew that sucking on a breast usually helped and wanted to be nursed during descent. The moms attempted to nurse the little ones and were stuffing pacifiers into the mouths of the others. They didn't want them, but learned that they helped.

We were met by two buses to take us to the house upon arrival. It took over thirty minutes to transfer the infant and toddler seats to the bus and then take them out at the house.

Brandy had designed an amazing home that really surprised everyone. The inside family room, living room, and kitchen area looked similar to Steve's. The far side of this area was just about a duplicate of the patio, complete with a bar, grills, and a large refrigerator with a tapper on it. Dewey instantly dug under the bar looking for the booze he liked best, and made a loud exclamation every time he found what he wanted.

Steve drew a beer for himself and handed me one. I was in awe at how Brandy had duplicated the patio and house. The difference here was that we had a view of the Pacific, unobstructed by the pool or anything else, when we walked out onto the porch. The pool was at the side of the house and had a good kid proof fence around it. It was nothing they couldn't climb over, but they were told to honor the fence and not to go over it.

I found Brandy and congratulated her on how close she was able to make this house to Steve's patio. She told me, "That place works, so I wanted to copy it the best I could, and we also have the porch. This place is really huge now, but I like it. This is what we need, and it has enough space for all our new ones. Did you check out the master bedroom and the adjoining baby and kid rooms?"

Brandy took me by hand when I said 'no Ma'am', and led me to the first big bedroom. Another room as big was next to it, and then the two rooms for kids and babies. The babies' rooms had bassinets that Brandy said would be replaced with crib style beds when the little ones outgrew the bassinets, and the kids' rooms all had single beds. The walls around the outside of the two big bedrooms had the individual closets and drawers for each of the women. Brandy told me that the other end of the house was for Steve and Dewey, and was similar to ours but smaller. Many suites for guests were upstairs.

Our nannies from home were working with the women from the island to get everything unpacked and the kids taken care of. The new mothers were busy breastfeeding the infants and also giving their older kids some loving at the same time. Some of the mothers and the local women began working on supper. Steve, Dewey, and I made ourselves drinks and sat out on the porch, gazing at the Pacific and watching the older kids playing in the well-kept grass to the side.

Steve said, "This place is going to take care of us for a long time to come. We need to invite our other families over here to enjoy this. You know that we have all the money we'll ever need. We have businesses that will take care of all our employees for the foreseeable future. We have kids who will keep us occupied and busy for a lot of years to come. We don't need to do anything other than what we're doing right now. We may have to get off our duffs to make a decision every once in a while, but we can retire if we want, other than that."

Dewey nervously looked around, and said, "That's a scary word. Retirement is like not having an income. Can we do that?"

"Dewey," Steve said, "Think of everything you have that's bringing you income. It won't stop. It'll still be sending you money. You'll still have to make decisions for those hotels, but nothing to get yourself in an uproar about. I'm ready for my family to become more relaxed and enjoy each other. I can sense that Chuck is ready to do the same. Can you think of a better way to retire than by sponging off our brother, here in Hawaii or down in Costa Rica? You and I have enough money to buy Chuck out and to live wherever we want for the rest of our lives, Dewey, but we have Chuck and will have that party with him. He's going to keep on trying to give money to those in need, which means his wealth will continue to grow in spite of his efforts. You know that Chuck endowed the Wounded Warrior group with almost three hundred million before we went to Riviera the last time? He put enough in trust to fund the third village for disabled wounded warriors. I think that's what brought him damn near twenty billion. It's so amazing that he could do that. What's more amazing is that he's still trying to give it away."

It was Dewey's turn, and he said, "I never was very generous with charities until I ran into Chuck. I've been giving more and more to local charities and organizations that help the underprivileged since he's been with us. But you've hit on something, Steve. I've also been receiving since I've been giving. I know that I'm getting two bucks back for every dollar I donate. I put a group in place that will take care of the inter-island poor and received the largest contract for Alaskan transport we've ever had. I put more into the project for the poor, and what do you know, my southern group suddenly has sufficient reservations for a second aircraft to meet tour demand. Chuck's on to something, he keeps giving, but also keeps receiving."

Steve looked at me to add something, but I just sipped my drink wondering if I should slow down on giving so that I would slow the receiving down.

My mind was suddenly alerted when I heard a youthful voice talking to me. "Can you come get me, Daddy. I'm lost in the tunnel to the studio."

"Who could that be? The sentences were too big for one of the toddlers, or so I thought."

I went down to the tunnel and hollered one way to see if they would answer. Nothing. I hollered toward the garage and gym and heard, "I'm this way, Daddy. Come get me."

I turned the lights on so it wouldn't be dark in that direction, and walked toward that end. There stood Juanita and Nitika looking scared. Juanita told me, "There are little red lights almost all the way, but none here and we were scared. Nitika said we could call you, so we did. Thank you for coming to get us. Are we almost to the studio?"

"The studio is the other way, Girls. This way is to the garage and gym room. Let's walk back and I'll show you where the light switch is. Remember to shut the lights off when you leave the tunnel, so that we don't use too much electricity." After I said that it occurred to me to just put in those switches that have motion detectors so that they come on whenever anyone walks near, but can be switched off manually if desired.

Nitika asked, "Can you take us to the studio? Bonita and Lizzy are supposed to be there."

I turned the lights for that direction on, and we walked to the stairs leading to the studio. "Okay, let's go up, but I want you to go back to the house by going outside."

They looked at each other and Nitika said, "We were told not to go outside. That's why we wanted to use the tunnel."

I couldn't argue with that logic, but knew the two were scamming their moms. I told them, "I'll take you back to the house outside and explain why if they ask."

They grimaced since they knew that I would tell the true story instead of covering for them. I thought their ability to figure out how to get around the instruction was ingenious. I was sure their mothers wouldn't think so or pause long enough to think about how clever the girls were.

Elmer's back was to us as he worked his boards and controller when we opened the door to the studio control room. I shut the tunnel lights off and gently closed the door as he was concentrating on his consoles with his headphones on. The two little girls were jumping up to try to see into the studio's main room, but couldn't get high enough.

I picked both girls up and was holding them on my hips as they watched Lisa, Bonita, and Lizzy. I was surprised to see the four little ones on a blanket next to where Lisa was playing her SG. They were doing some serious blues with Bonita trying to play a bass line and Lizzy playing her harmonica. I recognized the tune and remembered that it would need some B-3, as well as some rhythm background.

Lisa looked up when they finished, and waved. She motioned for me to come into the studio, so I brought the two little ones with me. Elmer was startled to see that he had company behind him.

Lisa said, "What did you think? Bonita found that one and said it was similar to one of the new ones you just wrote. I think it needs some background and some B-3. What do you think?"

"Exactly that. Let me use the bass with Bonita on the keyboard. Lizzy can do rhythm and her harmonica." I was adjusting the strap of the bass and turned to Elmer, "Double, double Lizzy to give us a wall and bring the bass up. There's a neat break in this one that Lisa and I need to play together."