Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2010 15:30:33 -0700
From: dnrock@rock.com
Subject: Jason Adonis 19

Jason Adonis
by:  dnrock(dnrock@rock.com)


19:  The Second Summer

By the beginning of our second summer, my newly reconstructed family had
taken shape.  With Klass' quiet support and active help, we had built the
foundation of a dynamic management team.  We were well on our way to taking
control of the Adonis empire, shifting from one generation to the next.
One year down on my five year, phase one plan.  This type of plan is by its
very nature dynamic and self modified.  Its objectives are general and
sometimes only vaguely defined.  The addition of a new younger brother had
not been foreseen but that went off more or less without problems.  Within
two years, well one year now, the brothers, except for Drew would be in
university.  The diamond business would be completely stabilized, our new
reinvestment policies, for each national business unit would be implemented
and I would be on my way to fathering nieces and nephews, for the brothers
to spoil.  Well that was the plan anyway.  Except for my romance with Eva,
I was slacking off in this area.  The plan is flexible and I am still well
under 30.

By the end of the second summer Drew had traveled around the world,
experienced many tourist and cultural events, that most teens can only
dream about.  He and Eva had a good grasp of the family's hard assets and
could be sent at a moments notice to fill in for Klass, should the need
arise.  The brothers had four weeks of real work experience in the UK and
had reinforced their staff contacts in London, Amsterdam and Bern.  They
also had a load of teen fun in Europe meeting all kinds of young people,
seeming to make friends where ever they went.  I was very pleased with
everyone's performance at the job sites.  All of us made solid middle
management connections, at the enterprises we worked for, our work was
highly praised and we were all invited back next summer.

I found it a bit difficult to devote four weeks to menial work.  Not
because it was difficult, beneath me or hard, that was four weeks, when I
only had a few evening hours each day to try and keep my other job tasks at
bay.  How did we ever function without E-mail?  I can't even imagine how
our great grandfathers lived, well did business, without the telephone.

I missed Drew of course and I missed Eva too.  My sexual fantasies were
about evenly split between the two of them.  I'm not quite sure what that
is to mean, however.  Since we were stationed in several different UK
cities, I missed my brothers.  AUK took a larger share of PPI which would
allow them to expand into Switzerland and Australia.  That gets us to about
45% of the company.

Sir. Whittiker though I was responsible for the Chicago office getting the
wax company's business, but I was not.  Charlie had seen their performance
and liked what he saw.  In fact, he never asked me who they were.  JP told
me he got an inquire and responded with a marketing presentation, getting
the job.  I did not make a great effort to correct Sir. W, if he chose to
ignore my initial protests, his misconception will just have to stand.

In August, just before Drew was to head for northern Wisconsin we had an
emergency meeting at our Amsterdam home.  Nicky Oppenheimer (board
chairman), Gary Ralfe (managing director) and about 10 other deBeers
notables, descended on us.  I brought in van Loon, several other executives
and my brothers.

De Beers was up set by the development of relatively cheep and very high
quality, synthetic gem stones.  We are not talking industrial diamonds, we
are talking class A diamonds in the three and 4 carrot range.  They wanted
to talk to us.  Nicky made an opening presentation, as if we knew nothing
about these stones.  What he did not know and I would not tell him, was
most of Clarke's capital came from AUSA and another Boston based company
was working on the problem, also with AUSA financing.  I knew a lot more
about this than all those de Beers types put together.  I let him talk on a
bit to be polite and the brothers could learn a bit anyway.

De Beers, has developed a system for identifying these manufactured gems,
called DiamondSure and DiamondView.  It is a marketing thing in reality,
with some science behind it.  They have developed a program of defense.
One thing they wanted to do was withhold stones from jewelers, who would
sell the manufactured stones.

"That is a non starter," I said.  We will never go along with it nor will
the buying public.  I do think you can do some marketing about natural
stones and all that, just like with the Emeralds in the 70's.  We are not
convinced, your machines can in fact tell the difference."  The Boston
system would be unbeatable I am told.  "From our point of view, the
public's best assurance of authenticity, is the guarantee we issue with all
of our stones.  Including the hallmarking."

"Will Adonis Diamonds set synthetic diamonds," Ralfe pointedly asked.

"Not at this time.  We would be willing to do that, if our customers want
it done.  I suspect that in a short time, the synthetic stones will drive
the price down, cutting badly into the conflict diamond markets.  That
would be a good thing."

The discussion went on and on.  It was obvious deBeers was concerned about
more damage to their cartel and price fixing status.  I was not all that
concerned, since our business was not mining but cutting, polishing and
setting.  If our raw material cost comes down so does our sale price but
not necessarily our profits, especially if volumes increase.  What they
also did not know or realize, was Adonis was about to purchase a
substantial interest in one of the large, new Canadian mines.  We have
faith that natural gems will continue to fetch a fair price in the market
place.  We also want a security of supply.

Klass summed it up for them, since none of the deBeers types seemed to like
hearing me talk.  Not enough gray hair I guess.  "Jason arranged an
exclusive supply from you for two years.  Many of those diamonds originate
from your Canadian operations.  As long as deBeers can deliver the goods
and assure us of pedigree, we will continue to purchase from you.  The
Adonis family does not like doing business with anyone we can not trust but
we will not be intimidated by you or anyone else.  If required we will
acquire our own mines.  The one advantage Genesiss offers is confidence.
Jason has had no end of problems with your people over the past year, on
the pedigree situation.  Can we trust you?"

Nicky Oppenheimer did not like Klass' tone or implications but he swallowed
hard.  "Yes you can Klass, our organizations have been doing business
together since the beginning."  He looked at his people.  "Jason, any
unresolved problems will be resolved to your satisfaction before we leave
this afternoon.  That is my commitment."

Now he needed a quid pro quo.  "From our point of view we will not actively
market manufactured diamonds.  We will not deceive our customers either.
From what I know about this product, it will be possible to distinguish in
a lab between manufactured and natural diamonds.  You have our assurance
that we will never sell a manufactured gem as natural."

Van Loon spoke next.  "You have a vested interest in what the Diamond High
Council calls the Gem Defense Program, so do they.  I still believe the
best defense is a good offense, as Klass would say.  You must be reasonably
aggressive but ethical at the same time, in marketing the idea of
naturalness and so on.  Just as de Beers UK does with is advertising
... Diamonds Are for Ever and so on.  I believe our hallmarking and
certification of pedigree is still the best way to do our business."

"Geoff, what do you think about the Russians in all this?"

"Jason asked me to do a study on Russian raw stones.  In the lab our people
can identify most of their stuff as Russian and separate it from West
African stones geochemically.  I do not think it is worth our time and the
added cost to do that.  From what I have learned, you people are having
difficulty in riding heard on them.  The yellow variety, in the two to four
carrot size, still brings a premium price, as yet, you have not been able
to satisfy us on the pedigree for many of those gems in your inventory.
One of the points of discussion we still need to resolve.  In that aspect
the manufactured gems would offer us a good looking product with an assured
organ, Clarke's plant in Florida for example.

My brother did some market analysis on the subject and found that Russian
stones, are not prized by our customers, as such.  We don't feel we loose
significant business by not offering them.  We think the manufactured
diamonds, will be something between the Cultured Pearl and synthetic
Emerald and Ruby situations.

William did some analysis and right now, due to the high initial cost of
manufactured stones, in the plus 2 carrot range, we don't see much demand.
Some of the high profile design houses may offer them, as part of some
trendy bobble or another but that won't effect us, very few people will pay
a significant premium.

We now mix synthetic Emeralds and Rubies with natural diamonds in all size
ranges, with good success and at reasonable prices.  We also offer all
natural diamond, Emerald and or Ruby configurations at substantially higher
prices.  We don't think natural and manufactured diamonds will be mixed in
the same settings for quite some time; however, if large, yellow
manufactured diamonds are mixed with synthetic Emeralds and Rubies, in an
all manufactured piece, a good market may be established but at some
significant discount to natural gems.  We see this as a high end costume
jewelry.  I don't think we will see to much damage to the natural gem
market in the medium term."

"At this time we see no naming standards being established.  The US Federal
Trade Commission in `01 offered the opinion that diamonds are natural
occurring minerals and manufactured gems of the same chemical composition
should not be called "diamonds".  I guess synthetic, manufactured or
cultured are appropriate adjectives.  The EU is still working this stuff
out but the foot dragging on their part is well known to you.

We think the industry should embrace the manufactured gems and get them
named by some proper convention.  In fact, it is probably a good idea for
deBeers to try and capture that marketing function.  As we speak, some
merchants are offering manufactured stones, still in small qualities, in
some countries without publicizing their origin.  India is a good example
market.  We think the Diamond High Council, your industry mouthpiece in
Brussels, should be taking the lead in this.  We believe that manufactured
gems should have a hallmark just like Adonis natural stones have.  We
should remember that Cultured Peals are even more valuable than natural
pearls.  We do not think manufactured diamonds will achieve the same
status, since Cultured Pearls allow for significant volumes of uniform
quality, color and shape and size.  Natural diamonds already are available,
for the most part, that meet those uniformity demands for the consumer.
But that is all in the future."

"Genesis is not the only threat, other technologies and processes are in
the works, that may be even more difficult to tell manufactured from
natural," Ralfe added.

"To sum up then, de Beers sees these products as a threat to their profits,
and further weakening your cartel status, allowing the conflict West
African and Russian gems to compete with the cartel's marketing system, is
in fact a greater and more immediate threat.  The industry will change,
from what we have all come to know and be comfortable with, in the near
future, manufactured gems are a reality.

For the time being the best and most reliable method of pedigree assurance
is the Adonis system of hallmarking and origin guarantee, this is not
unlike that which the Canadians are proposing.  The unscrupulous will
always be among us, we all must be vigilant.  Over the next 5 or 6 years
most manufactured stones will be aimed at the highest value markets.  That
offers opportunity to influence the availability and price.  High cost
mines must soon be rationalized.  Conflict gems must be driven from the
market or brought into the fold.  We all have a big job on our hands, in
the area of marketing," I said.

Over coffee, tea and wine, we were all chatting.  Many of these people had
met me before and almost all of them had known my father and knew Klass and
van Loon.  We were given high praise for being so well prepared.  Gary
Ralfe, who knew my father rather well, was not surprised.

"Jason, your dad would be very proud of you, all of you.  Your press
conference performance last year was obviously not an anomaly.  You
reminded us that gray hair or no hair, is no substitutes for hard work,
smarts and preparation.  At times you and the others sounded just like him,
as if he had been coaching you.  I must admit we were not expecting your
level of preparation, I guess we thought he took the mold with him.  You
know, or perhaps you don't but I tried to get him to work for us many time,
he never would, any chance?"

"No, not for me but in about 5 years, I will have six brothers graduating
from university, all products of that mold, one or two of them might want
some ex-family experience."

"Yes, I can see they are impressive for ones so young, how do you keep
teenagers so motivated?"  Well, that is one of my little secrets I sure
would not share with him.

"Oh, that's easy, Mr. Raffle, Jason pays a big bones," (I'm glad he thinks
of my sexual attention a bones) "and uncle Klass makes sure we remember our
roots," he pointed to his earring, "I'm Eric."  Ralfe recognized the Adonis
cut, I was sure of that.

Just then Drew came up to us.  He was taking his name card around and
introducing himself.  "Sir, I'm Drew Henderson, the new kid."  They shook
hands and began talking about South African wines.  So I moved on.  Looking
around each brother was working a different deBeers man.

Klass and Oppenheimer were telling stories and laughing.  Klass never
ceases to amaze me.  I always thought he had little to do with the diamond
business but that afternoon I learned Nicky and Klass went back to my
grandfather's time.  I was delighted with how the boys were coping with the
whole situation.  It was clear our guests and employees were impressed with
how my team had done their homework and presented that information and
themselves.  I circulated from little group to little group, reinforcing
old acquaintances and making a few new ones.  As the de Beers team departed
Klass made sure everyone, even our staff took away a couple bottles of
vintage wine from our vineyards, each pair wrapped in thin paper and just
fitting into tasteful white bags, with the family crest in orange.

"I learned from your mother that hospitality was a very important part of
doing business, Jason," he whispered to me as I helped hand them out.  Eva
had organized this before the meeting.  She performed the role of recording
secretary.  During the brake and right after the meeting, she interacted
with everyone especially the females, three from our side and two from
deBeers.  Eva was by far the youngest and best looking woman in the room.
This business is still male dominated, at the senior executive levels.
That is changing and will change even more, over time.

I asked Drew later how he knew Gary's hobby was wine making.  It turned
out, one of the French vineyard managers mentioned to Drew, my dad had sent
some vines from that place to Gary in South Africa, many years ago.  Drew
remembered that and thought it best to engage him on a subject he at least
knew something about.  Now that is exactly what Klass would do.  I had
observed Klass do exactly that sort of thing on many occasions, set
business completely aside during the social moments, to reinforce non
commercial bonds.  I may be his fuck buddy but Klass is his role model, as
well as his dad.

Drew and I were engaging in some kind of sexual activity or another at
every possible moment, until his departure.  We had missed each other
something fierce.  I longed for his tight boy ass to capture my cock, hold
it in his anus, fastening our bodies to each other.  I longed to taste his
sweet ejaculate, to have his hard thin boy penis pressing against the back
of my throat or invading my ever ready ass.  I longed for his smell, the
softness of his youthful skin, the firmness of his almost non existent
little ass, in my hands.

Klass, Ziggy and Herman took Drew to the airport.  I know Klass did not
want him to go, none of us did.  He was uncomfortable putting him on a KLM
non stop to Chicago.  "He is 14 Klass, I was flying all over the place
alone at 14."  "Ja, and I was no more happy about that at the time."  OK,
Uncle Klass has always been a bit of a mother hen, so why would Father
Klass be any different.  Had the boy wanted to go for any other reason, I
think Klass would have talked him out of it but for love he summoned up his
Dutch stoic attitude.  That didn't mean Drew wasn't obligated to phone at
every check point, in his travels.

Eva and I took right up where we had left off, as soon as Drew departed.  I
think she realized how much I was going to miss my boy.  Strange thing was,
with her taking his place, I am ashamed to say I didn't miss him all that
much, for the first week anyway.  Eva did think it was all very romantic
though.  I guess Drew confided in her how much he missed Sandra, after the
brief liaison in Chicago.  Eva thought she was a very nice young lady,
which she is.  I understood they wrote E-mails ever day and had long
telephone conversations, from every location visited.  "I felt like his
older sister, he is such a sweet boy and he loves you so much." she told
me.

Eva thought Drew and Sandra were very cute, I could see she was hinting
that I should be more romantic, more like the kids.  I thought about that a
lot.  I never met her former boyfriend Warner, the one who was "too Swiss".
I took that to mean not very romantic.  I have never been very romantic, in
any of my adult relationships.  As a youth of Drew's age I worked at being
romantic with both boys and girls.  That is one of the few advantages of
boarding schools, one can have male lovers and female lovers, while keeping
them physically separated.  University was different, since they are coed,
that means more of a scheduling and organization challenge, both sexes
wanted my undivided attention, physical and emotional.  There are downsides
to everything and being bi is no exception.  The bulk of my physical
relationships in university ended when my "double dipping" became apparent.
My university roommate was homosexual.  He was not interested in me as a
sex object and I was willing to accept his friendship and companionship,
while keeping my hands to myself, that is the only thing that saved my
sanity.

Now it is hard to be romantic with seven teenagers, bodyguards, maids,
uncles and segregate mothers, swirling around.  It is especially hard when
you are sexually active with those teenagers.  She could see how much I
loved my brothers and I'm sure speculated or wondered if I could possibly
love her as much.

If I decided I did, I would need to find small and meaningful ways to
demonstrate that.  Right now we were running on hormone driven passion but
that would only last so long.  I wondered how my father and Klass managed
when my mother came into their lives.  I know she was devoted to my dad and
he to her.  I also realized but only much later, that Klass and my dad were
also devoted to each other, in a physical as well as emotional way.  Klass
and mother were always friends, you could tell that.  I never was aware of
any tension or arguments between them.  In fact I don't even remember many
disagreements.  My mom and dad would disagree about lots of stuff but she
always seemed to be in agreement with Klass.  I never ever saw Klass and my
dad disagree about anything, not even mundane stuff like who was the best
football player or speed skater, which wine was nicer or anything.  I know
they each had their own opinions.  I always imagined they were like
identical twins, just so complete in the knowledge and so comfortable with
each other, no discussion was necessary.  Klass did tell me once, my dad
had taken his hand on the day he came into the Amsterdam house and just
never let it go.  Klass still feels his touch every once in a while.  That
is what he said, who am I to question it.

We did manage to take some pleasant strolls along one or two of the canals,
so we could hold hands and just talk.  I would surprise her, giving a
flower picked from the garden, for example and we managed to go out for a
candle light dinner or two.  We drove to The Hague and wandered through the
gardens and spent some time at the beach.  God does she look good in a swim
suite, especially one with about as much material as my thong.

In the bedroom we explored each others bodies, as if desperately studying
for a final examination.  Learning every detail of your lovers physical
presence, is highly pleasurable and fascinating.  Learning about your
lovers emotional self, should never be approached with to much passion or
desperation.  It is a life long task.

While Drew was holding Sandra's hand in northern Wisconsin, we were taking
in the sites of Europe.  The Challenger landed at the Rhinlander-Oneida
County Airport(RHI) in the early afternoon.  The airport is about 2
miles(3.2 km) south west of the city and about 20 miles (32 km) from the
Johnson's summer home or cottage.  This is some cottage, more like a small
hotel.  It is on the shore of a large lake, set in the forest.  A truly
wonderful place.  The swimming and fishing are super.  They have boats for
water skiing, canoes to paddle and just a super place for a semi-wilderness
vacation.  However, we would only have 4 nights.  I chose to sleep in a
tent, so did most of the brothers.  I just love being outside and under the
stars, so to speak.  It is lots of fun to snuggle in your sleeping bag with
a brother or two.  The late August weather can be a little wet and the
nights in the north are cool.  The days are usually hot.  We had it all.
Eva and Klass stayed in the lodge with the Johnson's.  Trevor was busy
taking lots of pictures, we fished and played cards, even just laying
around reading and listening to music.  I don't think anyone turned on the
TV.

I enjoyed Eva's company and that of Sandra's parents, older brothers and
sister, their friends as well as a few other cousins.  It was like a mini
family reunion, except three quarters of the Johnson's were still in
Racine.  Never the less it was a good chance for the brothers to get better
aquatinted with their relatives.  Herman and the pilots rented a car and
traveled up to the Lake Superior shore, to do some site seeing.

Trevor made sure to take a large number of pictures, of the young couple.
It was obvious, parting was truly going to be sweet sorrow, for these two.
I wondered how long it would last.  I just hope they remain friends.
Living so far apart, I was sure they would both find others of interest.
If all goes well, they will not brake but drift apart, thus allowing them a
real friendship.  I know I talk like I have all this worldly and romantic
experience.  I don't, a little mind you, but I'm no expert.  Drew seemed to
get along well with Sandra's brothers and sister, as well as her parents.
Sandra and Drew were already talking about a winter skiing holiday in
Alberta.  I figured a visit to the Stampede was also in order, although I
did not express that, not yet.  Perhaps Drew could even spend all of next
summer in Wisconsin, now that Klass had shown him all of our properties
world wide.  He probably should take one or two of the other brothers with
him, on his next trip.  I guess I should get Stan to plan this stuff.

Geoff found the local geology quite interesting and spent some time
collecting specimens.  He informed me this part of the state was underlain
by PreCambrian rocks of the Superior Provence, mostly granites and medium
grade metamorphic.  The good fossils were found in the south, closer to
Racine. (see "Roadside Geology of Wisconsin by Dott and Attig, 2004)

I know Klass was concerned that we had not made any effort to aquatint the
boys with his and dad's cousins.  Most of them were now quite distant, my
Opa was an only child as was his father.  Oma's family was mostly decimated
in the two wars and Great Oma was Great Opa's cousin.  My great Opa had
many cousins but most of them were girls or were the sons of female
relatives.  None carried the Adonis name and over time the families had
become distant.  I don't think Klass knows exactly why they became so
distant, nor do any of them.  That stuff is lost in musty history, the kind
nobody wants to dig into.  Some of them do get money from the family trust.
None lived in the Netherlands any more and I don't think they liked my
parents and Klass, all that much either.  I guess we will just have to fit
that in sometime.

My dad did tell me that many were highly offended when Opa adopted Klass
and he chose Henderson as his sir name.  I guess they were pissed that he
did not take the Adonis name, which they didn't have anyway, and that his
presence would somehow dilute their share of the wealth, which was
nonsense.  Dad always made sure Klass signed the annual checks.  I guess I
get my obstinate attitude honestly.

My mother could not stand to be around most of the cousins, she always felt
they looked down on her, being an American and coming from a manufacturing
family.  Funny thing, her family could buy and sell most of them, several
times over.  I choose to think they are just jealous, I have US citizenship
through my mother and they don't.  I wonder what they will say when they
learn I was able to extend that citizenship to my adopted brothers.  Anyway
the Adonis' and Henderson's have 80% of the trust and Helga has a pension
for life.

I do not mean to say that they are bad people or anything like that.  A few
of them work for our Swiss or French based enterprises.  They are competent
middle managers or professionals.  My dad refused to hire any directly or
show any special favors and they probably don't even realize they work for
the family.

Different models for passing wealth from one generation to the next exist
in the world.  There is no right or wrong, just what seems to work.  For
our share, the trust owns most non personal things and we are paid poorly
compared to other jobs.  Our personal expenses are deducted from our trust
profit share.  For the boys, all expenses are paid and most of there share
is put in trust but the money they earn is personal.  This keeps our
personal taxes down.  Any personal surplus is put in trust managed
investments (trust funds) on our behalf.  Klass' personal trust fund,
literally 100% personal disposable wealth has been compounding at an
average rate of 11.7 % for over 50 years.  He now adds about 200 thousand
new, after tax, cash a year, that friends is one big pile of money.