Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 20:36:09 -0600
From: Retta Michaels <rettamichaels@gmail.com>
Subject: Evan - Chapter 8

Evan
The Eighth Chapter
By
RettaMichaels

Disclaimer

The Usual Disclaimer applies...if you are below the age of 18, and/or can't
read this story due to laws prohibiting such, please leave. Your presence
here jeopardizes those of us who can and do read these for enjoyment.

Notes from retta:

Many of you wrote to tell me how much you enjoyed the story's beginning
chapter. I appreciate those emails.

As you know, a lot of these stories were started many months ago. It wasn't
my intention to finish "Evan" then due to being contacted by an attorney
for a "Said" star supposedly depicted in the story and the star's "Said"
son.

At that time, I chose to honor the request because I was a bit taken out of
the water as I'd unintentionally wrote a story which harmed someone. Since
then, I've had a change of heart. For me to be censored because of what I
"Might" write and be asked to stop is pure bull. Instead, I'm not
mentioning any names and I'm falling on the Disclaimer at the bottom which
states All characters in this story are fictional. .

Let the story roll.

Another Notice:

I got the zebra stripes handled. I apologize, but I type with a program
called OpenOffice which is a LOT like Microsoft Office.  Through the years,
I have learned how to tweak it so that problems are handled. One of those
is the zebra stripes. I apologize.


Evan

Chapter Eight

By the time we got outside, Blane had the limo pulled around. He came
around and opened the door and we got in.

"Where's the funeral home?"

"One moment, I'll get Ev to get you directions."

I asked Ev and he told him. We drove and when we got there, we saw a crowd
was out at the front.

I asked Ev, "Sam's not coming?"

"They were supposed to meet us here."

"Ok, maybe Ran parked someplace else."

Blane came around and when we got out, the flashes of flashbulbs and the
whir of cameras were everywhere. I put my arm through the crook of Sarah's
arm and together we went in.

Inside, we were greeted by a man who introduced himself to us as
Mr. Swendleson. I shook his hand and he guided us towards the back.

When we got there, Sam and Ran were waiting. I gave Sam a hug and Ran
asked, "All go well today?"

"Yeah, you guys going out to eat with us?"

"Yeah, where we going?"

"I'm not sure, I'm along for the ride. All I know is afterward, we're going
over to see a water show."

"There's one up in Northridge which is real cool. I've seen it from the
interstate."

"That's where we're heading. We can park in the parking lot and watch."

"Nice, it'll be romantic."

"Things going well?"

"Amazing." he said smiling.

"Great. We'll talk a bit over dinner and then, at the water show, I'll
surprise you with how our day went."

"From the look on your face, I'd say it really went well."

"Before I get too involved, do you have any money to invest?"

"Why?"

"I've got a deal which would really help you if you want in."

"What is it?"

"Oil wells."

He looked at me , "You're speculating?"

"No, it's there, the guy needs money to drill. From what I've heard, the
returns are staggering."

"You investing?"

"Invested. We got a bunch of them."

"A bunch? They going cheap?"

"Two and a half million each."

"That's not bad, what's it return?"

"Three thousand barrels a day. The split is fifty fifty on them, so it's
like fifteen thousand a day for each well."

"Man, that's not shabby."

"Nah, I'll tell you more about it later."

He nodded and then we went on over towards Sam and Ev.

Ev said, "Sarah, come over and sit with us. I want you in on the decisions
we need to make."

She nodded and smiled. "Thank you."

She came over and I stood behind Ev. Mr Swendleson began speaking, "As you
know, your parents made pre-need arrangements. In the plans chosen, they
chose the finest. The caskets were picked and everything else is covered,
so all we need to do is prepare the service and pick flowers."

Ev nodded and asked, "Any more problems?"

"No, we've got a better handle on things now. I apologize for the
difficulties."

Ev shook his head, "We're sorry for the problems. We realize it's hard to
assess the actions of people who are trying to gain themselves fame at any
cost."

Mr Swendleson nodded , "Don't worry about it. It's our honor. In this book,
you'll see our funeral cards we have available. They're what everyone
receives when they come to pay respects."

"Mom would love the one with the cross on it. Give the same for Dad. Have
Mom's with the clouds tinted with a pale lilac and Dad's with blue."

Sam said, "I think those are nice. All I request is the words to one of
Mom's songs to be placed in hers instead of a poem."

Ev looked at her , "Which one?"

"Walnut."

"Oh, let me think for a moment."

He thought, but I already had the words flowing through my head. He nodded
, "It'd be nice."

Mr Swendleson nodded , "I'll get the lyrics and have them put in."

I said, "Let me use the computer where you prepare them and I'll get the
lyrics typed."

"Ok, we'll do it in a moment." He paused and then said, "We have a list
from Motown of notables who wish to be considered as pallbearers. We've
also received a list of some who are with other companies."

Evan said, "The way I think we'll do it is we'll have them line up and then
pass the casket along. It'd be unfair to have some and not others."

"It's an unusual request, but with the number, I think they'd all be
honored." He then asked, "Who for your father?"

Ev said, "Here's the list I've compiled for his. There are twelve."

"Ok, that's fine, do you want some to be honorary?"

"What's that mean?"

"Honorary means they stand and place the casket in the hearse."

"That'd be fine."

Sam said, "These flowers here are wonderful."

Mr Swendleson nodded , "I need to mention Motown has sent one for your
mother which is amazing."

Ev asked, "I'm glad they wish to be involved in the service, but I really
wish they'd asked us."

Mr Swendleson said, "From what I understand, they tried, but the phone
wasn't answered."

Ev's voice rose a little and stated, "They never called."

Sarah's hand went to Ev's as she stated, "I'm sure they probably attempted
to call her private line in her suite. We'd not hear it in the rest of the
residence."

Ev said, "Oh, I never thought of that."

Sarah nodded , "Whatever Motown sent will be fine with everyone. The ones
Sam chose would be excellent for her father."

"Then from what I have put together here, we're about finished."

Ev said, "I need to ask one thing."

Mr Swendleson's gaze rose as Ev continued. "As you see out front, there are
fans out there. At the house, there are a lot also. What I'd like to
request is some loudspeakers be placed outdoors for the service to be
carried to them.
	I'd also like to ask you contact the city and ask the street be
closed for them. There are going to be a lot of them, so we need to
consider their safety."

"I've already spoken with the authorities. They've said they'd have that
done and a full motorcade is planned to the cemetery. I'd like to state
we've got a few other requests I need to ask, but I saved them until last."

Sarah said, "Ok, go ahead with them."

"A goodly number of people have requested to sing some songs. I have a list
here."

Ev nodded , "I need to ask a question before we proceed."

"Sure."

"How long is a normal service?"

"It depends who officiates. Normal ones last about twenty minutes, but for
notables such as yours, they can be considerably longer. If I remember
correctly, some have been as long as two hours."

"Ok, what I want to say up front here is we need to keep it below an hour
and a half. I don't know what the weather is forecast, so we also need to
keep that in mind as people will be standing outside."

"It's sunny and clear with a high in the 80's."

"Then we're fine there. Who do you have on the list?"

"Here's the list."

Ev said, "May I see your ink pen please?"

"Sure"

He looked at the list and began making check marks. He turned to Sam ,
"What do you think?"

"I don't know. Do you think Mom will want him to perform?"

"It's a time of healing Sam. I think if we do, it could help you in your
future."

"Ok, but what I'd like to ask is when we send notes out, you send the note
to him with your name only and all the rest with both ours."

"I was thinking of putting "The family of Mr. & Mrs. Brandon Gordon" on
them. It'd get the message across to some I know who will be in
attendance."

She nodded , "I'll go with that."

Ev said, "The ones we want are check marked. I don't know how you're going
to notify them, but when you call them, please tell them we're going to
have eulogies and those who couldn't perform will be allowed to get up and
give theirs."

Mr Swendleson smiled, "I'm happy you made that suggestion as I was terribly
worried how to do this with tactfulness."

I spoke up , "How many will your chapel hold?"

"We have a large chapel which will hold six hundred."

I put my hand on Ev's shoulder , "We need to get a plan together as to who
will be allowed in and who won't."

"Do you think there will be that many who will come?"

"I think it's going to be way larger than you've imagined."

"What do we do?"

Sarah spoke up , "I think we should make it so anyone who wants to come
will be able. I don't think we should have anyone excluded. If we start
excluding, someone's feelings will be hurt."

Mr Swendleson said, "If I might interrupt, the city has offered services of
any of their facilities. They said they'd incur the cost if you wanted a
larger place than here."

I said, "That's a pretty broad scope. Did they happen to mention what
facilities?"

"One moment, I can put the Mayor on the speakerphone if you'd like. He said
to feel free to give him a call."

I said, "Ok, go ahead because we just forgot to consider any elected
officials in this."

Ev said, "Man, we did."

Sarah patted his hand , "Hon, there are probably going to be a lot we
didn't consider. If we have the place large enough, they all can come and
no one feels left out."

The mayor answered his phone and Mr Swendleson told him we were on
speakerphone and in presence. He then asked the question about numbers for
seating. We decided to have the visitation at the funeral home on Friday
evening, with the funeral services held in the stadium.

The mayor said he'd have police officers serve as security and patrolling
the parking. He said he thought he could get the stadium filled with seats
and a stage in time.

We thanked him and he said he absolutely had no problems. He thanked us for
allowing him to be of service.

Mr Swendleson said, "I need to tell you all I'm a bit apprehensive. I've
never handled a funeral of this magnitude, so please understand it might
not be of a level in which you're accustomed."

I said, "Sir, we realize there's a lot since we never anticipated it
either. I'm sure in the end, we'll all be satisfied it was handled as well
as you could. I also know you're probably incurring a lot of added costs
for this and we need to tell you anything which isn't on a normal funeral,
to itemize and I'll settle with you when it's over."

He nodded , "I'll try to keep it within reason."

Sam asked, "We'll probably need a piano to accompany the singers. I do know
we'll probably need at least four microphones besides the one the preacher
will be using."

I said, "Sir, in your note you send to people, please mention in a final
paragraph the family respectfully requests political statements be kept
minimal. I know Reverend Jackson is going to attempt to play his role in
this up and of what I know, I'll probably be standing up and taking the
stand away from him rather than hear it."

Sarah looked sharp at me and I said, "Sarah, it's a personal moment, not
some campaign. If he can't, or won't, and if Ev and Sam don't want to
offend, please know I'll protect their interests."

She nodded , "He's not going to preach a sermon."

"No, but I should state he wasn't going to do much at Mrs King's service
either and it turned into a farce real fast. If we allow it to happen here,
and the thought is we'll allow it to happen, then I'll be man enough to
stand up and shut them up."

Ev said, "Let's not anticipate problems which might not happen."

"Let's anticipate problems and address them so they don't happen."

Sam said, "I agree with Den, Mrs. King's family allowed notables to speak
because they thought it within decorum. I don't know how they felt because
they respectfully kept their silence, but I sure don't want their funeral
to be a rally or any sort."

Ev said quietly, "Do you think they'd do that?"

"They'd do anything if they were given a chance!" she said sharply. "If Den
is willing to say what some of us have thought openly, then I think we need
to support him."

Sarah said, "Please put that in the notes. I think it would be in poor
taste for anyone to do anything adverse if everyone sees that's what we've
requested."

I said, "I'm sorry if it's upset you guys, but I thought it should be
brought up."

She nodded , "I can see you're thinking of us. I appreciate it. I just
couldn't imagine anyone wanting to attempt it, but you're right."

Mr Swedleson said, "If you'd like to bring the attire they'll be dressed
in, I'll be available in the morning."

Sam said, "In the suitcase out in the car, I've got the clothes. I knew
it'd be hard on Ev to go into their apartment, so I got them for us."

Ev asked, "Is that what upset you earlier?"

"Yes, it was really hard." she said with breaking voice.

I reached over and put my hand on her shoulder. She took it and held it.

Mr Swendleson looked at me , "If you'd like to come this way, I'll get you
the computer so those lyrics can be placed on the flyer."

I followed him and he took me to a connecting office. I sat at a computer
and typed it out in no time at all. It was a bit tougher because the chorus
repeats in the song and for poetry, it needed to be left off.

I went back into the room where everyone was sitting and upon seeing me, Ev
stood , "If that's everything, I think we're ready to go."

Sarah shook Mr. Swendleson's hand and told him to please feel free to
contact us if he had any further requests.

He nodded and we left the office. Ev said, "Sam and Ran, if you'd like, you
can ride with us and it'd be easier."

"Ok, we can keep the car parked here and come back to get it later." Ran
said.

We went out and Ev held Sam close to him with Ran on the other side being
equally as protective. I held Sarah close to me and followed. She quietly
said, "I'm glad you spoke up. It'd crossed my mind, but I know D wanted him
to speak."

"I think it's great if he speaks, but I also think what I said."

"Me too. I didn't want to have them think to cross him off the list."

"I saw Sam's finger when she asked if Ev really wanted him to perform. It
was his name."

"Oh."

"Yeah, it doesn't seem right she never got a voice in the matter."

"It's for them. I imagine Ev is thinking in those terms."

"I'm glad they left some of the names off. I think some of them should not
have offered."

"Who was on the list?"

"A lot of people who never even was in the time frame. Some of them are
stars of today who probably were told by their publicists to attempt to
perform to get their name associated with hers."

"Tacky."

"Yes, but once again, if we'd let it become that, they'd have made it that
way." I paused , "Were you aware Sam went to their suite?"

"My God no! If I'd known that baby was considering it, it would've been me
doing it!"

"I need to speak with Ran and jump his ass then. He should be protecting
her better."

"Hon, she's that headstrong."

"Then he's not who she needs."

We got to the car and got in. Ran sat up on the front jump and I went
forward. I leaned into him , "As soon as possible, I need to step off into
your ass."

He looked shocked and asked, "What'd I do?"

"It's what you allowed her to do. Now, we'll keep it between us, but I want
a moment with you."

I spoke up , "Where do you guys want to go to eat?"

Ev said, "Someplace nice with sit down is what you wanted."

"That's all I request. Anything else is fine with me."

Sam said, "I want someplace with a private room."

Ev said, "The Pear Tree?"

She smiled , "That'd be great."

I asked, "I'll need to give Blane directions. Where do we go?"

They gave directions and we went. When we got there, Blane opened the door
and we went in. Surprisingly, it wasn't busy. Ev asked for a private room
and got it immediately. We went to the room and as soon as we got inside, I
pulled Ran close , "Bathroom."

I went over to Ev , "I need to use the restroom, I'll be back."

"I need to go too."

"Wait, it's for an ass chewing I'm about to give."

"Oh. Give two and tell him one's from me."

"There's not going to be enough left for you to even have leftovers."

He nodded and I went out. I found the restroom and went in. I used it and
then washed my hands.

Ran came in and I said, "Bud, first of all, if you weren't such a good
friend and if we weren't going back in there, you'd probably find yourself
laying on the floor right now. What in the fuck were you doing letting her
go into their suite?"

"She wanted to go!"

"And you let her roll right over you like a freight train! Let me tell you
something, in a relationship, if you allow the other person to do that,
realize you're tracks and you've got a long way to go forward and a short
ride back to the station.
	My advice if you want to be something is to be an ocean and let
them be an ocean liner. Support and instill security you're not going to
let her down."

"I didn't know what to do!"

"Well, in the future, you be strong enough to step up and say no. In the
future, call out for help and I'll be there. Right now, I'll tell you Ev's
mad as hell and Sarah's not one bit impressed."

"Oh man."

"Yeah, so I'll cover your ass with Ev, but he told me to give you two ass
chewings and tell you one was from him."

"It was bad. She was a wreck."

"Yeah, but I'm glad you got her better. Now, in this thing, we've got to be
a solid unit. You had the chance to let her down and you were there. In
allowing it to happen, you let others down. Think of that because it should
be where you're stronger of the two."

"Why?"

"Do you really need to ask? If you do, then I'll tell you so it's a wake up
call. You're thinking with something other than your brain here."

"Hey, I'm not going after anything."

"And if you were and it was a loving relationship, I'd tell you to go for
it. Now, I've got to chew ass.
	Think of some stars you know who have complete control in their
relationships because their man lets them run all over him. What do they
do? Do they go out and let everyone else use the fuck out of them because
they can't say no? Do they get involved in drugs because they can't say no?
And, where do their careers end?
	Think of Britney and Whitney to start the list. They needed someone
who would have a backbone and say no to them FOR THEM.
	I'll tell you now the second time she comes back a basket case,
Ev's going to probably tell you to get the fuck gone and put a restraining
order on you. I'll tell you now, I love you, but by God you'll not do that
to her."

"Den, I'm sorry."

"Tell that to them in there! I love you and you're already forgiven, but if
you want her, you stand up and fight for her even if it's her you have to
fight. She'll thank you in the end."

"Have you had to do it?"

"Yes. I've also had to step back and remind him he's strong enough to stand
on his own because he's wanting me to do it all. It's a tough thing because
you love them, but because you love them, you do it. Now, if you love her,
you change that shit fast."

"Ok"

"Now, what the fuck is this place because I have no idea what I'm about to
eat!"

"It's nice. I've been here a few times."

"Good. I sure didn't want to find out I'm eating something like goat!"

He laughed , "You never said how your day went."

"I'll talk in there to make the mood lighter. She's going to know we've
been gone and will know from the look you give her I've been in here having
a good helping of ass."

He laughed , "I'll tell her it's fine."

"I'll try to tell Ev, but don't be surprised if he doesn't come unglued."

"Ok"

We went back in and I said, "Where's Blane?"

Ev shrugged and I said, "I'm bringing him in. He's not eaten since I've
seen him this morning."

"Ok"

I went out and told the host, "Our chauffeur is out in the Rolls
limo. Would you please send word to him he's needed in our private room?"

"Sure."

"Thanks."

He held out his hand like he expected a tip. "Your tip, asshole, is to give
service and I'll tip. If you don't, I'll pull up stakes and pull a helluva
bill out of this place being sure to let the owner know why."

He his falsetto, "Why sir, I'd be left to believe you're a tight ass!"

"Why sir, get the fucking owner and I'll get my own God damned car! When he
sees who is walking out of this place, he'll shit bricks and guarantee you
a few black eyes from them."

"Who might I ask is requesting him?"

"Tell him Dennis Johns. If he says he doesn't know me, then tell him to get
out the last issue of Fortune and take a look at number 108."

"Oh, is that all?"

"Like you're 107, or above."

"He'll be with you momentarily."

"Ok, I'll wait."

I stood there and waited and when the host came back, he said, "I've taken
the liberty of phoning the police."

"Good, why you're at it, call the Mayor because I will be. Now, go tell
your owner someone who is represented by his supplier's family is about to
start making phone calls. The first will be to get his trash service shut
off. The second will be to get his meat service fucked up so only aged and
rotten meat is delivered. And then, I'll contact his insurance provider to
insist there's health code and fire code violations. I'll go get my people
now."

I went back and into the room. A man was in standing next to Ev and
speaking with him. "Den, this is Stuart. He's the owner here."

"Wonderful. Hi Stuart, we're about to leave. If you'd like to know why, ask
your smart-assed host out there why I can't get my limo driver in
here. Then ask him why he called the police to have me removed. Then asked
him why I'm being ever so polite and promising to have done for you. I'll
wait."

He looked at Ev and Ev said, "Stuart, he's pissed. If he's pissed, know
he's probably got shit rolling for you faster than you can handle."

Stuart left real fast and I said, "Guys, we're having problems. Be prepared
to leave because if a host isn't removed, we will be."

"What happened!"

"I asked to have Blane sent word to come in. He expected a tip. When I told
him he'd get a tip for services received, I got called a tight ass. That's
when I suffered a black out."

"Damn! I'll be back."

Ev took out of the room and I sat down. Sam said, "Man, I'm glad you didn't
deck him!"

"The key to treating people nice is being treated nice also. If they bring
down problems, promise them tons and be prepared to deliver."

Ev came in with Stuart. "Den, he's just fired the guy."

"I'm sorry Stuart, but if the police arrive, I want you to pay for our
drinks with one of these because I'll sue this place to get compensated in
return."

"He said he never called the police."

"He never got our driver in here either. The man hasn't eaten since last
night New York time and I'll not eat anyplace he's not allowed to eat."

"I'll go get him myself."

"I'm not meaning to be a prick, but when someone expects a tip in order to
go get someone in here to eat, then I expect him to buy him dinner with
that tip. I give tips based upon service and I sure don't allow myself to
be called a tight ass when I don't give one."

"He did that!"

"Yes."

"Hold on a moment."

I said, "Stuart, tell him to come in and apologize. Tell him I'm not going
to eat here. By now, he's probably got everyone lined up to spit in my food
and I'll be damned if I knowingly allow it to happen."

Ev said, "Den, let me handle it."

"Ok, but I'm not happy one bit here."

Ran came over , "Den, come over. Sarah wants you."

I went over and sat down. "Den, you're upset and understandably so. You
need to know that man there is one of Ev's closest friends. Please step
back and let him handle it."

"Ok."

She smiled , "Ran, please go over and speak with Samantha. Tell her what
you received a moment ago needs to be shared because she's on my list to go
to the restroom next!"

I chuckled and he got up. She said, "As soon as you left and he left too, I
knew what was happening. I'll tell you now whatever you said probably
helped him tremendously."

"It better have. It's what has me on edge."

"I realize that, but right now, you're throwing thunderbolts at everyone."

"Ok, thanks for pulling me back."

I looked over and saw Ran and Sam talking. "If he's smart, he won't let it
happen again."

"No, but if she's smart, she'll listen to him."

"What were they thinking?" I said in a whisper.

"She was trying to help. I know that's what it was, but like a kitten out
on a limb, she thought she could handle it. He's apparently so
inexperienced in relationships, he let her do it."

"Yes, and he sure needs to change it."

"You need to understand you're more secure in yourself than him. He needs
to understand he needs to keep a set of balls on him if he wants to have a
strong woman...notice I said woman."

"You think?"

"Oh, they've done it, but don't let me tell you that."

"That son of a...."

"Hey, the only reason you've not is because you've not had opportunity. I
think Ev's just as likely to want to jump off into things he can't handle."

"I want it to work and us know ourselves before it happens."

"And I will tell you to not wait that long. A part of a relationship is
feeling aware your partner desires you."

"Oh. Well..."

She smiled , "Just be patient and know your partner has needs too. My
advice is to make the time in Italy and make it a romantic occasion."

"Ok, that'd be nice. There's a spot on the beach there...."

She smiled , "Here he comes."

Ev squattted , "Den, Stuart had told the guy to go home and come back
tomorrow. Now, he's actually fired the guy. He's afraid you're upset enough
to not eat and understands your anger. If you'll let him, he'll apologize."

"Was I that bad?"

"It wasn't good, but it's what needed done. He's out getting Blane now."

"Ok."

"He said he'd cook your food personally if you'd stay."

"I'll do it, but I'm not going to apologize. I'll apologize to you for the
embarrassment, but my apologizing to him negates my anger at being treated
like that."

"Ok., now what's really going on with you?"

"I chewed Ran's ass out and Sarah said that guy's actions were too fresh
afterward. She said I'm throwing thunderbolts at everyone."

"Well, Ran deserved it."

"He does, but please speak with Sarah before you stay upset with them."

"Ok."

Sarah smiled , "Ev, she thought she was trying to help."

"I know, but I knew it'd be rough"

"You can't protect her all the time."

"No, but she's got a boyfriend who didn't help one bit!"

"He's in love. She can do no wrong in his eyes. He now knows better, but
she needs to know better too."

I saw movement at the door and Blane came in. "Thanks."

"No problem."

Stuart poked his head in and I went over to him. "Let's start over and make
it right for both us."

"Ok, I'm terribly sorry. Ev was in here bragging on you and behind my back,
I had someone upsetting what I hope will be a good friendship."

"Don't worry, anyone who is a friend of Ev's will be a friend of mine. It's
not every day I get that pissed that fast."

"I'm not surprised. I'd have been angry too."

"I'll accept your offer of cooking for me. IF you don't mind, I'll step
into the kitchen and compliment the chefs to appease them. If the meals are
good, they'll receive tips."

"That's generous."

"No, it's humane. Yes, I know you pay them more hourly, but I also know if
you treat the person who cooks your food good, you do yourself a favor. In
most fine restaurants I dine, I do the same."

He nodded, "You have my thanks for loving him." he said nodding over to Ev.

"Thanks for being his friend. I hear you two are close."

"Yes, but normally we're closer. These past few weeks have been hectic."

"Life gets that way sometimes. Did he make you aware of his parents?"

"I heard. It's shocking. I was meaning to drop by later tonight."

"Come on by. We'll probably be up. I know our plans are to go see the water
show and then go home to a family meeting. By the time you arrive, we'll be
ready for some relaxation and enjoyment."

"You know you're a lucky guy, don't you?"

"Yes. I'm finding out more and more the ways."

"One moment, I need to get you some wait staff."

He stepped out of the room and I went to the table. "Guys, come be
seated. Stuart is going to get our wait person and be back momentarily."

Ran and Sam came over and sat down. Blane sat next to Sarah and I sat next
to Ev.

Sam said, "Den, tell us what you got today?"

"One of them is being kept a surprise from everyone because Ev thinks
you're going to have a cow when you find out....so, I'll tell you about
Brand.
	As you know, I went to Brand's offices. I spoke with the owner and
it was a good deal all the way through. Yeah, they had a bit of debt, but
the owner is settling it on his way out. All in all, we got a distribution
network, eight hundred and ninety stores, and some good employees. And
while I'm talking, I'll take the time to thank you for having me speak
business so I can write it off!"

Everyone laughed and Ev added. "What's nice is the warehouse which came
with Brand will serve for the record label. I know I'm not spoiling the
surprise when I tell you our office tower will soon be used for the record
label as we'll be moving to a new headquarters."

Sam looked surprised , "You sure you want to do that?"

Ev smiled , "Sam, let me say Den did good enough Dad would have ran to the
new building."

"Really!"

"Yeah."

He looked at me, "I'm proud of what he got accomplished."

I said, "Guys, I'd like to ask Ran and you to please not decide immediately
on getting a house to live in. Earlier, I told Ran we were offered a deal
in which we snapped up. I extended him the offer, but he's not given an
answer. What I'd like to say is although it's painful to stay in the house,
it's your home and it's where I think you need to be currently.
	Ran, if things go well, I'd like for you and Sam to stay at the
house with us while we wait for investments to come in."

Sam asked, "What's the investment?"

I said, "Ran, I don't want to make you uncomfortable but I'd like to talk
about it."

"Ok, what I need to do is speak with Sam about it."

"Ok,.that's fine, but I'll tell what we got and then you can see."

He nodded and I said, "Ok, here's what we got."

I told about the wells and went into detail only omitting the number as I
didn't want to tell everyone how much we'd invested. I knew Ran didn't have
that sort of money and didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable.

After hearing the details, Sam asked, "Are you certain about this?"

"I doubted it, so I called Ev to verify it on Google. He said he'd seen
some show which spoke about it, so that's good enough by me."

Ev said, "It was on 60 Minutes. They had a report with Leslie Stahl and she
went in and interviewed people. It's there and it's huge. The pool of oil
is under parts of Montana, North and South Dakota, and clear on up into
Canada. They said it's bigger than what's under Saudi Arabia."

"And it's only two and a half million to drill a well?" Sam asked

"Yes."

She turned to Ran , "If we invested in it, we could build our own home
together. I've got money from mama and together with yours, we should be
able to get it." She paused and asked, "Can we buy more than one?"

Ev nodded , "Yes, Den's not said how many we bought, but he got some."

Ran asked, "Why aren't you saying how many you got?"

"Because I don't want to flaunt it, but let's just say from what is
returned, we could buy about ten a day."

Ran's eyes lit up , "Man!"

Sarah asked, "May I make an investment in it?"

"Sure" What I'll do is I'll take a pool of what everyone wants and get them
called.

I looked over and saw Blane. "Blane, what I will do is I'll get you some
deals going so you can start getting your own.  To not have myself in
conflict of interest, I need to start having you learn the business. In a
few years, you'll be wealthy enough to invest and really know wealth."

He nodded and smiled. "Why are you conflicted in interests?"

"IF I'm buying for our stores, I can't buy for everyone else's. From our
deals today, we're now up to almost nine thousand stores, so I've got
enough to keep me busy."

Sam said, "What'd you buy?! We have four thousand and with another nine
hundred, you'd have to bought a bunch!"

"Yes, and when you hear what it is, you'll be jumping for joy." Ev added.

Sarah asked, "When are you going to let us know what it is?"

"Later....after we eat."

Ran's eyes lit up and he said, "I'll be damned!"

I looked over , "Ran, keep it to yourself. There's a reason Ev wants to
keep it a secret."

"Man! I can't believe it!"

Ev smiled , "It's amazing. When he told me, I told him to grab it."

Sarah said, "Ev, either share the secret or switch subjects."

I said, "Sam, in order to be fair, I want Ev to break the news to you. If
we do it now, you're going to want to forget about eating and go out
there."

"Where!" she asked.

I looked at Ev and he said, "Sam, what company did you ever tell Dad you
wished he ran?"

Sam's eyes looked to the ceiling and then they got wide. "Oh no you didn't!
TL HOBBS!"

Ev smiled and she jumped up in the air!

"Oh my God!" she said running around the table to hug us. "Oh man! How'd
you pull that off?"

I turned to Sarah and she said, "They're some pretty stores."

Ev said, "Den, tell them about it and whatever you do, don't leave out what
you paid because that's the best part."

I was about to speak when Stuart came in. "Guys, I'm sorry, but it looks
like I'm waiting on you. We just had a bus of tourists come in and it's a
madhouse out there."

Ev said, "Ok, but stand here and listen because when you hear, you're going
to explode."

"What!"

I said, "Stuart, to bring you up to speed, I went out and bought some
companies today to bring into the fold so Dollar America is stronger. One
of them we bought was the Brand stores."

"Ok, I heard they were for sale. You didn't pay that much, did you?"

"No, I got them for four hundred and fifty million."

Stuart nodded , "There's a lot of them."

"Well, here's how the next deal went. While at Brand, I asked the
Distribution manager if he knew of any others which were for sale he
thought would fit into our company and he mentioned knowing TL Hobbs was
for sale."

Stuart said, "Oh man!"

"As soon as I heard, I jumped on it because he said they only wanted a
hundred and forty million. He said their building up in Northridge came as
part of the deal and it was worth more than that by itself.
	Personally, I know Hobbs is a good company because I helped them
get started and have sold them all their goods from day one.
	So, I hopped in the car with Marty and we drove up. When we got
there, we met with the owners and because we're so close, they wanted to
just give me the company Then they said they wanted to trade me the company
for my apartment in Hong Kong. At first, I thought they were joking, but
asked them if they were sure and they said they were, so I got the company
for trading the apartment."

Ran jumped up , "Man! What a deal! You stole it!"

"Yeah, but as you know the apartment is a damned nice one and it's
appreciated in value. I paid six million for it, but not long ago others in
the building have sold for around fifty...so, it's not a total theft."

Ev said, "Sam, Stuart, you both know how I love the stores. I know you when
guys shop, it's one of the first places you go when you go shopping."

Ran laughed , "She took me out to one last night! You're right Sarah, they
are some pretty stores."

I said, "Well, we got all the stores and the office tower. That's why we
wanted to go out to see the water show tonight because we wanted everyone
to see it and take a tour of the tower."

Sarah said, "Is it nice?"

"Is it nice!" Ev said real excited. "You should see it. It's
awesome. Compared to our office tower, it's a palace."

Sarah laughed , "Yours is beautiful."

I said, "Sarah, this one is beautiful because they really threw some money
at it. It's built in the shape of an H with the cross beam being a glass
catwalk between the two towers. Under that cross beam is an open space
which is enclosed. In it, there's a garden on the floor with topiaries and
all around you are exotic birds from all over the world."

"Oh!" she said with wide eyes.

"If you loved the stores, then you'll love it because they took the theme
of the stores and incorporated it into the tower. It's real antique looking
and what's real appealing about it is out towards the interstate is a huge
fountain pool where the waters all move and sway and swirl. If you've ever
seen a Waltzing Waters show, they're the company who built the fountains."

"Oh! I went to one a few years ago. They were breath taking."

"We'll be going there later, and you'll see. My description doesn't do the
place justice, but it's easily a tower which probably would cost close to a
billion now to build."

Her eyes grew big and she said, "You got it for so little!"

Ev said, "Den basically started the company with them. If you remember my
friends Terry and Larry, the twins, then you know who were the owners."

"Those two owned it!"

Ev smiled , "Yeah, and to think every time you saw them, you called them
hoodlums. Them hoodlums are worth billions!"

Sarah laughed , "Well, it shows you how much money is devalued. They are
hoodlums!"

I laughed , "Yeah, but underneath it all, they're some people who are good
friends with big hearts. I know they're rough, but if you knew what they
came from, you'd understand."

She looked at Ev and asked, "And you hung around them!"

"Mom knew. She met their Mom and was really shocked. It's only because she
shopped with me she knew they were worth having as friends."

Stuart asked, "They're the ones which run that website. Aren't they?"

Ev nodded , "Yes, they started it after we finished computer school
together. Their stores do a huge business, but the website made them really
rich."

Stuart said, "I remember you hanging around with some twins, but they
didn't act like they were rich."

Ev laughed , "They're the ones you saw me with. Remember that night you
went with us and we rode those horses down the interstate?"

Stuart blushed , "Don't say anything else! I've learned to keep my clothes
on dammit!"

Everyone laughed and Ev said, "Stuart here gets called the Lone Ranger now
in a lot of parts."

We had a good laugh again and I said, "You never did tell me how you ended
up with your car in the ocean."

Ev looked at me , "Man! Sarah's sitting right next to you!"

Sarah laughed , "Evan Shane, I knew that car had been in water as soon as I
saw all the sand in it. You don't get sand all over a car like that without
it being submerged."

Ev smiled , "Ok, here's what happened...and I'll tell you now it was an
accident."

Sam said, "That's not the story I heard!"

"Shhhh!" Ev said laughing.

He turned , "Ok, we were all running around one night and one thing led to
another and we ended up on the beach to play nude volleyball. Well, I
decided to take the car down there so we could have some music.
	It was cool and what happened was I thought I was parked further
out of the water than what I was. We got to playing and listening to music
and no one really paid attention to the car. All I knew was someone made a
comment about my car and I looked over to see water up over the seats of it
and the tide coming in. We tried to get it started, but it wouldn't start,
so some guy with a huge truck came and we pulled it out. I had to call home
and Mom answered, so she came down to get me and that's when she met their
Mom.
	What I'll tell you about their Mom is she's like short! She's got
to be only five foot tall and looks unusual because she's got these huge
tits. What's funniest is when she gets excited, she jumps up and down and
it's like watching one of those bouncy balls because she's all in motion
and they're all in motion and there wasn't ever a bra made to keep those
things held so they don't go all over the place.
	So, as I said, Mom comes down and walks in. I guess their Mom was a
fan of Mom's and she went bouncey yelling and screaming and hugging Mom.
	What Mom won't tell you which I thought was funny as all get out
was she's like a twig trapped in between two huge cannons and she's getting
bounced all over the place just from their Mom hugging her.
	By the time their Mom settled down, Terry and Larry were pried to
their Mom trying to get her off Mom and I'm just laid out over a pallet of
clothes laughing my butt off. Mom gets pried off and stepped back and said
smooth as she could, she said, 'I thought they were brain damaged, but now
I see they were breast fed!'
	Needless to say, this got me and the twins laughing and Mom with a
smile on her face. It was great because Mom gave her some autographed
photos and albums. Now there's a shrine to Mom in that little shop."

Instantly, I had an inspiration. Thinking aloud, I said, "Ev, Sam, I want a
park in Detroit built in your Mom's memory. Something just told me to have
a park where there are bronze statues of her in all the different stages of
her life. What is neat is it's like the statues are walking on life's path
to the end where there's a memorial plaque of her with a gold record of "I
dunno"
	I'm seeing a kids playground for the statue of her as a small girl
and I see all sorts of activities for when she's a teen and then, for her
singing career, I see her standing in pose like she's singing "Halt!" It
leads to an amphitheater in which performances are done. On the other side
of it, I see her standing with her hair all blown and her dress flying
around her like she was when she did the park concert.
	Then, I see her hugging a baby and there being a kids fountain with
water spurts, and then a toddler behind her and her carrying another baby
with a lot of flowers and seating benches around a food court. Then, on the
other side of the flowers is her linking hands with your father and facing
towards the record like it's a sunset."

Ev's hand reached mine and I turned to look. He had tears down his cheeks,
and I reached over to hug him. I said, "Hon, I'm sorry. I just saw it so
plain I had to tell you."

"I want to build it."

I looked over at Sam and Ran had her cradled in his arms holding and
caressing her. She too was crying and tears came to my eyes.

Sarah said, "Dennis, you have a way of having me see things so clearly with
your words, I just know she was sending it to you."

I said, "Guys, what I don't know is if she wants it built in Detroit or out
here. I think I'd like to ask the Mayor of L.A. if we can build one here. I
think it'd serve as inspiration for all those young girls who ever want to
give up hope. We can have it near the museum, but I'm thinking it's for all
the runaways coming out to chase their dreams of stardom."

Stuart took everyone's order and then, I excused myself to go to the
kitchen. I went in and it was a madhouse of activity. People looked at me
suspiciously, but Stuart motioned me over.

"It's rare anyone comes into the kitchen."

"That's fine, I like to come in to see how it's done."

"I won't spit in your food if that's what you're concerned about."

"No, what I'm concerned about is your products and your losses."

"We don't stay open and lose money."

"No, what I'm asking is how much you pay for items such as shrimp, fish,
and produce."

"Oh, it's all high. I buy high quality therefore it's high priced."

"How about if we sit down sometime and I take a look at your order
sheets. I bet I could knock them down."

"How?"

"I'm an importer/exporter. My job is to buy from manufacturers."

"Oh, so there's no middle man with you."

"No middle men." I clarified. The man who buys from the fishermen is the
one from whom I buy. I also buy from the man who buys produce from the
farmers up in Fresno."

"You'd save me a lot of money."

"Yeah, lots of money."

"How much is shrimp per pound?"

"I don't know. I'll call and get you a price."

"Let me get you a list of what I purchase and then you can see what you can
get me."

His actions were fast and furious. His hands were a flurry of activity
shaking skillets and adding in ingredients.

A chef came over and looked at his preparation. "The bus ordered fettucini
alfredo...every last one of them."

"Why?"

"One of them sold them on it all the way here."

"Oh, how we doing on it."

"I can put more on, but we've got enough noodles for probably five after
theirs."

"Let's see how we hold, but put the water on to boil."

"I can probably get your pasta direct from my villa in Italy as well as my
olive oil."

His eyebrows raised. "How much a tin?"

"Olive oil?"

"Yes."

"I'm going over next week, I'll bring back fifty gallons."

"You wholesale it!"

"Yes. It's a big estate."

"How pure?"

"If you don't think it's the best you've ever had, I'll buy yours for a
year."

"Must be good stuff."

"Let me say out of everything the estate produces, those trees are a
blessing. The olives are almost albino."

"Oh man!"

"Yeah, I didn't know it when I got the place, but now I know and the place
is crawling with them."

"I bet...ok, I'll try it."

"I apologize for the start we had, but I won't apologize for being angry."

He smiled. "I don't expect you to apologize. He deserved it. I've had
problems once before. It was someone famous like yourself."

"I'm not famous."

He smiled. "Ok, you say that. I recognized you because my business is to
recognize faces and see they're treated well here. Evan's Mom didn't
appreciate her treatment by him either."

"You think I'm famous?"

"You're on Forbes list."

"A lot of people are. I'm not even in the top 100."

"Your purchases today and those investments will put you there."

"They'll put that man who has those wells with everyone at the top."

"True, but unless he starts having other companies in to drill, I'll never
see him."

In no time at all, he began putting things onto platters. I was amazed at
the speed he'd accomplished the work.

"You work fast."

"I spent my high school years cooking breakfast at my Mom's diner. You
can't cook breakfast for a bunch of truckers and be slow."

"You've got a good place here. I'd like to help in any way I can."

"Why?"

"You're a friend of Ev's."

"Ev's Mom got me my start. He might not tell you, but I dove in over my
head with this place. In less than a month, I was hurting. She floated me a
loan and it's been good since."

"Are you in the black?"

"With everything except the building."

He got a huge tray and began placing plates upon it. I was amazed at the
way he got everything placed upon it at once.

He went to go around me, "Excuse me, I have to get that cart over here."

"Ok, you need me to do anything?"

"No, you're doing fine. Your wine is in the cooler over there, top row,
over three. You could get that and a cork remover to the right on that
rack."

I went over and took a look at the back of the cooler. Heavier items like
it tended to be where dust and dirt gathered if a place wasn't clean. I
took a look at it and saw none. I'd been impressed, but seeing none took it
up a notch.

I went back , "You run a nice place. It's clean and you're doing well."

"Tonight was slow until the bus."

"Probably the economy and fuel prices."

"The cost of everything has risen."

"True, but if I can get yours down, your bottom line is better."

"Don't get me hooked into anything without covering it with me. They'll let
me have samples of their quality. I'll check those before I buy."

"Sure, you're not going to be out any money. You'll find I check and triple
check everything before I buy. If it's not good stuff, my name doesn't get
attached to it."

"When you go up to Fresno, give me a yell and I'll ride along. I can give
you a few pointers as to what to watch for."

"Sure, it'd be nice to spend the day together. We'd get to know each other
and that's be nice."

"You're more cautious than Evan. Keep his back because he's been wild."

"Ok, he's settling."

"I can see. It's good for him and makes me more secure about you. I just
hate it about his parents. They were good people."

"True. I wish I'd gotten to know them longer."

"I've known them since we were little kids and think that myself. I guess
it's what you get when you're around good people." He paused , "I don't
know your business, but whatever you do, don't let him take down the
quality of TL Hobbs. The place is nice."

"I'm glad you like it, it should give you the quality I buy."

"You buy for them?"

"From the beginning. The alterations in their clothing line were initiated
by me."

"I like everything you did. Their shirts have went up five hundred points
in my eyes."

"We're expanding the line of clothes, but the quality stays the same. I do
need to take him over there to get him to seeing what to look for when he's
buying."

"He'll be doing that, won't he?"

"Yeah, Bran was doing it, but now it's coming down to him."

"Stand by him, I know he complained a lot his Dad wasn't letting him do
anything."

"I'll be there standing beside him. He's tried to have me step in to fill
his Dad's shoes, but I'm not. I'll teach him, and will be by him, but he's
got to step up."

"He'll do it. I know he's wanted to. Now, we're finished here, it's time to
go back."

We went to the room and went in. Ev gave me a look, "Do you do this all the
time when you go out to eat?"

"No, but he and I talked. I'm going to try to get his goods for him so he
saves money."

"He'd like that, his prices are high."

"I imagine. Everything's quality with him."

"One thing you probably didn't notice is that kitchen is spotless."

"I noticed. Even behind the wine cooler it's clean."

He smiled , "You looked behind it?"

"You can quite easily."

"Do you do that everywhere you go?"

"No, but what I do when I go someplace new is I like to go to the kitchen
to get a feel for the place and see for myself. If it's filthy, then I
cross it off my list."

"Is that why you call Applebee's Applefreebies?"

"No, their kitchens are nice, but their managers have to go to anger
management schooling for the place to be good."

Stuart was standing behind us ready to serve up.

"I heard, I'm trying not to eavesdrop, but you're right. Our host came from
there."

"Can I offer a suggestion there with his replacement?"

"I'll listen."

"Take a look at your applications and then choose whomever comes from
Chili's. Their people are top notch."

Ev laughed , "He used to work with them!"

Stuart smiled , "Thanks."

"Thank whomever owns the place, if Ev hasn't noticed, I always put them on
my suggestion to eat when we dine out."

"Ev probably brought you here to meet me."

Ev smiled , "I wanted him to like the restaurant."

I said, "It'll be put on my list of options. I'm impressed."

Stuart asked, "Is everything fine? Can I get anyone anything else?"

Hearing no answers, he then left the room.

I leaned over to Ev , "In case I forget, remind me to get a case of this
wine. It's nice."

"Ok, Mom picked the wines for him."

"She did good. It's nice."

We ate and when we were finished, Stuart brought in a cake which was piled
high with all sorts of sweetness.

Ev said, "You didn't!"

"It's now a part of our menu."

Sarah leaned over , "Triple chocolate is Ev's favorite."

"Oh, that's good to learn."

"You'll learn enough about him soon to know everything he likes."

"What about them?"

"Whatever you did, I think you saved them. She's better with him now."

"I don't often step off in a friend's...well, with Ran, I don't get that
bad, but he had this one coming. I can't call him a friend because he's
closer than that."

"I know, I was worried. Now I think they're better."

"Later on Monday, we're going to Italy. You're invited to go along. I think
it'd be good to get everyone away for a few days."

"I'd like to."

"We'll be leaving Monday morning. We've got to make a stop in Nebraska
first, and then we'll head on that direction."

"Ok, that sounds nice." she said smiling. "I've never been anywhere."

"Oh, that could be a problem. We'll have to apply for a passport
tomorrow. It shouldn't be a problem since all we have to have are plane
tickets bought."

"I could stay home."

"No, it's not a problem. I'd love for you to go. It's lovely there and
it'll give you a chance to put in mind some of the things I have so you can
see them for yourself."

"The photos you have on your computer are nice."

"Pictures are nice, but it's being there in person which makes it all
better. Just remind me to get Stuart a drum of our Olive oil sent to him."

"Oh, may I get some while I'm over?"

"Sure, we'll send some in and then, you'll agree it's the best."

She smiled, "Nebraska. It sounds exciting."

"Not really. The only things you get there are seat sores from driving
across it and tornadoes. Kearney is a nice town, but it's also flat as a
board. I don't know how the people there keep from going insane."

She laughed , "It sounds nice though. I bet the air there is a lot better
than here."

"Probably. There's no one there to breathe it. Lots of land, hardly any
people."

When we were through eating, I went up and paid the bill. Stuart wanted to
take nothing for the meal, but I wouldn't let him. He smiled , "Ev's going
to roast me for this."

"Nah, he needs to learn you run a business and have a bottom line too."

"What about you helping me? Isn't your business a bottom line operation?"

"I make enough off everyone else."

"So do I."

He smiled and knew he had me. I said, "Stay a friend and I'll appreciate
it."

We left and drove up to Northridge. When we pulled into the lot, I think
Sam was out of the car before it stopped moving.

Ev was excited and ran to the fountains. I walked at a leisurely pace with
Sarah.

"It's beautiful."

"Inside is where it's amazing. Out here, it's beautiful, but wait until you
go in."

Blane came up , "Den, you have a moment?"

"Sure."

I excused myself from Sarah and walked with Blane. "Yeah bud."

"Uncle Ted is calling my phone a lot now. I thought I'd let you know.
	Mom called and said he's harassing her to find out where I am."

"Did she tell him?"

"She hasn't a clue where I am either."

"Ok, we've got an off duty officer who will be coming on with us tonight
after he gets off duty."

"Good, Mom said he's more insane than she's ever seen him."

"I imagine. I said a lot to deliberately provoke him. He knows I know about
the rapes and he also knows he now has a daughter out there somewhere who
could embarrass him."

"He's a real asshole."

"Yes, but it took you all to see it before you believed it. Gramma tried
telling everyone."

"Mom kept us away."

"Yeah, but the more who see it, I think, the more who can testify when I
have the lawsuits filed."

"What are the suits?"

"They wouldn't arrest him for child abuse when I was home, but I found I
could sue him for it. So far, I've got four different suits which we can
file on different grounds."

"You're trying to piss him off?"

"Oh yeah. It's part of a plan. If I can get everyone to see him as he
really is and if I can get him to come at me, I'll have grounds to arrest
now. Between all those and me finding this girl who is his daughter, and
getting her to acknowledge him, he'll be embarrassed right out of the
VFW. If I can start costing him his social status, the Sheriff and the
Marshall will distance from him and I can go back home."

"Oh, good plan."

"I've got to send in some people to dig the bullets from the walls at
Gramma's, but when I have those, I'll have proof he shot at me."

"Do you think Mom's in danger?"

"No, he's only after me. After the funeral, the world will know where I'm
at. He'll get told and try to come this direction.  If he drives, he'll get
here just in time to discover I'm in Nebraska or already over in
Italy. It'll really piss him off."

He laughed , "It's a cat and mouse game."

"Yeah, but as you heard on the phone, I told him I wasn't afraid
anymore. If truth be known, I'm more afraid than ever."

"Why?"

"He's delusional. He's already proven my life means nothing to him, so
he'll try again to kill me. What I don't want is him taking aim at anyone
else."

"Oh, do you think he'd do that?"

"Ev's life probably would mean nothing to him. He'd think he's getting two
for one. The bad thing is he'd probably take a shot at Sam too because he
knows he's got a interracial child out there and would think she's her."

"She's not interracial."

"To someone that far gone, it doesn't matter. She's not even the age of
what the girl would be either, but that wouldn't matter."

"How old would this girl be?"

"Late thirties or early forties."

"She's out there or here?"

"I don't know where she is exactly. I've got a detective on it."

"Oh, well, let's hope he can't find her."

"He'd have a hard time. He's not likely going to go to a judge anywhere and
say, "Hey, I raped a girl back in the sixties and I want to find the
daughter she had." The judge would run to a phone to get him locked up."

"Yeah, that's right."

"Switching subjects, I'd like for you to go to Italy with us."

"Why?"

"One thing, you can meet suppliers there and another is we're going back to
New York. While there, I can get you some trades and get you started on
business while I go back home for an afternoon."

"You're going back!"

"Yeah, I've got to get my dogs from your sister."

"I need to call her to get her to come out here."

"Not yet. Your Mom couldn't hide that from my Dad and I do think he'd
follow her on a plane."

"Oh, I never thought."

"It's all tactical. I have to try to stay one step ahead."

We walked to the fountains and he said, "They're nice. It definitely
catches the eye."

"Just remember what you're seeing here and in all those Brand stores is
what I managed to accumulate in eight years. If you hold onto your money
better than me, you'll have a better bank account than me at this time
too."

"When I start making trades, could you get me onto some of the oil wells?"

"Yeah, I'll step up and get you onto them. That's no problem. I'd help you
now, but I want to have you learn the business too."

"I understand."

"When you speak to your sister, tell her I'm wanting her to learn this so
she can do some too."

"Why?"

"Because what I've got planned for you guys is a lot better than what I was
doing. If I give you a country, you can milk it a lot more than me flying
from one place to another. I never cultivated them enough. Now, I don't
want to try so I can stay under the radar."

"Do you think you could get in trouble trading?"

"I don't know. I don't want to risk it. One thing you'll learn is any sense
of impropriety means disaster because it's the client's trust which feels
violated. Once they lose that, we're out of business."

"Oh."

"Yeah, but if you're handling their accounts, then they'll think we've
expanded and they now have someone who will care for their interests more.
	By the way, remind me to set you up on Monday with someone."

"Who?"

"One of the guys who I bought this place from. He's gay, but he's
inexperienced."

"Ok, that'd be cool."

"I started to tell him about you, but got interrupted."

"I'd appreciate it."

"No problem. Now, I need to go over here and get everyone toured through
here. Come on, you can see it too."

I went over to Ev , "Let's gather up and we'll go on our tour. Then, we'll
come out and see the waters."

He called out to Sam and Ran and Sarah walked up. I said, "We're going to
go inside and take a tour."

"You sure you can go in there? I see a guard over there."

"Yeah, we can go in. They should have notified everyone."

I walked to the entrance and went in. The guard walked up , "You can't be
in here without authorization."

"That's ok, I bought the place today. Dennis Johns." I held out my hand and
he looked surprised. "I was given your name. I didn't know you'd be taking
over so soon."

"Tonight, I'm giving a tour to my partner, his sister, my best friend, my
cousin, and our housekeeper. You might put their names on your approved
list of people to allow in. They'll always have a place here."

"Ok, do you want a tour?"

"If you have a master key, it'd be nice."

"They don't lock them. If they get past here, they're supposed to be in
here."

"Ok, I'll go out and get them, but I imagine in the future, we'll have some
doors being locked."

"Why?"

"Espionage isn't always on the outside trying to get in. If we can keep it
from happening, we should. All it'd take is a file to come up missing and
that's a secret lost."

"Oh, do you think it happens?"

"More than you know. Another way is from loose lips. Both cost companies
millions if not billions of dollars a year."

"I'll start paying more attention."

"I'd appreciate it."

I went out , "He's aware of who I am. We're going to go in now and take the
tour."

We went in and as we walked in, the guard came over and asked them their
names. He wrote them down and Ev didn't look happy.

I went up , "Hon, he's getting everyone's names because everyone will now
be on the approved list of visitors."

"Oh, I was getting upset."

"I saw. That's why I said something."

I went over to the guard , "Would you go ahead and give the tour. I just
realized I probably don't know everything and it'd be better coming from
you."

He nodded , "No problem Mr Johns."

"Here, let's start over. One thing you'll find is the way I work, no one
calls me Mr. Johns. It's Dennis, or Den. I prefer Den, but either is fine."

"Sure."

He gathered everyone up and gave a tour which was enlightening even to
myself. The highlight of the tour was the Presidential Suite. I did make a
point to let everyone know we would be doing a remodel.

After the tour, I went out and saw a row of cars parked to watch the water
show. The twilight and the lights in the water made it spectacular. Music
played and the water danced. We rolled down the windows of the Rolls and
played the sound system picking up the low power broadcast of the
accompanying music.

Ev and I sat against the hood of the car while Sam, Ran, Sarah, and Blane
all went to sit upon park benches far enough away from the waters to enjoy
it. It wasn't until Sam and Ran left and called back I learned they had
speakers set up outside to go along with the show.

Ev leaned against me , "This is quite a bit of free p.r."

"Yeah, I never knew about the speakers outside, but I did know about the
broadcast."

"I'm happy."

"Me too. Holding you here in my arms is nice."

"No, about all you got for us today."

"That's nice too, but I'll take you any day."

He turned and kissed me. I hugged him nearer and as the show drew to a
close, I said, "Ev, each moment I spend with you is better and better."

"I'm falling in love with you too."

"Me too."

We continued to watch the show and then Ev said, "Den, I'm sorry, but this
water and not going to the rest room really has me having to go."

"Oh, there's no rest room out here. Go to the door and ask the guard to let
you in. I bet they never thought of that."

"We'll have to get it changed."

"We will. I'm thinking of some things I'd like to have done to change it."

He smiled , "You want to walk with me?"

"Sure."

We went over to the door and the guard let us in "Let me guess, rest room."

"Yeah" Ev said.

"We get about twenty people a night who come to the door."

"Start letting them in. We're going to get that changed. I bet they never
thought of it."

He smiled and Ev went to the rest room. I stood there , "I think for the
time being, I want you to start letting people in to use the
facilities. They can see what it's like in here and then can tell everyone
else the best part is in here."

"It's beautiful in here, that's for sure."

"Who's over security?"

"Right now, Peter Sind is."

"That's his real name?"

"Well, if you saw him, you'd probably call him what everyone else
does...Big Peter. He's a large Hawaiian guy. He's got a great sense of
humor about it, so that's good."

"I'll have to get together with him. Who's over the grounds?"

"That'd be Hector. Hector Rodriguez. As you can guess by his name, he's
Mexican. He's a great guy and does top notch work."

"Ok, I'll give him a call too. He's over the water show, right?"

"Yeah, he has that as one of his top priorities. The filters that thing
goes through would amaze you."

"I imagine. We're going to add some lasers to it and start the show with a
wall of water instructing everyone to turn their radio dials to the
frequency so they can pick it up. Another thing I'm going to want to do is
to layer the parking lot so it's more like a drive in theater. That way, we
can get more cars in here."

He smiled , "You've got a flair for promotion."

"Yeah, but real fast like, we're going to be having commercials which
promote it out here. It's free entertainment and we can use it as a
commercial at the end with the lasers having TL Hobbs on it."

"Oh, that'd be nice."

"I'm still thinking of things we could do with the lasers. One thing I'd
like is to not have them exclusively because the interstate traffic. Those
fountains pull the eye, so we want to keep them going."

"If I could make a suggestion."

"Sure."

"I'd put the name of the company on the building so it could be seen by the
traffic out there. Unless you know we're here, there's nothing telling
those who go by it's us."

"Ok, I'll get that done. It might upset some who like the lines of the
building out there, but I sure understand we need to have us putting more
thought into getting us known."

"Are you changing the name of the company?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I bought it with the place. If we didn't, I'll have
to."

"I was wondering since it's their name."

"I doubt if they'd care too much. They wanted out, so it'd probably not
bother them."

"One thing I can tell you is I'm really proud to work here. The pay is
good, the benefits are excellent, and it's a shift which I enjoy
working. I'm not sure if you're planning on getting rid of anyone, but I'd
like to stay if possible."

"You'll stay. I want people who want to work for us. I know you're working
for the company, but still, it's Ev and I who are going to carry this
thing."

"You guys own Dollar America?"

"Yeah, and we bought out Brand General today along with this, so we're
expanding."

"I like the stores, but don't shop there often."

"Give us a year and you'll shop there more than anywhere else."

"Why?"

"The Brand stores and ours are all getting reworked. TL Hobbs will stay the
same, but those are going over to more items which mean more to our
customers.  Value is where it should be and isn't right now. In a year,
we'll have groceries and items all under a dollar. Right now, we're not
focused as much as I'd like on that dollar target. We'll get prices down
and a lot of items discontinued so it makes more sense in there."

"Remodeling?"

"In a major way. The stores are going to have a new look which isn't like
any value brand store out there. It'll be a lot nicer than what you'd
imagine."

"Sounds nice."

"It takes money and it takes time. We're now going to head that direction
with it."

"I think you'll make it. You pay attention to details. It takes that in
this day and age."

"Let's hope. In my opinion, it takes a company who will pay attention to
the consumer and their needs. Not many are doing it and we haven't. We'll
get it headed in that direction and what I think is people will flock
there."

"A lot of others have groceries already."

"True, but a lot of others aren't as low cost. A lot of others who are low
cost aren't giving what we'll be giving. To me, I'd rather have volume
sales than profit. Volume will get us profit if we let it be our focus."

"I'm not getting you."

"What aren't you getting?"

"You say the others aren't giving volume. They are."

"No, not in the way I mean. The ones who have groceries don't have
vegetables four for a dollar or hamburger a dollar a pound. They don't have
chicken breast a dollar a pound or the sort of items which give real
value."

"Oh man, you can get it that low?"

"Yeah, it's sixty one cents a pound. All we have to do is sell it and that
will be profit. Chicken breast is not as high profit, but hot dogs and
vegetables are high high profit at a dollar with those numbers."

"I can't wait!"

"Do you get an employee discount shopping there?"

"They give us a company store here, but nothing which is real value. It's
like fifteen percent off."

"Ok, that's got to change. What I'll tell you is you'll have forty percent
off shopping anywhere in our company. Yeah, I'll lose money on some items,
but to an employee, I'll do it."

"That'd be nice."

"I'll also tell you since you asked, some people here won't be keeping
their jobs. I'm not saying I'm coming in and cleaning everyone out, but
there will be a lot of people leaving."

The look on his face said, "A lot of people love working here."

"A lot do, but there are seven hundred people working in this building. I'd
love to show up for a job which I don't do anything but cruise the
internet, watch dvd's on my computer, and play. Some of those people
shouldn't be here and some are downright inept."

"Really!"

"I'm not mentioning names, but my attorney is heading the legal
department. Today, while here, he had to get rude and tell one of the
attorneys here how to do something and to do it because the guy was
refusing. I can guarantee you the guy will be unemployed soon."

He shook his head , "I never knew about that sort of thing going on. I do
know some work hard."

"Those people we'll keep. I'm not saying I'm going to come in and wipe
people out. What I'm saying is play time is over and I'm blowing the
whistle to end recess. It's time some of those are schooled."

He chuckled, "I know we never lost money."

"No, and that's because I was out there buying the items sold here. There's
enough profit, the company floated easily. It'll float even nicer if we're
not dragging so many anchors. They need to know it's a business too."

"Ok, I'm understanding better."

"Another thing we'll be doing is a name badge with a bar code on the
back. It's not as secure as eyeballs and fingerprints, but it's a lot
better than nothing. Right now, we need to do some changes."

"What will be changing for me?"

"If you'd like, I'd find it a big help if you have a form here which people
can sign in and give their addresses. They can do that when they come in
and use the restrooms. I can use it to give direct marketing of our sales
and special discount events."

"Good idea. I'll start doing that."

"I'm all for getting people out here and using the show as a draw, but I'm
also going to capitalize upon it in subtle ways."

He nodded , "We've got two others here in our security section at night,
I'll get them down here."

"Where are they now?"

"One man is on the cameras and the other walks around on patrol."

"Keep the one on the cameras, and pull the one on patrol. The upper floors
shouldn't be patrolled if he's down here keeping them here."

"Any special requests?"

"If anyone comes in and flashes credentials stating his name is Ted Johns,
call the police. It's my Dad and I don't want him here...not even to use
the restrooms. If it happens, close up security and have him arrested for
trespassing."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely. This isn't some spat. It's a long standing thing since I was
seven years old. I don't think it's likely to pass unless he does some
passing....away."

"Oh, must be a bad character to upset you."

"A lot of abuses. Too much power in his hands and not enough in mine. Now I
can control who's around me and he's not one."

"Ok, anyone else?"

"Not really. One other thing and I'll drop it. If he's spotted here, I'm to
get an immediate call. He's supposed to be in South Carolina and I'd prefer
he stay there or in jail."

"I'll do that."

Ev came out and got a drink from the water fountain. He made a face , "Put
a fountain which has cold water on our list of improvements for this
place."

"Ok"

Ev over heard and added, "And toilet rolls which don't just dispense a
sheet at a time. That thing drove me crazy."

"Ok, you fine?"

"I'm fine."

I nodded goodbye to the guard and went out with Ev. "You stayed out
speaking with him?"

"Giving some instructions and getting names of people I need to speak
with."

"Ok, I was wondering. He seems like a nice guy."

"Damned nice. He's going to stick around."

"Good."

"The rest rooms are now open so the public can use them."

"They weren't allowed in?"

"No, and the guy told me at least twenty people a night asked to use them."

"Oh, a lot of disappointed people."

"If it had been me, I'd have watered the bushes."

He chuckled , "What if you'd had to do the other?"

"Behind the bushes. I'd have thought 'fuck 'em' and done it. I'm sure it's
an oversight, but we're going to make it better."

"What's on the list of improvements for you?"

"The parking lot gets layered like a drive in theater. Lasers are going to
be installed so we can tell people to turn their dials to the frequency and
promote our stores at the end."

"Good plan."

"Restrooms out there and other than that, not much except we've got to get
a sign on the building so it's seen by the interstate traffic as being
ours."

"There's not one?"

"The guard says not. I'd not paid attention. If there's not, it's
changing."

We went back out. As we went, I kept giving Ev some ideas.

"What I want to do Ev, is have Randy film the waters and have at the bottom
the exit on the interstate so people can come out. For now, all I want to
have is "Turn your radio to 107.9" and that's it.
	Then, give that a few weeks, and we'll put TL Hobbs on the waters
in lasers and it'll tell newbies it's cool and the ones whose seen it
before there's now lasers. I'm sure we'll get a good draw."

He said, "I'd like to have the parking lot as you said, but undulating
downward hills. It'd be cool for boarders and give them a thrill of feeling
like they're riding a wave."

"Skate boarders?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, sounds good."

"I was afraid you'd say something about insurance."

"Nah, I'm not going to point at a group and tell them they can be here and
not others. To me, we're self insured for the first million so if a kid
gets hurt, we buck up the payment to the doctor anyways."

"I wasn't aware of that."

"Yeah, it's the deductible. If the place burned to the ground, we'd have to
pay a million before the insurance company paid. The same goes if we have
an earthquake."

"Really!"

"Yeah, but this building is going to stand. I checked some things out and
it's built on cradles. She'll swing, but she'll settle back down and look
like nothing's hurt."

"Look?"

"Some of that brick out there is going to likely come down, but she's not
going to collapse."

"I'm glad you know what to look for."

"You saw me up looking at that support."

"I thought you were looking up there for a reason."

"I was looking to see if it was what I thought it was...which was an
earthquake damage prevention. It was."

"What's it do?"

"Those big columns have ball bearings the size of basketballs up there. If
an earthquake hits, she will roll on the bearings and then settle back
down."

"I'm still not following."

"Ok, imagine a bowl and then putting a baseball in it. Now, put a board on
it and then move the bowl from side to side. The movement will roll the
building on the balls and she'll stay even. If it moves enough the ball
comes out of the dish, then I'll tell you to worry because the world has
ended and everything's flattened.."

"Oh."

"I'm not sure about the other tower, but this one is going to ride nice."

"Good. Anything else you want to improve?"

"Not here. Just getting rid of some people and that's it. Well, getting an
outdoor toilet too, but for the short term, I'm not going to do much."

"Ok, I was wondering."

"What's on your mind? You want to change some things?"

He scrunched his forehead , "The top floor of the second tower has a
preschool. Isn't there somewhere else to put it?"

"It could go almost anywhere, but I think it's safer there."

"Why?"

"Several reasons and I'll tell you real fast. One is when the Murrow
Building got blown down in Oklahoma, the kids were within the blast
range. That blast went out, not up. She stood, but those kids died. If it
were me, I'd want my kid to live and not me. With a future, there's a
future. Without me having my kid, there's no future."

"Ok, so they're up there for safety?"

"Yeah, the second reason is up there, the person kidnapping them has to
come down and make it out. When the run is longer to the door, the asshole
is less likely to make it."

"Ok, I never thought of that."

"In regards to on-site child care, I like it. It keeps the parents coming
to work because they can't use the excuse they didn't have a babysitter."

"What if a kid gets sick?"

"If the kid gets sick, it's different. Some things some places do to a
parent over a kid can be prevented. I'd rather do that and not penalize the
parent."

"Like what?"

"Lice is a problem nowadays because of the food and drug administration
taking the drug out of shampoo. Before they did that, lice never took hold
because it was built in. Now it's a problem and parents are penalized by
having to keep the kid home until the threat has passed."

"You want them to come with them?"

"Hon, listen..I said prevented. It's a key word there. You may not realize
it, but some things can prevent other things. Are you aware a diet higher
in garlic, brewer's yeast, and onions can help rid them?"

"Yeah, but a kid's not going to eat that."

"I bet they do. I know I did and thought the thing I ate was good enough I
always looked forward to those days and asked for more."

"What was it?"

"My grannie cooked scrambled hamburger with sweet garlic, onions, and at
other times, she made homemade Manwiches or spaghetti with them in
it. Brewer's yeast has no real flavor in something, but it will get rid of
problems."

"So lice won't be an issue?'

"Lice won't be an issue, but the parents won't see mosquitos flocking
around their kids and any other bugs. Bugs don't bite because the kid has
their tissues with it in it and less bug bites mean less scratching and
complaints.'

"Oh."

"It's a diet based treatment. I'm not saying it's completely fool proof,
but it's not legal for me to dose a kid with kerosene."

"Kerosene!"

"Yeah, if we so much were around a kid my grannie thought had them, we got
kerosene put on our head and rubbed through. Then, we got took to the tub
and scrubbed. If they were there, they didn't live and if they weren't,
grannie wasn't taking chances."

"Your grannie sounds like she cared a lot about you."

"Yeah, but she had a million of those things she did which kept things
away. One thing she did was kept tomato leaves in the house to keep flies
out. She put crushed up broken glass along the property line to keep snakes
away and on top of that, she put a good healthy mix of salt water, cayenne,
and garlic."

"Why?"

"Slugs die when they hit salt. Cayenne makes eyes water of any thing which
wants to come near. Garlic keeps bugs away. You'd be amazed how none of
those huge cockroaches South Carolina is famous for were on her property."

"Sounds cool."

"Out here, I imagine bugs would be drawn to the water. Even that guard said
the filters were a large cost of running it, so I'd say they probably are
drawn. What I think is it needs some garlic oil thrown in to keep them
gone."

"That would work?"

"Yeah, all that going up is going to evaporate some and that oil is going
to perfume the air. It'd keep bugs gone."

"Interesting."

"What we can do is cover the smell of the garlic with another smell and
folks wouldn't know it's there."

"Like what?"

"The first which comes to mind would be root beer. It's likely to make
everyone hungry, but it'd cover the smell. Another is cotton candy. That's
another odor cover which works good."

"Could we do other perfumes like flowers?"

"Yeah, but that might draw in a problem."

"Oh, yeah."

"I could imagine a bee having a mental breakdown over it. It'd be like red
light/green light. He'd be drawn in and then smell garlic and run away."

He laughed , "We can't have psychotic bees here!"

I laughed , "Babe, we'll think of something. I do want a lot of flowers and
daisies would keep bugs away too."

"Really?"

"Yeah, that's what they make a lot of bug repellants from. It's called
pyrethrum or something like that."

"I learn a lot when I'm with you."

"One thing I'll teach you real fast is this and you'll be amazed. Bats eat
their weight in bugs each night. You might know that, but during the day,
we could have red flowers and draw in hummingbirds. They eat a ferocious
amount of bugs too."

"So you're going to have a talk with the grounds guy and tell him that's
what we want?"

"Yeah, his name is Rodriguez. Security's name is Big Peter Sind."

"Huh?"

"That's his name. I bet that guy has caught it all his life with a name
like that."

"I thought you were joking."

"The big is an add-on, but his name is Peter Sind. He's a big guy, so
people call him Big Peter."

Ev laughed, "You have a body made for Sind."

"Yeah, you better take that to a priest little boy because your Peter
Sind."

"Oh man!"

"I bet he's not Catholic." I chuckled.

"I've heard some names like that but they were mostly girls. That's a new
one."

"I've heard them too, but growing up in the South, we weren't the sort to
call and ask if someone's refrigerator was running. We'd call anyone named
Bacon and ask them if they were from Macon of the Macon Bacon's...and then
we'd laugh our asses off and hang up. Nowadays, with caller I.d. Kids can't
have much fun."

"You keep telling me little things about your personality and I bet growing
up with you would have been a riot."

"We'd definitely fell in love a lot sooner."

"Does Ran have stories like this?"

"He probably does, but I'll have to tell him to keep his mouth shut. Some
of those secrets in the hand of Sam could be dangerous."

He laughed, "Yeah, they'd have us for sure."

We walked near Sarah and Blane and apparently were overheard. Sarah
chuckled , "Don't let her know because she's already got a lot of them."

Ev blushed , "Yeah, she never lets me forget some things."

We continued walking until we were at the hood. Someone from a close car
asked, "Did they let you in?"

"Yeah, policy has changed and they now let people use the rest rooms. Some
nice guy bought the place today."

"Oh, well, I was wondering. They've not let people in before. By the way,
damned nice car."

"Thanks."

The guy went over and then came back. He got his kids and went to the door
where he was allowed to go in.

When they came back, the kids were real excited about the birds. "Mister,
they have birds in there!"

"Aren't they neat! Did you see the trees which looked like animals?"

"No! Dad, I want to see the trees!"

"Next time Jase."

"Ok, next weekend?"

"Yeah, this weekend is mine with you."

"Cool!"

Ev said, "Jase, before long, we'll have lasers here shining on the
water. Tell your friends."

"Cool!"

The guy said, "You guys own it!"

Ev said, "Yeah, we bought it today."

"Man, you got a nice place."

"Thanks"

The guy came closer and asked, "If you don't mind, could I look in the
car?"

"Sure, go ahead and sit in it."

"Thanks."

He went back and I went back as Sam and Sarah's purses were in the
rear. "It's a custom order. They don't make them normally."

"It's nice. I've never seen a Rolls, much less one which is a limo. I've
seen a lot of limos drive by but never a Rolls."

"A million seven is why. You could buy three bulletproof Lincoln limos for
this."

"Wow!"

"Yeah, but once you've driven a Rolls, you don't want anything
else. They're that nice."

"You drive this!"

"Not this one, but I've got a bunch of others."

"Must be nice."

"Listen, here's my card. If you're a single Dad, I can help if you want a
job which pays a lot better than anything you've ever made."

"Working for TL Hobbs?"

"No, importing and exporting."

"The only kind of money you could make doing that is drugs. No thanks. I'd
prefer to see my kid without bars between us on the weekend."

"Dude, do I look like I sell drugs?"

"No."

"Ok, you ever been to a TL Hobbs store?"

"Yeah."

"Nice stuff?"

"Yeah."

"Good, the pants are made in China and the shirts are made in the
Philippines. The shirts you buy for thirty dollars at Hobbs cost twenty
eight cents from the manufacturer. I marked them up and sold them to Hobbs
for a dollar fifty. They marked them up and sold them to you for thirty
five. Yeah, they made money, but I did too.
	When you sell a million of the things, you tend to make a million
two on the deal. The pants are just as good and I do that about five times
a year...just from Hobbs.
	In other deals, I make more and in other deals, I sell to a lot of
goods which aren't marked up as much, but you make just as much on volume.
	Drugs didn't buy this car unless it was Bayer aspirin which
probably could have bought me this car. I've sold enough of their product
to do it."

"You must be rich."

"Damned rich. You could be too. You interested?"

"I'd like to be home on the weekend."

"So would folks in China. You could be if you want that to be a priority."

"You serious!"

"Dude, I bought this company today. I also bought another. My partner out
there had another. Now, have you heard of conflict of interest?"

"Yeah."

"Well, in buying these companies, I pretty much screwed the pooch doing any
deals with other companies. So, I've got to get me some people who would
like to make money. If you're interested, I'd work with you and teach you."

"Sounds nice. Do I gotta wear a suit?"

"It helps, but a nice pair of dress slacks and a polo shirt does good
too. I'll provide the wardrobe and put you in a car which will get you
noticed. I'll also help get you in a house which will also get your clients
interest."

"Really?"

"What I do isn't hard. Usually the clients are already sold before they see
me, but sometimes I have something new which they'd like to buy."

"I'm interested."

"Good. Give two weeks notice at where you work and call me. If you don't
think the number is real, dial it now and my phone right here will ring."

"I believe you."

"Good, now, what I'll tell you is to go house shopping in either Bel Aire
or Beverly Hills. Find one you like which is going to really draw the
eye. Then, let me know and I'll get it for you. Don't worry about furniture
because we'll work on getting it furnished and decorated."

"You're serious. What do I have to do?"

"Ok, I'll lay it out to you so you know I'm a selfish som bitch. For the
first ten years, you make sixty and I make forty. That's before any other
side business. You got me?"

"Yeah"

"I teach you and you learn. Then, I step back and you make money. I get my
cut and you make money. It's that simple."

"Is it hard?"

"No, I could sell you anything. The key to you buying is seeing you can
make money off it. If I came up to you and offered you a Hobbs shirt for a
buck fifty, would you take it?"

"Yeah."

"And you could make money, right?"

"Yeah."

"So, that's how easy it is. They do it because they make money. They come
back because they made money and want to make more. They come to you
because you get them quality. It's simple because I teach you how to look
for quality."

"Man, this sounds like there's a catch."

"That's all there is to it. If you think there's a catch to a hundred
million dollar deal of me making forty percent for not having to work, but
you get sixty, then that's the catch."

"It's still sweet."

"Yeah, that's how I made my money. Now, I've found someone and want to stay
home. I'll still work because I bought some companies, but now I'm passing
it along and sharing it."

"Is it just clothes?"

"Nope, it's everything. You'll see and you'll be amazed."

"I get nervous around strangers."

"Bullshit. You weren't nervous around me and you basically told me to go
fuck myself."

"Yeah, but you're different."

"Nah, I'm the same as you. I put these pants on one leg at a time and so
does most of the world unless we're in an Arab country and they wear
dresses."

He smirked , "You really don't sound rich."

"Guy, listen real fast because I'm keeping him waiting and so is your
kid. I come from a home where Dad was an alcoholic who beat me and Mom
died. I grew up and got put in with my Gramma because the beating was that
bad one night.
	Somewhere in there, I learned how to go into businesses and ask
them if they had anything they wanted to sell on sale and I went out and
sold the stuff while doing my paper route. It worked and I learned a
hustle.
	Now I'm twenty seven and for kicks today, I spent over six hundred
million dollars of my own money out of my bank account. Will I make money
on that investment? You bet your ass because I bet mine."

"You're that rich!"

"And you'll be too. It's that simple. If you want it, you'll call me."

"What's your name?"

"Dennis Johns. My friends call me Den.
	Go to a library and look on Forbes list. I'm there. Look up my name
and you'll see me in Business Week and Fortune. The Wall Street Journal has
done stories about me, but they like to have companies profiled and not
people.
	When you think you've read enough, call the local Rolls Royce
dealer and ask them who bought a fleet of four of these things last
year. They'll point at my name and you can also read that on the web."

"You're serious!"

"Yeah. Now, from the look of your hands, I'd say you work with your
hands. It's an honest living, but your kid probably says they're rough when
you hug him.  I bet he wants things and you often don't have money. With
the money you'll make, you'll have him in nice homes and in nice
schools. He'll go to Harvard and they'll let him there because you're
paying cash. Do you want to know the rest of your life?"

"It sounds good."

"From time to time, I'll throw you investments like I made today which are
going to blow your ass out of the water. When they come, you'll check them
out and you'll wonder why you got to make the money so easy and there are
folks out there who didn't.  It's that way. Those who know how to do it
easy are doing it and those who don't aren't."

"Man!"

"Guy, listen. I'll let you in on the final secret because you'll probably
read about it real soon. Today, I bought a hundred and forty million
dollars of oil wells at two and a half million each. Them puppies are going
to bring me in fifteen grand a day. When you multiply it at what I
invested, you see it's a hundred and fifty six wells. That's almost twenty
five million a day. If you were working for me, you'd have been called and
told the deal and would have jumped on it."

"Oil wells come up dry."

"Not when they're sitting on a river of oil. Go home and look up Bennett on
the computer. Add oil and Montana on that search and you'll see an oil
deposit bigger than Saudi Arabia. It's there, all they have to do is
drill. Until recently, they didn't know how to get it out. Now they do and
the guy who knows how is wanting money to drill them. You best believe I
checked it out and when I found out a friend of mine invested a billion in
the things, and is already bringing in huge money, I threw what I could at
it."

"You're for real." he said astounded.

"Yeah, it comes in easy. All you have to do is know how to make it. The
reason the rich are rich is because things don't trickle down hill. A lot
of that reason is not because we want to keep it to ourselves, but because
the average person just doesn't have that sort of money laying around. You
will."

"Ok, I'll call. When do you want me to call?"

"Go home and give two weeks notice. The reason I want you to give two weeks
notice isn't because I give a shit about your employer, but because I want
you to kiss the old life goodbye and to see what you'll miss some day."

"I doubt that!"

"You will. Believe me, I do in ways. People treat you different when you
have it and resent you got it when they didn't. What they don't do is come
up and ask how I did it. If they had, I'd have shown them.
	Another reason I want you to wait is because the rest of this week
is holding his Mom's funeral. I've promised him that next week we'd go to
Italy, so that's a priority. The week after, I'll take you under wing with
my cousin who's out there."

"Oh man!"

"Yeah, so trust and believe."

"Dad!"

"I got to get out of here too. Take a look around because you'll be riding
in them soon."

"What do you want me to do in the meanwhile?"

"Go down here to Beverly Hills and go to Pierre Cardin. Ask for a man named
Robert and then be prepared to get told there's no Robert who works there
but a Row-bare. Tell them you know Robert and Den Johns told him to come
off that bullshit and get you an appointment.
	He'll fit you and get you suits and a tux cut. He'll also get you
into some dress slacks and shirts. When he's done, he'll tell you to come
back and be fitted again in the clothes he's got for you.
	It's all custom made so be sure to wear what underwear you normally
wear and tell him which way you hang. Whatever you do, don't be shy with
him because he's a sadistic asshole if you hang. You'll find your nuts are
cut in half when you sit down."

He chuckled , "You don't hide much, do you?"

"Can't afford to. You'll learn you've got one chance to be believed because
time to them is money just as much as it is to you. They sure don't like
playing games and if truth be known, neither do you."

"No, that's what caused his Mom and I to split up."

"One thing about it, if you've got child support, she's about to suddenly
find getting screwed by you got her rich. With what you'll make, your
monthly child support will probably be more than you make in a year now."

"Man!"

"Yeah, so when you go to bed with another, think of that because it doesn't
take many more for you to feel like you're working for them all."

"You sound like you know from experience."

"Nope, most of my friends were rich enough to have lawyers who got them
their kids. Me, I'm gay, so if that bugs you, don't let it. I've got him
out there and he's all I need."

"It doesn't bother me. My brother is gay."

"There's a lot of us out there."

"Yeah, he's told me a lot of my friends are."

"Probably. Just the same, keep in mind some of your clients are, but if
they come onto you, politely decline and tell them you're under orders not
to. If they insist, tell them Den said he'd pull their account and I bet
they back the fuck off real fast."

He laughed , "Man!"

"Guy, I'm not even knowing your name. I know you're a Dad and I know you
work with your hands."

"Concrete. I pour concrete."

"You'll miss it some day, but you'll use it in a lot of your dealings. Them
folks don't know an honest days work, so they don't know the value of a
dollar. You do and that's what you'll use to make a lot of them.
	I nodded to the door and asked, "What's your name?"

"Mike. Mike Thompson."

"Mike, glad to meet you. When you go to Pierre Cardin, tell Robert I'm
buying the clothes. When you go looking at houses, give me a call and I'll
get you someone who sells real estate who will treat you like you're for
real. Otherwise, they treat you like you're wasting their time.
	On the other hand, when you give me a call, I'll tell you to come
to our house and pick up my other car. Can you drive a stick?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, there's a Ferrari convertible there. The keys are under the driver's
seat. Go ahead and take it and take your kid for rides in it with the top
down. No one is going to hassle you. If they do, tell them to call me and
I'll tell them to stay off you. I'd tell you to drive the Aston Martin, but
he's partial to it."

"You got those cars!"

"You will too. I've got a lot of cars, but they're spread all over the
world. I've got to get them here. When I do, I'll get you in your first
Rolls."

"What!"

"Yeah, I've got four of them identical, so you can have one. You'll believe
me when I tell you once you drive one, you'll never want to drive anything
else."

"Why?"

"The cars feel solid. They drive like a dream and you just know if you get
in a wreck, they're built like a tank. Other cars just won't feel the same
after it."

"But you have other cars."

"Yeah because Rolls just doesn't make a car which will grab you by your
balls and shove them to the rear bumper. Ferrari does. Well, Aston Martin
does, but a Ferrari looks cool."

He laughed , "Lamborghini are cool."

"Yeah, but drive one and see if it holds together to make it back to tell
the guy selling it to fuck off and you'll be amazed at the junk they are."

"Really?"

"Dude, they sit low. You'd be surprised at what two inches will get
you...well, it won't get you laid with a size queen, but the difference
between a Ferrari and one is two inches ground clearance. When you scrape
all over and drag a quarter million dollar car and have parts come off, you
tend to get pissed. A Ferrari keeps you smiling."

"I never knew that."

"That's what the dealer said when I brought it back on a roll back. He now
knows I will walk by a string of them without looking to get to a car which
won't make me feel like I got fucked."

"Ok, so when do you want me to pick up the Ferrari?"

"How about you come by tomorrow? I'll still be in town and can vouch for
you because I'll be there."

"Ok, what's the address?"

"Hold on a second" I paused, "Ev, what's that address over in Bel Aire?"

Ev came back and gave me the address. I wrote it down , "He's going to go
into training alongside Blane."

"Ok"

Ev held out his hand , "Evan Gordon."

"Mike Thompson."

"Nice to meet you Mike. Jase and I are buddies out here. We're going to
look at trees."

"Ok"

He turned to me , "He looks familiar."

"Probably. His Mom was famous and just died."

"Oh man! You guys are in the video!"

"Yeah, we did that the other night before she died."

"Everyone is watching it. They all just can't believe how cool the song
is."

"Good. We're taking the money from it and building a park."

"That's a lot of money."

"It's going to be a lot of park. It'll have a lot of activities in it for
all ages."

"Good, people need that sort of thing."

"How old is Jase?"

"Seven. His Mom lives over here. I live down in Belleflower."

"Oh"

"Oh! You said that like it was bad!"

"No, not bad. Heck, the first thing I thought was "What's a straight guy
living in Belleflower for?"

He laughed , "Well, it should tell you I get along well with gays."

"It sure should."

"I have a neighbor who is a gay porn star. He's a cool guy."

"Well, you know someone I don't. I've never known anyone who does porn."

"He's a normal guy. He does have a huge one though."

"He walk it around like it was a dog or something?"

He laughed , "No, I heard he did gay porn so I rented one out of
curiosity."

"Be careful there. I kind of want to take a dick out of curiosity and fell
in love."

He laughed , "No worries there!"

He paused and asked, "What attracts you to guys?"

"You're straight."

"Huh?"

"I'll answer your question in a moment but first I'll tell you there are
twenty questions people ask which immediately tell me they're gay acting
straight and there are twenty someone straight will ask. That was one a
straight would ask."

"My brother says the same thing."

"What'd he say when you asked him?"

"He said he knew he was gay because he looked at other guys in the shower
at school. He said he started noticing boys and kept getting wood. Then he
said he likes the feeling when another guy is in control."

"Well, for us all, it's different. For me, it was when I noticed guys, but
you could put one guy in a room full of girls and I'd tell you anything
about him, but wouldn't tell you a thing about the girls. With Ev, I
instantly noticed his eyes and then his smile and the easy manner he
carried himself. From there, it's been easy because he's so easy to love."

"Yup, you've got it bad."

"I've got it good."

He laughed, "I thought I had it with my ex. Then, we got married and then,
the demands increased and responsibilities increased and I found out what I
thought I had with her everyone else was getting too and the ring around
her finger had more time off than on.  Somewhere, she got pregnant with him
and when he was born, my world revolved around him and we split further
apart. One day, I came home and she was gone."

"Who's fault was it?"

"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't mine, but it was also hers."

"Let me give you a clue. As soon as she fucked around on me, I would have
been out of there. Life's too short for that nonsense."

"You're telling me if he did it, you'd be gone?"

"Yeah, just as fast as I could get away would be how fast I'd leave. IF he
ever laid a hand on me, I'd do the same. There are other things in a
relationship which are "thou shalt not's", but those are the big two."

"What are some of the others?"

"Disloyalty. If he tried to speak to my Dad and do anything for him, I'd be
history."

"Your Dad sounds like he's got problems."

"Yep. Lots of them. He knows he's got problems now because I lived after he
took some shots at me."

"Oh man."

"Yeah. Now another is him being controlling or manipulative. That's not
such a high priority, but I'd give him a warning and then, if he didn't
heed it, I'd leave.
	Another is being too clingy. For me, it's about two independent
people getting together instead of the way some people do it where they
have to be around each other, or they have to have one be doing everything
while the other loses their identity. It's strictly not happening with me."

"My brother does that."

"I've had friends who've done that too. Straight guys are really bad about
that. They get a piece and suddenly it's like they lost their mind or
something. Yeah, it's called pussy whipped, but gay guys can get dick
whipped too."

"I've seen it. There've been times when I felt like it and probably would
still be today just because of Jase."

"Not me. With me, if I were in a relationship like that, I'd give
warning. If it continued, I'd step back and tell her it wasn't working and
it needs fixed. If she still didn't get it, I'd be to a lawyer telling him
to get me my kid and to leave the leech where she is."

"It's not that easy."

"It is if you make it be." I paused and then said, "Listen, I'm not going
to call you anything or try convincing you anything. I wasn't there, I
don't know. What I do know is if you lay down and put Welcome across you,
they'll wipe their feet on you and leave you outside.
	If you demonstrate you know you have self worth, they tend to hang
on because they know you will find someone else a lot easier than they
will."

"Do you think so?"

"Dude, you're a good looking guy with an ass and a chest to die for. You're
hanging, so I know it's not little and with a style and some highlights,
you'd be a clone of that one star. I imagine you've been told that out
here, but it's true. Girls flock to you because of it, and you think it's
because of everything else."

"Yeah." he said smiling.

"Let me tell you something. With him, we've been together less than a week
and I know I'll be with him the rest of my life."

"How do you know that!"

"Because he and I haven't had sex yet. We've made out, but sex isn't
something which is happening until we're ready.  First and foremost, we're
friends. We respect each other and we bend. We give when the other needs it
and right now, he's hurting, but do you see him laying down and licking his
nuts? No, he's got your kid in looking at trees. That's the way he is. So,
when I know I'll be with him it's because of those things. Look for a girl
who will do that for you and I bet you'll say you're as lucky as me."

"Do you worry about having money and them using you?"

"Yeah, but I don't let it hold me back. What I say is "Here's the
checkbook. If you're after that, then leave because you have it...I can
make more." He's not on my bank account yet, but Monday he will be. Then I
will know it's not about that."

"It doesn't sound like it."

"What I will say Mike, is in time, you'll get money and you'll be hanging
around a lot of nice people who are in the monied crowd. To them, you're
poorer than them so you know they're not after yours. In time, you'll have
more than them, and you'll know because they've got fifty million they
don't need yours any more than you need theirs."

"Ok, so it gives you security?"

"Yeah, in a lot of ways it does. In other ways, it's a real pain in the
ass."

"How?"

"Ok, you see that guy over there who is with Ev's sister?"

"Yeah."

"He's my best friend on this planet. He has money, but not as much as
me. We both grew up poor and we grew out of it. He's talented in a lot of
things and what you need to know is he's used way more than I'd ever
tolerate by a lot lesser friends.
	Me, people assume because Forbes says I'm rich, I'm really worth
what they said I have. I'll tell you now there's no fucking way I'm worth
what they said I am, but to some people that's what they think I'm worth so
suddenly I'm a target to them."

"You mean Forbes lies?"

"Yes, but no. Listen to what they do and you'll see."

"Ok"

"With me, I have a lot of stuff. One thing you'll find when you get rich is
that the more expensive the stuff costs, the more harder it is to get rid
of it. You have a car there. You could put it in the paper and suddenly
have people calling to want to see it. Right?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, this Rolls here. If I put it in the paper, you'd have people calling
and asking how much I want for it. I'll tell you now it's nowhere near what
I paid for it....but Forbes says it is. They're full of shit.
	With me, I'll put the car in the paper and list it for three
hundred thousand. It's a year old, so it'd depreciated.
	Now, lets say you want a Rolls limo. Would you buy it?"

"Yeah."

"No you wouldn't because if you can afford a Rolls limo, you're going to
get one at the dealer...not out of the paper. To you, seeing a limo in the
paper instantly says someone's in the trunk, or there's bloodstains
somewhere, or a drug dog would hit on it, or it's stolen and hotter than
hell."

"Well, you're probably right."

"Yeah, so here's what Forbes does. They appraise everything out. They say,
"Well, he has a villa in Italy and he paid four point eight for it. So,
it's had to appreciate in value and now is worth twenty."

"What!"

"That's what I say. I say they're full of shit but because people read it
in the magazine, they think it's true. Now, how much is that villa worth?"

"I don't know."

"I'll tell you to save a bunch of guessing. It's worth four point eight to
me. That's what I paid and that's what I know someone else would pay
because I got it for that.'

"Ok, I understand."

"The villa is beautiful, and it's nice, but who in the hell wants a sixty
room house!"

"Oh man...."

"Yeah, it's awesome, but that's how it is and that's why I think Forbes is
wrong."

"Can't you do something about it?"

"I could, but I won't because I like reading it for entertainment value. To
me, it's like reading a joke book because I see everyone else on the list
and wonder how fucked up they were about them!"

"I see what you mean."

"Now, before I get off the subject, I'm going to let you in on a secret
here."

"What's that?"

"Forbes will have a field day with this business. And, in a way, this is a
situation where Forbes is probably more right than me."

"Why?"

"Because I'll tell you what I essentially paid for it and you'll fall
over."

"Ok, I'm ready."

"Now, listen up because it's short and fast."

"Ok"

"Not a fucking thing."

"Huh!"

"Ok, here's how it happened."

"Ok"

"In my contracts there's penalties if a business doesn't hold to their
contract. They can be rather expensive. In the particular contract, I got
six million dollars as a penalty check.  I met a guy over in China and he's
a developer. He builds apartment buildings which are really exclusive. He
had a building going up and offered me an apartment at six million. I
looked at it and it was nice, so I got it.  Well, the building sold out of
apartments and people love them so the value of them are way up. The Hobbs
brothers know I have the apartment and they had this company for sale for a
hundred and forty million. I was willing to buy it at that price, but they
said they wanted the apartment.
	I was getting ready to put the apartment on the market anyways, so
I traded. So, as you see, I got the business for nothing."

He laughed, "Dude, that's the sweetest deal ever!"

"Yeah, and now get this because it gets better. When I went to buy it, the
guy told me about the oil wells and I called Evan. He said he saw a thing
on 60 Minutes about the Bennett and confirmed it's true. SO, I took the
same hundred and forty and invested in oil wells. Now I'm going to have a
lot coming in per day from them and this place is going to be paying me
too. So, I think it's going to really be a situation where Forbes is
probably more on the money than me because if I based it on what I gave,
I'd have to tell you I didn't give anything."

He laughed , "That's the most fucked up thing I have ever heard, but I
understand what you're saying!"

"Yeah, it's twisted, I know, but that's how I look at what I've got."

"Do you get these deals often?"

"Which deals?"

"Like the villa in Italy, the apartment in Hong Kong, the place here?"

"Not often, but often enough I take them and can afford to buy them."

"Will I get them?"

"Yeah. That's the way things work. You'll be offered things by me and other
people. You'll get them on the golf course, or wherever, but you'll get
them."

"Man, so that's how rich people do it?"

"Yeah. I can't say that's how they all do it, but that's how it works for
me and worked for these guys."

We got out of the car and went to the front. We leaned against it as we
continued to talk. "

He asked, "When you started out, did you have any idea what to do?"

"Yeah, it'd worked for me growing up, so I began calling local
companies. They got me items to sell and at first, I was selling Laz-Z-boys
on street corners. Then, it grew to where I got a contract with a chain of
discount stores interested in furniture While there, I asked the guy how
they bought their other goods. He told me. From that sale, I learned I had
to go to the Philippines.
	While in the Philippines, I made a mistake and went to a different
factory than the one I should have gone. I happened upon the shirt factory
which now makes Hobbs shirts. I'd already asked for their sales manager, so
I decided to go ahead and see how much things could be bought. I found
things real cheap, so I got a few boxes.
	What happened, was I got them imported and they cleared
customs. The other goods I'd purchased also cleared and got accepted by the
company which bought them. However, they did reject the shirts."

"Why?"

"They never ordered them and refused to even consider buying them. So, I
rented a Hertz rent a truck and took the boxes down to the beach to sell
them.
	While there, I met the Hobbs brothers and thought it'd be cool to
have them model for me. Instead, they offered to sell them for me. I was
sweating my ass off so I figured I'd go ahead and let them sell why I went
to get the other boxes.
	What happened is one of those weird instances where fate
intervened. The Hertz truck broke down and I had no phone number for
them. I figured the money and clothes I gave them were a loss, because I
never showed when I said I would. So, after they got the truck fixed, the
next day, I went down and found they'd sold the whole bunch!
	Having the other two boxes, I got them to sell them too and then
went back to my hotel. This time, I gave them my cell phone number.
	I'd just gotten off into some good air conditioned snooze when my
cell phone rang. It was them telling me the other two boxes had
sold. Needless to say, I looked at the clock on my phone and saw it'd only
been a little over three hours. I had to go check out how they did it.
	When I got there, I saw people wearing the clothes and the guys
with a wad of cash in their hands. I told them to keep it if they'd
consider buying clothes from me and selling them. They did and as you see,
they did rather good."

"So that's how you got started?"

"Yeah, so what I did was I did some checking and found the company which
made most of the jeans in the country was in China. I took off for there
and when I got there, I once again asked for the sales manager. He gave me
a tour and I bought them sixteen boxes of jeans.
	While in the city, I went to some other plants and got a lot of
goods purchased for the one company I had under me. They wanted Christmas
toys for kids, so I bought a helluva bunch of them. What they also wanted
was some of the shirts I'd bought in the Philippines.
	I went, and got them theirs and then bought shirts with the rest of
my money for the Hobbs brothers. All in all, I'd bought them sixteen boxes
of jeans and sixty boxes of shirts."

"Oh man!"

"Yeah, but while there, I had another day to waste before I had to catch my
flight, so I decided to go touring plants. I got tours and suddenly had a
whole lot of contacts.
	One of the best contacts I had was a company which molds plastic
foam figurines. You've probably seen them, they're Eagles and wolves, and
all sorts of statues which collect dust and people collect."

"I've got Dolphins."

"I probably wholesaled them to wherever you bought them. I'm still the
leading supplier of the things to the United States."

"Really!"

"Yeah, it's interesting because the company now sells so much to me, they
come over and study what is hot and what is not. One thing I did get was a
contract for them to make Harley items. They got it and now you see those
all over the place."

"Man! I've got some of those for Jase!"

"Yeah, now I'll ask you how much you bought the thing for?"

"Ten bucks."

"Ok, guess how much they wholesale to me for?"

"Two?"

"You were close. They wholesale to me at three cents a piece."

"I was thinking dollars!" he said laughing.

"No, I sell them for about that, but get them for three cents."

"But how can you get them shipped in?"

"The cost of cargoes on ocean liners is low. They charge by the cargo and
by hundred weight. A cargo cost me about four grand to get brought over,
but I add it in on my wholesale rate and pass it along."

"Man!"

"Yeah, I've done good with them, but the smart thing was while I was out
selling the things, I was out finding out what different companies
wanted. Now, I have locations all over the planet which I go to buy from."

He shook his head. "Now I know why you're rich."

"It's not been a bad living. You're going to see things you don't think
will sell become your biggest sellers. You'll see things you think won't
have a problem selling be damned hard to get rid of."

"Why?"

"People's tastes change. Right now, I've got a bunch of George Foreman
grills in a warehouse which I can't turn. They'll turn eventually, but
it'll probably be through Dollar."

"But things are really that cheap?"

"Yeah, but remember the price of fuel has quadrupled so you've got to pass
it on."

"How much do you pass on?"

"Ok, here's how I do it but don't judge based upon me. If a cargo company
charges me forty eight hundred to import a cargo, then I double that and
figure it into the cost of each item I have in the cargo. I'll tell you now
with the foam figurines, you can get two hundred and eighty eight thousand
of the things in a cargo. You divide that out and it's not much...like
three and a third cents, so you add it on. You now have a cost which is
your baseline...six cents.

"Ok"

"With me, there's the cost of flying over and flying back. That has to be
added in and the cost of hotels. When you add those in, it comes out to
where you're at about fifteen cents an item.
	Yeah, I could pass them on at that price, but I'll tell you now
everyone else is selling them about two fortyfive each so I undercut by
fifty cents and get in there at my rate. It gives me lots of profits.'

"So when you wholesale to Dollar and Hobbs now, it's all profit for the
company?"

"Yeah, but I'll tell you I am going to pass those savings along."

"What do you mean?"

"That ten dollar figurine I put out my door for almost two dollars is
suddenly going to hit the market over here at a dollar. People are going to
buy them and give them as gifts and we'll be making a lot of money off
them.
	Together between Brand and Dollar, I've got around six thousand
stores. I figure if I put a hundred in each store, I'll have to buy two
cargoes of the things."

"Man!"

"Yeah, but what I'm going to do is this and you'll see how you can sell the
things."

"Ok"

"Wolves and Eagles are down in popularity. Now, you've got firemen, John
Wayne, and a lot of the dead stars all coming up in popularity. One thing
you'll always have is Marilyn, Dale Earnhardt, and some really popular
ones. I'm not going to sell them at Dollar unless it's last year's model."

"Why?"

"You can put them out the door at a lot more than I can. If you put them
out the door at around two bucks, then I get eighty cents and you get the
buck twenty....well, minus expenses, but you get the point better if I
round off."

"Oh, so we see about a buck eighty and I get sixty percent?"

"Yeah."

"Man!" He paused and asked, "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Dude, I have a circle of people I hang around. All of them are rich. It's
rare I get to be around someone who needs a hand, so when I meet someone I
like, then I offer. Do the same and you'll always have lady luck looking
over your shoulder."

"Oh"

"Yeah, but remember to apply for your passport. You're going to really need
the thing."

"So I'll be flying all over the world?"

"What I'm doing is this and then you'll see."

"Ok"

"I'm hiring a bunch of people. You're but a one of who will be hired. Over
there is my cousin and hes coming on. Hopefully, his sister will come on
too.
	What I'm doing is I'm going to probably give Blane, China. There's
a lot of good which come out of there and he can cultivate it if he's just
there. His sister will get Europe. She's a woman and the best buyers from
there are women.
	You, you'll get Japan. I'll take you over and teach you Japanese
and you'll be fine."

"How am I going to learn Japanese?"

"It's easy. I'll show you and you'll really be amazed at how fast you catch
on."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we spend a week there and all we'll do is walk around and I'll point
at things and teach you the word which goes along with it. By the end of
two days, it'll start sinking in and you'll find yourself figuring out
things by hearing other people saying things."

"Man!"

"Yeah, it's that simple. I'm not real smart and I've got a lot of languages
memorized. It's not excellent, but it's passable enough to make you think I
know a lot.
	What I can't do is read much of anything. Their symbols are way
different and what I do there is I have someone come in who knows how to
read it to read the contract to me.
	Usually, a company will get me a contract in English. They know
it's not legally binding until I have one of my own. I refuse to sign
anything I can't read, so they get the English one signed."

"Ok, so they have translators?"

"Yeah, but I don't ever trust them. They're paid by the company and I never
want to trust someone who is in conflict of interest."

"Ok, that's cool."

Jase came running up, "Dad, I saw the trees!"

"Did you like them?"

"Yeah, they have a lot of them! They have some which look like dinosaurs!"

Jase ran up and hugged Mike. Ev came over , "Jase had a good time. I took
him up so he could feed the birds."

"One flew onto my hand!"

Ev came over , "Twenty seven people have been in to use the rest rooms."

"Good, that means that many aren't going away disappointed."

Mike said, "I usually take Jase to the bathroom before we come. I know they
don't have a bathroom here, so we make it a point to stop before we come."

"I think it's an oversight. What we're going to do is redesign the parking
lot here so it's like a drive in theater. People can see the fountains
better. We're also going to install lasers and outdoor
restrooms. Hopefully, people will want to see the trees and birds before
show time and then, we can keep them entertained a while longer."

"It's nice this is here. It's free and I can spend some time with him."

"Yeah, but what we're going to do is we're going to start advertising it's
here. Some people know, but not a lot. With us adding lasers, even the
people who've been here will find it more exciting."

"You should add in other sorts of shows." Mike said.

"What sorts of shows?"

"The music is always the same. If you did the fountains to other sorts of
songs like Christmas songs, Patriotic for the fourth of July, or even
different pop songs, it'd get more people to keep coming back."

"Ok, I'll call the company and see what they have and if they'd come
program it."

Ev smiled , "You just gave him a lot of different ideas. I can see the
gears turning."

I looked at Ev , "Hon, do you think we could do a medley of your Mom's
songs to the fountains?"

"Yeah, I don't mind."

"We could put that park over there at the end of the parking lot if you
wanted."

"Ok!"

"I figure we're going to be redoing the parking lot here, so we could go
ahead and have that done. I'll call the wax museum to see if we could get
the measurements for the bronze statues."

Jase looked up at his Dad , "Dad. Don't you remember him from that video?"

"Yes Jase, I remembered."

"He's famous!" Jase said with awe.

Mike chuckled , "He's nice though."

"Yeah, he's neat. Do you know they have a sand castle up there with a lot
of neat things in it?"

Mike looked at me and I nodded.

"Really!"

"Yeah, he let me have all the candy I wanted."

"You didn't eat too much did you?"

"No, I ate just enough."

Mike giggled , "Thanks" to Ev.

Ev smiled , "No problem. It's nice being able to be around him."

At ten pm, the radio announced the finale of the show and played a final
song. After that, the lights went out on the fountains.

I said, "Ev, when I can, after the last piece of music, we're going to have
a wall of those jets which shoot water up into the air and have the company
name displayed on it in some sort of manner which says, "Brought to you by
TL Hobbs"

Ev said, "I think we should have break somewhere in the show with those
which show the lasers on the waters. That way if people want to go to the
restroom, they're not missing the show."

"Ok, we'll start doing that. I'll have to find out who did the lasers for
the Sydney Olympics."

Mike said, "Guys, it's been real nice. We're leaving now as I have to have
him home by ten thirty."

"Good meeting you Mike, give me a call."

"I'll do that. When tomorrow?"

"What time do you get off work?"

"Three thirty. I'm home by four fifteen."

"How long will it take to get to Bel Aire?"

"Probably a half an hour."

"Ok, what I'll do is meet you there at five. If you're a little late, that
will be fine."

"Ok, I'll see you there.'

He and Jase left and by then, Sam and Ran and Blane and Sarah were back. We
got in and everyone was really excited.

I told Ran, "When can you come out and film it?"

"Why?"

"I want to do some commercials here locally which advertise them. If more
people know, then it's seen as more publicity for the company."

"I can film it tomorrow if you'd like."

"Ok, now I've got a question you many know or find out easier."

"What's that?"

"I need lasers which move. I want multi colors."

"Oh, let me call around. I know there's a company here locally. What are
you wanting?"

Ev and I told him what we thought and also about the park being at the end
of the parking lot. As we spoke, they got more and more enthralled. Ran
smiled , "You're going to really change things out here to being better
than what they are now."

"Yeah, I've got to call a company who does our marquee lights for the front
of the stores and get a huge one for up on that roof."

Sarah said, "Guys, I was thinking and it seems to me you should have a
mascot."

Ev smiled , "Ok, you're it!"

Everyone laughed and then, she said, "Why not?" I'll go to the store and
get some of the clothes and the Ran can film me. I was thinking an outdoors
man, but why not a woman! I was also thinking of a slogan for the company
and think I have a good one."

"What is it?"

"Wherever the trail of life leads you, TL Hobbs has you covered." She
said. "I was thinking hiking and college, but a lot more than those two
groups buy the clothes. It's outdoorsy and it's telling everyone they can
get their clothes here."

I nodded , "I like it. Now, about your outfit for the commercials, could
you do it more as a prospector from the olden days?"

"Sure! Get me a pine tree and a trail and I'll walk up it with a back pack
a shovel and holding a pick. It'd get the impression across."

Ev said, "Oh man, I can see it. She's going to be great!"

Sarah smiled , "Who would have thought I'd be a spokesperson for a
company. Heck I'll be like a Marlboro woman!"

I said, "We have to get a mule."

Ran said, "I'll get someone to tweak a banjo and then have her walk up and
say the slogan."

I said, "Sarah, I want those commercials, but for the immediate time, would
you do the one here in front of the fountains leading the mule? It could
get them out and have people wondering who you are and get interest up."

Ran smiled , "You're doing the mystery woman theme."

"Yeah, but we've got her in the commercials and into print advertising. We
need a mountain with a peak in the background and some clouds off to the
left. Hold up a second...Ev, didn't you say your parents had a place in
Aspen?"

"Yeah, but this time of year there's no skiing."

"No, but there's mountains and beautiful scenery."

"Oh man! I know just the spot!"

"Call them and see if they'll allow a commercial to be filmed there and if
their tourist commission has a local with a mule."

"You're really going with this!" Sam said laughing.

"Yeah, it's going to be great. Sarah can make a lot of extra money from it
and it'd be neat. She'd be a nationally known endorsement star."

Sarah smiled , "I've got to get an outfit made up of those clothes."

I said, "Hang on, let me call Mike. If we have Jase in the commercial, he'd
pull out the kid theme. He could be on that mule!"

I called Mike. "Hello?"

"Mike, you still have Jase with you?"

"Yeah, just pulled up at his Mom's."

"Ask her if you guys can consider him to be in some commercials."

"What?!"

"For TL Hobbs. We're going to go for a back to school commercial."

"It's early May!"

"Yeah and they have to be done by June. He can make good money doing a day
of filming and it'd be nice money for him."

"How much? She's going to want to know."

"Tell her it's thirty grand and then he makes a fee each time it shows."

"Ok, I'll call you back."

I hung up , "Guys, until we film the commercials, Let's run the commercials
of the fountains. We can have the film of Sarah alone and then we can have
the one with her and Jase."

Sarah said, "Rather than having him on the mule, I think for that one I
should be standing in the background while he is in the foreground next to
a mountain stream. He could be playing and then do a small TL Hobbs in the
corner. It's peaceful, it's cooling to those who watch it in the hot August
heat and it gets the message across."

Ran smiled , "Ok, Sarah's head of advertising!"

Everyone laughed and Sarah said, "I like the theme. It's the way I could
imagine Levi's doing ads if they would. They've been around since the old
days, but if they don't want it, we'll sure stand up and give the hint
we've been around since then."

I nodded , "We're not hiding a thing if we put a small banner underneath."

Sarah said, "Don't go with a date. Say something which pokes fun at those
who do. "Been around since people knew clothes were good." It uplifts the
customer and says we're better and don't need a date on our hip to say it."

I smiled , "Whoa!"

Ev giggled , "Ok, I second it...Sarah's head of advertising! All in favor
say Aye."

The Ayes filled the car. Sarah chuckled , "Ok, it's official. Now I'm
boss!"

We laughed and I said, "Sarah, think of different ways we can get the
different themes across. Winter, Christmas, Summer, Spring, Back to School,
and even Valentines."

She nodded , "Jase does Valentines with me. We'll be in a cabin with a fire
going and I'll be in a rocking chair holding up a shirt to him. It says
they're sewn with care and made with quality. It can be red for the
Valentines theme, but you'll have to put the Valentines over the scene in
the writing. I don't want any of these to have any speaking. It's like
we're bringing the print to movement and that's it."

Ran nodded , "Good idea. We can go with overlays. All we need is a soft
banjo to get the feeling across. It's timeless and it's pretty. People will
wonder why more people don't do it."

I said, "Guys, when we get home, a police officer will be arriving. He's
going to be our guard in the house during his off time."

Sam asked, "Do we need him?"

"I'd rather he be around. We have security, but he's an inner security."

"Ok" she said."I'm not going to need a body guard am I?"

"Not yet, but you probably will some day."

She nodded , "Let me get used to it gradually."

Ev chuckled , "Sam, it's for the whole family, not just you!"

"Oh, ok. That's better."

When we arrived at the house, we went in and everyone basically went their
own directions. Ev and I went to the living room as I knew we'd have the
police officer coming soon.

Ev asked, "What's going on with Mike at the other house?"

"He's going to be driving my Ferrari until we get back from Italy."

"Why?"

"Because if he goes to Beverly Hills to look at houses driving a Toyota,
they'll be less than cordial. If he has the impression with him he's got
some money already, they'll give him a better reception."

"Oh, so he's going to be moving to Beverly Hills?"

"He's going to be buying a house. I'll pay for it, but I want our employees
for the importing to have houses which they can entertain in and get the
customer's signatures on the contracts.  He's in Belleflower now, and if
I'm assuming right, he's in an apartment. It might be good for most, but it
sure doesn't say he's successful."

"Oh, ok. Why not have him do business at a hotel?"

"Because if he lives the part, it sinks in he's successful."

"I'm getting what you're saying now."

"I'll give him a start and then, he'll stick around. I'll be doing the same
with everyone else, so don't fret."

"Ok, now what is he going to be doing?"

"Japan is going to be his. Blane is getting China and Blane's sister is
going to be getting Europe. While they're there, they can be staying at my
places over there."

"Ok, that's cool. I wanted to know."

"Ev, when we go to Japan and teach him the ropes, I want you to go with
us. You can learn it so you know what all is done there."

"Why?"

"I want you to know the whole thing on my side. If there ever comes a time
you need to step in to fill my shoes, you'll know it and won't have to feel
like a duck out of water."

"Don't talk that way."

"No, I've got to. You're not having someone shooting at you. To me, it's
real. I've got to get you trained so we're not leaving you in a spot like
your Dad left you. I loved your Dad, but he didn't do you many favors by
not teaching you more."

"Ok, just don't talk about dying."

"It's a possibility. I'll stop talking about it, but just help me so I can
get you taught."

"Ok, but let's hope I never have to do it because of that. I like having
you here."

"I like being here."

He leaned into me and I kissed the back of his head. Soon, I was nuzzling
his ear and he turned his head to give me a very passionate kiss."

When we broke the kiss, he smiled , "You're doing a lot for Stuart, aren't
you."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry about that jerk."

"No one's to blame except the man himself. He knows better now. I'll tell
you Stuart did something which wasn't cool, but he corrected it."

"What'd he do?"

"He tried correcting it by telling the man to go home and expecting me not
to blow whenever I came back into that restaurant."

"I understand. You're right, that wouldn't have been good at all."

"You don't know it Ev, but the next time I could be in that restaurant
could be with a client. How's that going to look if the guy's a total dick
in front of them?"

"Oh man."

"Yeah, so he saved himself a lawsuit because I'll tell you if I'd lost a
million dollar contract, Stuart would be paying for it."

"Ok, so he corrected it."

"Yeah, but you need to see how little things like that could affect bigger
things if they're not corrected right the first time."

"I see it. Can I switch the subject?"

"Sure."

"Our offices at the new tower. I'd like to have mine so it's across from
yours."

"How do you mean? In the other tower?"

"No, I wanted that, but if the kids are safer there, then we can put ours
in together."

"No, What I'll do is move theirs over to the sandlot and you can have yours
in that tower. It doesn't matter to me where I have an office as long as I
have one. I'll be busy buying, so it won't be like I'm really using it."

He exhaled a breath like he was disgusted with me, "You're not getting the
point. I thought since we were two, we'd have each leg of the tower."

"Hon, I understand, all I'm saying is to me it doesn't make much sense for
us to have two top floors. Do you realize for me to come see you to get my
Ev fix, I'd have to go down fifteen floors, over and then up fifteen?"

He had a smile then. "Oh. Well we wouldn't want you to have to wait for
that!"

"No, and by the time you got over to me, I'd see someone looking like the
Tasmanian Devil come ripping in and then stealing a kiss and then ripping
back out. I'd wonder who it was!"

He laughed , "Ok, let's have our office together and have a special kissing
parlor so the winds stay calm."

I laughed too , "I love you."

Ran came running down the stairs. "Guys, we've got a problem."

Ev sat up , "What's wrong!"

"MTV wants to interview you and Sam. Tomorrow, they're going to show a
special of your Mom's videos all day long."

Ev looked at me , "Ok, but they don't have them all. Do they want to use
them?"

"They have two. They were wanting to use them and they wanted to interview
you two."

Ev nodded , "What does Sam say?"

"She wants to do it, but only if it's here. She doesn't want to fly to New
York."

"Ok, I'll agree with that as long as they have someone who's a female doing
the interview."

I asked, "Why?"

"Mom said she never trusted a man to interview her. In her memory, I'm
going to uphold it because it will be for her."

"Ok, I was wondering."

Ran asked, "So it's not a problem?"

Ev said, "It's not a problem to me as long as Sam gets to endorse her
career and maybe get her song on. Me, I'm not trying to boost anything, but
I'll probably have TL Hobbs worn and wearing a Dollar hat." He smiled ,
"Den would shoot me if I didn't."

Ran said, "Ok, I'll call them. That means they'd have to fly and not Sam."

I asked, "Sam doesn't like to fly?"

Ev said, "Sam doesn't like to fly because Sam's bored easily. In a plane,
she gets claustrophobic."

Ran said, "The total for the day's sales is twenty one million just for
Amazon's portion. We have to get the cds to them and to the other guys
before it's a final tally."

Ev's eyes went big and he smiled. "She's going to beat him!" He leaned into
me , "Den's only goal was to have Mom beat Michael Jackson's Thriller sales
for a single."

Ran said, "The way she's going, it looks like she could beat "Candle In The
Wind"'s numbers too." He paused , "I called the cd presser and ordered up
thirty. They've got all they have thrown at it and said they'd go with
another two companies. We should be fulfilling all the orders by next
Tuesday."

I said, "Tell them to start shipping it to the clubs we have on the list."

"Already done."

"Ok, if we have people thinking it's out there, we'll have people waiting
in line when it hits the stores next week."

He then paused , "There are a bunch of radio stations who are doing a lot
of day long broadcast of her songs tomorrow. I've got them the single sent
too so it can be included in their airplay."

I nodded , "We should have asked them to put it at the top of each
hour. It'd get more attention for it."

"I can call Star and Clear Channel and get them to put it up there. The
number of stations they have would definitely help."

"Ok, any other things?"

"Yeah, but I'm going to check it out because I don't know if it's legit or
not."

"What's that?"

"Someone with no number registered called to ask if we'd consider a series
of stamps in her memory. He identified himself as some general."

"Postmaster General. Did he leave a number?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, we'll review some photos we'd like submitted and get them to
them. What I'd like is several of the entire group and then two for
her. It'd make a better compilation."

Ev nodded , "Mom's going to be on a stamp!"

"Yeah, they did one for Elvis, so I imagine it'd be popular for her."

"Why? She wasn't anywhere nearly as famous as him."

"In a lot of people's minds she was. She was the first black artist to sell
than many records. She was also a woman and she was a part of Motown. In
hearts and minds, she broke barriers no one else did."

"Oh, do you see her that way?"

"Yeah, I'm a fan and although I got the honor of getting to know her as
being real, I see her in that manner. I imagine that's why MTV and everyone
else is really wanting to put her name out there."

"I guess I never thought about it. She'd already done it by the time I was
born and a lot of other black women were selling a lot."

"Someone broke the path for them and it was your Mom."

"Man!"

"Look at it this way. There was her and there was Dionne Warwick. There
were others, but Dionne is like a saint when she makes appearances. Your
Mom was too, but she didn't do them a lot."

"Do you think it would have helped if she had?"

"Sweetheart, can I put it a way you can see her in a different light?"

"Sure."

"Barbra Streisand. I say her name and instantly, her whole career comes to
mind. Those who don't even remember her in today's modern era know her
career.
	She doesn't have to make appearances in order to go out and fill
arenas and venues. She doesn't, but look at what she did in Vegas...she
filled the theaters and broke ground for those who now do it in her wake."

"What do you mean?"

"Celine Dion went there....mega money offered. Elton John....again, mega
money. Your Mom was thinking about it and even more money than them was
offered. No one gets offered fifty million for that short of a run. It's
because for her to even consider it, she would have had to be offered what
it took. They sure knew they could get it."

"Oh, is that why she agreed to do it at that last moment?"

"Yeah. I think she trusted me to go in and get her what she needed. With
your Dad retiring, he could be there with her. She knew she had you kids at
a point where it could be considered and it'd not make her feel so guilty
to do it."

"Oh man."

I could see his eyes misting up and I said, "Babe, it was her time to leave
us. God doesn't give us but his number of days and she had hers."

"It's just not fair."

"No, it's not. Think about it because if you can learn to appreciate the
days you have from it, you've got a better lesson learned than a lot of
people."

Ev looked at Ran , "Ran, tell MTV to start putting on the song she sang
with Luther before "I dunno" and then tell them to put on the one with
Rupaul afterward. It'd get serious and then show her as being a person."

I nodded , "Tell the radio stations to do that every other hour but to have
"I dunno" at the top of each hour."

Ev asked, "Why not every hour?"

"It's too much of the modern stuff. They probably will only play fifteen
songs an hour and if we dictate three of them, it's not getting other stuff
noticed."

"Why?"

"Because I'm thinking Sam could do a duet with her on Walnut and it'd be
nice."

"Do you think?"

I looked up at Ran , "Have Sam sing it with some of those high notes she
sings. You might want to film it with her at a piano because you're going
to get a piece of history which would knock your socks off."

He smiled , "I'll talk with her."

He ran up the stairs and Ev said, "It's a pretty song."

"It's a song in which everyone's going to bawl their eyes out. It's her
saying goodbye to her Mama."

He got up and ran upstairs. I knew he was going to be practicing with
her. It'd be something which would give them both some closure.

I went into the kitchen to get a glass of tea. Sarah came out , "Hi hon, I
heard someone."

"Just me."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"I'm really excited about these commercials."

"Great. I know you'll be good at it."

"They're going to be pretty commercials."

"I imagine."

"Where's Evan?"

"Upstairs singing with Sam."

She looked at me , "They sing beautiful together."

"Ran's going to film them sing Walnut. It'd be good for both them."

She smiled , "You got them to do it."

"I thought it up for Sam and when I told Ev my reason, he ran up the
steps."

She came over and hugged me. "Them kids are special. Ev's been a bit wild,
but never any trouble. Sam's a bit wild on her own, but she's always been a
good girl."

"I wish I'd gotten to meet him sooner."

"It happened when it was time. He'll appreciate you more now."

"Let's hope."

She smiled at me , "Den, for someone who can do so much to get people to
believe in themselves, you sure have a hard time getting to believe in
you."

"I do."

"You have the ability to sell. There's a difference."

"Well, I'm improving."

She said, "I think you discount yourself too much. Know we love you and
your a part of a family who loves you. We accept you no matter what."

"I like being a part of a family....here."

"See what I mean?"

"What?"

"You have family there besides your Dad. I'm sure they're good people."

"I don't easily forgive them. They had an option to stand and they sat back
and watched. The only one was my Gramma. To me, she walked on water...they
sure didn't."

"Do you ever think they might have had problems with him too?"

"What do you mean?"

"Blane said his Mom absolutely was terrified of him and blamed your Gramma
for letting him do what he pleased. You Gramma might have stood up for you,
but I think she did it after she saw one person destroyed by him and your
Mama's death as largely being helped along by his selfishness."

"Who was destroyed?"

"Your aunt. Are you aware of what happened in the house when they were
little?"

"No, no one said anything to me if something happened."

"If?  Where do you think the monster learned to overpower women!"

I instantly felt ill. I went to the trash can and my hands went to my
knees.

"Baby, I didn't mean to upset you, but I've heard things from Blane and
he's afraid to let it all out to you."

"Like what?"

"Were you aware of how your Mom and Dad got together? Were you aware why
your Grandparents on you Mother's side chose not to have anything to do
with you?"

"No."

"He raped her! She got pregnant and your Grandpappy told him he could
either marry her or go to the end of a noose. The spineless bastard married
her and then, he put her through hell in front of them."

I stood up and anger burned inside of me, "I wasn't told. No one told me a
thing. I saw Mom trying hard to please him and that's all."

"You poor thing, you took it as her loving him. She was in fear!"

"She never said anything to me."

"She was afraid. According to Blane, he'd sit you up on your lap and ask
you what you and mama did all day and then would grill you on really what
your Mom did!"

I thought back and then leaned over to the trash basket and let go.

"The man is now aiming at you and you're protecting him. Do the world a
favor and let someone kill him!"

"It's murder!" I gagged out.

"It's justice! If he's convicted in court, what happens? He's
killed. Without an arrest, he feels empowered. Now he's aiming at you and
could hurt those you love again, but you protect him...like your Aunt
did...like your mama did...and now you."

She started into her room , "I'll tell you. If anything happens to Evan or
Sam, you'll not stand in MY way!"

I started to follow her and she stopped. "Den, I love you, you need to know
that. You need to talk to Blane. He's worried about you because he
apparently knows more family history than you. The man was called by me
personally and told if he headed this direction I'd personally set a bead
between his eyes and pull the trigger. He threatened me and I told him I'd
gladly be headed his way next week.
	I'll tell you now, I won't be going to Italy with you because I've
got an appointment in South Carolina."

"No."

She looked at me, "Don't stop me. I'm not going to ask you again. You had
options too and you protected him. If you can't, or won't, I'll do it. The
bastard will come at me but once. I can guarantee you with his history, I
can cry attempted rape and get it carried with all who will then stand up."

"No, let's do it so he comes at me and it's done by someone who can protect
themselves legally better than us. If a cop does it, it's legal. If the cop
does it while defending me, it's clearly not labeled as murder."

She nodded , "Ok, but if he comes this way, you and your police have had
your chances. You apparently think putting yourself up is a good idea, but
I'll tell you if he succeeds, you've ripped Evan's heart out. I'll pick up
the pieces, but I'll tell him of this conversation when I do. You trust
that."

She slammed the door and I stood there wondering if I'd made an enemy or if
she was doing it out of love.


Evan
ab


"From My Keyboard To Your Heart",
Retta   

RettaMichaels@Gmail.com

Copyright Notice - Copyright ? 2008 by RettaMichaels 

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