Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2001 11:10:57 -0800 (PST)
From: Orrin Rush <orrinrush@yahoo.com>
Subject: Lifeguard #51
Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction. If you are
offended by graphic descriptions of homosexual acts, go
somewhere else.
Copyright c 2001 by Orrin C. Rush. All rights reserved.
Neither this story nor any parts of it may be distributed
electronically or in any other manner without the express,
written consent of the author.
This is a work of fiction, any resemblance of the characters
to anyone living or dead is pure coincidence and not
intended. They are all products of the author's imagination.
--------------------------------------------------------------
THE LIFEGUARD
Chapter 51
Evidently Sarah considered the matter unimportant and went on
to other subjects. As soon as we could gracefully extricate
ourselves, we said our good-bys and left.
"This is beyond weird," Eric said in the elevator.
"I'm thoroughly confused," I admitted.
"I wonder who he really is?"
We discussed the so called Alan Sloan all the way to the
airport. There were no plausable answers that we could come
up with.
- - - - -
First thing Monday morning, I summoned the General to my
office.
He came in all jovial, and I was smiling. When he was seated
in front of my desk, I turned serious.
"Sam," I said, "I understand that you're trying to do a good
job, keeping the planes as tightly scheduled as possible, but
there's one thing you haven't taken into consideration.
That's the fact that I OWN Metalco, the planes, and
everything else.
"What I want goes. When I want to use a plane, or have it
sit on the ground and wait for me, that's what's going to
happen. I do not have to make excuses or give explanations.
That's the way it is.
"While we were on this trip, you called twice a day to find
out when we were coming home. That will never happen again.
"Since I've requested that Ron and Jason be assigned as my
pilots whenever possible, I suggest that you work out some
arrangement with them to keep you informed on what to expect,
but I don't want you to unnecessarily pester them either."
Sam didn't make any excuses. "I apologise for being over
zealous," was all he said.
"You're doing a great job," I told him. "We're getting
better usage out of our equipment than we ever have. It's
just that when it comes to Eric or me, the rules change
slightly."
"I understand."
"Unfortunately," I continued, "neither Eric or I are able to
plan too far ahead, and then, we rarely know how long we're
going to be in a particular place. We'll let you know when
we can, but flexibility is important to us, so you'd better
plan on surprises. Do we understand each other?"
"I do now," Sam said. "Knowing the rules helps a lot."
We shook hands and he went back to work.
- - - - -
Our surveillance operation was now limited to the Miltons and
the Mob. From what we heard, the mob was satisfied. Getting
rid of Tony had satisfied their lust for revenge and we
hadn't been mentioned.
The Miltons were evidently suspicious. Where they'd been
very open about their activities they were now being real
cagey and had ditched their "tails" on more than one
occasion. In my opinion, it was only a matter of time before
they tried something else.
Dale was accepting of the arrangements that had been made.
Jack was not. He gave me unmitigated hell and threatened to
quit.
"This is the first time in over twenty years that you've
'caved in'," he'd roared. "You know a serious, heinous crime
has been committed, and in effect, you're condoning it."
Our talk got a lot more heated than that, but I refused to
back down even though I wasn't too sure how successful the
arrangement would be. I was finally able to placate Jack by
pointing out that if the Miltons even wavered, we'd know, and
he would be turned loose to nail them in any way possible.
Having Jack's respect was important to me and I didn't want
to lose him either. I didn't think he was being fair to me,
and hoped that he'd see things my way eventually.
- - - - -
Micron had leased the top four floors of our old building
downtown, and what used to be the Metalco building was now
the Micron building. Annie had gotten top dollar from them
and even a premium for signage, but they were delighted with
the arrangement.
From what I heard, their floors were fully occupied and
people were still being hired.
Greg was making one of his periodic trips to town and wanted
to get together with Eric and me for dinner. It sounded to
me like he had more on his mind than food.
I wasn't wrong. The first item on his agenda was to tell us
that Micron was moving their entire Operating System and
Platform project to the West Coast and wanted as much space
as Annie still had available.
There were several reasons, he explained. First was Spence's
proximity. Even though he spent little time at the office,
he was nevertheless available when needed.
Second was cost. Even though Annie was getting top buck, it
was a helluva lot cheaper than Manhattan, and third, they
needed all their New York people to concentrate on developing
programs to run on the new system. Only key people would be
moving West.
Last, he wanted to talk about Lundborg Rush. "I see from the
statements we get that you guys are doing rather well," he
observed. "Your last quarter was phenominal!"
"You ain't seen nuthin' yet," Eric told him. "We're soon
going to be the number one supplier of digital ROM in the
world," and went on to tell him about the new directions we
were going.
"Is there going to be room for Micron?" Greg chuckled.
"You bet!" Eric said. "The building we're in right now is
leased from Metalco, and we've already outgrown it. We've
got a whole new facility on the drawing boards right now, and
there'll be plenty of room for expansion."
"You'll need it if our projections prove even close to
right," Greg answered. "By the way, Warren's a great guy to
work with."
"I know we're shipping software all over the world for you
now, so would you consider making some of it overseas?" Eric
asked. "Cut down on freight and duty for your customers,
we'll probably be setting up somewhere in the EEC."
"I'm pretty sure that the Government's going to try to
control export of Spence's stuff, but that won't last long,"
Greg said. "We all know that disks have a way of getting all
over regardless."
"That's down the road a ways, but it's something to consider,"
Eric said.
There was something else that Greg had on his mind but he
seemed hesitant to come out with it. The conversation danced
around, and finally over dessert, he looked at me and spit it
out. "Dave, I know you've never sat on outside Boards, but
we'd like to invite you to join our Board of Directors."
I thought about it for a minute. I'd been invited many times
to sit on other boards, some of the biggest Corporations in
the country, and had always turned them down. I'd always
figured that I had enough to do.
"I can give you a hundred reasons why I should say no," I
told him. "First, we're already so involved in so many ways
that it's becoming incestuous, and the list goes on from
there."
"It's only four times a year, and we only pay a hundred
thousand, which I know is peanuts to you, but we DO pick up
all the liability premiums," he said.
"I said I SHOULD say no," I said. "I didn't say I was going
to."
"You'd consider it?"
"I am, right now, and the answer's yes, I'd be honored," I
told him. "Somebody's got to watch all of Eric's money, and
he's too busy to do it himself."
After the laughing stopped, they both congratulated me.
"One condition," I said. "No pictures in any reports."
"You're quite a 'catch'," Eric told me later. "You blew me
away when you said yes."
"I surprised myself too, I think," I said. "I'll try it for a
year and see how I like it." I held him close, "are you
disappointed that they didn't ask you instead?"
"Hell no! Having you there will protect my investment, and
besides, it's a good excuse to go to New York a little more
often."
- - - - -
From the time that Tina had met Rick, they'd pretty much led
their own lives. Now, we were seeing a lot more of them.
They joined us for dinner frequently, used the pool and
tennis courts, and were just "around" more than they'd ever
been.
I think Rick was a bit intimidated by me, so I made an effort
to be approachable. Gradually he warmed up to me once he
realized that I didn't bite. He and Eric got along great,
doing a lot of kidding as well as having serious discussions.
It was clear to me that Tina was very serious about this boy,
and I had a fair idea what was going on. She was
"conditioning" him to her oddball family.
The more I was around Rick, the better I liked him. Even
though he had received a lot of recognition for our office
building resulting in more business than he could handle, it
hadn't inflated his ego. He was self-effacing and didn't take
any of it seriously.
His quiet nature seemed to match Tina's, certainly a contrast
to Gunter's arrogance.
After discussing Hydra matters one day at the office, Tina
changed the subject. "Dad, I've got something to tell you,"
she said. "Rick and I have been talking about getting
married."
"Are congratulations in order?" I asked.
"Not yet. He's kind of old-fashioned. He wants to talk to
you first before it's official," she said. "I just wanted to
know how you felt about it."
"Do I approve? Is that it?" I asked. "The answer to that is
most definitely! My question is: is this what YOU want?"
"My answer to that is a resounding YES!" she said mimicing me.
"It took me a while to tie him down," she giggled, "but it's
what we both want."
"You have my approval and my blessings," I told her. "Is
Rick afraid I wouldn't approve?"
"He's a little nervous," she admitted. "He comes from a
different background and wasn't sure you'd accept him. He's
still a little bit uncomfortable in the world we live in."
"He doesn't have a thing to worry about," I told her. "The
kind of man he is is a lot more important to me than how much
money he's got."
"How do you think Eric'll react? His approval is important
to me too."
"No problem, but why don't you ask him yourself? I know
that'd make him very happy."
"I will," she promised, gave me a kiss on the cheek and was
gone. "Thanks, Dad," she said from the door.
Not too much later, Eric came in and perched on my desk. He
was a little misty eyed. "I just got one of the biggest
compliments of my life," he said. "Tina just came in to ask
for my approval for her to marry Rick."
"You're her mean old stepmother, remember?" I said, laughing.
"No, seriously, it meant so much to me. I've never felt more
a part of the 'family', and it feels so damned good."
"You are, more than you realize," I said, standing to hold
him. "They love you as much as I do. You've earned it."
- - - - -
The next time Rick was over for dinner, Tina, Annie and Eric
"just happened" to leave Rick and me alone. I watched him
screw up his courage, then he took the plunge.
"Mr. R," he said, "I'd like to ask for your approval for Tina
and me to get married."
"You have it," I said simply.
"I take it you were expecting this?" he asked, grinning from
ear to ear.
"When I see two people very much in love, this is the next
logical step, isn't it?" I laughed.
"There are some differences," he pointed out. "I come from a
working family, and I'm just getting started on my own
career. I can't give Tina everything she's used to."
"That isn't important," I told him. "What matters is that
you love each other and learn how to compromise. Tina's got
more money than she'll ever need, and I hope you'll accept
that, and not feel in any way intimidated because of it. You
have a brilliant future ahead of you, so relax and let her do
what she can for both of you."
"That doesn't bother me at all," he said. "We've discussed
this issue at length, and I don't see any problems."
"I'm not worried," I told him, rising to give him a
handshake. Hell, that wasn't enough. I drug him close and
gave him a brief hug. He didn't flinch. "Welcome to the
family," I told him.
"Hey, it's official!" I yelled. "Get out the champagne,
Jacques."
Everybody hugged everybody else. Jacques poured the
champagne and I toasted the happy couple, followed by another
one from Eric. I noticed that Tina only raised the glass to
her lips but didn't actually take a drink.
"Have you set a date?" I asked.
"Next spring," Tina answered.
"Oh shit!" Annie said. "That means that Mom's going to get
involved. You know about HER, don't you, Rick?"
"Tina's told me a little," he said, diplomatically.
"We'll work around her," I assured them.
The next day, Tina was sporting a three or four carat
solitaire.
- - - - -
Both the County and the State had filed appeals in New
Hampshire, both claiming that the lower courts had erred in
denying them immunity.
Dr. Naimann had answered the County's claim in the State
Court of Appeals and the State's in the Second Circuit Court
of Appeals. Briefs had been filed, and the State Court had
handed down it's decision.
It was a resounding victory for us. The court's opinion that
the lower court had not erred let the judgment of $95 million
stand. For all intents and purposes, it was "case closed".
Now, all we had to do was try to collect.
The Circuit Court's decision quickly followed. A per curiam
opinion upheld the Federal Court's decision. Another victory
for us.
Jack was of the opinion that we'd never see a cent. Dr.
Naimann felt differently and went to work to prove his point,
asking that we have a little patience while he worked on it.
- - - - -
In less than a month, the Milton brothers were back in
business. According to our surveillance reports, they'd
merely moved to another apartment in New York, and a steady
stream of children were visiting.
I couldn't believe their arrogance. Either the drugs weren't
working or they were doing something else. Regardless,
children were involved, and it had to be stopped.
Immediately.
This time, the decision wasn't difficult. In a conference
call, Eric and I advised Sarah what was going on, and warned
her that we had no choice but to turn them in. She wasn't
happy, but realized that we had no other option, and thanked
us for warning her.
"We gave it a try, but it didn't work," I told Jack. "Now
it's time to turn over everything you have."
"I admire you guys for trying to protect a friend," he said,
"but this can't be allowed to continue. I'll have Bob pull
off surveillance so there's no chance it can be traced back
to us, and see that those bastards get crucified."
"We don't need details," I said. "It's all in your hands."
We didn't hear the full story until much later.
- - - - -
It didn't take all that long for Dr. Naimann to get back to
us. He wanted to outline his plan, in person, before he
implemented it.
"Are you ready for another battle?" was his opening remark,
his eyes twinkling gleefully. "At the moment, they're
sitting there gloating, thinking we can't touch them. I even
approached them with a settlement but they laughed at me."
"Is there any hope?" Eric asked.
"I think so," Dr. Naimann answered. "It's pretty hard to
execute judgment against a Governmental body unless they want
to pay up, and in this case, this bunch sure as hell doesn't
want to.
"I anticipated this, in the event we won, and I've had some
of my brightest researchers working on it since day one," he
smiled.
"The County's going to be the easiest. They own a lot of
land that we can attach and foreclose on, including the Court
House," he continued. "I don't think it's worth $95 million,
but it's better than nothing. They'll fight us, but I think
this part's relatively cut and dried.
"The State's another matter. We got lucky. When the state
was admitted to the Union in 1788, the Constitution they
adopted included most of the Colonial laws that had been in
effect before statehood. One of those old laws provided for
'discharge of public debts'. It very clearly states that
when 'public liability has been incurred through negligence
or malfeasance, and so adjudicated', the obligation must be
'discharged forthwith'.
"Malfeasance was the basis of our whole case - that
Governmental officials overstepped their legal authority with
the sole purpose of harming a specific individual or
individuals, and we proved it to the Court's satisfaction.
"We also went over every law passed since then, and can't
find any that even came close to repealing this law, and
we're convinced it's still valid and on the books."
"What does all this mean to us?" I asked.
"Citing this law, we can go back to Court, get a writ of
execution, and use that to freeze every bank account and
investment that the State has. No financial institution is
going to ignore the writ because if they do, they could be
liable themselves. They won't hand the money over to us, but
they won't let the State have it either. If anything will
make the State talk turkey, this is it, if you want to
proceed, that is."
Jack was smiling, Eric was giggling, and I was smiling too.
"Why not?" I ventured. "We've invested a lot in this
already, and I'm not one to walk away from victory without
collecting."
"I vote GO!" Eric said.
"Me too," I said.
"I'm all ready to file," Dr. Naimann said. "We should have
some answers pretty fast."
The wait was short. Dr. Naimann called, obviously delighted.
"We got the writs," he said, "and they've already been
served. I'm sure we'll be hearing from the State by
tomorrow. They're fobidden, by law, to write rubber checks."
"What do you expect them to do?" I asked.
"Beg," he said, laughing. "They're literally forced to reach
a settlement. Hell, they can't pay their bills, meet payroll
or anything else. I'll put them off as long as I can, the
more pressure, the better the settlement we'll be able to
negotiate. Oh, by the way, I leaked the whole thing to the
press. Better watch the news tonight."
Word of our latest maneuver spread through the Metalco
building like wildfire. I would be willing to bet that 90%
of our troops were glued to their TV that night. We were.
Eric, Annie, Tina, Rick and I were assembled in the den in
front of the big screen, VCR running, when the national news
came on.
It was the lead story. "As of tonight, the State of New
Hampshire is broke. In a surprise move, Attorneys for Eric
Lundborg and Dave Rush used a law from Colonial times to
freeze every bank account the state has. They are totally
without funds. Now to our Legal Correspondent..."
"Ever since the whopping judgment against them, the State of
New Hampshire has been sitting back laughing at Lundborg and
Rush. Today, their laughter stopped. Using a long-forgotten
Colonial law that's still on the books, their Attorney
Dr. Leonard Naimann, brought the State to a standstill.
"The results haven't been felt yet, but within a few days,
the effects will be widespread - a curtailment of services,
inability to pay state employees, and Lord only knows what
else. The State is finally going to have to face reality and
settle the claims against them that they should've done
months ago. A groundswell of public opinion, already
underway, is going to force the State to act, but they're not
in a very strong bargaining position."
The mike was passed to the network's political correspondent.
"We all feel sorry for the citizens of New Hampshire, but
they elected their officials and now must suffer the
consequences. From what we've heard 'on the street' New
Hampshireites aren't too happy."
Next came interview clips. "Could've been avoided..." "They
screwed this thing up from the beginning, throw the bums
out..." "Bungled from the beginning.." and "The Governor
should have stopped this a long time ago..." were some of the
comments.
The anchor summed up the story. "A sad day for the State,
the repurcussions may be far greater than anyone expected."
"Wow!" Rick said, "You've brought a whole State to its
knees. They deserve it, though."
"I want to call Naimann," I announced and went over to get
the speakerphone.
"We've got 'em by the balls," Naimann shouted gleefully.
"They've already called for a meeting in the morning, and
I'll definitely be there. Public opinion is definitely on
our side."
"How much should we settle for?" Eric asked.
"I'm going for blood," Dr. Naimann answered. "Not a penny
less than seven and a half billion, and any agreement we
reach has to be ratified by the State Legislature."
"And," he continued, "the County's not off the hook yet,
either."
"It's all going to charity, you know," I told him.
"That makes it even sweeter! I'll call you every hour at
your office tomorrow," he promised.
- - - - -
"All that POWER!" Eric growled. "I'm not sure whether I want
to fuck or be fucked."
"Let's do both," I suggested.
- - - - -
CNN had live coverage, and from what they showed, every other
news service was there too.
My office was full, all eyes glued to the tube, listening to
the commentators speculate. When the phone rang, everybody
jumped, including me.
"They're trying to low-ball us," Naimann said. "Their best
offer, so far, is $100 million. If this goes on much longer,
I'm going to walk...and hold a press conference. I've got to
be careful though, I want us to stay the 'good guys'."
We waited some more, no developments were reported on CNN.
A half hour later, we saw Dr. Naimann and his entourage
emerge and walk up to the massed microphones. He was smiling
but serious.
"I'm very sorry to report that our talks have broken off.
Elected Representatives of the good people of New Hampshire
refuse to negotiate in good faith, so I have been forced to
leave the bargaining table. I am available to resume talks
at any time they are ready to address this issue
realistically. Thank you."
He ignored the barrage of questions that flew at him and
stepped into a waiting car. A few minutes later the phone
rang. It was Naimann.
"How'd I do?" he asked.
"You put the ball squarely in their court," I answered.
"Those arrogant assholes are digging their own graves. The
Governor sneered at me the whole time. He's even more of a
pompous prick than the Attorney General - who was there too."
What's next?" Eric asked.
"We wait for them to call, and I assure you they will," he
said. "As soon as public opinion weighs in, the pressure is
going to take its toll. I'll let you know as soon as I hear
anything."
"Damn, 'ol Doc Naimann is sure one hell of a poker player,"
Jack commented.
By afternoon, CNN reported that recall petitions were being
circulated on street corners in every city of the state to
remove the Governor, the Attorney General, and anybody else
even remotely connected to the mess.
At no time was there any public comment made by anyone from
the State.
On the evening news it was reported that the State Legislature
was in closed-door emergency session considering whether to
remove the Governor from negotiations and take over
themselves.
We didn't hear from Dr. Naimann until morning, and he didn't
have much to report. Noone had called him. Yet.
"How's it feel to have a whole State by the balls?" Eric
asked me.
"It's no particular thrill," I admitted. "This whole thing
could have been avoided if people weren't so damned greedy.
I wish the whole thing would hurry up and get settled so we
could get back to normal."
"We seem to attract chaos," he laughed. "That's becoming
'normal' for us!"
Nothing happened all day. Or the next. We talked frequently
with Dr. Naimann, and he advised us to remain calm and wait
it out. That's what he said he was doing.
According to the news, the situation was reaching crisis
proportions. Nonessential services were curtailed, suppliers
refused to deliver to the state, being unsure when or if
they'd get paid, contractors were walking off jobs, and State
Employees were staying home in droves. Unofficial tallies
indicated that more than enough signatures had been collected
to force recall elections of several officials. It was a
mess and growing hourly, with a mass protest rally scheduled
for the Capitol steps the following day.
Thinking about it, realizing that we were responsible for
making life difficult for more than a million people, made me
wonder if we were doing the right thing. I asked Dr. Naimann
if maybe we shouldn't back off a little. On this he was
adamant, "NO WAY!" he said. "Granted, only a handful of
people got them into this perdicament, but there have been
many opportunities to put an end to the whole thing. They
either ignored these or tossed them away.
"We're talking about an affront to an individual's rights
that is protected by our Constitution, and if they get away
with it, life in these United States will never be the same.
We've got the support of more than 70% of the country. We
just can't back off now."
"The people of New Hampshire are beginning to realize this,
and see what fools they elected," he continued. "They're not
blaming you, but their own officials."
I was convinced. Naimann made it sound like we had a "duty"
to see this thing through.
Although they were working behind closed doors, rumors leaked
out that the Legislature had reached agreement on a
settlement offer, circumventing the Governor.
When Dr. Naimann was contacted, a secret meeting was arranged,
he reported to us.
Representatives from both houses of the Legislature came to
the meeting. According to Naimann, they recognized that they
were "over a barrel", and didn't try to play games. Their
offer of $8 billion, payable over five years without interest
was acceptable, and a deal was made. However, it wouldn't be
a "done-deal" until an Appropriations Bill was passed and
signed by the Governor.
Once all this was agreed to, the news was made public, the
Bill was drafted, was quickly passed and sent to the Governor
with great fanfare.
There were a lot of politics involved. Both Houses of the
State Legislature were controlled by one party, the Governor
was from the other party. The Legislature's actions were
clearly designed to embarass the Governor and he wasn't too
happy about this turn of events.
The Governor had three options: Sign the bill, veto it, or
sit on it - a "Pocket Veto". He chose the latter course of
action.
The citizens of New Hampshire were resigned to the fact that
they'd be paying higher taxes, but this action by the
Governor was an outrage. It would be sixty days before the
Legislature could override his veto, and by then, the whole
State would grind to a standstill.
The media reported that a general rebellion was "in the
making" with the whole world watching. Analysts speculated
on the Governor's motives, none coming up with anything
reasonable.
It was an impasse.
In all the hubub, "Lundborg and Rush" were completely
forgotten. The focus was on the Governor.
It got worse in a hurry. The Governor's Mansion was under
siege by angry crowds. The Governor tried to call out the
National Guard to protect him, and they refused.
The President himself tried to reason with the Governor "for
the good of the people of your State", but he continued to
stonewall.
The recall movement was moving full speed ahead, but that
took time too, more than overriding the veto. The only way
the Governor could be removed in a hurry was in the event of
his "incapacity", and since he was isolating himself, he
couldn't be examined to determine this.
Somebody came up with the idea that this determination could
be made on the basis of his actions, that no man in his right
mind would be acting like he was. That concept was jumped
on, and he was "diagnosed" in absentia.
On this basis, the Governor was removed and the Lieutenant
Governor sworn in as "acting" Governor. He immediately
signed the Appropriations Bill into law.
Dr. Naimann was skeptical. This was new legal territory and
he wondered if future litigation might invalidate our claim.
To be on the safe side, he demanded that payment of the first
year's installment be made immediately. The Legislature
agreed.
Naimann "unfroze" the State's bank accounts, and within a
week had $1.6 billion in his Trust Account. It was over.
- - - - -
Since the money belonged to Lundborg Rush which was, in turn,
owned by the four of us, we sat down to talk over what we
were going to do with it. Everybody had opinions.
"After we reimburse the Company for it's out-of-pocket, I
suggest we give Annie the $250 million she was awarded, then
divide up what's left," I suggested.
"No," Annie said, "it's all going to some charity anyway.
That money stays in the pot."
"Do you have any particular cause in mind?" Tina wanted to
know.
"Eric has a great idea," I said, "my share goes with him."
"What's that?" Tina asked him.
Eric explained his idea of the "Lifeguard Foundation" to them
in detail.
"My share goes with you too," Tina said. "I like the fact
that none of our names are going to be on it."
"Count me in too," Annie said.
"If you all do that," Eric said, "just this first installment
is going to be far more money than I'll need to do everything
I want. Since the focus will be on education, there are a
lot of other areas where we could do something worthwhile.
Any ideas?"
We all agreed to think about it, and I added "Down the road,
I'd like to give some to my animals."
"There'll be plenty for everything anybody wants to do," Eric
answered.
- - - - -
Since they were also LR stockholders, we talked to the Micron
boys about our plans. They were in total agreement, saying
that it wouldn't be right to line our own pockets, and that I
could help them pass a Board resolution to that effect at the
next meeting which was coming up soon.
Eric was anxious to get started and wanted to draw on Sarah's
expertise. He was a bit hesitant to call her, though, not
knowing how she'd feel toward us after what we'd done to her
brothers.
Several weeks had elapsed since Jack had set the wheels in
motion and we hadn't heard anything about what had happened.
We were both a little nervous about the reception we'd
receive when we called her. Eric insisted I be there when he
called to provide moral support.
We didn't have anything to worry about. "You did it again,"
she said happily. "Whether it was intentional or not, you
got me off the hook."
"What do you mean?" Eric asked.
"That fracas you caused up in New Hampshire pushed everything
else off the front page. My brothers' case was pushed to a
back page and hardly got noticed," she said.
"To be honest, we haven't heard anything about what happened,"
Eric admitted.
"The New York police caught them red-handed in that awful
apartment, and the New Jersey police searched their homes and
found their tape collections. Confronted with this, for the
first time in their lives, they acted like gentlemen, admitted
their guilt and were sentenced to 20 year terms without a
trial. They'll never leave prison alive. It was all handled
very quickly and quietly."
"For your sake, I'm happy about that," Eric said.
Then they got down to the real reason for the call. Eric
gave her a quick description of what we wanted to do and
Sarah was eager to help. A time was set for Eric to see her
in New York.
"Bring Dave," she said, "so you can both come to Brad's
opening."
I hadn't said a word during the whole conversation. "You
know, don't you, that child molesters aren't the most popular
people in prison?" I asked him. He nodded. "They'll never
last out their term."
"I thought about that," he said, "but I didn't want to
mention it to Sarah."
- - - - -
The timing was good. We'd be able to accomplish a lot of
things at the same time - my Board meeting, Eric's meeting
with Sarah, and Brad's opening, something I knew we'd have to
go to. There was a two-week gap, however.
I pointed this out to Eric. "We have a whole week with
nothing to do."
"Except work," he laughed.
"No we don't, that's why we delegate," I told him. "Besides,
it's getting kind of cold around here."
"Sure, it's clear down to the high 60's," he teased. "Hell,
we haven't had a vacation in two whole months! Where do you
want to go?"
"I was thinking about the Virgin Islands, never been there."
"Which one, I hear tell there's three of them?"
"Smartass. You choose."
"Eeny, meenie..." he said, laughing.
"Call Dan," I suggested. "He'll have some ideas."
"You're serious?" he asked.
"Damned right."
"OK, I'll call him."
I heard him joking with Dan, then he held the phone away "He
wants to know if we want nightlife, history or peace and
quiet."
"How about peace and quiet where we can fuck our brains out
on the beach?"
"Hear that?" Eric asked Dan. "Sounds good to me too."
Eric listened some more, then asked me, "Private Villa or a
Resort?"
"Let's go for a resort so we don't have to take a crew along,"
I suggested.
"He says the Caneel Bay Resort on St. John would be the best,
that sound OK?"
"Go for it," I told him.
"Dan's faxing us all the details," he said after he hung up.
"I realize this was rather abrupt," I said. "I didn't even
ask if you wanted to take anybody else along."
"Not really," he said, then thought a minute. "You know who
might be interesting?" I shook my head. "Dr. Naimann and
his S.O."
"Might be!" I said. "Call him if you want, I'm agreeable."
Eric was on the phone again. "They'd love to go," he said.
"I told them all they'd need was a couple of swimsuits and
lots of lube," he giggled.
- - - - -
When we mentioned that we'd be in the Caribbean the following
week and New York the next, Annie, with a big grin, said
"What a coincidence! I may run into you in New York. I'm
meeting Hans. We're staying with Sarah."
"Gee, you mean I'm going to have a little peace and quiet
around here?" Tina said with a big smile.
Tina would have a little time alone with Rick, and I was
happy to see that Annie and Hans were getting together. Who
knows? Maybe a double wedding next spring.
Eric and I agreed, spontaneous trips were more fun. No
chance to build expectations, just go and see what happens.
This would be different from our recent trips in another way
- no bodyguards, no entourage. Nice.
Dan had sent over brochures and all sorts of stuff on what we
could do. We decided not to even look at them until we got
there.
- - - - -
By now, Jacques had become an indispensible part of our
lives. In reality, we didn't see that much of him. He was
never underfoot, and protected our privacy with a vengeance.
I was almost surprised not to find him sitting outside our
bedroom door at night making sure that nobody disturbed us.
Rarely did either of us have to give him instructions. He
had the uncanny ability to anticipate. In many ways, he had
US trained. Little things that I'd taken responsibility for
all my life, frequently forgetting, were no longer a part of
my life. Such simple things as toothpaste, something I'd
often run out of in the past, were automatically replenished.
He'd trained us to forget about them completely.
The only thing about Jacques that bothered me was his total
dedication to our happiness. It seemed like he never took a
day off or had any life of his own. Frankly, it made me feel
a little guilty.
I broached the subject to Eric. "I don't know what you're
paying that guy, but it isn't enough," I told him.
"He's making as much as some of our executives," he told me,
"and worth every penny."
"But, does the poor guy have a life? He's here 24 hours a
day, seven days a week."
"There's a lot that you evidently don't know," Eric said with
a smirk. "Have you checked out the 'servants quarters' over
the garage lately?"
"No."
"It's a lot different than it used to be. I gave Jacques a
credit card to do our shopping with, and told him to use it
to fix the place up however he wanted, no limit. He took me
seriously, and now that place is nicer than most homes."
"Does he live there alone?" I asked.
"No, Rene, the chef, lives out there too," he said giggling.
"You're not very observant," he kidded. "Jacques and Rene
have been an 'item' almost since the day he arrived."
"I must be going blind in my old age," I teased. "All this
going on right under my nose and I didn't even notice. How'd
you find out about it?"
"Jacques confides in me," he said. "As you've noticed, or
NOT noticed, they're really discreet. By the way, since
we're going to be gone next week, I've arranged with Mary to
take over so they both can have a little time off. I hope
you don't mind."
"Certainly not! You know, I think I married a helluva nice
guy."
Although Jacques wasn't going with us on this trip, he did
all our packing. Neither of us even bothered to check what
he'd packed. We KNEW that everything we'd need would be
there.
- - - - -
We would pick up Dr. Naimann and his partner in Miami. For a
change, the General was happy, we had a real schedule for
this trip, and we would be taken care of by the Steward that
he'd hired. Ron and Jason were, as usual, our pilots, and we
were using the GV.
We left early so we'd get there in daylight. Actual flying
time wasn't that long, but we'd be losing several hours.
Our Steward was a cutie. Tall, slim, with huge brown eyes.
Since this was his first flight with us, he seemed a little
nervous, a little too eager to please. I sat him down and
told him to relax, that we were Dave and Eric, and that we
liked informality.
After breakfast, he advised us that he was going to the crew
quarters, and wouldn't be back until we called him, very
subtly telling us that we wouldn't be disturbed.
"That was thoughtful," Eric commented with a leer. "There's
something we've never done on any of the planes."
"What's that?"
"Fuck."
- - - - -
To be continued.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I appreciate hearing your comments on the
story, my writing, and anything you would like to offer -
good or not so good. Send me a message at
orrinrush@yahoo.com