Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2000 06:37:15 -0800 (PST) From: Orrin Rush Subject: The Lifeguard - beginnings - college Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction. If you are offended by graphic descriptions of homosexual acts, go somewhere else. Copyright c 2000 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 31 Although totally satisfied and spent, I had trouble going to sleep. The image of the guy at the bar kept flashing through my head. Trying to figure out what all this meant made it even harder to sleep. Naturally, I compared him to the sleeping beauty lying next to me. Physically, there really wasn't any comparison. The guy was kind of on the skinny side, not the sculpted perfection of Eric. Their dicks were about the same, Eric's maybe not as thick, which I preferred. Facially, they were different, both handsome, but Eric would win there too. There wasn't anything else to compare. Hell I hadn't even talked to him, much less gotten to know him. It had to be the eyes. There was something about them that drew me like a magnet. I couldn't explain it, and that made me uncomfortable. Thinking more, unfortunately, I realized that in my mind, at least, it had been the other guy's dick I was sucking at the bar, not Erics. A wave of guilt swept over me. What the hell was wrong? I loved Eric more than anything. How could that guy have the effect that he did on me, and why was I helpless to do anything about it? I finally went to sleep...and dreamed about the guy in the bar. - - - - - After more than two weeks of not even thinking about business, I got a rude awakening when I got back to the office. Everyone else seemed to be treating it as a "new beginning", more gung-ho than ever. First off, Bill hit me with the news that the new computers were selling faster than we were able to produce them. Stores had only bare-bones inventories and were screaming for more. Since we were already running at capacity in those plants that were producing them, and if the trend continued, we'd be faced with the decision of whether or not to convert more production to the new ones at the expense of the old boxes, or, to expand. As a stopgap measure, we were running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but a decision would have to be made soon. Next came Tina with news that Invitations to Bid had been sent out for the new Office Building. Responses on some phases, such as grading and excavation, were expected soon. More decisions. Annie roared in with the announcement that appraisals had been completed on all the major Catalina Pacific properties, and that the Development Analyses would be ready in a day or two. She insisted that I set aside a whole day for the presentation that would be made by her Real Estate Guru. My plate was full, and I had to chuckle. If Eric were in the middle of this chaos, he'd be screaming for mercy. On the other hand, I thrived on it. There was more. A memo from Ron requested major modifications of our hangar at the airport, turning it into a "Flight Operations Center" staffed and secure. He pointed out that with the addition of the GV to our fleet in a few months, around a hundred million dollars worth of aircraft would be housed there. He also requested permission to start looking for more qualified pilots. Not only would we need at least two more, but reserves would soon be necessary. I responded to him by Email, approving his request, but asking to see the plans before he started building. I gave him the go-ahead for more pilots, and asked him and Jason to come see me at their convenience. I wanted to talk to them about who would be in charge of things now and in the future. With one plane it hadn't been necessary, but with three, we needed to have someone running things. I hoped that one of them would accept the position. I knew it'd be a hard sell. They liked to fly. I hate "Meetings". They're so formal, and rarely accomplish much except to bore the crap out of the participants. Instead, I like informal, impromptu "bull sessions" with only the people directly involved. I feel it's more productive when there aren't "presentations" and we just kick ideas around. All the upper echelon at Metalco is used to this. Some didn't like my style, but we usually got results. The new computers were hot, and we needed to move fast or we'd lose control of the market. We needed to look at our options fast, so I got on the phone. I called Eric first to see if he could join us. He estimated that his last interview of the day would be over by three, so that's the time I set for the bull session. Bill usually sat in because he was most familiar with the "Big Picture". Mike, head of production, knew more about the capabilities of every plant we had than the Managers of them. The Computer Sales Manager completed the group. After a kiss, Eric had to tease me. "Can't get along without me, huh?" "Sure as hell can't," Bill answered. "Where've you been?" "I'm over at LR now so I can get something done. The chaos around here is too much for me." Rita, the Computer Sales Manager, had come from Milton and hadn't met Eric before. My back was turned so I didn't see her reaction to Eric's kiss. Usually she was very serious, but that day, she was bubbling. "We've got us a real winner," she said. "Volume grew every week in December, then really took off the week before Christmas and is still growing. Having the matching CRT Monitors did the trick." "Can you predict a trend?" I asked. "Not really," she said. "We haven't anything to base it on. We can predict sales distribution throughout the year, though, based on the old boxes, but this is new and might not follow the same pattern. "The best indication I can give you is that everybody wants them. Right now, we're only letting one customer have them, and the rest are clamoring. What worries me is that they may go to somebody else." "Is there anybody else who can make them, in volume?" Eric asked. "Not really," Rita said. "Not very fast, anyway. It takes time to tool up for them, and then they have to be careful about patent infringement on our designs. I'd say six months at least before we have any serious competition." "How are sales on the old boxes going?" I asked. "Maintaining projected levels and even growing a little," she answered. "Before we go any further, there's one big question," I said. "Are we making any money on these things?" "They cost us about 25% more to make than the old ones, and we're getting double the price, giving us a gross margin of over 55%, which ain't too shabby," Bill answered. "What can we do, Mike?" Bill asked. "We're making them at three plants now," he said. "We've been on two shifts, and we're bumping that up to three this week, so that'll give us about a 45% increase there. We can change three more plants over, but that'll mean that we'll have to put the rest of Milton's plants on a triple shift to take up the slack on the old stuff. "If we start now, we can keep the old plant in New Jersey running for a while and buy new equipment for the new one. Being as big as it is, we could add a helluva lot of capacity there. "The only thing that worries me is that we'll overbuild and end up with overcapacity." "We haven't even touched the peripherals market, yet," Rita said. "There'll be a huge aftermarket for printers, scanners and a lot of other things." "How about Metalco plants?" I asked. "We've already slipped the Monitor parts in on them," Mike said. "We need more capacity there, too." "Are there any other companies that have what we need that we could buy?" Eric asked. "That's a possibility," Bill said. "I'll have an answer by morning. Would you handle it for us, Eric?" "Sure, but no fee this time," he said. "How fast can you convert three more plants?" I asked Mike. "Sixty days with any luck," he said. "I'll also look into equipment for New Jersey and let you know tomorrow." "If you can make 'em, we can sell 'em," Rita assured us. "It's nice to have everything running at capacity," I said, "but maybe we'd better get a few new plants on the drawing boards. Looks like it's going to get kind of busy around here." "Can we shift any of this overseas?" Eric asked. "I'll get somebody on that, too," Mike answered. We kicked more ideas around for a while. In my mind, at least, it was a foregone conclusion that we'd convert plants as fast as possible and at least double the size of the New Jersey facility. Other new plants were looking like a good bet, too. "How'd your interviews go?" I asked Eric on the way home. "One's a possibility. I'm not too impressed with the other two. One of them seems like a 'yes man' and the other doesn't show any energy. I want somebody who's dynamic. Like we are!" he laughed. - - - - - As hard as I tried, I couldn't get that guy from New York out of my mind. His image would keep popping up, deepening my feelings of guilt toward Eric. I tried not to overcompensate, but realized that I was giving Eric more attention unconsciously. What was I guilty of? I had no conscious desire to actually "do" anything with the guy, and certainly wouldn't, even if I had the opportunity. Hell, the chances of ever even seeing him again were one in a million. Those fucking eyes. They had a Svengali like grip on me. Hopefully it would all fade away before I made a fool of myself. The hardest time for me was when we made love. Whatever we did, as orgasm neared, those goddam eyes were there. I have to admit, my orgasms were far more intense than usual. Having fantasies is commonplace, I knew. My question was: Why was I fantasizing about somebody else when the embodiment of all my life-long fantasies was the living breathing man who made love to me every night? We all have our own concept of physical perfection, a collection of the attributes that we consider ideal. Eric had them all. The face, the body - muscular but not overly bulky, defined, wide shoulders tapering to a narrow waist - a hard tight butt - long strong but slender legs - and the dick I'd dreamed about since I was a teenager. Less than 2% of the male population are endowed with more than eight inches, and most of those that are that long are proportionally thick. Eric wasn't. At nine and a quarter, his was slender, by no means skinny, but in my mind, just right. It got hard, too, no limp dick here, rigid enough to poke holes in tempered steel. That was all icing on the cake. The package, so to speak. The contents were what really mattered. The brilliant, funny, loving, caring man that came in that package was what I truly loved. Those attributes far outweighed everything else. Why was that pair of eyes giving me so much grief? If they didn't go away soon, I decided to discuss it with Eric. Eric's interviewing was complete and he had selected two candidates. Unless there was something he'd overlooked, I'd go along with his choice. They were equally qualified, and now it was down to personalities. Which one could we work with best. I went over to Eric's office at LR for the final interviews. Both had passed Bob's "Sensitivity Test", but I didn't push it by showing any affection. The first guy came in and I was introduced. He showed self assurance without being agressive, and answered the questions Eric threw at him with ease and confidence. It was my turn. I only had two questions. The first was "What do you expect the Company to look like two years from now?" He only thought a minute. "In comparison to now, it will be unrecognizable. Currently we're only partially exploiting the market that's out there for Software production, and there are so many more niche markets in the high-tech area that are just waiting for someone to step into. Lundborg Rush will be well on it's way to a primary position in many of those markets." I noticed the "we". My second was, "Where do you want to be, personally, in the company, by then?" "Titles don't mean anything. Responsibilities and the authority to carry them out are important. I get my big thrills and satisfaction from accomplishment." All very good. He'd be a hard act to follow, but the next guy was every bit as good. "Well, what do you think?" Eric asked after the second one had gone. "I don't think you could go wrong with either one." "I agree, but that doesn't help me. Come on, help me pick one." "I'm sure you're leaning toward one," I told him. "You've talked to them a lot more than I have." "The first one, Warren, has a slight edge in the high-tech area, and that's what we are and where we want to go." "Then go for him." "It's settled, then?" "As far as I'm concerned, it is," I told him. "I think you've made a good choice. Now, I want the other one." "What!" "I want the other one to take over as Chief Operating Officer of Milton - if he's interested." "You asshole," he laughed. "You let me do all the work, then help yourself!" "Have you talked salaries with either of them yet?" "That's the next step, I intend to call Warren and have him come back for that right now." I stood. "Let's see if the other guy's left yet. I'm going to give him MY pitch." We caught him at the elevator and asked him to come back in. Eric left the two of us alone in his office. I thought fast on how to approach him. I decided to be direct, as usual. "You didn't get it," I said straight out. "That is, you didn't get the COO job at Lundborg Rush, but I'd like to offer something else." The poor guy wilted then brightened. "As you probably know, I own Metalco. Last year we bought Milton Manufacturing, which you also may have heard about. During the buyout, the old owners, who ran it, left, and we haven't filled any of the top slots yet. Would you be interested in filling one of them?" "You've caught me totally off guard," he answered. "I know that, and I appreciate your position. Hell you don't know anything about the company. Before you decide, I'd like you to spend a little time with us and learn what we're all about. That way you can make a good decision." "Of course, I'm interested," he said. "I'd like to know more, though." "Be at my office in the morning, it's right over there, 30th floor," I said, pointing at the building across the street. He was a happy but confused man. Now, to break the news to Bill. Not surprisingly, Bill was delighted. "We've been procrastinating long enough," he said. "There may be a couple who're pissed about us bringing in somebody from the outside, but if I'd felt that anybody we already have was ready, the job would already be filled." "That company has been running headless for too long," I agreed. "If he takes it, I think we've got a good man. Eric did a good job." "As usual," Bill chuckled. - - - - - Jeff was waiting when I arrived. We still had a sales job to do. First, I explained that Milton was a company "on the move" just like Lundborg Rush. Being a lot older and more established, the moves weren't as flashy and dramatic, but, in reality were a lot larger. Bill joined us, fully prepared. Jeff would be reporting to him, and I watched as rapport developed fast. They didn't stick around my office long, Bill wanted to introduce Jeff to more Metalco people so he could get a "feel" for the company. Eric joined us for lunch, and we all got to see another side of Jeff. He was very easy-going, witty and funny. I liked him already. He also announced that he'd accept the job. His decision had been made overnight and the morning's meetings had totally convinced him. He'd start in three weeks. Eric was jubilant. "Can I pick 'em or what!" With that problem out of the way, he announced that he was going to work. "Real work," he told me. "I'm starting at the plant in the morning. Not to just stand around and watch, but to actually get in there and do a job like everybody else." "You're actually going to do it?" "Hell yes," he said. "That's the only way I'm ever going to learn. I want to know what I'm talking about." Long ago, I'd learned never to underestimate him, but for some reason I was a little surprised at this move. It made me immensely proud that he wasn't taking anything for granted. He was up and dressed before I really got moving. He was wearing a pair of khaki cargo pants that showed his gorgeous ass off to perfection. "Well, there goes the plant safety record," I commented dryly. "Huh?" he looked at me all confused. "Everybody'll be looking at your cute butt instead of what they're supposed to be doing," I laughed. "Should I change?" "Hell no! If you've got it, flaunt it, and baby, you've GOT it!" I chuckled. He threw something at me. "Sometimes I don't know when you're serious." "We're talkin' seriously beautiful butt here. Just be sure to bring it home to me intact." "It'll be intact, but I'll bet it's kind of tired." "That's OK," I told him. "That'll give me a good excuse to play with it." He gave me a quick kiss and ran. - - - - - The Real Estate presentation was scheduled for that day. All day. I hoped it wouldn't last that long and not be a lot of bullshit. Annie had assured me that it wouldn't be. Eric hadn't felt it necessary to sit through it. All he wanted was the summary and the numbers. What does a "Real Estate Guru" look like? I had no idea what to expect, conjuring up images of a little fat man with a beard and long flowing hair sitting on a mountaintop someplace making pompous pronouncements. Heinrich Gibson turned out to be anything but that. Short, yes, but otherwise just an ordinary middle-aged businessman in appearance. Annie had filled me in on his credentials. He was a nationally known "Land Planner", in heavy demand by private developers as well as government entities. She told me that we were extremely lucky to have gotten him. He was very businesslike, but interesting. His enthusiasm for the subject came across strongly and sucked me right in. The first project that he discussed was development of the raw land in the Silicon Valley. First he described how it COULD be done for the quick buck, then he went on to tell how it SHOULD be done for maximum return and result in a development that would be so desirable it would sell itself. Saying that he hadn't had time to prepare a comprehensive plan, he gave us several options, all estimates, but ones he considered conservative. The options covered selling the land as is, developing it to the lot stage, and building it out. The numbers were staggering. He went from project to project, all smaller than the first, but the ideas he had displayed enormous imagination and he never lost sight of the bottom line. Over lunch he told us how impressed he was with our decision to build such an architecturally different Company Headquarters. "It's easy to build a box, but it takes real guts to undertake such a radical departure from the norm. Eventually, it'll be in textbooks, but you'll catch a lot of flack in the short run." "I wish my daughter Tina were here to hear that," I told him. "She's behind the whole thing." "I'd love to meet her. Working with Annie has been a real pleasure. You are a fortunate father, Mr. Rush." He saved his obvious favorite project for last - the San Diego waterfront. He'd given this one the most thought, and the concept he came up with was truly mind boggling. Apartments, condos, offices, hotels, and commercial development made up a virtual city within a city that became a part of and enhanced the city itself. Tall, slender buildings with vast open space wouldn't wall off the bay, in fact, opening it up and providing better access for everyone. The day had flown by. He handed us several copies of his report, explaining that it covered only the major projects. He just hadn't had time to do a proper job on the hundreds of smaller ones. "You understand, of course, that this is purely speculative. We have no idea, yet, if there is even a possibility of our acquiring this property," I told him. "Of course," he said. "I truly do hope that you're successful and that I have an opportunity to work with you." "If we're successful, you can plan on it." After he left, Annie and I sat and contemplated for a moment. "What do you think?" she asked. "I knew it had potential, but I had no idea it could be this big. It's going to take me a little time to digest." "It'd take an enormous commitment if we did it right," she said. It's so big, so much money, that it scares the hell out of me." "Are you ready for a twenty year project?" "I'd have to think about that, too." - - - - - Eric came home late, his gorgeous ass dragging. "I was afraid an honest day's work would kill me, and it damned near did," he groaned, slumping on the couch. I got us a drink. "Just so long as this is intact," I told him, rubbing his butt. "How'd it go." He brightened fast. "This is the only way I could ever really learn how it works. It's fascinating. I had no idea what was going on. "I was under the impression that the copiers spit out disks, then somebody stuffed them into a box. Boy was I surprised! I just got an inkling today, and I can't wait to get back to learn some more." He told me in detail how the process worked, or at least as much of it as he'd seen in one day. It was a learning process for me too. "They did exactly like I asked," he said. "I was treated just like any other new employee. No fanfare. They started me on one of the slower lines with a Supervisor training me for a couple of hours. It's not hard work, but it's tedious, fast, and requires a lot of manual dexterity. You've got to pay attention or you can screw things up in a hurry. "I guess I caught on pretty fast because they moved me up to faster and faster lines. The time just disappeared. "Tomorrow, I'm going to learn more about quality control and tracking, whatever that is." In the hot tub after dinner, he was still bubbling. He was justifiably proud of the fact that he'd been able to "cut it", and realized that he had so many questions to ask about "why" things were done the way they were. In bed, I got him to lie on his stomach and straddled him for a good backrub. Not much was said other than groans and after only a few minutes, I realized that he'd gone to sleep. Eric was coming out of the shower when I woke. He sat down on the bed after giving me a peck. "I'm really sorry about last night, babe," he told me. "Why?" "For crapping out on you, and not having the good manners to ask how the Catalina Pacific presentation went yesterday." "No problem at all. You were tired and excited. My poor baby needs his rest now that he's gone 'blue collar' on me," I teased. "How did the presentation go?" He ignored me. "Annie's 'Guru' really knows his stuff. It's Friday, so we've got all weekend to talk about it. How long are you planning on working out there, anyway?" "At least another week, maybe longer. We'll see. Does the CLP thing look pretty good?" "Better than good," I told him. "Wait'll tomorrow, we'll go over it in detail." I ran into Annie in the kitchen. "Can I have a little of your time this morning, Dad? I've got a lot more stuff to show you that Henry didn't cover yesterday." "Anytime, just come on in," I told her. Bill followed me into the building. "Sorry I was tied up yesterday, how did your meeting go?" "I'll let you judge for yourself. I've got a 'book' for you to read over the weekend," I told him. "It must've been good to hold your attention all day," he commented dryly. "The guy is good, and what he's come up with is rather thought provoking. I'd like your opinion on it." "You've got me really curious now, I can't wait." Annie never walked into a room, at least not around the office. She roared in. This morning was no exception. "Hot off the wire," she said. "It's just a rumor, but it's sure worth investigating." "What now?" I asked. "One of my 'sources' just let me know that there's a rumor that's been going around for years that CP's land out in the desert has undeveloped mineral resources worth millions, maybe even billions." "Oh shit," I said. "After yesterday, I don't think I can take any more." "Dad, did you have any idea what we were getting into when you started poking around in this thing?" "I knew they had a lot of land, but what we're finding is getting to be kind of scary. It's just too good to be true." "Wait'll you see the appraisals on the property Henry didn't cover yesterday." "Before we do that, there are two things I'd like you to do for me," I said. "First, I'd like to have you spend a little time with Tina and bring her up to speed on what's happening on this thing, then I want us all to get together Sunday for a 'Family Meeting' on this. By then, Eric will've read everything, and we can all take a look at what we want to do." "I definitely want Eric in on it," she said. "I think that's a good idea. If I can drag Tina away from her Architect boyfriend this afternoon, I'll talk to her. If not, I'll do it tomorrow." Annie left me a summary of the appraisals that had been made so far, covering about 60% of the total. I went straight to page 14 to look at the total. Another mind-boggling figure, and it represented only the current market value of bare land! I knew how appraisers worked. Bare land was tricky to value unless there had been a lot of sales activity in the area to provide comparables, or "comps". Positive and Negative features of the specific parcel were factored in, and a value of the property was arrived at. That, of course, didn't guarantee that you could actually sell the property for that amount. I took the appraisal and one of Henry's books into my "working" office and built a "What if?" model. I used only the "known" factors, playing with the numbers and tweaking them to cover various scenarios. My objective wasn't to find out how much money could be made on the deal, but how much we could pay for the company using the various criteria I had established. Under every scenario I could come up with, the amount we could reasonably pay turned out to be much higher than I imagined we would have to go. I had been so engrossed that I'd worked right through lunch, and realized it was time to go home. I saved the enormous files on a zip disk so I could take them home and go over them with Eric. - - - - - He wasn't quite as exhausted as the night before, but as enthusiastic as ever. After dinner, he wanted to dive into the CP project, but I talked him out of it. "If we get into it, we'll be up all night," I told him. "I have some better ideas on how to spend it," I leered. I was giving him another massage when he totally surprised me. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something," he said. "What?" "What was the deal with that guy and the 'eyes' thing in New York?" "I don't know," I hedged. "C'mon, something must have happened." "He was just staring at me when he got off, that's all," I said. "Got you off too, I think. You caught me totally off-guard." "I guess." "Am I making you uncomfortable, by any chance?" he asked, chuckling. "A little." "Why? he was a hot guy, nothing wrong with that," he continued. "Does it bother you that you got off on another guy?" "Not so much that," I told him, "It's just that I can't seem to get him out of my mind." He scooted me off and rolled on his back. I climbed back on his hips, our hard dicks touching. He was grinning widely. "Have we been fantasizing just a little?" "Afraid so, and I don't like it. The asshole got to me, I guess." "He did have hypnotic eyes. I've gotta tell ya, I've thought of him a time or two myself." "You're kidding! You're just saying that to make me feel better." "Hell no. We all fantasize about somebody else once in a while. Don't worry about it. I do feel sorry for the guy, though." "Why?" "He only got to get off on your eyes once. I get to do it all the time - like right now. Hand me the lube." He stroked our dicks, together, with both hands, his eyes glued to mine. I saw love and understanding on that beautiful grinning face. Another one of my problems defused. - - - - - Eric dug right into Henry's Book. He didn't comment, then looked at the appraisal summary. "I can see why you're a little overwhelmed by this," he said. "I don't think any of us had an idea of how much is really there." "Frankly, it scares the hell out of me." "I can see why. Have you decided what you're going to do?" "Sort of, but there are still a lot of 'if's. First, I'll only do it if it's done right. Then, Annie and Tina have to want to get involved because this thing is going to take at least ten, maybe 20 years. "It'll have to be a stand-alone entity after our initial investment, and I want our investment paid back in five years. Any future debt taken on for development will have to be based on it's own assets, no guarantees from Metalco or me personally." "That makes damn good business sense," he commented. "No way should you jeopardize anything else." "Over the next five years, we could sell off the marginal pieces to recoup our investment without doing anything else. According to my calculations, that would only amount to about 60% of the land on that appraisal, selling at half of the appraised value." "I'm sure you could do better than half, more like 90% if the appraisers are any good." "I'm being very conservative," I told him. "I just heard you use a word I don't like. In fact, you used it twice." "What?" he was puzzled. "You!" I said. "Don't ever think for a minute that you're not going to be a part of this!" "Oh shit, here we go again!" "No arguments, dammit. You're my partner and that's that. The girls want you involved, too! I'll make damned sure you earn it." "Don't get excited. Maybe a little piece." "We'll work it out," I assured him, laughing. "Let's get back to the numbers." "How high do you think WE'll have to go?" "The market price, right now, is under a half billion for both the Railroad and the Development Company, but we're not going to get them for anything like that. Those guys aren't THAT stupid. In my opinion, we could go as high as six billion. But, I think we can do it for under three." "Even that's a lot of money!" "First, let's decide if we even want it and what we want to do with it, then we can worry about buying it." We spent several hours at the computer playing with numbers. We tried every scenario we could think of, coming up with favorable results with whatever we tried. "There's something wrong here," Eric said. "It's just too goddam good to be for real." "I don't think so," I answered. "I think it's just a question of time and neglect. It's just been sitting there, nobody paying any attention to it for years, and I'll bet that nobody has even looked at an inventory of the property in 20 years - that's if anybody has taken the trouble to make one up. "People like Edgar and Burdette know about the big stuff - like the San Diego waterfront and the tract in Silicon Valley, but the rest has just slipped through the cracks. Their thinking is based on those two, I'll bet. We'll find out when we talk to Burdette." "And we're sure not gonna clue 'em in, right?" "Why should we? We're doing our homework. When we talk to Burdette, I think we should emphasize that the San Diego land is what we're interested in, and if Silicon Valley comes up, we can treat it as 'that, too', no big deal. San Diego alone would justify the whole deal." "I don't consider that deceptive," he commented. "We don't have to tell anyone everything we know." "I agree." "I think we can plan on Annie and Tina going along, Annie for sure, and I know you and I want to do it, so what's next?" "How about you getting together with Ryan and setting up an appointment with Burdette for week after next, and we can go from there?" I answered. "That'll work," he said. "Another week at the plant should about do it for me." We spent the rest of the day kicking around ideas about what we'd have to do if we did put the deal together. It was exciting and gave us both an opportunity to be creative. We met with the girls on Sunday as planned. Annie started the conversation. "Can I start?" she asked. When we all nodded, she continued. "Aside from the fact that we stand to make a killing, I'm all for going ahead for other reasons, but I have some conditions. "Only if we do it 'right', no slash and burn." "Your Dad and I agree with you there," Eric said. "It's not an ego thing," she said, "no 'monuments' to any of us, but something we can be proud of. If we use the right people, we can accomplish that. I'm also willing to make a long term commitment to stick with it, too." "What do you think, Tina?" I asked. "I'm only just now beginning to understand the size of what you're talking about. I'm also realizing how little I know about all this. I have a lot to learn, but I'm more than willing to do as much as I can." "Another thing," Annie added, "this may be a 'family' venture, but I want Eric involved in everything - including ownership." "Why?" he asked. "We need you," she said. "I've seen what you've done so far, and we need somebody like you to help all of us with the problems that will, no doubt, come up. You and Dad are an unbeatable team." I smiled at him. My sentiments exactly. We spent several hours going over the financial aspects that Eric and I had agreed on, with Annie insisting that Henry look over each and every parcel before we put it up for sale. "He's got the capability of seeing things we may miss," she said, "hidden potential that we don't want to overlook." Tina was looking dazed. I looked at her questioningly. "I feel like I'm at an Air Show," she said. "Everything's going over my head!" - - - - - Everybody went back to work on Monday. Bill wandered in first thing. "You didn't tell me just how interesting that reading was going to be," he said. "I had no idea!" "Did I give you a copy of the appraisal summary?" "No," he said. I found a copy and handed it to him. "Just go to the last page," I told him. "I've gotta sit down," he groaned. "This is unbelievable." "That's only part of it," I told him, "there's still more to come." "Do you really think you can pull this off?" "I don't know," I told him honestly. "With Eric's help I do give us a better than 50/50 chance, though." "Any idea what it's going to cost us?" "It's not going to be cheap. I want you to build us a war chest. Between the excess cash we've got, and the banks, I'd like to have $3 billion available, and I'd like to have another $3 billion committed if we need it." "I don't see any problem with that," he said, "at least the first part. How soon will you need it?" "We're meeting with Burdette next week. That will give us an idea of how long this is going to take. And Bill," I said, "this is going to be a family project, at first, at least. Everybody's involved. Don't want you to feel left out." "Just let me know what's going on. Even if you have to pay six billion, I think you'll be getting a bargain." I got a wild idea and called my personal Stockbroker. I asked him to buy me a hundred thousand shares of CLP Railroad and a like amount of CLP Development. "Have you lost your mind?" he asked. "Nobody in their right mind would buy those dogs." "Don't ask questions," I chuckled. "Just do it and keep your mouth shut." "OK," he said, "knowing you, you're up to something. How high you want to go? Hold on a minute." He was evidently pulling them up on his computer. "The Railroad's going at eleven and a quarter, and the Development Company is at five and a half." "Try to hold it under 15 on the Railroad and 8 on the other one. Let me know as soon as you've got them." He called back in less than an hour. "Got the Railroad at twelve and a half average, and the other one at six and an eighth." "Do it again," I instructed. Before the market closed, I'd bought 600,000 shares of the railroad and 400,000 of the Development Company. That was a start. Over dinner, I told the troops what I'd done. Annie was surprised but delighted. "You don't fool around, Dad," she said. "But won't you give yourself away when they find out it's you buying up their stock?" "No," I explained. "It's held by the Brokerage House in what's called a 'Street Name'. I'm not identified." "Why are you buying the Development Company stock?" Eric asked. "When we get the Railroad, we'll have control anyway." "Yes," I agreed, "we'll have control, but we'll still have to buy up all the rest of the stock if we want to take it Private. I'm just pulling one of your stunts, picking up a few bargains." He just shook his head and grinned at me. For a change, I was ahead of him. I started playing "What if?" with the Railroad stock. From public records, we knew that Edgar held roughly 28%, Burdette another 20% and a couple of other big investors an additional 11%. Only 41% was in public hands. If we could get Burdette and the other investors on our side, we'd still need to buy almost half of the publicly held stock in order to obtain numerical control. We'd have to go around Edgar. I seriously doubted that he'd even talk to us, much less sell out to us. All of our concentration had been on the Development Company's assets. We'd totally forgotten the Railroad. There was value there, too. - - - - - Eric's week at the factory was up, and he announced that he wasn't going back. Word had leaked out that he wasn't just another new hire but President of the Company, so he felt he would be given preferential treatment and not be able to learn as effectively. "I sure as hell don't know everything," he admitted, "but, at least now I know which questions to ask." We spent the weekend honing our strategy. Burdette was the key. If he went along with us, we had a chance, so our meeting with him was crucial. According to Ryan, he wanted out of CLP, but he was no dummy. He wouldn't be in his preeminent position if he were. How to convince him? Neither Eric nor I really knew him. Our only contact had been a social gathering and we had no idea how he approached business. Eric called Ryan to try to get some clues, but came back with only the information that Burdette was a "straight shooter". Finally, we stopped trying to second-guess the situation and decided to go with the direct approach. If it worked, it worked. If it didn't, it didn't. To be continued. 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