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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