Storiesonline.net ------- Tripping Over Money by Openbook Copyright© 2005 by Openbook ------- Description: The twenty first story in the Caddymaster saga. Ray brings Jackie a wonderful opportunity to make a lot of money. with the help of his family, Jackie watches as his hopes all turn to troubles and worries. Codes: no-sex ------- ------- Chapter 1 Ray brought a really big land deal to me in 1974, bigger than I could handle even with the owner financing that was available. I talked to Billy about it, to see if he might be interested in going in with Ray and I. At first, he hemmed and hawed about not having the kind of money to be biting off anything as big as that, but then Ray kept after him, explaining what he had in mind with the deal, and promising to work night and day on putting his overall plan together for splitting off some of the acreage and selling it so that we could reduce our actual exposure. By now, I had developed a real high regard for the feel that Ray had for the land business, at least if it was anywhere around our neck of the woods. I liked the big parcel that he wanted to purchase, and I thought he had a very good chance of pulling off what he was planning on doing. The deal was complicated, at least as far as Billy was concerned, by the fact that Ray wasn't going to put up any capital of his own for the project. Ray had purchased a large home right on the Connecticut River. The house was made of brick and was huge, sitting on eighteen acres. The amenities included a dock, a big boathouse and a two bedroom mother in law cottage or caretaker's house along side of the main building. He had sunk everything he owned into securing the property, and was still left with a hefty mortgage that needed servicing every month. Ray was absolutely convinced that this deal he had found was so good that we should take the risks necessary to get our hands on the property before the price exploded upward. After spending a week trying to convince Billy that the deal was just too good to pass up, Ray finally gave up and went to see Mr. Bennett to see if he might know of an investor, or a group of investor's that might be interested. Mr. Bennett told Ray that he'd ask around and would get back to him if he had anyone who wanted to discuss Ray's project. As soon as Billy told Theresa about the deal that Ray had been proposing she called over to our house and asked to talk with me. "Jackie, what's this project that you and Ray were talking to Billy about?" I immediately assumed that Theresa was worried that Billy was being hustled into doing something he didn't want to do, so I assured her that Billy had already turned the deal down and that Ray had gone outside the family to look for another investor. "I know that Billy said no Jackie, but Billy doesn't make the decisions on the trust money, I do. Billy told me that you and Ray both think it's a great opportunity. I know that you two have been doing pretty well on the land deals that Ray has been bringing over to you. Do you think Ray would mind coming out to the farm to talk to me about it?" "Teri, I don't think that would be a good idea. Billy wouldn't like it if he thought you were trying to wear the pants in the family. You guys have done pretty well for yourselves with Billy calling the shots so far. I think you should just leave well enough alone, and stick with what's worked well for you in the past." "I already talked to Billy, Jackie, and he said I can look at it if I want to. Billy doesn't like having to put up half the money and then only get a third of the profits. I wanted Ray to explain that to me too." "Teri, Ray found the deal, and he's the one who'll wind up doing all the work. When he and I do a deal, I put up all the money, and he does all the work, and then he gets half of the profits, not a third. He only agreed to take a third this time to try and make it easy for Billy to come in on it with us. I think it might be better for you guys to just sit this one out. Ray has already gone to see Mr. Bennett and asked him to round up some investors for the deal." We jawed back and forth for another couple of minutes, and then I handed the phone over to Ellen when Theresa said she needed to ask her something. I went into my living room and got back to reading my newspaper. I thought that the matter was over, and that Theresa had decided to listen to my advice. That thought only lasted for as long as it took Ellen to get off of the phone and come out to see me in the living room. "Jackie, why did you just choose to ignore what Theresa was telling you? Don't you think she has a right to hear about what you and Ray were talking to Billy about? Is it only you men who get to make the business decisions?" In all the time Ellen and I had been together, she'd never once shown the least little bit of interest in anything having to do with making money or investing. In fact, when I tried to talk to her about things like that, she usually just walked away from me saying she had something else that she needed to do. She liked to participate in the spending of the money, not the earning of it. "Ellen, what makes you think that Theresa might be better qualified to make an investment decision than Billy? Billy has a lot of experience with buying and selling land, and with making decisions about business having directly to do with land. As far as I know, Theresa has never interfered with Billy in any of that before. So, what makes this investment different? Why is she suddenly qualified to second guess Billy's decisions or opinions?" "Can I call over to Ray and Sandy's and ask him a few questions myself, or are you going to tell me that I don't have the right to find out more about what you and he are planning?" "Ellen, please, be my guest. There isn't anything Ray or I are planning that you shouldn't know as much about as you want to." She smiled at me then, the total victory smile that I'd grown used to looking at after she had backed me into an uncomfortable corner. I went back to the paper and heard her talking to someone on the kitchen phone. An hour passed by, and she was still talking on the phone. I was about ready to head off to bed when she got off of the telephone and came into the living room and, unceremoniously plunked herself down on my lap. "Jackie, please try to be home for dinner tomorrow night by six thirty, because we're having several people over for dinner, and then a discussion about that real estate project you and Ray have been working on." I told her that getting home wouldn't be a problem, and asked her who exactly would be joining us. "Your mother and father, my mother and father, Billy and Theresa and Ray and Sandy." I nodded to her, wondering whether she thought my parents were supposed to have any money to invest in the deal. I didn't ask her any questions though and she seemed satisfied that I didn't. When I went over to pick up my wood the next morning, Billy didn't say much. He just grunted when I asked him if he was okay with Theresa getting all involved in his business dealings. Theresa came out before I was ready to leave and told me that Ellen wanted me to stop off at the bakery on my way home and pick up some french bread and something nice for dessert. Billy gave me a horse laugh and told me that it was nice to see that I was helping my wife with the grocery shopping. He wanted to know if I could recommend a good laundry detergent to him, one that wouldn't make his hands rough and chapped. I ignored him and told Theresa that I was really pleased to hear that her pistol practice was starting to pay off for her. Billy flipped me the bird, and I pantomimed throwing him a big kiss. I drove home with three loaves of french bread and two big pies, one an apple pie, and the other a blueberry. Ellen told me to get cleaned up and changed for our dinner guests. I made a big face at her, then did what she'd told me to do. Ellen had baked up some deep dish lasagna using four different kinds of cheese. We had a nice lettuce salad with the homemade dressing that Ellen's mother had made and brought over. Theresa had brought over some of Big Tony's celler corked Dago red wine. My father had a case of Rheingold beer and half a fifth of Four Roses Whiskey. Ray brought Sandy, and she brought over some of her fudge brownies. All the talk at the supper table was of family and how fast all of the children were growing. After dinner, while the ladies were in doing the dishes and clearing off the tables and putting the leftovers away, the five men went out on my front porch and smoked and had a beverage or two. Ellen finally came out to get us and let us know that they were all ready for Ray to come tell everyone about his latest real estate project. Ellen and the women had brought the chairs out from the kitchen and the ten of us sat in the living room. Everyone looked at Ray as he stood up and started to talk. "This is a pretty simple deal really. Mr. Comstock died a couple years ago, and he left everything to his wife. She is getting on in years, and the kids have been pressuring her to convert some of the holdings over to cash. I don't know what all else she owns, but the property that she put up for sale is a little over three hundred net acres of what was once a half section of land with over a thousand feet of frontage on each side of the Old Post Road. The land is all fairly densely wooded, but the important thing is that it backs right up to the new housing development that Manny Trujillo is putting up at Farley's Brook. He got a density waiver and is putting up four houses to the acre out there. Usually, they were only letting builders go two to the acre, and that's how land is currently priced out that way. There is no reason at all, after allowing one builder to get heavier density, that they wouldn't approve the same thing for the next guy who wants to build out that way. The land for sale is for four hundred thousand, and they want a hundred thousand down. They'll carry a note for the rest at six per cent, interest only for five years, and then all due and payable. There is a provision that we could split up the land and sell off chunks of it as long as we pay down the mortgage as we do so. Now, what I want to do is to split the property into three parts. The first part is eighty acres and it is right behind the new subdivision. I know I can either sell that to Manny or another builder for at least three thousand per acre. With Manny building out there already, there is electric, water, phones, sewers and a paved road right up to our property line. The second part of the property would be about one hundred and sixty acres, and that would be right behind the eighty acres that we would sell either to Manny or to some other builder. That property is the one I want us to hold on to. The third piece would be sixty two acres and it is the piece with all the frontage on the Old Post Road. I'm pretty sure that I can get at least two hundred and fifty thousand for that piece from one of several land speculators I know. Billy says that the wood on the whole property is worth at least thirty thousand to him, and we'd use that to make the interest payments, so that we wouldn't have any debt service while we're waiting to pay off the note. The interest payment would be fifteen hundred dollars a month. Taxes would be another four hundred a month. I'd expect that we would be able to get eight hundred thousand for the second parcel if we can hold on to it for two or three years. That would be our profit on the deal. Jackie and I have already paid Mrs. Comstock five thousand in option money, and we have another forty five days before our option runs out. Anybody have any questions?" "I have a question Ray, how come you don't put up any of the money but you still get as much of the profits as the people who do put the money up?" "That's a very good question Theresa. The answer is because I'm the one who has to do all the work. I'm the one who invested all the time into looking around to find something like this. I'm the one you're going to be screaming at if this thing doesn't work out as good as I think it will. Does that answer your question?" "No Ray, it doesn't. Why can't you do all of that for twenty per cent or twenty five per cent?" Billy and my father were nodding their heads in agreement with Theresa. I just sat there, having talked with Ray earlier in the afternoon, waiting for him to tell all of them what he'd earlier told me. "I don't really think I can explain it to your satisfaction Theresa, but I'll try one more time anyway. Normally, when I do a deal like this, I have a single investor. Up to now, that has always just been Jackie. This is a much bigger deal than what we've ever done before, and Jackie can't handle all of it. If he could do it all, he'd put up all the money, and I'd get fifty per cent of the profits. That's how we've always done it, figuring the money guy should get half the profit and the guy who handles the whole deal gets the other half. I told Jackie that if he wanted to bring Billy in on the deal, I'd take less of a percentage to make it easier for Billy to invest. After Billy passed on the deal, I went to Mr. Bennett and asked him to find us another investor from outside the family. I told him that Jackie and I would each take forty per cent and the outside guy would get twenty per cent, because he wasn't family. A couple of days ago Mr. Bennett called me back and gave me a name of someone to go see, saying that he was expecting to hear from me. I went out to see him this morning, and it looks like we've made ourselves a deal. He puts up half the money and he gets twenty five per cent of the profits. I gave him the extra five per cent because in a way he is family too. At the very least, his daughter is family. Our new partner is going to be B.D. Poynton, Joanie's ex husband." Ray smiled over at me, and sat back down. "Well if you didn't need any more money, why'd you drag all of us over here tonight for?" My father was being his usual gracious self. "I think it was because Jackie and Ellen missed you and ma and wanted to have you come visit for a nice supper and some family conversation. Why, did you think they expected you to invest with us?" "As a matter of fact, I did, smartass. I've gotten the paperwork all ready to borrow $10,000.00 on my life insurance policy. I was willing to throw that into the pot if the two of you really needed it. I know it's not enough to do the whole thing, but it's all we could raise for you right now." Ray looked like he wanted to break out crying, seeing what my father and mother had been willing to sacrifice on our behalf. They weren't investing in any land, they were investing in their sons. "What about Billy and me? You were just gonna leave us out in the cold? We came over here tonight to take another look at this thing of yours, trying to see if we could find a way to participate under fairer terms, family terms. You just give up on us because we still hadn't ironed out all of the details yet?" After Theresa was finished talking, Ellen's mother looked like she wanted to say something, but Tom, her husband, grabbed her knee and passed her a look to be quiet. "I didn't fully commit to B.D., so there isn't anything that's final right now. I told him that I had to check things out with Jackie and some of the family before I could give him a definite okay to the deal. As far as Jackie and I are concerned, we're still ready to live up to our original offer to Billy. Billy, do you want in, putting up half the money for one third of the profits?" Billy looked over at Theresa, waiting for her to make the decision. Theresa looked uncertain about making a commitment now that it was back in the offing. "Billy, even if you decide not to invest in this thing, Jackie and I will still give you the logging contract. You know that, right?" "Okay, Ray, I guess Theresa and I are coming in. It isn't like we don't trust you guys, or that we wanted to make you take less than a fair share either. It's a lot of money though, and it's not easy to even think about parting with so much money and taking on such a big mortgage too." Billy shook hands with Ray and I, and the deal was done. "Well, what about your mother and I then? All we get is some lasagna and a slice of pie? I didn't come over here to be overlooked on the investing or on the profits you'll be making. What do you three have for us in this deal?" "I'll tell you what pop, I've got something here for you too. You know that ten thousand you're so anxious to be borrowing on your insurance? You go ahead and borrow it, and then you just loan it to me. I'll need some money to keep up my house payments anyway. I'll pay you one third of my one third, but I'll also guarantee you that, if this doesn't work out, I'll pay you back your ten grand plus all the interest you have to pay. If it does work out though, I won't have to pay the money back. How's that?" That got both of my parents smiling. They could understand a no risk opportunity when it was offered to them, and Ray knew that I wouldn't let them get stuck holding the bag if the thing somehow blew up in our faces. I looked over at Ellen, and she was looking at me and casting her eyes left and right over at her parents. Well, fuck me! "Tom, if you and Flo want to come in on this, you can buy into my piece of the investment. I'm putting up $50,000.00 for a third of the profits. Do you want to invest and take over a percentage of my ownership?" I was hoping they would refuse. Not because I was greedy, but because I didn't want to be in any partnership with my mother in law. Of course, she chirped right up for the two of them. "Thank you Jackie, we'd like to buy in for ten thousand too. So would that mean we would have a third of your third like your brother gave to your parents?" "Actually, no. If you are paying twenty per cent of my costs, you take over twenty per cent of my ownership. Additionally, you'd be responsible for twenty per cent of any losses I incur. I doubt that there will be any losses, but it's always a possibility. There are never any guarantees in investing you know." Tom agreed right away and we shook on it. I couldn't help but think about how much more preferable it would have been if I could have swung the whole deal by myself. This deal was now shaping up to be a logistical nightmare for me since I was the one who always got stuck doing the accounting on these deals, and taking care of all the costs and disbursements. At least Ellen was happy, and that had to be worth something, didn't it? We broke up the meeting and everyone headed back to their respective homes. "I hope you learned a valuable lesson tonight Jackie. It went so much better once the women all got involved and we were able to smooth over all the differences. I hope you appreciate what I helped put together for you." At two o'clock that afternoon when I had spoken with Ray, I was going to have thirty seven and a half percent of what I believed was an eight hundred thousand dollar profit. Going to bed that evening, I had approximately $100,000.00 less profit potential and had saved myself $10,000.00 on the one hand and obligated myself to another ten thousand, since I was the de facto guarantor that my brother would pay back my parent's life insurance policy loan. Plus, I had to be partners with six more people instead of just one more. I figured that if I could just get Ellen to assist me in my businesses, I could be bankrupt within a couple of years. "Yes sweetheart, I did learn a lesson, thank you. I'll try really hard not to forget it too." ------- Chapter 2 We went ahead and opened up escrow on the property the following morning. Mr. Bennett called me and he strongly advised me to set up a formal limited partnership agreement that clearly spelled out all the various ownership positions and setting down exactly how everything was to be run. He recommended a lawyer to me who he claimed was very well versed in limited partnerships. I followed his advice and Ray and I made an appointment and went in to see him that next afternoon. He recommended that we have a single general partner, Ray, and that Billy and I be the sole limited partners. He drew up two separate agreements between Ellen's parents and I, and between Ray and my parents. The partnership was to have a maximum lifetime of seven years. We had to file copies of the partnership agreement with the state, and it became a separate tax paying entity. The main advantage, as far as I could see, was that the limited partners had far less liability in the event that the deal went sour. Ray, on the other hand, was now more subject to scrutiny by regulatory agencies, and he assumed most of the financial liability in the event that things got screwed up somehow. To offset this, Ray had almost unlimited powers to do anything he wanted to with the partnership assets without having to secure prior approval from the limited partners. Ray could borrow on the partnership assets if he chose to. I probably should have paid more attention to all the details before Billy and I signed everything, but I relied on Ray almost totally on these deals and didn't question what I was giving him in the way of control over this investment. Billy signed just because he saw that I had. My parents and Ellen's parents signed their separate agreements with Ray and I, and everything was all set to go from our end. We went ahead and closed on the deal early in order to give Ray the best opportunity to get the land divided up into three pieces and to line up the buyers for the two smaller parcels we were planning to sell off. As soon as the land was ours, Billy sent out a crew to survey the trees and plan out a harvesting program for the logging that he would be doing. After a couple days had gone by he phoned me to say that everything looked okay from his end to begin the logging. I told him to start as soon as he wanted to, and that I was leaving all of that strictly up to him because I didn't have any plans or time table of my own. It was to be almost the last thing about this investment deal that didn't have problems and complications to it. Ray did manage to get the property split up into the three separate parcels, just like he had planned for, but it wasn't done quickly, and it wasn't accomplished nearly as easily or as cheaply as he had projected. Watergate was still in the news every night and the president was about to resign in disgrace. Inflation was also in the news, but only in so far as it was making it harder for builders to get credit for their projects. Manny Trujillo was one of the first builders to fall victim to the financing problems, and he lost his whole development to foreclosure with the banks when his takeout construction loans and and a series of bridge loans came due and he hadn't been able to complete a single home. Manny had fallen victim to the practice of doing everything with subcontractors rather than using construction crews of his own. Overnight, his Farley's Brook project was stopped until after the several banks that were fighting over who had priority could come to some agreement. There were numerous subs that stepped up claiming that they hadn't been paid for their work, and various liens were filed against the project as well. Because of the uncertainty of the times, all of Ray's land speculator friends were sitting back on their heels waiting to see if the bottom was going to drop out of the market, so they could step in with their cash and be bottom feeders. After six months had gone by without any progress in the development other than Billy's steady harvesting of the trees, Ray had pretty well gone through all of the money that he'd borrowed from my father, and was looking to me for financial help. Ellen's mother was calling Ellen every other day, giving her plenty of grief over her contention of Ellen's having coerced her into coming in on what she now was referring to as "Jackie's Folly". Ellen, in turn was begging me to step in and do something to get her mother off of her back. Theresa, though to a much lesser extent, was showing signs of nervous strain about the possibility that the mortgage would come due before we could sell the properties and we'd all lose the land, and with that, any hope of getting our original investments back. Billy had become awfully quiet around me as well, to the point where I felt a distinct tension when I came out to the farm to pick up my loads and discuss the furniture business and the following week's delivery scheduling. I finally decided that it was time for another dinner and meeting about the investment situation. I made damn sure to hold it at Ray's house this time, since he was the general partner and he'd be the one doing almost all of the talking. We had a nice meal, only talking about the food that was served. Sandy had been taking classes at the YWCA, studying authentic Mexican cooking, and she'd really gone all out with tacos, chile rellanos, and taquitos, including an nice quacamole dip and chips, and a homemade salsa. She even made authentic Mexican beans and rice, with cheese melted over the beans. It was once again the ten of us, and this time there was much less talk about family and children growing so fast. This time the table conversation centered squarely on who was to blame for the fact that our big investment wasn't going anywhere. I took as much of it as I could before I finally had to tell everyone to be quiet and just let it go until we were done enjoying Sandy's wonderful dinner. Sandy had been the one most affected emotionally by the heated table conversation. She knew how much trouble Ray was in, everyday trying to make something happen on the land, while still doing everything in his power to not lose their own dream house and the property it was on. Ray had rented out the little caretaker's cottage next to his house, trying to get at least a little money coming in for food and the other things they absolutely needed in order to live. Their home was really beautiful, big, and with a view of the river that was breathtaking the first time that you saw it. It is safe to say that no one in our family had ever owned anything to compare with that property. We all retired to the big living room after we finished eating, and then the inquisition began in earnest. "I know that all of you are as disappointed as I am that things don't seem to be running as smoothly as I thought they would go when we first formed this partnership. The investment and building climates have shifted significantly since then, and I don't think that there was any way that we could have anticipated any of it. I want you all to know that I am still working towards a profitable conclusion to this investment, and that I have confidence that we'll all make good money in the end. Do you have any question or points that you want to have clarified by me?" "I've got a question Ray, where are we going to get the two thousand a month to pay the taxes and interest on the land after Billy gets done cutting down all those trees?" Theresa probably tried to keep the anger out of her question, but, if so, she wasn't entirely successful. "The partnership agreement clearly calls for the limited partners to pay any assessments I might need to make in order to protect the partnership assets and to meet partnership obligations. To date, because of the logging money, it hasn't been necessary to make any assessments. Hopefully, the trees will continue to support our debt service for long enough to allow us to pay down or pay off the underlying mortgage. After that, all we'll have to worry about is approximately two hundred a month for taxes on our remaining parcel." "So Billy and Jackie get stuck throwing more of our money down the drain every single month, and you get to just sit up here in this big mansion of yours and wait comfortably for the day we finally get rid of this investment. Have I got that right Ray?" Theresa was definitely not trying to hide any of her anger now. "Theresa why are you being so hateful to Ray? You might not know it, but we're probably going to lose this big mansion, as you call it, and every penny we've ever put into it. How long did you think we could go without a penny coming in to pay our bills? How do you think Ray feels when he talks to you all the time and he knows that you're all blaming him for something that he didn't have any way of anticipating? Ray has done everything he possibly could to make this investment work out for all of us. You seem to think that you're the only ones who stand to lose anything if it doesn't turn out good. You couldn't be more wrong, Theresa. I hope that you're satisfied knowing that we'll be out of our home any day now, so you won't have to envy us having such a wonderful place to live in and raise our family!" Sandy got up and ran off into one of the back rooms, crying as she ran. Ray got up, as if to go after her, but seemed to change his mind halfway and sat back down in his chair. My father got up and signaled my mother to get up as well. "We'll be leaving now Ray. You tell Sandy that we'll help in any way that we can. Don't you worry about that insurance thing anymore, you hear me? We'll just wait and see how this thing plays itself out. You come over and see me tomorrow, okay, and I'll see if I can't come up with some idea or something to get you some money to get caught up on some things." They left right away. Ray turned to Billy and Theresa and explained that things were hard right now on Sandy, because of their money problems, and because they had just found out that she was expecting again. "Maybe the rest of you can afford to simply sit around and watch your money get flushed away, but not Tom and I. We've got two girls still at home or away at college, and a grandson with a medical condition that we need to worry about. That money was important to us, and I'm sorry we ever got involved with the lot of you." Tom looked stricken as he listened to his wife's words, but he'd long ago given up any thoughts of trying to control either his wife or his eldest daughter when they decided to speak their minds. "I'll tell you what Flo, even though I can't really afford to make you this offer, if it would make you feel better about things, I'll buy you out of your share of the investment. There's one condition to my offer though, you have to promise never to bring it up again with Ellen. What do you say?" Ellen started to protest, only to be rudely countered by her mother. "The whole ten thousand Jackie?" "Yes." "What about the interest that we've lost?" "I withdraw my offer Flo. Good luck with finding someone to give you another one." "Forget the interest then. When can we get our money back?" "I'll go to the bank tomorrow. Will that be soon enough?" "That will be fine. I'll consider this a binding agreement." "Florence, it is at times like this that I wish fervently that we'd never met each other. Jackie, you don't have to buy us out. We both knew that there was a risk to making this investment. You can be sure that she wouldn't be offering you terms if it had turned out to be profitable." "Tom, I want to do it. Ellen is too worried about this thing already. I think we'd all feel better if she didn't have to worry about constantly having to answer your wife's questions and accusations. I'll have Ellen bring over your money tomorrow. Can you make sure that she gets the original partnership papers that you and I signed when she drops the money off?" "I'll see to it Jackie. I'm sorry that we turned out to be such poor partners for you." Ellen's parents got up and left too. That left just Billy, Theresa, Ray, Ellen and I in the room. Then, Ellen got up and went off looking to see if Sandy was all right. Theresa started right in by wondering, out loud, whether she and Billy would get a chance to get their money back as well. "Teri, if you really want to bail out on this, maybe we can find someone to take over your interest. It might mean having to take a loss for right now, but Ray and I will make your losses good if we ever sell the property for a profit. Do you want us to look around for someone?" "Why should Billy and I have to take a loss? If we sell out now we'd be giving up any chance we ever had for making a profit. Isn't that penalty enough?" "It isn't about penalties, Teri, it's about the changing economic prospects if we're going to go into a downturn with the economy. I don't know if that is what's happening, but if the economy does go into the tank, then it might be years before they start developing up in that part of the state again.We only have less than four and a half years before that three hundred thousand dollar note becomes all due and payable. I'd rather have you guys stay in the deal if you can, because this isn't that good of a time to go looking for another investor." "Jackie, if you could look around for us, I'd like to get out with only a reasonable loss. I don't sleep that good knowing every night that big mortgage is somewhere off in the distance, but still coming due. If you could get us at least thirty five back, then I'd be all right with waiting and maybe getting the last fifteen somewhere down the road after you do sell." As Billy was talking, he was wringing his hands. I could tell that his wanting to quit on our partnership wasn't an easy thing for him to ask for. I'd known Billy all of my life, and he didn't have very much quit in him. "Billy, Ray and I will do our best for you, you know that right? Teri, everybody feels bad that this isn't going like we all planned and hoped. You shouldn't be mad at Ray, none of this is his fault. You heard what Sandy said right? We need to do something to make sure they come out of this in one piece too. The best thing we have is the certain knowledge that we'll always try to help each other all that we can." "Jackie, I didn't mean to sound so bitchy earlier. Ray I'm sorry for the way I talk to you sometimes. Billy and I have just been so worried that we'll wind up losing all of our investment. This whole thing is just so big, and we're not used to throwing these kinds of numbers around. If you can get somebody to take our place, even if we take a loss right now, we'd both feel better." After Billy and Theresa left, Ray and I talked in his living room. I found out a lot more about how deeply in hock he really was. The money he'd gotten from my parents was half used up before he even saw it. He had to pay off the things he'd fallen behind on before the loan came through. The rest of the money went over the next three months, and he hadn't been able to make a house payment for the past three months. He and Sandy were sitting at home every night expecting to get a foreclosure notice from the bank every day. He owed me about three thousand already, money that he'd borrowed for special needs that had come up. I had not gotten into his personal finances that much with him, and had assumed he was in short, temporary, binds. He'd gone all over trying to refinance the house, but, without provable income, refinancing was proving very tough. "Jackie, I need five thousand just to get caught up to today. I don't see any way I'm going to come out of this and still keep this house. I don't want to borrow anymore from the family. I shouldn't have bought this much house. I could never have afforded it anyway. It's the kind of house that people like Judge Avery or some other big millionaires should own. Not a working stiff like me. My problem is that I can never seem to say no to myself. If I see something really nice, I just want it." "Ray, how much did you and Sandy buy this place for anyway?" "We got it for two hundred thousand Jackie. It was a bargain too at that price. We still owe more than one fifty, plus most of the furniture we bought on credit too. That's another six thousand we owe." "What do you think this house and all the land are worth right now?" "Right now, if I got real lucky, someone might give me one eighty for it, maybe even one eighty five. After closing costs and commissions I'd come out with one sixty five to one sixty eight, and that's if I could even find a good buyer before the bank forecloses on me. The market is scared right now Jackie. Nobody wants to pay full price now, not when half the buyers already think that things might head south in a month or two, and they could wait and possibly pick themselves up a real bargain." "How important is the house to you Ray? Are you willing to risk everything in order to keep it?" "What everything Jackie? All I own is already tied up in this house. I don't have anything more to risk." "I do, Ray. I have more that I can risk. I just need to know that this is really important to you that's all, because if it is, I know how we can get the money to save it for you. If it goes wrong though, and the economy does tank and we can't make money from the land deal, well then we'll both be moving back to Bill Avenue with mom and pop." "Are you talking about your business Jackie? If you are, then that's crazy talk. Ellen would never go for it, and you can't take a step like that without letting her know about it first. Let's just let this thing go and try to make a new start with other investments while we wait and see what happens on the big deal." "You're not looking at it right Ray. This is the other big investment. The equity you have in this house, if things turn out to not go into the shitter I mean. I will discuss it with Ellen, but I already know what she'll say, and that is that we have to try to do something to help you and Sandy. It will take you working your ass off on the other deal though. I mean sixteen hours a day and seven days a week Ray. You'd have to do it all, and I'd take care of seeing that your payments got made and there was food on your table until either the deal gets done or else we both run out of resources and options. I'm betting that you will pull it through for all of us." "I don't know what to say Jackie. I don't want to drag you down with me, but I still do believe in the value of this house, and of the potential profits of the land deal. If you do it, I'll work as hard as I can to make everything come out right. You just remember though, that even that might not be enough in the end." Months earlier, my banker had practically forced me to accept an open line of credit that was secured by my businesses and equipment. The amount of the credit line was seventy five thousand dollars. I'd never touched it before, because I'd been afraid to, and I really liked the idea of not owing any money on my businesses. The deals I'd already done with Ray had made me a lot of money. I'd never come close to losing money on any real estate deal that he'd brought me. The clincher for me was the fact that inflation was already in plentiful evidence. We'd had the first big scare with the oil prices the year before, and Nixon's price control attempts had been a spectacular failure. I figured that inflation was all about money losing it's purchasing power, and when that happened, people would need to get out of cash and into assets that appreciated as much as the dollar depreciated. The less money was worth, the more commodities would cost. Borrowing is always a good thing if you can pay off the debt with cheaper dollars, money that isn't worth as much as the money you borrowed in the first place. Ellen and I left shortly after Ray and I had reached our agreement. On the way home, I broached the subject of what I was planning on doing. "Ellen, I think we need to buy out Billy and Theresa's share in the land deal ourselves, and then we need start really helping out Ray and Sandy until the deal either comes through or we all go broke." "Really Jackie, do we have enough money to do all of that?" "Only if we take out a big loan on the business and risk everything we own, including our house." "Let's do it them. Sandy will be so relieved. I bet Ray will feel better too, and he'll be able to do a better job on getting that land deal sold. Theresa and Billy will be so happy too." "Aren't you even a little bit worried that we're going to wind up broke and living back near my parents?" "Jackie, we're young. We can live anywhere. Besides, you could always go back to caddying or something. It isn't like you don't have some skills. Arthur Murray's is always advertising for dance instructors. There's a million things you could do." "I hope you realize that I love you in spite of your mother?" "Sometimes, Jackie, you know how to say exactly the right thing to me. I was wondering what I could do to make up for helping to get her involved in our investment thingy. Poor Daddy. Did you hear what he said to her? You'll never be sorry that we met, will you?" "Never baby, and that's a promise." "I'm glad you asked me about all of this Jackie. I feel like you consider me to be a part of your business brain trust now. Maybe not up there with Mr. Bennett, but still someone to be consulted." I shut up and just drove home. I didn't want to spoil things and tell her that she would have the seat next to Lenny in the brain trust pecking order. I was feeling better than when we'd set out on the evening's journey, even though I might have been committing financial suicide. The next morning I went over to my bank and drew down my full line of credit. I got a cashier's check for $10,000.00 for my in laws, another one for $50,000.00 for Billy and Theresa's trust, and finally, a third one for $10,000.00 for my parents. When I had the checks all in hand, I went back home to deliver the first one to Ellen to take over to her mother. I had a difficult time getting my parents to take back their money. It was only after I convinced them that both Ray and I might need their help if this deal didn't work out, that they agreed to take the money and put it back with the insurance company. I told them that they were still in for a third of Ray's profits, and we'd take back the ten thousand from their end before giving them their cut. Theresa and Billy were surprised when I told them what Ray and I were going to do. Billy told me that he'd keep enough money free so that I could go to an auction with Uncle Donald and get myself some delivery trucks to start up all over again, if worse came to worse. I went over to Ray's after that and I gave him a checkbook and told him that he needed to go to my bank and give them a completed signature card. I had started him off with ten thousand dollars, and told him to pinch every penny because we didn't know how long this whole thing would take. Sandy came over and gave me a hug and told me that she knew that Ray could always count on me to stick by him to the end. She told me that she wouldn't have minded so much giving up that big house and the incredible view, but that Ray had been so proud to be able to buy it and to have them all live in it, she was afraid of what losing it might do to him. Ray walked me out to my car, and then he borrowed sixty dollars to tide him over until he made it down to the bank the next morning. How could you not love someone that possessed that kind of nerve? ------- Chapter 3 Ray spent the next six months working both night and day. Each morning he'd be up and out of the house early, running around in his car in order to make the rounds of various planning and zoning departments of the County and various municipalities. He had sources inside each department that would help keep him abreast of any new developments or filings for permits. If anyone within fifty miles of our land decided to build something, Ray knew about it within the week. If a developer submitted plans for any project involving more than two or three new houses, Ray was looking over his plot maps and construction plans even before some agency approved them. Evenings were spent with Ray out knocking on doors and introducing himself to property owners in the same area of our project. Ray had a way about him that relaxed people and put them at ease around him. He'd just introduce himself and tell them about the property that we owned, inviting their ideas and, at the same time, learning what plans they might have for their own land for the future. People were surprisingly candid with Ray, once they were satisfied that he wasn't there to sell them anything. They often told him things that they wouldn't have shared with an agent or a broker. Every night when he would get home, Ray would take a couple of hours and write himself copious notes about what he'd done, and anything that he'd learned that day. At the end of that six month period, while we were no closer to selling any of our three parcels, Ray had picked up an awful lot of valuable knowledge and insights that would serve the two of us well far into the future. As we all knew it would, the day finally arrived when Billy told me that he'd logged out the last of the good wood from the property. From then on, I'd need to come up with almost two thousand a month to pay for the interest on the mortgage note and the taxes on the land. Ray was over sitting in my living room, filling me in on the interesting things he was finding out in his travels when I told him what Billy had told me. "How long to you think we have Jackie, before we can't keep up with the interest payments?" I hadn't wanted to worry Ray anymore than he was, but the firewood business had been shrinking a little bit every year for the last several years. The furniture wood business wasn't shrinking as badly, but the profits were declining there as well. My best guess was that I could hold out for another year before I'd have to give up the ghost and admit that we were through. Between the interest and taxes on the land, the interest on the business line of credit, paying the living expenses that Ellen and I had, plus Ray's work and living expenses, which were a lot higher because of his hefty mortgage, I'd been slowly eating into my savings. Without the logging money from the land every month, I'd be burning up savings at about three thousand dollars a month. "Ray, you don't have to worry about anything but getting us a big profit on that land deal for at least another year. You let me worry about the day to day finances, and you just worry about making us both rich. We've got enough that you don't need to panic, but we've got to watch out for any unnecessary expenses. Don't go out and buy a new car or get Sandy a mink coat for her birthday. It's okay to get diapers and clothes for my beautiful niece though." Sandy had given birth to a little girl, Catherine Elizabeth, and she had her father's big dimple in exactly the same place as Ray's. Ray was a very good father to his two boys, and often took them along with him in the summers, stopping off to fish, or to just take walks through the woods. In the winter time he kept a couple snow sleds in his trunk and would often take the boys out for sledding and snowball fights in some farmer's hilly pasture. I knew he was dying for us to have money again because he wanted to buy a big boat and motor up and down the Connecticut River with his family. Ray wanted to do all the things with his sons that he and my father had never done together. Since he and my father had done very little together, Ray had a long list of things that he wanted to do. After another few months had passed by and there was nothing going on with the land, Ray started getting discouraged about the prospects for ever getting that property sold off. He would come over to my house and give me all the reasons why he was losing his faith in the deal. I'd sit there listening to him until he'd run himself out of reasons why the deal wasn't going to payoff, and then I'd just remind him once again that we were in it too deeply already to give it all up. We'd already decided to gamble, and we had to keep on trying until we ran out of time and money. Ray would look at me and shake his head in agreement. He'd get up soon after that and go drive himself home to make out his notes on that day's activities. I'd go to bed after those talks with Ray and have a tough time getting to sleep, wondering whether the decisions I'd made hadn't put all of us into unnecessary jeopardy. Ellen never once complained about the path that I'd chosen. She'd see me all worried, and come over and try to cheer me up. "Quit worrying so much Jackie. It won't be the end of the world if we lose everything. It might be fun if we have to start out all over again. I'm sure we could make out just fine." She really believed it too, but I didn't want to have to start out all over. I had gotten lucky once with my firewood delivery idea, and knew that it was unlikely that I'd get another opportunity just handed over to me like the other one had been. I was down to having about three months more of us being able to hold out, when Ray came over to see me early one morning. He was excited, and for a minute I thought that maybe he finally had some good news about our land deal. Instead, he asked me to give him three thousand dollars. "You're kidding, right Ray? I mean, you can't really think that I've got an extra three thousand dollars just laying around. If you think that I do, you've disconnected from all reality." "Jackie, relax, because this time I really know what I'm doing. I know that there isn't anyway that the land deal is going to get sold anytime soon. That's just a fact of life, because nothing is going on out that way right now. I wish it was different, but there is nothing I can possibly do to make it different. I've been racking my brain everyday, trying to think of some way to make it happen for us, but I always drew a blank because our property is just in the wrong area right now. If it was over in Poquonnock or out by Billy's, I could sell it right now, but not where it is. I've been all over this area for the past year, you know that right? I know which areas are hot and which ones don't have anything going on. That's why I need the three thousand Jackie, to option three parcels that I know I can sell. Instead of spending all my time trying to sell the impossible, I'll use my time to make us some money so that we can keep on making the interest payments and waiting for the tide to turn out there where our property is. It will turn too Jackie, just not right away." "Tell me about these properties Ray, but remember we don't have any money to be out actually buying anything now." "Two of them are side by side pieces over by Billy. One is seven acres, and I can option it for five hundred against a purchase price of nine thousand. The other is a little over fourteen acres and I can get us a 120 day option for fifteen hundred dollars, but the purchase price is twenty one thousand, all cash. The third one is a big lot over off of Fort Hill road, near the river. I already made a deal with the owners to option it for a thousand for 120 days. They want seven thousand, but the option money applies to the purchase price. I can do a lot split on the Poquonnock one, and come out with five lots, all buildable. Jackie, if only one of these options comes through for us we'll come out of it with enough dough to keep us afloat for at least a few more months. If we just keep doing what we have been, we don't have any chance. This way, at least we have some chance. I'm sure about this Jackie, you've just got to go with me this one last time." I could think of a hundred reasons why we shouldn't do what Ray wanted, but all of those reasons still left us hanging on by a very thin thread, and Ray was telling me that nothing was going to improve in the time we had left. He and I drove over to my bank and I got him the money as a cash advance on one of my credit cards. That tapped out another source that I'd been counting on to carry me through for another month, so now our window of opportunity was down to two months. Ray took the cash and left me with the image of his happy, confident and smiling face at a time when I wanted to just lay down somewhere and sulk. What I'd just done was crazy, but not really any different than I'd been doing for the past year and a half. I wondered if I didn't possess some self destructive character flaw that made it impossible for me to deal in a rational way with adversity. I decided to drive over to see Billy. Hearing him pissing and moaning about ordinary things was bound to cheer me up. "So, cuz, I hear from Ray that you two are back in the land business again, that right?" "That's what he tells me this morning Billy, but we probably won't be for much longer. I'm fucked if I know how I can keep this thing all together for much longer. My house is mortgaged right to the hilt, I owe so much money that I'm ashamed to show my face at the bank, and Ray tells me that there's no chance in selling that land anytime soon. Now that Lenny's on disability, I don't need to hire another driver because there's fewer loads going out now. I keep thinking back to how I ever talked myself into letting the situation get like it is. I wonder if there isn't something wrong with me in my head." "It isn't your head, Jackie, it's your heart. You never did have any sense when it came to Ray. I love him too, but not enough to throw everything I've got away." "Don't blame this on Ray, Billy. That isn't fair and you know it. He told me from the beginning that I should just cut and run. He's only stayed with this thing because I refused to let him give up on it. He's come to me a hundred times trying to talk me out of continuing. Ray's been totally honest with me from the very beginning. If anyone gets the blame it has to be me." We went back to talking about other things until Theresa called us both in to eat. After lunch I went out and took a look at one of Billy's new projects. He was building a huge pen and was getting ready to raise pigs on the back of his property. He had worked out a deal with a friend of his who picked up garbage from the restaurants in the area, to deliver that garbage out to the farm for Billy to feed the pigs with it. Billy was certain that he wouldn't have any expense from the feeding of his pigs and would turn a nice profit by raising and selling them. After ten minutes or so Billy came out of his house and showed me every detail of this new operation. When I asked him if he remembered the time Uncle Sonny tried raising pigs, and the stink of all that pig shit, he just laughed and told me that he wouldn't mind the smell as long as they made him some money. "Jackie, Theresa and I were talking and we both wanted you to take this. You can give it back to us whenever it's comfortable for you." He handed me a check drawn on the family trust for fifteen thousand dollars. Theresa had signed it, and I had no doubt that the check was good. I tried handing the check back to him, not wanting to take money from them. "Billy, thank you, but I can't take your money. I appreciate what you and Teri want to do, but I just can't take the money knowing what I know about what my future prospects look like." "Jackie, take the fucking money. You think the money is more important to Theresa and I than knowing you guys are making it okay for a little while longer? If it was us needing it, you know you'd be over here with a check of your own. This isn't money that we'd ever miss or regret. So, take this fucking money before you really piss me off." So, I took the money and thanked him and Theresa for their thoughtfulness. I was thinking on the way back home how lucky I was that people like Billy and Theresa cared enough about Ray and Sandy and Ellen and I to want to help us all out. I thought that maybe Ellen was right after all. I could always go to work for Billy feeding the garbage to his pigs and mucking out the pig shit from their pen. I wondered how long I'd have to do that before I earned that fifteen thousand dollars. I said a little prayer that Ray was right about this option thing and I wouldn't need to use any of Billy and Theresa's loan. Ellen didn't seem a bit surprised when I showed her the check from Teri and Billy. "Jackie, they're our family. Of course they're going to help us if they can. Aren't you always telling me about how all of you guys always have to stick together? So now that we've got money again, you want to go out to dinner? I've heard good things about this little place over near Mystic, and I've got a new routine I've been dying to try out on you. You know that it always makes me so hot when we play like that, and it's been a long time since we've been out for dinner." ------- Chapter 4 Ellen and I were sitting in that restaurant over near Mystic, enjoying a meal of delicious thick pork chops, served with potatoes with brown mushroom gravy, a small side plate of french cut green beans in a nice creamy onion sauce, and with all of that, we were presented with a complimentary large glass of a heavy, fruity flavored red wine. I don't remember the name of the place, but the menu said something about Basque cooking. The food was excellent, and I left there as full as I could possibly be. As she had warned or promised, I'm not sure which it was, Ellen went through a loud and pithy harangue berating me for not treating her as well as her two other gentlemen friends did. She was going on and on about this genuine rabbit fur coat she'd put on layaway over in New London, and telling me, and everyone else who was listening, about all the things she had done and would do again for me, if I'd just be a sport and pony up my fair one third share like her other friends had. "Baby do you know how embarrassing it is for me to be the only woman at work still wearing a cloth coat? Do you even care? Is $75.00 so important to you that you'd let me be the laughingstock of the typing pool? It would be different if we were married or something, then everyone wouldn't be surprised that I was dressed in a cheap cloth coat like I'm wearing. Freddie, does your wife wear cloth or fur in the winter? Now be honest with me, cloth or fur?" "How many times do I have to tell you Mabel, don't be comparing yourself to my wife. It isn't decent, I've told you that before. You just leave my wife out of these conversations." "If your wife is so special Freddie, then why are you out here with me right now? You know why and so do I. The reason you're here with me instead of home with her and the kiddies is because I do something special for you that she won't do. I don't mind doing that for you either Freddie, really I don't. You men all seem to appreciate it, and I've been told that I have a certain knack when it comes to doing that. But I'm warning you right now that when it starts getting colder, I'm going to be wearing that beautiful rabbit coat one way or another. If I don't get that $75.00 from you, I'll just bet you that I can find someone else who isn't getting from his wife the same thing that you weren't getting from yours. And you know what else Mr. Cheapskate, he will be getting it after that and you won't be. What do you have to say about that?" As she was talking, Ellen was using her fingers, picking at this huge gob of chewing gum that she'd stuffed into her mouth one stick at a time after we'd finally finished our dinner. She'd pull out a long string of gum and then suck it back in with a slurping sound as if to draw attention to her words. She really could play a cheap floozie all the way to the hilt. I could see in her eyes that she was going to take this little role playing of hers all the way this time and I had a different plan for her, a tiny little surprise. "I'll tell you what I have to say Mabel, and it's this. I hope you brought some money in that damn big purse you're always dragging along with you, because if you didn't you're gonna be washing a whole hell of a lot of dirty dishes, 'cause I'm done taking all this nagging about your precious coat, and so I'm leaving and you can go ahead and pay the damn food bill yourself this time." Then, I just stood up and left. Two men sitting at the booth nearest the cash register actually applauded me when I walked out the door. I jumped into my car, after checking and making sure that Ray was parked alongside the restaurant just like we'd agreed. I'd also taken all of Ellen's cash and credit cards out of her purse beforehand. I drove down the road about a mile and then parked my car. Twenty minutes later, Ray showed up and a very upset Ellen jumped out of his car and slammed the door really hard. "Jackie, that's the meanest thing you've ever done to me! I couldn't believe it when you just left me like that, and when I saw that you'd emptied out my purse I was so embarrassed. Did you know that those people were going to call the police after I told them I didn't have any money to pay with? I'm just glad that Ray came by looking for you. Oh, you set that up too, didn't you? Well then that's different I guess, if I was never in any danger. That's a good one Jackie, you sure got me this time." Ellen and I both knew that whatever she was planning for revenge would be far more than what I'd just put her through. That night Ellen was beyond her usual ardor after a role playing evening. She slipped back into her Mabel character and wouldn't stop trying to wheedle money out of me until, finally, she got me to agree to give her that damn $75.00 for her rabbit fur coat. She sure did know how to immerse herself into a role. I'd have held out longer if I hadn't been afraid she might kill me by trying to get it up for one more time. Ray came by to see me early the next morning and asked me how I'd made out with Ellen. He'd known about me planning what we had just done for a long time, but Ellen and I hadn't been going out to dinner in ages, and so we had been forced to wait for the next opportunity to spring it on her. Ray had been out to dinner with us several times in the past when Ellen had performed her little vignettes. I told him that Ellen had said it was a good one, and he told me that she was going to make me pay for doing that to her. I just nodded in agreement. He told me that he'd paid out the option money, and handed me the signed option agreements, all signed and notarized. Later that day I went and filed them with the Recorder's office. I had debated telling Ray about the check from Billy and Theresa, but I was torn between the positive effects of easing his worries, and the negative effect of it acting as a stimulus for more spending from him. In the end, I decided not to tell him. Within three weeks he had opened a double escrow on the two pieces over by Billy. We came out of that with a net profit of almost seventeen thousand dollars. As soon as we got the money from that deal, Ray bought the large lot in Poquonnock and did a minor lot split that cost us twelve hundred dollars. We got the five lots just like Ray had said we would, and then he sold them off, one at a time, over the next month to speculative lot builders. By the time he got all that done, we had five or six options on various parcels that Ray was confident that he could sell for a profit. whatever we made in the way of profits, Ray just plowed back into the partnership, except for money that he and I needed to live on. From that time on, Ray was always wheeling and dealing. Sometimes it was with options, but usually, when we could afford to do it, he just bought the land outright and then sold it very quickly. It certainly didn't hurt us that inflation was driving up the prices on everything, and that people were doing all that they could to hedge their savings with something other than cash. I never cashed that check from Billy and Theresa, but Billy told me to keep it just in case it was needed. In spite of all that the inflated economy had done to drive up prices and spur development, that big investment of ours stood unsold and undeveloped for years. In 1979, when the note on the property became all due and payable, Ray and I somehow managed to raise enough money that we were able to pay the note down to one hundred thousand dollars, and then we financed the rest through a savings and loan where Ray had a very friendly loan officer approving the loan. With the financial pressure a thing of the past, Ray and I were both determined that we'd keep that property as long as it took us to realize a huge profit. Late in 1980, the building boom finally came to the area where our land was located. When that happened, things took off very quickly. In a matter of weeks, builders saw all the money spigots get turned on at once. Any building project, no matter how weak it might look to most of us, was getting loan approval and construction funding provided. We started getting several joint venture proposals per week. Ray turned all of them down, saying only that he was waiting for the right deal to come along. We re-filed our limited partnership articles, allowing us another seven years of partnership life. Ray told me of offers he'd gotten on one part or another of the property. He called them teasers, just people trying to find out if we were weak owners desperate to sell. They were three or four years too late for that to have worked. Finally, after seven long and trying years, we were approached by a large real estate investment trust, one that was traded on a stock exchange. They set up a meeting in New York City, at their plush offices in Manhatten. Ray and I got dressed in our best country boy outfits, and drove up with our wives the night before. The hotel we stayed at charged us fifteen dollars a day just to let us park our car there. The four of us went out to a nice restaurant and went sightseeing afterwards, riding on the subway, and having a ball. Ray had done a lot of research about these people who ran the trust, and he told me pretty much what to expect in the meeting. We had both agreed beforehand that I'd leave all the talking to Ray, since he was the land expert, and I was just coming along to lend him moral support. The figure that we'd both agreed on before we left home, was two million dollars. We weren't going to move off of that figure no matter what they said. Ray said it for both of us when he said that we'd sweated too much blood and spent too many sleepless nights not to get paid good when the land finally sold.We also decided that we only wanted money, not stock or the carry back notes that we figured they'd offer us. By the time the elevator stopped at their floor, we'd psyched each other up to fight for what we believed we were entitled to. I doubt that either of us really thought they'd ever agree to giving us as much as we wanted. We were prepared to just go back to our homes and wait for someone who would. The receptionist that greeted us got up from behind her desk and escorted us into a large conference room where five men, all in stylish business suits, stood up and introduced themselves to us. We all sat down and the head guy started talking to us. He told us that they had taken an interest in the area where our land was located, and they were in the process of trying to acquire a large amount of acreage so that they could sell it to a developer for a large planned community project involving several thousand houses and a large shopping center complex. The developer, they claimed, had an ironclad funding guarantee from a large life insurance company. He named the company and Ray and I smiled, because it was the same company that my father had his own policy with. The head guy went on to say that with the acquisition of our three parcels, they had enough land to fulfill their agreement with the developer. He then handed us two thirty page documents that were rivetted into their logo embossed binders, one for each of us, telling us as he did so, that it was their formal proposal document, and that it constituted their first and final offer to us. One of the other guys, who up until then had been silent, handed Ray and I one of his business cards and asked us to call him if we had any questions or needed clarification on some point contained in the offer dociments. One by one they all filed past us, shaking our hands and telling us how much pleasure it had been for them to finally meet us. The head guy was the last one to shake our hands and unlike the others, he stayed behind to speak with us. He told us that a good friend of his had first tipped him off to our little area of interest several years before, and had told him then that our three parcels were the key parcels in that area. He admitted that he'd had us investigated, and knew that we weren't going to just let the property go to anybody on the cheap. He said that the offer had been crafted solely by him, and he thought that we'd think it was a fair offer after we'd read it. Of course, Ray wanted to know the name of his friend. "Well, I understand he's a relative of yours, an in law I believe, B.D. Poynton." Ray and I both laughed and told him that B.D. had wanted to come into the deal with us at the beginning, but there just hadn't been any room for him. "That is what he told me several years ago. I spoke with him recently, and he is a great admirer of your family's tenacity and determination. He told me that you come from a family that is noted for knowing exactly what they want and for being successful in their efforts at acquiring it. That is one of the reasons why I decided to bring you my best offer right from the start. I like to think of myself as being every bit as determined as anyone else, and I usually am successful in getting what I'm after." Ray and I left the meeting room then, neither of us willing to risk taking a peek at their offer, not even when we were safely into the elevator. We walked together back to the hotel where we'd left our wives and hour and a half earlier. We had checked out of the hotel before we'd left, and avoided having to pay an additional night's rent for their garage space too. All our lugage was in the trunk of my car and Ellen and Sandy had been window shopping up and down the street we were staying at. After we found the girls, we hopped in the car and headed back to Connecticut. We told them about the meeting and the fancy suits everyone had been wearing. They both wanted to know whether we'd reached a deal on the land, but we told them we'd been given a proposal and wanted to study it carefully before we made our decision. We got over to Ray and Sandy's at about four that afternoon and went inside to take a leak and to get ourselves something to eat and drink. Ray and Sandy had left their kids over with Sandy's parents and wanted to go over to get them before it got to be too late. While the girls were in the kitchen fixing us something to eat, Ray and I went into his study and shut the door behind us. We both knew it was time to skim through the proposal before deciding whether there was enough on the table to bother Mr. Bennett with finding us a lawyer to tell us how to proceed further. "Jackie, not a penny less than two million, right?" "Sure Ray, whatever you decide. If its for anything less, we can always counter and let them know what we'll take." We both opened the binders and started to read. Halfway down the first page, Ray and I both stopped reading and looked up at each other. I'm not sure which of us started crying first, him or me, but we were hugging each other and crying when Ellen and Sandy came in to let us know that our food was ready and to come and eat. Ellen took the proposal out of my hand and started reading it, trying to see what had made us so upset. "FIVE MILLION DOLLARS! Oh my God, that's how much they're offering?" Soon all four of us were hugging and crying and trying to decide what we needed to do next. The next morning Ray called that guy in New York that had told us to contact him if we had questions, and he told him that we had thought about their offer and we'd decided to accept it. It took about a month and a half for everything to get taken care of, but there came a day when Ray and I stood outside my bank with the cashier's check in my hands. An hour later, all of my bills paid in full, Ray and I walked out of that bank in the certain knowledge that both of us were millionaires. It had been a long and sometimes painful, even tortuous, path for both of us, and for our families. The money was welcome, the amount staggering and humbling, but it wasn't the easiest money I'd ever made. There was a great sense of relief in finally seeing that project through to a conclusion. It was like a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. That night, Ellen got her revenge for the little stunt I'd pulled on her in that restaurant over by Mystic. She and I dropped over to her parent's house, ostensibly because Ellen needed to return some things she'd borrowed from her mother. "Hey mom, ask Jackie to tell you how much he and Ray finally sold "Jackie's Folly" for. Jackie, please tell my mother how much her share would have been worth if she'd only held on to it." If there was ever an unhappier woman than my mother in law was on that particular night, well, I wouldn't want to meet her. She actually threatened to sue me if I didn't make some kind of offer to settle with her. I listened to her rant and rave for an hour, watching Ellen take it all in with undisguised glee. When I couldn't possibly take another minute more of listening to her spew forth her vitriole, I finally said something to shut her up. "Flo, I wanted to do something fair for you, but Ellen told me she'd divorce me if I ever did. She said something about you making her go to Sacred Heart High School and how she'd never forgive you for pushing her towards her latent sexual attraction for other women. The two of you should get together and try to work out your mother/daughter differences before you get all upset about something as unimportant as money." I started walking away then while she was left to deal with Ellen's giddy braying laughter. Tom and I shared several drinks in his den, talking quietly about my huge windfall and listening with half an ear as Ellen unburdened herself to her mother about her secret lesbian tendencies, and told of her worries that she'd someday give in to her lust and seek out that forbidden lifestyle. I stopped even paying half attention when Ellen, encouraged by something her mother had said, started in about how unfair it was to have finally accepted and come to terms with her secret yearnings only to be unceremoniously rejected by Sandy when she had made her first, tentative overtures. I'm sitting here in my study tonight as I write this, trying to remember how my life or Ellen's was changed with the sale of that property. I had a house custom built for Ellen and I. It has too many bedrooms for a childless couple, but plenty of room for Ellen's foster care needs. After that money came in, we kept our cars for less time than before, and didn't watch our expenses as carefully as we once would have. Ray took care of my parents by paying them one third of the half of the profits that I convinced him to take. Ray deducted, first of all, the money that he scrupulously repaid me for every penny I'd ever advanced him for living expenses. My parents were never short of money after that, and it was funny watching the two of them being so careful to make sure that no one ever heard of their good fortune and their sudden affluence. Ray did persuade them to come live in his caretaker's cottage, explaining to my father that he needed him around to help protect his property, and also to help him learn how to operate his new boat and teach the children boating safety. My father took the job but refused to be put on my brother's payroll. He did feel free to pillage my brother's stock of whiskey any time that my mother had him on too tight of a leash. Billy and Theresa were happy to find out that we finally managed to unload that big piece of land. When Ellen told them how much we had gotten, they both took it well and were happy for us. Billy had decided not to keep his pigs after listening to his kids complain that their friends said they smelled bad, and were making fun of them in school. The truth was that Billy hated the smell a lot more than he thought he would and that Theresa took to refusing his amorous advances whenever she said he smelled from feeding and moving the pigs around. Billy was making money himself at a pretty good clip, buying and selling small tracts of land that he happened across. It wasn't that long before he had more money than I did again. Ray never stopped working, not even for a few days after we hit it big. The deals he brought me were a little bit bigger than before, and the terms became more complicated and complex. It was all land that he'd personally walked on though, and we never experienced another deal that had the complications, delays, or the problems that our first big deal had. We've been very lucky, but we've been very stubborn too. I'm sure the latter trait accounted for a big part of the former holding true. Ray's sons are both in the land business, and each of them has surpassed Ray and I in total dollar volume of deals made. The difference is that we did all of our dollar volume with us acting as the principals, and they have done theirs with us or others acting as the principals. Whether with land or with residential home sales that they've made from time to time, you don't become wealthy making deals for somebody else's benefit. Neither of them is hurting for money, but they aren't in any danger of becoming rich. They don't put nearly as much effort into their business as their father did, and even still does, and they seem to enjoy themselves and their families because of the time they don't waste working. ------- The End ------- Posted: 2005-10-24 Last Modified: 2005-10-26 / 12:11:00 am ------- http://storiesonline.net/ -------