Seaver began taking notes. "You don't have a name or address of the head of the group yet?"
"We just thought it up. That's next.", said Marty.
Seaver handed us both a business card. "The easiest way to handle this is for me to be the Treasurer of the organization. That way nobody knows where the money is coming from. I can handle any requests."
That got me to thinking. I cocked my head a touch, and asked, "So you get a piece of the action for moving the money around, and then you get paid by the American Renaissance Initiative as the Treasurer? Isn't that double dipping?"
For the first time, Seaver smiled. "I love politics, don't you?!"
I groaned and shook my head at that. What had I gotten myself into, now!?
Marty rolled his eyes at me and shrugged. He glanced at the card and tucked it into his pocket. "I'm going to sound out a few people about running it, but we'll probably run some of the initial paperwork through you."
"Once you figure out the person to run it, we'll get together and do some more paperwork. We'll need an office, some staff, etc. I'll stay in New York, but that won't be an issue for this." He and Marty talked a little about staffing and how to proceed.
Eventually, though, John called it to an end. "Okay, we don't need to tie up Carl and me on this. You two can sort out the details on your own.", he said, pointing to Marty and Seaver. "Now, I need to talk to Carl for awhile."
I led Marty out to the lobby and arranged for one of the security staff to drive him over to the airport, and to call ahead and let Tyrell know he was coming. Meanwhile, Bob Seaver came through and shook our hands, and he left as well. I headed back inside to see John.
"So, just who is that guy?", I asked. "Is he any good?"
"He used to work for the FBI, tracing hidden money. Then he got married and had a couple of kids, and decided he needed to actually make a few bucks. He set up shop in New York, using what he learned with the Feds."
"You have to love free enterprise.", I quipped.
He nodded, and then stood up. "Listen, stay here. I asked the others to come in for a bit." I stayed in my seat as John moved out of the office. He returned a couple of minutes later, with the two Jakes and Missy in tow.
"So, what's up?", I asked when the others sat down. Jake Junior, who sat down next to me, looked as confused as I was. The others were no better.
"I've asked you all here for a reason." He took a deep breath, and began coughing, which he had done in the earlier meeting as well. When he was able to continue, he said, "That's the problem right there, in a nutshell. I've been coughing like that for a few months now. At first we thought it was just a cold, but when it got worse, I went to the doctor's. I'm not going to beat around the bush. I've got lung cancer, and I'm dying."
To say it was like a bomb going off in the room would be an understatement. All of us began squawking and protesting and speaking at the same time. John let us run on for a few minutes before waving us to silence. "Let me speak. I got the second opinions, I've seen the specialists, I've done all that stuff. It's too late for me. They don't have a cure for this. I've got maybe eight months to live, a year at the most if I really, really fight hard, and that would be very ugly. I talked it over with Helen. We're going to do something we've always talked about but always put off until later. There is no more later. I'm retiring and we're taking a cruise around the world. I'll be out of here at the end of the month."
He coughed a little more. I sat there stunned by the news. John had never smoked, and yet here he was with lung cancer! Now that I knew what to look for I could see he had lost some weight, and was looking a touch pale. Melissa was arguing with him to fight it, even as she cried, but wasn't getting anywhere. Jake Junior looked at me and he looked as stunned as I did. Only his father looked a little more used to the idea; maybe he had a suspicion ahead of time.
John quieted Missy down. "Listen, it's lousy, but it happens. I am closer to seventy than to sixty. Did you guys think I was going to last forever? I could have retired anytime in the last five years. Instead I kept going. No more. All that stuff Helen and I said we would do, well, we're going to do it now. I've seen what the chemo and treatments do to you. Not interested! Thanks to you guys and this company, though, now we can actually afford to do some stuff, and then some. We're going to spend the next few weeks unraveling me from here, and then I'll see you all at the end, at the funeral." He grinned at that.
"God damn!", I said, half to myself. I looked up at him and replied, "You don't leave until after we've had a chance to talk!"
"Fine by me." He stood up and shooed us out. "Now, I need to go home and talk to Helen some more, let her know I let you guys know. We told the kids over the weekend."
I was pretty shocked by it all, so I collected my thoughts and drove home for the rest of the day. When Marilyn came in from the office in Westminster, she found me sitting there in my den, just thinking. "You're home early!", she said in surprise.
I smiled over at her. "Afraid I might find you getting into trouble?"
Marilyn snorted and laughed at that. "I think it'd be more like I'd find you in trouble than the other way around. What's up? They let Congress out early today?"
"Yeah, that's it. The government wanted to get something done, so they sent us away." That earned a smile from my wife. "Actually, I had a meeting with John at the office today. Then he called the two Jakes and Missy in and announced he was retiring for good."
"Good for him. He should take it easy. He's earned it."
"Not good for him. He's got terminal lung cancer. He and Helen are planning to start working on his bucket list."
Marilyn's jaw dropped and her eyes snapped open. "Oh my God! Are you kidding me?!"
I shook my head. "I wish. They're going to take a world cruise starting next month. He's going to wrap up some paperwork and it's so long, Charlie! He told us he'd see us again at the funeral."
"Oh my God!"
"That's pretty much what we all said."
"What can we do?", she asked.
I just held my hands up and shrugged. "What can we do? He said they've already told their kids. I got him to promise to talk to me before they leave."
She nodded and then asked, "What's a bucket list?"
Huh? It was a common enough phrase when I recycled, but when did it become popular? Had I just invented a phrase? "It's the list of things you want to get done before you kick the bucket. You've never heard of it before?"
"No. Do you have a bucket list?"
"Sure thing!"
"Like what?"
I grinned and said, "It involves a blonde with a really big pair of..."
"YOU PIG!"
At that point we heard a school bus pull up out at the road and a minute later Charlie came storming in. "Hey, Dad! What are you doing home?"
"I got a call from your school saying you were skimping on your homework again.", I told him.
Marilyn's was behind Charlie as I said this, and she gave me a look that mixed laughter and exasperation. Charlie couldn't see her starting to silently laugh, and his eyes opened wide! "Dad! No, I mean, I'm not ... it's not like that ... NO!"