“Alan, just check it down. I have you beat. I don’t want to take your money,” I said.
“The bet is sixty. If you can’t handle it, just fold,” Alan challenged me.
I pulled out three more twenties and threw them into the pot. Alan rolled over two nines to give him a full house, nines over threes. He had me beat up to the river. When I rolled over the pocket threes, the color drained from his face.
“Just pull your money back,” I offered.
Alan glared at me, got up, and stormed out. It looked like our friendship really had ended. At this point, that didn’t bother me; I was sick of his behavior. I pulled my cash out of the pot and gave Jim the rest for the ‘beer fund.’ No way the ten dollars he’d asked us to chip in had covered all his expenses.
That pretty much ended the poker game. Ty had brought some Swisher Sweet cigars, so several people stepped out onto the deck to try them. I stayed inside, kicked back, and drank a few beers. It was a pleasant, relaxing evening, and great to get the guys together.
Jim’s parents came home at midnight. His dad insisted on driving everyone home in his van. It was going to take a couple of trips, so I helped Jim, Tim, and Brit clean up.
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Chapter 38 – Feminazis Sunday May 1
After church, Mom dropped me off at Jim’s to pick up my Jeep.
Dad and I once again found ourselves in Caryn’s conference room, with Megan sitting in. Caryn got Dad up to speed on the school lunch issue.
“It’s David’s money, and we have a budget for something like that. I don’t have a problem with it,” Dad said.
“Tell him the rest,” I told Caryn.
“The Quickie Mart has had a few people come in and ask for food. There’s also the matter of how the kids will eat when they aren’t in school,” she summarized.
I quickly realized she’d already talked to him about it.
“What did you want to do about the Quickie Mart?” Dad asked me.
“I thought we might put together some bags of food that could be handed out. Sort of like what you see at the grocery stores around Thanksgiving and Christmas. I would want to include a flyer or brochure that would direct them to where to get help. Maybe make them sign up to get the food and give their names to the county,” I brainstormed.
“I’m not sure that we want to collect people’s names and information, but I expect the county has some literature about the programs that are offered,” Caryn said.
The conversation then devolved into what food should be included. It was decided that there would be a half-gallon of milk, eggs, bread, lunch meat, and peanut butter. Caryn would monitor it and see how it worked out.
Caryn had also talked to the TV station about the issue of childhood hunger, and they agreed to add that as one of the PSAs. She had scripts for all the commercials they wanted me to do. She and Frank had reviewed them, and they’d suggested some changes that the TV station had agreed to. I would shoot them this week after school. When Halle found out what I was doing, she insisted on helping me learn my lines and had ideas for how they should film them.
Caryn gave us a rundown of all the other businesses. The investment in Jack Mass’s construction company was starting to pay dividends. They’d been able to complete six homes and had sold them all. He wanted to reinvest the profits into an old candy factory. One of the hot trends was to convert old commercial spaces into big fourteen-foot-ceiling open-air studios. He planned for it to be a high-end venture. The appeal of the building was that the exterior walls were exposed brick, and the studios would have large windows with views of the city.
Caryn showed us the business plan, and Jack projected a nearly fifty percent return on investment. Dad cautioned that was IF all went well, and I should realize that it never did. Still, both Dad and Caryn endorsed the plan, so I agreed.
Before we began our tour of what was happening here, Caryn pulled out a folder.
“Mr. Morris sent over the finalized agreement with the NCAA. I told him about our little mistake with the pictures,” Caryn said.
I’d handed out movie pictures at a sporting event. That was why she’d changed it so I now handed out baseball cards after games. She flipped through to a marked page of the agreement.
“This basically gives us a ‘get out of jail free’ card for that,” Caryn said.
I read the highlighted phrase: ‘This agreement settles all disputes and issues arising or occurring up to the date of the agreement, whether known or unknown.’
“When I sign and date the document, that sets the date,” Dad explained.
I noticed that Mr. Morris had highlighted several sections and had put notes in the margin for Caryn. There were also notes from Tom Dole and Ms. Dixon. It rather scared me that I needed three lawyers to read an agreement from the NCAA. I understood them all wanting to earn their fee; I couldn’t remember a time when a lawyer didn’t want to add their two cents’ worth. Mom had said some rather unkind words regarding the subject. She dealt with contracts for real estate deals all the time. She said if a lawyer was involved, they always found a way to muck things up. That might explain why it had taken several weeks to get a simple waiver so I could be declared an amateur.
“Hurry up and sign it before they find anything else wrong,” I encouraged dad.
Caryn pulled out a clean copy with the NCAA’s signatures on it. Dad signed and dated it. Megan had her notary stamp, which she affixed to the contract.
“Let’s go on the tour,” Caryn said.
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The restaurant renovation was coming along. The kitchen had been power-washed, and fresh paint was evident. County permits were posted in the front window so the public could see what was going on. Caryn said all the equipment was to be looked at and thoroughly cleaned. She told us that Granny assured her it would be better than new when they were done with it.
The contractor also pulled out the flooring in the back and put in commercial-grade flooring designed for restaurant kitchens. That meant there weren’t cracks or grout where anything might fall in, and it didn’t get slick when wet. It was a slate gray and looked sharp.
Caryn said the walk-ins had been gross. All the shelving was pulled out so it could be cleaned and repaired. Because of what they found, it was decided to do pest control. I appreciated that Caryn didn’t go into detail.
Mary and Granny were working with a designer to figure out the best locations for everything for optimum workflow. The designer was also working out the best seating plan for out front and upstairs. Caryn showed us some concepts for downstairs. They were trying to get it to look and feel a lot like Granny’s current restaurant. We’d half decided to call the place “Granny’s West” to capitalize on her good name. Upstairs they wanted to name “Our House.” Megan joked that you could say you were going to “Our House,” and people would think you were going home. Dad threw in that when people would chant “Our House” at the games, it would be free advertising. I wondered why I was even there.
◊◊◊
I had to be home early today. The woman from Elle was going to be doing her interview at the house this evening.
As I was walking to the house, a car pulled up and parked on the street outside the gate, and I waved at it. Two women got out of the vehicle and approached the gate. One, dressed in ‘New York business’ attire, was a medium-height brunette. The second was more casually dressed and had mousy brown hair and glasses. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her.
“Have I met you before?”
The videographer smiled at me.
“No, we’ve never actually met.”
She didn’t say any more, so I shook it off and offered to help with the equipment. She accepted, and as soon as I picked up the two cameras she had, I knew why. Those suckers were heavy!