Georgie Girl Ch. 10-12

"Who's the other party?" I asked.

"Your parents," he grinned. "They have a great deal of faith in you, John, and now that they are financially set they want to invest in the future of their children."

I was still reeling from what had been talked about in the past few minutes. I hadn't been prepared for this at all. True, I was hoping Thomas could point me to investors who would be willing to support my development, but trusting his experience, I may have seriously underestimated the cost of the project. Now ... I was being rescued by my parents and my future in-laws. I must have looked like one stunned bunny at that moment.

"Don't get all upset, Johnny," Nan spoke up. "This is your family speaking to you. Your true family and your adopted family. I know you don't understand the resources we have at hand, but you'll have to trust us that you will not have to worry about money for a very long time ... if ever. That's probably hard for you to grasp, but it's true."

"You have to concentrate on finishing school, John," Georgette said softly. "Remember, that was your first priority ... both for the project and for us. Don't lose sight of your goals, love."

I nodded, still finding it difficult to say what I needed to say.

"I'm having a hard time accepting all this. It's more than I ever expected. I mean, Georgette, living here ... all the things you have done for me. I'm embarrassed at how you've treated me, a stranger only a few months ago."

"Well, Johnny, you're no stranger now," Nan cackled. "You've brought some new life into this family. Important new life ... like maybe grandchildren and great-grandchildren? That's not a small thing."

Thomas was smiling and nodding agreement, while Georgette seemed slightly uncomfortable.

I could only think of one thing to say at that point. "Thank you." I paused for a moment. "Just out of curiosity, how much has each partner committed to the project?"

"One hundred thousand," Thomas said immediately.

"That's a half-million dollars," I said, my voice cracking with strain.

"It's a good start," Georgette's father smiled.

"New topic," Thomas said as he handed me a sheet of paper. It was a printed employment contract form that we could use if I felt Kevin Riordan was a valuable addition to our group.

"I'm not sure what Kevin would expect for this project," Thomas said, "but we won't know until we discuss it with him. I am assuming that you find his addition worthwhile?"

I nodded affirmatively. "Yes. I think he has the skills. It's a matter of whether I ... we ... can afford him."

"Let's talk to him and find out if his expectations are realistic," Thomas suggested.

***

"Money isn't my motivator right now," Kevin said as we discussed his employment. "I want something that I think is worthwhile and that I can contribute to its development. I like the concept of the decontamination system and I like the idea of it being easily portable. I don't have anything to keep me in Greenville, so if I could find a place to live, I'd be willing to move out here. I think a thousand a week would be plenty for me. We can make the life of the contract eight weeks to start with, then renewable every month or so, depending on how far along we are."

"Don't worry about a place to live, Kevin," Nan spoke up. I've got two unused bedrooms next door and I'm not a terrible cook."

"Well, that would be handy, all right," the man mused. "You think we could get along?" he grinned.

"I expect we can," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

"Well then, if the offer is open, I'll accept with thanks. I'm living in a furnished apartment, so all I have to move is my clothes, car, and books. Shouldn't take more than a week or so."

"I've got a space in my garage where the Buick used to sit," Nan said. "You can use that for your Studebaker."

I could see Kevin brighten at that offer.

"That'll be great. I can work on it when I'm not working on the project. It's almost ready for the paint shop."

"Sounds like we have a deal, then," I said, extending my hand to Kevin.

He shook it with a firm hand and replied, "We do indeed."

Later, after an enjoyable day which included Kevin, I was alone with Georgette and Nan in the living room.

"Are you sure you'll be all right with Kevin in your place?" I asked her.

"Have you seen the way that man dresses and handles himself?" Nan said seriously. "It's like he's still in the military. He's polite, good manners, and needs to be around people, not by himself. I think living here is going to be good for him."

I shrugged and looked at Georgette.

"We'll be right here if you need us," Georgette said.

"Don't you worry about me. I'll be fine. Kevin and I are going to get along just dandy," she said with authority.

Kevin returned on Saturday, the day before Halloween. He was driving a large, green Ford pickup truck and towing a flatbed trailer with a fabric covered car fastened to it. He carefully and skillfully backed the trailer into Nan's garage, leveled and unhitched it, then unloaded several tool boxes from a lock-box on the pickup. When finished, he locked the garage and drove the truck around to park on the street in front of the house.

We greeted him on the front porch and I helped him with his bags and boxes, leading him into Nan's house and up the stairs to his room. Nan was right, he was organized, not just in appearance, but in how his things were packed and placed in the boxes and luggage. I had a feeling that this feature of his would carry over into the design and construction of the prototype. The more I saw of Kevin Riordan, the more confidence I had that we had chosen well.

I had called Rex Lyman to let him know that we had hired Kevin and that he had already contributed to the construction of the prototype. In one of his boxes, he brought along samples of the flexible conduit and coupling that he was suggesting for our model. I was impressed with the samples and said so.

"This looks really strong and well engineered, Kevin."

"It is. That's the way Charlie thinks. Better to overbuild than find out later that it isn't tough enough for the job. This may be more than we need for your machine, but we can modify it once we have the field testing done."

"Charlie" was Charles Prendergast, the developer of the conduit and couplings, destined for usage in military aircraft and vehicles. It certainly looked, on the surface of it, to be plenty strong enough for our application. I sure hoped so.

"Where is Charlie located?" I asked.

"Pueblo, Colorado. He was laid off same time as me. Went home to Colorado with his wife. Says he couldn't keep her and stay in South Carolina, so home they went. He's happy there because she's happy there," he grinned.

"We both had a lot of years in the air force and at Lockheed, so we have good pensions and plenty of opportunities to work if we want to. We can afford to be choosy. He's likin' what he's doin', so he's happy how it's all turning out. Me too, for that matter."

"I'm glad to hear that, Kevin. I have a feeling you're going to be a valuable resource for us."

"I hope so, John. I hope so."

While I went to school, Kevin began setting up the other half of Nan's garage by building a couple of sturdy work benches. One was about waist high and eight feet long, two feet wide. The other was almost the size of his pickup truck bed, but about thirty inches tall. He had covered the plywood top with tempered hardboard and then epoxy coated it for further protection.

He set up some lamps to give him plenty of light where he was working. His tools were all neatly arranged along the wall on pegboard or on shelves he had built. The entire effort took less than three days to complete, and one more to stock with his tools and supplies. Once again, we could see his inherent organizational skills come through.

"I'm going to look for a place to store the car, John. I need more space in the garage for the prototype frame. Then we'll do some plotting on how things are going to fit. When we get further along, we'll need to rent a proper shop to do assembly and testing. Right now, the garage will serve to work on the prototype, but not much more."

"Okay. How do you want to do this?"

"By keeping it the garage, we won't have to worry about information leaking out. I'm going to build a frame from store-bought aluminum extrusions from the 80/20 Company and then we'll see how the components fit as we go along. We probably won't get it right the first time, but we'll figure out how to adapt as we progress. There is only your guide to follow for this, so we'll just have to use common sense and try and keep it as simple as possible."

"That makes sense to me. What can I do to help?"

"Make a drawing or even a list of the order that the process has to take, step by step. Then, detail the size of each component and we'll see if we can make it fit into the frame. Also, we need a 220 volt line for power. I'm sure we're going to need that for the heater elements."

"All right," I said. "I have some of that information now, but I'll get started on the list in sequence from intake to output."

"Good. I'll start getting some frame materials right away. Looks like we've got a project," he grinned.

"Looks like," I agreed.

To Be Continued.