Fooled Me Twice Pt. 04

Just before 3 o'clock, as I walked out of my front office, I ran into Carmen and Amara. Carmen started speaking before I did, so I yielded the floor to her.

"Marty, You were 'spot on' about Amara; we will make a great team."

"Well, I probably will never reach space, but we will make travel in our solar system much easier for our children and grandchildren. The CIA-approved desktops, each coming with two flat screens, are on the way and will be delivered Wednesday morning."

Amara's turn to speak, "Bad news, good news, and better news. They have no spare Rolodex in the office-supply area of the warehouse. They did have three desks and two chairs that will be here tomorrow morning at 9:30. The third chair will be delivered tomorrow afternoon from Chambers Office-Supply, and they will deliver three whiteboards with markers next Friday by 10 o'clock. They had to order them. And I have a Rolodex at home that I've never used, so I'll bring it in tomorrow and fill it up for you."

Back to Carmen, "Marsha said we should have two more smartphones here Monday morning, and she gave me yours. Tomorrow at 10 AM, we can go by the security office for our name tags and retinal scans."

And Amara finished up with, "Marsha also said she'll get back with me tomorrow on a combo printer unit, and Mickey at Chambers thinks he has a drafting table that was an open box return; he just has to remember where he put it."

"Well, team Marty, not too bad for the first day. Tomorrow I have some thoughts I want to pursue in the machine shop. We can't have thought of everything, so brainstorm together and come up with what we missed. Amara, it'd be your chore to babysit my schedule because sometimes I speak before checking, which leads to major problems. So every morning, my schedule for that day and the upcoming five days needs to go to me, Carmen, Marsha, and Lorraine."

"Tomorrow at noon, we'll pick up my fiancée at home and have lunch together. She is very jealous and hotheaded, so I want to make this as transparent as possible."

"One of the girls in the secretarial pool told me that you're getting married in three weeks. Congratulations, Marty."

"I'm not sure whether congratulations or condolences will be in order. Stay tuned until the honeymoon's over."

Friday, desks and chairs were delivered, and the WWII leftovers were whisked away to a museum, I believe. I now had a desk to set my Rolodex and phone on.

Friday's lunch with Liz and my two beautiful assistants, Carmen and Amara, was tense until Liz finished her interrogation. From the rude questions asked, she found out Amara was ten years older than me, married to a man she adores and has three beautiful children, and Carmen is a single parent with an eleven-year-old son and was sixteen years older than me.

We ate after the inquisition, and I became invisible while the three women chatted among themselves like old friends. I didn't try to leave because I knew they expected me to pay for lunch, so I went to Marty-World, where there were trees and flowers and chirping birds. That evening, the miracle of all miracles happened; Liz apologized for being rude. I had to reward her that evening for being gracious toward my team.

The most lavish wedding of the 21st century, in Greenville, South Carolina, would take place in twenty-one days. Whose wedding was that important? Mine, of course. Why's it so special? Because of all the money my mother, sisters, and fiancée are spending on my behalf. You may remember Liz telling me she had no living relatives, so my mother decided to make this the most spectacular wedding any living South Carolinian has ever attended. I pretend to be upset because I'm paying for it, but it's worth every dollar they spend if it makes Liz happy.

There are five hundred names on the guest list, and Liz, believe it or not, has talked Momma out of doing some bizarre shit, like her arriving in a carriage pulled by white horses or paying $150 a bottle for champagne. I need to invent and patent a modern-day philosopher's stone so I don't go broke paying for my wedding. In reality, I needed to develop and patent something quickly to sell to the U.S. government.

I spent the weekend as a gopher; Marty, go to Mabel's and pick up the tablecloth order; Marty, go to Frans craft shop and pick up the crystal candle holders; Marty, blah, blah.

I'm not a Monday morning person, but I was out the door at 6:30 and relaxed at the Waffle House for an hour, eating breakfast before going to the office to begin a critical week.

The short version for today's activities; Amara spent all day putting contacts in our smartphones and putting away office supplies. Carmen got the schematics I needed and spent three hours ordering software specific to our requirements. In the afternoon, I met with Larry and told him I had bought a Cray and explained it would arrive on Wednesday, with installation starting on Thursday. I gave him the phone number of the customer service manager in charge of training at Cray Inc. While the Cray was installed and tested, Larry would be getting an online crash course on maintaining my costly purchase. After that, he would take classes online at home and perform maintenance as needed on the Cray under supervision until he received certification.

The tractor-trailer carrying our Cray supercomputer arrived at 9:05 AM on Wednesday. The largest crate delivered easily fit through the double doors; however, I wasn't given the width of the forklift they sent, and it wouldn't fit between the doors; the tires were too fat. Nevertheless, the gods were smiling at us today because the guys in the fabrication building had an old electric forklift with enough muscle to take a handoff from their forklift at the door. The only problem was that while the motor was powerful enough for any load, the weight of the crates caused our forklift to tip over, so we added 525 pounds of ballast by having our two largest fabricators stand on the rear bumper.

There's a statement that's used quite often, 'necessity is the mother of invention.'

After the truck left and we locked up the room, I ran to my office to be greeted with organized chaos. PCs were being set up by three men who looked like, um, well, Chippendale dancers, beefcakes. There, I said it, but if I were inclined to be a switch hitter, any of them would've got me excited. Larry was there setting up the users on one PC while Amara and Carmen were against the wall admiring the view. Behind them, HR Marcia, Uncle Bob's Marsha, Carla, and Lorraine were observing the setup while whispering among themselves. The office supply people were assembling the whiteboards and drafting table in my office.

I greeted the ladies, "Ladies, what could possibly bring six of the hottest women in Greenville together in one small office simultaneously? Maybe I should call Liz so she won't accuse me of having a party and not inviting her?"

"Too late, I'm here," Liz said as she walked through the door with Dad in tow. "Oh, my. I see what you mean, Carmen."

Too much estrogen in this room, and I need to leave.

I headed toward the door, and Carmen chirped, "Hey, Marty. They had to get under our desks to hook up the PCs."

They were all wearing shorts, socks, and boots, but I had to ask, "I can see that, but why did they take off their shirts?"

----------------

Thursday morning, I was out the door at sunrise and pacing in front of my double steel doors at 7:50 AM when two vans sporting the Cray Inc. corporate logo pulled up next to me. I was expecting three men for a two-week install, but four men and two women exited the vans, making me question my memory of the contract signing. I recognized Harold, my installer.

"Bright and early, Harold. You're the kind of people I like to do business with. But why are there six installers?"

"How would you feel having the beast installed and operational in eight days?"

"Ecstatic, but I only have two eyes, two kidneys, and two nuts, and I don't want to part with any of them for a fast install."

"How about, for no extra cost to you, an eight-day install in trade for you doing five demos in the next six weeks? Stevens A&D is the third customer we have sold this model to, and we have customers who want to see it in operation before they plunk down three-quarters of a million dollars."

"Why Stevens? What about the first two you sold?"

"Those Alphabet companies don't exist."

"I understand. It's all right with me, but I have to ask Dad and my uncle if strangers can visit? I have one condition; the demos will be restricted to this room."

So now we were on track to get this bad boy running well before getting hitched and heading off on a fabulous honeymoon with the sex goddess.

Today is Saturday, fourteen days before Liz puts a ring through my nose and tries to make me domesticated. I woke up before the sun came up and was out the door as it peaked above the horizon so that I could escape a day of Marty, the gopher. I had my notebook with me and went to my office to evaluate my realistic ideas, not science fiction ones like warp drive, and transfer some of my thoughts to my hard drive. When I finished up, it was after three.

Surprisingly, I wasn't in too much hot water; the women in my house chose to ignore me. So I went to my home office to play 'World of Warcraft' and ate the sub sandwich I picked up on the way home.

Liz was too busy Saturday night and all day Sunday for a little loving, so Sunday evening, I texted a message to Carmen, Amara, Marsha, and Lorraine, that I wouldn't be in until noon the next day.

I slept in until 7 o'clock and then got up and fixed a southern breakfast with eggs over easy, grits, bacon, sausage, and biscuits with gravy. I loaded two platefuls on a large silver tray Mom left behind, with a pot of coffee and a carafe of orange juice, and I served Liz her breakfast in bed. She was still out of it until I held a cup of black coffee close to her face. Her nose started twitching, and a cute little smile appeared, and my goddess spoke to me for the first time in three days, "Oh, Jimmy, you brought me breakfast. Marty's already gone to work, so hurry and feed me, and I'll reward you afterward."

My mood went south, and an infinite number of angry responses filled my head until I realized she had buried her face into her pillow and was trying very hard not to laugh. Two can play that game.

I returned the cup to the tray and picked it up, saying, "I wonder if Olivia would like me to serve her breakfast in bed? I'm sure I would get a better reception than I have just received."

"Wait, wait, wait, Marty. I was teasing; you know I was teasing, right?"

And so, the two lovers, Marty and Liz, had breakfast in bed and spent the rest of the morning discussing prime numbers. Right, one gasping orgasm, a second crying orgasm, a third screaming orgasm, well, you can fill in the rest.

As I walked into the outer sanctum of the Stevens brothers, I was greeted with high pitch 'Ooohs and Aaahs' from Lorraine, Marsha, and Carla.

"Thank you, thank you. The videotape of today's activities will be on sale at the wedding reception, and I'm sure I'll win the Oscar for best performance by a future husband."

I talked to Dad about the installation and the demos that would follow. The first demo would take place three days before my wedding, and two more were scheduled during my honeymoon.

"After you watch me give the first demonstration, Uncle Bob and you will be able to answer questions regarding the differences in processing power between our two mainframes."

"I hope you're right."

"Trust me, Dad, once Uncle Bob sees this beast in action, he'll have you believing it was his idea."

I stuck my head in Uncle Bob's office and said, "Hey," but didn't linger because he was on the phone.

Entering my office, I got the same reception from Carmen and Amara, so I asked if they wanted to see all the Hickey's Liz gave me, and they declined my kind offer.

This week passed by quickly as if I blinked on Monday, and when I opened my eyes again, it was Saturday morning, seven days until the wedding. Today was all about Momma and the housewarming party she was throwing to show off her new dream house my dad gave her. And when she made Liz her co-hostess, I realized she wasn't throwing a pre-wedding party, not that I would expect her to spend money on me, so I was flying solo today. She could have combined the two events and made me pay for it if she had thought it out.

It was like the circus came to town with the caterers, bartenders, cooks, waitresses, busboys, and four-disc jockeys setting up for maybe a thousand guests to show up. Dad rented a farmer's grass field down the road from the house for parking and hired parking attendants to keep the lot orderly. Then he rented five minibuses to transport people from the parking lot to the party. Oh, and I forgot to mention the row of 'porta potties' lined up against the tree line. These were no ordinary outhouses, each one was twice as large as a normal one, and they were air-conditioned. I checked one out before the first guests arrived, and they were immaculate and had an odor like a bathroom in a fancy house.

My orders from Dad were, 'Relax and enjoy yourself.' So I wore a wide-brim hat and my darkest sunglasses, carried an ice-filled cooler with cans of iced tea and a big bowl of seedless grapes, and brought a paperback adventure novel. I was ready to party without getting drunk. Shade was provided by an old oak tree fifty yards away from the house, and the cushy for my tushy was a nicely padded lawn chair from the pool area.

I'd made and eaten a big plate of food from the caterers, drank three cans of tea, ate most of my grapes, and visited the outdoor convenience center before I was discovered by two little munchkins named Julie and Rose. Ten yards behind them was D, and I waved and gave her a thumbs up.

"Unca Mahty, where were you? I looked all over. Ant Wiz didn't know, eever."

"Hi, Marty. I'm five now, and I can count to fifty and spell my name, 'J u l i e,' and I'm going to school in the fall, and I get to be a flower girl in your wedding."

"I flower girl too, Unca Mahty, and I free."

"I know, three years old and a flower girl. I was waiting for you to find me, and you did, so anyone who wants a story, climb up and snuggle on each side."

So they climbed up on me, and I told the story about a prince and a princess, happily ever after, and Rose was asleep before I got to the part where they met. Shortly after that, Julie nodded off, and I fell asleep not long after.

I woke up when someone lifted a sleeping Rose off my left arm. Peeping under my eyelids, I could see Dianna, and glancing at my watch, could see we'd slept two hours. I got up and followed her inside, carrying Julie. By the time we reached their room upstairs, they were both awake and hungry, but before I could offer, she told me Danni was fixing them a plate and she and Unca Cliff were going to feed them.

So I decided to look for Liz. I walked down the right-side stairs and weaved my way back to the kitchen and out the back door to the deck. I knew many guests were in the house, but there was still a mob of people in the backyard.

Wide awake now, I walked down the wooden stairway and wandered through all the small groups, talking and laughing while drinking too much, many of whom I knew personally and greeted. I didn't find Liz or Momma.

I re-entered the house through the basement and headed toward the stairs, another wide staircase that ended at the end of the dining room on the first level. I wasn't interested in exploring; I just wanted to find Liz, so I continued my journey. Transitioning through the kitchen, I found myself between the two front staircases that joined on a landing before separating and climbing to the second floor. I walked out the front doorway onto a porch that ran across the entire house width and was filled with people.

A nagging thought entered my mind regarding the cost of this house, but I pushed it aside as I navigated my way through the large crowd on the front lawn and driveway, heading toward a five-foot-high bank across the road.

This morning, I entered the property from the side carrying my cooler because that's where I parked my car. I hadn't seen the front of the house or much of the back because of all the tents set up for food and drinks.

So when I climbed the bank and turned around, I was shocked to see the front of the house for the first time; shocked wasn't even in the ballpark for the feelings I had at that moment. How about intimidated or panic-stricken or perplexed? This house cost much more than I figured Dad could afford to buy for Mom. Could he have bought more Stevens stock after knowing the first NASA contract was in the bag? When the company went private by buying back all the public stock, Dad would have made a killing. It can't be true; was my dad guilty of insider trading?

Forgetting about finding Liz, I went back into the mansion on a mission to find Dad, asking people I knew if they'd seen him? I finally tracked him down in the Media Room/Library, a massive room that went from the front of the house to the back. It was half filled with theatre chairs and a big screen on the back wall, but I was intent on speaking to my father. I made a beeline toward him. Unfortunately, he was talking to Uncle Bob, and I rudely interrupted them.

"Dad, I need to talk to you."

"In a minute, Marty. Don't interrupt."

"Now, Dad, and you too, Uncle Bob."

Dad led us into a small empty room on the side with a sigh. Closing the door after we entered, he looked at me, "What, Marty, what is so damned important you had to interrupt Bob and me?"

"How could you afford this house? Momma spends money faster than you can make it. And you didn't sell the old house; you're renting to me. So did you buy more Stevens stock after knowing you were getting the NASA contract years ago?"

"You know, Alex, I've been wondering that myself."

A big smile blossomed on my Dad's face, and he started giggling like a little kid, "I did not buy any Stevens stock except what I got at our IPO. I did do what I call reverse insider training, but no one could ever prove it. Years ago, I met a man in the same business we are in now, Space exploration, but his company was in the automotive industry back then. We both had our own IPOs a couple of years earlier, and we laughed about the process because both of our stocks tanked shortly after, although we got the capital we needed to expand. So we shook hands on a gentlemen's agreement to give each other tips when our companies were getting ready to shoot up in price because of good news, government contracts, or whatever was happening in our industry."

I was going to ask, but Uncle Bob asked the question first, "Who is it?"

"All I can tell you is the name of his first company, and you have to figure out the rest yourself. He told me he was close to breaking even, and the time to buy his stock was at hand. This conversation took place in 2012, so I sold some land Daddy gave me and used that to purchase 200,000 shares of his company at an average price of $6.32 a share. I used a broker, and he bought me 20,000 shares a month. A year later, I gave him a tip about our NASA contract. Of course, since then, we've repurchased all our stock to be privately owned again, but he still made a ton of money selling us his stock back.

When I drained my savings account six months ago, I sold 100,000 shares at a little over $60 a share to finish paying for the house, all the furnishings, and capital gains tax. I still had a healthy chunk of cash to refill my bank account."

As my dad started to leave the room, he turned around with a big grin and said, "His company is TESLA."