Author's note: Given the four and a half year hiatus in the creation of this series, it's natural to assume some inconsistency with the style of prose used in the original parts. I've attempted to blend this continuation by revisiting the previous parts and correcting grammatical errors, and/or mistakes called to my attention over the years. This was not intended to be a complete rewrite and the basic storyline of the earlier parts has not changed, although I have added a couple of images. Further, I've made every effort to write the new story chapters in the former style.

Both readers new to this series and longtime fans should understand that most of the TG aspects of this story are long past. Darla Anne is still a boy beneath the skirts, but thinks of herself only as a girl. The administration of prescribed hormones during the pubescent cycle have shaped her body to that of a genetic girl. Only one small external vestige remains of her previous identity. Her age, small secret, and busy schedule have kept her from developing close ties to any of the males at school, but she's naturally begun to look more appealing to other young adults of the 'opposite' sex.

As a young woman who's headed up a large corporation for several years, Darla Anne is not merely a corporate figurehead at fifteen, but rather a responsible adult with a mature mind. She requires bigger and bigger deals to get the thrill from her 'real life' game of monopoly. I expected readers to lose interest in the story as the TG content diminished, but fans have begged me to continue this series and so I've returned to write episodes of Texas Gal once again. I realize that possibly only diehard fans of my protagonist and her family will wish to read this story continuation. I don't mind that the chapters aren't everyone's cuppa.

Texas Gal

by C. Sprite

    

Chapter Thirty-Six     It Never Rains When It Can Pour!

I accompanied Auntie to work the following Monday morning. I was able to apply my educational knowledge from college now and it was wonderful to actually be kept busy. The days just seemed to fly by. It was also wonderful to sleep in my own bed at the ranch each night.

When the plane arrived to pick me up and take me to Vermont again, after my two weeks of working with Auntie was over, I was almost a little sad. But the annual company picnic was scheduled for the following Saturday, and I wanted to be there in case any last minute details required my attention.

In Vermont I watched the plane lift off again before the limo had even cleared the airport grounds on our way to the Holiday Inn. The jet was needed elsewhere but would return for me next Sunday.

I arrived at the plant's headquarters building just as the first shift was preparing to start work on Monday morning. I smiled and said hello to everyone I passed, stopping to chat briefly with Nancy, the executive suite secretary, when I arrived upstairs. I found a freshly brewed pot of tea waiting for me as I entered my office, so I prepared a cup before wading into the piles of waiting paperwork.

There was a small folder containing new employee forms and I looked through them before taking them to the file room off the outer office. After distributing them to the appropriate file cabinet drawers, I returned to my office where I meticulously read through the contents of the folder containing offers of available plants and businesses. I didn't find anything of interest, so I paper clipped a note to each that detailed the type of rejection response letter it was to receive.

All I had left after that was a small pile of personal mail and an enormous pile of trade magazines. Much of the so-called 'personal' mail were advertisements, and went immediately into the garbage. I have no patience with advertisers who try to sneak their offers past secretaries charged with pulling advertising literature by marking it as 'personal.' If marked properly, the advertisements would have been forwarded to Purchasing. Instead they went into the trash. There were a few items that were correctly marked. I set most of them aside for Bob to handle, and filed the rest in my desk. With that done, so was I. Now I just had to find something interesting to do for the rest of my week.

I'd noticed earlier that Nancy had finished typing the latest draft of the master plan and left it on my conference table after incorporating all the changes that we had discussed at my last weekly meeting with my key executives. I poured myself another cup of tea, then took it and the master plan over to my sofa where I carefully read through the plan, looking for typos, missing words, or erroneous information. This was the most ambitious master plan yet. We had too quickly met the goals, even the long range goals, of previous plans, so I set my sights quite a bit higher this time around. Deciding that no more changes were needed, I wrote a note to Nancy that she should make twenty Xerox copies when she had a chance, and turned my attention to the trade mags.

I was relaxing on the sofa a little past ten o'clock when my phone rang. Nancy informed me that a caller named Mr. Chester Billings of Armadillo Building Supply wished to speak to me.

"At least that's what I think he said, Miss Drake," Nancy added.

I giggled and told her to put him through as I dropped the magazine I was looking through onto the coffee table.

"Dahla Anne Drake," I said I said in my most acute Texas accent as I heard the connection go through.

"Miss Drake, this is Chesta Billings of Ahmadillo Building Supply. We own a property that ya'll looked at a few weeks ago. You were referred to me by your Grand-mother."

I smiled to myself. Mr. Billing's Texas accent was every bit as down-home as my own. I wondered if it was real or put on. Accents had started to disappear in recent years, especially among corporate executives who traveled a great deal, but people still expected to hear the accent if you were from Texas and many obliged. "Yes, Mista Billings. Ah believe that ah spoke to a Mr. Rojas about it."

"That's right. He's my right hand man down here. He's a good man. Ah was away on business that week and ah guess that ya'll been away for the past two weeks yourself."

"Yes, ah've been working down in Dallas for the past two weeks."

"Really? You were down here working? Too bad ah didn't have your number. We could have wrapped this up already."

"Have you made a decision on our offer?"

"Well, that's what ah wanted to talk to you about. We feel that your offer is a tad bit low, but we can let you have the whole magilla for one-million one-hundred thousand."

My heart had sped up as he talked but I kept my voice calm and steady. "That's a bit more than we feel the property is worth. Let's see, ah offered eight-hundred seventy-five thousand. We're not too far apart. How about if we spilt the difference at an even one million dollars."

I waited while Mr. Billings thought about the offer, or tried to appear to be thinking about it. I knew that actually meeting him more than halfway was weighing on his mind. He could be thinking that he would appear pretty greedy if he made a counter offer now, or he could be thinking that I was anxious and that he could remain firm with his price. We had already reached the 'magic' number of one million, which I was hoping was all he was really expecting.

"Very well, Miss Drake. It's a deal. One million dollars it is."

"Ah'll prepare a letter of intent and send it out by courier today," I said. "As soon as ya'll sign it and return a copy to me, ah'll turn it over to the attorney's for the formal paperwork pra-cessing."

"Sounds like a plan, Miss Drake. We'll keep the security patrols gahddin the property until next Monday. Ya'll should have the signed letter back by then. Mr. Cousins can provide your people with keys to the gate and the main building. It's been a pleasure doing business with ya'll. Ah certainly hope to run into you down here in Texas one of these fine days."

"I'm sure that you will, Mr. Billings. Ah look forward to it also."

I celebrated closing the deal by preparing myself a third cup of tea. I had about given up hearing from Mr. Billings, and been wondering how much longer I should wait before calling him. I might have lost the edge in negotiations and had to pay a higher price if he felt I was anxious. I immediately moved to my desk and completed two copies of the letter of intent, placing them into an envelope for the courier. I picked up the letter, the master plan draft, and the 'offers' folder and brought them all out to Nancy, before returning to read trade magazines until lunchtime.

The main hot dish in the cafeteria today was Salisbury Steak, baked potato, and corn. I brought the tray back to my office and listened to a rock station on the radio as I ate and read. It was difficult to find good rock stations in Texas. Almost every station seemed to be either country western, or Mexican.

A little after one o'clock my phone rang again. I expected it to be Bob Warren, but it was Nancy telling me that I had a call from a Mr. Tassett, from Bloomington Business Forms. I told her to connect us and I heard the click indicating that Mr. Tassett was on the line.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Tassett. How are you today?"

"Excellent, Miss Drake. I feel better than I've felt in years."

"Wonderful, Mr. Tassett. You've had good news I take it?"

"No, but I've reached a decision. I want to pursue my dream now rather than waiting for another year or more. I feel like a giant weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I'll sell you my plant for the fifteen million dollars you offered."

Upon taking the call, I suspected that Mr. Tassett wished to discus the sale of his printing plant, or to negotiate on the price, but I hadn't expected him to drop to the price that I had offered. It's true that I had told him that it was unquestionably my top offer. "You're quite sure?" I asked.

"Absolutely! I haven't stopped thinking about it since your visit. This weekend I started packing up the house. I want to be in California in time for the kids to begin school there at the start of the new school term."

"That's pretty quick. I don't know if we can wrap everything up in time."

"As long as we get the process rolling, I can get my family moved and then join them when everything is completed."

"Okay, Mr. Tassett. I'll send a letter of intent out by courier today. As soon as you sign and return a copy to me, we'll start the formal transfer procedure. My people will arrive to assume operational management of the plant before the end of the week, and that will free you to move your family while we finalize the transfer and make payment."

"I'm in heaven, Miss Drake. I'll be watching for the papers and return them immediately."

"Okay, Mr. Tassett. Good luck with your vineyard. Don't forget to reserve a few cases for me when you bottle your first vintage."

"You'll have it, Miss Drake. And thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Tassett."

I replaced the receiver on the phone cradle and thought about the call, then dug out my notes about the plant and filled out two copies of the letter of intent. I had just put them into an envelope and finished addressing it for the courier when the phone rang again. I thought that it might be Mr. Tassett calling back but it turned out to be Bob Warren.

"Hi, Bob."

"Hi, boss. Got a few minutes?"

"Sure."

"Okay, I'll be right over."

A minute later there was a knock at the door and Bob walked in carrying his coffee mug. He came over to my desk and eased himself down into one of the chairs that faced me. "Welcome back," he said. "How was Texas?"

"Hot, but great. How've things been up here?"

"Hot and humid, but we're supposed to see things break on Thursday. I'm hoping for nice weather for our picnic. Between the tent and the new, permanent cooking pavilion, we're ready even if it rains. It will only put a damper on the rides and games."

"Great, is there anything that I can do to help? Any arrangements that couldn't be made?"

"I don't think so. The committees in each region have things pretty well in hand. They started early enough last fall that they were able to book everything they wanted, and within their established budget."

"Good. I'm looking forward to the picnic. How's everything else?"

"Fine. Production is meeting quotas at all the plants and sales continue to climb. We've gone to two full shifts at Concord now." Bob paused to smile. "It seems like only yesterday when we were worried about how we were going to make that plant pay for itself. We've installed another of the new four-color box making machines in Greenfield and demand continues to grow. Things are running fine at the new Gorham plant, and the two Maine plants. Sales continue to move upward in the Southeast region, and the Midwest region plants are doing great. Everything is going so good that's it's beginning to seem a little dull around here. I hope that you have a line on something that we can sink our teeth into."

"Your wish is granted."

Bob smiled and looked at me expectantly. "What, a new offer?"

I held up the letter of intent in the courier envelope. "In this envelope is the letter of intent to purchase Bloomington Business Forms for fifteen million dollars. Mr. Tassett is going to grow grapes and make wine in California."

"Wow. That's great. We can use the extra capacity. The second shift at Danbury is almost operating at full capacity. I've been talking to them about going to a third shift. The training program we've inaugurated is working out well, but we don't really have enough experienced printers yet. Maybe we can create a partial second shift at Bloomington from the people already in place and start a training program there as well. Who will be in charge with Tassett leaving?"

"Let's see if we can get someone from Danbury's management. Who do you think would move for a promotion to plant manager?"

"Tough to say. I guess that we should start making some inquiries."

"I'll get the plant's employment file," I said as I stood up to walk to the file room off the outer office. Pulling the folder that included all the employment forms for executive and supervisory personnel at Danbury, I brought them back into my office. Bob and I ranked the personnel as we went through the forms and wound up with four people who we felt could handle the job. Bob wrote the names down and said that he'd call each to see if they were interested. If no one was interested in moving, we'd look at our other operations to see who might be qualified to take over management of a plant. Although I'd prefer to have someone with a background in printing, it wasn't really vital for the top spot.

"Except for the one top management position," Bob said, "the Bloomington plant should pretty much be a turn-key operation. Bill's people will have to consolidate their accounting operations into our own here, and we'll have to train them in our reporting systems and procedures, but otherwise, it should be cut and dried."

"I knew that you'd want more," I said smiling, "so I have another project for you. This one should keep you busy for months. It's anything but a turn-key operation. We're buying the Pennsylvania plant for one million. I sent out the letter of intent this morning. We should have it back by the end of the week according to Mr. Billings."

"The Pennsylvania plant? Terrific. That really should keep us busy for a while."

"First we'll have to get the power turned on and basic telephone service installed. Then I'd like 24-hour guards on the property. I want to stop any more vandalism. Let's get a crew down there to clean up the outside of the plant. If that overgrown forest that used to be a lawn is cut down and the garbage cleaned out, it should slow or stop further damage to the building by people who believe the property to be abandoned. We'll need someone to replace all the broken windows, and an exterminator to rid the office building of birds, vermin, and bugs once it's sealed. Then we'll start on building maintenance. We didn't see any serious problems, but let's have some experts check the roofs, foundations, and walls. We also want to make sure that the heating systems are fully operational before fall gets here, and the water pipes will all have to be checked. Hopefully the lines were all drained when the heat was turned off."

"I'll get on it today. I assume that we can get the keys from Cousins?"

"Yes. Mr. Billings said that Mr. Cousins has the keys to the front gate and the main building. Since the plant was closed four years ago, I imagine that most of the keys will be missing. Cousins probably only has the two keys. Other locks may have to be changed, or at the least re-keyed."

"I'll talk to John about arranging for a group of engineers to start working on the equipment. Once the office building is sealed we can set up some temporary crew quarters there. It's probably going to take a year of work to get all the equipment operating."

"I know, but it'll be worth it. If we're reaching capacity in Greenfield for boxing, we can concentrate on getting Pennsylvania's boxing operation going first. We should be able to start limited production in that part of the plant by the end of the year."

"Okay, we'll concentrate on that first and then work on the paper forming machines afterwards."

Our discussion was interrupted by my ringing phone. I picked it up and heard Nancy announce that a Mr. Michael Merwin was on the line. I rolled my eyes and told Nancy to put him through.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Merwin," I said as I heard the line click.

"Hello, Miss Drake. I was told that you'd be back today. It's nice to speak with you again."

"Likewise. What can I do for you today?"

"I wanted to let you know that the owners held a meeting and came to a decision about your offer. They've empowered me to offer you the company for six million."

If I hadn't just purchased two companies, I might have been more receptive, but our plate was pretty full so I said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Merwin. I just purchased two other plants today in Pennsylvania and Illinois, so we're going to be very involved with them for a while."

I could sense the tenseness in his voice as he said, "How about five and a half million?"

"No, I'm sorry, Mr. Merwin."

"Five million then? Just five million, Miss Drake. That's what you offered? You said that it was a firm offer," he said, with a hint of desperation in his voice.

I had said that it was a firm offer if everything had checked out and it had. I paused for a minute before saying, "Are you empowered to offer the plant for five million?"

"Yes, they insisted that I start at six, but authorized me to drop to your offer of five during negotiations if you held firm."

"Okay, Mr. Merwin. I'll stand by my five-million dollar offer."

I could almost feel the tension flow from Mr. Merwin through the telephone. "What now?" he asked.

"I'll send out a letter of intent today, via courier. The principals, or someone with power of attorney for each party, must sign one copy and return it to me. As soon as I have that, we'll take possession of the plant and have our attorneys prepare the formal paperwork while we arrange for transfer of the payment."

"Okay, I'll hand carry it to the owners as soon as I receive it. Uh, what about after the plant is transferred?"

"My people will come to assimilate you into our Northeast Region operation. Your manufacturing operations will remain the same but the purchasing, sales, accounting, and placement offices will change somewhat. Production reporting will also change slightly."

"What about, uh— management?"

"I don't foresee any changes in local management. At least not right away. If management is competent and hardworking, they stay on as permanent employees. The Regional VP, Bob Warren, who is also our Corporate Executive VP will be in touch with you as soon as we have the signed letter."

"Okay, Miss Drake. Thank you. Thanks for everything."

"Thank you, Mr. Merwin."

As I hung up the receiver I said to Bob, "You heard. I think that you'll have plenty to keep you busy over the next four months while I'm gone."

Bob grinned. "I guess that I'll have to push harder to get my pilot's license. It looks like I'll be doing a lot more traveling. I found a good, used Cessna 206, by the way. It has full instrumentation and I've had it checked out by a licensed Airframe and Power Plant mechanic."

"Good. Let's buy it if the price is right. How long before you expect to take your test?"

"I've taken and passed the written, and I have thirty-one flight hours toward my license now. I hope to take the flight test before the end of September."

"Excellent, Bob. It'll come in handy for you to travel to Pennsylvania. The trip should only take about two and a half hours in a 206, and then the New York plant is less than a twenty minute hop northeast."

"I'm really excited about being able to get around by plane. It would probably take about eight hours each way to the Pennsylvania plant if I have to travel by car."

"The Bloomington plant is about five hundred miles further west. You'll have to decide if you want to go by airline to visit them."

"I expected the Bloomington plant to be placed with the Midwest Region operations?"

"I'm thinking that perhaps we should break off the printing operations from the paper manufacturing plants now that we have two. Perhaps it's time to create the Business Forms sub-division that I named as one of our goals in the new master plan, so that they can concentrate specifically on that part of the business? The two plants will need to coordinate their printing efforts so that jobs are directed to the plant best suited for its completion. We'll be able to offer Danbury's data processing forms to Bloomington's customer base now, and as the DP forms printing operations consume more and more of Danbury's operations, they'll need to send their non-DP work to Bloomington."

Bob thought quietly for a couple of minutes. "It might be good idea. I've pretty much made Danbury an autonomous operation anyway while I've concentrated on paper production and sales. Will you be naming a new vice-president for the sub-division?"

"Eventually. For now I'll let you continue to wear that hat. It shouldn't consume too much of your time."

"What about this new, roofing materials operation? Should they be a separate sub-division as well?"

I thought for a few seconds and then said, "Not at first. Keep that under your wing and see what happens. We all have some learning to do about that end of the business. If it proves lucrative, we can spin it off and then either expand the existing operation or acquire other plants. We might consider an association with Ameri-Moore's lumber operations. Perhaps they can handle our sales since we might be supplying roofing materials to many of their customers."

Bob smiled and stood up. "Okay, boss. I'll get started on taking care of the things that we've discussed." He paused as he was turning to head for the door and smiled. "And I thought that this was just going to be another slow week in August."

After Bob left I leaned back in my chair and thought about the past few hours. Susan was going to throw a fit when I told her that I had purchased three different companies in almost as many hours, but I had gotten everything at my price so I couldn't complain. The Pennsylvania plant was going to take a long time to get profitable but the rewards could be enormous. John had estimated that the equipment and plant would be worth twenty million once restored and I had to agree. It was costing one million up front and possibly another two to three million in repairs and equipment rehabilitation plus a year of effort, but a sixteen million-dollar improvement after only one-year was nothing to sneeze at. Of course that didn't include the cost of building a customer base, but that would come automatically from sales operations already in effect. That was the principal advantage of having a large organization already in place. I certainly wouldn't have purchased the plant if we weren't well established in the paper business already.

I relaxed and read for the rest of the afternoon now that the adrenaline rush resulting from the three purchases was over.

Bob stopped in to visit me the next afternoon. "The problem of finding management for Bloomington is solved. Kiel Petersmith, the manager you promoted to succeed Ron Collins when Ron moved up here to take over Accounting operations, wants the job. He's been itching to move for a while, but he didn't want to leave his job after so many years with the company. He'll take over Bloomington and then we just have to promote somebody at Danbury to fill his slot."

"How about Ralph Sorontos? He's been with the company for eight years and his employee performance reports have always been excellent."

"I agree. He was my first choice for taking over Bloomington, since I didn't anticipate that Kiel might to want to make a lateral move."

"Okay, but let's not say anything to Ralph until we get the signed letter back. Mr. Tassett can still change his mind."

"Right. I've made arrangements to have the gas and electric service turned on at the Pennsylvania plant. That should happen sometime tomorrow. Cousins will meet them and let them in. We're also having three telephone lines activated on Friday. From the switchboard in the office building they can be connected to any phones in the plant. One will be routed directly to the box making plant for now, another will go to the guard booth near the front gate, and the third will go to the living quarters of the work crew once they're set up. Mr. Cousins will bill us for the time he spends at the plant with the utility and telephone people. We'll have three shifts of security guards at the new plant starting 7 a.m. Monday. They're from a temp agency and will suffice until we can hire our own people. Ben is going to find us a permanent staff.

"John's driving down there on Monday, with grounds and building maintenance people pulled from Greenfield, Concord, Glens Falls, and Brandon. They'll load up a couple of Piermont trucks with mowers, shop vacs, brooms, tools, light bulbs, cleaning solvents, and whatever else they think that they'll need to get the place cleaned up and usable. Ben said that he'll get a dozen temporary laborers through the local unemployment office. It'll probably take weeks of effort to get the plant and grounds cleaned up.

"Tom Harris is calling glass companies today. He'll make arrangements to have all the broken glass replaced. After that's set, he'll find us roofing and building contractors to check the plant buildings. John says our own people can handle checking the plumbing and heating systems. Tom will hire us an exterminator to take care of the pests once the glass is replaced.

"As soon as the place is fit to work in, John will bring down a group of equipment engineers to start restoration work on the box making equipment. Based on what he saw on our evaluation visit, he estimates that we can begin limited operations by October."

"October? That's less than two months away. If he can do that, he's a miracle man."

"He stressed that it'll be limited operations at first. At most, only thirty percent of the machines will be usable by then. But that's enough to take the strain off Greenfield. Ben Phillips has started looking for operators. We don't have the old company records, but there might be some former employees still around. If not, we'll start training new ones."

"You've done an incredible amount in one day, Bob. You're a miracle man also. Good job."

Bob smiled. "Thanks, DD. You keep buying them and I'll keep setting them up."

"If we're going to begin limited operations in October, who will we place in charge?"

"That's a little bit tougher to answer. We should look at all our top people in the paper plants, but I'd limit it to the Northeast and Midwest regions. The Southeast is still getting their own staffing solidified and can't spare anyone. I'd also exclude the Maine and Gorham plants because they're too new and we don't really know the people yet."

"I agree. So we have experienced assistant plant managers at Brandon, Greenfield, Concord, Owosso, Merrill, and Ladysmith to choose from. I know whom I'd like to see there. I'd pick Peter Emos in a second."

"Pete's a good man. I don't know if he wants to move out of Michigan though."

"It's only two hundred fifty miles, as the crow flies, but you may be right. Still, he went from being the Corporate Executive Vice-President of Owosso to an assistant plant manager when we bought the company. He didn't have to take a cut in salary because we pay better than Owosso did, but this would put him back in top management. If he doesn't accept a job as plant manager somewhere, then he won't be among the top choices when a higher position opens up. Let's give him every opportunity to think about moving. But we should also form a priority list using the top three people from each plant. That'll give us a starting group of eighteen with Peter at the top. We'll just work our way down until we find somebody. If no one is interested, we'll move down to the next level within the six plants."

"Sounds like a plan, DD."

Bob and I formed the list together, but I left the contact up to him. Everyone on the initial list was an excellent employee, and, I believed, well qualified to handle the job. After Bob left, I relaxed, turned my radio on, and began reading again. I was glancing through a textile industry magazine that had just arrived when I spotted an article about Ameri-Moore's textile mills. The article talked about the poor performance of the mills during the past few years and then mentioned me. According to the article, I had secretly been placed in charge of the division and I was now calling all the shots behind the scenes. I giggled when I read how Mrs. Moore was following my plan of action to restore the division to solid profitability. The reporter went on to explain how I had personally visited every single farm, gin, and mill in the division before developing my plan, and that I had been behind all the dismissals. At least the first part was accurate. The reporter wrote 'In response to our request for a comment from Mrs. Moore's office, we received a single paragraph statement which said, "Miss Drake has been and continues to be an invaluable member of Ameri-Moore corporate management. While her primary attention is directed to the management of the division that she founded, she provides invaluable managerial services to the other three divisions as well." I smiled to myself and wondered whom else the reporter had been talking to. 'Probably the people from the office where Judy works,' I decided.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were more of the same. Once I had opened my mail, I had nothing to do. Since I spent most of the year at school, and had to devote all my attention to schoolwork while I was there, almost everything that I would be involved with at the company was delegated to someone. I couldn't butt in and step on people's toes simply because I was bored. Not having something to do was maddening. I had quickly grown tired of reading trade magazines, so I was now working my way through the library of books that Matt's son had collected and which now resided in the file room off my outer office. The library had proven useful in the past and I found a wealth of information in every book.

On Thursday I received the signed letter of intent for Pennsylvania, and on Friday the one for Bloomington arrived. Since I expected there to be no problems with the Jamestown purchase, I signed paperwork for both the fifteen million-dollar and the five million-dollar loans. They wouldn't be processed until Bob was actually ready to complete each transaction. With these loans our long-term debt climbed to seventy million dollars, but both new businesses were profitable from day one. Bloomington was currently netting about 15 percent more than the loan payment amount and Jamestown was netting almost 20 percent more. With proper management and aggressive marketing, both could realize significant productivity and profitability improvements. The money for the purchase of the Pennsylvania plant would come from our cash reserve account. I knew that it would be months before we realized any profit, and expenses would continue to mount as we worked to restore the plant, but we wouldn't have any debt interest to pay, and a couple of million wasn't going to place the division in any danger as long as nothing serious occurred elsewhere.

Saturday turned out to be a pretty nice day, over all. It was hot but the humidity had decreased substantially and we had a gentle, late summer breeze. Arriving at the picnic grounds in Greenfield early, I walked around and watched as the final preparations were made. The new food pavilion was a building with few real walls. A large kitchen occupied the very center of the building with steel, roll-up garage doors on all sides. They had been raised today to offer easy access. When not in use, the doors would be lowered and the building would be sealed from the elements. Instead of preparing food over the dusty ground where dirt and grit could get kicked up, the floor was poured concrete covered with some kind of clear sealer. There wasn't enough room to put more than a dozen picnic tables inside but lines of people waiting for food and drinks could stand out of the sun until they reached the counter.

Tables had been set up inside a giant circus type tent. Flaps all the way around the gigantic, tan canvas structure were tied up to allow the breeze to cool the interior. Temporary band stages had been constructed at opposite ends of the tent and two bands would alternate all day as they had done last year. This year we had a polka band and a rock band. In the event of rain everyone would be covered, and the food pavilion was only a few steps away. Enough grass had grown in a year's time to make a marked difference on the site from last year. The committee had again arranged for pony rides and a group of mechanical rides for small children. We also had two magicians performing up close tricks, and a clown who made balloon animals for the kids.

Like last year, people started arriving at nine o'clock, although knowing that food and beverages wouldn't be available until ten. And like last year a half side of beef was already cooking on a spit over an outside, open BBQ pit. Chili, hot dogs, and hamburgers would be available throughout the day once service began.

By ten-thirty the grounds were packed with employees and their families. My biggest surprise came when my own family arrived. Since the plane was coming up anyway, and returning tomorrow, they'd decided to come for the ride. The plane had brought them into the local airport a couple of miles away. I'd heard a jet, and although it was highly unusual to have one land at Greenfield's airport, I hadn't paid it any mind. Grandma had been busy, but Mother, Auntie, Judy, Mary, and Susan had come up. Earl hadn't let on because they wanted to surprise me, but he had known and driven to the airport to pick them up.

I enjoyed the picnic even more this year because I wasn't so nervous about things going wrong. The committee had done an excellent job and everything was perfect.

Since this would be my last visit to the plant until Christmas break, I walked around and said goodbye to everyone during the afternoon. Nancy would give the letter of intent from the roofing manufacturer to Bob when it came in, and he would conclude all the deals. I'd be talking with him each week of course, and I'd make the final decision about who would be promoted to take over the new plant in Franklin, Pennsylvania.

When the picnic ended, Earl drove my family and me back to the Holiday Inn. The plane had gone on to Rutland after stopping just long enough to discharge everyone.

The suite next to mine was available so we took it for the one night. Tomorrow we would return to Texas.

Monday was a workday for Auntie, Mary, and Judy, but I could stay home with Mother and Susan, and did. With only one week left before we returned to Austin to start the new school term, I wanted to spend some time on the ranch. The three of us rode every morning and on Wednesday we went into town to shop for new clothes for the fall school semester. It was the first time that I'd been shopping since leaving school, not counting the time in France, and the three of us had a ball trying on clothes.

Judy and Mary voiced their jealousy of us for having spent the last week before school on the ranch, and for going shopping while they had to work, but Mother had bought them a lot of clothes that Susan and I had picked out, so their mild protestations only lasted as long as it took to start opening their packages. We all enjoyed our final opportunity to ride our own horses Saturday, at least until we returned to the ranch at Thanksgiving, and then spent the rest of the day packing for our trip back to school.

After our last communal bath for a while, we had breakfast and started packing the car. Auntie was going to take Mary down to her college in the plane, so they'd be there before we were halfway to Austin.

The house in Austin had that stale air smell when we arrived, so we immediately opened all the windows and let in fresh. Judy and I were juniors this year, and Susan was a sophomore, so there wouldn't be any real adjustments to go through. After unpacking the car we got out our bikes and took a ride over to the campus to greet old friends and giggle at the confused freshmen wandering about trying to find their way around the campus as some returning students got their jollies by deliberately giving misleading directions.

We spent a few wonderful hours renewing old friendships and then rode home because Mother would be holding dinner for us. The evening passed quickly as we unpacked our clothes and prepared our things for the first day of school.

I really embraced the new school year once classes started. It was wonderful to be fully occupied again after the time in Vermont where I'd felt about as useful as a Cadillac El Dorado at a Dune Buggy Rally. With our practice of reading ahead, I'd never have a time when I could say I had nothing to do over the next couple of months.

During my weekly phone call to Bob Warren, two weeks after classes began, he informed me that Peter Emos had decided to take the offered position in Pennsylvania after traveling to the plant to look around. Peter realized that Franklin, as the plant was being called now, could very well become the largest paper and box producer in the division because of the plant's size. It had taken him three weeks to decide because of concerns over the disruption in the lives of his family. Bob had offered to rent a house for Peter so that he could try it out to see if he liked the area before selling his home. Peter suggested instead that they might rent a large mobile home and place it right on the site. There was plenty of room there. He would stay there while his family remained at home. If things worked out, he could take his time finding a suitable house in the area and move his family the following summer. I was pleased and naturally agreed with having the company provide the mobile home.

When you're busy, really busy, time flies; almost too quickly. My more adult appearance helped me make some new friends on campus, and of course I still had the small circle of friends from past years. I still didn't attend very many school functions. I also refrained from seeking out the chess club that my advisor kept suggesting I join. I already had plenty to do during those times when I didn't feel like doing school work. My mail from Vermont was delivered once a week, and it always included a dozen trade publications.

Although my division never sent out press releases on new acquisitions, as many companies are wont to do, the press nevertheless always learned of them. In early November there were at least a dozen articles regarding my purchase of the three new plants. The purchase of the forms printing operation in Bloomington was generally hailed as a good investment. Someone had discovered that our new master plan called for the construction of a large printing plant, and suggested that the Bloomington operation was just another step in my bid to dominate that market in the U.S.

The purchase of the Jamestown plant was generally well received also, since the plant was already profitable, although some critics wondered why I was entering a new market. They said that I should be concentrating my energies on my primary business of paper production and a couple warned that it was my first misstep in an otherwise stellar career. I guess that only time will tell.

Surprisingly, the purchase of the Franklin plant drew sharp criticism from the industry watchdogs. I didn't understand that. It was, after all, a paper producing plant with a cardboard box operation. The critics seemed to think that it was a Jonah because several other companies had failed to make it go. One article even included pictures of the plant as it had looked just before we assumed control. I have to admit that it certainly looked pretty dismal. I wondered if Mr. Cousins had alerted the press while I was waiting to hear back from Mr. Billings, or if someone had taken pictures before I'd even learned of its availability and then sold the images to the trade publication when they learned of the purchase.

My sole supporter seemed to be a reporter at the Paper Press. He looked at the plant as I did, as an incredible deal and terrific opportunity. He remarked that I had done wonders with a number of failing plants in the past, and saw no reason why Franklin should be any different. He idly speculated that I might be related to E. L. Drake, popularly credited with 'discovering oil' in Titusville, Pennsylvania. It was E. L. Drake that had sunk the very first oil well, at least the first one intended for pumping oil. A few landowners drilling water wells had been dismayed when they discovered their new well yielded only a useless, black syrupy liquid, until a market for the product developed. Oddly enough, that very first oil well was located just twenty some miles from the Franklin plant. Known as Drake's Folly, E. L.'s well was drilled without the use of an engine. Drake used a spring pole, and manual labor, to drill through the rock. The derisive remarks ended rather abruptly when news reached the town that Drake had indeed struck oil. A sort of gold-rush of activity then took over the region as everyone with any capital scrambled to purchase mineral rights.

I didn't know if I was related to E. L. Drake or not, but I knew a good deal when I saw one, and Franklin was not just a good deal, but a steal. A thorough check of the plant buildings by experts showed that the water pipes had been drained when the plant was closed up, so there had been no damage to the pipes or boilers from the freezing winters. The roof was intact, although it was suggested that some weather stripping maintenance work be performed now, and that we should consider adding a couple of layers of new paper and tar next summer. Cosmetically, the plant had looked terrible before I purchased it, as the pictures in the trade publication attested, but overall, it was in great shape according to all reports. Perhaps the owners in Texas had seen the earlier images, and that's why they let it go for so little.

Thanksgiving came and went, too quickly, and before we knew it Christmas was bearing down on us. We had only been back to the ranch once, for Thanksgiving, and I began to look forward to the two week vacation with great relish. I had finished reading all of my textbooks in November, so I could easily afford the time for shopping for Christmas presents.

Two weeks before Christmas I forwarded a schedule of Christmas bonuses to Bob Warren. The company was doing terrific, and my employees deserved to share in its success. They were largely responsible for it, after all. Grandma helped me determine an appropriate amount for each executive, and establish a formula for employee bonuses based on pay rate and length of service with the company. She wanted me to be generous, but not too generous. I knew that everyone receiving a bonus would be happy with the amount. For the date of hiring we used the date when they first started working in a plant owned by Piermont, regardless of when Piermont assumed control. We even had special checks printed up with a seasonal motif background so there would be no question that the check was a special bonus.

Auntie flew down to pick us up when classes ended and we were ready to return home. She stopped for Mary first, then continued on to Austin for Mother, Judy, Susan, and myself. The plane was crammed with people and presents, and if we all hadn't held a bag of gifts on our laps all the way home, we would have had to leave some behind. Gifts purchased early had already been sent to the house by express company.

As soon as we reached the ranch, and carried everything into the house, I changed my clothes and ran out to see Emily. She whinnied when she saw me, making me feel good that she hadn't forgotten me. I fed her the two apples I had brought out to her, and stroked her face as she ate. When she was done, I saddled her up and we took a short ride; just long enough for her to stretch her legs. It was getting dark when I led her back into the stable and rubbed her down.

We spent the next several days baking, decorating the house, and just having fun. Our tradition of no school work for the several days before Christmas was unwaveringly respected. Naturally, the problem that I always have with suddenly finding myself with too much time my hands surfaced, but I had a huge stack of trade publications at the house that I hadn't yet read so I curled up on a comfortable chair in the living room and methodically read each from cover to cover.

Over the years I'd come to recognize the names and faces of people who always seemed to be in the news. My own image, or a caricature, had adorned the covers of magazines many times, and been included in articles too numerous to count. I'd never sought the limelight but that didn't seem to be the case with others. A few people regularly appeared in magazines as the result of holding press conferences. Sometimes the news releases didn't even seem like news, such as when the CEO of a small paper producing company in the Northwest announced that their board of directors was considering adding a second shift to their one small plant. I suppose this was earth shattering news in the community where the plant was located, but I didn't understand why a national publication would give it space. I guess it was a slow news month.

As I read what was happening in the industry, I began to feel remiss for not visiting my own plants for the past four months. I had already reserved the corporate jet for the week after exams in January, and that salved my conscience enough that I could continue to read about the goings on in the business worlds where I was involved.

Christmas has always been the most exciting day of the year in our house, and this year didn't disappoint. We awoke early, enjoyed a nice long soak in Auntie's tub, and then dressed before going down to the most sumptuous breakfast of the year. Rosa had prepared the usual breakfast items of eggs, sausage, and pancakes, but she had also cooked bacon, ham slices, waffles, oatmeal, and huevos-rancheros covered with salsa and cheese. And there were refried beans and sour cream as side items to the huevos-rancheros. The table was filled with breakfast foods. Everything looked and smelled delicious, but we were all afraid of ruining our appetites for dinner. We didn't want to hurt Rosa's feeling after all her hard work, so we resolved our dual dilemma by having tiny samples of almost everything.

After breakfast it was time to open our presents, so we moved into the living room where the tree had been erected and took our usual seats. Susan practically had to drag Rosa in from the kitchen. She wanted to get all the breakfast dishes cleaned and put away so she'd have room to work on the dinner. The turkey was already cooking, its wonderful smell wafting through the house, but there were the side dishes to prepare. We promised to help her and insisted that she sit down and enjoy the Christmas gift opening time with us. Ricardo didn't need any such encouragement and tore into his gifts without hesitation as soon as we had gathered. As in the past we enjoyed the spectacle of Ricardo's excitement as each new toy was revealed. The clothes were quickly handed over to his mother, who refolded them neatly and stacked them in a pile to be carried to their quarters later.

As Ricardo settled down on the floor to play with his new toys, the rest of us opened our gifts. We oohed and ahhed as each person displayed their gift after opening it, commenting on the colors, fabric, and textures when they were clothes, and other things when not. After everything was opened we held our traditional modeling show as we tried on all our gifts. Since we were all about the same size, it was almost a foregone conclusion that everything would fit, if the gift buyer had taken the time to try on the clothes. And there was always the sewing machine if slight alterations were needed.

It would have been perfect if we could have gone for a ride before dinner, but we had pulled Rosa away from her work and it was only right that we all pitch in to help in the final preparations for our main Christmas meal. With seven of us working in the kitchen, the final side dishes were quickly prepared and placed on the stove to cook, in the oven to bake, or simply placed in serving dishes for delivery to the table.

Grandma arrived just as we were ready to sit down at the table. Talk about perfect timing.

"Grandma, we thought you might not be coming this year," Susan said.

"Me miss Christmas dinner with my family? Never. I had a function to attend in Austin last night, and we just drove up this morning. We didn't even have time to stop at the house."

It wouldn't have been Christmas without Grandma. We thanked her for all the lovely clothes she'd bought for us. It was too bad she had missed the gift opening activity.

Rosa, Ricardo, and Charles joined us at the table, as they did every year now, but refrained from joining in the conversation unless asked a direct question. With a table full of mostly women, there were very few lulls in the conversation.

After dinner we retired to the living room with Grandma as Rosa and Ricardo cleared the table. Grandma wanted to know all about our semester at school and we practically talked her ear off. Then it was her turn to tell us what was going on with the company.

"The ranching and lumber operations are steady, as always," she said. "The textile division has slowed its downward slide, but it continues to be a poor performer. That's about it. I'm sure that Darla Anne has kept you up to date with the situation in her division."

"Actually not," Mary said. "Going to a different school has its drawbacks. How are things in your division, sis?"

"I haven't done anything since August, so everything is about the same as it was when we talked at Thanksgiving. Oh, Peter Emos has decided to make his transfer to Franklin, permanent. His family will join him this summer. He's already found a house. He just has to sell his home in Michigan."

"How are things going at Franklin?" Mary asked.

"I'll find that out in a few weeks when I go back east. We've started limited operations in the boxing plant, and it's helped out by taking the pressure off Greenfield. We continue to add four-color machines to the Greenfield operation to meet the demand from our customers. That's about it, I guess, unless you want to hear all the financial reports?"

"What I want to know is how many plants you're going to buy this trip. Last time it was three."

"None," I said.

"That's what you said last time."

"And I meant it. I didn't go out looking. They came to me, and I couldn't pass up some great bargains."

"How many plants do you have now?" Mary asked.

"I've made a map. Hold on a minute, I'll get it."

I ran down to the office to get the map I had begun at Thanksgiving and returned to the living room with it. I had purchased a large blank wall map of the U.S. that only showed the state outlines, then chopped off the left half of the country and the lower half of Florida since we didn't have any plants located there.

"Here it is," I said as I laid the map on the coffee table. "We have twenty-three plants now, and some 368,000 acres of commercial forest. 200,000 acres are in the southeast, near our plants there, and the rest is in Maine and New Hampshire. The red stars indicate our regional offices, each located with a paper producing plant. The blue stars are the other paper plants, and the green stars are sawmills. The orange stars represent the cardboard manufacturing plants, the magenta stars are forms printing plants, and the yellow star is our single asphalt-paper plant."

Piermont's acquisitions.

"You only have one asphalt paper plant?" Mary asked facetiously. "You're slipping."

"Give me a chance," I said just as glibly. "I'm just getting started in that industry, and it was the last thing I bought." Then turning serious, I added, "I had just agreed to buy the Franklin paper plant and the Bloomington forms plant when the manager of the Jamestown plant called. I had made him a firm offer during the summer and felt I had to stick by it. We got it for an excellent price, inherited a solid customer base, and were profitable from day one."

"Do you expect to pursue that product direction?" Grandma asked.

"I don't know, Grandma. I suppose we could if the right deals come along. We've been extremely fortunate. I haven't been buying simply because I wanted to expand our operations, so much as responding to excellent offers from people desperate to sell. In almost every case I was willing to pass on the deal unless I got it for my price. That can't go on forever. Eventually I'll be unable to find a situation where someone is being squeezed by a larger competitor, where someone is looking to retire, or where a disinterested heir simply wants out and will sell at a liquidation price to anyone with the cash."

"My dear, there will always be such deals available. People lose interest in their companies, make bad decisions that bring about their downfall, suffer serious problems through no fault of their own, or simply pass away without interested heirs. Which deals weren't you willing to pass on?"

"The Franklin deal was really the only one. I bid really low because the property looked so terribly run down, although I believed it to be mostly cosmetic. I offered only $875,000, but I was willing to go to $3,000,000. We settled for a million."

"There will always be cases where the seller is desperate to sell, dear," Grandma said. "One of the most opportune times to buy that you didn't mention was when a company urgently needs cash to support a flagging operation, to start-up a new enterprise, or simply to fight off a hostile take-over attempt. The difficulty is separating the wheat from the chaff, as you did with that company that South-Core bought after you turned them down."

"Yeah," Susan said, "look at your map. You only have plants in about a third of the country. There must be tons more plants out there for you to buy. And you haven't even gone international yet. What are the green lines?"

"The green lines separate the sales regions. The marketing people are not allowed to sell to anyone in another territory unless they're a previous customer of that sales office. If someone new calls, looking for product, they're supposed to pass the caller onto the appropriate sales office. We did that to spur competition while preventing a sales office from raiding another office's accounts. It doesn't apply to the Business Forms sub-division though, which acts as a single entity."

"The whole western half of the country is still wide open?" Judy asked.

"We don't have any plants there, yet, but this past year we assembled an outside sales force to call on large accounts nationwide. Our salespeople work out of their homes and can call in the orders, mail them in, or if they happen to be near Dallas, San Diego, or Portland, they can go to the small sales office Grandma has allowed us to set up in each of the Ameri-Moore office buildings and Telex their orders in. Eventually we expect to have plants in the regions. A line that you can't see because that part of the map is missing, will extend along the tops of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Kansas, where it meets the North/South line that you can see. The top section is called the Northwest Region, and the lower section is called Southwest Region."

"The Southwest must be enormous," Mary said.

"Geographically, it's the largest, but the Southwest isn't exactly suited to paper production," I said, "and most of the major population centers are in the eastern regions. The Northeast Region is the smallest, geographically, but includes New York City, Boston, Washington, DC, and a whole lot of other major cities. The Northwest has always pretty much been Alliance territory."

"Then there should still be some good deals around," Mary said. "I'm sure that Alliance keeps the locals from growing like you have. Economies of scale must allow them to sell paper for about what it costs the smaller outfits to manufacture."

"Yes, and they can drive them out of business if any of them get too bold," Grandma said. "That's a good reason for Darla Anne to avoid that area."

"Oh, I don't know," I said. "Our Southeast region is solidly in Georgia Pacific's backyard, but they haven't bothered us. They could squash us like a bug if they really took a mind to, but it would impact their own bottom line if their efforts were centered around severe price cuts."

"Ameri-Moore's lumber division is much more of a direct competitor to them than your division, dear," Grandma said. "And while GP does manufacture sheet paper and cardboard, they seem to concentrate much more on bath tissue and paper towels, disposable food containers, paper plates, and paper cups. I believe I heard somewhere that they have hundreds of locations. Your twenty small paper plants and three sawmills probably still seem insignificant to them."

"Just give Darla Anne another two or three years and she'll have GP running scared," Susan quipped.

Everyone laughed at Susan's comment. We could always count on her to lighten the mood.

"I've had lots of opportunities to purchase small bath tissue and paper towel production facilities," I said. "I just felt that breaking into that market while we were small would be too difficult. I kept passing up newsprint manufacturing for the same reason. We only got into it because of the great deal we got in Maine. Then once we were in the business, I didn't hesitate to pick up the Gorham plant. I decided that if we were going to sell newsprint, we might as well go all the way and do it right."

"Isn't Alliance a major newsprint manufacturer?" Grandma asked.

"Yes, that's their main product, but they're also heavy into bath tissue, paper towels, and formed paper products."

"Then you're already in competition with them?"

"I suppose so, although our three newsprint plants, running three full shifts, could probably only turn out two percent of their annual output. I think they have about two hundred thirty plants, worldwide. We're hardly much competition."

"Didn't one of the trade magazines said that you're in the top twenty now," Grandma said.

"Paper Press said that. According to them, we're officially number twenty in the United States. But we're a long ways below number nineteen, and not so far above number twenty-one. Worldwide I think we're about number ninety-two among paper producers. The top ten companies are big; really big. And there's a wide margin between us and the companies above us. I doubt if anyone except South-Core considers us much competition."

"Never underestimate the lengths to which another company will go to keep you from catching and surpassing them, or even from gobbling up what they consider their part of the pie," Grandma said. "I realize that your division has assets of $280 million now, with liabilities of $70 million, but that's small potatoes in international business. You've been in the minor leagues until now, but at the rate you're growing it won't be long before you're in the majors. You can bet that the major players are watching you closely. Keep a wary eye behind you at all times."

"Have you heard something," I asked.

"No, I just know businessmen. I've been doing this for a long time, dear. You can socialize with competitors, dine with them, and share a drink. But you must remember at all times that most of them will be trying to figure out how to best shove a financial knife in your back. They want what you have, and will do almost anything to get it."

"Grandma," Judy said, "that's terrible. How do you live with it?"

"By always being on my guard; by knowing not only my business but my competitor's; and by being just as ruthless as the next businessperson when I have to be.

"It doesn't sound like a very nice way to live," Mother said.

"It may not be nice, but it can be exciting; and highly rewarding if you're good at it."

Grandma's words quieted the room. Like sermons from a pulpit, her words always made us think.

(continued)

  

  

  

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