We walked aboard the yacht about ten that morning, Jennette had met us early and Sally had tried on several outfits and liked them all. There were casual, sports, business, and eveningwear to try on. Sally was stunning in every one of them. Both Sally and Jennette were grinning after the fifth outfit. Jennette said, "Sally you are perfect. You are a perfect size seven. Every thing I brought this morning was in size seven and every thing fits perfectly."
When we were board the Captain showed us around the ship. Everything was spotless and in perfect operating condition.
Sally and Jennette were happy with the master stateroom. There was plenty of closet space for her things, lots of drawer space and a spacious dressing table.
Sally wanted to know how close he could get to Orange Springs. He said he knew he could get to Palatka and down the St. Johns River but he would have to check on how far. I told him I thought the controlling depth to the south entry of Lake George was eight feet.
"Well with the Hamilton Jet Drives we are equipped with that is about what we draw."
"Well skipper, check it out, we may want you in the St. Johns for a while."
"Yes Sir I will have that information in less than ten minutes."
"Fine. Tell me what you find out before we leave. See about birthing arrangements too." I found Sally and Jennette in the salon partaking of a nice buffet brunch set up there. I find it is seldom too early for me to enjoy a good Shrimp Cocktail. I do not care for a fancy sauce; I prefer just Catsup and Horseradish. The girls loved the vessel and were ready to cast off and go on a cruise. There was a retractable Heliport over the stern and a Chopper was due to pick us up at 11:30. We heard the deafening noise of him landing and walked toward the stern. The captain met us to escort us to the Helicopter. He told me I was right about the river but that he hadn't found any place that could dock a vessel our size.
The whirlybird had us back at the Murphy Building well before noon. I sent Sally off to meet with the promotions experts and we said so long to Jennette. She was to go head with the plan and stock the two places with clothes for Sally. Later Sally sat beside me in a meeting with our plans department. They tried to chart a course for the company through what they thought would take place in the next five, ten, fifteen and twenty years.
Sally asked some questions that showed she completely understood the presentation and thought it's predictions were a little too rosy. I mentioned that she thought that a worse case scenario might also be enlightening. The head of the department reached into his brief case and withdrew a few papers He grinned at Sally. "Ma'am I have one here if you would like to hear it."
Sally looked at me and I nodded slightly. She said, "Certainly, Sir, please continue." He gave a five-minute presentation. I thought it was rather well done. Sally gazed at him and said, "That was excellent but as far as I am concerned it asks more questions than it answers. I believe I would like to hear and see a comparison of the two extremes and a median estimate."
The plans people put their heads together; them one of them scurried about in several stacks of material and found three slides he had projected on the huge TV monitor on one side of the room. One slide portrayed the best case, another, the worst case was projected over it. The middle ground case was shown beside the others.
Sally said, "Very good Gentlemen. Might I summarize all this by saying that in the foreseeable future the net profits of this company will be some where between very good and stupendous."
"Yes Ma'am, You are exactly correct in your analysis."
Sally leaned over and kissed my cheek, "I love you," she whispered. The plans team thanked us and left. Sally and I decided to go into the apartment, only a few steps away and have lunch before the next meeting. Marge walked in after a few minutes and held out her hands toward Sally. Marge pulled my wife to her and kissed and hugged her. She grinned, "Sally I hear everything that goes on in this company, I have my spies everywhere. The word is out, "If you have a meeting with the gorgeous new Mrs. Murphy you better have all your ducks in a row or she will call you on it." That is the best compliment I have ever heard a female receive in twenty years. You have them eating out of your hands and knocking themselves out to please you." Marge looked at me, "Boss you were right about this girl. She surprised me. She is definitely not just a pretty face, she is damned smart and people savvy too."
Sally beamed, "Thank you Marge, I hope I can count on you to help me though. I need you to brief me on what to look for and to expect at these meetings. It is difficult going in there cold. I feel a lot of skepticism from the people giving the presentation. I felt it even more so today. I think I need to change into a business suit again to have a quicker rapport with them. If I dress like this in a dress they think I am just fluff and try and gloss everything over."
Marge said, "I picked up on that too. The comments on your appearance yesterday were very positive in that everyone who commented on your looks said you looked 'smart' and 'sharp'. Today I just heard 'lovely' and 'pretty' and 'cute'. Another thing, you don't have to check with Rich before you do anything, just let it fly, he isn't going to say no to you anyway."
Sally jumped up, "I'll go change. I'll be right back." She was back in ten minutes just as our lunch was served. She was a vision of business beauty in an all gray outfit; a gray fitted suit, knee length skirt, with a gray blouse. She had on gray shoes and stockings. I looked at Marge, "I'll bet her lingerie is gray too."
"I won't take that bet. Sally you look just great. I love that suit." Marge remarked.