Note: This is a work of FICTION! Although the areas this story takes place in are real; all of the landscapes depicted, the people described, and everything else this story uses to make it enjoyable reading for you are NOT REAL. As you read this story, try to remember:
This is a Novel.
79. Planning
If there is one place a man does not want to be, it is in the middle of a bunch of women planning a wedding. In this case we have three well-to-do men, marrying three totally different women. Thankfully, these women are in love with their men. They will not call off the weddings, because of disagreements about the planning. Taking them one at a time is the easiest way to go about it. (Well, maybe it is, maybe it isn't?)
1.Patricia Laura-Garrett Parent and Stephano Bartolommeo Valentino.
Due to some artful footwork by Patricia, she used her coma to hoodwink Stephano into planning the wedding. She gave Stephano just enough information to tell him what she wanted, how she wanted it, and who she wanted invited. She also told him the type of day she wanted, but all brides want a clear, bright, sunshiny day for their wedding. They needed it at their wedding, because it would take place outdoors, on grass.
Stephano, having an MBA, from the University of Pennsylvania, put his education to good use. He rented a small office in the business district of Glens Falls. He put an advertisement in a local newspaper for the best secretarial help in the city. The applicants were to have no less than 20-years' experience, and he was going to pay double the area's average wage, for two months work. He rented all the phone lines, and business equipment needed to support the office for the upcoming event, and waited for the onslaught of people to show up at his offices' door to be interviewed.
On Saturday, he had 63 women, and 11 men lined up outside, with resumes in their hands; some of whom were retired attorneys. He received his first real-world experience in telling people they were not being hired. It felt the same to him as if he was firing them. He did not like it at all; especially when it got down to the final cuts. He told the last six applicants to return Monday morning, when he would give them one final interview, and make his decision. When they returned, there were seven desks in the office instead of five. He had gone over there interviews and resumes all day Sunday, and decided to hire them all. He hired two former lawyers, both female, and four exceptionally well-qualified secretaries, all female. This was not a good business decision, but he could afford it; and it was only for two months. If it was a long-term decision, he would have had to dismiss two of them, reluctantly, and the lawyers would have gone.
He delineated each one's responsibility, and their timelines. One lawyer was delegated the position as office manager if he was not available. The other would accompany him, while he was negotiating with the vendors. The situation worked out very well.
Meanwhile, Brad had a construction crew working on the barn, and surveyors were laying out, the proposed site of the new house. The exterior of the barn was completed, except for the solar panels, which were being installed under Patty's watchful eyes. The plumbers, and electrician were working on the interior, and the fire suppression system would be installed when they were done. The children in the area were most interested in the 180-foot tall windmill that was being built on the northeast portion of the property. Not only was it capable of supplying electrical power to the new home, it was also hooked up to the power grid, when it was producing excess energy. It would be sold to the power companies at a standard fee.
Brad was putting the finishing touches on the interior design of the main house. If Patty and Stephano approved his plans, it would take three to four weeks to go through the approval process of the city, and building could begin by the middle of September. If they just approved the exterior of the building, and wanted major changes on the interior, construction could still be started by the middle of September, because Patty wanted the shell of the building completed, prior to the first snowfall. He could complete the redesign of the interior of the home so the workers' could construction on the inside throughout the winter. Patty wanted to be in the house by the beginning of April. A 6300 square foot house, built in seven months. Brad knew didn't need a fairy godmother, he needed Merlin the magician to get this job done on time. Every artisan; within 100 miles, would be working on this house, throughout the dead of winter.
Patty and Stephano worked as their own general contractors making contracts with each and every vendor who is going to supply their home with goods and services. They picked the company who was going to deliver the stone that had been quarried from Vermont. They hired the truckers that were delivering the Cedars from the Northwest. Patty had the electronics representatives running for cover. She knew exactly what she wanted, and when they would try to bluff her telling her another item or product was superior, she would give them a lecture that they would never forget. Afterwards, every product she wanted for her home she received and at a deeply discounted price.
When the solar panels arrived for the barn, Patricia was overjoyed. These were not the standard square or rectangular boxes that you see in the middle of fields around the country. These were the new prototypes built in a Midwest by a fellow student of hers. They were concave in design. They had no motors to follow the sun all day, and to follow it as he traversed the heavens, from north to south. Their design contained one item no one ever thought of previously. It was such a simple solution, to a complex problem; she could not understand why nobody had ever thought of it before.
After the brackets for the mirrors were raised, and secured to the roof; a thin sheet of mirror-coated aluminum, connected on a steel roller, was raised by two cranes to the height of the brackets. For huge clamps were attached across the width of the aluminum and pulled slowly across the roof through each successive bracket by a machine, at the opposite end of the barn. The fit was exact; there was not one millimeter of excess. When it reached the terminal end of the barn, the bolts slipped through their openings, and secured using brass fittings to eliminate the possibility of corrosion. One by one, each of the solar panels were raised, and placed in their proper slot. After they were secured, an electrician tested it for its voltage, connected it to the wires, which were run up through the roof, of the barn, and tested again. This was done 36 times, once for each of the mirrors. After it was tested, and approved, it was connected to the barn and to the grid by the electric company. Working on a bright sunny day, these mirrors had the capacity to run 13 homes, including their air conditioner all day long. Patty had not decided to put in storage batteries, yet, but when she did these mirrors could easily run six homes day and night, plus the barn.
The reason these solar panels are so revolutionary is they use no electricity to make use of the sun. Instead of using electricity to turn motors to follow the angle, and axis of the sun, these stay permanently affixed in their position. Wherever the sun peeked over the horizon in the morning, and hits the first solar panels curved piece of glass, it reflects downward onto the mirrored coating of the aluminum panel, which causes a chain reaction. The light reflects off the mirror, onto the piece of glass, back to the mirror, back to the glass and so on. Within one second, using one beam of light, these panels are already generating electricity equal to 5 kV. By the time the sun has reached the horizon. They will have generated 50 kWh, most of which would be sold across the grid.
The windmill would also be generating power to provide power to the main house, the barn, or the grid.
The underground CNG storage tank was going to be buried 50 feet underground, with one main fill line, four outflow lines, and one emergency cutoff line. Nearly 60 tons of sand was poured on top of that area in case of an accident. No metal would escape from this grave.
The exterior of the barn was complete. The only item remaining to be completed in the barn was the sprinkler system, and that would be completed by the end of the week.
Patricia and Stephano had been able to purchase the houses to the north and south of them, by offering the owners, a 20% premium on their properties. When the owners of the properties to the West of her property heard this, they demanded more money for their property was valued at its. Patricia said, "No." She returned with an offer of 20% less than their property was worth. When the property owners asked her why, she showed them the initial plans for the helicopter and maintenance hangers, which abutted their properties. She said, "Who in their right mind would want to live behind a facility, where they are constantly going to be running engine tests, during the night time hours, and have helicopters taking off and landing right over their heads."
The three owners agreed to sell their properties, at fair market value, before that meeting was over. Patty grinned when these things were settled, and thought she would give one of the houses, closest to the hanger, to Paul and Rita.
Rita was becoming a good friend and confidant. It was good to have another female around to talk to about sex. Rita was very open when she talked about it. Patty often thought about getting Rita and Jemma on the Doctor Ruth show to talk about sex. She laughed to herself, knowing it would never make it onto the air.
After 10 days of nonstop work, Stephano and his staff had everything done. The wedding announcements were at the printer. The church was reserved. The huge white canopies would be brought in from a Long Island two weeks in advance of their wedding; to make sure no multi-billionaire could sneak them away for some last-minute shindig. Mama Leones, and Ruth Chris Steakhouse were booked, and their trucks would be there Friday evening for the Sunday afternoon event. Generators, lights, flowers, tables, chairs, linens, silverware, china, fans, heaters, if it grew cool in the evening; Stephano and his staff had taken care of everything, except the guest list.
He had ordered 800 complete wedding announcement packages to be sure, he had enough.
Now the frightening part of his ordeal came. He had to negotiate with Patty over who to invite and who not to invite. His side of the family was going to be very hard. You could not invite gangsters and have them roam around with Senators and members of the Presidents' cabinet. It was just not done. However, he wanted some of his family members to attend. Especially aunts and cousins of his age, as long as they had not been involved in the family business. He had to find her gun and unload it, before this discussion started. He would feel safer that way. He would feel even safer if he could do it with her, while they were in bed, fooling around.
*****
2. Sharon Elizabeth Harmon Williams and Fred Justin Hastings
This wedding was no contest, well almost. Sharon wanted her uncle, Clark Atwater to give her away. Fred wanted him to be his best man. After a little fighting, Fred came up with a way for his mentor to do both. It might look a little strange, but he did not care.
After her uncle walked Sharon down the aisle, lifted her veil, kissed her, and handed her to Fred, Clark would shift to Fred's right side, and become his best man. He would be carrying the wedding rings, and both Sharon and Fred were happy, with this arrangement.
