This is a re-post of one of my first stories. It has been edited for punctuation, grammar, and I hope, readability.
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Vincent "Vinnie" Blanton was not a mirror image of his older brother, Tom. In fact, the two could not be more unalike. Vinnie was two inches taller than Tom at an even six feet, but five pounds lighter at 185. While Tom had worked hard to become a talented athletic competitor, Vinnie was a natural athlete. It all came easily to him.
He was a solid .350 hitter in Babe Ruth baseball with good speed, and a good glove in the outfield. He was slotback on his high school football team with sure hands and adequate blocking skills. He might have been a very good golfer if he had any interest in the sport. He did not.
In fact, sports was just a pastime to him. He never really reached his potential in any of them simply because it was never very important to him. His real interest was in another sporting endeavor, scoring with the local girls. By the time Vinnie had finished high school, he had racked up an impressive number of conquests in his never-ending pursuit of pliant young ladies.
It was almost a badge of honor for some of the girls to have become part of that scorecard. While brother Tom was a solid, studious young man, destined for post secondary education, Vinnie had no ambitions beyond high school. He would scrape through with barely a C average, and be happy to see the end of his formal education.
As a member of the Blanton family, he possessed one full share of the four shares in T. Blanton and Sons. He was a crew chief, but answered to his brother Tom, who was appointed operations manager by his father. Vinnie rankled at this slight by his father. After all, he was a son too. Deep inside, however, Vinnie knew why his father had chosen Tom. He was the educated one, he was the organized one, and he was the "workaholic" in Vinnie's view.
Despite this acknowledgment, Vinnie was still unhappy with the division of responsibility and wanted to end it sometime in the future. Vinnie's lifestyle since high school was work during the weekday and Saturday morning, and then play at night.
He had been through a string of nubile young ladies in the past couple of years, but was now seeing Marcia Raymond on a regular basis. She was spending some of her nights at his apartment. She liked the idea of Vinnie's obvious free spending and enjoyed the various restaurants, clubs and casinos they frequented. Vinnie's lifestyle was almost the definition of hedonism, and he was enjoying every minute of it with the exception of the necessary work day.
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Tom passed the freshly opened beer to Vinnie and sat in the chair opposite his younger brother. They were in the kitchen of Tom's home while both Jenny and Nikki were out for the balance of the day. Tom was nervous, uncertain how to begin and get the purpose of the meeting on top of the table.
"Vinnie, I think we need to talk about you and your future with the company," Tom began.
"What do you mean ... future with the company?" Vinnie asked somewhat belligerently.
"I mean that you obviously aren't very happy with your situation and you've made it pretty clear that you would be just as happy if the business was sold, and you could cash in your share," Tom said bluntly. "Does that about sum it up?"
"I guess," he replied hesitantly. "Are you thinking of selling because of what happened to Dad?"
"No, I'm not thinking of selling at all," he said looking squarely at Vinnie. "I'm thinking of offering you a fair price for your share."
"What?"
"I'd be prepared to purchase your share from you at one quarter of the fair market value of the business," Tom said.
"How do I know what fair market price is?" Vinnie asked suspiciously.
"You would be given that information from an independent source. You would also have the right to go and get your own evaluation on the worth of the business," Tom replied.
"What if I don't like the numbers?" he asked cautiously.
"Then you don't sell and we go on as before. As you know, the shares have never left the family," Tom concluded.
"How much do you think the business is worth?" Vinnie asked.
"Something at or over two million."
"So my share would be a half-million?"
"That's right."
"I'll think about it," Vinnie said after a moment.
"One thing, Vinnie. I need you to be on the job full time and at top speed. With Dad off, I can't do it all myself. I need you to pull your weight," Tom said seriously.
"So you don't think I'm pulling my weight, eh?"
Tom's reply was blunt. "In a word, no!"
"You fuck off for a couple of weeks with your woman and decide I'm not doing my job, is that it?" Vinnie spat angrily.
"Vinnie, you haven't had your head in the job for some time, a long time before I got married. All I have to do is look at the job performance reports every Monday to see the difference. I don't know what your problem is, but I can't afford to have full time people doing part-time jobs," Tom said in a level voice.
"And I suppose your midget all-star is perfect is he?" Vinnie shot back.
"The results speak for themselves," Tom said coldly.
"Yah, well you give him all the easy jobs and I get all the shit jobs," Vinnie whined.
"OK Vinnie. Tell you what. You and Robbie change jobs for a month and let's see what the difference is. I've been thinking about doing that anyway," Tom challenged.
"Screw you, brother. I'm not falling for that."
Tom was beginning to get angry.
"Suit yourself, but get your job back on schedule and start thinking further ahead than fifteen minutes when it comes to ordering from the suppliers. I'm tired of the same old bullshit about how they're always late."
"What's your problem, Tom?"
Tom was getting angrier at his brother.
"You, Vinnie! You used to be right on top of things. Now the only thing you seem to be on top of is your latest girlfriend."
