Screwed

Screwed by Wall Street - Part 5 - Startup Pains

The next morning, in an Oyster Bay bed, Joan got a poke in her rear, "You missed the run."

She turned over. Caroline, looking trim in a working dance outfit, was smiling at her. "A little too much fine wine?"

"What are you doing, looking so gorgeous so early?"

"The men are back and taking pictures of everyone for the Foundation brochure. You are required to shower and dress like a nonprofit executive!" She giggled gaily, extending a hand.

I didn't feel the least bit gay, but duty called. "Tell them I need fifteen minutes."

It was a good thing the mansion had a giant kitchen, because a crowd was filling it, with hands everywhere assembling a monster brunch. Alex, handling an expensive looking camera with a big lens, called out, "There will be single and group shots, pardon me, images, taken on the veranda."

Pat's voice behind me asked, "They all want to know what the name is?"

This item was on my list, and had been for some time. I couldn't very well offload it. After all, I was the source of the idea and the money to float it. Thinking back to trucking days, I remembered that media companies were hired for this kind of chore. Conference room sessions with big whiteboards.

Casting my eyes around the room, I had a notion. Ellie was my instant victim, "We need a big whiteboard, maybe two."

"Oh, thank god, I am one jump ahead of you. They are in the library."

Walking straight into her, I whispered, "Is it fair for me to make them work a little today?"

"Yes, yes, especially if we can get the name business settled. Alex is having a fit about registering it."

Looking around, I summoned Sam with a finger that was getting famous. This was fun, seeing helpers actually jump to attend to chores. Frowning, I pointed the finger and said, "I hope you put him in his place last night."

The graduating nurse giggled and pushed her new boss's boss into a corner. "He was so funny. Couldn't get over how we have just been folded in. You know, my Polish relatives are an extended family, and this seems like more of the same. He is so impressed, he didn't even come after me!"

Applying a headlock and a kiss, I said, "This is your first command performance. I want you to man the whiteboards for our business session and act as MC. I will warn them about misbehavior so you don't get hassled. At least, not too much."

"This is about the name?"

"Yes, we have stalled too long. Today is the day."

Stomachs full, the group relaxed on soft library chairs. Sam was in front, writing things on the whiteboards about naming. What did they want in a name, what would promote the right image, and so on.

Fifteen minutes later, using multicolored markers, the boards were covered. At least a dozen possible names were written down. From the back of the room, where Joan had been staying quiet, she uttered one word, "Barbazon!"

Surprise was written on every face. What was the unpredictable boss up to now? She walked to the front.

Pointing at Tony, I asked, "Right off the top of your head, what does it mean?"

"Um, strange, but sounds important. Could be a lot of things."

I noticed Alex fiddling with his laptop. "All right, money man, what does Google say?"

"Very old family name. Warriors involved with Norman Conquest. Served multiple Kings."

Pointing again, "All right, Pat, tell us why Barbazon is a good foundation name."

She stood up. "You really are a devil, Joan. No current connection with anything. No cliches. Sounds impressive. Allows us to develop our own branding without sounding juvenile or media centric."

I surveyed the room with a smile. "Ready to vote me down?"

A rush of cheering bodies buried me and carried outside to the sunny morning.

Sam was in the arms of her fiancé, "Girl, you helped with the name!"

"But all I did was write on the boards!"

"But you got them all thinking and wound up. When she popped out that name, it was no contest!"

She hugged him tightly, "Careful how you say popped out, I'm not pregnant yet." Laughing, they followed the others.

Chapter 17 - A Diversion into Matrimony

By Monday evening, Alex was reporting that incorporation papers had been filed and the name registered successfully. The rest of the gang was back in town, but Joan and Alex worked from Oyster Bay that day.

Claire had exhausted her leave from residency, and was back in harness at Sinai. She had cried real tears on Alex's shoulder that morning, clutching tight and moaning that her term had two more months to run, and she dare not offend the gods of medicine by leaving early. Besides, there were real patients she was committed to. Her new helper, Daniel, had returned to Sinai as well to give his two weeks' notice, but promised to return to the mansion after work if his new fiancee would like to spend another night in his arms.

Samantha frowned, "Devil. Is this the way it is going to be, one opportunity for male lust after another?" Joan laughed and Daniel growled.

At dinner, Joan asked, "Shouldn't we hire a crew to start on the outside? The original landscaping seems to have disappeared through neglect."

Joan and Sam were sharing a rundown loveseat and poking at each other. The graduating nurse, who was obviously going to be much more than just a nurse, suggested, "There are landscapers in my family. They would love to help restore this place, if you don't mind a little nepotism."

Instantly, there was girl-girl wrestling going on, which Alex and Daniel watched with a smile.

"I'll nepo you! What I care about is do they know what they are doing? Can we have a modern garden with touches of the past? How far will $100,000 go?"

Sam's swimming muscles were showing as they tumbled to the worn Persian carpet and used fists on each other. Lying back to catch their breath, Sam answered, "You need to talk to my uncle. When he was a kid, after the war, he worked in Poland with his relatives who stayed back." She gestured for Alex's phone and placed a call.

"Uncle Henry, this is your niece, Samantha. Do you still accept landscaping jobs?"

Ten minutes later, Henry had agreed to visit the next day and see what he thought of reviving the gardens of the dated mansion. Sam would be in class, but Joan would stay over and see what could be done.

They were sitting in the library after dinner, watching the remains of the twilight, when Claire appeared suddenly in the doorway.

"A ha! Caught in the act." She dove between Joan and Alex, applying a vicious headlock. This only resulted in her ending up on her back across two sets of legs and two frowning faces.

"You are playing medical hooky?"

"I'm in love and wrangled a night off."

Daniel and Sam, who were cuddled on a sofa across the room, giggled. "We are not the only ones paired up!"

Joan had one of her famous notions and suggested, "What if uncle Henry designs a new garden fit for a double wedding in the summer?"

Claire applied a fierce kiss of approval, but wailed, "My poor mother! She will have such a fit!"

I reached for the wiggling body and whispered, "We will fix up a special mother of the bride suite upstairs. Total Elizabethan grandeur. She will be granted a generous guest list. The wedding announcement will list your new titles, designed to make her swoon and her friends jealous."

I turned to Sam, "There will be room for all your relatives. Even a stray priest or two. Can you imagine a big tent for the reception, with all kinds of Polish food and booze available? Clyde will keep everyone in line with Polish swear words!"

In bed that night, I could hardly believe that the crazy mansion purchase had already started a medical odyssey, and was about to launch two young couples into their married lives. I called Pat.

"What have you done now? I should never have come back here."

"Oh, it is so sweet. I have decided we need to get the marrying over, so people can concentrate on their work. There are two couples here, but you and Roy, Gloria and Tony, Clyde and Caroline..."

"Stop, stop! What is this craziness? Five weddings in one?"

I spoke fiercely, but laughing, "Face it, girl, it is past time to stop being just shacked up with a guy!"

"Catch the early train. We have lots to talk about. Sam's uncle Henry, the landscaper, is coming to see what can be done to revive the outside. We need to discuss more about house renovations inside... Come to think about it, bring Ellie and Gloria too."

Chapter 18 - Getting Serious

Frowns were deep as three women climbed out of a taxi into a sunny morning.

"You are in big trouble, boss. Messing with our romantic attachments? NOT!"

I stood in the large entry of the mansion, which needed a proper name to go with the new Foundation name. My last evening companions had gone off early to day jobs, promising to return for dinner.

Frowning, "Hush. You already promised to help me find a lovable male. I am just offering you a fancy venue for the inevitable weddings to the males in your lives. Males who have been awfully nice to me."

"Damn you, Joan, we can't even work up a good snit!"

They gathered in the kitchen, which was spacious but needed a total redo. There was a new and expensive espresso machine on the counter, steaming quietly. Pat produced a sack of fresh croissant and they shortly sat in the sun on what was called the back patio.

Four women sipped and munched and stared at each other.

Gloria asked, "Am I allowed to have study hall here? Beats my hole in the wall apartment all to hell."

I smiled at Pat, signaling that she was to take command of the impromptu staff meeting.

"We will talk about weddings when the guys are here for dinner. Right now, we need to get organized. Alex has us incorporated and registered and the clock is ticking."

She paused and let the silence lengthen. She broke it, saying, "Joan told us there would be work and play, but right now, we need to concentrate on making her vision real."

Sitting there, listening to the easy conversation, I realized there were missing skills in addition to missing organization. We needed my talented women and their equally talented men to divvy up tasks and responsibilities.

I broke in, "Folks, take this conversation to the library and start capturing it on the whiteboards. I need you to identify essential skill sets and especially those that require full time staff that must be recruited. Pat is the chief recruiter, but she needs our help. Continue without me for now, I need to track down Alex for several important items."

Alex answered his cell phone in the new office in Manhattan, where he was still more or less camping.

"Good morning, aggressive studly male, are you still engaged?"

His voice was soft, "Boss, do not tease me about Claire. How did a useless finance guy like me fall into deserving her?"

I tried to answer in kind, "We both don't deserve her but will take all of her talent we can get!"

He said, "You are calling because the two of us need to get our heads around a list of top priorities?"

"How thoughtful of you to realize that."

"If all of the beautiful, strong women in my life treat me like this, I will go over the edge in a hurry."

"You are right. I will behave. As I was saying, there is an intimidating list of things to do. Which ones come first? I'm talking to you before we bring Pat into the conversation because you and I need to be comfortable about our money affairs or other things won't work."

"Thank you. I am only part way to such things as a balance sheet and income statement. Which reminds me to ask you if it is ok for the finance staff to be me, and the rest of it contracted?"

"I don't know if we can afford to have a single mind around all our money affairs. But I don't want a bright MBA who thinks they should compete with you. For now, let's continue with just you. But be sure that our contracted firm will assign a lead that is responsive and available."

"Joan, you know that the rest of us are comfortable with your leadership, and that is a tribute because there never has been a more unruly bunch of staffers for a startup."

"There is a punchline to go with that flattery?"

"Don't be afraid to throw things out there. My gut tells me we need to make enough of a splash to get media exposure for Barbazon Foundation. Put Pat and Ellie and Gloria to work on something to get us attention in the Times and the Journal. That's not easy, but most of the people we want to impress are in those readerships."

"The Clinic is not on that list?"

After a pause, he said, "My brilliant partner will make splashes, but her startup schedule needs months. Sam isn't out of school, the renovations don't have permits, and so on. I think a big Clinic splash is a year from now."

My mind was bubbling and I said, out of the blue, "What if I said all the principals of the company should work here?"

After a wait, he responded, "What if we get into that over a dinner drink?

* * *

It was approaching noon and lunchtime, but I needed a run. What to run in? Wandering to the library, I confronted the restive females there.

"We need a run. Do we go in our underwear?"

Ellie smiled, "There is a great running shop in town. We will buy new outfits and slip into them in their changing room."

An hour later, we were back at the mansion, winded, sweaty and happy. The outfits looked great, even with sweat stains. Sam was there, fresh from class and complaining.

"I don't get to know about runs?"

She got our sweaty best hugs and a promise to do better about the running schedule.

After lunch, I was left on the patio as the others chased their work assignments. I sat under one of the new umbrellas and pondered my traitorous thoughts about everyone working from one place. On the face of it, this was a foolish idea. With Zoom, Facetime, and what have you, a colleague could be brought into immediate presence in seconds. Many companies placed executives where the customers were, or where new business opportunities lay. But these options didn't apply to Joan and her new partners.

I wasn't making much mental progress when Sam wandered out. "Come keep me company on the sofa and give me some orders."

I obeyed, deliberately taking a lying down position with head in her lap and squeezing a hand between mine. Smiling, she gave me a curious look. I ordered, "Kiss me."

It was long and gentle and then not so gentle. "Are you hitting on me?"

"No. Daniel would beat both of us. I'm trying to get some things straight in my mind and you can help. Why did you decide to be a nurse?"

"It's a strange story. The grandfather who is a landscaper ended up patching bodies with no formal training. It was a miracle if you kept any of them alive. The Germans and then the Russians were everywhere. Nobody was safe and you would be arrested and shot if you went to a hospital. His stories about those days got me interested in medicine and in helping. I'm probably smart enough to go to medical school, but the chance to work with Claire is a godsend. And work with you, too."

The next kiss was warm, tender and not sexual. I described my ambivalence about work locations, still lying there in her lap.

She was direct. "You made a good decision, buying this place. It will make an excellent clinic, and there is plenty of room for other activities, some of which you may not want to be public."

"Keep talking, I am liking this. Daniel can have multiple personalities?"

"I don't know if you have noticed, but there is enormous energy in that guy. Scares me sometimes, but if I get tense, he starts making out and I collapse!"

We lay there, talking to each other, as the others showed up.

"What are you doing, molesting the newest recruit?" Ellie went back to the kitchen for refreshments. Pat and Gloria folded in next to us.

"This is a serious seminar about where Foundation people should work."

Pat stared and asked, "We haven't solved that problem? You just spent a bunch of money in midtown."

"I'm being an indecisive female worried about creative juices."

Gloria giggled and said, "Oh that. I knew we were having too easy a time of it."

Ellie arrived with drinks and added, "Joan, bosses are supposed to worry about strategy. I agree that maybe a sterile Manhattan office is not the best place for that."

Sam smiled and said, "She can lie in my lap as long as she wants!"

I sat up and pushed Sam into my lap. At that very moment, Daniel appeared in the doorway, shocked at seeing five females in a cluster with drinks and his fiancee lying down in the boss's lap.

"My god, what have we here?"

Gloria gave him a fierce look, two African-Americans eye to eye.

"Calm down, stud. This is an important seminar. Help yourself to a drink and join us!"

When he returned, Gloria was still on his case. "Sit down and take a deep swallow and think of something intelligent to say about creative juices."

He looked around. Not only was the girl he was going to marry on the pushy side, but so were these others. Smart, beautiful, and pushy. Damn.

"Must be nurtured carefully."

I said, "Thank you, that's what has been bugging me."

The clan was gathering. Into the pregnant silence stepped Claire and Alex.

"What is this? Everyone is looking serious."

Ellie said, "The Earth is in peril. Get a drink and join us."

I squeezed Sam and pushed her in Daniel's direction. "Get us some good student style takeout. The study group will need it."

I had a nagging worry that leaving Roy, Tony, Clyde and Clyde's love out of this meeting was a bad idea.

"Folks, some important people are not here. The conversation is going to go late, so should they be summoned?"

There was silence until Gloria said, "My god, Joan is going to let me sleep with my boyfriend!"

There was still silence as phones were retrieved and calls made. I did the Clyde call myself.

"Polish warrior, you and your girl are needed at the mansion, immediately if not sooner."

Silence until he asked, softly, "This is an overnight?"

"Yes, bring bags if you have them. Hire a limo and collect Roy and Tony too."

In two hours, they were tumbling in the door. The library was a disaster of bodies and left over takeout. Joan was in a wing chair at one side, trying to look official. Booze had been replaced by soda pop.

Suddenly, I felt like it was sink or swim time. After a month of messing around, we still did not have a useful project list and we did not have a list of personnel assignments to go with the project list. More important, we had yet to synergize the original enthusiasm for my idea into a cohesive sense of common purpose.

My little worry voice said perhaps I had been goofing off too much. Where did a Tahiti tan fit in?

"Everyone, I feel foolish convening an off the wall meeting like this, but reality caught up with me today and asked what the deal is? Who is going to do what to what purpose? Where are those bodies going to be located? And so on."

"I'm sorry to disrupt your calendars, but let's pull as much of an all nighter as is needed to settle a few things."

Looking around the room, I could see I was on the right track. Faces told the story of need to get on with it.

Sam and Daniel were tickling each other while trying to look serious. The newest recruits had the most clearly defined path forward. A year's worth of hard work to launch the Clinic.

The two couples whom I had embarrassed with talk of summer weddings were sharing common spaces. The other five of us were the original Foundation cohort. I was thinking 'forged in lust' but it was more than that. The energy and smarts were prodigious. More than I had any right to expect.

Sam wandered over and sat next to me. I forced her down across my lap and threatened a kiss.

I teased, "Hitting on me again? Your fiance will beat both of us."