Chapter 28
A man can love three women, can't he?
Monday, August 29th
Kevin Sales' office, Crowell Corporation
Reading of the will...
Kevin....
I remember the last time I saw Jim alive. It had been a beautiful day and we were going to change his will to reflect the current situation at the Corporation.
By the time my family and I had moved in from San Francisco, he and Maria had already left for Hawaii.
I had flown down earlier in the day and by the time Alessa had gone to the dining room for some lunch, Jim was meeting with me.
There were a large number of papers scattered on every flat surface of Jim's office. We were sitting on the floor, matching papers and separating them into various piles according to some plan that only the two of us seemed to understand.
In the background, 'California Girls' was playing; he had a fixation when it came to 60s music and the Beach Boys in particular. After another hour, we finally finished the last set of papers and dropped them on the huge piles facing us.
"My back is killing me..." Jim pulled out his Blackberry and called Tybal, Alessa's secretary. "Mary, please get Louise and come to my office with your laptops. Have you had lunch yet? OK... then call some lunch and you can eat it here."
I looked at the different piles of colored papers. "As before, most of your individual bequests are to the people working for you, the charitable organizations that you have established with trust funding, of the remaining 39 billion dollars, about 66 percent going directly to Alessa, 20 percent to Maria Paras and the rest split evenly between Tyler and Tunturin with 7 percent each. Each stack is for each group.
Have you ever told any of them what has been in your will?"
"No, Kevin, you're the executor... that's always been your problem." He gave a faint smile, the back pain from some long forgotten battle still bothered him, but he was trying to stay off the prescribed painkillers that made his head 'fuzzy.'
**********
The four of us sat on the floor looking at the stacks of paper spread around the room. Jim and I were eating and sometimes pointing at different piles. The women sat against the wall, laptops on the floor, sandwiches in their hands as I indicated what Jim wanted done.
I looked over and Jim nodded his agreement.
"Ladies, Jim, in recognition of your tremendous loyalty and hard work, has set aside seven percent of the business for each of you in the event of his death. We wanted to get that out of the way. At some point, that amount will be transferred to you both, but we're not sure yet when. In case you're guessing, that amounts to about, at current valuation, 2.5 billion dollars each."
Mary spilled her drink onto her skirt and didn't even notice she was in such shock at the amount. The two women could only stammer their appreciation for his unbelievable gesture.
"A version of this will has been in effect since the second week Alessa came here and today is just a formality to tie up some loose ends. I had planned on giving each of you a copy at Christmas time but as you know, things have changed dramatically between all of us since then."
Once lunch was finished, we left the women to retype the will's sections and said we would be back when they were finished.
**********
"Jim, you are a most generous man. I've known Alessa for a long time and I knew that day you took her away was the best thing that could have happened. If you don't mind, why the change in plans?"
Jim looked around and satisfied no one was within easy listening, said, "We're going to be married at Christmas in Hawaii. But, I want things squared away just in case something happens to me again in the meantime."
"Fair enough. Congratulations."
We took the elevator up to the residential top floor.
"I've been thinking. How much of your time is taken up with my account?"
"Well, to be honest," I said, "you're my only responsibility with the firm. I've wanted to leave them for the way they treated Alessa but the economy has made that difficult."
"How would you like to go independent, so to speak, move down here, and be our in-house legal? You know how we've set up things here. Your living situation would be taken care of, there would be no cut for the firm for your work and I think your wife and children might like a warmer climate... or, is she enamored with the idea of living in San Francisco?"
"Actually, after that last earthquake, she's been hinting about moving from there."
"Uh, you know there are earthquakes down here, also, right?"
"Let me call her now, if I may? It will just be a moment or two, I hope." I hit my wife's speed dial number and in moments was connected with her 400 miles to the north. A very rapid conversation between us ensued.
"She wants to know how big the apartment here would be."
"Here, let me talk to her. Hello, Mrs. Sales, Jim Crowell here. How are you, ma'am? Yes, I know that San Francisco weather this time of year. What's that? Of course, I will have him send you the photos in just a moment. Excuse me. Kevin, this thing sends photos, right?"
"Yes." I was already anticipating moving south, I could just taste it.
"Good, let's show your wife what your new home would look like. Mrs. Sales? We'll call you right back on my phone, we're going upstairs to your new home. Yes, ma'am, I am pretty sure."
We kept up an animated conversation of Dodgers vs. Giants as we walked along the hallway. Halfway down the west corridor, we stopped. While I had called my wife back, Jim had made a call of his own and by the time we had reached the apartment, it had been opened and the lights turned on. Although there was no furniture, the rooms said 'home'.
"Hello, Mrs. Sales? Hi, it's me, again. Yes, your husband is going to start sending photos to your computer, is that right? Good. I'll answer any questions you might have with each room.
"What's the square footage? Well, it is a little small but you don't have to worry about cooking unless you want to with the kitchenette and you don't have to do any laundry. What's that? I've sold you already! You are pretty funny, ma'am.
"Call you Louise? Why, thank you, Louise. To answer your question, though, the square footage here is just a shade over 2000 square feet. It's twice what you have now? Well, that's San Francisco for you.
"Are the photos coming over? Great! What do you think?
"Schools? Well, ma'am, I mean, Louise, we do our schooling in house, here. We're a bit out of town and this way we don't worry about our children. How many? I think there are about a hundred children, spread over the 12 grades, as well as daycare for those that need it.
"We have our own staff for that and the high school age children have access to the finest programs available. And, as you can imagine, the teacher-student ratio is, if I remember correctly, about five or six to one and the field trips are pretty special.
"Yes, ma'am. The children move at their own rate, with a gentle push to keep them on track and on schedule. Given our programs, the children are their own best motivator, and we have the older students working with the younger ones an hour a day. Keeps them grounded.
"Special needs? Yes, Louise. We have several children and their parents have been quite happy with their success. Everyone works together here. Is that a concern for you? I see. On that matter, you will have nothing to worry about.
"Yes, I guess you could say it's almost like a family, but everyone can move on whenever they want. We've only lost three people since building here... Yes, it had to do with taking care of parents on the east coast, and the old folks just wouldn't leave to come here. We were very sorry to see them leave, but they know they can come back if they wish someday.
"They don't know it yet, but we've set up trust funds for any children they might have in the future. Your husband is the one who set it up. Yes, ma'am... I mean, Louise. Every child here... Yes, that's right. So, are you coming south?
"You wish to speak with him... Yes, I'll tell him. Just a minute, please. Here, she wants to speak with you."
He handed me the phone and left to give me some privacy.
"No, you're not dreaming. Yes, our own exclusive contract. From what I figure, about three times what we're doing now, plus no cost housing and food and schooling. You want me to ask? I don't know if that's a good idea. Look, you've got to see this place to believe it, I've been here about ten times and it still amazes me.
"I'll tell him. Do you want to sell the place or try and rent it out? How sure am I? In all the years I've known him, he's never, ever backed down from his word, or done anything that I know of that even hints... Yes, I'll tell him.
"What's that? A pony? Louise, you've got to be kidding me! All right, all right, I'll ask, but... this better not screw up the deal, Louise. Wait a minute."
