"I believe that's everything, Dad. Every penny."
"Yes, it is. I gotta tell you, I always believed you could do it, but I'm still very impressed."
"Are you still mad at me for not going to college?"
"I was never mad, Chandler. I just honestly believed it was the best thing for you at the time. I mean, when you've got a 3.87GPA in high school it only seems natural to go on to college. I'll admit I was disappointed for a few months, but your mom and I raised you to follow your dreams and you did that. How could we be upset with you for doing what we asked you to do and doing it so well at that?"
"I still remember the way you looked at me when I presented you with my business plan," his son said with a smile.
"Okay. You got me there. I had my doubts at first—but only at first."
"A hundred grand is a whole lot of reason to have those kinds of doubts, Dad."
"Yes, but we'd have invested roughly that much had you gone to an Ivy League school for four years which would have likely turned into five, so maybe we got off easy," his father said with a grin.
"So...you want to take a chance on me and bankroll one more?"
"Whoa! Slow down there, cowboy. Are you serious?" his dad asked.
"Very," his son replied. "I just paid you back everything you loaned me with interest and all in just 33 months. Not bad for a kid with no education, wouldn't you say, Dad?"
His dad ran his hand through his hair, exhaled loudly then said, "No, not bad at all. All right. Let's sit down and talk about it."
Nearly three years ago, Chandler Caulfield didn't just mildly surprise his parents when he told them he wasn't going to Princeton even after having been accepted; they were blown out of the water. His mother cried and his father pleaded with him not to throw away his future. And that's when he turned the tables on them on reminded them how they'd always told him each person needed to do what made him or her or happy for society to function optimally. If you like to paint then paint. If I enjoy repairing cars let me do that. By doing what we most love we maximize our own happiness, and the end result is a better society even though that's not the goal of following ones dreams. It's just a very nice by-product.
That reminder was followed a few days later with a detailed business plan that also floored his father, Gil Caulfield, a successful real estate developer in the Seattle area. He'd purchased a carwash he planned to demolish and use the space for retail stores until his son convinced him he could make it profitable again.
Gil had presented many business plans himself to various investors, but his then 18-year old son's was as detailed and thorough as anything he'd ever produced, and after examining it for several days, he took a huge risk and bankrolled the project which began with renovation and included advertising and marketing which had all paid off rather nicely.
Now, less than three years later, his soon-to-be-21-year old son, had just paid back the money he'd loaned him, in full and with interest. That too, stunned the older Caulfield.
"So before you dive into your second venture, do you ever do anything other than work, Chandler?" his dad asked him.
"I run. I work out. I bicycle when the weather's nice. I read when I can. Why?"
His dad smiled then said, "I'm talking about making time for relationships. With the fairer sex, of course. You know...girls."
Chandler laughed then said, "Yeah. I know what the fairer sex is, Dad. And I do go out. Sometimes."
His mother wasn't there so he smiled and said, "Occasionally I hook up. I just don't talk about it much."
"I know you're still young," his dad said. "Shoot, you'd be in your junior year of college if you'd taken that path, and I'm sure you'd be doing your fair share of 'hooking up' there, too. Just don't tell your mom that, okay? She's no prude, but she's kind of got her heart set on a big wedding for her only child someday so if you ever feel like actually dating someone, I'm sure you'd make her very happy."
Again, his son laughed and told his father, "Dating's not exactly my thing, Dad. I don't find going out with girls my age exactly stimulating anyway. Well, physically, they're just fine in that respect, but when it comes to discussing anything beyond reality TV it gets pretty dicy. It's got an upside and a downside to it. The upside is I know all about the Kardashians. The downside is I know all about the Kardashians."
His dad laughed as he fully understood the obsession with and the absurdity of reality TV.
"No, I get it. Having the kind of mind you do, and frankly, being as good looking as you are, can make that a real challenge. Not the hooking up part, of course. That's easy. Finding an attractive, interesting, intelligent woman is a lot more difficult. I don't envy you, but I do know you're smart enough to figure out how to make that work to your advantage. Just think it about it, okay?"
"For Mom, right?" Chandler said with a grin of his own.
"Okay, fine. I surrender!" his dad said holding up his hands. "Let's look at those plans, shall we?"
Thirty days later, Chandler Caulfield was closing on his second carwash just six weeks before his 21st birthday, and he was ready to attack this next challenge with as much energy as he had the first.
That would be no small task considering how he'd spent an average of 14 hours a day at his first location seven days a week personally drying and waxing cars after his customers spent between $5 and $10 to go through his carwash.
In addition, he also ran the administrative and managerial ends of the business. He'd unfailingly introduce himself to each new customer and speak to the repeats calling them by name even after not seeing them for days or even weeks. The harder he worked the more business came his way, and the more customers that showed up, the more they told their friends about the happy young owner of the most successful carwash in town. Which, of course, resulted in more business and more money and more customers and....
After a long, grueling first day at the new location, Chandler had to ask himself if maybe his dad had a point. It was beginning to feel like all work and no play really was making Johnny a dull boy. Or at least a guy named Chandler Caulfield. And yet he knew there would be time to play later on. Later on as in after he'd opened several more locations and could afford to play. For now, his life was work and more work with his only diversion a run or a bike ride and every other day, some time in a gym lifting some light-to-medium weights.
The only real issue with a new location was having to trust someone to run the first carwash. Yes, Chandler could divide his time between them, but the first location was well-established while the new location needed him there full time. So for the time being, his best employee, a man of about 40 named Carl, was in charge at the first place while Chandler sought to build clientele at the second.
Carl was friendly and conscientious, but not exactly the best manager as he really hated telling other people what to do and he wasn't exactly 'top shelf' when it came to paperwork. For now, Carl was the best he had, and finding the time to interview and hire someone better would have to wait while he hoped the first location didn't start losing customers.
The next three days were every bit as long, and as luck would have it, the change machine into which his customers fed bills was on the blink. Rather than turn away customers, he gave everyone who wanted to stay a wash and wax for just $5 as he made change manually from the petty cash box he kept on hand. If he couldn't make change or if they didn't have cash with them, he let them go through for nothing or for whatever they could pay. Yes, it was costing him a few dollars per car, but he knew that turning them away meant zero dollars and angry customers who might never come back which was far worse.
He got someone out to repair it the next day and things seemed to be back on track until around 11am when Chandler heard a bloodcurdling scream from inside the carwash. He was at the far end drying a vehicle when everyone froze.
"What the hell?" he said as he ran to his end of the wash itself where he could see inside.
It took him a second to make sense of what he was seeing, but after a quick look around, he knew he wasn't imagining it. There was a woman outside of her vehicle, standing there soaking wet, her face and body mostly covered in a soapy goo screaming and trying to look around as the large brushes spun as soap and water sprayed everywhere.
Chandler ran to the side of the building and hit the emergency cutoff switch bringing everything to an immediate stop. He then went in through the side door and found the woman still screaming hysterically.
"Ma'am? Are you okay?" he called out.
As soon as she saw him she shrieked, "My baby! I can't find my baby!"
Chandler couldn't see anything but white soap and suds, but he could hear her quite clearly. Trying not to slip and fall, he quickly walked around the woman's SUV and saw the back rear door was slightly open. He could see an empty carseat inside then got very concerned.
He walked the length of the carwash checking every nook and cranny all to no avail. And then he saw her—quietly sitting at the start all by herself. The woman's 'baby' was a little girl who looked to be three or maybe four years old at most.
"Hey there! Is that your mommy's car?" Chandler asked as he knelt beside her and pointed to the vehicle halfway through the carwash cycle.
"Yes. It is," she told him matter of factly.
"Well...aren't you supposed to be inside it? he asked as he heard the woman still screaming.
