Finishing Up

Finishing Up

 

Chapter 11

 

 

Carl rolled out of bed. Standing in the middle of his bedroom he stretched and then quickly stepped into his bathroom. He was relaxed and happy. Everything had been coming up roses. Finishing up his morning ablution he quickly dressed and hurried downstairs; there, he entered the kitchen from the garage entrance.

 

“Carl, darn it, I’m never going to get used to having that entrance from upstairs”

 

Carl, by that time, had grabbed a glass and was pouring orange juice from the pitcher on the breakfast table. “Yeah, but it’s so much faster than going all the way down the hall to the other staircase.”

 

He sat down and sipped on his juice while watching his mother fix breakfast.

“Morning Dad,” he greeted his father as he stepped into the kitchen.

He watched as his Dad walked up behind his mother and hugged her, and then kissed the nape of her neck.

Turning, he returned the greeting. “And morning to you Carl; anything big on your schedule today?”

 

“Nah, just the last day of school, nothing big. This is really my last day of school at the high school so I will most likely be saying good bye to a lot of acquaintances.”

 

“Oh, Laura and I talked it over, and thought we would have one last date. Well not really a date. She’s giving a small party, and wants me to meet some of her friends I have never met. I think I’m being shown to her new boy friend.”

 

“Oh, do you know him?” his dad asked.

“Nope, he does some track and field. That’s not too bad; better then football anyway.  I swear it must be all that hitting on the Helmet that makes them so dumb.”

 

“What is your summer going to be like, do you want to go somewhere for a couple of weeks?”

 

“Nah, me and Uncle Rick are going to have to set down and do some figuring. We have been waiting for some free time and for mom to finish up the books.”

 

“I finished the books three weeks ago!” His mom stated as she took her seat at the table.

 

“Yeah, I know mom. Anything important I should know about?”

 

“The company is building up too much cash reserve. It needs to be put to work. If my sister Clara knew anything about business, I could show her these books and she’d never worry about going to the poor house. This last month you’ve sold over 10,000 units of Power Supplies at $1,800 each, that’s revenue of over 18 million. That’s with expenses of less than 5%; of course, we have had to pay the IRS 25% upfront.  That was after paying the state 8%. You are now in the position where you are making money from your money.”

 

“But that’s still a tremendous amount of cash in your reserve.”

 

“I really hate to distribute it as that just adds more to the IRS pocket book.” Carl said. .”Let’s convene the board of directors this evening, I suggest we distribute like $150,000 to each stock holder as dividends.”

 

“But I need to start getting ready for college. Dad, I will be in another state. I will not have ready access to all of you, my family. So I need to get an emancipation decree to allow me to make purchases and act like an adult while I’m there.”

 

His father stopped with a fork of food half way to his mouth then continued. “Yeah, I see. Are you going to live on campus? Or are you planning to rent an apartment off campus?”

 

“I need real privacy, I’m thinking of buying a house, but we have only a couple of months to finish all of that.”

 

“Well have you decided on the college you want to go to?”

 

“Yeah, it’s in East Missouri, the East Weatherford Liberal Art Institute.”

 

It got quiet for a minute, “Why there, son?” his father asked.

 

“I have no idea, except it felt right when I finally pinpointed it.”

 

“It’s less than 400 miles from here, south of St. Louis and Northwest of Farmington. So, I might have Uncle Rick to come with me to check out any house I decide to buy.”

 

“That sound like a good idea son,” his father finished his coffee and excused himself and left the breakfast nook.

 

Carl sat there in the quiet looking at his mother.

 

“You did not mean to do it I know but you hurt you father’s feelings.” His mother said softly.

 

“What? How did I do that?”

 

“By saying you would get your Uncle Rick to go with you to check any house you found.”

 

“But…but mom, Dad doesn’t know anything about building construction!”

 

“I know that and you Dad is smart enough to know that also, but it the father son thing. He would of appreciated you asking him. Then he would have suggested Rick.”

 

“Mom, when will I learn all of this grown up things?”

 

“Haw haw, never! If my parents were still alive I would still being making mistake with them. Your parents never think you are grown, if you can remember that then you can figure out when not to step on sensitive toes. And remember it when you have kids.”

 

“By the way any suggestion for the buildup of cash in the corporate accounts?”

 

“Well, diversification for one: Mutual funds, municipal bonds, treasury bills, no more than 25% of it in stocks. No utilities! If tocks in the auto industry then only the automobiles manufactures that are going big in electric cars.”

 

“Bring that up this evening; also keep a couple million in readily liquid funds.”

 

“Carl, what did you mean when you said that college felt right?”

 

“Well mom, I tried to use divination to find a college. It was real wild, all over the map until I define my question. I asked to find the best college that would be right for me and my future.

 

“Then it locked on that college like I fired an arrow at a target. I mean no hesitation at all. I even contacted that Homeland Security agent and asked him if there was any reason not to go? He looked a little surprise, and then he made a comment that got me to wondering.”

 

“He said kind under his breath, ‘we need to open an office there’.

 

[read The Novice Sorceress, especially before continuing this to part 2]

 

 

 

End Part I

 

 

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My thanks to TxAgBand59 for his editing and proofing help. But the final results are mine and all criticism should be loaded onto my shoulders.

 

© Virgil Lee Fuqua III and ‘vlfouquet.wordpress’, 2008-2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Vlfouquet and Virgil Lee Fuqua III with appropriate and specific direction to the original contents.