“The bet is sixty. If you can’t handle it, just fold,” Alan challenged me.
I pulled out three more twenties and threw them into the pot. Alan rolled over two nines to give him a full house, nines over threes. He had me beat up to the river. When I rolled over the pocket threes, the color drained from his face.
“Just pull your money back,” I offered.
Alan glared at me, got up, and stormed out. It looked like our friendship really had ended. At this point, that didn’t bother me; I was sick of his behavior. I pulled my cash out of the pot and gave Jim the rest for the ‘beer fund.’ No way the ten dollars he’d asked us to chip in had covered all his expenses.
That pretty much ended the poker game. Ty had brought some Swisher Sweet cigars, so several people stepped out onto the deck to try them. I stayed inside, kicked back, and drank a few beers. It was a pleasant, relaxing evening, and great to get the guys together.
Jim’s parents came home at midnight. His dad insisted on driving everyone home in his van. It was going to take a couple of trips, so I helped Jim, Tim, and Brit clean up.
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Chapter 38 – Feminazis Sunday May 1
After church, Mom dropped me off at Jim’s to pick up my Jeep.
Dad and I once again found ourselves in Caryn’s conference room, with Megan sitting in. Caryn got Dad up to speed on the school lunch issue.
“It’s David’s money, and we have a budget for something like that. I don’t have a problem with it,” Dad said.
“Tell him the rest,” I told Caryn.
“The Quickie Mart has had a few people come in and ask for food. There’s also the matter of how the kids will eat when they aren’t in school,” she summarized.
I quickly realized she’d already talked to him about it.
“What did you want to do about the Quickie Mart?” Dad asked me.
“I thought we might put together some bags of food that could be handed out. Sort of like what you see at the grocery stores around Thanksgiving and Christmas. I would want to include a flyer or brochure that would direct them to where to get help. Maybe make them sign up to get the food and give their names to the county,” I brainstormed.
“I’m not sure that we want to collect people’s names and information, but I expect the county has some literature about the programs that are offered,” Caryn said.
The conversation then devolved into what food should be included. It was decided that there would be a half-gallon of milk, eggs, bread, lunch meat, and peanut butter. Caryn would monitor it and see how it worked out.
Caryn had also talked to the TV station about the issue of childhood hunger, and they agreed to add that as one of the PSAs. She had scripts for all the commercials they wanted me to do. She and Frank had reviewed them, and they’d suggested some changes that the TV station had agreed to. I would shoot them this week after school. When Halle found out what I was doing, she insisted on helping me learn my lines and had ideas for how they should film them.
Caryn gave us a rundown of all the other businesses. The investment in Jack Mass’s construction company was starting to pay dividends. They’d been able to complete six homes and had sold them all. He wanted to reinvest the profits into an old candy factory. One of the hot trends was to convert old commercial spaces into big fourteen-foot-ceiling open-air studios. He planned for it to be a high-end venture. The appeal of the building was that the exterior walls were exposed brick, and the studios would have large windows with views of the city.
Caryn showed us the business plan, and Jack projected a nearly fifty percent return on investment. Dad cautioned that was
Before we began our tour of what was happening here, Caryn pulled out a folder.
“Mr. Morris sent over the finalized agreement with the NCAA. I told him about our little mistake with the pictures,” Caryn said.
I’d handed out movie pictures at a sporting event. That was why she’d changed it so I now handed out baseball cards after games. She flipped through to a marked page of the agreement.
“This basically gives us a ‘get out of jail free’ card for that,” Caryn said.
I read the highlighted phrase: ‘
“When I sign and date the document, that sets the date,” Dad explained.
