Chapter 7

Day 7 as a Millionaire (Monday, March 16, 2009)

I woke up to the sound of birds singing again. It was still dark out but I was refreshed and ready for another day. The clock said it was only five thirty. I climbed out of bed, put on a bath robe, and started up my computer.

An email from Terry reported that the offer on one of our properties was accepted. That was an easy decision as it was a full price offer. He also was able to contact another of the buyer leads I gave him last week and scheduled an office visit. He showed homes to three families. One family had him write an offer, the other two scheduled for additional showings. He also completed a Market Analysis presentation and listed another property. I received another buyer lead and seller lead from my website which were forwarded on to Terry. He had a very busy Sunday and it looked like it might be a busy week.

I logged onto my stock trading account to do some more research. My stock picks from yesterday still looked good as there was no additional news relating to either of them. I did not find any other stocks of interest at this time so I just left my market triggers in place. Stock trading would begin for the day in a few minutes. I would hold my impatience in check and wait until tomorrow morning to view my results.

I then checked my personal email for anything of interest. After deleting 55 spam emails offering everything from health insurance, male enhancement, thru South African Lottery winnings I discovered an email from Napoleon, my stock issue researcher.

Dear Leon,

Although I have not come anywhere near completing my analysis of your recent find of stock certificates, I thought I would share some preliminary results. The series of 27 certificates of investment in Pioneer Rail Lines have no ownership value because the company dissolved itself in bankruptcy in 1903. However, this appears to be the only complete set with at least one copy of every certificate ever issued by this company. In the 42 years the company was in operation they created 20 different issues of stock. This collection contains at least one of every one of them. The largest collection known to date included five of them and recently sold at auction for three million dollars. If these certificates are in as good of condition as the scans you emailed me would indicate, they should be worth in excess of twelve million dollars.

The 100 certificates from the first issued by the Union Pacific Railroad have multiplied through many stock splits and revaluations over the years. Just those certificates could now be exchanged for 150,000 certificates of their current stock. At the current price of $82.19 per share that collection of stock is worth $12,328,500. Not only that, it would appear that there is $7,564,300 in uncollected dividends due on this stock. Apparently the owner did not notify the company of address changes and since 1959 dividend payment checks were returned as undeliverable until the company stopped sending them after the third check was returned. The dividends have accumulated in an escrow account that can be released upon proof of ownership of the relevant stock certificates.

The collector value of these original stock certificates would also be interesting. I'm not even sure how to value them but will continue my research.

It appears that you have discovered an extremely valuable cache of antique stock certificates.

I'll have more information for you in a couple days

Yours truly,
Napoleon

All I could say after reading that email is "Wow". Gannon is unknowingly an extremely wealthy man. I better tell him in person and make sure that Doc is near by.

I decided I needed to go for a walk and get some exercise. I have been lax in keeping up my exercise regimen over the last week. I put on my sweat suit, hiking boots, and gloves and went out for a walk around town. The clock in my room indicated six thirty now.

I alternated between jogging and walking for about forty five minutes and returned for a shower. I came down for breakfast at eight o'clock to find that breakfast was just being served.

"Where did you go this morning? If you don't mind my asking" queried Emma as I came into the Dining Room.

"I have been slacking off on getting enough daily exercise and decided to take a walk this morning" I responded.

"Did you know we had a work-out room out next to the pool?" she asked.

"I didn't even know there was a pool."

"That's right. Usually we give our guests a tour of the entire facilities upon arrival. However, you came so late on your first night we didn't do that and I have neglected to make that up to you. I'm really sorry and hope that you'll have time for me to take care of that immediately after breakfast."

"I'll look forward to it. I don't have anything pressing to do this morning."

About that time breakfast got in the way of conversation. It had been a long time since our early Dinner last night and I was hungry. The breakfast Sausages, egg soufflés, and hash brown potatoes hit the spot perfectly.

When we were all done, Emma reminded me "Now while everyone goes about their separate ways, Leon, I owe you the grand tour of Emma Nevada House Bed and Breakfast.

Everyone scattered except Emma and me. She led me through the foyer and into the recreation room. Although I had been here before, I never really took the time to examine it.

"Here we have the center of entertainment and recreation for our house. You can see the 72 inch projection TV. It is hooked up to a custom designed surround sound system which includes two base woofers and an assortment of eight additional speakers. The system has units to play cassette tapes, vinyl LPs, MP3 files, and even 8 track tapes. It has a network attached xBox, and a Wii game console. It has a multi-media personal computer with a Terabyte of disk storage for saving our favorite movies. We have a cable TV connection and have ordered Direct TV from Adrianne's new marketing business.

At the near end of the room was an assortment of easy chairs, couches, Futons, and cushions that would easily seat over twenty people. In the middle of the room was a wet bar with storage for a huge assortment of beverages, adult and otherwise. At the far end of the room was a pool table, an Air Hockey table, and a foosball game.

Now that it was daylight, I could see there were glass sliding doors at the far end of the room which led out to a large cement patio and a large swimming pool. The swimming pool had a thermal cover.

As we walked towards that end of the room Emma explained "Although there is a pool heater, we don't usually use the pool and just keep it covered from October through May. We usually have a pool party memorial day weekend to celebrate the start of summer."

Instead of going out to the patio we turned right, going through a door into what was obviously the work-out room. There were three treadmills that had automatically variable inclines. There was an assortment of about six other workout machines that I could only vaguely determine their function.

"Do you have someone to show us how to use all this equipment?" I asked.

"Actually, I am a certified personal fitness coach and if you'll let me know ahead of time, I'll be happy to help you design a complete fitness regimen that will safely maintain, or build your physical fitness." She replied.

Through another door to the right we passed into a room with a huge hot tub. It looked like it was designed to hold twelve or more people. There was a large glass sliding door on the left that went out to the patio which wrapped around the side of the house.

"In the winter when there is snow outside, the kids like to go out there and roll in the snow then come back in to recover in the hot tub. Or even to go into the sauna which is through the door ahead of us. There is room in the sauna for ten or twelve people as well."

We proceeded through the door out to the patio. This was a very private patio about twenty feet square. It was screened from the front and the side by very dense shrubbery topped off with several blue spruce trees. It was screened from the back patio by a solid wood fence with a gate into the pool area.

We progressed through the gate into the pool area. The pool was 25 meters long and varied in depth from 3.5 feet to 14 feet. The deep end had two diving boards. One was about 4 feet above the water and the other about 8 feet above the water. There was an assortment of lounge chairs and even some padded vinyl covered benches about the size of a queen bed. It was obviously set up for enjoying the sunshine as well as enjoying the pool.

As we moved along the pool to the left, back towards the recreation room doors, I could see the patio behind the rest of the house was designed to enjoy outdoor cookouts. There was a commercial barbeque as well as a refrigerator and sink. There was a half dozen round tables with wrought iron padded chair surrounding them. Overhead was a framework of beams, baffles and panels designed to let light in but yet keep the area shaded from direct sun. I could see a network of hoses and misters around the framework that would be delightful in hot summer days.

At the far end of the patio was a covered walkway between the house and a large garage with two double car doors and a large door that looked to be big enough to handle a fairly large RV. Going into the house we came into a large mud room. There was a hand wash basin and a doorway into a small toilet room. This obviously was also the laundry room as there were two commercial sized cloths washers and two dryers. From the far left corner of the room two hallways headed out: One straight ahead, the other to the left.

Leading me to the left hallway and opening a door on the left just a little ways down the hallway Emma described the room we entered as their pantry. Down one side were cupboard doors, three high. The other side was all shelves about 18 inches deep covered with an assortment of boxed and canned food. Down the middle of the room was an array of tip out bins which contained an assortment of bulk foods. There was a counter top work space about 3 feet wide and 12 feet long above the bins. On either side of the door we entered through was a freezer about six feet wide, like you see in a supermarket with the glass sliding doors.

"We try to maintain a reserve of six months food at full occupancy here so we could support a number of people for quite a while in an emergency. We may have almost as much food here as the Grass Valley General Store. It takes a lot of planning to make sure we cycle through the food that has expiration dates. We even try to periodically use all the canned food so we don't risk any of it spoiling from old age.

In the far end of the garage is a diesel generator with the capacity to support the house without limiting our electric usage. We have a thousand gallon fuel tank hidden and well supported in the attic over the generator. I estimate that would keep the generator going for about a month. Behind the garage we have a five thousand gallon underground tank which should keep the generator running another five or six months if we did not use the fuel for anything else. We have an electric pump with pipes to the side of the garage that we use to refuel our vehicles. There is also a pipe to allow us to pump fuel from the large tank into the smaller one if the electricity is on.

We cycle our fuel through both of these tanks into our vehicles in order to keep the fuel fresh. Our motor home, airport bus, pickup, and car all run on diesel fuel so we can buy the fuel in bulk and fill them ourselves for local travel. I think we save about 50 cents a gallon that way.

While she was saying all this we returned to the hallway and proceeded into the kitchen. The most noticeable feature of the kitchen was the large commercial gas range. There were six gas burners and a four burner flat grill. Beside the grill was a two burner flame grill. Below those were 3 large ovens. Above them was a large exhaust vent. Apparently the exhaust fan was somewhat remote since there was only a minor motor hum along with the sound of air moving up through the vent.

"How is that exhaust fan so quiet and yet so obviously effective?" I asked.

"That is because the actual fan is in the attic about 30 feet above us. A middle aged pleasingly plump lady with short dark hair and a long white apron explained. "The exhaust fan has three power settings. We hardly ever need to bump it above the low setting. If we run all three ovens, all the grills, and three or four burners we need to bump it up to medium high to keep moving the heat out. We've only used the high setting once. That was when someone forgot about a steak they had on the flame grill and it caught on fire. After using the fire extinguisher to put out the fire, we ran the fan on high for a couple minutes to remove all the smoke from the kitchen."

"I'd like you to meet Mary" said Emma

"She is the creator of those fantastic breakfasts you have been enjoying. Mary has been helping me since the day we opened the Emma Nevada House fourteen years ago. I don't know what we'd do without her."

"I am very pleased to meet you Mary. I have indeed enjoyed your breakfasts very much while I've been here. Do you have natural Gas or is there a propane tank around somewhere." I asked.

"We have a thousand gallon propane tank out behind the garage. Besides fueling the kitchen, it also fuels the pool heater and the hot tub heater. Out in the old machine shed we also have a five thousand gallon propane trailer that we keep topped off most of the time." Emma explained

We went back down the short hall to the laundry room then took the longer hall. It went to the corner of the living room. There was a huge comfortable living room with an ancient rock fireplace with a wood stove insert. The large bay window across from the hallway looked across a large green lawn with trees and shrubs tastefully scattered between the house and the main road.

Immediately to the right there was another hallway to which Emma led me after a long enough pause to take in the antique comfort of the living room. There were two doors on the right and one on the left side of the hallway.

"The doors on the right lead to what used to be the servants quarters. They each have a bedroom, a bath, and a small sitting room. Mary lives in one of them and Adrianne lives in the other. We won't infringe on their privacy by going in their rooms without their presence."

She opened the door on the left and let us in. "This is my bedroom suite." There was a large bedroom to the left of the door. A large bay window with a window seat and a bookshelf full of books was across from the door. To the right there was an open room about 12 feet by 16 feet made up as an office. There was a large desk, several file cabinets, two large bookshelves, and a computer desk with a tower computer to the side and a laptop computer on a side table.

Walking into the office she said "Here is the business center for the house. The tower computer is a network file server that retains all our records. All the other computers in the house share access to this server and all important files are kept on the server. We have an automated backup tape drive that copies everything on the server to tape every night. Once a week I take the backup tape over to the safe in the general store for an offsite backup. I pick up their backup tape and bring it here for their offsite backup.

Between the office and the front of the house was the bathroom. It was a large room with double sinks and many cabinets and cupboards. There was a large no-curtain shower as well as a large Jacuzzi tub. Beyond the bathroom was a doorway into a walk-in closet that was about 8 by 12 feet in size. It, like the bathroom, had a moderate glazed window to the outside to provide natural light.

As we went back down the hall to the living room Emma said "There you have seen the house. With the exception of my bedroom you are welcome to use any of the areas you have seen at any time. You might wish to consult with Mary before you spent much time in the Kitchen. The upstairs simply consists of 8 suites pretty much identical to the one you are staying in. Beverly has one of them for her bedroom and the rest are rooms for our guests."

"I definitely plan to include some time in your workout room as part of my exercise regimen. Although when the weather is nice, I prefer a walk or jog outdoors over using the treadmill."

Just as I was entering the foyer my cell phone rang. Looking at it I could see that it was Melissa and answered "Good morning Melissa, how are you this fine beautiful day"

[long pause] "How did you know it was me?" she asked.

"Just psychic I guess" I responded. After a long pause, I added "Actually it was caller ID. To what, do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

"I was just wondering if you were coming over this morning. I would like to go pay Wayne & Jacinth another visit. Jacinth called to say that Wayne is feeling better and would enjoy a visit from us. I would really rather have you come along with me."

"I would be happy to come visit them with you. I was planning to come over in a while anyway. I want to pay Gannon a visit first and then I'll be over."

"Gannon? Have you learned something about his stock certificates already?"

"There remains much to be researched yet, but we have learned enough to know that Gannon is now a multi-millionaire."

"I hope you're careful how you tell him that. News like that could really shock an old man like him"

"It certainly would. I'm not sure how I can soften the shock too much though. Learning you're a millionaire unexpectedly is not something you can really prepare someone for. But I'll do my best to break it to him gradually. Be sure you don't mention it to anyone else for now." I still haven't really adjusted to becoming one myself yet. I do, however, understand the shock of it.

"Alright then; I'll see you in a while." She said as she disconnected.

I went up to my room to pick up the email from Napoleon I had printed out this morning and headed out to my truck. I need to figure out what to do with my old car. Since my new truck rode nicer, carried more, and got better fuel mileage than the Dodge, I really didn't need it any more.

Soon I was walking into Doc's sitting room where Gannon was playing a game of checkers with another resident.

"Gannon!" I called out. "How are you doing this morning? Are you teaching them how to play checkers?"

He looked up and replied "Hey Leon. I'm not sure who's teaching who as we've each won three games this morning. What brings you here again so soon?"

"I've got some information you asked me about when I was here last. It might be pretty surprising. Can we go someplace private to talk about it?"

"Sure, I don't think they have my room bugged, so why don't we go there. Are you in a hurry, or can I finish this game first?"

"Well, I am on my way to Melissa's as soon as we finish our discussion here."

"Say no more. I've never been one to keep a beautiful woman waiting" he said with a grin as he stood up. "Don't move any of these pieces around and I'll be back to finish whipping you."

"You wish!" replied the lady who sat at the card table with the checkerboard on it.

I followed Gannon down the hall and to his room, closing the door as we entered.

"Well what's the big secret?" he challenged as soon as I closed the door.

"Why don't we sit down and get comfortable first" I suggested.

He sat down on the bed and pointed to the chair at the desk "Help yourself, that's the only chair I have."

I walked over, pulled it away from the desk, turned it to face him, and sat down.

"I only have some preliminary results on two sets of stock certificates so far. There is a lot of research yet to be done. The first set they looked at are the oldest ones. The Pioneer Rail Lines Company dissolved itself in bankruptcy in 1903. –" I began.

"So those shares are worthless." He interrupted.

"Well yes and no." I responded "Although the ownership value of the stock certificates is zero, it seems that collectors are willing to pay a considerable amount for historic certificates in excellent condition. A collection of five early certificates of PRL sold in February for three million dollars. My researcher found that you have a collection containing representation from each of the first seven stock issues the company made. That collection would probably be worth around five million dollars if it were sold at auction."

"Wow!" He wheezed "I'm glad you made me sit down. Are you actually saying that someone would pay me five million dollars for my stock certificate collection?"

"No. I am saying that someone would pay you five million dollars for seven of your stock certificates. But that's not all. The other twenty PRL certificates make up a complete set of all stock issues the company made during the 42 years it was in operation. My researcher's best estimate is that those twenty certificates would sell at a collector's auction for over twelve million dollars."

"Oh my God" He whispered. "She really did it. My wife always told me her collection would be worth something some day. I always teased her about it and made fun of her dreams. I wish she could see now that she had always been right. I don't know what to do now. Do I keep them, or do I sell them? I want to thank you for looking into those certificates for me. Do I owe you anything for your work?"

"Oh I'm not done here yet." I replied "The next thing he looked into were the one hundred charter certificates first issued by the Union Pacific Railroad when it was first forming in preparation for the transcontinental railway. Those certificates have multiplied through many stock splits and revaluations over the years. Just those certificates could now be exchanged for about 150,000 certificates of their current stock. At the current price of $82.19 per share that collection is worth just over $12,000,000. In addition, it appears that seven and a halve million dollars in unpaid dividends have accumulated. So the ownership value of that stock is very nearly twenty million dollars. My researcher was unable to even estimate the collector value of those certificates without some more research. So it looks like you are hiding around forty million dollars worth of stock certificates in your roll top desk. And that's just the ones we now know about."

After a long pause, he finally found his voice "I am just speechless. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined something like this. This isn't just a dream, or a big mistake is it? You're not just teasing me?"

I handed him the copy of the email from Napoleon saying "No, it's no mistake or trick. You really are a multi-millionaire"

"What do I do now? I can't even think right now. My brain is turning to mush and I don't know what to do. I don't really need anything. My railroad pension pays for my every need already. Can I just give it to you?"

"Although I am grateful for your generous thought, there is no way I could accept them from you. Perhaps you have some family you want to think about. Let's not do anything rash without some careful thought. What we should do right now, is get these stock certificates into a bank lock box. It would be a shame if they were stolen, or lost in a fire or some such disaster."

"I don't have any family. My brother died when he was sixteen. My wife was an only child. Both our parents died many years ago. But you're right about putting them in a safer place. Can you do that for me? I really can't get around very well and would be sore for days if I went out to a bank."

"Well alright, if you'll give me your instructions to open a safety deposit box for them in writing, I will take care of that. Although, I'm sure I'll be looking over my shoulder all the time I'm carrying forty million dollars on me."

"Better you than me" he said with a smile "You just write down what you want it to say and I'll sign my name to it. My arthritis bothers me too much to do much writing although I can still sign my name."

"I'm planning to go to The Dalles on Wednesday. I'll put them into a sealed bag and have Emma put them into her safe until then. By the way, we don't want to say anything to anybody about this until you have decided on how to handle this windfall and we have everything secure. I can only imagine how much danger you and I would be in if word got out that we were carrying around forty million dollars."

I soon was leaving with written and signed instructions for what to do with the brown paper bag I was carrying which was probably worth in excess of forty million dollars. On the way home, I stopped in at the general store and found a thin briefcase with combination locks. Although I knew it would not resist a determined effort to break into, it would hide the contents from casual curiosity.

When I got back to my room I placed the contents of the paper bag into the briefcase and took it down stairs. Emma was working at her computer in the foyer.

"Do you have enough room for this briefcase in your safe?" I asked.

"How did you know I had a safe?" she asked.

"I just assumed that as well prepared as you were for other events that you would probably have a way to protect valuables. I have something I'd like to be kept a little more secure than in my car until Wednesday when I can take it to The Dalles for safe keeping."

"Your more perceptive than I gave you credit for. Follow me please."

I followed her through the living room, down the hall, into her bedroom, then into her walk-in closet. She moved a couple boxes sitting on the floor, then pushed the light switch firmly up and held it for about ten seconds. A section of the carpeted floor dropped a couple inches and then slid out of the way revealing a metal stairway going into the dark. Emma took several steps down then reached over to the side and a light came on in the room below. "Come down with me." She commanded.

"Well I guess I didn't receive the full tour this morning" I said as I started down the stairway.

"You are only the fifth person to know about this room. There was the builder, who passed away several years ago. He built it by himself shortly after we completed the remodel and additions to the house when getting ready to open. I have since told Adrianne and Melissa."

"I feel very honored, and puzzled, that you would include me in this small circle of close friends."

"I don't really know why either, but I just feel I can trust you. And for some reason, I feel like I must trust you. I've learned to follow my intuition and feelings when they are this strong. I'll fill you in on all the details about this cubby hole later. For now let's get your briefcase into the safe so that you can go over to Melissa's. She's called once already to see if you're on your way yet."

With that she went across the room to a large door that looked like what you would find on a bank vault. She entered a combination of about six entries, lifted the handle, and with a clunk the door slowly came open.

"Give me your case" she instructed. And when I did, she placed it in the safe, spun the combination wheel and pulled the door shut with a solid clunk.

"Okay. You can get on your way to see Melissa before she calls again."

We returned up the stairway, through her bedroom, up the hall, through the living room into the Foyer. We said our good-days and I headed out to my truck.

As I pulled up to Melissa's garage, she came almost running out the door.

"You'll never guess what I found this morning!" she exclaimed.

"No, I probably won't. So why don't you just tell me. You know you want to." I said with a smile.

"I was going through some of our past files collecting information for filing our tax return. I came across a file containing a credit card and remembered that when we opened our bank account after moving here it came with a credit card offer as well. Tom and I went ahead and opened the credit account and just filed our cards when they came agreeing that we would not use them except in an emergency. I found that the credit card with his name was missing. I put the file on my desk and continued looking for the other paperwork I needed. A short time later, I came across a credit report that had been pulled just last month. Looking over it I found that we now owed over two thousand dollars on that credit card. I was relieved to see that it was still the only credit card in our name."

"Then I got to thinking about how you were able to get access to our checking account on-line. I remembered seeing a button labeled "add other accounts" or something like that. So I logged back on to the bank web site and clicked on that button and proceeded to add the credit card #, the security code on the back, and Tom's mother's maiden name."

She is telling me this story while dragging me by the hand through the porch, the kitchen, and into the study.

"Look what I found now. He's charged another two thousand dollars on our bank card" she said pulling me over to the computer.