Chapter 8

Day 8 as a Millionaire (Tuesday, March 17, 2009)

This morning started out clear and cold. Looking out the window I could see in the moonlight that everything was covered in frost. I decided to take my exercise indoors this morning. After dressing in shorts, a T-shirt, and sneakers I went down to the exercise room. The house was silent except for the sounds of someone moving around in the kitchen. After some warm-up stretching I spent some time with the free weights. I need to spend some time here with Emma setting up an exercise program and learning how to use the assortment of equipment here. I did know how to turn on the treadmill and was soon walking at a speed of four miles an hour. After a couple miles I slowed it down to three mph for another couple miles. I was just finishing when Adrianne came into the room. As she greeted me good morning she removed her sweat suit. I couldn't help but notice her well conditioned body covered only with short spandex shorts and a tight reinforced halter-top.

"Mom makes us wear a sweat suit or robe around the house even when coming down here" she explained, noticing my look.

"Well, I can see why." I responded. "She wouldn't want to be legally liable for a heart attack when some old duffer meets this angel of beauty walking down the hallway."

"Now you're embarrassing me!" she replied with a blush. "But Thank-you. Have you done your weight training yet this morning?"

"I lifted some weights before taking my walk. But I've never worked out with this kind of equipment and didn't know how any of it worked."

"You need to spend some time with my mom working out the best body training program for you, but I can show you how each of the machines work."

We spent the next half hour going to each of the machines where Adrianne would demonstrate how to use it, then I would practice several repetitions while she corrected my technique. By the time we finished, I was very thankful that my shorts were quite loose and baggy.

As I got up from the last machine I said "I want to thank you for your help this morning. Perhaps we'll work out together again during my stay here. And I will definitely schedule some training time with your mother. Now I'll let you go on with your own workout. I'll see you at breakfast."

"You're welcome! And yes, I'll see you at breakfast."

Upon returning to my room I changed into a clean sweat suit to get out of my wet sweaty cloths.

I spent about a half hour with real estate business. We had another accepted offer with a cash buyer who wants to close by week's end. Since the house was vacant that should be doable. I forwarded several more leads to Terry. Terry reported another house listing and two buyer listings. I redrafted an industry report into a market report including some MLS statistics and posted it on my web site. I moved on to other business.

Checking with eTrade I found both stocks I was invested in had minor price movements in a profitable direction for me: One up and one down. I made some adjustments to my trigger points and moved on.

I sent an email to a friend in the State Patrol asking for a form for requesting a background check for a security guard.

By the time I showered and dressed it was 7:30 and time for breakfast. When I got down to the dining room, only Beverly was there.

"Good morning Leon. I heard you helped Adrianne get a job on the ranch. Can you help me too?"

"I think we've got something going that you may be able to help with. You might want to give Trudy a call after breakfast and see what she'll be doing this summer."

"I'll go call her right now" she shouted and started to get up.

"Oh no you're not, young lady. You're going to sit down with the rest of us and eat your breakfast." She was surprised by Emma entering the room from behind her and gently pressing her shoulders back into place at the table.

"Oh Please, Mom. I've just got to talk with Trudy" She begged.

"Whatever it is, it will wait until after breakfast."

"Leon, you've got to tell me then. What will she be doing this summer? What do you have that I can help with?"

"I could tell you, but, I wouldn't want to spoil Trudy's fun in telling you herself."

"You guys are just mean." She retorted.

"Who's just mean?" came from Adrianne as she came into the room and sat down.

"Mom and Leon!" Beverly grumped. "First Leon tells me they might have a job for me with Trudy, and then they won't tell me what it is. And Mom won't let me call Trudy."

"I'm sure it can wait until after breakfast" Adrianne replied.

"You're just like them. Just because you already know you have a job doesn't mean you can't help me out. By-the-way, what is your job?"

"She's going to be spreading BS shortly" I answered for her.

"What!" responded Beverly?

"Yes. Melissa has hired her to start spreading manure on some of our pasture and hay fields. Maybe she'll have you shoveling it into the wagon. I bet you'll love the nice perfume scent you'll get."

"Eeeu, that's gross. Tell me it's not that, Please."

"You'll just have to wait till after breakfast and talk with Trudy" was Emma's response.

Breakfast began to arrive and I became busy with more important details.

I was just finishing breakfast when my cell phone rang. I excused myself and answered as I walked into the foyer.

"Good morning Melissa!"

There was a long pause. "I just can't get used to caller ID. I was all set to tell you my name, like I have started phone calls for years and you go and greet me by name."

"I'm sorry Melissa. I couldn't help messing with you. What's Up?"

"I hired Adrianne last night. She can only work six hours a day because she needs to help her mom out, but I think that will work out fine."

"Yeah, I heard about that this morning -- From Beverly."

"From Beverly?"

"Yes, from Beverly. She figured I had something to do with hiring her sister and hit me up for a job too."

"Oh really! What did you tell her?"

"I told her there might be something, but she would have to talk with Trudy about what she will be doing this summer. Did you talk with Trudy about our discussion with Jacinth yesterday?"

"Yes, I did. She was so excited she wanted to call Beverly right away but since it was late I told her she'd have to wait until after breakfast. Now she's impatiently waiting for me to get off the phone so she can call. I know Beverly will be a great help too. She is both hard working and level headed. She loves horses like Trudy does and we do have a lot of horses to train this summer. I'll let Trudy know we can use Bev as well."

"We have an appointment with Nathan for nine this morning. Steve and Wayne will meet us there. I talked with Perry last night too. He's willing to drive up any time for our corporate organizational meeting. He said to just give him a call" Melissa added.

"Perhaps we should invite him up for tonight's meeting. We could have dinner with Emma and our corporate board meeting, then go next door to the fire hall for the marketing meeting."

"That's a great idea. Can you fix it with Emma and I'll call Perry? Is there anything I need to bring to our meeting with Nathan?"

"I'll talk to Emma before I head over to see Nathan. You should only need your ID and your checkbook, but you might bring your file of paperwork from when you bought the ranch from Steve. Just leave it in the car, but it will be close if you should happen to need anything from it."

"OK. I need to let Trudy have the phone now before she has a cow"

"Alright then, I'll see you in a while at Nathan's" I said before disconnecting and going to look for Emma.

I had completed my conversation in the foyer and it was just a few steps back to the dining room where Emma and her girls were still sitting. I was almost run over by Beverly running to the sound of the phone ringing in the foyer.

I sat back down at the table and looking over my shoulder where Beverly had disappeared I said "Ok. Wait for it ... Wait for it..."

"Oh my goodness Trudy" came a shriek from the next room.

"There! I think Trudy just told Beverly about her job training horses with Jacinth this summer. You will probably have a daughter in here shortly asking permission to join them. Melissa plans to offer Beverly a job working with Jacinth and Trudy to train several barrel racers and ten teams of carriage horses. They will also start taming another eighty horses for future training. Did you know that Jacinth used to train horses professionally?"

"No, I did not know that. How do you know this?"

"We saw all her trophies and asked her about them. She used to be a professional barrel racer. She has quite a collection of winning trophies. She used to train horses and student riders at COCC before she married Wayne."

Trudy burst back into the room "Mom, can I have a job with Missy this summer? Me an' Trudy are going to train barrel horses and buggy teams."

"Who?"

"Me'n'Trudy'

"Trudy is not mean!"

"I mean Trudy and I."

"What do either of you know about training horses? Both of your horses were already trained when you got them."

"That's the really great part, mom. Their neighbor Jacinth is going to help us. She's trained lots of horses and will teach us everything. Can I do it mom? Please?"

"I'll talk to Missy about it. How much are they going to pay you?"

"Oh thank-you mom! I don't know. They don't have to pay me anything. Just let me ride horses, and I'll be happy."

I turned back to face Emma and said "Emma, I'm wondering if you could prepare a business dinner for about twelve of us this evening."

"I'm sure we can arrange something. With only eight hours notice it can't be anything too fancy though. What's the occasion?"

"It doesn't need to be fancy. Just standard country fare for friends. Melissa would like to have the initial ranch corporate organizational meeting this evening before the meeting at the fire hall. We want spouses and family to be welcome. I expect there will be you, Adrianne, and Beverly; Melissa and Trudy; Steve and Xenia; Wayne and Jacinth; Perry and Dafne and myself. Make sure you don't short change yourself in billing. My company will be paying the bill so just give it to me in the morning and I'll get you paid. I think we'll want to eat at five thirty"

"How about Country Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes and gravy, green beans, and a salad? We can have pie and ice cream for dessert."

"That sounds perfect."

"Count on it then..."

"I'll leave you ladies to your own devices; I have an appointment to make."

"Have a great day, Leon. And we'll have a nice dinner for you at five thirty this evening."

I went up to my room to pick up my computer and my satchel full of legal documents and was on my way to Doc's place.

I waited outside in my truck until Melissa arrived. We went to the door together and shortly after knocking we were greeted by Harriet.

"Good morning! Nathan is waiting for you in the resident's office." she led us across the sitting room where Gannon was engaged in a checker game.

Upon seeing us he stood to greet us "Hello Leon! Do you have more news for me today?"

"Nothing new today. We're here to meet with Nathan today."

"Could you stop to see me after your meeting? I've got a couple questions for you."

"Sure. No problem. It will probably be an hour or so. That should be plenty of time for that lovely lady with you to wipe you off the board a couple times."

As we went down the hall Harriet explained "We have a few spare rooms so we made one up into an office for the residents to use when needed. She stopped and knocked on a door before opening it and stepping inside saying "Nathan, the first of your visitors are here." She motioned us in and as she stepped out she said "I'll show the others in when they arrive".

Melissa stepped forward to shake the hand of a stooped over man who stood to great us. "It's good to see you again Nathan. I don't know if you remember me. Last time we met was..."

"When you bought the farm from your father-in-law Steve, three years ago" he interrupted. "How is that cute little daughter of yours ... Trudy wasn't it?"

"Trudy would not appreciate being remembered as 'that cute little daughter' any more. She's had her thirteenth birthday now and likes to think of herself as a young woman now."

"I'm sure she does. She probably is a young woman now but in my mind's eye I still see the ten year old girl in pig tails."

"Nathan, I'd like you to meet a friend and soon to be business partner. This is..."

"Leon." He interrupted again. "For a while last Friday night I thought you might end up being a new client. I was in the steak house when you had your confrontation with Dale. I was very impressed with the way you defused that situation and avoided any violence."

"Thank you Nathan. Is it OK if I call you Nathan?"

"That's what people have been calling me for eighty three years. No reason you shouldn't join'em.

"I just knew I didn't want to fight with him because I would probably get hurt. Who knows what I would have done if I had thought I could take him."

"I'm sure you would have done the right thing anyway. Now what can I do for you today?"

"We are starting a corporation for Melissa's ranch. Her father-in-law is going to exchange his note for preferred stock equity. Her neighbor Wayne is trading his farm for preferred stock equity. I'm going to invest sufficient cash to strengthen the working capital to make on going operations feasible. We will initially grant one hundred shares of common stock: sixty to me and forty to Melissa. Each of the first three years Melissa will be granted another ten shares if she successfully performs her operating plan. In three years she could become majority owner again."

"That is an interesting organization, Melissa. Why is it set up that way?"

"I was on the verge of going under; mainly because Tom refused to contribute the ongoing financial support he promised when we bought the place. Leon is bringing in ideas and money that will allow me to succeed. To guaranty his money I'm giving him temporary majority ownership until I can prove that I have the skills, initiative and desire to make it succeed. Steve and Wayne get a divisible equity position with a regular income which they can give or will to their children without giving them a bunch of cash they are not mentally prepared to handle responsibly."

"Yes, I can see all that. Who decides your performance goals?"

"I do. I determine objectives which must be met for the business to succeed. We are setting up a board of directors of Leon, Steve, Perry, Wayne, Emma, and me which will consult and approve my performance plan. They will also judge whether I have achieved my objectives."

"What if you have a crop failure, or prices are really bad so you loose money?"

"That's where our plan really shines. The company will now be well capitalized and financially able to withstand several bad years. My performance plan will be based entirely on aspects within my control rather than the impact of weather or market conditions. Although I may be judged on how I handle such challenges they do not prevent me from achieving my objectives. Conceivably, we could lose money every year and I could still receive my bonuses."

"Interesting. And how do you make sure all that can happen?"

"That's where you come in." I interjected. "I spent a couple hours last night on a legal documents web site and drafted the forms I think we'll need to accomplish this. Now we want you to review them and advise Melissa, Steve, and Wayne as to their suitability. I have already had my attorney review them to ensure that my interests are preserved. I hope that it is not a conflict of interest for you to advise all three of them."

"Since you have your own legal council I think I can safely represent the other three as long as they each agree."

Just then we are interrupted by a gentle knock on the door before Wayne and Steve enter. After greeting the newcomers Nathan suggests "I will need about half an hour to review these documents. I would then like to spend about ten minutes each individually with Melissa, Wayne, and Steve to ensure that everyone understands these documents in the same way. Perhaps you can all entertain yourselves or the other residents here while you wait. Can I see Melissa at 9:40, Wayne at 9:50, Steve at 10:00, and Leon at 10:10 in case we need to make any changes to the documents. Let's have all of you back here for signing at 10:30."

We all agreed to that plan of action and as we were leaving Nathan called out. "Leon, could you wait just a minute. Gannon had me work up some documents he would like you to look over."

"No problem!" I responded as I turned back to face him after closing the door behind the others.

He handed me a manila envelope and said "Please hold off on reviewing these until you have a discussion with Gannon. He has discussed his situation with the railroad stock with me and wants to discuss some ideas with you about how to handle them."

"I was just going to go find him. On our way in he asked me to stop by and see him. I'll just take these along with me and go over them with him then."

I went back down the hall to the sitting room where Gannon had just finished winning a game of checkers. When he saw me, he stood up and said "Are you done already?"

"Not really but I've got about an hour break while Nathan goes over some documents. You have time to meet with me now? Nathan gave me the documents you asked him to prepare. Shall we go back to your room and have our discussion? We can then take a look at these documents."

"Sure, now is a great time. It will give Heidi a chance to figure out what she did wrong."

We walked down the hall to his room and after we each sat down; him in his desk chair and me on his bed; he started "Since yesterday when you told me I was a multi-millionaire I have been so excited and worried, I could hardly eat, or think, or sleep. For some time, I've been planning to will all my railroad memorabilia to some museum. Now that I've got millions of dollars to also consider, I'm terrified that it will just end up all going to the state or something since I have no living relatives. I feel like I'm getting weaker every day and the stress of worry about this windfall will finish me off even earlier.

I know you said I shouldn't talk to anyone about this but I just had to discuss it with someone, and I have trusted Nathan most of my life. I've never known him to make a dishonest act in the over 60 years I've known him."

"That's quite alright. I did not mean to discourage you from talking with your attorney anyway. I take it; the two of you came up with some ideas."

"Yes, after thrashing it around for several hours we decided the best thing to do would be to put everything into a trust and retain a trustee to manage the money and to take care of my collection as well. It would do no good to retain Nathan as my trustee as he said he could easily kick the bucket before I do. In the short time I've known you; I've grown to trust you above anyone else I know. That envelope of documents is to set up a trust giving you discretion to manage the money as you think best as long as you donate at least ten percent of all trust profits to charity, your church, or whatever organization you prefer. I only ask that you provide for the security and display of my collection in a manner that gives credit to my beloved wife who was instrumental in helping me acquire it as well as the stock certificates worth so much money."

After a long pause (while I was considering the implications of what he was proposing, and wondering if I had the skill to be able to meet his expectations) he asked "Will you do this for me?"

"I am honored and humbled by the trust this request implies. My only question is whether I have the skills to do this task justice. I've never handled this kind of money and know nothing about running a museum. All I can say is that I will do my best to live up to your trust"

"That is a great load off my mind. You have no idea how relieved I am that you have accepted this. There is no great rush to do something with the collection immediately. You should take the time to either find someone you trust who is skilled to take care of it for you, or to learn what you need to do yourself. The collection is currently in safe storage in five separate locations with an endowment my wife created that will provide for the ongoing storage and insurance indefinitely. These documents also make you the trustee of that endowment so that you can direct the disposition of its funds as needed."

"Do you have an inventory of your collection?"

"No. Although I've been thinking about it, I've never done anything about it yet."

"I think that is where we should start. I would love to be able to capture your description of each item, how it was used, and any significant history behind it. If we were to get you a wheel chair, a young person to move things around and a secretary to record your thoughts do you think you would be up to doing that task?"

"That would be a lot of fun. In fact, I know just the people to do that. Heidi's daughter just lost her job as a secretary in Bend and she has twins, a boy and a girl who are really interested in railroad history. Every time they visit Heidi, they spend as much time asking me about my work on the railroad as they do visiting their grandma."

"Well there is no worry about enough money to pay them now so why don't you go out and talk to Heidi about it while I review these documents? It's too early to talk about your millionaire status but simply tell her that I am working with you to inventory the collection and to capture your memories while we still can and that the endowment will be paying for their services. You could tell her that I am now in charge of the endowment and will be taking care of all the expenses. How old are the twins? If they are still in school they will not have enough time during the day to be our only help"

"You're right. I think they are 13 or 14. We'll still need to come up with someone to help during the day."

"Oh well. I'm sure we can come up with something. Go challenge Heidi to another checker game, then bring her back here to talk with us together."

Gannon left, and I proceeded to peruse the documents Nathan prepared for me. They did, indeed, create an ongoing trust, "Elsie Transportation Trust" responsible to manage its funds investing primarily in transportation industries. Profits are to be either reinvested or used to support the preservation of equipment and memorabilia of import to the history of transportation. I was to be paid one million dollars per year for my management efforts. In addition, I was to donate at least ten percent of the profits to a church or charity of my choice.

I was also made trustee for the "Endowment for the preservation of Elsie's Rail Road Collections", responsible for the storage and protection of the collection in its current state. This endowment held one million dollars in cash and laddered certificates of deposit. It also held ten million dollars of investment in a Brazilian shipping company.

What surprised me most was to discover that Gannon had also made me trustee of the "Gannon Life Estate Trust" dedicated to his personal support until his demise. However, instead of reducing in value with the costs of his support, the trust amount was growing drastically. Gannon's rail road pension combined with his social security was more than sufficient to cover his every need. The twenty five million balance invested in a diversity of investment vehicles was well diversified and growing dramatically. He was already a multi-millionaire and was putting me on in his reaction to my news.

Soon he and Heidi returned.

"You're a wily old codger, Gannon!" I greeted him.

"What did I do?" He innocently protested.

"You set me up!"

"What are you talking about?" he continued in all innocence.

"Can we speak in private?" I asked.

"You can talk in front of Heidi. I trust her completely. She may even know more about my finances than I do. Now what are you so upset about."

"You're already a multi-millionaire and all that reaction to my news was just acting for my benefit. What is your game anyway?"

"Leon, I have to apologize. I was, indeed, misdirecting you a little. I hope you will understand when I explain, but I was actually testing you. I have been looking for an honest man to take over the trusteeship of my assets for a couple years. When you stopped by to visit on Saturday I was impressed with you and decided to test your integrity. Heidi and I already had an idea that those stock certificates were quite valuable. When you came up with a way to appraise them without trying to take possession of them, I was further impressed. Then, yesterday, when you refuse to take them as a gift from me without any time for consideration, I knew I had found someone I could trust. Your idea for inventorying my collection had not occurred to me and was icing on the cake as far as I was concerned."

"Having gone through the documents and realizing that I have not been totally up front with you, are you still willing to take on this responsibility."

"I believe I am, as long as you are in favor of my hiring a day-to-day administrator. I anticipate having a lot of business responsibilities in the near future and would not be able give your trust the daily attention I would be satisfied with. We would set up control structures with which I could maintain regular oversight which would reduce the potential for mismanagement and/or misappropriation. I would even be willing to pay this person out of my management fee."

"Isn't this guy amazing?" he says looking towards Heidi. "He keeps surprising me with his wisdom and integrity."

Heidi responded "We had anticipated this need before we started looking for a new trustee. Only our thoughts were to hire someone who would keep an eye on things from the inside for us."

Gannon added "You have convinced me with your trustworthiness and I believe that Heidi's daughter, Brenda, would be excellent for this position. She was actually much more than a secretary at her previous position. She was an executive assistant for a well known CPA in Bend and was fired for blowing the whistle on some unethical relationships and work projects the CPA was engaging in. Nathan helped her get a sizable settlement from the accounting firm negating her need for employment for the rest of her life. However, she is looking to work on something she will find challenging, meaningful, and fun. She also wants to demonstrate a work ethic for her two children so that they will grow up to be productive members of society rather than spoiled trust children."

"Heidi called Brenda just now and invited her up for lunch tomorrow. Do you think you can come over for lunch here tomorrow?"

"I think we can make that work. I can't be too long since I have to make it to The Dalles for a dinner meeting. I look forward to meeting Brenda and her children. Did you and Heidi come up with anyone to help out with moving stuff around?"

Heidi answered that one "My nephew Edwin, graduated from Oregon State with a Library Science degree. He's been unable to find work he's interested in yet. I'll give him a call this evening and see if he might be willing to help us out for a while."

"It's about time I'm supposed to go back to see Nathan again. Gannon, why don't you come along with me and I'll sign these papers to accept your trusteeship. Heidi, you're welcome to come along as far as I'm concerned."

We soon had that taken care of with copies for me, Gannon, and Nathan. Heidi and Gannon then left me there with Nathan.

"Everyone seems to have a good understanding of what you're working to accomplish. We didn't come up with any needed changes. You did an excellent job of drafting up these papers. The only thing I had to add was a release giving me authorization to represent all three of them."

"Thank you for helping out with this. Did Gannon arrange to pay you for your work in setting up the trust?"

"Yes, I've already been paid for that and look forward to working with you in the future. I'll split my bill for my time reviewing the ranch between the three of them. To set up representation properly they each need to be personally responsible for their portion of it. There will be no bill to you or to the ranch. However, I'll be happy to help you and Melissa out with any legal needs you may have for the ranch in the future."

There was a slight knock at the door before it opened and Wayne, Steve, and Melissa all returned. We each signed at the appropriate locations. Nathan then signed and notarized the documents. Nathan said he would make copies for each of us and file the originals with the state. He reminded us that we needed to have our organizational meeting and file the resolutions taken by the board of directors authorizing these actions and we told him that meeting was scheduled for this evening.