Bob put today’s copy of the Frost Borough Daily midday issue on my desk. The page headline read “Coed Raped and Murdered Body Dumped on College Main Entrance Steps Second Assault in Seven Days.”

I called Jenny, as soon as she picked up I said, “Can you come back here, please” and I hung up the receiver.

Bob then handed me a letter that had been faxed. They were begging for an immediate rape prevention class; it was signed by the members of their board of regents and the college president. Each one of them had written a personal note by their signature. The only things missing on the letter were teardrops and the signatures in blood.

Jenny knocked on the door and came in. I handed her the paper. I dialed the number on the letter and asked for the president, Mr. David Skaggs. I introduced myself to his personal secretary and added that Mr. Skaggs had said that it was an emergency. I placed him on speaker when he came on and I had everyone introduce themselves.

I asked if there was going to be a memorial service for the victim and when.

“Wednesday,” He replied.

I asked how many female students. “Three forty five; there is a two to one male over female student population,” he responded.

I asked about an auditorium or field house to hold the rape prevention class. I asked about mats; we would take ours from the college. I asked about large potted plants; there was a nursery close by where we could get some.

I then laid out my demands.

I wanted it mandatory for all female students and staff, even if you had to threaten them with suspension or termination.

No male students, staff or guards, period.

Some of the material will be x-rated, even obscene.

We will arrive in town Wednesday night and will set up Thursday morning. We will need the help of two maintenance people. The class would start at 1:00 sharp and could last up to four hours.

Mr. Skaggs said, “Whatever you need we will do our best to make it happen.”

“So will I. I will call you Thursday morning,” I said.

“Where can I borrow a trailer to put the mats in? They are 8 x 12 feet so it is going to take a trailer at least 9 feet tall and 14 to 16 foot long,” I asked Bob.

Bob said, “I’ll call accounting and have them sign a blank P.O. then you can go to Hill’s Trailers to see if they have what you need. If they don’t have it try Heller’s at Bridgeville. You may most likely need it for most of the other programs.”

“Is Kate available to go and run the video equipment?” I asked.

“Make the call, I’ll approve it.” Bob said.

I asked Jenny, “Are you in?”

“You are not going without me,” she said.

Patti booked us 2 rooms at the Holiday West Chain. The rooms with two king size beds were for Jenny, Lorrie, Vicky and me. She booked another room for Kate.

I called Hill’s trailers and then drove the Suburban to look at the two models they had in stock. I chose the sixteen foot model with nine and a half ceiling. It had a swing down rear door that also made the ramp. I made sure it came with a spare tire. They programmed the trailer brake controller in the Suburban and installed the proper shank in the Reese hitch. It was the pintle hook type and I was happy with that. I hated the ball type hitches. They put a temporary tag on it and I was on my way back to the college with it. I parked it in the storage area. We would load it tomorrow morning.

I stopped by the NAPA store and bought one of those aluminum NASCAR style jacks and a lug wrench to fit the trailer lugs. I also picked up four pair of those expensive mechanics gloves while I was there.

I called the IT department and asked for two of the loaner laptops to carry with us. One laptop was to run the program with and the other to act as a backup. Both came with the wireless card so we could have internet on the go. By this time it was time to go; we had a full evening ahead.

I pushed the Suburban a little harder than normal to get home. We had a lot to do tonight. Jenny and I pulled into the yard almost at the same time. Marcy had the dining room table made up like a big meeting room table. There were neat piles of papers stacked everywhere. Marcy was sitting at one end with her laptop, her cell and the house portable. Ching Lee was on the other side working on hers. Vicky, Lorrie and Jeanna were in the kitchen working on quick supper.

I sat next to Marcy so we could have a business supper to discuss the information on the pad and what I had done. In between bites I stated the obvious.

I said, “From the smiles you know we own the building as soon as the realtor gets the check. We are to meet her at 4:45 over at the building. They were asking 150k. I counter offered with 100k and we pay the realtor fees; that made it 108k. They accepted my offer with the condition that we had to do it today. I borrowed 200k from Jake. I have to pay it back in full within six months. If Chuck didn’t tell you, we have a meeting with the commercial loan people Friday at 1:00. It’s extremely important that the business plan and video presentation be completed for that meeting.“

Marcy said, “I have the check for the realtor. This is the biggest check I have ever held, it made me feel like a millionaire. The rest is in a new checking account in the business name. There is some paperwork that you and Jenny need to sign on Friday. I also have the loan application. Mom is going to help me fill it out so it will be done right. I got the call from the gas company. They will accept a letter from the bank to open the account. The tank and gas will be delivered Thursday.”

I said, “You need to call for insurance on the building before they close today. Then tomorrow call to change the electric over and call the phone company. There is a phone over there, maybe there is a number on it that the phone company can use to track it down to turn it on. Get call forwarding on it and send the calls to the house phone or your cell.”

Marcy asked, “how much coverage do you think we need?’

“Two hundred k I think for now. Once every thing is done we will have to look at everything again,” I replied.

I said, “You have a meeting with the attorney on Thursday at 1 to set up the corporation. Jenny, Lorrie, Vicky and I will not be able to go with you. We will sign several powers of attorney so you can do everything for the corporation. They will be able to help you get a Federal ID number. We need that right away, you might be able to do that online.”

“Call the bank tomorrow and order debit/credit cards if you haven’t already. Get yours with a 10k limit and the other five with a 2500 limit. Yours needs to be higher in case we have to buy equipment online. I will leave you my credit card to use until we get the others, it has a 10k limit. Most businesses don’t like the fill in the blank checks.”

I passed around the Frost Borough paper and the letter. I said, “This is why Jenny, Lorrie, Vicky and I won’t be here. We are leaving Wednesday afternoon late and won’t be back until late Thursday night. I wish we could all go but you and Ching Lee are going to be busy, you are in charge of the business. You need to get a laptop and a desktop just for the business and some kind of business program that will do the accounting and schedule appointments, if we get that far.”

As soon as we finished eating we carried the final prints over to the warehouse to meet with the realtor and the contractor. We carried a fold-up card table to use as a desk along with a couple of fold-up chairs. With it being the end of November it was almost dark. I turned on all the lights, including the outside ones. To my surprise they all worked. The front loading dock, entrance and ramp were well lit. The full length dock lighting was good. The inside had fair lighting. We would need more light on the end where we were going to have our gym.

The Wrights, Susan and her Dad were right on time. I asked Jenny and Jenna to look over all the documents to make sure everything looked OK. I also asked them to explain them to Marcy and me. At the end we were satisfied and they signed everything and Marcy gave them the check. We were now the proud owners of a warehouse, soon to be our gym.

Susan said, “I was amazed they took your offer. So when do you think you will have everything done, by late spring?”

“We haven’t set a date yet but I think we would like to have an open house between Christmas and the first of the year,” I said.

“Wow, things are going to have to rock and roll for that to happen,” she said.

“Come back and check us out in three weeks,” I said with a smile.

Bob from Bob’s construction was waiting his turn along with two other guys I remembered as his foremen. Marcy and Ching Lee rolled out the plans and explained them. They then took chalk and drew lines in the locations and the sizes that we wanted them. The waiting room, the refreshment room, and the storage room were all drawn out on the west end. On the south side they drew the bathroom, showers, locker, the massage room and the pad area for the hot tubs. Last was the boxing ring, almost in the middle of the building.

Bob then started asking questions, “Should the locker and massage room have a flat floor?”

“Yes,” we responded. “We also want a bench in the middle of the lockers to sit on.”

He asked, “Two showers on each side with a bench in the middle and the walls and floor with four inch tile and drains in center of the floor?”

“Yes,” we responded.

He asked, “Can the massage and tub pads be painted with the same nonslip as the rest of the gym floor?”

“Yes.” I said.

He said, “The pad will have to be a foot thick. I’m thinking three sloped entry points with hand rails completely around the top of the pad, with the ones at the hot tubs removable, and the floor for the tubs slightly sloped to drains.”

“Yes, that sounds good,” I said.

He asked, “In the storage room do you want water and a drain for a washer and dryer?”

“Yes.”

He asked, “In the refreshment room do you want a sink, a small grill and a refrigerator as the drawing shows?”

“Yes, with a place for a microwave,” we responded.

“The price for infrared heating was super expensive at 25 thousand. However the heating contractor I use has four of the same style heaters as you now have, only they are 150k BTU instead of the 100 BTU you now have and they are the new super efficient kind. He over-ordered for a job last year and had keep them because they were a special order. He will sell them at cost, $750 each, and will install them all for $250.00. They list for 1500 each,” he said. “I also think you will want a small heat pump with gas heat to have air conditioning and better heat for the waiting room, refreshment room and the showers.”

“I would rather have the kind you put in the bedrooms, no duct work,” I said.

“Out front you show a fence. A three rail split-rail of the new white plastic kind and you have an inset to open or close the gate, so you can get a car off road, and the gate is 20 feet?” he said.

“I’m afraid that if we don’t put up a fence it will become a party spot at midnight and we will be picking up broken beer bottles and condoms.” I said.

“The contractor will be here at 6 AM to bring in his equipment before the traffic gets heavy so either leave the chain down tonight or have it down by then in the morning. I need you to sign the authorization and everything will be set to go,” he said.

“Marcy and Ching Lee are the ones in charge of this project, see them with any problems.” I said as I signed the papers as president of the corporation.

I saw that it was getting close to 5:30 so I asked the girls, “What time is the class starting tonight?” Jenny, Lorrie and Vicky realized that they needed to get home to be there when the class participants started arriving.

I stayed with Marcy, Ching Lee and Jeanna while Bob and the foreman finished marking out our plans on the floor. The girls were helping with the measuring and the placement of doors and drains.

Jeanna and I were still at the make-shift table. I asked her opinion of today’s events. She said, “It’s been interesting. I was amazed at how well they put things together even with all the curve’s you sent at them. They are going to be some good business managers when they get a little experience.”

“They will get plenty of that. This is going to be their business. We wanted something to keep us together here and I think this is it. I have a five year contract with the college with another five year rider. Jenny loves her job with the state. We can be trainers, nights and weekends. The day to day stuff is on them,” I said.

All the measuring was completed. We took one more look at the drawings and one more walk around the marks. We agreed that everything looked right. I gave Bob one of the keys and with that closed up the warehouse.

When I returned home I put the papers from the purchase in the gun safe for safe keeping. Jeanna, Marcy, Ching Lee and I went to the basement. I spent the next two hours working out. I needed it.

The situation at Frost Borough State had me angry all day, I just forced myself not to let it show. I took my anger out on the weight machines and treadmill while Marcy was selling the benefits of our gym to Shirley Roush and her two fellow boxers. I was still at it when everyone else had finished and gone upstairs to the showers and hot tub. An hour later it was all I could do drag myself into the shower. A hot shower and thirty minutes in the hot tub and I felt like a human being again.

I was sitting at the table listening to more discussions about the gym. At eleven we decided to call it a night. Everyone got hugs and kisses. It was Monday, Lorrie and I were going to enjoy the night to the fullest. Vicky smiled and said goodnight to us as she and Jenny were going to do the same.

EDIT by Alfmeister