Untrusting (Troubled) (23 page)

Over lunch we talk about ourselves
and how things are going at home and in town.  After lunch we sit in the
sun room to talk business.  Miss Lili catches up on more proposed oil
legislation and what’s left to do at home to get more of the state’s
services.  Maria and I didn’t realize Miss Lili had an agenda, a written
plan, to bring the town to a place where those services are a sure thing. 
Then Marsh turns to us to talk about the finer things concerning the partnership. 

After we talk for about an hour,
Marsh concludes with, “Ladies, Miss Lili is gonna out live us all, but should
that not happen, I’ll be your attorney concerning the inheritance of the
partnership.  There’ll be other attorneys representing her other interests
and I’m sure, as is Miss Lili, there’ll be certain family members trying to get
their fingers into any pot of money they can.  I’ll, also, be representing
you in that, should it happen.  I wrote the partnership as bullet proof as
legally possible, so I don’t believe there’ll be anything but legal
representation necessary.  Ya must understand, when I advise ya to do
something, I expect ya to do it right away.  Any time lapses may cost ya
more than ya know.  I’ll explain why it needs to be done when I ‘advise’
ya to do it.  Now, ya understand Miss Lili’s in control of a great deal of
wealth so there’ll be things that don’t concern the actual partnership, but
will have an adverse effect on it without some action on y’all’s part.  I
can’t be specific because the actions haven’t taken place yet, but I’m charged
by Miss Lili to protect you ladies in the partnership.  Do ya
understand?”  We say “Yes.”  “Good, now ladies, it’s been a pleasure
meetin’ ya and it’s always great to see you Lili, but I have to go.  My
daughter, Bernice, is expected to have her baby anytime and I don’t want to
miss it.”  He gathers his things and goes out to find Al and leaves.

Maria and I express our impression
of the meeting with “Wow.”  Miss Lili laughs.

“That’s Marsh for ya.  Did ya
understand much of what he said?”  Miss Lili is snickering.

“I understood there are family
members that will be trying to get their hands on some of your money.  I
suspect he was hinting at the group that was here last night.  Our
partnership could be affected by any suits or claims they make on the
money.  They won’t be able to touch the town funds from your father, and
probably not the the money from your husband, but any businesses or
partnerships, they might go after, even if the partnership is foolproof, he
expects some fool to try something.”  Maria’s understanding is, pretty
much, on the dot.

“Miss Lili, if they decide to go
after the town’s funds, because the land the pet resort is on is your property
and shares the lot with the animal shelter, which is dedicated to the town, it
could have some fall out on the resort.  I know you’ve sub-divided the lot
so the resort is on partnership property, but it could get sticky, since the
resort is the only partnership property.  The rest is mine or the towns. 
That could land lock the resort if the suit is lost and I or the town might
have to allow an easement to the partnership property, costing us some
property.  So I’ll be ready to do whatever Marsh advises.”  My
business management classes are paying off.

Miss Lili looks at us, “I’m not
surprised you two understand all of that.  I wouldn’t have partnered up
with ya if I’d thought you incapable of understanding business practices and
legalities.  Now we have a couple of other attorneys coming for dinner. 
You don’t have to dress for dinner, tonight, but stay as you are.  These
attorneys are here to see me about things that won’t concern you, unless, you
marry the boys, then only because of the marriage.  This is the boys’
business and they’ll be meeting with these attorneys later.  So after
dinner you can relax.  Tomorrow we’ll only have dinner guests and Saturday
there’ll be total chaos getting ready for the dinner and party.  I’ll tell
ya who’ll be here later.”

After dinner with Mr. Shepherd and
Mr. Collier, we excuse ourselves to change and take a cart ride around the
island.  We go down to the beach and sit in the sand ‘til the sun starts
going down.  We watch the sky go from blue to orange and red and many
colors in between, waiting to hear the helicopter fly overhead.  Now we
can go back and swim.  We return the cart to the garage and jog to the
veranda.  We’re too late to be the first in the pool, the others beat us
to it.  We hurry upstairs to change and trot down the stairs where Al has the
baskets set up and we play again.  This time Maria and I almost beat Miss
Lili.  When we have dessert afterward, we tease Miss Lili about being a
gracious hostess and losing to her guests.  That’s when she tells us,
“Your not guests, your family, otherwise, ya wouldn’t be stayin’ here more than
one night.  And, ladies, I don’t even lose to the boys,
intentionally.  So you’re in good company.”

Mandy and Al are nodding their
heads.  “The boys lose rather frequently.”  Mandy says.

“She’s small, wiry, a strong
swimmer and sneaky.  The boys will tell ya so…and that she cheats.” 
Al laughs when he finishes his revelation.  Miss Lili throws her balled up
napkin at him, but she doesn’t deny it.  We laugh and talk through the
evening, mostly about the boys’ antics to try to beat Miss Lili at water
basketball.

We help clean the kitchen and get
ready for bed.  Miss Lili comes to visit our girl talk again. 
“Tomorrow, girls, we have state politics to contend with.  We’ll be
talkin’ with three men from oil producing counties and three state
representatives and two state congress men.  Ya don’t have to be brilliant
to carry on conversations with these men, just listen and consider how it will
affect people in the industry, and city and county finances.  Believe me I
don’t know as much as I should about the industry, but I can think and imagine
how legislation that affects the industry will affect the finances of the
people, cities and counties that rely on oil to pay their bills and fund their
services.  That’s all ya have to do.”

“Do you think our askin’ questions
and talkin’ about our concerns for those people will make a difference?” 
Maria has a look of skepticism on her face.

“I don’t know, but it might make
the men think about their constituents and what it’ll mean to them and what it
could mean come election time.”  Miss Lili’s got a glint in her eye and
Maria’s expression changes to a smile.

“Miss Lili, what do ya hope to
accomplish with these meetings?” I ask.

“I hope to bring myself up to date
on the happenings of politics concerning my finances.  If it’ll affect my
company, it’ll affect my employees and their livelihoods.  If my company
has to produce less oil we’ll need fewer employees.  Ya see?  When
the unemployment rate goes up, the state will pay out more in unemployment
benefits.  The taxes may go up to cover the cost of the unemployed workers
and their lost taxes.  It’s a domino effect, ‘til it covers almost
everyone in Texas, Oklahoma and any other oil producing state.”

“Hasn’t the oil industry already
had a cut back?”  Seems I remember this happening before.

“Yes.  The reasonin’ was
we…they don’t want to use up all the oil resources in the United States.  So we
save our oil and buy from overseas countries, who have more oil under them than
we do.  The government gets import taxes and we pay higher prices for oil
products.  The shippin’ ports get bigger and make a ton of money for labor
and storage of the crude oil ‘til it can be moved to refineries.  Who then
make a lotta money sellin’ the products to consumers, somethin’ they’d be doin’
regardless of where the oil comes from.  It’s gettin’ late and I think ya
have an idea of the chain reaction legislation causes on the workin’ man.”

“I never thought about these things
before.  I’m glad we talked before tomorrow afternoon.  How long are
the men gonna be here?”  I ask.

“From just before lunch to after
dinner.  I’ve been thinkin’, you girls might have a bigger affect on them
if ya wear jeans tomorrow instead of casual work clothes.  It might bring
their attention to the fact that people of all stations in life know how things
will affect them when politics gets involved in their jobs.”  We say
goodnight and Miss Lili goes to bed.

Maria and I talk about what we’d
just heard.  “I guess the guys do this sorta thing.  Do ya think
we’ll have more influence than they would?”

“I don’t know Maria, but consider
this; The guys have something to gain, from the point of view of the
politicians, but we don’t.  We’re not directly involved in the industry,
so we may wield a little more punch, or a lot less, since we’re novices.”

“Hard to tell, I’d say.  But
Miss Lili was right about it being late.  I’ll see ya in the
mornin’.”  We say goodnight and go to bed.

After a muffin and coffee, we swim,
shower and get ready for guests and lunch.

Miss Lili catches up on their
families over lunch.  Then we sit on the veranda to talk.  Questions
and answers may have waited ‘til after lunch, but Miss Lili makes up for lost
time.  Maria and I listen, for the most part, but ask questions about the
affects of the bills on others, just as Miss Lili had suggested.  Soon
we’re discussing the circle of events and disadvantages of some of the proposed
legislation.  The eight politicians explain how it can help and we’re
explaining through questions how it could hurt the general population. 
This goes on all afternoon and ends with supper.  The politicians leave
shortly after dessert.

Miss Lili is very impressed by our
understanding of making a point by letting them make the point for us. 
Miss Lili thinks we all came away with a broader view of the cause and affect
of government.  “You girls made quite an impression on the men.  They
kept asking if y’all had an economics degree.  I told them ‘not from
college, but from livin’.’  They almost liked that better.  They
asked if most of the citizens understood as much as you did.  Ya got them
thinking.  I’m glad we kept this casual, today.  I don’t think you’d
have made as big an impression if you’d been dressed up.”

“But did we help?” Maria wants to
know.

“You weren’t supposed to help
today.  Where ya can help is tomorrow at the dinner party.  But after
today ya know how.”  Miss Lili looks at us and we nod.  “Ya can’t do
anything tomorrow but ask questions and give your own thoughts to the
answers.  In other words, try to influence some of the people who will be
votin’ on the legislations.  Don’t be false or phony, they’ll pick up on
that quicker than you can blink.  But you girls don’t have an agenda, so
ya won’t have a problem being genuine.  A quick game and I’m goin’ to bed,
today really tired me out.”

Maria and I are the first one’s in
the pool this time.  We just stripped right there.  We’d gone
upstairs before supper and put our bathing suits on under our clothes in
anticipation of the game.  Miss Lili and Mandy are impressed.  We
lose again, by one point, but Miss Lili had to hussle a bit more to win. 
We have our after game razzing and talk before Miss Lili goes to bed.

 “Girls, do ya miss the boys?”

“Yes, even tho’ I haven’t had much
time to.  You’ve kept us pretty busy and my mind on other things.”  I
say.

“Yes, I’ll be glad to be home with
Shay and to see Bob again.”  Maria’s missing her guys.

“Good.  Maria, I have to say
Bob has picked a woman that will love him deeply and I agree on the longer
engagement.  He would have married ya as soon as he got back from the fire
if you’d have let it happen.  I think you’ll be a great asset to him as a
wife when he has to take over part of my estate.  I’ve come to care a
great deal about ya and welcome ya as a friend and relative.”

“Sher, I understand from Steve
y’all are still in fire and limbo.  I want to tell ya I believe Steve
loves you but he’s a cautious man and very aware of your holding back.  If
you’ll take a little advice from me I’ll be glad to help.”  She looks at
me and I nod.  “If I were you I’d take that man to bed as soon as I get
home.  Get that outta the way and see where the rest leads.  Do ya
love him, or do ya know?”

“I don’t know.  I miss him on
a daily basis, but when he’s there I can’t show it.  I don’t know why, I
just can’t.”

“Do ya feel good and safe when he
holds ya?  And do ya melt, or lose your senses when he kisses ya?”

“Yes, but is that enough?”

“It’s a damn good start.  Are
ya afraid he’ll think you’re cheap and easy?  He won’t.  I have to
tell both of ya, since the boys have been seeing you girls the water bill has
gone up, a lot, but not the gas bill.  That means they’re taking a lotta
cold showers.  Think about it.  I’m going to bed so you two can talk
it over.  Goodnight.”

Tonight we don’t talk in the bathroom. 
We stay on the veranda to talk.  We talk about the birth control and the
cold showers, which causes a few snickers.  Then we get serious and talk
about the risk of loving someone.  Maria says that as soon as Bob’s healed
she plans to sleep with him.  She’s found herself lying awake at night
wanting company.

I tell her, I feel the same way,
when I’m not so tired I can’t hold my eyes open.  “Maria, what’s my
problem.  When he kisses me I go ballistic. So much so I don’t know my
name.  I hear nothing but us and I don’t want to stop and when he does, I
want to grab him, tie him up and make him go farther.  It happens that way
every time.  But I can’t decide if I love him.  Mom says sometimes ya
have to get quiet for things to become clear, but I haven’t had time to get
quiet, to get things figured out.  I’d hoped this vacation would give me
that, but obviously, there’s been no quiet.  Maria, I can’t make a mistake
with something as important as getting married and certainly not with Steve. 
What do I do?”  Maria hands me a napkin.